The new blog has officially launched! If you expressed an interest or were a regular commenter I’ve already sent you an e-mail with the details. If you didn’t recieve one and are interested, please leave a comment and I’ll be happy to send you the URL.

This blog will continue to operate, but will be focusing exclusively on motorcycling and motorcycle-related content. I’ll probably be going back through the archive at some point and retiring posts that are no longer relevant to that specific focus.

I’m starting my own meme, just because I was thinking about something I did tonight and it occurred to me that I might be a little strange. So here’s the deal, list as many things as you care to that others might find quirky about you.  Could be habits that you have or behaviors you’ve noticed in yourself.  If you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged!

1. One of my indulgences is ice. No, not the kind you make yourself with an ice tray and tap water.  I buy a bag of ice when I go grocery shopping and keep it in my freezer.  I like ice in my drinks, and I don’t like big, chunky, cubes.
2. The stereo in my car has a numerical scale for the volume, so when you turn the knob the display shows a number that represents how loud it is.  In my car, it has to be an even number, no odd numbers for volume.
3. I don’t like to wear jeans in the house. When I get home from somewhere that I’ve been wearing long pants, I generally head straight to the bedroom to put on shorts. If I’m wearing a button-down shirt, that normally get’s hung up or put in the laundry and a t-shirt goes on. I like to wear leisure clothes around the house I guess and obviously, I don’t entertain much!
4. I’m obsessive about e-mail. I check it constantly.  I just checked it before writing this entry in the list, right in the middle of typing this blog post.  All I had was a MySpace friend request spam.
5. I like to read movie credits.  I’m annoyed when the audience gets up and leaves at the end of a movie while the credits are rolling, often blocking my view. I don’t read every name, but I do scan the list and occasionally see interesting entries. I also like to see which songs are on the soundtrack. And occasionally you’re pleasantly surprised when the film has a bonus scene after the credits. 

I *meant* to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Failure in this goal should be obvious as I’m writing this at nearly 3am… *sigh*

It all started around 11pm Monday when I *did* actually go to bed. And decided to listen to music. My Zune is normally by my bed when I’m not using it in the car. I plugged in the earphones, set it to shuffle and started listening while hoping to drift off to sleep. Nothing really satisfied though, but an Eve 6 tune finally popped up and it hit the spot. So I switched over to shuffling just Eve 6 songs. And noticed I only had one Eve 6 album on the Zune. I knew I had another one in iTunes (Yeah I’m bi… iPod and Zune living together under one roof) so I decided to go ahead and throw it on the Zune too. But then I got to thinking that they had a third album that I didn’t have. Mind you, we’re closing in on 1am by this time.

One of the great things about the Internet and the advent of digital music is that you can get your music fix at any time of the day. I found a place I could purchase the one Eve 6 album I didn’t have and loaded everything on the Zune and went back to bed. Then a specific Eve 6 track came on and something clicked that had been bugging me for a while.

Let me backtrack for a second. I’ve been unhappy with my blog for a while. I think I’m mixing too many things here and it’s been bothering me a little. I enjoy posting about motorcycles and riding, but there are a lot of other topics I’d like to write about that don’t really fit here. And I already post a lot of things (like this) that have nothing to do with riding. I was thinking about categorizing things different but honestly, it’d be easier just to start a second blog.

Back to Eve 6. A particular song came on that contained a phrase I really liked and it planted an idea for a new blog name. Of course, I had to get up *again* and see if it was available as a domain name. It was, so I registered it and setup the domain with my current blog host. I still need to setup Wordpress and come up with a template so it will be a few days before it’s all truly up and running.

I don’t plan to link directly to the new blog from here, though it won’t be private or anything like that. I just don’t want to have the two related in any way. I’ll be posting under my nickname on the new blog. If you’re one of my small group of regular readers and would like the new address, just leave me a comment and be sure to fill out your e-mail address so I can send it to you.

