Two Geeks on a Cupcake

The day has been set.

We will be married on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 in our backyard.
4PM-4:30PM- Champagne Welcome
4:30PM- ???- Ceremony & Reception

Still finding our way!

We still have not found our voice here on the blog, bare with us as we explore different topics.

Update: In response to Kevin's last post about GMAT, what he didn't tell you is that he scored a perfect score on the written portion. True he didn't score where he wanted on the other portions. That's okay, some poeple are just not test takers. But the important thing is that Texas State University now has a new MBA student. Congratulations, Kevin!

We posted a brief outline of our trip to the East Coast on Facebook, but will go into more detail of all the trip in the next post.

Everyone have a great and safe 4th of July.

F You GMAT

That is all....

Hello...My name is Kevin and I have a Motorcycle Problem

To many of our friends there is no question, I’ve got a motorcycle problem. I’ve been told that if you have more bikes than you can put your ass on at one time you’re “Scooter Trash”. Well, I guess that’s me.

I am a living of embodiment of the statement…”You know you have a problem when…”

-you have more bikes than you can put your ass on at a time.

-you would rather look at “Motorcycle Porn” than the free porn on the internet. [Thanks “S”, however, it mostly only applies to guys.:-(]

-you have a subscription to more than one bike magazine and you cross reference the ride reports between them.

-you feel that magazines purposely put the scantily clad model right smack in front of something you want to see on the feature bike.

-you shop for three plus weeks to save $10.00 on a new shiny farkle for the bike.

-You think: If I “Brown Bag it” to work for the next 3 months or so, I can get those EBC brake pads, Stainless Steel Brake Lines, Racing Levers, and ultra-light rotors. (You know, the items you’ve been drooling over and shopping for on the internet for the last 3 weeks.)

So far I have 3 bikes in the stable a defunct 82 Harley Roadster in pieces, a Suzuki C50, and now a CBR600f3.

In January I traded my Ninja 500r for the more substantial CBR600f3. I’ve wanted to move up to something with a few hundred more cc’s and a little more snap for awhile. The CBR meets those needs and more.

Old Bike:

New Bike: (Crappy Dealer Photo)

She’s liveried in the ’98 Black, Tan, and Dark Crimson paint scheme. As I looked about the web, for information on the new steed, I found that this paint scheme is often referred to as the Desert Storm CBR. She’s in great shape minus a few scratches on the decals and a crack on the right rear fairing. You may rest assured that replacement decals and the right rear fairing are on order. :-D

High Tech Sex

Tonight on the History channel, Kevin and I watched "High Tech Sex". Now does that say geek or what?

Well, interesting enough, we learned that those geckos on a stick are a Chinese aphrodisiac, well as good for your kidneys. Who knew! (See 2/27/09 posting)

We also learned that there is a scientist who is "successfully growing penises and vaginas (Where? on your forehead?-Kevin) for small animals." We are now awaiting the section on "Condoms and the Male Pill". Riveting Friday night TV for the two geeks.

You Know You're a Geek When....

Stella recently took her kids on a field trip to NASA (I was envious). I love NASA and some of my best childhood memories were of field trips with my Civil Air Patrol Troop to Johnson Space Center!

The following is a cell phone text exchange that took place between the two of us Wednesday, 11, November 2009...The names have not been changed to protect the innocent. :-D

I received an image similar to this pic:













Stella: Do you remember this?
Kevin: Ah yes, the Atlas Rocket I knew it well. Used to be outside though.

[Went to a meeting at work, and realized on the way back that I had committed an error in fact]

Kevin: Or is that the Saturn V?
Stella: Yes, I didn't want to correct you. [So Sweet]
Kevin: Atlas was for Mecury, Saturn was for Apollo Lunar Missions:-) I'm geeking hard!
Stella: Yes UR!
Kevin: I was walking back 2 my desk when I realized my error. I didn't even google it:-)
Stella: Geek
[end transcript.]

Yes, yes I am. :-}

The Name Change

You may have noticed the name change...Stella's sister made the statement, after some oddball geekiness between the two of us, that we should just call it "Two Geeks on a Bike".

Well it all boils down to the essence of Kevin and Stella...after all, we are just "Two Geeks on a Bike."

Aye...Aye! Captain

Congratulations! to our friend Chris Larsen for passing his Master's 100 Ton Near Coastal US Coast Guard test! This means that Chris is a bonafide Sea Captain and can assume the helm of a vessel with up to 320 souls!

Again, Congratulations from Kevin and Stella!

A New Submission

We may have to change the title of the blog to "Things on Sticks". Here is the lastest suggestion for a posting sent from an iPhone no less!

These lovely impaled geckos were found in Vancouver, Canada by blog reader Jenny in San Diego! Thanks so much for the add!

Meet My Nemesis…

…the Genie DirectLift Screw Drive Garage Door Opener.

Touted as quiet, it is. An easy project? Absolutely not! Now I’m not saying I’m DIY Channel material, however, I’ve put up several chain drive garage door openers and never had the problems I had with the Genie.

In all fairness some of them were my own problems with the structure of our house. Our Garage has low ceilings and I couldn’t mount it in any of the suggested ways provided by Genie in the instructions. I had to rig up a pseudo-bracket/flush mount that resulted in some rather colorful language and head scratching. (As well as a crime scene style smear of my blood on the ceiling when I busted my knuckles!)

