Self Indulgence: 2007
January 7, 2008 by John in California 2007, Freelancing, Gadgets, Motorcycle News, My 2002 Triumph Bonneville America, Of a Personal Nature
Seems like every web designer/developer whose blog I read daily is doing a wrap up of the past year. I don’t usually in indulge in such blowhardiness, but what the hell. I feel no need to organize or categorize these, so in no particular order…
(Updated 01/07/2008)
- Dating: I met someone at the end of November and things appear to be going quite well. But who knows? I’m just enough of a social (and emotional and psychological) retard that I may yet screw it up.
- Weight Loss or Lack Thereof: I have no discipline. I have no commitment. Until Thanksgiving I was averaging a whopping 5 pound weight loss, hovering around 345. That’s a far cry from my goal of 300. I did join Snap Fitness, and I managed to go an average of twice a week for a while. That all ended in September when I went on vacation. I only recent returned to the gym last week and it was pretty rough. So if you’re paying attention you noticed that above I said, “Until Thanksgiving…”. Since then I gained about 10 pounds, not just because of the holidays but because of dating — I ate big restaurant meals much more often though December. I’m back to my old habits and it’s slowly coming back down, but I have no illusions about my future progress.
- Deaths in the Family: In May my grandmother, Joan Stewart, passed away. She was a day short of 88. Near as we can figure she had a stroke and died less than a week later. In October, my cat Shuko (Japanese for the climbing claws that Ninja use to scale trees) had to be put down with acute kidney failure. He was approximately 15.5 years old.
- My Constant Companion: my first year with an iPod. I am absolutely addicted to my iPod. While not perfect, my 5th Gen, 30GB, black video iPod, as well as the iTunes software, is far superior to my old Rio Chiba MP3 player. It improved my podcast listening and management experience immensely (the Rio software didn’t deal with podcasts at all) and I’ve slowly gotten into audiobooks (Freakonomics, The God Delusion, The Portable Atheist, The Tipping Point, et al) with a subscription to Audible. The iPod was invaluable on my long ride to California, although I forgot to charge it up in Reno and had to rely briefly on my Rio as a backup.
- Easy Rider: September brought the 3400 mile California trip on my motorcycle. My little 2002 Triumph Bonneville America acquitted itself quite well and hauled my fat carcass nearly trouble free. I say nearly because if I hadn’t been doing my own maintenance, it would’ve been completely trouble free. A few glitches notwithstanding I had the pleasure of meeting several people face-to-face for the first time who I’ve “known” for years on BonnevilleAmerica.com and they showed me a great deal of hospitality. Vegas was fun and reconnecting with most of my family wasn’t nearly as painful as I feared.
- Close Call: In July, while riding with friends in British Columbia, I unwittingly tried to kill myself passing in unsafe conditions and probably should’ve soiled my undies. Turns out my front brake rotor was a little thinner than the factory recommends causing brake fade. I upgraded my brakes for the California trip but I finally found a dual-disc, spoked front wheel off a Triumph Thunderbird Sport that will go right on my bike. I’m in the process of trading parts (right fork, caliper and master cylinder) with another BonnevilleAmerica.com member to complete the upgrade. With all new parts this upgrade could cost upwards of $2000. I’m getting it done for about one-quarter of that amount.
- What Business: After nearly doubling my revenue from 2006, SSDD fizzled in the second half of the year. After launching HKM in July, the to date word-of-mouth leads dried up. In October I gave a business blogging presentation to a non-profit association and it was a complete “Charlie Foxtrot.” I’m not giving up, however. In 2008 I’m going to actually start promoting the business, starting with joining the Helena Chamber of Commerce. I don’t need my business to grow fast, but it would be nice to keep it going. Because of my day job the bills are paid so I can focus more on the type of work I want to do; I don’t have to focus just on the revenue. It’s certainly been a learning experience, not just about business but about people. You really see the best and the worst in your fellow human beings.
- The Makeover that Wasn’t: The planned makeover of my bike, which inspired the redesign of this blog, just didn’t get done. Part of it was shell shock: I spent way too much money accumulating parts over the past year and backed off the project a bit. I did manage to get the new tank and fenders stripped and the fenders bobbed to my satisfaction, but paint is waiting on mods to the tank. Meanwhile I’ve got some killer parts for the bike: new headlight, turn signals, retro brake light/license plate bracket, etc. There are still more parts to buy (e.g., grips, flat tracker handlebars, mirrors, etc.), and there are some custom parts I want to have water-jet cut out of aluminum (e.g., rear luggage rack, footboard inserts, etc.), but none of them are required to get the bike back on the road with the new paint. And while I have the front end apart for the dual disk upgrade, the lower forks are going to get painted black and the triple trees (yokes) polished up with a brushed finish.