I Got Some Big News For You.

     I'm writing this early tonight, because I'm trying something new. What is that you ask? I'm writing this in the Ultimate Motorcycle Lounge at the workbench. I wanted to see how comfortable it was to write at the bench with my roller stool. It's not too bad. It's not great, but it's not too bad. I also have some pretty big news for you, but that's going to have to wait.

     On Friday I decided that I was going to see a movie. I hadn't gone in quite some time. I don't even remember the last movie I saw in theaters. Before I went though, I had to hit the bank, and try to get a quick ride in with Saki before the rain came. it's been raining most of the week, and it was coming in the early afternoon, so I figured I had a chance to ride for about an hour before the movie and the rain. I couldn't have been more wrong. When I walked out of the bank, I noticed some pretty dark clouds to the Northeast. I was hoping that they were heading out to sea. I opted for a quick ride on one of my favorite roads, and then race the rain back. As I got closer to that road, I noticed that my turn around point was getting a downpour. That meant that I was just going to have to turn around and head home. As I crossed the bridge heading into Cocoa, the first drops of rain began to fall. It was just a light sprinkle so I had to have the time to get home. Ha, that's a laugh. I didn't make it another mile before the rain caught up to me, and began the drenching.

     Normally I would take it a little slower, and avoid losing the tires, and wiping out. I wanted to try to make it home somewhat dry, so that I could just hop in the car and make it to the movie. It didn't work. I lost the race with nature, and this was the result.

     It doesn't look nearly as bad as it was. If you look close,  you can see my skin tone through my shirt. I was soaked to the bone. Saki got a free shower out of it, but I in fact, had to change.

     After a quick change that would make a magician proud. I headed to the theater. My goal was to see the new Wonder Woman film. I won't give anything away, but it is fantastic. Greek mythology lore, superheroes, and things to come in the DC Universe. Gal Gardot didn't need to prove that she was a total badass with her credentials, but she probably made most men feel a little inadequate. From everything that I have read, this was the first large scale action movie directed by a woman. Patty Jenkins just proved that the only thing that matters is talent and the ability to tell a good story. This movie hit all the marks with me. It had humor, action, emotion, great cinematic shots, everything. I dare say, that it is one of the best DC movies yet. You can argue the Christopher Nolan Batman series, but I'll put this movie up to it any day. There are no scenes after the credits or even during them, so you don't have to stay to watch them if you don't want to. I highly recommend seeing it as soon as you can, fi you haven't already.

     Saturday I went for another movie, and  I chose to go early enough that I could get a ride in on Saki to the theater. Saki and I set out to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It's been out for a while now, and I did want to go see it the first weekend it was out, but things kept getting in the way, but I finally made it. It was a superhero weekend for me. I heard several people say that this movie was better than the first one, so my hopes were up pretty high. For me, it wasn't as good as the first, but it was very good. It had that great humor, but I thought it went a little to bathroom for me. The jokes were just a little more adolescent, and in my eyes, that hurt it just a tiny bit. It did make up for that, in some very touching scenes involving Gamora and Nebula, as their sister rivalry came to a head, and managed to survive on the other side. There were cameos galore, but one stood out for me as being hilarious. I won't say the person involved, but it has to do with Starlord's father and who he thought he should look like to best appeal to Starlord. There is a brief moment where he changes his appearance to that person, and I lost it. By my count, there were 4 end credit scenes, with the third one being the most important to the continuation of the story line. It just so happens to involve one of my all time favorite comic characters. It's been long enough to throw a tiny spoiler out there. The character is Adam Warlock, and he is very important to the Infinity War story arc that they are heading towards.

     After the movies, I found out that it did indeed rain while I was in there. Not too much, but Saki got another shower. By the time I made it home, a friend texted me saying that he was ready to head out for some fun. He recently quit drinking as well, and I guess he wanted to hang with me, because he knew there wouldn't be an temptation on my part. I picked him up a few hours later and we headed to a local event called BBQ & Blues. Neither one of us were hungry, so the event was a total bust for us. We left and then he recommended that we go hit the strip clubs. Mind you, it's the middle of the day. Here is what I learned from all of this. You can't really enjoy yourself in that atmosphere that you used to be involved in when you were drinking. It's not the same, its not bad, but you find yourself wondering why you are even there. At least that was my feeling on the whole thing. I saw dancers that I knew, but really didn't have much to talk to them about, but that could have been my own awkward nature. It just wasn't all that fun. The last time we did that, he was still drinking and I was the designated driver. It was fun that time, so I don't know what was different, other than he wasn't drinking this time. Who knows?

     The most shocking thing about it all, was walking out of a strip club into bright sunlight. It was horrendous, I now know what a vampire must feel like when the sun touches it's skin and burns it to nothing. Don't do it.

      We headed over to that new pizza place I told you about about a month or so ago. This week was a disaster on my new healthy living, so I figured a pizza wasn't going to hurt it anymore that what I'd already done. We had a meatball salad, which was amazing, and we went for the brick oven pizza this time. That is their extra large pie, so it was far more than I wanted to eat. I had to eat half of it though, and I'm paying the price today. I feel terrible. My body is in pain and sluggish. If anyone says that there is no difference in body chemistry by eating differently, they are wrong. I can feel the I'm going to be off my game for probably a couple of days. The weekend is over though, and tomorrow I go back to the way I've been eating and behaving.

      We ended up back at his place playing chess until the Stanley Cup Finals came on. We were both rooting for Pittsburgh, but when Nashville scored their 5th unanswered goal, I headed home. Which brings us to today., and almost the big news that I have for you.

