Be The Sloan

Wow, I almost forgot this blog and a couple other I had actually existed.  Here I am just being myself and racing little motorcycles.  If you can't already tell I'm on  the yellow #3 Grom and I have my personal number 228 on the back of my blue and green leathers.  My team finished first in class and second overall and I had the fastest 4-stroke laptime of the whole grid.

I love science and almost majored in Chemistry in college before going the computer science route.  And I like watching shows about how the universe, galaxies, and our solar system work.  However there are a few things I don't understand.  First, let me say this this isn't meant to be a Creation version evolution debate but just more of an observation. One observation that I don't understand occurs when a show or site is discussing where life on Earth came from.  There will be a long discussion and finally a summary will say something like, "...and then we'll know if life started on Earth or if it hitchhiked in on an asteroid."  Then the program tends to leave it at that.  The part I'm not understanding is if they determined that life came in on an asteroid or a rock from Mars or something similar, why do they not seem to then care where THAT life came from?  They didn't come to any real conclusion   They just got to a point in the pro...

We got a telescope a couple of weeks ago. We've been looking at the moon but Jupiter has been up the last 2 nights. It was pretty cool to look at. We could see the different color bands quite easily.

I started a new blog to be just about my new motorcycle.  Here’s the link: http://sv650project.blogspot.com/

Went out to Honda of Houston today during lunch today and had them install a set of Bridgestone BT-016 tires on the SV.  Picked up an oil filter while I was there too.  I need to look up the oil that it requires and pick that up tomorrow.

Quick end of day update.  The tires arrived at the dealer today.  I may try to go out there tomorrow during the day and have them installed. Also, the sliders arrived in the mail today, as well at the Snake Skins for the gas tank. I’m ready to get to work!

I picked up a super clean 07 Suzuki SV650S from Columbus Cycle Shop out I-10 on Saturday 1/15/11.  My other ride is a 06 VFR800 outfitted with full bags and topcase and while I have fun sporting around on it, the sucker does weigh 600 pounds so I was looking for something lighter to play on. I also wanted something for track days, which is what started me looking at SV's. Plus I didn't want to break the bank. I didn't intend to buy something in this good a shape, but I got a good deal and the sucker looks like new. I didn't want a GSXR or similar because I'm not looking for top speed, and at the age of 40, comfort is always a factor! Here it is from a photo that the dealer had on their site.  It’s currently crammed in my garage and the weather has been blah, so I don’t have any good pictures that I’ve taken yet. So far I've only ridden it home from Columbus on Saturday night, in the rain. I'm an all-weather rider on the VFR so I was comfortable and I h...

Wow, when did summer happen?  I do remember it being VERY hot, especially riding the motorcycle to and from work.  Then suddenly in about a 2 week period we went from hot in the mornings to temps below 60 degrees.  Not that I’m complaining, but where’s my nice riding weather in the morning?  At least it’s nice in the afternoon. My last post mentioned the pool.  We still have it.. ;-)  I think I swam more this summer than the past 2-3 years or more combined. Now I need to get a cover for it to cut down on water loss from evaporation and to help keep the water temp up for winter swimming and help keep the gas bills down. So anyway, I’m still riding the motorcycle.  I’ve ridden it 11,500 miles in the past 10 months and haven’t driven a car to work since last December.  The kids are in 3rd and 1st grade and loving it.  We have 2 cats now and work is work. Be the Sloan

The pool has been complete for a few weeks now.  And even though it was barely 60 degrees today, the boys and I were in the pool.  The water was a nice 83 degrees but of course any body part that stuck above the water got cold pretty quickly.  Fortunately we were trying out a few new toys that sink to the bottom so most of the time we were completely submerged anyway.  Plus I cheated and put on my snorkel and mask so for most of the time, the only thing I had sticking out of the water was a snorkel tube and a few hairs. Be The Sloan

My back yard was a mess: But it’s getting better:

When you are on call for you team for the past week, it can be difficult to find time to Be The Sloan.  My on call started Monday morning at 8am, and so far I’ve had one night were I got to sleep until my alarm work me up.  I even got a call just before 5am today (Saturday). Since I was up, I decided to just Be The Sloan and stay up after I got the problem resolved at 6.  Made some coffee and fixed breakfast for the family.  Then went to the kids’ basketball games. Be The Sloan

It looks like it is going to be a good week to Be The Sloan.  Weather looks good for riding the motorcycle to work at least at the first of the week.  And even if it goes to pot and starts raining, I’ll still be on it!

Yep, it was cold Monday morning.  Cold for Texas anyway.  It was right at the freezing level when The Sloan got up, and by the time I got my stuff loaded and got onto the motorcycle my gauge was showing 34 degrees.  But the roads were dry and I have the right cold weather gear so driving a car to work never entered my mind.  The sun was up, it was warming up fast, and it was 40 degrees when I pulled into the garage at work 17 miles later. From non-riding friends The Sloan hears all sorts of comments and questions containing words like “crazy”, “nuts”, “fool”, and “insane”.  But he also hears words like “dedicated”, “hard core”, and the occasional “brave”.  Addressing each of those and the many others would take more time than I have right now, but basically unless you have personally ridden a motorcycle, you probably would not understand anyway.  In the United States, to the non-rider (and many who do ride), a motorcycle is a hobby, a toy, and someth...

In another blog entry, I mentioned my earliest memory being somewhere around age 2.  I had to go look it up.  It wasn’t too difficult because it was an Apollo moon launch, or at least it was a Saturn V rocket.  The last launch of a Saturn V that was going to the moon was Apollo 17 on December 7, 1972 but that was a night launch at about midnight and I remember the scene being in the daylight.  The previous daytime launch was Apollo 16 on April 16, 1972 so to my best recollection this was it.  I have memories of other people watching it on TV talking about it being a moon landing, so I would think this would be it.  No matter how accurate it all is, my earliest memory is of watching a television broadcast of a Saturn V rocket launch.  What is the earliest/first thing you can remember? Oh, and Be The Sloan

I should not be alive. The fact that I am even here is almost a miracle…or maybe it actually is.  Suffice it to say that due to a medical condition, my mom was told that there was basically zero chance of her ever having children.  And while the fact that I am here may oppose what my parents were told, it is not entirely false as I was her only child (verses “children”, get it?). Knowing my mom, this probably was not terrible news, but not because of some anti-children stance she had.  It instead comes down to the fact that my mom was extremely nervous around babies.  Back when I was born there was no internet nor tons of book about rearing kids to read and give tips and pointers.  So pretty much she was afraid that she would mess up and drop a baby, or not know what to do when one was crying, and things like that.  Things that any new parent thinks or worries about to some amount but quickly gets over it…  But my mom, not so quickly.  My gran...

The name itself is not very common.  I do not believe that it is even in the top 1000 of male nor female names in the United States.  According to the Social Security web site, only in 2008 did even the spelling of “Sloane” appear as the #999 most common female name.  Sloan is surely more common as a last name with this spelling.  I once saw that still only about .018% of last names in the US are Sloan.  Well, how did I end up with it?  I do not remember exactly.  As I was only present at the VERY end of the story and my very earliest glimmer of a memory that I have is around age 2, I am going from what I remember being told and I do not remember it exactly.  Some suggest an old show from 1979 titled, “ A Man Called Sloane ” but I was not born in nor near 1979.  Still, there was a character and/or show with a female Sloane character some time before I was born.  My mom-to-be thought it was a neat sounding name and that if she had a lit...