Scooting for life.

Focus on the Future!!!

2010-10-05T22:55:00.004-06:00

At time things seem pretty F@cked up

and things don't seem to make sense,other time things are answered in time. one of the new things I have been doing is trying to wait to react at least 48 hours. work on the problem with thought and time not just jump at it and fail because when you react with a reaction and not your mind and a plan things seem to just blister into a bigger cluster of sh@t and not really turn out at all.

Example: I tried to solve all of my marriage problems at one time when in reality it was not something I could control at all it was not in my control and after time things fell into place not the way I thought but in a way I never really anticipated I lost a marriage and gained a new perspective on life it was not about me at all and a 10 year old was the one that made that very very clear to me she was the one who had the least control the most to loose and she was the one who had the answer it was love love for me love for he mother and love for her family and she was the one who said it will be OK I love you and god loves you it will all work out .

how in the would did she Know things i did not even know and somehow i knew she was right and she was she taught me that the marriage I thought was something that would never die because she was made from it and she would live longer than it would ever last so all of the good of my marriage was wrapped up ion a 90 pound bundle named Carrissa so in some ways it would live forever not as i had planned but in a way and in a person at times when i was married I took for granted I even said at one time Marriage is forever and kids are temporary I know now marriage is temporary but the kids will out live you so love them like you love yourself because when your gone they are all that remains of what you were and who you were so make it your priority and make it the best the very best you can.

How Things change and how you adapt!

2010-10-03T03:56:00.002-06:00

A lot has happened since my last post, Tom and I have not talked in over a Year.
Larry has Past away.I got a Divorce. Got laid off Got a new job laid off again, figured out how to date
lost over 60lbs and gained back 40 the hotel Closed Club Max and I have had a new girlfriend for over a year. Wow were do I start.

Good bad or ugly!

2008-06-26T23:58:00.002-06:00

Good ,bad or ugly (based on feedback already given) I had a great time. Hats
off to Rob and Karen, as well as Tom for leading us around for 3 days and the
Mob, for their participation too. So what if everything wasn't perfect? It's what
you make of it that matters. I gained some new friends and I hope to be
scootering around with them for a long time. John
I think John summed up Scooterpalloza, In three words."Good Bad Ugly"
First I want to thank my wife, She truly is the love of my life. And she is so great at almost everything. Without her my life would be less than half she makes up for all my faults and she still stick by me through it all. She Rocks!
As for scooterpalooza the good. The new members they seem to be great people and will add allot to our group. let's hope they feel welcomed and want to join us .
Also some old friends are back Geneva and her husband are really nice people. And Al always makes me feel happy, his smile is wonderful and he has Wisdom and knowledge, of people that must come only with age. I think he is a great man.
A1 scooters Rocks there new scooter line is very respectfull and a lot better than the line he sold before. It will make his life allot easyer and his customers happy. plus now we can recommend, him more to potential scooter purchasers. I feel our club would fail without his support "Thanks Erik".for all your support.
Next The bad ,first of all Karen and I tried to get support .from some of the club members. But the cold seems to make them hibernate. and lack of participation breeds, discontent and lack of progress, Leeds to procrastination and finally. Why should they try no one seems to care . so they give up and think why should we tryat all.
Thankfully It's warm now and they are awake and things are moving forward again. my frustration is fading and soon, all will be well again we have a couple of cool rides, planned for the summer .with Tom and Sarah I hope things will return to the way they were in February soon. learning to be a good friend is harder and easyer than it seems sometimes. I will try to look at it from their point of view more often .and not make them wait on me as much.
And finally The ugly the event in Hyde park got my goat. the Sobs and I still haven't got things worked out sometimes I feel I should just move on. But It is still bugging me and It's been 2 years Now. I will delegate the relationship with them for someone other than me so it wont bring me down.or just move on.
Next Waiting for input, is very very frustrating. Next year i will set a date and time and just go, with it good, bad or ugly. Marketing is the key word for me in the rest of 2008-2009 let's make it happen. become a leaner, meaner, fighting machine. Delegate better and lead at work and in life succeed ,with a positive attitude and make a positive result."Become a better dog".
I will strive to stop the drama in my life. And make them the reason they fail not because, I was involved. Make my life and my friend's better and succeed.
Fly with the eagles hang out a little less with the turkeys. or at least be a really awesome turkey until next time ,
peace love and scootering is all I need. Rob

Scooter Tag!!!!!!

2008-04-09T13:32:00.006-06:00

Scooter Tag: (Boise).

