I'm driving car's since years and never actually considered changing anything on them. As long as there running I'm happy.
Now with the motorcycle, well I got it since 2 weeks now and did already the first modification to it. I replaced the standard light bulbs with some fancy high lumen light bulbs. And boy what a difference these make, I'm finally able to see something on the highway at night and feel save driving on it.
So far defiantly the most rewarding 100$ I invested so far and cheaper than fixing a couple of broken bones, because I didn't see the pothole at 75mph.
I also know that I will install the same light bulbs in the next car I own, I'm just amazed at the difference. It's really light and day.
planned for 2010, taking the bike camping in yosomete and later yellowstone.
required setup?
Something to work on in the next 4 month while I get my riding skills up.
Today I learned something new, how to push start a motorcycle and I have to admit it's a heck of a workout.
I got a call from a friend around 4pm that she is stranded and needs someone to deliver a can of gas to her car, sure not the big deal.
I was a bit frustrated since I just cleaned and lubed to chain, which was supposed to rest overnight. Reason being is that the lube can soak into the seals completely and 30 minutes are recommended, but a night was supposed to be better.
Anyway after riding to her house and picking up the gas, my bike didn't start anymore. Reason being, no electricity. At this point I remembered, wait I had the high beams running, while the engine was off. To keep the engine fan running, while lubing the chain. Seems that a motorcycle battery is drained much quicker than a car battery. In like 45 minutes or so...
So I googled on my trusty IPhone and found out that I can push start the bike, I just have to move it in first or second gear and it should fire up. 20 Minutes later I realized that the success is higher, if you turn the kill button off... Once this was done the bike stuttered and fired right up.
Guess I put in a new battery after my Christmas vacation, since I'm quite sure that the battery will be drained after being in the garage for 3 weeks, without running. And my car battery charger can't be used on the bike.
Also to take off the seat to reach the battery is kinda sad...
Since we had some sunshine today, the weather was nice and warm. So I decided to visit my girlfriend in sacramento on the bike and drive down the old river road.
View Larger Map
Well the idea was good, but turned sour wet after I hit a mild rain in woodland. But motivated as I was I still kep going and the tunes of pink floid - pusle joined me at the ride. I was successfully avoiding the squirrel of doom and this time there was no stray dog on the road (last time I went this way I ended up in the dirt with the truck, to avoid hitting a stray dog)
65 Minutes later I arrive happy and toasty warm in sacramento. Sure my clothes were dripping wet. But my outfit kept me warm and dry more less. Even the glove liner worked well enough at this 50F day (10 degree celsius) and we went to the store to look at some warmer gloves for me. I was kinda scared about driving back and not finding the road again. (No GPS on the bike and ihpone/TomTom are not cooperating)
Sadly it turned out they had no decent gloves at the store. I mean they have at least 500 pair of gloves, but not the ones I was looking for and there 'winter' gloves were a joke in the first place. The only gloves I liked and which were warm and toasty (and heated with an additional plugin!) were way to expensive. At least I got a 10$ neck warmer, which makes live much nicer. Than we stopped at REI so that Ashley can get some warm clothes for Germany.
It's great that she plans ahead instead of freezing her toes off, that's going to be my job anyway. Since we all know that I'm always freezing.
after I left work today I got surprised by the rain and it was so slippery that I decided to work the rest of the day from home.
Well I guess rest of the day is meant literally, since it's now 9.45pm and I'm still working. It looks like I fall into old habits and working on friday nights. Which turned out to be not the smartest thing todo, judged by past expiriences.
Anyway I decided to stop at the store and reward my self with some good chocolate, apple sauce and a 20 year old port. It's been a while since I had nice wine.
Since it was raining I finally had a bit time to take some pictures of jasmine instead of always riding her or trying to learn to control her.
So just some quick shot's from the garage and I will try to provide some better shot's once the weather is nice and I take her outside for a long ride.
the biggest scam in the states seems to be the sales tax.
let's see you buy an item and you pay a tax for it? Ok I kinda agree with this so far. Than you take this item and sell it again. What happens to the buyer? He has to pay sales tax.
This translates into the following (fictive) example.
person A buys a motorcycle and pays 10k dollar for it. The sales tax is 10%, so 1000$
person A sells this bike to person B for 8k dollar, the sales tax is 800$
person B sells this bike to person C for 4.5k dollar, the sales tax is 450$
person C sells....
so for one item you the state got a total of 2250$ in taxes so far. Does this seem fair?
yes I had to pay sales taxes today for 'jasmine' And no I'm not happy about it. I just paid sales tax for my Passat 7 month ago...
this mornign I stumbled over a deal for some logitech IEM's which were reduced from 400$ to 99$, one day only.
What did I do? Order 2 pairs like several other thousand people in the hope to sell it on craigslist for a quick 400-500$ profit. Let's see if it works out.... At least I got an order conformation before the logitech server collapsed.
today I came home and found a huge package on the door step. What could it be?
Surprisingly my REI clothes came a week early and now I'm almost ready for germany this year. And quite sure that I'm not going to freeze again...
Only thing missing are socks and glove liners now. Yes I hate nothing as much as to freeze and as I know my girlfriend she want's to walk all over berlin in a middle of a blizzard...
tonight I started reading the novel 'First Blood' also better known as 'Rambo', because the movie is based on this novel. Sadly the movie is not very close to the novel and the worst thing...
in the preface the author analyzed the movie against the novel and gave away the main difference. He explained the different endings in the novel and the movie. Or let me translate this, on page 5 he gave away how the book ends.
Thanks, not really motivated to read it now anymore...
today I finally managed to connect my laptop to my little dot dac and have to say. The quality is quite impressive and I can't really complain. Now I just have to sort out all these bad quality < 256kbps mp3 files I have. Cause 128kbps sounds plain awful.
Advantage? Only have to buy cd's I really like and don't have as mpg3, since iTunes doesn't give you loose less compressed files :(
currently head direct is kicking out RE0 IEM for 79$ instead of 200$, since they are releasing the new version soonish.
There was no way I pass up such a deal and did not order these for my IPod/IPhone. Now all I need is a portable amplifier. I really like the iBasso T3 or iBasso D10, but I guess this has to wait till january/february/march.
But this also requires me to order a LOD for my I-Pod.
After all I still have to pay for registration, insurance and delivery for the bike, which is going to be another 400$. Not to mention the great steakhouse visit :)
yay my new cd and cooking book finally arrived. And so far I really like 'Anouar Brahem - The Astounding Eyes of Rita'
Not sure if I need a third cd from this band, since all there music sounds a bit similar. But it's just so calming and relaxing. Now one day I have to setup my system at home to rip the music from my cd's to a harddrive.
Why?
So I can listen to it on the way and while being at work.
something is seriously odd this year. For non apparent reason what soever all my laptops just die
ich denke weihnachten kann kommen, endlich habe ich genug warme sachen zum anziehen...
