Hotel Living

I have a sick, sad confession to make. I was sliding my Hormel Salisbury Steak (with sliced potatoes & gravy) dinner into the microwave when a random thought struck. I had just taken my shower after getting home from work. I was still wrapped in a towel and thanks to the intimate (some would say cramped) living quarters of my hotel room I had to take about eight steps from the bathroom to the mini-fridge to the microwave to get dinner ready. I was hit with the realization that I love hotel living. For some odd, almost sad reason, I look forward to crappy microwave meals, laying on a lumpy mattress watching a t.v. with no contrast control and way too much contrast. I love Lisa more than I love breathing or my motorcycle but I love being in a motel room by myself too. I'm not sure what this says about me. I don't know if this is the cause or effect of the job. All I know is I would feel uncomfortable living in a house too much bigger than 1800 square feet. My house is a duplex and my place is about the size of a two bedroom apartment. It's perfect.

There's a gratifying feeling of being protected from the outside by a hotel. I know for security reasons the hotel with access from inside is safer but I'm partial to the motel because I like to sit with the door open on a cool sunny day or during a spring shower. You're in your room but outside is right there. It's all very exhilarating

It will sound lazy perhaps but I love the fact that someone will come in and make your bed and bring you fresh towels every day. It's like being royalty. To be honest I can't think of any drawbacks except that sometimes a hotel won't have AV jacks for me to plug the X Box into the t.v. Or they won't have high speed internet. That doesn't happen too often though, hell even truck stops have wireless internet these days. There's just no excuse for not having it. Lisa actually likes staying in hotels too, maybe that's one of the reasons we are compatible. She gets bored after awhile though. I can't really blame her. She is normal after all.

Conway Arkansas

I went for a ride yesterday. It was sixty degrees and sunny. A rare nice day in Arkansas so far. I still didn't ride too far though. It is, like most places this time of year, brown and drab even on a sunny day. I usually need a destination or reason to ride this time of year. I'm hoping to go to Hot Springs next weekend to check it out. When I found out I was going to Arkansas I brought Hot Springs by Stephen Hunter with me. I've been a fan of Stephen Hunter for a while now. One of my favorite books is Dirty White Boys. It takes place in and around Lawton Oklahoma where I've spent a lot of time working at Ft Sill. Hot Springs takes place in the forties and a lot of the old gambling halls mentioned in the book are historical landmarks now. It should be fun to match fiction against fact.

If there is one thing about my job I feel blessed about it's the travelling. It's more than just what a vacation might offer. A lot of times you get to really know a place like you can't staying in an RV for a week. Several of the guys I work with feel we should work six or seven days a week and as much over-time as we can get. Their belief is if they have to be on the road they would rather be earning money. That line of thought has always bugged the hell out of me. It seems to be the prevailing opinion though. Of my friends that don't feel that way most of those have a motorcycle. I don't think it's a coincidence. I don't like to be one of those guys that claims his pastime/profession or what have you is the best and only worthy pursuit. But I have a t-shirt that says "You never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrist's office" and I'd have to say that's about the wisest t-shirt I've ever owned. I'm very rarely bored when I have a map and the bike with me.

A Trivial Pursuit

I was thinking about my guest list for the perfect cocktail party. This is one of those time wasting pursuits that come up when there is nothing else going on or you have a few beers in you, or in this case both of those circumstances. In no particular order these are my guests.

I would have to have Peter Egan. He's a columnist for Cycle World magazine and Road & Track. I think of him as the Ernie Pyle of motor journalism. His stories are about riding motorcycles but are at the same time universal and some are down right touching. Plus he loves Guiness.

Next would be Brian Johnson & Angus Young. For reasons that should be obvious to anyone who knows me, I would love to get drunk with the lead singer and guitarist of AC/DC. Nothing against the rest of the band, they're all invited too but I love these two guys. Although I must confess I probably wouldn't be able to follow Angus's conversation but that's okay, I imagine we'd be too pissed to worry about it.

P.J. O'Rourke could get pissed with us. A conservative for convenience of identification but a libertarian at heart, his book Parliment of Whores started me down the path to enlightenment. His Holidays In Hell was true gonzo journalism without any of the forced posturing of Hunter S. Thompson. Well maybe a little posturing.

