Arlette

Oh my god non-tech job interviews are so non-traumatizing. One round? A company having a coherent approach to training? One round? No gotcha questions? ONE ROUND?? My god what a beautiful world

Why is it that motorcycle footpegs are mounted at so many different heights from bike to bike but in a tipover they all hit the exact same spot on your shin

Arlette reposted

Mark Robertson

@markrobbie.bsky.social

This Phoebe was doing drills. He's gonna be a menace in the backfield 🪶

Arlette reposted

old roadside pics

@roadside.xor.blue

rock lodge motel sign, merrill avenue, glendive, montana, 1987

Arlette reposted

derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

please do not post photos of barbour jackets in early october if you're not also voting for policies to address global warming

I’m taking a frame-straightening class and it’s very cool but it’s really reminding me that oh yeah, I only like working on bikes, cars are big and dirty and crawling around under them sucks.

My full-length coveralls that feel like mad overkill when I work on motorcycles are finally seeing enough use and grime that I don’t feel like a poseur in them, so there’s that. But still: yuck.

Definitely swamped the nurse practitioner with mosasaur facts during today’s Pap smear appointment.

Mosasaur fact: the Platecarpus fossil specimen LACM 128319 is so well preserved that it includes imprints of soft tissue like bronchial tubes, scales and possible traces of the animal’s retina. You only need to go to Los Angeles to stare at an ANCIENT SEA MONSTER EYEBALL THAT CAN STARE BACK AT YOU.

It also shows discolorations that might’ve been left by its heart.

My latest hyperfixation is mosasaurs so you know what that means: MOSASAUR FACTS FOR EVERYONE IN MY PRESENCE

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People talk like ADHD hyperfixation is whimsical fun, but imagine a seven-year-old going full dinosaur information fugue on you. Now imagine that seven-year-old lives inside your own skull for two months, while knowing another seven-year-old obsessed with an unrelated topic lurks in the wings.

And now I’m mad at a whole other local university department for having 150 years of stuff I wanna look at that never goes on display.

My latest hyperfixation is mosasaurs so you know what that means: MOSASAUR FACTS FOR EVERYONE IN MY PRESENCE

AND BONUS ICHTHYOSAUR FACTS ONCE I GET THEM CURIOUS AND INTERESTED ABOUT ANCIENT MARINE REPTILES

6 Sept

Today I learned that mosasaurs got the bends.

23 Aug

Bestest boy alert

19 Aug

Procrastinated on doctor visits for so long that when I finally dragged my ass in today, my doc jumped at the chance to order a raft of overdue and upcoming labs and bloodwork for me to take care of today. She must feel like she caught a shiny Pokémon.

18 Aug

After replacing the entire wiring harness twice and removing fully half of the bike to get to the worn-out clutch, I am now very comfortable with rummaging around in this bike’s guts.

18 Aug

I’d prefer not to for awhile, though.

28 July

Today I was on a motorcycle creeping up the shoulder of my least favorite freeway merge (three lanes turn into one poorly paved entry lane that immediately goes exit-only) when a pickup moved over for me and the driver poked his fingers out the window to give me a little biker wave. ❤️

26 July

Discovered the “doesn’t need much work” BMW GSA needs a clutch replacement and I am going to do it because after one brief road trip on it I already love the big cow.

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Nathan Edwards

@grackle.space

10 July

none pizza with left all

Cates Holderness@cates.bsky.social

fuck you

4 July

Buddy’s feeling sassy

3 July

“What if in addition to the six ABS brake fluid circuits that have to be bled in order, we also added two internal brake fluid reservoirs inside the ABS housing that need to be bled and filled separately? That’s a sane thing people will like, right?” - BMW, probably

25 June

What a good boy

Can’t believe I have the kind of friend who’ll just give me a doesn’t-need-much-work project bike, and a whole other kind of friend who’ll load this cow into a truck for me.

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(The friend who gave me the bike was cracking up because I kept calling this 500-pound adventure bike “soooooo cute, such an adorable little guy,” but without its plastics it looks as hilariously puny as the long-haired Chihuahuas I grew up with when they got a bath)

I guess neither pint-sized bat-eared yard alarms nor legendary German engineering is as scary when they’re pinned down and squealing while getting scrubbed hard behind the ears

Can’t believe I have the kind of friend who’ll just give me a doesn’t-need-much-work project bike, and a whole other kind of friend who’ll load this cow into a truck for me.

The tissue-paper thin “doesn’t need much work” line was a fiction (there’s always more work, especially when you accidentally make more work for yourself) but dammit this little beast is coming along.

I love Clymer automotive manuals for their friendly practicality (So many photos! Putting key warnings *before* step-by-step instructions! The early-‘80s Honda XL/XR manual’s illustrations are superb!) but I love that Haynes can’t resist sliding a bit of dry English humor in where they can.

I’m reading the R1200 air cooled twins manual and instead of the American dick-sucking you’d expect about the fancy suspension, it notes that the paralever “ensures the rear axle moves in a (mostly) straight line.” DEVASTATING.

Kids these days (everybody, really) hypes YouTube for motorcycle repair but Clymer manuals were based on disassembling, assessing, documenting and reassembling an entire vehicle with normal tools, and that flavor of YouTube mechanic is hard to find.

Can’t believe I have the kind of friend who’ll just give me a doesn’t-need-much-work project bike, and a whole other kind of friend who’ll load this cow into a truck for me.

(I helped load the bike of course, but shoving a 500-pound mildew-covered bike with no brakes or battery into a lifted truck is quite a favor.)

22 May

Still thinking about lane splitting Bay Bridge rush hour traffic on my friend’s 250cc dual sport. Scalpel-thin flickable bike that squirms between cars, no knocking car mirrors since they’re a foot below the bars, squealing the bratty thumper engine at cars when they do something dumb. Magical.

20 May

I love when the cat figures out how to get out from under a blanket and comes out looking like Mother Theresa.

Took a first crack at making the desi omelets I miss from visiting Pakistan, and I guess they came out pretty much right because I kinda started sniffling.

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It’s not quite the same as watching the light fall across the Passu Cones as you mill around the garden with an omelet in one and a mug of chai-coffee in the other, but it’s still pretty good.

Dang, wandering away from the breakfast table with my chai coffee was great.

Took a first crack at making the desi omelets I miss from visiting Pakistan, and I guess they came out pretty much right because I kinda started sniffling.

The lightly scorched tortillas I wrapped them in crunched correctly, even if they lacked the earthiness and tooth of still-hot roti. But between that hit of spice and herbs and a mug of the half-instant-coffee, half-chai like I’d mix at hotel breakfast tables, I’m really happy with it.

4 May

Stuck away from home watching network TV but once again delighted to remember that “Wanted: Dead or Alive” combines two of my favorites: westerns and Steve McQueen.

4 May

Against the earnest acting style of TV westerns McQueen practically vibrates off the screen. Always squirming, chewing with his mouth open, darting his eyes. And oh boy can he ride a horse. This is the best.

2 May

Spent ten minutes dipping my motorcycle into tight turns and getting low enough to make my friend on the back of the bike scream with delight today, that was pretty great

2 May

Also pretty great today: holding the cat’s little paw in my hand and feeling it flex in tiny half-biscuits as I told him he’s the best boy