G oog le BadWeB | Login/out | Topics | Search | Custodians | Register | Edit Profile

Buell Forum » Storm Fronts: Buell Groups, Clubs, & Events » 160 New Mexico » Archive through September 26, 2011

« Previous Next »

Author Message   Agfish18 Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 09:34 am:        I think Bart is planning one in a couple weeks here... not sure exactly when yet, but I am always up for a ride.   Ghostrider Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 11:09 am:        I absolutely need one sometime this month. I go out of town Oct 3rd and don't return until Oct 24th.   1eyert Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 08:03 pm:        Hey, head over to Alpine on Saturday and ride with me, it seems I will be the only one there at the Tal Wi Wi lodge anyway. Art.....   Agfish18 Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2011 - 09:31 am:        I'd go, but I have a 10 page research paper I need to write this weekend ;(. Usually I am ahead of the game on my papers, but not when they spring it on you a week before it is due.   1eyert Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 08:17 pm:        I'm back from my solo ridefest to Alpine, see Ridefest thread. Had a good time, sorry no one showed up, your loss I guess. Maybe next year....   Syonyk Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 - 10:16 am:        Russ, I got that small tee shirt for Shannon. We can meet up sometime or you can pay pal me the money and I'll send it to ya. Kk, sounds good. I'll ping you & we can work out details. ... there was a ridefest to Alpine this weekend?   Buellhusker Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 - 10:36 am:        Ghostrider, Received the "T" Saturday thanks again, i had a great time at the SW Rally, see you next year.   Ghostrider Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 - 12:23 pm:        Jim, Great to see you again and enjoyed catching up. Hope to see you next year and maybe on another rally sometime! Cheers!   Bartimus Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 - 01:22 pm:        Yes, Ridefest was this past weekend. I couldn't go, and it seems neither could a bunch of others. Art from Tucson was the only one that showed up. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=37&post=2109008#POST2109008 http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=37&post=2109594#POST2109594 I've seen a Springfast or two where kelly and I were the only riders...   Bartimus Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 - 01:29 pm:        http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=37&post=2110091#POST2110091   Ghostrider Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 10:57 am:        Well, I feel bad that he had to ride it all by himself. I still haven't figured out a way to get paid to ride, but I'm working on it.   Bartimus Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 01:04 pm:        "paid to ride" They call them vacation days, and sick days...   Agfish18 Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 02:53 pm:        not everyone has very many of those on-hand...   Ghostrider Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 03:46 pm:        Well, I was just talking to my wife about that very thing. If I were just an average hourly employee, I would feel no obligation to do anything beyond show up and do whatever I'm supposed to do all day, and then go home and not worry about it. I would call off when I like or take vacation when I like without regard to how it affects anyone else. But since I'm a manager, and a pretty senior one at that, I am expected to not only work more hours per day, but to be there when the company needs me to be there. I have to set a good example for the rest of the staff, etc. This is akin to being an officer versus being enlisted. If you're enlisted, you don't need to worry about the details. If you're an officer, the details are your problem. So, I'm thinking I need to get demoted or something. Since being paid more to do less seems so unrealistic, I'm willing to be paid less to do less. If I only had to work 8 hours a day, or 40 hours a week (however they want to break that up), then I'd have more free time to do my thing. As it is, I'm working over ten hours a day, five or more days a week, and trying to get vacation when the weather is nice is near impossible. I have four weeks annually now, plus six sick days and three personal days. That's a lot of PTO. But since I'm being pushed to take it in winter, when the business is slow and the riding weather sucks ass, I'm not digging it. I'm seriously thinking about becoming a fireman.   