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No work for me this holiday season. Less money is all.

It's already been a very nice Christmas even if it ended tomorrow.

Frederick (musical mentor/world traveller), Robert (stepmother's cousin), Ken, and Doug and Carmen have all left. My sister and Bob got in yesterday from Utah and Kody is coming in a week. Rachel is still around. I've stopped off in Denton for a day to install this new hard drive (yay), pay some bills, grab some things, drop some things off.

Speakeasy RADSL is being installed back in Fort Worth, replacing the barely-there Charter Pipeline.

Much UT has been played. Trying to get my Mojo back.

Halo is damn damn good. So is Jak and Daxter. But especially Halo two-player. With S-Video and a big ole stereo.

Assuming no one will read these in the next day and a half:

For my father: things for the Vette--custom gold valve stem caps for the Vette, C5 silicone Air Coupler (+5 HP), 'C5 Owner' pin (for when he goes to Vette Club meetings)

For my mother: modem and three months of net access, 'Researching Online for Dummies' book

For Jeff: hardcover version of Otherland Book 1: City of Golden Shadow, 365 day Far Side calendar

For Q: 'Endtroducing' by DJ Shadow

For Carla: still haven't decided

For Rachel: Lilith Fair CD

For Kristen and Bob: still haven't decided

Those are all I'm worrying about right now. Ain't made a money.

My impressions of the Cycle Show (written the day after):

The first thing was the new grey and silver R1, which looks sleeker than any streetbike I've ever seen. Super nice. I sat on literally every single sportbike in the whole building and quite a few other bikes as well. It was interesting being out with the three brothers--my dad is into big-motored standard/sporty bikes, Doug rides a Vulcan 1500, and Ken wants a Ducati 996. But one thing a friend of the family said several years ago seemed to hold true: these boys have never seen a motorcycle they didn't like. Countless times after checking out a bike I'd hear the familiar refrain... "Nice bike".

The Kawasaki ZX-6R just had something about it ergonomics-wise that the other bikes didn't quite measure up to. It just felt 'right' to me. The Ducati SS was the least comfortable streetbike in my opinion (or most extreme, anyway). The V-Rod was nice and pretty. I sat on a Boss Hoss. They had a few of the specials that have appeared in Cycle World in the last few months. There were a few customs, like a Yamaha Warrior, with the fattest motorcycle tires I've ever seen. The Aprilia RS50 was sweet! They didn't have the 250 though--but the lady told me only the 50 is street legal. I got a picture of me standing by Troy Corser's race Aprilia. The trials bike show was damn good. The guy was impressive and even when he made a mistake and nearly killed himself he got out of it gracefully. Unfortunately no test rides were being given as the weather was terrible. But that kept the crowds down. Oh, I talked to the Buell guy the longest, and checked out the Firebolt thoroughly. You know, I've really changed my opinion of the looks of that bike. I thought it was highly ugly before but in the metal it cuts a nice nice profile. Feels good too. A little pricey relatively speaking but it's definitely gone up my list. I was a little disappointed there weren't a bunch of fireworks and music and scantily-clad females and world premieres and concept bikes there. But there was a fair number of customized bikes and racebikes.

I was impressed by a lot of the bikes there. The 919 looked 'okay', better than pictures. Comfort levels seemed good on a whole lot of bikes. Though the 6R like I said was my favorite sporty bike to sit on. All in all it was a fun time for a Saturday night and I learned quite a bit.