LOVE RIDE

This is me posing with a fellow biker and celebrity, Robert Patrick. Although he is an accomplished actor and has come out on many movies I always remember him more for his role as the T-1000 killing machine in "T2 Judgement Day".

A few years back on a semi cold Saturday, some of us went to California for a one day motorcycle event. The Love Ride is the biggest, and baddest, one day event attracting over 20,000 riders. For a long time the event was held during the first week of November,but starting last year they changed the date to late October. The Love Ride always take place on Sunday, but the party starts way before that.


It was a Saturday before the ride, while at the Harley Davidson dealership of Glendale that I met and had a chance to exchange a few words with Robert Patrick. Robert has been a supporter of the love ride and is usually an Honorary Marshall for the ride. The great thing about this ride is that is always attended by many celebrities and it is not uncommon to see them mix it up with all the riders. Robert Patrick is a down to earth guy that gets there on his bike, parks it by the sidewalk, and leans by the wall talking and accepting to be photographed.

This is my 1994 HD Fatboy. In the background is Castaic Lake in Valencia California. Castaic Lake used to be the destination for "The Love Ride".




"The Love Ride is the biggest one day motorcycle event in the world. In the first image you will see the sea of bikes just waiting to be ridden. They are empty because everybody is enjoying the morning concert and opening ceremony always hosted by the ever popular Jay Leno, whom also acts as Grand Marshal every year.

The second image shows bikers getting ready to saddle up and ride them hard.


On this particular Saturday some four years ago, I happened to see at least 10 well known celebrities, however it was hard to take a picture with them, although they really aren't mobbed, we do have to understand that they are there to also have some fun and not to sign autographs all day long.


Here's another shot of my 94 Fatboy. Isn't she a beauty?


The ride from Phoenix to Los Angeles is always a fun time, it normally takes us a good eight hours to get there as we stop quite a few times to gas up and do other things. While all of our group always went all the way to Santa Clarita, mi chica and I always parted ways when we got to West Covina. So while we were resting and stretching a little at my brother in laws house, they still had at least another hour of riding.

I grew up in Los Angeles and started riding at the age of seventeen. So riding there with so much traffic around me is not intimidating at all. I just wish I had my bake in top shape so I could make the ride this year. It will be the 25th Anniversary for The Love Ride and it will probably pretty awesome. Los Angeles didn't have a bike week, but that changed last year and The Love Ride is like the kick off for the week's activities.


This is me on our way to Los Angeles to be a part of "The Love Ride". It's been three long years since I participated, I am itching to do it again.

So, for now I sit and wait. Maybe this darn economy will take a turn for the better soon and I will have a little money left over to sink into my bike to get it going. I know one of these days it will happen.

NOTHINGNESS

With the exception of Friday night when mi chica and I went out for dinner the rest of the weekend was totally uneventful. I just couldn't get into any sort of a groove and decided to be totally lazy. We managed to watch a couple of movies together and some shows but that was it.

Now moving into the new week and not feeling too much of a change in weather we just hope that the hot days don't go beyond this month, believe me, it has been a long summer. There are a few events programmed for the area soon and we are hoping to attend some of them. Then of course Halloween is just around the corner and it's always neat to see all the grand kids parade around in their little costumes. I am sure that will be the topic throughout the whole month.

I am hoping for a good week at work, most of the time the last two days of the month are exciting because they are busier. To me the end of this month is also the start of the year end countdown. The last three months always go so fast, there are so many celebrations and family birthdays, coming up that I know we will be busy. My oldest granddaughter will soon be 8 years old, yet another indication of how fast time passes by.

I hope all you have a great week, I know some of you are already experiencing the beauty of Fall, unfortunately that is something here in Phoenix we don't get to experience. After the hot days, we will have a couple of comfortable weeks and then wham! it will be cold. Needless to say lot of people catch nasty colds due to the sudden change in weather. I am prepared with my bottle of vitamin C, it seems to help a lot during the winter days.

Are you looking forward to Winter and the holidays?

BULLETS

A birthday shoutout goes to my little sis Chely. Her birthday was yesterday. I hope you had a nice one sis.

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Chely
Happy birthday to you

and many more.

