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I had dinner last night with NurseBill of Olden San Francisco fame. It is great to hear about San Francisco events that happened 20+ years ago told in the first person. Bill lives in DC now doing big important things and makes it back here every now and again. It is always a treat to see him.
Julia moved all her stuff in yesterday. She has alot of stuff. All of good quality and character. We're still working on where to put it all. Her room looks great and fits well with the feel of the house.
While Julia hooked up her PC, Ken and I went through and re-organized the kitchen stuff. Ken has entirely too much tea. A whole huge shelf full. There is another shelf exclusively for cereal. For being such a skinny boy, he is a total packrat food whore. I love you Ken.
Seems I'm being sued. I think at this point it would be unwise to speak details. "Vexatious litigator" comes to mind. I wonder how I counter sue for time lost at work. I also wonder if I will be served by a Woofy DaddyBear Sheriff.
During lunch, I went to the post office to mail a small package. After waiting in line, the guy at the counter tells me the package is too small and I need to put it in an envelope, then points toward a display of for-sale envelopes. I wander over to the display, pull out the smallest envelope which is clearly too small to fit the "too small" package.
Too Small to mail--Too Big to fit in the OK-to-mail envelopes. Hmmmm.
Rather than wasting my money paying for the special envelope, I grabbed a free priority mail envelope, got a stamp from the vending machine and reassembled everything myself rather than give the bastard the satisfaction of selling me a shitty envelope I didn't really need. Better the money go for speedier service.
Julia continues to be a joy around the house. Her newly painted room looks great, and she has inspired Ken and I to get off our asses and do some other stuff around the house. Nesting is a good thing.I rode over to Oakland last night to have dinner with Merritt Steve. I had a great time. The weather over there was beautiful. The hospitality was exceptional. With any luck we'll go riding this weekend.
The pic is in front of StarBears after work. Some East Bay chic's (notice fast track unit) horrible parking job. With no one within six feet in front of or behind her parking spot, she still didn't manage to get any wheel within two feet of the curb.
Last night I worked a bit late, had a leftover burrito for dinner and cleaned my closet. �Woo Hoo! The life of a Castro bear.Julia the new roommate came by with a gaggle of friends to paint her room. She has friends. That is a very good sign. She also picked out some nice colors to paint the room. No trim color yet, but unlike Erin, I think Julia can share and synthesize with us.
Pic is not Tainn, but and idea of what she might look like if I didn't clean her. �See the bootmelt? I saw a Harley on Sunday that had 80% of it's chrome painted over with matt/powderblack. It was kick assed cool, and I could kick myself for not taking a picture.
Russian River Ba-Da-Bingo party bus day trip. With plenty of time to hit a resort, soak, sun, and cocktail before the bingo. Details here
Only forty five folks on the bus. I'm hoping for woofy bears, and imagining a nice sleepy puppy pile on the way home.
All you boys go over and make a profile at Bear911 so Erik will have something to do with his time.
Dore Alley was its usual fun. With the fair rearranged and the focus taken off the alley it had a much different feel than previous years. Saw many people I haven't seen for months. Had many photos taken of me that I will probably never see. I only took two photos at the fair--both of Big Vince.I wandered over to Alan's cigar social afterwards where I ran into even rarer once-a-year acquaintances. I also finally got introduced to BullDog Luke. Who, it seems, doesn't remember me from any number of times I've shamelessly hit on him while he's out walking his dog. He gave me a rather long goodbye kiss which seems to indicate it was not for lack of interest.
I lost track of time at the social, rode home and grabbed a present, and showed up at Thirsty Bear a bit late for Jake's birthday dinner. Small group--Just Jake & Jeff, John & Joe, Glenn and I. The food was great, and the company even better. It should be noted that when leaving, Joe was the alphabear.
We missed getting desert at Max's by 18 minutes, and wandered home.
Too much sun and too many cigars has worn DrewBear out.
