The Meepers goes Big Time!

I went ahead and took the plunge! With the help of Tim, buying me a gift card to www.godaddy.com, I bought a domain name and some web space. The space is being set up and I will begin construction on the site this weekend and next week! But in the mean time if you go to www.themeepers.net, you will be redirected right back here.

I know sounds more professional. Why not www.themeepers.com you ask? Because someone already took it! I can pre-order it now, but it cost a few pennies more, and by that I mean double! It's only $20, but I aint going to forget the name the meepers, and i can't own the .com for 2 more years. If i get into building this site hardcore, you can bet I will buy the rights to the domain when it expires.

So what is the next step? Well Podcasts are the next step. I am not going to give up on this blog, although I will most likely move it over to my new space, or create a sub-domain that will link you here. The point of that is, this RSS feed is already set up with my Tumblr blog, and that already shares this blog with Facebook, Twitter and Word Press.

So that set up is already pretty good. Got to network the free social networking sights! No sense in using up paid bandwidth, when I can get some for free!

So what do you think of that logo? I did it in real fast. It is only a mock-up, but comments are appreciated. Also suggestions on what to do with the site would be cool. What would you like to see, read or hear.

Moving on.

I would like to share a link that Mr. Risk sent me yesterday. If the link does not load properly, and you will know if it didn't just refresh the page. And now I give you this rather large URL to click on. Don't let the size scare you, you will like the tidings it brings.
http://www.youtubedoubler.com?video1=http://www.youtube.com/v/HsF_2CNV9v4&start1=3&video2=http://www.youtube.com/v/06CvUjLgK5g&start2=0

Yes it was this goat!
And yes this goat does sound like a man! If you have never seen that before and wish to view it alone and not as part of an amazing music mash up, you may click this blue text.

I like to share. And that is what The Meepers DOT Net will be! Sharing!

One more thing I just remembered, and allow m a short rant here. There was word that my 500 plaque was at Coopers under close guard to keep it safe from harm. Well a week ago this very night I attended a celebration of you will. A weekly celebration of life and love for beer. What do I see when I entered the doors of the blessed Mead Hall? New 500 plaques on the wall. None of which bore my name! Saddened by this sight, I buried myself into a tasty beer, and wallowed in the fact that I am moving away soon and will not be living 5 blocks from one of the best Mead Halls in existence.

What does that mean? It means two weeks from now, is moving day and I will no be around very much. So I will in turn not be able to see my plaque before I go. I will have to male plans with one of the Grant Clan to take a photo and send it to me when and IF it ever makes it to the walls. It was three and a half years in the making, I would like to see something for all the time and effort I put into drinking beer! Every one needs a goal right?

That is all, carry on.

Starbucks Allentown toll plaza. Vespa Poster. I think I may have taken this photo before. But who cares! It is a scooter!

Saw this on the street in Philly. Stock white ruckus. It was nice to see it. It was the first scooter I saw when we got into the city. Normally I see about 20 Vespas in the first 10 minutes, but that was not the case this weekend. First scooter I saw was a nice Ruckus. Later at about 9:30, Amy and I were on our way back to the car and we saw a fw scooters heading down the Parkway. Leanding the pack was a black Ruckus. Well it could have been a '09 Matte Grey, but it was dark out. Either way it was another Ruckus. First time I saw any in Philly. That made me happy.

Life at 40 MPH-TEASER

So I made myself a little camera mount yesterday. After testing it a little bit, I found it to work best as a helmet mount. So I made a teaser video. I recorded my journey home from work yesterday (about 30 minutes of running footage) and forgot to charge the camera up after I took the video from it. So about 8 minutes into my commute to work today it died.

No worries I used the footage to mess around with and make a short teaser. There will be more to come tomorrow, after I get the drive in. One thing got my goat thought. And that was YouTube.

YouTube would not let me use The Flaming Lips as my song of choice. I thought they were on Warner Bro's and WB had a contract with YouTube. Unless I am thinking the other way around, that WB will not let YouTube use their artists.

Any way, I used one of YouTube's songs. And I also posted the video on Vimeo. Vimeo let me use my original song. But without further adieu, here are both videos. Same thing, different music.

First Vimeo, with The Flaming Lips.

Life at 40 MPH from Jeffrey Grant on Vimeo.

Now YouTube, with (Go for a Ride on My) Sinclair C5.



So what do you think?

