Modern Vespa

Already got an offer from the movers for the table saw. Full replacement value.

Everything's coming up Milhouse.

Here's my recent roller coaster of cheering me up/pissing me off (tl;dr: at end):

Cheered Me Up: The new position my boss has been trying to create and post for me to be promoted to since November 2024 was finally posted on July 10. I submitted my application on July 14. I was the 10th applicant at that time.

CMU - part 2: The position had to be posted for at least a week before my boss could select me for the position. She was thrilled when my application/resume score came through, and I had outscored the next closest applicant by 15 points (and had exceeded her score by about 20 points from when she was hired).

Pissed me off: The day after I received the initial offer (pending compensation review), federal education funds were frozen, resulting in a $30+ million budget shortfall for the district, so a hiring freeze was instituted.

CMU - part 3: A week later, the state released the funds, and the district removed the hiring freeze. Last Friday (August 1), the Final Offer with compensation amount came through.

PMO - part 2: The offer was much lower than expected, well below the Median pay amount that my boss had approved. So I emailed a counter-offer amount.

PMO - part 3: I got a sinus/upper respiratory infection of some sort late Friday night/early Saturday morning, and spent the next four days sleeping and coughing up mucus. I'm still coughing up mucus, but feel better.

PMO - part 4: I finally got a response from the compensation specialist on Monday evening, letting me know that the offer amount is what it is and can't be increased. There are limits in place because it is an internal transfer. It pisses me off because an external candidate would be given different compensation considerations than an internal candidate does, and would potentially be paid more.

CMU - part 4: I accepted the initial offer yesterday at 9:16 am. When I spoke with my boss that afternoon, she said HR had reached out to her around 3:30 to ask when she wanted my start date to be, and she told them as soon as possible. She then checked my status in Oracle and was surprised to see that it listed me in my new position already, with a start date of 8 am, August 6.

So now I'm waiting on the system to show my new pay rate, which may not take affect until tomorrow, which is the start of the new pay period.

tl;dr: I finally got a promotion at work.

Found my keys!

I resisted the Pissing Me Off thread for most of the week and I guess patience paid off.

Last Friday was headed for the barber, time was short and when I reached into my jacket for my GTS keys, found my BV keys there as well. Remember thinking it was wiser leaving them home, and heading out for my appointment. Some time on the weekend I wanted to ride the BV and realized the keys were missing. Tried to retrace my steps, but as I was rushing, couldn't remember anything.

Checked everywhere I could think of, then twice more, then started searching the improbable. Was starting to price replacements yesterday. Today picked up my bag sitting out for another short trip next week, reached in the side compartment, and there they were! No idea how they got there, but I don't need to know.

Well, at least I cleaned my workbench and dusted under my bed!

I had posted last week about switching our camping strategy and moving away from a teardrop trailer and back to a tent. That meant selling our teardrop trailer. Selling an RV is never a fun time. And I worried that this late in the summer, the demand would be weak. Well, it took 3 days to sell it! So happy to have that chore out of the way. And I sold it for $700 more than I bought it for in June 2023! That cheers me up 😃

So you now have garage space and cash on hand for a new scooter. What colour?

The teardrop was parked outside under a cover. Unfortunately, no extra garage space. Just moved it inside for showing so we didn't have to stand out in the sun.

15 large and a few extra for buying parts for your old scoot. Not bad at all, sir.

If this doesn't put a smile on your dial

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNGn3Dxz2Ak/?igsh=djhocnVsc3B4NGl5

Yes, it did! Thx.

I'm heading out tomorrow for the first long ride since my rotator cuff surgery. Just a 4 day ride around Nevada. I've got one stretch of 167 miles with no services of any kind. I grabbed one of my 1 gal RotoPax gas cans for the trip. I can go 140 miles on a full tank tops. Looking forward to getting back on the road, even if it's only 4 days. This cheers me up!

Back in MD. Had some time to get the cast wheels on the Bonneville.

Turns out the spacers are different up front, so that was a very pucker-based shakedown ride.

