Left Bountiful about 1:50. At 2:04 I got a call. Just went straight to the office. Just finished it @ 3:20 am. Going home. Tired.

Last Saturday was tons of fun. Eric and Natalie came over at about 10 AM. Eric took a few minutes to adjust the rear shock on his motorcycle, then we were off! We took Wasatch down to Draper then went up and over Suncrest. Dropped down into Alpine then headed towards the Alpine Loop before jumping off and heading South to Pleasant Grove. Down to Orem and up Provo Canyon. We stopped at Bridal Veil falls to rest our bums for a bit, then continued on. Up to Heber which looked like the place to be this weekend. First by the airport, where it looked like there was a small air show going on. Then on main street there was a classic car show that we rode by. We kept on going to Park City. Stopped and grabbed some lunch at Pizza Hut, then continued to Kimball Junction. As long as we were there I wanted to pick up some more shirts. Did our shopping and started heading back. Diverted off Parleys to the East Canyon exit, then took Emigration Canyon back to the Salt Lake Valley.

We headed back to my place to grab their backpack. We then talked about going to see a movie, found one and rode down to Jordan Commons. Watched The Proposal which I enjoyed. But I do enjoy most "chick flicks". After the movie we went our separate ways. They went home, and I went to Steve's. He just put his kids to bed and it was time for him to see Transformers. So we ran to the theater and got in to the next show. Fortunately I checked my phone, which I had left on silent, as Eric was calling. I called him really quick and he ran over and joined us. The movie was tons of fun again. After we stood around outside talking about it. Realized sitting outside was dumb when we could be talking at Belg. Down we went, ate some chow, chatted a bunch more, then finally called it a night. I got home about 12:30. It was a good, long, fun Saturday.

Yesterday after work I went to replace my headlight and take out the modulator on my motorcycle. I removed the modulator, and soldered the wires back together. Just for kicks (to make sure things were correct) I plugged the old bulb back in and turned it on. The high beam worked just like it did last night, and the low beam... worked. The bulb didn't go bad. So was it the modulator, or a loose wire? The kit used crimp on connectors, so now I'm wondering if it would work fine soldered together. That does mean unsoldering what I did yesterday and putting the modulator back in soldering each of the connections this time. So should I do it, or keep it out?

So yeah, I've been a total slacker.

Basically I've just been going to therapy for by back over the last couple weeks. Had an awesome BBQ with everyone... that rocked.

So last night I helped Rich some more on his home theater. This was the night to build the elevated platform. We picked up the wood, and rented a nail gun from Home Depot. Picked up the air compressor at home, then over to Rich's. Got it all framed up, then the nail gun started jamming. Cleared it, jammed again, rinse repeat... Eventually we took it to Home Depot, the guy cleared it, we went back and continued trying. Same thing. This time we exchanged the gun. Same thing. GRRR! So we took in a clip of nails with us as I felt they were just too thin. Turns out the lady before sold us the wrong nails. The guy was awesome though, helped us get the correct ones, and even gave them to us for free for all the hassles we'd been dealing with. Got back to Rich's place and finished the decking in no time. In the coming months he still needs to pull the carpet out of his office, put hard wood down in there, and use the carpet he pulls up to cover the platform.

So we go to take all the equipment back to my place and I find that another light bulb has burned out on my motorcycle. So I'll be removing that headlight modulator. At $20 a bulb, replacing them monthly is bad.

So I got home and that is when it hit me. My back was hurting like nobody's business! I slept so badly last night. Then when I woke up I was hurting just as bad, plus my head was killing me. Pain all over.

So last week I went to see my doctor for the pain in my leg. He sent me to an Orthorpaedic specialist. Looks like I have a herniated disc at L5 (the bottom most vertebrae before the tailbone). That is what has been causing the pain in my left leg. This last week my lower back has started hurting as well. So he put me on some Prednisone. So I'll be on it for 7 days, and starting physical therapy to help my spine. After two weeks if I'm not feeling any better, I call them back and get an MRI scheduled. Then Cortisone shots. If that doesn't work... surgery.

I'm also going to do some other things to try to get it finally fixed. I think now that I have a better idea I can get other treatments specifically for it. So a visit to the Chiropractor on Friday, then I need to find an acupuncturist and try that stuff out.

I'll keep y'all updated.

