It's been a busy few days
Well, as some of you may have heard, as of this morning, I am officially a government employee. That's right, I am The Man. It's doing the same thing as before, in the same place, with the same people, for the same money, but this gives me more options for the future, that is to say, transfers, promotions, temporary assignments, merit raises and things of that nature. After the one-year probationary period, naturally. There is, as one might imagine, a great deal of paperwork to fill out and things to read and sign and do (like scraping off the parking sticker on the motorcycle. Note to self: scrape off the parking sticker from the motorcycle). Career-wise, it should be a positive move. The people in DC seem to have a favorable opinion of me, and in government service, that can count for a lot.
In other news, this last weekend, I rode my motorcycle to Colorado (successfully this time, I might add) for my friend Stef's 25th birthday, and to see a few other friends. I'll see more when I go back over 4th July. In any case, the route I travel is about 650 miles one-way, and takes me through northwestern Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. It took me about 10 hours to get from my house to Stef's place in Boulder. I was getting between 45 and 55 MPG. The only time I ran into unpleasant weather was about 30 miles east of Denver when a 45 MPH crosswind and some light rain cropped up. The rain only lasted for about two minutes, and the wind was steady, so I could compensate for it. I did stop at a motorcycle dealership in Aurora to look for a gel seat pad, since Ducati does not, apparently, believe in seat padding for my bike. They had a very nice sport-touring bike that I really wished they'd have given me, too... Unfortunately, they also wanted $100 for a seat pad, and since the new seat for my bike (which has a gel pad in it) is less than $200, it didn't seem like a good purchase. However, I did dismember and jury-rig a Schwinn bicycle seat pad ($10 at Target) and the did help a bit.
I also went on a ride from Boulder to Nederland to Estes Park and back to Boulder with my brother, (120 miles, 58 MPG) which was a very nice ride under beautiful weather. Additionally, I got dragged on a hike with Stef and her boyfriend, and went to a play with them, juliettevega, and one of her friends, and partied hard with Stef and a multitude of others for her birthday, where my contributions were grilling things and making home-made guacamole, which was very well-received.
The ride home took me 12 hours, because my butt was pretty damn sore by that point, so I stopped every hundred miles or so for a break, so I toured the Kit Carson museum in Kit Carson, CO, stopped at the Lamar, CO tourist welcome center, the border town of Coolidge, KS, and somewhere in the middle of nowhere, OK, and in Seiling, OK. I took a few pictures, which I will probably post soon.
This morning, I ordered the gel-filled seat for my motorcycle.
In other news, this last weekend, I rode my motorcycle to Colorado (successfully this time, I might add) for my friend Stef's 25th birthday, and to see a few other friends. I'll see more when I go back over 4th July. In any case, the route I travel is about 650 miles one-way, and takes me through northwestern Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado. It took me about 10 hours to get from my house to Stef's place in Boulder. I was getting between 45 and 55 MPG. The only time I ran into unpleasant weather was about 30 miles east of Denver when a 45 MPH crosswind and some light rain cropped up. The rain only lasted for about two minutes, and the wind was steady, so I could compensate for it. I did stop at a motorcycle dealership in Aurora to look for a gel seat pad, since Ducati does not, apparently, believe in seat padding for my bike. They had a very nice sport-touring bike that I really wished they'd have given me, too... Unfortunately, they also wanted $100 for a seat pad, and since the new seat for my bike (which has a gel pad in it) is less than $200, it didn't seem like a good purchase. However, I did dismember and jury-rig a Schwinn bicycle seat pad ($10 at Target) and the did help a bit.
I also went on a ride from Boulder to Nederland to Estes Park and back to Boulder with my brother, (120 miles, 58 MPG) which was a very nice ride under beautiful weather. Additionally, I got dragged on a hike with Stef and her boyfriend, and went to a play with them, juliettevega, and one of her friends, and partied hard with Stef and a multitude of others for her birthday, where my contributions were grilling things and making home-made guacamole, which was very well-received.
The ride home took me 12 hours, because my butt was pretty damn sore by that point, so I stopped every hundred miles or so for a break, so I toured the Kit Carson museum in Kit Carson, CO, stopped at the Lamar, CO tourist welcome center, the border town of Coolidge, KS, and somewhere in the middle of nowhere, OK, and in Seiling, OK. I took a few pictures, which I will probably post soon.
This morning, I ordered the gel-filled seat for my motorcycle.