Canada. Next weekend. For sure.

I was just watching "Alice, I Think" on Canadian TV when they ran an ad for Trailer Park Boys: The Movie ... it opens on Oct. 6, which means a road trip to Vancouver is in order for next week ...

Well, after all, it is a small world

I emailed a local motorcycle repair shop about my bike to see if they had the ability to work on it. Turns out that not only do they work on Harleys, but the person who answered my email was one of the people who pulled over to offer me help when I was stranded on the 405 on Friday night!

Mind the Gap

This morning, even with a full battery, the bike still didn't start, but it did seem to be getting better (well, at least it wasn't making the click-click battery dead noise). I talked to my Dad, and he suggested gapping the spark plugs, which of course was the one step in the repair manual that I skipped, given that I had no idea what it meant. So back to the auto supply store for a 99-cent gapping tool, and voila, the bike is running again. I still need to get it tuned-up (anybody know the best Harley mechanic near West Seattle?) but at least I'll be able to ride it to the shop, avoiding another costly tow!

Dave and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I spent Friday night at the side of the road, waiting for a tow truck. Yes, the Harley died during a particularly oppressive commute (Laurel's Vespa made it home just fine). The Hog was backfiring, stalling, and just generally misbehaving when finally, it completely shut down on South 405, 20 miles from home.

Of course, I continued to try to start it, and eventually ran the battery down too (it is still recharging on the trickle charger we have). So I called a tow truck, and after waiting only an hour, I was home another hour later. During the time I spent by the side of the road, a lot of people were nice enough to stop and ask if I needed help (but only one of the five cops that drove by bothered to stop).

Given that the local Harley shops are so busy that there is a 2-week backlist for service appointments (yes, yes, I know, Hogs spend more time in the shop than on the road), I decided to try to figure out what was wrong with the bike. First of all, I believe it is flooded. That's easy enough to fix, if the battery is alive. So I don't yet know if that's the problem.

But even if the engine is flooded, the question is, what caused it? Why the backfiring? Why the stalling? My diagnosis: Fouled spark plugs. Well, it took me a while to figure out where the plugs were, but I eventually did, and sure enough, they showed the textbox signs of fouling. Fortunately, the local auto supply shop in West Seattle had them in stock! I just replaced them, but again, the lack of battery charge means I still can't get it started ... so stay tuned for tomorrow, when the battery should be ready to go.

Of course, even if I do end up fixing the problem all by myself, my next long ride will be straight to the shop to make sure there is nothing else wrong with the bike.

Boys and Girls: Hot Stuff!!!

If you don't understand that title, it is single lyric to the theme song of the show The State from MTV, which after years of waiting is finally going to be available to view again! According to a mailing list by some of the actual State members:

After ten years of popular demand, The State is available again! The first season of the critically acclaimed 1993-95 MTV Series will be released on iTunes Music Store, starting Tuesday, September 26th. Depending on how many people download, MTV will release subsequent seasons, and then eventually, hopefully, a DVD.

Fat Boy Rules

Fat Boy Rules
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

You know it!

I am heterosexual

_DSC4517
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Just a counterpoint to the Vespa ... I'm now a fat man on a (Harley Davidson) Fat Boy!

What a day! (aka back at Microsoft and back on the Hog, also aka "Sorry, Mum!")

Well, a big day today. Of course, it was Patriot's Day, but other than that, it was my first day at Microsoft after a short time away. My friends didn't let me forget where I was when I was gone, by decorating my new office in the "Amazon" theme. Awesome!

I was also able to find an incredible (below blue book) deal on a Harley Fat Boy motorcycle!!! Rode it home tonight (hence the "Sorry Mum!")

I wonder if he'll last longer than I did!

Brian Valentine is leaving Microsoft for Amazon.com. Lots of folks over on minimsft place a lot of the Vista blame on Brian, but I don't know ... at least when I worked on Windows 2000, things were looking pretty bleak until Brian showed up and finally decided to ship it. Of course, I didn't work on Windows again after that (I can't really count Project Max, since we were fairly insulated from the rest of Windows, thankfully).

Please, Steve, please!!!

I know everyone is going nuts about Sept 12 -- not only will it be the first day that I join my new group at MS (Sept 11 being an all-day orientation), but it is also the day of a surprise announcement from Apple. I can't wait for Steve to tell us what to buy next!!! It is almost 100% assured that it will be a movie-download service in iTunes (with some sites even posting a full list of the titles that will be available next week), but the big question is what the hardware support will be. New iPod? (I'll buy it.) New Airport Express? (I won't buy it.)

I don't really care, because what I want is this. Please, may we have it, Steve? I have semi-publicly stated that if Apple put out a phone, I'd go into a startup business to write killer apps for it. Looks like my mouth and my money are soon to collide.

Back from the Vespa trip

We made it back from the San Juans on the Vespas! I have decided to post the answer to the question "How fast do they go?" on my windshield so I never have to talk to anyone ever again, but it was fun otherwise -- more than 300 miles of riding (200 round trip plus a lot of island driving, including a trip over to Orcas Island). I've added more photos to the Flickr set.

San Juans Alpaca

_DSC4348
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

This photo, taken on an Alpaca farm on the San Juans Islands, was invited into the "elite" Animal Kingdom group on Flickr ... wow. It is kind of a nice mid-chew capture.