The video was shot using a Contour HD Helmet Cam. With a mount I made (out of some industrial strength hook and loop cable wraps). I like the camera. I used it for a resent Bryan Anderson shoot. I like the results. A little fish eye look.

So This morning I had to stop at the Eye Doctor again. It almost didn't seem worth it. He thought he gave me drops last week, but he told me he wanted to wait another week and see if there is any improvement, there wasn't. Then he wrote me a script for some $75 drops and made me schedule another appointment for 3 weeks from today. Hopefully that one is longer than 8 minutes so I get my $40 co-pay worth.

But I can't complain. I found out I had a problem with my eyes, hopefully before it was to late. He caught it two weeks ago, I just wish I had two weeks worth of healing done. But once this is fixed I can get zapped with lasers. or so I am told. I did get a free sample of the drops I need to take, but it is only about 4 days worth, and I need to take them for 14 days.

4 times a day for the first week, then 3 times a day after that. Then I have to go back for another check up. But that is after VACATION!

I am not stoked to wear my glasses for 6 months (or less) and especially on vacation. But I got one thing that will be OK. I will be done with the drops before I go! So at least I don't need to take the drops while I am at the shore.

Speaking of the shore, Amy and I want that damn warm weather to come back. At least for 2 more weeks. We are going to the beach in two weeks after all. And do you know what they have at the beach? A god damn ocean to swim in! And we want to swim in that god damn ocean!

If you would be so kind as to comment on YouTube, or Vimeo if you have an account. Or feel free to comment here, you do not need an account to comment on this blog. And I will read it.

That is all, carry on.

New Life!

Well on Sunday The Meepers will be breathing a new life. Amy and I are going to Long Island this Saturday. We will be stopping at BRAHDahOOd's house to pick up an essentially brand new engine. I am hoping it has everything I need on it, like carb, pipe radiator and what not already attached, so there is less for me to screw up when putting it back together. Basically I am hoping I don't get there and see this(not an image of the engine I am buying. That one has the stock air box removed (see that red and black filter), but it still has the carburetor on it. Not a bad looking project really, but the less I have to do, the better off The Meepers will be). But I will have some help. So if it does, we will get it all attached.

I did find 2 motors in New Jersey, that have everything attached, the only thing I need is my ECM and wiring harness. They look something like this. I did ask BRAHDahOOd what parts I would need from my bike and he said nothing really, just unbolt and re-bolt. Either way, I am about to learn some mechanics!

My cousin Mike is going to help me, and Frank said he will give me a hand to. If I have to pull the whole thing apart, so be it. But I am hopping I don't have to. Less work, and less things for me to put back together wrong. If not, I at least hope it has a drive face at least. Mine is stuck on The Meepers right now, so I would have to wait longer to get a new one to ride him.

But that aint all! While we are making this trek to the Island of Long, we are going to hit up Jones Beach. But if the weather is shitty, we are going to go to The Bronx Zoo. Either way we will have an adventure! I just hope I can get to LI in less than 3 hours.

Now that Amy gets Saturdays off, we hope to take lots of nice day trips. Go on adventures, and fight the forces of evil! Or at least the strange noises that are coming out of my belly. I guess eating those shrimp was a bad idea. This Saturday, Long Island, next Saturday, the world! Or I brought up Bucks County. There are other options as well. We could always just got to the pool at the park. Amy does like water slides.

Getting back to Long Island, I have only been there one time. And you may know, so far the only place I get really bad anxiety driving is in New York. Well mostly Manhattan to be fair. Brooklyn isn't to bad, and I think once I get to Long Island I will be OK. But the getting there part is what scares me.

Funny words of the day. Well I only really have one word, but it will be read several times in a row.

Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener Wiener

That is all, carry on.

Wednesday Blog!

Well unlike yesterday I have an idea for today's blog. But I forgot to take pictures last night or this morning, rendering that entire idea useless. And well, it would just spoil it if I went ahead and told you the idea and tried to talk about it with out at least one photo. Because let's face it. you will not come back to check this entry tomorrow and see the photo. So we will include in tomorrows post, along with the idea I already have. And that idea is Thursday specific.

And no, I am not going to keep naming the blog entries as days of the week. But it is amusing to me, so I may let it ride for a few more days.

Well today both Amy and I had to be up and ready for work in the morning. This hasn't happened in a while. So we are out of practice for the two of us running around like asshats in the morning. Over all it went pretty smooth, and as far as I know, we both made it to work on time. But I can not speak for Amy, I haven't talked to her this morning/afternoon.

