Lady Thunder - Update #1

As you may recall, I didn't do Lady Thunder any favors a few weeks back by taking her down Lime Creek and exiting the road in a non-standard way. :(
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Ok, that's cool. I didn't know I could embed a Google map into my blog. Color me impressed. Well, now you know where we went down. So here's the brief update...

Lady Thunder's parts arrived on Friday the 21st and the guys (psst..., let's not say anything about Ty's Glamor Shots(TM) photo there. He's bigger than me) have nearly completed the work on her, except for one thing; the fuel tank.

They ordered a Victory Vegas tank from Victory Parts HQ, but what they received was a correctly colored, but differently styled tank. Two problems with that. Lady Thunder is all about the "White". This Victory Vegas Kingpin tank is 2/3 gray instead of 2/3 White, as the straight-up Victory Vegas should be. The other problem is that the Vegas tank has a very nice 'spine' on her the runs down the dorsal line of the tanks. That's cooler that you may think. The Kingpin tank does not have that.

Sooo, back goes the tank and we all can cross our fingers that a proper Victory Vegas (spined) tank can be found, in the right colors, in the right proportions. If not, then I'll probably settle for an unpainted Vegas tank and have the paint genius match it, and stripe it. This painter is AWESOME. I'll link him someday when I find out who he is.

Until then, my withdrawal deepens. Trying not to twitch.

-- Mike

An incomparable week

(* Psst, like so many e-mails in my Drafts, this has been sitting since 14-March. Deal. *)

This week has been like no other in my life. Monday morning I awoke to a beautiful morning in Prague, Czech Republic. I had spent a wonderful weekend there with a great friend, and former colleague at StepNexus, Inc. I flew home to Austin from Prague by way of London's Heathrow Airport and Chicago's O'Hare Airport. A long day, and all I could think about was Prague on the way back to Austin. Yeah, Prague. That's it.

Prague was immediately preceded by a week in London for the purpose of celebrating the 10th Anniversary of MULTOS. Sadly, that week also coincided with some very difficult decisions being made within the owning organization, StepNexus. We'll get to that in a bit. But there was some really cool stuff in between...

So I land in Chicago and breathe in the fresh air that is 'unlimited' internet on my Hotspot account at ORD's Admiral's Club lounge - ahhh, Twitterbuds are a Twittering, and with SXSWi going on back home in Austin, there was no telling what this week would be like. Sure enough, there's a Tweet sitting in my box, "how about lunch on Tuesday"? Me, turn down a lunch out? Not a chance. I picked up @karasoluri and @khaynes, and their new SXSWi buddy, @vero, and we were later joined by none other than @whurley. Good times.

I worked a bit at my favorite coffee shop, Dominican Joe, and I get a Tweet and a call from @adelemcalear and @collencoplick who were also at SXSWi, launching their new company, 99directions. Colleen called me and said, "Let's get BBQ!" "Oooook, I said.", but of course if you know me, you know that I could eat BBQ indefinitely. Cutting to the chase, I jumped the HP/@scobleizer bandwagon and crashed their BBQ at The Salt Lick. County Line on the Lake for lunch, The Salt Lick for dinner. Beat that with a stick. I can't.

So that was a day of opposites: Lunch with @whurley and sitting next to @iJustine at dinner. Talk about opposites, those two. Well, @whurley does have nice hair, too.

Also on Tuesday morning, I received an e-mail from a fellow that I was trying to meet up with for a drink for over nine months. We'd had a good chat on a ORD/AUS flight and I told him all I knew about smart cards in about (* cough *) two hours, and he STILL wanted to talk biz with me later. Finally did. That happened on Thursday the 13th. Very cool. Hopefully more on that later.

And on Friday, the wheels fell off of the good ship StepNexus. On Monday, I posted this to a wee-wittle news group I'd created so share work-related news to those interested in my industry. That caused a little bit of a stir, but as you may indeed read, it is entirely truthful and actually very positive on my former employer. They just weren't ready for the aftershocks of pulling the plug on the company so abruptly without a communications plan in place. Gotta have that, kids.

All for now. I'm lining up work for April, and still open to ideas for what I should/could be when I grow up. :)

-- Mike

"There are two kinds of motorcycle riders..."

"...those who have wrecked their bikes, and those who are going to wreck their bikes.", some unattributable quote that Robby shared with me last night.

Thursday was a pretty good day to ride, and I had the opportunity for a fairly decent ride from Austin up to Lampasas via State Hwy 183. Clear weather, bone dry roads, but there was maybe a little challenge presented by the 20-30mph gusts that showed up as crosswinds going to Lampasas and as headwinds for the last stretch coming in toward Leander.

Was that a deer in the road? Standing on the stripe? I couldn't tell, but I knew I needed to get to the outside of the curve, rather than the inside which is typical. To do so, I had to loose speed, and quickly. Training said to straighten the bike and brake evenly. I did that. I had even more incentive because I could see the fine haze of limestone dust on the pavement. No hope of 'cheating' on the brakes a bit through the turn. I just had to use all the braking available, in a straight line, and hope for space to come to a controlled stop. Turns out, that wasn't going to happen.

