I have used Right Guard’s “Fresh” scent Sport gel deodorant for, well, I don’t know. Well over a dozen years, if not more. I like it because it goes on clear, stays clear, and smells nice.

The product has gone through one major scent change in the time I’ve used it, and I didn’t mind. Apparently the Fresh scent has undergone another scent change, according to the labeling on the last stick I used. However, I couldn’t tell — it smelled the same as usual.

I burned through that stick and moved on to a new one last week. This one smells completely different. It is almost sweet smelling, and at first I didn’t like it. I wore it anyway (had to, was out otherwise) and went to work. I don’t know if it’s the combination of motorcycle exhaust, sweat, and a cotton undershirt but by the time I got to work it didn’t really bother me. I caught a whiff of the new scent a few times throughout the day; otherwise it was situation normal.

So anyway, what gives with marking something as “new” that smells like the old product, and sneaking in the new scent under some sort of sticker camouflage? Check it out:

Every once in awhile I get a wild hair and decide to tackle the many tasks that fill my “to do” list. Some of those tasks involved putting crap up in the attic, which I access through your typical zombie-escape-hatch-style ceiling door with a ladder screwed onto the other side.

So, I grab my stock FZ6 seat with one hand, and grab the door release cord with the other. I pulled on the cord in a very manly fashion, so that the door would swing down easily.

All of the sudden a big ass bee / hornet / deathclaw flying at me. I swear it had a saddle and the number “13″ painted on the side. I dropped the seat, jumped back about two feet, and shrilled. I was sure I had been stung by this Rodan-sized insect. I stood perfectly still for a set of very loud heartbeats and decided I was still okay.

Meanwhile, the Cloverleaf-sized critter lay still on the carpet. I approached, ready to stompinate the thing into powder should it so much as twitch.

It was dead. Dead, Jim.

SD card for reference. I could visibly see the stinger, it looked like the end of a pushpin. Great googly moogly.

The H1N1 pig flu got a lot of attention in the media and at the office water cooler. Whether you believe it’s a big deal or not, situations like this are helpful for reflecting on your level of preparedness. It’s like a zombie movie: the chances of facing an undead horde are small, but it triggers the preparedness thought process just the same.

Some cities put up a quarantine to deal with the spread of H1N1. If you were in a disaster area or in a quarantined city, how long could you comfortably stay in your home? To make it easier, let’s assume you have your normal utilities (power, water, etc).
Read the rest of this entry »

One of the things I miss most about the 2004 BMW R1150R I owned were the auxiliary lights. The BMW had PIAA lights mounted to the crash bars that protected the engine in case of an accident. My FZ6 doesn’t really have any place to mount auxiliary lights, so I started looking into installing some crash bars on old Cylon.

Of course, not too many people want to put auxiliary lights or highway pegs on their sport-ish FZ6 bikes, so my choices were limited. Through research on a few FZ6 forums, I found that most people manufactured their own “engine cages” for stunting. There weren’t many commercially-available options for crash bars for Cylon — in fact, there was only one, by SW-MOTECH out of Germany.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m several days behind on making updates on my trip to Georgia and back. I have a few things to discuss from a motorcycling perspective, some gear to review, and everything else … so instead of lagging even more on my posts, I want to show you some snapshots of my trip, and try to let the pictures do some of the talking.
Read the rest of this entry »

I am not dead, but my main computer is. Sorry for not updating about getting home. I have a lot of updates and reviews to post, but it is tough when my main computer is busted ;)

If any of you have experience with Windows Vista and the “black screen of death” please let me know.

Quick trip report, so far :)

Leaving Richmond Saturday morning — it had rained earlier in the morning but my trip was dry.

Stopped in North Carolina to shake my legs and drink some water and coffee.

The weather heated up pretty quickly and the wind was brutal from North Carolina until I hit Savannah.

Fast forward several windy hours — on the approach to Tybee!

Locals doing the speed limit, but a single lane road and double yellow lines kept me in check. I had waited months to get here, I could wait a few minutes longer.

It’s been been non-stop laughs and goofing off since I got here. I will try to post some more later, but I had a problem with the wireless card on my laptop and it’s hard to post from the “public” machine.

I’m headed to Savannah, Georgia to spend some time with some friends. Taking Cylon, my 2005 Yamaha FZ6. I ordered a set of Givi E360 hard cases as the last minute because I couldn’t trust the JC Whitney knock-offs as side cases. I managed to pack all of my things into the side and top cases, but that left me zero wiggle room in case I acquired trophies while I was away. Out came the dry bag I took the last time to Georgia, and now I have some extra space.

It is SUPER humid out today, but the rain seemed to have passed this morning.

I’ll post more when I arrive.

It is safe to say that I was a different person ten years ago. I was living in Virginia for the first time, in a small two bedroom apartment with my girlfriend from college. Even though I had already done professional Web work for two years, I had just started the job that would cement my career in this industry. I had a dog and a new car.

It seemed like I had my entire life ahead of me.

I have never been really close with my family. There are a few reasons for this, not many of which I am going to get into right now. The primary reasons are that I am eleven years younger than my next closest sibling. By the time I was old enough to carry on a realistic conversation with my siblings most of them had moved away to go to college or beyond. The other primary reason is that I am the only child of my parent’s marriage. I felt, and still feel, particularly estranged from my father’s children from his first marriage. We have never had a falling out or anything, it’s just coincidence that we are related somehow. Otherwise they are just people to me. My two half-sister from my mother’s side lived with me during my early childhood. Out of everyone in my family, I was closest with the younger of my two sisters. She was the one closest to me in age, and while I didn’t really realize it at the time, she became the one person I could talk to about anything. She was old enough to give me advice based on experience, but not so old that she forgot what it was like to be stupid and not listen to advice.

She had bailed me out of more trouble than I should retell on a public platform. From the time I stole my Mom’s car at fifteen to the reason why there were metal detectors installed in my high school after I graduated, she always stood by me. Even when I fucked up, and that’s more than I can say I did for any of my friends or family.

At any rate, back then I felt like I had plenty of time to reconnect where I wanted to, especially now that I was done with school and had some sense of autonomy. I wasn’t interested in getting married, but I was in love with my college girlfriend and there was no end in sight. I looked forward to visiting my mother, stepfather, sister and uncle in New York state, and had designs on visiting my father in Colorado someday. I had friends scattered all over the country, and now that I had this job I could stop scratching for every penny and start making bigger plans.

It seemed like I had my entire life ahead of me.
Read the rest of this entry »

Due to the increase of ammunition prices and a desire to start shooting more, I have started reloading my own cartridges again. There is one big difference between now and when I last reloaded about thirteen years ago — you can’t find ammunition components to save your life. Primers are especially hard to come by, but even copper jacketed bullets in my preferred calibers (.40 S&W and .45 Auto) are scarce.

I wound up ordering some lead semi-wad cutter bullets to make practice ammunition from the Missouri Bullet Company. There are several things that make them a great company to deal with, but I am only going to write about three right now:

1. They have many items in stock, unlike other manufacturers.
2. They fulfilled my order quickly — my items shipped within a business day of ordering.
3. They offer low shipping prices: my order was just a touch under $11 shipped.

I was a little curious about that last bit, because shipping on everything has gotten more expensive lately. I ordered 2,000 bullets, and expected the shipping cost to be much higher. I was puzzled about how inexpensive the shipping was, especially since Missouri Bullet said my order would arrive in two to three days.

The mystery was solved when an innocent-looking package arrived via a USPS Priority Mail flat rate box two days later.
Read the rest of this entry »