This is a new page that I will t

05/06 Journal

This is a new page that I will try to keep updated. Not that I have much interesting to say but I do have a few comments that did not seem to fit anywhere else.

4/1/08

Vegas Sucks! Wow, what a month I had. It started out on the first of March. Some buddies from work and I took our annual trip to Florida for bike week. Last year Jim and I rode the Harley’s. This year we were joined by Brian on his Big Dog Chopper. We left on the first and rode long into the night to eastern Oklahoma. The last hundred miles I rode the chopper. It was miserable. It was dark, the thing vibrates so much that I thought my feet were falling off the pegs. The wind pulled so hard on my half helmet that my neck was killing me within the first twenty miles. We stopped at a place that had a small Indian casino. We ordered some food and sat down. Before the food came the band started playing. I am not saying they were a hillbilly band but I am pretty sure the singer was married to the washboard player who also was his aunt. He asked if we wanted to hear some Rock N Roll, we did so they played Heart Ache Tonight from the eagles. Wow, did you know that song has a fiddle in it. Everything they played had fiddle in it. Brick House had dueling fiddles! We left from there the next morning and rode to Graceland. That is quite a place. We spent a few hours there touring the grounds. Elvis makes more money in a day being dead, then I do in a year being alive working! We rode off from there. I was riding the Big Dog. After we were headed out of town I took the lead. I figured out we were heading the wrong direction but we were making good time so I kept the throttle twisted. It got dark not long after we left Memphis so we decided to find a place to stay for the night. Two hundred and fifty miles later we were on the other side of Birmingham at 1am before we found a place to stay. The next morning I decided I was going to ride the Chopper for the whole day but it was much too dirty to ride. I went and found a car wash to clean it. As I was leaning I saw this lady leaning over to put a cap on one of the three gas cans she had just filled in the pack of her truck. What struck me being funny was that she had a lit cigarette in her other hand. Wow, I rode off laughing to my self, what was I going to say, we were in Alabama. We rode on to Jacksonville arriving just before dark. It had been about a 600mi day but when we arrived at the house we were staying at. Jim’s uncle had his bike out and ready to go. So after unloading our stuff we hopped back on the bikes and went for a ride around the city. On Thursday Brian’s wife and my wife flew in to spend the weekend. Friday it rained all morning. In the afternoon it seemed like it was letting up so we headed south to Daytona. I wanted to take Berna to the Supercross. It was still raining a little but the news said it was not as bad to the south. About forty miles from Daytona it was raining even hared and we were soaked through. We gave up and went back to Jacksonville. Since we were already wet we just jumped in the pool for a swim in the rain. I woke up later that night to see the race on TV. I was glad we turned back. After the girls left we were headed out the next day. About a hundred miles out the Big Dog started sounding funny. We pulled over and after checking it I figured it was an exhaust lifter on the rear cylinder that had gone out. Back to Jacksonville. That night we got up at midnight to drive 120mi so sit on a beach in the dark to see the Space Shuttle launch. It was cool. The next morning we left for home again. It was a 13 day trip where sleep was replaced with fun. I got home Thursday night exhausted. Friday morning I got up packed the trailer, picked up the kids from school and headed to Las Cruces for the race. The racing was fun but the wind sucked. Back to Albuquerque on Sunday night. I managed to get three days of work in before packing the trailer again and heading west on Friday. We went to the Grand Canyon for three days. We hiked the rim trails, the older boys and I hiked down into the canyon on the last day. We packed up from there and continued west. We left the trailer in Williams and went on to Lake Havasu. Uncle Pat was kind enough to have us over for a few nights. If you remember the California racing trips you will remember that Uncle Pat is actually Tim Dugan’s uncle that we have adopted. The kids swam in the pool at his house the first day, the second day he took us out on the boat. We spent all day where we visited different parts of the lake, saw quite a few girls in bikinis and Kristopher and Uncle Pat did some fishing. That was an awesome couple of days. Thank you Uncle Pat. Next it was on to Las Vegas. The kids have always wanted to see the strip and what it looks like at night. We stayed at the Excalibur. We walked the strip, visited some stores like M&M world and the Coke store. The two small kids and I went to the shops at Cesars Palace. I wanted to show them the talking statues. Unfortunately they were out of order. We did find FAO Swartz. A three story toy store where we spent at least three hours playing. Every place on the strip uses psychology. They do every thing the can to trap you and take your money. At the hotel, everything that you want do, you have to pass through the casino. At the other casinos, there are no windows so you don’t know how long you have been there, and they make the exits hard to find. At the shops in Cesars Palace, it is like a large mall. The maps of the mall have no “You are here” markings so you can’t figure out where you are at and how to leave. Everything is over priced. They pay people a lot of money to design these traps and take your money. Vegas Sucks. The next day we went to Sam Boys stadium to see the Monster Jam World Finals. I kinda felt like a redneck geek going but the kids wanted to go. That is an amazing thing to see. There were 42 trucks there. You could walk around and take pictures with all of them. People come from around the world to see this event. In one corner of the pit party there was a large are where a buzzing could be heard. We walked over to see Dennis Anderson, the owner and driver of Grave Digger, as well as the driver of the Batman truck driving RC cars. They were hitting some huge ramps and launching them twenty feet into the air. Kristopher got a truck body signed by the Batman driver, then Dennis Anderson came over and signed it also. If you have ever been to a local show, it is nothing like it. During the opening ceremonies there were 21 trucks running in a big circle at a fast pace around the stadium. The racing was cool, but the freestyle was the best. They launch their truck off 15ft ramps another 15 or 20ft in the air. Towards the end the go out there with the intention of winning or destroying the truck. It was absolutely crazy. When it was over there were six trucks upside down on the stadium floor. If your kids or yourself like the monster trucks, it is well worth the trip but buy your tickets early because they do sell out the stadium. Sunday we headed home. The kids and I walked across the Hover dam, then we stopped in Kingman to eat our last In-N-Out burger for a while. We stopped in Williams to pick up the trailer. We finally made it home about 11pm. What a month. Vegas Sucks!

2/29/08 My 5yr old learned to ride his bicycle almost a year ago when he was just barely over 4. After about a month he was pretty good at it. I put him on the motorcycle and in no time he had good control over the throttle and the brake. He didn’t’ want to race or even ride. He has much more fun playing on the trampoline, the Play station, X-box, the PSP, or just plain messing around with his sister (who has absolutely no desire to ride anything but her bicycle). The other day for some reason he decided he wanted to race. The four-wheeler I had bought for my daughter 2yrs ago is still pretty much brand new having barely been ridden. During that time the battery has gone bad. My son said he did not want to race the bike but the four-wheeler. I had my wife ask him again if he wanted to race just to be sure before I put too much effort into getting the bike running. I have plenty of other projects that need my time. He replied to her “Yea, (sarcastically) If dad gets a battery for the quad”. I went yesterday and got the battery, went home and spent all day trying to get it to run well. I finally dismantled the carb and cleaned it out. That made it run good. I robbed my pit bike of its twist throttle so I could put it on the quad. Last time he rode it he complained it made his hand hurt. So now my poor pit bike is throttle less but I got the quad running good. I told him that I was just going to finish putting all the plastic back on the quad then he could take it out and test ride it. Shortly after that my daughter asked if she could go to the neighbors to play. After she left my wife came to the garage to let me know they had gone. “What do you mean THEY?” She replied the Kristopher had gone also. Obviously he was very excited to go riding. Well, I will catch him tomorrow. Keith

2/21/08 Here I sit at the computer trying to figure out something to write. People have about given up on me because I don’t write in the journal anymore. I am not sure which is worse. Not writing, or writing something so boring that nobody wants to read it. Last weekend was a blast. I enjoyed the racing more then I had in years. It is mostly due to the fact that I have been exercising. When I get to work every three days I get on the elliptical machine for twenty-five minutes, then I get on the exercise bike for 10 minutes, then do a fast 30min walk on the treadmill. Is it fun, No. But I am glad when it is over. It defiantly made the race more fun. No I am getting ready to leave for a two-week trip to Daytona Beach for bike week. That is very exciting but the part I am not excited about is that I am coming back the day before I leave for Las Cruces for the next race. All that equals no exercise and a poor performance at the race. At least it won’t be the first time! I will try to do a little exercise while I am gone but no guarantees. Check my results after the next round to see if things worked out as planned. I will try to think of something more interesting to write. See you on the flip side. Keith

I think I found the fountain of youth. Well kinda, I found something that can make an adult act like a kid again. I was fortunate enough to find a Wii before Christmas. It was intended for my two youngest as they don’t get much play time on the X-box 360 or Play Station. The older boys not only tend to play more advanced games that are too difficult for the young kids. In fact, I don’t even play the X-Box. I get frustrated just turning that machine on. There is no on button and then play the game. There is menu after menu that go side to side and then up and down. I can’t even figure out how to get the game started so I just don’t play it. Anyway, I figured my wife who loves to Bowl would spend all day bowling on the Wii. It turns out I was wrong, It is Guitar Hero that has her attention. We have two of the wireless guitars so wife joins in on the action right along with the kids. That is the fountain of youth that makes adults act like kids. I am sure you know somebody who does the same thing. With the songs from the 80’s and 70’s you find the adults tapping their foot and singing along as they play. The faces they make are quite the show. The are intensely watching the TV screen while mouthing the words or singing out loud. I know it is not just a kid game because about every fire station you go to has a Guitar Hero setup and the firemen stay up till the wee hours of the morning playing the game. The funniest of all has to be my 5yr old. He has improved since he started playing it a month ago. His hands are small but he can hit about half the notes. He not only plays the notes but he also puts on a show. He does spins, power slides, turns the guitar backwards, and other moves while still putting in every effort to strike the notes. He is quite animated and fun to watch. The new racing season is upon us and my normal training is in effect. I have great plans to get ready but now it is two weeks away and I still haven’t been on my bike yet. Well I am right on track with my normal training routine. See you in Alamogordo.

Here are a couple of video clips of a 5yr old Spiderman rocking the guitar hero.