Today Eric and I went for a nice cruise. We started up Emigration Canyon. Then up East Canyon, to East Canyon Reservoir. We went by that to Henefer, then past Echo Reservoir to Rockport Reservoir. Past there, and on our way to Kamas. We passed the Road Island Diner, and stopped. I asked if he wanted to try it out, so we turned around and went back and got lunch there. Had some BBQ, then continued on. Down through Kamas, Francis, and on to Heber. Cruised down Provo Canyon, past Deercreek, and into Orem. Stopped at a shop really quick for Eric, then headed up and over South mountain to get home. It was around 160 miles total for the day. Good riding.

So yesterday I went out to the sand dunes for the first time in almost six months. Jason came over about 7:30 and we headed to Macey's to get some lunch and snacks. Ran into Tony as we were putting the drinks in the cooler and chatted for a quick minute, then were off.

As soon as we got to the point of the mountain the rain started really dumping. To be safe Jason slowed down to 55 as the trailer felt like it would hydroplane if we went faster. We slowly made our way though Utah County, and by the time we got to Santaquin it was back to sprinkling. As we looked West we could see some blue sky, and knew it would be a good day.

On our way out we called Bryce and found that they ended with 3 bikes, not two like we initially thought. Jason asked if they filled them up, no. What is it with kids not filling up their gas tanks? Since we were still so far out we told them to drive into Nephi and gas up. We got to the Visitors center and waited. While we waited one of the rangers came over to check registrations. As he walked over I grabbed my temp out of the 4-Runner. Jason said his were good (5/09) and the guy said no, worrying Jason for a second, then said, oh, yeah, they're fine. Eventually Bryce and his friends arrived. They had gotten hungry and stopped at Arby's. One thing we noticed immediately. They had motorcycles, not quads. We definitely had enough gas for them, but as we thought they had quads, thought we would run short. Oh well.

We went though, and paid, then started down the road to Oasis. Just past the shack the ranger that checked our bikes was talking with another ranger in his truck. They didn't discuss our trailer. We got just past the White Sands turn off when the ranger in his truck came flying up lights on. We pulled over. As he came up Jason said "I bet this is about the registration on the white quad" as he handed him my temp. Jason mentioned the other guy checked it earlier, and the ranger said no problem, smiled and told us to stay safe. As he walked back, the other ranger went flying past to pull over Bryce's friends.

Jason and I drove to the Sand Mountain turnoff and waited. And waited. And waited. About 20 minutes later they pulled up. "Who got the ticket?" I asked. One of the kids had old stickers, and didn't have a temp with him. I just kinda laughed. We went on to Oasis where they led, and took us to a site in loop D. Kinda sucked to get out to the dunes from there.

We unloaded and set out to the dunes. One of the kids had little experience on the dunes, so went slow until he got the better feel for it. Found a jump and took a bunch of pics (In the gallery). Moved on. The boys wanted to find another good jump so we went looking. Finally found one that was pretty cool. On the first round of hitting it, the newbie didn't hit it small to feel it out. He went flying! He said that he was leaning so to correct it he basically did a Nac Nac with his right leg. He brought it back around, but didn't have it down when he landed. We all thought he was a gonner. BUT HE RODE IT OUT! It was crazy! When he brought his leg back around though he knocked off his flag, so we headed back to eat lunch and fix it.

After lunch we decided to hit the trails around the mountain next to Oasis. Cruised all around, Jason totally lost everyone, so we rode around trying to spot him. The quads did some nasty hillclimbs, and eventually we made our way to the back side of the mountain by all the drag trails. We hung out there as the clouds got darker and darker. Jason wanted to rush back and close a window he left cracked. When he got around the mountain he saw the uber nasty rain almost on top of us. He turned around to warn us. We all booked it back to the camp site. As we rode the rain would hit us on our lips, feeling like little pieces of hail. Short ride though and we were back quickly.

I got into the 4-Runner to check the radar on my phone. Looked like just a small cell, so we waited it out. Jason & I watched act 1 of Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog. The rain stopped after about 30 minutes, and we got back out riding. We were in the place where Jodi rolled when we had another flag break. Went and fixed that. Back out again. Didn't find much good stuff for a while, but just kept riding around. Eventually the boys said they were tired and ready to go home. Jason and I could have kept riding, but oh well. So we went back and loaded up.

The boys headed home, and Jason & I went to another place where we could shoot. We parked and did some walking. Thinking about it, it probably helped our legs after riding. I wasn't very sore at all in my legs the day after. Very stiff in my shoulders though. Jason wanted to try to call in a coyote, so we tried that for a bit. After a good long while with nothing we headed back to shoot some cans at least. Shot for a bit, heard some coyotes so went quiet and tried again for one, unsuccessfully. Took a couple longer distance shots, Jason hit a 46oz V8 bottle at 200 yds with 1 out of 3 shots, then put the guns away and drove home.