The Rules: * The boundaries could be the Middleton, Eagle, Lucky Peak, Prison, Meridian to Garitty, and Bogus Basin - half way up. * To start, someone posts a photo of their scooter with a landmark, sign, etc. Clues may be given along with the photo. * Individually other participants ride to the same place and get a photo with THEIR scooter at the same/similar spot. * The first person to "tag" the photo by posting their photo with their bike gets to post the next photo for people to find. * If no one is able to identify the tag, the poster can give progressively easier clues until someone finally says "AHA!" though please don't post the location of the tag until after someone else has posted their picture. The hunt is part of the fun.

Vespanomics.

2008-01-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick course to get you "up to speed" on Vespanomics and why we're so passionate about it.
If you want to graduate to the next course level, visit http://www.vespanomics.com/ to get more information, access surveys and studies and other materials on the subject.
So, what is Vespanomics? In a nutshell, it's the satisfaction and exhilaration Vespa owners feel, knowing they're:
Saving money on gas
Did you know that if Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to scooters, they would save roughly $42 million on gas and consume 14 million gallons less fuel PER DAY (based on $3/gal average).
Lowering Carbon dioxide emissions
If Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to scooters, carbon dioxide emissions could also be reduced by 324 million pounds per day.
Decreasing traffic congestion
Vespa's compact body style takes less space on the road and allows you to breeze through heavy traffic.
By shifting the daytime vehicle mix to 80 percent cars / 20 percent scooters in the Manhattan (New York City) Central Business District (stretching from 60th Street to the lower tip of Manhattan), there would be a total decrease in delay of more than 4.6 million hours per year - which translates to time savings of nearly 100 working hours per person annually.
Fashionable yet classic
Vespa is THE iconic Italian brand. For over 60 years, Vespa has helped define what is cool in fashion, music and film.
Vespa's celebrity fans include Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, James Gandolfini and many, many more.

embed src="http://gogreenchallenge.vespausa.com/ups/9c70be80a9d479d004ac74f32d0040f0" height="305" width="350">

Northwest scooter club links

2007-12-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

Los Gatos Gordos Seattle AND Portland group, famous for annual Paseo con los Muertos ("Ride with the Dead") rally.

Retroactive SC - Boise The Retroactive gang welcomes new and vintage bikes.

Minions of Boise Not affiliated with us...just some freaky namin' coincidence.

Bombastic SC - Richland Currently, our closest allies, despite Dr. Strangelove's advice.

Scooters of Bellingham Great new club in a great town, just south of Canada.

2% Scooters - Coeur d'Alene Inland-weird like us...but on a much larger scale.

Vespa Club of Seattle It's a Vespa club, in Seattle. Who needs fancy names?

Belladonnas - Seattle All-girl club. Viva Belladonnas!

Flying Monkeys SC - Seattle Seen the WWW's monkeys fly? You've seen these guys ride.

Wussys - Seattle Old-school, secret society stuff here. But Wussys don't bite.

Oregon Scooter Club Large, well-organized, all-Oregon club. We like their style!

Twist & Play - Portland What, more rain? Time for more beer!

The Orphans - Portland New, and hard at work on that Bad-Boy reputation.

Capital City SC - Victoria, BC Just a little cooler, in every sense of the word.

In the News (Other Clubs)

2007-12-04T22:40:00.001-07:00

As we cruise the Internet, lots of stories crop up about scooterists and scooter clubs in other cities. Whether they’re fairly close to home - when we can maybe identify with the place, or perhaps know a little about the club from an area rally – or if the story is based in a city we’ve never visited, it seems riders and clubs have a lot in common.That said, here are four articles we’ve culled recently, most posted for different reasons.
The first is actually an older story concerning the Portland scooter scene. First published in 2005 in the Mercury, the article presents a tale of two (or three) clubs in the Rose City, one focused on old-school imbibery, the other about riding – and doing so safely. Opposites, as it were, astride the same vehicle.
The second is a more straightforward take on scootering in another city much like Spokane – and in this case, a club with a name strikingly similar to ours. Of course we’re talking about Boise, and the article, published in the Idaho Statesman in April of 2006, concerns the Minions of Boise. (BTW, see the nice post by MOB's Jay about Spokane Scoot 2007!)
Number three, like the MOB article above, is a short piece about Boise's second club, RetroActive. "Motorcycles are cool," founder Karen Nelson is quoted as saying, "but scooters are cute." (Hard not to be in Nelson's case - since she rides a pink sidecar-equipped Stella peppered with Hello Kitty! stickers...)Finally, we’ve posted a link to an article published by the University of Arkansas Traveler, about a small club doing a nice bit of work raising money for a children’s shelter by raffling a donated scooter. Our group has certainly talked about doing something similar, perhaps becoming an annual thing, but things haven’t jelled yet. With the Minions tripling its membership between June and October, maybe it’ll happen next year?
Enjoy.
"Vespa vs. Vespa" (304 Kb, Acrobat® file)"Scooters are a Gas" (252 Kb, Acrobat® file)"Scooters Gain Devotees" (68 Kb, Acrobat® file)"Club Raises Money" (Arkansas Traveler, weblink)

posted by Minions scooter club.

