After much consideration, I’ve left my current job. I’m going to be taking some time off to consider how much I really want to work, as the time and expectations of this job really burnt me out. So if anyone knows of a swank techie job kicking around Seattle, feel free to drop me a line.

I took a motorcycle basic rider course recently through the Motorcycle Safety Company. The course was one weeknight and one weekend morning of classtime, followed by a pretty simple multiple choice test. After that we spent about six or seven hours each on a saturday and sunday in a parking lot learning basics. At the end of the last day we had a skills test; upon passing I got a waiver for my motorcycle endorsement on my license.

So recently I picked up a 2006 Yamaha xt225 at Eastside Motorsports in Bellevue. They were pretty helpfull, but didn’t know a whole lot about the machine. I went in looking for an xt225 though, so it didn’t matter that the sales person didn’t know how many gears it had when I asked, I already knew. I’d been looking around quite a bit for the right ride. I rode a Yamaha TW200 dual sport at my class and knew I wanted a dual sport, preferably something inexpensive. The tw and xt series are well known for being reliable, and while not particularly powerfull as far as engine size goes, the xt will maintain highway speeds but is more for riding around both off and on road. I put over a hundred miles on it today, riding out to the penninsula and then taking the ferry back (note, when riding a motorcycle onto a seattle ferry, PASS GO, COLLECT 200 DOLLARS. That is, you’re supposed to drive around the line, board anywhere in traffic you can fit in, proceed around to the front of the ferry. You get off second, after the bicycles, but before the cars. Quite nice.)

I’d like to leave town for a few days, but I’m helping a friend move on Saturday, so I’ll be poking around in search of some forest service roads, trying to put my last job behind me.