My dad bought a boat.  I was a part of the maiden voyage… the boat that has been named “Pete’s Passion” after my grandfather who meant so much to me and my father.  I wish he were alive to influence me in ways that he influenced my father (my dad’s father in law/mother’s father.)  He was an amazing man.

My dad and I approached the launching point.  We were both nervous… I’ve never launched a boat before from a boat ramp.  My dad’s previous boat was always sitting on a simple lift in lake Ponderosa, right next to grandpa’s deck boat (properly known as a pontoon boat back in the day.)  We were clueless.  We had to rely on the manual and the small amount of instruction that my dad received from the boat dealership. 

We approached the boat ramp, not knowing what to think.  My dad (with his tractor trailer piloting skills) had no problem backing Pete’s Passion in to the waters of Saylorville lake.  I unhooked Pete’s Passion from the trailer, pushed off, and the boat was in the water.

I drove the Axiom, trailer and all, up to a parking stall in the Lakeside Recreational area of Saylorville Lake.  I ran down to the dock, and my dad piloted Pete’s Passion up to the dock area so I could board.  Our first journey on Pete’s Passion begins.

We started out slow… we had strict break-in instructions for the new engine powering our fine fishing boat.  We did exactly as the manual states: trolling around the lake at around five mph.  It didn’t matter what speed we were at.  We were having a blast… with my grandpa Pete guiding us all the way.

We spent six hours on the lake on Sunday… cruising around in Pete’s Passion.  It’s a fine vessel.  We didn’t find a wave or a wake that it couldn’t handle, and after the proper break-in, Pete’s Passion sped up to 35 mph with minimal effort.  Can you say water skis?  Tubing?

I drove Pete’s Passion.  I had a blast.  We were cruising all around the lake, with no particular destination.  The sun was beating down on us all day long… my feet were bare, my legs stretched out resting comfortably on the carpeted interior.  My right hand pushed on the throttle lever, and my left hand steered us in no particular direction.

At certain points during our maiden voyage, we had to test our our new fishing poles.  We tried out two of our new rods.  Although we didn’t have much fishing luck on our maiden voyage, that wasn’t the point.  We didn’t care.  We had a blast, and we figured out how to use the live well and the fine trolling motor.

Launching the boat and loading the boat wasn’t a problem.  This was a point of worry at the beginning of our trip… a situation of uncertainty.  I’ve never launched a boat from a ramp before, neither had my dad.  We had no problem, and after Sunday, we can easily call ourselves experts… especially with my father’s experience and my apparently natural boat maneuvering experience.  I drove it up on to the trailer with no problem.  We were a great team.

I can see Pete’s Passion being a large part of my life in the years to come.  I’m proud of my father for taking this step, I’m proud of my grandpa for inspiring him, and I’m proud of our renewed hobby.  Fish or no fish, we’ll always have a good time on this boat.

There’s nothing like firing up the engine, bumping the throttle, and accelerating quickly up to speed with the wind massaging you, the road below your feet, and the sights, sounds, and smells freely accessible, not blocked by a cage with windows… seemingly defying physics as you lean low through the corners, and push the handlebars in the direction you want the bike to go.

This is my new toy:

I love it.  The main reason I love it?  It’s forcing me to do something incredibly fun and exciting that is outside of my comfort zone.  I’m pushing myself to my limits.  I’ve always been a safe person; avoiding those little risks in life in order to protect myself.  Everyone has these comfort zones.  However, unlike most, my comfort zone seems to be a padded cell, and it always has been.  This is how I was raised–how I was socialized in to this world.  I’ve recently learned that these habits, this socialization that occurs in the development of ’self,’ can be modified.  This is one of my first major attempts.  Five years ago, the idea of a motorcycle for myself was something that I would laugh at.

This is a huge step for me.  A step of liberation.  There’s no reward if there is no risk.  I’m starting to understand exactly what that means.  Finally.

So, I plan on posting here my experiences on how my learning curve progresses.  Every 100 miles or so, I will post the ups, the downs, the “what not to do’s,” and the “definitely do’s.”

