Red Kev

Dank

2009-11-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

So, I go away for awhile & what happens? Someone takes one of my photos & makes it into a commercial.

I guess I'll let it slide this time because those guys @ Dank are alright. That's a Dank top tube cover, Dank bag & I can guarantee there is at least one Dank coozie inside that bag, most likely a tall boy.

...

2009-11-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

It's

2009-05-01T07:04:00.001-07:00

Rest in Peace

2009-03-27T07:53:00.001-07:00

March

2009-03-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

Actually, it was the opposite of that. It is March after all. Time for something new.

375 lbs

2009-01-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

How's that for cargo capacity?

Don't Talk About...

2009-01-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

"...Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

While I was listening to that?

Outside, it was making that.

<---------

Like the Energizer Bunny...

Drive it like a 4x4

2008-12-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

Now I need a new shirt that says something like, "How does that thing do in the snow?"

I know people are curious but it started getting old. It's not like there were any other Smart Car drivers on the road to ask so they had to ask me. I started tailoring my response to their situation. To one guy in a big 2 wheel drive pickup, I responded, "Better than yours." He agreed. To pedestrians, it was, "It's a lot easier than walking." It handled much better than a charter bus going down E Thomas St. between Bellevue Ave E and Melrose Ave E. So for anyone else wondering how a Smart Car handles in the snow, here's what I learned over the past 2 weeks.

Rear wheel drive, rear engine vehicles tend to do pretty well in the snow. The weight is over the drive wheels where you need it. If you add in the Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Anti-Lock Brakes and no power steering, I think it is the best set up short of a 4 wheel drive you can have. Sure the ground clearance could be better and the car is light weight, but one person can push it out of trouble instead of having to recruit a team of strangers to push your car free. Usually, a bit of rocking back and forth did the trick for me. Be careful where you park. You don't want to have to clear a little snow mound on the side of the road at a bad angle with no momentum. Also, the ESB doesn't work in reverse. Those tires will spin all day in reverse, so backing into parking spots is a must. If you think you need chains, don't expect any help from your Smart dealer. They don't carry them because they are not an "official Smart USA product". You have to get your tires from the dealer and I'm pretty sure Continental is not owned by Smart, but that's another story. So find them on the internet and order them early. I'm sure you could also make your own snow tires if you wanted to drill in some studs yourself but then you are going to need another set when the winter is over.

Bottom line is that I was very happy with the Smart's ability in the snow. It might be a good idea to carry a shovel with you in case you need to dig out of a parking spot, but I managed without one.

I also learned that pedestrians are jealous of my cane when there is snow on the ground. I told most of the one's who mentioned it that I would gladly trade my cane to them if I could have their ability to walk normally or run. Unfortunately, I didn't have any takers.

2008-12-18T23:31:00.001-08:00

Thunder Snow

2008-12-18T23:13:00.002-08:00

Thunder woke me up this morning. I rarely get to hear thunder anymore since moving to Seattle. It rumbled for several seconds. Then a few minutes later, it happened again and it snowed for the next twelve hours. Here's a few photos from today.

39.33952 meters per second

2008-12-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

Unscrewed

2008-11-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

Those came out yesterday at about 9:00. Stainless Steel, self-tapping, 2mm Allen-head screws and one mending plate. Some of them still have some meat on them. Haven't taken off the bandages yet, so no more related pics for now. I peeked and there are some stitches, but the swelling doesn't seem to be much more than it usually is. It hurts too, but my leg hurts most of the time now, so I can deal. Already stopped taking the drugs since they mess with my head and make me itch like a tweaker. I guess if I was trying to function in my normal capacity, it would hurt a lot more, but sitting on the couch is not a big strain. Nice day for a bike ride, cool & partly cloudy. That might be pushing it though. Maybe in a few days.

<------Best idea I've heard so far is to make wind chimes out of them.

Here are a couple more pics from the street. As you probably know if you work on the street in this town, I'm back on the road. I don't see this as being something sustainable, but it is what it is for now. For some reason all the in and out of the car, up and down steps, up and down hills, back and forth, back and forth, you know the game, tends to wear on me now. By the end of the night, end of the week, walking is a luxury.

Bracing for an awesome Thanksgiving of sitting around at home doing nothing.

Fantastic.

Elation

2008-11-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I'm from Texas; Houston, specifically. George Bush lives in Houston. George W. Bush lived there and even met his wife at the Chateaux Dijon, a swinging, "singles only" apartment complex in town while he pretended to be in the National Guard. When he won the 2nd time, (Because lets face it, he did not win the first time. Gore gave up & the Supreme Court chose the winner & his brother was governor of the state in question.), there was no dancing in the street in my home town. There was no horn honking, no high fives to passing cars, no fireworks, no cartwheels in the street. Right now, I couldn't go to sleep if I tried.

