Wow... sounds like you're a bit busy! Congrats on the new editions! Hope you get some sleep soon!
Wrider

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Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

Sigh...

Yeah, Thanksgiving was yesterday. Nice, sunny, 50-degree-plus Thanksgiving. The kids (the older ones, who can walk and talk and such) played outside all day, and I played a bit of football in the backyard with them, but mostly I stayed inside and helped with the babies, and with the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams, greenbean casserole, crescent rolls, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie and apple pie.

But while I worked in the kitchen, I watched out the window as my heart was broken. The first heartbreaker was a black Katana (or Ninja, Hurricane or GS, couldn't really tell.) with chartreuse stripes on it. It motored by slowly, the rider glorying in the experience...I imagine, anyway. This one trolled by the house several times, back and forth throughout the day. I wanted to pick the rider off with a LAWS rocket and steal their bike.

The second heartbreaker was the up-the-road neighbor who has a beautiful Harley something-or-other like a Road King. That one really hurt, because our garage was open while he rode by, and I could see that he was peering into the garage at my dormant Yamaha -- battery out, carbs drained, gastank Sta-Billed.

Sigh...

Oh well. The twins are good. We suffered a cold throughout the noodlenoggin household this week -- snuffly, two-week-old babies aren't cool. They took it remarkably well, actually, and are getting better, as are the rest of us. They're good babies. Remarkably unfussy, and generally content. Absolutely not like each other, and not identical-looking. The little one's even growing eyelashes and eyebrows and losing her "alien baby" look.

And so, the motorcycle guy, on the motorcycle forum, has to say "we need a minivan." We can all fit in my car...just barely, and if we sit just so. If we want to all go somewhere, we do it in the '84 Crown Vic, with the crushed rear corner, and currently dripping oil from some sending doohicky on the engine block. Very classy. Not Beverly Hillbillies-ish at all. Still, I think (knock on wood, no really, I just knocked on the desk) we can limp through until tax refund time in the spring, and get a used van, or (cross fingers) 4x4 Suburban, which actually isn't so frivolous here in seven-months-of-winter Michigan.

Cheerio...

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

And so it goes...

Well, the twins are a month old now. Allison, the little one, is 7lbs 13oz, and Elouise is 8lbs 3oz...they've each gained a couple of pounds in the past month. They eat, they poop, they cry, and occasionally they sleep. In short, they do what babies are supposed to do.


Allison there. She doesn't look like any of us. I swear she's going to be red-haired and pale-skinned, and people are going to be asking us if she's ours for the rest of our lives. For the first time, a baby actually prefers me, and that baby is Allison!


Elouise there. She and the older kids look like peas in a pod. She's a bit more temperamental...she'll fit right in around here.

That's all. What'd you expect? I'm tired!

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

Good read noodle. You have some sweet little girls there.

Life goes on...six of them, right under one roof!

(First...Thanks, Shorts! Thanks, Wrider!)

First and foremost, I haven't done a durn thing with the bike. It actually has one of the kids' booster seats sitting on it, and I'm told that I can't look behind it, or I'll find out what I'm getting from Santa. Apparently my wife is leasing out the space to NorthPole, Inc., or something. Most likely, I won't be doing anything with the bike, either...not until April sometime, if we have an early thaw, that is. I do live in northern Michigan. We got about a foot of snow on Dec. 1. It's gone now, actually. Been in the forties and rainy for a couple of weeks. Sigh...sing it with me... "I'm....dreaming.......of a GREEN....Christmas!"

Being unseasonably warm, I did actually get a chance to work on my car's radio this morning. A couple of weeks ago, I popped the cassette out (cassette...remember them? They're what people used to use before there were cd's. They're kind of like video-tapes...erm, those things people used to watch on tv before there were dvd's. Geez, this isn't helping.) and instead of listening to "WKLT, Northern Michigan Rocks! Hoowah!" I listened to static. And found that none of the buttons on the radio worked anymore. In fact, all I could do was turn the thing on/off, and play the cassette. Frustrating.

