Stay Safe

'Be Safe' is what parents tell their kids whenever they head out on their own to do God Knows What with their friends.

'Stay Safe' is the equivalent phrase motorcyclists use when our fellow riders are about to head out and place themselves into God Knows What sorts of dangers.

Actually, when it comes to motorcycles, we do know what dangers are out there, and they are myriad, but mostly manageable.

Most two-wheeled risks are known and accepted as part of the potential price of our enjoyment, but that doesn't lessen the worry (much) of our family and non-riding friends when they see us go out for a ride.  And the more in-the-know about your motorcycling habits these family and friends are, the more worried they'll be.

The same goes I guess for parents and their kids.  The more details you know about what they will be doing, the more you may be likely to worry.  It's sure that way for me. If you want me not to worry, I tell them, please don't relate that you'll be trying out bungee jumping on that school field trip.

My family is pretty good with me and my motorcycling obsession. After a rocky start in which a bike purchase gravely endangered my marriage, all has been well, even though I've increased the number of bikes I own to three, raising the resulting spend rate to Warp 9.

In general, my family recognizes the (mentally) therapeutic affect of a ride, and they don't question the cost-benefit equation. After all, I could be spending that time and money on psychological counseling and prozac.

But if they were to know the gritty details of where and how I ride, they might feel a bit differently.  It's hard for non-riders to understand that riding at the clip I do on weekends around mountain curves is actually pretty safe, because all they can reference is their four-wheel experience.

So it's better they not know the details.  The fact that I've come home unscathed from 11 consecutive years of weekly rides makes them believe what I do is safe enough.

And so it is, for the most part.

But I still say 'Stay Safe' to my riding friends, as they leave our mountain hangout for home, and trust I'll see them again.  We who ride may know the dangers, but we also know we are not invincible and there are idiots out there whose mistakes may end us.  And then there's just plain bad luck.

So, 'Stay Safe' and 'Be Safe' to Riders and Kids everywhere, and doubly so to those of you who are Both.  And remember, when it comes to friends and family - lose the details!

No Man's Land

If time flies by when you are having fun, will you live forever if you are miserable?

A Really Close Landslide - The actual tally in the recent election would indicate an electorate just about evenly split, with a slight majority opting to continue the status quo (with a little Hope on the side) versus a re-boot of pre-Obamian republicanism.  But to hear it from the pundits, both left and right, this squeaker was a 'landslide'.  Either to pump up a marginal mandate, or to emphasize the scope of loss to seize power within a squabbling party, this is ridiculous. For the demos to govern or repubs to regroup with any positive effect, both sides need to accept the divided nature of this country and seek to find common ground (that's not a battlefield).

Benghazi Mon Amour - The republicans incessant attempts to make a national referendum on Obama's reelection out of the question of whether the government erred in calling the embassy attack an act of terrorism or an act of protest, is getting freakishly weird.  As if it wasn't strange enough to focus on what the event was called, instead of why there wasn't effective preparation or an effective response, now the republicans have added the sex-and-threats scandal of former General (and now former CIA chief) David Petraeus to the mix.  Was the General's sexual peccadillo outed to prevent (or impune) his testimony on Benghazi? Small minds everywhere want to know.

To Ghaza, Again - Once more those of us - sitting comfortably in our homes and offices everywhere in the World except the Middle East, must watch the Hamas-led Ghazan Palestinians clash in deadly combat with the Likud-led Israelis. We will never understand it, not even when advised by our Jewish friends - sometimes not even when we are Jewish ourselves. Not even if we are descended from former middle-easterners,  or practice Islam. It is beyond understanding in this modern age of instant communication how two populations can be so intent on each other's destruction. Oh, wait, I forgot politics (see above).

It's said that Misery Loves Company.  We might all live forever...

On The Eve of Dysfunction

I don't want to be negative, really I don't.

When the sun sets on tomorrow's election, I'd like to believe that all hands will come on deck, hoist sail, and set this Nation on a true course towards a benevolent future.

That's silly and unrealistic, I know, but I'd like to believe it rather than succumb to the gnawing certainty that this country's political and governmental dysfunction will continue.

Does anyone out there believe that John Boehner and Harry Reid can ever agree on anything? (Except that they both love their government-paid full coverage health insurance and other perks)

Does anyone believe that Mitt Romney actually cares about that 47%, even remotely as much as he does the fabled 1%?

Does anyone believe that Barack Obama can make the change happen, that he just couldn't before?

Does anyone believe that Fox News (or on the other side MSNBC) will ever stop being a propaganda mouthpiece and stray closer to the facts?

I don't want to be negative, really I don't.  But it's been hard not to.

Let's hope what unfolds on the 6th of November, 2012, will be to our mutual benefit, and not just one more offering on the altar of futility.  (That shit is getting old.)

I wish us all the very best of Luck.