Where Fireballs Come From

2007-12-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

What does Ferrara Pan's Atomic Fireball candy have to do with scooters? Not very much, actually.
But for some reason - and we're glad it happened - a couple years ago the marketing gurus at the Chicago-based Genuine Scooter Company and the Chicago based candy company got together to produce the special-edition Stella scooter, the Atomic Fireball edition, of which only 150 were produced. The bike came with loud and proud yellow flame graphics over fire-engine red paint, flame-embossed handgrips, a striped mudflap and a whole bag of the cinnamon-flavored jawbreaker candy to fill the bike's coin tray with. Maybe it's the audacity of the bike itself, or maybe it's just candy nostalgia, but we think the Fireball is the best special edition Genuine ever made.
It should be pointed out that we've got another bias, namely that two of our members own a Fireball Stella. In fact, it's the one given away at this year's Amerivespa.
But this blurb is about the scooter and the candy.
First, in the heat of trying to find a five-pound bag of fireballs for this year's Spokane Scoot, we came across some interesting (to us, anyway) trivia about the candy itself on the Ferrara Pan website - namely, that each and every jawbreaker starts as a single grain of sugar that is "grown" to the grape-sized finished product inside a rotating drum. Check out the GIF animations on the process at the link below (no one has to know you're a candy geek!) Want some of those red-hot candies, or a bag of another Ferrara Pan favorite, Lemonheads? You can order vast quantities right from the factory.
Second, we noticed that Genuine still has a couple of pages up about the Fireball Stella. Kinda surprising, given the fact that these were last available in 2005, but kinda cool, given the fact that one features several shots of the bike, and the other contains a special registry and photo gallery for Fireball owners - though there are far fewer than 150 such owners listed so far. Hint, hint, Paul and Marla?
Finally, we're looking forward to seeing some of the new Genuine Scooters - including the long-rumored return of the Stella, in a special pea-green color - at the home of our new friends at RPM Motorsports, Spokane's only Genuine™ dealership. When they come in, we'll be sure to post an update.
Fireball Candy Tour (Ferrara Pan website)Fireball Stella registry (Genuine Scooter website)Fireball Stella info (Genuine Scooter website)"Candy Store" Ad (Image file)

thanks to minions of spokane scooter club

The not so good things about Scootering

2007-11-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

like all mechanical things they break and almost always when you dont want them to.

Which in most cases is any time they break at all.

Today is sunday and we were going to meet up, to ride. Tom's scooter seems lately to be running very well untill today 2 miles from home ,sommething broke and it's down again major drag.

He will call me soon and let me know, what is going on .

I hope he will soon get things back and running.

November is here and cold is moving in

2007-11-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Try to winterize the fire ball and motto kitty, this weekend and put more mile on snoop.All seems well with the new motor,will do plug chops this week and set it up for a little better gas mileage . only about 60mpg or less since motor

install.sorry no posting during Halloween and the end of the month post again soon

It's Alive (Snoop dog Stella).

2007-10-27T11:58:00.000-06:00

Its true its back on the road after over 45 days with no scooter hard to belive it has been so long and right at the end of riding season, on memorial day weekend.

Soon after Toms scooter again had motor problems, John quit at A1 and soon after sold his scooter Uly had accident in the middle of the summer and Larry last month it seems we had a rough summer but I think we grew alot.

This year we ofically became a club Karen as president Tom as Vice President and We had our first rallie Scooterpalooza and we went to Seattle, for Amerivespa our first of many other rallies we will attend.

In all Iwill always prefer to repair my scooter than me, and I hope it always stays that way.

Snoop Dog Stella back from the grave .

2007-10-26T13:13:00.000-06:00

less than a week before Halloween and just about done.

all the parts on and hooked up adjustments and final checks left be done be on the road soon.

The cool things about a scooter club

2007-10-24T23:58:00.000-06:00

Top 5 reasons why i love being in a scooter club

5) always more fun to ride with others.

