AgentZ Posterous

A couple of weeks back I took delivery on what had been a lifelong dream; a 2006 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail. It is a beautiful machine, a real head turner, literally. Lots of chrome, ape hanger bars, Vance Hines pipes, back leather saddle bags and a Harley Air Ride seat for the little lady.

The problem is I haven't ridden since I got married. It was an agreement we reached that I had other priorities and the bike (used to commute) was an unnecessary risk. Well, the priorities are grown up and on their own for the most part. Hence, a new bike in my life.

28 years is a long time to go between rides. The first time I mounted her and went for a ride I thought, "Oh yeah, this is what its all about!". I felt all the time between rides slipping away, it was all coming back. Unfortunately, it was all coming back, bad habits and all.

My nephew had told me about the CMSP. He had gone through it. And, as a bonus, the DMV waives the skills test for your license. I thought it was a real deal.

Well it turns out, while that is a plus, its secondary to what else I took away from the class.

The company whose program I went with is a local organization called Ride Rite.

We met at a cafe in Norco for the classroom portion of the class. There were videos, classroom discussion and a written test. Don't pass the test, don't move onto the riding portion of the class. I passed.

The second half of the day and the next day were hands on bikes at a local church parking lot in Corona.

It worked like this:

• Explain what the exercise was.
• Explain the exercise objective
• Shown us a diagram of the exercise
• An instructor executes the exercise as an example
• Questions
• Mount up - Practice, Practice, Practice

Theory put into action. Things I thought I knew, I didn't. Stuff I took for granted, put into a new light. Learned things I never knew.

Now I'm an expert! Hah! I do realize how little I did know and I definitely know which skills (all of them except starting the bike) I need to practice.

I ride (and drive) now with a new awareness. I can see retaking this class (or the next level) down the road.

The instructors for this class, Vaughn and Kristy, were simply outstanding with the patience of saints.

Anybody that decides to ride should seriously consider taking one of these classes.

Until next time,
AgentZ out...

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The last three weeks have been pretty busy.

I had an opportunity to travel to San Antonio, Texas. Had never been there and it gave me a chance to check out the San Antonio Riverwalk.

The Famous Mission Trail
And The Alamo

More pics from the trip can be seen in my San Antonio Collection

Over the weekend we went out to Malibu Creek State park and trekked around for the better part of the day. The old MASH site is located there
as is lovely Century Lake.
More images from that trip can be seen in Malibu Creek set on Flickr.

After a quick trip to Phoenix Thanksgiving week I was off the following week to Salt Lake City, Seattle and Portland. While in Salt lake City I had a chance to head out to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. Got some lovely shots there plus this magnificent moonrise over the Wasatch mountains while at the airport waiting on my flight to Seattle.

More images in the SLC set on Flickr.

In Seattle I got an fantastic tour of the Boeing assembly facility in Everett (no pics allowed) and then had a great meal with my buddy Max from Switzerland at the McMennamin's in Troutdale where we both enjoyed their excellent beers (the Kris Kringle Ale is delightful).

Until next time,
AgentZ

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Shared Thanksgiving dinner with my Mother, Sally's brother, his wife and daughter, and a friend of mine, Max, all the way from Teufen, Switzerland. Dinner was topped off by a both a Banana Cream and Pumpkin pie Josh made from scratch. Unfortunately the pies did not survive long enough to have their pictures taken... Washed it down with a nice Cardinal Zin by Bonney Doon.

Organic Brined Turkey from Trader Joes

Green Bean Casserole, Spiral Cut ham with brown sugar and pineapple glaze

My fave, the green bean casserole

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Had a blast yesterday trekking around MCSP yesterday with my son Josh and my friend Max from Switzerland. We spend about 6 hours exploring as much as we could.

If you go definitely check out Century Lake and if you're a fan of M.A.S.H. the old set but, steer clear of the Mott adobes. Not worth the time hiking to them.

Its going to be a busy couple of weeks for me traveling for work so it may take some time until I can post my shots. But, hopefully, I may have more when I return from my travels...

AgentZ

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Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8

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Josh and I had the opportunity to revisit the Salton Sea area this past Saturday.

My Shotz

Josh Shotz

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Laws of Physics

 From a senior level Chrysler person: Monday morning I
 attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was
 David E. Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive
 Research (CAR), an Engineer with 40+ years automotive
 experience, full Professor at the Univ. of Michigan.

 You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in
 the auto industry news lately. Mr. Cole told many stories of
 the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama
 administration has sent to save the auto industry.

 There have been many meetings where this very experienced
 automotive expert has had to listen to a newcomer to the
 industry; someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero
 auto industry experience, zero business experience, zero
 finance experience, zero engineering experience, and
 apparently zero brains tell them how to run their business.

 Mr. Cole's favorite story is as follows: There was a team
 of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole. They were explaining
 to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car
 that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough
 combined fuel to go 500 miles, so we wouldn't "need" so many
 gas stations (A whole other topic). They were quoting BTU's
 of LNG and battery life they had looked up on some web site.

 Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a trunk
 FULL of batteries, and a LNG tank as big as a car to make
 that happen. And that there were problems related to the
 laws of physics that prevented them from...

 The Obama person interrupted and said (and I am quoting
 here),

 "These laws of physics? Whose rules are those? We need to
 change that (while others wrote down the name of the law so
 they could look it up). We have the Congress, and the
 administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an
 executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we
 are here, to fix these sort of issues."

 My friends ... we are screwed.

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So, is Arnold really growing 'nads? Here is his rejection letter for bill AB1176. He has become increasingly frustrated by the legislatures failing to take on the serious issues confronting the state. Note the first letter in each line of the two paragraphs that constitute the body of the letter. Coincidence? I think not. I left the URL to the Cal Gov site where this release appeared.

You decide!

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