Friday night's bbonfire was great. Not too many guys--about half of them I knew. Fire Poi and East European polka drag queen with accordion.Saturday morning I rolled out of bed fairly early and rode South along the coast. My original intention was to go as far as Watsonville, but I was enjoying myself and kept going to Monterey. While fueling up there, I realized it was a � `til 12, and I had a part to be to at 2pm. Oops. I rode hard back home, popping by Watsonville to grab a shop shirt.
I hate social parties. I hate small talk. I made an appearance and left.
I had every intention of going out last night and didn't.
I had deep thoughts while riding, but they are lost to me now.
I miss EasterBear.
Last night I got cleaned up, gave myself some pampering, and headed over to the cigar social at blow buddies. I had a great time, and ran into a few folks I've not seen in months.I took a long route home to get Tainn's pipes hot, and applied some oven cleaner when I got back to the pi9 spot. It managed to eat away the bulk of the remaining nylon bootmelt with some help from 0000 steel wool. It also made me light head and gave me a bitch of a headache. Next application will be outdoors. Bbonfire tonight. �Woo Hoo!
Last night I went right down to the outer Mission to retrieve Flint from Yip's Auto World. They did a great job fixing him up, and even want so far as to scrape the S parking permit off his old bumper and leave it in the cab for me. I SO need to take him in for a tuneup.Once I got back to the pi9 spot, I spent some time cleaning up my work on Tainn's fog light, and had another go at the bootmelt. I had left her new heat shields sitting at home, but after seeing the directions for them, think they are better left for another (longer) day.
I got to bed fairly early last night, but still feel like I've not got a full charge for Dore Alley.
Elastic inertial ju-ju waveforms.
This is the stuff of the universe.
I was thinking during lunch. Harry wasn't the only one to touch the stone.If the Scleroscope Hardness of Chrome (nickel steel) is 47, and the hardness of Brass is only about 35 at its hardest, then I assume that a brass bristled brush when used carefully will not scratch a chrome exhaust pipe. I hope so--`cause even the most caustic chrome polishes are not getting the nylon bootmelt off my pipes, and any cleaning agent that will help disolve it will probably not do well with a polymer bristled brush. �Comments or Suggestions?
Last night I had every intention of walking home from work, having some quality time with Tainn and going to bed early.
Instead, I worked late, finished Harry Potter OotP, cleaned up the 500+ messages that built up during my four days away, had a nice leisurly dinner at South China while finishing Part 1 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, then wasted time playing on BearWWW, eating popcorn, and watching Queer Eye.
I also didn't take any pictures yesterday. Bad Drew.
I noticed before Lazy Bear that I was getting bad breath. (Or maybe was just more paranoid about it than ususal.) I've been going through my ultraclean mouth routine since. The double edge sword of bad breath is that when I get to the point where I'm confident that my breath is OK, I start noticing everyone's else smells bad. Hmmmm...deep thoughts.
Sunday morning I skipped my morning ride--still not sure why the brakes did what they did, and had breakfast with San Francisco folks from the neighboring campsite. We had a nice breakfast at Pat's-always a good Guerneville breakfast choice.While the other boys went to the pool, I stopped at Safeway and got all the supplies I could carry for our campsite's afternoon ice cream social. A case of water, three bags of ice, and some milk and cookies was all I could carry. Thankfully Scott and Vincent had no complications about making a second trip and stealing a cart to get the ice cream and more back to camp.
I ran into Matt at the pool. We traded sunblock applications, and soaked in the pool. �Woof! Afterwords, we went back to Matt's hotel for a get together with some bears in neighboring rooms, then spooned up and took a long nap. It was dark when we woke up--about 12:30--and we got dressed and went looking for food with his roommate Tim. We missed Jonathons closing time, and settled for the River Inn--probably the only place in town still open.
We were to far gone to try for the foam party, and opted for the bonfire instead. I faded first again, and went back to camp and crashed.
