Dec 1 - ok, that's enough for now

I had some time before I was due to leave for the BMW dealer so I decided to start installing the new parts on the Harley. I'd installed the passenger footpegs last night -- that was easy. Next up was the passenger pillion. That went fairly well, leaving me confident that these things are well built and add-ons are easy.

ps -- along the way I looked up pillion, thinking that it was a made-up word. Well, it turns out that it's an old word, refers to the passenger saddle, if you will, on a horse, and now includes motorcycles. Live and learn.

The next thing that I needed to do was install the docking hardware for the sideplates. The sissy bar attaches to the sideplates, the back pad to the sissy bar. The left side went well -- remove existing screws, one of which has a nut on the back and the other has a clip that faces the fender itself -- insert new screws and docking mounts -- tighten ... wow, that was easy.

The right side turned out to be a nightmare. First of all there is less clearance to the tire. I'm not sure why that is. Secondly, after I removed the screw from the back that goes into said clip, the two holes (fender support and fender) didn't line up anymore. Rats. I struggled with this for a long time, ran out of time, had to wake Sandy up to go to the car dealer with me and then, once back, tackled it again.

Nothing moves. I cannot push the fender down or lift the support up. The shock absorber is anchored to the fender support. Perhaps the weight of the bike is helping make this difficult, I don't know. After much playing around I discovered that if I took the docking piece off and simply put the screw in the hole, by working it an an angle I can get it started screwing into the fender -- not the clip. However, there is not enough room between the tire and the fender for me to get my fingers up there. I discovered after a while that I could get my hand up over the tire approaching from the back ... rear entry, as it were. Ok, never mind that comment.

I played with it some more. The screw is not long enough for me to get the threads started and there is a small gap between the fender support and the fender. I don't have enough hands. Eventually I held the clip with one hand, the fender to the support in the other hand, and Angelika did the honors with the allen screw. I was having nightmares of having to load the bike onto a truck and take it to the dealer because it certainly couldn't be driven with the shock absorber not fully anchored.

Ok, whew, now to install the sideplates -- that's easy. They have little, well big, clippies to keep them in place on the docking pins. Next up, sissy bar into sideplates. Whoops, the sissy bar doesn't quite fit and not only that, doesn't have the correct alignment of screw holes to fit the back pad. Ok -- time to pack everything into a backpack and ride the bike to the dealer. Long story short again, they had supplied the wrong sissy bar. They had the correct one in stock and they also had a little luggage carrier (very little, only holds 10 pounds) that extends from the sissy bar. I repacked my backpack, laughing as the fellow told me that he makes mistakes so that I can come back and buy more stuff.

I'm not buying any more stuff ! At least not today ! At least not from the Harley dealer ! Perhaps I'll order that windshield ...

I have a new plan -- do a long ride tomorrow. Say my goodbyes to Angelika tonight and hit the road.

Now I'm eating lunch. Shortly I'll pack my camera on that little luggage carrier and go to Flagler so that I can get pictures of Sandy and Angelika on Segways. That should be a hoot. Later today Jeff's guys are supposed to come and stretch the carpet. Also today Luke is supposed to come and finish the plumbing.

What's next ? Painting. February perhaps. March perhaps.

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I went over to see Sandy and Angelika set out on their Segway trip. They had mastered balancing the things and as it turned out, were the only two on the tour. They were so good at it that the tour ended early. I think that they should still have insisted on getting their 1/2 hour's worth, but oh well. I took some pictures with my camera and Angelika's and then headed back home. From their I decided to make a trip to Home Depot, which of course I did on the Harley since a) the X5 was at the dealer; b) Sandy had the M5; and c) I wanted to ride the Harley anyway. I needed some loctite thread locker and a set of box end SAE wrenches. Everything else I own is metric but of course Harley's are still SAE. They are made in the U.S. after all.

From HD I went to the Marine Discovery Center to register the boat for the Saturday boat parade. I expect that will be another long story short, because the predicted weather for Saturday is cool and wet. We'll probably skip it, which is too bad. There goes $10. There goes the fun.

From there I rode back across the causeway and over to the Segway site, expecting to see Sandy and Angelika finishing up, but of course they had finished early. I headed to the 7-11 and filled up the tank -- only 100 miles to a tankful this time -- and then home.