     I had to put some thought into my schedule for the next ATS ride. I left this weekend open so that I could get some things done, but those things ended up getting postponed until next weekend, which conflicts with the ATS schedule. Also the RAYS are playing a scheduled double header on the 10th which I originally planned on going to. Alas I never got tickets, so that idea is out of the question. I think that I'm going to be able to get the ride in though. It will just be a little later than when I normally do it. I have an appointment for my car on the morning of the 10th. If it doesn't take too long, I should be on the road with Saki to the next destination by 11 or 12. That would still work out well. If it was later than that, I don't know if I would have the time to see everything at this next place. Maybe, but I don't want to feel pressured for time. Mistakes could happen if I did that.

     This brings us to the big news. As I was walking through Target today, I always walk the same route. It's kind of an OCD thing, I noticed that they had the GoPros on sale. This was outstanding news. I couldn't buy one there, but as soon as I got home, I was going to check GoPro's website and Amazon to see if it was a product promotion, and to my delight, it is. I was going to order it from Amazon, but by the time that I put it in my cart and went to check out, they had sold out, so I had to go to a different seller. The new seller was offering the same price, but it was going to arrive later. I'm not in a big hurry for it, because even after I get it, I still have to wait to get other things before I can make this motovlog a reality, but I opted for the GoPro site itself which would get it to me at the time that the original seller on Amazon would. Take a wild guess who that original seller was on Amazon? If you guessed GoPro, you would be right. They must have put a limited quantity on Amazon for sale and actually sold out of them while I was trying to purchase one. Anyway, the GoPro Hero 5 Black is on it's way, with a SD card and a spare battery. I'll start playing around with it around the house and in other locations to see what I can do with it, and then I will work on getting the helmet mount, mic, and who knows what. It looks like the 3 months wait just shortened quite a bit. I want to work out all the kinks before I post anything on the Youtube channel, but I will post some short videos here for you to enjoy, or maybe just laugh at. It's earlier than I thought it was going to be, but I just couldn't pass up this sale.

     Oh, I almost forgot. The reason I'm writing this in the UML, is because of another little purchase I made today. It's that little beauty to the right. It's not the portable air conditioning unit that I want, but it is a pretty decent oscillating fan. This will do quite well for now. It gets the air moving in the lounge, and keeps Saki and me cool. It is a reasonable outside temperature right now though because of the rain. Regardless of that, it would still be too muggy and humid to be able to write out there otherwise. This is going to help me out in a couple of weeks when Saki gets an oil change. I got the ew oil filter Friday. I have about 400 miles to go before I hit 5000. That will put Saki 2000 miles since the last wild change. It's a little early, but I want to get a good flush on Saki at that 5000 mile mark. It will smooth out the engine a little bit. I also found out a little information about Saki. I was talked into using a higher grade fuel in Saki, despite knowing better. I went to the 93 grade fuel, and I think that my backfiring problem is coming from that more than the new exhaust. I'm going to go back to the 87 grade as soon as I can get the fuel level low enough for it to really make a difference. If that works, and the backfiring goes away, it's going to save me quite a bit. I was conisidering getting a fuel management and performance pack to put on Saki. When I do that, I would have to get it dynotuned, and that isn't cheap, any of it. I'm really hoping this works out. I'll let you know. I'll get the new fuel in Saki some time this week. I'm hoping by Thursday, so I can fill you in on the details then. In the meantime, peace in and goodnight.

Sunrise

     I received some sad news this morning. A very dear friend of mine texted me to let me know that her father had spiraled into the ether this morning. He passed around sunrise, and I mentioned that if I had a choice, that would be when I would want to go. I know what you are saying, "wouldn't you want to go around sunset, so that you could see that one last time?" No, and I'll tell you why, and I'm also going to change your mind about the whole sunset thing.

     I wrote a short story a few years ago, and it disturbed a lot of people. It was about a guy that wanted one last day of depravity before he ended his life. It started with him on the beach watching the sunrise, and ended then very next morning at sunrise. So you can see, that the sunrise thing is not a new thing for me. Now to the reason why that is the best time to go. The sunrise is the ultimate representation of the beginning of a new cycle. It gives birth to the day, and brings life to the world. Meeting the end of your current cycle while a new one begins is just a telling of your next chapter. With every end, comes a new beginning. No matter what you believe, there is some thought about what comes after death. Heaven, Valhalla, the collective consciousness, what ever. We all want to believe that there is something next, so why not have pinnacle of the moment that you end on this existence for you not to be ushered in to the next one, with the birth of a new day? Not the new day that you know on this plane, but a new one none the less.

     Sunset is the end of the day. It's the bringer of darkness. Do you really want to be ushered into the next phase of your whatever, like that? Darkness brings uncertainty, light brings hope. Hope is what we all want for whatever comes next. Even those that have a believe that there is nothing, share a sliver of hope, that this current path is now gone and that there is nothing. No fear, no pain, no nothing. Even if you look at that the right way, it isn't a bad thought.

     I have never seen a chaotic sunrise. They have always been the most peaceful time of day. Most of the world around you is still in slumber, waiting for that new day to rise. Sunset is mostly full of noise and clutter. The day is ending, people are either trying to get home, or going out to avoid home. It doesn't have that same tranquil affect that the beginning of the day has. I'll take a final sunrise over a final sunset any day. When the sun comes up, everything is in front of you. When the sun goes down, you are left in darkness with the day left behind.

     My choice will always be that final sunrise, and I'm glad that her father got to experience one final one before he ascended to the ether. Peace in and goodnight.

How To Turn Building A Workbench Into A Really Long Project.

