So what have I been up to? Lets see, been working a lot to pay off bills and save money for a wedding we’re going to this April. Been to Big Bear in the first time in roughly a decade. This was awesome because it was one of the first times my son has been to the ‘snow,’ at least that he’ll remember. Was a great hike and Ms. Genevieve (our boxer mix) enjoyed her first experience in snow.

Wait…I bet some of you are like “hey…what about your motorcycle?” Well the weather in SoCal has been really crummy lately so I (we) haven’t been able to go out much. Not to mention I need a new chain because the stock one is pretty worn. I did however receive my new 520 conversion from my beloved girlfriend this past week so hopefully I’ll be able to put that on ASAP so her and I can go on a decent ride when weather permits.

Lastly, today marks a great day in the life of a friend, she is at the hospital right now giving birth to her daugther. I’m extremely happy for her and hope everything goes well. As for me, I’m about to head out and hopefully have a nice relaxing saturday, maybe catch Alice in Wonderland in iMAX! =)

Keep on blogging!

The payment on it is ridiculous so I set out on a quest to find myself a potential replacement vehicle, should I be able to get rid of this wallet busting bill of a vehicle.

I do my research like usual. I’m definitely a Nissan guy. I owned a 1995 240sx (loved that car to death, wish I still had my S14), a 2006 Nissan Frontier LE Crew Cab (R.I.P…..the ex totalled it), and now the Hippo. SO I venture over to Nissan’s website and peruse their compact cars, namely the Sentra and the Versa. I definitely like the sentra. I proceed to look at my local dealers for a used 2007 or newer Sentra SE-R SpecV. I wanted the 6-speed and this had it as well as 200hp. =)

I find one in my price range. I then proceed to call my friend to ask him to tag along, he agrees, I go and pick him up and off to Pacific Nissan we go.

We arrive and surprisingly are NOT ambushed by an excessive amount of salesmen the second we set foot on the premises. We walk over to the used/preowned vehicle section. We find the vehicle we came to see and then get approached by the most passive car salesman I’ve ever met.

We introduce ourselves to the man whose name is Alex. My friend and I proceed to circle the car, looking inside through the windows expecting Alex to ask if we want to see the inside or open up the car…5 or so minutes transpire…nothing. So I proceed to ask “Can we look inside?’ Alex then reaches in his pocket with one hand and knocks on the driver window with the other….and magically the car unlocks. I then start to ask questions about the vehicle which Alex cannot answer. If there’s one thing I dislike its a cars salesman who doesn’t know anything about his product or a salesman who talks to you like you don’t know anything about the product. I know cars because I’m a car enthusiast and do research…I expect car salesmen to know their stuff too.

I walk over to the driver seat, my friend stays and proceeds to sit shotgun. When we both sit down we instantly take in a deep breath of air…and smell…smoke. The previous owner was a smoker. Instant turn off. Sure I’d eventually get ‘used’ to it, but why settle for something like that. “Man it smells like smoke” I exclaim. Alex then states how they would steam clean and detail the vehicle…which we all know wouldn’t get rid of the smell because smoke seeps through the cloth and settles there for good. Despite the gross smell of smoke, I decide to ask to test drive the car, especially considering I was already in teh driver seat and it was the only Spec V available at the time. I hand him my drivers license, he makes a copy and he pulls the car out. Now keep in mind I ride a motorcycle…its manual…but that doesn’t mean I drive a manual vehicle…in fact its been roughly 5+ years since I’ve driven a manual vehicle.

I turn to my friend and say “now look, its been ages since I’ve driven stick, so if I stall don’t say a darn thing.” We get in the car, my friend sits in the back and Alex rides shotgun. I repeat what I just said to my friend to Alex and he chuckles and says “me too, so don’t worry.” I turn the key, the engine roars and off we go.

Now it is about lunch time in Pacific Beach, which gets crazy busy. I proceed to remember how to drive stick and manage my way through traffic. First off, when I think of a test drive, I’m expecting to be able to drive on the open road so I can get a feel for the power, the handling and the comfort of the vehicle. Driving through lunch hour traffic is not exactly my ideal test drive. I put this behind me and begin to talk to my friend about all the awesome places to eat in PB as well as pointing them out. We get about 3 miles away from the dealer and I decide “Alright, it’s time to go back.” I immediately turn down a side street.

Heading down the side street proves to be a much funner drive then through stop go traffic. I actually was able to get into 4 out of the 6 gears before having to slow down. We soon reach Garnet and I have to make an unprotected left hand turn and merge onto the busy street. See my opening and bam I’m perfectly merged in gridlock traffic. So as we are sitting there in traffic, I proceed to tell Alex about the ‘hippo’ and how it’d be nice to get rid of. As I finish my sentence, keep in mind we are at a full stop in gridlock behind a white early 2000′s Mustang Gt, we get nailed from behind! I look at the rearview mirror and see the driver behind me with his hands to his head clearly mouthing the F-bomb. All I can do is say “Are you serious?” and let out a laugh. I throw on the hazards and pull over, the driver behind us pulls over as well.