So today, I went out, tore off the piece of dashboard over the radio and pulled the head unit out and disconnected the power. I was right, when I powered it back on, it had reset itself and worked fine. Then I tried the cd changer that rides in the trunk...and it didn't work. After another half-hour, I figured out that the changer itself seemed to be the dead link, everything else seemed to be working. I spent another twenty minutes disassembling the top of the changer so I could get my cd's out of it. Hey, even if the electronic gizmo is dead, that's no reason to give up my Soundarden and Beastie Boys discs!

I can't manage to get too bent out of shape about it...I mean, I consider the whole system kind of a freebie. When we bought the Jeep Wagoneer that I drove before this car, it came with the head unit and changer. When the Jeep shuddered off into the Rust ring of Dante's Inferno, I pulled them out and transplanted them into the '84 Crown Victoria that I drive now. There was an empty hole waiting for them, even -- the high-school kid I bought the car from had torn his own cd player out of the dash before he sold it to me. So, $750 for the car, nothin' for the sound system, and I was rollin' in a barge with a changer.

Anyway, now I'm rollin' in a barge with a cassette deck.

Thankfully, it's a barge with a cassette deck that can carry four kids in carseats and two sort-of squished adults -- true six passenger seating, and a trunk that's larger than any sedan's trunk has a right to be. Or in normal-people language -- my old barge can carry all six of us, in varying levels of comfort. It'll do until we can get something just a tetch bigger. I've even had a pair of snow-tires mounted on the rear, so that on icy roads the stern doesn't have SUCH a desire to become the bow.

I've been back to work for two weeks now, after being off for a month with the twins. That 5ux0rs. No way around it. I got used to sitting on my heiney at home and letting money roll in. I recommend it to anyone. I got to spend a month being an adult, a parent, a human with judgment. Then I went back to work and had to remember that I'm actually a stupid child with the judgment ability of a barstool. Yeah, that rocks. I mean, I've always figured that one could have a job they hate, but that brings in the dough...or one could have a job they love that doesn't pay enough. I have a job I hate, that doesn't pay enough -- I've royally messed it up somewhere...how'd I get into this predicament?

Oh well, it's life. The babies are good babies. They eat, they poop, they cry, they sleep. They're porking out, which is a good thing. We'll probably give them a year or so before we start laying on the guilt about their weight and trying to make them into little Parises and Nicoles. They seem to be pretty good about letting us go places. They slept through my son's 1st grade Christmas show -- which, incidentally, was almost unbearably cute. By the way...how many growth hormones are in an average kid's diet these days? There were a couple of those fifth and sixth grade girls (and we're talking ages 10 to 12 here) who looked like I remember the senior cheerleaders looking when I was in school. It's got to be something when my WIFE is elbowing me and saying, "Hey, looks like the hooter-fairy has been to HER house!"

Wow, what do I follow THAT with? Commenting on an elementary school kid's chest is kind of a conversation-stopper, isn't it? Kind of like an "oops" in the operating room.

Speaking of operating rooms, orthopedic surgery sounds horrible. I answer the phones for the help desk at a hospital, and I've gotten calls from the operating rooms while they're doing some sort of joint replacement surgery. I can say from experience that a hammer and chisel hitting a bone sounds exactly like nothing else. It's grody. It's no joke: they have Black and Decker cordless drills as part of their surgical utensils. When my dad had his hip replaced this past February...I didn't tell him any of this.

So, we went to the mall today to Christmas shop. In this particular mall, there's a Saturn showroom. They had a new Saturn Sky, roped off so nobody could sit in it. They had a Saturn Aura -- the Saturn version of the Pontiac G6. And they had a Saturn Vue, hooked to a trailer, which had a Buell Ulysses on it. Nice-looking bike. I wish I liked Buells, but every time I've sat on one I get the heebie-jeebies and think I'm going to rocket over the handlebars. But there you have it...a tiny bit of motorcycle content, found at the mall, at Christmas time.

