Slowly but Surely

That isn't a pic of "my" bike (mine has A LOT more mods done to it--its an '05 Honda 919 with red adjustable Pazzo levers, Michelin Pilot Power Sport tires, Galfer stainless steel brake lines (front-red, rear-silver,) gel grips, Salamander Bar End weights, Corbin seat, 520 chain and sprocket upgrade, cruise control, Clear Alternatives LED tailight, Fender Eliminator Kit with carbon fiber license plate frame and LED frame lights, 5 Red LED Surface Mount Technology Gauge lights, Rizoma grab handle caps, Rizoma front turn signals, Rizoma Dynamic mirrors, Power Commander III, Speedo Healer, Sato Racing Titanium full exhaust, Honda Racing carbon fiber fender accent, tank pad, and seat cowl, GSG carbon fiber airbox covers and occasionaly the Honda quarter fairing, painted black--it looks awesome--and yes I installed EVERYTHING myself except for the brake lines, I didn't want to deal with bleeding the lines etc.--the above picture is someone else's STOCK bike) Sooooo, Tuesday I spent a major part of the day taking my bike apart for painting. Do not ever try and take the sending unit off of a gas tank without first draining all of the gas, what a mess! I wanted to powder coat my passenger rear sets black too but I cannot figure out how to take the right side one off so I'm scratching that idea. I think I'm going to paint the rest of the bike with a Psycho Silver base coat and several coats of Dupont True Candy Red with jet black racing stripes down the center of the tank and the rear cowl. I'm tired of black and a buddy of mine here at the dealership is going to do it for a relatively good price. This what it will look like, courtesy of my, 5 year old equivalent, crayon photoshop skills.


I forgot the racing stripes but you get the idea. I'll post the real thing here in a few weeks when it is put back together and finished. I can harldy wait, as the weather is finally getting warm and perfect for riding.

BYU vs. Utah

All of last week I was sick. I hate being sick and I'm still not 100%. Flu-like symptoms but not the the flu. Not fun at all. I missed Valentine's Day but I managed to drag myself out of bed and deliver flowers to my sister Karen and the girl I'm dating. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take Her out on Valentine's, but we did hang out a few days later when I was feeling moderately better. We ordered Los Hermanos to-go, went back to my place and taught ourselves how to play Dominoes and Mexican Train, then watched "The Count of Monte Cristo". (Afterwhich, we had our first kiss)

Monday night we got to celebrate Valentine's Day the way I had originally planned. She came over to my place, I barbecued some flank steak to perfection, attempted to make twice-baked potatoes which I had to improvise as they didn't cook fast enough so I turned them into mashed potatoes instead, and I used an amazing recipe I have for steamed asparagus. The table was set with candles and fancy dinnerware--it went off without a hitch. She brought sparkling cider and chocolate covered strawberries. It was delicious. For our belated "Valentine's Day Activity" I had purchased a 1500 piece puzzle online a few days before. (This puzzle is impossible! See pic below.) We worked on it for about an hour, (it will probably take a few months to finish) then we watched a movie.
It was a very peaceful evening and went better than I had hoped.

Tuesday was my day off, I got a ton of errands done and finally, it was good enough weather to pull my motorcycle out of storage for a quick ride--I didn't put a battery tender on it nor did I put fuel stabilizer in the tank before I stored it so I had a little maintenance to do before she was up and running. It was totally worth it! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my bike??? I know it is very materialistic and worldly or whatever, but it is so much fun. I can't describe how that bike makes me feel as I ride it up the canyon or just around town. It's awesome. So much freedom, it's great.

Wednesday I went to lift at the gym before work and after work She and I went to the BYU vs. Utah basketball game at the Marriot Center--tickets courtesy of Her dad--Which I called and thanked him for. Her little sister and her friend went with us, we had great seats and BYU won.

Today I've got a buddy of mine that I go riding with during the summers, is coming in to buy a newer A4 for his wife. She is tired of her 2004 A4, ha ha. He is opening a new BMW/Triumph motorcycle dealership in American Fork next month, he wants me to come work for him. We'll see. The way management has been treating people here at my dealership, I just might take him up on any reasonable offer.

What a fun date!

