Costume Prep

So let’s see. What do we have here. Some cardboard…some strapping…some glue, some contact paper…oooh, even a schematic diagram. What can I possibly make out of this?



Well, the plan is to make an outhouse for my company Halloween party on Thursday. Let’s see how things go together. (I looked high and low and checked a ton of appliance stores and warehouses, but no one had a refrigerator box. One guy actually said “You wouldn’t believe how popular these things are”. Uh…yeah…yeah, I would. I’m the guy that can’t find one!!)

So anyways, I got some boxes from our shipping dept and figured I could construct a big box out of them.

Gotta glue the cardboard flaps together so that everything is nice and sturdy. Liquid Nails ought to do the trick.

Flip things over and hit the other side, then apply some weight while everything sets…

While I was waiting, I took the opportunity to rake my yard. No need for a pic of that. You know what a raked yard looks like. And you know what a raked yard looks like, 5 minutes after you're done raking. Stupid wind, blowing more leaves off the trees!

So, still wanting to give the glue more time to set, I worked on making a vent pipe for the roof. A couple of soup cans mashed together, with a cardboard cone on top. (Yep, it's crooked on purpose.)

Some black spray paint and voila! (I had to use the High Heat paint – you never know just how much stress the vent in an outhouse will have to endure.)

Ok, back to the cardboard. It seemed to have set well, but I added a bit more security by making some staples out of baling wire and driving them into the monstrosity…

Some structural integrity via a frame on the bottom and on the top…

Lastly, some drywall screws and polyurethane washers to tie everything together.

Things were coming along great...when who should show up?


And he brought BEER!! (And that’s when productivity ground to a halt.) We were starving, so we threw some turkey tips on the grille and chowed down. After we’d almost killed the 30-rack, we made our way over to Clyde’s for their annual Halloween party, where we rocked and rolled the night away. It was a great evening and lots of fun.

But I’ve still got an unfinished outhouse in my basement, and a costume party that’s only three days away. Brother Bill is going to lend a hand with applying the contact paper tonight. Then I’ll attach the roof and the vent. Once those are all set, I’ll cut the doors in (the front one, and a second one in the back that I’ll use to enter and exit the creation). Then I’ll have to rig up a pair of fake legs so that it looks like I’m actually using the outhouse.

Stay tuned, more pics to come…

A Sad Day, Indeed

So I finally broke down and registered the Jeep today. Insurance wasn’t that painful (besides, I’ll be cancelling it in the Spring, anyways). I’ll still be riding the bike in every day for a while still, but this way the Jeep will be ready when needed…although, I hope it won’t be needed for a long time!

Also; the bike trip that was planned for this weekend was scrapped. Kevin, Greg and Ed all had to back out (they all had acceptable/valid reasons), and on top of that; the weather is now calling for showers on Saturday and Sunday. Riding in cold isn’t a problem. Riding in rain can be dealt with. But riding in cold rain? That sucks ass. So we cancelled the trip and we’ll see if we can get something put together in the Spring time.

I’ve actually got a ton of things which I need to get caught up on, so having the freed up time won’t hurt me at all. I had to bag my current plan for a Halloween costume. Some of the stuff I’d ordered on-line (which I’d thought would show up with plenty of time), now won’t be arriving until after my work’s party. So I’m embarking on a different plan now (an “outdoorsman”, so to speak). I’ll post a pic once it’s all done.

The annual pumpkin carving is this Sunday, too. We’ll all be heading over to Boop & Ed’s house, where we’ll hack and slash our way through some orange gourds and see what we come away with.

So bike-mileage will be down for the weekend, but food/fun/friend-mileage is still looking up. It’s all good.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

2008 Halloween Run

The bikes began rolling into my driveway around 10:30 – right on time! Before long, I had a driveway with an appreciable accompaniment of motorcycles.


At 11, we fired our bikes up and made ready to roll. Doing a quick count, I realized that we were missing someone... Flex had disappeared to use the facilities. Ok, he’s back, and off we go.

