The plan:

Lose weight (use "the book."). Ride the mountain bike twice a week to the Coaster and then to the office and back. Buy a new road bike in the spring. Finish the book in time to have a book release party for the summer party this year. Finish the entry way paint scheme and put one more piece of art on the wall. Play the office holiday/year-end party for 2004.



John sent me every one of his photos from the Rome trip a lot of them are not useable but are still good memories.



I had a good coffee date on Sunday and we agreed to meet again this coming weekend.

Thanksgiving was a huge success. Everyone had a great time. We deep fried a turkey this year, went down to the pier and ended the evening with some limoncello.



I've bought some art for the entry way and have been pondering how to mount it on the wall, since it's about 6 feet long by 4 feet high and weighs 100 lbs. I'll be painting the wall it mounts on a silvery gray color, too.

Today we had a "Thank You" lunch from the marketing department for our big rock and roll extravaganza. They presented us with 5 custom engraved metronomes, each with a brass plate that says, "You can't always get what you wnat" a song we played and dedicated to our customers. I was very touched. They are a good group or folks. It's a nice metronome, too.

So.. been a while, eh?



In the interim I've gigged on the boat again this year, taken my folks to Rome and had a fun Halloween here in the tract.



Boat Gig:



Once again this year we played the Motorola BCS User's Conference Evening Boat Cruise. Picture are at Rock and Roll Photos. It was a train wreck as far as I'm concerend but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it so I suppose that's all that matters. The big boss came up to us after two or three songs and told me he'd gone below decks and told everyone to come up. Turns out he had "enjoyed" the show a lot and he kept telling us. Over and over. And over. Our payment this year: a pretty cool Mot brnded USB memory stick (64 MB).



Rome:



I took my parents and my aunt and uncle to Rome and I think they had a good time but for me it was slightly mixed results since I felt obligated to show them a good time and it wasn't as good a time as I had hoped. Pictures at Rome, October, 2003 Photos. We had a great time with the Italiani, though, so that was worth it, anyway.



Halloween:



The street likes to do things for Halloween and Christmas. This year was no exception. The guy up at the corner had his coffin and graves and scary guy in a jumpsuit and the guy next door had his smoke machine and lasers and I had the 400 watt PA blasting sound effects at full volume for 2 hours. The neighbor with the smoke machine said he could hear up at the end another street, which is at least a quarter mile away. Pictures later.

Rehearsal was good last night except my playing wasn't up to snuff. We came up with a really fantastic way to begin "Keep on Rockin' In the Free World," which we have determined is our encore song. We're gonna sing a slow tempo harmony-rich a cappella version of the chorus, hold the last note and let Vinh count us in to explode into the rocking version of it. It sounded great. I gave everyone the notes they were supposed to sing and we actually pulled it off, Vinh and Chris, even. I couldn't play "What's So Funny (About Peace, Love and Understanding) at all tonight and everything else when i had to sing was a little loosy goosy, I'm afraid. Oh well, more practice on my own during the week, I guess.



I had to avert a family crisis today since my aunt was wavering about whether she wanted to stay in the apartment or not. Mom sent me an email outlining the situation but I didn't understand so i called the house and talked to Dad who filled me in. Then I called Eleanor but she wasn't home so I left a message. She called me when John came home from work, we talked about it for while, I assured her everything was going to be fine and so now she's back on board. I swear, as I told Dad on the phone, the email I sent inviting everyone to Rome was entitled "A Rash Proposal" for a reason.

The pressure has been on for a few weeks now at work. We are expected to make our mass production date in time to support the rollout of this brand-new satellite service we've been working on since the beginning of the year, which is Oct 1. Last weekend I worked on Saturday, helping out the development team do some upgrades to some of the existing boxes and then all week we had daily morning status meetings. The VP described it as "We're jumping off a ten story building and hoping that the guys on the ground can assemble the trampoline before we hit the ground."



Personally I think we're going to splat into the sidewalk.