Ok, so I'm sittin' at home Sunday night--watching a fantastic Super Bowl, and I get a text from this girl I'm kind of dating? and I call her back. She proceeds to tell me that she wants to go snowshoeing. She heard from her friend how much fun it is and she wants to go. Keep in mind I've never gone but it sounds fun. I suggested a hike that I had read about in my "100 hikes in Utah" book, that goes up the Alpine Loop past Sundance Ski Resort. She is totally game and we started planning.

We both got pretty excited and looked forward to this "adventure" all week. I bought snow boots, ski poles, snowboarding socks, a Nike Dri-fit long sleeve shirt and Dri-fit underwear. (that's not all I wore, come on now) This officially goes down as one of the most expensive dates ever. lol. I knew it was going to get extremely warm despite the 20 degree temperatures, snowshoeing over six miles round trip, and a 2,000 ft. elevation change. I also downloaded topographical maps onto my handheld GPS courtesy of my buddy Adam who actually ponied up and bought the $100 map CDs. I bought a couple of MRE's, some Powerbars, packed my 9mm, filled my Camelback with water, and scrounged up a good first-aid kit, etc. You name it, we had it. When all was said and done I think my "day" pack weighed in at about 35 lbs. BSA-Be Prepared. :-)

Friday morning finally arrived! I managed to get my schedule not only switched with the other Porsche salesman today but asked MY boss--HER dad--if it was ok that I came in 2 1/2 hours late. (I had planned ahead and made up those hours on Monday where I worked an extra 4 hours) In fact, if I remember correctly he even texted her on our descent down the mountain to ask where she was, like he didn't know, lol.

We met up at the mouth of the Provo Canyon promptly at 8:00 AM. She said she couldn't sleep the night before she was so excited. The canyon had been closed due to snow until 11 PM the night before but was now "clear" with nearly an inch of snow left, mixed with salt/sand, all the way up both S.R. 189 and S.R 92. We drove past Sundance and parked in what appeared to be a parking lot buried under a foot of snow. From here we loaded our packs, strapped on our snow shoes and started hiking.

Can I just say we couldn't have picked a more beautiful day if we had tried. As soon as the sun came over the mountains the sky was so blue, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen for miles. We were walking on top of 6 ft.+ of snow (probably closer to 7 or 8). There was a vague trail courtesy of snowmobilers from previous days but other than that it was virgin snow, with the extra four inches of fresh, clean powder that had fallen the night before. It was gorgeous! The white Aspens, the complete silence, all that snow and the beautiful towering mountains made such an amazing landscape. We were following the aforementioned trail and my GPS, taking our time, enjoying the views and even the FRESH cougar tracks we found, and made it to the top around 11:30 AM.

There we made "camp", had a warm lunch and rested a bit, but we soon found out that if you aren't moving/hiking, it feels really cold fast! We made it back down twice as fast as we did going up, picked up the fleece pullover and jeans (too many layers) I had ditched on the side of the trail on the way up, and made it back to the car safe and sound. We were exhausted but it felt so good! Unfortunately both of us had to be back to work at 3:30 and work till 9.

We had a really good time and got to know each other a little better. She is way cool and I really enjoyed the hike with her. I think we might even go out tomorrow night...but I have a ton of stuff to do, and people I need to go visit, so we'll see.

Good weekend

What a game yesterday huh? I had a small wager in favor of the Giants so a co-worker ended up buying me lunch today...somehow it always tastes better when it's free. :-)

I went on a date Saturday night, and rest assured, I found a customer that actually wanted to buy a car right before I was supposed to get off of work, and I was an hour and a half late, just like last week when I picked her up. AHHHH! I despise being late. Luckily the customer was ok with me delivering the car to him today, Monday, so I could salvage what was left of the date. To her credit, she wasn't razzled at all and we had a great time.

Work today has been non-stop. Simply playing catch up from the weekend and tieing up loose ends and requests from clients. I sold my second Porsche on Friday night, sold an Audi A6 Saturday and today sold a VW Beetle convertable. The month is starting off extremely well. I was supposed to go snowmobiling tomorrow with a client but he hasn't returned my call to confirm. He also wants to set me up with his sister--maybe he's having second thoughts--on both fronts. ;-)