I have three images in my mind: seeing the road curve away from me to the left and seeing a wide shoulder with large rocks and limestone dust all over everything, watching the bike slide out from underneath me and going down on its left side, and then me flying "Superman-style" over the right side of the bike. Then I felt my helmeted face land first and bounce, then my body sliding to a stop - face down. No stars, no blacking out; just thoughts of frustration that I'd surely dinged-up the bike pretty darn good.

I stood up, brushed off a bit, and then turned to my right and looked down at the bike. She was still running, and for some reason the engine was racing. That didn't make any sense to me because she was laying on her left side, and the throttle is way up in the air on the right handle. I couldn't tell if the rear wheel was still spinning, but instead of just killing the engine with the switch, I tried to 'clear' the throttle with a quick twist. No effect. Weird - so I killed the engine with the switch.

It was all really quiet. The headlamp continued to burn and I could see the limestone dust blowing in front of the bike. I lifted my visor to adjust my eyeglasses which had shifted a good bit due to the face-first impact. That's when I noticed the blood on my gloves. Not a lot, but not a little, either. No pain. Nothing felt broken or numb, either. It was from near my nose is all I could tell. Didn't seem serious. Now, about the bike. This is a heavy bike, but adrenaline and I picked her up and set her on her stand. A few cars had passed by, but none stopped. I guess the fact that I was up and moving around indicated that I wasn't toast.

The left side of the tank was hammered, handlebars not too bad, but mirror bent back pretty far. The left footpeg was jammed in the upright position, but I was able to wrestle it back down. The shifting rod/shaft sheared off flush with the crankcase. That means they will have to go inside the crank case to fix this. Not simple, I'm guessing. So, whatever gear I was in at the time (3rd or 4th, I can't recall) was what I was going to have to use to get the bike out of there. Fortunately, the clutch was perfectly fine.

So, after making sure that nothing serious was messed-up with ME, I got back on the bike, held in the clutch and started her up. She started just as if we'd stopped to get gas. Not a problem.
I rode the clutch and got her back on the road. I just moseyed along at about 35mph and decided to ride to the shop, rather than ride to the house. The bike was clearly going to need to go to the shop.

I pulled in to the shop, parked and started to take my gear off. I fully-expected to just park the bike, lock it, call a cab, and come back this morning to talk things over with the guys there. "Hey man, are you ok?" someone called out from behind me. It was Nick, one of the mechanics at the shop. Good grief, the place was dark. I had no clue anyone was there. Turns out that they were sitting in the shop shooting the breeze; Nick, his girlfriend, and several of the folks from the dealership. They took me in and looked me over like one of their brothers.

Nick's girlfriend is a nurse, and she sat me down and checked me out real good. No concussion, no lacerations other than a slight cut on the bridge of my nose from my eyeglass frame digging in a bit. They offered to take me home, but it was going to be a long drive for any of them, so we just called a cab.

After that, I cleaned up a bit, and headed back out - in my car, to finish an important errand last night. Then I drove back to get sleep, and I slept in a bit. Kinda melancholy about the bike. "We can rebuild her..." hehehe

The bike will take some work to get back in to shape, but she's in much better shape than she could have been. I'm perfectly fine, not even any bruises. Just a little sore in my neck and upper left arm. Nothing Advil isn't taking care of.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all of my good buds on Twitter. Y'all are great, and thanks so much for checking in on me last night.

These things happen soooo quickly. We've see life end (@AshPEAmama), and take drastic turns (@laniAR) so suddenly. I surely didn't expect to dive over my bike last night. You've heard it before, so just do it. Hug those dear to you every chance you get.

-- Mike

oh, and one more thing

What a day. I've been using telecommuting to the max lately. There are plenty of reasons why, but it just amazes me how technology enables things that are just nuts. Like this morning, I'd managed to take a 90-minute conference call that was dialed-in to my office phone, which immediately forwards to my mobile. Yeah, that was me, on the floor in my room, with the laptop running and six e-mails in progress. USB-charging the Treo and mini-USB charging the bluetooth headset just prior to the call.

So there I am, checking up on one last Twitter before I head out the door for some lunch, and here's this from @newmediajim...

I'm streaming live right now, come chat! http://qik.com/video/23123
Sir Bob Geldoff on the way! standby for Qik!

Sure, why not? Jim's in Africa with the President of the United States, and I've got not much more to look forward to than a BBQ sandwich and a Diet Pepsi, so hey, I'll see what this Geldof chap has going on. Jim's always talking to interesting people.

Africa can't heal itself or sustain itself until the despots are gone. Rolling tanks? Naah, you have to convince the people that they can lead and protect themselves, but they've lived under the shadow of death for generations. They need know that someone will rescue them, and then hold their new leaders accountable. Geldoff gets this.

Check out his answer to my question during this interview.

That was just wild. I was blown away that Jim would snag my question out of the chat box, and even more blown away that Geldof spent about four minutes answering it!

