Missing, No! not me

Whoa! Where did the past two weeks go. Once again I apologize for not blogging. Its been on my mind alot but then it becomes so late and I crash before typing something entertaining for you all.

I have to say that winter is screaming by and I haven't really suffered from "SIDS" yet. Gwedo and I have been attending our stained glass classes on Saturdays and I am really enjoying it, so much that I have been working at night building myself a little workshop next to Betina's art studio. I invested in some tools and have been making stained glass projects each night. Yes, yes, I realize that you are still waiting for an update on my first real project. The Orchid project for Betina went very well, I suffered thru some real tough cuts and lots of grinding but in the end it all fell into place and soldered together perfectly. See the photo below (just waiting to get some chain for hanging).

Here is my little workshop I built to do my glass projects at home.

Mainly I have been a cellar dweller since my last post, but I should be out riding this weekend and I will be sure to document the first ride of the year. I have a feeling that I will have a partner in crime with me too... I am not sure who is chompin' the bit harder, Joerg or I.

Take care and check back soon.

Winter Projects

Welcome, Welcome, my loyal stalkers and ocasional visitors I am here today to give your second blog this week, yes you heard me right, second. To be honest I figured if I am going to attract anymore followers I better get my behind in gear and blog more so each night I thought of blogging but ran out of time. So before the week runs out and it begins to look like every other week on this blog I figured what the heck, folks just want to see what I am up to so I will give you that.

This week I have been keeping my winter blues at bay by taking on a couple projects to keep me busy at night and let me tell ya, they have been keeping me busy.

Project #1: We are slowly converting the shop to be RoHS compliant and lead free. To help in the transition I made two distinctively different portable solder stations so that there will be no cross contamination. This project mostly was made up of painting but also included some woodworking and gluing. Below you will see a photo of the stations.



Project #2: At the BMW shop we picked up some floor display signs from a local store going out of business. I made custom inserts out of frame matting's for the inside so we can just insert a standard 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. I haven't taken pictures yet but will tonite and get it added here.

Project #3: Also at the BMW shop we are looking into getting new carpeting for the showroom. I have been working on making a drawing in AutoCad of the floor area and the carpet squares so we can color them in and decide the pattern to put on the floor. Once we get it all hammered out I will post a pic of that too.

So there you have it, another winter week here in Michigan.

Stained Glass Saturdays

Two weeks ago our good friends Starr and Gwedo invited us out to Lowell to walk the downtown area so Betina could see all the little art galleries and shops. During our walk-about we entered one gallery named Glass House Designs. Once inside we found all sorts of glass artwork, and a large workshop area. As I browsed around checking out all the neat glass objects I heard Gwedo sparking up a conversation with the Owner/Artist Susan Molnar. When I made my way around to the workshop area I saw this twinkle in G's eyes and he was gathering information. We said good bye and followed our wives into the next shop. This shop was not so exciting for G and I so we sat in the front windows discussing the stained glass shop. Gwedo produced the paperwork he acquired regarding the stained glass classes and we looked it over while considered attending classes on Saturday afternoons. Gwedo called during the week and made all the arrangements for us to attend the class.

Upon our arrival Susan, our instructor had all the work areas ready to go with all the tools we would need to make our first glass project. She started by explaining all the tools involved and how we were to use them. The tools used consist of a Cutter, Breaker/Grozer Pliers, and Running Pliers to get started. First she had us cutting straight strips of glass to get use to the technique needed for the cutter and running pliers. After we mastered that we moved to cutting curved pieces. That proved to be a little trickier and took some patients. After approximately and hour of practicing we then moved on to make a five part piece of work from start to finish. This project would be made from inexpensive regular window glass to get the hang of all the tools and to take a project from start to finish. After cutting the paper pattern out and tracing the pieces on to the glass we cut all our pieces out. Then Susan taught us how to apply the copper foil to the glass pieces using the fid. Once all the pieces where foiled we then could lay them into position and solder them together. The next step was to wash our projects and apply the Patina to turn the solder black. The last step of the day was to wash our art and polish it. It was a very enjoyable day and we immediately signed up for another class.

This is my first project, nothing special but a great learning experience.

It's Saturday again, time for more stained glass projects. G and I arrive a little early to pick out the glass we will be using for our first "real project". I have chosen to make an Orchid for Betina since she loves those flowers. I select my glass with a little help from Susan and settle in to our worktable. Once G has selected his glass (I can't divulge what he is working on, it's a secret) the two of us were gleaming with excitement, just itchin' to get started. That's when Susan brought us back to earth by giving us some scrap glass and suggested we trace some of the parts of our pattern to practice a few times before trying it on our expensive glass. Ha, this proved to be disastrous, we thought we were professional already and realized these beginner projects where much harder than we thought. Finally after screwing up all the practice glass we move on to our good glass. We both got off to a very poor start but managed to finally get some of the tricky pieces cut out. At the end of class we just looked at each other and chuckled, we thought we would be bringing finished goods home again this week but learned that it is quite the process. Of course we signed up for next Saturday and will hopefully finish them up and then try another one. Below you will find some photos of the start of my Orchid project.

