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Motorcycle update version 1.2

Sunday, August 24, 2008

On Friday, August 15, 2008, I picked up my motorcycle from Lake City Choppers with the assurance that they warranted out my oil seal and put brand-new one in. on Saturday, August 16, 2008, I was at my father’s house changing a blown bulb in my instrument display and I noticed I had oil all over the back of my motorcycle tire and was coming from the same place that previously leak came from. I immediately brought my motorcycle to Roberts’ Sports Center in Malone, New York, where they immediately diagnosed the problem as a leaky seal. The same seal that Lake City Choppers supposedly replaced.

The mechanic at Roberts’ stated that the seal had never been replaced but instead siliconed and put back in. The mechanic showed me the seal and pointed out the silicone residue. When I asked to take the seal with me, he stated Suzuki could want back for the warranty and therefore could not give it to me. This mechanic successfully repaired my bike and I haven’t had a problem with it since.

I don’t know how much I trust individuals at Lake City Choppers as they are apparently ripping me off with no moral qualms; I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back them after that for my faring on for any bike work. Also, I don’t know how to approach the owner of Lake City Choppers to tell him that his mechanic, Jason, has been ripping me off. The owner, Casey, could very well know what’s going on and not care.

Maybe I should inform the New York State Attorney General’s office and the Suzuki Corp. of America. Dammit, I just don’t know.

Any suggestions?

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Update

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Read “Motorcycle Accident” and “Motorcycle Update” if this post confuses you.

The day I dropped my motorcycle (2008 Suzuki GS500F-NEW) off, I talked to a service rep at North End Repair, aka, Lake City Choppers. The person said he would have my bike in the next day and would be the first bike worked on (it was 4pm when I brought my bike in and they close at 5pm) and I was cool with that information and left my motorcycle there.

A week later, Wednesday, August 6, 2008- I’ve called their shop multiple times and got the same answer- it’s next, it’ll be done shortly. The latest call was on Monday, August 4, 2008. On Monday they said it was the next motorcycle to be serviced (apparently they put me on the end of the list(this happens when I’m next in line for service there and it pisses me off.)). The service agent said he would call me by the end of the day on Monday or at latest Tuesday. The call never came. I waited until Wednesday afternoon to call the back.

On Wednesday afternoon, I called North End Repair and was told they haven’t looked at it yet; there were a bunch of bikes before mine, but it would be next. At this time I calmly said that I was becoming very irritated with their service; I had purchased a new motorcycle through them 4 months before, it sprung an oil leak, I brought it in for immediate service (which I was promised), and a week later the motorcycle still hasn’t been looked at. The bike also has to have an estimate for bunny damage to the cracked plastic faring (30 minutes worth of work). They had promised me it would be first in line as I bought my motorcycle new from their dealership. After expressing my concerns, the customer service agent told me he would call me back in an hour.

About 1.5 hours later I get a call from North End Repair; my bike has a leaky gasket of some kind in the engine. It may or may not be covered by warranty. Again, I express myself calmly that I didn’t buy a used motorcycle, I bought a brand new motorcycle from them and it has a leaky oil seal… it needs to be replaced under warranty. He also stated that the oil leak was NOT caused by the run-in with the rabbit. I wasn’t pleased with them at this point as the oil leak may not be covered under warranty, but I was with a client and couldn’t vent. The service agent told me the part(s) would be in his shop in roughly 3 to 5 business days. Fine.

I’m getting to the point where I just want my bike back. I purchased it as it’s extremely economical when it comes to gas and my car isn’t. The loan payments are 49$ a month on the bike for the next 2 years. Can’t go wrong when I’m paying over $160 a month in gas and the bike costs a total of $100 a month for payment and gas.

It seems that I purchased a $6,000 headache from Suzuki and Lake City Choppers in Plattsburgh, NY. I will most likely never return to Lake City Choppers (aka North End Repair) for any service or to purchase my next motorcycle. Don’t get me wrong, their sales team is excellent, but their service team is lacking. I hate being put on the back burner. This is bullshit.

I’m thinking Honda may win over Suzuki when I make my next motorcycle purchase.

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Motorcycle Update

Sunday, August 3, 2008

I had a plan to bring my motorcycle in on 8/30/2008 to North End Repairs in Plattsburgh, New York to be fixed; the faring was cracked from hitting a small bunny. The same day I went to bring it in, my assistant noticed I had oil on the inside of my faring. When I checked the oil in the engine by removing the dipstick, it was bone dry. This freaked me out; it’s brand new and shouldn’t be leaking oil.

