General J

MSF Courses. Do them! Or what Chief suggested through Harley Davidson called Riders Edge. It may seem like a good deal of money to drop on a riding course for either, but think of it as an investment. You wouldn't jump out of an airplane to go parachuting without knowing exactly what you were doing right? This also gives you the chance to ask yourself a few questions before throwing your hard earned money down on a bike. Am I really cut out for the open road on two wheels? Some people really are just not able to do it. Do I really enjoy this? The feeling of being exposed and vulnerable around 2000 lb. cagers is unnerving to a lot of people. Is this something I really want to commit myself to? Unlike a car, you really need to keep your bike in good running order and maintain it. If 1 of 4 tires goes flat or blows out, it is a dangerous situation. If 1 of 2 tires goes flat or blows out, it can be a deadly situation in an instant. The other thing you will want to do BEFORE you even consider getting a bike is look at some gear. You will go down! Maybe not today, maybe not in 5 years, but it will happen. It might be a little get off (I did this the 2nd day I was on my own Ninja 250) that scuffs your bike and your pride. Or it might be the car next to you on the highway, driver on their cell phone, that switches lanes without looking (happened about a week after I purchased my Ninja ZX-6). You develop the skill to avoid such things, but have the protection just in case. If you want proof that gear saves lives, I can get you many pictures of people who went down with and without it. Not to scare, but to educate. It can happen this quickly (video). Check out New Enough for good prices on gear. I have ordered from them numerous times, and they are great to work with. Check out their closeouts as well. And remember, you don't always need the $400 helmet. But, make sure you try one on before you buy it! All helmets fit differently, and the shell shapes are all a little different. So where one person may absolutly love their Shoei, Arai, Suomy or other top of the line helmet, another might hate the fit of it with a passion. Once you have the education and some experience, gear or atleast money set aside for gear, it's time to start your search. I am not saying this is the only way to go about it. I knew that I wanted to learn to ride. I found an awesome deal on a 2002 Kawasaki Ninja 250 with low miles that included a jacket, helmet, and some extras for only $1700. I was looking to sell it for $1900 (more what it was worth) after a season of riding it. Sold it to my brother in law for $1500 since he wanted to learn to ride as well. $200 loss on a vehicle only because it was sold to family. Pretty good deal if you ask me. The 250 will hold its value as long as it stays in decent condition. And there will always be people looking for a good, cheaper starter bike. Great Ninja 250 group! Check out the forums and FAQs. Tons of good info. I hope you take some of this info into consideration. I also hope that you act on your feeling of wanting a bike. It is a great experience that I love to see others enjoy. PM me if you want any more info, or help searching for some used bikes!

Rev hit the nail on the head. Quality of customer service. I guess that should have been included in my original list of questions. Charter contracts all of their installations through other telecomm companies. Every one that I have talked to that works for such companies says the same thing. Charter has horrible, horrible, horrible customer service. In fact, I was hung up on by one of their csr people yesterday because she didn't want to bother trying to figure out why my bill was messed up. She even admitted that they hadn't mailed us one bill, and that they had changed our bills AFTER they had sent them to us. So why should we believe that we are paying the right price, even if it is printed on the paper bill that they mail us?

Here's the deal: I have been going round and round with Charter Communications. for some time now about our billing. Our bills are never the same from month to month. We had quite the ordeal just trying to transfer our service from one house to another (within the same city). They threw out a free month of service as an offer instead of just coming out and installing the service within a few days. Least they could do, so I took it. Our bills have been royally screwed up since. Missouri, more locally St. Louis, has some sort of law that limits the number of telecommunications companies that can operate in the area. AT&T (formerly SBC) and Charter are the only 2 services in the area. AT&T offers decent prices from what I have seen for their DSL service. Charter is charging $42.99/month for 3Mbps cable internet service. My question to you all - What is your ISP, how much are you charged for what speed of service, and how many other ISP's are in your area (if you know). St. Louis has something on the upcoming ballot to allow other companies to come to the area. I am trying to get a feel for what prices we could expect to see. Thank you!

Wow... friends worked excellently before. What did they do to it now to make it not work. This falls under the same category as not having your "favorite servers" list available once in the game... Steam

Just wait for Blockbuster to follow the same path... They will have the same reason as well. And if it works for Netflix, why wouldn't it work for them? That said, my wife and I have had Blockbuster's service for a month on a free account and have only had one problem with a DVD that we never received. Reported it, and it was there a day later.

I can't say that I will be buying this... Tried it free this weekend, and don't see any drastic improvement over the original DoD. Will stick to the free version. All those delays, and they still couldn't get a game that is more fun to play than the original. What's worse, is that the free weekend didn't come until months after people had paid blindly.

Welcome to last year Playaa! What was the definition of irony again?

Probably will go to the St. Louis Auto Show. Last time the wife and I went to the auto show was 2 years ago. The only reps that didn't look at us like we were there to steal their cars or break something were the Saab people. Honestly made me want to go out and buy one the next day. Too bad that would have been a Sunday... Did I mention I hate when service people stereotype young people?

Bump for Goot's comment on the turbo civic Caution - some language involved in describing the civic. Note that the claimed time for the Viper is 10.77@133 mph.

Wow. I remember when I didn't know Mmmm existed. I was a regular on SoS. Then their server went away. About 4-5 months (atleast) later, I happened to notice that it had come back! Played there as a regular until it became LuckyCharms. I remember someone saying something about Fatty and Mmmm. Got the IP to their server and have barely ever played anywhere else. And yes, I was in Mmmm for a time. Loved it, but took adminning a bit too seriously. Burned me out of CS for awhile.

