Everybody Needs One.

The new (used) Ninja has been gettin' put through the paces, for sure... gotta know what she's capable of.  And, thanks to rigorous scientific research, we now know that she'll do at least 95 on the freeway before the fairing feels like it's gonna blow off; she will burnout; she'll lean pretty decent (although she needs fresh rubber before we'll really know exactly how low she'll go); and, given the proper coaxing, she will stand up.

Unfortunately, however, testing may have to cease for now.  After seeing the shots from Friday night's "research session", Heidi has informed me that neither Sean nor myself are allowed to ride her bike any more.

I think Sean and I are both thinking we might just need to get our own... for being a dirt-cheap 250cc twin, pushing around 28 horses, this scoot is fucking FUN.

Fuck Globally.

Heidi and I headed out and made one of our rare social appearances last night, this time at Murray Theater to see Gogol Bordello.  Despite the fact that it was an all ages show (meaning there was no scotch, whiskey or beer), it was probably one of the best live shows I've seen in a long time... none of that hipster, stand-and-act-like-you're-doing-the-crowd-a-favor bullshit... nope.  Full on energy for a solid two and a half hours.

Fantastic band, and their live show will leave you sweating.  If you're not yet a fan, check 'em out.  Sorry for the shitty pics... I didn't take a real camera, so this is the best the G9 would give me... but you get a shit quality video, too.  Watch it... wait til you get a good eyeball full of the rad, marching band style accoutrements, at least.  Genius.  The video was shot at the end of the initial hour-and-a-half set... the encore lasted another hour, easily.  Hella fun show... catch 'em if you ever can.

Gogol Bordello at Murray Theater... May 27, 2009. from Steven Stone on Vimeo.

Summertime Rolls.

A weekend full of motorcycles, barbecues with friends and family, very little work, and hangin' with my girl.  She loves me... I mean it's serious.

Got her started on learning to ride the Ninja, too.  She's doin' pretty well with it.  

And if you haven't already picked up on it, Jane's Addiction's "Nothing's Shocking" has absolutely been my soundtrack for the day.  Get into it.

If This Were Anyone Else...

... then the babysitter in me would be super sketched-out when they send me a shot like this.

But Jeremy is one of the few dudes who can just pull shit off.  This guy is gnarly all day, every day.  Check him here if you haven't already.  And if you have your doubts about wether this shit's real or just a touched-out kickstand, I can guarantee you this:  everything this dude busts is as legit as it gets.

The Way Of The Ninja.

**********

My office is now in my home.  

It's been a stressful week, and having the office at home is kinda nice today - when it starts to feel too lame, all I need to do is walk out front, fire up Heidi's new bike, and dig holes in my lawn with it.

Outtake.

Because I have nothing exciting to talk about today, here's an outtake from a few days back... not the client select, but I kinda dug it.

Oh... snap.

*****

Y'know, you try to live your life a certain way; you do the things you want and avoid the things you don't, and you think you're doin' pretty good.

And then, one day, you walk outside to catch a smoke and you realize "Whoa... wait.  Fuck.  There's a Reagan-Era Ninja in the bed of my truck?!"

Either something has gone mind blowingly awry, or I am fucking miles ahead of the masses on the next wave of motorcycle fashion.

Ain't much cool about the bagger...

... except the fact that she just keeps takin' it.  Handed the camera over to Jeremy for this one - thanks, Jer.

MIles From Safe.

*****

So I have way too much processing to finish, and way too many rad things to blog about.

But I'm avoiding all of that for a minute - for the second time today.  The first being the hour I took this afternoon to charge the battery, do a little backyard carb tweaking, and take a few laps on the CB350 project.  Heidi snapped a few shots off... "you know, for the blog".

She's miles from being safe, but she finally fired up and ran.

And yes, tool snobs... that's a Stanley screwdriver in my mouth.  My hobbies already cost too much - I definitely can't afford a Snap-On addiction on top of it all.

To all my clients waiting on shit:  it's coming.  But I need a few minutes like this every day.  Otherwise I might charge into your offices, bitch-slap your secretaries and call you foul names.  And that's not good for anyone, now is it?

Stone Family Outing.

Since Dr. Stone was in town, he was amped on the idea of using the graduation present he'd bought himself - a brandy-new Glock.  So we gathered together Mom and Chris's father-in-law, Haagen, and headed down to the range...

My Mom isn't too bad with the Kimber.  I'm pretty sure she could shoot your head off your neck if you were a zombie and/or she needed to.

*****

The damage.  Yes, we're pretty much an American Trash kinda family... I'm stoked on that.

*****

Doctor Stone.

*****

I pretty much scored in the little-brother's department.  I've got 2 of 'em... both are total badasses.

To be honest, though, I kinda hated this kid growing up.  He was always making lists and being lame.  But he's turned out to be a serious badass.

He rolled into town with his rad little family on Thursday for his graduation from the University of Utah.  Despite your urge to call him Harry Potter, I strongly suggest you refer to him as Dr. Stone now.

Chris, despite all my shit-talking on higher education, I'm super proud of you, duder.  You killed it.

*****

THE Jam.

I've got no time for bloggin' today... but Jeremy did.  Get some details on THE Jam over there...

Jeremy Jones Globstopper.  Until I can get some shots finalized, all I'm gonna say is that I-80 has never been so fun, and it's definitely never housed so many hazards...