Just a Motorcycle Man

Well today I finally sold my truck, making my only means of automotive transportation my motorcycle.  It is a bit freeing, but also really scary.  I keep thinking I will need it for something, but really if I did need a car, I am sure that I could just borrow someone else’s.  I am not looking forward to this next rain season, but hey, I got to get used to it sometime.  I am currently looking for a new helmet, one that would be good in the rain, but they are really expensive.

Another good thing about this sale, is it puts me out of credit card debt.  Making my only debts what I owe on the bike, and my student loans.  I consider those both acceptable debts, and so now I get to start saving for the trip.  We move out of this house August 31st, and then the aggressive saving begins.  I am really excited, but also really worried.  I am putting a lot of faith in the hope that this trip will work out, but I believe it is necessary.

It is so weird selling just about everything you own, it is kind of sad, but really freeing.  Have any of you ever gone through a time where you just got rid of everything?  If so please tell me about it.

Caught in the act

Today after lunch at the town center with some Heartwell people, I went out to find my bike defiled with pink marker on my windshield and mirror. Instantly my suspects were Geoffrey and Jake.

Well tonight I came home to my parents house (Im house sitting) after stuffing myself nearly to death with sushi, and I caught Geoff and Jake in the act of doing the same thing to Mike’s truck. It was about 10:30 at night so I did the only logical thing, I reved my engine real loud and held down on my horn. They started to signal me to be quiet, but I just shook my head no and kept up the noise till they ran and hid.

Then Mike came out at first upset with me for making all the noise, but once he realized what was going on he was grateful. If I see them again, I am totally just calling the police and pretending like I have no idea who they are.

Great News!

Ordered the Video camera I am going to use on the trip the other and it should be here tomorrow!  DO you know what this means?  It means that the crazyness that goes on in my head is going to be transformed to video!  So beware that starting next Tuesday there is going to be some awesome videos posted here!

The camera I got is the Flip Ultra.  I also got the underwater case so that when I go snorkeling and get some good video.

Ryan

New Highway Bars

Ken Upton helped me put on my new highway bars today.  Here are some pictures of them:

They are used to help protect your legs and engine in case of a fall.  I want to install something similar to the back part of the bike, but unfortunately it will have to be a custom job.  Has anyone had to do custom metal work to a bike before?  Do you guys know someone who can help?

Organic food!

This has nothing related to motorcycles or God or anything remotely important.  I have heard that organic foods are better for you and taste better, but I have been skeptical.  Today while at the grocery store I bought some organic bananas, I just ate one, WOW, no joke it was delicious!  Worth the extra 20 cents a pound.

Ryan

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar eats at the Heritage

Today I had breakfast with Devin (realfusion.com and theburnexperiment.com) at the Heritage restaurant off of Carson and Paramount here in Long Beach.  On the way out we were talking off to the side, and all of the sudden Devin pointed out that Kareem was walking into the restaurant.  I turned around thinking that Devin was just making a joke, and saying that someone who looked like Kareem was walking in.  But sure enough, it was really him, and I was too shocked to take a picture or say anything, and then he was inside.  I debated about going back in just to take his picture or get his autograph, but I decided not to.  I could see through the window that he was sitting down in the table right next to the one we just go up from.  If Devin wouldn’t have had to leave we probably would have met him.

Now here is the funny part, after he walked in, an older black woman and what appeared to be her tall son walked by.  And Devin still shocked tells them, “Hey if you want to meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar he just walked in there.”

The lady looked at him like he was some kind of idiot, and said, “I know we are his relatives, and we are meeting him for breakfast.”

I almost said, “well, congratulations,” but I held back.  Then as soon as they went inside I started laughing hysterically at Devin.  What a great morning.

Im getting too old for this

Last night we had an all nighter for the High School Students at Parkcrest.  We went to a drive in theater to watch Dark Knight, then came back to the Lakewood Campus to play sardines, and then some food games.   The kids hung out till 4am, when we separated them by gender.  Around 4am guys and girls start getting sleepy and far too cuddly for a church event.  I went to sleep at 5:30am only to wake up again at 7am.  All the kids went home by 9am, and I went back to sleep in a dark room at the church from 9 till 1:30.   I feel completely out of it now, but such is the cost of youth ministry.  It was a lot of fun, but I don’t know how many more times I will be doing something like that.

Generation of Celebrities

Today at work I had a conversation with one of my coworkers that has totally been an asset to me for starting to think outside the box about Christianity.  My buddies name is Juan and he is originally from Peru, he’s been in the states for a few years with his wife.  Today I don’t even remember how we got on the topic, I think we were talking about philosophy or something and he made this statement to me “we live in a generation of celebrities, there are no more heroes”.  

We talked about it for a while and I realized that he was totally right.  We idolize celebrities, people who make a lot of money and party hard and do drugs.  Wow, I am very guilty of idolizing celebrities!  My “hero” is Dave Grohl, what has he done?  Write good songs, that’s about it.  He has not done anything for people except get paid by the money we spend at concerts and record sales.

What is a hero?  I think it is someone that regardless of self, still ventures to help another person.  Examples……this actually took me a while to come up with a small list……1.  Wesley Autrey.  Who?  This is the stud that jumped on top of a person who had a seizure in the subway station in New York and had fallen on the tracks!  He saved that persons life.  2.  Bono came to mind, he has done a lot for the world, and I guess his music is alright.  3.  Every Emergency Services Worker killed or injured in 9-11, for obvious reasons.  It took me way too long to come up with this list!  There just is not acts of heroism anymore.  

Anyone have heroes that should be recognized? 

Ryan