click here to access Diaryland click here to send me an email click here for bio and links click here to access the archive list click here for the latest entry


|C|Rooster|PuF has been a solid positive force for the UT community since UT's release. He was the moderator at PuF, captain and founder of Clan |C|ondemned, and everyone's favorite UT guru. I had the pleasure of playing against Roo many times on The Roost, his server, widely recognized as one of the finest UT servers in the world. Clan |C| was #1 in Domination and CTF at PG, Roo was #2 in DM 1vs1, #1 in RA 1vs1 (where my brother is #19), and he and Dragonash were #1 in RA 2vs2. At Teamplay and OGL as well, |C| were ranked well. Roo had nearly 5000 posts at PuF, most of them very polite, intelligent, and informative.

Rooster has a family. Three kids, in fact. He has a job as a network administrator. He has been forced to cut off contact with PuF from work by nosy head office managers. He has decided to leave UT and |C| to spend time with his family. UT was taking many hours every single night away from his kids and he has done the right thing in deciding to be a real father. But he will be sorely missed by all. Rooster is probably the most well-known player in UT, a legend of sorts. Goodbye, Roo! Good luck!

A friend of mine from one of the motorcycle forums I visit has had his first wreck. He was coming to a light which started to turn red and he was going to gun it to get through but there was a police car to his left so he hit the front brake, it was cold out, and it locked and down he went. His R6 has $2500 worth of cosmetic damage. He has road rash on his arm, knee, ankle, and hip and a twisted ankle. He was able to avoid the $800 ambulance ride (yes, ambulance rides are the most expensive ride you'll ever take) and have a "cute neighbor girl" drive him to the hospital. So nothing serious. Bike and rider will be back in action within a week.

There are two kinds of riders, those who've gone down, and those who are going down soon. Better this way than taking out the ass-end of a bus. I've been down twice, both on my old 180, once going about 70 mph. On the other hand, my father and two uncles, with a combined 80+ years of riding experience, have never gone down. My Dad dropped a bike in Cape Cod when I was little, but that was an 800 pound bike with the motor off on a slight incline that just decided it was going down so we both hopped off it in unison and let it go on its side. It was hard getting her back upright.

On the bike forums, whenever someone stops posting for a week or more, we start speculating as to whether they're just on a trip or busy or if they've bit it on the road while riding. Cage drivers are often oblivious or even downright hostile to bike riders. This is why it's a good thing that most bikes have such reserves of power that they can get you away from trouble faster than any car on the road could possibly go. Some guy tailgating, looking like he wants to bump you and kill you? Downshift to third and roll the throttle, in a couple seconds you're 15 car lengths ahead of the dumb fucker. Of course, stupidity is more dangerous because it's more rampant. Cage drivers are the stupidest people on earth. If someone's talking on the phone, putting on makeup, eating, writing, reading, having sex, or practicing the trumpet, she is not concentrating on driving. Sure, you may get pissed off because I run my hi-beams on my bike during the day, but if that's what it takes to get everyone's attention, then let the pissing begin!

Heading to my father's house this weekend. Going to the Indy Time Trials, maybe the race. Going to look at bikes again, plus I'll be riding the NX250, might even bring it back with me, to get some experience on Denton roads. If I bring it back I'm going to find some dirt trails to ride on--the NX can ride on the street and on dirt.