All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell

This is what I'm reading now.
It seems I'm hooked on Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels and there are 10 still to go.

Battle Trax @ National H.O.G. Rally, Richmond

Have you ever heard of Battle Trax? I tried it out at the National H.O.G. Rally here in Richmond last year. I had so much fun!

Emphasizing personal best, rather than head-to-head competition or speed,
BATTLETRAX allows a rider to explore handling and braking limits in a safe,
challenging environment. Laid out on a large parking lot, the BATTLETRAX course features a series of turns, slaloms, and gates that place a premium on smoothness of operation and precise throttle control. Improvement throughout the day is recorded by each lap being automatically timed to 1/1000 of a second. To add to the fun, riders are broken into classes that allow like motorcycles to compete with each other.

my attempt at Battle Trax

If you ever get the chance to try this out... DO IT!
You really only compete against yourself and it's a great experience.
peg

Knowledge for it's own sake...

we chat every day

a special relationship

N. Webster and I

~

My father started it.
When I was a child, he taught me the joys of knowledge. He would sit me down and give me an encyclopedia (World Book) and I'd just start at the front and go through the entire volume. I did the same thing with Dictionaries. NOW, we have the internet! WooHoo... tons of info. at your fingertips (albeit not always accurate... caveat emptor). No wonder I'm addicted to surfing the web!
Damn Dad, it's all your fault!

Divine bovines and the stacatto sound of tax day

from MSNBC's News of the Weird:

• Kim Chan, 40, of a village in the Cambodian province of Kampot, announced in March that he had a cow that was heavenly possessed and could cure illnesses by exposure to its bodily fluids, but local official Khun Somnang immediately discounted the claim, saying, "We had a holy cow here a year and a half ago (and you) don't get two that close together." [South African Press Association-Deutsche Press Agentur, 3-15-05]

• A man fled after attempting to rob a shopkeeper in Central Park Plaza in Jacksonville, Ill., in January by first threatening her and then slapping her several times with a fly swatter (January). [Journal-Courier (Jacksonville), 2-1-05]

• In March in Rajahmundry, India (about 300 miles south of Hyderabad), officials termed "resounding(ly) success(ful)" their tax-collection tactic of sending several teams of two drummers to stand outside the defaulters' homes and pound their instruments until the debtors paid up. [Agence France-Presse, 4-1-05]

• A pregnant woman named Akono was quoted in a March Agence France-Presse dispatch from London during demonstrations against U.S. policy in Iraq as saying she planned to intensify her own protest by soon going on a hunger strike, reasoning that she wants "to do everything I can to make sure my child has a secure future." [The Peninsula (Qatar)-Agence France-Presse, 3-20-05]

Huh?!?!

Seatbelts, Everyone!

the vast yellow tide

parts, and there you are waiting

my soul fills with warmth.

~

Unfiltered Web Searching...

Remember when I told you about Metaspy? Well, Dogpile has the same kind of thing. It's called SearchSpy. Here's what some people are looking for:

nude girls, big boobs movies, nymphets, literotica, SAT Prep, multigrain bread, lace hankerchief, Chinese Zodiac, serial killers, Wooley Spotted monkeys, home sex movies, human genetics, history of the harpsichord, male cats and excessive urination, Loch Ness monster, mature womam sex stories, peruvian soccer...

I'm not sure why this facinates me so... I guess it's the same reason I find reading weblogs so addicting.
I know, I'm sick!

Spirit Voices, speak to me gently...

oh spirit-voices

help me compose my lost thoughts

scurrying from me

~

wait? no time to wait

it flies by unrecorded

each thought a poem

~

guilt-ridden to be

speaking with no intent to

write it in haiku

~

five, seven and five

words need writing in that form

else I feel I've failed

~

*by the way, "My Thursday" went well. Butts (mine and Pal's) parked in comfy chairs at Starbucks for approximately 3 hours. I then (took the high road) called hubby and asked him to meet me at Texas Grill for a snack and a little karaoke. I sang: Down at the Twist and Shout (Mary Chapin Carpenter), Wonder (Nat. Merchant), All or Nothing (Cher), Mack the Night (Bobby Darin) and Don't Let Me Get Me (Pink). Hmmm, what shall I sing tonight...?

Stress Management...

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things:

a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

That's so true!

I stole that from Robin's blog. I was searchin' on "bookcrossing", "starbucks" and "Dan Brown" and her site was one listed by google. Check out her blog!

Jueves, Donnerstag, Giovedì... Thursday!

I love Thursdays! Thursdays are my favorite day of the week. Thursday evenings are all mine... my evening to myself...

Wednesday evenings are for Singing Lessons, Fridays are for going out with hubby (usually karaoke-ing), unless I'm teaching... in which case, the whole weekend is "spoken for". Pretty soon, I will be spending my Monday and Tuesday evenings in the Motorcycle Safety office.

So, I usually have something I have to do every evening of the week... except Thursdays.
One Thursday a month, I go for my Steam/Wax/Massage evening... ah! What joy, heaven... complete relaxation! The rest of the Thursdays I can do ANYTHING I want. That usually means sitting on my butt at Starbucks with my pal. I head there right after I get off from work, grab the comfy chairs (woe be to thee who gets there before me!), and we sit and chat for several hours. Oh, and we drink coffee (or sometimes I drink tea or iced coffee).
I'm so bad... I've set my Starbucks card to auto-reload! Isn't that sad?
Well, it's that time! Gotta go!

