Tires, Laptops, and Surgery

Well, I've put over 4200 Miles on the Bandit since putting her on the road. The problem is that she now has balding tires. They may have a run or two to work left in them, but they didn't do so well on the last one, so I've garaged her for now. I've been debating on whether to buy Michelin's Pilot Road 2s or Shinko's 009 Ravens. I can get the Ravens for 185.48 (front and rear), but the Michelin's will cost about 290.00. Thats over a 100 dollars more for the Michelins. Now, reports from BanditAlley.net, and other places have given the Ravens good marks, people getting 8 to 9 thousand miles from them. The Pilot Road 2s are showing up at around 10K.

MC Clubs and Things

I'm a member of quite a few forums these days. I frequent Bandit Alley, RiderForums, and browse around some on ADVRider, but not much. I was informed that the defunct Suzuki Owners Club of the USA was pretty much dumped in favor of Suzuki Owners Club of North America (Link Here). I remember early on finding the European version which seems to have thousands of members, and thought it would be cool if there is one in the US. The Site I originally found was defunct, and not one of the contact email addresses I found were valid at all.

I'm still contemplating the value of 18 dollars a year as a full membership fee. I keep thinking that it would be helpful to be a member of a large organization since riders aren't that much in the majority.

I'm not really into the AMA because they want to repeal helmet laws, but I don't believe it should be an option. I think we should be on a par with autos, and since Seat belts are not even wise, helmets should be our equivalent. I know many riders disagree, saying it should be our choice, but that's the same argument that folks used for seat belt laws, and it didn't help stop that law. I've been in car wrecks and I'm firmly convinced that Seat belts were the difference between me being a relatively healthy man, and being handicapped at best, dead at worse! Not only that but the whole "choice" argument is getting over worked. It is the lame godless argument used for Abortion, Drug use, etc. etc. I believe people in this country need to learn responsibility first, just like children. I constantly teach two things to my kids:

1. A little bit of pay attention goes a long way.
2. If you don't do what you are supposed to, you can't do what you want to.

Its that simple folks. When it comes to helmet laws, if the riders who give Motorcycles a bad name would show more reponsibility in how they ride (do what you are supposed to) then we would never have had to worry about a helmet law in the first place (do what you want to). So, to protect society from having to pay for the upkeep of another vegatable head injury, the government decided to make us protect our heads.

The other kind of group I thought of joining was a Christian Motorcycle club. The problem is I can't find one close to home that has a statement of faith I can live with. There is one, but they are pretty much (as it appears anyway) trying to create a church of their own. The CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Association) looks like a great group, but they don't have a chapter that's anywhere close to Dickson, TN.

So, I'm stuck. Another problem is that finding very many riders, with the time and commitment to do that kind of thing is hard to do. I joined up with Patriot Guard Riders, but haven't been free for a ride yet, and there have been opportunities. The problem is that life just seems to find a way to get in the way. Well, I can do what I can.

What I'd really like to see is for the gas prices to come down to the point that I could ride my bike recreationally. As it stands right now, its my mine ride to work. 45 MPG is 11 MPG better than TWICE what I average in my truck. And, even buying premium I spend less than 30 dollars a week on Gas, versus the 80+ I spent on the truck.

New Fun in Riding and Cardo Rider Teamset

Well, I've decided to just ride the bike until the wheels fell off. Since I've been unsuccessful in my attempt to keep the thing looking brand new (thanks to fall overs) I might as well just forget about the looks and just ride it. Well, I've discovered there's freedom in them there hills. Last night I rode the kids to and from Church just for the fun of it, and they LOVED it. The back roads between our house and the Church are quite twisty, so it was fun. Of course I rode a little different just to put a little sizzle into it, but it was fun.

Sometime back I bought a set of Bluetooth Helmet devices for my phone that included an intercom feature. That's one of the reasons the kids love riding now, even more than before. The Bluetooth phone connection works great, but the intercom could use some help. I can understand dropping the connection when no one is talking to save batteries, but this stupid thing will drop the connection WITH us talking at times. Occasionallyit will come right back on, but sometimes either myself and/or the passenger will have to yell to get the connection opened back up. The good thing is that they are voice activated and I don't have to reach up and push a button every time that happens. Other than that I think for what you pay for them (around 200+ bucks depending on where you buy it, got mine from Revzilla).

Back on subject, the ride in this morning was invigorating, and enjoyable. The weather was nice, although I would have liked it a little cooler. It's supposed to rain tonight around 7 PM, which means it may be raining in Dickson around 5, which is when I get in. So, I've been threatening to try out my riding pants without any jeans under them, that may be a good excuse to do just that.

