The good times are killing me pt. II

Lady Luck pointed out that I haven't really ever explained what the hell I'm so freaked out about, so I guess I'd better do that.

In two words: my job. See, on New Year's Eve (after getting a call essentially threatening to fire me at 12:10am), I decided it was time for a change. I got to work, and had a new job come February 1st. Excellent, right?

No.

See, I knew that the new job was going to be challenging. What good job isn't? And I knew that switching jobs would be stressful. But what I've wound up with is a job where my boss is super-demanding, the pressure is unbearable, and worst of all my boss doesn't think I'm earning my paychecks. He actually wants me to bill him (I'm a contract employee) for less than 40 hours a week, when I've been working closer to 50 hours.

The pressure last week was so intense that I could barely even sleep. This weekend, no shit, I heard a cell phone beeping and was filled with dread (near panic) thinking it was a call from work for me. The funny thing? I don't even have a cell phone.

I was ready to bail and try my luck getting a job counting matchsticks, but Lady Luck managed to talk me into waiting until I have another job before I quit. I've cranked up the job search efforts again, and hopefully I'll have a new gig by April 1.

Anyways, I've really got to learn how to mellow the hell out, because I can't let my crappy jobs ruin the rest of my life. I don't need to have a heart attack when I'm 35, either.

So! I hope that clears up why my posts have been so sporadic. With luck, things will get better soon and I'll be able to get back to my usual post-a-day style.

The good times are killing me.

Someone clever said "Sometimes it takes a whole tankful of gas in order to get your head straight." This weekend I gassed up 3 times.

For what it's worth, I really did start to feel better after about 100 miles. The bike was running strong (or my wrist was spring-loaded...), and the weather was gorgeous. It'd be hard not to feel good after that.

Anyways, not much else to say tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to post a little more regularly this week.

Barrel of Fun

Is this thing still up? Jeez, I practically forgot I ever even had a blog. How y'all doing?

Work sucks. A lot. But that's enough about that, let's get straight to the motorcyclin'.

Today I went and picked up Lady Luck on the mighty VX800 so we could go to a great mexican joint for lunch. The ride was fairly uneventful, except for when I nearly pulled in front of a moving utility truck in a parking lot. Luckily the driver wasn't a dick; he stopped in front of me (after making an exaggerated "OH SHIT!" face) and yelled "Hey man, I don't want to run over any motorcycles."

I guess you kind of had to be there, but it was damn funny. I waved and rolled on (I wasn't ever in any real danger of getting smooshed).

Lady Luck commented that getting out on the bike during lunch was awesome. Naturally, I whole-heartedly agreed.

Lunch was great (hooray for non-corporate restaurants!), and the ride back was pleasant enough.

I understand that when Lady Luck got back into the office, her co-workers gave her no end of shit for not wearing a helmet. Now, that was entirely my fault. I really should have given her my helmet, but a combination of stress and her speed in hopping on the bike, it never even occurred to me until we were in traffic again.

Apparently there was a large group of people watching her out the window, and trying to take pictures. Shoot, they can have some of MY work if they're so bored.

A request is a request...

Since someone asked (HI WOLFIE!), here's my bottom 10:

10. People who think it's too cold to ride in Phoenix right now. Shoot, pretty soon it's going to be 115 degrees out, and then they'll think it's too warm.

9. Backordered parts.

8. Big rocks at freeway speeds.

7. Driving a cage when I could be riding my bike.

6. Fringe.

5. SUVs. Seriously, fuck SUVs.

4. The unridden bike.

3. Not having the right tool.

2. ...Or even an adjustable wrench

1. Being too sick to ride. It just adds insult to injury.

How about a top ten list?

For some reason, I always dig lists. So, here's ten random thoughts from a pizza-loving motorcyclist.

10. Be a courteous rider. Don't cut people off, and use your turn signals.
9. Except around SUVs. Fuck SUVs. Throw rocks at them if you can.
8. Leathers might just give you super-powers. But white leathers don't.
7. Don't order more pizza than you can reasonably carry on your bike.
6. Carry tools. Even if you don't need them, some other poor S.O.B. might.
5. Pull over if you see a rider broken down on the road. The rider might need your tools, and might buy you pizza.
4. Wheels, Pizza, Boobs. Good things that come in twos.
3. Count the bugs on your helmet before you clean them off. Keep track of the tally in your garage.
2. If you live in a place where you can ride all year around, you are happy and you should know it. Clap your damn hands.
1. Ride safe, ride hard and ride as much as you possibly can.

Well, that was certainly a list. Sorry for my lack of posts this week. If I told you how crazy things have been, you'd probably get bored.

Tomorrow I'm off to San Diego for the weekend. Oh Hell yeah!

Moto-Valentine?

Hey, it's just about Valentine's day, a holiday that revolves around the movement little pieces of paper with mildly clever paraphrasings of one's favorite Star Wars character printed on them. My personal favorite? Princess Lea saying "I can't make it without you."

I say it's the one time of the year when Harley-Davidson needs to step up the merchandising. After all, "Ride to Live, Live to Ride" doesn't only apply to motorcycles, if you catch my drift.

