Modern Vespa

Hold your horses, the raise doesn't hit until Sept 15th.

Credit card?

Bought a case of craft beer that was 50% off and it actually tastes good 🍻

My upcoming France /Spain bucket list trip

I cancelled my Booking.com 2 night stay in Marseilles which was £485.00
Then found an apartment right where we wanted it in central Marseilles for £260.00

My partners boss gave us a thank you card for looking after their dog for 10 days whilst they were away and in it was £250.00

We might now even be able to afford the extortionate price for a couple of World Cup Finals tickets whilst we are down there.

USAA sent me a "rebate" check for interest paid on a credit card over many years as a voluntary "please don't file a SCRA suit against us" measure.

Just shy of 7k. Not a bad surprise in the ol' post.

Today is the day AFTER my colonoscopy, back to normal diet.

OFG

Yesterday I really put my left knee to the test. My sister and I headed to Mt Rose in northwestern Nevada. Mt Rose is the 3rd highest peak in the Tahoe basin at 10,778ft. I strapped on my knee brace so that I'd have a little extra support if I should slip (especially in the downhill sections). We started at around 8:30am and found the first 2.5 miles of the hike to be pretty easy. I little bit of elevation change, but nothing drastic. Then the next 3 miles took a radical change. The trail went from dirt to having a lot of rock (sometimes loose rock). And the elevation increased dramatically. About 1/2 mile from the summit, you pop out of the trees and suddenly find yourself above tree line. Without protection from the trees the wind gets a bit fierce. There was one section where we hiked along a ridge and it felt like the wind might just pick us up and send us flying. We made it to the summit at around 12pm. We found a spot behind so large rocks to eat lunch sheltered from the wind. We started our decent around 12:40pm and arrived back at the car at 3:45pm (11 mile round trip). My hip flexors hurt worse than my knee. It felt strong all day and the brace performed perfectly. No hot-spots and I didn't have to stop to adjust it once. I'm really happy to have reached this milestone in my rehab and that's what is cheering me up today.

caschnd1,

All those body bumps in your younger age will come back as rheumatism and arthritis. Such happiness. All this old fart can do is have a good brandy and cigar each night and reflect on those past bumping adventure.

Glad you are better.

Bob Copeland

Bob, I had a very similar injury to my right knee in 1992 (age 30). I just started using it after surgery and was back to normal in no time. This time, at age 61, I knew I'd have to make a real effort to rehab my knee. My surgeon told me, post surgery, that I have almost no signs of arthritis. Unusual for someone my age. I'll take it! And I hope to keep it that way as long as possible.

Vacation begins today. Off for a little over 3 weeks. Celebrating (?) with a half marathon run on Sunday, then riding the Vespa for a few days before traveling to Michigan to visit with family and friends for almost 2 weeks. On return, more riding and endorsement class and test.

Giddy for the time off.

My wife and I are heading to south France today to join our Vespa Club del Mediterraneo friends for two weeks riding around the area.

Because we will be gone for over three weeks, I needed to find someone to mow my front yard at least once during the time away.

Our neighbor across the street is wonderful.

She takes care of neighbors around us by taking out garbage cans, bring them in, checking in, etc.

She was mowing her yard as I was leaving for work yesterday at 7:15.

I stopped, asked her and she said that she would gladly do it.

She is a marvel.

We will bring back something from France for her.

Bill

We have a really good friend who also keeps ferrets who house-sits for us while we're adventuring. She gets to hang with the world's coolest cat and six ridiculous weasels, refuses to let us compensate her, but we bring her something every time....and since we use the same vet we sneak a credit onto her bill there so she can't say no.

Always good to have excellent people in your corner for that sort of thing.


And while I'm here, I'm about halfway done getting the GTI put back together. While I thoroughly enjoy the two-wheel commute, it'll be nice to have some lumbar support once again.

I'm just glad to still be here...when so many aren't.

Dear Bob

I can't agree with you.
A good single malt Scotch is better.

Enjoy your cigar, my friend.
I haven't had one in 45 years...
... and I still remember how great they smelled!