Video1 Video2 Video3 Video4 Video5

8/9/07 I always wanted a dog. I didn't get one until I had a place to keep him, and the time to devote to him. Back in 1996 when I bought my first house, I also got my first dog. His name is Max, We have always called him Max but his real name was Mad Max after the movie. He is a pure bread Great Dane. When we went to pick him out, he was the only puppy that did not come running up to the gate and jump all over us. He stayed toward the back of the pen by himself. My wife noticed him and said that is the one she wants. It was one of those things that you know is right when you see it. Max was only about 10" tall and would hide between the seats of the truck. on the way home. As Max grew he was a typical puppy whose body was growing faster then his coordination. I had Max's ears cropped so that they were pointy and stood up when something grabbed his attention. After a few months we figured he needed a playmate. We found an ad for a Great Dane and soon after Nala came home. Nala was a beautiful black puppy about 6 weeks old. The two dogs were happy together. As they grew so did the amount of trouble they could get into. The would get in Kyle's sand box and wrestle throwing out all of the sand. Kyle was just over a year old when we first got Max. Nala and Max played with Kyle as well as all the other kids as they came along. One day I made the mistake of leaving the gate open and I found out how quickly their long legs could take them far from home. When we moved out to Edgewood I knew they would enjoy the 5 acres that was now theirs to rule. The first thing they did was figure out how much of it was there's and then left. Shortly after that my neighbor was on the phone reading me the Santa Fe county ordnance on keeping you pet contained. That was almost 8 years ago and she still doesn't like me. I give my Harley a few revs every time I pass by her house no matter what time of the day or night it is just to let her know I am leaving or getting home. It turns out that would not be the last time I was made aware of the animal ordinance thanks to those dogs. Bernalillo county is a few miles away but that did not stop Nala from getting picked up by Bernalillo County Animal Control. We would get home to find a message on the answering machine that some good hearted person had caught my dogs many miles away only to find them outside with a piece of broken twine or telephone wire tied to their collar. They were never trying to run away, they just wanted to go exploring. Max got picked up by Santa Fe Animal Control and I had to go there to pick him up. Nala was so happy because she was "The Good Dog" because she had not been caught this time. My other neighbor Frank provided me with a copy of the animal control ordinance because the dogs would bark and not let him sleep. Soon after that we got a visit from the Sheriffs Dept and also Animal Control. I worked with him and resolved the problem. As many of you remember, Nala died about two years ago. It was a very sad day for me and the family. After she died I was worried about Max loosing his partner. He seemed sad but continued on. He did not leave the property much. He would mostly lay in one of his multiple favorite spots including the sand box. As winter came, I let him in the garage since he no longer had his partner to snuggle with. He never left, He spent his nights in there year around. Last year, I really started to worry about Max, The life expectancy of those types of dogs are 8 to 10 years. Nala made it to almost 9 and Max was now over ten years old. We took him to the first Corralitos Race since we did not want to leave him alone for a long weekend. Some of you might remember, he got up in the middle of the night on Friday and we didn't see him again until during the mini race Saturday afternoon when he came back thirsty and hungry. Over the past few months Max was getting slower and slower to get up when he was laying down. He would be laying down when he started to have a bowel movement. He would get up as fast as he could but inevitably, we would be out there cleaning the garage every day. One day last summer my neighbor that called the police on me asked me if it was ok that he was feeding dog biscuits to Max. My neighbor, now retired would meet Max out at the fence every afternoon to give him his biscuits. I know Max enjoyed it because I found him many afternoons waiting by the fence for Frank to show up. A couple of months ago Max started getting skinny so we switched him to canned food because we figured out he was having trouble eating the dry food. He gained weight again but I knew his time was getting close. My heart would sink when we could not find him only to find out he was sleeping under the trampoline or in the sand box and did not hear us calling him. Every day when we get up we open the garage door and he would slowly get up and go outside, find a nice cool spot in the weeds to lay down. Kyle would fill his bowl and take it to him so he would not have to get up and eat. By early afternoon, you would find him back in the garage laying on his foam mats. I bought those mats because my wife wanted to do aerobics in the garage but Max had taken them over so he could stay off the concrete when he was sprawled out on the floor. Those worked better because I can't tell you how many of those pet pillows I had to buy because he would chew them apart. Last night when we came back from football practice Max was in his usual place in the garage but he was breathing heavily. I moved him onto his mat and told him it was OK to go if he was ready. This morning I woke to find him no longer with us. It's a sad day at our house. We will miss Max. Keith

7/21/07 What is it with “le Tour de France”. They show the same race like 4 times a day. The race finishes, a 30min infomercial comes on and then the same race starts again. If you watch it, sometimes it does not even seem to be a race. The “Peleton” rides around as a group at their own pace. One guy crashes and it takes 10 more guys with him and at least one of them will be out for the rest of the tour just for falling of his bike. The announcer keeps talking about “attack”, Is there going to be a group of people coming out of the woods or from between the building with sticks to beat the riders, or Maybe they are going Baja 1000 style and putting out booby traps. Like throwing out a bunch of thumbtacks in the road. All it would take is for the first rider to hit a tack and he would go over the bars and the rest of the Peleton wound pile on top of him. I don’t’ even know what a “Peleton” is. Does it mean a bunch of guys who get paid to ride bicycles around in a big group? I think you have to be an engineer to figure out who is winning? The guy who crosses the finish line first does not necessarily mean you are winning. I think it means you win a new shirt that goes over your old sweaty shirt. Speaking of shirts, I think everybody wins a shirt; there are yellow shirts, green shirts, white shirts with pink dots, pink shirts with white dots. Tye dye shirts, and any other shirt they can come up with a color combination for. I think the days winner gets one, the overall winner gets one, the leader of riders under 25 gets one, the lead rider under 25 with 1 brother and two sisters gets one, the lead rider under 25 with 1 brother, 2 sisters, and one nut gets one, and so on. Every body gets one, their all wearing shirts! When you race, isn’t the race always ahead of you, when you look back is when you get in trouble. Yet when they are racing for the finish the lead guys are always looking back. What, did they drop something? That’s the finish line ahead, PEDAL FOR THAT! You would think that for a bike that cost’s more than all of my vehicles put together you would expect some quality. One of the spectators dropped a cup of ice in the road, when the next guy coming by struck it with his front tire it folded in half. Yes, the tire folded up like a taco and then of course the rider went over the bars and was out of the tour. If you ever talk to one of the tree hugging bike riders they will preach to you how we destroy the environment with to carbon monoxide from our vehicles and we should ride a bike. On the tour, there are motor homes lined up along the sides of almost every road they race on. I guess in France they only sell one kind of motor home because they all look alike. Then you have two chase cars for every bike rider on the tour. Those are only out numbered by the motorcycles that are constantly weaving in and out of the “racers”. Yes, they sure are using all those bikes to reduce the green house gasses. The only race that happens is when they see the finish line. Up until then they all just cruise along together waiting for the final sprint. But if there is a crash in the last 3km before the finish line, the guys in the crash don’t loose any time, the get the same finish time as the “Peleton”. Wow that sounds like a fair race! Hey Cindy, at the next race, can you just put the time as the rest of the guys in my class? Well, with all this ridiculousness that these people call a “race”, for some reason I am addicted! That is why I am up at 1am writing this and watching the end of the race. It’s exciting but I have to go, It’s about to start again. See you on the flip side, Keith

7/14/07 Hello to all. I don’t know what has happened to me, but I have just not had the energy to write. I know it has been many months since I wrote so I will try get you up to speed. On the last day of February I loaded a few bags on the Harley and went for a road trip with a friend. Myself and my friend Jim from work took our bikes and rode to Daytona for bike week. Yes, Daytona Florida. It was about 1850mi each way. We left in the cold wind and rode sideways down the road from Albuquerque to Santa Rosa, Then down to Clovis and on to Lubbock. About 30 outside of Lubbock the wind stopped and the weather turned nice. We rode into Abilene TX for the night. We stayed at a KOA in a couple of tents. When you show up after hours they want you to drop $30 in an envelope and fill out a form to tell them which space you are in. Neither of us had a pen so we skipped that part and left early the next morning before the office opened. We rode through Texas and caught I-10 in Beaumont. We crossed the border and headed east. We entered Louisiana at dark and rode a few hundred miles in the dark to New Orleans. Let me tell you, for a Thursday night that place rocks. The hotel we stayed at was one block from Bourbon Street. I don’t drink but felt obligated since we were on Bourbon Street. We stumbled back to the room exhausted after a 700mi ride and way too many drinks. Needless to say we had a late start the next morning. The hotel wanted $25 a night to park and we had two vehicles. Instead of paying we just rode around the gate and onto the street. Unfortunately a garbage truck blocked out getaway so we had to ride down the sidewalk to make our getaway. We made it to Tallahassee Fl at dark and figured another hour and a half we would be at our destination of Jacksonville. Wrong, 10mi of backup on I 10 put a stop to that. After about 45min I had enough and started riding down the center of traffic. My partner was not as daring so I had to keep stopping to wait for him. We spent the next week in Jacksonville with many trips down to Daytona. That is a crazy place. I did figure out how much I didn’t see and have a plan for next time. Due to mechanical problems we did not leave on the day we had planned to. We left a day later and did the ride home in two days. That was about 950mi a day. Needless to say we were quite tired at the end of each day but it was fun. A week later we went to Las Cruces and raced where during a pre-ride crash I tore ligaments in my good knee. Ouch that hurt. Then we went to Farmington where a race day crash tore up my shoulder enough that it hurts just to lift my arm. A doctor friend of mine looked at it and told me I tore more ligaments in my shoulder that require surgical repair. I raced the Rio Puerco anyway but managed not to hurt myself further. I had to miss the Rattlesnake due to work but I will be back to racing soon. Every time I look at the computer I want to sit down and write but mostly I just want to sit down. So that is what I have been doing and as I start to feel more rested I will try to write some more. The kids are racing and my four year old is now riding so I guess it is just in our blood. See you on the flip side, Keith

