My motorcycle rider’s education was crude but effective. My dad offered up his chopper and the fenced yard area of our home. The instructions were simple, “Go as slow as you can toward the fence, do a U-turn. Go as slow as you can toward the house, do a U-turn the other way.”
Lesson two involved taking the same chopper up and down quarter-mile long gravel driveway that contained a creek crossing, a cattle guard, and many washed out ruts.
This method taught me a ton about clutch, brake, and throttle control as well as the basic mechanics of keeping a motorcycle balanced. Proficient Motorcycling handily covers all the finer points that Dad’s method didn’t.
After the first doom and gloom anecdotal story, David Hough jumps right into the nuts and bolts of we manage to keep these bobbling two wheelers on two wheels. Even though I know to countersteer, I didn’t understand the underlying mechanics which are explained clearly in this book. Each skill touched on in the book is given the same thorough but easy to understand treatment.
Mr. Hough does a great job of straddling the different sects of motorcyclists. Safety gear is talked about but the ATGATT (all the gear all the time) preachiness is avoided. The same line is straddled when it comes to addressing the riding styles of a squid on a sportbike riding a twisty road and a big tourer that just ambles down the highway.
Proficient Motorcycling should be on the reading list of every new motorcyclist as they will learn more skills in a few hours than they probably will in their first year of riding. Experienced motorcyclists, like myself, will gain some additional insight into the skills and habits that they have picked up in their time in the saddle.
Ink KC just published a review of “Close to Home”, the debut record by Dollar Fox. Personally I like this part:
… the eight songs on “Close to Home” have a pleasing live, there-in-the-room feel … performed by a skilled group and recorded well.
While I bask in the glow of “recorded well”, I need to add that Patrick Meagher did a great job on the mastering.
It took 28 months, but Evan’s hair finally got long enough to need some attention. There were some seriously long pieces on the back of his head that had no corresponding hair on the front.
Jacey asked for some recommendations on Facebook for a good place to get his first haircut. One of her friends suggested Dave’s in Grain Valley mentioning the pedal car that’s used for a kids chair. This was perfect. Dave’s is decorated with cars and guitars on nearly every surface.
My mom gave Evan this turtle shaped night light when he was born. The shell of the turtle has star and moon shapes cut out of it and there are LEDs inside that shine through the holes casting images of stars onto the ceiling and walls. It’s been a part of Evan’s night time ritual ever since he had a nightly routine.
The pictures and videos are all from my phone. The picture with the white border came out of the Hipstamatic app. The rest are using the standard camera app.
Lazy Saturday. Jacey was about 35 weeks pregnant. I couldn’t resist the light streaming in from the front window.
The first two pictures with heavy bokeh were taken with a Lensbaby. The third picture used a 50 mm Nikon f/1.8. The remaining were the kit lens that came with our Nikon D50, 28-80 mm f/3.5.
As if there weren’t enough going on, today I started a new batch of orange bitters.
I shared a couple of oranges with Evan and chopped up the peels. We had cod and couscous last night leaving half of a lemon that would give up its flesh. I dried the peels in the oven at 250* for a couple of hours.
After the peels were dried I added them to a mixture consisting of 1 tablespoon each of allspice, coriander, juniper berries, and cloves and filled a pint jar with Svedka vodka.
In a few weeks I’ll filter the infusion through coffee filter into dropper bottles and make some cocktails!
Lily and Evan have a new little brother!
Archer was born at 8:00 a.m. on March 3rd. Everything went as smooth as could be. Jacey and Archer were released from the hospital on March 6th.
Today is my last day at home. The time off to spend with my recently expanded family has been a great treat. I think that my being home has helped everyone adapt a bit. It’s definitely not going to be easy (especially on Jacey since she’ll be home with both boys) but I think we’re in a position that the kids are easily manageable.
I want to thank everyone for their notes of congratulations, phone calls, vists, etc. We really feel loved!
Saturday was a beautiful day. The cold broke and the mercury was poking into the 50s for the first time in over a month. I spent the morning giving my machine a thorough check. Oil: check. Collant: check. Tire pressure: check. Battery: charged. Chain: 40 mm of play. Head bearings: firm. Spokes: tight.
I started the motor and checked myself. Boots (new Sidi Sport Rain), overpants, armored jacket, helmet, armored gloves all firmly attached.
I was expecting a mild ride knowing that some places were wet from the snow melting and the sand and salt were still hanging out on the roads. I was being cautious. Curves were taken with care. Apexes were late so I could get the best view through the turn.
I found out that this was not enough.
Dollar Fox has a couple of interesting projects in the works. Without giving away any real details we have a small piece of vinyl in the works, then a digital only release, then a mid sized piece of vinyl.
Some pictures of the process can be seen at the Dollar Fox website.
I love recording like this! Some musicians in a room playing together.
I put as few microphones up as I could get away with and am really happy with the mixes so far. For those that notice, yes, that’s an SM57 on the acoustic guitar. Yes, it’s intentional.
