It's not the years, it's the miles...

So... been doing quite a bit of travel this season, what with the new gig an' all. Decided to see how much distance I've covered in the saddle so far: came out to a little over 2300 miles. Gonna be a 3-4k season easy. And that's only if I DON'T do any major roadtripping after getting the new bike.

Always fun though, to be talking to some RUB on his sparkly new HD, and have him giving me shit about my scoot. The look on their face when you ask them how many miles they've logged, and their total since they started riding doesn't equal what you've done this season (so far)...

Not something I would normally go for...

I consider Larry Correia a friend. When he opened FBMG, I passed out handfuls of business cards at BACA National to anyone from Utah. Spoon, Squeaker and I all proudly wear MHI patches on our colors. And, when the money is FINALLY there, I'll be sending Spoon out to him to pick out her SMG. But this one takes the cake...

Folks, my mother also suffered from breast cancer. She beat it, but I'd REALLY rather no other woman ever has to go through that. So the Privateer will be pooling some money, and buying some tickets this week. Heck... we might even win! I'm sure Spoon would love a pink rifle!

The tickets are $5 a piece. Surely y'all can each afford a five spot to help save the boobies?

New happenings aboard

Well now... haven't updated recently. Need to correct that...

Have a few folks showing an interest in joining the crew. But we're using a long interview process: don't want anyone jumping ship again...

Speaking of which: our old crewmember seems to have decided asking for help is ok to do. So... "Capn' Strings" trades his hat, and becomes "Dr Bill". Yes, I'm a sucker: sue me.

In other news, the magazine is getting better and better. THat'll be changing: they've made me Associate Editor (no jokes about me editing asses: they've already been made).

And my first mate and I are looking into getting a new longboat: the 'Potomus is nice and all, but we need something a lil' more reliable. Have a guy in the area that's selling an HD Tour Glide for silly cheap: now, to just get the money-lenders to see things our way...

That's about all we have happening right now. Maybe I'll get something snarky up soon...

Hope y'all will pardon me while I geek out...

Spoon just informed me that they're doing a movie version of the Watchmen. Since this is just about one of THE best graphic novels ever made, I HAD to go check the trailer.

Go here, trailer is on the top. Oh My Frelling Gawds: I think I'm going to need to change my kilt!

If the actual movie is even half as good as the trailer, I'll be in throes of ecstacy!

Holy Hannah!

I just scrolled down, and caught sight of my counter (don't really look down there often).

Jumpin' Jeebus on a pogo stick! When the Hell did I clear 10K?

Maybe I should pay more attention to that little ego-stroker...

Reincarnation DOES happen!

Law Dog has just adopted one of our old cats: reborn, but this story is our old kitty Suki* in spades!

Mr Dog, you have my heartfelt sympathies in agreeing to take care of a four-footed, cute, bandsaw


*"Suki" was short for "Succubus": she'd lure you in with her charms, then attempt to eat you

Computer woes

Ok, maybe someone can help me out here...

I'm running Win XP, with the latest version of Firefox. Every once in awhile, on Yahoo or MySpace (and once at Schlock Mercenary), Firefox committed seppuku and shut down. When it starts happening, I can foget about checking whatever site I was trying to view.

Anybody have a suggestion?

reaffirming my faith in humanity...

Given some of the stuff I've seen and dealt with, I tend to get a... jaded... view of humanity. To be blunt, I've had cops tell me that I shouldn't be so pessimistic of the actions and intentions of my fellow h.sapiens.

But when you deal with the absolute dregs (and you do NOT get lower than child abusers), it gets hard to believe that people can be good. Then you read something like this.

I would LOVE to see the video of the cops arriving.

Getting ideas from elsewhere

Was just reading over at the Pervocracy, and had to make some comments on the "Cosmo Girl" thing.

Are there REALLY women out there that gullible to fall for this stuff? I mean, come ON...ou'

And the part that really scares me is that guys will read this, to get clues how to act. Funny... I'm not all that great a catch, but something tells me that I would probably blow a "Cosmo Girl's" mind in a relationship. and I'm willing to bet there are a few others that would, too (Cranky Prof's hubby leaps to mind).

Guys... want to "win the girl"? Try being an honest human being. Girls... same advice to you. Makes for much better relationships...

And manning the aft/starboard guns...

Isn't life just a funny thing?

Don't want to say too much, and jinx things. But there have been several offers for additional crew aboard the Privateer, despite the fact Spoon and I weren't really looking all that seriously.

I'm sure there will be more to report on this in the somewhat near future!

Expanding on the column thing...

Ok... my column isn't "about" anything in particular. It's just my random observations as we go along. For some reason, the publisher likes how I write...