Thoughtless...

ummm... ummmm....
Okay, to tell the truth, I never realized this could happen to me, but I am being "cyber-bullied". Yup, that's right, I have one fan that is stepping over the line, stalking me, making demands that are just unrealistic.
Can anybody out there believe that I got an email yesterday stating "Blog! Blog tonite or else" and then it went on to explain the consequences, and trust me, they are nothing I can post here. I tried to gently persuade this individual to understand that blogging is an art form, and you can not force it, but he seems to think otherwise. So here I am, in a panic after a great night of partying typing this garbage just hoping this satisfies his request so I do not get harmed.

While we are on this subject, if you are a fan, follower (stalker) or just an occasional visitor could you please drop a comment so I have an idea how many of you are out there waiting for me to post again...
Thanks!

Edit: 1-17-09 Great! Two days have past and the only comments I have gotten are from my two hemorrhoids. I guess having two pains in the arse is much better than having nobody read my garbage! Please, if you are just reading this for the first time post a comment.
I suppose if I posted more I would have more fans. Lets see what I can scrounge up for a real post.

Buried...Alive!!!

Okay, so you have been wondering where I have been and why no blogs. Well shortly before my last blog Betina got rid of her work laptop and got a new desktop at the office so I couldn't use that at the breakfast bar, then a couple days after my last blog my desktop at home decided it really wanted to go to computer heaven and self destructed. That left me high and dry, so I started my search for a computer that would do the few things I need a computer to do, but not be that expensive... I can't spend much on unnecessary stuff like a computer when there is ("come on, will you please use the correct words and stop embarassing me" mom exclaimed) more motorcycles out there to purchase, LOL! I finally got a new little netbook that I call "Mighty-Max" and now I am ready to blog from anywhere.

So what else have I been up to... the usual stuff like working and riding when possible and then a few different things thrown in the mix (I will try and get individual post up covering them). But most of all I have been doing a lot of the feature below. Although I can still where ("where??? I am ashamed of you, next time please use your edumacation" mom said) my motorcycle suit, the handlebars are not the ones I enjoy hanging onto.

Giving Thanks

I arose this morning with the burning desire to go for a ride. A quick check of the ground condition, clear … a glance at the thermometer even though that was not going to matter, hmm 40 degrees… Betina made us a quick breakfast and we decided we would eat around four and that I was going for a Giving Thanks ride and she was going to work on her art projects then we could share what we did around the table later. After we finished our chow and I made a couple phone calls I started to get ready for my ride.

I quick gave thought to my ride… hmm… no ideas other than ride, and one stop on the way home to grab a newspaper. I have been waiting to try out the suit with the liner and since I am not stopping anywhere that I would get out of the suit I just throw on a pair on long johns and the matching top. I get the liner on and then the suit and instantly I am very warm… and comfortable. I then go out to the garage, it was a hard decision but I was going to ride Princess R because she is already filthy and only needs 120 miles more to show an even 16000 when she goes to bed for the winter. However, that little stinker had other plans, I think she felt neglected over the past week because her battery was totally flat… nothing…. Well no time for that now, as I turned around I could see an evil but happy smile coming from my son Dakar, he knew it was his time to shine. In my heart I knew this is what I was suppose to be riding due to the conditions, but he was so shiny and clean and washing bikes when the average temps are 28 degrees is no fun!


I thumb him to life and head out to give Thanks to Mother Nature for all her beauty and power I enjoy all year long. I head out toward some of my favorite wooded twisty roads and cruise along. Occasionally I would come upon some none adventurous family in their spotless Volvo pointing at me like I am nuts... if they only stepped out of their comfort zone and lived… shame, shame… I did come across a bunch of thumbs up out the windows but no other cycles to be seen (I am sure if I was in MA I would of saw that rascal Dave’s bike cruzin the streets). After enjoying some great twisties, I aim for the mighty grand to see if she is flexing her muscles against the banks. After that, I went to see the quiet gentle side of M.N. when she blankets all with a quiet peaceful cover. This is the local ski… I find it so hard to even call it a hill, because it really is just a valley. I stop and get some shots of this too before heading back home to share it all with Betina over our Thanksgiving dinner.


Hope you all had a great enjoyable day!

Falling...

What are the prices like in your area? Here in West Michigan they are coming way down. That is good for me because I recently had to switch from the 70 mpg bike to the guzzler Jeep that only gets 19 mpg. Well I am going to keep it short here this morning, but figured I had to at least get something up here for my fans (you happy Dave? j.k.), and I remembered the golden rule, that a post is worthless with out a photo so here is your shot of the day.

Who Caused This!

