Musings from “Life Is a Road” author–Daniel Meyer
Projects
Are you listening?
Jul 23rd
They really do talk…if you take the time to listen…and believe.
On my commute home…northbound on US75. Traffic was heavy, very heavy…and getting worse the direction I was headed.
Up ahead I could see the eastbound ramp to I635 was clear though…that would work. I’ve been here all my life…I know every shortcut. It was time to bail on this road.
This interchange is massive…some of the bridges 150 feet in the air and heavily banked. The downgrades are unusually steep as well.
Yeah, so they are usually fun. When I hit it at night, I consider this billion dollar structure to be my personal, motorcycle, jungle gym.
I headed for the right lane, cleared the traffic, hit the steep, curving, uphill ramp, and twisted the throttle to its stop.
Full power on a Valkyrie is an absolutely awesome thing. She hooked up, dug in, and flew.
But she took that moment to speak as well.
“Uh, boss?”
“Yeah, I felt it.”
“I think it’s pretty serious.”
It was. I already knew the problem. “We gonna make it home?”
She actually laughed at me. “Oh please. When have I ever let you down?”
She has a point. In 140,000 miles, as long as I’ve kept her in fuel and tires, she’s gotten me unfailingly to my destination. Besides…in Dallas traffic…if it will roll, you keep it rolling. Lives can depend on it and abandoned vehicles stand no chance at all. The animals will tear them apart.
We are a team…she and I.
Home safe. I parked her in the garage. She’s down. She’ll get me home as long as I do my part…but my part also includes knowing when she’s had enough.
“I guess I’ve been pushing you pretty hard lately.”
She snorts. “Lately?”
Heh…she has another point. My philosophy on machines (and indeed, on most things in life) is to, “Ride ‘em hard. Fix ‘em when they break.”
Anything else is a waste of potential.
I won’t be able to work on her today…or tomorrow. My job…and other aspects of life intrude.
“I don’t like this boss.”
“I know babe.”
As the door rolls down she asks plaintively, “You will fix me, right?”
It was my turn to laugh. “Oh please. When have I ever let you down?”
She sounds better. “Ah. Good. It’s just that…well…I simply need to fly! It’s what I was made for!”
“I know babe. Me too.”
I’ll have to take the cage into work tomorrow. “Big Iron”, 450 hp v-10 Dodge, patiently waits in the drive. I’ll need to put on the new license plates I picked up three months ago. They’re still sitting on my desk. Absently I wonder where I left the keys to that thing.
Maybe she’ll even start.
Some parts are on order. Others I have on hand. Some surgery involved…wondering if I should take the excuse to do some modifications. The Valk’s personality…her soul, peers through a mostly stock exterior. Me, I know what’s inside. I wonder if it’s time to show it to everybody else.
Heh…like I need another project.
Pics…of the problem and fix…coming later.
They’ll talk. It can save your butt.
Are you listening?
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
16,000 Gallons. Update!
Jan 5th
UPDATE on this post:
Called the city this morning.
The service guy said, “I’ll check it out.”
The billing lady said, “We can see the usage over the last three months spiked. We’ll adjust the bill.”
Got home from work and it’s fixed.
Gotta love it when it works like it should. Kudos to the city guys/gals!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
16,000 Gallons.
Jan 4th
Ur…heh…I’m thirsty apparently.
The utility bill came today. In our city, electricity, water, sewer, and trash pickup are all on the same bill. I seldom give it a glance if the $$ amount is in a “reasonable” or normal range for the time of year.
A quick glance.
Wait. What?
This time, it was higher than normal. Just what I need.
Hmmm…a second look tells me somehow we managed to use 16,600 gallons of water! Sixteen. Thousand.
To put that in perspective, that’s about 256,000 glasses of water…or about 450 toilet flushes each day (which you’d probably need to help you get rid of the 256,000 glasses of water). Or perhaps I took a hot shower…with the tap on full blast…for 8 days straight.
Anyway, there’s no way we used that amount…that’s about 5 times as much as we usually use. I knew immediately either they misread the meter or we had a leak.
