I have been reading “Jupiter’s Travels” by Ted Simon for a week or so, and it is really good. It’s about a round-the-world trip that Ted Simon took upon his Triumph motorcycle back in the 70’s. He balances the technical motorcycle aspect with the travel aspect perfectly (to me, at least), and the pacing is nice and fast. I read that Simon is attempting the same trip by motorcycle again, and I can’t wait to read about the modern-day journey. It will be interesting to get his perspective on how the world has changed.

Went riding last night, and it was fun as always. I am getting a lot more comfortable shifting. It’s almost automatic, I don’t even have to think too much about it. Downshifting and slowing down before I initiate a turn are pretty automatic now as well. I am getting confident that the bike is mechanically sound, and reliable, so I can just enjoy riding and exploring around my small neighborhood.

The mileage on my C70 is at 5,737.9, so I have put a whopping 47.4 miles on it! I can’t believe I put on that kind of mileage just putting around the neighborhood. Top speed is about 45mph, and that is going on flat ground, with plenty of straigtaway to get going. If you want to read more detail about the work that I have been doing on the bike, you can go to the page I made for the restoration project here.

[via Chris via www]

A few months ago, I submitted a couple photos to the Konica-Minolta “Photo of the Week” contest. I got an email reply stating that I was a finalist, and I had to fill out a couple release forms. I didn’t hear back from them, and forgot about it. Today I checked the K-M website and saw that my photo was featured on July 4, 2005. The photo looks really grainy, for some reason… but I’m happy anyways. Click on the pic above, and scroll down to 07/04/05.

A couple days ago, we were searching online for Halloween costumes for the kids. We stumbled upon this costume of Abraham Lincoln, and Bay looks at it and says, “Willy Wonka!”. I thought that was kind of funny…

I received an email from MLB.com today;

SUMMER CLEARANCE SALE!

Shop the dodgers.com outlet
and save up to 70% on select items.

Hurry!
Offer good while supplies last.

Shop now >>
http://shop.mlb.com/entry.point?

So I decided to check it out to see if I could score some cheap stuff. Oh my goodness… the stuff for sale there was horrible!!! It looked like a bunch of fashion school rejects designed the gear!

I picked up Sega’s “Feel The Magic XY/XX” for $10 and I am having lots of fun with it. It is basically a story about a guy who is trying to get this girl, and you help him impress her by winning mini-games. The story is goofy but fun, and the mini-games are really simple and innovative. The style of the animation uses flat colors and silhouetted figures, and it is very smooth. The soundtrack is good too, sort of like Pizzicato Five. Overall, the game has a Japanese feel to it, kind of quirky but cool. you can also set it to Japanese instead of English if you want. I think the best way to describe the game is that it is a short story, using iPod-style commercial graphics, with a bunch of Wario-ware/Touched mini-games thrown in.

One of the original artists for the D&D manuals and modules has died… I actually preferred the other artists, but some of David Sutherland’s works were classic, like the cover of the monster manual. We used to pore over those classic tomes as kids. It really is a sad day for us D&D freaks. He apparently died from liver failure. As my friend Tony pointed out, he failed his saving throw this time…

[link via Tony]

My friend sent me this photo of a Michael Jackson doll. It’s one of the most frightening things I have ever seen.

Well, I am starting up on my Supercub restoration again. I ordered new tires, and will work on the carb this week. With a little luck, it should be running by the weekend. My bro is starting to restore my dad’s old vette, and this has given me incentive to finish my Supercub. I got the fever again. 🙂 It’s been taking a while, and I joked with my parents that I am enjoying it so much that I don’t want to finish it too quickly. Actually, I am just lazy about it.

In other news, I got a reel-type push mower yesterday. I had put a wanted ad up on a couple Austin boards for one of these, and took a look at a couple. Then yesterday, someone offered to give me theirs that they weren’t using. He even dropped it off at my house! It doesn’t get any better than that! The mower itself is in great condition, no rust or anything. I mowed the back with it, and it did a great job.