So, to start with some background…

My interest in motorcycles has been increasing over the last year or so.  Back in April, a friend of mine purchased a brand new Harley Davidson Dyna FXDL.  It is beautiful.  I watched him take off on it and I was immediately interested.  In my typical obsessive compulsive nature, I immediately started researching, which I’m still doing to this day.  I ask questions.  I read countless online forum postings, online articles, magazines, you name it.  I started learning everything I could possibly learn about motorcycles: how they work, the different types, different uses, different engines, the list is endless.  I also inquired on how to actually start in to this “sport.”  Everyone, local friends, Internet friends, forum postings, online articles, magazines, and countless others highly recommended taking the “Basic Rider Course,” taught at various locations around the state, supported by the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation.)

At this point, after all the research I had done, I was even more interested.  I immediately called our local community college which offers the Basic Rider Course.  I called in early May, and I was able to get in to a weekend class that started June 20th.

While waiting patiently for the course date to approach, I started searching everywhere looking for decent used bikes.  Unfortunately, being the prime season and all, I was unable to find a decent used bike.  I didn’t give up early either; this search went on for a couple of months.  I did go and see several bikes, all of which were overpriced for the work that they needed.  However, after all the countless hours of reading and research, I did figure out what I wanted for a starter bike; some form of Honda Shadow 750, preferably one of the shaft driven models.

The day finally came when it was time for me to take the basic rider course.  I was initially dreading it, both due to nerves and the fact that it was taking up an entire weekend; however this was the best option if I wanted to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.  The duration of the classes offered at other times was upwards of two weeks, and I wanted to finish it up all at once, to smother myself with as much motorcycle information as I possibly could in a short amount of time.  This is just how I work.

The class began on a Friday evening.  It started at 5pm, and went until 9pm.  This was all classroom material involving how to safely ride a motorcycle.  There was a lot of good information, a lot of useful acronyms (SEE, T-CLOCS, etc.)  We took a quiz on this material towards the end of the evening.  I missed two, out of fifty.

The next morning was range day #1.  We arrived at 7:30am, found a helmet that fits, put on our gloves, and scanned the bikes that were all lined up, looking for that perfect little beat up 250 that we would call our own for the next two days.  I sat down on a Suzuki GZ250.

The first couple of exercises were quite basic, and they eventually became more and more advanced, with the new exercises building from knowledge and experience gained in the previous exercises.  I was having a blast the entire time, it was a lot of fun, and by the end of the day I was determined that I must have a motorcycle.  This initial experience extinguished any small doubts in the back of my mind.  We ended the day at 3:30pm, and by that time we had ran through most of the exercises.

Sunday morning arrived.  We finished up one or two more exercises, then went in to the test review session.  We did this for about 30 minutes, practicing three of the four exercises that we’re evaluated on.  I was very comfortable with most of the exercises except one, the dreaded figure-8 in a box.

So, when everything was done, I had missed 8 points.  You have to miss 21 to fail.  I don’t consider this to be very bad at all, considering I’d never even sat on a motorcycle before the class.  I went outside of the lines for a brief second in the figure-8, and I was a little bit too slow in the test involving a curve and judging/finding the correct entry speed.

So, I proudly cradled my completion certificate out of the class room, shook the instructors hand, and was on my way… now, to just pass that D.O.T. test and get that “M” on my license!

Stupid D.O.T.  Why wouldn’t you be open on Monday?  The day after I complete my course?  Argh.

Tuesday, I walk in to the D.O.T. around 11am.  It was swamped, but I got right in, passed my test, and got my endorsement!  I only missed one question.

So, throughout this entire time period I was still unable to find a decent used bike.  I needed one now.  I certainly didn’t want a new bike for my first bike, but convinced myself that I had no other choices at that time, and I was very frustrated by my poor search results over the last two months.  So, after work on Tuesday, I went straight over to Garvis Honda here in the Des Moines Area and purchased my first bike, a new 2008 Honda Shadow Spirit VT750C2F (pictured above!)  So far, I love it.

Now, on to my 100 mile report!

The first time I rode the bike was on a Sunday afternoon.  I didn’t go very far, I actually just rode it through the neighborhood over to my parents’ house to show them.  My dad loved it, as I knew he would.  Anyway, the ride went well, but there wasn’t really much to it… hell, there’s barely any turns!

That Tuesday, I made my first long trip — to work.  28 miles round trip.  This turned out to be a little bit of a mistake.  I’m not yet very comfortable with the bike or with riding in general for that matter.  I haven’t figured out it’s lean tolerances yet, and I had a lot of problems with turning in general.  Although it is only a 750, it’s still a massive beast compared to the little 250 that I learned on.  I did take side roads and county highways the entire time, which relaxed me a little bit, but I was still not feeling right while riding it.  I also forgot that I had an appointment to get a haircut that day over lunch, so I rode it up another 10 miles and back to work for that.  Still, not very comfortable, and this time it was in a bit more traffic.  Regardless, my first 38 miles on the bike did go very well, I didn’t have any major problems, but I still just didn’t feel right.

