New York

I have an '84 El Camino that is a work in progress. Today I was flushing out my cooling system which involves filling and draining the radiator several times. First I filled it with a cleaner and ran it for a couple of days. Today I drained that and filled it with fresh water to flush out the cleaner and all the bad stuff it had dislodged. Fill, run the engine for 15 minutes, drain, repeat until the water comes out clear. Leaving the car running unattended with the keys in it on the street in front of the house is not a problem in our small town. However, it did bring back a memory.

As a 20-something I lived in Connecticut and regularly went down to New York City to see my friend Chip. He lived in Queens and we regularly took the Cross-Bronx Expressway to go into the City. One time we went by a car that was sitting next to the roadway and Chip noted that the car must have just pulled over. 

"How do you know that?", I asked.

"Because it's still all there." he replied.

True to his words, as we went by an hour later the doors and the trunk lid were open. Radio gone, glove box rifled, and the spare tire taken was our guess. 

The next time we passed, the car was sitting on the ground with all four tires stolen. Later the hood was up and who knows what was missing there. Maybe the engine? It was like a ultra-slow motion movie of a disappearing car.

That evening, as we went into the Village for drinks, the entire car was gone. Who knows how or why. And who cares?

Just another day in New York City. The city that never sleeps.

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Success

Woody Allen said the 80% of success was just showing up. I take that to mean both mentally and physically. You can't get anywhere if you're not there to start with.

Staring blanking and doom scrolling with a cell phone is not being there. Spending time messaging with "friends" on FakeBook is not being there.

Put down the phone, turn off the computer. set aside the tablet, and show up in the real world. Amazing things will happen.

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Money Matters

There was a time when I was a happy-go-lucky beach bum party guy. I always managed to find the money to pay the rent on the house I shared with two other similar guys but for the most part the money in my pockets was all the money I had in the world. A 6-pack of beer was a big investment back then.

A beer and huevos rancheros for breakfast every morning, the job in a motorcycle shop, and partying down at the beach every night was my daily routine. Although I was having the best time of my life, I realised that I was going nowhere.

A call from a friend in Boston with an offer of a job made me think that a change in location might be just what I needed to break this nihilistic cycle. 

Soon a steady job and a few bucks in the bank lent some stability to my life. It got me thinking about the future and what plans I could make. Now that I had some money I wanted to keep it. At a friend's house I ran across the book, The Richest Man In Babylon. It opened my eyes as never before to the ease of keeping money and putting to work for you. There was no mumbo-jumbo or secret tricks that were unreasonable, just common sense that even I could understand.

Let's say you had a 6-pack and were going out for the evening. You would drink all six bottles. But what if you only took five bottles and left one at home. What if you did this five times? The sixth time you would have a "free" 5-pack to go out with and could put the money you would have spent in a piggy bank. Trust me, the difference in drinking 5 beers and 6 beers in neglidgeable.

This theory applies to everything; spend slightly less and save the difference. To make it simple just take 10% of everything you get and put it into your piggy bank. 10% of your paycheck, 10% of something you sold on eBay, 10% of anything that comes your way. It's painless and builds up quickly. It becomes a habit and you never miss it. Spend the 90% so you can enjoy life and save 10% to enjoy the future.

The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason

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Life lesson

My friend Dave and I were camping in Yosemite for a few days. As we were packing and getting ready to go I mentioned that I wanted to stop and see my aunt and uncle in Merced as we headed home. Dave declared that it would be out of the way and a delay to our trip. Since he was driving I let it go and thought no more about it.

However, as we got to the Fresno/Merced junction Dave stayed to the right and headed to Merced. I told him that I thought he was in a hurry to get back home and he replied, 

If it's important to you, it's important to me.

That magnanimous gesture has stayed with me over the years and I have tried to live up to his words ever since. 

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Life Choices

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I wanted to be gay.

I had no idea what that really meant but I passed this little bar on my way to my paper route every day and it seemed to be a good idea. The guys wore sharp clothes, listened to cool jazz, and drove great cars. They would wave as I passed by but never tried to hustle me.

Later on, when I realized what gay really meant I wasn't horrified, I just decided that I liked girls, the Beach Boys, and motorcycles more than boys, Miles Davis, and Cadillac De Villes.

Later, I would come to appreciate Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and the rest.

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Nuts & Bolts

One of the first things that they teach at Honda Technical Training is how to tighten a bolt. Simple right? Righty tighty, lefty loosey.

How much righty is the problem most people get wrong. Most overtighten screws and bolts under the impression that more is always better. However, the esteemed Kevin Cameron* pointed out that when a bolt is tightened properly it stretches ever so slightly. To tighten it further stretches the bolt to the point of failure and the stretchy tension is lost. This will not necessarily cause the bolt to break but will degrade to bolt's ability to stay in place.

At Honda Tech the student is presented with a board full of nuts and bolts. They are then asked to tighten them as they thought best. Finally, the instructor comes around with a torque wrench and measures the amount that was used. 99% were over-torqued !!

Every auto and motorcycle manual comes with a list of torque values to correctly tighten the engine and vehicle. Check it out. And pay attention. Kevin is watching !!

* https://www.cycleworld.com/story/blogs/ask-kevin/nuts-and-bolts-of-nuts-and-bolts/

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Too many motorcycles and not enough time to ride them

Once upon a time I had one motorcycle. I rode it all the time. Jump on and go wherever I wanted. Then I got another motorcycle. One for the road and one for the dirt. That was the beginning of the end.

With one moto if something needs work you do it and go riding. With two, you jump on the one that is working until it needs work and then you have to fix both of them. 

This expands exponentially with the acquisition of the third, fourth, etc. If you have friends with motos you soon find that you are fixing theirs as well.

It just needs this one little thing

are the words of doom. It is rarely just that simple because you always notice just one other little thing and down the rabbit hole you go.

I had a friend who had a method to this madness. He was into vintage Harleys. 

1. He had one waiting to come apart.
2. One apart, waiting for parts.
3. One with parts waiting to go back together.
4. One that was together and he could ride until it was back to #1
5. Plus a Honda Goldwing that never needed anything when all else failed

I just finished a friend's bike and he's in Montana for several days. My wife's bike is tuned up and ready to go but she can't ride for a couple of weeks. My VFR750 is on the lift waiting for carb work but the Africa Twin is sitting in the driveway ready to go.

Maybe I can sneak out and enjoy the day before somebody drops by with a problem.

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