It's nearly time for Chillits! Back to the mountains with my friends, hanging around doing not much of anything for a few days. Unusually (except for 2004) there seems to be a chance of rain and cold, but who cares? We have books and tents and shelter and stuff. It'll be fun.
I got one last ride in before the weekend. I got home in time for aikido, and discovered I didn't want to go, so I headed up to the crazy "goat roads" up in Emerald Hills where I got lost the first night I had the bike. Right around here, I took an exploratory left on Lakeview Way off Edgewood Road, and kept on Lakeview until I hit the intersection where I'd gotten lost. Those are interesting roads, with a lot of gorgeous views, so it brings out the touring aspect of motorcycling, as well as handling carefully and slowly around tight turns. I also puttered around Cañada College, the same drab 60s architecture as the other community colleges, San Mateo and Foothill, which are also built on billion-dollar pieces of real estate with hilltops of their own. More goat roads, then finally down to Whole Foods and home.
We have a "Biker Cult" mailing list at work, and at various times they've taken a multi-hour lunch on Friday to head up to Alice's. While I was instigating the next ride, a project manager said "If my schedule stays clear." Of course her schedule wouldn't stay clear, so I had to point out that what is an online calendar like Outlook for, if you can't block off four hours for "Team Offsite Meeting"?
I had a nice moment in the dive bar, during the send-off for our intern (I had a Coke, since smart people don't drink and ride). Sitting there in my jacket with the helmet on the table, a woman bringing drinks for her friends stopped and asked what I was riding.
"A little Ninja 250. Bright green."That got her excited. "Oh, good for you for getting a 250! I tell you, my boyfriend...have you taken the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course? Oh, you're so SMART, good job." (It was a conversation, but that was her end.) Hell, I need to ride places more often, if I get that kind of attention. It's the orange jacket, I tell you. Drives the ladies wild.
"Nice. How long have you been riding?"
"About two weeks."
In an odd turn at work, I tried to actually write code, and while I'm working on one of those things that makes my head hurt and I have to think about it, it's very clear to me that my head has not been in coding for some months now. This isn't a bad thing, if it doesn't bother my employers: besides slacking, I get to design stuff, and eventually circumstances will call my bluff and I'll have to implement everything. Or, possibly, direct a team of gnomes while they implement it for me. It's hard to tell right now.