Saturday morning I rode CA1 up the coast to Stewart's point, then followed Stewart's Creek inland. This is where things are so beautiful I almost cried. Wow. If anyone wants to check it out sometime, I'd love to do the ride again. And Again.This is also where I learned I could "cook my brakes." Seems I overused and overheated my rear brake going down a series of five or so sharply graded hairpin turns. During the next descent, I had no rear brake. At all. Front brake and a wee bit of engine braking saved the day. I stopped and tinkered with things a bit, not understanding at the time why the brake wasn't working. Apparently my tinkering gave it enough time to cool down, and things were pretty normal after that.
Except for the hundreds of snobby lane hogging weekend bicycle people and the huge SUV's trying to pass them.
That night was Sweat. Ran into lots of friends and had a great time. This is where Matt started hitting on me. Wow. Danced with him for hours, then faded before him and went back to camp for the night.
Friday morning's roadtrip included a trip to the Santa Rosa mall. Spooky--and I never did find a one piece bathing suit I liked for the Bears Gone Wild ladybear parade. I spent the afternoon in the pool at Xen, and met a woofy biker daddy bear from Idaho named Jim. He had a dent in the side of his head, and couldn't remember words like "cell phone," "tortilla," or the name of the place he was staying, but he sure was cute.
Thursday morning I rode down to Marin BMW and picked up a copy of the shop shirt. Which, despite being short sleeved and non-autumny, is pretty cool.I spent the day playing in the pool per usual, and went out on the town that night. I wasn't planning on drinking, but I ran into John & Joe, who had a Long Island Ice Tea each, so I popped over to the bar and got a RootBeer Float and joined them-both in physical presence and drunkenness. All three drinks were served in quart jars, and are mostly liquor with a bit of mixer to color them.
We headed out, popped by Safeway and got some drumsticks and bug spray, then over to the bonfire at Fifes. I lost them to either the crowd or the Hugging Tree, mingled and then headed back to camp.
For those not in the know, the pic is Brent, the DaddyBastard behind Bears Gone Wild.
Wednesday I managed to get a tent on my bike in addition to the stuff I had prepacked. (It was slept in once the whole weekend. Grrrr...) The ride up was wonderful. I love riding at twilight/sunset. Warm gentle breezes. Mmmm... Campsite was almost set up when I arrived, and of course, there was no space left for me in the now two room Costco tent I bought. My stuff got shoved in a convenient corner, we spent the evening at the campsite, and I slept with Scott for the night. The sharing was not a bad thing. The lack of DrewSpace was a little disconcerting.
I'm back from Lazy Bear. I've got too many chores to do this afternoon to go into detail. Highlights:Spotted and and at least exchanged greetings with all but one guy on my "Dreamiest Men Alive" list. (So far as I know the remaining man wasn't there.) Rode many miles, saw views so beautiful I almost cried and had some brake troubles. Had an incredibly handsome man from San Diego hit on ME. Got to spend a little quality time with John & Joe. Learned once again that I can't do everything, and more improtantly, that I don't care to. Was verbally assulted by a Nun screaming from a Mini Cooper who I'm flattered to note noticed my absence at bingo.
After asking me to get a specific tent at Costco, hearing my concerns that a 5x10 space wouldn't be wide enough, shelling out $150some dollars to get it, and having Frank tell me last night that every thing was great and squared away, Frank just called wanting me to arrange to meet Vincent, go over to his house and get another tent that he could have brought up himself but didn't. All `cause 5' isn't wide enough for whatever matress they have up there. db:Hello, �Did I not mention that when we were discussing the tent?
db:�Didn't you say the matresses would fit?
f:Ummm...yeah, but it didn't work out.
f:�Can you call Vincent, stop by my house and bring the other tent?
db:�Did I not ask if you wanted anything hauled up last night?
db:I spent hours last night repacking and rolling things to go on the bike.
f:�Can't you bring your truck?
db:No. (repeats) I spent hours last night repacking and rolling things to go on the bike.
f:[Repeats]
db:[Pissed]
If I can get one safely on the bike, I might bring another one of my tents, but I'm not happy about it.
pbMike dropped by to take a look at my parking spot. He'll be acquiring a R1200C soon and is lookin' for a place for it to live. He snickered when he saw the lettering on my space, and pointed out that the "G" was turned the wrong way. That simple observation makes my space so much more satisfying.I'm all geared up in pre-Lazy Bear frenzy. This is how I used to feel before christmas when I was a kid. Scoff all you want--I love being able to feel like this. I dropped off the huge Costco tent at Frank & Vincent's last night, fully expecting them to have other stuff they wanted me to take up on Flint. Seems they are getting huskyScott to haul it up. �Woo Hoo! One of my parallel processors immediately started reformatting my packing list to fit on Tainn. Looks like I'll be ridin' up.