     There is a lot to talk about tonight, so let's just get into it. I mentioned on Sunday night, a couple of things, but more have come up since then. The first thing is going to be about that guy who tried to run me into the back of a semi truck. This happened Friday morning on the way to work. I left my neighborhood, behind a car, and quickly got around it and just kept riding. He was a casual 3 car lengths behind me almost the entire way down the road. About 300 yards in front of me was the semi truck stopped at a light. No need to really worry about it, by the time I would get to it, the light would be green and the truck would be moving. All of a sudden, the car that was traveling behind me, sped up and slowed down ride beside me. Still not worried about anything. I had no plans of darting out or anything like that, I would just simply bide my time.  As we got closer to the truck, the guy in the car started pulling closer to my lane and me. The light was taking a little longer to change than I had anticipated so I began to slow down. The car veered further into my lane at this point and slowed even more, when he clearly had an open lane, and should not be slowing at the pace that he was. I hit the brakes a little harder so that he would be forced to pass me, as I veered further over in my lane. The light changed green and he still didn't speed up. The truck began to move, and he finally gave up what very he was trying to do to me, and took off. I let him get some distance on the truck before I signaled and got over into his lane. I overtook the truck and got back over into the originally lane I was in. There was another light ahead of me, and the car was already stopped at it. As I got closer, I slowed down to avoid being next to him. Before I came to a stop, the light changed green and I took off. I was across the intersection before the guy even had a chance to move. There was no chance for hi to try anything funny again.

      I have no idea why this guy was trying to do this, but it isn't the first time someone has tried something like this. Some people just seem to have a deep seeded hatred of motorcycles and riders, and they will go to extremes to show it off. I wasn't speeding, or doing anything erratic, I was just minding my own business. I saw a quite from a motorcycle cop not too long ago, and he said that we wished everyone was forced to ride a motorcycle for 1 year. At the end of that year, half of those people would be dead, and the other half would understand what the safety concerns are for a motorcyclist.

     Now for more fun stuff. Real quick, there was something I forgot to mention about the ride on Saturday. When I was riding south on A1A to Sebastian, I came across a house that was being built or redone or something, but it was amazingly beautiful form what was already done to it. The yard was fenced off by a large fence, but just over the top of the fence, I could see the tops of vehicles. A very large box truck, a bus, and a van with a name in white letters on the side of it. The name read non other than Vanilla Ice. Vanilla Ice has gotten into house design and this was apparently the latest one he was working on. They weren't working when I went by, more than likely because of the Memorial Day Weekend, but the vehicles were there. It was pretty neat to see that, and I'm looking forward to seeing the house when it is done, Only the outside of it of course.

     I made Sunday a project day, and that project was finally putting together the workbench I got from Harbor Freight. I needed to clear out a bunch of boxes first, so I spent about a half hour cutting them all down. Then it was on to building the table. This is what it looked like in the box.

     Doesn't look like much right? I set all the metal parts out, and found the nuts and bolts to go with them. I found the instructions for assembly and began to read. No, I'm not one of those people that finds the instructions just to throw them away. The first thing I discovered, was that the instructions were a little vague. I meandered my way through them though, and about an hour into the project, I was able to get to this.

     Progress was being made. It was being made slowly, but it was being made. The frame for the bottom was complete. I had Prince and Bowie playing over the speaker, and life was good. It was hot, but it was good. My garage has a western exposure, so the I had to keep the door down, and only partially cracked to let some air in, but it wan't enough, and it was hot, like 100 degrees hot. I took a few water brakes in there, and a few dance breaks when the mood struck me. After a little while longer, I got to this point.

     At that point, all I had left to do, was get the bottom shelf and table top put on. That turned out to be more difficult than I thought. The bottom shelf was a breeze, but the table top had a very small space to squeeze into, and it just wasn't going. After a while of fighting with it, and it was a long while. I finally decided to throw the instructions out the window, and do it my own way. I was following the instructions to a T at this point, but they weren't working anymore. I took the top half off, and I was able to get the table top in with ease. I put the top back on, and didn't really like the very top, so I tried to make a few adjustments to improve on the design. That didn't work out so well, and had to revert it back to the way it was supposed to be. I got a few more pictures of it in various stages of getting things on it and put to my satisfaction. I think it came out pretty good.

     This is where it is agent to sit for now. I still have a bunch of things to move around in the garage and some things to get rid of all together, but it fits in where it is nicely. In the last picture you can see that I have the light on in  the workbench. That is a nice little feature as well as the three outlets that run along the right hand side of it. Rather convenient if I do say so. I got all the important things in their place. My Helmets on top, my boots on the bottom, as well as all my cleaning supplies and lubricants. The drawers have some tools in them, I have more tools to buy, and there is plenty of room in those drawers for them. I do need to get some kind of cloth material for the drawer bottoms. I have old shop towels in one of them for now, to keep the tools from moving all around when I open the drawer, but I want to get something I can cut to the right size. I was thinking about just buying some black bath towels and cutting them up, but if I put my head to it, I'm pretty sure I can come up with something better than that. I'll figure it out. One more thing garage related, and this is where it officially goes from garage to lounge, as in Ultimate Motorcycle Lounge. I ordered something over the weekend, and it arrived today. This is what really brings the class to it.

     Yep, its the "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" sign. I found it, and got it for a good price. The picture on the right is where it is located as of now, but that is going to change. That is just a temporary spot until I can move things around. When everything is moved into place, it will be directly above the workbench. Now you may be saying to yourself, " Is that at all necessary?" Yes, yes it is, and I'll tell you why. Even though I stopped drinking, this sign is there to remind me, that I have to cut loose every once in a while, and not take life so seriously. It's about the philosophy, and I"m a huge Parrothead. Oh yeah, and those blinds suck. They will be replaced before all of this is done. I might even make some kind of custom wooden slats that slide open and closed. I just have to figure it all out, but I have ideas. Before you even ask, yes, Saki loves the sign, because Saki is a party animal.

     I have a few videos for you tonight. tonight was the premier of America's Got Talent. I find that I am truly only watching it for the acts now. The judges don't interest me much, and now that Nick Cannon isn't there, it really is all about the talent. Tyra Banks is the new host, replacing Nick Cannon, and she did a fine job, but she just isn't the entertainer that Nick is. The edits even left her out of most of the show, where as, when Nick was the host, he was all over the place. Make she just needs time. On to the acts. They had the obligatory, really bad acts, but there were three that stood out for me, and although the stood out for their talent, they also stood out because of how surprising they were. The whole time I have been writing this entire post, I've been thinking about how I was going to present these videos to you. Tell you a little bit about my thoughts, or just put them out there, so you can experience them similarly to the way I did. I think I'll throw them out there for you, and then say a little bit about them after.









