The End of the Narrative / War and Peace: The Blog Post / Crown to the Crucible Complete / 2006-2009

HALT!

(short version)

The end of Shoes On Powerlines is here! I had originally started this blog when I was at the University of Oregon. After deleting all those posts and starting anew in Los Angeles, I have posted on this every week or so for almost 3 years!

Looking back at some of the old posts, I basically talk about the same stuff I talk about now. Guided by Voices, scooters, motorcycles. I can remember writing a lot of that stuff in my old apartment in Santa Monica. Different smells, different times.

I will be 29 in a few months. Yikes! This blog has been so much fun, but it is time to move on. I’ve grown more and more disenchanted with the whole “social” aspect of the internet. In short, I think it is sort of bullshit. “I’m going to myspace your twitter account because I posted a facebook comment talking about that flickr photo you took, let’s blog about it!” The usefulness of the internet is getting diluted because most people use it to tell others what kind of sandwich they ate for lunch. Or blog about Robert Pollard and motorcycles. I’m not exempt! It is just something I no longer understand or enjoy.

So I had a lot of fun writing and listening to comments, etc! And this isn’t the end of me blogging, but it is the end of the narrative I started back in 2006. When the new one starts, so will my writing! Check in every few months. When the new one starts, I don’t know if I could think of a catchier name than Shoes on Powerlines.

(end of short version. long version after the jump)

See you in 2009… maybe

“Internet is dead.”

“Oh, that’s very fascinating to me.”

R.I.P. Bettie Page

A real woman!

Rest in peace, Bettie Page!!!

gardening at night just never works

Only about 2 weeks until the winter solstice, after which the days will start to get longer and longer! This is great because lately I’ve been leaving work and driving home in the dark.

There is something comforting riding my motorcycle in the dark… everyone seems to drive a little slower and at a relaxing pace (at least up the beach). I do miss getting to see the sun sink below the surf on my way home. Maybe I’ll just leave work earlier.

However comforting the dark can be, I miss longer days. I can’t wait for them to inch back toward those long summer evenings. Winter feels half over and even as the temperatures hover around 70 during the day, they have been much colder at night. I’m breaking out my winter gloves tonight and cleaning up my visor because cold air makes my eyes water.

I’m extremely excited for my trip to the great NW coming in just a few weeks.

Motorcycle Safety PSA #1

When driving your motorcycle, never transport bottles of red wine in your backpack. If you are unlucky enough to get into an accident, you could break the bottles causing red wine to spill out of your back.

One of following then might occur:

1. Rescuers focus on your back, thinking that all the blood must be coming from there.

2. They will smell the red wine and think you must have been drunk, thus you might receive a DUI!

3. Bums will wander over and attack your backpack for any wine remnants. 

4. The attractive nurse at the hospital will look at your wine choice with disdain.

Please remember to only transport white wine on a motorcycle. If you absolutely have to transport red wine on a motorcycle, pack fine, soft cheeses and fruits around the bottle to cushion against any possible blow. Also, enjoy these fine cheeses when you arrive at your destination.

For Your Health!

Best songs that contain the word “hologram”

I could only think of two:

T-Bone Burnett – Quicksand

“That ghost is just a hologram”

and

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Ramshackle Day Parade

“Holograms holding 44’s”

Branding things to death: Ducati

There is an interesting article over at Hell for Leather Magazine about the recent rebranding of Ducati’s famously sparse logo into something a little more… lame. This along with other stupid crossovers really dilute a once quality brand. My favorite part of the article is the not so subtle jab at famously shitty American motorcycle maker Harley Davidson.

Can we get a quality American made motorcycle, please? And Buell doesn’t count. Neither does an Indian relaunch. Moving on…

It’s a pleasantly snarky article that really addresses the fact that the best motorcycle companies focus on one thing: the motorcycles. When a brand starts throwing itself on ballpoint pens and yo-yos for the kids, then it loses its edge as a high-end product.

The Ducati has lately been the go-to bike for guys (usually in there late 20’s and early 30’s) who all the sudden have the money and decide they want a Motorcycle (capitalized on purpose). These guys go and drop 10 large on a Monster and wreck it 2 months later. I see Ducatis peppered all over the streets of Los Angeles, and I feel like this surge of popularity has ballooned Ducati out of the high-end sportbike arena into the unforunate “league of status symbols for the well-to-do young adult crowd,” which includes such things as BMW convertables, home theater systems, and 500 dollar jeans.

Ducati – scale back. Stick to your motorcycles. And keep the damn red circle with the slash.

At least there is always Moto Guzzi.

And old Hondas.

Morning playlist

What I’ve been listening to in the morning while I get ready for work:

1. Boston Spaceships – You Satisfy Me
2. The Modern Lovers – Old World
3. The Hellacopters – Action De Grace
4. The The – Dogs of Lust
5. TV on the Radio – Halfway Home

Then I get on my motorcycle and usually listen to Brown Submarine, Grande Rock, or shuffle.

You?

Proposition 8: The Musical

Leave it to Funny or Die and their STAR-STUDDED cast to put Prop 8 in its place.

“It says the exact same thing about this shrimp cocktail!!”

Click here, watch, enjoy, discuss.

(btw, it is hilarious)

Top 10: Pollard songs around a minute long

Image Credit: Aquarium Drunkard

Robert Pollard is famous for having (literally) suitcases full of songs. Some of the most common criticism is his lack of self-editing. They are wrong! He self-edits all the time, then lets the hardcore purchase all the edits in the Suitcase boxsets and albums like Superman Was a Rocker.

I thought I would gather ten of my favorite songs that clock in under or around one minute. Other artists might have edited these right out of their album, but then we would be missing a lot of pop gems. Let’s begin! (after the jump)

what I did!

This was a long weekend! I did these things:

Ate some foods.

Totally slipped and ate it on the sidewalk, ripping my jeans and skinning my knee.

I didn’t play any Metroid. I replaced a broken bit on my hand impact driver because I BROKE IT!

And I worked for 8 hours on stripping down the CB750 to THIS:

A little hard to see, and I’ve removed more after this photo – but basically I have pulled everything from the frame except the engine. I removed the wiring harness which was a little bit if a pain, mostly because a lot of it was overly taped up and bodged together. This will be a major rebuild in itself, figuring out whether to just get a whole new wiring harness or painstakingly work through the old one and repair it.

I also spent a few hours laying on that cardboard and removing the underpan of the engine, because the guy who had the bike last decided to slather the bottom with gasket material. I was really worried that this was because there was a crack in the aluminum. After stripping all of that gunk off and removing and cleaning the pan, everything looked ok. It just needs a new gasket. Sloppy work makes me frustrated! Why throw a bunch of gasket material to pin down a leak when you can just take an hour and do it right?

If you don’t have the time to do it right the first time, when are you going to find time to do it again when it breaks?

Anyway – I’m going to build a little engine cradle so when I pull the engine I can roll it around easily. It is heavy. 250+ pounds heavy. Once the engine is out, I can remove the front forks and wheels, and I will have a bare motorcycle frame. Crazy!

I did some other stuff too.

fin.