I had a dream of motorcycles last night.  Nothing too amazing in itself, but it reminded me of a dream I had before I learned how to ride a motorcycle.

While in the Army back in 1991 I had my first motorcycle ride. A friend had his sport bike, and asked if I wanted a ride. Always up for a new experience I said sure. He handed me a spare helmet and luckily it fit. Before he started up the bike he said just hold on to me. Sure thing.

I hopped on behind him and held on as I didn’t think there was much room on the small back seat (was it even  a seat?) as we headed off post and down the 4 lane road. We went drove about 5 minutes and turned around and came back. Just a straight shot up and back. Still it was fun and wet my  appetite for more.

It would be another 7 years or so until I got on a bike again.  This time it was when my dad rode his Honda Shadow halfway across the country to see me. We rode around on it everywhere. It was tons of fun. ‘Specially going up into the Rocky Mountains on it. He showed me the basic how to of riding – the basics of shifting and just let me sit on it. No riding it myself.

But that was enough.

A couple years later I had a dream that was so vivid. . .I was riding a motorcycle, I can’t remember what kind now, but I remember I was shifting it like my dad had told me: hold the left clutch handle in and press down for one on the left pedal while not giving the throttle anything. Shift again my holding the clutch handle in and using your toe to push the pedal up.

So a couple years back when I “learned” how to ride – the dream came rushing back to me and riding the motorcycle was like second nature.

Last night’s dream reminded me spring is coming: I was at a Kawa dealership and looking at bikes with my sister. We looked a dirt bike which looked really nice. And then another dirt bike which my sister liked. Then I saw it: a Ninja. It was the most beautiful bike ever. I sat on it and fell in love. It felt like I was flying when I was on it. I had to buy it.

Then I woke up.

I have been to the Motorcycle show that is held in the Javits center in January. And I have sat on a Ninja. I had to try it out. The bike does look nice. . .but it is a sport bike. I’m more of a cruiser style girl. . .even though my current bike, a 1978 KZ400 Kawa is a mix between sport and cruiser:

 Still, the Ninja was nice. . .I just get a bit timid when I think of how fast I could go on a Ninja. The KZ400 only goes 65 on the highway heading down a hill and even then she is howling at high RPMs. . .but I still love my little KZ400. A project of love from my dad, she gets me back and forth to work. . the long way.

It felt like spring was finally here today. This past Saturday night when I went to bed I looked outside: snow. I sighed and went to bed. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I could hear the rain outside. So going out for the Sunday newspaper I didn’t have to worry about snow on the road, but still had to wipe it off my car.

It got warmer and by today it was up in the sixties. On the way to work this morning, a light fog had settled over the road:

From snow to 60 some degrees in a matter of days. . .not as bad as a matter of hours, but still. Hopefully that was the last of the snow for this year, as I’m ready for spring. I’m ready for motorcycle riding weather, for trees full of green leaves, for nights with my window open with a cool breeze blowing in. . .

Oh, wait. That is tonight.  Ahh, springtime.

Wow.

This Wednesday’s episode of Lost (which I just saw on ABC.com) was one of the best so far this year. We find out several intriguing things and the ending! Wow. So spoilers for this past episode. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it.

Locke has been up to something, we find out what this episode and while Ben thinks he knows why, I don’t think we’ve seen why just yet. Ben understands how important Locke is due to Locke’s connection with the Island, but I think Ben underestimates that: I think Locke works for the Island.

Of all the Losties, Locke has the deepest connection with the island: from his dreams which foreshadow the future or tell him what course of action he should take, to regaining the use of his legs, to being involved with the event. It could be argued that Desmond is pretty “in touch” with the island. As Desmond was in the event and can see the future, but I think Locke is guided by the island in a way that Desmond isn’t. Locke is being used by the island, to what end I don’t know yet – but hopefully we’ll find out.

