Just Ramblings

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Back in 2006 when I attended Cisco Networkers  (or NotWorkers as it’s often referred).

I purchased a Cisco branded Skagen watch.  The price was right, and I was in a mood for a watch and had been looking at Skagen for a while since they are so light and ‘thin’.

On the way home I noticed it wasn’t keeping time and that bothered me.   It wasn’t until a couple weeks later that I noticed if you bumped it at all, the minute hand would just ‘move’.    It would keep time just fine sitting on the desk, just don’t subject it to any movement.  :(

I called Cisco Marketing to see if they’d swap me out.   Turns out they were the last batch and since Cisco was in the process of changing logo’s there wouldn’t be anymore.

They suggested I send it to Skagen since it had a limited lifetime warranty.

Well I never did, that was until about a month ago.  I printed out the RMA form, included Credit card info fully expecting to be dinged $30 bucks or so for the repair.

A couple of weeks passed and I noticed that Skagen had only dinged me $8.95 (plus the cost of shipping it to them).  Which appears is the standard fee for warranty repair.   (yes a fee for warranty work, go figure).

I was giddy, looking forward to getting a nice and relatively new watch back.

It arrived today.

I tore open the envelope, pulled out the slip and read it.  Work performed Reseal Case & Attached Minute Hand!.

Then I pulled out the box congaing the watch.   I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Where was the minute hand?  Floating around the number 1 and 2 on the dial, completely detached from the movement.   Pfffft.

See:
(in the photo it’s floating over the #3)

So I turned it over to my wife to handle.  She’s good with stuff like that.  At first they wanted me to ship it to them again (at my cost) and that wasn’t going to fly.

But in the end they are supposed to take care of me.   They are going to build me a watch.  (sans the Cisco Logo) and ship it to me and pick up the bumb fix.

I’ll update if that doesn’t happen.

“It’s Time”

I’m 40-something and started smoking when I was 14 or so. 

When Michael was born, Claudine put her foot down.  No more smoking in the house.   Back then you could still smoke in most public places.  But standing outside in the cold weather wasn’t for me. 

So, I did the next best thing.  Switched up for something with no second-hand side effects.  (Chew or Dip).  It doesn’t affect those around you unless a: you spill it on them, or b: they grab your dip cup or can by mistake and take a swig.   The later was often comical though.

Anyway, that means I’ve been nicotine dependant for over 25 years.

As for dipping, it was a 5-can per week habit, nearly a can a day but not quite.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I have quit before, heck quitting is easy.  But staying that way hasn’t be so easy.  My most successful run was about 6 months, and I used the patch to get that far.  So still getting nicotine, only the clean pharmaceutical variety.

I am nicotine dependant, and addicted, there is no doubt about that. 

But I’m giving it up.  It’s simply “time to do so”.   I started yesterday, I’m not brave enough to go ‘cold-turkey’, and I also love my family too much to put them through that right now.   It wasn’t pleasant last time.

So I cut back significantly yesterday.   Only three small ‘fixes’.   May not seem like much but it was significant to me and actually wasn’t that easy.

I stuck with that routine today, at least as far in today as we are.  This mornings little fix was different.  Certainly not enjoyable.  Not like yesterday.  Nope, my body didn’t really like it.

I expect to drop it completely by Monday, heck if later today is like this morning, maybe sooner.

So there, I’ve said it.  I’ve posted it.  It’s public.  So after Monday, give me crap if you see me with tobacco.  It’s important for you to do so.  Now I just need to figure out how to not gain 30 lbs while doing this.  I really cannot afford to gain any more weight.

What a pain.

In June we purchased a nice/reasonable teenager car (1998 Escort ZX2).  Fairly low miles, good tires, with heat and AC for $1500.

Last week it was wrecked, or rather run into in a parking lot incident.   The damage wasn’t all that bad, but the suspension was broken.

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The person was covered by Progressive.  All in all the claim service has been decent.  The problem is they won’t use any used/remanufactured/aftermarket suspension parts.  So the cost of fixing the suspension pushed passed the value of the vehicle.

Hence, it’s "Totaled".

It’s still a decent car given it’s purpose.  Good gas mileage, working AC, etc.

So we’re taking the settlement, minus the buy back ($250) and we’re going to fix it.   Cost to fix: ~$1200-ish.  that does not include a new bumper, but does include beating out the dent in the fender so it’s not so bad.  Remember, teenage driver, to/from school and work is it’s primary purpose.

So, the Salvage process goes like this.

To get the settlement from Progressive I have to convert the Title to salvage.  Cost: $5.00.

I then have to bounce next door and buy a Salvage Inspection Certificate.  Cost: $53.00.

The car is now Salvage and as such is not licensed to be on the road.  (We can’t drive it).  It will be fixed tomorrow or Saturday, but we’re stuck.  We can’t drive it until our inspection date which generally runs 30 days out.   The body shop had an inspection certificate which they claim is transferable so they made the inspection appointment for us for Dec 22nd.  So we’re without wheels until then.

We now wait for the car to be repaired, and for Dec 22nd to roll around.   We are permitted to drive it to the inspection location (on the certificate).

