ReconRat

I think you'll have to stay up late at night like MJ does, to burn the evening meal off. I can get away with a large evening meal, but my activity level during the day is high. It's a balancing act for most of us. Dinner for me in the Summer time might be just a bowl of oatmeal or fruit. I gain a little over the Winter and lose it all in the Summer. Dang it, going to go weigh myself... 180, but that dropped to 172 when I emptied my pockets and took the boots off. I'll drop to around 160 by mid Summer. Not bad for 5'9".

Shall I add a zero to mine for 9190cc?

Ditto on watching out for high exchange rates. Although I did find a bank in downtown Hamburg that didn't charge me at all, I think because I had an American Express card. I changed 1000 bucks to Euro right then and there. And was later sorry I didn't do twice that amount. Customs can be weird. I walk right through all of them with no hassle or interest in what I have. I suppose it's all that time I spent with spooks, it hasn't worn off yet. And yes, pickpockets are fierce in any public area where tourists will be. Back away from all strangers that start uninvited conversations, and watch your back. At least till you can judge them better. After a couple of days, you can tell the difference. They are after the ones "fresh off the boat". And they make a living doing that... see above, the assholes that walk around with 2000 Euros in a pocket...

Eat breakfast, eat lunch, skip dinner, or light dinner. That's assuming it's a day job... Try to eat nothing late at night, if hungry, popcorn or fruit or something good for you... I know that doesn't play well, but it works.

I think that was John Wayne Bobbitt's dick, said that as famous last words...

Hello, I'm a punk, and I've been ok for years now... If it's clean, and in Whitehall, it's a Harley, and doesn't leave the garage. Actually, I've seen quite a few clean sport bikes around the area lately. I'm wondering who all they are. Some I see regular, riding around.

just ride. I rode home from work, twice or more in the rain lately, and rode in to work this morning in the rain/mist. I got pretty soaked just once. And only because the roads were still very wet. or... just ride faster than the raindrops...

And now for something completely different... I see the little photos ok, but when I click on them I go to my own OR album... (i.e. photo_popup.php?e=vB_Editor_001#)

MJ & Howie rode in, that's 4 bikes with me and Max... all others are punks for not riding...

possibly, but not necessarily... watching "The Pacific" - Battle of Guadalcanal eating pizza drinkin beer and posting on OR

surfin' the netbook at KoC, muhahahahaha punks...

From DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Madrid: 1. Palacio Real 2. Museo del Prado 3. Plaza Mayor 4. Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales 5. El Rastro 6. Museo Thyssen-Bornernisza 7. Centro de Arte Reina Sofia 8. Parque del Retiro 9. Museo de America 10. El Escorial Frommer's Spain, Frommer's Madrid, and DK Travel Spain in PDF on CD if you want them. They list day trips, restaurants, nightclubs, etc...

JRM, there is still convincing evidence of the military intelligence sort, that says the WMD were there, and were the first items smuggled away for a later fight. There are still bunkers in Iraq, that no one has been able to get into. The surrounding area of one of them, has an unusual amount of gas masks in everyone's houses. The bunker is under a river, where no one can get at it, and was flooded. Satellite intelligence, saw that a convoy of "something" in trucks, left Iraq and went to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, and parked in a deep trench, and were buried, trucks and all. What was that? We're not about to go find out, without starting a war in Lebanon and Syria. Not happening. Israeli intelligence, says a similar convoy went from Iraq into Syrian desert, and was buried there. No one is quite sure where, it's all sand and desert and hard to figure out where. That area is still under constant watch to see if anyone tries to retrieve whatever it was. The UN inspection teams, while in Iraq, managed to find both nuke weapon parts and tools, along with documents detailing the use. They almost died trying to get out of Iraqi at the airport, and they never went back. No trace of those items were found later in Iraq. This is all history that is ignored. It's also not well published, since it amounts to an admission that the mission failed in that part. Or conversely, amounts to an admission that the WMD were there. This is all public information, true or false for what it's worth, and I'm sure there is other military intelligence that we will never hear about. It would possibly put us into a war that we aren't ready for. Those are the types of wars that are lost, instead of won.

Military Intelligence gained to prevent or shorten a war, isn't always available. In times of peace, that asset of warfare is often neglected or discarded. That in turn, makes decisions of war difficult to judge. And therefore, possible to err on the side of caution, and go to war unnecessarily. The lesser of two evils. Fight or lose liberty. An alternative, is to constantly prepare for a war, which will always come to be. By advancing technology beyond what the opponent will be capable of, a measure of success is guaranteed in part. History has plenty of examples, of waiting and hoping a war won't happen. A general result, is often more suffering and effort and cost than what would have occurred had the decisions been made earlier. But either way, there is no hind sight. There is no actual way of knowing what would have happened if a different course of action had been taken. The judgments are made based on what has happened historically. By comparision of the present to the past, a country has to decide what their fate will be for the future, based on their actions in the present. Be aware that for every correct decision, another country (the opponent) made the wrong decision. One wins, and one does not.

okie dokey, I'll do that, sounds like a great way to roll in on Roll On

Nope, pretty close to the real thing. Nobody really knows for sure, probably 70 to 87 feet long, and was the biggest of the three. Google satellite image shows 80-85 feet deck with close to 100 feet overall. Santa Maria (70-87 feet, crew of 40) aka La Gallega aka "The Galician" aka Marigalante aka "Gallant Maria" aka La Capitana aka La Nao Pinta (65-85 feet, crew of 26) aka "The Painted" Nina (65-70 feet, crew of 20) aka Santa Clara aka "The Girl" Photos of last years pirates: Link One Link Two Link Three Link Four

Change is good. Here's 5 bucks, fetch me a sammich. Keep the change...

RedRocket04, I understood the humor, don't worry about it. And I understand that somebody read it wrong. It happens. And it was pretty damn funny...

That and the worthless attempts to improve by plastic and chemistry. Collagen lips that fail. And probably onset of liver failure. judiciaryreport.com

Times change. The best wine for the money is now found in Speedways around here, not groceries. I am glad that some of the local groceries are stocking some good selections of beer. They didn't before. Is that a sign of economical depression?

No, they are gone. We had state run Liquor stores the same as that, and they shut them all down. It's now found in the nearest Kroger store, or other grocery. I guess each city or county does their own thing. Shoplifting was getting bad at them, and having to post guards all the time. (Kroger stores always had special duty patrolmen.) I know Cleveland and suburbs is very different. I remember having to buy beer in bars for carryout, not in the gas stations, like the rest of the world. Maybe that's changed now also. Dunno. The nearest post office got shut down also. First it was the special service area got shut down because of high theft. And then the entire place due to budget cutbacks.

The old fashioned way was to stick the night stick up the pipe. If it fit you got the ticket. Although I got one for TT scrambler straight pipes up each side of the bike with BSA baffles hammered into the ends. It wasn't any louder than a lawnmower, but it collected a ticket anyway. It's like a jaywalking ticket, almost no defense possible. I got another one with stock header that had the end cut out of the can. Looked really nice, but visible modification to a can will get the same ticket. (Or in California, anything other than unmodified stock exhaust for both cars and bikes.) And oh yeah, it was the same suburb of Columbus for both tickets. I didn't care either time, mostly because I had talked my way out of moving violations with points. I gladly took the noise violations without points.

Yes but, if there are 6 guys with gas cans standing in the parking lot in front of the state liquor store, it's a little obvious they all have something else on their minds. (Back when we actually had state liquor stores.)