Good fun was had by all!

So time for Eric to get a new tire?

Pics in the gallery too...

Yesterday Eric and I took a cruise up to Logan. I met up with him over at his place about 10:45. After gassing up we hit the road. Nice steady cruise along I-15 until North Ogden when Eric got off the freeway. His hand was already killing him, so we went for some Advil at a gas station. So he got drugged up, so we continued on. Little did we know we were about to enter a war zone. There is a reason for full face shields, and I was grateful for them. So many bugs completely plastered out helmets. After we exited at Brigham City we stopped to regain full visibility. While we were there I opted to place my inner liner in before heading up Sardine Canyon. We proceeded up the canyon where I became very grateful for that lining. It wasn't freezing, but you could really feel the temp drop.

We made our way into Logan then stopped at the A&W so Eric could get some cheese curds. We ate some lunch, then continued up to Richfield, where his sister is moving to. We went up to their place and hung out and helped paint for a while. We didn't want to make the ride home in the dark, so we left about 4. We headed North a few miles to cross into Idaho. Took a some pictures in Franklin to prove it, then headed back home gassing up along the way. Stopped again in Brigham city, where I decided to keep the inner lining in. Then continued home.

My odometer said 236 miles. Not bad. Good experience. My recent additions definitely made a huge difference. I wouldn't have been able to make the ride on my old seat. And the highway bars were so nice to be able to move my feet around. My shoulder is still feeling it though. So I'll need to get some pullback risers, and possibly a cruise control of some type. Overall a great cruise!

Pics in the gallery.

Monday my new crash bars and highway pegs arrived, and were promptly installed. I rode it around all night playing with the position. Tuesday, after taking the loooong way home from work, I decided to take some pictures to post. Rather than show off my ugly pitted driveway, I decided to try to get some green grass in there. Just makes for a nicer picture! So I moved my bike up onto the walkway to the front door. Took the first picture.

Ok, now I gotta get something with the pipes, even though they are stock. So not sitting on the bike I turn it around. As I start to back it into place I start to lose it's balance. It falls away from me, gently, to the ground. Right before it hit I think, "Well, at least now I have the crash bars!" It went down on the highway peg, very lightly scuffing it. I look around to see if any of my neighbors are outside... Yes! Nobody saw that! I quickly lifted it back up, put the kickstand down, and parked it correctly.

So I've finally dropped my bike, I wasn't on it, and I'll never move my bike without me on it again.

Well, at least I got that out of the way! (I'm hoping to never get the accident out of the way...)

So I'm driving to work this morning, and while I'm on Wasatch I notice a rock chip I got on Friday start to split. Within no time its 10" across my windshield. Crud I'm thinking. Continue on my way to work.

It was at 20th East that my problems really occurred. I'm in the right lane, still can't get left, when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. I realize big chunks of ice are dropping off the overpass, and I'm headed right for them. I had no time to do anything. They slammed into my windshield. That tiny 10" crack was tiny no more! I now have huge cracks all across my windshield. I looked over at my right mirror; the mirror itself came out of the housing and was hanging on by wires (heated and autodimming). When I got to work I took a better look. I didn't see any dents, and it didn't hit the sunroof.

I lucked out in many ways. I have an appointment for replacement tomorrow...

At the end of last month I ordered some saddlebags for my motorcycle. I got them today. Let me tell you the tale...

I had been searching around for several months trying to decide on which bags I should buy. I finally decided on the Edge Leather Model 108L bags. More searching, and I found a place that would give me 10% off the bags if I bought the brackets I wanted from them as well. It came out to be the lowest price I could find, so I placed the order on February 27th about 9 am. They shipped that same day via ground shipping.

On March 5th my package arrived. I noticed it was shipped directly from the manufacturer, no problem. Then after a few minutes I noticed something. They were the wrong bags. I held in my hands the standard Model 108. Looks exactly the same, but missing the lock. It was a significant bit more for the locking model, and that is what I wanted. I looked at the invoice and it listed the standard 108. So the guys I ordered from screwed up and ordered the wrong bag from the manufacturer.

So I called their customer service. It was completely automated and said if I hadn't already I needed to fill out the online return form and wait 2 days for them to "process" it. I'm thinking that is bull already and getting pissed off. I submitted it on the afternoon of the 5th. Well I wait. And wait. On the 11th I still hadn't heard anything (4 business days), so I called them back, finally got to a live person and expressed my frustration. She assured me she would contact their returns department and make sure they were working on it. Wait. Wait.