I was thinking of "Musings from the Open Road", for multiple reasons. First off, I write a LOT of the pieces while away from home (hence "from the Open Road"). Second, they ARE random thoughts ("Musings"). Third, I got my name because of all the instruments I play (which ties back into "muse")...

So... make sense? Or do y'all think I'm nuts?

Wait... that's a given. Is the idea nuts?

Need y'all's help...

Ok... so part of my job at the magazine is writing a column. The last two issues (June & July) haven't had any kind of title, other than the actual piece. So... I need to come up with a name for the silly thing.

That's where I need input.

I was thinking of "Musings from the Road", or something like that. But I'm just not sure. So why don't the three of you see what you can come up with? ;)

And life just keeps getting better...

Just got off the phone with one of my adoptees: seems another of said adoptees got in a bike wreck saturday, totaling his Harley. I found out tonight, in an email.

Ye gawds, what the hell is next? If y'all need me, I'll be chacking the horizon for the locusts!

Hooray! The weekend's over!

Well, made it through another 4th of July weekend with my sanity intact... somehow.

Was supposed to be grabbing a couple people from Illinois (my new lil' sis Fluke, and my boss' new girl Yvette) to bring up here in Thursday. Since I HATE day-tripping to Illinois, I thought "Cool! There's this new friend that wants to meet and spend time with me, I'll crash by her". Plans were made...

Then canceled. Another friend of hers needed her for an emergency. So I ended up crashing at Squeaker's.

Maybe not the best choice on the planet. But it beat sleeping on the bike in the rain.

Got up at 03:30 on Thursday, and taking her to work. Spent LOADS of time tooling around northern Illinois, until Yvette finally called to say she was done with work: at 2130...

I didn't get to bed until 0530 on Friday. Then had all the fun of the 4th to look forward to!

Lessons learned: have multiple options for crash space. Don't offer to give rides from Chicago (I HATE that town!). And, if you're likely to be up for over 24 hours, with lots of riding, take a nap at some point in there!

Relationship lessons

You know, I'm a pretty good councellor: I listen well, and give pretty good advice. Usually, when someone tells me they're going through a break-up, I tell them to cut the ties completely. I didn't follow my own advice with Squeaker, and I just got reminded why it's a good idea...

Don't misunderstand: I've been wanting her back. But I had pulled back, trying to give her space for her new relationship to work. Tonight, I sent her a text (related to work), and found out she was drinking: in her words, "to bring her problems to the surface".

Now, I don't know 'bout any of y'all, but that sounds (to me) like someone who could maybe use a little help, who's in pain. And I can't see someone in pain without trying to help.

I'm an idiot that way.

So... I spend about an hour, hour 'n' a half talking to her, via texts. She mentioned how "nobody can help me, not even myself", which sounded (to me) like she was giving up on herself. So I kinda hammered on that for awhile. And she responded with "I'm not giving up! I'm his"...

To me, this sounded like she thought the entire time I spent trying to help, was only an effort to "win her back". Made me feel like a complete idiot.

I could've been spending the time with Spoon. Or working. Or stabbing myself in the testicles with a rusty icepick. Instead, I was trying to help. And I got my emotional ass handed to me for my troubles.

Fuck that!

Up to this point, there was a part of me that really wanted her to come back. To try and make things work. That part just got locked away by the rest of my mind, in a deep dark hole. Kinda the way society used to deal with the mentally handicapped, which is kinda what that part of my brain is...

I know she occassionally reads this blog. And maybe, she hopes things can be cleaned up. Honestly, I don't trust her anymore. And without trust, there can't be love...

So folks, let this be a lesson: when someone leaves you for another, cut them out of your life as completely as possible. Maybe, at a later date, things can be revisited. But if you don't make that clean break, you're in for a world of hurt...

Sometimes, a distraction is enough...

Well... things have been going well the last few days.

Spoon lost her job selling shoes (LOOONG story: she got screwed). And she turned around, and got two others. One doing outside sales (which she may or may not keep), and she's also doing home care.

I had a dry spell for two years: couldn't even get a call telling me to go pound sand. Now I've got this job with the magazine, and I just got a call for an interview for a position at the Maritime Museum. Wouldn't be much: fairly low pay, but it would be extra money (and I love history anyway)...

The personal life still has it's issues, but I've met some cool people to help distract me. Spoon, of course, is still here: don't think I COULD get rid of her. And we've met a couple REALLY cool people through a new website called "Biker or Not". One of whom, we'll be meeting in realspace this weekend. Not only is this young lady fairly cool (AND hot, and a good distraction), she's got a friend that might just be interested in carrying my jewelry. So LOTS of good comes from that connection!

Even better: there's another position at the library here in town, that I'm in the running for. This one is making LOTS of money, and has an awesome benefits package. And, theoretically, I could do all three jobs (thereby getting us to new mooring sooner)...