Oh $%&^ ! ahh, wait a minute, I can say that word here even though its a very, very evil word. Instantly my mind thinks of what a women in Georgia said to me on my last road trip when I told her I was from Michigan. "Oh you poor soul, I do not know what you northerners did to piss God off that he would make that evil horrible stuff fall from the sky on you". Well lady, some bastard must of did it again, because I woke up this morning to this sight.

Yep, that's right, snow! I grabbed a cup of joe and sat watching the stuff fall from the sky blanketing everything with a white sheet. I then tuned in the weather, and this is going to continue and we could get up to three inches over night tonite. I glance over to Betina and shrug, "I guess I am not going riding today" I state. After the second cup of joe I decide that I should get the summer slicks off the car and put on the winter tires. I get dressed and get the tires and hubcaps out of the basement and into the garage. I tune the radio onto some rock and gather all my tools. Each time I do this I am getting faster and faster, I pretend I am a pit crew worker and rock out the first three tires...then!... should I say anymore... Yes that's when it all went to hell.

When I got to the last rear wheel I couldn't get the socket over the lug nuts. You see, the wonderful Dodge designers had to make these fancy lug nuts that have this very thin metal cover over the entire lug nut, it is very hard to get the correct size socket on them. My guess is the lazy piece of snow at the dealership last time the car was there used the next size socket and spun all these wonderful pieces around so they no longer resemble a nut. I finally pounded on a socket and couldn't budge it, so then I stood with all my weight on the 1/2" drive breaker bar and still nothing. Not only did that piece of snow use the wrong socket, he tightened them so damn tight that there was no way to get them off. To say the least I had loads of sweet words coming from my mouth in the garage. Off to the store to by a different wrench and some creating fun to get the little metal covers off, I finally got the wheel off and and the last winter tire on. I then inflated and checked all the pressures. Few! mission complete. Now Betina should be able to cruise along again this winter with no worries. As you can see from the photo below the stock GoodYears are about shot, looks like I will be watching for a good tire deal between now and spring.

That's the Winter Bridgestone (awesome tire) on the left and the crap stock GoodYear on the right.

Racking up Last Minute sMILES

507 sMILES this week! Considering it is the second week of November and it was quite a wet and cool week I think it is still pretty good that I am hitting the above 500 mark. I currently stand at 22,759 miles. I am pretty confident I will be able to make my 24,000 mile goal by December 31st. This week isn't looking to good but I believe I should be able to get at least another 250 this week and that will give me about 5 weeks to rack up another thousand. I got the Dakar back on Friday so it is ready to take the place of Princess R for the winter. He got some new Head Bearings and had his ticker checked (valve check). The docs couldn't believe what good health he was in and figure he has a long life ahead of him. I will keep you posted over the next five weeks as I inch closer to my goal.

Riding, Sunglasses, and Art

What's Up! Well I promised some pain in the arse biker that I would keep up and blog more so here goes a bunch of rambling on what I have done the past two days.

Yesterday, it was a typical crappy day here in Michigan but I am a man on a mission so I got up early as usual and took the long way to the coffee shop then to work. It was around 34 degrees and threatening rain... or snow all day but that didn't deter my attempts to first reach my self imposed mileage goal for this year and to try and store up some sMILES for when I am force to drive the damn jeep... you can store sMILES and carry em over right??? Any way I ran out of work right at 4:30pm and when I pulled into my driveway at 6:30pm I had managed to squeeze in 102 sMILES! That made the days total 138 sMILES. Once home I tinkered with everything but my blog... Not a bad day after all.

That brings us to today, which makes yesterdays crap look like roses today. Once again I was up early and out the door sporting a smile that I am still able to ride the bike, even though I hear muffled undertones where-ever I go... "nuts...retard...kook...idiot..." and many more. It was a warm...ehhh...warmer morning than all day yesterday. Yes, it was a whole whopping 36 degrees, with bonus drizzles and puddles! I was planning on leaving work on time again and going for another ride even though the weather wasn't very appealing... pouring rain! But the boss man had another plan for me and I got stuck at the office until after dark so I just headed for home on all the back roads thru neighborhoods since it seems that people have a heck of a time remembering how to drive their vehicles once we turn the clocks back. Oh my! I almost forgot to tell you how warm it was... actually almost hot, it was 41 degrees! Once home and out of my alien suit I was just about to sit down and that's when my lovely little comedian came home. I inquired what was for our nightly snack and lunch tomorrow... she threw the fridge door open... squinted and asked if I had my sunglasses on and could see into the fridge. That's her way of saying "it's empty". She then disappeared down the stairs to her art studio. Seeing that I am part comedian too, I said "c-ya later honey, I am going food shopping" and headed out. I think I fixed the empty fridge problem... whatcha think?

I am waiting for her to come up and see my job well done! I know your wondering, so do you want a little peek into what Betina has been up to in the basement... Up until three weeks ago she never even knew about this art median, now she is an expert painting up wonderful things. I am going to take close ups of all her work and get it up here in the near future. Oh, and if you see something you like, let me know... I am selling it to support my motorcycle habit.