     If I remember right, this was the exact order that I saw these acts in. The first one which is 12 year old Merrick Hanna blew me away. That kid directly interpreted that song into dance. He told a story with his movement. I said to myself that if that isn't a golden buzzer act, then I don't know what is. Puddles Pity Party, was everything I didn't think it was going to be. I assumed that it was going to be a prop act similar to Tape Face from last season, but when He all of a sudden began to sing, I was thrown completely off balance, and he was spectacular. Finally we have Darci Lynne. This was one of those acts that I just knew was going to be a train wreck. I hoped that it wouldn't be, but I just knew what was coming. AGT has a way of doing that to you. They build up an act and then it is bad and you feel terrible for the person. This was not that. She was a better ventriloquist than most of the adults doing it around the world, and the little bit where she began to sing out loud and the puppet placed it's hand over her mouth so that she wouldn't take the puppets spotlight was fantastic. She did get the golden buzzer, which means that she goes directly through to the live shows and skip all the other rounds. I personally think that Merrick should have gotten it, but He will find his way there in the end. I just have that feeling about him. Puddles may have lost the element of surprise already, so I'll just have to see how he pans out through the rounds.

     This brings us to Favorite Song of the Week. This one goes back a couple of decades and was brought back to my attention because I'm learning how to play the guitar now. I've always loved this song, and I think it's time that I learn how to play it, so Thursday when I go to class, I"m going to bring it up to my teacher. This German heavy metal band put out their first album in 1988. I had that album. I never really heard much from them after that, but apparently they still tour all over and even put out albums as late as 2013. I'll have to look those up. This was one of those bands that was heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin. You can hear it in their songs, from the vocals to the melodic guitars riffs. They could play hard, but they were the softer side of metal, Headbangers with serious musical chops. They were in that big wave of metal ballads that came out, and took the world by storm before grunge could kill it all. Here is Kingdom Come with "What Love Can Be".


     Thank you for taking the time to peruse all my meanderings tonight. I"m currently listening to this song as I finish this up. When it's done, my head will hit the pillow. Peace in and goodnight.

Adventure Time Series: McLarty Treasure Museum.

     Welcome to the first official post in the Adventure Time Series. I know that I did the Navy SEAL Museum last month, but that was kind of a precursor to what this is now. I'm writing this a little later than usual for a couple of reasons. The first being that it was project day, and it took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but I'll talk about that on Tuesday, and two, because it is Memorial Day weekend, so I have tomorrow off. I'm taking advantage of it, and staying up a little later than I would on a normal Sunday night.

     Let's get into the ATS. I prepped Saki on Friday night. I did a run through of all the bolts to make sure they were tightened, and lubed up the chain. I used that new Motul Chain Lube that I finally got. It seems to work really well. It had some strange reviews about it being sticky and flying off the chain, but I didn't have any problem with it. Maybe they over lubed their chain, it's easy to do. Anyway, Saki was ready for a ride. I woke up early, and had a good breakfast. I was going to start a little earlier than I had planned because I found out that the museum opened at 10, so I wanted to be there before 11 to avoid any potential crowd. The day was beautiful and I headed out to the garage to get Saki out, and begin my first post on my Instagram Story. I still didn't announce where I was headed. I saved that for when I arrived.

     The ride was fantastic. When I rode over the Sebastian Inlet bridge, I couldn't believe my eyes. the water was pretty calm, so that made it the most dazzling clear blue. You could see the natural sandbars and reefs in the ocean. I really wish I had the GoPro so that I could share that with you. One day. I'm getting closer to getting everything in order for that. I will take you there with me when I get it going. I think that will be my test video, which I will post here, I'll save the first official Vlog for the Youtube channel.

     After crossing the bridge, I didn't have that far to go, but I got caught up in looking at the view of the Intracoastal, that I missed my turn. I overshot it by 3 miles. I pulled in and once again had to rely on the honor system. I threw my jacket over the front of Saki, and locked my helmet to the seat. I then ran over to the sign asking the entrance and posted the announcement of the location. by the way, this is the view I got caught up in looking at. This was right across from the Museum.

     Gorgeous right? Now you can see how I got distracted. The McLarty Museum is in a small house type of building that is on the actual landmark of where the survivors and Salvage Camp was set up after the Spanish Plate Fleet of 1715 sank. I have a couple of photos showing the building and a sign telling about the site.

     You can see that it isn't all that big, but it does pack some pretty interesting artifacts inside. They don't have all the gold and jewelry that was found from the wreck, that is housed, what is left of it, in the Mel Fisher Museum, which is also in Sebastian. That will be a future ride. I didn't even know about it until I went to the McLarty. The McLarty is ran by the state of Florida, they of course have to get their 25% of anything salvaged from the wrecks. It was only $2 to get in. When you first walk in, it is a bit unlike most museums that I've been to. It is rather dimly lit. It does have spot lights on all the displays, so even though the lighting is minimal it gets the job done nicely. I'm just going to share the pictures with you from inside the museum, and then I will catch up with you when I go outside to the observation deck.

     I left a few things out, because well, you need a reason to go see it for yourself, so that you can see what I left out. The little teal display was probably my favorite. I got that shot simply for the manatee carved from a silver coin. It was just the coolest thing to me.

    After roaming the floor of the main room for a while, I made my way out to the observation deck. It was this beautiful wooden walkway that wove it's way through beachside plant life. Along the way there were these small wooden boxes that you could open up to see little facts about the plants and insects, and even turtles that inhabit the area. It was stunning. I shot a short video walking back through it from the observation deck, but the audio came out pretty bad. I'll post that here, so you can get a look at it atleast.

