Great ride!

Here are some older photos of how the bike began (after hard tailing) and how it has progressed. No photos, until complete, are really going to do it justice. I need to get over to my builder/buddy Don's house and get him some coin for my bobber. We are at the 75 to 85% mark on completion with fabrication, and need to move into the mock up in order to tear down and get started on corrections, if any, prior to taking the bike to Powder coating. I need to get my wheels laced too, so we can accurately set up the front forks, as opposed to using the mag wheels on there now.
On a NON motorcycle, two wheeled note, today was my first ride, and did just under 30 miles. I discovered several things: clip in pedals, a more stout "butt cushion", and a sweet - cut out - gel seat. My legs and cardio were good, but whoooa daddy.... my nether regions were hurting on that last ten miles! I got some good advice from Mark and Fish, and will definitely be taking them up on that! I can definitely think of worse ways to spend a friday morning.
Had some good things going on at work, and am really looking forward to next week. Should be a clear and easy sail for the week. Speaking of work, I am going to a conference with the kids at a pretty cool hotel and indoor water park, called Great Wolf Lodge. Should be fun.

Some friends are more mean than others....

So some of my friends, one in particular, is more mean than the others. I love her for it! She's eating dead animals, and torturing her other, less important, friends while on her Texas trip. Shoulda married that one, but never underestimate the power of me fucking up a good thing. lol.

In all seriousness, I have some great friends. Life is good :)

Shortest entry ever!

Liberated!

Getting so excited for this 370 mile bicycle trip up the coast! I picked up some sweet bike shorts today (yes, those three words were never meant to be typed together by me), which are a hybrid of mountain bike/cargo shorts, with a padded crotch, so as to lessen the punishment of eight plus hours in the saddle, per day. Fuhhhhh. That's gonna suck! I need to pick up some bibs, a flat kit, waterproof gloves, and a few jerseys for the ride. It's going to be wet and cooooold!

So I deactivated my Facebook account, and plan on keeping it that way for eight months. It'll both keep me off of the Facebook "Social Media" tit, as well as ceasing unnecessary references and sightings of someone that I don't need to see or hear about when I'm not in the right mind frame. *laughs* If I'm with her family, then I won't be shocked to hear her name, and or see her posts, as opposed to seeing something by mistake. Deleting her didn't seem to be enough to stop thoughts. It was a lot tougher than I imagined it would be, and so I just took that part away. The heart was soft, kids...

On a lighter and more relevant/current note, I had a really nice date on Friday last. A friend of a friend and I had been texting and talking via e-mail, and met up in Seaside. We had a nice dinner and talked for a few hours. She is funny, cute, smart, and has a good head on her shoulders. No idea if it will go anywhere at all, but I enjoyed her company, and (like she said before we met), who can't use another friend? :)

Finally, there is a kick ass 5 mile obstacle course called Race the Reaper in October. Me and a few buddies/team mates are going to run it. I've been wanting to do one of these for a long time. It's like warrior dash, or a good old mud run, with traps and water, and...well, obstacles! :) Can't wait!

Tough, prideful, intelligent: they won't stop the hurt.

It is cloudy here today, the first time in a long time. It's been a hot mofo here in the Pac NW this summer, and I relish in the clouds, sprinkled rain drops, and feeling the my beloved Fall is on the way.
I thought about her a lot today, and the sting is still there. I don't obsess or wonder what she's doing. I don't think about who she is with, or what her day is like. I just miss that feeling of open love. I miss wanting someone with every fiber of my being, and -if only for a short while - feeling that she wanted me back just as much. I should be in Europe, asking her for her hand, but she changed her mind, and so here I am. I don't hold it against her...I just miss what was, and what could have been.

Erin McKeown sang it best...
"tonight in my disappointment and pride
I am amplified
They asked if I would be alright
Weren't I amplified
Tonight the pleasure would have been all mine
Weren't I amplified
The next time you come won't pass me by
I will amplify
You never know what you miss 'til you have it."

It makes me want to go and do, to be someone different, to be somewhere new, to be anonymous. A grown man, a veteran of combat, a fighter isn't supposed to be so fragile, and yet here I am. Each day seems to get better, with moments of brief and amazing sadness.

Kung Fu...the great equalizer.

So I took my son into Kung Fu tonight. He effectively took the last year off, after going for 6 years, due to my divorce and my lack of time due to work. I had been off for almost two years. I really love the martial combat aspect...going in on a sparring night was a bad idea. I'm going back to class tomorrow night, and hopefully can make a good habit of it until I leave for school (in January). I hope to train at a Mui Thai gym for the 5 months that I'm away at school. Since the school house is in Utah, I will be physically training (running, calesthenics) four days per week at an increased elevation. The addition of mui thai will give me the stamina that I need for the fight I want to get in May or June. Just one cage fight...well, maybe only one. No half ass stuff though. I'm fighting...watch me work.

Honesty in strange places.

Today I ran, and after my cool down, I found the following post (slightly expurgated...even I have some social decorum)...
"Certified smart ass (credentials upon request) seeking a very dynamic play relationship with compatible tops/sadists. I have room for three loves in my life. My husband. My Daddy. And one Scary Motherfucker. I am currently holding auditions for the later two".
Now, despite being funny as fuck (and grammatically chewed up), I was struck by the honesty of it. She doesn't want to role play, she wants to live it. That isn't some silly school girl fantasy, and one that will jam up people's lives, but her actual plan of action. Not really my bag of tricks, Kids...but refreshing to see.

Off to make breakfast for the hooligans. Don't let the world get you down, and remember...only you can prevent forest fires.

Post one - revisited...

had this blog before, but let it go. By let it go, I mean of course, that I created it and never really got it going. Without being to verbose, I decided that today, of all days, I should be thankful to be alive, and the least I can do is stick to my blog three or four times per week.