The second he steps out of the car the first things out of his mouth is ‘OMG that was totally my fault! Are you guys ok?’ My friend and I smile and reply ‘Yeah’ while Alex, a little shaken up…slowly nods. My friend then turns to me and says “Well Rich…guess you ain’t getting this one…” Alex proceeds to call his boss to come over and inspect the damage. Meanwhile we are taking pics of the damage and I’m making a phone call to my g/f and so is my friend. We are both laughing uncontrollably about the situation. My g/f agrees that this was a sign that maybe that particular car was not for me. After waiting and talking for 10-15 minutes we discover the guy who hit us has no insurance, is unemployed, its his roommates car and he was on his way to a job interview. While all this transpires, we have the lunch hour traffic staring, smiling, commenting while we wait on the side of the road partially blocking traffic. One person shouts “Is that how you do it in Jersey???” the guy has NJ plates on the truck, another couple asks if everyone is ok or if we need a lift. Eventually a peace officer (aka COP) shows up and asks if we are all okay, checks our licenses and ‘suggests’ to us that if the vehicles are drivable that we take this off the busy street since we are causing a traffic problem.

We take the guys, roommates insurance to ensure the guy followed us and proceeded to drive back to the car dealership, considering it was less than mile away. We arrive, Alex goes to get his boss and we wait with Blaine (that’s his name). He tells us how he hopes its not going to cost much, but after inspecting it myself I inform him that its at least $1k because he damaged the bumper and trunk. His spirits dropped. My friend and I then decide, you know this is not our issue anymore…lets roll. We say bye to blaine and wish him good luck. Just about to the hippo when my conscience kicks in and I decide to tell Alex we are leaving.

Upon entering we meet Alex’s boss and he immediately hands me a ‘witness testimonial’ form to fill out. I say sure and proceed to fill out this form. Upon reading the form, it says draw a diagram, me being the smart-ass that I am as well as in the good mood I was in because of the hilarity of the situation, I proceed to draw a diagram as seen below (excuse my chicken scratch for handwriting), sign the form and leave. The manager makes a remark/joke “I’ll have a Spec V in a few days if you want to see one.” My friend and I laugh, grab some popcorn from the old-school popcorn cart and leave.

All in all, that was my test drive experience. Hope it brought a smile to your face as it did mine.

As fellow riders know, the right hand is your throttle hand. I didnt let this stop me from riding, but it wasn’t as fun as it usually is simply because I couldn’t snap the throttle back as quickly as I would have liked when I needed or wanted to. So I came to the conlsuion that possibly my motorcycle grips were transferring too much road and engine vibration to my hands thus causing some of the discomfort. I mean think about it, on a bike you are basically on a engine with wheels. No real engine mounts to absorb the vibrations like on a car.

Luckily this past fathers day my own father treated me to a gift card to my local bike shop. I went and spent it on oil change supplies and a new set of grips. They are ProGrip 717′s in black/gray and look like so. These aren’t mine because I was too lazy to take pics.

Well install was easy, after a little air compressor trick I learned. Went for a ride the next day and as expected there was still some vibrations, but not nearly as bad as it was before with the factory grips.

Overall I’m happy with my new grips, they weren’t an arm and a leg and they look cool. Which we all know ‘cool looking’ parts adds 10hp to any vehicle.

Probably the most common ride I do, whether it be me and a riding buddy or just me and my g/f, but I like going out and riding down the old highway 94 here in San Diego. Its a relatively easy ride, lots of trees and grassy hills and most importantly…lots of nice curves =). I usually get out there once a month just to ride and have lunch at the old Barret Junction Cafe. They have the best fried cod fish fry that I know of, not to mention their hushpuppies are to die for.

Hope some fellow San Diegans can make it out with us the next time we go! Ride safe everyone!

(Can you find my bike? It’s hiding behind all the choppers hehe)

I mean this just goes to show how big of a phenomenon the Star Wars franchise is. From their Legos, to the movies. I love their Legos and so does my son lol. Still havent finished building all the ones he has yet, but he builds them himself…and he’s just turned 6 and he builds the ones for 10+, which makes me real happy =).  Must have a good teacher. *wink wink*

I mean what isn’t cool about a Lego Darth Vader?

May the force be with you!

Why did I get a bike you may be asking yourself? Well at the time I was commuting roughly 30 miles to work 5 days a week in my 2006 Nissan Frontier which got a whopping 16city and 20hwy. This was also around the time gas was $4 or more. Basically I was spending a retarded amount of money on gas.  Not to mention my co-worker’s kept telling me how cool and fun it was to ride, they rocked a Honda CBR1000rr and a Suzuki GSX-r1000.

