Out of the bag, plop

So I was talking to my brother last night on the phone and he told me that he divulged to my mom the primary purpose of my dad’s visit which was supposed to be top secret.  He didn’t know it was.  My dad brought down his second motorcycle that he no longer used to give to me.  It’s a 1984 Moto Guzzi Lemans III 850. 

The reason I was trying to keep this a secret was to not cause mom undue worry.  I have the bike stored in the second storage shed where it would have been hidden from mom’s view. 

Dad spent a good chunk of money getting it running before he brought it down, the bike has mostly sat unused for a few years since dad picked up a BMW touring bike.  Unfortunately once he got it down here and we tried to start it, gas spilled out of both carbs.  There evidently is still some sort of carb float problem that I am going to have to address.

The first vehicle I ever drove when I was 16 was not a car but instead a 125 cc Yamaha Enduro motorcycle that maxxed out at about 45-50 mph.  Later I also owned a Honda 360 CBT street bike so I have somewhat of a motorcycle background.  I actually drove the Moto Guzzi a few times years ago, obviously it has a lot more power than the bikes I drove when I was a kid.

I have no plans to do a lot of motorcycle riding.  Hell I don’t even have a cycle license, I always drove on my permit in PA.  They no longer have motorcycle learner permits in Florida, I HAVE to take the safety course and then I will get the endorsement on my license automatically.  I’m well aware of the dangers of riding a motorcycle, especially down in here in the land of snowbirds that can’t even see other cars not to mention motorcycles. 

Of course I first have to get the thing running before I do anything else and that itself will be a challenge.  I am looking forward though to the first opportunity I get while on an open section of road to wring it out a bit, the exhaust note on this bike is pretty damn sweet.

Last night I noticed Sadie was licking her legs a lot.  As I looked closer I noticed that she looked wet.  When I stood by her the carpet was soaked.  When I went out on the lanai I saw a huge trail of water leading from the pool steps.  She must have fallen in the pool when she was running around in the dark looking at something.  It’s good to know she at least remembered how to get out.  She is such a funny dog.

I haven’t said much about the health plan stuff going on in Congress right now.  To be honest, I don’t like it.  I have always been a supporter of the idea of public health care, I don’t think people should die unnecessarily or have their life savings erased because of not having health insurance.  I think of health care as one of the basic necessities of life, not that much different from other essential services that are already provided to the population like police protection, fire fighters and other government services that keep our society more or less in order. 

When I hear people railing so strongly against public health care I wonder if these same people feel that social security should be abolished, unemployment pay trashed and medicare/medicaid tossed out the window as well?  These are after all government provided “handouts”, what makes these so much different than  a proposed public health care system? Not much, if you ask me, IF it is done right.

Unfortunately that is where it falls apart for me.  I basically do not like what is going on.  Nancy Pelosi makes my skin crawl.  To have someone like her so strongly endorse the house plan instantly makes me cringe.  Some of the details I read are not cool.  Even me who is all about the ultra-rich paying their fair share thinks that a 5.4 percent surcharge on them is extreme.  I think the tab for public health care needs to be more equally shared among taxpayers, not shouldered exclusively by the mega-rich. 

The plan itself is a mutated, compromise riddled shell of the ideal situation that was presented to us during the campaign.  Unfortunately Obama has been unable to uproot the deep corruption that has been entrenched in Washington for the past 40 or 50 years.  Instead he has had to try to maneuver his way through it and in the process has lost a lot of lustre off of the promises that shined so bright prior to the election.  Lobbyist money is still the king of congress and big business, specifically gigantic insurance companies have plenty of it to throw around to make sure that if any health care bill passes it will be one that benefits them in some way.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like Obama and his ideals. I just think that he has run into a giant concrete wall of Washington bureaucracy and has little more than a metal spoon to chip through it.

I got an email yesterday from Chevy offically annoucing they will be releasing a new color in spring of 2010 for the Camaro called Synergy Green.  The picture is a concept shot so the real deal may look a bit different.  I like it though.  The color is supposed to be limited-production which makes it even more appealing to me.  So right now there are three colors that I am considering, the new green, Inferno Orange Metallic (because my 69 Bird was orange) or a silver one which I would adorn with Eagles Midnight Green stripes.