More Exhaust Woes

So when Larry put my new exhaust on a few weeks back, he told me (under no uncertain terms) to take the scooter over to Scuderia West and ask them to tighten the top nut. Apparently, Lars' socket wrench was too long and wouldn't fit all the way up in there. In his words just today...

"Like a good woman, motorcycles are full of tight nooks and crannies don’tcha know..."

But did I go to the shop to get it tightened? Noooooooooo! And so yesterday when I asked a co-worker who rides a Kawasaki 1000 to take a look ('cause, to my untrained ear, it sounded like the exhaust had come loose), the nut, bolt and gasket had actually fallen off! ACK!

So I called the dealer who sold me the exhaust, asked 'em to send me some replacement parts, and if they come in tomorrow, I'll go over to Larry's and get the damn pipe tightened, and GOOD. He's actually getting the exact wrench for the job!

I don't know why I even dare to dream of owning a honest-to-god motorcycle someday! Maybe it's just the rabidly conspicuous consumer in me... jonesing for that next retail fix! So, without further ado, here is my short list of bikes I'm considering:

• Honda Rebel 250
  
• Honda Nighthawk 250
  
• Suzuki SV 650

The latter, while a great deal more powerful, rarer to find used, and thusly more expensive, is so beautiful, I just had to post a photo:

Happy Days

I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that I've been feeling quite happy today, Odd, for a Monday ;-) I think I know why...

• I got lots and lots of sleep last night (like about 14 hrs, give or take.)
  
• The weather has been SUUUUpreme! And so I rode my scooter to the baby shower yesterday and, of course, into work today. Ahhh!
  
• I have FINALLY knitted something that I haven't frogged! That's right: NO mistakes!
  
  
  
• I have a massage tonight!
  
• I've been eating very healthy today, and am proud of me :-)

ComPLEtely Unable to Work

At least this time I've got an excuse!!

First, someone in IT decided it would be a good idea to install some Windows XP update while I was out to lunch. It forced my computer to restart, meaning that I lost all the work I did right before lunch (and didn't think to Save before I left my desk, assuming no one would touch my machine).
Then our internet connection went down.
Then our LAN went down.
Then my phone went down.

Some of the above are up and running again, but not the all-important LAN, which is where I save all my work files since they don't run backups on our PCs.

Plus I got new yarn today!

Plus N got her kittens today!


So the last hour I had to actually put in some work today, in between the 8000 meetings that I've had to go to, is completely lost.

I'm just glad I can BLOG... Thank god for small mercies!

My new all-time favorite time waster!

For the past few months, ever since J's friend Richard sent us a couple of really good mixed CDs he made, I have been inspired to try my hand at one. And I'm not talking about your basic choose-a-bunch-of-songs-that-express-your-deepest-feelings sort of mix...

(Oh god yes, I was was the hugest mix-tape nerd; every new guy I fell in love with became the "lucky" recipient of their very own made-by-RiseyP tape. I cringe to think of the abysmal sound quality that inevitably marred those otherwise brilliant creations... But I never had any decent recording gear!

But when CDR drives got to be standard equipment on computers those times of fuzzy, quiet, crackly tapes that took *days* to record gave way to a new age of quicker, easier and cheaper digital compilations!)

But I digress. I wanted to make something more like a real DJ mix. I wanted to blend the tracks together (not in a super-fancy way, as I'm too lazy/cheap to look into let alone buy all the crap needed to do that kind of thing really well) and i wanted to have snarky-but-relevant spoken word clips mixed in. So I started to brainstorm what music R would like, and decided to poke around online for sound clips. I had no idea how easy they would be able to find and download from my work PC (where I can't have a p2p client, obviously).

So, uh, yeah. OMG, there's TONS of stuff out there!!!! Gawd, if it weren't the busiest week of work I've had since I started this new job, I would have amassed an amazing collection by now. But every single spare moment I could carve out this week, I spent grabbing free .wav and .mp3 files from TV, movies, etc. It was sooo fun!

A few of my current favorites:

• Movie Sounds Central
  
• Movie Wavs
  
• WavSource

At any rate, I ended up making a CD for J instead, as his birthday is tomorrow, and I love making little things for him! (Richard's CD can wait.)

And also for my lovey's birthday, we're going up to Tahoe and staying at the Resort at Squaw Creek for the weekend with our friend N. J'll probably snowboard tomorrow (at some places, they're keeping the lifts open til July 4th!), and me & N will do spa thingies. Yay!

A Day Out: Sea Creatures and Scary People

Yesterday, J and I went to Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, as I had a hankerin' to do something other than walk around and go window shopping in SF or Marin (our usual weekend activity).

So we drove across the GG Bridge and stopped for breakfast at Mama's Cafe in Mill Valley, a favorite spot with crazily eclectic decor, live piano music, friendly wait staff and great food. Fortified, we finished the drive over to Vallejo and parked in the second to last row of a humongous parking lot, dwarfed in a herd of mammoth SUVs. My car was one of 2 or 3 European models in the whole lot. (Oops, I forgot to buy American. Again.)

On our long, long walk to the front gates, we passed a large family (and by large, I mean: total combined weight rather than number of people) having a picnic in the parking lot and a heated discussion as to the location of the "meh-naze". Couldn't get more stereotypically hick-a-rific if ya tried. Sigh.

The rest of the day we felt like black-garbed, fashionably-shod fish out of water amongst all the trucker-hat-sportin', muscle-shirt-wearin', 8-kids-havin', Britney and Kevin F. lookalikes we stood in line next to.

But the people who I felt most sorry for (besides the animals of course) were the park employees who had to constantly remind everyone "Please don't climb on the rocks. Please stay on this side of the fence. Please don't splash the water. Please don't knock on the glass."

But boy, were the sea creatures and tigers and lions and giraffes CUTE!!

As we left, Jason said, "You are a true sylph next to these people!" And I said, "Hmmm, I felt like I fit right in, weight-wise."

Sigh again.