Song of the Day: First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gekHV9DIjHc

Motorcyclist: Apology to DUMB

This one is pretty self-explanatory, not much to add.  I see this stuff all the time.  Just part of being a motorcyclist.

"Column - Larry Supina: Motorcyclist offers apology and restitution to members of DUMB"
http://amarillo.com/stories/101107/opi_8649744.shtml

I would add that another thing that really irritates me as a motorcyclist is when I have the right of way and people look me straight in the eye and pull out in front of me anyway, knowing that they are safe in their cage.  Assholes.

Don't believe me?  Try riding a motorcycle sometime and see for yourself.  It doesn't happen as often as you see someone run a red light (maybe 2-3 times a week) or blind you with their bright lights (literally every time you drive at night).  But it happens regularly. Last week it happened to me several times in one week.

The VFR is BACK ... kind of

I've been doing some work on my VFR recently.  Suspension improvements, valve clearance adjustments, bodywork repairs, and so forth.  Major work.  Well, I "finished" a few days ago and it's ready to ride again. So I took it out for a little spin on Saturday.

Some friends were doing a weekend (Friday-Sunday) ride in the North Georgia/East Tennessee/Western North Carolina mountains.  I decided to ride up and join them, but I only had one day to do it.  So it ended up being a long day.

They were planning to hit the Blue Ridge Parkway, ride it up past Asheville, then turn around and ride back. I figured that was a wide enough window that we couldn't miss each other.  They'd be heading back west on the Parkway, while I was eastbound.  A couple texts along the way to let each other know where we were was the plan.  

As it turned out, I got a late start and I ran into them on the Parkway before I even had a chance to text them.  I had stopped at the Pisgah Inn and turned on my phone but my phone was taking its sweet time getting a data connection so I decided to let it talk to the network while I rode on.  Not long after that, I see some familiar faces (and bikes) approaching me in the opposite direction!  I slammed on the brakes, turned around, and gunned it to catch them.  So we didn't even need the texts to meet up.  Shortly after meeting up we snapped some of the pictures you see below.

Here's a map of the route I think I rode (not starting from my home, but from a generic point).  According to my odometer, I rode 563 miles on the day.


View Larger Map

I explored a few new roads on the way up (around Lake Rabun).  Did some old classics (Wolf Pen Gap, Richard Russell Parkway, Warwoman Road, Hwy 28, Hwy 215, etc.), too.

On the way back, while stopped for gas, one of the locals gave us a nice tip to take Pine Creek Road (turns into Walnut Creek Road) all the way to Hwy 28/64, then turn south to Highlands, rather than the North Norton Road/Norton Road route I had hoped to talk my friends into taking.  GREAT suggestion, and we'll remember that for the future.

My plan in general while in that area is to try to avoid Hwy 64 between Highlands and Hendersonville as much as possible.  After riding 64 many, many times I have decided that I hate it.  I mean, it's a nice road, but I've had enough parades in my life.  Seriously, there are some SLOW TOURISTS on that road that just grind that thing to a halt.

Speaking of grinding to a halt, on my way up traffic was completely stopped on I-285 just east of I-75.  Not sure what happened, but after sitting for a while they opened it back up.  They must have just finished clearing a wreck off the road.  Gotta love Atlanta.  Stuff like that happens regularly.

I also ran into the same situation on the way home, somewhere on Hwy 76/515/5.  Road was blocked and we sat there for a while while a flatbed truck pulled a wrecked car off the road.  More wasted time.

Had the normal amount of cars pulling out in front of me, just because they can.  They look at me, see a motorcycle, and just pull out in front of me.  Seriously, they realize that they have more mass than I do and deliberately decide they don't have to obey traffic laws.  Happened again on Sunday, in normal city driving.  Guy looked right at me and pulled out in front of me while he had a red light and I had a green.  Police are all over that (not).