2/27/07 The wind is already blowing and my allergies have kicked into high gear. At the last race I got an itch in my mouth and in my ear. I should have known what was to come and start taking “Wal-a-tin” (Generic for Claritin). I have a few bottles in my locker at work and another in my truck. Every time I needed some I did not have any. So I would buy another and it would wind up in my locker at work. Of course I did not take any when the symptoms started, instead I waited until I could breathe no longer, my eyes were itching and my nose was running. I was working ambulance and decided enough was enough. We headed for a drug store for some Sudafed. Every time I would step out of the ambulance to go inside and get some, the tones would go off and we were off again. When you are as miserable as I was, there is not a lot of compassion happening. I finally made it inside a Walgreen’s. As it turns out, you can’t just go buy a box off the shelf. Instead you get a card off the shelf from where the boxes used to be. I walked up to the counter with my card in hand. On the counter was sitting a 12pack of diet coke. The pimple face teenage girl behind the counter smiled and said she would be with me in a minute. As it turns out, some guy decided to go shopping after they started his transaction. After waiting for a few more minutes, sniffling and wiping my nose, hoping the pager would not go off again the guy shows up with a bag of cotton balls and band aids. Great, now we are on our way, I will soon be exchanging my card for some medication that will make life all better. As it turns out this guy not only has Diet Coke and cotton balls, there is a grocery-sized bag of medications waiting for him. As the young girl started to ring it up the total came out to $140.24. “That’s not right” the man told her. “Those should be free”, pointing to the grocery bag. As it turns out “Medicaid” is paying for them. That means not only were they keeping me from relief, but I was also paying for them. My eyes were rolling in my head as this fiasco was keeping me from the relief I sought when I could exchange that little card for that foil pack pot of gold. Finally he was done and it was my turn. After the fingerprints, DNA sample, and photos, I made out of the store with relief in hand. Before I made it out the door, I had torn the box open and popped one of those little guys down the hatch. As I stepped out the door the sun was shinning, the birds were singing and I would soon be able breathe again. I would say that I won’t be writing for a while but that would be no surprise. Tomorrow morning I am climbing aboard the Harley and heading for Daytona with a friend from work. 1700mi each way to go check out a few days of Bike Week. I cleared out my e-mail so my box would not fill up while I am gone and the computer is being put away for the next two weeks. See ya on the flip side. Keith

02/16/07 It is amazing how fast time goes by. It seem just like yesterday I was writing in the journal but it turns out it has been more than a few days. The snow at the house is incredible. I had to call in sick for a few hours on two different occasions just to clear the snow drifts off my driveway. I used the tractor but after pushing the two foot drifts into piles greater than five feet high we had to hand shovel them so the tractor can do some more work. When your tractor only has a blade the only thing you can do is push the snow. When the snow is 2ft deep on both sides of the drive the only way to push is off the end of the drive. With a 90ft long drive, it piles up rather quickly. Finally an end to the storms and the ground is starting to dry. I have not ridden the Harley for over two months because I am unable to get it through the mud. I worked alot this week in preparation for a trip coming up but I will talk about that another day. I worked 48hrs on Sunday and Monday. I went home Tuesday and worked all day getting the motor home and trailer ready for the weekend. I got the motor home stuck in the mud once but it came out after a little shovel work. It was cold and windy so the day was not that fun. That night I went to work from 7pm to 7am. Of course since the ground at home was drying out we had another snow storm. We got another 6" at home. Since I was gone the neighbor came by with his snow blower and cleared the drive for my family. My neighbor is a nice guy even though he has called the cops on me when my dog barks at night but then he and my dog have a daily meeting at the fence where he feed him biscuits. I can't figure him out but thanks anyway. Wednesday morning I left the airport and headed for the fire station to work another overtime shift which would put me on another 48 for Wednesday and Thursday. The roads were icy but I made it without incident, or so I thought. When I parked I could hear air leaking out of the front tire. I moved the car and the leak stopped. I thought that maybe it might not be a tire after all. Later that day I went out and found that both driver side tires were flat. They were only flat on the bottom so it was not that bad. If you have to do an overtime shift this is the best type to have. I was working on a rescue and did not touch a single patient all day. I did get to play fireman and put out a fire. In the fire service it is often said that we run into what same people run out of. This is acutely a true saying and to get the nozzle on a fire is something people want and there is often some deception, trickery, or what ever else it takes to get the nozzle away from someone. We arrived first at a fire and geared up. When the ladder showed up one guy jumped out of the back all ready to go. he grabbed the hose and started pulling it off the truck. As the nozzle came by I grabbed it and took off. Score one for me. The Lieutenant that we were working with does not get along with his crew, being that he has no rank on me I even though I was working as a medic on the rescue he could not tell me anything like he tells his own guys. He and I had worked together with one other guy before we had gotten promoted. We made his life hell. He is very scared and by the book, the other guy and myself tend to have a bit of fun. At the end of the year he said to us. "I will work with Lester again, and I will work with Keith again, But I will NEVER work with both of you again. We are still quite proud of that statement. Anyway, since I was working with him, I decided to do his crew a favor and make his life hell once again. I spent the day doing everything that I knew would drive him nuts. At the end of the shift all of his normal crew thanked me. I aired up my tires and went back to my station. I removed both tires which turned out to have nails in them and through them in the fire truck. I know it is a rough job but what is a guy to do? I got one tire fixed but due to the location of the nail on the back tire I had to get it replaced. There is a small tire shop down the street from the fire station that I can pretty much guarantee that it does not have a business license. With all the violations that I have seen in the building code there is no way it would pass inspection. They are nice guys and take care of us so who am I to say. Every time we have gone there they grab the tires and go right to work. We came back later and he put a new used tire on and charged me $15 for the tire and $5 for the flat repair. I put them back on the car and sure enough a few hours later the tire was flat again. I aired it up this morning and stopped by the shop on the way home. He put a different tire on and I was ready to race. At home the wind was blowing hard and cold. I had to pull the trailer to a parking lot with a four wheel drive and then pull the motor home out by itself so I would not get stuck. The dirt road leading to my driveway has had so much moisture that all it takes is a few drops to turn it back into a slippery muddy mess. The wind pulled the drivers side door of the motor home out of my hand and bent it. Off we went anyway. We made it here to Alamogordo and the weather is warm and dry and calm. Right now I could care less about the race. Did I mention the weather is warm and dry, and calm? See you on the flip side, Keith

01/27/07 This morning on the way to work I was noticing a nice truck. It got me to thinking, When I was a kid I knew I wanted a “cool” car. I think at the time it was a van with a waterbed in the back, a refrigerator, and an awesome mural painted on the side. Of course as the years changed so did the ideal “cool car”. When I got to that cruising age I had a nice car but knew there was more that was just out of my financial reach. Now that I have the means to buy pretty much what ever car I want, I drive a beat up $700 Ford Ranger and don’t really want a “cool car, I would rather have a nice new truck. Even thought I could afford one, I choose not to because I like the gas mileage of my Ranger and the fact that it will carry my bike. Just before Christmas 05 I was coming from riding so I had my bike in the back. I stopped to look for a present and as I was waiting in line to turn, BAM, I had been rear ended I got out and found that it was an Isuzu Trooper that did the hitting and my bumper was bent down slightly more than it already was. My bike however had been knocked over in the back of my truck. I picked her up and checked her over. She seemed to be fine. The guy asked if we not call the police since he had no insurance. I could see his wife and two young boys sitting inside. Of course I didn’t call the police. It was Christmas and any involvement of the police would affect the boys Christmas. He gave me his name and number but with no insurance, not much damage to my truck, and most of all, my bike was OK. I just tossed his name and number in the trash and said Merry Christmas to the small boys. So here I am driving my beat up little truck and I am happy since my kids have motorcycles in the garage and enough toys for three times as many kids. Does that mean I am getting old? Naaaawwwwwww, here it is another new season is upon us and I as am excited as when I saw that blue van with the diamond shaped bubble windows, chrome exhaust pipes running down the side, and the mural across the side. See you on the flip side, Keith

1/5/07 The New Year has begun, you know what that means. All the old people (one of which is not me) say, “I can’t believe another year has gone by” or “The year went by fast”, “They keep getting faster every year” and other sayings of the like. It also means all the “Top ten of 2006” lists have finally ended. And all of the authors write stuff about “ A new year brings…” and write of what they did over the past year and all the “Exciting” plans for the New Year. Well not me, the New Year brings nothing more than a new number to remember to write on my checks and reports. Wait a minute; I have bill pay and a Master Card check card. I don’t write checks anymore. All the reports I have to write are on the computer and the date is already entered. Believe it or not you to have succumbed to the technical revolution. I know this because you are on the internet reading this. As my kids have gotten older, they have gotten to the point where toys are OK, but they want electronic gadgets. My oldest is 12 and he got a stereo for his room. It has alot of cool features but you know it is good because it is loud enough to piss off mom. My daughter got a karaoke machine. I was told karaoke is a Japanese word for “Sings out of tune”. As it turns out my wife likes the same music as my son and she also sings out of tune. Gifts for everybody. My 10yr old son Kevin’s birthday is two days after Christmas so he always kind of gets the short end of the stick for birthday presents. This year I wanted to make sure he didn’t so he got a PSP for a Christmas/Birthday gift. If you don’t know what a PSP is, think about the first computer you remember and it is about 10 times more advanced. The disks for this are about 2.5in across and cost much more than they weigh. We loaded pictures and music into it so he can use it as an MP3 player, picture viewer, play movies, and games. If there is another PSP nearby that has the same game they can wirelessly play the game together. The thing even has wireless internet capabilities. All of this is packed into a small machine that fits in the palms of two hands. Yes, when I was ten, we got an ATARI. Don’t even go there. Christmas was good except for the overwhelming snowstorm that came through town. I was at work when the snow started. It started at 08:30 and did not stop. At four in the morning when we were out chasing down power lines that fell when the weight of the snow was too heavy for trees that would take out the power lines as they fell, it was still snowing. I think it was another few hours before it quit snowing. I was in my small truck and there was a reported 2ft of snow at my house. There was no way I was making it home. One of the guys from work was going that way so he gave me a ride home. I knew once I got home and fired up the tractor that two feet of powder would be no problem. I made it home and fired up the tractor. As it was warming up, it died. Now when I say died, I mean it is now dead. It will crank but not fire. After standing in 2ft of snow for the next hour trying to get it started I finally gave up. I spent the next week off and on trying to get it started spending about $70 in the process to no avail. The two feet of snow in my driveway turned to about six inches of packed snow that only my big truck could make it out of, and that truck almost got stuck once. Today I spent a hundred bucks renting a bobcat to clear the packed snow off the drive so we can actually make it in and out of the house. New Years Eve as I said before has never been a big deal to me. I am usually in bed well before midnight and this year was no different. With the snow so deep in my drive and my family out of town there was no reason to go home. I got off work from Life Guard at 7pm and decided to just go to the fire station since I had to be at work there in the morning. I was asleep by 8:30pm. It was three days later before I had to write the date on something and realized it was now 2007. Wow did 2006 go by fast. It seems the years go by faster and faster every year. That is OK because I had a good year and I have a lot of exciting things planned for 2007… See ya on the flip side, Keith