Running down Rte 1, heading towards Ronnie’s house. A bit of congestion at one of the major intersections where we’d apparently just missed an accident. We were diverted briefly, and then we were off again.

Rolling up in front of Ronnie’s house, we were greeted by the sight of one lonely bike. Hey little fella, where are all your friends? Seems a number of Ronnie’s crew were opting to stay inside today (too cold for them). No worries, Mike was there already, and Jimmy and Christene showed up right after us. Ronnie rolled his bike out, bringing our grand total to 11 bikes. A higher number than in years past, and that’s always a nice thing.


We kicked back with laughter and libations for over an hour, then we saddled up and headed over to the rally point. Pulling in, we paid our entry fees, and took our positions. Our reputations had preceded us, so we were relegated to the parking behind the building. (And memories of our experience up in Great Barrington refreshed themselves in our minds.)


We made our way to the front, picked up some T-shirts and said hello’s to familiar faces.


Many folks were in costume and/or masks. Here, too, was an unlucky passenger, tagging along for the ride.


We ambled back to the bikes and partook of more refreshments while we waited for things to start moving. Sure enough, right around 1:30, we saw folks scrambling towards their bikes, and we knew we were about to get moving!

Here’s an action shot – but it sucks. I was wrestling with vision problems (the back drafting due to the windshield was causing my mask’s cowl to blow across my eyes all the time. Fun!) But anyway, I did manage to snap this pic. It’s tough to make out, but you can kinda see how far the line of bikes stretches out in front of me (you can’t see the front of the line). And we weren’t even in the back of the pack, we were probably 2/3 of the way, with a full 1/3 still behind us.


We caused major traffic issues along the entire route, but for the most part, the cage drivers were all in good spirits (spirits! Get it? Halloween!) about things. Smiles, thumbs-up, etc. And the sides of the streets were lined with hundreds and hundreds of folks checking things out. Parents with kids, pedestrians, home owners out on their lawns, etc. etc. etc. All waving and cheering, having a great time.

The end of the run wound up at The Wicked, just up the street from my house. We all dismounted, said some more hello’s, then made our way to the beer and the food. Burgers, dogs, chili, etc. All good rib-sticking fare for chilled riders.

After a couple of hours, we parted into several groups. Many were heading home, some were heading to a bar, and a few of us headed back to my house for free beers and a fire. I ran my bike out to the back, cranked some AC/DC, and we wasted away the rest of the day with tales of this, that, and the other.

About 7 o’clock, we cleaned up the empties and the guys headed off in their own directions. I snapped one last pic for the day, before firing the bike up and returning it to the garage.


Another successful day, full of miles and smiles, food, fire and fun. If there’s an afterlife, every day needs to be like this one.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Busier than a one-armed taxi driver with crabs

So where have I been? I’ve been here! At work! That’s right; I’m at work right now and I’m blogging. But I’m actually in a quiet spot right now…nothing is owed to me…I don’t owe anyone anything…which is just how I like it after two weeks of 12-16 hour days. Wait, 16 hour days? Yeah, that’s right. Fun stuff, this budget season. Bleah.

Here’s how I was feeling, many a night;

But anyway, it’s Friday and here’s what’s coming up on the agenda. Got a going-away party tonight for a coworker, and I think the party is going to get ugly. Not ugly in a bad way, but ‘ugly’ as in; the entire Finance dept is short on sleep and long on work hours, and there’s a lot of tension that needs to be let off. And I think that’s what’s going to happen tonight.

Tomorrow, I’m going to see if I can hash some ideas around and come up with a method to flow air out the top of a full-head mask. Why? For my Halloween costume. Not gonna tell ya what I’m gonna be. Not yet, anyway. But if I can pull this off, this should be one frikkin’ cool costume.

