To get caught up: My flights from New Zealand back to The States all went perfectly and on-time. I got back home and had to stay with a friend for a few days since my new apartment was not yet ready. The night of my return, we went down to my storage unit to get the mighty Rocket III out of hibernation. Unfortunately, my after-hours gate code did not open the gate. Damn. Upon my return the next morning, they had already corrected their mistake which kept me from riding the day of my return. So, with a jumper cable assist and a fresh gallon of 89 octane, the beast fired-up upon the first press of the starter button. Slowly, I rode to the nearest gas station to fill up the tank and the tires. I chose to ride an easy route since I hadn't even driven a car in more than a year. The weather was beyond perfect. The pictures below are some of the sights along the way and only 20 minutes from home...
On my second night, my friend Jon took me to see a friend of his sing with her band. The gig was at a club in Chandler that I had never heard of and I lived in Chandler a few years ago. How great it was to see some live music that I didn't have to set up or tear down! Band #1 was an "original" act with a female lead singer. Never have I seen a band incorporate more cliches in one set! It was a lot of fun to watch. Band #2 was Jon's friend's band. This was sort of an electronica vibe, but with a healthy serving of The Sundays. They were a well rehearsed band that took song writing seriously. It didn't really have a groove, but they were very good. Band #3 was a real surprise to me. They were a 6-piece cover band playing modern rock tunes. These guys were extremely good. Both singers were hitting notes well higher than I can, and the guitar player was quite competent. I really enjoyed the energy of the band and the crowd.
Since I do not yet own 4-wheeled transport, I've been using my motorcycle as a moving van. It's surprising how much you can strap onto a bike. I didn't have a great deal to move, but some of the pieces were pretty important (computer, monitor, clothing, etc). I did borrow a Jeep Grand Cherokee and bought a bed and futon. My place is now furnished.
I've been spending several hours a day trying to get my desktop PC running. It makes no sense that by just sitting unpowered it would loose functionality, but that is what happened. It ran perfectly before I left. Now, the DVI and DVD don't work. And after several re-boots, the RAID quit too. So now, I am transferring all the imporatant files over to a new 1TB drive and will kill the OS and install MS Win Vista Premium and hope for the best. All the problems seem OS-related and not hardware.
I got the new Google cell phone, and haven't had anytime to read the manual. But, after just a few days, I am finding it to be quite handy.
I leave for the Baja 1000 day after tomorrow...stay tuned for some great pix.