Calling the Annapolis dealer tomorrow to see if they've got the spacers in stock (doubtful) and if not, whether they can have em here by Saturday or so. Not hoping to stick around too much beyond the weekend if I can avoid it.

Couple of days after finding my lost keys this showed up in WebMD.

But are you biting your nails?

Well, they didn't give like 8 options.

Speaking of which, interesting that they pull a stock photo of a thirty-something miles from the target demographic.

Losing keys has been a royal PITA for me. Obviously need to ramp things up here. Wonder if there's a threshold where one never loses one's keys again?

Yes, unfortunately.

When your family takes them away from you.

Hey now!

At least I'll know where they are!

When you put an AirTag on your keys, you tend not to lose them (for very long). I am a notorious key-misplacer. AirTags have been a huge quality-of-life improvement for me.

I've never had any AirTag but have lots of children..

who knew!

This is where I stopped on the Sprint yesterday.

The irony is my wife bought me a pair. One is on a set of keys that have wound up lying on my dresser most of the time, the other is there waiting for me to decide which scooter key to attach it to.

That bumblebees are still out and about these days.

That it only took a few minutes to move some savings from my current account in one bank paying 2.75% interest to another bank account paying 5% interest.

Every little counts!

There ... that's better.

I can't wait until I pass 1259 miles. After that I'll no longer confuse the odometer with the clock.

I'd have to wait until 2359 miles

Last year when we were on holiday our daughter used my wife's car and lost the key. She came home with the car so she lost it somewhere in the house or the garden.
I thought we give it some time and one day the key will suddenly show up.

But so far no key.
Meaning we only have 1 key left for my wife's car.

Such an Airtag is not a bad idea. A new car key is quite expensive: some 350€

Yikes! That is an expensive key.

After finally attaching my loose Airtag to my scooter keys, I thought I might move the one from our newest car ( wife's daily driver) to my 10 y.o. Subaru keys. This may have convinced me to leave well enough alone.

Got comped on maybe two of the best expressions ever from MM last night.

On a long drive today my wife spontaneously told me she once went out with a guy on a Harley. First time I heard that story.

I told her me too! Guy, HD, riding cupcake... though I was 10 years old and my mom's cousin's bike...

If you lose all you keys on some of the newer cars, it has to be towed to the closest dealership. A new set will run around $1500, plus the tow of course.

Got the offer for the safe. Won't be buying any Pol Roger Churchills or anything with the proceeds, but it's enough to get it drilled and a new lock installed. callin it good.

friend had to jet back home today, but he probably saved me a week if not more of time going through and boxing up the rest of the house and getting it gone, plus runs to the county recycling center (dump). Still a lot of work to get done (rip up old floors, float some laminate on the main floor at the very least) before the realtor comes monday evening. And even if it's not done, she'll get a good look of how it'll be when done, and then we can sort out getting the carpet laid (hopefully by a contractor who knows her and will wait til close to settle the tab).

About the same price for a new Vespa keyless fob I imagine!

Well, my ride around Nevada did not go to plan. But that's the way it is with old bikes. I've ridden my chopper coast-to-coast numerous times but this trip it stopped me dead on day 1. I was running US-50 about 95 miles east of Fallon, NV when I lost power. I coasted to the side of the road and found I had no compression on the front cylinder and very little on the rear. Ok, now what? I'm almost 2 hours from the nearest towing option. This isn't something I can fix on the side of the road. It's 104F and there is no shade for miles in any direction. Not a good situation! Luckily I had cell service and a Camelback full of water. I start making calls. The only towing place willing to come out that far tells me $950 to go to the nearest town (Austin, NV). There is nothing in Austin but a convenience store. That won't do me much good. $1,850 to tow me back to Reno (Sheesh!). So I call my sister. Thankfully she and my brother in law are available. So they run to U-Haul and rent a trailer for $39/day and start the three hour drive in my direction. I'm in desert survival mode at this point. I make a little shade shelter with my jacket and the bike and lay down so my head is out the sun.