On one occasion a guy on a Harley pulled right out in front of me on the Parkway.  He and his herd of stupid sheep were pulling out of an overlook parking lot.  Dude was looking to see whether his fellow sheep were following him and didn't even look at the road as he pulled out, right in front of me.  I buzzed right past him and just shook my head.

Vic recounted another fun encounter with an idiot on a Harley.  Apparently the dude chased him to an overlook and wanted to fight him or something.  Just because Vic safely passed him.  I don't know what's wrong with some people.

After a nice dinner in Dillard, Georgia I had to hit the road to get back.  I had a little bit of light, but it got dark soon.  I elected to take the simple, straightforward route back (76/515/5/575/etc.).  Vic was concerned about deer because I was riding so late.  And he was right, I rode right past one, about three feet from me!  Seriously.

But it wasn't as bad as it sounds.  Since I was in "get home safely" mode at that point, I was on a somewhat major road.  And at the time I saw the deer I was the third vehicle in a small convoy (a deliberate riding choice given the time of night).  As such, I didn't even see the deer until the second vehicle drove past it, allowing me to see it.  It was just standing there, by the side of the road, either unconcerned with traffic or paralyzed by it.  So, yes, I guess you could say I had a close call with a deer, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds if I were to only tell you that I missed a deer by three feet!

Finally, some pictures:

Man, that picture of the VFR is beautiful.  Great to be riding it again!  Great day, all things considered.

Unfortunately, it's not all good news.  The bike sat too long while I took my sweet time on the repairs.  It appears that the carburetors are now gummed up, particularly the low speed circuits, the pilot jets.  The bike now stutters at low rpm, doesn't idle cleanly, and doesn't have the low and mid-range power it used to have.

It was very difficult to ride it quickly.  In the past I could leave the bike at a low rpm, say 4-6000 rpm and glide through a series of turns.  But now the bike stutters and doesn't get a good drive out of corners.  Therefore I ended up having to shift a lot more, to keep the bike in a higher rpm range all the time and sidestep the lower rpm stuttering and lack of power.  Not a problem, per se, but that should be one of the VFR's strengths, that you don't have to do that.  The VFR was missing an essential element of its character on Saturday.  Still a fun ride, but not the same.

Maybe some Sea Foam will help.  If not, the VFR will go under the knife again for some carb work.   :(

Two Phones?

I love this article.  Gotta love those sheep and their iPhones.  By the way, I don't think that ALL iPhone users are sheep, not at all.  I happen to work closely with a consultant who has an iPhone and he responds with very detailed and lengthy e-mails (at crazy times, too) from his iPhone.  But these people in this article are ridiculous.

From the Wall Street Journal:
"When Two Phones Are Better" by Will Connors
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443437504577546922450333572.html

So much material to comment on here.

"Style-conscious executives are happy to pull out their iPhones at cool restaurants but when they really need to fire off lots of work emails, they cling to their BlackBerries."

My comment?  Baaaaa.

"A few months ago, she ditched her BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone but quickly became frustrated with the touch-screen keyboard and its autocorrect function. So, despite the hassle, she now always carries both."

Hmm, why not consider a nice Android phone?  There are plenty with real keyboards.  And even if you get a phone without a physical keyboard, Android phones let you customize the soft keyboards, to superior versions provided by the likes of Swype or Swiftkey or similar.  I've long maintained that this is one of the underappreciated fundamental differences between the Android and iOS platforms.  Not just with keyboards, although that is a perfect illustration of the point, but the fact that Android lets you customize the phone in many ways that the iPhone rigidly controls, as I understand it (I've played with iPhones but not used one). I didn't switch from Blackberry to Android myself for business use until they came out with such custom keyboards.  I happen to have used Swype since their earliest days, when they were a very limited Beta release and have loved it from the beginning.

Oh, did you catch one other way to interact with your phone?  Handwriting.  Yes, handwriting.  From the Google Official Blog:
Make your mark on Google with Handwrite for Mobile and Tablet Search
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/make-your-mark-on-google-with-handwrite.html
Can the iPhone do that?  (Really, I don't know if it can or not.)

"And then there are image concerns. Amanda Slavin, the 26-year-old director of marketing and events for a New York restaurant group, is used to getting skeptical looks when she pulls out her BlackBerry. She quickly heads off any judgment. 'Don't worry, I also have an iPhone,' she says."

Ms. Slavin went on to say, "Baaaaaa.  Baa Baaaa."

"I hide my BlackBerry unless I actually need to use it," says Stephen Matyasfalvi, 38, a Toronto business consultant. "If I am choosing what device to have out for browsing, calling, etc., it's the iPhone and not the BlackBerry. It's not even about being cooler with the iPhone, they just look so much better!"

What a sheep.  It's not about being cooler?  Please.

"For a couple with four phones, there are multiple annoyances. When a phone rings they have to check all four. Their bedside table is piled high with devices and chargers."

Okay, finally something I can relate to.  In fact, this is a real issue at work.  Someone else described the "problem" this way: "I simply cannot tell which one of my multiple smart phones, tablets or computers just went 'ding'."    :)

Song of the Day: Sarah Darling - Bad Habit

You know, there are a LOT of great artists out there that are not nearly well enough known.  Here's one of them.

"Bad Habit By Sarah Darling"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRbu6FS7tTo


And then I do some surfing and found this great version of a U2 song!

"Sarah Darling sings U2's With Or Without You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GBqf_8LjCo

Song of the Day: Ed Sheeran - The A Team

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KlOodL9Gw4

I heard another singer, Sara Lou, perform this song.  I'll have more on that later, hopefully soon.  But for now let me just present this song as is.  Beautiful song, with beautiful lyrics.

Things I Learned in Ireland - PG 13

Ah, you learn so much when you travel.  This post is dedicated to James, Paul, and John.  You know who you are, you sick bastards.  :)   One of them very helpfully provided the above picture for me.

Okay, so this blog post might be a little off color.  But the guys I was working with seem to be experts--enthusiasts, even!--on this subject, so I thought I'd pass along some knowledge.  They said they have a calling for this subject.  It sounds like this: "Baaaa!"

It all started when I said I was going to take a motorcycle ride to Achill Island, on the west coast of Ireland.  One of them said that there would be plenty of company out there for me, lots of sheep on the island (and he was right).  He said he likes one in particular.  Because she has a bad leg and can't get away so easily.

Over time I learned more and more from these experts.  Just book learning, by the way!  No hands-on training for me.  For example...

• The ones with the short front legs work better if you're on a hillside.
• Wear "wellies" (Wellington boots), so you can put their hind legs in the boots ... so they can't get away).
• Have a cliff nearby.  Because when a sheep approaches a cliff their natural tendency would be to back up.
• Finally, they advised me to make sure that I get one that can't talk.

Yikes, they must have some long winters there in Ireland!

I'm happy to say that I failed all their pop quizzes.  They's ask me why would someone want to wear wellies when working with sheep.  They asked me why it's good to have a cliff nearby.  And so forth.  I didn't know ANY of the answers--but they did!

Here's a quick joke:
Q: Do you know what they call sheep shearers in Ireland?
A: Beauticians.

In closing, here is a simple--but disturbing--image one of the guys sent me, demonstrating how the wellies are used.

P.S. They guys said that my Adsense numbers (the number of clicks my adds on this site get) will go through the roof after this post.  They said that my blog will suddenly become VERY popular among farmers.  So I guess there is a bright side to all of this.  Maybe.   :-/


P.P.S. I have waited to post this until my flight is leaving Dublin.  This way the guys can't exact revenge on me, not yet anyway, for revealing their secrets.  :)

Wait, I think I spoke too soon.  Knowing that I was preparing this blog post, one of the guys put together this meme, specially for me.  Like I said, sick bastards!