Everybody's Nuts

2008-10-03T00:12:00.000-07:00

I started eating these pistachios recently and you can make comics on their website. This is the work of Matty B. yesterday or the day before. He even tried to draw in a tie to make it look even more like Jewel.

By the way, which one's Pink?

2008-09-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Richard Wright died a few days ago. I saw him play in concert during a horrible rain storm at Rice stadium in Houston once. It rained so badly, the keyboards shorted out. Instead of stopping the show, they played a song not on the list that didn't require keyboards: "Run Like Hell". Towards the end of that song, the canopy over the stage gave way, a waterfall fell down on the entire stage and everything shorted out but the drums. David Gilmore yelled from the edge of the stage, "Sorry." I never got to hear "Comfortably Numb" because it was slated to be one of the encore songs. Jo, Raj & I, walked out of the stadium in knee deep water slightly disappointed, but how can you go wrong with a concert that starts out with the first song off their first album, "Astronomy Domine"? I still regret not going to see Roger Waters when he came to town last year, 12 days before my career took a turn, or is that a reverse, for the worse.

Bike Messenger Sticker

2008-09-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

There's calm in your eye...

2008-09-13T11:41:00.001-07:00

The place I spent much of my down time as a messenger in Houston is now full of broken glass from I. M. Pei's tall building at 600 Travis. I see lots of tire changes coming in the next few weeks for my friends on 2 wheels. You simply can't clean up all the glass. One report said there was a tornado of broken glass swirling between the buildings. They tried to take a video of it, but it didn't come out very well.

It seems that all my family survived. There is just a big mess to clean up. Luckily, the storm moved so fast, the flooding from the rain wasn't as bad as it could have been if the storm slowed or stopped over the city.

Here's a picture that entertained me.

You are Ike a hurricane...

2008-09-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm from Houston in case you didn't know. Right now, there is a hurricane hitting Galveston, Houston in the next hour or so. I don't usually watch FOX News, but right now, Geraldo is clutching a palm tree getting blown around by the wind. I can't think of a better way to spend my evening. Good luck Houston.

This video is from earlier.

Looking forward to seeing Anderson Cooper get blown around in downtown Houston Later.

Nostalgic

2008-09-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

This video just made me feel good.

Creating Motorcycle Parking One Spot at a Time

2008-08-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Aggressive or Assertive? Well played.

I learned something today: You can sit in a room in Kent all day while someone asks you questions and be exhausted when you get home. You can be grateful when he reminds you of something you used to love to do and have stopped doing for a while.

The best waitress/bartender in Seattle can pour you your favorite beer and the day ends well.

So you wanna buy your car with a credit card?

2008-08-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

If you are a loyal follower, you might remember this. I thought this problem with the parking meters would cost me money and piss me off. It did that and I just stopped paying for parking unless I had to. In this exchange that I documented with the city, I learned a lot about credit card operations I didn't know before, like that if you accept cards, you have to accept a card for any amount you accept cash for. You can't charge a surcharge for accepting a card for a low amount either like half the coffee shops in the city charge.

So, This all went in the memory banks where it stewed for over a year and even made it through intense trauma and 3 months of heavy drug use. I've bought my last 5 motorcycle/scooters with a credit card, so I intended to buy my Smart car with one. It never dawned on me this would be a problem. Jo said I should ask them if they would accept credit cards, but I figured they have to so I never asked. A week ago, Ryan told me he didn't think car dealers would let you buy a car with a credit card. The next day I asked them and they said they could take as much as 10% down on a card, but that was it. Not willing to take no for an answer, I searched "the google" and found out that although car dealers would do everything possible to not take a credit card, if you told them they had to and threatened to report them to Mastercard/Visa, they would reluctantly take it. This seemed like a good plan, so I decided to get all the ammo I could before I went in there.

Here's the arsenal I brought with me on my trusty MacBook:

Mastercard Rules (see 5.9.3 & 3.1.2.2 Noncompliance Assessments for section B)

Visa Rules (see pg. 9-10)

This email I received from AskVisa on the Visa.com website:

18 SA RE: Can a car dealer limit my maximun purchase on a Visa or Mastercard?‏
From: Ask Visa USA (askvisausa@visa.com)
Sent: Wed 8/06/08 1:47 PM
To: RedKev
Dear Kevin,

Thank you for contacting us. Visa has certain regulations that all merchants which accept Visa cards must follow. Visa merchants are not permitted to:

Establish minimum or maximum transaction amounts, even on sale items.

