Fedil's Blog A unique individual with a unique perspective

I have always had a fascination with motorcycles. It started at a very early age. I remember having an electric-powered motorcycle when I was about 4 years old. It was the little toy ones that you plugged in and charged for a few hours. Then you could ride it for about 30 mins before the battery would run down. It of course didn't go very fast, but it was still fun.

My first "real" motorcycle. It was a cheap dirt bike that was awesome to learn on.

As I got older I still kept my passion for motorcycles. We were never rich, so I was really surprised when my parents got me a dirt bike that I had wanted, the Honda Cub. It was a cheap little thing, but was really fun. It was an automatic so I didn't have to worry about switching gears. It also didn't go that fast, but it was fast enough to enjoy the ride. I use to use it to ride around town. Trying to stay off the roads when I thought a cop might be around since it wasn't street legal and I was only like 13.

As I got older I really wanted a street legal motorcycle. Like a lot of  concerned parents, mine worried I would hurt myself. I had a couple of friends that had motorcycles so I would sometimes ride theirs to practice. When I was about 18 I decided I would go ahead and buy my own motorcycle. Since I worked and made my own money I didn't have to ask my parents. I ended up getting a Honda Ascott FT500.

Unfortunately this isn't a pic of my actual bike but one just like it.

The bike wasn't pretty, but it was a great starter bike. It was cheap enough so I wouldn't worry about dropping it and had enough power to get me on the highway. The bike was pretty reliable and I had a lot of fun on it, but I eventually wanted something better. It just seemed natural to step up to a sport bike. Since I was partial to Honda, I started looking at their 600 bikes. At first I started looking at used CBR600F2 and CBR600F3 motorcycles.

I just figured I couldn't afford a new one. One day I went into a Honda dealership just to check out the new bikes and decided I would go ahead and see what the payments would be. To my surprise they were very affordable and I qualified for financing. I was really  happy. It was my first new bike. I also bought matching race leathers. I had the Honda Racing jacket and pants. I believed heavily in safety first.

My first new bike. It was something I was really proud of.

It took me a little bit to get use to having a new sport bike with better brakes and a lot more power than I had been use to. It was fun to really get on it on occasion. It was also fun because two of my best friends also had good sport bikes and we could go riding together.

Unfortunately, one day a suburban hit me while we were on one of our rides and my bike didn't fare as well as I did. The insurance company at first wanted to total it out, but since it was financed I would have to come up with the difference of what it was worth vs what I owed. Since it was on the border of being totaled they actually went a head and paid to fix it. So I rode it for a while but then it was time to upgrade again.

I was the most comfortable with this bike and had loads of fun!

I continued to stay with Honda and decided to get the 2004 CBR600RR. My friends knew of a place in Mississippi that sold them for a $1000-$1500 discount if you paid cash. So we planned a road trip to go get it. Luckily there were a couple of us and we rotated riding and driving the car back. It was really really fun!

That bike lasted awhile, but I had the itch to upgrade and wanted to upgrade my camera. I figured I could go ahead and sell it and then just save up to buy a new one within a year. Plans sound so good when you come up with them, but then life has a way to kick you in the balls. Then other things come up and before you know it over 2 years pass without getting a new bike.

Well this year the itch to get a new one was just too strong. I couldn't get exactly what I wanted but ended up getting something cheap that I could use to ride for the summer while I wait to get I want. So I spent a little time on craigslist and cycletrader till I found something that would do the job. I was starting to get a little down about the selection that was available. So when a blue and silver 2007 CBR600RR popped up I knew I had to jump on it. I had looked at getting this exact bike back in 2007 but didn't want to spend the money at the time. Funny how things work out.

I just couldn't go another summer without a bike!

It ended up being a great decision to go ahead and just grab a bike for the summer. My girlfriend also loves bikes and even got her own. Then I convinced my sister and brother-in-law to get one too. So now I can ride with my friends and family.

I'm sure there will be tons of fun to have this summer and loads of stories to go with it. I look forward to it. Looking toward the future though I think I'll be breaking away from Honda. I'm wanting to branch out and get something a little more exotic and less mainstream. So for the time being, I have my sights set on the Triumph Daytona 675! You don't really see triples much and they get really high reviews. So maybe by this time next year I'll have it!!! Hope everyone rides safe!

I'm on the move again. Hopefully this new opportunity will work out and allow me to reach some of my goals professionally and personally.

It hasn't even been two years since I left work at AT&T, but it looks like I am switching work places yet again. After 12 years of thinking I would never leave AT&T I continue to surprise myself going for new opportunities. I am not one that usually goes out looking for change, but it seems that life has different ideas for me.

I was really comforted by how secure my job was at AT&T. Although they had several rounds of layoffs while I was working for them, they usually did a good job of finding other positions in the company for most people. I also know plenty of people who still work there and it doesn't seem like the security aspect has changed much at all. So I have no doubts I could have easily just stayed there till I was ready to retire.

The job was really boring and not very challenging though. So when an opportunity that seemed like it would be more challenging presented itself, I took it. It has been an interesting time at my current place of employment, but I still felt I wasn't challenged enough and I don't think I ever really fit in. Some of that has to do with the management style and some of it has to do with me not asserting myself.

Well now another opportunity has presented itself. This time in a field I'm more interested in and one that I think I'll fit better in. I'll be working as a senior developer. This aligns perfect with some of the work I've been doing on the side. I'm happy I will have an opportunity to code everyday. I think this will help me stay in a programming mindset and have the information fresh on my mind. Hopefully this will also help me in my personal programming projects.

My ultimate goal and dream is to work for myself and have my mobile app company (Ukneeq Solutions) go big. Well it may not get big, but at least enough to support me where I can live comfortably and be able to afford a family. So as I stare change in the face yet again, I'm keeping an optimistic mindset.

Taking a break up on the mountain.

With snowboarding season fast approaching I have decided to actually do some workouts geared toward getting me ready for the season. I have been working out consistently to get into summer shape, but snowboarding will use different muscles and in different ways. Since I'm wanting to do more advanced riding this year, I figure it wouldn't hurt to try to do things specifically for snowboarding.

So to get myself ready to do some awesome riding and jumps this year I have added squats, dumbbell lunges, lateral lunges, box jumps, and wall sits to my workout. Since I'm not looking to bulk up I am not really concerned about heavy weights. I'm using weights that give my legs a nice burn and do reps to get them use to constant usage.

The biggest surprise for me was the wall sits. I use to do these when I was younger and definitely don't remember them being this difficult. I started out doing 3 sets at 30 seconds each. Before I started doing them I thought to myself that 30 seconds should be pretty easy but would be good enough to get started. Boy was I wrong. My legs felt like they were on fire after about 15 seconds. I pushed through it though and now my last set is at 45 seconds. I'm trying to work my way up to 2 minutes.

Besides just doing workouts I'm also getting myself to how things feel with the board on. So I've started doing standing jumps with boots on and strapped into the board. I'm also doing box jumps strapped into the board. The box is about 2 feet tall. I figure if I can easily jump on and off the box with no momentum, I should be able to do some cool things on the slopes. At least that is the thinking right now.

Here are some videos for your entertainment:
Offseason Snowboarding Workout
Offseason Snowboarding Workout Attempt #2

Once the snowboarding season kicks off and we make some trips I'll have some snowboarding videos that hopefully will show how much the workouts and preparation paid off!