I have to say, I'm really liking this motorcycle riding. I guess you can tell that from the posts. Another interesting thing I've discovered is that you better have decent self discipline if you ride. There are a lot of idiots both on four and on two wheels jerking in and out of traffic. I can understand why bikers ride the way they do, now. On that bike you can fit, physically, into smaller spaces, you can accelerate much faster than the cars around you, and you can maneuver with greater agility than they can. By the time they decide to do something you've already done it, and gone off and left them! However, its also possible to reach great speeds without even realizing it. I was upwards of 100 MPH, a couple of times in the past very quickly. My bike isn't even a "Crotch Rocket". So, if you get a bike, remember, just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. Be careful, and try not to irritate the cagers any more than necessary. And for those in cars (cagers), remember, there are vehicles on the road of all types that are larger and smaller than yours. Look for the small ones, which would include bicycles, and the large ones, semis, and be careful.

God is Good

I have been a little down lately, since I resigned the Church. So, God has graciously worked out some things to show me just how bad things can get if I don't get my head and heart back in the right place. My bike has fallen over twice, once in each direction, so as to break both levers (clutch and brake) and both front turn signals and scratch the really pretty hard case side color matching inserts. (lots-0-money to fix). The slide rails in the refrigerator for the bottom two pans broke on the left side, and busted the top of the two pans. (80 bucks). The wife's brakes had to be done AGAIN, (75 bucks). Yesterday the Gas Water Heater decided to go on vacation.
Why do I think that is God? Well, I believe that no one is punished from God without knowing that's why the bad things are happening. If you look back over the Old Testament you'll find that God worked real hard to make sure the Israelites as a nation knew full well why they were being destroyed, God also worked hard to make sure individuals whom He disciplined knew why he was doing so. Well, I've known for quite some time exactly what I should be doing, I am a preacher, but I haven't done it. God says, "you want a reason to mope, I'll give you reasons to mope, and they'll get more expensive the longer this goes on." So, that's exactly what He's been doing.
So, why did I start this by saying God is good?!? Because He is. If God didn't love me, He wouldn't chastise me to get me right again. (Hebrews 12). God is good because He could have just wiped me off the earth a long time ago, but in His patience, Amazing Grace, and infinite Love, He works with me, forgives my sin, and enables me to make things right. Any employer you know of would have fired me a long time ago, as well as they would have you. Your relatives would have long ceased to speak with you, if you treated them like you treat God! But, He's so Good, Gracious, Merciful, Patient, Just, and Compassionate that He would start small, and work His way up!
What ever you do, don't take God for Granted. Don't treat Him like a spare tire, bottled Genie, or worse, slave. God loves you, but He will not tolerate sin. He will deal with it, first in Grace, but if Grace be turned away, then in Judgment. Avoid that, would you?
Remember, God is Good!

Google's garbage had to go

Well, I finally upgraded to Firefox 3. I have been holding out waiting for Google to get off its duff and update the Firefox extensions. If you remember I ranted about this in an earlier post. Well, I finally said forget it. I found out one of my biggest problems with Firefox on Linux was Google's fault!! The toolbar was the problem all along. The problem? I could not open more than 2 Firefox windows without the whole app freezing up on me. I would have to completely shutdown, and restart Firefox to get anywhere else. So, I've rid myself of Google's extensions altogether.
I replaced my Book mark sync with Foxmark, and all my other extensions, except my Favorite theme, work fine with FF3. So, good riddance Google. And yes, if they want to shut me out of mail and blogging I'll go somewhere else with that too. I think its completely bogus that they can come out with a hundred and one new apps every year, and can't be bothered to keep the apps they've won people over to up to date!
On a positive note, I'm finding FF3 to be very fast compared to FF2, and not *that* much different on the appearance and features list. Meaning, if you think you're going to get lost in the new interface don't worry, this isn't MickeySoft and Office2007.

Oh, I haven't blogged in a while because I've done quite well at embarrassing myself with how I handle my bike. I have let it fall over twice now. The first time I'm still not sure it was anything I did, I think there were other factors involved. The second time was just my stupidity, I think. The problem there was by the time I tried to catch the bike (not too far over) my leg said "forget this" and just gave out on me. It has happened twice now, but the first time I wasn't really tilted enough to cause it to fall all the way over. This morning it hurt my leg. I'm not sure the bike got that far off, or whether it was too far I just couldn't believe how my leg reacted. You have to understand my legs have always been my strong point when it came to that sort of thing. I guess being 41, they just aren't going to take it anymore.