Oh... and speaking of my jewelry? There's a shop here in town that wants to carry it: I'll be picking up a bunch of my stuff from my sis, and bringing it home. Things are just looking up all over!

Linking to others again.

Read a bit of this at Marko's, but Lab Rat pretty much says it all...

Family

Was talking with my partner Dub the other day, and discussing the whole concept of "family".

See, Dub's old school: you stand by your family, even the one's you're not related to. And you stand by them come Hell or high water, backing their play. you may not agree with their chosen course, but you're there to help.

Oddly enough, that's how I was raised: you stand by your family. Of course, I was also raised that, when someone proves that they really AREN'T family, you boot 'em to the curb with the rest of the trash. Conversely, when someone demonstrates that they'll be there, you adopt 'em (usually over their violent protests).

Some here may know a bit about my family situation: I divorced almost all my original brothers and sisters, trading 'em in on better models (actually, Dub is in that "new & better" category). You would not BELIEVE some of the folks I've adopted over the years.

There's Fluke: a good friend of our ex girlfriend: she's always been there for Squeaker, and she's DEFINATELY been there for me over the last few weeks.

There's Dub: whom I had only met a couple times, but was able to pour my heart out to when things blew. And who's problems I've heard quite a bit. But we still back each-other

There's our Jules: another girl that I'm in love with (despite her getting ready to marry an actual nice guy). She hadn't done more than talk to me on the phone a few times when mom died: when I stepped out of the house to make the necessary calls, I called her first. And her immediate response, upon hearing of mom's passing? "Do you need me up there?"...

There's Turk, one of my oldest brothers. That boy and I have a LOOOONG history (some of which, I'm not sure the statute of limitations has run out on yet). The man who stood up with me at my wedding, keeping me from running out on on The Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me (you DID know that this is the job of the groomsmen, right?).

There's Skip (some on the boards know him as Bedlamite). Remember the phrase "friends help you move, real friends help you move bodies"? Yeah...

There's AJ: a woman without whom, I would be dead today. When my career in Unca Sugar's Yacht Club went pear-shaped, she was the person who kept me from shuffling off this mortal coil.

And then there are the inlaws.

Remember the old cartoons, featuring the "House of Tomorrow"? How the mother-in-law was always getting offed in some way? Yeah... wouldn't suggest trying that with my Nancy-mom: dad and I would probably be tripping over each-other to do damage to the offending party. When mom was sick, Nancy would drive a half-hour one way every day to take care of her ('cause she hated mom so much, you know). Christmas was always done like many others: Spoon and I would go to her parents on Christmas Eve, and my parents on Christmas Day. Trick is, it'd be the same group of people at both locations: my parents would come out for Eve, and her family would come out for Day. There may be a few different additions here & there, but it was one ginormus family, not two seperates...

There are loads of others, but I think you get the drift: the people you meet in life, that you end up leaning on most (and acting as a crutch yourself when needed). The people that, if you honestly got down to it, probably know you better than you know yourself (and yet are there for you, despite that).

So Dub and I got to talking about this, going on until Spoon got home from her new job. And it made me think of some of y'all on here, and comments on some of my recent posts.

I'd like to thank y'all. There was a time not all that long ago, where I was ready to throw in the towel and just say "fuck it!". I was afraid of posting some of what's gone on (and is going on) in my life, because I was afraid there would be general condemnation. Instead, y'all saw someone in pain, and reached out.

You've almost restored my faith in humanity, folks. Good job! Y'all go get yourselves a cookie.

And if you're ever going to be in NE Wisconsin, let me know: I kinda owe you one anyway.

Just realized

That I never mentioned another lil' earth-shaker that happened recently.

My beloved Hondapotomus, in a pique of discontent at not having it's rear tire changed in a timely manner, decided to teach me a life lesson while traveling at 75 miles per hour.

Yes folks: you understood that right: I had a rear blow-out at 75mph. I honestly attribute my still being present to someone watching over my heathen ass.

I'm fine. The bike's mostly fine (still have to tweak the wiring a bit). But there was a Hell of an epiphany that day (story will be in the July issue of Freedom Roads)...

Frelling weather!

So... Spoon and I are sitting here at Manitowoc Coffee, surfing the net and enjoying the ambience, when the sirens start goin' off: seems we have a tornado warning. Of course, I'm sitting next to the big picture window, making the staff nervous as they herd the kids down to the basement...

I don't think there's been a tornado hit Manitowoc in recorded history. I can see the sky quite clearly: it's a nice dark blue-grey, not any sort of pea-soup green. And ever'body's acting like the end of the world is neigh.

Sheesh... some people. Get a lil' rain, wind, and the possibility of sudden violent death, and they start to panic!