I had to take Flint into a body shop early this morning to let a AAA rep have a look at his bumper. (He was gently rear ended last week--not in the good way) That put me behind schedule, and though it would have been logistically convenient to hop from him to Tainn back at the parking spot, it was getting late enough that I knew there would be no spaces left for me to park her in the Financial District. I was unable to honor ride to work day. I did notice that the spaces were filled by bigger nicer Daddy bikes today instead of the usual plain Jane commute bikes. Was nice to look at. Too bad I won't have time after work to watch the bigger nicer Daddies armour up and ride home.The game plan is to commute home, grab a quick dinner, wipe down Tainn, armour up, ride her three blocks to home, load up, and head to the River. Frank & Vincent, Jim and Scott should already be at the campsite with the Costcoshmahall set up when I arrive. CPR to inflate the air mattress and some simple unpacking, and I should be good. I'll probably make a run to Walmart tomorrow morning to get some sheets for the air mattress as I seemed to have lost them in my last move. Hmmmm...overcooking the weekend. Must stop.
�Any recommendations where to get a turtle-shell helmet I can keep in my saddlebags in case I want to carry an impromptu passenger?
Wandering around yesterday I realized that I missed my 10 year work anniversary. It was June 27. The big bonus will come when I hit 15 years and start accumulating eight hours of vacation for every two week I work. In addition to four hours sick leave every two weeks and the 14some federal holidays every year. �Woo Hoo!Yesterday was also my one month anniversary for the new motorcycle. I our first month, I've ridden Tainn more that 1600 miles. I need to find and take an advanced riders class soon. I'm due. Then hopefully I'll feel more confident about going to a track day and really polishing my cornering. Twisties and climbs are my favorites.
I had dinner last night with BingoJeff. Was a nice chance to see him outside the usual standing in line and daubbing for hours routine. Very smart guy and I enjoyed his company.
I'm getting excited about LazyBear. In more a logistical rush way than a "christmas is coming way." Grrrr...can't wait to get there, get set up, and relax.
Full day today. I rode north with hopes of meeting up with NorCal Beemer's Club second sunday brunch, but stopped at PepBoys in Rohnert Park and screwed around too long. Rather than be late, I opted to skip and headed to Guernville. As I was merging onto 116 to head that way, I fell in behind some crusty old pushy biker. He waved my up next to him and started shouting questions at me. I didn't understad a one and he waved me ahead and fell in behind me. When we got to Sebastapool, he pulled up next to me and asked me where I was going. I told him Guerneville. He was dissapointed I wasn't going to the coast. He told me he'd follow me to Gurenville, then cluelessly cut me off into turning to follow 116 to Guernville. Fortunately he knew another way. One I'm glad I got to see. He seemed lonely and reluctant to part ways, but I wasn't about to invite him to go hot tubbin' at RRR with me.RR was great. I had lunch, hot tubbed, and took a dip in the pool. I ran into a big woofy bastard who recognized me from a bearhug. He lives in Oakland, and I could kick myself for not going out of my way to write down my contact info for him.
Traffic back to town was less than fun, and I didn't get back in time to catch Scott to go boot shopping. I did try out my Mother's chrome polish from PepBoys, and it got all but the worst of the bootmelt off my pipes.
I'm still havin' big cuddlelust.
