Hey, Franck!

I'll be at the Flying Saucer (behind Union Station on Broadway, next door to the Frist Center) from ~6:00-7:30 p.m. tonight for Drinking Liberally. I may even ride the People 250. :) Stop by, if you can!
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Now Nearly FIVE Dollar Footlongs

Posted yesterday at the cat blog. Less than 20 hours later, the price went from $3.999 to $4.699.

I gotta say, this is alarming. This is at my nearby new Pilot station, who throughout the summer, held prices at $3.699/gallon or lower for the most part. As far as I know, it's about as cheap as one can buy on the west side of town.

Oil closed today at around $103/bbl. The second it spikes upward $10/bbl, every gas station jacks the price 5-20 cents/gallon of gasoline.

When I was 16, gasoline was below $1/gallon. I recall paying $0.699/gallon, at that time (yes, I remember the panic that gas stations went through when they had no digit to the left of the decimal on the pump... have you recently seen one of those "$1" stickers?). All the pumps' displays were analog -- big, Bakelite wheels with numbers and tick marks, white on black. Most places had no "self-service" -- you pulled in, a guy cleaned your windshield, pumped your gas, and didn't expect a tip! Sometimes, they'd offer to empty your trash or ashtray, or do a quick vacuum of the front floorboard.

Granted, minimum wage was $2.85/hr., and I was working a job that paid $3.15/hr. I lived at home, went to school (walked, every day, or later rode with a friend -- never drove myself to school, ever), and drove my dad's 1978 Pontiac Bonneville some evenings and weekends... 400 cubic inches of four-barreled Detroit fury. It was fast, fun, and a complete gas hawg, the way I drove it (sorry, Dad). :)

Fast-forward to 2008. Now, the largest engine I own is 250cc, and it gets over 65mpg on its worst day. I use that scooter about 10% of the time, these days, preferring the 50cc Yamaha Vino, which is even more conservative on fuel use.

Folx, we HAVE to re-think this petroleum-based global goatfuck. If we don't, it won't be long before many millions of people die, both trying to defend and/or acquire (read: steal) what's left out there to be had, cheaply.

I think what we're seeing right now is a near-last-gasp, record-breaking profit-taking, through sheer greed and indifference to the needs of future generations. We have to stop this madness.
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Now We're Talkin'.

Check out this article about a new Honda prototype that's 110cc 4-stroke that gets over 120mpg, and has a max speed of 100mph... whoa.
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Neighborhood Scootin'

Tell me how many different Shell signs you saw.

First Nashvillian to answer correctly in comments gets a free Scooters for Obama pin delivered next Thursday night.
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New Poll

Over to your right, dumbass.

Fast food, banking, pharmacies... how often do you use drive-thru windows when riding the scooter?
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Welcome, Frank! Franck!

... or Franck, perhaps? I don't know... I didn't get your business card! :)
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Rain Scoot

It's fun when its warm, anyway. :)
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Cheese It! It's The Cops!

Yep; I done got my very first traffic stop on a scooter -- and yes, it was while I was on the Vino.

I was heading east down Charlotte Ave., and passed a cop who was stopped in a business lot, signaling to enter Charlotte heading east. I got two blocks before he lit up the blues.

I signal, pull into another parking lot, shut off the scooter, and draped my wrists over the handlebars. The very young MNPD officer approaches slowly, asks for my license. Says he stopped me because I have no tag on the scooter.

"Well, it's my understanding that this scooter is considered, under Tennessee law, to be a motorized bicycle--"

"Nuh-uh. How many ccs is it?"

"49.5."

"49.5. Where does it say that? Do you have a registration?"

"No, sir -- I could be wrong, but I also understand that motorized bicycles do not require registration under state law."

"Does it say '49.5cc' somewhere on the bike?"

"Well, I think so, on one of these stickers..."

"Stand over there, sir."

"Sure." He bends over to examine the several decals that Yamaha affixes to the scooter, including the VIN decal, all the while resting his hand on his weapon, my driver's license between the fore- and middle finger of his shootin' hand.

"I don't see any 49.5cc anywhere, on there, anywhere."

He bends down, kneels on the ground, clearly more at ease (I'm at least six feet away from him, giving him space), looking around the variator casing, and underneath the scooter.

"I could've sworn one of those labels had the displacement. Can you run the VIN, and see if that tells you anything?"

"Yeah, let me write that down. Just sit tight and I'll be back with you in a minute."

Several minutes pass, and I notice he's leafing through a small book. I slowly approach the car, and say, "Officer? I think I have the relevant statutes in my under-seat compartment."

"Do you have any weapons or anything you shouldn't have under there?"

"Of course not. You can open it if you like."

"No, go ahead -- I'll take a look at what you have."

So, I get the relevant statutes, hand 'em over... I figured that'd help him find the spot in his little book that should read exactly the same. Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened.

Cop says, "You don't have ANYTHING that says it's a 49.5cc bike?"

"Not on me, I don't suppose. I mean, if you write me a ticket--"

"I'm not gonna write you a ticket."

"Cool. But what I'm sayin' is, I could pull information off the Yamaha website, and match the VIN to the model, and show a judge that I was doin' what I thought was legal. I've been ridin' it since April, 2007, and this is the first time I've been pulled over."

There was a pause. Then, he says, "Well, dang... I'm tryin' to figure out how you can keep from gettin' pulled over, again." I mention that'd it'd be cool if Tennessee would offer a special plate -- one that didn't cost $85. He agrees, and points out in his code book that registration on motorized bicycles is voluntary, which he thinks is stupid: Why pay $85 when you don't have to?

We made some small talk, then. He'd seen my scooter at Target a few days ago... asked me what kind of mileage it gets, etc. I mentioned that I'd reported an attempted theft on it back in March ("Oh -- that's how you got all the scratches and the broken speedometer?").

He didn't apologize (heh -- do they ever?), but he shook my hand, gave me my license back, urged me to be safe, and went on his way.

Another day in the concrete jungle.
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