Life goggles

Man, between the work I do for a living and the work I do for my personal needs/pleasure, the days fly by in a blur. I wake up on a Saturday morning with a full dance card and no opportunity to sleep in. I end up being productive and have fun along the way and then it's Monday and I'm back in the mix of so much going on with so few resources. "Doing more with less", in the yuppie vernacular. You get through a couple of blinks there and suddenly it's mid way through the week and you're trying to fit in more work before the weekend for people that sit on their bloated carcasses and think they're the only folks in the universe. BAM! It's another weekend.

I'm going to be 50yrs old in a couple of years and I feel like I just turned 20. OK, physically I feel like I'm in my 80's, but mentally I'm still enjoying things and wanting to enjoy more things and just noticing that life has a pace that's kinda zooooomier than I like. I want to sip and chew, not wolf and gulp. No control over that.

Gotta get out of the "all work and no play" rut.....last weekend ruined me.  8)

I have alot of runs coming up. There's a Camp Boogie and the Gypsys are putting on a poker run.....I have a car show I'm organizing and there's the Scouting thing. Just attending an LSU game for stretcher bearing duty takes up 12 hours.

Blur!

What a weekend....

Last weekend started on Friday afternoon when I showed up to Bear's house with the "Heart of Gold II" for Bags' bus. We had a good time wrenching and yakkin' and bolting things together the way we usually do and I got home way later than I should have. The plan was to get up around 0630 the next morning and ride around goofing off with the ladies before getting back to the VW side of things in the afternoon.

That was the plan.

But Ed went camping with the Scouts.

Change of plan.

We went off riding with Rusty and Bear and thier ladies like we intended....coffee shop where I have to relearn "situational Italian" every time I walk through the door....riiiiiiide..... Harley open-house with tunes and bikes out the @$$. Bags catches me looking at calendars and starts making funny comments about how guys look at things like that all the time and then, in front of everyone, says I need to look at one that only has pictures of HER in it. I submit to you pictorial proof that I immediately endorsed/approved/supported the production and viewing of said calendar and shook on the deal WITH WITNESSES:

....a short hop to the restaurant for food and "stuff" and then the riiiiiiide before.....before......before......peeling off to hit the house where noone saw us for the rest of the weekend.

We had good intentions where that VW was concerned.....

Oh, and Ed enjoyed camping and blah-dee-blah-dee-blah. ;)

Busted butt tired....

Man, after a day of doing something-nothing-something-nothing and wanting to get going on the weekend, I made it to Bear's to assemble all the things that turn a VW longblock into a running motor. After eating one of Susan's awesome spaghetti meals and loading up on a huge desert, we hit the garage and got busy. I spent around 3 hours sitting on a stool with the longblock on a bench in front of me and tools/parts laid out within reach. Work bend work bend work unwork rework bend....repeat. I never knew sitting could get at your back like that. Well, it does if you've had a dual fusion. Anyway, the plan is to button up the few remaining things and get that motor in by tomorrow night (or whenever). But first thing in the morning, I'm going to ride with the "Sons of Subdivision" to a Starbucks and then loop the twisties to end up at BR Harley to watch ewveryone check out new bikes and LSU tailgating parties. Bear calls it his R.U.B. ride.

Yuppie scum.  ;)

So..... how ya been?

So the blog thing kinda slipped as the last few months did a taffy pull on my calendar. Tugged this way and that through alot of good things and bad. Just like you.

On the good side, I was looking to trade the Geezer Glide for something more motor-on-wheels that fits my character and the way I like to roll down the road. Hooked up with Cade about an hour or so away and made the trade for the Softail. One uber-rainy ride back home (sans front fender) and I was used to the bike and lovin' it. Here's a shot of me and bear in the driveway at Casa del Joker after the ride:

Yes, those are semi-truck flappers on the pipes and yes, they've grown on me and are staying. I sent Cade back his homespun iron cross aircleaner plate, had the metal shop guys plasma cut a disc out of stainless and tossed the Sparkle Barbie Glitter Grips for some regular black rubber ones.

With the pipes pointing where bags normally go and a Camp Boogie gypsy run coming up to Arkansas, I needed a way to run a military duffel bag on the back. Enter my buddy Lars, a coworker who's becoming a pretty mean blacksmith:

 

 

Next thing you know, ol' Joker's sportin' a mighty fine sisy bar on the Softail and ready for road trippin'!

 

 

 

 

Sweetness and light.