Now I gotta say… I'm pretty disappointed in mankind. I was there for over an hour before the first person stopped. Now keep in mind, I'm out in the middle of nowhere. No shade trees, 104F, bright sunny day. People just kept driving by. Guys on Harleys… driving by. Now, I wasn't trying to flag anyone down. I'm lying in the tiny bit of shade just staying out of the sun. But I'm clearly visible to those passing by. Finally after over an hour, the Nevada Highway Patrol stops to check on me. He makes sure I've got water and I tell him my family is on the way with a trailer. He asks me how long I've been there and is shocked that I'd been there over an hour. He says nobody has even called in to report me. Usually people at least do that. So he's satisfied I'll be ok until my sister arrives and I have plenty of water so he heads out. Then an old guy (like me) on a Suzuki touring bike stops. I tell him I'm ok and have water and he heads off. At about the 2.5 hour point a cute gal, maybe 20 y/o stops. Said she saw me when she pulled out of her dirt driveway 3 miles up the road and came to check on me. I thank her for checking on me and assure her I'd be ok. So it wasn't all bad. I got passed by numerous toy haulers, and trailers only 1/2 full of bikes and not one stopped. That was kind of disappointing.

Sister arrived with the trailer about 3pm (this started at 11am) and we get loaded up and we're back in Reno around 6:30pm. Bike back in the garage. All I want is a shower and something to eat (hadn't eaten anything all day).

Yesterday and today, I tore into the motor. Definitely signs of extreme heat. The valves are chalky white rather than sooty black. There were no signs of intake manifold leaks but it either got really lean or the timing might have slipped and might have been too far retarded. That will build a lot of heat too. Cylinders and pistons look great. No scratches in the cylinders or scuffs on the piston skirts. Rods and flywheels feel great too. Whew! I need to pressure test the valve seats with some water in the combustion chamber I'm sure I'll find bubbles. That's got to be where the compression loss was coming from. I'll use a ball hone to freshen up the cross hatch pattern on the cylinders while I'm in there. Looks like I'm going to get away with a simple valve job. Oh! There is a nick on the valves on the front cylinder where they collided! Also found a bent pushrod. That likely occurred when the valves collided. I've been running this same cam grind for 170k+ miles and have never seen that happen. So I'll likely be replacing those valves too. I'll dig out the PlayDoh to check valve to piston clearance and figure out what caused the valves to collide.

Hope to have it all buttoned up by early next week.

Now you might think this belongs in the "what's pissing me off thread". But the damage could have been so much worse. I'm probably looking at $300 in parts and gaskets. A complete motor rebuild would be close to $10,000. So this cheers me up!

Sorry you were out there so long. I'm glad some folks stopped to check on you. Recently stopped on the 10 the check on a bagger rider who had a bead failure on the rear. He had help on the way and I didn't have my ramp in the truck, so I offered water or to drive him to Marana for shade and AC. I at least gave him my number in case he still needed help.

It's rumored that placing your helmet behind the bike is recognized as a sign for "rider in need of assistance". Question is, how many riders know that?

Holed the piston on my P200E almost twelve years ago out near Red Rock on a 117F day. Recovery time was close to three hours as well. Ran your playbook, kept myself hydrated and used the scoot for shade. Watching the monsoon roll in was beautiful, but my ride arrived on the nick of time to load up and bug out. The rain started pouring as soon as we pulled back up onto the road!

Since then, pulling over for a stranded biker is a no-brainer!

Yes, I have heard this. I would have tried to flag someone down if I needed water. I was just surprised how many drove past without checking. I guess when you're in your air conditioned car, you don't realize how dangerous it is for someone stranded if the don't have water or a bit of shade.

I am somewhat ignorant on Panheads - do they run hydraulic or solid lifters? I had a lifter collapse on a '76 Super Glide and it stopped me in my tracks. I concur on the lean condition, those valves look toasted. Are the seats ok?

I'm not sure if this will resonate with anyone else, but it certainly resonated with me.