Motorcycles

"Men writing letters to men" .. at first this sounded slightly gay, but you're not talking about "love letters" doh :-)

That was kinda-sorta my point. Writing a letter to another man carries with it a connotation of gayness. Hence men don't do it. But they'll e-mail. Explain the difference. I can't ... except to say there's something intimate about handwritten letters.

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The long forks on Graham's bike caught him quite a bit of flak on the motorcycle forum. The people split into three camps -- those in favor, those opposed, and those who stayed silent. I'm not a fan of long forks; they reduce the agility of a bike. But I stayed silent.

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There are some motorcycles (and cars) coming out with Continuously Varitable Transmissions (CVT). It's essentially an automatic transmission, but without discrete gear ratios. It operates with a belt rather than gears. The technology has advanced to such a degree that Nissan has it in their Altima. That would solve the shifting problem for you -- just squeeze on the throttle and go. No shifting necessary. Your left leg can sit idle, watching the scenery go by.

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I am so rusty at chess I can't see even one move out. Still, something smells fishy. The world's champion getting "schoolboy mated" in game 1? What's that all about? I have to believe there's only a limited number of possible rapid mate combinations, and surely any champion would know them all.

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Yesterday was the day the Senior Certification board met to come to consensus on the candidates. So I'm in or not in, and there's nothing I can do about it now. I understand it's better not to hear -- they give bad news right away, but good news is delayed. I've heard nothing after 24 hours.

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I took my Honda 1100 Shadow out for a 100 mile spin on Sunday ... up to the top of Kitt Peak and other places. It's not a bad bike. It's not a Wing, but then again it's paid for. The problem that bike has is it's not really all that good above 75mph or so. It'll do a ton, but the wind is so fiercely loud and the buffeting so bad it's uncomfortable. But out in the desert, where roads go on for miles and miles, the temptation to go 80 to 90 is great.

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My mouth continues to heal up. The sutures are pretty much dissolved at this point. My big problem is I've developed the mother of all canker sores along the lower gumline, where (I think) the painkiller syringe went. It's more painful than the tooth.

Now I face an option -- implant, bridge, or nothing.