 

Bags' bus is coming along with the fresh motor (top to bottom with a tasty cam and some carb-foolery) going together at Bear's tonight and getting stabbed tomorrow. Tomorrow night is a gut run to the monthly meeting of VW freaks.

 

Been going to every home LSU game with Ed and his Scout Troop since they function as ushers and stretcher bearers. Never much followed college football, but I gotta tell you, the atmosphere (and eye candy) at those games kinda grabs you.

 

 

Through Facebook, I've hooked up with 3 of my past club brothers and we've been going back and forth on catching up with things. I need to make a run to Iowa, that's for sure. Shortcut's got it made up there. Rocket's doing well as a medical professional now on the east coast and Buddah is living large right in Big D. He and his brothers own that town. For real.

 

 

A lot going on. 



Dagnab confusticated consarn blog BS!!!!!!

.....or I'm just having problems because I haven't blogged in a long time. Way too busy.

The boy's Scout thing has taken a bunch of time, work has been nuts, the planets won't align...yaddah yaddah.

Anyway, a lot's happened since the last blog post here. Freakshow's motor was garbage and we sold the Super to finance the total drill/bore/modification of the that exact motor to create The HEart of Gold II. It goes in this weekend.

Found a bike I like better than the dresser and made a friend at the same time. We swapped bikes back in August and I've been pretty happy with it. Definitely fits.

Been thinking......

I think the secret of life is collecting memories of quality moments and the struggle of life is developing your taste for quality and the ability to recognize those moments as they occur. The work of life is maneuvering toward those moments. Travel and family are 2 very good tools for the work of life. Cultivating your inner peace is calibrating your quality receptor.

Hence, the motorcycles.

So the slacker sets up phone posting...

I've been really busy with a lot of crap. Health, money and time become dear as you sprint past racers and obstacles in the race of life. Maybe posting from the phone will help get me back a bit more regularly!

Brothers helping brothers

Was planning to go to Bear's last night to jerk the Heart of Gold from Freakshow's ass. Had to do some graphics work for a building automation start-up in Boston and it was going to be a late night between the two....

....so I bailed on the VW thing, worked...napped....worked.

I'm flat on my back in bed watching a double feature fantasy on the inside of my eyelids when I get an email and, being programmed by a career of pavlovian response to electronic summons in all forms, I open the email from Bear and the above picture is attached.

Bear did the motor-ectomy. Brothers helping brothers.

Tonight, I'm bringing the whole family over to his place to share a meal together and we'll tear this thing down and see what we see.

Thanx, Bear!

Evel Knievel once said....

Man, blood, sweat and tears going into the revival of Freakshow, the 1971 VW Westy Camper that has returned to the family after a whirlwind tour of other owners. When I got it back, it ran with some overheating and a sound like a diesel. Found some loose head nuts and figured a topend job would do it! Many grease-covered hours later, Bear and I stabbed the motor in his driveway and fired it up to the same noise. It's bottom end. It's money. So we gotta wait.

I wanted to get this done before Bags' birthday this Monday and I'm not gonna make it. Right now, her Superbeetle is at Matt's house waiting on a re-machined steering box install.

Epic fails on all fronts.

Evel Knievel once said, "A man can fall many times in life, but he isn't a failure until he refuses to get back up." So I keep going in the right direction not sweating that I'm not at the finish line, yet. Just keep pluggin'. Everything falls into place your way if you keep moving your way.

Don't have the answer to this little setback, but I will keep moving in the right direction (looking for the money tree) and things will fall into place my way.

Just so's ya know.......Freakshow!

Freakshow, our old departed '71 VW Baywindow Westphalia Camper, was in the care of the niece of one of the most powerful forces in the universe (Bear) when she decided to go the more modern route. Bear let me know and BAM! Freakshow comes back to the family to reverse a mistake made a few moons (and air-cooled VW's) ago.

Here she is today:

We're going to have fun bringing her back up to Tripendicular Hippy status for Bags and Ed to cruise in in style. These things are fun. Genuine simplicity where visceral motoring and righteous vibes blend in a symphony of whoopee! Getting waaaay pricey. Check out this link to look at current asking prices from around the world:  http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/cat.php?id=7

Got a thread going at the Air Coolers site, too:  http://www.aircoolers.org/v/showthread.php?33366-Freakshow

I've been up to my elbows in my boy Ed's "band of brothers", the Boy Scouts and this Bus. Want to get back to blogging when I get my head out of reality for a moment. Not hooked on the internet blogging thing, yet, so I let it lapse.