12/3/06 What happened to the fast food restaurants? Are we so lazy that we can’t even order food by name? Carl’s Jr does not even have a menu that you can read. All they have is pictures with numbers. As I tend to be on the frugal. I like to comparison shop. For example, If you buy the nugget kids meal it is $3.69, if you buy the hamburger meal it is $2.79, and a four-piece nugget is $.99 on the value menu. If you do the math when my kid asks for the nugget meal I can buy the hamburger meal and a 4-piece nugget so my kid gets their nuggets and I only have to pay $.10 for a hamburger. Multiply that times 4 kids and I eat 4 small burgers for only $.40. Since the kids don’t eat their fries and the refills are free on the drinks, It’s a decent priced meal. Since nobody list’s food on the menu it makes it impossible to figure out the most economical way to feed the family. Since I tend to be a non-conformist I ask the 16yr kid behind the counter how much is a plan hamburger. Their first reaction is always to turn around and stare up at the menu on the wall looking for the hamburger. After a few moments of this they turn around and stare at the register. Not that it is any better. The register only has names of the items. If you want to know the price of something, they have to push the button with the picture of the hamburger to see the price come up. The button is a bit easier to find since that tends to be the one that is not worn down. The buttons with the numbers are the ones that are worn down. After some quick math, I decide that I don’t want the burger so now the kid has to call the manager to delete it from the order. I give up, I just order a number. Now with nobody needing cash anymore it won’t be long before we just lay the ATM card attached to our keys on a spot marked on the counter, then there will be a menu on the counter with pictures. You will be able to press the button, the button will light up, you will smile and make some happy uuuhhhhh sound. Press the green button, then it will pull the info off your ATM card. All this will happen without having to speak a word to the kid behind the counter texting to their friends how hard their job is. Next time you go into a picture based menu restaurant, ask that kid how much just a plain hamburger is and watch him turn around and stare at the menu. See you on the flip side, Keith

11/30/06 I don’t know what is wrong with me. I have just not had any desire to write in the journal. I know it does not take much but I just can’t motivate myself. For the first time in many years I had the day off and was able to spend it with my family. Since I usually work the wife and kids are the ones who actually go down. We planned to leave on Wednesday. I was going to take my dirt bike for her first ride since May. I had also planned on taking my Harley to get some riding in the nice weather. I had to work Saturday night so I was going to ride the Harley home. My 12yr old asked if we could take his bike and go ride at the Corralito’s track. Of course I agreed. Since we were going riding I decided not to take the Harley, instead we would take a second car so my wife would have a means of transportation while my son’s and I took the truck to go riding. I fixed the rear tire on my CR which had been flat since May. After that I kicked her over and she quickly came to life. I tell you, you could not wipe the smile off of my face. I rode her around the yard just to check and then parked her in the garage. I still could not get the smile off of my face so I leaned over and gave her a big hug. It was a beautiful moment. Afterwards I pulled my pit bike out and took that for a few laps around the track. My sister was out there riding the XR100 so I figured I would do a few laps with her. I rode around for a while then started doing some of the doubles. After a few more laps I decide to give the jump onto the table top a try. Mistake! I must have bounced because I landed on the side of the tabletop and then went on over landing on my right side and tumbling over in time to see the bike also tumbling through the air. Ouch, that hurt. I ended up with some big scrapes on my shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee. I went back in the house to look for some sympathy. As I sat there I decided I needed to load up the Harley to go. If I didn’t, I would go crazy down there with all the family. When we got there on Wednesday night, I unloaded my bike and went for a ride. Nothing exciting just a nice ride. When I got back I stepped of the bike and my knee immediately hurt and I was not able to walk very well. I have no Idea what happened. Thursday morning my 3yr old and I went out for a ride. We visited a few people and were about 20mi from home when I noticed that he was wobbling around. I realized he was asleep. He sits in front of me so I was able to hold him up but the heavy helmet made his head wobble. I remembered that I kept a long seatbelt in the saddlebag. I wrapped it around both of us and headed for the house. When we finally stopped I unbuckled us and when I was taking off his helmet he woke up. He denied he had slept. On Friday Kyle and I headed out for the track. Kevin was still asleep so he did not go. When we got out there Kyle headed for the mini track to do a few laps. I got ready and headed up the trail to test out my aching knee. It felt ok and Kyle had come back so we took off on the 25mi loop. Kyle was riding pretty fast but about half way into it I could tell he was getting tired. When we finished the loop he shut off his bike and laid over the bars and asked me if I had a bed. He was beat. I told him to take a break and I headed out again at full speed. I had not ridden in 6mo and the terrible thing is that I was still just as slow and out of shape as if I had never quit riding. About 8mi into it I came upon my sister and her family. We chatted for a few when DJ and Matt Joanason showed up. Matt said, “Let’s go Keith” So it was time to leave. We took off and I was leading. It did not take long for me to blow a corner and watch Matt go by. “Damm Experts” I said to myself. A few corners later DJ went by. I stayed within a 100yrd of him for the next 15mi or so. I think he was waiting for me but he says no. I finally ran out of energy and he was gone. I finished the lap but not at a race winning speed by any means. After a short break we headed out on the quads. Matt and I were on the 400’s and DJ was on a 250. We followed him playing for a while and would make a pass and go then let him go by again. One time while moving at race speed I looked back and Matt was on my tail. It was on. We raced for the next several miles till he finally gave up trying to catch me (It’s my story Matt and I will tell it like I want to.) and stopped to wait for DJ. I was beat by this time and we just cruised back in at half speed. What a day. The next day I took the Harley to El Paso. I know that is in Texas but I was willing to make the sacrifice to go to the Harley dealer for a few after Thanksgiving specials. The weather was great, cruising down the interstate at 90mph in jeans and a t-shirt. As I pulled into my in-laws house I heard a crash. My highway peg had hit my mother in-law’s giant flowerpot and it broke into more pieces then I stopped to count. I went inside to change shoes and she asked if it was the radio because she thought she heard a crash. Of course you know what I said, “It was the radio”. I quickly loaded the bike in the trailer and left town. This weekend we leave for California to do some more racing. Tim isn’t going but I am sure the fun will still happen. My knee is still swollen and hurts to walk. The nurses at work tell me I should call my doctor since it is the one he worked on. I agreed, If it is not better by January I am defiantly going to call. I have too much riding to do right now. I will let you know. See you on the flip side. Keith

10/17/06 I think I am a magician. I can be working in the garage and set down a tool on the workbench in front of me and then it completely disappears. Yes, I mean completely gone! Now I spent the next half hour looking for it because I can’t go on without it. Then all of the sudden it reappears right in front of my eyes right where I had set it down. This is not an isolated incident so I must be a magician. Before we headed to the Socorro race I took the motor home to work so I could get a good cleaning done since it had not been used in months. Before I headed out to clean I took my phone out of my shirt pocket where it normally resides and put in my pant pocket. I had spent a few hours out there (not a very busy day at work) pulling everything out of every cabinet and cleaning it. I pulled all the kids snacks out, I took every one of those miniature cereal boxes out and re organized them in the big box they came in, I took every pot, pan, dish, and glass out and ran them through the dish washer. As I was nearing the end, the guys came and got me to let me know dinner was ready. I went in to go eat and during the meal Konrad called me to let me know that he had been trying to call me but to no avail. I figured that my phone must have died. I finished dinner and went back to cleaning, after awhile we had a call so I locked it up and we left. At the call I realized my phone was not on me. When we got back I searched the motor home up and down, inside and out. I went in the station and turned my room upside down (boy does that place need a cleaning). I turned over the couch where I sat when Konrad called and found $1.48 and a knife. Thanks to whoever for the knife but I still wanted my phone. I searched the motor home three more times and even took the flashlight and checked the entire parking lot. Still nothing. The guys and I loaded back up in the truck and went back to the house where we had the call and searched the muddy parking area and even had the residents helping us. Still nothing. Back at the station I once again went through the motor home and walked the parking lot. Still nothing, I give up. I was on a 48 so the next day when the new crew came in one of the guys who is part native American, said he could find anything, He said he once found one of our other guy’s wallet after he had dropped it in the forest. Yea sure, I gave him the keys and off he went. 30min later he returned dejected and with no phone. Of course you could imagine the jokes began to fly. Occasionally during the day I would look but mostly racking my brain trying to figure out what happened to it. The next morning the family showed up so we could leave to Socorro and off we went. I purchased mine and my wife’s phone at the same time and the lame batteries are starting to give up, and much like Tim Dugan at a race, they don’t last that long. Knowing that my phone is lost my wife shows up but neglects to bring her phone charger. Right on que honey, no surprise there. Anyway down in Socorro the racing was going on and I was working the scoring trailer when my wife comes over to give me my phone. Yes my phone, my niece went to get some cereal to eat and had to make a decision amongst all the little boxes of cereal. Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Cheerios, or an LG8100 cellular phone. I have no idea how that thing jumped out of my pocket into that neatly packed box. I must be a magician. For my next trick watch me convince my wife I need to race the dirt bike again this year. That would be a real trick. See ya on the flip side, Keith

8/26/06 The other day while cruising along in a 55mph zone that also happens to be a “Safety Corridor” where the fines are doubled. This is a route that I take often and usually at a speed more that what is allowable under the law. Just as the limit changed to 65mph I noticed an APD officer sitting on the shoulder, I was in the left lane and slowed rapidly. He pulled out into traffic and made his way out into traffic. He followed the car behind me for a moment then kicked on his lights. Moved over to the right then he got in behind me. Damm, busted! My three-year-old son was sitting next to me with his lap belt on but not in a car seat. I pulled over and stopped. First I moved my son over to the passenger seat and re-buckled him. I reached into the glove box and started looking for the required paperwork. I finally pulled out a hand full and sat back up. To my surprise the officer was standing right there. It scared me so I yelled and jumped. This made him laugh, I was off to a good start. He apologized for scaring me, I told him it was my fault that he had to pull me over. I shuffled through the paperwork a bit more then I remembered that I had taken out the insurance card to make a copy for work and I knew my registration was expired although I told him it was with the insurance card. He asked me what I did for a living. He already knew by the license plate that I am a firefighter. I told him that I was and he told me he clocked me doing 73 in a 65 and showed me the radar gun. He then told me to slow it down and have a nice day. I had to pay extra for that plate and it has paid off. A few days later when I told my wife about it she gets mad and calls me lucky.