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I was watching the Mosley vs. Mayorga fight, it was an OK fight with some boring rounds in between with Mosley winning most of the rounds but fast forward to the last second of the last round, yes I said the last second, after a knock down with fourteen seconds to go, the ref give the 8 second count and by the time he cleans Magorga's globes there is only 1 second left, the ref says fight, Mosley hits Mayorga only one more time and flattens him into the canvas. Wow, talk about dramatic endings.

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I spent all my Saturday being lazy. There are things to do around the house but I just lack the motivation. Thankfully the weather is finally changing and although it's still hot here in the desert it's getting better and easier to go out and paint the town. Hopefully my energy level will rise soon.

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As I write, I am using our computer without Windows, yep our computer does not have a Windows program but my daughter figured out a way for us to get to the Internet. That in itself is half good, the bad part is that we can't download or save anything. For now we'll just make do with what we have, and I am thankful to be able to post and to visit you all.

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I watched "Knight Rider" and as expected it was cheesy but I still liked it and I just had to drool while watching the main star, that Cobra Mustang is just a piece of art. I am glad the producers turned to Ford to highlight their cars. They are built Ford Though. (Ehemm! I expect to receive a check from Ford for announcing them in my humble blog).

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Here's to hoping your rest of the weekend is awesome.

WHY ASK WHY

Thank you Tina for the birthday card and for being such a good friend.

Last night when my daughter handed me the mail a birthday card came in for me, I looked to see who had sent it and to my surprise I noticed that it came in all the way from Germany. I didn't realize how many long time readers I have that have not abandoned me. The card came from my friend Bettina (Tina). Not for a moment in my wildest dreams I ever imagined that "Joe Cool's Blog" would grab an audience outside my family, much less outside the United States but it did. Tina has been on my sidebar for over and I am proud to be her friend.

I have been asked something that many of you have probably been asked yourselves and that is "Why do you blog?" And the only answer I can think of is, "Why not". To me blogging is fun, it's interactive, it's interesting, it's fulfilling, it's challenging, it's social, it's imaginative, it's real, it's free, it's a scape gate, it's a meeting place, it's... well you get the idea.

I have met so many of you and continue to meet new people and it's always fun. I do however think that some people let the fun get away and let it become a burden and that my friends can be the end of a blog. If it is not fun to me it defeats the purpose.

So in conclusion, why do I blog? Because it's cool.

DESPERADO

A fellow Bixter came up with this composition of me based on a picture I use when on Bix. Diego and I were going for the desperado look. Did we succeed?

I'M BACK

Chely said...
WHAT'S GOING ON WITH A NEW POST???

ARE YOU STILL ON B-DAY VACATION?
OR DID IT ACTUALLY TURN OUT TO BE A NATIONAL HOLIDAY & I DIDN'T GET THE MEMO?

9:34 AM


Maryita said...
I know!! Tio Where are you!!!! are you lost or going through recession? whats going on!? Come back! Lovee tu princesita

Awwww, they love me, they really love me.

So after having a great birthday, an easy Friday at work, a restful Saturday, and a relaxing Sunday I go to sleep but my stomach is bugging me. I wake up Monday morning, get up, shower, I think I got dressed but I am not too sure, just kiddin' I did get dressed, went to work, stomach still bugging me, there's more traffic than usual so the drive feels longer for some reason, I get to work on time power up my computer, actually start working and then it happens, I feel a tornado in my stomach and I have to run to the restroom (If you are faint of heart do not read the following), no I didn't have the runs, to me it's even worse, yep I puked my brains out, I didn't know the proper protocol for puking at work but I figured what the heck if my stomach is not asking me for permission to puke, I won't ask either, so I let it rip.

After an hour of work, including time spent in restroom I went home and was in bed for the next 36 hours. It must have been a stomach flu or something similar the good news are that today I am back at work and even though I don't feel 100% yet, I feel good enough to be here and actually be productive and blog a little while I'm at it.

I could have blogged from home a little but our computer once again decided to give us a hard time. When my son in law rebooted the whole thing after it got some nasty viruses that didn't even let us use it, the machine worked just fine but it did let us know that the Windows program in it was on a trial basis, should we decide to buy we needed to cough up some serious money, so if you are guessing we didn't purchase it, then you are right. So now we have to find a good Samaritan to install Windows in our computer for free.

