the desert

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I have returned from here. Unfortunately there is no known conventional way to capture the vast scenery, so details will only be relayed in person and at a bar.

i need a job

Check out these pipes!

Before presenting the fourth and likely final installment of my Introduction to Albuquerque Series, a brief interlude.

MOTORCYCLE PARTS!

(I know, you're saying something like "I thought you were poor and unemployed..." to which I would say "shut up.")

Turns out I found these rare, Japan-only-aftermarket, light weight and low profile exhaust pipes on ebay. USED!

Here's what came off the bike:



I previously added the black tape, that now looks a little beat up due to the harshness of being moved across the country in the back of a truck. Stock weight, 30lbs.

Here's what It looks like now:



and on the other side:



New weight: 10lbs! Also it looks way cleaner and sounds like awesome grenades. Overall the bike still looks a little too shiny so I may add the black tape to these as well. Also, in the last picture, now that the fat ugly mufflers are gone, the center stand is hanging out under the bike. This is kind of like walking around with your dingus hanging out... Convenient, but really you should do something about it. I'm thinking about removing it to save more weight and give the bike an even cleaner look. (This is where the dingus analogy breaks down)

Albuquerque pt 3: Unemployment

First, let us reflect on all that we've already learned about Albuquerque.



Why is it that every time I graduate from college, I must then fall into a state of un- and under-employment? I've been in New Mexico over a month and suspect I am no closer to jobiness than, say, a month ago. No matter I suppose, since I would always choose unemployment in New Mexico over Ohio.

On the up side, I've not before experienced the freedom of several weeks without daily classroom or work responsibility. I've been almost overwhelmed with the possible projects I could work on and seem to find myself split between "house," "hobby" and "money schemes."

House projects have been numerous and mostly small, almost always focusing on organization, but I'm currently in the midst of some hardcore staining of naked wood bookshelves.

Hobby projects have mostly been pushed aside or geared towards crazy money schemes. I've taken to selling things on Etsy and Ebay (perhaps more about this later) and I'm trying to get my crazy vehicles scales made, since I think I could sell them for about 4x the cost of parts. Though the big payoff would come from a welder-kit design that may or may not be in the works.

There's so much to do and so much that could be done, it's hard to stay focused. So I put in some work on the projects and the body every day. (Did I forget to mention? I'm not a fat grad student slob anymore, which is nice.)

unfortunately there is a down side and funemployment is not all beer and skittles. Severe cash drought causes of desert of untended hopes and dreams stretching as far as the eye can see. Fireproof race suits sit on shelves while race cars race without me. Light weight, extra wide Miata wheels lean against garage walls waiting for new rubber and naturally aspirated engines go un-boosted. Vacation plans are pushed back, rare/crazy southwest cars are un-purchased and sometimes... cheap beer is drank.

They say Hunter S. T. would pawn his typewriter in thin times, only to buy it back later. Now that I'm an ipad owner, I can certainly see the parallel, but it just doesn't have the same romantic twang. Or something.





It all kind of makes me want to do something like this:



Though I don't think cactus will stack up quite as nicely...

4 the lulz