Once it passes, we then have to go back to the Title agency and convert the title to rebuilt salvage.  (Another $6.00).   Then again bounce next door to the registrar and pay to have the plate put back on it (Another $4.50).

The little costs add up, but it’s more the time and running around that’s a big pain in the butt.

It seems to me that this whole process could be streamlined for instant rebuilds like ours.   I recognize that most of them don’t go this way, but the typical 30 day lag for the inspection for instant rebuilds is a big inconvenience. 

Another fine example of how efficient our governments are.

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Only this time it was my turn to get up close…

She was just hanging out eating mulberries.

I approached her slowly and as I got the the tree a bunch of birds took off and scared the crap out of me.  Didn’t phase her though.

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No I wasn’t choking it, though I probably should.  I hope she doesn’t jump out in front of a motorcycle some day.

-MD

and nobody is there to hear it. Did it make a sound?

Yesterday during the storm that blew through we got a new road block at the end of the driveway.

This will be fun to cut up and will result in a heck of a bon-fire.

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“Women marry men hoping to change them and they don’t. Men marry women hoping they don’t change and they do.”

Truer words were never spoken :)

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Yesterday I took off early to meet some folks from the FJR Forum.

I got up at 0 dark-thirty and took off to meet up with Nate and Mike. Nate was riding in from West of Indianapolis, and Mike from Louisville. Our meeting point was exit 112 on I-70. I got there promptly at 9am, which was a task given all the fog.

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The three of us then rolled on over to exit 202 I think, to meet the rest of the gang at a little po-dunk gas station.

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We rolled away from there around 10am, and ran route 800, 255 (which was horrible from a gravel stand point), 26, and a few other numbers.

We stopped and took a little break then picked up a tag-a-long VStrom which made us a pack of 8.

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The roads were all good except for the one that was 25 miles of gravel, sand and cinders. It was pretty amazing that no-one went down considering the conditions.

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We rode a good few hours and ended up in Marietta for lunch at a Ryan’s steak house. It wasn’t my pick, and surprisingly everything was pretty good. Good time, good riding, good company. That’s what it’s all about.

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After lunch we headed back to where we started. Another good hour and a half of riding through more twisties up 26. We stopped that the gas station, and said our goodbyes.

Mike, Nate and I headed back towards home. We arrived together, we might as well leave together since we’re all headed the same direction. Things were fine until we started to get on I-70. The entrance ramp there is a bit funky. You cross over the highway, turn left on a side street, then an immediate left onto the ramp. Mike almost over shot the ramp, turned left quickly and then *boom* down he went. The exit ramp was covered with gravel and sand.

He went down hard and fast, then slid a good 25~30 feet off the side of the road into a ditch.

Nate and I stopped and helped him pick up the bike. Mike was fine because he was AGAT (All the Gear All the Time). His jacket and pants saved him from any road rash and his helmet kept him from busting his head wide open. He went down pretty hard and bounced right back up none the worse for wear.

His bike though didn’t do so well.

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Damage included pretty much everything on the left side, upper and lower fairings, his highway peg was trashed, as were his aux lighting on the left as well. Left side exhaust was scraped up, and he even got the left side of the top case.

Again, Mike was fine, because he was covered. His bike mechanically was Ok too. He rode it home to Louisville. Nate and I followed him to make sure he and the bike were OK.

Outside of Mike’s episode, it was a great day. I put down almost 700 miles and Mike and Nate did almost a 1000.

 

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Andy Furman, to know him is to either love him or hate him, there is no in-between.

He’s been on 700WLW for a long time. The Enquirer says 18 years. I don’t think he’s been ‘the’ personality for 18 years but he’s been around for a long time.

(pull)I know he’s been aggravating me and making Sports-Talk hard to listen too for a very, very long time(/pull). Sports fans listen to sports shows to talk about sports, not racial conspiracy theories.

Andy wasn’t always a bigot and a racist but he’s always been at or over the top obnoxious. That was just his style. Over the last few years however he’s really turned it up a notch or 10.

I completely understand there are sport figures and teams (the lowly Bengals who hadn’t won in 10 years would be in that group) who deserve to be dug into from time to time.

Talk radio is about stirring the pot. But Andy’s style was far too aggressive, far too obnoxious, and far too vile.

I don’t know if it was simply jealousy, or what. But it was always clear; Andy had no respect for anyone, except those who kissed his butt. No matter what the issue, Andy it seemed would turn it into a racial issue. I mean it really didn’t matter. Certainly there was a time and place, during the Cincinnati riots, where race was an issue and a top ‘button’ to push. But I never really understood how that affected our sports teams? Once in a while, there might actually be a race related story out there. But with Andy, playing the race card was a weekly occurrence.

People like to try and compare Andy to Bill Cunningham. Bill Cunningham is an entertainer, he’s also borderline obnoxious. But that’s his style. A style that was in place long before Andy came around. When Willey was on during the night time, he too was often controversial, the difference was, Willy made sense most of the time. Rarely did he reach beyond common logic.

Andy it appeared to me, tried to steal from Cunningham’s play book, only in a more vile and hate spreading way. Andy simply went way too far, too often, and I for one am surprised it took this long to get rid of him.