The band rehearsed with Mark now that he's back from vacation on Friday. We played a long time and were exhausted when we finished. I think we'll get it together in time for the boat cruise; so far there are 300 people signed up for the user conference (which the boat cruise is a part of). We decided to stretch out one particular song to allow the audience members who want to play along with us to do so under controlled situations and not just do a pointless jam that bores everyone to tears (like last year, except mark and I went to get beers while it was going on.).



I went for two bike rides during the week last week and then worked on the yard yesterday and went to the beach for a swim late this afternoon.



I attended my first of 4 sessions on "Creative Photography" at the Encinitas campus of Mira Costa College. I am not very impressed though. First, the class catalog says you MUST be familiar with your camera and its settings, but a lot of the people there had new cameras (because they decided they wanted to "get into" photography, probably) and had no idea what they were doing. Nice cameras, too, nicer than mine in a LOT of cases. There is a couple in the class who have matching very expensive digital SLRs but they at least talk a good game. As for the instructor, well, I have yet to decide if I have any respect for her. 1. She is French, which by and of itself is not a problem except for; 2. Our first class was Thursday, September 11, 2003. During a discussion of when we want to do a field trip she actually asked the class, "What date is it today?" Also, while we had a discussion of f stop and shutter speed and film speed and the like, there was no discussion of the physics of what is going on. Why does the depth of field change with aperture? Well, who cares, we just need to know that it does.



I hate that kind of approach.



The field trip is going to be to Horton Plaza, but she also said we don't have to go. I immediately decided I wouldn't. Since Horton Plaza is private property and so we have to get permission from the management but there's always one asshole security guard who didn't get the memo and with my luck he'll find me first. So I'll probably go to O'side pier to shoot my stuff.

Lots of stuff to cover today.



The car (my poor 6.5 year old car) had to get a new alternator and two drive belts this week. I am now on the edge of getting a new one. I am torn between getting a used Jag and buying a new, socially responsible Toyota Prius.



I bought a mountain bike the other day and have been learning how to ride it. Riding an MTB is totally dfferent from riding a road bike. I like it but I have been struggling with the fit of the bike and the clip-in shoes. Practie makes perfect, I suppose.



The band rehearsed last night as a three piece since one of my guitar players is on vacation. it was OK, but I really prefer 2 guitars since we aren't loud enough to fill in the empty spaces otherwise. I have decided to get a floor tuner and some sort of bass signal processor and possibly even a bigger amp. My Carvin sounds great but it's just a little overwhelmed at higher volumes.



I saw a great show earlier this week; my friend Michael Miller opened for daniel lanois at the Coach House in SJC. Joe was in Michael's band and they put on a great peformance except for the sound. The sound guy was asleep at the switch (what is it with me and shows with bad sound lately?) and they sounded pretty bad for the first half of the set. Low level but extreme vocal distoryion with any vocal energy input by Michael. The crowd was with them though and really responded to them. I was very hapy for them in the end. Joe came by after his performance and we had a quick chat and then it was time for Daniel Lanois. Another great show. it's amazing what less than $20 can get you as far as great entertainment and great music.



The trip is coming up soon; 6 weeks or so. I am looking forward to it and I hope it all works out the way I want it to.

It's been a while since I wrote anything.



The Beatles night at Lake Arrowhead was fantastic. We had a great great time up there. The band was spectacular but they were let down by the support staff - the MC and the sound system. The MC does not know how to relate to a crowd or properly introduce a rock and roll band. The sound system was overtaxed and blew a component at the start of the third song and so for a while it was pretty bad sounding. The guys didn't know about it until Joe went into the crowd to dance with his wife and some friends. The video backdrop was great, though. It really made the second half of the show come alive. I taped a majority of the show this time and have it on two DVDs. My time with L was wonderful, too.



I took Natacha out for her birthday; we went to dinner and saw "Julius Caesar" at the Old Globe and then last weekend we went for a hike with Friendly but he got too hot so we had to turn back. It WAS pretty hot, too.



We had a big neighborhood party at Floyd and Kathy's last night which was pretty fun. Lots of food. Natacha came over and then later Ed, Gretchen and a surprise guest in the person of Todd.