I will do my best to catch up with my visits and my comments and I want to also take this opportunity to thank the many of you that came in a wished me a happy birthday. Thank you all so very much, turning 49 is that much easier when you know you are loved and it is heart felt.

Anyway, on to other news. Did you know that tonight is the premier of "Knight Rider"? Two things excite me about this show: 1)I used to love and wouldn't miss the original show, and 2) This is an improvement from the original already as the producer wised up and used a MUSTANG to play KITT. He, he, he, I even amaze myself but as I have said before I am a simple man and simple things like this amuse me.

But just to let you into my brain just for a little bit, let me show you graphically what I mean.


OK, I must admit back in the 80s this was cool, I do not want to take anything away from a Mr. Feeny sounding GM Trans Am, I, like millions of other kids and grown ups too used to go ga ga over a talking car, hey it was better than a talking horse.

But now look at what an improvement, this is KITT on steroids, OK on multi vitamins and protein shakes, I do not want to relay a message that I approve of steroids. Now dare to tell me this is not the most awesome talking car you have ever seen.



What 20 years ago was fiction is now pretty much a reality, take for instance the millions of talking navigation system in cars now, or a Lexus that parallel parks itself, or Ford cars equipped with radios you control by talking to them, no fiction just pure reality. I can just imagine me talking to one of those radios, it would go something like this:

Me: Toca Vicente Fernandez, Las Llaves De Mi Alma
My car's radio: English please.
Me: Play Vicente Fernandez, Las Llaves De MI Alma
My car's radio: It will be my pleasure master.

Ahhh, thank God I am bilingual.

Isn't technology wonderful?

MY BIRTHDAY

The sun came up
I saw the new day
I turned 49
And yet feel the same.


So here I am
Feeling bigger than life
I don't feel any older
though my aching body
tells me otherwise


Mi chica stayed with me
To help celebrate
She took me out to lunch
And yes, she even payed


Here we are together
Gosh, don't we look nice?
Say cheese for the camera
And give me a smile


We were both very hungry
So I screamed to the chef
Please don't burn my carnitas
Or I'll leave without paying


The chef just looked at me
And laughingly said
Do not worry about your carnitas
As I assure you they are safe


He presented the outcome
And must have seen by my smile
That I approved of his masterpiece
Of culinary art


Ichiban, Teppanyaki
Was the restaurant of choice
Here the Japanese dishes
Were cooked with great joy


Yes, mi chica was happy
As this smile will attest
Thank you so much my baby
Now everyone knows you are the best

To say I had a good time is an understatement, it is always nice to deviate from the daily routine to do something different, the fact that mi chica got the day off to spend it with me was a great gift indeed. So what if she went to get a manicure and pedicure, she made sure to let me now it was all done just for me, and you know what, I believe her.

I was overwhelmed by the amount of phone calls, emails, bix comments and blogger comments all wishing moi a happy birthday. I really appreciated all of you making me feel special.

Thank you everyone, you all are a great family to me.

What's New?

Hello everyone, my daughter has come through once again and on Sunday she spent a couple of hours creating little buttons per my request. Have any of you noticed that she placed a button on my sidebar liking each one of my friends? No? Then take a moment to locate yours and if you are not there please let me know so that I can have one added. I just think they look pretty cool. Do you agree with me?




Look to the left and then scroooooll down until you find them.

So, tomorrow I'll be taking the day off and so will mi chica. Heck, tomorrow should be declared a national holiday and everybody should take if off and celebrate with me. What am I celebrating you wonder? Well, my birthday of course, as of today I am still 48 but tomorrow I will be only on year away from the big 5 ~ 0. I don't see my birthdays as getting older, I see them as wow! I lived one more year, and it makes me look forward to the next.

Oh, and talking about birthdays, last Sunday was my youngest grandson's birthday party, he turned one. It was a small intimate family gathering full of fun and great company. Since we are in Phoenix my son and daughter in law made it a swimming party. My daughter Michelle is our official party planner and she help them set up the party. The theme was SpongeBob SquarePants, now I don't have any pictures right now but will try to post some later on when I get home, so come back and revisit this post later.