The ending  with Ben showing John what was in the “magic box” . . .the Others know a lot about the Losties, but the Others had to grab Locke’s father before the event. The event caused the Others’ beacon to be destroyed so no one can find their way to the island again. So they couldn’t bring anyone to the island since then. (If what they are saying is true, I don’t know how much we can believe from them as they are into manipulating people for their own benefit.)

All in all, the show is starting to get better with the 2nd half of the season, the shows once again are making me go wow and want to see more.

A few tidbits from Dave Sim’s “blog” entry today:

This came to the forefront when it took me three days to produce the latest commission, then an additional three days to produce the back cover of Collected Letters volume II. Then I found myself stymied, ready to do either another commission or to start work on whatever-it-is I’ve been discussing with Marvel or work on my secret project.

So Collected Letters 2005 is a go. . .there has been talk about doing it as a print on demand book and now it seems as it will be similar to Collected Letters 2004: a phonebook size newsprint collection of Dave’s letters. If it is as interesting as CL2004 was, it’ll keep me engrossed for over a week of continuous reading.  He talked about everything from Cerebus to politics to religion to Peter Strauss’ novels.

But also in there Dave reveals that he is working with Marvel. MARVEL? What the heck? We saw what Dave did to the last contract he had put in front of him (Vertigo, go see Dave’s mark up of that contract here). I’d love to be a fly on the wall at that contract negotiation (if there was one, or if it was just Dave saying this is the way it’s going to be).

And the other “secret project” which no word has been spoken yet (at least not that I know of, nor can find on the internets). I hope Dave will announce something about it at SPACE this year. Which reminds me, another thing on the Blog & Mail today was the winner of The Day Prize for 2006: Steve Peters’ Chemistry. This is a great book and well worth the $3. There are samples of art on Steve’s site and he talks about the impetus for creating the comic. Good stuff.

And the last interesting bit on the Blog & Mail was Dave’s closing:

There’s LESS for you In Today’s (and for the next Five Years’) Blog &……MAAIILLL!

Five years? Is Dave just making a jest towards  the old communist standby of a five year plan, or is he seriously doing the Blog & Mail for five years?

Nah! He must just be making a funny.

At first I thought it was yahoo!groups. I’m still not entirely sure.

This past weekend the Cerebus yahoo!group was only sending me about 1 out of every 5 emails. When I went to the group it told me I was a “bouncing” member and I had to unbounce my account before posting any more messages.

Just to be sure I checked my gmail account’s filters. Umm. A filter had been created, not by me, and it was set to automatically delete any messages sent by the group. So I deleted the filter and sent the reactivation email via yahoo!groups. About 2 seconds later the message popped up in my inbox and I reactivated the email with Yahoo!Groups.

So I kept getting about 1 out of every 5 emails. Then a big flurry of emails on Sunday night. I was starting to think I could ride the wave out.

Until I woke up Monday morning awashed in a pile of seaweed floating on a small wooden plank in the middle of the ocean of no group messages. I checked the group’s web interface. My email was bouncing again. I checked my gmail filters: none set up to automatically delete the group’s email.

I went to the yahoo!groups several interfaces to check for anything going on with them. No word from yahoo! but many an upset gmail user.

After switching my yahoo!groups from my gmail account to my yahoo! email I scoured the net for more info. All I had to go one was what yahoo! was telling me:

Last Bounced Message
Remote host said: 552 5.2.2 User over quota 35si6653500wra [RCPT_TO]

Umm. So a google search on that (minus the 35….wra gooblygook) turned up a gmail list with gmail users discussing the same issues I was having. Umm. A couple clicks later and I was at “Gmail’s help center” for “I need help with . . . A message sent to me hasn’t arrived ›” So I made the choicses and was told by Gmail:

‘Over quota’ or ‘Inbox full’ messages indicate that you’ve exceeded your storage capacity.

Umm. So why is it that in my gmail inbox I’m told that “You are currently using 628 MB (22%) of your 2830 MB.” Oh, do I really gmail? Or are you lying to me?

Well, see, that still isn’t the question. . .as I’m still getting emails. From sources other then yahoo!groups. While doing all this I kept hitting the button at yahoo!groups to send me a reactivation email and finally after the fifth try (or so,  I lost count) the email went through for me.

