Year: 2006

HOG, Insurance Companies, and the Sacramento Kings Arena Tax

Now you might be wondering, what do the Harley Owners Group, insurance companies, and the Sacramento Kings have in common. Nothing really other than they represent annoyances in my little world.
A local Harley Owners Group® (HOG) advertises itself as

“_________ HOG Chapter is a not-for-profit organization created to promote the interest and enjoyment in Harley-Davidson® motorcycles. Activities include monthly meetings, poker runs, fun runs, dinner rides, charity rides, and promoting motorcycle safety as well as others.” and from the Harley Davidson USA site :” “Your mission – if you choose to accept it – will be a simple one: “To Ride and Have Fun.” Here’s the bottom line: We like to think of Harley-Davidson® – from the top corporate officer to the newest Harley owner and rider – as one big, happy family. The Harley Owners Group® helps us turn that philosophy into reality.”

One of my friends talked me into going to local HOG chapters meeting to check out all this fun and friendship we were missing out on. I tried to have an open mind – really I did. My friend is what most would call a good looking woman and she knows it, I on the other hand could not care less about that kind of stuff and unfortunately am not a looker LOL. Well, maybe you know where I am going with this but just in case you don’t… the few people that could be bothered with even saying hello to us lowly Sportster riders were of course more interested in signing my friend up to join in than I. Ok, woopee, but did ya have to glare at me like who the heck are you and why are you here.

Oh my goodness you have full face silver and white helmet and a textile jacket – what no leather, no goovy patches all over your vest? – I actually heard one lady tell her lady friend next to her that I must be a newby rider to show up in textile not leather – you know when you are in the wrong places! When introductions were made I found out that one of gals had been riding a whole hot 2 years – oh they must be goddesses of HOG LOL. Well needless to say I left at the break and enjoyed the evening out in the parking lot till my friend was done. I figured I was not fat enough, rich enough, and frankly I drather ride alone than be seen with this group of snobs, RUBS (Rich Urban Bikers), whatever ya want to call em as they give a new meaning to the words Hog Wash.

The fun of it all happened tonight at the Harley dealership. The lady walks up to me and says oh I saw you at the meeting – you have a little 883 right? The tone relaying her superiority because she had a 1200. I admit this was getting to me now. I just smiled said yeah and mingled away. I wonder if she saw my big grin as she stood alone while I munched hot dogs with my friends.

Later that night I wonder if she saw my big grin as I pulled up next to her at the stop light and balanced long enough for the light to change while she had to put her feet down – twice – the second time she tried she almost fell boom. The challenge was on ! Evil I know but come on – after all – I thought her cool leather vest with all the patches meant she was a real bike and all. 🙂 Myself, I just ride motorcycles.

Moving on-

The insurance companies feel obligated to call at least twice a day. Now the mystery is why is insurance company A is calling me saying they insure the car that hit me, when the driver of that car said she had company B before she split the scene? Plus it is two weeks ago tommorrow – a little late dont ya think? Who knows maybe it is for real and I will get my deductable back.

Hold your hats folks – the leading news story, more important than Palestine and Israel, more important than Iraq – a proposal to build a new sports and entertainment arena in Sacramento has been reached, city and county leaders are going to put a a quarter-cent sales tax increase effective for 15 years to help pay for a project intended to replace the aging Arco Arena on the ballot for all of us Sac-ra-tomatoe-ians to vote on. Wow. A sales tax, noted for not being a fair tax, to build a new arena for the rich owners of the Sacramento Kings. If the city did not agree to something – oh my – they threatened to take the Kings away from Sacramento. They should have let em go. IMHO the old arena is run down because the Maloof’s never maintained it. They want to sell the land it is built on – it is prime real estate now.

News in From Neighborhood

As I browse my usual news sources it dawned on me – what about my little piece of the world where I reside? Not the state news, not the city news, but our news – here in my neighborhood. We have a little bit of it all here.