But I can say this. It was beautiful this morning. Not 100% blue skies, but enough of them. A little gray doesn't ruin the morning. But the temp was perfect for riding. Not to hot, not to cold, just right. No gloves this morning and I had my visor flipped up to cool down from time to time.

All in all, a Very pleasant riding experience. But I just tried to make it better. I was about to purchase a new Variator for The Meepers. But I think I hit a brick wall. I received an error from BowlsLA stating that my shipping didn't match my billing. Well there is a check box that fills in you shipping for you. So I tried to go back and check the info, I got logged out. So I logged back in.

I got the same error so I go and check my info one more time, and all seems well. Then I got another error saying repeat order placed. Now I need to give them a call. But they are open from 1200-1900 hours PST. So that means I have to wait another 2 hours and 15 minutes to call them. But I think I will do it sooner.

I have ordered from them in the past, and I am sure it was just a glitch. I think this will get taken care of pretty easy, as long as I can get them on the phone. Some times it is hard to get someone on the phone at these small boutique stores.

Well right now I am having a problem just trying to load their page. So I am guessing it is a problem with their site. And all I want to do is copy and paste the URL. I am so lazy I don't want to type it to make a hyper link.

Moving on.

Sunday after stopping at the Pep to visit Amy, I drove past a few scooters coming home. I rarely see them around town. And mostly I see them when I am in my car. I saw 3 though on this particular Sunday. One alone then later 2 driving together on Washington Ave. by Coopers. I had the green coming up Gibson and they were at the light on Washington heading toward Greenridge. After I got about a block away it hit me, TURN AROUND AND GO TALK TO THEM. But then I realized they could A) be heading down Washington still, in which case I would have to try and catch up. And one was on a Yamaha Vino, though I only caught a glimpse on the front end, so I am not sure if it was the 50cc or 125cc version. The other looked to be a 50cc Baja. B) They had already turned off and looking for the would end in failure. And I am to frail to deal with more failure. or C) They would think I am some crazy creepy guy fallowing them.

So instead I went home to lay on the couch and watched some Smallville Season 2. I think I made the right decision. After all, I do drive around a lot, I am bound to run into the again. Right?

Now for new section. Funny words to hear the blog read:

Punch her in the dick.

Shit stealer.

Tim smells funny.

"Hey there paperboy"

Supercalifra Duishdaxpialodoshis

That is all, carry on.

I NEED Anotehr Ruckus......

....So I can do this to it!

Episode 1: Minkus from FATPHOS x MINKUS on Vimeo.

SGV SUPER SUNDAY 3/8/09 93+ riders from FATPHOS x MINKUS on Vimeo.

I can't bear to take the heart out of The MeepersSo I will need to find a brother for him.

I'll be out of town for a few days. Amy and I are going to Annapolis to visit friends. Be back some time Friday night, then to Knobels Saturday for my works picnic.

Watch out for this man. He is considered loopy and has a messed up eye.
this is just to funny!



That is all, carry on.

REVIEW MONDAY!

So today I bring you the Honda Ruckus! I have had mine for almost a year now. And it is time I wrote some words about it.

I will start off by saying I LOVE IT! And if you know me, you know that it's true. It is the best purchase I made in a long time. Yes I love my bike(s) and My guitars (but all of my guitars were purchased before The Meepers, so my statement is true!).

Let me introduce you to The Meepers. Here he is day 1.

I had just drove him home from Wilkes-Barre to Taylor. Bone stock and at this point did not have a name.

Side Bar:

The name Meepers came from Amy. When I was a slave at Gander Mountain, she came to visit me from time to time. Well they use to let me pull my "scooter" inside the back of the store. Then someone got a hemorrhoid and didn't want me to park it there any more. So said manager, who was afraid of/didn't know how to manage told a co-worker to tell me that "I can't park it there anymore." So Kryptonite NYC Noose and disk lock kept him safe in the parking lot. Well Amy came to visit on one day and brought me the best ice-tea in the world. She looked out into the parking lot and saw my "Scooter" all alone chained to a poll. She said "Awwwwwwwwww, look at that meepers out there." And BAM! The Meepers had a name. The perfect name.

After much Internet searching, reading and pondering, I was going to buy a Yamaha Vino 125. I wanted a bigger engine so I could hit 55 mph. Well after getting screwed over on a few of them, I said fine I'll get a 50 cc scooter. Now I always wanted a Vespa, but they are crazy expensive, so I was going to get a Vino because they are basically a rip off of a Vespa. But once I got up close and personal with the Ruckus, Honda had pretty much won me over. Only snag was the engine size.