4) rallies.

3) learning about other scooters.

2) meeting other people with similar interests

1) hanging out with the people in the club

Thanks to Larry,Tom,and tony for helping my get my scooter back on the road.

you guys are the best.

History of the RASC part 1 3/4 How long does it take to make a pink scooter?

2007-10-22T14:34:00.000-06:00

How long does it take to make a pink scooter?
In our case it was almost 2 months for a lot of reasons listed below. Then basically you get ignored after you buy it.
First word of advice, don't pay for anything in advance it just seems the control goes out of your hands and directly into theirs.
Next thing, check out the dealer before you buy check with the BBB and/or call the manufacturer
and get some background on the dealer before you buy.
Last but not least, buy a product you have heard of, name brands don't exist unless they do something right.
Finally, contact the local scooter club, yes, us, and others in your area. They probably have already been down this path before and they will be more than happy to aid you and in my case, steer, you in the direction towards what I think.

Now on to reasons...

Financing our scooter took about 2 days and a little bit of negotiating to get a rate that was acceptable to us. It took about 8 days for the finance company to get the check to the scooter shop. They didn't even order the side car until they received the check that they knew was coming. What motivation do they have if they have your money?! According to the scooter shop, Scooterworks had the pink sidecar in stock. By the time they ordered it, got it paid, they still had to paint it and ship it to Boise. This also took a few weeks. Bottom line, don't pay until you play! Life is only fun when you can play with the toys you've payed for.

Finally their service department sucks. It took them 2 weeks to put it together when they got it. Did I mention, their service sucks!! More about that later.

Finally when she picked it up and she was ecstatic. I could feel the glow even through the phone. At first, the joy of just having it even over shadowed the pain of purchasing the scooter from them.

The RASC Boise Moscow and Kona

2007-10-21T23:38:00.000-06:00

I received a post from Tony today on our forum.
It seems his wife did get a job on Kona, a island in the Hawaiian
chain, and will be moving just after the first of the year.
I really enjoy him and his attitude sometime i get the feeling he is frustrated, about something maby it's just the pressure of change in his life. his wife had gastic bypass surgury,last year and has been going
to collage at the same time. that is alot of chainge in a short period of time. he also has 2 children one about 10 and one about 6 both girls really nice kids but even my kids alone will cause me a great deal of stress and the chainge comes fast i hope this move will give him the quality of life he is looking for.
I wish him the best and hope enjoys his new life.

History of the RASC part 1 1/2 purchasing a scooter

2007-10-21T12:14:00.000-06:00

I know you will find this hard to believe but purchasing a scooter

is not as easy as you would think.

Besides picking one you like, it seems there is an attitude and/or

obstacle to overcome before they come home.

I will break this down to 3 parts: 1) picking a scooter,

2) overcoming attitude or obstacle, and 3) the way it should be.

So lets begin .

1) Picking a scooter (wife's example first).

The pamphlet she brought home was for a Stella scooter. At this time I had not heard of it but it looked like a Vespa. So I asked her if she wanted a scooter like a Vespa, why not buy one? This was my first experience in a scooter or motorcycle store and wow, what an experience it was! We went in to the Vespa dealer with a pamphlet on a Stella, which was a clone of a PX Vespa. They had none and did not even mention if they could get one. Next they said they could not see how or why you would want to put a side car one on such a small bike. After some thought and discussion I finally convinced my wife to compromise and buy a Grand Turismo 200 or at least ride it. After asking 11 or 12 times to test ride it, we finally left dazed and confused. Was our money not good enough? Did we smell bad? My wife still looked hot to me! Maybe we just didn't need to buy a scooter there.

On to the trip to Honda (I did not go on this trip) if you want one they will sell you one. Overall they were nice but for them scooters are a sideline or novelty. As a side note, in 2008 Honda dropped the Helix, Elite and Reflex lines from production in the US. It seems they thought it was a sideline also.

At Snake River Yamaha we finally had someone with a good attitude! They will sell you a scooter and have been very helpful every time I have been in the store. Their line up: The Morpheus is a little wild for our needs. The Zuma is a good scooter but it's small frame is only good for one person and won't accept a side car. The Ruckus is pretty cool but a little rough for our needs at this point. We were just looking for the right scooter. They did do a good job and I would recommend them.