    I tried uploading the video a new way, and it didn't look like it was going to work out, so I went back to the old tired and true way. Like I said, the audio isn't that good, but you can see that amazing walkway. Back to the observation deck though. The designed it to look like a pirate ship front end. It is pointed directly at where the Spanish Fleet sank, and the as I said before, the water was crystal clear on this particular day. You could see the reefs and sandbars that they ships ran aground on. I have a few pictures from there to show you as well, including a panorama from the bow of the pirate ship.

     See what I mean about how clear the water looks. I stayed out there for about a half hour, just watching the waves, as small as they were, roll in, and the boats go by looking for the perfect fishing spot. I went back in to watch the remainder of the film that they have explaining the salvage efforts and highlighting some of the treasure hunters that have found treasure from the wrecks. That is where I found out about then Mel Fisher Museum. It looks like that will be pretty fun to see as well. In the future though. 

     I had a great time while I was there. I learned a few things, and saw some 3 hundred year old artifacts. It was a good day. It got even better on the ride home. When I hit the causeway, I opened Saki up. I hadn't done that in a while, and Saki needed some speed. I had to let off the throttle when I went over the bridge because I wasn't sure of what was on the other side, and believe me, If there was a police officer waiting over there, he would have had something to say to me. It would have been worth it though. Going fast on Saki is probably my favorite thing to do. It's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. It's one of those moments when you really know that you are alive. It's funny how you are at your most alive when it could be the thing that causes your death. Something to talk about for another time though.

     I have the next two ATS locations figured out. The next one will be on June 10th, but I think I'm going to keep it a secret until I get there. The one after that will be on July 15th and it looks like I will have a special guest along with me for that one. I'm definitely not telling you where I'm going for that one yet. 

     Saturday was great, and I look forward to doing more of these for you. The Space Center is still on my list. I chose the McLarty Museum over KSC for a very simple reason. KSC costs too much. I still need to get that GoPro and all the equipment to go along with it, so pricey places are put to the back of the list for now. That's all that I have for tonight, I will have a lot to talk about on Tuesday, including a guy trying to run me into the back of a very large truck. How's that for a little teaser? Peace in and goodnight.

I Need To Come Up With A Logo.

Georgina Callander

Saffie Rose Roussos

John Atkinson

Megan Hurley

Olivia Campbell

Alison Howe

Lisa Lees

Angelika Kils

Marcin Kils

Martyn Hett

Kelly Brewster

Jane Tweedle-Taylor

Nell Jones

Michelle Kiss

Sorrell Leczkowski

Liam Curry

Chloe Rutherford

Elaine McIver

Wendy Fawell

Eilidh MacLeod

Courtney Boyle

Philip Tron

     
     Those are the names of the remembered. They all have stories worth hearing. This is the source that I got all these names from Manchester Evening News. They have information on each person. I hope that you take a short bit of your time to click on that link and read what there is there about them.

     Due to the attack on Monday I failed to mention that passing of a great in the Moto GP world. The Kentucky Kid is roaring through the ether on a superbike. Nicky Hayden was born in Owensboro Kentucky and had a dream of one day bing the Moto GP 500 Champion. He saw that dream come true in 2006 when he became Moto GP Champion. He was known as the friendliest guy in the paddocks, and there are several stories of how he would go out of his way to say hi to each and every person at the track, from the trackside assistants to the sponsors. He was the youngest AMA Superbike Champion at the ripe old age of 20. He began racing those superbikes when he was only 17 and still in high school. He was a fierce competitor but not to the point that he would take someone out for a win. In fact, he did exactly the opposite in a  race. He was trying to cut underneath another rider braking very late into the turn, when he saw that he wasn't going to make it, and plow into another rider, he wrecked his bike to avoid taking out that other rider. He could reach speeds of 200 MPH on those race bikes, but he was on a racing bicycle when he was sent into the ether. He was riding with friends in Italy when he was struck by a car. Nicky lived his life to the fullest and achieved his ultimate dream, and he did it with a giant smile on his face.

     I know that this looks like it is only going to be about death tonight, but I promise you it isn't. I needed to get those things up there right away for obvious reasons. I have good news. Despite the fact that it has been raining here the last few days, the rain is clearing out, and Saturday should be clear for the Adventure Time Series. I should be heading out on Saki at around 10 o'clock in the morning, and that is also when I will begin the Instagram Story to go along with that. As you know, that will be the first time you get a peek into where it is I'm going for this little adventure. Keep an eye out for that, so you can see the location and a few images that will go up there. I will have more for the Sunday night post of this though, and I will of course write about it. This will be the first post under the Adventure Time Series banner. Let's see how this goes.

     I havne't stopped by the tattoo shop in months. There is a really good reason for that. Remember when I told you about Stellar Kicks and how I ordered a couple pair of shoes from them, and still hadn't received them? Well, I still haven't received them, but here is the more important part, the second pair of shoes is for my tattoo artist. A little gift for all the great work he has done on me. I was waiting for them to come in, so that I could take them to him the next time I went there. I had waited long enough, and putting off stopping by was unacceptable to me. It was a good thing I stopped in too, turns out that my artist had a little gift for me. He was with a client but stopped for a brief moment to get something out of his bag. It was a patch that he had made out of one of his art pieces. I was honored to get it. It's a cool little skull. Now I just have to find the right place to put it. He had it made locally which got me to thinking. I'm going to eventually create a logo for this and the Youtube channel. If I ever get enough interest for something like this, I know where to go to have them made. I was brain storming with him a little bit about a logo. I threw out an idea of a squirrel in a motorcycle helmet. He liked that idea but have it look like he is storming down the road at breakneck speeds. I kind of like that idea. I'll try to draw something up myself, but I may just commission my artist to draw something up. I clearly like his artistic ability with all the ink I've gotten from him, so it's not the craziest of ideas to get him to create a logo for me. I figure that I have until the first video goes up on the Youtube channel to come up with something. You will see the logo design here first of course. I will post it here and then a day or so later I will post it on Instagram. It's going to be interesting to see what the final image is and who comes up with it, not to mention how you like it. Hmm, maybe if I come up with a couple of ideas, you can vote on it. The one with the most votes would be the winner. I like that, let's have some real fun with it. I will do my best to come up with three images, and put it up for a vote. That way you can take part in what best represents this. I'm pretty excited about this now.

     I'm going to call it a night. Be prepared for a big write up Sunday night about my adventure. There is a good chance that it will involve a cheeseburger. It would be the first one i've had in a couple of months, and my mouth is already watering. Oh real quick, I have hit the plateau in my weight loss that I was expecting, and I will soon ramp up my workouts to compensate. I'll keep you up to date on how that works out in the coming weeks. Until then, peace in and goodnight.

You Can Change Things If You Really Try.

Georgina Bethany Callander

Saffie Rose Roussos

John Atkinson

Megan Hurley

Kelly Brewster

     Those are the names of the victims of the Manchester attack that have been released as of the writing of this. There are 17 more that will be released in the coming days, with a possibility of more in the future. There was one other name released, but that name will get no recognition here. I believe that that name should never be released, and I condemn all media outlets that continue to give acknowledgement to that name. That would be the, I don't even have a word for what they are other than perpetrator of this act. That perpetrator should go down as the forgotten. It is not worth knowing that name nor should you give it any of your time. Those names above, those are the names that should be acknowledged. Those are the names to remember. Those are the remembered. There journey on this planet ended because of a disgusting act. When I get more names, I will post them as I get them in my normal posts. I will post all the names of the victims and only the victims when I find them all. Read their names, find their stories, acknowledge that they existed. I will do the same as I learn who each one was.

     I could get into the horror of such events, I have in the past, but I don't want to give that any time tonight. Instead I want to mention an alarming trend I witnessed since last night, and that is the growing divide in people. I'm not talking about doom and gloom in everything here. There is a bright spot that I will get to, but first I need to get into this, because I think it is something that can be changed with kindness, love and compassion. I saw several people making jokes about this before the bodies were even counted. I also saw several people trying to place blame, not on the perpetrator, but on people such as Ariana Grande, political parties, or heads of state. This is all ridiculous. Have we become so divided that we can't even see what is right in front of us? Do we place blame on someone we don't agree with just because it is convenient? This is a growing trend, but the good news is, that it is still very small, and can be overcome. I saw it in comment sections of things were these were written. Instead of calling names, commenters simply tired to reason with the people, or told them how sorry they were for them, or even tried to tell them why they were so wrong and misguided for saying what it was they were saying.

     Here is the brightest spot, and that is what else happened in Manchester last night. People opened their doors to strangers, they gathered supplies to help those in need, they ran to meet the danger to help those who couldn't help themselves. There are countless stories out there that you can find of the great and remarkable things that happened in Manchester surrounding this dark act. Children without parents were ushered to safe locations where their loved ones could find them. ambulances lined up and drove into a danger zone by the dozens. People in the arena put their own lives in harms way to protect younger lives, while others helped get people out of danger. Manchester stood proud and is still standing. They didn't close their doors and hide from the world. They flung those doors open and proclaimed that this act won't stop them. That is what we all must do in the face of these horrible attempts to undermine our liberties and freedom. 

     Times like this are when we all come together, but it doesn't have to be like that. We shouldn't need a violent act for us to all come together. We should make an attempt to be more together all the time. We are stronger than those that would do us harm. We outnumber those that would do us harm, and if we all stood together, they wouldn't be able to do us harm. We must stand together, all of us. We are one people, we are human, we all live on this planet. Why should we not get along with one another? Because someone looks different, talks different, loves different? Those aren't good reasons, come to think of it, I can't think of one good reason, with the exception of those that would do us harm, but I already said that we are more than them.  Love is and always will be stronger than hate, and I truly believe that love will overcome in the end. 

     At the end of every one of my posts, with a very few exceptions, I end it with "peace in and goodnight". The goodnight part is pretty self explanatory, but I'll just give a little insight anyway. I of course write this at the end of my night, so that is my  farewell to you. the peace in, is a little different. I've mentioned why I write that, and it is how I end all of my Instagram Stories as well, but I'll bring it up again. I first heard "peace in" from the band Walk Off The Earth. When I heard it, it all made sense to me. I don't know why they say it, but I do know why it clicked with me. the normal phrase is "peace out", but I've never liked that. It always seems to convey that you want peace to be out. I know that isn't the implication, but that is just how it feels. I prefer to have peace in. When I say it, I am sending peace to you. I want you to have peace in your soul, and that is why I say "peace in". Yes I may be an idealist and a dreamer, but if it wasn't for dreamers and idealist, we wouldn't really accomplish much would we. There is a better world around the corner, and with kindness, love, and compassion, we will get to it. I would like you to sit back and reflect on what you do in your everyday life that gives you peace. Once you have what it is, think about it for a good 10 minutes. As soon as you are done, I want you to take a quick inventory of how you are feeling. That feeling, the is "peace in". Be in that moment as often as you can, and then find a way to make more moments like that. I promise you, that you will not regret it.

     Favorite Song of the Week, is going to be a little different. I usually write a long introduction to the song with some information about the performer or performers, but I'm going to let the song pretty much speak for itself. This song was written by the legendary David Bowie, with the help of the artist who sang it. None other than the raucous Iggy Pop. "Lust For Life".

    I told you it would speak for itself. Peace in and goodnight.

Photographs, Sunrises, And A Blowing Rock?

     I have a few pictures for you tonight, and a lot to talk about, but I want to mention a couple of things first while they are at the top of my mind. The first thing is, that if you follow me on Instagram, slip me a message either on there or in the comments below, and let me know what your Instagram handle is, so that I can follow you back. I tend to not follow back if I don't know who it is, because I used to get followed by a bunch of fake pages.