I decided to invite my parents and my aunt and uncle to Rome for a week in October. We all pulled together good itineraries for excellent prices. We are staying at a 5 star apartment near a metro stop and a taxi stand. THis shold be fun!



I am considering whether to pick up a digital camera; I am torn since I already have LOTS of photo gear, but the appeal of digital is very strong to me now. I have done a fair amount of research and I know which one i want to get; it's just a matter of will I get it or not?

Last night was the big Counting Crows and John Mayer concert down at Coors Amphitheater. Turns out it was a co-headliner tour with John as the last act and the owner of the light system.



I had a decent time; the Crows were pretty good (the drummer was really good) but htey were only on stage for 75 minutes or so, which disappointed a few of the group we were with. Half of the group got up and left because they didn't like John Mayer. My argument of "We paid $56 for these tickets, maybe we should get the most of our money by watching this guy" was not considered. Later I went to the Counting Crows site were it was clear that they were co-headlining so there shouldn't have been any issues.



I went for a hike today and slept this afternoon and am looking ahead to next weekend in Lake Arrowhead with great anticipation.

It's Tour de France time again. The Outdoor Life Network is covering it every day, which is great.



I went on vacation last week and had a great time. This time it was a tropical sit-on-the-beach time in Mexico. I took a few photos and while I am pleased with them the last few are marred with an eyelash/eyebrow hair that basically ruins the image. I might be able to get them cleaned up via some custom finishing if I decide to go that route. I can also clean them up in Photoshop.

Something I posted on the Peter Gabriel website the night of his show in Orange County:



I've just returned from the "LA" show which is really in Orange County at what used to be called Irvine Meadows but is now Verizon Amphitheater. Same set list as Shoreline Amphitheater show.



Good show, but not a great show. It took a while for the audience to get going and some members of the audience were unhappy with the sound level (not loud enough).



The band was excellent, but I have to say Melanie Gabriel is no Paula Cole. The set list was disappointing to me personally. I've been a "true believer" in PG for over 20 years. The show he did on the "Security" tour at the Universal Amphitheater in LA in 1982 stands as the greatest show I've ever seen. I so hoped he'd use this tour as an opportunity to bring back some great stuff from the Peter Gabriel Plays Live era, but it was not to be. "Family Snapshot" would have been great to hear, as would "No Self Control." Even "San Jacinto" would have been awesome to hear live.



The opening act was good but I would have preferred no opener and have PG play for an extra 30 minutes to get all those great old ones back in the set; "Sledgehammer" might be a big hit and "So" might be what brought him the audience he has today, but I wish I wish I wish...



I was of course almost immediately flamed by members of the "Cult of Peter" who probably never heard of him until "Sledgehammer" but oh well. Funny though that the next day a few others posted similar wistful opinions and weren't flamed.

I have been neglecting my house lately and it has retaliated.



I went for a great hike yesterday and then worked on my roses, which are suffering from every unhealthy condition a rose can suffer from. I bought a combination insecticide/fungicide/mildewcide and sprayed it on and then added a ground-based disease preventer. I trimmed the bushes back to near-nothing and hopefully they will spring back healthy and happy.



Today I worked on the front sprinklers. I'll have to do to them what I had to do to the back set; replace the valves and re-wire. Fortunately I have plenty of wire this time.



We had a neighborhood party today which was fun. I dragged my monster PA out and we had tunes in the driveway and the street. My party is next weekend. Una amica Italiana called me yesterday to wish me a happy birthday and to enjoy my party; I'd forgotten to tell my Italian friends that I'd changed the date so she was one week early. It was great to hear from her, though and we had a good conversation.

Haven't updated in a while.



Ed and I have been making a lot of beer and he has become an avid homebrewer. We've made several 5 gallon batches in the last 2 months and he's had one beer tasting party at my house and we're having another one at his place next weekend. We made a movie of "The Making Of Irish Wedding Red Ale" for his cousin who is getting married and receiving a case of red ale from Ed for the wedding.