I immediately started making mental and written notes of everything that made me uncomfortable in my first long ride.  The main things were turns, specifically at lower speeds.  I didn’t have much of a problem with anything else, and this ”turning thing” is what made me the most uncomfortable, even turning from a dead stop.  I need to know what gear I should be in, I didn’t know the proper speed at which to take the various turns, and most importantly (I think), I didn’t know how to properly and comfortably lean this bike.  With this knowledge, I went back in to heavy research mode.  I read all my manuals again.  I watched youtube videos of professionals.  I crammed all of the information on proper turning in to my head… over the course of about a week.  I wanted to make sure that I had all the information I need to practice this properly.

So, we’ve now reached the present.  Before I arrived home from work yesterday, I scoped out the neighborhood looking for the perfect parking lot to practice in.  My 30 minute search turned up NOTHING.  That’s right, NOTHING.  I couldn’t believe it.  I picked out what I thought would be a perfect spot: an old abandoned truck stop right off the interstate with a huge, flat parking lot that was in surprisingly great shape.  Excited, I checked this place out first.  As I was approaching the lot, my eyes lit up, thinking about how perfect this place would be for practicing my maneuvers.  Then, I pull in, and there’s a nice big locked gate blocking my entrance.  Great.  I drove around the area looking for other candidates, and found nothing.  There isn’t a highschool nearby, just small elementary schools with tiny parking lots.  I wonder where the teachers park?  I’ll search again tomorrow, and scope out Google maps for other candidates.

Anyway, I wasn’t going to let my failed search stop me.  I went out on the bike last night for about an hour, riding around my neighborhood, which mostly consists of 25mph residential streets.  I practiced as many turns as I possibly could in low or no traffic situations.  I still botched quite a few of them at first, but I didn’t let that stop me.  My turns were successful when I made a conscious effort to keep my head up and FULLY (emphasis on FULLY) turned in the direction that I was going.  It was almost as if the bike effortlessly and naturally leaned when I did these two simple things.  I focused on my counterbalancing in the lower speed turns, and slowly became more and more comfortable leaning the bike lower and turning tighter as the hour progressed.  By the end of my ride, I was much more comfortable, and not nearly as nervous as I was before… but I still need a ton of practice with this.

There are some other experiences and lessons learned while in my first 100 miles.  I was officially sworn in by receiving my first biker hand wave (left hand low, palm out, a few fingers out).  Luckily, with all of my reading, I knew what this meant and gave the appropriate wave back in his direction.  Also, don’t expect that all riders will be as friendly as they are in the class, on the forums, etc.  After being tailgated very closely for a mile or two (I wasn’t sure if this was some sort of friendly gesture?), I was passed on a 25mph street (I was going 30mph) by a couple of impressive larger touring Harleys.  This initially surprised me.  These were old seasoned riders with no gear, cruising around the town.  We came to a stop at an intersection, he was in the center lane and I was in the right, turning right.  He had a buddy on a trike behind him.  I said hi, waved, and received no acknowledgement whatsoever.  I just took off.  I was denied.  Weird.  Whatever.  I’ll simply continue on my same path of approach as far as this is concerned; friendly, yet critical.

That’s all for now!  I’ll post my my 200 mile experiences very soon, I hope!

Riding my ass to the point of being able to see the detailed intricacies of the slightly corroded screws that hold on my license plate is NOT going to make the cars in front of me move any faster.  Think about it.

While we’re on the topic of music… I feel the need to mention another amazing female vocalist by the name of Floor Jansen.  Her primary band is “After Forever” … but her vocals are also extremely pronounced in Lucassen’s latest album.  I found a pretty awesome youtube video here, check it out!

I stayed up way later than I should have last night, especially considering the time change that just happened to occur this weekend. What was I doing? Listening to music. It all started around eleven P.M. I started browsing through all of the artists that Arjen Lucassen has worked with in the past. Then, I found a ton of bootleg, “I recorded this from the crowd” Youtube videos that I couldn’t pull myself away from, most of them incorporating quite a few of these artists. I probably watched 100 of them. In that process, I discovered two amazing bands, Stream of Passion, and Dial, featuring Marcela Bovio and Liselotte Hegt, respectively.