Tomorrow afternoon, Brother Bill says he’s got a biker party to go to. Supposedly 200+ bikes will be there, so that alone sounds like something worth checking out. I’ll have my camera with me, so I’ll see if there are any good shots worth taking.

Sunday is the annual Hyde Park Harley Riders Halloween Run. I’m looking at maybe 5 or 6 folks showing up at my house, then we’ll roll to Ronnie’s house where there are usually another 5 or 6 bikes. We’ll kick back for a few, and knock back a few. Then we’ll roar things to life and head off to the run, proper. Not sure how many towns we’re going through, but the excellent news is that this year it’s ending at a bar that’s only about 4 minutes from my house. (You guys in NY will know the place; it’s the restaurant/bar right in front of the motel you stay in when you come out for my pig roast.) So that’s way cool. We’ll chill out for a bit after the run then head back to my place, get the chimenea going and knock back some beers that are much cheaper than at the bar.

There you go; that’s the plan for this weekend. Hopefully you all have good stuff going on as well. Be sure to get the bikes out and roll some miles up. The snow isn’t here yet, but it’s making all it’s reservations. Get out there!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Invasion!!

There I was, sitting peacefully in my living room, noshing some snacks and watching football, when I heard a rapping on my porch door. Glancing carefully out the window, I see a strange vehicle in my driveway…and a creature that could only be an alien!

Quick! I grab my camera and go running outside. Maybe I can get some pics before it takes off again - the National Enquirer is sure to slip me stacks of greenbacks for proof of alien existence!

Bursting through the door, I’m confronted by the creature! It swiftly extends an arm in my direction – Crap, it’s attacking! So much for the ‘We come in peace’ mantra!

Not waiting to give it a chance to fire upon me, I executed a perfect tuck and roll, hoping to come up behind its machine, which would offer me some level of protection against whatever weaponry it may be employing.

Ok, so perhaps ‘perfect’ is not the appropriate term I should use to describe my tuck and roll maneuver. I succeeded in ducking beneath its arm, but the ‘roll’ part was more of a ‘flop’ as I came to rest squarely upon my back. None the less, my move apparently caught the creature off guard, as it merely turned to look at me, letting its arm drop back to it’s side. Sweet - I’d still achieved some level of success; I hadn’t yet been laser-beamed into non-existence!

Realizing that my advantage would be brief at best, I fired up my camera, twisted serpent-like into a crouching position (wait – serpents don’t crouch…) and readied myself for my first picture.
Observing some kind of informational plate affixed to the back of the strange machine, I snapped a quick shot. Maybe it would help scientists decipher where this thing had come from?

At this point, the creature began to advance on me, raising it’s helmet shield. Fearing a new form of attack (Poison gas? Sonic beam?) I defensively raised my camera and snapped another pic, hoping to confuse the creature with the flash.


It must have worked, because the creature stopped in it’s tracks once again – but then it started shaking it’s head at me. The flash must have blinded it! Seeing my chance to escape, I feigned one way and then cut back the other, safely making it by the creature and through the still-open porch door behind it. Once past that doorway, I whirled, slammed the door shut behind me, ran back inside and grabbed for my phone.

As I was dialing 911, I chanced a peek outside. The vehicle was still there, but the creature was no where to be seen. Perhaps I scared it off? My dazzling display of diving, ducking, and weaving must have made it realize that we humans are more trouble than they think. It probably beamed itself back to it’s mothership, forgoing it’s odd looking travel craft.

Dammit! My stupid phone won’t pick up a signal – I hate my phone!!! Who can I tell about this? I have to find someone to relay this to, in case the aliens come back for me…

As luck would have it, my buddy Michigan Paul happened to come walking into my house right at this time! “PAUL!”, I shouted, “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!”

He just looked at me, shook his head and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Popping the top, he sat down across from me and fixed me with a stare. The look in his eyes…I’ve seen it before, in the eyes of others when they look at me.

I think its called pity.

Ride Hard, Take Chances