October 1, 2014
Last week was a tumultuous week in my life and the end result as quite unexpected. It may come as a surprise to many of you but for the last thirty-five years of my life I've had a pacemaker implanted in the left side of my chest. Since nothing lasts forever it came as no surprise, on my last pacemaker monthly check, it appeared as if the battery inside the unit had reached the safety point and needed to be replaced. Many people are under the impression that they simply replace the battery in these things somehow and off you go. Actually the whole unit is replaced for two reasons. First the unit is virtually welded shut to prevent the danger of leakage and, Two, there are improvements made to these pacemakers all the time to allow ease of reprogramming, information gathering and better operation.
The last time I had my pacemaker replaced was in 1991 and twenty-three years of change and improvements has occurred since then. In recent years when I had office visits with the technicians, words like, "Oh yeah, you have an old unit in there" have been uttered. I was expecting a quick, ambulatory, in and out in a few hours procedure to replace it and here is where the plans came off their tracks. The wire that goes from the pacemaker to my heart is also twenty-three years old. No one mentioned to me or most of the staff that would be in on the surgery that it might also need replacing. I also had to stay overnight in the hospital. For reasons too long to go into, replacing the wire requires a much longer recovery period. Previously that period was a month. With more precautions to keep patients from hurting themselves or displacing any new implant wires, my recovery period will be, ready or this?, three months.
I'm not even supposed to drive for another week and working is off the table. I can only stare at the motorcycles for a little while and hope the weather holds. This was not the way I wanted the season to end.
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
September 21, 2014
Normally I write about using the scooters or the 50cc bike but hold on for something completely different. This morning was warmer weather than we've had in a while and I was in the mood for a different kind of ride. The Honda Rebel 250cc was gassed and ready so instead of the big scooter I pulled the Honda out of the garage. Despite their similar engine size the two machines are as different as night and day. The big scooter is like a Cadillac. Long, low, comfortable and steady. The Honda is...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
September 9, 2014
It finally happened today. My big scooter, Galileo, finally crossed the ten thousand mile barrier. That doesn't sound like a bunch of miles in this age of 200,000 mile automobiles, but for anything on two wheels that is milestone. It wasn't long ago when many motorcycles were parked with less miles than that. Bikes were cheap, service was expensive in comparison to purchase price and high mileage wasn't a priority in their design. Now Craigslist is littered with bikes that have forty thousand...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
September 1, 2014
It's a sad day today. Labor Day marks the end of Summer for most of the population. People go home from short or extended vacations on this day and the highway in front of my house is alive all day with vehicles heading south. Cars with roof boxes, travel trailers and motor homes have been passing by. For me it's a time to start thinking about how to extend the riding season. There will only be a few short weeks before cooler weather sets in. It wasn't too bad when I left for work around lunc...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
August 25, 2014
Every so often you have to throw a wrench on, not at, the rolling stock to keep them moving. The one task I have avoided is replacing the drive belt on the big scooter. It looked OK two years ago but a lot of time and miles have occurred since the last visual check. It's not a huge job to replace it but it is one of those tasks that can either be a breeze or a hurricane, depending on other factors. Well into the job I ran into a roadblock. To remove the belt you have to take the pulley it rid...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
August 15, 2014
It's been a long time since I did anything different on my Chinese fleet besides commuting or grocery runs. Yesterday was the day for another adventure. I felt that we needed something else for dinner besides meat and potatoes, but what to do. BURRITOS! I had seen a Moe's Southwest Grill in Vestal this past Saturday, we haven't had them in months and so the destination was set, but what to use? Ah, I know.
Lazarus. The 150cc scooter hadn't taken a long ride in years. Ever since I fixed it last...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
August 11, 2014
It's always painful to think about, but August, as they say, is the Sunday of Summer. I've just been riding all over the place, and loving it, but the signs of Winter coming are there. The first that hit me was the other morning when I rode into work before dawn. In June and July at near five o'clock the sky would start to brighten and the stars would disappear. Not in August. Now I get a brilliant display of stars and the sky stays dark. When I went into work on Friday the temperature hovere...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
August 4, 2014
As I told you last week my daughter Cheryl came for a visit and an early celebration of her birthday. She had just ended her employment with one company and had a few days before her next job started. After settling in she was eager to go for a ride on the 150cc scooter and so we did. It was a short trip to the grocery store but Cheryl was happy just to be up on two wheels again. The scooter is easy to ride and has a Metropolitan feel about it. I'm sure Cheryl would love to have it in New Yor...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
July 27, 2014
First and foremost my daughter, Cheryl, is coming to visit.Those of you who are long suffering readers will remember that last year at about this time she came here and learned to ride not only my 50cc bike but also the 150cc scooter. She graced me with a line that has stuck with me. We rode into town and a pair of riders on Harleys waved back to us when we waved to them. "Did you see the two Harleys waving to us?" she said. "I'm feeling pretty cool about now." The mere act of two riders wavi...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
July 21, 2014
Just for variety I've been using the Honda Rebel in the garage to run some errands. I've been riding bikes for fifty-two years but since I sold the Kawasaki three years ago most of my miles have been on a scooter. While most people may think that motorcycles and scooters are the same to ride, it's not even close. Without getting technical a motorcycle and a scooter are built, work and ride completely differently. It isn't just the fact that a motorcycle has a manual gearbox either. This, of c...
Continue reading...
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
If you wish to comment my e-mail address is h1500e@hotmail.com. I'd like to hear anything-good or bad-that anyone would like to say. As they said in college, we're all lifelong learners.