Agfish18 Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 04:45 pm:        haha... yeah, I know how that is... well not really. I do work 8 hour days and 40 hour weeks, but I also have school most of the year which adds up to 3-4 hours extra per day. I really have about a 12 hour "work day" 4-5 days per week, and only have the weekends to ride really at the moment. Most of my weekend is taken up by school work depending on the week, so I dont have much time to do any kind of real long riding. I'll take a Saturday afternoon off from everything and head out somewhere, but usually only for about 2-3 hours at a time. I dont take much time off because I am still at the bottom of the totem so-to-speak and only get 10 days of vacation and 5 days of sick leave/ year, and usually end up using my vacation time to spend with my step-son when he is in town. Id like to work 3-4 days a week making what I do now, but that wont happen any time soon.   Bartimus Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 07:12 pm:        In regards to the military, being enlisted does not remove you from responsibility. Once you become an NCO (non commissioned officer). You become a supervisor. When you reach the rank of E7, you become a manager. Officers are more like board members demanding what you can and can't do with no understanding of how it actually will be done. I've had my day supervising and managing and am one of the lowly hourly guys that enjoys 8 hr days and some weekends off. I have no regrets calling in on a Beulltiful day as it really does improve my health crankIng out a 400 mile day. It truly is therapy and soothes the soul. It's all a matter of priorities. Mine, is riding. Adams is furthering his education and maintaining a balance between work and school. Understandable at his age, and will improve his chances of finding a good career that will allow him more ride time. CJ, I think your screwed. Your too nice a guy to tell them when you ARE taking vacation. You do have a good job that provides you the income to support your family and hobbies. Question is, is it worth the trade off, in lack of personal time? It's a question we all need to ask when we are seeking to earn the almighty, (or very weak) dollar. Do I want to earn good money? Or do I want to enjoy time to pursue my hobbies and spend time with my loved ones? Myself? Been there, done that. I've always made good money and have had some bad years when I hardly had any time off. I'm done with it all. I'm winding down into retirement and want to enjoy life before the 'ol body can't hold up a bike anymore. :-) Like I said, it's all about priorities.   Ghostrider Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 10:59 pm:        Well, that's just it. I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that I am tired of climbing the corporate ladder and would rather enjoy myself while I'm young enough to do so. Since I'm going to have to work until I'm seventy anyway, I might as well just enjoy myself now. I'm downsizing. The boy is off to college, most of the debts are paid off, and I think I can get by with less cash and more free time.   Agfish18 Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 - 10:47 am:        Do what makes you happy, life is too short to be stuck doing what other people want you to do the whole time. If you can survive with less income, and it gives you more free time, more happiness, less stress, less heartache, I say do it.   Ghostrider Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 - 05:05 pm:        CJ: "Honey! I quit my job today!" Angela: "WTF?!?!" CJ: "Well, Adam said I could!"   Agfish18 Posted on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 - 05:37 pm:        haha... I dont mean quit your job, but if you are that tired of working where you are, start looking for a less hectic job.   Ghostrider Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2011 - 11:53 am:        Yeah, I know. I've been ready to get something else for quite a while, actually. Things are starting to line up that make that a realistic possibility. With any luck, I'll be doing something different soon and hopefully have less stress and more fulfillment. Thanks for listening.   Syonyk Posted on Friday, September 23, 2011 - 10:08 am:        I saw a TED talk from Mike Row the other day, and one comment he made is that in his experience, people doing "dirty jobs" (or manual labor in general) tend to be the happiest people he meets. I can totally understand that. One of my favorite jobs was being a bus driver. I really, really enjoyed it! Go to work, drive a bus, go home. Work didn't follow me home, I didn't have to think about work outside of work, etc. Other positions I've had turned out to be "full time jobs." Literally. If the network gear or servers glitched at 3AM, I was up fixing them. For about a year, I couldn't sleep through a thunderstorm - I'd wake up, and just put clothes on, because I *knew* I'd be driving somewhere to fix network equipment that didn't like storms (turns out when they say drive the 8' grounding rod into the ground, they don't mean "put it halfway in" - they mean DRIVE IT INTO THE GROUND. I wasn't the one who installed that one...). I think I've found a pretty good balance now, though there are weeks that work consumes my not-at-work thoughts as well. I'm sure I could make more money elsewhere, but there really is something to be said for an expectation/culture of "When you go home, you're at home." Most of my coworkers don't check email on weekends, you're not expected to be at work past 40-45 hours, and if you want to take vacation, as long as you're not interfering with deliverables, *take it.