I was up late on Friday hanging out with a friend and seeing X Men 2 after along walk to balboa Park with her huge Great Dane puppy and then dinner at a Spanish place. I got home at 1 AM and went to bed at 2 AM. I woke up 5 hours later, started my day and then said. "Forget this! I'm going back to sleep!" So I did and then woke up at 11:15 AM. Later that day I drove down to Ed's place and then we went to the Hotel del Coronado to work as database jockeys for the JDRF gala fundraising auction. It was tough work and it is amusing to see the office manager attempt to be authoritative when she doesn't react well under pressure.



At one point she actually instructed us to not allow anyone to check out because it wasn't "time" yet. My comment was that if a $15000 donor wants to check out and go home, or even if he wants to check out and go back in, I was going to check him out whether it fitted into her plans or not.



Apparently she wasn't happy that Ed and I took off to the Coronado Brewery for lunch. We... didn't care.



I have been hiking in the hills locally a lot and having a good summer so far. it should be a good summer; I am looking forward to it.

It was a tough weekend. Ed had his "Awesome Lethality Pale Ale" beer tasting yesterday. We used my house and the dozen of so people who attended had a very good time. I always enjoy having people come over. I was drinking a lot of pear cider instead of the brew and woke up at 4 AM today with a splitting headache. I took somepainkilerls, drank alittle water and went back to bed.



Eventually I woke up and called Paul. I drove down to see their new house and help them move furniture. Afterwards we drove over to Coronado and had lunch at their favorite place - Coronado Brewery. I drank iced tea.



That's it for now. I am really tired today and have to get to work early tomorrow.

A friend of mine sent this to his "Joke" list the other day. I've been thinking about it and have a response (below).



> With all of this talk of war, many of us may encounter "Peace Activists"

>who will try and convince us that we must refrain from retaliating

>against the ones who terrorized us all on September 11, 2001, and those

>who support terror. These activists may be alone or in a

>gathering.....most of us don't know how to react to them. When you come

>upon one of these people, or one of their rallies, here are the proper

>rules of etiquette:

>1. Listen politely while this person explains their views. Strike up a

>conversation if necessary and look very interested in their ideas. They

>will tell you how revenge is immoral, and that by attacking the people

>who did this to us, we will only bring on more violence. They will

>probably use many arguments, ranging from political to religious to

>humanitarian.

>2. In the middle of their remarks, without any warning, punch them in

>the nose.

>3. When the person gets up off of the ground, they will be very angry

>and they may try to hit you, so be careful.

>4. Very quickly and calmly remind the person that violence only brings

>about more violence and remind them of their stand on this matter. Tell

>them if they are really committed to a nonviolent approach to undeserved

>attacks, they will turn the other cheek and negotiate a solution. Tell

>them they must lead by example if they really believe what they are

>saying.

>5. Most of them will think for a moment and then agree that you are

>correct.

>6. As soon as they do that, hit them again. Only this time hit them much

>harder. Square in the nose.

>7. Repeat steps 2-5 until the desired results are obtained and the idiot

>realizes how stupid of an argument he/she is making.

>8. There is no difference in an individual attacking an unsuspecting

>victim or a group of terrorists attacking a nation of people. It is

>unacceptable and must be dealt with. Perhaps at a high cost. We owe our

>military a huge debt for what they are about to do for us and our

>children. We must support them and our leaders at times like these.

>We have no choice. We either strike back, VERY HARD, or we will keep

>getting hit in the nose.

>Lesson over, class dismissed



If I were the victim of the "lesson" in this story, I would have no doubts about immediately kicking the shit out of the person who assaulted me. Why? Because I have a right to defend myself. I am not a threat to anyone, so if someone comes up to me and assaults me, I am in "emminent danger" and am allowed to use force to protect myself. This is not the same as revenge. If you assaulted me and I kicked your ass and sent you to the hospital, IF you then came back looking for me you would be committing revenge, which is not legal. It is revenge because you were not in emminent danger from me when you left the hospital.