Juan Diego Jr. -- One year old.

UPSIDE DOWN

Look guys, I can walk upside down, and you can't.

Can you tell I had nothing to blog about, this should hold ya until tomorrow.

Peace Offering

My son and daughter posing for me. Say Go Cardinals mijo.

So, my son was supposed to pick me up at 4:00 p.m. as we were supposed to meet my rep and his boss of a trucking company I use. We were supposed to meet at Z Tejas in Tempe.

Four o'clock came and went, oh don't worry he is just running a little late. Five o'clock, ummmmm I wonder what is keeping him. Six o'clock, I think I've been stood up. The game was to start at 7:00 p.m. so I took out my car from the garage, being that the afternoon was great I took the top down, upped the radio volume and off I went. I know it's only a 40 minute drive from my house but I didn't know how hard or easy it would be to find parking.

I got there at around 6:45 p.m. and the place was packed. I spotted some garages but they were charging $25.00 dollars just to park, so I kept going and about six blocks away I found a big parking lot charging only $10.00, now I prefer free parking but at this time that was not going to happen. As I pulled in I started to hear the fireworks announcing that kick off was about to happen.

Fifteen minutes later I was apologising to my hosts for being late and even gave them the line of "Better late than never". They told me don't worry we drank your Margaritas at Z Tejas, and ate your Chiles Rellenos, a favorite plate of mine from their menu. The game was actually kind of boring, ASU could have won easier if they would have kept running the ball, but even though Las Vegas was down by 10 points, they were able to catch up and force the game into overtime. A few minutes later thousands of ASU fans were walking in disbelief, yeap we lost.

Now, after walking all the way to my car again in a sea of yellow shirts and sad faces I finally was able to point my Mustang in the right direction to head home. Except now I am very hungry so I get on I-10 and the deviated on I-17 to go to my favorite taco place to buy me a dozen tacos to take home. I finally made it home at almost midnight and it was then that mi chica told me that my son fell asleep and failed to wake up on time.

(Earlier events)

Her phone rings and it's my son,

My son: Mom
Mi chica: Oh, hi son. How are you guys doing? How's the game going?
My son: Mom, I don't know, I am not with my dad.
Mi chica: No? Where are you?
My son: Mom I fell asleep and I just woke up.
Mi chica: Ooooo, you are in trouble.
My son: What do I do now?
Mi chica: Well, you better go to the house and see if he is there.
My son: You think he'll be mad?
Mi chica: I don't know but better take him something (She actually gave him an idea of what to take to me).

They hang up and then mi chica calls him later.

Mi chica: Where are you?
My son: In Avondale
Mi chica: Where? I am here.
My son: On my way to your house, I went to Fry's to buy my dad something.
Mi chica: OK I'll wait for you here.

Now my son lives a good 20 miles away from us so I know he was making sure I would be happy. Not only did he drive those 20 miles but went to the store and actually bought what mi chica suggested along with something that I know for a fact that he thought about twice and probably was as hard for him as the first time he had to buy those monthly female products. lol (He actually wanted me to stand guard by the aile while he picked the right pack as instructed by his chica).

All I know is that how can I ever be mad to a guy that brings me such cool peace offerings.


To put things in perspective, my son drove 20 miles to my house and bought me roses, yes roses. Those two things were probably not that hard for him to do but here is the one that let's me know he loves me, he really loves me. He bought me an issue of 5.0 Mustang magazine. My son buying a Ford related magazine, now that is love because he is a total Chevy guy his hands were probably burning as he was touching such an awesome magazine that talks about such cool cars.

On My Tube

I continue to watch the Mexican telenovela "Fuego En La Sangre". Cheesy as Mexican telenovela go, this one has been one of the best so far. Three brothers looking for vengeance of their sister's death fall in love with three daughters of the man they think was responsible for her death. Except this man is killed before their sister is killed and the true responsible person for all these killings is always running free and manipulating everything. I told you it was cheesy but it has us glued every night to the TV set.

The story has the best images of small town living, from the town church to the sierras, to the mercado, it's all there. The story concentrates on the love that has kept these three brothers together through think and thin. It also has a catchy theme song sung by none other than El Senor Vicente Fernandez.