Now in the state of PA under 50 cc does not require a motorcycle license. Over does. Now that was not a concern to me, seeing as I have a class M endorsement on my licence. And for the record YES, The Meepers is more fun than my old motorcycles. I loved them both dearly, and wish I didn't sell them, but I still have more fun on my scooter.

Ok to the review!

There is something to be said for not being able to top 42 mph with a stock scooter. But I'm not going to say it, I want you to do it. I have yet to do any performance mods to my scooter. But one cosmetic mod did rob me of a little top end speed. I use to be able to hit 45 going down hill. then I took off the floor boards and put on a frame brace. Well part of the floor boards. I took off the top, the bottom half acts as a guard for the fuel filter and the gas tank. I am sure I would be fine without the bottom half, but I am paranoid as you know. But next week I am going to cut The excess plastic off so you will never know.

With that said, I can still hit the proclaimed top speed of 42 mph no problem. Acceleration is a bit slow, but if you start on a nice flat strip you can hit 30-35 with in a block or two. But there are factors with that that, wind. Now I am personally use to slow starts, my other mad ride is an 06' Scion xA, dubbed The Egg.

But if you start with a decline you are going to hit 30 pretty fast. I normally get up to and cruise at about 40 mph. I am waiting to get pulled over, knock on wood, to see how fast I am really going. In my experience with motorcycles, the spedo is often off by about 3 mph.

When you hit a rise, you will lose speed. That's a given. If you tuck, you'll lose a little less speed.

Verdict: A 125 cc engine would be great for this scooter. More top end speed, faster acceleration and less cars riding your ass, but you get over that in a hurry. But then cost will rise, you'll need a motorcycle license and you lose fuel efficiency. WAY AROUND ENGINE SIZE. You can do an engine swap. Get a donor bike and pull the motor. There are some great tutorials at TotalRuckus.com. I don't mind going slower. OVERALL: If I wanted to go faster I would have kept looking for a bigger scooter. I am fine with my speed.

Fuel efficiency. Now I don't need to type more than a few lines here. 1.3 gallon tank. Last time I checked the Honda web site they were pitching 99 mpg. I get from 98-110. A+++++++ on this.

Customization: Well I got on board unknowingly, until I tried to buy mine, at the Ruckus boom. Now parts are every where. From some great TR members to some great website (look at the bottom of the page). As I said earlier, I have only done cosmtic mods. Black Lower Seat frame

Some Tanak mirrors and head light covers

One of my favorite additions is my Rising Sun radiator cover:

Comfort: Well the stock shock isn't the best, but it loosened up a bit and is now riding OK for me. The biggest difference were the lower seat frame and the pegs. The pegs you can see above. Just some $15 pegs from my local LBS. I got them because I was use to riding my Triumph SS bike. So I kept my feet/legs crunched up on the floorboards like I was ridign a Sport bike. The seat frame can now be found pretty easy. But when I got mine I had to order from eBay, and it eneded up being a fellow TR memeber. Every one was out of stock. At first I didn't think I liked it, but it grew on me and made it much more comfy. The frame brace came with pegs that attach on the front so you can be more streached out, but agan I like the "Sport Bike" seating, so i use the BMX pegs. If I were a little taller, I may be more comfy streatched out. But I'm not.

Quality: It's a Honda. Do I really Need to say more? I will say this, The Meepers stared in the dead of winter in 15-20 degree weather. I didn't ride him around, I'm not that crazy, I let him idel for while. My Buel would starts a little below 30, Triumph if it was below 35, not a chance, below 40 was pushing it. Just think about that old Civic you have. How many 100,000 miles do you have on it? And it's still running strong. Ya, that's Honda. A+! And if you don't believe me, read about Wan.

Over all, the Honda Ruckus gets a 98%. Only thing keeping it back is that Honda made a 250cc Big Ruckus (that I personally don't like) and not a 125cc Ruckus. Other than that, it is the best bang for your buck. The MSRP went up $350 after the first of the year, but taking into consideratino that the cheap Chinese scooters only have a life span of a year or two, the little bit more money is worth it. You will have this scooter for the rest of your life.

This is a two post day. So either scroll down or click here to see more pictures of The Meepers. I didn't feel like making two photo heavy posts so I will just send you to the other one.

That is all. Carry on.

Photo Blog!

Here is a photo shoot at Keefers this past Sunday. Enjoy.

That is all. Carry on.