I went to costerpaloza yesterday with SloppyJoe, Capy, BooBear, and Daniel. Leigh was supposed to go, but had things going on in leighworld. Seems we got there two hours early for the park opening for a whopping total of two coasters. Yay. We had thought that Stealth and Top gun would be open in addition to Invertigo and Demon. No such luck. Five is also not a good number for rollercoastering as many rides are partitioned first by twos, then by fours. Leaving me the lonely old spinster. Grrrrr... Upsides for the day included getting to look at Daniel, running into Paul, watching the big furry Daddy delighted to fly his pre-school son around on Screaming Eagles, tongue paint spray candy, and getting to commute down on Tainn.For those of you who asked for pictures of her new engine guards, I've put one here. Another trial at using them as foot pegs has failed.
The rest of the day consisted of a long, long nap, some dinner and then off to bed. I should have gone out and found a sleepover as I am in total cuddlelust right now, but did not. (sigh) LazyBear shall come soon--hopefully with plenty of cuddles.
I got to take a spin down to the San Jose office yesterday with the new engine guards. I'll have to ride more to be sure, but I think they change the airflow around the oilheads, `cause my toes were feelin' nice and warm. I tried puttin' my feet up on the new footrests, but ended up getting a legful of air up my Carhartts. Heat shields for the exhaust pipes are ordered and on the way, but I still haven't figured out how to get the existing "bootmelt" off `em. Suggestions appreciated.I'll go boot shopping again Sunday afternoon with a local bootslut consultant. I'm looking for good fit, nonmelt, nonheeled, nonsteeltoe, above the calf boots. Any suggestions would also be appreciated here.
My body is in that sleep/protein mode again. Craving WestSoy milk, Thai broiled beef, and chicken parmesan. Fell asleep last night around 8 and slept through `til morning.
I want to do a Sunday brunch ride to Alices or Mark West Lodge with NorCal. Hmmm...Chef Hunter Austin. Thats a porn name if I ever heard one. �Any Takers?
John & Joe are so dreamy. I want to find one of those for myself. I went over for dinner and movies tonight and made crappy pizza. I couldn't remember my usual (when I cooked frequently) crust recipe and went with a new one. I should know better than not to try out a new recipe before making it for someone else. Seems it was more for a thick Sicilian crust. Not what I was planning on, and would have worked much much better on a sheet to make a big rectangular pizza. The boy were gracious about the flop.
Cuddling and movie watching was fun. Joe got to be in the middle this time. I also got brave enough to take of my trousers and curl up in my knit boxers. Mmmm...bare bear legs. They both smell so good. Oh, �the movie? Happy Texas. I liked it, but I went for the company.
I really really need to get that sort of lovin' on a regular basis. I will continue to delude myself into thinking that there is someone out there just for me. If I have my own, then I'll probably get to sleep over too.
I'm tired and punchy and need to get to bed. That some other thing I was thinking about writing about this afternoon escapes me. Maybe better that way.
The secret has been shared, and is secret no longer.
AnonymousBear: had a bizarre dream the other day. featuring JeffDrewBearSF: �dacubsf Jeff?
AnonymousBear: Jeff Glover in a cheerleader outfit...
DrewBearSF: �Woo Hoo!
AnonymousBear: bitch was at a carwash in a shopping center parking lot, all cuntiness...
AnonymousBear: I need to write it down, it's too vivid for technicolor. and I never remember my dreams.
DrewBearSF: Write it all down. I need to hear this.
Thanks to Ilex Verticillata for the cool R1200C classic toy. Thanks to unknown beamer cohort for the looks at his total DrewBear fetish bike. Boxer Motorcycle. German Police. Green. Total triple fetish.Better day today. Picked up parts from dealer. Target tent returned, Costco tent acquired. Punk kid rear ended my truck outside Costco. New bumper for me. Put new engine guards and new driving light in. Required the purchase of metric tools. New driving light was a bitch. It wasn't just a burned out bulb, but the wiring was fucked up. I got it working for now, but need to go back and clean it up a bit. Anxious to take a spin with the new engine guards.
Motorcycle name. �Personal or shared? I feel like such a scrub calling her "the beamer" or "the motorcycle" all the time, but not sure I want to share her name. Discuss.
