Four. One to ask “What is the registration number of the light bulb?”
One to ask “Have you tried rebooting it?”
Another to ask “Have you tried reinstalling it?” and the last one to say “It must be your hardware because the light bulb in our office works fine…”
- Category Archives Life in the USA
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Trainee trainer
Kelly is due in about 9 weeks, and since she is one of the three trainers for the course Opto offer twice a month, its been decided that I should get up to speed so I can teach the course as and when required.
Thats right, scary as it seems, they are going to be teaching me to teach the next generation of Opto-ites.
So, for the next few training weeks (roughly the first and third weeks of the month (hey, I did say roughly, this week is not the first week of the month because Labor Day holiday was on the first Monday of the month)), I will be sitting in on the Tuesday (with Alexi) and Thursday (with Kelly) classes. I guess at some stage I will have to get up there and do a quarter day, or at least one section of the notes and have them evaluate me.
I have a copy of the training manual and I am just going to follow along and make notes. If any of the students have questions, I will be there to help, bit like I did on the first week I started at Opto.
In about 9 weeks, I hope to be able to do at least the Thursday class on my own, which will spare Tom or Alexi from doing it. (Tom already does Mondays and Wednesdays). Then as time goes by, I will get to the point where I can do any / all of the days…… Then its just a matter of taking the test, and I will be an Opto 22 certified trainer!
I’m looking forward to it. I’m nervous about teaching, but at least its a subject I know something about.
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No speed cameras means……
No number plates.
Thats the most obvious thing. I just thought about it on the way home yesterday….. There are a LARGE number of cars that do not have front number plates and a fair number that do not have back plates either.
Its generally new cars that don’t have rear plates. It can take 3-5 months to get the plates through from the DMV (Don’t ask how long it takes resident aliens to get their drivers license from the DMV!!!!), so for that time, they only have a bit of paper stuck to the inside of the windscreen.The other thing that I have found very liberating is driving under an overpass and not having to worry about your speed. There are no cameras tucked up under the overpass, you can just concentrate on driving.
Its a rather nice experience driving with out the constant watchful eye of the speed camera. Surprisingly so. You don’t relies it until its gone.
Freedom becomes the responsibility to do the right thing. Seems to work on the roads over here.
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Ride the Rim of the world.
Got to love long weekends!
Two rides in two days! (Thanks Stacey and Freddy).I figured since I did my Monday ride on Sunday, I would try and do a ride that I had slated for an AWR, but had run out of daylight for this year.
The Rim of the World, no really, that’s what its called!Its a straight 50 minute shot up the 215 freeway to get to the start of it. We left at 10 past 8, so there was not much traffic. This was good. You may not twig, but this was my first time on an LA freeway on the bike…….. More some other time. Perhaps.
The entree is all uphill sweepers. Nothing flash road wise, but the view. Wow. Before long (like in about 15-20 minutes) you are at 5000 feet, and the view back into the valley is amazing.
We took a left turn and went around Lake Arrowhead.
If I had to pick somewhere to retire, this would be it.
Its the most beautiful little town and lake. Tall trees, amazing homes cool summers and feet of snow each winter. I will take Freddy back on this ride, I know she will love it. Perhaps I will have the video camera working by then……
Anyway, trust me, its a beautiful town with a really nice feel to it.
From there, you get back on the Rim of the World Scenic Byway and its hard not to smile. The views are amazing.
The high school is well named. Terry has decided that it would be ok for us to move up there if we needed to on the condition he can go to that school.
Into Big Bear. Meh, its very touristy, big, and for some reason the lake is not as spectacular as Arrowhead.
Anyway, the road really gets going after Big Bear.
The photos dont go close. On the way down, the best views, we just could not find a spot to pull over and take some photos, so you just got to trust me when I tell you the views and road are just amazing.
Corner after corner Terry and I would just burst out with ooo’s and ahhhhrrrr’s. There was a bit of traffic, so the bike could not get its head of steam up, which is just as well, as the view would have been missed.
On the road I set a new personal altitude record. 8460 feet. Thats 2.578 km’s!!!!!
I have no idea how, but I plan to go back on a new moon weekend and see what the stars are like from from up there. Im guessing they will be pretty good! There are a few camp grounds, so thats my best bet. Tent or RV. See how we go.
Once off the mountain, its a hot desert run home.Great ride. Glad that Terry came, and he is too.
