Where a Biker Goes on a Nice Day

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Yesterday turned out to be as warm and delightful as promised in the forecast. My spouse was even feeling well enough to join me and my senior pals on our morning rounds of coupon-driven grocery gathering (giggle.)

After the fun of taking LOLITS to the grocery store, we returned them to their homes and returned home ourselves. I prepared my extra-special gluten-free pizza for my spouse.

I had messages waiting for me on the answering machine (yeah, I’m that old-fashioned) from some biker buddies who said they already departed for a ride, and we’ll ride together next time. Oh well, I wasn’t going to have the situation of missing the ride with my friends spoil my day. I made a call to make sure someone I wanted to visit was forewarned that a leather-clad, booted biker was on his way.
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What Taught Me English

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Yes, the title of this post is correct. Not “who” but “what” taught me English.

I was born and raised in the USA, and learned American English. With its faults and easy abuse of the mother tongue, American English is easy to speak when you learn it as a native, but difficult to spell some words or worse, write with proper grammar.

It makes me cringe sometimes to read other blogs where writers do not proofread their work, and post blog articles that are riddled with misspellings and have many grammatical errors. Yes, then, I admit, I am a stickler for proper written English.

So if it were not “who,” then what taught me English?
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High-End Name Does Not Mean High-End Quality

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XelementA vendor that sells Xelement boots found a review of these boots on the “boots wiki” and wrote a message to me to express discontent. The vendor was unhappy with some opinions on that wiki page that said things like “available from websites that offer cheap boots and gear made for the masses, not for people who understand quality.”

I can understand why that statement would upset a vendor trying to sell those boots.

The vendor representative also said,

[Xelement] boots are made in the same factories that other high end brands (such as Official Harley-Davidson boots) are produced in.

as a defense or as fact, stating that the opinion above was a false assumption.

How did I deal with this input?
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What a Biker Does When It Snows

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As forecast, snow began to fall Sunday afternoon. By then, I had completed all of my work to care for my spouse and senior pals for the weekend.

I especially enjoyed lunch at a friend’s house. This friend lost both legs while serving in the Army. He had completed rehab, and some buddies and I remodeled his house to make it more suitable for someone who gets around both in a wheelchair and also using prosthetic legs. He invited us over for lunch, which he made himself, to show off his abilities. His smile said it all, and I was grateful to be able to help him and his family.

So now that it was “officially” becoming a winter wonderland again, what did this biker do?
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Living Prepared on the Yo-Yo

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This has been a winter that won’t quit. It has been trying to quit, but refuses to do so.

Three weeks ago, 60F (15.5C). I rode my Harley. Followed by 12 inches (30cm) of snow a few days later. Then one week ago, 62F (16C). I rode my Harley. It remained pleasant enough so that I could ride my Harley to work for two more days. Followed by the coldest windiest day this entire winter with wind speeds in excess of 50mph (80kph) with air temps at 10F (-12C) making the wind chill (“feels like”) temperature at -12F (-17C).

Then yesterday, it reached a balmy 65F (18C)! What did I do?
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Employee + Spouse

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I’m glad to see gender neutral language appearing on official forms.

My employer recently distributed forms to re-enroll for health care benefits. Unfortunately, the rates of insurance have skyrocketed — an increase of over 25%!

On the form, there were boxes to tick, including “employee only,” or “employee + spouse.” I like that–the gender-neutrality of it. Doesn’t matter, straight or gay, a spouse is a spouse.

What was my response on this form?
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Asked To Be Featured in a Political Ad

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Someone running for elected office in our home state contacted me the other day to say, “I heard that you and your partner got married. Congratulations. As you know, I am running for [position] and my team is creating ads to air as we run up to the primary election. Will you and your partner join us to be featured in our ad campaign?”

My spouse was sitting right next to me when I got this call. I put it on speaker so he could hear the conversation.
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