So now you see why I tend to get so little sleep… *sigh*

“Bring The Night On” by Eve 6

Which isn’t the song that inspired the new blog…

I haven’t had the energy or interest to post much lately, sorry! Things have just been, I dunno, “blah” lately. I spent the first part of the week sick, dealing with several days of throbbing headache. That was followed by several days (nights?) of insomnia. I get that way sometimes. I lay in bed but my mind refuses to turn off. Normally it’s not that I’m worried about anything, I just can’t get my thoughts to slow down, whatever they are. I often wind up plugging in head phones and drowning out the thoughts with music. Most of the time that works.

On the plus side, my sister is coming to town next week! We haven’t seen each other for many, many years. It’s just two days and she’s here on business, but we’ll have most of a day to hang out. I plan to show her a few sights and then we’re getting together with my aunt and uncle and cousin for dinner. That should be fun. It will be nice catching up. We really haven’t been very close as we more or less grew up apart. I lived with dad, she lived with mom for a lot of years. It’s hard rebuilding a relationship when you live on opposite coasts, but we try to keep in touch. The ‘net helps. This is her first trip outside of Georgia I think. It will either expand her horizons or scare her to death. Hopefully the former!

And now, I gotta get it in gear to go help Marianna the “Microchickie” move into her new place. I think John and Deb are going to be there too, wish us luck… that girl has a bunch of stuff to move and rumor has it that stair are involved. Oh boy… I need high energy music I think… queue the “Na na na’s” maestro!

“The City’s Summer” by The Honorary Title

I took Friday off and my daughter Lindsey and I drove down to Mount St. Helens. I’ve been to the east side of the mountain many times but this is the first time I’ve ever visited the west side. It’s a beautiful drive, I highly recommend it!

Windy Ridge on the east side is physical closer to Mount St. Helens but you can’t really see the crater well from there.  On the west side, Johnston Ridge is perfectly positioned for a dramatic view of the lava dome and the steam rising out of the crater. The visitor center at the Johnston Ridge Observatory contains a lot of information about the mountain and the May 18, 1980 eruption.

We had a great drive down. I stopped at most of the frequent scenic overlooks to take photos as we went. Being a weekday, the traffic was pretty light. I imagine things get busier on the weekend. On the way back, we stopped for dinner at 19 Mile House in Kid Valley, WA. This little restaurant and gift shop features a spectacular view and fantastic home-made cobbler!

More photos on Flickr!

Argh… Ticketmaster finally posted the date for the Seattle performance of Cheap Trick. It’s Saturday, November 17th.  The *same* date I already have tickets for Kathy Griffin.

*sound of forehead bouncing on desk*

Hmm… stick with Kathy Griffin or sell the tickets and get tickets to Cheap Trick. Decisions… decisions… decisions…

I’m thinking Kathy, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a bit sad to miss Cheap Trick in concert.

Ok Comcast, I’ve been satisfied (not overjoyed mind you, just satisfied) with your cable service for several years now.  My HD DVR has worked ok (not great, just ok) but at least it worked.  Now you’ve “upgraded” the software on it and for the last two weeks, I don’t think it has worked for more than a few hours without crashing and burning.  And only physically unplugging the power and plugging it back in will reset the box.  I’ve talked to live tech support twice now, I’ve had a tech come out and look at it.  And still… it crashes more than it works.  Honestly, I think my setup box is about to have a violent accident. Maybe it’s time to start looking at digital satellite. I wonder if they really do offer more HD channels than cable…. hmm.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.  - Helen Keller

My daughter Lindsey and I are off on a two-day photo safari to the Washington coast. The general plan is to head out towards Westport, but who knows where we’ll actually wind up.  I’ve got a motel reservation out in that general area for Saturday night at least.

I know that there’s a kite flying event nearby and a maritime museum with a lighthouse that sounds interesting. Aside from that we’re going to follow our instincts and see where they take us. I suspect a fantastic seafood dinner should be included at some point. I know the motel has an indoor, heated pool and Lindsey is looking forward to that also!

Hope you have a great weekend too!