Called back on the 13th. WHAT THE ____! She told me the same story again, I told her I thought their customer service was a complete joke, the worst I've ever seen, and mentioned I'll go talk to my credit card company about reversing the charges. 15 minutes later I had an email from them. It told me basically the same thing. So I waited.

On Tuesday the 17th I got another email saying it had been processed and included a return label. On the 18th they actually shipped (again from the manufacturer, but no big deal there). I waited until I had a tracking number from UPS before shipping the other ones back. They finally arrived today.

I'm now going to make it my mission in life to share this story and put these guys out of business. Their customer service was a complete joke, and they don't deserve business from anyone.

So that is the tale... I will say though I'm very impressed with the product from my initial viewing. We'll see how they work out over time. But I got them all mounted up after work today, and can't wait to try them out! Pictures in my gallery here!

So yesterday during the rain my power went out. My UPS' battery is pretty much shot, and as it was it didn't power my server long enough for it to shut down correctly. So the server shutdown hard. And it wasn't happy. Especially the virtual machines. But that is the joy of virtualization! I moved some files around, set everything back up, and BAM, I was up and running again. (Of course that took a few hours... doh!)

So now the when it rains part... I didn't want to take that chance again, so I ordered a new UPS. While I was at it my hard drives were full (4% free of 1.8 TB!!) I ordered a 4th 1 TB drive to add to my RAID. And of course I have outgrown all the cases I have at my place, so I had to order a new full tower for my server.

So much for all that extra credit I paid off this month... (Just means I won't be able to do I planned for next month)

There are two new things here... put your guesses in the comments!

Sorry, don't know why the comments weren't working before... should be good now.

In an effort to save money I just performed the "homeboy" mod on my motorcycle. Right in the middle of the seat there is a hump in the plastic. Due to this the foam is thinner there, and it causes much butt pain. The mod is to remove the hump.

I was very apprehensive to remove my seat cover, but after doing it, it's nothing! So I pulled off the cover, and cut out the hump! In place of the hump I did place a cut up garbage bag, then put the foam and cover back on. I took it out for a test sit. Wow. I could definitely tell a difference.

Now the only hard part is that my seat mounts to the bike with two screws on a bracket on the back. Guess what I just cut out? The bracket. I knew this going into it that I would have to fabricate a new mounting bracket. So I did a cardboard tracing of what I needed, and started to cut it out of plate steel with a Dremel. Well 5 cutting wheels later and I wasn't even 10% done. This wasn't going to happen. So I called Eric to see if he could help. Today I took the sheet metal into his work at lunch and using his plasma cutter he was done in a matter of minutes!

So tonight I cleaned it up on a bench grinder, and drilled my holes. This should work perfectly. Before finishing I threw some Rustoleum on there to keep the rust from coming. So that's where I sit now.

I'll update this with finished pics, but in the mean time there's pics here:

http://www.waterman981.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=12953

Update: This morning I checked the bracket, looks awesome! I put one rubber grommet in to check it out. Looks like it will work perfectly! My bolts may not be long enough, so I'll see if I can fit them or not. If not I'll pick up new ones, when I get rubber ends for the bolts. I'll finish it up tonight and take final pics!

Update 2: All done! I put my rubber grommets in, then measured and drilled my holes into the seat to mount the bracket. Got it all installed and took it out for a little ride tonight! Couldn't tell with how short of a ride it was, but seemed really good. Time will tell. Final pics in the gallery now too!

I finally got back on the bike today. Granted, it was planted on a trainer, but still got on it. I only did about 2 miles, not much, but it totally killed my legs. I guess the factor is I'm out of shape. But that's why I got the trainer. I'm hoping by spring I will be much better. Definitely better than just starting in spring. The one thing I was definitely pleased about is my butt didn't hurt too much. Ever since that last wheeling trip after Thanksgiving I've been hurting. I'd sure be nice if it was all better.

After doing a little ride of my own I watched the prologue for the Tour of California. It was awesome watching all the biggest names in the one race. I'm excited for this next week to watch the strategy, strength, and endurance of the pros. It's some of the best racing to watch. Now if only I could get guide data for VersusHD, and if they would broadcast the race in HD. Tomorrow is going to be the long day though. Daytona 500 starts at noon, then the Tour of California (ToC) at 4. What's gonna stink is I have some scheduled work to do during the middle of it. Oh well.