Was not a ride ride like Monday, but it was a pretty day out. I am looking forward to taking Freddy back over the exact same route some Sunday (soon, before it gets cold and snowy, although that would be nice to see) soon.
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G-L-1-8-0-0 spells corner!
Sunday 31st of August. Freddy’s friend arrived from LA and after lunch together no matter what I offered I could not entice the kids on going for a ride with me….. So I left on my own.
Wow, oh wow. Did they ever miss out!!!!
As much as I miss riding in Australia, I am getting hooked on riding in California. Its an amazing state. You can see so much variety in so little time…… Once again this was a mountain and desert run in a lot of ways.
Heading off, I did the usual run up to Mt Palomar. On the way up the mountain there was a guy taking photos of the bikes. I did not stop, and I wish I had, because I would have liked to found out where to get my photo, but also I was thinking of doing the same thing, and it would have been good to see what his deal was.
Anyway, up and over the mount, nothing unusual there.
Picked up a little side track that my friend Bryce at work told me about. It was nice and technical, some good views.
I have found a web site, sunday morning rides. Its pretty neat, rides all over the world in it….. One was on the way, so I took it. Wow. I have no idea how some one found that road! Talk about back county!
It was switchback city and cliff edge, single lane motoring. Some of the craziest road I have ever ridden. Sure was nice to experience.
Back on the main highway then and kept heading south. Beautiful. It was just like you would imagine ‘wild America’ to look like. Tall trees, rocky out crops, mountain top meadows, the whole shebang.
The yanks know how to make and maintain a road (up to a point).
East for a little way, then turn north to go through Mt Laguna and back to Julian. This was the road. Wow, amazing views, no guard rail, howling winds, the views, did I mention the views? Sweeping corners and little traffic.
Put half a tank of gas in (that’s me practicing being American there, we all know my bike does not run on gas) at Julian. I was going to stop and buy a pie, but all the parked bikes made me nervous (sure, a lot of them were pretty bikes, but why oh why buy one, live within riding distance of all these amazing roads and then park it out the front of a pie shop for 1/2 a day???!!!!).
The road south of Julian is one of my favorites, it has wide open sweepers that tighten up alarmingly. I found lean limits once again on the bike. These are some what firmer than the pegs. When the bottom of the bike or the center stand hits, the bike aint going no further. So it lifts the tires and slides sideways a few feet. VERY alarming the first three times. After that, its the same old drill, stand her up, hit the brakes super hard and put her down again to finish the corner. Takes longer to read it than to do it.
Across the desert floor, same road as my first after work ride. Keep going straight till the Borrego Springs turn off. Nice tight twisty section to get you up and over the ridge. I just love the ease at which this bike will flip from right to left. Its a big bike, but it just floats around the corners and lines up for the next one. Again, beautiful condition of the road and no, and I mean zero traffic, made it a real hoot. The road is just cut into the mountain, towering cliffs of rock on either side, big chunks of it sticking out at the apex of the corners. Its imposible not to smile!
Borrego Springs. I will say more I hope of this small desert town. I want to go back, and just sit and watch. It totally caught my attention, I will try and get some more photos at some stage. Its far enough away that its hard to get to after work. See how we go.
The road out of the Springs is just as, if not more, interesting as the road in. Tight banked corners and some rock slide debris make it a treat on the 1800.
From there, its auto pilot home.What a great ride. It was hours of sheer bliss. I am really falling for this bike. To think I even considered a 1500!!!! The thing is amazing.
The country is amazing. It seems bigger than Australia, I know its not, I think it comes from the fact that you can see such a range in a few hours. You cant do that back home (least not the places I have lived).
I am going to pull apart the little video camera and mount it on the bike such that I can record bits of my trips. I am hoping that some video snippets will help share what I am experiencing over here. I know the camera is failing miserably.Super day, super ride. Wish I could can it.
Something a little different now. I have put all the Goldwing photos in the one Picasa web album. You can see each one starts with a map. So each ride is ‘map to map’. Give me your thoughts. If you would rather see each trip in its own album, I will consider it, but I thought this might be easer, you just check the one album and be up to date with the ‘Wing.
Now, something different again. Here is a link to the ride as a slide show, it goes from the map, just watch it till the next map, then move your mouse and hit the ‘X’ at the bottom to close it and go back to the album.
Dont worry about reading all the captions the first time, just watch the photos……
Sunday ride slide show link.