Then I found this: a google “bug” reporter at the Gmail help center. So I gave them my two cents:

Message Subject: inbox “over quota” but only 24% full
Bugs summary: Any emails from the Yahoo!Groups I belong to are bouncing back and saying that “Remote host said: 552 5.2.2 User over quota 35si6653500wra [RCPT_TO]” but I have only used 24% of my inbox capacity and I am receiving messages from other email addresses. I’m using Windows XP with FireFox 2.0.0.2 

We’ll see how long it takes to resolve this mess.

So I spent most of this weekend working on the wiki. Nothing too major, just adding some pages that were “requested” – to take us below 200 requested pages. To me that seems like a lot still, but . . .umm. I went to check Wikipedia and they turned off their “wanted pages” feature. The talk page makes it appear to be due to spam. Umm.

What gets me are some of the guys on the group – they say how they wish there was a “cerebus faq” or this and that about Cerebus for handy reference.

HELLO!

The wiki is here for your usage as long as it is Cerebus related – put it on the Cerebus wiki. The wiki is searchable, so they could put this information in the articles for that issue or phonebook and be able to find it again. . .as long as they use the same search criteria. Don’t point fingers at me and shake your head when you can’t find the information in the wiki. . .

If you can’t find it: put it in. That is the entire point of having a wiki – I can’t do it all. Try as I might, a little help occassionally is nice. That and y’all might have a special tidbit or see something differently then me. So go ahead and put it in. Want to talk about a particular issue? There are “talk” pages (the little link that says “discuss this page” in the left hand navigation bar) where you can discuss the details of that article.

::sigh::

I do have to give props to one fellow Yahoo!er: Ray P. He did a bunch of editing on the Cockroach page, and it looks really good.

All I want to do is create a searchable repository of Cerebus information where all could help out. So please drop by and share your knowledge with the rest of Cerebus readership.

Equals usually not that bad of a time. I take it slow. I take it easy around corners, because when I gun it the tail end will swing out and I feel like I’m some cheesy 70s cop show and I should have a little blue magnetic light on my roof.

But not tonight.

I went out to hang out with the guys at a local Mexican restaurant. I don’t drink, but I really liked this coworker and this was his little going away party. But it started snowing out this morning. And it kept snowing on and off all through out the day. So I didn’t want to stop at this place and then have even a harder time getting home. . .but I really did want to say my goodbyes.

So with a little convidincing I went.  I had some yummy food, a couple root beers, talked with my friends, and said my goodbyes to the now ex-coworker. Then I went out to my car.

I wiped the snow off my windshield and tried to go straight ahead up a partial incline to get out. No go. So I reversed, think if I swung around some momentum would help me up the hill. No go #2. So I went down the hill to the flat parking lot below it thinking I could turn around and just get some more momentum to get out. No go #3. I was stuck and couldn’t go any further.

Now this is the first time driving my Mustang over three New England winters that the car has gotten stuck. I had some weight in the back, but I prolly could’ve used some more.  There was no doubt that if I had my MR2 I would’ve been golden.

So I went back to the restaurant and a friend’s girlfriend hooked me up with some help and led the charge (in her high heels too nevertheless) to give the ‘stang a push.

And push they did, and the little car got unstuck and I waved out the window and off I went. The trip home wasn’t bad – except the three big town plows that I thought were going to hog up my line even though they were going the opposite direction.

The thing about it was – there wasn’t even that much snow on the ground. By that time it was ice rain, and the snow on the ground was slushy, but not super slushy.  Just something that I didn’t think my car would have issues with ya know?

Well, not really. A pretty glib comment to get your attention. But in Dave Sim’s latest Blog & Mail “post”:

“God knows exactly how much money you need and if you play square with Him and do the things that are right, He’ll see that you get every penny exactly when you need it.”

All Dave is saying to put your faith in God and he’ll provide what you need when you need it. Not necessarily anything that I agree with, but this comment:

“I think that discussing politics and faith in God at considerable length for four or five days out of every three-week period and dumping it on the internet on a Make of That What you Will basis is the right thing for me to do. It will make me happier and will accomplish more good in a general sense and help me sleep better at night than getting a six-figure option deal from Dreamworks is going to do.”

Which I do agree with. You can have the monetary possessions you could ever dream of, but that won’t make you happy. Sure money can ease some of your concerns: food, health, shelter – but once you’ve got those basics down, everything else is just gravy on top. And no matter how much gravy you pour on that chopped liver, that chopped liver still isn’t going to taste good.

I kept my window opened a crack last night and let the cool night breeze come inside.  Spring is right around the corner. So close I can taste it in the air. With more and more motorcycles on the roads (even with all the sand still left on them!) and the sun staying out way past the end of work.

I like leaving the window open not only for the breeze, but I actually like the noises of the night.

See, usually I need pitch black and no noise to go to sleep. If a neighbor (Hi Cindi!) has her radio or teevee turned up so loud that I can listen along with her, then the ear plugs go in. I’ll put the eye mask on just for the heck of it.

But somehow the noises of the outside night don’t bother me. Maybe it was sleeping outside with the girl scouts at summer camp or in the Army out on field training or during deployments that got me comfortable sleeping to the chirping of crickets, the soft sound of the night breeze, the occasional bird chirp. . .it is more comforting then disturbing. I prefer to sleep with the window open rather then close with the A/C on during the hot summer months.

Plus, on these still a bit chilly winter nights, a cool breeze makes me love being under the covers, some snuggling  and just the warmth of the bed.

So Dave Sim over in his “blog” has been posting on a daily basis at the start of each blog his “14 Impossible Things To Believe Before Breakfast” (now with the added line “To Make You A Good Feminist”). Even though there are 16 things numerically listed in his essay Tangent (and even though the essay is broken down into 5 sections, don’t call it Tangents. . .lordy lou).

As I stated when he was running his prayer every Sunday, people aren’t going to come back for repeats. If I know every Sunday all I’m going to see is the prayer? I’ll skip that day thank you. Sure I get the RSS feed of the blog, but same diff: I just click on the folder for the feed to mark it as read, and before it even opens, it is off to the next feed’s folder.

And now this on weekdays? How many people are going to read the 14 Things every weekday? Not many at all. How many will see the 14 Things (again) and think “Nothing new here” and move along without even bother to scroll down to see what Dave has to say? Prolly quite a few.

I have no problem with Dave posting his 14 (or 16, whichever) things – I’ve posted it up on my CFG site. . .the problem I have with Dave doing it is he is driving away traffic to the site and traffic to the site = potential sales.

Dave discusses a variety of topics on his “blog” from religion to comics to politics. The great majority of it is pretty interesting (I ‘specially like his discussions on Islam as I usually learn something new from them), and it should get some hits from non-comic reading individuals, who might pick up his Collected Letters volume (which unfortunately isn’t in the “Buy Cerebus” link on his blog. . .) based on how interesting they find his blog entries. How perhaps the comics reading individual might actually be exposed to some of Dave’s writing will think that Dave’s essays aren’t as arsine as some individuals might lead us to believe and decide that they’ll finally pick up that copy of High Society that they were thinking of getting, but then heard Sim was a putz and decided against it, only to find out through his blog that they’d prolly like it.

My other question was is he killing the market for the Collected Letters 2005 volume he has planned? By printing all these letters and their responses, who needs to get CL2005? Dave has a multitude of interesting topics in his noggin to talk about, part of me would just like to listen to him talk about whatever interests him and save the letter responses for CL2005 – so when I’m reading CL2005 I won’t have all this deja vu. . .

But is just me.

And why don’t I just write Dave about this rather then blogging it? I’m going to “copy and paste” this blog entry into my letter to Dave (along with a couple other questions I have). I want to ruminate over how to make his blog more profitable. . .then send him this massive 27 page letter.