Fellow Old Fart Fudmucker

Fud Old Friend,

So, we can toast each other from afar. My life has been beer in college, wine in the service in Italy, and Brandy/Diet 7 ever since. After living in Italy, I still have Red Wine each night with dinner.

Honestly, I was never able to develop and appreciation for or taste for Scotch. I think it might have had something to do with it was expensive. I expect you drink it "neat" or what we call straight up. My neighbor drinks it with water or soda.

Best to you,

Bob Copeland

Single malt, always best neat with a couple of drops of water just to break the surface tension and release the nose. Ahhhhhh . . . . 🥃

My partner and I are scooting down to the south of France on Saturday, give me a shout if you're in Marseille between 8th and 10th.

Packing up to head out for a couple nights at Lake Tahoe. Should be beautiful weather with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. This retirement gig is pretty sweet. We can just do a quick mid-week camping trip. No planning. No arranging coverage at work.

not at all jealous and even less looking forward to the same ability two years from now.

It will sneak up on you fast! I remember when I was 2 years away. Seems like yesterday.

Best thing about retirement... I can go away for a couple days and I don't come back to 400 unread emails. 😂

Back at Reed yet again (i may just start packing a tent and sleeping bag) and someone's got jokes. Oh and my vitals are *chef's kiss*

MV

Just checking Facebook (yeah, I know), and saw the Vespa group on there had been busy in my absence. There are a few photos of new bling, fine, then huge argument about what octane gas to use, with people stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that engines should have premium gas, and people who both refuse to do their homework by reading the manual, etc, etc. There seem to be a lot of posts by people who have to ask about octane.

Yes, I know we've had some doozies, and certainly a few rounds on octane, but if it's the moderators or just the design/membership of the forum, things don't spin out of control, people learn relatively quickly and we move on.

Oh, and just realized I joined here in September of 2013, so it's been a whole decade! Litttle did I suspect that my fleet would expand to three scooters. It's been a great decade and MV has been a great part of it!

The first snow of the 2023/2024 season in the Sierra Nevada range. The bright spots are last winter's snow that hasn't yet melted. A few more months and we'll be skiing again! This is cheering me up today

In college, my roommate, his dog and I hiked up Humphries Peak from the Inner Basin. As we approached the peak a gust came that lifted the dog up and over about five feet. It nearly lifted us up too. Good for you, you're still getting out there.

The step counter in my new* Google Pixel Watch is not as dumb as the Fitbit i bought a year ago. Did over 300km today and it is saying I've only done 6000 steps where as last year's Fitbit would say 30,000 or so for similar trip


* just impulse purchased it/ birthday gift to myself as it's on sale since the new model is about too be announced

Just saw fresh snow on the local mountains and forecast for the next few days say plenty more. Last in the season.

Now to pick an area to ride and build my annual snowman...

So that 3% raise I was supposed to be getting effective Sept 1?

Yeah, it's not 3%.

It's actually 5.55%.

I think I posted about the failed turbocharger in my wife's Subaru in the "What's Pissing You Off Today" thread a couple weeks ago.

I spent the day yesterday removing the bad turbo and replacing it. The car runs better than it has in quite a while. Plus I kept over $1000 in my pocket doing the job myself (this is cheering me up today). Still wasn't cheap, parts were $1800. When you're retired you think about these things more. At least I do.

Oh, and I managed to drop a 14mm deep socket on a 6" extension while laying on my back under the car. All is good though... my face caught it! 😂

Whew....
Glad it didn't fall on your knee.

You would think that the safety glasses that I know you had on would have prevented it from cutting you like that but that is probably the easiest spot to get a cut. It doesn't take much more than a glancing blow with heavy gloves to cut that spot.

What's cheering me is I got emails saying parts are coming from scooterpartsco, my Liberty is getting a new belt and a Malossi variator as well as a new spark plug cap and wire. Tracking says Monday the 11th woo hoo!

When those arrive it will also get an oil change and valve adjustment, lastly I will attempt to install the performance exhaust that was on the 2018 Liberty parts bike I picked up not to long ago at the same time. Looking forward to working on the bike a little bit and seeing what it will do with some mild performance upgrades.