How did the coyote afford all those toys?

So I didn't actually go to the sale. I know a decent anvil is going to set me back at least $200, and I just don't have that kind of cash this week. It's ok, there are plenty of anvils out there looking for a good home.

Also, I came down with whatever crud is going around, so I didn't get to ride at all this weekend. It's very, very sad. I get to dive back in tomorrow morning though, so that's good.

Better all the time.

Maybe I was a little hard on computers. They aren't the worst thing in the world. I can't think of what's actually worse, but I'm sure there's something.

Anyways, today was a better day.

Traffic was thoroughly screwed up today. There was a nasty wreck on my ride into work that took up 3 lanes of traffic. The cool thing is that I was able to get from the car pool lane to the far right lane in no time flat, due to my ability to fit through tiny little spaces.

Damn I love riding.

So... tomorrow... I hear there's a moving sale going on at a forge. I might have to go get an anvil. Of course, I'll probably have to take a car, since I doubt bungee cords will keep an anvil strapped to the back of my bike.

Computers do not rock like motorcycles.

As a professional computer programmer, I feel I am in an excellent position to offer the following advice to anyone who thinks computers are neat: They aren't. Get over it.

After 2 day of ripping my hair out and wondering when I'm going to get sacked from my new job due to a stupid problem I can't figure out or fix I can honestly say that computers are, approximately, the worst thing in the entire world.

The worst thinig about computers? If and when you ever get the freakin' thing to work, you have zip to show for it. You can't even rev the engine up, or go carve up a twisty road.

This weekend, Phoenix Forge is having a moving sale. You'd better believe I'm going to be there scoping out anvils and figuring out how long it will take until I never have to touch a computer for anything more complicated than this blog again.

A good day.

I freaking love my VX800. Today I made it to work in no time flat, despite the insane traffic. Then, I met Lady Luck for lunch at an awesome Mexican place. That ride involved plenty of road-carving. And THEN, I stopped on my way home to pick up a loaf of french bread. It was fresh and hot and fit right in my tank bag and holy shit riding is awesome.

Work was the least sucky it's been for the last week. For one thing, my "senior" up and quit, which was great because I got more done without him there. I totally got to vent to my boss about the jerks at the company that didn't want me to work there. That was pretty awesome.

And now after a dinner of french bread, cheese and pop tarts, I'm hanging out in pajamas and I've got enough energy to DO stuff. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go plan a ride and pizza review.

Watching what I wish for.

Well, it looks like I won't have to worry about driving the rat-buick to work. The company I was consulting at decided I wasn't good enough to work for them.

You know what? I think they were just jealous of my bitchin' motorcycle. They knew they weren't cool enough to ride it.

Anyways, I'm still consulting for another company for the time being. Unfortunately, the company that cruelly rejected me was the one that I was really interested in working for. The filthy bastards.

Oh well. Jobs suck and I'm working on getting my own company going anyhow. The last laugh will be mine.

The good news is that I still get five days of delightful motorcycling.

Excuse me?

The other day my boss asked me, through a coworker, to drive my cage to work one day a week so I can give said coworker a lift to the main office for a meeting.

Naturally, the first thing I wanted to know was why he assumed my coworker didn't want to ride with me on my bike. Do they take me for some crazed speed freak, carving through traffic with reckless aband.... uh, ignore that.

Anyway, that TOTALLY ruins one whole day a week. As much as I love the Rat-Buick, it isn't really roadworthy anymore. It makes a lot of scary noises that my bike doesn't make, and it smells kind of foul inside.

With any luck, one ride in the Buick will be enough to convince my co-worker to arrange her own tranportation.

On being the new guy who rides a motorcycle

In case you missed it, I got a new job this week. Naturally, there is only one mode of transportation suitable for getting to a new job. Can you guess what it is?

My first day at the new gig found me waiting outside a locked office with all my gear. After approximately "too long," my co-workers came back from lunch and let me in. One of them noticed my pile of baggage (I went straight from my previous job to the new gig. I had enough crap for a trip to Antarctica.) and asked me what I rode.

I'm the kind of guy that likes to talk about motorcycles. In fact, I'll talk to most anyone about bikes until they beg me to stop. I'm also fairly observant, and have noticed most people stop listening after "Suzuki VX800." So now when someone asks what I ride, I say "Suzuki" and wait to see if they ask more. I'll also generally ask if they ride.

Back to the story, the next day we all went out to lunch and my boss asked if I even own a car. I told him I do, but that it's mostly for ceremonial and decorative purposes. Today another co-worker asked me a little bit about my bike.

I'll tell you what, I'm glad they keep asking about the bike because if they start asking me about my work-related skills, I'm going to be in deep shit.

Is there anybody out there?

Hi folks.

So, uh, I'm going to post. Really! Tomorrow! Maybe.

The new job situation has been interesting, much as "May you have an interesting life" is a curse. So far it seems like a great gig, but getting used to a new schedule and all the other crap that goes with getting a new job has kind of thrown me off a bit.

Anyway, I have many amusing motorcycle stories and possibly some comments about pizza to share. Hang tight!