It then got crazy. Sandy and Angelika went out for a walk on the beach; Jeff's people arrived to stretch the carpets; Luke arrived to do the plumbing. The carpet guys decided to basically move everything out of the master bedroom, so very quickly the place was a mess. They did a good job but of course I now have to repaint the baseboards both due to equipment marks as well as the fact that the carpet doesn't butt up against the baseboard in a roll and you can see further down the baseboard. I'm tempted to simply remove and replace with baseboard that I've pre-painted. That will come later.

It took them about an hour to do the master bedroom, which was part of the original contract with Jeff and then 1/2 hour for the guest bedroom. It wasn't nearly as bad, which is why it went faster.

Partway through their work Luke arrived. First I had him install the towel bar in the guest bath, which was part of the contract. I didn't think that I had the correct bit but as it turned out he used a masonry bit which I could also have done. Next he moved to the master bath and when he removed the nipple to install the "L" for the hand-held shower, found that Ritchie had cut the hole two big for the "L", i.e. space shows -- a lot of space -- rats. We now have three choices: 1) grout around -- no way, it would be ugly; 2) remove a tile and re-do -- fraught with problems, but might have to be the solution; 3) get a brushed nickel escutcheon with a flat face that will fit behind the "L" and look good -- we've got the plumbing guy looking into that.

I'm not happy with this "L" business. I had held it up and eyeballed it and wasn't sure if there was going to be a problem. The temporary nipple was quite long so I couldn't be 100% sure that it was an issue. Had it been simply an 1/8" issue, that could have been solved with a bead of silicone or grout. It's more like 3/8"-1/2" though and that would be ugly and for the amount that we've spent I don't want to have to go there. Hopefully the plumbing guy will find something that we'll both be happy with.

So Luke left. There was no point in him installing the hand-held shower because it might be in the way of tile work, if it comes to that. Also, he was expecting to use the same masonry bit on the porcelain but I don't think that would work anyway. I've been there / done that -- it takes a special bit. At this point I'm fed up with the process. If the plumbing guy can come up with a solution, I'll buy the bit and longer nipple and finish this thing off, swallowing my annoyance and moving on.

We set out for the BMW dealer to pick up the X5. No news is good news. I'd tried calling Jason (the SA) at the dealer and didn't get hold of him so off we went. As we were waiting at the light at LPGA Blvd to turn into the BMW dealer he called my cell phone. The car was not going to be ready. Ok, this is really getting to me now. I had thought that perhaps the previous fellow -- Paul -- was their problem from a customer service standpoint, but it's the entire dealership. What I've read online about Fields' customer service is true. We've done a 30-40 mile trip for nothing. We pulled back onto the southbound ramp and headed home.

So ... when do I go biking -- quiet bike that is. I need to do another long ride and thought that I might do that today but I'll postpone that. I will do a "normal" ride and perhaps do the long ride either Sunday or Monday. The weather seems to be iffy for the next while with showers and rain predicted and then changed on and off, a couple of cool days in there. I'll pick my time.

Angelika leaves today. Her flight is around 6pm so she and Sandy will probably leave around 2:30 or 3:00. We'll probably leave the X5 at the dealer until tomorrow morning, since Sandy has an appointment at the Dermatologist in Ormond Beach she would pass right by there. I'll do a bike ride today and then travel with her tomorrow to pick up the X5. Today -- Orlando; tomorrow -- Ormond; Friday -- Orlando -- she's on the move for the rest of the week.

We had dinner at the Sushi place last night, Angelika's treat. I had my usual sushi/sashimi combination; Sandy the sushi combo; Angelika the "beginner's sushi" which includes three different rolls that do include raw fish, but not simply raw fish over rice. I was disappointed in the tuna that was part of my meal -- the sashimi tuna that is. It had been frozen or something and was tasteless. It's not a large part of the meal so it wasn't a big issue, but the next time I order sashimi I'll ask them to focus on fresh. Change up the menu, if need be, but focus on fresh.

So ... in summary ... a rough day for a retiree ! Harley installation and parts problems, a tile cutting issue, BMW bad service, frozen tuna -- but you know what ? It was a great day !! If this had been a work day, it would have been a wonderful day in comparison to most. We got things done, we had some fun, we ate well, we encountered some of life's annoyances -- it's always a balance. I had many work days when there wasn't much to offset the bad things. I'll take yesterday over and over and over again, thank you very much !

Let's have more of the same !

... time marches on. We head north two weeks from today. It's going to fly by since Jeffrey, Sara and Emma are here for 8 days of that.

Onward !