The analogy above plays out like this (without the description I gave just now):



You are walking down the street. I see you and in order to prevent your possible assault on me I kill you. I think you might punch me in the nose at the peace protest, so it's OK - I've taken a pre-emptive strike to protect myself. By the way, the pre-emptive strike will consist of me driving by in a car, shooting an AK-47 at you while you are walking with only a rubber band gun to defend you (but you might have something more powerful, so I have to be sure to overpower you). I will do my absolute best to keep the pattern of shots on your body tight, but if I hit your wife and your kids while I'm doing it, I'll apologize but hey, it's their fault for being there or maybe your fault for having them there. Either way, they're dead and I'm "really sorry".



I know that a lot of people like this war and think it is great we are there and as of yesterday think it's over. You know what? It's not over. Afghanistan isn't over, but we have now forgotten about them. The Taliban are regrouping in the eastern part of the country and the US isn't funding infrastructure rebuilding. There is no police force and Hamid Karzai has no power or influence in any area except Kabul. How can we expect the Afghan people to stand up on their own two feet and have a society we recognize as open, free and democratic if they can't even get fresh clean water, have no shoes on their feet and go to school in a bombed-out hulk of a building?



There were a group of Iraqis chanting "Allah is great! Saddam is an enemy of Allah!" today in Baghdad. Criminey. Is that why we went there? So these guys can elect a mullah and descend into the Dark Ages again?

Macca's "Back in the US - Live 2002" DVD and CD



I bought the DVD and the CD of McCartney's 2002 tour last night and watched the DVD.



Oof.



The music for the most part is great, the band is amazing, especially Abe Laboriel, Jr and the performances are energetic, except maybe for that 60 year old man inthe center of the stage. The man's voice is not what it was, but that's a consequence of aging and isn't his fault. The problem for me with this disk is that there is an awful lot of "Paul is great, I'm his biggest fan" and "Look at all the celebrities at his concerts" stuff in between the songs. I laughed out loud (and not in a "that's funny!" way) when they actually gave credits to the various people they featured (Howard Stern and his latest porn star/stripper girlfriend, Paul Stanley of KISS, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, John Cusack, lots of others).



There's a bit much of the "Heather and I are really happy together" stuff, too. It's odd to me that his wife has no real clue about his music (and that's McCartney's description, not mine). At least she's not on stage playing one-fingered keyboards and "singing" like Linda was for all those years.



So, there are a few constants in the world; death, taxes and Macca's continual quest to make sure all of us know he was important in the Beatles, too and not just that John Lennon fellow.



If you are a Beatles fan and a Macca fan then you should get this, if you are a casual fan you probably won't find it all that interesting.

Geocaching



I did something new today, that combines gadget geekiness with map reading and hiking. It's called geocaching and is a modern version of the treasure hunt.



It requires a GPS receiver and information about the location of a geocache, which is usually a small weather-resistent plastic container filled with little knick-knacks and a log book. When you find the cache you open it, take a little trinket, leave one of your own and sign the log book. Then you hide it in the same location.



It's pretty fun and combines physical exercise with a little brain power, trying to use the GPS receiver to locate the geocache.



Today I hiked all over the Calaveras Hill area, which is south of 78 and a little east of College Blvd. The hill itself is a 20 million year old volcano plug and the view from the top today was great - I could see from the ocean all the way to Mt San Jacinto and the San Bernardino mountains.



I found 3 of the 4 geocaches I set out to look for; there are three or four others in the area I didn't even set out to find.



http://www.geocaching.com is a good place to start.

Another fun weekend wraps up. Mom and Dad came down on Friday and we drove out to Anza Borrego Desert State Park on Saturday. I had heard that the wildflowers were blooming in a big way, but when we got there it was very hot and the flowers were out but not really in what I would term "abundance." We took some photos anyway, hung out at the Vistor's Center and then drove back home.



They stayed the nght and then Dad and I finished the work bench, Mom did some gardening for me and then they went home.



An hour later Ed called me because he had an extra David Wilcox ticket that night at the Belly Up, so I agreed to go. I t was a really great show and I am glad I was there to see it.



The opening act was local faves Berkley Hart, who are enormously talented and unfortunately for them one of them is also enormous so they'll never get a lot of interest from record labels.