Submit a Visa sales draft for a dishonored check.

In general, pass on the merchant's transaction fee to the cardholder as a Visa "service charge," "service fee," or "surcharge," even on sale items. A merchant may offer a discount for cash however, the cardholder must be made aware of this prior to entering into the transaction.

Require a Visa cardholder to sign a sales draft that does not have a specific amount indicated.

Merchants may not refuse to honor a Visa card simply because the cardholder refuses a request for supplementary information/ID.

Please contact the disputes area at the financial institution that issued your card account of any merchant practices that you feel are inappropriate. Your card issuing bank has access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations as well as to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms which should be used by your bank to document and file merchant complaints. It is not necessary for your bank to be the offending merchant's financial institution in order to file a complaint for you.

As an alternative, to report merchant practices that you feel are inappropriate, you may wish to contact the Global Customer Care Services at 1-800-VISA-911 (1-800-847-2911). Please advise them that you were referred to file a complaint. The staff will be able to initiate a complaint form over the phone.

We hope this information proves helpful.

Thank you for writing,

Visa Webmaster

From: RedKev
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 16:27 GMT
To: Ask Visa USA
Subject: Can a car dealer limit my maximun purchase on a Visa or Mastercard?

I want to purchase my new car with my Visa card. They told me I can only put 10% of the purchase price on my card. I thought they had to accept a Visa for any amount they would take cash or check for according to their credit card acceptance agreement. Please get back to me ASAP & let me know who to have the dealer contact if they must accept payment with a card, but refuse to do so.

Thanks,
Kevin

Here's how the conversation went at the dealer with the Sales/Financing guy:

How are you going to be paying for this today?

I'm going to pay with a credit card.

We can only accept a card for up to 10% of the purchase price. We can't accept a card for the entire price of the car.

But you kind of have to. According to your credit card agreement, if you accept credit cards at all, you have to accept them for any amount you will accept cash for. The penalty for not accepting the card is $20,000, so it is probably in your best interest to accept the card.

He came back a few times after "checking with his GM and some other people". Eventually, he said they would go ahead and take payment with my card, but asked if I could email him the links to the documentation I had showed him during our exchange so he could "forward them to his legal department in case they had to change their policies", so I did. This played out exactly as I figured it would and just like it had according to other websites. They were nice enough about it (although not happy) and probably don't know all the rules anyway. (At least he did a good job of playing dumb.)

So that's how you do it if you want to use a 0% interest credit card or get some airline miles when you pay for your car. It also means that you own the car outright, so no lien-holder on your title and no repo man to come calling later if you miss a payment.

Thank you City of Seattle for changing your parking meters a year and a half ago.

Fruit Bootin'

2008-08-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

People have been asking for pics of this event, so here are a few.

Matty B. & I on July 26th @ Alki. It happened. It was hard.

By the way, there is now a motorcycle being imported into America that doesn't require a left foot.

Seat Post

2008-07-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

The seat post on the Dixon has been giving me trouble recently. The seat doesn't seem to want to stay in place. Mostly, when I sit on it now, it just hits me in the balls. The folks @ SWOBO were nice enough to send me a new one that should arrive Tuesday via a brown delivery service I would rather not mention. This was after they told me I should try tightening it. It seems to me that it is just a shitty design, but they say there has been no one else with the same problem. We'll see if the new one lasts longer than 2 months.

Because of this, I missed out on an alley cat, & I think I missed out on the naked bike ride too. (I'll use the seat post as an excuse, not the fact that I wouldn't have done the naked ride anyway.) Actually, the alley cat would have conflicted with plans I made the day before I found out about it to see Bottle Rocket at the Central Cinema.

It was pretty hot today.

Bat'n Rouge

2008-06-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Crit

2008-06-07T21:48:00.001-07:00

Jo & I went to Ballard to do some drinking and someone decided to put a bicycle race in our way. Actually, I knew it was today, but was unsure on the time. It was going during happy hour, so we got to watch riders blaze past every minute or so. I took a shot with the cell phone since I didn't have the camera and I was surprised it turned out so well. Parking was actually very easy because of all the road closed signs. If you drive past them, park & slap the handicapped hang tag from the rearview, nobody messes with you. It was fun & I don't think I have ever been to a legitimate bike race before. I think I could have been a decent bike racer if I had cared to try when I was younger. I think I could have been a speed skater too. My legs (used to) have an uncanny ability to build muscle with very little effort & I could always beat anyone I ever raced on skates and I was on quads against in-lines. The ability to build muscle might come back. We'll see. Lately, I've been wishing I could skate again. I need to see if my brother still has my skates.