I found this show by change and continued watching it. The show is called "From G's to Gents". I think these guys are wannabe G's trying to catch their 15 minutes of fame. Who knows they may get another gig after this one and they'll say from G's to gig. Anyway, I found the show to be entertaining and it follows the same format as "Hell's Kitchen". Next Tuesday should be the finale and a G will be crowned a Gent.



Once in a while a show comes out that is totally wrong morally and otherwise that is just gripping and bounds you to your couch for one hour a week. "Sons of Anarchy" is such a show. Being a biker and hearing how much the biker image has changed due to all the reality shows involving motorcycles such as "American Chopper" or "Motorcycle Mania" this show will mimic those biker outlaw movies of the 60s and 70s when a motorcycle club like "Hell Angels" were feared. I guess when I hear the term "biker" I always connect with a group of people like the ones portrayed in this show.



Once again I'll be watching "Prison Break" on Monday nights. What is it about these group of guys that seemed to be destined to be together escaping from different prisons and doing it so well. The season premier episode was full of excitement and they made sure from the get go to get you hooked. Sara Tancredi whom we all believed to be death during the last season turned out to be alive and is an active character this season. Scofield, Lincoln, and the complete cast of misfit convicts is back again. This promises to be yet another entertaining season.



Some of the other shows I really enjoy watching because of their subject matter are: TLC's American Chopper, and Street Customs, as well as Speed Channel's Unique Whipps, American Thunder, Living the Low Life, and Super Bikes.

A Tribute

~Severson


ON THAT SEPTEMBER DAY

Driving to work at a little past six in the morning and listening to Kid and Ruben a pair of the wackiest funniest local DJs and not hearing any punch lines. People calling in crying, claiming disbelief, and just basically saying that what have this world come to.

Wait, this is not my normal radio show, what are they talking about? Something must have happened that has the radio listeners calling. See, Kid and Ruben are known for being the first to react anytime and every time something happened locally but there was something different in this broadcast. I continue to drive and almost as I reached my freeway exit Kid says, "As you may have heard there has been a news flash that a plane crashed onto one of the two buildings of the World Trade Center in New York City". As I heard those words the blood rushed to my head and back to my feet, my first reaction was to say one simple word out loud, WHAT? Did I hear right, a plane, as in a passenger plane or was it a small Cessna? Questions starting popping all over my brain.

Five minutes later I get to work and there are only about five cars there as it is still too early. I walk in and find one of our techs and a salesperson engaged in conversation. I walk in and tell the tech can you turn on the TV in the service department? I just heard in the news that a plane crashed on one of the towers of the World Trade Center. He just looked at me like saying, "What in the hell are you talking about?" He run to the room and turned the TV, it was all over the news already and for the next hour we just stood there. First it was just the three of us, but in a few minutes when I took my eyes off the TV and and looked around me, there were about 20 of us just standing there. None of us thought for a second that in a few minutes we would all witness a second plane crashing into the other tower.

What followed later I am sure is similar to what you all must have lived that day. This is one event that I probably won't forget for as long as I live.

THE PERKS

So now that you know how I feel about football and all organized sports for that matter here is the big irony. Being a warehouse manager has it's perks. I get entertained, wined, and dined a lot and as I was writing my previous post I received an email from one of my trucking company reps. Basically the email was an invitation for mi chica and I to the D-Backs game on Sunday, an outing such as this includes a hearty meal at a nice restaurant. Well this Sunday is my grandsons first birthday party so I had to politely decline the invite.

As I kept writing my post another email came through from his boss. This one said "How about the ASU game on Saturday? We are meeting at Z-Tejas at 5:00 p.m. for booze and dinner". Now that's the ticket, that actually is right up my alley so since mi chica works on Saturday and she gets off at 5:00 p.m. I called my son and asked him if he would go with me. "Are you crazy dad?" was his reply. Cool then pick me up Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

I get a lot of this invites throughout the year, they range from D-Backs games, to ASU, Suns, and even NASCAR events and even though I don't like sports I do enjoy this outings immensely, they are always fun and the seats are good. To me that's the side of sports I like. Even for me it would be dumb to say no to such outings.

