I'm finding it more and more difficult to find time to post, so they're not coming as regularly. Maybe that will change, mayne not, we'll see.
It seems every day Joy is doing someting new. For instance, just 2 days ago she tried sweet potatoes for the first time, and yesterday that was her meal and she liked it. A competely new and foreign experience is now an accepted part of her routine. Today she is spending more time voluntarily on her tummy. See, she can roll over on her own but can't roll back yet, so we spend a good amount of time on our stomach; much more so than usual. But then I guess this is the new 'usual'. I asked her as nicely as I could to slow down all this growing and development while she is still in an easily handled package. She is obviously ignoring my request. She is sleeping through the night (mostly) in her own room, in her own crib too. I seriously don't know how to keep up with this child.
In a few weeks, my brother and some friends and I are heading off to ride dirtbikes out in the wilds of Colorado and perhaps Utah for a week or so. My wife, who is the most wonderful person in the while world, insists I join them and get out and ride. We had a slight problem though. "We" consist of 5 guys, and between the lot of us, we could only gather 4 motorcycles. So that means either one would have to stay home (not an option), or we would have to share what we had between the lot of us, which would mean 1 guy always without a bike (not a good option), or buy one. We decided to pool our financial resources and procure one for the group, fix it up, and sell it at the end, and redistribute the funds back to the group. A little complicated, to be sure, but the only good option. I was, of course, tapped to broker the deal, and due to the fact I have a garage, tools, experience with motorcycle maintenance, etc etc I was to be the overall caretaker of the machine and the deal until it was sold on the far end of our adventure. I accepted happily.
My usual procedure would be to go out and purchase a bike made by one of the manufacturers known as the "big 4", which would be Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha. All of which I have owned at one point or another. I'm currently the owner of a Honda and 2 Yamahas, as an example. Well I wanted to go do that but I began to get frustrated because people were asking way more than the bikes were worth, even for bikes that needed significant work. It was spring, and people were getting their tax refunds, and the economy is supposedly on the rebound, so sellers were taking full advantage. I'm an experienced buyer so I will not be sucked in to the crap they were trying to spew. I was looking for a 4 stroke (I won't go into detail what that means, except to say it refers to the kind of engine it has) because 2 strokes were falling by the wayside in popularity and parts availability etc. The prices were through the roof! I will not pay over "Blue Book" value for a motorcycle, period. So I would go home frustrated. Repeatedly.
Time was beginning to be an issue. I only had about 2 thousand dollars to spend, and I wanted to get a bike in time to fully check it out and do whatever fixing it needed before all the guys got here. Joy only allows me so much time to do that sort of thing, ya know? I mean 6 weeks sounds like a ton of time, but in my life, 6 weeks is PUSHING IT. Stress was starting to rise. I did NOT want to disappoint my riding buddies. This is important to me.
So one day, after just coming home from what I thought was a 'slam dunk' which turned out to be more like an 'air ball' instead, I stumbled across an ad on ... an internet listing website... for a 2 stroke. Now I had owned 2 strokes in the past, and also had one in the garage, so I was no stranger to 2 strokes, liked em and all, but my riding buddies didn't want one. For a few reasons but the greatest of which is power delivery. 2 strokes have an angry, agressive, abrupt power delivery while 4 strokes' power delivery is smoother, more electric... it's not going to rip your arms out of their sockets trying to get away from you. MUCH easier to ride. Anyway, I got home, saw the ad, it was close, and the guy was there, so I ran out to see him and his bike. It was made by an austrian company called KTM, a fine machine of strong repute, and completely foreign to me. It was a 2 stroke. It was bigger in engine displacement than any other 2 stroke I had ridden in years. It did not have electric start. It was NOTHING my friends asked for. Shit.
I threw a leg over it, it fired on the first kick and treated me to an experience that was near heavenly. Wow. This thing was impressive. Power delivery was smooth smooth smooth, engine started really easily, and the total package was just really nice. This thing was Austrian. This thing was not only completely foreign to me, but really unwanted by the group. Oh yeah, and it could be had for half our budget. So I bought it. It's sitting in my garage now, waiting for my attention, which I will start giving it tomorrow. What was completely foreign is now commonplace.
How does one keep up with change? Must I constantly stretch my envelope of comfort to accomodate the next new thing? How can one find balance when balance is in a constant state of flux? How do you toe line when the line constantly moves? Steel is a pretty strong material and is strongest when its strength is tested (a state called stressed). You can bend steel. Once. If you bend it more than once, the area that is bent goes into a state called "work hardened" where it starts to become brittle. Keep going and it'll break.
Steel doesn't put up with change.
Joy does, every day.
I'm learning how.
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