redkow97

Nelson Ledges is dirt cheap. Talk to Todd with Fasttrax. Personally, I'd rather ride Putnam, but Nelson is just so close and cheap that I couldn't object... does it have to be an 'official' Ohio-Riders event? I like the idea, but as someone mentioned, we'd never get 75 people. if 20-30 of us just sign up for the same date with teh same org, the effect is pretty much the same, and puts no burden on OR to commit a certain number of people or dollars.

i started brewing lat night. the $39 "mr beer" kit rang up for $17 at the hardware store where I bought it. score. my fermenter seems to be leaking right now though. that's no good... I i was closer, you'd be welcome to some of my bottles. I probably have twice as many as i need.

The pit-bull system isn't really very much like the 'condor' style front wheel-chocks. Pit-bull's setup holds the bike up by the REAR axle with no straps at all. it's not that i don't trust straps, but I don't like compressing my forks for the 2-9 hour drive to various tracks (or overnight if i load the bike early). And if one of my tires were to go flat for some reason, the pit-bull setup continues to hold it up. straps become loose. the only reason i haven't bought them already is because my truck bed isn't long enough. you CAN mount the plate in front of the rear wheel, but my swing-arm spools would have to be removed to clear the restraint arm. I'll be in teh market for a trailer soonish.

I'm not debating that global warming happens, or is happening - I just don't think humans have nearly as much effect on it as some scientists seem to believe. I think the string of article links both sides are coming up with illustrate one uniform conclusion here: THERE IS NO CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE EITHER WAY. agree to disagree, and move on. I try to lower my carbon footprint regardless of whether it's causing global warming.

most cops don't know what makes a bike legal anyway :-P welcome.

I hope the wheelchair isn't the result of a bike accident either, but why would he be retarded if it was? That's the kind of stubborn I can admire. p.s. wheelchair is the ONLY way you'd get me on a trike... I like his sidecar design even better.

"where's all this global warming we've been hearing so much about? It's January in Cleveland, and i'm fucking freezing. I'm standing outside with an aerosol can just going to town... SCREW THE GRANDKIDS! I'M COLD NOW!" - Drew Carey, circa 1994 wasn't it "CFC" that was supposed to destroy us last decade? Chlorafloracarbonates (sp?), right? Weren't we all supposed to die of bird flu about 3 years ago? I remember Johnny Drama making a joke about avian flu in 'Entourage' a few seasons back. Ask me how concerned I am about swine flu... A single volcanic eruption puts more CO2 into our atmosphere than 200,000 years of automobile exhaust (at the 2008 rate of CO2 production anyway). Any notion that we can dramatically affect the global climate is almost arrogant.

cool setup. if you trailer your bike often, these are amazing: http://www.pit-bull.com/trailer-restraint.shtml probably going to be my next purchase.

I'll have a list of small things for ya. all are nice, and in good shape - just stuff the wife and i replaced with wedding gifts.

i think i'm officially out... I should be in hardcore study mode that weekend. a trip to the track would be awesome, but not wise. I would definitely switch your second day to "I." Unless you really have a hard time learning new tracks, the classroom instruction on day 2 will bore you to death. Plus STT's "I" group isn't usually that fast. Hell, at Nelson on Saturday, a rider with an STT "A" sticker on her bike was excited that she was turning 1:27's. I was disappointed I wasn't breaking 1:20, and I consider myself an "intermediate" rider.

and people wonder why the affirmative action debate comes up so frequently in firefighting. super competitive. not to change the subject, but does anyone watch the biggest loser? my wife is way into it, and on of the contestants is a hugely overweight columbus firefighter. why are overweight LEO's and firefighters allowed to keep their jobs? If my ability to perform my job declined that much, I'd be out the door in a heartbeat. **edit - laugh at me for being stupid. Columbus, INDIANA. but the question is still valid. His bio says he's worried he "may not pass teh physical this year." How fucking easy does that physical have to be for this guy to have passed last year????? I know getting INTO the department is no joke. http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/contestants/current_cast/allen/

I'll work on an avatar after lunch.

bottles. You need to buy "blank" caps and a capper. I've been saving bottles to do the same.