Stream of Passion, which is another Arjen Lucassen project, mesmerized me. The vocals of Marcela Bovio are absolutely piercingly beautiful. Visit Their Website for further information. Their “Live in the Real World” album kept me up until 4am.  If you’d like to hear a truly beautiful song consisting solely of piano and Marcela’s voice, listen to Nostalgia (video on Youtube here.)  This song, written/performed in Spanish, instantly took me somewhere else. The lyrics have a bit of a somber flavor (when translated)… and you can certainly feel it in the vocals.

Another awesome part of this band is one of the guitarists, Lori Linstruth.  Do a search on Youtube for her and watch some of her videos.  This woman can very effectively, in the words of Wayne and Garth, “wail.”  Watching her play the guitar instantly makes my jaw drop and belt out a bewildered “WTF?”

I’ll be able to play like that some day.  But first, Ode to Joy.  Tomorrow, an A Major flying arpeggio up the neck with slides. Thanks for the lesson, Lori.

I gave myself my first guitar lesson this evening.

The instructor was kind of a dick. He’s very picky and wants immediate results. When the hour and a half lesson was over, I had a talk with him and we were able to get our priorities straight, which is good… I really like the instructor, but I wouldn’t hesitate to kick his ass in order to set him straight.

The introduction went pretty fast… basically, teaching me how to sit properly and how to position the guitar. It also gave me a quick review of reading music, which surprisingly came back to me quite quickly. I say surprisingly because I haven’t read music since the 7th grade, fifteen years ago.

So, I’ve effectively learned how to pluck string 1, playing notes E, F, and G. It wasn’t easy, and the tips of my fingers are quite sore. Tomorrow will be string 2, notes B, C, and D, and according to my book, I should be able to play “Ode to Joy” when that lesson is finished. That song will be track 1 on my new CD.

So, everything is going well so far. I just hope my instructor learns some patience… c’mon, this is my FIRST lesson!

– disclaimer –
This post was written back in January. It goes along quite well with my previous post from last week.
–end disclaimer –

I’ve always been conservative by nature. I was never “taught” to be conservative, I picked it up by example though, I’m sure. I’ve never had what some would subjectively refer to as a “real” job … on a daily basis; I’ve been sitting behind a computer, at a desk, in a cubicle with padded walls for the last 12 years. My entire family is extremely conservative as well. I’m going to make an assumption here that these ideas alone are contributing to my overly conservative nature.

On a closely related note, I’m the most non-confrontational person you’ll ever meet. I sugarcoat things; I bend the truth, lie, use reverse psychology, and probably a number of other methods on almost everyone I interact with, all for the sole purpose of preventing confrontation. I like to think of myself as a nice guy… but what else am I? I have no idea! Am I even a nice guy, if I use all these daunting, deceptive methods to get people to like me? What I’ve never realized is the dull, passionless, titanium-enforced concrete barrier that I’ve built around myself by following through with these worthless actions. I want to be liked, loved… I want people to have a certain level of passion for me and my life. But how is that possible when they can’t even come close to seeing the real me? How is this possible when *I* can’t even come close to seeing the real me? This inherently flawed nature of me, in itself, along with the massive amounts of work it takes in order to fulfill it, has left no time, energy, or motivation for me to express my true feelings. They’ve been stuck behind the titanium-enforced concrete barrier. What is there for anyone to like, aside from a nice, boring guy?

Enough damage has been done. The problem is clear to me; however the solution will not be so simple. The conservative, unrealistic, truth bending me will say “OK… I’ll just start doing this from now on” … but it’s not that easy, no matter how many ways I try and convince myself that it is. If I snap my fingers and start acting the way I really want to, it would be just that… acting. This needs to be an inherent change in personality, which will take time… though on a more positive note, being aware of the severity of the problem and how deep the hooks are embedded in to my soul is a good start.

So what exactly am I passionate about? What are my true needs, my fantasies, my real interests…? I really don’t know. I know I have them… they’ve been prevalent before. I remember expressing a lot of them when I was younger, however it was with a certain level of anonymity, behind a computer screen. Over the years, with the help of my wonderful spouse, I have become more open and accepting to ideas that are in no way conservative by nature… ideas that are mostly quite fun, exciting, and in ways, really would express one’s true desire to live life to the fullest and take advantage of every opportunity. However, being open to these ideas is completely different than actually fully embracing them for what they’re worth. In hindsight, I have accepted a lot of these ideas for their logical worth, but have I fully, truly, embraced them? Probably not. I know that I have passion, but no one, including myself, will be able to see it until the titanium-enforced concrete barrier that I mentioned above is effectively removed.