Data Center Power Downs and DR

IF you have been in IT for very long you have experienced a Data Center power down. Of course, the smaller the shop the less of a headache it should be. I've been around about 4 of them, 1 was when the transformer blew up down town and took the then "inflow" data center with it. The company I worked at then just had to wait because the Fire Marshall was not smart enough to understand the complete disconnect between that transformer and the internal systems so they couldn't power up. So far, every time one happens its like a "Chinese fire drill" for the IT staff. Network Guys, Systems Guys, Apps Guys (and Gals of course) all running around trying to get things up in an orderly fashion. I've recently had the "opportunity" to go through another one.
One of the most impressive things I've heard came from our CIO, who emphatically said, "email is NOT a mission critical application." CHEERS!!
However, I think its time every IT shop get off its seat cushions, put a stop to every other project and get one thing crystal clear: What do I bring up first, and How do I do that? You'd think this would be easy, but its not. Every app support person thinks, and wants everyone around them to think, that their app is the most important one. Well, frankly, its not. Every user wants the apps he or she uses to be the ones to come up first. Sorry, but it can't be. The problem is that there are few CIO's with the intestinal fortitude to do what our CIO did recently. Most will cave to the Executives who demand their services back up first. What a CIO should do is demand the realistically most important systems up first. There is a natural, in a sense, order of things. First, infrastructure. Network switches, phone switches, WAN connections, SAN storage, etc. You know, the kinds of things your app HAS to have to function at all. Second, Apps and Services that really are mission critical. Third, everything else as you get time.
The problem comes in at about step 2. What is "mission critical" and what does that mean? Well, here's how I see it. In Health Care that question is answered by asking 1 question: What do I need online to protect the health and well being of existing patients. What systems directly involve patient care, and no email is NOT one of them. We have surgery systems, patient data systems, etc. And, refreshingly that is what our CIO insisted come up first. Once the process was being followed for getting those online all other hands could be involved in getting other services online. The biggest problem I see, even in this last one, is that no one has that laid out in printed form any where. Every system should be tagged with a priority level for DR purposes. I mean, if two systems are down at the same time and you've only got one guy who can work on them, which does he tackle first? I was actually pulled off a clinical system by a certain Director once (at the request of the CIO) because email wasn't working. DOH!
DR really is a major pain in everyone's behind, not because in principle, its hard, but because in practice its hard. In principle its easy to lay out DR. Define the priority of your systems, and Document how to recover those systems. Simple? Right. Simple quickly goes out the window when you start talking about a hot DR data center, Storage Replication, Backups and Recovery, Network Topology and Architecture, etc. etc. Basic DR is simple, real DR is a complicated web decisions and documentation. Basic DR is when the lights go out at your DC. Real DR is when they're not coming back on because the building is destroyed. The question is how much is your business worth, and is it worth putting the time, money and effort into preserving it.
I hate doing documentation, and some companies are in the excessive category when it comes to overburdening their staff with it, but done right, it can save your bacon.

Suzuki's Stupidity and Dealer's Impressiveness

I have to brag on the Dealer in Mt. Juliet, while at the same time seriously warning anyone who buys the Hard Case and Top Case Saddle bags from Suzuki! Since I bought the bike we have waited for the Top Case mount, well, it came in last week finally. The problem was that Suzuki kept telling the Dealer (Precision Motorsports) that it was on its way when in fact it wasn't. Not only that, but on Suzuki's Web site on the "Accessories for 1250s" page for the Top Case (click here), and in the Dealer's information they both say the Color matching Panels are Optional. They DO NOT SAY, as of today, that the panel is required and that the color is optional. Take a gander at the actual screen shot:
The Problem? The "Optional" panel is NOT optional on the Top Case. Now, you technically "could" get away without them on the side cases, but you CAN NOT on the Top Case. There is a rather large sticker that says "DO NOT OPERATE" without said panel in place. The problem is that Suzuki doesn't provide a panel for any of the cases that just looks mat black to match the rest of the case in the event that you don't buy the "optional" color inserts!! Now, if Suzuki were to have said, "You have to buy an insert of some color, but the color is optional" I would have not gotten so upset about the deal. However, now we were looking at another 179.00 Plus Sales Tax purchase for something that was "Optional" and I really didn't care to have! Now, I'm not saying that the Bags are bad, nor that you shouldn't buy them, but beware, you MUST buy at least the color matching insert for the Top Case.

Now, here's where the bragging on Precision comes in. I called my wife to explain the situation, and why she'd see yet another Motorcycle related purchase on the Card. Well, needless to say she wasn't happy. While I was getting an earful of that rather loud unhappiness, Big Daddy, (Who I'm assuming is either the owner or the top Manager) overheard the unhappiness, and could see the pain my ear was enduring evidently. Not to mention that I wasn't happy either. What they decided to do was get the inserts and put them on without charging me, and attempt to recover their loss from Suzuki. I at no time, mind you, blamed the Dealer for this issue, they couldn't help the the morons at Suzuki couldn't get their information straight. However, they could tell this was or could have become a serious image issue, and that at least my wife would have been a very unhappy customer. People who know me know I'm would tight anyway, but when Angela gets loud something is seriously not right.

Anyway, I would highly encourage you to visit Precision. Some of their prices are a little high to me, but they do negotiate on some things, and they are good folk. I'd rather pay a little more and get a dealer that will do something like this than pay less now and wind up paying more later because of it.