I think the RAIN favors the car quite a bit as well. AWD car versus a single motorcycle tire, in the rain... I'd pussy-foot the launch too! It's impressive that the car offers any competition in a straight line whatsoever, and the car is probably awesome on a race track, but even if I wanted to pay $85k for the GT-R, i'd go broke keeping decent tires on it. I'm betting a decent set of tires for that car costs 4 times as much as a PAIR of DOT race tires for a bike. bikes will always struggle to keep up with top-dollar supercars, but they'll win the performance-for-the-dollar contest every single time. that's why I got into bikes...

my buddy Dan lives in Columbus and is either an EMT or Paramedic (not sure if there's a certification or schooling difference). He has a fire cert of some sort as well, but pursued the EMT route when fire jobs just weren't available. If people just want some basic "do this, don't do that. if you can only carry 3 things, these should be the 3 you have" training, I'm sure he'd be happy to give some informal instruction. He may actually hate bikes though... He's not one to preach the dangers of riding, but I know one of his friends died in a bike accident while he was in fire school, or shortly after they graduated. But who knows, that may be one more reason he's willing to give some free advice.

I don't care if he's faster than me - i figure it's win-win. Either he's awful, and it'll be humbling for him; or he's not awful, and it keeps the guy from taking stupid risks on the street for a day. I don't hate the guy just because i think he's silly for not wearing riding gear...

i know a lot of people who make this claim ....and i would like to get a bunch of them together. Personally, i suck at Goldeneye, but I still love it. Muliplayer consumed most of my high school years. when my mom wanted to sell our N64 at a garage sale, my brother replied with, "you are NOT selling my childhood to fat garbage-pickers."

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA i hate "lol," but i actually laughed at my desk for this. rep for you, sir.

just laugh. the absurdity of suggesting that ALL black women have no social etiquette is what makes it a joke. The reality that SOME black women actually do yell shit and talk on their cell phones during movies is what makes it funny.

i will pay QuikZX9R's track fees if he shows up to Nelson Ledges tomorrow. if anyone wants to chip in, i'd appreciate it, but nothing would make me happier than seeing this guy on a race track.

"nobama peace prize." I expect royalties when some ultra-conservative columnist starts using that term without my permission.

there's always going to be someone to bitch and complain. If they had mad the dolls 'black enough' (you know, by giving them big asses, nappy hair, and a propensity for yelling shit out in a crowded movie theater), there would be a whole contingency complaining about how racist they were. how the hell are you ever going to make something "'black enough,' but not too stereotypical?" damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_nobel_analysis;_ylt=AnCTIYZd4xNpR6FjBQSzZ5cGw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMTJxOXUxN3VoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDA5L3VzX29iYW1hX25vYmVsX2FuYWx5c2lzBGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2FuYWx5c2lzb2JhbQ-- pretty much breaks it down fairly evenly.

did anyone notice the options? "gear shift assistant" $450. Is that BMW-speak for quick-shifter?

I used to clean a day-care at night. $10/hour, and they paid me for 3 hours a night. I could finish in ~2 hours most nights, because i hussled my ass off, and wasn't an overweight housewife (their primary employee demographic). still got paid for 3 hours, because that was what they based their estimate on, and no one was around to supervise me. any kind of office building would be a decent cleaning gig, and not interfere with your classes. I think office buildings would be cake. Empty garbage, sweep, vacuum, and dust as needed... The day care had juice spills and required mopping nightly. avoid schools. I work for a company that owns a cleaning franchise (I didn't actually clean for that company though), and employee turnover is ridiculous in the cleaning industry. Any employer will probably be happy you're looking to work off hours (not while your kid is in school), and love that you show up on time, every time - although one of the thigns i liked about after-hours cleaning is that I could get the work done any time between 6 PM and 4 AM, as long as the floors were dry before people showed up for the following work day. check CL, and reply to their ads. Hell, they may hire a guy just to lift 'heavy' stuff like vacuum cleaners, and ease the fears of the over-sensitive women who freak out being alone in a large building at night. Temp agencies may also be able to find you good work. I worked for Adecco a couple times, and they always struggled to find me a job ...until they found out I could pass a drug test. Then I had 3-4 offers a week.