Modern Vespa

Gravel in corners is routine here where I ride. And manure adds an additional risk. And of course this is tar and chip season which just makes a mess.

What's pissing me off though is there's no ice cream in the freezer.

That's usually my fault. And I ate all the chips too.

I tend to look for the nearest public facility, even if I'm busting.

Not saying employers should pay for commutes, but simply saying they should find another home or a different job ... those aren't always an option. It's a bit of a "let them eat cake" statement.

When I was little, I lived in the small town of Lyons, MI. There was a Chrysler plant there that employed most of that town and many of the surrounding towns. In the late '70s, they moved to Canada.

There was a huge sucking sound. There were no equivalent jobs nearby. The closest were Lansing or Grand Rapids. Suddenly, people had a commute of 40 miles rather than three. A lot of people.

If you live in a rural area you can't always choose a job that's close by, because there aren't any. And pulling up stakes and moving isn't always an option.

My "good way to keep Vespa on place when changing the oil" kicked back.

I really did not guess there is plastic film over the levers.

Yes, I'm aware that it's not always an option to live close to work or work close to home, and that things beyond one's control can affect that. My current situation is a perfect example: there was nothing I could have done to keep our department in next year's budget. And the only thing I didn't like about my commute was that it was too short to listen to podcasts, so I had to listen to music instead.

But the situation you described is not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about people who knowingly accept a job with a long commute, then complain about not being compensated for that time. Most of the complaints I see are from people living in large metropolitan areas with horrible traffic and/or minimal effective public transportation options.

Ouch. Wouldn't have guessed it either. Guess the metal parts got you. My 2017 BV is painted aluminum. But the paint is vulnerable too....

I have a set of Velcro loops that do the job well without sharp edges....

And they shoud not complain of horrible traffic and/or minimal effective public transportation options? What they should do? Be damn happy with horrible traffic and/or minimal effective public transportation options?

Back in the day, my Hondas had aluminum levers with no covering. I'd get home after a ride and had black fingers, especially on my clutch hand.

The city of Charlotte, NC started a light rail some 20 years back to help out with traffic when traveling from the south to the city central. This marked Charlotte's return to rail transit roughly 70 years after its original streetcar system was dismantled. The rail authority was hoping for 90% capacity within three years. It hit 90% capacity in three weeks.

I remember that before they started installing the clear plastic sleeving. Easiest way to fix is to install shrink fit tubing.

Take them off. Sand/polish off the rest of the film.

Should take the front cover first out, and tear the plastic out. Could perhaps spray it with some laquer.

No need. Just strip the rest of it off and polish, progressively finer sandpaper up to 600 grit then metal polish.

I've done several aluminum bike frames, stay shiny for a long time, maybe every couple years need to re-polish.

Will that stop the aluminum from getting on one's hands?

You missed my point.

I have no problem at all with people complaining about horrible traffic and/or minimal effective public transportation options. That's not what they're complaining about.

Their complaint is that, in their view, their "work day" starts as soon as they begin getting ready for work (showering, getting dressed) and ends when they arrive home. They think they are being "scammed" by their employer because they are not compensated for their "getting ready" and commuting time.

That's my point. In most cases, they chose where to live, where to work, and how they want to look during the day, not their employer. If they want to be compensated for these items, they need to negotiate it up front. While they may not get direct, line-item compensation for it, they can offset it via increased pay.

That is the most insane way of thinking I've ever heard of regarding work... I always HATED working and did something about it- not complain endlessly. We all have choices- ESPECIALLY in America. When hear this kind of stuff I lose faith in Americans... What are they teaching in schools these days???

When we went from 5 days in to 3 home and 2 in, "these" people asked questions at Town Hall (via remote) of the President: a) raises to cover the extra heating and a/c costs of being home; b) to have ergonomic desk chairs purchased and shipped to their homes; c) allowance money to buy pens and notepads to use at home; and more. Forget how you save money on commuting parking, dry cleaning of work clothes, and more. Totally unreal.

It's really hard to believe what is going on AND that we're sitting back and allowing it to happen. I can't even think what my WW2 dad would say about this...Those guys fought for this? I don't think so.

I tell my colleagues when they bring it up, it's not my fault my employer won't pay for hot water and soap.

Apparently a lot of people got in on the free lobotomy deal, though.

