It's Sort of Like I Just Got Kicked In the Face

So many things to be happy about today! For starters, I got to ride my motorcycle. Also, I finally learned to ollie the Tech Deck I got for, er, my son. But the best news, of course, was that Cafe of India finally opened again today. It closed down a couple of years ago, reminding me of Barry Sanders' decision to retire at the top of his game. Finally word started to spread that they would be reopening in a building that's a short drive from our house. The DM and I have been looking forward to this day for months.

We got there at 5:30, and though we were seated early, we were pretty frustrated when our drink order hadn't even been taken nearly an hour later. Our kids did the best they could, but asking a 6-year-old and 3-year-old to sit still in a restaurant where others are eating without having so much as a piece of bread? For an hour? Well, that's just asking too much. The trip ended in two children crying and all of us leaving. The kids had their hearts set on pakoras -- or, as they say, Indian hushpuppies -- so I did the best I could to come through by taking them through the Long John Silvers drive-through. I was starving at this point, so, against my better judgment, I ordered LJS too. Yes, I went from eating my favorite food in the world to eating cold, deep-fried, low-grade dog food. The kids thought it ruled, though.

Kicked in the face, I tell you.

Friday Music

It's Friday. I need music.

I'm going to L.A. on Saturday for a few nights (mainly to attend this), so I'll start my day with Zep's "Goin' to California."

Who's got next? As always, links are really appreciated, and I'll respond to every suggestion.

Last Year's Model

We start this post off with a little soundtrack music from the king, Mr. Elvis Costello. Raoul Duke, feel free to abstain from the audio portion of this entry.



Nobody would ever accuse me of being model material. While it's true that I have incredibly normal ears that could potentially show up in an ear ad of some kind, you wouldn't think I'd end up on the other end of a camera for professional purposes. But a couple of years ago on the Andy Warhol Bridge in Pittsburgh, that's exactly what happened.

I've mentioned before that I make motorcycle magazines for a living, and a while back I got a call from esteemed photographer Fran Kuhn. Fran is just a peach of a guy, and I've known him for ten or eleven years. (Here's a bitchin' photo of his from back in the day of Scott Burnworth.) He doesn't do much race stuff these days, probably because he's so good that he stays busy with commercial work. I mean, he is really, really good.

Speaking of commercial work, he called me back then because he had a photo shoot for a Honda brochure planned in Pittsburgh a couple of days later and one of his riders had to bail at the last second. He needed someone who was tall (I'm 6'!) and thin (175!) who could ride a motorcycle. I don't remember what the pay was, but it was good for a day's worth of work, and Fran needed someone, so I told him I'd be happy to fill in.

It ended up being pretty cool. I went up that Saturday and found that they had closed the Andy Warhol Bridge down for this shoot. We were doing the cover shoot for the 2005 Honda VTX1800 brochure. These are the brochures that dealers display in their dealerships, just like car dealers do with every model they sell.

Here's a photo of me (up front) and the other dude, with the rigs we were on:


The bridge is sloped, so we'd just ride up to piece of duct tape on the road, turn the bike off, and when Fran said go, we'd start drifting backward. (A mechanic had disconnected the brake light so it wouldn't light up as I controlled my speed with my front brake.) My job was to keep the wheel on the side-rig on the yellow line as we drifted back. The other dude, who's used to riding backward on a motorcycle, would make sure he was going about the same speed as I was. Fran was off to the side with a remote shutter button snapping photos like crazy until we made it to the point where he'd tell us to stop, ride up to the duct tape, and do it all again. (The point in going backward was to create a motion blur in the background.)

We did this all day and Fran took hundreds of photos. We stuck around just until dusk, when the lights on the bridge and in some of the buildings kicked on, and Fran took some final shots. My one and only day as a model was finished.

A month or two later, I got an e-mail from Fran with the final version of the photo, which is actually a Photoshop composition of multiple images.


The rigs were Photoshopped out, the road was perfected, and the whole thing looks like it was done at dusk. I think the photo turned out great, and I had fun doing it to boot. Too bad I never actually got to ride that Honda.

Oh, and I changed the template of RtN. If anyone has any problems with it, let me know.

Random Thoughs Thursday

-We live a short drive from the Zendik farm, right here in good ol' West By God Virginia. There's something to be said for giving up the trappings of modern life and living off the land with friends, I suppose, but if it's still like it was when Arthur Bradford checked it out 13 years ago, then at a Texas location, I think I'll pass, thankyouverymuch.

-To this day, the scariest, most intense thing I've ever done is hang gliding off the cliffs of La Jolla, California, with Steve Stackable. I almost shat.

-Three of my friends got medals in this year's X Games. Ronnie Renner got a gold in Moto X Step-Up, Ken Block got a silver in Rally, and David Pingree, who I also work with, got a bronze in Supermoto. And my good buddy Ryan Clark raced well in Moto X and almost made the main, sorta. Well done, gentlemen.