It has been since March that I have had a motorcycle permit and the expiration date is next month. I needed to take the riding test to get the full endorsement. I called up the officer that does the tests out there and he said if I went down right away it would only take about 15min. I hurried down to the MVD, there they asked for my insurance and registration. This time I knew I had both. I went out to the bike and found out I was wrong. I don’t have a clue what happened to my registration. The girl at the counter was very nice and offered to sell me a replacement sheet of paper for five bucks. I wanted to get this over with so I forked out the five bucks. When the officer came in, he took my paper work and asked me where I was parked. We went out to the bike, he started looking it over and I am sure noticed my IAFF logo on the bike. He asked me how long I have been riding. I let him know that on the street, since March, but on the dirt I have been riding all of my life. He asked how long I had had my permit and if I had had any problems. I let him know about the deer I avoided that early morning. He then took a couple of phone calls. After he was off the phone I asked him if he rode also. He sure did, we talked about how similar riding a bike is with driving an emergency vehicle. He said that was good enough and I had passed my riding test. The girl back at the desk said I must have a BMW motor in my Harley because she never even heard it start up. I gave them some more money and out the door I went. As I was leaving I asked how old you have to be to get a motorcycle riders license for a bike under 100cc. 13 was the answer. I went home where my wife asked me how I had done. I could not tell a lie, I told her what happened, She once again called me lucky and was not happy about it. I let her know that my son is only a year and two months away from being able to get his motorcycle license. That was met with an immediate NO WAY. It did not seem like there was any room that she was going to budge on that one so I will leave it alone, for now. Anyone know where I can get a 100cc dual sport bike? See you on the flip side, Keith

8/12/06 I started working again at one of my jobs. Man, I had forgotten how much work interferes with my life. Here I am at work while my bikes sit in the garage. Oh yea, did I mention that last month I went ridding with Robbie. We did about a 120mi loop and he did not pass me once. Think about that and I will get back to it later. Last year when the gas prices were climbing up again and the Suburban once again needed something fixed I decided it was time to succumb to the gas prices and get a mini van. I often made fun of my cousin who thinks he is way cool. When he bought his family a mini van I called him sensible. You know that does not go over well with someone who is fighting back age like we are. I decided it was time to be sensible. After we looked at a few my wife said no way and we wound up with the heaviest vehicle on the road with a V10 that likes to suck gas. As the price of gas has continued to climb my wife decided it was time for something that uses less gas. You know, like I said in the first place. Let’s back up for a minute. Nine years ago when my little sister was sixteen I gave her my truck. I was an 87 Nissan with the expensive wheels, lift kit, Alpine stereo with the big boom box, and a hydraulic dump bed. For a sixteen-year-old girl it is not a bad deal to be given something like this. Well the first thing she did was to run a stoplight. Luckily the vehicle that hit her only hit one of the big wheels and ruined the expensive wheel. After that she for some reason refused to set the alarm and the boom box and Alpine stereo were stolen. The truck lasted for some years before it quit. She then got a car for a few years. During that time my brother and sister dumped a lot of money into it to keep it running. While I was in Las Cruces she wanted me to take a look at something for her. That car was a mess. The brake lights did not work, but that was ok since neither did the brakes. When you stepped on the pedal the car would pull hard to the right and just slow down. She said she had to fill the break fluid reservoir once every three days. I bleed the brakes but could not find the leak. I fixed the brake lights and then took it down to put a few new tires on it. While at the tire shop it would not start. We jump-started it and then it had no problems for the next few stops till we made it home. Later that night she called me and told me that all the lights had dimmed and then the car died. I went and jump started it and tested the alternator which was working fine. I told her to get rid of that possessed car as soon as she could for what ever she could. I went home back to Albuquerque, loaded my daily driver Honda Accord on a trailer and delivered it back to her. I knew that was a good car. That one lasted her for a while till it gave up the ghost. In spring of 05 she said she was ready to by a good car now because she could afford it. She found a 92 Honda Accord for $2500. I wrote a check for it and she was going to go find financing. The was the last I heard from her. I found out some months later that one thing after another was going wrong with it until she tried to pound a speed hump flat with it and ruined it to the point that oil was spewing out and a rod was knocking. Well what should a good big brother do who now owns a $2500 piece of junk? Yep, that’s right, I bought her another car. I flew her up from Las Cruces and bought another car which she drove back home. This was only a $750 car but much to her credit she paid me for it this time. Now that my wife wants an economy car I started looking around. I could not find what I wanted so I figured since I already own one I would just go get it and fix it up. Now after dropping $1900 into it, I now have a $2000 car that I have spent $4500 on. I know, it does not add up but what can you do. You still want to know how I did not get passed by Robbie. A few friends and I went to the Fire and Ice bike rally in Grants. We went out for a trip to the ice caves and Robbie and Jessica decided to go with us. Lucas Devaney was also there on his crotch rocket. Due to the fact that we were all on Harleys, I knew Lucas wanted to open it up. ¾ of the way over this bike came flying by us at 100+ mph. It scared the heck out of me but I knew Lucas would not be far behind. Sure enough there he went. We made it to the ice cave where they got to watch a drunken lady try to navigate the stairs while being loud and stumbling all over. The show was worth the trip. Anyway, that is how I went ridding with Robbie and never got passed. See ya on the flip side, Keith

8/3/06 I have been off of work for over six weeks. It has been a lot of fun, but I am ready to go back to work. Tuesday I got my bag ready to go. It was my day to work at the Fire Dept. and I had a Dr’s appointment that morning where I was going to get my release to go back to work. I arrived early and was excited to be going back to work. In the waiting room there was not much selection. The only magazine I found to read was a “Cheerleading” magazine. I knew it was OK because my seven year old daughter was a cheerleader and I was just looking at the stuff available to her as well as maybe some stuff that might help her get better. All the while I was reading I could not help but to think that the other people in the waiting room were watching me and thinking, “What a pervert, he’s just looking at the pictures.” I really wasn’t, I was looking for information for her. The thing that got me was that there was a picture of some blonde haired dude in one corner of the cover page. Maybe I am just too macho, but I defiantly would not want my picture on the cover of “Cheerleading” magazine. Come to think of it, I would not even want to be caught reading “Cheerleading” magazine. I looked around but did not know anybody so I kept reading. There were a few pages where they had pictures and a small description of young cheerleaders. One of them was a 7yr old boy. Poor kid, he probably has no idea of what he was doing let alone what he is doing to his future by having his face printed on the pages of this magazine. I finally got called to the back. Should I take my magazine or not? I left it there and went back. The Doc came in rather quickly and we discussed my knee. He said it was looking good. I asked him how long I should wait before I got back on my dirt bike. I wanted to have his official word because the wife would accept nothing less. What would you think he would say, I was expecting him to say “At least another six months”. He surprised me when he answered, “Whenever you feel ready”, As my jaw hit the floor I made some sound like huuuuuuuuhhh. I told him I was still going to wait until I got a knee brace and he said OK. After he jotted down a few notes he asked me what kind of work I do. I of course replied that I am a fireman. He then surprised me again. He said because they had broken the end of the bone in my lower leg, that takes a long time to heal and he dose not want me to go back to work for another six to twelve weeks. Yes, I said 6 to 12 weeks. Once again my jaw hit the floor. I was ready to go back to work. Infact, I was excited to go back to work. He said he would see me again in six weeks and then he left. What a great doctor I have, I can’t go to work but I can go ride my dirt bike! I left his office and did not know what to do. I make a few phone calls to let my employer know that I would not be in to work. I called the wife to let her know I was going to be off for another six weeks. She of course was surprised and upset. She was done having me at home and was ready for me to go back to work also. She wanted me to go back in and make the Dr. let me go back to work. I left there and drove around for a while. Went to the chief’s office to take my Dr’s note that would not let me get back to work yet. I sat in the office in a daze, I was so expecting to be back at work that know I didn’t know what to do. I think I’ll be able to figure out something. There is a Harley in the garage that needs to be ridden. See ya on the flip side, Keith

7/23/06 The Doctor told me I had to be on crutches for five weeks. Yea, sure. Within 3 days I was gingerly walking on it in the house. With everyday, I would bear a little more weight and travel a little bit farther. On race weekend I did not even use them. I put them in the truck when we went to Las Cruces but never pulled them out of there. I had to report for physical therapy so I figured I would take them since I was still supposed to be using them. Halfway there I realized I had forgotten them. Oh well. I showed up there and walked in. First there was an interview and an exam with a female assistant. First I had to walk up and down the hall a few times. She said it was so she could see my gate but I knew she really wanted to check me out. Next I had to get on a table so she could see some range of motion stuff. Then she touched my leg, both of them infact. I have lost a small amount of muscle in the leg from non-use but not bad. The physical therapist came in and we talked about progression and my non use of the crutches. Some doctors want you walking as soon as you can while others like my surgeon is more conservative and want to give it more time. I told them I was going to bring my crutches and fake like I have been using them. I asked if they wanted me to hobble in on them for the next appointment but they declined. She then showed me some exercises to do on my own and told me to come back in four weeks. I guess I have what it takes since she wants a second date. See you on the flip side, Keith