I would include Valentino Rossi because I'm curious if the 5 time Moto GP Champion is as cheerful and friendly as he acts. You never see the guy without a smile. He's one of the greatest racers of all time. Plus the Italian accent cracks me up.

I think Lyle Lovett would be on the list. He's one of the few musicians Lisa and I both agree on. He's kind of an enigma to me. He seems like a great guy yet he married Julia Roberts, I'd like to find out what that's about. And he rides a Ducati. I don't know if he drinks Guiness though.

Thomas Jefferson for the obvious (that whole founding father thing). We could plot the over throw of tyrannical governments (not naming any names).

And finally Cindy Crawford and Rita Hayworth because in reviewing the list I noticed the women are severly under-represented.

I'm sure I could come up with several more but this would be a good start. I don't have any particular things I would talk about. I would just hope that like all good parties everything would come naturally.

New Cynical Post

Let me see if I've got this straight. The avian flu may or may not turn into a "pandemic". The experts can't agree on this (you can't even get a consensus from the same person). I have heard more than one "expert" claim that a pandemic is inevitable, it is only a matter of time. Of course they always include the disclaimer that the bird flu may or may not be that pandemic. You have to ask yourself why the big deal now. According to the CDC website the flu has been infecting people as far back as 1997. Granted that's not even ten years but no one has cared until the past year or so. There have been 140 cases of humans with the disease and "a few cases of human to human spread". The world's population is 6,484,988,327. Who can tell me what the percentage of cases is? Anyone? No seriously, I'm asking. I'm lousy at math and my calculator is tit's up. Anyway, I'm betting it's a very small number. While I'm sure the family member's who lost someone to bird flu don't find it amusing (and I'm not making light of their loss, or trying not to) I'm not sure I see the panic. I'm going to throw a few crack pot theories out there just for fun. Bush is pushing it to take focus off of his failed... well everything he's done. Another one (from my brother, no less) is Donald Rumsfeld is in cahoots with the drug companies like he was back in the seventies during the BIG swine flu epidemic. Or it's just a case of those wacky old whipping boys, the press running something into the ground. I'd have to check but I bet the stories on avian flu, like stories about prostitution rings, goes up during sweeps week. Take your pick, I personally think it's the Rosicrucians. Off on a tagent, I'd just like to point out that my brother used to be level headed but is slowly becoming a crazier conspiracy theory nut than I am. Good for you Bryce.

So what conclusions can we draw? None, it's just another case of all a bunch of bullshit.

Mid-Winter

We’re deep into winter here in Ohio and cabin fever is setting in. There’s snow outside the window. I’m simultaneously helping and increasing the fever by watching Faster. It’s a documentary on the 2001-02 Moto GP race season. It’s a great movie full of human drama and some awesome racing action. I love watching someone ride a motorcycle almost as much as I love riding one myself. I really love to watch people who are the best at what they do doing what that thing is. Moto GP is the top of motorcycle racing so these guys are the best. I’m getting excitied to ride now. I had a few opportunities to ride in Denver over Christmas but couldn’t bring myself to get out and do it. It was a little chilly but usuallly weather doesn’t bother me, although sometimes it’s all the difference between going for a ride or not. So I go through varing degrees of enthusiasm for riding. I always love to ride but sometimes it’s just harder for me to get on the bike. Right now I’m feeling pretty enthusiastic, I’m hoping Arkansas (where I’m headed next) will have some warm days. I’m not too familiar with that area so I’m not sure what it’ll be like in January or February.

I’m feeling excited because I returned home to a few issues of Motorcyclist and Cycle World magazines. The February issue of Motorcyclist had a picture of the new Yamaha V Max. I’m glad to say the new V Max is a fitting evolution for the original. I have a 97 model which is virtually the same model as a 1985 model, which is virtually the same as a 2005 model. In the bikes 20 year history only minor changes have been made over the years and it shows. It’s still the most fun motorcycle to ride but it’s a little scary to be riding on 20 year old technology. I would compare riding my FZ1 to the V Max like the difference between a steel rollercoaster and a wooden one. The V Max vibrates and shimmies in turns while the FZ1 handles like it’s on rails. I hope Yamaha keeps the awe inspiring V four motor in the original V Max. The torque is incredible. In an original review from 1985 a Motorcyclist writer said while riding the V Max he saw Jesus so many times he started using him as a braking marker. That line always cracks me up and I’ve taken to stealing it for my own use.

