tired of it

one can stand only so much rain and fog. the last week has been nothing but rain and fog and rain and fog.

the coming week isn't looking much better. i might have a chance at getting a day or two of nice weather. this just sucks...



events of june 21

my aunt and uncle dropped by my parents house for a visit. problem one: i was working on the night they arrived (plus it was raining), problem two: they were leaving the next day at noon. of course, this led to other problems, such as will i wake up in time to ride up and visit before they leave, will the weather be cooperative and give me a window to get up there.

there was no way i was taking the cage. for one, Joey needed it for work; and two...i wanted to show off Selene to my relatives! can't have family drop by and not see my new baby. that would just be wrong. pictures just don't do her justice...hehe.

so, i end up going to bed way too late and waking up an hour later then what i should have. i now had two hours to get ready, run an errand and make it to my parents place...a one hour drive.

the errand took longer then it should have. combine that with not getting ready fast enough and i figured out that i had to take the highway. don't get me wrong, i'm not afraid of the highway or anything, i just rather the backroads. it's a much calmer ride that is more enjoyable.

i finally hit the road and gunned it for the highway. it's overcast and not looking the nicest in St. John so i'm hoping for the usual "get out of St. John and you'll find the nice weather" thing. for the most part, it works out. once i'm five minutes outside of the city, i see reasonably clear skies with huge black clouds high up. the weather is calling for thunderstorms and i thouroughly believe them.

so i'm on the highway and i'm loving it. the wind is next to nothing, it's very warm and traffic is minimal. i'm seeing beautifully threatening skies that would make for some fantastic pictures, but i can't stop. i actually remember to bring my camera and i can't stop. i would have lost way too much time. i sigh and blip the speed up to 120 Kph.

about halfway into my journey, i see three bikes pull onto the highway. i add on a bit more speed to catch up and slowly pull into formation behind them. two H-Ds and a beemer, the beemer looks brand new. they are averaging a good speed, so i stick with them.

it's a great ride all the way into town and i throw them a wave as they pull into a gas station. i continue my cruise into town. normally, if i'm in a rush, i'll bypass Sussex completely and take the highway straight to mom and dads. but today i felt like treating myself and taking the last part of my trip slow. i'm glad i did. there is a slow turn in town that passes by an old train station turned ice-cream shop. as i glance up, i see that the sit down area is filled with kids. they all start yelling and waving. i give them a wave as i pass by and the whole group of them errupts in hoots and yells. gotta tell ya...that made my day.

i make my way to my parents house and meet up with my uncle, aunt and mom as i enter the park. they are all out for a walk and are just heading back to the house. i pass by them and perform a flawless u-turn on the small backroad. i applauded myself (in my head of course) and continued on to the house to wait.

dad was there, relaxing on the patio. as i dismounted, i noted that it had to be 10 or 12 degrees hotter here then it was in St. John. the clouds were still big and ugly, but no rain.

the walkers arrive and we all sit around chatting for a while and admiring Selene. i found out that they had waited for me. i can't thank them enough for that. it's been over a year since i last saw them, so i'll take any time i can get.

about 45 minutes later, they are on thier merry way. apparently they are taking a nice little vacation with camping trips along the way. they still have other people to visit, so the visit to mom and dads was short

i pester mom into making me pancakes for breakfast, with maple syrup, before she heads off to work. YUM!! the rest of the afternoon is spent jabbering and helping dad install the air conditioner.

the day is holding out well, so i decide to take a trip to St. Martin's on my way back to St. John.

i say bye to dad, get Selene a drink and hit the backroads for a wonderful drive.

and wonderful it was.

on the way down, i snapped this pick by a lovely little lake. it was just off the main road and provided a secluded spot to relax and stretch my legs. next is a picture of the lake itself. very quaint.



St. Martin's itself is a small town that is spread along the coast and is very touristy (new word... ;p) lots of little restaurants and shops. it's a cozy little spot where you can experience the drastic Fundy tides.

this shot is on the beach showing a huge cave across the way. come to think of it...the depth on this shot is way off. Selene looks gigantic! attack of the 50 foot cycle?

one last shot of the area. in this one i managed to get Selene, the New Brunswick Flag, the Canadian Flag and an old covered bridge. these bridges are famous around here. i just like riding through them. the acoustics are great!

it was finally getting late, so i shoved off and made my final ride home. all in all it was a great day. the weather held up the whole way, seeing my relatives was great, visiting mom and dad is always good (so are the pancakes...hehe), and spending the whole day riding was great!

on a side note, when i got home Joey was hungry and so was i. so i hopped on Selene and went to Wendy's! i got the take out (minus the drinks) and made it home without a hitch!

one last picture. this is Selene nestled in her cubby underneath our veranda. ain't she cute?