     The second thing I wanted to mention, and really it should have been the first is, how much I appreciate you taking the time to sit down and read this. I never really expected that anyone would want to read any of what I wrote here, and I know that I can get a bit long winded at times, so thank you very much for your time.

     Now on to the shenanigans. Well, on to the, what happened this weekend that really wasn't shenanigans. As you know, I worked Friday, and it was good to do that for the first time in a very long time. When I got home, I cleaned up, and got on Saki for my ride to the bank. The weather report lied again, so I drove into work thinking that it was going to rain most of the day. Guess what it didn't do at all?  I took Melvin along for the ride, because I think the bank tellers will freak out a little if they don't see Melvin. It's more about Melvin than it is me with them. When I was walking out of the bank, and older woman stopped to hold the door open for me. She saw Melvin, and mentioned that they followed me up the road and that her sister wanted my helmet. When we walked out she yelled over to her car full of people, and they went crazy. They called me over so they could get a good look at Melvin. They all had big smiles on their faces, and that is what it is all about. As I walked away from that car, another woman was getting out of her car, and said, "Look it's the guy with they frog head.". They had also followed me. I got in a conversation with a woman that was in the car with her, she was having a blast telling me how Melvin was going to, "really mess with people". We chatted briefly and then she wished me to be safe. After that, I went for a quick ride, and had a large number of people honking and waving at me. It was the most people that took notice of Melvin before. They all had smiles and were laughing and just enjoying it, and that made me happy.

     I went to be early after watching the first 4 episodes of the newest season of Unbreakable Jimmy Schmidt. I love that show, and was not disappointed in the new episodes. They are hilarious, and I need to find the time to watch the rest of them. The inside jokes on that show are off the chart, and I love humor like that. It turns out that SyFy was releasing all the new episodes of 12 Monkeys this weekend, so I needed to watch those so that my DVR wouldn't get overloaded with stuff. I think the final 2 episodes of that are airing tonight, so I will be recording those. I really enjoy that show, but I can't explain why. I think it is just the time travel aspect of it. It just leads to so many open story lines.

    My plan for Saturday was, that I was going to wake up early, and head out to the beach to watch the sunrise and get a few shots of Saki, but when the alarm went off, it was more pleasurable to turn it off and go back to sleep. I still managed to wake up around 6:30, and since I was going to be running around all day, I decided that would be a good day for my weekend "fast" day. I went out into the garage and set Saki up on the stands to start detailing it for the photoshoot that was going to happen. Saki looks enormous in that picture. I was sitting on the floor looking up. I got in every nook and cranny of the bike so that no place was untouched. After hitting everything with a cleaning cloth, I went back over it with rubbing alcohol, and then after that I went over everything with a soft cloth. Then, yeah I really went over it again, with a polish, which meant I had to go over it again with that soft cloth to get the polish off. Saki looked great, and the shine was spectacular. I wheeled Saki outside to see what it looked like in the sun, and took a few shots. I posted them on Instagram in one of those multiple post shots. I'm liking that feature on there, more on that later. Those are available to see, so if you follow me there, you can go take a look at all the ones I posted.

     I washed up after that and waited for my friend to call me saying that he was up. We still needed to go get supplies and build a backdrop for the shoot if it ended up in his backyard. He didn't call until just before noon. I was expecting his call around 11, so we were already off to a late start. I wasn't going to ride over to build the backdrop, because it was just too hot. I figured we could get the stuff, build it, and be done with a few hours to spare. I would go back and get Saki and then meet up at the primary location for the shoot. The plans did not go off anything like that. It took us a couple of hours to formulate a plan for the build, and then when we finally had all the stuff, and I cut the PVC pipe down to the sizes that we needed, I ended up building the entire thing by myself. I did have help when we put the tarp on it. We didn't think about one very important thing, and that was the wind. Even though the weather report was once again wrong, and it was sunny all day, the wind was pretty strong, and it kept blowing the backdrop over. We decided we would deal with that when we got to it though. The first model had showed up. Turns out we were having two models for the day. I still needed to get cleaned up and ride Saki over. I hurried home and cleaned up as fast as I could, got on Saki and headed back to his house. Then I waited, and waited, and waited. The first model had to run and get something that she forgot, and the second model kept saying she was 10 minutes out every 20  minutes. I was in full on business mode, and I wanted to get things done.

     The first model made it back, and the second model finally showed up. After another 15 minutes of dealing with costumes, we headed out. I road up to the spot and parked Saki on what I thought would be a great spot for the shoot. The photographer wasn't having it. I positioned Saki where he wanted and we go started. The asphalt was uncured and soft, so the kickstand began sinking in with the model sitting on the bike. I found a random board that was laying around, and broke it into pieces to make a kickstand plate. It kept the kickstand from sinking in, but, if we would have left Saki where I wanted to, we wouldn't have had that problem. If you are starting to sense a little aggravation in my typing, you would be right. Here is how I was looking at myself that day. I was an assistant there to facilitate the photographer for what he wanted. I had to put away my concerns for Saki and what was happening to it, and worry about getting things in order for a good picture.

     I rarely touch Saki on anywhere other than the handlebars and the seat. I don't touch the painted areas of I don't have to, and part of the photoshoot, meant that hands and body parts where all over the painted parts. I had to turn a blind eye to that, and having OCD doesn't fully allow me to do that. I managed to get through the shoot out at the first location without going crazy. I didn't take any pictures with the models on the bike because I was more worried about making sure things were in place for the shoot. The photographer moved over to doing some shots with a car, and I moved Saki back on the first spot. I did grab a picture there.

I think the shot looks great, but he didn't like the lighting. That seemed to be a theme for the day.

Also he didn't like the manhole cover or the drain. In my opinion, he was thinking to one dimensionally, but that is just me.