NASCAR has turned out to be our favorite event, last time we were there we sat at a suite, ate and drink all day long, got to watch the start from the roof, and walked the pits for the first time. Now, if they could only take me to watch a Cardinal game, the stadium is only five minutes away from us and yet I have never been in there. I hear tailgating is also a great sport, lot of arm exercise lifting those beers and still I have yet to experience one. Maybe this year.

FOOTBALL

So I sat and watched most of the Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants game last Sunday, and here is the shocker my team won, go figure. Other than that, it was all the same as last year, they do the same thing, they run, they kick the ball, they score and they miss, and after two half times that last the same time as always the game was over.

It's a fact, I prefer a good movie, I just never understood the whole concept of sports unless I am a participant in them. To me it is so much easier to go to Yahoo on Sunday night, click the sports tab, click football, click score, "Hey what do you know the Cards won their opening game against San Francisco", do a quick my team won dance and close the tabs and I'm done. And it only took me about a minute.

Oh but I know what I miss. I missed the most important part of the game, I missed the Chips 'n' Salsa and most importantly the beer. Now that's the ticket. I'm watching next weeks game in full.

LOl Can you all tell sports is not my forte?

TEPOZTLAN

So Saturday came around and our friends woke us up but instead of greeting us with a table full of food as they did the day before they told us to get ready because we were going to a restaurant for breakfast. I wish I could tell you the name of the place but I already forgot it, what I haven't forgot is that it was a very nice restaurant that had a charming patio. We of course decided the patio was the place to sit so we were lucky to get a big table that sat all of us and we headed for the Mexican Buffet style food.













And it is thanks to the last picture in this sequence that I noticed that the restaurant's name is "Bondy". Notice that they only had vallet parking in this place.

They had the usual morning eggs, bacon, hot cakes, and juices, apple, orange, grapefruit, etc. etc. and then they had the unusual at least for us such as chilaquiles, carne de puerco en chile verde (pork in green chili), enchiladas, and menudo. And while enjoying all these wonderful and tasty dishes a duet playing the most beautiful classical music. Talk about soothing sounds and good food. Ummmm yummy!


View of the patio from the buffet area.

After the breakfast they took us back to their house but only for a few minutes because they wanted to take us to a nearby town that was supposed to be a happening place. The name of this town is Tepoztlan (Please click on the link to learn more about this wonderful and beautiful place).

The only bad part of this trip was that I had to sit in the back of the sub in the luggage cargo area and after 45 minutes of sitting there I got so sick that I thought I was going to pass out. It was a the same time that my niece who has a low tolerance for car riding and exhaust fume smelling that she got so sick too that they had to pull off the side of the road so we could catch some fresh air.

It was in Tepoztlan or "Tepoz" for short as all the locals call it that we bought a lot of souvenirs. You will find the most strange hill formations, there is belief that some of these formations did not happen on their own or with human help. Can you say aliens? lol


We spent a good time touring the Ex Dominic Convent of the Nativity, matter of fact there was a wedding being celebrated while we were there so we crashed it for a little bit. Then it was off to the market place. Tepoz is a mecca for poets and painters and it has a big Anglo community as well as Hippy Communes. You will find so many different types of local art being displayed and sold daily.


Ex Convento Dominico de la Natividad. Tepoztlan, Morelos -- Mexico.



Mural made from seeds at church entrance gate.

There is a pyramid a the top of the hills and it is a popular destination, we wanted to go up there but it would be such a time consuming and demanding hike that with our elder relatives proved to be impossible so we did not get to see it. I am going to try and find a picture in Google, hopefully I'll find one.


Image borrowed from tour by Mexico.
CLICK HERE for more of where I borrowed image from.

We spent a good four hours taking in the sites and walking around doing some shopping but it was time to go back. Louie had promised to cook a Paella for us so we wanted to make it to their house early enough.




Shops in Tepoztlan are all over the place. It is indeed a beautiful town to visit and to spend a whole day.

All in all, it was yet one more wonderful day where we saw and learned so many new things and basically had a terrific time. Oh, and going back we took some medicine so that we could stand the traffic and the smell of burnt fuel. Unfortunately in Mexico they don't believe in emissions.

We were told to go to sleep early because Louie's sisters and families were taking us for breakfast the following morning.