Today's Ride
Bev - Piaggio BV500
No Breeze, Sunny, 73F, Light Fog
4.5 miles on the short route in.
First, let's talk about a site addition. Over in the Photo Albums there is a new album of my personal favorite pictures from my scooter adventures. Because I've had a couple of folks over the last year ask for copies, I've done a couple of things that I expect to keep adding to over time. First, in the album are 'Desktop Wallpaper' or 'Background' sized images. These are scaled to the noted 1680x1050 that is the native resolution of so many wide screen monitors now, and they are watermarked to indicate the source of the images. Since a couple of people have further asked for printed copies, I have done some digging, and have decide to use Zazzle to allow anyone that wishes to customize a print and have it printed in the size of their choice. Contained with each photo in the album are direct links to Zazzle for this, as well as I now have a link in the sidebar to my 'Zazzle Gallery' where you can view and purchase anything I've turned into a product from the library. Yes, I do make a few cents for anything you buy from Zazzle using the Gallery link, which is a good thing as I've tied it to my 'Scooter Habit' account which I hope to use towards a PX or Stella for a fun little shifter / recreational toy, or to buy additional hardware for Two Wheel Junction
Which brings me to the ride. Yesterdays route home took me down into Alpharetta to catch my son's Tae Kwan Do Black Belt midterm stripe / belt ceremony. From there I had to run back to the office to finish up some brochures before the sales guys head out to Baltimore for a trade show next week (yeah, in addition to my roles as owner, programmer, support weenie, network guru, and building handyman, I also do most of the artwork and page layout for all of our printed and web materials, about the only thing I *don't* do is sales). By the time I was headed home, it was nearly 9, and the sun was setting. Unfortunately for me, my camera batteries were toast, so I missed a couple of nice vista's on the route home, oh well, at least I got to enjoy them. The ride was shorter than I wanted, but stress and a long day meant I needed to get from point a to point b in a more direct fashion than I might normally take. Fortunately, all the art is shipped off to the printers so I can move on to the next task.
The ride in this morning proved to be a much needed respite, after a good night of sleep, I got up and had a quick swim before coming in to work. There has been a crew on Thompson Rd installing new telephone / power lines down for the past month. These guys have gotten to the point where I get a wave every day from them, and for some reason, seeing a very bored face holding the traffic sign suddenly light up with a smile makes my morning. This morning it was the young guy on the crew. I was in between two big trucks (Ford F-350 and F-250 super cab), and his bored face didn't see me until the last minute but the grin still popped :-). You see, it really is the little things in life.
As always, there is something pure and joyous about the wind in your face experience of riding that makes the day start off so much more pleasant. There was a time when I was an avid listener to the radio and the morning just didn't seem complete without, and yet, I haven't listened to the radio on the way to work in a year. I don't miss it. I don't need it's company, I have the sights and sounds of life in suburbia to fill any void that it left.