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I spend a retarded amount of money on motorcycle stuff. It’s ridiculous. Helmets, performance upgrades, exhaust, tires, etc. It gets silly. Some of the vendors I’ve used in the past have been good, others not so much.

Let me tell you about one, though, who really REALLY rocks: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/

I bought, among other things, brackets, grips and my FAVORITE HELMET EVER from them. Why? Well, I started for one reason: Price. They have been the cheapest online seller for most of the things we buy for bikes. And by no small margin.
Now, add to that the fact that they include free shipping on orders over $75. All of a sudden they’re easily $10 cheaper than their competition.

Now, here’s the kicker: they ship FAST!!! The helmet in the link above was ordered on a Saturday afternoon. Most places would wait to get it out the door until start of business Monday. Not http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com. They emailed me Sunday that it was ready to go. By Tuesday I was wearing my new helmet.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/ kicks ass, no doubt about it. I can’t wait to hand them some more of my money. Now only if I could get the War Department to be equally excited.

In recent news, President Obama took control of the auto industry situation.
In a nutshell, Chrysler gets additional funds for 30 days, long enough to complete a merger with Fiat. GM gets funds for 60 days, long enough to reorganize.

But I have a better solution. One that, in fact, fits the President’s stated agenda.

With that, I give you TESLA MOTORS. These guys are the real deal. They’re an American company producing all electric cars. Their ROADSTER is bad to the bone. I’m talking sub-4 second 0-60 time.

And in 2011, they are releasing the MODEL S, a sedan that will go up to 300 miles on a single charge, seats 7, and, it will charge in 45 minutes. Spectacular.

My proposal, then, is for the federal government to subsidize Tesla Motors. Aid their production & research and development, and made the Model S a $30,000 car. I’ll buy one tomorrow.

To me, this is really exciting.

My kid is pretty hardcore, especially for a 6-year-old GIRL.

Here’s a little context:
At her school, there are 4 driving lanes for drop-off. The center 2 are for driving only…no stopping. The one closest to the school is supposed to be for little kids (kindergarten, 1st grade). The one farthest from the building is for the older kids. (See map)

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That brings me to days like today. When it rains, parents get all soft. They ALL drop off their kids in the little kid lane, regardless of whether they are 1st graders or 6th graders. It’s pathetic. Their darling little idiot kids can’t walk the extra 30 feet?!? Pathetic weaklings, these parents.

Not us. Not me and my kindergartner. When these parents act like that, my girl gets out in the big kid lane. Oh that’s right. Funny thing, she feels like it gives her cred. On days where weather permits, we ride the motorcycle. She is DEFINITELY the only kindergartner who rides a motorcycle to school. And now, she’s doing what the big kids are supposed to do.

Parents today make me sick. We are raising a bunch of weaklings.

Have you ever said to yourself, “there’s never a cop around when you need one”? I say it a lot.

A little background: I hate bad drivers. I mean HATE. I understand that sometimes people make mistakes, and I hope to take that into consideration. But some people drive like idiots all the time, and you can usually tell who they are.

That brings us to last Sunday. I spent the weekend with the family with the in-laws. That means a 3-hour drive home from Oklahoma Sunday.

I use my cruise control when driving, pretty much all the time. Saves gas. In Texas, the state police usually give you a 5 MPH cushion above the posted speed limit. I don’t abuse it, but I typically keep it about 4 MPH over.

Sunday we’re driving home, and I’m in the left lane preparing to pass a semi. Then this doucher Baylor alum in a Lexus comes flying up on my right. There is barely enough room for a car to fit between me and the truck in front of me. Guess who whips his car over to test it? That’s right, Mr. Baylor Lexus. Now the safe following distance I had established was gone.

Once we all move past the truck, the doucher in the Lexus goes whipping from right to left lane & back to fly past all of us. Just an unsafe jerk, period.

About 3 minutes later, a state trooper driving on the frontage road whips around, cuts over the shoulder and lights it up on the interstate. I lose sight of him for a while, because he went FLYING up the highway to get someone.

Guess who that someone was? That’s right, Mr. Baylor Lexus himself. That gave me a good little feeling.

Sometimes the Universe aligns and good things happen to good people.

Yeesh, it’s been a loooooong time since I’ve been here.

