Completely Random Things - Presidential Election 08 Edition

So today is the day that Americans decide whether Obama wins or McCain wins. Although much of the planet is already pulling for some “Barack and Roll” in the White House, it seems that there are some rather interesting opinions about the World Favourite in these elections. For example, my McFast and McFurious post has unearthed some interesting opinions about the candidates in the comments. I would have never thought in a million years that anyone would want Sarah Palin in the White House. Remember, no whining or bitching if you don’t cast your ballot.

Legal To Ride

So on a rainy and blustery Halloween, I did my final road test and passed with flying colours. The lady at the desk commented on how little was on my test sheet when I went up to sign off for my new Class 5/6 license. I did go into the test with a lot of confidence and it looks like that was reflected in my riding. Prior to my test, my instructor, Dave Clayton of 2Wheel2Ition Motorcycle School did say that I was by far the best rider in his final wave of riders for 2008 and that meant a lot. Since I knew that a three of his other students that were testing today were RCMP officers, I just couldn’t help but smile.

My learning to ride a motorcycle journey is over. All the restrictions from my motorcycle learners license have been removed and I’m now able to ride anytime I want, not just before dusk. Where this license will take me in two wheel transport, I’m not sure, but I did pick up a bigger scooter recently and have been enjoying the scooter lifestyle. The weather has been getting colder and I’ll be sure to give you guys a quick post on how I’m staying toasty warm and dry on the roads.

If you’re looking for someone that is willing to take the necessary amount of time to teach you to ride with confidence, I recommend Dave Clayton. He’s got a waiting list forming for next season so make sure you head to his website and get on that list. He’ll be firing up the bikes again in April 2009.

Kelly Raises $2600 for Her Olympic Weightlifting Coach!

This past weekend, Kelly held an Olympic Weightlifting Clinic at the CrossFit Vancouver Gym. She had modest hopes of being able to at least raise a grand or two for her coach to be able to bring his family over from Nigeria. With the help of the CrossFit community, she was able to raise over $2600 to help reunite her coach with his family, who he hasn’t seen in over five years. Well done!

Her next clinic will be on November 22nd if you want to come learn how to chuck huge weights over your head without injury. This session is capped at 10 people so make sure you sign up early.

Kam Do Celebrates Thirteen Years of Cheap Food

Kam Do Restaurant is one of Richmonds best kept secrets for food that is so cheap that it gives the Union Gospel Mission a run for its money. Yesterday, I took a detour to go visit John Chow and family and was feeling rather peckish so we decided to head there for lunch.

Now, John knows better than to bet me that I can’t finish a meal. Even iPhone Gary knows better, especially after witnessing my performance in tackling the Great Feenie Burger. The Dot Com Crew knows that betting against me in a food eating contest is like betting against the grass being green. I thought I put those silly throughts to rest when I destroyed two Wally Burgers and a TOPS Burger in the same day, but John had to tempt fate. He said I couldn’t do it.

To be honest, after this mountain of food arrived along with an unpictured plate of fries, which I also finished, I actually doubted myself. But as I built momentum, it was clear that I would be PWN’ing the largest item on the Kam Do menu. Even the smallest item is bigger than most people can handle. Since it was their 13th Anniversary, they were even doing free refills so I made sure I got in a free refill of my Chilled Yin Yeung. Are there no meals that can defeat me? We call this my “Obama Victory Lunch”.

After killing this one, I took the 25% of my meal that they were giving back as a bakery credit, and bought two almond cookies and two egg tarts…for later. Kam Do is also giving away $1000 CAD in a draw later this month. I just wish they let me put in my own ballot so I could use my patented can’t lose method.

The Motorcycle and Scooter Dilemma

Since testing and passing for my full learners motorcycle license, I’ve been presented with a bit of a problem. I’m torn between whether I should get a new motorcycle or buy a bigger scooter. Here’s how it played out based on my criteria…

Parking - One of the things that is awesome about a scooter is that I can pretty much put it wherever I want. It’s like RockStar parking wherever I go. The change to a motorcycle will not only get me noticed, but the parking cops and the mall security people start to notice too. Right now, with Happy Scooter, I can stick it beside a bike rack, go away for hours. I know I couldn’t do that with a motorcycle. Point for new scooter.

Storage - Happy Scooter has crazy amounts of storage. You can hold two bags of groceries in the cavernous trunk. Motorcycles have no trunks and if you need additional storage, you need to add hard cases and top cases, making the vehicle fatter, heavier, and even more difficult to maneuver in super tight spots. All scooters have varying degrees of underseat storage and some scooters have hooks on the front for your groceries. Since I often have stuff to pick up at the post office, or errands to do, the added bulk and cost of adding storage cases put the motorcycle in the dog house. Point for new scooter.

Performance - Although most motorcycles are much more powerful than scooters, their size and weight make them hard to maneuver in tight traffic. Motorcycles also have additional controls for the clutch and a foot brake. A scooter is comparatively simple, only requiring you to twist the throttle and the CVT transmission takes care of the rest. Front and rear brakes are both on the bars, making them easy to reach in a panic. This puts less distractions in front of you when jockeying for position in the city traffic. Outside the city however, the added weight and power of a motorcycle gives way to highway stability and headroom for passing slow moving cars and staying out of the way of large trucks. Since I’ll be mainly traversing urban highways and battling traffic in the city, the scooter makes more sense in my case. Draw: A scooter is better in the city but the motorcycle is better outside the city.

Gas Mileage - A motorcycle, displacement for displacement, gets lower gas mileage than any scooter. The CVT transmission always shifts at the optimum RPM and as a result, the engine is more efficent. We know that blipping the throttle, taking off in a lower gear and what not is a lot of fun, but it doesn’t make for the best gas mileage. Since one of my major reasons for getting into two wheeled transport in the first place was to stick it to the oil companies, it’s clear that scooter wins. Point for scooter.

Cool Factor - Of course, scooters are dorky as hell in North America. However, in the rest of the world, they are the mode of transportation of choice for the masses. When I selected my Yamaha C3 scooter, I knew that it wasn’t the looker. Some thought it was ugly, and no one called it pretty. However, it was definitely functional. Since I’m all about utility these days, the scooter works for me, but cool factor definitely belongs to a bad ass cruiser anyday of the week. Point for Motorcycle.

At the end of the day though, I turned to two wheeled transport for the practical aspects. I save nearly enough money in gas each month to purchase an Xbox 360 (Arcade) and I get to park wherever the hell I want. Most of the time I don’t even have to pay even though everyone else does. Although I can’t rule out getting a motorcycle in the future, for now, scooter FTW.