Here is the dirt


On bike 02
Originally uploaded by giest.
in response to biker betty's question about dirt on Selene...here ya go. shiny chrome hides dirt well...hehe. if you can't see it that well, you can get the bigger picture on my flickr page.

mmmm, warm.


On the bike
Originally uploaded by giest.
i want to thank the nice person that sent the nice weather my way. Whoever it was gets a great big hug from me! *hug* you see that picture?! that's clear blue skies and 30 C degree weather (86 F). it was a great ride up to my parents place for an over night visit.

i'm not sure if you can tell, but Selene is ridiculously dirty in this pic. i spent several hours on saturday cleaning her up and polishing everything i possibly could. once she was all clean, i was able to drive into town with just a t-shirt on. do you know how long it's been since i've been able to do that? LOL. that's how warm it was!

I would have had more pictures, but my battery light started flashing when i took this one. typical, i remember the camera, but forget to charge it. oh well, i've got a whole summer ahead of me.

that looks better.

much better indeed. picked up a brand new power supply for my server, 400 watt this time. until i can get the new operating system to agree with my web pages, i'm going to upload the graphics that i have to my flickr account. at least i won't have to worry about my server being offline.

i'm embarrased.

i found an interesting article by a Canadian (i refuse to call him fellow) at motorcyclebloggers and biker betty's place. here is the whole article, give it a read. keep one thing in mind though...this guy seems to revel in this kind of thing. stirring up shit and generally going against things that he doesn't like. here is a rebuttle article, by another writer for that paper a Geoff Matthews, who is also friends with Earl Mcrae.

i truely laugh at the "freedom-fetish" comment. i really don't think he could have said something that was more stupid. i also have to laugh at the last part of the article where they say:

I feel visors should be mandatory in the form of legislation.

money be darned!


i am saving to buy one of these. seriously, what more could i ask for in a computer? you can completely customize this thing! not just the computer hardware mind you, but the actual look. if you want it to match your real motorcycle, just send them a picture. you can get customized plates, paint jobs, gas tanks, gas caps, patterned seats, seat springs, even a lighting system that can be activated by a remote key chain! i'm in love...

Chopper Computers

yeah, i'm a geek...and bloody proud of it! ;p

apologies

i apologize for the look of my site. the power supply in my home server burned out which leaves a bunch of my graphics without a home. this means that my background image is gone and so are many of my avatars that i use. i would host the image on another site, but it's saved on the server which, as i said, is dead. yeah...it was a fun weekend. i install a new operating system on the server and the power supply promptly dies...ugh. oh well, that's what i get for running 300 watts of equipment on a 250 watt power supply *smiles sheepishly*

in other news...

me, Selene and music do not mix. a friend of mine gave me a new Muse cd to listen yesterday. so i ripped the cd and dumped the music to my mp3 player. the weather was good, so i figured i would listen to it on the way home. you know the deal...take the long way and enjoy trip. so i crank the tunes and start moving out of the underground parking. the music is making me particularly frisky, so as i pull out onto the road, i tweak the throttle a bit...ok...a lot. i roar down the street, totally lost in the music and promptly streak past a cop car...yeah...a cop car. i look in the rear view, see his brakes coming on and think, "i'm so dead."

i suddenly realize that my long way home is going to be cut really short. i hit a right and zipped my way across the causeway, watching my mirrors all the way. all i could think of was, "never again."

i made it home and he never found me. the only thing that saved me (at least i think) is the traffic on the small road where i passed him. otherwise, he simply didn't want to bother with hunting me down. i'm fine with either reason and i will not stick those earbuds in my ears again. i'll be happy listening to the subtle growl of Selene as we make our way along. Oh...and we'll be safer for it as well.

i rode.

she is dirty as hell, but by gods, i rode today. it's ugly out, windy as hell, raining at random intervals and i still rode. playing cat and mouse with the weather is getting really tiring and it doesn't look like we are going to get a sunny break until after the weekend. looks like it's going to be a repeat of last year...sunny during work, rainy on days off (3 on 3 off schedule).

i never got wet this morning. the black sky held up for about an hour after i got into work and then promptly drowned the city. i'll most likely get dumped on on my way home, but hell...rain or no rain...it feels good to ride.

i'm going insane.


Selene and a lighthouse
Originally uploaded by giest.
it's been over a week now since i've been able to ride. we just got out of one weather pattern, that poured on us for three straight days, only to have another appear right over top of us. this is going to last another week. i'm not sure i can handle it. anyone in a warmer climate got a room to spare? cause i certainly have the vacation time. the only plus to all this is the fact that our new apartment has a veranda that Selene fits under. no rain gets on her now. still, it kills me to come home and not be able to ride and really enjoy it.

in lieu of all this, i present a nice picture of a sunny day that we had.