Vacation cut short...

There's something about family. Family are the only people that we love despite all the crap that's gone under the bridge. They're the only people that we go out of our way to placate, despite any history that would tell us not to bother.

Friends, most of them, we don't go to so much trouble to please. Sometimes there are friends who become family over time, or at least we come to think of them as family, but aside from them, we really don't go out of our way to try to appease them.

Family though, we'll bend over backward to keep from stepping on their toes. They may be kooks, they may have buck teeth or crossed eyes, but in order to keep them from driving us insane when it comes time for a family get together, we do what we have to do to try to keep them happy.

Are we insane?

Maybe, but I think it's because family are the only ones who will always take us back. Family are the ones who will be there, even when we really screw up. Even if they are complete nutjobs, we love them, and we know they love us.

VACATION!!!

Finally my vacation is here! This is the weekend I had originally planned to ride my scooter up to Massachusetts. Unfortunately (as previously mentioned) that can't happen due to NY state's scooter regulations. A 50cc scooter that can achieve between 30 and 40 mph needs a motorcycle license to operate. I didn't really feel like getting pulled over in the Catskills by some overzealous local cop who might impound my scoot. Not exactly my idea of a fun time.

On a cool factor note, I found a neat little software package that allows me to convert DVD's to MP4 format for my blackberry. I've fiddled with it a little, and I'm ripping a copy of transformers so I can watch it on my phone. O.K. kinda silly I suppose, but should provide a nice diversion at times.

I'm really impressed with my Blackberry Pearl. It may be tiny, but it has all the tools I need in that little package. Really quite nifty. I remember when my mom and dad got our first VCR when I was a kid. It was 1985 and we received it as a gift. My parents were excited to receive such an expensive gift as we could not have afforded such a luxury at the time. They didn't even get cable until after I left for college, and that only happened when my brother moved back in and got it installed. But anyway, even though I'm a bit of a tech geek, I'm still amazed at all the stuff our current gadgets can do. 25 years ago, if I had told someone that I would be able to watch movies on my phone sometime in the future, they would have laughed at me and went back to playing their Coleco-Vision.

It's really quite amazing when you think how far we've come in such a short time. My first computer was a 286 with 1 meg of RAM and a 20 meg hard drive running on DOS 5. I bought it used so I'd have a computer for college. three years later, I bought a K5 (pentium Clone) 100 mhz with 16 megs of RAM and an 850 meg drive. That was something. Now the computers we have run circles around those systems and even my phone has more processing power.

Kinda makes yer head spin.

Finalized route for Sept 13 scooter ride

Well, With the help of Gerry over at Scoot Lancaster I've finalized the route for the Sept 13 ride. I'll work on riding it with my best friend at least once. He has a 50cc that is a bit on the slower side, so I'll use him to pace the route. I've ridden all the roads on the route at least once, so I know they are doable.

Here's the Link to the map for any who wish to take a gander at it. I'll be working on a flyer to put up at various places for publicity.

It's been a relatively uneventful few days for me. There's been the usual, scootin' to and from work, the occasional moron who insists on tailgating me despite my exceeding the speed limit. Nothing really earth shattering on that score.

I did see a used Kymco People 250 at a local motorcycle shop. It was interesting enough and would certainly enhance my ability to ride a litttle faster, but I can't really afford to lay out the money on it right at present. I really do enjoy my little 50cc, but its just a bit too pokey for highway riding (not to mention that the tires are so small). I need something that will still save me money on gas but get me from place to place without any trouble.

I was reading Gerry's most recent blog on Scootlancaster, and I do have to disagree with him on his opinion of Baraq Obama's recent comment about conserving gas by pumping up the tires on your vehicle and getting a tuneup. Sure, it might help fuel economy a little bit (negligible from what I understand), but Mr. Obama's statement strikes me as trite and more than a little cocky. Here he is, a man who makes more than 6 figures a year, trying to tell the little guy (that's us who make less than 50g a year), that we need to just suck it up and pump up our tires. As I understand it, he also opposes offering an innovation prize for electric car research. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about adapting and conserving resources, heck, I bought a scooter to save money on gas and it sure helps, but I get really tired of politicians who aren't willing to work toward real solutions but would rather push their own political agenda despite what the people overwhelmingly beg them to do.

So much for change.

The idea that we should drill for oil on U.S. territory as a temporary solution, while we also
research alternative energy options in an effort to become less dependent on foreign oil is not a bad one at all. I don't think it's a good thing that we're paying $4.00 a gallon for gas since many families just can't afford to go out and get a scooter or hybrid. Public transportation is pretty unreliable in many areas and doesn't solve the problem of commuting for many people. Sure, it's different in some of the larger cities with a decent subway, but here in rural PA, it's not such a great solution.

Let's take a great example. My mother is 64 years old. She lives alone (my father passed away four years ago), and makes less than 30,000 a year. She drives 20 miles to work each day in Western Massachusetts. She is a school teacher and at her age, she could not get a job at another school, no one would take her (simple fact). She can't just up and move, her house is paid for and she could not afford to pay rent on an apartment. What do Mr. Obama's words do for her? How much practical assistance is that to her? I'll tell ya, it ain't much.

Should we conserve? Sure. I know I do, and I know my family does. Should we let politicians be all snobby and say "Oh, poor you, you're having trouble affording food because of the high gas prices? Oh, here, here's a packet of saltines. Aren't I so wonderful?"

Sorry Barry, it doesn't resonate. Pretty speeches are great, but they don't fix anything.

One small step for me...

Not really significant to mankind in general though. I passed my M class permit test today. Now all I need to do is go through the MSP and I'll have my motorcycle license, which means I'll be able to get a bigger scooter.

I took my family up to Speedwell Forge today for some fishing. Well, my son and I did the fishing. My wife sat in the shade and read. She's not really into the whole hunter-gatherer thing. We didn't catch anything, but the lake was breathtakingly beautiful.

We stopped at a farm stand on the way back and picked up some corn and watermelon for supper. Then after supper I went for a scoot.

I had at first thought to go to a motor-sports dealer in Red-Lion, but decided I wasn't really up for that long of a ride, so I stopped in at B&B Yamaha to see if they had anything. There were only two scooters in the place and both of them were Schwinns. Unfortunately most of what I've read about Schwinn scooters has been less than positive. They are basically a Chinese built scooter with the quality (*cough*) that we have come to expect from China.

Since they didn't have anything interesting to look at, I decided to wander around a bit and found myself crossing an Idylic covered bridge over Chickees Creek. I stopped to shoot a picture with my Blackberry and made sure to get my scoot in the shot. It really was a nice evening to be outdoors.