Very Very cool. Check out this killer Guinness commercial. You will need quicktime.

Saw the post about First posts. Starting looking at past posts and thought this was well worth a nice bump. Coolest picture ever!

Dude, RBI baseball is still the best sports game ever, right in front of Blades of Steel! I still have mine as well, and still works just fine. Still have the powerpad too. You want a good workout? Forget the DDR pad. Get an NES and a powerpad. A friend and I broke the pad out about 2 years ago and about died after 10 minutes.

Nice looking ride. TA's are pretty quick. White is actually an easier color to keep clean believe it or not. As long as you aren't going mudding in that thing. Dirt and grime doesn't show up as badly as, say, on a black car or dark color. Scratches don't show up as noticeably either. As with any car, you will have to wash it very regularly to keep her shining. Have fun with her as long as you can! My truck has gone by the wayside since that little thing called "starting a family" happened. As far as my personal opinion on the pontiac situation. I would never own one. Maybe a WS6, but nothing less. Fit and finish on anything lower (body lines, door lines, hatch/trunk, hood) is a disgrace. TA's aren't as bad, but don't get me started on the Firebirds... That being said, drive that car like it was meant to be driven. It is a speed machine. But at 16 years old, with a newly acquired license, I question how much experience you have with getting yourself out of sticky driving situations. I had a buddy who wrecked his automatic v-6 firebird after sliding a slightly wet corner. We had been driving together for a few years, and had done similar antics with ease for a long while. He just over compensated and lost the back end completely. Don't let that be you! With the manual, once you master it, you will have 100x the control over the car that you would with a computer making shifting decisions. Just be careful out there! PS: Don't get too cocky about displacement! HP/weight ratio is what it's all about!

5330

GPL... That is the Koenigsegg.. and yes the Bugatti has tested faster. 253 mph top speed. Fastest production car made, albeit most expensive! Koenigsegg is pretty amazing still. Can't say I would not take one if someone offered!

Just got home from the hospital for the night. Hated to leave Catriona there by herself, but she needed to sleep, and I need to get a goodnight sleep so that I can do most of the caretaking tomorrow and let her rest. We had the nurses take Jack to the nursery so she could sleep. But, when I was leaving, he was up at the nurses station with 3 of em standing around him. He is starting early... Had to get a receiving blanket to take home for the cat to get used to the smell. The crazy cat just sniffed it and looked at me with the following feline facial expressions : He is in for the shock of his life tomorrow. But, without further ado. Here is what you all came to see. He is not looking too bad for being born less than 24 hours ago! Yes, his little nose is bruised, along with his ear lobe. But that's what happens when you come out facing up!

Last night, at 11:13 p.m., Jackson Alan Pace was delivered to extremely proud and happy parents, Josh and Catriona Pace! He weighs 8.6lbs and is 22 inches long. It's almost 12 hours later and I am still in shock from the amazing gift of life. Mother and baby are doing great. Mom is in a bit of pain from the 16+hours of labor and slightly difficult delivery, but will recover just fine. Pictures will follow soon. I forgot the camera in my hurry to get home, shower, and get back to the hospital! I still can't believe he is actually here, and I am a father!

How about the new Bugatti Veyron? Any challengers?

Oh, I can gun with the best most any day! But, you have to have the Blackhawk to really do much damage at all. I will have to get IP's for the servers I play in. I have 3 that I frequent in my favorites. AGE (Adult Gamers), BlackOps, and I can't think of the other one. I need to get a joystick so I can actually fly the jets with ease. Mouse and keyboard works for heli's, but not so well for jets.

Even more interesting to know!

Go for the Triumph Daytona 675 Triple.... Then come out to St. Louis and let me test ride that thing!

I am pretty addicted. Still have my good days and bad days with flying, but I am getting a lot better. Hard to go back and play CS after playing BF2 though! I actually ran into a community member I hadn't seen around in a long time on a random server the other day. If anyone sees Adambomb, tell him to PM me!

It's nice to ship it home free... But you still have to do some major work to get them licensed properly here. The government likes to control things such as vehicle emissions and safety regulations pretty tightly. Still very, very cool since it means one more over here. Also gives Nissan the message that we want the next gen's released here as well. And comparing the price of the cars is very much relevant. No, that test was not equal. Yes, I am impressed by the cars ability, but not because of this video's test. For starters, that is a normal R33 model Skyline. Not even a GT-R or even the newer model R34. Of course a $1,000,000 supercar is going to smoke it. This test is about as relevant as most of the " 'X' Car smokes 'Y' bike!!!!!!" videos on the net. These people take the cheapest model 600cc sport-touring bike (mostly a Suzuki Katana 600) with their cousin/brother/friend who has been riding for a week. Then they pit it against a Mustang GT/Camaro/Firebird with some Flowmaster mufflers on it and run em. The rider misses atleast 1 gear, and the car walks him. And anyone who knows what is going on is laughing at the fools who wasted their time trying to make their car look faster by "smoking a bike." *Disclaimer - Yes, some cars can beat even the fastest bikes. But, from what I have seen and read, it is estimated that it would take about 700+HP to beat a stock 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa with a skilled rider. It is hard to match something with 140+HP that weighs less than 600 lbs with a rider.

Chief, I noticed that and the 410,000 lbs limit reminder 1st thing. Then I noticed the 8 inch piston travel. Too bad the engine bay of my truck is too small to fit that engine in.