Nope, Andy you won’t be missed by many. Only those whose butts you’ve kissed along the way and somehow avoided offending. After all these years, I don’t know how many people that could be, maybe 5 or 6?

Good luck to you in your future endeavors.

Enquirer Story

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moes150 VS. Chipotle150

It’s no secret that we love Chipotle, heck who doesn’t.

We’re certainly open to new and exciting options, heck Chipotle is always busy. A co-worker told me about Moe’s. His descriptions went something like this: “It’s like Chipotle, only better. Everything is milder, and there are more options. They have a salsa bar and give you free chips too.???

Well I’m in the camp that Chipotle is as spicy as you let them make it. Their mild salsa is tasty but isn’t spicy at all. I love spicy, I love their HOT stuff, I just can’t eat it anymore. I can’t handle what it does to me. But that’s beside the point.

I know my mother in law thinks Chipotle is spicy too, don’t know how or why but she does. So when we had the opportunity to go out today I thought we’d try Moe’s

I heard it was milder, and figured what they hey.

Let me tell you, it’s milder all right, so mild it’s almost tasteless. At Chipotle, one of the beautiful things is you see them cooking the chicken, and steak behind the assembly line as well as sautéing the peppers and opinions, etc. At Chipotle, the chicken is seasoned, and flavorful, and it’s clearly chicken, the steak, is steak.

At Moe’s, the chicken, well, its mush, it’s barely distinguishable from chicken of the sea out of a can. When was this cooked? Is it really chicken? At Chipotle, its pieces of chicken and you can watch them slice it up. The Chicken at Moe’s kind of looks like it’s been through a blender so you can’t tell what it is.

I had a burrito bowl; I looked at the chicken, couldn’t recognize it as chicken and opted for the steak. That too was a mistake. I think they get the parts that Chipotle tosses aside. Rice, black beans, sour-cream, cheese, salsa, all the fixings I’d get at Chipotle. It looked comparable.

I got chips too. In the back you can see big plastic containers full of chips. The same plastic containers we keep clothes in under the bed. I don’t know if they make their chips like Chipotle does. But they don’t put lime on them, nor does it appear salt. I figured, they have a salsa bar, so that might make up for it. I do know Chipotle has been getting a little cheap on the salsa with chips lately at least the last couple times I’ve been there.

I gathered a couple cups of salsa from the salsa bar, their gold standard, and the green salsa. Both were weak. Mild is even too strong a word. I could have just smooshed a tomato on the chips and that would have added more salsa flavor if you ask me.

Thier medium and hot sauces…  No…  Not good either.

The Burrito bowl? No good.

Moe does not know burritos. My wife ordered hers fajita style, yet got no peppers or onions. What?

Moe’s Blows, Moe’s does not know burritos. Moe’s does not know flavor nor value, Chipotle forever, Moe’s Never.

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When it’s plastic that’s when.

OK so it starts like this:

I buy and sell things on ebay from time to time. Yes, it’s true, you can get decent deals on some things on ebay. But you have to know what you’re looking for and be patient. There is a lot of ‘crap’ on ebay.

I do some pretty routine searches for things like, FJR1300 for things for my motorcycle. Occasionally I’ll look for other motorcycle gear too. I ended up getting a great deal on a used Joe Rocket Jacket. A $250 jacket for $65 bucks plus shipping was $80 and it was like new.

So once in a while I’ll search for something like “Yamaha Leather” or “Yamaha Leathers” or what not.

Well, one day this turned up:

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Now, I need another jacket like I need a hole in the head. But this is a Valentino Rossi replica GO!!!!!!!!!! ‘Leather’ jacket with CE armor (good stuff) and I could use it on a track day with appropriate pants. Two piece zip-together.

It was advertised as:
Go ! Team Yamaha Moto GP leather Jacket in Size L & XL
and it was cheap, $115.00 US buy it now.

What in the world? So now if something is too good to be true it usually is. I have bought a couple XL things from over seas and their XL people are not the same size as our XL people. So I was a little concerned about that. But no, the fine print says an XL should fit me.

Hrm…

I kept looking. Now if this was a single item from an individual I wouldn’t be so skeptical but it isn’t, there are a few of these things.

Then I find it. In the fine print:

Features: AAA synthetic leather.

Just what is Triple-A synthetic leather anyway? Sounds like plastic to me.

So I asked the seller: Hum, You say leather in the title, but synthetic in the fine print, that’s a little miss leading don’t you think?

The response? “There are lots of different type of leathers. The one we are selling is synthetic PU leather which provides better breatheability and advantages over other leathers such as : Easy to clean with a sponge and water. Impervious to absorption (sweat won’t cause rotting). Highly flexible in cold weather.”

Yeah, that’s plastic. While that’s fine, it’s not good to crash in, which is what this jacket is supposed to be for, to keep you from getting road rash. It’s made from PVC and is very dangerous stuff for motorcycling. This stuff will more than likely melt to your skin in the event of a crash. No good.

Leather is animal hide, like from a cow or better yet a kangaroo if you’re going to drag across the asphalt.

Thanks but no thanks.

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