Wish you were here

Happy Thanksgiving

Twitter

Never used it, seen it, cared about it, etc.

 

What would make me sign up for and pay attention to Twitter?

 

If James Bond had an account, that would be worthy of my time.

2009 Motorcycling Season draws to a close

Yea I keep track of how much time I spend riding motorcycles and here is the tally from this year. Today I put away the Triumph for another 5 and a half months of waiting to ride again.

 

First day out: April 10, 2009

Last day out: November 23, 2009

 

Season length: 227 days

 

4706 miles : 2007 Triumph Daytona 675

1375 miles : 2009 Honda ST1300

1116 miles : 2009 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic

  819 miles : 2006 Honda Shadow Spirit

 

 

8016 miles total

 

That works out to 35.3 miles a day. Not too shabby considering we had an ultra wet summer and I only commute about 3 miles to work every day. Mom, you will be happy to hear that every single mile was ridden safely, no accidents, drops, dings, lock ups, tickets, fines, chases, etc.

 

Next year I'm thinking cross country. Or how about just to Texas in the fall for a wedding?

 

Vehicle Update!

The good news is that we've found the 1986 powder blue Saab 900 that seems to have dissapeared from its parking spot in downtown Burlington. The bad news is that it seems to have gone the same way as the LTD, i.e. "scrap."

 

RIP Saab.

View from the plane last night

Product X: Now featuring MORE HYPE technology!

So this morning I'm cruising out of the driveway and the low fuel light dings on, time to refuel at the local shell station that is right down the road. A little groggy as I was on my way to work, I start pumping my 87 octane and notice all the signage at the station stating that Shell gasoline is now nitrogen enriched with all sorts of fancy colors and bubbles and hoopla. Yep bubbles.

 

I start to think to myself, wait a minute, nitrogen is an enert gas, it doesnt react with anything. Gasoline is pretty reactive (see video), so why would I want to add something like nitrogen to the tank? My urine contains nitrates, why don't I just pee in the gas tank and see if I get better gas mileage?

So I did a little, like 5 minutes, worth of research and here is what I came up with.

 

The official Shell Oil company line

 

 

Best result from the forums:

 

"All major gasoline manufacturers/ marketers such Chevron-Texaco, Exxon-Mobil, and Shell, etc have included dispersant additives in the gasolines for years. The are a class of compound known as as polyolefin polyamines. For example, Chevron Techron is a polubutene amine. Amines contain nitrogen atoms in their molecules. That or something very similar ( polypropene amine?) is the source of the nitrogen in the Shell gasoline. It's really rather comical to see how an ad agency managed to convince Shell's product technologists that it would make sense to refer to the fuel as nitrogen-enhanced on that basis. Talk about a stretch. I can imagine a lot of eyes rolling when their Averprom people thought it would be a good idea read gimmick.

Don't get me wrong, these additives are essential to help reduce and control the formation and deposition of combustion and degradation products from building up on fuel injectors and intake valves. Shell may be using a new version of their traditional additive technology, but to promote it as nitrogen-enhanced is a hoot to anyone who knows the truth." Provided by LJBaker at action.publicbroadcasting.net

 

In summary, they didn't add any nitrogen to their gasoline, they basically added soap that helps keep your fuel injected vehicle running better by reducing the amount of combustion byproducts that remain in the combustion chamber area. Too bad the marketing people at Shell had to target our stupidity and couldn't just come clean about what it is they are actually doing.

Souvenir

So I'm sitting in the Quad Cities airport about to fly home from my
spectacular two day excursion to the great state of Iowa. As you can
see, the airport giftshop has a unique teeshirt available for
purchase. I'm not really sure what they are shooting for though. I
would expect this phrase to be on a woman's teeshirt or tank top but
out here in Iowa it is plastered on a XXL men's teeshirt. Another
clever phrase that can be found on oversize garments is "what happens
in the corn stays in the corn" which just doesn't have the same ring
as the Vegas tagline. Pretty creepy in fact.

A message to the future

Dear unborn children of mine and siblings,

It is unlikely that I will live to a very old age despite our
excellent genetic pedigree. I just enjoy sausage gravy and biscuits a
little too much. My apologies in advance.

Stretching out

I didn't get much sleep last night, or at all this weekend for that
matter, so it was quite the nice surprise to find out this morning
that I am flying first class all the way to Iowa, so this is a poor
quality picture of my legs stretched out in first class with my
complimentary preflight beverage. The rest of this flight will be
enjoyed in a restful slumber.

Where I am

Unknown Location

I am out in the middle o the woods hunkered down and it is 5:38 am. Surprisingly warm morning with some pretty strange noises out here in the dark. Guess I'm not that far out if I still get reception, ha!

Anyhow, I'll be asleep against this tree until it gets light enough to try and whack a deer. 

On the plane

So I just got on the plane and I'm seate in seat 7A, exit window seat.
For those of you not familiar with my flying habits it goes something
like this:
1. Get on plane
2. Fall asleep
3. Plane takes off, flies, lands
4. Wake up, get off the plane

The sweet lady sitting next to me is about 90 years old and appears to
have difficulty mustering the strengh to stand let alone the ability
to operate he emergency hatch. So everyone else is just going to have
to rescue themselves, no help here in row 7!

Brought to you by iViking

Last Ride?

Rode about 150 miles yesterday on the Triumph up and around Jay Peak (pictured) and then back through Stowe and all around. Could have been the last ride of the season, won't know until next weekend when the bike goes away for the winter.

Side note: This picture was emailed to me by Matt (thanks buddy), and in the gmail preview was shown in the correct orientation. When I downloaded the picture, it somehow was displayed upside down. OK, no big deal, I edited the picture, spun it around, and saved it. Uploaded to the blog and...upside down. So now, on my computer, the picture is upside down, but when it uploads to Blogger, it's perfectly fine. Go figure. I blame Microsoft.

The Places I've Been

So here is a snapshot of the places I've to in 2009. The green markers represent 2009 locations visited and the other markers are from trips in previous years, but this map is by no means complete. With any luck I'll remember to update in the future as I continue to explore this little blue marble called Earth.

A classy place to enjoy a classy beverage