Width of a Spreadsheet

I was doing some financial planning the other day which involved projecting some expenses out 12 years or so, in order to make a cross road decision. While I ended creating a very nice model, which answered my question, I then realized my mortality is the width of a spreadsheet on a monitor. This was one of the first time I had a concrete experience that I have gotten old. Glad I don't feel it.

Smokin

On Friday of last week it was Christmas in April. I received 2 items in the mail that I had been anxiously waiting for. One was the Nuvi 855 from Woot.com and the other was my Passport Book and T-Shirt for Smoke Chasing 2011.

Smoke Chasing is first and foremost a way to raise money for Eddie's Road. At their site they describe their mission as

Eddie's Road directly funds and supports a variety of quality public and private programs dedicated to assist abused children and young adults. The majority of our funds are raised by participating in motorcycle rallies and events that were the passion of Eddie James, the man our foundation was built to honor.

Smoke Chasing 2011 is a barbecue treasure hunt. To become a Griller one has to visit 5 BBQ restaurants in 3 states. The next level is Smoker, which is 5 states and 3 BBQ joints. The BBQ Pit Master is visiting 1 joint in 15 states. These visits must be completed and your documentation submitted by Oct 15th. More details for those that are interested can be found at this LINKY.

The Passport Book



The Awesome T Shirt





My first destination will no doubt be this place.

Up to Our Old Tricks - The Chase is On

This past weekend was an awesome time to be out on the bike. Saturday I spent the morning over at Giff’s taking advantage of his kindness by using his drill and dremel. First thing was to drill out the rear pegs for the floor boards that were mounted on the 07 FJR. Next was to grind a small spot out of the left front compartment, so that I can close the lid down on the GPS wire. I really should make a permanent wire, but this works, so what the heck.

With these tasks complete and a working GPS, I decided to head out for some Water locations and a couple of tags.

First stop was the border of RI/CT in Coventry RI. This was a CT tag. Then off to numerous water locations. At around 6 I found myself at Dunkin Donuts in Rehoboth, calling MeAsWe to see if I could find more info on the MA Tag. I left DD defeated and traveled to Attleboro Falls for the last stop of the day. There was something missing during these travels.





On Sunday, MeAsWe is going out for the first time since her affair with the Montana Buck. Today it would be an affair with water. First stop is Valley Falls Fire District house, then off to Central Falls. This was mainly urban riding as we meandered our way thru Pawtucket and finally off to some country roads. Next destination was the failed capture of the MA Tag yesterday. As we traveled some background, I dropped my left hand and gave MeAsWe a squeeze on the leg, and that missing something from yesterday was here today.





Our turnaround point was Green Harbor MA; however a stop at America’s First Couple, John and Priscilla Alden, house for a photo op of a National Historic Landmark was in order. From Green Harbor we had 4 additional stops at water and headed home.



It was a good first run for MeAsWe, and me, as well, with the new knees. Almost like we never got off the bike last September.

An Affair with Water

This years treasure hunt for the Glacier Lakes Motorcycle Club is called An Affair with Water. Much like last years Titanic Tour, one must find towns with specific words within the the town name. This years words are Bay, Brook, Cove, Creek, Fall, Harbor, Hydro, Lake, Ocean, Pool, Pond, Rapid, River, Sea, Spring, Stream, and Water. The twist this year one must find the name of the town ON a building within the town. The city limit signs are no longer. Now a sign in front of the building is no good, but a sign attached to the building is OK. East BROOKfield Pizza and Grinder works. Sounds simple, however I have a feeling we will hit a bunch of towns this year that we just can't find the name ON a building.

Like last year, the Name, a substantial part of the bike, and your flag must appears. MeAsWe is competing under her own number this year.

Willie Flag



MeAsWe's Flag



Of course with the flags, one must have some places to go.

First Tag of the Season

It's Sunday. I have been hymning and hawing about going for a ride. Seems like I have become a task oriented rider. I need some kind of treasure to capture. Plus I am currently storing the bikes some 5 miles away, which just gives me another excuse to be lazy. Having had my knees replaced over the winter, I had the opportunity to revisit and re-view all of the Law and Orders and CSI series on TV, so sitting inside on one of the first really nice days of the spring seemed such a shame.

I got up the motivation, put my riding gear on and went and got the FJR. I mounted the GIVI rack, mounted the RAM mount for the GPS, put the Wynpro Big Foot kick stand enlarger and was going to mount the passenger enlarged footrests. Seems I need a drill to mount the footrests.

The above probably took me an hour and should have taken 15 minutes, but I always seem to forget something and have to make the trip up 3 flights of stairs, so that is the multiplier on the time. Today was no exception. To justify my forgetfulness, I say it is good exercise for the new knees.

Realized I need a Dremel tool to grind a flat spot in the left front hatch for the GPS, so actually using the GPS was out for the day. Feeling guilty of not having a place to go, I remembered the Rhode Island tag is not too far away.

Mounted up, sans GPS and headed for Lincoln Woods State Park for a picture of the wood bridges.



Part of the tag game is once you capture the current location or theme you must post up a place for the next tag. For the NER Tag game an archive photo of a place is OK, but today I decide I will pick up something on the way home. Heading up RT 146 I see a sign for Bryant College and I recollected something about an elephant story, so I head off onto RT116. It was then I realized how lost I was without the GPS. I could not simply head off on some side roads because I will simply not be able to figure out how to get home. So simplification is in order, stop at the first reasonable place to grab the next tag.



Now for those of you looking for a clue where this is, I offer this. Maybe I can generate some traffic to my blog.



So a quick 50 or 60 miles today. The guilt of not having the desire to ride was vanquished. This week I found myself entering another national treasure hunt. This one centering around BBQ places sponsored by Team Strange