So I had a nice weekend away. Tony, his brother Matt, and I went up to a condo in Eden, UT for the weekend. I had originally booked the condo back in November. Originally the plan was myself and Lacey, Tony & Chelsey, & Eric & Natalie. The largest I was able to book was a 2 bedroom, and as the other couples were married, didn't want to crowd their rooms. Unfortunately Natalie got sick so they weren't able to go. I tried others, but it was very last minute. As Chelsey would be the only woman there she decided to stay home as well (Which ended up being a good thing as she got sick too. ).

So Tony and I got up there about 5:30 on Friday. The fog was starting to get bad, but not super bad yet. Matt arrived about 6:30. We loaded up in my car and drove to Ogden to get some groceries at Macey's. The fog then was super thick! Got our groceries and went back up, through the thick fog, to chill and watch Hot Fuzz.

Saturday we all woke up around 8. We looked outside and saw rain. Checked the weather and it didn't sound much more promising. We cooked some breakfast and made our way out. We decided to check the snow at Snowbasin before deciding. The lot there was empty, and it was raining. We walked around, checked the lift prices, and decided to go for it. So first we went in and got our skis. After we got them we stepped outside and the rain had turned to little ice pellets. A few minutes later and it was snow. Still very wet and heavy, but snow. We got all our gear on and took the Needles Express up the mountain. As soon as we got off we noticed we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us. The combination of fog and snow was horrible. So we started off slowly. Picking out routes we could barely see when we removed our goggles. Going downhill was an adventure. With such heavy snow, and no visibility, we would go a little bit, then stop. A few times I thought I was stopped, wasn't though, and when I'd relax I'd suddenly get moving in a direction I wasn't ready for ending up in a crash. Unfortunately I was not up to the day, and half way down my legs were already done. I finished the run and told Tony and Matt to go on without me. I chilled for a bit, then realized I was at my limit unfortunately. So I took my skis back and got comfortable until they were done. Definitely the most expensive single run I have ever done, but I still had fun. And even though it was just one run I felt satisfied.

Tony and Matt made their way to the car at about 3:30. We headed back to the condo, then bee-lined it to the hot tub. We relaxed there for a good long while, shaking out our muscles. For dinner that night we decided to go to a steak house. So first we checked the prices at the Timbermine. Much more than we wanted to spend that night. Ruby River had a 75 minute wait. Texas Roadhouse 60 minutes. We ended up at Chuck-a-rama. At least is was cheap! Went back to the condo after eating, and watched Better Off Dead. After that one we started Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure but were just way too worn out.

Sunday we all got up around 9. It was the snow plow that woke me up. It had snowed pretty good overnight there. We cleaned up and were out by 11 heading home. The snow stopped in Ogden Canyon, and turned to rain. Then pretty much rain all the way down until SLC, when it was really slushy on the road. But we made it back with no incident. Definitely a fun weekend, and I'll have to try it again, and hopefully nobody gets sick beforehand!

Last night when I got home I had two awesome packages waiting for me. New wheels for my mountain bike so I could mount the disc brakes I bought 3 months ago, and Firefly on Blu-ray. I popped in disc 1 and got to work. I had the new brakes mounted up pretty quick. I still need my new cables and rim strips to arrive, so it'll be a few more days until my bike is fully back together. Even after I was done I continued to watch Firefly. I watched about half the series last night. Really, IMO is is the best Sci-Fi ever done. Thanks to Steve for turning me onto it. Battlestar Galactica is very good as well, but Firefly & Serenity are just so much better. This is my second time through the series and I really feel more what the driving force behind the main characters is, which makes it that much better.

Had a little man's night last night. Steve came over around 4:30 while I was playing Lego Star Wars. We played for a little while, then ran to grab some grub at Panda Express. On the way there we saw a Mazda 3 that had been in an accident... the engine was sitting on the road about 30 feet from the car.

After grabbing grub we stopped at Blockbuster and picked up Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Went back to my place and started playing. A bit later Tony was able to make it. We continued playing a bit of Smash Bros, then played some tennis, and a bit of boxing. We played until almost 2 when they both headed home. It was a fun night. Thanks guys!

For the first time ever I think, I hung up some lights at this house. Due to the roof line it is very hard, so I was only able to get them up over the garage. In order to do all of my house you would definitely need a boom lift. The only thing I ever recall doing previously was one of the bushes. Unfortunately I ran out of time to do more, and seeing the forecast it looks like this will be it. Next year.