We had torrential rain here for a while this afternoon.  Then the skies cleared and the sun came out for a bit. The trees in my yard were so beautiful with the sun light glistening through the rain drops.

It reminded me that I’ve been feeling a lack of creative juices lately. Never a good thing but it did spur me to pick up the camera and wander around the yard for a while. I think I need to do more of that, and soon.

In motorcycling terms, a farkle is a gizmo, gadget or other optional feature that is added to your motorcycle. Today I installed a new on-board video recording system and gave it a trial run.

The camera can be seen in this first photo. It’s from Twenty20 cameras and is a motorcycle specific camera system. It mounts using a RAM mount system and is powered off of the motorcycle’s electrical system via a 12 volt regulator connected to the battery. It also includes a microphone to pick up audio. The system still needs a recorder to store the video captured.  I’m currently using my old DV video camera stashed in my tank bag. For today’s test I used temporary mount while some new RAM components I’ve ordered are making their way to me via UPS. That’s one nice thing about using a RAM mount, they are modular and you can buy additional arms, bases, etc to customize it to your application.

The other new thing I installed was a LANC controller that mounts on my throttle using industrial-strength velcro. The controller has a single button and a single LED. Holding the button down for a second or two will either turn the recorder on or off.  Tapping the button will start or stop recording.  The LED changes colors to indicate if the recorder is in stand by mode or is recording.  It will flash different codes to let you know if the battery is getting low  or if you are running low on tape. Much easier than the fumbling around I had to do in the past to power the camera up and make sure it was recording!

The weather was pretty nice today, warm and clear. I just did a quick loop up into Seattle and then back home. I mostly wanted to see how the camera handled the vibration and various light levels. For the most part I’m pretty happy with it, though I’ll be much happier once I have a better mount for it.  It ships with a nice mount, but the base doesn’t work well on my ZZR-1200 because it requires a flat surface about 2-inches round and I just don’t have a good flat surface that big available. I’ve ordered a couple of new bases and a longer arm. They’ll be here this week so I think that will solve my problems.

I edited together a short test video and have uploaded it to YouTube.  As soon as it’s available I’ll edit this post to include it. Hopefully we’ll get more good weather in the coming weeks and I’ll be able to do a better test on more interesting roads!

Can I just say once more, with feeling, that I dislike changing the time? *sigh*

I’m still not synch’d up with the rest of the world. Maybe after this weekend my body clock will catch up. It’s gotten progressively worse instead of better this past week though. I didn’t fall asleep last night until about 4am Saturday morning.  Then I woke up around 10am. Now it’s 10pm and I’m just now fixing dinner. This is not good!

I’m hoping for a little sunshine on Sunday. I’d like to get out on the bike to try out a new toy. Full report tomorrow if I manage to pull it off.

Also, let it be known that Peggle is extremely addictive… you have been warned!

I stayed home sick today. Feeling blah. Mostly vegged on the couch, watching TV and surfing on the laptop.

Stumbled over a new show that is airing on Lifetime call Blood Ties. Based on the Blood Books by Tanya Huff. It just started, the first half of the pilot is available on the Lifetime website.

The premise of the series is an interesting one. The main character is a former police officer named Vicki Nelson. She had to leave the force due to failing vision and is now a private detective. In the pilot and subsequent episodes she gets involved in cases that have supernatural elements. Along the way she winds up partnering with Henry Fitzroy. He has a lot of experience that comes in handy, being that he’s nearly 500 years old and a vampire. Vicki’s former partner Mike Celluci gets involved also, setting up an interesting triangle between the three of them.

Hard to say if the series will go the distance, but I thought the pilot was pretty good. A little action, a little romance, interesting story. I like vampires, maybe more than zombies. There’s something sensual I think, about a good blood sucking. Not that I aspire to suck blood mind you.

In any case, if you like a good drama, with supernatural overtones and vampires, you might check Blood Ties out. It airs Sundays at 10PM on Lifetime.