* And nobody expects you to be reachable while on vacation. =============== Totally unrelated, does anyone have a stock (not low) Blast seat laying around? And/or an exhaust system for the Blast? Or XB SCG suspension bits?   Agfish18 Posted on Friday, September 23, 2011 - 11:00 am:        Sorry Russ, no blast parts as the last blast I owned was sold about 8 or 9 years ago... I still have a few random XB9R parts, but they are few and far between.   Ghostrider Posted on Friday, September 23, 2011 - 12:09 pm:        You know, Russ, I agree. My favorite job I ever had was driving a tow truck. Tough sometimes, but always enjoyable and never took it home with me. Since I've been in management, I always feel like I'm taking it home with me. Adam, if you feel the need to let go of those XB9R parts, let me know.   Agfish18 Posted on Friday, September 23, 2011 - 03:08 pm:        Ill have to go through my box o' parts and see what all I have left.   Buellnick Posted on Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 12:57 am:        Hey Ghostrider... I had to LOL when you said jr is going to college and you will need less cash... Not sure what kind of deal you have w/r to college costs... In my experience, kid's college time was more expensive than any other time. However, you can look forward to a real pay raise when college is over and jr is completely off the payroll. All: Both my XB Buells are now down with issues. It is now 3 weeks and HD has not been able to produce a voltage regulator for the 12R. Bad season for XB stators and VRs. The 12Scg has a broken muffler strap...I wonder how long I will have to wait for a frakking strap...? I'm a little concerned about the HD "promise" to take care of Buells...   Syonyk Posted on Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 08:46 pm:        That's when you just buy an aftermarket regulator... I ordered some fun toys today. A race ECU for the XB9 to get rid of the piggyback weird thing (btw, they're up in price - they used to be $250, now they're $300!), some oil filters, and a set of the Buell Racing front rotor mounting hardware to replace the stock stuff on the 1125. People claim it's better/smoother/etc, I'll see!   Buellnick Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011 - 12:23 am:        The bike is on warranty... so HD is going to have to fix it. I just have to wait... Good thing I have other bikes in the garage. Aftermarket brand VRs? or do you mean HD/Buell parts through re-sellers like American Sport Bike?   Ghostrider Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011 - 12:56 am:        Well, he didn't want to follow the "Dad-plan" so he's really kind of on his own. He was so anxious to get out on his own, I let him. I think reality is creeping in on him. As of now, he's at NMSU, a state school. So the lottery scholarship will kick in this Spring semester as long as he gets the grades. We are helping him with some other expenses, but in general, he's on his own. I was really referring to my ability to pay off a few big ticket items lately, like a car and a truck and a credit card and a motorcycle. My monthly outlay is significantly reduced from just a short time ago. This is making it easier for me to take something less monetarily significant and yet more fulfilling.   Agfish18 Posted on Monday, September 26, 2011 - 12:42 pm:        CJ, Hopefully he is mature enough to get through it all on his own without too much help from you guys. I dont know if I would have done well to go to college straight after High School. I needed a few years to mature. On another note, Stacey and I went up through Jemez this weekend. It was just supposed to be a quick up and back thing, but we ended up going up through the Valles Caldera and Los Alamos, Pojoaque, Santa Fe, Madrid, and then back to town. Very reminicent of the ride CJ took us on a few months back. A buddy of mine who rides a CBR 1000RR said he may be interested in doing a ride this next weekend. I dont know how long of a ride, or where to yet, but he wanted me to look for some more people who would like to go. If any of you are at all interested in a ride of any length this coming weekend, let me know. It probably wont be all Buells, but a ride is still a ride.