After the break down in the middle of the desert on my chopper I realized that I do actually need two bikes. This way I can have one that runs at all times while the other is being worked on. But I stepped it up a bit more. I purchased a brand spanking new bike that isn’t going to break down and will be my trusty go to ride.

I still need to fix my chopper but it can wait in the garage for a while. I’m not in a hurry now.

So now I need to order the parts for the chopper when I have time. New battery, air filter screen, rear tire, and maybe do some more customization to the bike.

Rode down to LA again for Born Free. This time took along Allen and Chris. It was pretty crazy though. Couldn’t find a hotel the first night and then my bike broke down in the middle of nowhere.

Ended up shorting out my Antigravity battery and could not find anything to replace it. We finally found a little battery that I was able to use. Had to push start my bike at every gas station, but it ran after getting it started.

Man I’m over choppers.

Made it to San Felipe Mexico for the El Diablo Run 2017.

The trip was pretty easy and everything went well. We had a real good time there on the beach with all the bikers and bikes. I ate a lot of taco’s and watched everyone drink way too much.

We put our bikes in the trailer and headed down to San Diego and road down to Mexico from there. It was a good thing we drove the truck because on the way back it was snowing.

We made it deep into Mexico before one of the bikes had an electrical meltdown. Quickly fixed that up and off we went to make it to camp before dark. Didn’t make it, but it was OK. Don’t need lights in Mexico… or clear glasses. LOL

The rest of the trip was pretty rad and we made it home with no problems.

The Ride Fast, Take Chances chopper is all built and ready for action. Just in time for the EDR. Hope to be riding it around to work out any of the bugs before riding it to Mexico.

I was going to have the frame powder coated Black Chrome, but things didn’t work out and I ended up Plasti-Dipping it clear. Works fine. The main reason is I’m still doing work on it.

The tank came out awesome. My friend Heidi painted it and I love how it turned out. Very awesome.

Few things I need to finish up is the passenger pegs, the new foot boards, and a few nuts and bolts here and there. The bike isn’t running great either. I think it’s running pretty rich now. Might have to jet the carb. At least tune it some more. It’s not an easy carb to tune.

The new open primary is pretty cool and shifting is super nice. No jerk going into gear and finding neutral is super easy. Dry clutches are great.

It’s still pretty shaky with the vibrations. I haven’t really had it up to speed yet. Wanted to go to Carson tonight for bike night at Harley but it’s raining now. Not sure that it will clear up tonight. I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on anyway.

My March style item came early. I picked up this Orient Bambino for a great price. Couldn’t pass up the deal. It’s close enough to March.

I’ve been looking at this watch for a while now. I love the vintage look of it. Orient has this watch in other versions as well, but I like the cream color and the Roman numbers on the dial. I’m not super stoked on the blue hands but what can you do. Most of the time they look black to me anyway so it’s fine.

This wristwatch is auto winding while I wear it and it also can be wound with the crown. I like that it has the date complication on it also. I never know what day it is when I need it. With the date on the dial I can just take a quick look and be stylish while I do it.

So my Weekender is not going to be my motorcycle watch while the Bambino will be my “stepping out” watch.

Someday the perfect road trip.

The map, created by Randy Olson with help from Tracy Staedter, pinpoints a mix of 50 major national landmarks, national historic sites, national parks and national monuments. If you follow the route suggested, you’ll travel across all 48 contiguous states and never leave the country.

Planning to drive this road trip will net you 13,699 miles of driving — or about 224 hours. Doing it all in one go would take about 9.33 days. Taking 2–3 months to finish it is probably best. Olson used a genetic algorithm that found the best routes with little backtracking. The result is a map using “true distance,” which is the “shortest route by road between every landmark.”

This is definitely on my bucket list.

Looks like I'm going to be programming full-time again. So happy. Lots of big projects in the pipeline for me to work on with Gung-Ho. Can't wait to start having money again.

As much as I love renting a room from a good friend it will be nice to have a place of my own again. Looking forward to that most of all. I'm not sure where I'll rent but I hope it's somewhere close to downtown. I also hope it has secure parking for my bike.

Well, here's looking forward to having money again.

This film series explores many aspects of our society. To rethink what is possible in our world, we need to consider what kind of world we want to live in. Although we refer to it as civilization, it is anything but civilized. Visions of global unity & fellowship have long inspired humanity, yet the social arrangements up to the present have largely failed to produce a peaceful and productive world. While we appear to be technically advanced, our values and behaviors are not. The possibility of an optimistic future is in stark contrast to our current social, economic, and environmental dilemmas. The Choice Is Ours includes interviews with notable scientists, media professionals, authors, and other thinkers exploring the difficulties we face.

I had a bit of extra money and needed a new set of shoes so I decided to splurge a bit. Picked up some Dr. Marten’s Sussex Work Boot.

They are pretty comfortable shoes and somewhat stylish. I’m not sure if I like the look 100% but I’ve already gone out in them so they are mine now. I can say they are growing on me a bit.

The shoe strings seem a bit too long so I’ll probably change them out with something a bit shorter.

I absolutely love the gel soles though. So nice and soft. This is why I love my Doc’s.

This will be my first new pair of Doc’s in around 30 years. I still have my first pair and they still in OK condition other than scuffs and some holes in the back from where I had some spikes. They are also kind of painted on. I remember when they were new and they totally felt the same as these new ones I just received. They are old and hard now though.

This is all part of my buy one stylish thing a month for myself. There is another pair of shoes that I’m looking at buying in the near future.

I need instant gratification always. I have to have that dopamine hit. Likes, loves, comments on social media lead to buying more style stuff and spending money on things I don't need.

I've never thought of myself as an addict. I pride myself on not being addicted to anything. But lately I've realized that I'm addicted to quick dopamine hits.

I've been trying to regain control over this and it's so hard. I backslide every few weeks but I'm getting there. I even quit all social media for a month but I had to come back to get my hits.

Working out at the gym helps a lot because the improvements are slow to come. I'm forced to wait for it.