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2004-06-22 - 8:58 a.m.

What is it about being a single male that drives your to acquire ridiculously expensive yet infinitely cool shit? My latest fascination�any thing with 2 wheels. Yeah�next weekend should be motorcycle purchase day. And that will fill a certain niche in my life. 40mpg HOV friendly commuter and toy to play with on the weekends with my Uncle. Fine�but you still just sit on your ass and do nothing. Not real good for loosing the spare tire�heh who am I kidding�not real good for loosing the mobile home that has parked its self on my ass. So with that in mind I have started looking for SOMETHING that will get me active on a regular basis. I no longer have a sweet city full of insane hills, beautiful architecture, and general coolness to wander. I don�t have rolling mountains, babbling creeks, or mysterious legends to pursue like I did up country�so honestly walking is not much of an option...this area is a bit too boring for that. I have tried the gym�and again with out a workout partner, it is also pretty boring. So I need something�something�something.

Enter an old friend from school. His latest addiction�riding. No not motorcycles anymore�but bicycles.

A little background here. When I was a kid�well hell up until I got a car�I rode my bike EVERYWHERE. Nothing was too far away. I rode to the store�to church�to�well to everything. And I LOVED it. So why did I stop? Cars were new�cars were cooler. But now�cars are yeah fun�but this ever expanding ass of mine is not so cool. So my buddy and I headed over to the local bike store to look for a ride. I mean how much could a bike cost anyway�a few hundred bucks maybe? I can make that happen. Heh�yeah as if.

I walk into the local bike shop and start looking around at all of the goodies that they have. Nice bikes�all of em nice. But I don�t want a mountain bike�hell it is like buying a dirt bike to drive around on the street. I also didn�t want a serious road bike. I mean really�Lance Armstrong I am certainly not. I mean it would be like buying a Super Sport bike (ya know the ones�0-60 in 2.3 seconds. � mile in under 10 seconds�top speed of 190mph.) to drive around town at 25 mph. So what was left? A bike I had previously never thought of. The Road Touring bike. They are more durable than a Road bike�able to handle MUCH more weight (which is fortunate for me), and more efficient than a mountain bike. This is the jack of all trades. And I have found the one I want. Solid aluminum frame�dual disk brakes (yeah you heard that right), it only comes in silver, it has cool shifting levers that are also the brake levers�and all sorts of other things that mean squat to me. But the important thing is, I rode it around the parking lot and LOVED it. It was comfortable�big enough�smooth�not twitchy at all�and well easy to ride. So I did what anyone in my place would have done. I innocently how much the thing cost. Well the nice bike clerk informed me that it was on sale �and that they are willing to part with it for a meer $1100. Thud�.(that was me hitting the ground). Damnit!!!! Why do I have to have such expensive tastes? Why can�t I like the huffy over at Wal-Mart for $25.99? Fuck me�

But ya know�what is the point of making money if you don�t spend it right? And really�if you are going to spend money on something you may as well make sure that it is of a good quality that you won�t out grow too quickly right? So with the $250 I get from work for fitness and fitness related endeavors�that brings me to a cool $800. Add to that the $500 I made off of per diem in Baltimore (free money as far as I am concerned) and I am at $350 (a price I was originally willing to spend on a bike)�but somewhere in there I need to come up with the money for the motorcycle�Arrrggghhh! I hate budgeting! I know I can do it�I just need to figure out how. Oh yeah�crap I almost forgot�I am selling the Jeep. That will cover both the bike and the�er�bike. Hah�it is all good. Now I just need to get on Brian the Mechanic to get that thing sold.

So what am I going to do with this bike the pedally one not the vroomy one once I get it?

Have I mentioned that the WO&D is right outside my back door? This is a bike path that as a kid I logged many a mile on. And with it being right there�I am hoping to do that all over again. An hour a day�5 days a week (when I am not on travel) gets me a cool 75 miles a week�Not a bad start. Perhaps I can even get myself to a point that I can consider doing what my buddy is planning for the end of next month�He is gong to ride a century�100 miles in one day. Man�that sounds pretty fun actually.

Well anyhow�I guess we shall see what happens.

One way or another I will have at least one more new bike�perhaps 2 if things go the way I hope.

So with all that said�that brings me to the best part of this Diary�

Today I learned that bears can live for 30 to 35 years! Can you believe that! How cool!

And now its your turn. What have you learned today?

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