I called North End and they said they would get to work on the motorcycle as soon as I brought it in- as of Thursday evening, they hadn’t started on it. They went on to state that it wouldn’t be touched on Friday because the guy who works on SportBikes had the day off; fine. Like usual, I’m okay with that.

Hopefully tomorrow they’ll have my oil leakage fixed (hopefully under warrenty or I’ll be really pissed off with them for attempting to charge me) and I can pick up my bike… I have a feeling that the cracked faring will be in disrepair and that they’ll have to order the replacement part.

I just want my bike back- I purchased the motorcycle to save on gas and since I brought it in, I’m not saving on gas at all. This blows.

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Bad Juju

Sunday, August 3, 2008

A few days ago when I was reading a local newspaper, I noticed a name in bold letters and a title that freaked me out. A local man passed away… the same local man, who back in February smashed out my vehicle’s windshield after getting into my car uninvited.

This man threatened to kill me. He was really drunk and being stupid. The damage was more than $250 dollars, which in New York is an automatic felony for private property; the police pressed misdemeanor charges originally and stated that they would up the charges if the damages came back at $250 or over. The damages came back at around $280; they refused to press further charges… fine. I’m okay with that.

I read in the paper a few days ago that the guy who smashed my windshield had hit a tree head on without wearing his seat-belt and exceeding the posted speed limit… he died on scene. Broken neck, fractured skull, and ruptured heart. What a horrible way to go.

I feel bad that he died and I feel for his family. A lot of people have told me it shouldn’t bother me, but it does in fact bother me tremendously. I want to send his family a sympathy card, but it would seem inappropriate for me to do so.

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Motorcycle Accident

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

As some of you may not know, I purchased a brand new Suzuki GS500F Motorcycle on April 10, 2008.


Since the date of purchase I’ve put over 4,000 miles on it and have yet to actually fall off or lay it down. However, on July 12, 2008 at 11:50PM, on my way home from a friends house, I hit a bunny on Route 30 South in New York.

I never laid the bike down on the pavement; I managed to keep the motorcycle upright. But I did crack the plastic faring on the left side of the bike. It’ll cost about $250 to replace just the left half of the faring- damnit! Thankfully I have insurance through Progressive; they actually calmed my ass down after my incident and treated me with respect, dignity, and compassion. I’m glad they were the cheapest insurance, because they’re awesome!

Hopefully I’ll have the faring replaced in a couple of weeks. Progressive has already cut the check, but I’m scrounging together money to pay the $100 deductible and trying to make an appointment with North End to fix my bike. I hope you enjoyed the picture! :-p

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BlackBerry 8330 Curve

Monday, July 21, 2008

It’s been almost 2 months since I switched to Verizon Wireless and a month since I purchased a BlackBerry Curve 8330. I confess, I did previously use the iPhone with the AT&T Wireless network. I miss having an Apple product, but I don’t necessarily miss the phone itself. The iPhone was amazing but when my local Wireless World Rep. handed me a Curve 8330, the features sold me immediately. Since I purchase, I’ve been very pleased with the Curve. Thank you Jared for being so kind to me during my transition from AT&T to Verizon.


Verizon Wireless Blackberry 8330 Curve

Verizon Wireless BlackBerry 8330 Curve



I must say, the BlackBerry Curve is a mildly confusing device with all of the features and options that are crammed in its tiny case. It took me a few hours of just flipping through the manual and playing around with the phone to get a good grasp on it; the iPhone was a little more intuitive but offered less and after a few months of regular use had very diminished battery life.

The one thing I’m upset with is the lack of decent support on the part of Research In Motion (RIM) for the MacOS; there is no comparable desktop solution for OSX. I personally use Missing Sync for BlackBerry, but I would rather use Desktop Manager designed for the Mac and not a third party program.

I’m impressed with the BlackBerry Curve 8330 and I’m glad I switched over from the iPhone. I just hope RIM decides to put their act together and makes an actual Mac release of the Desktop Manager.

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phantoms

Monday, July 21, 2008

It seems to me I have an immense amount of books that I need to finish reading.

I’m currently reading Phantoms by Dean Koontz. It isn’t scary, but it isn’t boring. It’s most certainly not like the movie what-so-ever. I think that’s what draws me in to the story; it’s so unlike the movie, I really don’t know exactly how things will turn out. With that said, I’m sure the endings will be roughly the same or Mr. Koontz probably would have not let it become a movie. If the ending isn’t even close to being the same, I’ll be very suprised, but excited.

I suppose I should read… nah. I’m going to work out for a little bit and then read before bed. Hopefully reading right before bed will jump start my imagination to produce an amazingly fantastical dream.