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

Phew! Keep up the good work noodle. Great to hear from you on the boards (nice to know you are still conscious and capable of coherent action).

Keep it coming (when you have a few moments spare time that is) it's good reading.

Best wishes to you all.

Richard

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Hud

'There's class warfare alright, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning'. Warren Buffet

SV-Wolf's Bike Blog

Why, thank you Mr. Wolf. Good to know someone's enjoying my blither...

Hey, Christmas came! It came....Just the same!

Life soldiers on in northern Michigan. We've been having unseasonably warm and un-snowy weather lately. We had a foot of the white stuff on the ground after Thanksgiving...and it all melted so we had a green Xmas. In fact, I was running all the decorations out to the shed yesterday wearing...well, basically my jammies and a fleece jacket. I can't remember a New Year's Day that I could outside in jammies and a fleece and did anything but shiver. Ever.

Got a new bike for Christmas.

Yeah, it's 2" long, has real working rear suspension, and a figure of Travis Pastrana that clips onto it. My 4-year-old daughter gave it to me. It even came with a little wrench and you can take it apart, which I did Christmas Morning while the rest of the family napped.

Interestingly, my wife has been entertaining the notion of moving away from here this summer, should my job remain the way it is now -- which is to say, stressful, unfulfilling and not quite enough $$$ to support a family of six. My dad lives down in Texas, near Galveston, and they've always pushed Houston fairly heavily -- well, a bit of research tells me that Houston would be a little slice of Hell (sorry, anyone here who lives in Houston and likes it....) but Austin looks kinda nice.

It actually started me thinking...gee, could we move somewhere that riding year'round would be a real option? I know there's some nut around here who does it...CNF-something. Oo, wait, he lives in Texas somewhere...dang, I probably just offended yet another person. (note to self... reserve that epitaph for my headstone..."They were standing right behind me, weren't they?")

Anyway....might be researching relocation options with an eye toward putting way more miles on the ol' XS in the coming year or two.

Happy 2007 Everyone!

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

So...I have this blog on a motorcycle site.

And I live in Michigan, and it's January. Here's what the Nat'l Weather Service has to say about it:



Last night it was 13 degrees. Thirteen. Like half of freezing, minus a few. I swear that every time I open the garage door, the Yamaha has inched itself back a couple more inches away from the edge of the garage. If motor vehicles could speak, mine'd be saying "NOOoooo! What IS that carp out there? Gawd, get it OFF'n me!" But it can't speak. Mostly because I pulled the battery out.

It's cold enough out that the doors on my car are freezing shut. Not the lock, mind you -- it's not that I can't turn the key...heck, I haven't been able to lock my driver's door since last year -- no...when I put my gloved hand on the door handle, and I give it a manly pull upwards...it doesn't budge and my gloved hand then flips right off the handle, and bends my manly fingernails backward. I can lift on that darn handle hard enough to rock the car, but I'm not getting in through that door. I have to hope the back door is unlocked, so I can open it, reach over the seat and pull open the driver's door from inside. That, or climb in the passenger side and slide across 100 yards of front bench seat until I'm behind the tiller...erm, at the helm...um, on the bridge? It's a big car.

So last night, we had a nice pork roast for dinner. With potatoes and carrots, and home-made fruit salad -- my wife makes the best fruit salad. And we tried a new Riesling Piesporter Michelsberg Auslese with it -- scrumptious! The fruit salad and the wine together were heavenly. And I realized I was slurring words like "candle" and "slurring." We've really become a couple of wineys at our house, since Christmas. We realized it's something new we can try together, and we can afford it (notwithstanding those $X00 Bordeaux's I see) and best of all...it makes us tipsy and happy. The kids like it because we're more likely to let 'em do what they want. "Hey, mom'n dad are hittin' the sauce again, Evie...let's ask 'em for a pony!" Whatever...I don't care what I signed, I'm not shelling out for any stinkin' pony...and get that videotaped affidavit outta my face. When'd you learn to work the camcorder anyway? You're only six!