Geldof was interesting, and I could have listened to him rap on that topic for an hour. He didn't sound like a typical naive Glamor Shot do-gooder with a Sir (although he's not officially a "Sir") title and your donation money to spend 'feeding the poor'. He seemed like he was indeed searching for a solid plan in the midst of a crazy world - ours. One where the culture of corruption and greed still rules over so many. No, not corporate corruption and greed, but Warlord corruption and greed.

New media, people. It happens quickly, it's real, and it's hard to keep up with. But dang, it's so cool.

Why I Ride

I have wanted to make a post on this topic for a long time. Problem is, I haven't figured out the right words to complete it. Mid-life crisis? Sure, that's an easy answer. You can tag me with that one if you want. I won't stop you. As if I could. No, it's more than that.

"Lady Thunder" as my friend Duane calls her, is a mechanical work of art. She should be under a cover, meticulously cared for and kept in pristine display condition. But she was built to cruise. Those 1507CCs really should do what they were built to do.

She's gentle on the acceleration, but doesn't flinch when taking on Tumbleweed Hill, nor FM 620 at Mansfield Dam. She gallops at idle, and hammers steady at cruise. With my earplugs in and SNELL-approved helmet on my head, her thunder is muffled, but still oh-so-solid. (Trust me, no ear plugs, and the ears ring - a lot).

I love feeling the curve of the earth under the wheels. The challenge of gauging the entry in to each and every turn. Noticing things that I'd never noticed before about pavement, road conditions, wind, humidity, temperature changes just crossing Austin, practicing constant speed while holding a line just off the tire tread of the four-or-more wheelers, and so much more. :) Oh, and then there's the view. More on that another time.

I can't help but say, to no one else but me, "I love this bike."

And no, she's not for sale.

Just checking in

Apparently, there is at least one person out there who reads this blog, besides me. I'm taking that as a very positive thing, because, well, I just think it's cool that someone would subscribe to this. Thank you. :)

But there are bigger things going on in the word, FAR bigger things that what Mike decides to write about in his blog. For one, our friend Ashley has been taken from us. The Twitter community is where a lot of us met Ashley and got to know her - 140 characters at a time. Some of the links off of the site above are wonderfully written. I'm new to social media. I'm a user, not a creator, and I'm not trying to make a living at it. It fascinates me. And at times like this it amazes me. The Twitter community rallied to raise over $7,000 in less than a week to help the family that Ashley left behind. Amazing. Encouraging.

But the ramble continues... Ok, my boss said he'd call in 20 minutes an hour and a half ago. I guess I'll hang another fifteen minutes or so. No pressure on my time tonight. Thought I'd do some personal e-mail at this hour, and well, with MacWorld in the background today (ok, foreground for some of you - just background noise for me), this topic came up, so I wrote it in my e-mail:

Just saw your tweets on/re: iTunes movie rentals. I'll be interested to see how that plays out. When NBC Universal pulled their material from iTunes and moved it over to Hulu, that really frustrated me. I was watching all of my TV series on iTunes last year. This year? Even before the strike, nearly nothing. Turns out that most of the shows I was interested in were on NBC. Studios have got to let go of exclusive deals, and push distribution channels (iTunes, Hulu, Walmart, Netflix, whatever) to compete on features/service and not just on exclusivity.

Call me a fan of the Writer's Strike (and I'm no fan of unions, believe you me). Big Media is languishing and like big government, can't figure out how to grow a good thing. They try to keep all of the money for themselves (or take it, in the case of the government).

Ok, that should suffice for thoughts on that. Maybe I will just go over to the Apple Store in The Domain and take a sip of Steve's Coolaide.

Cheers.

Oh the grief I'll catch for this one

Hi Kids,

So I woke up on Saturday thinking "I really need to get these eMailOurMilitary.com Holiday Love Christmas cards written for @dayngr and in to the mail ASAP." Trouble is, I hadn't started, never really got things going in the office, and I was seeing on Twitter where @MailOurMilitary was seeming to be needing cards, and badly.

Surely, my kids and I would be able to do a few cards and those are special in their own way, but c'mon, Mike, we're talking about red-blooded American Boys driving Humvees through neighborhoods where snipers and IMDs are lurking. Guys stuck in barracks working guard duty, ships at sea and planes flying high above. They would surely enjoy a nice wholesome pic of some girls next door enjoying a fine Austin afternoon!

They needed some Hooter girls love. What finer stocking stuffer than a Christmas card for their barracks or wherever they call home while serving our country.

A huge thanks to Jessica, Tatyana, Hannah, Sarah D., Bobbie, Annette, and the rest of the girls of Hooters Lakeline in Austin, TX. (And oh yeah, the manager, Danny. :) )

Although the "Holiday Love" campaign has closed for this year, you can still lend an Utter to the troops thanks to eMailOurMilitary and Utterz collaboration.

All for now. And yes, I seriously did this for The Troops. I know it's a nice bike and all, but sheesh I would never have the cajones to just walk in to Hooters and ask for these pics for my own nefarious purposes.

Hope you're enjoying this Holiday Season and have the opportunity to share time with your loved ones, near or far.

-- Mike