More Books

These are a few of the books I've enjoyed the past year in no particular order.

On Writing by Stephen King. I'm not a big follower of King's work but I've always liked every book of his I've read. This one has a chilling chapter describing King being hit by a van. It's a master story teller describing his own near death accident.

Paying the Piper by David Drake. This is a collection of three novellas combined in to a Hammer's Slammers novel. It's a science fiction series about a mercenary tank regiment written by a former Vietnam veteran tanker. It's fun brainless entertainment.

Tishomingo Blues, a book from a few years ago by Elmore Leonard. It's an akward sounding plot, a professional diver mixed up with gangsters from Detroit, the "Dixie Mafia", Civil War reenactors, and it all takes place around the famous crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. It would be goofy if not for the fact that Elmore Leonard wrote it.

That's it for now. It's late and I've got to get up early. I'm staying in Kingdom City, Missouri on my way home from Denver.

Just A Brief Observation

As Lisa and I were walking around downtown Denver the day after Thanksgiving, there was a group of smelly, hippies walking down the street towards us. They were dressed up as zombies (although with smelly hippies you're never quite sure), shuffling down the 16th Street Mall. As they approached I saw some with t-shirts about consummerism and deduced that they were actually protesting the crass commercialism of Christmas shopping. Right after my first thought of, "Huge waste of time", I was curious as to why, with a war going on they decided to dress up and travel en masse to walk around bugging little old ladies and harried fathers with children in tow all over the evils of buying presents for loved ones. I assumed since bathing wasn't taking up any of their time they were just bored. Lisa and I had a good laugh, I remember giving her the old stage whisper and her agreeing that it was a huge waste of time. We moved on down the street and gave one last glance as we went into Virgin Records.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Christmas 2005

It has been a good holiday season so far. I’ve been spending it with Lisa and her family in Littleton Colorado. It’s been fun and relaxing. I’ve slowed down and done some things I haven’t done in awhile. I’ve read a book and am half way through another one right now. I haven't really read a lot in the last few years. I love to read but seem to put it off for other pursuits, like the XBox or wall staring. I’m glad I’ve gotten back into it. I read “The Pleasure of My Company” by Steve Martin. I’ve always loved everything Steve Martin does ever since I got “One Wild and Crazy Guy” on a vinyl disc way back in the seventies. I remember being a little too young (or naive) to stay up on Saturday Nights to see him hosting Saturday Night Live. I actually started liking him because of the song King Tut. I bought the album when I was probably around thirteen and didn’t get a lot of the humor but that didn’t stop me from stealing his routine and doing it in the caferteria during lunch. That’s right, I was the proverbial little fat boy repeating comedy bits for attention. I knew it was sad even at the time but one day I made milk fly out of Paul Clark’s nose so I didn’t care that it was wrong. I was a lunch room, well I was going to say God, and maybe in my mind I was but we know the sad truth. It was still fun though.

Anyway, you get the picture, I like Steve Martin and will see him in anything, which unfortunately means sitting through Cheaper by the Dozen. I think Bonnie Hunt is a genius too, so what went so horribly wrong?

At least his books are great. I loved "Shopgirl" and "The Pleasure of My Company" is almost as good. It’s genuis in parts. Steve Martin has a big brain (he actually had two of them once) and can really turn a phrase. The book is full of stuff like, “My plan was to walk by on my side of the street and not look over her way. This, I felt, was a very clever masculine move: to meet and ultimately seduce through no contact at all. She would be made aware of me as a mysterious figure, someone with no need of her whatsoever. This is compelling to a woman.” He has deftly captured my previous dating techniques. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, thank God for Lisa.

The story is short at 163 pages and a little uneven at times. The ending is abrupt and feels a little forced but it’s a great book that I would recommend to anyone who likes Steve Martin or character driven stories with happy endings.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.