So after doing a little math and whatnot…I deducted that purchasing a motorcycle would offset the cost of gas in my truck. So basically I could continue to drive my truck and spend a ton on gas every month, or I could buy a bike and the money I’d save on gas would offset the cost of the bike. Thus began the search for my bike. Took a bit, but I found it. I brought home my 2003 Honda Cbr600rr after hours of negotiating a price. Got it for a steal.

Funny thing was, I got it before I even had my damn motorcycle license lol. Learned to ride a week later when I took the MSF riders class which I totally recommend to anyone who hasn’t ridden a motorcycle before. Very easy class and simple way to get lower insurance premiums and your license since it bypasses the DMV ridden portion of the test, which is a bitch on a sport bike.

All in all its been 3 years and I absolutely LOVE riding. Its so relaxing, fun and just takes the stress off your day to day life. I have yet to do a trackday, but I want to. Love taking my g/f on it too. Another reason I love about her riding with me is she looks hot in her gear. Also soon she’ll be riding as well, it was one of her resolutions this year to learn. She basically got the motorcycle bug from me hehe.

Basically if you want something fun to ride/drive I totally suggest getting a motorcycle, just remember to ride safe, gear up properly and don’t be an idiot and cause trouble for the rest of us motorcyclists many drivers dislike us enough to begin with. I swear I have to avoid getting sideswiped at least once a day on these crazy freeways of ours because people don’t pay attention when they drive.

Last night my g/f and I attended her co-workers birthday party at a local Sushi bar, PB Sushi. When you are in San Diego, you can literally throw a rock at the next sushi bar there are so many in certain parts of town, namely Pacific Beach or Clairemont. Anyhow back on track. So we go and its $1.00 Sake Bomb Monday. I have heard of this drink, but have yet to try it.  We order a round and I have no idea what to expect or think. So far up to this point in my time on this earth my alcohol experiences have included a margarita, vodka tonic (mmm), washington apple, rum & coke, a few select beers and some random shots. I have had sake before, warm and cold, and enjoy it more than I do enjoy any other alcoholic beverage I have ventured to try up to this point in my life.  Still haven’t acquired a taste as to what I truly like besides sake and a vodka tonic or anything that resembles anything citrus, but I’m sure time will tell and point me in the right direction.

The Sake bombs finally arrive. To those non-drinkers like yours truly a sake bomb is a two part drink (Sake Bomb) consisting of 1 glass of beer and 1 shot of warm sake. They arrive, and I have no clue wtf is going on. The bday girl looks at me and goes ‘never had a sake bomb? whoa…’ I shake my head like usual when asked the infamous ‘never had a ___?’ question. We grab both beverages, cheers to her bday and proceed to drink. I watch and notice that I’m supposed to drop the sake in the beer, do so, and down the drink.

All I can say….is DAMN. It went down so easy and tasted fanfreakingtastic. Basically now I know of a drink that I actually can be like ‘I’ll take one of those’ and know I’ll enjoy it. I guess this is just one of the many favored drinks to come in my life. Thank you PB Sushi for a fantastic monday night!

It was the smallest phone available at the time AND had caller ID! However, the caller ID was worthless because you had to open the phone to see the number….which meant you answered the call. Maybe there was a setting to not auto-answer…but I did not know how to change, so maybe I was the worthless one LOL.

Anyhow, since then I have had roughly 4 phones (Nokia 8890, Samsung flip, Sony w550 and Sony W580.) They have all done me well and I do not regret having any of them. Now thanks to my darling g/f I have upgraded to one of the most techno-savvy phones out on the market, the iPhone! This is the 1st phone that I have owned that required me to get a data plan, since I never used the internet on my previous non-smart phones. However it is mandatory for the iPhone, but now I surf the internet, Blog it up, rock out to Pandora, LMAO at youtube, gchat with friends and email like crazy because it is all at my fingertips.

So it came to me just how dependent or attached to my phone I was when my 3g network was down the other day. I mean I couldn’t check emails, check the weather, read online comics, blogs….nothing. Luckily I could still call the people I wanted to talk to, but I swear I was naked w/o it and it was like I was cut off from the world of data. I was totally going through withdrawals, checking to see if my little ’3g’ icon had popped up literally ever 5 minutes. Just imagine how naked you feel when you forget your phone  completely.

Which brings me to my final point, it totally brings into perspective why my parents always wanted me to call them whenever I got home or to my friends house or wherever the destination was…it was because I didn’t have this life-line or technological leash if you will, buried in my pocket or attached to my hip. Not knowing where your children or friend or family member or significant others was on a completely different level 10+ years ago. Now its just a matter of texting,  facebooking, myspacing, emailing or calling to get the 411 or location of that loved one.  Scary how attached we are, how necessary this small piece of technology is, and how much cell phones have affected our day to day lives as a society. Who knows what the technological future brings…flying cars? killer robots? Only time will tell.