I did get a new rear tire and changed my gear lube not too long ago so I should be set for a bit with the 150.

The next step after that is the big bore kit and while I am working on the engine I will probably try for a new solid silent silent block too. I plan to use the parts bike engine for the big bore kit which has the advantage of I can keep riding until all the engine work complete and the bike will only be down when I am swapping the completed big bore engine with the stock motor.

The new turb for the gti is out for delivery.

Good thing my back only feels like 3 knives buried to the hilt rather than the usual 7-8. Might get some work done today.

Yeah, those safety glasses were hang in their designated spot above the work bench so I'd know exactly where to find them. 😂

Usually when I am working on anything I have to have some glasses on to be able to see it in focus.

My prescription safety glasses are the progressive type with no line but depending on the position it can be difficult to get to where you can look out of the bottom part so the drug store cheaters come out.

I am at 2.50 now and I try to find the ones with the big lenses just to keep the grime out of my eyes when looking up from under the car but even with those on I imagine I would still get the cut you got. They don't protect very much but I need them to see.

Lost to cheer me up today.....a bit of a bumpy ride, but selling my office building is moving forward, and while it's not a done deal, the path there looks pretty solid.

Left work and stopped at a nearby Aldis for groceries. While it's not perfect, I'm always impressed at how they can be a minimalist-oriented business and still do an impressive job. For a small store, a pretty broad choice of items including above-average variety of items. Their checkers are always a bit fascinating to me...germanic hyperefficiency, yet professional and pleasant. I like bagging my own groceries, so their system doesn't have me insisting on using the bags I brought.

Today was a bit different. I was a bit unhappy recently that they installed self-check kiosks, leaving only one option for human interaction. I always go for the lane, as the wait isn't long (see above hyperefficiency), but today a woman with a zillion cart items was ahead of me, and my resolve gradually weakened as minutes went by, and I reluctantly ambled over to a self-check for my dozen items. Unfortunately, the machine double scanned a produce item, and I press the HELP button thinking it's going to take 5 minutes just for someone to show up to help....and then I hear the nearby checker call over to me asking what I need. I mention the item, he tells me that he sees it on my screen and that he fixed it. 30 seconds! I'll still avoid self checkout, but I'm still having a soft spot for Aldis.

And then, I arrive home. My parts order was waiting for me (including the replacement battery my rings and a few shiny bits. And then, hiding in the box was a base gasket (some may have caught my ill-fated attempt to fit a head gasket under the cylinder). I figured out my mistake already, but Motovista's helpful gesture still made me smile....thanks George!

Not scooter related other then it does haul my Liberty when it needs hauling. Got my 2003 F150 out of the shop this afternoon. Only $1,458. Way less then buying a replacement.

OFG

I also got my parts order from scooterpartsco today (Friday) instead of Monday like the tracking said.

It's always great when stuff arrives ahead of schedule instead of late!

Made a snowman ⛄🛵

I heard a rhythmic sort of noise from my wife's car's wheel while I was driving it just a bit ago.
Sort of a, something-is-stuck-in-your-treads sort of sound.

Turned out to be a rather large nail.

Which, upon removal and soaking with soapy water, seems to have kept itself out of the pressurized bits of the tire.

That was a close one!

Not exactly a day of cheer, but celebrate what you can, right? Got charged battery into the LX and it started in a second, took a quick test ride and the speedometer works great (and needle no longer jiggles like it used to!), and it may be subjective, but I think the new shock is working better too....no verdict on previously complained of vibration, but with luck, that will be gone too.

FWIW, when the battery was found dead (too low to start) I threw on the battery tender in hopes of a soft revival. Just had a flashing red light for the overnight I left it on, which I assume meant it was dead. After the replacement battery arrived, had a last inspiration to leave it on a charger.....it held the charge for 24 hours, so that's the one I installed. Maybe it's not dead, but seems conventional wisdom suggests it should be. Anyway, I have a spare ready just in case....which could be next week or next year i guess....probably after I leave my guard down.