I was in LA yesterday; at LACMA actually. I saw two shows: "Ansel Adams at 100" and "John Singer Sargeant." Both were very interesting shows. Ansel Adams in particular was very interesting from both an aesthetic and a technical viewpoint. The large format film that he used is able to bring out an incredible level of detail and that is what people are reacting to with his photos, I believe. Sargeant worked in both oils and watercolors and used Italy as his subject. The exhibit has an entire room devoted to his paintings of Venice, for example, but the favorite painting of both myself and my friend was one of a Carerra marble quarry.



We had a great day together starting with brunch and a little bit of antique shopping and then the museum and some conversation afterwards.



On the drive back home to Oceanside I decided to stop by what I knew was the no-longer-existing B-2 plant in Pico Rivera. I exited Paramount Blvd and headed north. How many times had I driven on this road? Well, not as many times as I'd driven Washington Blvd or Rosecrans, but a lot nonetheless. Under the railroad overcrossing and... wow! Rex Road is a real road; nicely landscaped, lots of streetlights, unlike what it used to be, which was basically an overgrown alleyway. Where the old gym, track and softball fields were is a new industrial/warehouse building and more being built across on what used to be the West Factory. I could see some other buildings way up front to the north.



So, I turned onto a brand new street called "Stealth Way", that was probably on or near what used to be the access road into the south turnstile area and drove all the way to the north side of the lot. What used to be the front lobby and the first few corridors (and maybe even the big and main cafeterias) is now a Lowe's and bunch of other retail stores. The road into the shopping area is the same road that was the front entry way road.



The only area that may in fact be original is the front corner at Washington and Rosecrans - the lawn that had the N O R T H R O P sign and had the secret outline of the B-2 on it. It was fenced off and I didn't get out of the car to take a look.



It was very... what, exactly? Very strange to know that what was for roughly 30 years a Ford assembly plant and was then recycled for another 20 years as a secret aircraft manufacturing plant that had launched so many careers of people I knew and employed 11 000 people at its peak was now relegated to a quiet recognition via the name of a street in the back of the complex.



And so now what do I say for my resume?



"1986-1996, Northrop Grumman B-2 Division 8900 E. Washington Blve, Pico Rivera CA, 90660 (No longer exists)."

I have finished the second edition to Rome Explorations: Ancient Rome and took a flying leap back into Christian Rome yesterday. Normally Friday is band night but Mark decided he couldn't make it and Vinh was already unavailable so Bob and I cancelled it. So, I wrote instead.



I passed my p[rvious entry (the one below) to L who replied with her own tales of sick kids so she trumped me, which is fine. I guess I'd rather be trumped when the subject is "Busted Evening."

I've just returned home from my evening helping to host the 2nd annual St Wilfrid's Church Piano Fund Concert. I ran the raffles and the live auctions like last year.



Two things happened that conspired to bust my evening.



First, after the show was over a woman came up to me to complain that I had missed her $125 bid for the massage, but she "wasn't mad, it's OK." Well, shit lady, if you aren't mad why are you mentioning it? That annoyed me since it is pretty hard to sort out who is bidding sometimes - occasionally 2 or 3 hands shoot up simultaneously and I have to make a choice.



The other thing that happened was after the show as people were filtering out Kelly came up to me and demanded to know why I hadn't acknowledged her all night. The answer was pretty simple; I didn't recognize her. She's changed her appearance and also it has been easily almost 10 years since I'd had any interaction with her (and even her voice was different - her Australian accent was very difficult to discern since she was quite hoarse for some reason). The last time was probably when I was helping to wire up and install the church organ in 1993. So she decided to upbraid me for not recognizing her and then proceeded to tell me all about her life over the last 4 years. It was pretty depressing; she's been through some bad stuff which of course made me feel even worse. I told all this to Mom and her comment was, "Well, she didn't recognize you at first, either so don't feel bad...) Sheesh.