The police and fire dept. spent hours across the street at the school the other nite. Such fun. They found a bomb of sorts. I was curious so I walked across the street to ask the firepersons what they were doing there. They pointed to an orange cone that was next to a large beer can. Strange looking with it’s two stripes of black electrical tape wrapped around it and something else stuck to the sides. I would be careful where you walk, pointing to it one of em said, it is a small pyrotechnic device – in other words – a beer can full of explosives. Seems of all the big bangs we have been complaining about  – one did not go boom. I am not talking about small bangs here. I mean the kind that you wake up on the way down back to your bed type. Hours later it was dismantled and the remains removed.

The slumlord next door keeps running the malfunctioning airconditioner while he cleans the place up. Trouble is it freezes over and leaks all over. His solution is to place a bucket in the center of the living room to catch the drips – more like a steady flow of water. Now the water has managed to make its way into our townhouse via a main beam. My upstairs floor is warping – need I say this is not a good thing! Now I get to play the association CCR’s and who is liable games.

A group of teenagers has taken to hanging around in my carport. Yep and if you nicely ask them to not lean on your cars and truck they very not so nicely tell ya to go f yourself. Then they pick up all the fallen cherries around and bomb your dogs in the backyard. Ghezzzzzzzzzzzzz…..

I did get some revenge (not that revenge is a good thing) last night when they gathered in front along the sidewalk. Lots of noise, foul language, and teasing of my and my neighboor across the streets dogs. With all my windows and doors shut I still had trouble hearing my television over their noise. So- I snuck out and located the inground sprinkler control box for my front lawn and turned them on – hahahah a blast of water screams and they moved. My lawn may end up being the greenest in the area if this keeps up. Now if I only could water my carport! During the day playing Simon and Garfunkle really load seems to keep em away.

From the local area news:

The woman accused of being involved in a hit-and-run crash the killed a motorcycle rider and then triggering fires that destroyed two homes in El Dorado County has more than 20 charges against her. For some reason I like it when irresponsible people have to face the consequences of their actions. FYI- she was drunk.

In the Natomas area it seems a Peacock is becoming quite annoying. Since it is not in my yard I find it humorous – I wonder if it would chase off the kids? Emmm

Blogme Confussion

So Drumsnwhistles tags me in her post about Blogher. After reading and re-reading her post I decided that I was confused. She was kind enough to send some help – not that I really “get it” but I will give this a try.

When did you start blogging and why?

I started this blog because a friend of mine wanted to know how to set up a blog. My friend never stuck with it but I decided to stick with it.

How do you use blogging to build friendships?

Apparently not very well since I only communicate via blogging with a couple of people. The only person I could tag would be Drums and she tagged me.

What is your favorite thing that you wrote? What got a strong reaction from readers?

The post I did on the Patriot Act and the Secret Service and the creation of a Federal Police force. I heard a rumor of the formation of a Federal Police force that was bieng compared to the SS of Germany on some website and set about to verify any facts available. What I found did surprise me. The post did recieve the most hits and a few great comments that have been lost in the land of bits n bytes.

The post that recieves the most hits still today is one that I posted a stupid YouTube video on. I bet now that I have mentioned YouTube twice in this post it will recieve many hits from google searches for YouTube. I am shameless.

Are you and your blogging persona the same person?

Very close with some ommissions.

If you had a super power, what would it be?

The ability to morph myself into anything. The possibilties for learning by walking in anothers shoes will be endless. Becoming a small pebble on the beach or a seagull in flight, a hundred year old pine tree, . ..

Now the hard part – to find someone to tag? Umm I choose Froggi Donna from the Lily Pad.

Although I suspect she will be wondering why? Because she is a courageous strong woman and her motorcycle tour to cover 48 states is documented here.

Kids writing Messages on Bombs

Israeli girls write messages on shells

Photo caption: Israeli girls write messages on a shell at a heavy artillery position near Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, next to the Lebanese border, Monday, July 17, 2006.(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Photo Source