7/11/06 Sick time has been rough. The weekend of the race I took my crutches but never got them out of the motor home. I figured what's the use out in the desert. I did use the three-wheeler alot, and tried not to walk too much. That bike is a great help. That is how I have been getting around the yard at home. I was at the starting line on pre-ride when Buggs Berry came back pushing his bike. He asked if he could borrow it and I held his bike as he took off on mine. He returned with a sparkplug and a wrench. I held his bike while he changed it out. On race morning I needed to go over to the start line to get some info. I stepped out of the scoring trailer and I could not find my three-wheeler anywhere. My kids had run off with it or I did not know where they left it. Robbie’s utility quad was there so I jumped on it and took off. I did not even need to ask. If you need something out at the races, somebody is always willing to help. Gary Wise, who is one of the racers in Konrad’s class, was heading to Colorado for some vacation so I brought his bike and his gear home with me so he would not have to haul it around with him. After the race we left to Las Cruces. Gary is apparently much smarter then I, he went North and I went South. I had not seen my Grandma in some time and I wanted to go see her. The other thing I wanted to go see was Barnett HD, supposedly the world’s largest HD dealer. It had been at least 15yrs since I had been there at their old location. The new location has an immense selection of stuff for the HD. The problem with going there is that it is in that dreaded place. Yea, you know the place, Texas. Last year when I went to rural northern Texas it was nice. This trip to El Paso reminded me of why I hate Texas. As I crossed the border going into Texas, there was a large dumpster on the side of the interstate where any native that has left the state has to deposit any bit of common sense, intelligence, or driving ability they have acquired while out of state. While traveling along I-10 there is 4 lanes of traffic with everybody traveling the same speed staggered across the four lanes. I was in the left lane where I had hoped that they would at least travel the speed limit. Nope, no such luck. My exit came up and because of the great drivers they are they were not being able to recognize that flashing light at the corner of my vehicle, and I missed my exit. Being in the, greatest wife in the world, Excursion which is bigger than any other passenger vehicle on the road I had to push my way through, making a couple of block passes, and hitting the next exit. Damm, I hate Texas. My son was asking about Mexico, but there was no way I wanted to cross the border. I knew of a place where Monument One was at so I headed for that park. Monument One is the first in a series of 246 concrete pillars one mile apart that mark the border between the US and Mexico. At the very tip of New Mexico where it meets with Texas and Mexico (not like there is a difference between the two) is the little village of Anapra. This is where the park is at. When we got to Anapra the rain was pouring and there were flash flood warnings for the area we were in. We headed down a poorly maintained road and alongside the river. The road led around a brick plant and down the river levee. When we arrived there was some cars parked along the river with people swimming in it. As I parked the truck a border patrol came flying up the road and parked behind me. I guess an Excursion with blacked out windows going to an area where smuggling occurs draws suspicion. He informed me that the park was closed on the US side due to illegal crossings and the drug trafficking. I told him we had not lived in the area for over ten years and I just wanted to show the kids another country as well as a historical marker. He was very nice and allowed us to see it. He also gave us some history of the way the trafficking was happening that caused the closure. After reading the plaque at the monument we followed him out. I surely did not want to stay tucked in against the mountain where assaults are a common thing against Americans. At least I was out of Texas. When we made it home later in the week, it turns out we had also had a torrential down pour at home. I was walking out in the yard where I found the ground around my wellhead had collapsed two to three feet. I turned on the faucet and, sure enough, it was pumping mud again. Now starts the work of filling it back in, finding out how it is happening, and trying to clear the water so my family has clean water. My neighbor came over with his tractor and put a few loads of dirt where it had collapsed. It was difficult trying to pack it down because I did not know the extent of the collapse under the surface so I did not want to get too close. My well is 550ft down and with my luck there is now a hole just wide enough to fit me that goes all the way to the bottom. You think getting baby Jessica out was hard, you should try baby Huey with a bum knee. Gary Wise came by to pick up his bike and helped me pack down the dirt. I spent the rest of the day on my tractor fixing the drainage again to try to keep the water away from my well. I know, it sounds as crazy to me as it does to you. See you on the flip side, Keith

06/28/06 It has been a week and a half since my surgery. Needless to say I have done alot of catching up on my sleep. I was told that weight bearing of 25lbs on my repaired leg and to use a CPM machine for three weeks. A CPM machine is this thing that you lay your leg on and it moves your leg up and down. The day after surgery they delivered my machine. The next day I got a message that they wanted money for it. The following day they called again and wanted money again. When I asked a question they became rude so I told them to come get their damn machine. The picked it up and I have not heard from them again. It does not matter anyway since I have been walking on it since two days after the surgery. I have not been bearing total weight, It is kind of like a hop. We went to Konrad’s house the other day for my niece’s birthday party. I think that is the last time I will be invited back. It was Sunday and of course NASCAR was on. They showed some clips of some commentary from the banquet where Cheech said that this was a road course and they would be turning left and right. He called it a “Thinking man’s NASCAR”. As I laughed at it Konrad smirked at me. Towards the end of the race there was a crash. I made the comment that it was a terrible thing to happen. Not because there were people out the race but rather because it delayed the best part of the race. The best part being when the race is over and we can change the channel. That comment did not go over very well either. Of course neither did the one asking him what he did with all the tapes of the races he records. I mean seriously. You know who won and it is not that interesting when it is live let alone 5yrs later on a VHS tape. In fact it won’t be that long from now that you will only be able to find a VCR in an antique shop. The surgeon gave me a videotape of my surgery and I asked him what I was supposed to do with it. I had not owned a VCR in years. Back to NASCAR. Something was shown with the number three on it and I said that it was for Dale Evans. Wow, what a touchy subject. It turns out Dale Evans rode a horse and was not a NASCAR driver. Then they started showing a view from a camera mounted inside the car. It was showing the drivers feet as he stepped on the gas, break and clutch. Wow, what excitement. After making fun of the intense action I was asked to leave. As I said, I think that will be the last time I am invited back. I am really trying to behave and heal my knee properly because I have a few bikes in the garage that are waiting for me to take them for a ride. See you on the flip side. Keith

P.S. GO NASCAR (how is that Konrad)

6/17/06 Have you ever faced something so big you did not know which direction to go. The other day at work it was a fairly quiet day. I was leaving at 6am the next morning to go have knee surgery. We were getting ready to go eat dinner at about 5pm when we got called out along with another engine to a fire. As I walked out into the bay one of my guys was getting into the brush truck. I asked him if we were taking that also and he said “Yea”, with that tone of voice that I must have missed something on the dispatch. We headed out down the road with the pedal to the metal. On the way down they said it might be in the Bosque. I asked for an additional brush truck and another engine. When we got down to the I-25 and Isleta area I knew it was going to be more than I could handle. I could see all the trees burning but did not know how to get to it. There are ditches that run the entire length of the river with very few ways to get to the river in a vehicle. As we and the other units were moving around in the residential area someone tried to sneak around behind a ladder truck and we had an accident. Now a police report has to be done in the middle of the chaos. I told everybody to meet at the Chevron there at Isleta. As I was driving up, I was told that channel 7 would take somebody up in the helicopter and where did I want to land them. I turned my truck sideways across Isleta and parked it. The Sheriff Deputy’s followed suit and blocked off the rest of the road. They landed but I did not want to go up so I sent somebody else. Soon after they left everyone of my bosses showed up and the chief handed me a vest that across the back says “Incident Commander”. I told her that I did not want that job and for her to take it over. I wanted to go work. I told her everything I had done and had started to do and headed to the east side of the river to work. Because of my upcoming surgery I was not supposed to eat after midnight. Food finally showed up and just before I took a bite I noticed the time was 12:02. Now what do I do, I am starving, there is food, but it is after midnight. Not that far after midnight so I only ate a small amount. I stayed over there until about 3:30am when I brought all the exhausted crews back to the west side. We were instructed that some fresh crews were being sent in and for us to take a break. I found a flat spot on top of a ladder truck, It was an aluminum deck with gaps between the strips. I covered myself with a coat but it was still cold and uncomfortable. The piece I was on was about two feet wide that would then drop about two feet to another deck that was only about a foot wide, then drop about eight feet to the road way. “Note to self, don’t fall off while sleeping”. I woke up after only an hour of sleep to hear a woman’s voice. Ellen Goldberg was across the street doing interviews for channel 7 the ABC station. I hope she was not doing them with me sleeping as the backdrop. At 6AM my relief called me and said he was at the station. We went back and switched out so I could go to my surgery.

The Doctor doing my surgery was the same one that had taken care of my broken collarbone. The pre-op area reminded me of a cattle yard. Here we are all lined up in our underwear and a hospital gowns with only a cloth curtain to separate us. I could hear everybody else’s conversation. It turns out I knew the guy next to me. When it was my turn the anesthesiologist put something in my IV and said I should feel something soon. About thirty seconds later, I told him I felt something, then ten seconds later is the last thing I remember until the Nurse in recovery had an oxygen mask on my face and was telling me to breathe. That whole episode is still quite vague as I was in and out for a long time. My Orthopedic apparently does not understand desert racers. When I came in for a follow up on my collarbone he got that look on his face like, “WOW, I should have taken a closer look at this”. After looking at my knee he had told me he thought my knee just needed some cleaning out and maybe a small repair to the pad. When he came in my room after the surgery he said, “Wow, your knee was messed up.” It turned out that I had two tears on the pad and my ACL ligament was gone, That’s right, it was not there anymore. He handed me videotape and said I could watch what had happened. I laughed and said “On What”. I have not had a VCR for years. He suggested I take some popcorn to the neighbors and we could all watch it together. It looks like I will be out of work for about six weeks and off my feet for at least 3 weeks. I was telling the nurse that I needed to be walking in four weeks because I was going for a ride on the Harley. She laughed at me and said good luck, the guy on the other side of the curtain agreed with me, he said he was going out next weekend. On the way home I called one of my guys to see how he was doing. He said he was doing fine and he was watching the news. Then he said "OH There you are sleeping on the ladder truck" It was confirmed again later by someone else of the footage of me sleeping. Oh well. I have been home for a day now, my kids have been out of school for three weeks and my wife is ready to throw us all out. Wish me luck, see you on the flip side, Keith

5/4/06 The Rio Puerco race was less then an hour drive from my house I figured it would be a less expensive trip because I did not need much gas. I was right in that regard but wrong in that it would be less expensive. Two tires and $550 later I made it to the race. The race went well, the bit of riding I had done in the previous two weeks really paid off. In fact I prepared more for this race than I had for any of the races last year. It turns out that I race better when I put some effort into it. Who would have thought? At the race I worked my way into working the signup table. I think things went well with only one complaint. The guy said since he did not have to wait in a long line, it through his routine off. Nancy and I worked the table but Joann had it setup well. One of the good things about working the table is that I got to see who was in my class. And don’t think I wasn’t tempted to take the entry forms of the guys who keep beating me and tearing them up. But I didn’t. I know this is kind of boring but I felt I had to write something. I will leave you with these questions. If one is a goose and more then one is geese, then more than one Moose must be a Meese right? If more than one mouse are mice, then one piece of rice is a rouse, right? See you on the flip side, Keith