First, about things here: I went through a major cleanup on here to make the content more work appropriate. This is both for personal professional reasons AND for friends of mine who were hesitant to come here from work (or those who can’t because of filter issues). Anyway, AFAIK, we’re all work friendly now.

Second, PRK. I gave an update some time ago. It’s been more than 6 months now, so the verdict is in:
PRK is awesome. It was worth every minute, and every penny. Over the last few months, my vision improved gradually. There was a minor problem regarding intra-ocular pressure due to the steroid drops I was taking, but they switched me to a different kind (which made me look like a heroin addict) and all was well. After they let me stop those drops, my vision improved fully to 20/15 in each eye.

This is incredible. The world is my oyster regarding eyewear. Sunglasses are great. What’s even better, though, is being able to mount the motorcycle and take off wearing just a helmet. Very liberating to say the least.

If you’re considering PRK or LASIK, do it. The worst part was the not knowing. I was worried about so many things before hand that were just silly. Having done it, I’d do it again 100 out of 100 times.

Look for a review of my ride to the Texas Hill Country coming soon.

http://www.motorcycle-journal.com/forum/marauder-m50-secret-hideaway/32124-m50-fiberglass-rebaffle-low-merged.html

LESS THAN A YEAR!!!

OK, some people know, others don’t. Last Thursday, I had laser eye correction surgery. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while, but haven’t put back the money, and I don’t want to finance it. Well, I put back the money so I moved forward.

First step was the exam. For background, I have been told multiple times that with my needed correction and “eye issues” (astigmatism & myopia) that I was an ideal candidate. For the most part, it was true. Except one minor snag: epithelial membrane disorder. The epithelium is your eye skin. 70% or more of people have a normal one. Mine was “loose”. That means that with traditional IntraLasik, the flap may not heal well and cause problems in the future. Still no biggie. I just need PRK. Same lasers are used. However the recovery time is longer - more like 4-5 days as opposed to 1-2 for Lasik. I say go for it.

So I go in Thursday and get to it. A little Valium for nerves and a few dozen different eye drops for numbing…ready to roll! They call me under the laser & I focus on the little green light. They tell me “an instrument” will briefly obstruct my view, but keep focused where I was.
The “instrument” can most closely be compared to an electric tooth brush. They use that to remove the epithelium. Sounds freaky. Well, it was a little, but I was high so it didn’t matter. Did that to both eyes and it was on the the laser portion of the surgery.

For me, the laser was the all new ALLEGRETTO laser. It was reported to be really fast, really accurate, and good for things like limiting halos and whatnot.
Right eye: Less than 12 seconds of actual laser work!
Left eye: Less than 15 seconds of actual laser work!
Heck yes it was fast. I could sort of smell the burning, but it was mild. Otherwise the procedure really was a piece of cake.

Recovery
Thursday I took sleeping pills as to just sleep all day, as that’s the best way to heal.
Friday was my first follow-up visit. Oddly, I was seeing 20/20 already. This is really rare for PRK, as peak vision isn’t attained for a minimum of 8 weeks. Still, they were pleased as was I. Light sensitivity was the worst part.
To keep the discomfort to a minimum (not pain mind you, just discomfort), I was taking Vicodin. Good stuff.
Saturday was the most uncomfortable. It was sort of hard to rest, and I couldn’t see as well. Light sensitivity was REALLY bad.
Sunday was better, but I really just wanted to sleep as much as I could.
Monday was followup visit #2. Vision had diminished to about 20/60 in the right eye, 20/40 in the left. They sort of expected that. Also at this visit they removed the protective contact lenses. That really helped with the light sensitivity thing.

I stayed home until Thursday (yesterday) with a sick kid. The first day back to work, my eyes were exhausted and somewhat dry. Pretty much everything was a little blurry. Just keep using those eye drops and it does improve.

So today. Well, things are really looking up. I’d say it’s about 20/20 again in the left. The right, about 20/40.

Overall, it was well, well worth it. Dr. Gary Tylock did my procedure. He was a real professional. Discussed the surgery with me ahead of time. He had it done to him. He addressed any questions or concerns too. His staff was great also, from start to finish.
I didn’t know what to expect. Now I do, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I wish Lasik had been an option simply from a recovery standpoint, but it wasn’t. Still, after about 25 years in glasses/contacts, it’s really cool to not need them anymore.

Well, I’ve made a few changes. I’ll spare the details, but feel free to look around. Even from work.