the daily random.
I have to call Progressive and change my insurance policy for the second time in five days. This is
because I *just now* got a letter from Meriwest spelling out their insurance requirements, and their
maximum deductible for comprehensive/collision is $500 less than is on my
current policy. Oh well. There went that refund check.
Kim is coming over tonight so that I can measure her ankles. What this really means is that she's riding over here with the Aerostich suit she's sampling (i.e. they send a sample suit to her, she tries it on to check the size, she mails it back to them), and I'm going to measure how much extra leg there is while she's in normal riding posture. Yay!
One day last week, I parked the bike in the 2-hour lot behind my office, since I was returning from a doctor's appointment, and it was already 3pm (the lot ceases to be 2-hour-only at 5pm). In the evenings, this lot is normally used for people having dinner along the street that I work on. So, when I came out of Danger at the end of the day, and walked over to my bike, there were a fair amount of people mingling about and walking to and from their cars. One such man came over to me and said, "wow, that's a big bike!" Now, it isn't, so I smiled and said, "yup!" and continued to put my gear on. He said a couple more complimentary things about the SVS, which I acknowledged, and again he repeated, "that's a big bike..." and sort of trailed off like there was more to the thought than he was voicing. Eventually, he wandered off again. I really wonder where he was going with that thought. "That's a big bike for a girl"? "That's a big bike for someone as short as you"? "That's a big bike just like the one that ran over my pet gerbil back in 'nam"? Who knows.
doc wong.
So, on Friday night, Peter and Ann and Kim and I went to our first-ever
Doc Wong clinic. His
get-togethers are normally rides up in the hills, but this weekend, he had
a maintenance clinic for people interested in mechanics. That would be us,
so we went. Even though the email stated that the class size would be limited
to 30 people, there were probably around 60 there, which made it a bit
difficult to actually see anything, but Kim and I found stools to stand on,
so that helped. The class was at Aftershocks, where Kim got her bike. Phil, the guy who runs
it, is really nice. Go give Phil your money.
So anyway, we learned some things about bleeding the brakes, and changing the oil, and other basic stuff like that. I was hoping that they'd cover some more advanced mechanical stuff (i.e. things I hadn't done before), but there are always future clinics. :)
OK, I have to mention this, because I have to, but I've promised Peter that I'm going to stop making a big deal out of it. So here's the small-deal report. When I was turning into the driveway, I fudged up the tight-turn-at-low-speed. Again. In this particular instance, I needed to open the throttle and just make the tight turn in one motion; I totally had enough room. Instead, I got halfway through the turn, slowed way down (why? dunno.) and then tried to speed up again. With the handlebars turned all the way to the right. So, the next time you do something that makes you feel kinda stupid, you just think of carolyn, dropping her brand new SVS at like 1 mph entering a driveway full of bikers there for a motorcycle clinic. You'll feel better, I promise. So, this time, I clipped the end off the brake lever, and got two nice long cuts through the fairing where the turn signal punched through the first layer of plastic. Annoyingly, it didn't go all the way through, so I can't just reach under it and pop it back out. Oh well. Tomorrow I call the Suzuki dealer by my house and order a clutch lever, a brake lever, and an oil filter. Yay.
Though, I did end up wheeling the SVS into the clinic later in the evening when people were filling up their tires and checking levels and etc., and everyone ooohed and ahhed over it. So that helped my pride a bit.
I just want to say that because I promised, I'm really not going on and on about this. But it made me feel like ass all night, and sort of set a negative tone for me for the rest of the weekend. If any of you have "I did this retarded thing with my bike" stories that you want to share, go ahead and email me or send it to the mailing list.
happy late birthday, sweetie
Peter turned 25 on Friday. He's a cradle-robber now, I tell you. I got him
a caricature from Alzart. I'm not terribly sure he likes
it; he was sort of like, "oh no" when he opened it, but he was being a big
poo at the time because we weren't at the restaurant that he wanted to be at.
So maybe that was it. We had a pretty fun birthday weekend, though, so that's
what counts. :)