I mentioned that I took Matt and his girlfriend to dinner and a movie this past weekend. I wanted to get to know her a little. She’s older than he is, and graduated from high school earlier this year.  She’s leaving soon for Air Force basic training, so we spent a good chunk of dinner talking about my own experiences with the same. I’m sure things have changed since I went through in the mid-80s.  At least I hope so!

Like my family, her family has a tradition of military service. Her father was Navy. Mine was Army. Every male member on my side of the family has served in one branch or the other. Matt has made noises about wanting to serve as well.

I have to confess I’m torn on that issue.  In general, I believe in serving your country, either in the military or some sort of civilian public service. I think it’s a healthy tradition. Unfortunately, I’d be incredibly leery of military service right now. I’m not a supporter of our Iraq invasion. I don’t think our leaders have a plan, a definition of “success” or much respect for our men and women serving in the military.

Fortunately, Matt still has a couple years ahead of him to make his decisions. I can only hope that things improve by then, but I don’t have much faith in our political leaders on either side of the aisle.

I just meant to lay down on the couch and read a while this afternoon. A ninja must have snuck up and whacked me on the head, because the next thing I know it’s dark outside and 9pm at night. Either that or maybe this time change thing had an effect…

Matt was over this weekend. With both kids getting older, they like to have “focused” time with me so we’re on a schedule that alternates solo weekends with weekends for both of them to be here.  In between I have free weekends which will become more important as the weather improves and motorcycle season gets into full swing.

We opted for a movie marathon of sorts on Saturday, breaking out two classic, if campy, horror flicks… Night of the Comet and Return of the Living Dead. I loosely group the first into the zombie genre, it was a chance find while we were out shopping.  It hasn’t been available for years but was finally released on DVD earlier this month. Neither movie is considered “canon” for zombie movies, but they are still entertaining!

Sunday our only concrete plan was to collect Matt’s girlfriend and catch a viewing of 300 along with dinner. In keeping with the general theme so far, the zombie connection here is that the director Zack Snyder was responsible for the 2004 remake of the classic Dawn of the Dead.

300 is a movie that is probably not to everyone’s taste. In one sense it’s incredibly violent, on the other hand its overall style is that of a graphic novel so it doesn’t seem as violent as a “normal” live action movie would be. All three of us liked it a great deal, I may even see it again as it was quite a visual treat. If you see it, you should know that it is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, though the bones of the story are rooted in actual history. This may affect your perception of the movie.

And that’s probably enough for one weekend, though our “at dinner” conversation sparked some thoughts I’ll share in an upcoming post.

Stolen from SilverWillow who stole it from Leesa

I knew it… doomed!

Kind, yearning, playful, you are The Boy Next Door. You’re looking for real Love, a lot like girls do. It might not be manly, but it’s sweet.

We think the next three years will be very exciting and fruitful ones for you. Your spontaneous, creative side makes you a charming date, and we think you have a horny side just waiting to shine. Or glisten, rather. You enter new relationships unusually hopeful, and the first moments are especially glorious. If you’ve had some things not work out before, so what.

On paper, most girls would name The Boy Next Door as their ideal mate. In the real world, however, you’re often passed over for more dangerous or masculine men. You’re the typical “nice guy:” without just a touch of cockiness, you’re doomed with girls. A shoulder to cry on? Okay, sure. But never a penis to hold.

More than any other type, Boys Next Door evolve as they get older. As we said, many find true love, but some fail miserably in the search. These tarnished few grow up to be The Men Next Door, who are creepy as hell, offering backrubs to kids and what not.

ALWAYS AVOID: The Nymph

CONSIDER: The Maid of Honor, The Peach
Take the Test

Thursday night, Lindsey had a concert at school. This is her last year in elementary school, so they’re still at the recorder and percussion instrument stage. It was actually a very pleasant evening! Normally I think you’d go into something like this expecting to hear a little squeaking and see evidence of stage fright and the like. Not here, the kids seemed very comfortable performing and they sounded very good!

Lindsey played in the large ensemble and then also had a recorder solo and duet. She also played in a percussion ensemble for part of the evening. She finished up with a recorder solo during the ensemble singing performance of “Penny Whistle.”

She’s also declared that she’s going out for flute next year in middle school band. I’m not surprised… more photos at Flickr.