Oh, and I *knew* we didn’t have a leak…16,000 gallons would make a hell of a mess in the yard AND we’d have water running down the street.
Off to read the meter I go.
Ooops. Well crap.
The meter box (in the ground) is full of water. That’s not a good sign.
It’s near the curb and a storm drain…so the water is seeping down into the drain without ever getting in the yard or on the street. You can’t tell it’s leaking unless you open the meter box.
Gad.
Anyway, the meter is leaking at the connection…on my side of course.
I have to call the city to see if I need to reset (remove/replace) the meter or if they will. Normally you are responsible for any leak on your side of the meter…but this is actually AT the meter and they usually frown upon homeowners digging up the entire meter/meter box.
Too late to call today, and I really don’t want an emergency disconnect tonight, so we’ll have to see tomorrow.
Somebody gets to play in the mud. I kind of hope it’s not me.
16,000 gallons.
Sheesh.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Boom goes up. Boom goes down. Boom goes up. Boom goes down…
Dec 26th
Playing with the new toy…ur…tool…TOOL today.
TOOL.
Wanted to get used to the boom movement/bounce etc…since I haven’t been on a boom truck since my Llamco Electric days…gad…30ish years ago…and that was a squirt boom instead of a knuckle boom…
Anyway, wanted to test it out and practice a bit before trying to use it up against our building on the historic square in Clarksville or the Old Vic, so out to the family farm we went.
My favorite pic:
Flying low (came down to grab the camera). We kept side extension to a minimum today as even though the outriggers were on hard-packed gravel, it’s been REALLY wet. All “way out” extension was done in line with the truck today.
About 80% up…went up 100% but I had the camera by that time so no pic from the ground…
The wife and my nephew looking pretty small:
Decent side view:
Well, ready to work. Just have to get started.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Big day…
Dec 16th
Big day tomorrow.
I’m writing a “heap-big-check”…
Well, big at least, when compared to the monthly cable bill or something LOL!
We’re closing on this tomorrow…
This has vast implications on my writing/books/etc.
Among other things…(art studio, coffee shop, internet cafe)…it is the new world-wide headquarters for Stormrider Press!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
A day off…
Dec 12th
Had a tough week this week…lots of work at work…too much to do. Not enough folks to do it. Everything on deadline. We’re getting told about projects now, AFTER the “go live” date has already passed.
Everything is busy. Phone calls EVERY single night (we don’t have enough people to cover all the shifts anymore). Hours of sleep lost. The twelve-hour-day Thursday…oh, and the major system that got killed Friday morning. Oh boy. An all day all-skate. Weeee.
In addition, the wife and I have a big event coming up this Thursday…involving another set of keys to an old building and writing a big honkin’ check.
And a bit more work…some of which, we’ll probably get started on Thursday afternoon.
Oh, and there’s the trip to the home improvement store, the oil changes for both The Dragon and Big Iron, and just for grins, I think both of them need a state inspection sticker too.
But that’s all in the future. Today seemed a good day to relax and recover a bit. Seeing as how it’s my birthday as well, that’s a good excuse!
Happy birthday to me! Happy Saturday to you!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Glutton. For. Punishment.
Nov 9th
(deep breath)
A project that’s related to the Old Vic project that’s not quite on topic but since it’s a project and I tinker on it and this one will definitely be related to the other one…
There’s a tower ya see. (shrugs) What was I supposed to do?
So, ya’ll (technical Texas term) may know I own a house with a tower on it…since I go on and on about it here.
A pic (because I can muhahahahaha):
A circa 1903(ish) Queen Anne Victorian. We’ve had it a year this December 1. Lots ‘O things going on. New electric. New plumbing (started). Rebuilding an old second kitchen that was an old screened-in-porch that was an old step-off-porch into a new utility room. One of 47 windows rebuilt.
Heat. Air.
It’s going…maybe a little slower than I hoped, but it’s progressing nicely.
Now…to the title of this post…
Apparently…I am a glutton for punishment.
Hmmm. Make that Glutton. For. Punishment.
We just put a contract on a 1880(ish) commercial building right on the historic square. With any luck we’ll be closing on it about Dec 1 this year.