Yesterday was one of those days where I spun my wheels all day, and didn't seem to get enough done. Went to Oreck to pick up the carbon filters they were out of when I got Ken & I air cleaners. South San Francisco Costco to look at the LadyBear communal tent (that I didn't like and didn't get). Target to get another four room tent and some auto cleaning supplies. REI to get a self inflating sleep pad as I learned the hard way that air mattresses are too big for motorcycles, and sleeping on the ground all weekend sucks. I also picked up a minitowel at REI as real towels also take up to much space on the Beamer. Arbys for lunch somewhere in there. Home to unload. Stompers to look for boots that don't melt all over the beamer's exhaust pipes. (Didn't find anything like I wanted). Home to set up tent. Hated it. Took down the tent and finally got it back in the box. Laundry. In to work to pick up things for San Jose trip today. Got home around 12:30, and realized I hadn't had dinner. Went to bed anyway. Up at 4am to go to San Jose. Alarm went off at 4am. I rolled back over and woke up at 4:45 (oops) Grrr...
I'm just home from a big event run holiday weekend. Strangely enough, I only took five photos the whole weekend. Four were of the gorilla cut out at Pancake Circus in Sacramento. Hmmm...I worked a very early day installing the finally purchased switches in San Jose. Now I understand the appeal of early morning riding. At 4am you pretty much have the road to yourself, and having just woken up, my mind was pretty much a blank slate. For reasons I don't pretend to understand, while buzzing down 280 and watching the predawn aurora gather over the hills, I sang The Indigo Girls "Cedar Tree" to myself and cried in my helmet. It was wonderful. The switch switching went fiarly well, though I will return tomorrow with more stuff to test the power and some LAN cabling.
After the early day, I rode back home and packed up for my trip. I left town around 2pm and took my time getting to Sacramento. I hooked up with BigRedPaul and had a sushi dinner and went to see Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. It was fun mind bending brain candy. Drew Barrymore did the helmet hair flip thing again just to piss me off. If I didn't have my hands so full giving Jeff Glover grief, I would be all over her case.
Stayed the night with BigRedPaul, had breakfast at the deliciously "surealicana" Pancake Circus, then I was off to Falling Oaks Ranch to play with the Grunge Guys.
Not long after arriving at the ranch, Red showed up. Wow. His Internet pic doesn't do him justice. Think Harrison Ford with red hair and whiskers with a little Robert Redford thrown in. After showing me around the ranch a bit and romping around in the creek, we hopped on our beamers and went riding up along the American River canyon. Wow. (Again) In addition to being a kick ass ride behind an expert rider, the terrain was beautiful. I was giddy. It was like getting to fly speeder bikes with Han Solo on some backwater planet. We headed back to the ranch and played in the irrigation ditch to cool off. [Sigh] Wow. Red took off as he had no less than a dozen work calls qued up while he had his phone turned off. Guess the universe needed saving again.
The rest of the weekend was interesting, but not nearly as fun. Tony was there and we had a nice but short ride during sunset on Saturday evening. Steve was there too. Hadn't seen him in a long time.
I'm getting to hungry and unfocused. Maybe more later.
Oh...I think I saw Sister Betty on the final stretch of her month long road trip on my way home. Go Betty Go.
Last night as part of my extended post pride relaxation regiment, I rode down to Pacifica to enjoy a hot tub with Clay. I was soaking up to my chin in the tub leaning back against Clay and watching the sun slide into the ocean. Then I was trying to figure out how to get the pallet of soda sitting out side the hottub outside to the street so the forklift could pick it up. If we use a pallet jack to get it to the back door, then we could carry it to the steps case by case until the pallet was empty, then I could carry the pallet through the garage to the driveway where the fork could get to it, and we could carry the soda from the stairs and then I woke up.
I has similar dreams all last night and then night before. �When will Pride end?
Erin announced last night that she will be moving out at the end of July. Relief mixed with roommate search anxiety. I intend to put the ad up on my site within the day. Rent is $600 a month, utilities about $65 a month and a $833 deposit. Room is next door to mine, bay windows and a fireplace. See the Craigslist ad if you're interested, or wait for the page on my site.
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