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sometimes you just need to hear it

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The past few days have felt pretty bipolar, but instead of having elated phases, they’ve been quick and extremely short. Things just seem to flow from good to bad, back and fourth, way to easily as of late. People giving me bad news, seeing my boyfriend, more bad news, and of course, my boyfriend telling me he loves me. I actually think when he told me he loved me, I realized everything I’m worrying about, all the bad news, it’s all petty and I can move past it- it’s nothing permanent, or at least I’m hoping.

First off- Back in late 2007, I was exposed to a nasty little virus that goes by the common name of Hepatitis B. Since my exposure, I went through all the precautions; anti-viral shots and immunity shots. Now finally I can get re-tested to see if virus took to my body or not. Here I am, about to find out if I’m okay, and my corporation (or at least one person in HR) states that the corporation will no longer cover my exposure because I switched departments. This upsets me a little. I still work for the same corporation I worked for when I was exposed, but just switched departments… I didn’t see how I could not be covered. In good faith I contacted my old supervisor via e-mail and CC’ed my new supervisor. This is most likely a mistake and will be corrected, but it scared the crap out of me. Thank goodness I work for a bunch great supervisors and damn good corporation.

Now, I get my manic news… this triggers me to be happy- my boyfriend is coming over and we’re going to hang out and just do meaningless crap. This is fantastic! I love having him around! We ended up hanging out and chatting, going for a lovely walk down the train tracks, spent some ‘quality’ time together, and watched Transformers. Just the last part was enough to make my day… the Transformers… how awesome!

Of course, now comes the bad news again. I’m told when I went to an Urgent Care facility because I was having difficulties breathing (they couldn’t figure out why), my insurance is currently denying the claim- It could be a past issue. Great, more bills that I can’t afford. Just great. I told Luke about my dilemma via a text.

Luke is amazing. We all screw up in life, but no matter what, Luke is an amazing individual; since I’ve known him, he’s always supported me in everything I’ve done. I think he realized how down I was and I just needed to see or hear that he loved me or something. Hell, I didn’t even know that I needed to see that. So what does he do? He sent me a text with “Luv u.” That just caused me to step back and see all of my problems as temporary inconveniences.

No. I’m not really bipolar. I don’t even meet the requirements for B.P.D. as defined in the DSM-IV TR. I just feel as if my current experiences are bipolar by coincidence of my daily life.

Things are looking up. Thanks, Luke.

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Carbon Leaf - Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

Saturday, July 7, 2007

I love how Carbon Leaf’s songs have always been in tune to the delicate, yet very intricate, rhythms of my life.

—–
Take a walk down town, and dream with me
We’ll walk the parks and the empty streets
You know the seasons ought to be
Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

We’re alone in a crowded room
Silhouetted and ready to bloom
You know the seasons ought to be
Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat
Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat

And when the high wind blows everything
Like the lion attacking the spring
I love you more than I’ll ever let on
And that’s a fault of mine I’m working on
I’m working on
Take a walk downtown

Remember the days that would never end?
So much time you couldn’t comprehend?
When the sun’s so slow to fade
And tomorrow was more of the same
And the easiest April Rain
Was enough to ignite the flame
And you’d fade out with a grin
With the company you were in

And when the high wind blows everything
Like the lion attacking the spring
I love you more than I’ll ever let on
And that’s a fault of mine I’m working on
I’m working on

And when the sky’s a dusky hue
And everything is bottle blue
I love you more than I ever let on
And that’s a fault of mine I m working on
I’m working on
Take a walk down town

And jump the train line down
And then turn around at the edge of town
Or continue down, to the other side
And ride and ride ‘til we see our lives
And see our lives from outside
Our city walls and the darkened halls
And the lonely calls
And when we turn around and head back in
Everything will be new again
Everything will be new

And when the high wind blows everything
Like the lion attacking the spring
I love you more than I’ll ever let on
And that’s a fault of mine I’m working on
I’m working on

And when the sky’s a dusky hue
And everything is bottle blue
I love you more than I ever let on
And that’s a fault of mine I m working on
I’m working on
Take a walk downtown

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I think I’ve found my answer.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Posted: June 6, 2007

My college graduation is less than a week away (when I originally wrote this) and I feel that I’ve finally learned what I was seeking when I changed my major to Psychology. The answer to my ultimate question, “Why?”. I knew psychology was my best resource for finding the answer to that question that seemed to easily elude me.

My answer? Reciprocity. A Social Psychology term, reciprocity is the attempt to reciprocate feelings or emotions that someone else is showing/expressing to you. This quite possibly is my answer, and it’s probably the only answer I’ll ever have; I think I’m okay with that. It does leave a bad taste in my mouth, but it brings me a sense closure to a six year period of my life that I thought would have no end.

It’s finally over.

Goodnight, good luck, and farewell.

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