4/25/06 The other day before I was going riding I had an accident. Not like traffic accident but more like a technical accident. I was at the firehouse vacuuming my room before I was to leave and my helmet was sitting on the floor. I guess I got a little close and it sucked up the cable to my earphones installed in my helmet. Of course being the man I am I did not shut off the power, I put tried pulling the vacuum back and the helmet followed. It was not at this point that I shut off the power. Instead I put my foot on the helmet and again pulled back on the vacuum. This only straightened the handle until it came off the floor. Ok, I figured the next move would be to turn off the power switch. By this time it had ripped my cable to shreds. Damm, no music for today’s ride. I went out to an un disclosed location that resembles the place we are racing this weekend to meet a few other riders who are not scouting the course. I was feeling pretty good out there and doing some good laps. Dustin showed up and like always, he was working on the “craptor”. He made it out on the track and did some laps. I had pulled in at the truck and fueled my bike. He came in and after we shot the breeze a bit he offered me a ride on the “craptor”, I declined but after thinking about it for a few seconds I decide to give it a go to see how a quad handled this track. It is a nice bike with some good power, but after about half the lap I remembered why I quit racing quads. Those things are heavy, not nimble at all, and don’t react nearly as nice as my bike does on some of the stuff that on a bike you can just pass over like it is smooth ground. I got into the arroyo and made it through pretty good. Between the first and second arroyo there is a resident prairie dog that is not going to like this weekend very much. His house is right in the middle of a left hand turn and he would run in every pass I made. In the second arroyo I was working my way through when I came to the part where the quads had been exiting. I knew where I wanted to go so I stayed in. it was kind of rough but passable. At the end of the arroyo the bikes exit to the right on a narrow ledge and the quads go left on a wider area. I being a biker went right just to make sure the quads could make it. I caught the right front and it spun me sideways in the arroyo. After a few tries, I made it up the bank on the right side and finished my lap. With great pleasure I handed the quad back in one piece. I followed Dustin out for another lap. I was following him and remembered once again why I don’t race quads. DUST! And lots of it. In one corner I was right behind him when my front end caught a rock and SLAM, I hit the ground. I got up and noticed a couple of the new Osprey from Kirtland AFB going by with there motors tilted up so I sat and watched them for a while. Back on the bike I caught Dustin and chased him all the way into the second arroyo. I made the pass on him in the arroyo and kept moving. Around one corner I noticed he was not behind me so I waited, and waited, and waited. Then I went back. I found him sitting in the arroyo and you guessed it, the craptor would not start. He had hit the wall in the rough section and dumped it over and now the Yamaha was broken. He got it fixed. For some reason he carries and extensive tool kit with him. Back at the truck and we were gone. Today when I went riding, once again no music, I realized with out music I had plenty of time to think. I realized I had not written in my journal for quite some time. Then I realized I could write about my experience of vacuuming up my headphone cord. That is when I also realized that when ever something happens that I can write about and give you a chuckle, it cost’s me money. So If I don’t always write, it is not a bad thing for my wallet. See you on the flip side, Keith

4/6/06 Here it is race weekend and I have done my usual training. It seems that no matter how much I plan on ridding, it never happens. This week I was going to ride at least 3 times. Tuesday I loaded the bike and all my gear so I could go riding on Wednesday morning. As I got ready I realized I did not have any more pre-mix but I had some fuel still in my tank so I could at least get in a good ride. I fueled my bike with what I had and a small fuel can that I have so if I ran out in my tank I could drop the small tank in my fuel tank and return. All was well until I realized I had forgotten my camelback on the garage floor. Now I have no way to carry my spare fuel and I did not even have enough fuel for a good ride. Well that shot that ride. Off home I went. I figured I could at least poor a little concrete as my house fixing up project goes. When I made it home and started getting the form set up the wind started. I give up. Thursday, yea, that is the day I will ride. The wind did not let up all night and there was snow on the ground this morning. Yes, I said snow in April. The snow did not last long in the strong winds. There went another day of riding. Oh well, it will be a typical race of no practice. I guess that means things are right on track for this weekend. Last week, I ordered a new motor for my yard art. My yard art is a $1000 two seater go cart I bought for the kids a couple of years ago that the motor never worked very good. I put the motor in and of course the shaft was too short. I had to remove the spacer to get the pulley to fit, and that meant that the rear pulleys did not fit. I turned them around to get them to line up but now the pulley on the axle did not line up. That one was rusted to the axle. I sprayed lube, and pounded on it until it started moving, Of course it would not be that easy, the keyway was rusted to it and it would only move so far before jamming up. Back and forth I pounded it to no avail. Of course my wire feed welder had run out of wire so it would have to wait for another day before being fixed. I got more wire for the welder and proceeded to load it up. The wire comes on a plastic spool in 1lb or 2lb sizes. I guess it is wound tight because as I was trying to load it, BOING! all by it’s self, half a pound of my wire sprung into an instantly tangled ball. I spent the next half hour untangling it and laying it out straight so I could re-roll it back on the spool. It has to be perfect because if it gets on small kink it will not travel down the lead. If the kink is at the end it is no big deal because you don’t loose that much wire. If it is in the middle you loose all the wire to the end. After I managed to get it all rolled up without a kink I proceeded to thread it through again. Once again, BOING!, but this time not as much sprung. I finally got it all threaded up and ready to weld. 10 seconds later I was done welding. I pounded the sprocket off and lined it up. I welded that into place and it was ready to go. This new motor is not exactly set up for a throttle cable so I had to rig it to work. The return spring was not very good but I figured it would work for a while. Since I had not yet wired up the kill switch there was no way to kill it from the driver seat. I figured it was good enough for me so I called out my two boys to take it for a test drive. I explained to them that there was a chance the throttle could get stuck wide open and that there was no way for him to kill the motor. I told him if that happens that he could let off the gas, hold the break pedal all the way down and steer for the fence which would catch him like a net, but to be sure not to hit anything solid (like my cars) or that might hurt them. And if it didn’t I would when I saw the damage he had done. Off they went and it worked fine without a problem or without having to make any emergency maneuvers. The next day I got a good return spring, wired up the kill switch to the front, took it out and did some power slides in the driveway. Now after two years of looking at the yard art and the kids wanting me to fix it, It has not been used again and now is a piece of yard art with a new engine. See you on the flip side, Keith

03/20/06 The plan was to out this weekend with DR on a breakfast run. Well it turns out that DR only rides if the temperature is 72 degrees and the wind is between 5 and 10mph. So it was a no go. I guess that what happens to retired experts. Instead, I was dying to take out the new bike. I had worked 94 hours in 5 days. On the first day I had ten hours off between jobs and I spent that up in Santa Fe buying a bike. The other 10 hours turned into seven and a half when my relief called in sick and I had to wait for somebody else to show up. I then spent most of the rest of the time out riding with the kids and Konrad with our Honda train ( 5 Hondas riding together). So I had not had any time to spend with the new bike. I got home, dressed up, put my chaps on the right direction and headed out. As I got into Cedar crest the mountains were covered in clouds and it was cold. So I headed back east towards the sun. I worked my way back towards the top of the canyon, got on Route 66 and headed towards Moriarty which was a bout 15mi away. By the time I got there I was thinking "This is boring". After pounding out the woops and turns the previous day, riding on a straight paved road was quite boring. I got on the freeway and headed home, The wind was picking up and it was getting colder. After I got home we went down to Explora in Albuquerque. It is a kids science center with a whole bunch of neat hands on science things to lean with. The only problem is that the kids always get in my way when I am trying to play. Tomorrow I go take my test to get my motor cycle permit. While shopping for insurance I found out that it will be higher because I have never had my motorcycle endorsement I am considered a new rider. It does not matter that I have been riding for over 30yrs or that I can travel at fairly high speeds over deep woops while dodging mesquite bushes. I am still a new rider and the man is going to stick it to me. I better pass the test. If I don't, I will make up some great story. See you on the flip side, Keith

03/16/06 I know I promised to ride my bike more, but it has just not happened. Last weekend we planned a ride but winter decided to show up so that got canceled. We are going to try again this weekend. When I built my garage over a year ago I vowed not to let it be a junk collector. It occasionally gets dirty but not too bad. It is always clean enough that my wife can drive the Excursion in with only having to move a tricycle or skateboard. When I picked out my garage door I picked the one that is insulated with metal on both sides. This was a wise decision as there are lot's of skateboard and bicycle tire marks on the door from the inside. My garage is heated and has a half bath. In the winter the kids go out there and play and that is where my dog sleeps. The other day when I cleaned it there were 7 motorcycles in there. It was beautiful. I took two of them out and put them out in a storage shed. but the mini trampoline is still in there. It is a good thing that I did this because yesterday I fulfilled a life long dream. I have been dreaming about this for years. I told my wife that if I did not have one by the time I was 40, that is what I was getting for my birthday. I went out and bought a Harley. I know the Honda is more reliable and less expensive but a Harley is what I wanted. We spent the day up in Santa Fe working the deal. Now the only street bike experience that I have is taking a friends cheap little bike around the block once and that scared me enough. I knew I would have to ride it home because there was no way I could load it in my truck. I can ride my bike at 50mph over some deep woops, 10ft drop offs, tight trails, pass people through the bushes. But to ride machine on a flat paved surface is scary. The sales man reassured me, and told me it would be fine. As we were waiting on some information a girl came up and asked if we needed help. We told her what was going on and she replied that if that was happening she would be seeing us again later. She was right. After everything was worked out the sales person took me back to see her again and she helps usher you around the clothing and will set you up with as much as you want to spend. I told her I only need some gloves and a helmet to ride it home. She is good at her job. Before long I left there with gloves, helmet, chaps, and boots, t-shirts, blankets, and anything else she suggested. My wife finally left because the kids were coming home and nobody was there. The sales man turned around and asked where she had gone and I told her she left for home. With a surprised look on his face he said, “Your serious, you are gonna ride it home.” I replied I was and he said OK. The I asked the finance guy, Do many people come in and buy a bike having never ridden before. The sales guy turned around with bigger eyes and said, “Your serious, you have never ridden a street bike before” I once again told him I was serious. He offered to have it delivered because he was worried about me learning on an 850lb machine with the wind kicking up. No thanks, I can do it. I finally left there with my new to me machine. I felt like a geek, I am used to wearing all my riding gear out in the desert, but now I am sitting up straight and trying to act cool wearing a whole bunch of shiny new gear while trying to learn and not get killed. In the desert if I fall nobody is there to see it, out on the street everybody will see it and It will hurt quite a bit more. Towards the end of the ride I was feeling better and in more control. I enjoyed the ride and made it home safely. As I undressed from all the new garb I could just picture the guys in the shop laughing at me when I rode off with my shiny new chaps on backwards. I parked her in the garage and guess what? There was a perfect spot right next to my CR for the new kid in class. I left all the bikes alone and went to work. I called home later to have my wife go check to make sure the older bikes were not picking on the new one. For some reason she refused. At least she let me get a new bike. See you on the flip side, Keith

