I have a very difficult time setting aside time to collect my thoughts and compose blog posts - especially for just day-to-day type stuff. With Twitter, I can make several small (tiny) posts throughout the day with negligible impact to my schedule. It’s kind of like micro-blogging or incremental blogging. I’m sure there’s a name or buzzword to describe it, but I’m not feeling google’y. Please drop your knowledge like it’s hot if you’ve got the right vernacular.

I’m giving it a shot. If it works out, I’ll keep the blog around for longer stories about my travels, life, etc.

While it was, as always, good to see family, friends, and the old stomping grounds (I don’t know that I ever really did much stomping, however) the trip on the whole was a little disjointed.

We bought a new Harley-Davidson a couple weeks before the trip with the intention of bringing it to Michigan with us to go on a ride with friends. I borrowed a trailer from a friend at work (thanks, John!) to tow it to Michigan, as the rider and the bike were not prepared for a 900 mile trip. Nor did Allison want to be stuck for fourteen hours in the truck with four kids and a Chihuahua without adult interaction.

The plan: load the bike, cruise to Michigan, rejoice much. The reality: we had issues with both loading and the cruising, which led to less rejoicing.

After running to my new home away from home for some “soft-straps”, I did my best (worst) to get the bike safe and sound on the trailer. I had issues with several of the straps and was working by the light of my motion-activated garage flood light. Light, work, work, dark, flail-about, light, work, work, dark, flail-about (repeat). Did I mention I waited until the last minute to do this? Around 12:30 AM I went to bed, satisfied that the bike was now secure. Of course I didn’t sleep because I was thinking how easy it would be for someone to make off with trailer and bike. But anyway…

The next morning we finished loading the truck and hit the road. All was well with the bike, for the first five miles anyway. We stopped at Starbucks for travel fuel when we noticed the handlebars of the bike were turned and one of the straps had loosened. After monkeying with it for a half-hour or more in the Starbucks parking lot, I decided to call in reinforcements. We ended up pulling the bike off the trailer to make the trip to Chance’s house, after a quick husband-wife powwow about leaving the bike behind.

Of course, traffic would be bad. Why wouldn’t it be? Here we were driving the opposite direction of our destination and it was jammed. An hour later, we arrived at Chance’s. He broke out a couple quality ratchet straps, altered the tie-down strategy, and voila, we were good to go. Of course, at this point it was noon. We talked about just going home and getting a fresh start the next morning. “Noooooo, we can still do it. Let’s press on! The mitten-shaped state beckons!”

What followed our decision made us question our decision, time and time again. There was the metro-D.C. traffic and delays. There was the road construction in Pennsylvania (the PA turnpike has spent more time “under construction” than my website) and delays. There were problems at the toll booth with, first, the toll booth itself and second, our EZ Pass. Let’s not forget the violent storm that caused people to pull over on the Ohio Turnpike and run for cover. Oh, and then there was the flat tire and the ensuing lengthy stay at a service plaza.

We went through the ringer. We were stressed out. It was around 11:00 PM and we had about six more hours to go. So, I fired up the trusty iPhone and found a Fairfield Inn & Suites (Marriot) in Sandusky and… At last! Something was going our way this trip! They had a suite that would comfortably sleep six. There was much rejoicing. We got to the hotel about 11:30 PM, I went up to the counter to check in when I saw it. Behind the counter on the wall there was a sign that read: No pets allowed. Crushing blow!

Remember, we had our dumb little dog. Dumb little dog wouldn’t survive a night alone in the truck. In spite of the crummy day, my moral compass still flared up. Couldn’t that thing shut off every now and again? We could sneak the dog in. He’s only four pounds. Throw him in my wife’s purse, problem solved… No that’s not right. Plus, what if he starts yiping as we walk through the lobby. Dang it.

So, after deflecting my counter-pitch on their pet policy and the size of our dumb little dog, the friendly guy at the front-desk graciously referred us to the only accommodations in the area that allowed pets. Super 8. Super? Really? I can think of some more suitable adjectives.