Now that I look at it, the evidence of my flaws are posted throughout this blog. There isn’t one posting that portrays any real passion towards anything, not even computer related, which was the original focus. It’s almost as if I was posting just to post… but how would I know, really… considering I haven’t posted for almost two years. In fact, I’m pretty embarrassed by this blog in general. I love to write, perhaps I’m even passionate about it… I don’t know. But when you’re so afraid of confrontation, or what people might think or say, how can you ever truly express yourself, or be passionate about something… anything? That’s going to change.

Perhaps this blog will be used to tell the story… I’m not sure. Perhaps I am passionate about writing, and as I work on my flaws, more of me will pour out on to this page… time will tell, and one can only hope. I, for many reasons, feel a lot better about my new found focus and direction after writing this post. The best part is, I don’t care about what people think about it. Approach me and tell me it’s the lamest post you’ve ever seen. Approach me and tell me that you love it, and you love the idea that I was finally able to express something about myself and not hold back. It doesn’t matter! Ridicule me, praise me, I don’t care. Just know this: I am not going to be in the least bit hesitant to post this article because of your reaction. The first step…

So… yeah. I’m going to get my ass kicked (by Nicki) if I don’t post something here. I’m back. All motivational speeches aside, I’m back, and I’ve got a lot to say, actually. I’m going to start blogging… and it’s not going to be about impersonal, technological crap… at least, not all the time. Nick is prepared, and ready to embrace his (and/or the) world. I’ve got a lot of realizations, rants, and insight to share. No more holding back. I don’t care who reads this. What’s the point of a blog if you can’t express yourself? I’ve been inspired; by my newly found interest in so many things. My “routine” has been altered and revamped. No more holding back, no more conservative Nick. The conservative, withheld, quiet, everyday person that you may know as “Nick” has changed. I’m ready to let the masses know what I’m thinking. This is a huge step for me. I require your applause. No one is around… c’mon, clap, just once… … … … thanks.

Where was I before? Preoccupied, I might say. I had other priorities, so I thought. I’ve got so much to say, and fortunately, quite a bit of room to say it. So, be prepared for a brain dump. It starts this weekend. I’ve got so much writing that I want … need! to share with the world, so to speak. I’ve got so much to let go… writing that I’m no longer embarrassed about, thanks to so many things, and some cool people.

I’m no longer a lemming. People (the .5 persons who read this blog) will hear what I have to say. It may be dumb; it may be interesting; it may be completely worthless and off-base to you… whatever… it will be here, and it will be real.

*authentic, heartfelt bow*

Hi. I’m still alive. Seriously. I’ll think of something interesting to put here soon, I swear.

There are a handful of students at my college that probably won’t make it very far. Common sense wasn’t a gift for these people.

The Microsoft chain letter is circulating again, this time in full force at my school. Some of the idiots have even sent it twice, after receiving it again from another student at the college. This is the classic hoax chain letter from the late 90’s. Don’t these people know by now? Have they not learned to question “free” money? They probably received it five years ago and never got paid… maybe they think it will work this time? Where is the common sense? Why would they think that Microsoft (or anyone) is going to send them money simply by clicking a button and annoying the hell out of every student at the college (except those that forward it on again).

Snopes sums it up perfectly:

This isn’t real, it wasn’t written up in USA Today (other than in articles about Internet hoaxes), Microsoft and AOL aren’t running a tracked “e-mail beta test” with Bill Gates paying people for participating, and Intel and AOL aren’t merging. The bottom line is that no matter which incarnation of this silliness one receives, the principle is the same: there’s still no free lunch, and big companies aren’t going to hand out fabulous vacations, $1000 bills, free trendy clothes, new computers, cases of candies, wads of cash, or new cars just because someone with a functioning Internet connection does them the favor of forwarding an e-mail. Though at first blush, participating in such pie-in-the-sky wishfulness appears perfectly harmless, such participation only serves to clog up already overtaxed resources. Oh yes, it does one other thing: it gives the idjits who cooked up these frauds a great big laugh at your expense.

So, my message to you, e-mail hoax forwarder: GROW A BRAIN, DUMBASS!