When I opened the box all of the hardware was neatly arranged in different colored bags corresponding with the instructions. Per the warning on the box I also purchased the extension kit for 8ft doors. Cool, good job Genie! So I attacked the project with zeal and enthusiasm knowing that soon a soothing whirring sound would be heard and my garage door would rise like a stage girl in a Houdini show. WRONG!

All went well as I assembled the first two rails to the head unit. Good to go! Time to install the extension kit; wait a minute, there are no bolts in this box. No extra hardware in the first bag. HMMMMMM! Off to Home Depot to buy a handful of matching bolts. Continue assembling, when I get to the point of mounting the bracket to the door. The self drilling wonder bolts provided in the kit fail to penetrate the thinnest of sheet metal even with a pilot hole. Off to Home Depot! Is it getting warmer in here?

Note to self…Gotta…check that blood pressure at some point.

Install continues, more missing bolts (different in size than the bolts previously purchased)… %$@$*&%^)((&__&_)&*)*Genie +back to Home Depot…Forget the Blood Pressure I know what it is now!

“S” “Leave it and you can finish tomorrow after some rest!”

So the next day I get it all installed hit the button and Clunk!!!! DAMN YOU GENIE!!! More cursing and head scratching! I knew it was binding so I loosened all of the rail bolts and leveraged it up with the palm of my left hand while holding a wrench and tightening the other side with a Ratchet. There I was perched on the ladder both hands in the air, straddling the ladder, looking very much like some demented Balinese Temple Dancer in blue jeans (Wishing I had eight arms like a Hindu Deity at this point)! I scrambled back down the ladder hit the button and WHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!!! Success!

Next day, I cleaned out the garage so “S” could park on her side of the garage and when I went to put the cover over the lights on the Head Unit.

No screws!

*&%*^#%&*%())^&+(&(*_(*+++_(= YOU GENIE!

Keep Austin Weird

I don't know about you guys, but K and I are fans of horror movies and even better are spoof horror movies. We think Shaun and Ed should have been traveling MLK and Lamar last week.

Keeping it on Topic

This is a submission from Kurt. Found outside of Austin on Hwy 71 I believe. Thanks Kurt! Sorry it took so long to post.

We're In!

The move into the new house began on Friday 1/17/09. I started promptly at 9:00 am with a furniture dolly and a lot of "Good ole fashioned Try!" I was able to complete three loads of the heavy stuff from the condo by 1:30pm. If you've been to S's condo you will know that she has two large trunks that when filled with stuff to move should be at least a 2 man lift.

I was able to scoot one end up on the dolly, then the other end, and wheel it out to the truck...thank god for first floor living! It went something like this scoot out the door... run around lower one end down the step (damn, this is heavy)...run around lower the back end...scoot...up the other ledge (gett'n heavier)...scoot down the curb. Then push full steam ahead running the dolly up on to my motorcycle ramp and slid it up into the bed (Sweet Mother of God! I think I popped something!).

Then I went to the apartment and started loading the truck. Note to self, sprinting up a flight of stairs with a duffle bag on my back and a duffle on my chest is neither easier nor as good an idea than it was when I was 19 years old. Ow, what just crunched? Did I just lose an inch in height? I think I pulled something. Luckily Debbie and Billy came with a very large trailer and helped us clear out the rest of the condo.

Air mattresses suck! We should've slept on the floor. My air mattress partially deflated during the night so S and I would slide to the edges and eventually roll back into each other. Thunk! Crap! Try to find another position...roll to the center...thunk! A scenario that was repeated throughout the night.

I awoke promptly at 6:00am to begin moving again. Kurt and Matt came along to help and we moved all of the heavy stuff out of my apartment. My apartment has a multi-level garage to navigate not good for the back or using a trailer. So we used the fire lane that runs behind the complex instead. The worst design ever! We would load up the dollies and roll the 1/2 block down the fire lane and out to the street to the locked, waist high, fire gate. Then we would have to lift the item over the gate and set it back down on the dolly on the other side. "We're having fun now!"

We are in the house and now I can't find a damn thing! But we're very happy and we now have a place to call home!

Thanks to Matt, Kurt, Debbie and Billy, Jerry and Tanise, Harley, and Punkin' for all of their patience, assistance, and friendship during this move!

Welcome 2009

I believe it was Lao Tzu, the Chinese philosopher that said..."A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." If that statement is true, we have been sprinting. Now I'm not blaming Lao for being unable to predict global air travel, the Internet, telecommuting, craigslist, the economic crisis or any other distraction that has been hurled at us, however, 2008 seemed like such a whirlwind, especially in the later months of the year.

We have so much to be thankful for and the many who have been there for us. Our families, Kim and Chris, Robin, Jenny and Dusty, Kurt, Robert and Veronica, Matt and Rachel, John and Carol, Sharon, Cindy and Jeff, "The" Lisa Chapin, and our new riding buddies Candy and Koob.

We've been all over the country Maui, Anaheim, San Diego, Nashville, San Francisco (big thanks to our friends Kim and Chris, we owe you more than you will ever know), and then the house search. We even found some time to hop on the bike in search of BBQ.

So this is our First Step of the year...or as Neil Armstrong put it "Giant Leap!" On 1/17/09 "S" and I move into our new home. Our new base of operations. (Please excuse the real estate agent's photo with the tree in the middle of the frame, I didn't take it :-D)

Happy New Year! It only gets better from here.