We ended up getting two adjoining rooms and hey, good news - it was about $75 more for these two super rooms than the nice suite at the Fairfield. Sweet.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Maryland drivers have got to be among the worst. I think I might have said ‘they have got to be the devil incarnate once they get behind the wheel.’

Over the past four years I’ve had the privilege of doing an extensive amount of driving in the northern Virginia and metro-D.C. area. In that time, I’ve seen an awful lot of really bad driving. I mean really bad driving. And statistically speaking, it seems that the overwhelming majority of these purveyors of interstate provocation were driving vehicles adorned with Maryland plates.

The usual caveats apply, of course. I’ve seen plenty of good Maryland drivers. I’ve seen plenty of very crummy Virginia drivers. In fact, I’m friends with their king. There are good and bad drivers everywhere. And in the face of miles of brake lights and trying to make it to work on time, or home for the kid’s game, I understand that drivers can get a little ridiculous sometimes.

In fact, had you witnessed my mad-dash south when Joshua fell off the slide at the park and was taken to the emergency room, you would’ve thought that my Nissan with Virginia plates was really a BMW with Maryland plates. Which is, of course, the most common profile of shoddy driving. More specifically, it’s the black late 90’s to early 00’s BMW 3 series with Maryland plates. I’m sure they can justify driving however they like because, after all, they never approved my application for using their roads. Or your application for that matter.

I must admit, the BMW 3 series phenomenon transcends the Maryland plate. Generally this crowd drives their aging entry-level sports sedans with the same reckless abandon of a rock star tanked-up on qualudes - seconds before he wraps his new Bugatti around a tree.

So, sir, please read the following aloud:

I, (name), do not actually own the road. I am not a rock star. I am a (profession). My car, while sporty and German, does not entitle me to disregard the thousands of other drivers I’m “sharing” (make the air quotes please) the road with daily. My driving reflects poorly on the people of my state and may cause politicians and/or everyone else, to make certain assumptions about the driving ability of the people of my state. I am an ambassador of the automobile, a diplomat of driving. I can make a positive change.

Congratulations, you are on the road to recovery.

All of that said, I’ve been thinking about selling the VW and getting a used BMW 3. Black of course.

Today was the day that I upgraded from WordPress 2.2 to Wordpress 2.5.1. It’s been on the to-do list for a few weeks now, but today was just the day to get it done. It was a snap with the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plug-in. It’s not that the process is difficult or time-consuming, I just figured in the spirit of the lazy Saturday I’d give it a try.

It worked very well. Before the install I had to temporarily loosen up file permissions and after the install I had to manually activate my plug-ins, but otherwise it was great. A few clicks through a Web-based wizard and JSB was upgraded! Of course, being the paranoid type I manually made backups of my document root and database, but even still I think it saved some time.

I also took the opportunity to switch up my theme. My previous theme, a lightly modified 3-column K2, lasted for quite a while (a decade in blog years). But alas, it started to bug me. So after downloading a dozen or so themes, I came across the current theme - Hemingway by Kyle Neath. I like it a lot, Kyle did a nice job. I’ll be sending him a thank you email and will contribute a few Mountain Dews to his development effort. The theme is very well done.

You might be thinking: “Jay, if you’re a Web guy, why not roll your own theme?” Good question. The fact is, I have. I have invested dozens (likely hundreds) of hours working on my personal website over the past several years. The last version, and now this version, of my site I’ve used other’s templates as the foundation for my site design to save on time. I’ve got other web projects that I’m working on (for myself and others) and my schedule doesn’t afford me the opportunity to endlessly fret over my blog’s design. Which, if you know me, you know that is exactly what I do!

I’m sure I’ll make a few updates and changes as time permits, and in fact I’ve made a couple minor ones already, but for now this will do just fine.

Until next Saturday…