Scooters of Boise

Upon arrival at the store, it looked cool and these people had a lot of choices. My wife showed me the black Stella with a side car sitting out front. Going inside they had a few a Stellas and many other scooters. We talked to a lady named Valerie, she was the one that Karen got the pamphlet from last time she was there. Karen showed me the pink one she wanted. It was the same color as cotton candy (Pepto) and it seemed to be made really well and out of metal, not plastic. The look on her face was awesome. This was her scooter and all the looking in the world would not change that. She talked about getting mint green or tangerine but I knew it was pink.

So we filed out the paperwork and ordered all of the accessories she wanted. It cost almost 7000

dollars. Maybe I should have bought her a 2 carat diamond but diamonds make people think you're rich, not make you smile. This scooter makes people smile and it makes her smile. For her it was love at first site, just like when I met her.

Part 1 history of the RASC

2007-10-21T11:05:00.000-06:00

remember this blog is about me, and how things are in my impression.
the comments are how it relates to you.
part 1 .
in High school in the early 80's there were a few Honda Elite 80's running around and at the
time this was one of my goals was to obtain one.
Had a really expensive Floval Flyer from the not so old days of racing BMX bikes and
i was working at Deja'vu A teen dance club in downtown Boise. so many idea's so little
money.
a lot of things still came true for me i had a goal of starting my own DJ business it is at least
successful in my eyes . 5 years at Deja'vu 12years and running at Double Tree Riverside
in Club Max 22 years of weddings and private party's 21 years doing The Festival Of Trees
for Saint Al's and still going strong."the name of my company came from the logo for S E Racing
and comic book called the Spectrum "his super powers he can control the spectrum of light and
sound". my company's name is Spectrum Enterprises, and S E racing company was very similar long story ask me some time. "notice the S E is the same in my name also".
just a little history about one part of my life.

Back to scooters, If you didn't know I married my high School sweetheart (Karen Hicks)
a nicer more honest person you will never meet. (and she's hot.) "must of had my game on that day".
We Always liked scooters, and we tried to purchase 2 Honda Elite 150s in 1987.
but just getting married and no credit kept us away.
Our love for scooters never stopped for years we both identified with the English Mods (Quadraphenia), and the passion for scooters was always there.
In 2006 I was asking my wife if she wanted to look at rings for our 20Th anniversary,
I thought we would wind up with a really pretty 1/2 carrot ring but, to my surprise she came
home with a pamphlet on a scooter and said this is what she wanted.
keep in mind we were coming up on our 20Th anniversary and to my knowledge my wife has never asked for anything. at least not other than food and (back rubs) "better get on this".
I didn't ask her why but i did wonder how it just seemed to pop up i said OK. and ring shopping was over.

Sunday 10-21-2007

2007-10-21T10:33:00.001-06:00

Sunday is always a nice day no work is alway's a good thing.
trying to get some things done at home isn't as easy.
had a sucssesfull show on wednesday at the grove (Go Red for Women luncheon).
my wife and my friends Tom's wife Sarah attended.
more to come soon.

Snoop Dog Stella .

2007-10-21T02:46:00.000-06:00

Update on my white stella. my friend Larry helped repair my case on my scooter,go to our photobucket acount for all of the pictures, more to come soon.start assembling the motor tomorrow. 10/21/2007 try to have it running by wednesday.keep your fingers crossed for me .

Snoop Dog Stella .

2007-10-21T02:14:00.000-06:00

This is the first picture i have

of my white stella, I purchaced it at the Scooter Lounge

in Provo Utah not far from where i was born in Sandy

I feel this was just the start of our connection it being black

and white brought on the idea of the first snoopy sticker

and finaly the licence plate (snp dog ) . was way to funny.

kinda got that gangsta feel to it but really i like the dog not the

rapper it get's a lot of attention.for many reasons.

Snoop Dog Stella .

2007-10-21T01:41:00.000-06:00

Lost my large end bearing labor day weekend. after our ride to Givens hot springs and back.
About 6 miles from home . heard a scraping sound and then she seized up, lucky i had read the post on stella speed pulled in the clutch and pulled over not a whole lot of warning.
but i and the scooter will pull through.
it is been over a month since my last ride on my scooter all the parts are in and soon it will rise from the grave, most of the info i got on the repair and upgrade's to my scooter seem's to be very conflicting . but basically i leared there are three choices in scooter repair. and tuning.
Law of two stroke tuning: a: Fast b: Reliable c: Cheap Pick any two. i went for reliable and exspensive hopefully this will help.

Day 1

2007-10-21T01:35:00.000-06:00

Decided to do a blog about my ,life my scooters,and how this wonderful new thing in my life ,
has altered my attitude my relationship with my wife and kid's and my new friends.