I finally took the time out to go pick up my motorcycle permit.  As of yesterday at 1:30pm I’m no longer just another passenger.  Although I love being a passenger, I’m ready to ride my own bike in a larger place than a parking lot, and I want to do it legally.

I headed straight to the dealership to check out the Kawasaki Ninja 250r as soon as I left the DMV, and let me tell you photos don’t do it justice.  Sitting on it, touching it, and just imagining myself riding down the road on it is what really sold me.

I had someone ask me why I want a 250 when I could get a 600.  The answer is simple.  I’m not looking to have the fastest bike out there.  I don’t need something that can push 190.  140mph is plenty fast enough for me, and I prefer riding safe and staying within my limits.  Right now my limits don’t take me very far, so I’m going to enjoy learning with a bike that is proportionate to my size.  I’m a small girl at 5′2, 120lbs, and I’m keeping it small.

My friend who is the finance manager at the dealership told me they’re expecting a black 250r to come in later this week, so I’ll probably be picking it up if my taxes are settled in time.  If not I’ll order one as soon as I have taxes taken care of.  I’m so ready for this!

For awhile now I’ve wanted to try out Windows Live Writer. I decided this might be a good time to do it since I’m changing all my blogs up so much. I decided to start by adding one blog to the program to see how I like it. If I like what I see I’ll setup the rest of my blogs there as well.

I’m going to start with this blog because it’s the one I’ll be devoting a good bit of my time to in the next few weeks. I’m changing how I manage my blogs and the time I spend on them, and I think Windows Life Writer might help me do that by placing all of my blogs in one each to reach location as far as logging in and posting goes.

I really like the fact that I can preview how my post is going to look as I write it without having to save it and open a new window for the Wordpress Preview. There are also a ton of plugins to help me insert various things that I think will help with the way I add photos, videos, and more.

We’ll see how things go, and if I like this I’ll stick with it.

I’ve been a little behind on hitting up my daily reads in my feed reader, so I missed a post Brain Bucket Magazine posted Friday that I find really interesting.  A 14 year old Colorado boy pleaded guilty to causing a crash in August with a motorcycle that is a felony.   Julio Garcia, the then 14 year old, turned his truck in front of motorcyclist Patricia Arden hitting her and possibly running over her with the truck.

Arden was flown to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction with serious injuries, but Garcia fled the scene.  After pleading guilty Garcia is now facing a felony for “leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury”.   All other charges the teenager faced were dismissed in the plea agreement.

Now, what the fuck was a 14 year old doing driving much less driving without any adult supervision.  Just like most other states, Colorado requires you to be 15 years old before you can attempt to get a driver’s permit, and even then their permit laws are stricter than a lot of other states.

This child had absolutely no reason to be on the road in the first place.  Who the hell let him in the vehicle in the first place.  Where were the parents?   Yes I think the boy should be charged with a felony for his actions.  You must reap what you sow, but I personally think the parents should face some sort of punishment for allowing their 14 year old son to drive in the first place.

This woman (and many others on the roads that day) could have suffered far worse than a few serious injuries.  She could have lost her life.

I seriously hope the family of this boy is held just as responsible for the accident as he is.  I fully believe the family should have to cover all medical bills and other fees that come out of this incident whether they are insured or not.

I don’t care where you live.  It should not be okay to let a 14 year old drive a vehicle under any circumstances, and if it does happen, and a wreck incurs the legal guardians should be held responsible.

For the last 27 years in Anderson, South Carolina motorcycles have lined the Clemson Boulevard for the Jack Hurley Anderson Toy Parade the weekend after Thanksgiving. I’ve seen this event many times, and I had hoped to be able to participate this year, but unfortunately we couldn’t. I’m hoping to be able to ride in this parade next year.

This year the weather was horrible, but quite a few bikes still found their way riding down main street in the rain to raise money and toy donations for the Brighter Christmas Fund. I was happy to read that even though this year’s parade didn’t contain as many bikes because of the weather, they were still able to raise $12,000 towards the cause. That’s $1,000 more than they raised last year. The toys are donated to the Department of Social Services in Anderson, and 1,100 children who wouldn’t have a Christmas will receive gifts this year.

Next time hubby starts going on and on about how bad he wants something like one of these car covers for Christmas I’m going to remind him of all the kids out there that don’t get a single gift. Instead of spending $150 on a car cover that he’ll never use, think of all those toys we could buy to make those children have a Merry Christmas.

Many thought it would happen years ago, but no matter when it finally came about it’s still a sad day. It has been confirmed that motorcycle stunting legend Evel Knievel died in his Clearwater condo at the age of 69. The word of his death comes just days after settling the lawsuit against Kanye West for using Knievel’s trademarked images in one of West’s popular videos.

Evel Knievel began his career in 1965 when he formed Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils, a group that toured and performed dangerous stunts involving rides through fire-lit walls, jumping over dangerous animals, and being towed behind dragsters down a track.

On September 8, 1974 Knievel tried to ride a motorcycle powered by rockets across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho but failed. His parachute deployed prematurely sending him and his motorcycle into the canyon walls, but Knievel walked away with only a few minor injuries. He lived his life performing many dangerous stunts like that one that left him injured many times including his Caesar’s Palace crash that broke over 80 bones in his body.

His son Robbie has followed in his footsteps completing dangerous stunts including a jump in 2000 over a locomotive, and a jump over a 200 foot wide section of the Grand Canyon.

(Image provided via Creative Commons License & Wikipedia)