     We finally left that area and headed back to his house, where there was a loose plan to put Saki in his living room and forget about the backdrop. I didn't think this was going to work, for several different reasons. I won't get into all of them, but the one that killed that entire idea, was that there was no room to get any distance on the shots that would get the girl and the bike in them. Something I tried to point out, but was ignored. That meant the backyard with the backdrop was the only option. I wrangled through branches and other things and got Saki in the backyard. Then he decided to move where the backdrop was to a place that was difficult to get Saki to. I can't maneuver Saki in the grass well, and I also have to think about stability in soft ground. He was beginning to get frustrated and decided to move the entire thing to the side of his house which was nothing but soft sand. We put a paver down to set the kickstand on, and I maneuvered Saki into a place that was good for him. I had to end up holding the backdrop up, which began to get tiring after a while. That lead to a bit of an outburst. He was asking for ideas, and I kept my mouth shot for most of the time, but from where I was I happened to notice a really great artsy type of shot. I could see both girls faces in the mirror, and thought that if he got just a shot of the mirror, it would be fantastic. I mentioned it, he went behind them to try and get the shot, but he didn't understand what I was saying, and he didn't see what I saw, so he gave up, I just said that you are missing the shot, that's when the outburst came. He told me I didn't know anything about photography, and that he was doing his thing. Then he began asking me questions about my own experience with photography. The thing is, I have quite a bit of experience with photography and have been doing it for a very long time. I studied to know exactly what to do in what situation. Although I haven't broke my camera out in a little while, I still know how to get a really great shot. It is just more convenient and a bit lazy to just use my phone. I am going to get the camera out again soon though, but that will be a story for a later time.

     I was done at that point. He had his idea of what I knew, so I was just fine with letting him think that. He kept asking for ideas, and I just shut up. My ideas didn't matter anyway, so why spit them out. I haven't seen any pictures from the shoot. I'm sure they will be fine. Listen, he is good at what he does, but sometimes you get so focused on what you are doing, that you miss things that are around you, and that was the case with the shot in the mirror, and he wasn't going to listen to me on how to get it. I got Saki home, and did another thorough cleaning to get all the fingerprints and body prints off of it. I apologized deeply to Saki, and promised to ride the next day, which was this morning.

     I set the alarm, and woke up an hour or so earlier than the alarm went off. This of course made me tired, and when the alarm finally did go off, I planned on just sleeping in again. I couldn't get back to sleep, and I think it was the promise I made to Saki that kept me up.  I got out of bed just in time to quickly get dressed and head to the beach. I would get there just a little after sunrise. Oh, quickly. I got a couple of balaclavas so that I could where my AirPods while I was riding. In case you don't know what a balaclava is, it is kind of a ninja mask. It only has an area cut out for the eyes. I got this for two reasons: one the headphones, and two, I've been getting a strange tan line on my neck. It is a thin area above the collar line and below the chin. It is the area that is not covered by my helmet and my jacket. It's just weird looking. This covers my neck and keeps the headphones from popping out when I take the helmet off. Back to today. I headed to my favorite spot to see the sunrise. It also is the best spot to get a picture of Saki that is actually close to the beach. There is no dune blocking the view to the water. I got a few pictures there.

That last one there, is a result of looking at things from a different perspective. Kind of my point about Saturday. I was up on the small wall, so that I could get a picture of the water and a couple of surfers, those shots didn't turn out well because the surfers seemed to be learning and never really got up. When I turned around to get down, I saw Saki sitting there, and it was a view I had never considered. It's just such an interesting perspective, that I had to get a shot of it. After those shots, I had one more shot in mind. I've had this idea since the last time I was there, and hadn't taken the shot when I was there but this time I was getting it. That shot is of the sign for the name of the beach. Here is the thing though, when I was growing up, and going to that spot to surf, we didn't call it Blockhouse Beach. We called it by the name of the landmark closest to it, which was the Officer's Club. It was damaged in a fire several years ago, and rather than rebuild it, they just tore it down and left it for parking. There is a small Blockhouse there now, hence the new name of the beach. If you blow that picture up though, you will see that it is the home of the 45th Space Wing of the United States Air Force. How cool is that. It's little things like that that remind me how much I love where I live. Not far from that very spot is the building that was featured in the old TV show "I Dream of Jeanie". Whenever they would show the Major going to work, the would show a large boxy building with rockets outside. The rockets are gone now, and it's behind a wall, but ash building is still there. In the other direction from there, the actual house is in a neighborhood in Cocoa Beach. When I get the GoPro and start the motovlogging, I'll ride by there and show it to you. Which reminds me of something I do have to get to tonight, while it is on my mind, but first I have a couple more pictures for you.

     As I was riding home, I saw one more spot with a good opportunity. It was right on the river, and there was a small opening between the plants at the edge. Here are those shots.

That last shot was my favorite of the day.

     I was watching a local motovlogger today, and he went to a place called Blowing Rock. It turns out that it is a preserve in Hobe Sound, Florida. This is a place that I didn't know anything about, and it looks amazing. I found a link to a good site that shows off all it's glory. Take a look here Blowing Rock Preserve Needless to say, this is going to be a future location for the Adventure Time Series. I mapped out the ride already. If I take I-95 the entire way down, it will only take an hour and 49 minutes, but that is no fun. I would rather take A1A all the way down. That of course extended the time to 3 hours and 17 minutes. I don't mind that, but it might be hard to find anyone that wants to ride along with me. I need to go to this place. He went there with a videographer that has a drone, so I'm thinking, this would be an incredible reason to get a drone. I've looked into drones before, but I really don't know much about them, so I don't know what is a good one or a bad one, so research is needed. Well, that and money. I don't think I can wait for the drone, but I could always make a return trip after I get one eventually.

     Speaking of the Adventure Time Series, next Saturday is the next ride. I'll be doing and Instagram story along the ride, so if you follow me there, you will get the first look at it, and find out where I chose to go. Yeah, I'm still keeping it a secret. It does look like I'm alone again, so it will just be me and Saki. We will have a blast. With that, I will stop taking up your precious time, and say, peace in and goodnight.