It has a tower, ya see. How could I resist?
Old house. Tower. Needs a little work.
Building. Tower. Needs a little work.
Seemed to make sense at the time…
I may have a skewed definition of the phrase “little work”.
Lots more work to do now. We have big plans for this place. World-wide headquarters for Stormrider Press for one thing.
A pic (or couple):
A few more pics here.
More after we close the sale!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer (got the evil lair/well on my way to world domination)
Economic puzzles…
Aug 6th
Cash reserves help in times of reduced or no income.
But inflation eats cash reserves, returning nothing. As prices rise the money can buy less. Any interest earned only offsets a small fraction of the loss of buying power.
Have I put you to sleep yet?
History and basic economics suggest our economy is headed for recovery, but next on the list typically is very high inflation for a period of time.
Owning real property is a hedge against inflation, and if the inflation rate outpaces or even comes close to the finance costs you are even that much more ahead. One of the reasons long-term homeownership builds wealth despite taxes, maintenance, insurance, and finance costs.
It can even make sense to buy with the intent of selling later (after the inflation has raised the price). Home “flippers” do/did this…and as long as they were intelligent about what they were paying and when to get out of the market, many did extremely well.
But I’m not talking about a house. Houses we’ve got!
With a property and plan in mind, it can make sense to buy now.
Of course, it only makes sense to buy now as long as your income holds out…which, in these times, can be a serious question. If it doesn’t hold out…well, THAT’s when you need the cash reserves.
Sigh. Risks. There’s no reward without them. How much though? We could fall hard or succeed gloriously.
Cash or property…that is the question. I wish I knew the answer…it’s a real and immediate question for us at the moment…plans are cooking in the brain. Plans with distinct targets as to property and use…the property I can get…maybe. The rest of the plans…well…I don’t have a clue how I’d carry them out. There’s only so much time in the day. How much “flying by the seat of my pants” and instinct is safe? Reasonable?
I’ve almost always come out ahead listening to my instincts…and almost always regretted (sometimes severely) when I ignored them. But my instincts now…they run contrary the mainstream thinking…I guess they usually do though.
What’s this all about? Getting out of the corporate world (eventually). Small town Texas. The Old Vic. More projects than I can handle. Projects I like. Food. Publishing. Books. Art. Money. Time. Towers. Internet. Responsibilities. Bloodcurdling sheer panic.
Cash or property…yep, that is the question. It’s about a $35,000 question as a matter of fact.
All balanced against our future plans and security.
Gad. It’s a wonder I sleep at night.
More later (with specifics when I can).
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Annnd Nobody died!
May 19th
Y’all might recall this little malfunction…
A little closer view…
Ordered some new ones…a better design this time. I haven’t ridden in DAYS! GHAAAAAA!
Was waiting on the friggen bolts to come in.
The poor postal guy…walking toward the door with a package in his hands…looks up to find a 300 LB fat guy, tools in his hands, charging down on him at a full loping run, lunging for the package and shouting “Oh thank GAWD!”
NASCAR style… 8.3 seconds later I had them installed. Would have been sooner but I stopped to take the pictures. The packaging was still fluttering in the air as I roared out of the driveway.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh! A ride! Maybe I won’t have to kill anybody now.
Better design, yes? Much stronger.
Incidentally, I’ve figured out how to clean my bike! It’s not so hard…remove old dirty broken part…install new clean unbroken part, go for ride!
Near death experience?
I can’t get a clear picture of it, but the other riser is cracked in the exact same place this one broke. BOTH of them are also cracked where the bolt opposite this broken side holds the cap on.
Wouldn’t have taken much more of a bump and I’d have been holding a loose set of handlebars and wondering just how the heck I was going to explain that to whatever I ran over/through…and possibly screaming like a cheerleader on helium…depending on my mood.
If y’all have these…or similiar…note the thin-ness where mine broke…I HIGHLY recommend you replace them. Risers are not a wear item. A break is sheer bad design and bloody dangerous.BOTH of them are also cracked where the bolt opposite this broken side holds the cap on.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer