Autumn colors

After a coffee break with my sweetie at her work.

I hate daylight savings time!

And in other news, I got an aluminum side-step for our Bus today and installed it this evening.  Looks nice, I like it.  This will make it easier for the kids and parents to get in & out of the Bus.  Now I need to get mud flaps on all four corners.

Here's my Sweetie at Multhomah Falls before we met up with a good friend of mine...

Saturday I met up with my Navy buddy after 16 years, Mike Holliday.  It was a blast!  Got to meet his girlfriend, Danielle, and she is a real catch.  Great girl.  Man, I laughed so much and we yammered for so long, fantastic time.

Here we are at Edgefield McMinemens:

Sunday was A's birthday and it was a nice, mellow day.  I can't believe I got's me an older woman!  (Just by a month) LOL  :-D

Slacker

Uhg, this blog stuff...too much work...I use my brain enough at work so when I get home I'm mentally tired.  I'll try to get pictures of the new look of our house.

Mimi flies in tonight from Georgia.  It will be nice to have her here for the next few months.  I think it will really help my sweetie the most, take some of the "mommy!  mommy look at me!  mommy, she/he hit me!  mommy, daddy said 'no'!  mommy!  mommy!  mommy!" load off her, LOL.

I found my reason to not wear a helmet when I ride...

...and it's to hear the full, unfiltered orchestration of the engine while riding!

Let me back up a few minutes. Today is a beautifully sunny, cool day. I rode around to nowhere interesting for about 20 minutes to warm up the chain. Got home, put her up on her stand, cleaned the chain (I definitely need practice on that messy procedure!), and then lubed it. I then semi-detailed the rear bottom half of the bike due to my messiness and decided to toodle her around the block. In a classic white T-shirt (with the word FAST on the back) and Levi jeans, I grabbed my sunglasses and I fired her up. I backed her out of the driveway, and onto the street. Then it was a leisurely (as best one can on a Ducati) roll around the block (3/10ths of a mile).

Holy cow! I couldn't believe what I was missing! Clattering, clicking, huffing, whining, purring -- an entire cacophony of wonderful, mechanical sounds. I cursed the lucky people who got to hear my bike in its purity. I cursed my helmet for muffling all those wonderful sounds my bike sang out. I started wondering how I could drill holes in my helmet without destroying its structural integrity. CURSES!!

My driveway quickly approached and then I purred her into the garage. I sat there for a second before turning her off. The garage suddenly sounded deathly quiet with my girl no longer chattering to me. Sigh. Damn helmets...damn them all...harrumph!

Don't worry, I will still wear a full-face helmet, no plans on riding with a naked head. I worry too much about some idiot doing something idiotic that will put me into a non-exitable situation and that helmet is what will keep me alive to ride another day.

But if someone ever makes a full-face helmet with aural openings I'll likely get one...

Finally some end user creativity!

End users are now able to change their background image in this blog...about freakin' time!  So I'm playing with it and am currently using a picture of my Duc and the kid's custom painted pedal car with an orange backdrop (in honor of my VW Squareback).

Two weeks ago our group lost Linda Kresl to another company.  Major bummer as she was my hope and savior for getting a BI environment for customer care reporting.  Plus she is very intelligent and very driven and I was hoping she would be my mentor.  Rats!  Well guess what?  Yesterday we found out that my manager, a senior director in the company, is moving to another company!  Yes, the same one that said I should blog my VW vacation is LEAVING US!  But hey, when a good opportunity comes along ya gotta take it so, like Linda, she will be really missed.  She has been really good in getting me to communicate and work with my internal customers on prioritizing my workload -- and it's a full one!  However, it's not all roses as there have been some folks let go and we don't know why.  Pretty scary during these low economic times for sure.  I learned from Intel that no one is irreplaceable, especially as long as India has cheap (in every sense of the word) labor so I do worry about my position.

Our silly two-year phone contract with ATT has finally expired...well, back in June.  Two-year contracts are stupid, hate them!!  So I've been looking for a replacement to my Moto Q 9H phone (don't like it) and have decided upon an Android OS phone.  I've been reading and studying and comparing and with the plan I can get through my work I've decided to get an HTC EVO 4G through Sprint.  Not crazy about Sprint since they screwed me over back when I was in the Navy but that was a LONG time ago so here's to hoping things are better.  ATT and Verizon are the only other real choices out of the bazillion phones available at this minute.  In a couple minutes I'm sure half of them will be replaced with another billion "different" units.  Whatever.  Verizon sucks monkey butt around here so Sprint is the lesser evil.  I was considering the iPhone 4G but...meh...I dunno, I'm just not that enamored by it to pay such a ridiculous amount when I can get the same and more with another brand.  I have to see about the family plan and what my baby can use since she doesn't want her BlackBerry -- she hardly even used 1/5 of its capabilities, she just needs a phone that can take a picture, text & do multi-media messages.

Huh, I remember when phones were all land-lines with rotary dials...we even had a party-line back when we lived out in the sticks...

Sept. 11th...I have not forgotten!

This day was a horrible one; one that I witnessed on live television.

In other news...
Installed gauge lowering mounts on my Ducati.  They are simple mounts that position the gauges so they face my face and not my chest.  Click me for pictures!

