increases to the motion of ambient particles (including myself)

This spring business is finally starting to take hold, and as the little particles of matter all around me increase their non-directional molecular activity, I'm gradually feeling the pull of life wrenching me from what now feels like a winter of hibernation. Funny to feel that way, as I"ve basically been as busy as humanly possible, in fact I think I'm getting enough done right now for two or three people., but I do.

The last few months here and the resulting snow melt have resulted in a near constant need to empty water buckets, move tarps, and re-arrange my already tiny cramped workshop to accomidate a constantly leaking roof. The combination of weight from snow and standing water managed to drench a lot of my stuff in acrid, sticky, vaguely organic 'roof juice' which anyone who has ever lived with a leaking roof will know exactly what i mean. Aside from the property damage, the big loss was at least 3 or 4 saturdays spent doing nothing but disassembling and rearranging the elaborately constructed makeshift organizational system at the workshop. Shelves, my paint booth, all the roof bits, light fixtures, and tarps and buckets constantly shifting to mitigate the damage from the drips which never come down twice in the same place. The 15 gallon drum i was using as a catch-all, with tarps, funnels,buckets and hoses running into it, was filling up just about once a day, sometimes overflowing and re-soaking anything near the floor. So yeah, that has been a bitch.

Good news is, the frustration of all this, plus my brother moving down with us has motivated Caitlin and I to find a house with onsite garage so i can save money on the shop and work closer to home. I'm finally back on track with the Moped Factory parts and chewing my way through a 3 week backlog. Sorry to everyone who is patiently waiting on parts for spring.

Also contributing to the backlog was me taking a week to check out the ConAg (construction/agriculture) expo in Las Vegas. This was unbelievably rad. Especially to engineering nerd types like myself who have chubbs for huge construction equipment, 2500 hp diesel engines, turbochargers the size of a dorm fridge, etc. It was great to meet so many cool people in industry doing amazing things, and so many of them wanting to hire young engineers. Definitely didn't look like a recession at the vegas expo center, thats for sure! All in all it just encourages me more to get my act together with this whole engineering degree thing and git-r-dun as they say.

On the moped front, things have been slow, mostly working on moped factory parts.. boring stuff really, not even doing r&d, mostly just stuck in production. Dont get me wrong, i love making parts especially when i know how many bikes will run better this summer because of me. Especially getting to see my parts on bikes at rallies built by people i dont even know... its pretty great, but its a lot of work and as fast as things sell out i dont ever feel the sense of completion.

I got a chance to work on the sachs for a few hours last weekend. Got the seat all set up, just need to pad it and sew up a cover now. I painted all the bracketry black because it had been rusted out by bird shit before i got the bike. I also made a really awesome air cleaner housing out of fiberglass that i'm pretty proud of. I've done 'glass work in the past but i always forget how easy it is- and rewarding. Metal can be a lot easier to work with in simple shapes, especially when you have the tools, but fiberglass is basically like paper mache' with some nasty chemicals. When done right it can yield non-structural parts in crazy geometries, which this air filter had to be. I think it will make the tuning go a lot better with a little capacitance on the intake, and the carb comes out right into the front fender, making it impossible to fit any other standard sized pod filter on there. This will bring the air intake up high, under the tank where it should stay clean and dry. Plus I want this bike to be ninja-quiet so the airbox should help with that too.

Cant wait to get this bike on the road, when i mocked-up the seat i took it around the shop a little bit and boy does it have some nuts. Probably wont be wanting to do clutch-droppin' wheelies with the touchy sachs clutch, but having that manual gives you such nice control of your clutch engagement, and it feels really unstoppable.

anyhow, i gotta get back to homework. i'll try to put up some pics so things aren't so boring on here.