-I would pay $2 to hear Steady B's "Yo Mutha" right now.

-If you haven't seen Barry Gordy's Last Dragon, I highly suggest it. Here's one reason why:

Random Thoughts Thursday

-Carnivale was the best show ever on television, and the fact that HBO dropped it mid-story after only two seasons is practically criminal. If the story goes unfinished, with all of the other mediums out there (movies/graphic novels/comic books, etc.), that really is criminal.

-Three to five birds fly into my office window on a daily basis. None have ever been hurt to my knowledge. What a surprise that must be to a bird, though. I know it's been quite shocking to me when I've walked into patio doors.

-I've listened to very little Social Distortion in my life, and I feel it's something I need to remedy soon.

-When I ride my motorcycle, I compulsively press my blinker-off button to make sure I'm not riding down the road with a bogus blinker. I sometimes do this ten times in a minute. This way, that bastard is off. Amazingly, I still manage to leave it on occasionally.

-I had a moment of clarity two nights ago while playing guitar. For about five minutes, while all alone in my dining room, I felt I played and sang the best I have in years, and I had an incredible feeling of emotion that lasted for the duration of that time. Then it came to an immediate halt and I put my guitar down and went to bed. I picked it up again last night and I was shit.

-This is pretty crazy:



-Here's a great Bright Eyes song for all the lovers and haters out there:

powered by ODEO

-For some reason, most of the blogs I like to read are defunct or at least in a serious holding pattern. I guess Winters always pass. Melissavina, what am I supposed to watch on Wednesdays? Finding new blogs to read is hard. Maybe I should start the Harry Potter series. But can it really be that good?

-If I had unlimited means, I'd have a barber shave my face three times a week. It will surprise no one who knows me that shaving is one of my least favorite things in the world. But so is long facial hair. I hate that even more than shaving. See my predicament?

All random thoughts are most welcomed. It feels sort of good to get them out, I'm finding.

Russia Who?

There's nothing like new love to help a person get over a broken heart. In my case, my new mistress is The Netherlands, and I'm going to her on Wednesday. Goodbye Russia, hello Assen MotoGP!

To Russia with Love

In a week I'll be packing my bags for Russia for my Tuesday departure. I'm extremely excited about it. I haven't been out of the USA in a couple of years, I think, and I'm more than ready.

Some random musings about my trip:

The reason I'm going to Russia is to check out the Red Bull X-Fighters freestyle motocross show. The best FMXers in the world will be there, including Travis Pastrana and my buddy Ronnie Renner, jumping in front of the Vasilyevsky Spusk. If all goes according to plan, I'm going to blog from there throughout my trip, though it'll be on our official Racer X travel blog.

One thing I've been struggling with is what to read while abroad. I'm in the middle of a couple of books right now, but none of them are slaying me. I've been meaning to read Oliver Twist for years now, but since I'm going to Russia, I'm starting to lean toward Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I read the first few pages in a bookstore last month and was captured immediately, and it seems like an appropriate read given the circumstances. I really won't have much time to read anyway, but I always have to have a book while traveling.

I have a direct flight from Atlanta to Moscow that lasts 11 hours. When I land it'll be 10:30 AM, and it's imperative that I sleep on the flight, which I always have trouble doing. I plan on seeing my doctor tomorrow to see what he can give me to help facilitate this.

I'm learning basic Russian phrases as well as I can, but it's a tough language if you have no experience. This site helps a lot. I'd like to at least be able to be polite in Russian.

I will drink vodka while there.

I just saw a piece on CNN that lists Moscow as the most expensive city in the world. New York City is #15, I believe, and L.A. is in the 40s. But Moscow is #1.

Still, I'll drink vodka while there.

The Motorcycle Wave

As anyone who rides street motorcycles knows, there's a camaraderie between riders that is most visibly expressed through the "motorcycle wave," which good ol' helmetless St. Nick is demonstrating for us in this illustration. It's usually sort of low, off to the side, with a couple of fingers out, and non-riders can think of it as a sort of Fonzie-"heeeyyyy!" for the two-wheel set. (If you drive a Beetle or some other distinctive car like that, you've got your own little thing you do when you pass the 'others.')

I like this tradition. It's a nice acknowledgment that, at that very moment, the other person on the bike is probably feeling similar to how I'm feeling. We're sort of sharing an experience, and it's cool throw out a little I understand.

But not every rider does it. Sometimes you'll throw out the motorcycle wave and it isn't reciprocated. Why? Maybe the dude on the Harley thinks he's too cool for a Triumph. Maybe the squid on a Gixxer with the t-shirt and shorts thinks he's too fast for a Triumph. Maybe the dude on the custom chopper thinks he's too unique for a Triumph. Or maybe he just didn't see me?

For a long time I'd feel a little silly when I'd wave and the other person wouldn't wave back, so I started trying to predict. If it looked like the wave wasn't going to happen, screw it, I wasn't waving either. There were probably occasions where I saved a wave that would have been unrecognized, but there were also occasions when I noticed at the last minute that the other guy did throw out his hand, and all of the sudden I was the guy who didn't wave back.