3/6/06 I went riding today, I will put that one in the bench racing column since none of you have written anything for that one. I went riding at the end of Southern in Rio Rancho. On the way out I was driving down the road trying to scrape the dry dirt out of the end of my nose. As I am scraping I look over to see Tim and Jennifer Dugan had pulled up along side of me and Jennifer is smiling as she watched the display. What can you do, In reality you know your car or truck is a sanctuary. It has one way windows so that when you get in you can pick your seat, Look up your nose in the mirror or even pick it if you want and nobody can see you because you are in your sanctuary. After having a discussion with Tim while driving down the road I decided I had to let him go since there was a cement truck parked in my lane and I don't think I could have plowed through. The problem with riding in Rio Rancho is that it is so far from my house. Not that I don't mind the drive but I guess I am kind of spoiled. I received an e-mail the other day from someone in the far north east part of the country. Massachusetts I think. He was asking about the riding out here because he is going to be moving out here soon. He tells me that finding places to ride out there is getting harder and harder. Not to mention the long drive to get there. I know that many other places around the country have long drives to go riding also, that is why I say we are spoiled. Rio Rancho is not terribly far but obviously my truck does not like it. The last time I rode there is when my truck went hmmmmmmmmmm hmmmmmmmm hmmmm and then nothing. I spent three hours on the side of the freeway waiting for a tow. I did get a few NMDRC'rs that stopped for a chat so it was not too bad. Well today, guess what, yep, that's it, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmmmmmm hmmmmmm and then nothing. So this update is being typed on the side of I-40 about 15mi from home. After the first time, I got my truck towed home and then the thing started. I have been using it ever since without any problems. I have an idea what happened, so this time I just opened the hood to let it cool off, pulled out the computer and started typing. Thirty minutes later one of my friends stopped by to see if I needed help. I cranked it up and off I went home. This weekend I am planning on going riding again in Rio Rancho, I guess that means you can expect another journal from the side of the road. See you on the flip side, Keith

2/27/06 I am going to broach the subject. It may not be politically correct but everybody takes part. Nobody discusses it around the water cooler or over lunch with friends, but we all take part. Instructions, Men don't need them but they come with something new we buy. When you become a parent, you don't get an instruction manual. You just figure it out. What does the child need instructions on and what should they just know? As the child gets older, we look forward to when they are potty trained. No more diaper changing. No more throwing away money on something you know the kid is going to ruin and you have to deal with before you throw it away. When the child uses the potty for the first time, there is usually quite a bit on congratulations being dolled out and a few phone calls happen. After all the who ha has been completed, they are sent in by themselves to take care of business. I don't know about you but none of the toilet paper I have ever seen comes with instructions. You can go down to the convience store and by it by the single roll or by the mega family size at Sams. Nothing, no instructions. I know nobody ever gave me any instructions. The first question is, What brand? Quilted or not quilted? How many sheets do you require? Does the brand really make a difference. When we were first married I told my wife, "Never skimp on toilet paper, anything else you want, but not toilet paper. My A** is much too important to me to skimp on that." My wife and I have a constant struggle. She thinks it belongs on the roller, while I think it is more effective off the roll. When it is off the roll you can hold one end and wrap it around your hand. With this method you get alot of surface area but it takes alot of product to keep your hand as far away from the end product as possible (sorry for the pun). If you buy the cheap stuff, you run the risk of it tearing half way through and then you have a real mess on you hands (I know, another shameless pun). One of the problems with this method is that it does require alot of product and not only are you being wasteful but you are also running the risk of clogging up the toilet. With the roll on the holder, you have to turn at an odd angle if the holder is located along side of you. no matter what, the end is always stuck to the rest of the roll and no matter how many times you spin it in either direction you can't find the end. When you do find the end you have to unroll it to what you think is the proper amount of paper to wrap around your hand that will produce the proper amount of thickness. This is not necessarily a problem other than you wind up with it on the floor. The problem is when you are in a strange place such as a public restroom you don't know how many ply's they are using and don't know how much product you have to unroll. You either wind up with it on the floor where you don't even like your shoes touching, or you have to do it again and wrap around the piece you already have. With this addition, you windup with a thin layer that is sure to slip off or a layer that is much to thick. The second method is to just take it and bunch it up in your hand. When you put away your clothes in the drawer, or in a suitcase, you fold them neatly, The reason is because it keeps them from being wrinkled, looks nice and also takes up less space. In this case taking up less space and being wrinkled is a good thing. You are setting a good example by not being wasteful as well as decreasing the risk of overloading the toilet. This can be accomplished easier when the roll is mounted on the wall. The bunch method does not give you as much width as the wrap around the hand method but it has many advantages. The first is being more economical as well as reducing your risk of over overloading. One more positive aspect of the bunch up method is traction. I mean really, when the knobbies on our tires wear down we replace our tire. A bald tire would not grip anything and just spin in the sand, but one with big square edge knobbies grips well and moves plenty of dirt. The bunch up method is like a good knobbies. The quilted type of paper offer small knobbies but not near the traction that can be gained by the bunch up method. With the increased traction you have gained you can even use the less quality public type paper with great success. In my opinion the bunch up method is by far the most effective. Feel free to print this use it as necessary, Post it on the bathroom wall for easy reference. See ya on the flip side, Keith

2/5/06 I haven't written in a while, not because I have not wanted to but because I never have anything to write about. I have not ridden my bike because I still have a week before I need to start training. I have not done anything except work. We have not had any probies to mess with, and that is about it. Before the big game today we went over to Wal-Mart to get some supplies. At the new Wal-Mart by our station, it has two self serve checkout places with four registers at each end of the store. I actually like these because I don't have to interact with anybody and I can zip right through. Unfortunately not everybody has a nac for being a speed checker. I am a people person and I spend alot of time watching. By now I have a pretty good idea on how to use one of those scanner devices. Many years ago, I worked at a grocery store but it has been enough years that there was no such thing as a scanner, but it is not so difficult that most anyone who can open an automatic door couldn't figure it out. Most of us have run into these machines by now and it is pretty simple. 1) You scan the item, 2) put it on the scale so the machine knows that what you scanned is what you are putting in the bag. 3)Then you turn around and yell at the kids to not touch the scale because they are throwing it off. Move onto the next item and repeat steps one to three. At the end you feed some money into the machine or like most of us you swipe your card and your off. The other day at Smith's there was a few people in line so I picked the one with the guy who was only holding a six pack. I figured he would move quick because he wanted to get outside and pop one open. He gets up to the scanner and runs his beer though, he puts it on the scale, pulls it off, scans it again, puts it back on the scale and does this a few more times because he can't see the message on the screen that the guy in the produce section can see telling him that because it's BEER he needs to show his ID. Meanwhile the little old lady with 15 items in his cart that showed up behind me has come and gone. When beer guy finally gets a clue and gets past the ID thing he starts feeding the machine one nickel at a time. Of course at this point I can't see because my eyes have rolled back in my head. Today, at Wal-Mart there was a guy in line scanning his food, Then there was one more family with a shopping cart, so I got in this line thinking I would be in and out in a flash. As I said before scanning a can is not all that difficult. The scanner spins around and there are mirrors so that you basically slide the parcel across the glass and it is scanned but realistically all you have to do is to put the can somewhere in the 5ft range of the scanner and it will pick it up. This guy in line is taking each can and looking all over for the bar code and then trying to scan it once he found it. He was wearing a NASCAR jacket so you have to cut him some slack, you know, like waiting for the person in a wheelchair to cross the street. After he was done the basket moved forward to reveal that out of the five people standing with it each one had a separate transaction. I swear one of the of the kids bought a pack of gum one stick at a time. With plenty of time to wait, I had time to think. Why don't they have a class system like we do at our races. The computers could count the number of items and calculate how much time it takes you to complete the transaction from start to finish. After a few "qualifying" runs you get rated and then there would be self serve check outs for "Beginner", "Novice", "Intermediate", "Expert", and "Pro". You can carry a card that could be used at all stores with self serve checkout's. Beer guy goes to the "Pro" line but no dice, he has to move to a different line because he does not have the credentials for the "Pro" line. I move forward, swipe my "Pro" card, take care of the transaction, and the guy in line behind me knows he doesn't have to wait long because the guy in front of him is a "Pro" ..............See ya on the flip side,Keith

1/19/06 Supercross is back! Last weekend we did our yearly trip to Phoenix for the supercross. What a race! This is our 5th year in a row to go to Phoenix for this race. The first year we went to a dealer up north for some autographs on Friday night. I have a poster with autographs from Geo and Ivan Tedesco on a Honda team. On Friday I took the kids to a skate park. It was a nice park. There were a couple of bowl's there and the kids were scared to try them. I grabbed one of the boards and tried a "drop in". No I am not an expert at them, in fact I have never even tried one. The last time I skated was when I was a kid in the 70's. Late 70's. I wiped out pretty good but by the third try, I still wiped out pretty good but was smart enough to give up before I got hurt. At the race it was alot of the same, more posters than we need, a few autographs, a few pictures and we saw alot of NMDRC friends out there, This year my wife's cousin was getting married the same weekend so she did not go. It was just me and the boys. You know what that means, right, Yes, this was the first year I got to look at all the scantly clad girls without pretending I am looking at something else. I don't know why I do that, I guess it is just a game we play, I look, she knows it, but we both have to pretend it is not happening. As we were exiting the pits there was some girl signing posters/calandar's of herself. My 9yr old and my 11yr old nephew wanted one so we got in that line. My 11yr wanted Chad Reed's autograph so he and I headed over to that line. I know, He rides Yamaha but that is what my son wanted. I have stood in a longer line so I could take a picture of Jeremy Mcgrath with his arm around my wife. After that she was floating on the clouds and did not care about the race. After all he had touched her. Funny thing is, I didn't have to pretend I wasn't looking. She didn't care then. Keith