If you always HATED working you made a very poor career choice.

OFG

Actually, I've always had the mantra of "work to live," not "live to work." I STILL have many friends that "live to work." I don't get that. That's more of a what meant. But listening to the higher ups drone on and on about mission statements etc. I guess I actually didn't "like" working so I used it to be a means to an end.

hate that computers are so dumb

DDG seems better.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gts300+hpe+left+side+site%3Amodernvespa.com&iar=images&t=osx

Shouldn't we use port and starboard?

lol, seems the big tech titans with all their ai does worse than a small company only when riding our scoots across rivers or parking in puddles

Except for the red one at the bottom, it got them all right.

Weather forecasts....Not today, but yesterday. JKJ and I rode a few hours to visit a scenic peninsula (Door County for you locals). We stayed 2 days with a friend there giving us a tour of his favorite back roads. The next day the forecast was to be spotty, with a chance of storms. Didn't happen, though we changed plans just in case.

Earlier forecast was great for the trip home. I woke up at dawn, checked the forecast,,, maybe 6% chance of rain. Great! Open the curtains to water dripping off the roof. It slows down, I'm thinking it's a stray cloud thats either departing us or we'll be departing it once on the road. Check the weather again, same rosy report. We go to breakfast hoping to see ig move on. Nope. It drizzled for the next 90 minutes, never enough to put on rain gear, but enough to consistently run off the visor.

Anyway it finally cleared, we finally got dry, and it didn't slow us down, so all good.

Anyway, riding was great, but couldn't believe the forecasting. Maybe it's just me but I swear the weather predicting has been more spotty since the huge cuts in our Federal workforce. It would make sense. Anyway, trust levels have plummeted...

Every lakeside Wisconsinite knows Lake Michigan will treat you right one minute and then raise hell the next, and with the gutting of NOAA/NWS it's even more of a coin toss.

An hour off the lake but fairly aware of the vicissitudes of Great Lakes weather. Maybe not enough, lol. To be fair it didn't really change our plans anyway.

While I'm still grumpy, I'm still not happy with long range(5+ day) forecasts. The accuracy is abysmal IMO, yet they'll happily outline a great day for next week, only to change it twice before the day arrives.

I feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football. Kind of like Medieval maps where instead of printing Tierra Incognita they'll add mountains, dragons and sea monsters.🙄

Not only the 5-day, but even the same day. My devices (phone, tablet) came loaded with The Weather Channel. I like Weather Underground, much because of the historical data. My Amazon Echo devices use AccuWeather. All point to my town and street address. Yet all 3 are different by a fairly wide margin. AW is generally the closest to reality.

Yet yesterday it called for rain and thunderstorms 3 times, and twice even reported that it was raining. There wasn't a drop to be found. The computer models, and likely AI, are just wrong. So a 5-day.--fuggediboudit.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, same on me. Fool me 32,689 times, you're the weatherman.

I don't know if this pisses me off or makes me giggle! Google AI has consistently got the World Cup times wrong over here on the West Coast. It must look up the times, gets the answer in local time (PDT) on Fox, but assumes it's EDT, so gets the time wrong by 3 hours. Every day, every match so far.

That's up until the time it gave ticks around that is, when suddenly it gets the times right!

While I'm at it, I get rather upset (read LIVID) when sites give times but don't state the time zone.

Always useless. Ask a question, get a wrong answer, then tell it so and it says this. Don't know why i ever bother.

add "-ai" to the front of your google search strings. save some water for anything other than machines.

Weather forecasting is no better in Alberta. Oddly, they usually get the bad weather right, yet it seems rarely the good weather.

We lost someone who contributed an unbelievably immense amount to humanity through his tireless work over decades.

RIP Sir Sam Neill.

Fuck fuck fuck.

He was giving cancer a good run for its money. We didn't expect to lose him so soon.

Amazing actor and a top bloke too.

Today, instead of the cap, I'm left with just a hole again. These losses are annoying.

Ended up scratching my flyscreen (even more) trying to get the rest of that warning sticker residue off. Seriously what is that stuff made of?

Loads of actors are visibly fake in virtually everything they do.

He was genuinely a magnificent human, and was such a great person for using his notoriety to try and improve life for loads of people. I reckon Steve Irwin levels of greatness.