I don't like that, so last week I made the decision that I'm going to wave every time, no matter what. Since then, I've yet to have one unreciprocated. I don't know if this is some form of karma, but I'm feeling pretty good about it so far.

My Favorite Things

This post is inspired by two people, Rob Zero and Winters.

Both of these guys have recently posted in the 'my favorite things' category, and that got me to thinking of my own favorite things. I can't come up with five things, like Rob did, but I do have three. (My iPod doesn't count because it's merely a vessel for music, which I don't actually own but am privileged to use.) In order, they are:

1. My motorcycle.
This one is almost too easy. I love it, plain and simple. It makes my life better.

2. My heated mattress pad.
I live in a place that gets really cold in the winter, and -- Oh. My. God. -- do I love this thing. Seriously, every night, as I climb into my bed/womb, I realize that it's the best moment of the day and I rejoice. I wish I could express in words the love I have for my heated mattress pad.

3. My mosque alarm clock.
A friend of mine who is in Iraq sent me one of these, and it sits proudly on my desk. The alarm is unrivaled. Wanna hear? Check it out. And it's got, like, three more tracks than that. It's brilliant.

Just let me have these three things. You can keep the rest of it.

The Battle Of Good And Evil Rages On Outside My Office Window

See that? It's my office window, and on the other side of it is my motorcycle. It has a heart (and gas tank) of gold. It's good, and it loves me.

Now look in the background, off to the left, up on the hill. See that building? It's a Wal-Mart. And not just any Wal-Mart, but a Super Wal-Mart. A year ago it was just a wooded hillside, but now that building sits there, hulking, menacing, evil, like the devil's castle.

Most days, the evil wins. It seeps into my window and chokes me, flicking my ear lobes, sticking its fingers through my trachea and punching my eye balls. But not today. Today I have protection.

When the sun comes out, like Samson with his hair, my motorcycle gets stronger. It's small compared to that Goliath, but on this day, it's strong enough. The evil was cast back, reflected like Medusa's image, and I am safe and sound.

My bike Triumphed. And I love it too.

TGIM

It's a beautiful morning and the first day of 2007 that I've ridden my Triumph. My coffee was excellent. Tonight's the Joseph Arthur show in Pittsburgh, which I wouldn't miss for the world. Sure, I'm on a tight deadline, but this is still a great way to start off a week.

Happy Monday, everybody.

What's in a Name?

I don't let work bleed over to this blog very often, but I've been meaning to share with you guys the most recent Japanese pro racer to try his hand at the American series: Yoshi Fukudome.

Wow, right? That's one heck of a last name. It's probably like Smith or Jones over there, but here it takes on a whole new meaning.

Another name that always amazes me belongs to the lead singer of local band Sandra Black. He's a real cool dude and I really like the band, but I have to wonder how things went for Billy Zweiner (pronounced 'Zweener') in high school. Or grade school, for that matter. In fact, when I learned what his last name was years ago, I assumed it was a funny stage name and brought it up with him the next time I saw him.

Me: "Dude, what's your real last name?"

Billy: "Zweiner. Why?"

Me: "Oh, nothing. Damn, is it really this late? Gotta go!"

It's an awesome rock 'n' roll name, but like I said, it must have been murder as a kid. If it were my last name and I had a boy, I'd name him Niles. The 's' creates a necessary pause that just might get the kid out of some trouble.

If my last name were Fukudome, I wouldn't even give my kid a first name. What's the point?

My Bonnie

Two days ago we were hit by the biggest snowstorm of the year, but today we reached 60 and I could smell spring in the air. Spring means lots of good things, from warmer weather to more sunlight to blossoming trees and so much more, but for me, the best thing of all is getting back on my motorcycle. I have an '04 Triumph Bonneville T100, just like the one pictured but a few years older. Clearly it's got a vintage look to it; it doesn't look much different than the ones Steve McQueen used to ride so passionately. Before I take it out, though, I need to get it up to Wexford, PA, to have the dealer give it the once over, because I don't know the first thing about keeping my bike running smoothly and safely. It just so happens that my boss has a Ducati 749S that needs a little love, too, and there's a Ducati dealership in Wexford as well. It might even be the same place -- I'm not sure. So we're going to take our bikes up at the same time in the back of his new Toyota truck, which is supposed to arrive in a week or so. What a sight that's going to be -- a vintage looking Brit bike, bare bones as a new bike gets, and an Italian work of art and speed that's worth nearly three of my bikes and goes nearly twice as fast.

Bossman likes his Duck, and I think it's pretty cool too, but as far as I'm concerned, my Bonnie is the best bike in the world. And when I fire it up and feel the fresh West Virginia air flowing up my sleeves, and across my face, that's when Spring will really be here for me. I'm not sure how much longer I can wait.