So, I left mad since I felt I was being lambasted by one and guilt-tripped by another. I was also mad at the numbers of cheapskates in the audience who couldn't be bothered to bid on even the $25 items at a $15 start price.



I don't know. It's a lot of work for what is ultimately not very much appreciation.

I have a not-very-consistent tradition of going out for a New Year's Day ride when I am home for New Year's. Here's my motorcycle story:



I need new brakes. Replacing the pads on my bike is pretty easy. It's almost as easy as replacing brake pads on my bicycle. So, I called the local Triumph dealer here in North County; North County Yamaha Triumph. Notice which manufacturer is listed first. This is a foreshadowing of what is to come.



Disclaimer: the only guy who I let work on my bike is Matt Capri, the owner of South Bay Triumph/Aprilia in Lomita. Matt is a magic man with bikes; no one else comes close. But, Lomita is a little far to ride for a set of brake pads, so I use these clowns - North County - in Escondido for simple shit like tires, chains and the occasional part.



I called the parts guy on the phone.



"I need a complete set of brake pads for my 1995 Triumph Trophy 900." Note: a complete set is one set of pads for the back and two sets of pads for the front (I have dual rotor fronts, as do all modern Triumphs EXCEPT the pseudo-retro model Adventurer and Thunderbird).



He looked it up and told me he needed to call his rep to see if that guy has them. He called me back a few minutes later. "Yes, I can get those in tomorrow." Cool! That's New Year's Eve. I can get the pads and then put them in and go for my ride the next day. The next day I went in there and asked for my parts. The girl behind the counter brought out two packages; a set of rears and one set of fronts.



"OK, where's the rest of it?"



"Uh... this is all we have." The manager was there and he apologized. They confirmed the order and they confirmed that the order should have had 2 sets of fronts. So, I am annoyed. Not only will I have to ride on New Year's Day with my getting-nearly-worn-out front pads, I'll have to come back to get the other set this Saturday. I fucking hate motorcycle parts guys who don't know their own inventory.



I came home and put the rears in. No problems, they worked fine. They rub on the rotor a little but new pads always do that.



I went to the neighborhood NYE party and managed to not get too drunk. I wake up about 8:30 AM the next morning and thought, "Hey! I'm not hungover! Let's go for a ride!" I got dressed, fed the cats and went out to the garage. I smack the door opener button, the door starts to open and at about the 3/4 point the opener starts FREAKING OUT so I hit the button again and stop the motor. It turns out a tensioning spring in the chain drive broke so now the door won't open. What's worse is the big springs on the door aren't strong enough to hold the door open on it's own.



I curse for a while and then took some measurements. I've wanted a roll-up door for a while anyway; this is a good excuse to replace the old door and the opener. I realize the storage cabinets along one of the walls are too tall to allow a roll-up track clearance. Shit, now what? I resign myself to having to move that cabinet to a different location in the garage. I drive over to the Loewe's to get the garage door lowdown. I ask about opener parts; they don't sell individual repair parts. Then we talk about new doors and installation. These clowns won't guarantee installation for 3 weeks ("but they've been usually getting to them in 2.")



"Well, 2 weeks is about 13 days too long, man. My garage is unusable right now. It's dangerous!"



So, I said, out loud, in the parking lot, "Fuck it! I'm going for a ride!"



I came home, propped the door open and the bike out, fired it up and rode to Julian for lunch and then came home, washed it and put it back in the garage. I put the car in the driveway in case the door decided it didn't want to even stay 3/4 open anymore. It was like that all this week.



I had a guy come yesterday to give me an estimate on a door and an opener. We talked about the clearance issues and he gave me a heads-up on what I need to do. His door price was OK but his opener price was too high. I thought about it and decided that since I had to move one of the storage cabinets on the left side and remove one of those crappy shelves Dad and I are going to remove when we do the shop bench soon I decided to forego the door for now and just buy a new opener.



So, I did that today. It took all day but it went very well and works fine so I am happy. I was able to use the mounting locations and some of the existing hardware from the old one and that made things go much easier. The door itself is not square in the frame but I'm not worried about it; in a few months I will replace it with a roll up door anyway.