For the first time since June 2008, I don’t own a motorcycle. Yesterday I sold my 2007 Honda 919, and strangely enough, the guy I sold it to lives in Fairwood, which is the neighborhood I grew up in. It seems fitting that my bike would end up in the area where I grew up. I made the decision to sell my bike several months ago, but decided not to sell it until now because I figured the chances of selling it in the middle of winter in Seattle would be slim to none. I received a fair amount of interest in the bike, but as it goes when selling anything on Craigslist, you have to deal with lots of flakes before you find a legitimate buyer.
It feels weird not to have a motorcycle, mainly because of all the memories Jessica and I have created going on rides over the years. Whether it was riding my first bike (a 1982 Yamaha Seca 650) through the mountains and into Eastern Washington, or the long rides we took on my 2008 Yamaha FJR 1300 to Hurricane Ridge, Seattle to Reno in a single day, Reno to Las Vegas, Vegas to Los Angeles, L.A. to San Francisco on Highway 1, or when we rode it from Seattle to San Diego in preparation of moving there shortly after getting married in 2010. Even after I traded in my FJR for the Honda 919 we had fun riding around San Diego and La Jolla taking in all the amazing scenery. So many great times were had going on rides, but there was one thing we had in common throughout all of them – it was just the two of us.
Once we had Ava it seemed pretty obvious that going on motorcycle rides was going to be a thing of the past, and that feeling only became more and more of a reality as our family continued to grow. It quickly got to a point where the only time I would ride the bike was when I was commuting to and from work. It’s not like I’m going to ditch my family on the weekend to go for a motorcycle ride, so for now getting rid of it was the right thing to do. I was a bit sad to see it go, but I fully plan on owning another bike somewhere down the line when the kids are pretty much grown up. By then we’ll probably be that old couple you see touring in style on a decked out Gold Wing. Something to look forward to I guess.
The good news is that I was one of the fortunate ones who never got in an accident and never got hurt on their bike. I never even used to worry about that kind of thing, but over the past year I couldn’t help but think about the danger I was placing myself in. I’ve got a lot more to lose now than ever before, and as I’ve said many times since having my first child, becoming a parent makes you more aware of your own mortality than ever before. I couldn’t stand the thought of getting injured (or worse) and putting Jessica and the kids through an unnecessary hardship. It just wasn’t worth it.
In other family news, everyone is doing great. The kids have all gotten through their colds and runny noses, so that’s a relief. I haven’t been able to go running all week due to a bad shin splint in my left leg. I’m also having pain in both of my knees, so I can’t help but wonder if this is the right form of exercise for me. I already made the decision that I’m not interested in running road races or anything like that. My only goal is to get consistent exercise, and I’m worried that the constant impact on my joints might be doing more harm than good. I’m starting to explore some other options for exercise, and since Microsoft gives me an annual fitness reimbursement allowance, I think I’m going to get a rowing machine. I like the idea of getting more of a full-body workout that includes lots of cardio with little to no stress on my joints. I couldn’t believe it when I found out about the fitness reimbursement allowance Microsoft gives us, mostly because Amazon would never do something like that, but I’m very appreciative of it and can’t wait to start using it. Microsoft’s commitment to the health of their employees is just one of the many nice benefits that come with working there.
Speaking of work, I just completed my third week and everything is going great. We’re getting ready to launch a new service this week called Azure App Service, and I built all of the web pages describing each part of the service. I’ll put out a link to the pages I built once the service goes live this week. There’s still a lot for me to learn, and it will continue to be that way for months, but I’m really enjoying it and am happy that I made the move.
Last week was also interesting because I started taking the Microsoft Connector bus to work everyday. They have a pickup about 5 minutes from our house, meaning I’m putting practically no miles on my car and get to spend an hour each way reading my book. I quickly finished my Stevie Ray Vaughan biography and started a new book called ‘Strange Beautiful Music’ by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Looks like I’m going to start cranking through the books, so its good that I have quite a few queued up to read. The only downside to taking the bus is that I’m gone for a full 12 hours each day. Because of this I’m thinking that I will start driving my car on Wednesdays. This will allow me to go into the office a bit earlier, and then leave earlier. I like the idea of splitting up the week and getting more time with my family on Wednesday nights.
There isn’t too much else to catch up on around here. This weekend has been pretty relaxing. Yesterday I took Ava to her third soccer class, which she enjoyed very much, then we attended a birthday party at an indoor trampoline place and the kids had fun bouncing around. This morning we ran a few errands, which included a trip to Home Depot to start looking at flooring, paint, and a few other things related to some house projects we plan on doing this year. We found some bamboo flooring that we’re pretting interested in, so we’ll have to do some research on that. Time to get off the computer and help Jessica with a few projects around the house. Here’s a few recent photos of the kids.