A-ny-way. Well, I drew a picture of my Yamaha yesterday...no joke. I added the stuff I want to do to it...unfortunately, it showed me that my bike'll look utterly crappy with clipons, bikini fairing, fishtail mufflers and hard luggage. Then again, it might just be my drawing skill.

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")

You definitely need to move down south,then you can join us in the fraternal order of motorcycle commuters.

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Kawi VN1600

I dont give a damn what the name on the bike is..........Just ride it.

AZRider: Never met a bike he didnt like.

I have no motorcycle content. None.
It's another snow-day in Michigan. In a strange twist, there's more snow SOUTH, and less north. Of course, for us, "less" means only 4-8" of it when the storm's all done. South of us they're getting 10" plus. This morning there was about 2" of fluff to brush off the car before leaving, and the roads were crudded over pretty well.

Aggravating thing. I drive 20 miles to work, and the first 7 or so usually go pretty smoothly. Then I cross an intersection where another little rural town's commuters join my route to work...and my drive goes all to aytch, ee, double hockey-sticks. I swear, everyone driving from the town of Kingsley to Traverse City is a knuckle-dragging dolt. From my house to the corner of M-113, I was able to pretty much drive the speeds that the roads dictated -- in my case, about 45mph. Once I crossed M-113, I ran into the column of traffic from Kingsley and points east...and I had to drive at the same 32mph that everyone else was going, for the last 15 miles or so of my commute.

So, I drive this ancient old Ford boat, and I've been having problems with the idle on it for a while -- namely, it stays on high-idle all the time. Functionally, this means that from a stoplight I can just take my foot off the brake, and the car'll accelerate to 35mph on its own. So I spent a half-hour riding my brakes so I didn't rear-end a Ford Super-Duty that was going the same 32mph as the car in front of him, etc.

I can't wait until we replace my car with a minivan. Why? Because I won't have to drive the minivan. At long last, my wife gives up her car to me, and I can sink my evil claws into it. (evil cackling laughter, fade out.) Seriously, she's hating it, but we'll get rid of my car -- which still kinda sads us out, because it really hasn't been a bad old boat, and it'll most likely go to some teenaged idjit who'll promptly ruin it. Wow, tangent alert.

We'll get rid of my car, and replace it with something van-like that has room for the six of us without making us eat each other's elbows like we do now. And I get her Volvo. Ah yes, the Volvo. Our dream car...or it was at the time, anyway. Back in 1999 we bought a brand-spankin' new Volvo sedan -- ordered it from the factory, we did, built in Belgium especially for us, with a sunroof and a manual transmission on an otherwise basic car. So it's now seven years old, and has 154,000 miles on it. And I'm looking forward to having the "nice" car. I'll bet my wife's going to try making me drive the minivan on days she doesn't need to go anywhere, just so she can still look out the kitchen window and see her car sitting there.

And yeah. I should get back to work fixing computers or something. Mostly since I AM sitting at my desk at work --

-- Ooo, my wife just called me from home. Apparently our TV just took the long dirt-nap...just went feet-up...is pushing up daisies. She said she turned it on, it displayed a *green* picture for a second, said "ZZzzZzzzZZt!" and shut off. Yeah...one dead Sony Wega. Hm, being our only form of entertainment, this puts a crimp in our lifestyle. We may be forced to play games, or talk to each other or (gasp) read a book. It's like a third world country in our living room! Hey, SV-Wolf, c'mon over for tea to get a preview of your India rally in our suddenly-blight-stricken home!

Ok, I gotta go...

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1979 XS650F -- "Hi, My name's Nick, and I'm a Motorcyclist. I've been dry for four years." (Everybody: "Hi, Nick.")