So the replacement Dell laptop was running fine, and then within a week a backlight went out and then the I started to get "media fail" messages. That was enough. I didn't even want to call Dell or anyone else to deal with this. Time for something new.
Thanks to peer pressure from my parents, my brother, most of my friends on Facebook and my girlfriend, I got a Macbook Pro. Big step. Expensive step. About three times what I would usually pay for a laptop.
I've had the Mac a couple weeks now, and I must say, I'm impressed. Thanks to a tutorial by my lovely lady, I'm finding the Mac overall much easier to use than any computer I've had in the past. Also, there's just good solid quality to this product. And from what most of my friends have said, they're quite reliable. Being an owner of a Honda car and motorcycle, I like reliability.
The funniest thing though, is the one person that told me not to do it: my co-worker with the bachelor's degree in computers (information technology?) His own personal preference though. He eventually said that for my use, it's probably a good choice.
So hopefully I'm done with any computer troubles for the foreseeable future. My Facebook friends are overjoyed that they won't see any more posts about me complaining about my computer.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Spring/Mud Season
In northern New England we don't have what some would call a traditional Spring. We have what we refer to as Mud Season. The snow clears, at first as a tease before coming back to mock us for a couple more weeks. And then when it does finally melt, we're reminded of all the salt/sand that was used to keep our vehicles on the road for the winter. However, this makes the first month of our motorcycle riding season a bit tricky.
Sand is slick, so your traction is greatly reduced. Even maneuvering the bike in your driveway can be tricky if it doesn't get a good sweep. A lot of times riders should be aware of the lack of pavement we'll have before we get a few good rain showers to wash some of the sand away before the summer. Oh, and those pot-holes and frost heaves can give us a good test of our shocks too! In the Fall we have another slick enemy on the road we need to contend with once those pretty leaves have fallen. I've been lucky enough to avoid any catastrophes on the road due to natural occurrences, but I have taken care of folks due to my Paramedic career from such accidents.
Speaking of the Paramedic career, I just applied for a part time job working out of a hospital about an hour's drive away. Hospital based EMS is something I've always wanted to try. Essentially you work in the Emergency Room, helping out where needed until another ambulance company calls for assistance, at which point the hospital medic will drive out in a specific intercept vehicle to meet up with the crew and provide whatever treatments us high falootin' ambulance monkeys have in our utility belts. I sometimes end up doing this very thing for nearby towns when they're in need of such assistance. If this hospital likes me, and I can make it work with my full time schedule, this could be an excellent new experience. One of my former co-workers that lives near that hospital loves the job.
Back to motorcycling. Glad I've gotten a chance to ride my trusty Honda VTX before I head to Arizona later next week. I'll be heading over to meet up with family for a big celebration: Mom's 60th birthday! Some aunt's/uncles and cousins are renting a house for the week I'll be staying at. One of my aunt's got the idea for us to all rent motorcycles too for a few days. We discussed a few places to rent from, and eventually I just told my aunt to pick a place and I'll just get whatever from the selection. My Aunt Cathy (Mom's sister) and Uncle Rick ride on a big ol' Harley, along with my Uncle Dave (Mom's brother) and Aunt Denise also ride a big full dresser Harley.
So of course they pick a Harley dealership. Good rates for three days, but I was hoping to rent something other than a Harley. Kinda wanted to try a Kawasaki Concours or a Triumph Bonneville, just to try something different. Thankfully they have one of the newer Sportster 1200 Custom with the big bobber tires I've been wanting to try over the past couple years. I'm somewhat convinced my Aunt just wants to convert me to Harley, but I doubt that'll happen.
My 2005 Honda VTX 1300s is going on it's 9th year of service, and ti's just been excellent for me.
Next time I post I might be in AZ, but we'll see. I tend to only write this blog in a couple week spurts every now and then.
Ok, I've finished my green tea with honey at the cafe... time to ride!
Sand is slick, so your traction is greatly reduced. Even maneuvering the bike in your driveway can be tricky if it doesn't get a good sweep. A lot of times riders should be aware of the lack of pavement we'll have before we get a few good rain showers to wash some of the sand away before the summer. Oh, and those pot-holes and frost heaves can give us a good test of our shocks too! In the Fall we have another slick enemy on the road we need to contend with once those pretty leaves have fallen. I've been lucky enough to avoid any catastrophes on the road due to natural occurrences, but I have taken care of folks due to my Paramedic career from such accidents.
Speaking of the Paramedic career, I just applied for a part time job working out of a hospital about an hour's drive away. Hospital based EMS is something I've always wanted to try. Essentially you work in the Emergency Room, helping out where needed until another ambulance company calls for assistance, at which point the hospital medic will drive out in a specific intercept vehicle to meet up with the crew and provide whatever treatments us high falootin' ambulance monkeys have in our utility belts. I sometimes end up doing this very thing for nearby towns when they're in need of such assistance. If this hospital likes me, and I can make it work with my full time schedule, this could be an excellent new experience. One of my former co-workers that lives near that hospital loves the job.
Back to motorcycling. Glad I've gotten a chance to ride my trusty Honda VTX before I head to Arizona later next week. I'll be heading over to meet up with family for a big celebration: Mom's 60th birthday! Some aunt's/uncles and cousins are renting a house for the week I'll be staying at. One of my aunt's got the idea for us to all rent motorcycles too for a few days. We discussed a few places to rent from, and eventually I just told my aunt to pick a place and I'll just get whatever from the selection. My Aunt Cathy (Mom's sister) and Uncle Rick ride on a big ol' Harley, along with my Uncle Dave (Mom's brother) and Aunt Denise also ride a big full dresser Harley.
So of course they pick a Harley dealership. Good rates for three days, but I was hoping to rent something other than a Harley. Kinda wanted to try a Kawasaki Concours or a Triumph Bonneville, just to try something different. Thankfully they have one of the newer Sportster 1200 Custom with the big bobber tires I've been wanting to try over the past couple years. I'm somewhat convinced my Aunt just wants to convert me to Harley, but I doubt that'll happen.
My 2005 Honda VTX 1300s is going on it's 9th year of service, and ti's just been excellent for me.
Next time I post I might be in AZ, but we'll see. I tend to only write this blog in a couple week spurts every now and then.
Ok, I've finished my green tea with honey at the cafe... time to ride!
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