BOOKCROSSING... what's that?

bookcrossing n.

the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by
others, who then do likewise. (added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in August 2004)

This is a great idea! In fact, I think it's such a terrific idea... I've been a member for years. How many books have I released? Zero... zip... nada. I guess I'm just really territorial about the books I read and enjoy... I can't seem to part with them. I'm perfectly willing to loan them to friends, but I want them back. All to my spouses chagrin, my attic is bulging. But I really want to participate in this super cool idea.
I guess I'm going to have to start buying two copies at a time... sigh.

Deception Point by Dan Brown

This is what I'm reading right now. So far, it's very good! Here's another "atta boy" for Dan Brown.

WANNA LEARN TO RIDE?

So, you think you’d like to learn to ride a motorcycle? Well, you’re in luck… ‘cause I know just what you need to do. First thing to do is go to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s website and find a program in your area. Just click on your state and then use the contact info for the program near you. While you are at MSF’s site, there are some other fun things to do. There’s a RiderCourse Interactive Tour and there’s even a quiz/game called Motorcycle Challenge. Give it a try and see how much you know about riding. There is also a MSF Store where you can purchase stuff.
If you're in the State of Virginia, you can go to www.learn2ride.com and if you're in the Richmond/Petersburg/Chesterfield area you can go to www.mscv.org and sign up for a class.

senryu duo

haiku? what's it do?

frees the mind and lets it fly

interrupts hard work

~

no need for valium

haiku is a catharsis

is it not for you?

~

Motorcycle Classes

I taught my first class of the season this past weekend. Saturday was cold... but Sunday was glorious! Had a good class. Two students dropped out on Saturday... guess it just wasn't for them. After all, motorcycling isn't for everyone. They have my utmost respect for giving it a try. The rest of the students passed their Skill Evaluation and are now eligible to get their Motorcycle Operators endorsement. I hope they take my advice and practice (a lot) before heading out on the highways and by-ways. The BRC (Basic Rider Course) is, after all, a beginning. It doesn't mean they are seasoned riders.

new season begins

squeeze and ease, pick your feet up

is it autumn yet?

The Sybian and modern technology

what new contrivance
what mechanical wonder
lies in wait for me?

~

Oh, to try new things

strap me on and let me ride

better than the gym.

~

Soooo, have you seen this? Wow! What will they think of next?

Don't you just LOVE technology??? Oh, and here's a review.

"...powered by two 1.5 HP motors."

wooooo hoooo, I've GOT to get me one of these!

Anticipation

the wait stretches on

torture is Soup of the Day

when comes the entrée?

Patricia Cornwell and short people...

I'm presently reading Patricia Cornwell's Body of Evidence. GOOD BOOK! It starts out in Key West, Florida. Moves to Richmond, VA (home of heroine Kay Scarpetta) and also has some action in Williamsburg, VA. Three of my fav venues (had to use that word)...
especially Key West. I could go on forever about that place, another time perhaps.

Anyway, found this quote in the book today:

"... A significant portion of the human race has no idea what it is like to
be attached to short legs, and I am forever finding myself indignantly pumping
along like a handcar in a world of express trains."

NO SHIT! That's it exactly!!

And I thought I was having a bad day

MAN FOUND HANGING ABOVE I-95 (link updated - 4/8)

I just heard about this. Seems several motorists called it in around 5:45 am.
His identity has not been confirmed yet.


Geez! Okay, now I don't feel so down about MY life.

Bluer than blue...

rain keeps coming down

if only in my torn heart

desperation grows

I'm feeling rather blue today. Is it the coming rain? The last few days have been so nice and warm... a tease. And NO, I didn't get a chance to ride my bike... my own fault I guess. It seems there was always a reason to take the truck. Now, I feel cheated. I know, I know... warm weather is coming. I just wish it would hurry up and get here.

And, well... you KNOW it's not just the rain.

please, where have you gone?

why have you abandoned me?

happiness, come back!

~

my thoughts run rampant
I fear, might I have transgressed?
what could it have been?

~

will you walk away?

I'm that easy to forget?

implored through cold tears

~

for my 'Sis', T

she tells me such rot

ten pounds less she thinks is best

skinny little bitch

you know I love you girl!

Damn!

I've been hoarse for the entire week. That means I can't sing this week which PISSES ME OFF!

Whew... got that off my chest.

I feel better now...

no, actually I don't.

as dark as lampblack

absorbs all possible light

so my mood descends

free lesbian dildo sex

Have you ever checked out Metaspy Exposed? This thing is fabulous! The site describes itself as a: "No-holds-barred (unfiltered) look at the search queries of Metacrawler users." It shows you a list of in-progress searches updated every 15 seconds and is for "mature audiences only".
I watched for only a few minutes and here are some of the queries:

• How to convince a girl to give you a blow job
• Anime Avatars
• Princess Diana
• Traci Lords
• clit modification dr doctor
• plump butts
• plastic pants
• voyeur
• real sex
• buy a used cement mixer
• buffalo implant dentist
• pork loin delivered by mail
• thong gallery

???

I find myself fantasizing that these are all one person, a writer researching for a novel... I'd want to read it!

a plea

make my pulse quicken

stories meant just to excite

talk dirty to me

Ouch!

violent pain abounds

flashes of light and white noise

migraines are the pits

QUOTE

The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
-- Mark Twain