Before

After

Why are my neighbors happy with me now?

Here's the view out the kitchen window during the construction of our covered porch.  This shows how much of the sky I'll be losing.  Luckily, it's not too bad and having a cover over the front door is definitely a welcome addition!

So what's going on?  We've finally decided to do some fixin' up of the ol' homestead.  HardiPlank siding to replace the original cedar, windows on the north side of the house that are energy effecient (now the whole house matches), an awning over the rear garage door, a new front door, front porch with cover, and a window in the living room!

The process is moving slower than expected but it's kind of okay since our neighbor, George, is the one doing the work :-)  He's a master carpenter and has been doing very nice work.

I've wired up security lighting around the house and trenched in the drainage pipe for the porch rain gutter once we get it mounted.  I also opted to have the spouts dump onto gratings instead of directly into the pipe with the idea that all the crap from the tree, moss, nuts, etc. will hit/scatter on that instead of plugging up the gutters.  I've used the plug-in screens but it still requires me to walk the roof and clean the gutters.  This way the crap will flow down and onto the ground, making clean up much easier and obvious.  If it doesn't work it's very simple to plug the downspouts into the existing drain pipes.

The main bathroom shower/tub area has been ripped out and replaced.  It's been ready for tile work for about a month so the tile guy will be coming soon to start work on that.  George and I fixed the 1960's plumbing and installed new hardware to make the room look pretty.  Gotta get it ready for Mimi's visit!

We've FINALLY got rain...the area needs it...heck, our water bill needs it, LOL.  My Ducati has been simply awesome to ride.  I love it love it love it.  Met a couple of neighbors because of her.  One guy is into restoring Vespa's and used to buy/repair/sell VW Buses.  The other guy finally finished his 1976 Norton 850.  Sweet looking ride for sure.  He also has a 750.

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday my Sweetie said it was one year ago that I gave her her ring.  I consider it a wedding ring but she says it's an engagement ring.  Nonetheless, being a guy, it never crossed my mind, however, she got a baby-sitter for Ronin since Bella was doing a sleep-over at Grammy Sue's and she took me to Salty's on the Columbia River.  We had a great meal next to the water, watching the sunset, and she got me a nice watch as an anniversary present.  It was a good evening.

Today I bought a 3-speed metal cutting bandsaw that can cut horizontally and vertically from our next door neighbor.  His grandfather had passed away and had various metal working tools in his shop.  So I finally have something to cut metal with!!!  Using a cut-off wheel or hacksaw or reciprocating saw is just too much work!

Work and Duc updates

Work has been, well, work!  I'm getting a lot of over-time which means I'm getting more tasks than time (and more challenging).  My position really needs another me -- there needs to be two people in my current position or else someone to do the maintenance and stomp out the little fires that plague my days.  I'm waiting for the day when my manager has a meeting with me and our HR gal and tell me that I'm going to be salaried...with no change in pay...

Last week (or maybe it was the week before?) I got a flat rear tire on my Duc.  Got both of the original stock tires replaced with Michelin Power Pure and --BAM!-- the grip is nice!  Also removed the questionable stock RR (voltage regulator/rectifier) with a MOSFET unit so I'll never have to worry about cooking my butt, having my bike burst into flames a la X-Wing Fighter, or worrying about her dying mid-ride due to the crappy OEM RR failing.  Ooh, ooh, I also got a rear hugger which is basically a shorty rear fender.  Having tested it in a section of muddy road I can attest that it keeps the everything clean from the bottom of the battery lid and down  LOL!  Well, at least the engine will remain cleaner heheh.

I'm so happy that the weather is FINALLY cooperating, allowing me lots of ride time.  It's such a different riding experience 'tween the two (my Ducati vs. my Honda).  I'm much more comfortable on my Duc and am practicing my launches, to get moving from a stop quickly while keeping the front tire on the ground...well, for the most part ;-)

Well, off to PGE Park for some kids event Intel is doing.  God I'm glad I don't work there any more!

Not enough time

Well, trying to keep up on a blog takes a good chunk of time.  I learned this during the Invasion but it's been reinforced here at home.  If I'm not busy with home stuff or dealing with work then I get a few minutes to rest before bed.  During the Invasion it was really just me; at home I have three other people to share my time with (and we just adopted a black cat named Eris, bringing us to two cats now).  With my priorities this blog falls near the bottom, which is kind of a bummer since I want to be able to use it to document some of the stuff I do to my vehicles.  I'm guessing that people who do good blogs must have a talent for writing, so it comes out quickly without much revision, and/or it's a priority for them so they have the time.

It's Sunday morning before everybody is up.  I've already spent over 15 minutes on this little bit of text and now I need to work on finishing a work task as it's due tomorrow.  Ugh...almost everybody who requests information from me has their task at #1, top priority.  It can get annoying.  I like the job, it just reminds me of Intel sometimes with the rush rush rush.  It also means my work is important and the position I'm in needs a second person because I'm just not enough to get everyone's tasks completed in the time they want.


I just found a Sponge Bob Squarepants sticker on the floor next to my computer desk.  That means one of the kids was where they shouldn't have been.


I checked the mileage of mi ragazza and I've gotten a low of 35mpg and a high of 38mpg.  Not bad for a heavy throttle hand :-D