Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Thanks, Boss!

Company stock's gone through the roof thanks to the fresh "For Sale" sign tacked to the side of the building, boss decided I "work" hard enough for a decent raise...platinum problems all solved with the click of a button! Now that it's empty, I'm off to Hawaii for a nice sized chunk of quiet time, and of course the three B's...Beer, Beaches, Bicycles. Erwin says all I gotta do is pick up my socks and his wife won't even know I'm there. Deal!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Back on the horse

I want back on. Everyone says I shouldn't do it, that I'm lucky to be alive, etc. etc. Maybe they're right, maybe not. Either way, I want back on. I don't think it's so much the "freedom" that others say they love about it, rather I enjoy the skill and concentration required to do it efficiently (i.e. not kill myself). Yes the acceleration is addictive but one quickly realizes how silly and irresponsible it is to twist the right-side grip to the lower stop. Good moto brakes can slow you down quick, but nowhere near as quick as those on a car, and it takes much longer than one thinks to slow down from 140 or so. No, I don't need top speed. I've been there on two wheels and on four and can say for certain that it's much more fun on four...death isn't so apparent when surrounded on all four sides by metal. I need clutchless upshifts and perfectly rev-matched downshifts just before hitting as near a perfect apex as my skill will allow.

I want back on. My time with the machine is not finished yet.

If you wanna...

There's so many ways to offer monetary assistance to Haiti right now and most turn to the American Red Cross to do so. This is not a bad thing, it's just not the most efficient way to go about helping out. I was recently directed towards Direct Relief International as a charity to consider when deciding where to donate. They're 99% efficient which means that 99 cents of every dollar goes toward the cause it was intended for, whereas the ARC is overburdened with a hefty CEO salary and Bureaucratic BS. If you're thinking about donating but haven't decided whom to give your money to, give DRI a look.