Mine!

Mine mine mine mine mine!

( Mine! )

Before work: Checked my current credit cards to see which had the best rates and limits.
At work in the morning: Champed at the bit.
At lunch: Stopped by SunTrust to check out their loan rates, found them wanting--9.75-11.5%--but applied for prequalification anyway.
At lunch in the afternoon: Champed at the bit. Called the store to talk to Reid (the salesman I spoke with on Saturday) to announce my probable intentions of buying the bike, and schedule a meeting at 5 or 5:30.
After work: Hurried home, waited a few minutes for Christina to arrive, headed down to Coleman. Having basically made up my mind already, I looked it over once more, then had Reid paged. The guys in the sales tower suggested I go out and punch him in the eye to get his attention, but I declined. (Gotta love it when people have fun with their jobs. :D) Fetched him, started the paperwork. Lots of paperwork (with more to come!)

While waiting on the finance woman, Christina and I looked around at all the other bikes, until we were called back into finance, which had far more paperwork than Reid's desk offered. Upon learning that their financier's interest rates were on the order of 13-17%, I didn't even bother submitting my application for that. Opted to add 3 years full service, 2 years warranty, breakdown coverage, road hazard coverage, and theft protection, as long as I was already spending quite a bit and getting an almost-new bike. (I also spent a good bit of time on the phone with Fleet, a) making sure the purchase wouldn't be flagged for fraud, and b) arranging for a much better rate than the existing 10.99%--4.5% for the next 6 months, 9.9% after, by which time I'll have paid off a good portion of it and transferred the rest to a better-rate card.) Arranged to pick it up Tuesday, then headed back to Lorton where we stopped at Papa John's to pick up dinner.

Once back at the house, we and Nathan watched Thir13en Ghosts, which was pretty damn cool--great special effects and set, pretty good story. After that I headed back to Manassas (as did Christina, but she was headed home) to my parents' house, where I picked up my motorcycle jacket and a few other bits of gear, and chatted with my dad. I think I have a couple more pieces in storage, but those are hard to get to and only available 9am-9pm. (We also arranged our trip down to Radford for the weekend, down in my truck to fix up his '51 Chevy Fleetline to get it street-legal, back in those two vehicles.)

Now I have a lot of LJ catchup to do--haven't read since before work Monday--and need to call Progressive to start my policy for the Duc. Tomorrow, I'll champ at the bit at work all day, come home, meet Christina, go fetch Nathan's puppy from the vet post-spaying (while he's at dinner with his dad), then drop off the puppy and go get my bike. Huzzah!

Update, 0106: Progressive called, policy started. :)

Oh yeah--I need to order an owner's manual for the bike, too--the guy who traded it in didn't return that bit. :P (Wonder if they could contact him to ask about it?)

Fun with animals!

HAHAHA! Man, these are some freaky great pictures. (D&D Gone Wild, offers deusinnomen :)

reabhecc: The truth behind the Oxfordshire dragon-in-a-jar hoax

kelwyn: Cute Little Fuzzy Animals in Kitty Cop!

Got my motorcycle!

Since I had to pick up Molly from the vet "before 7" and told Reid I'd be in to pick up the bike between 5 and 5:30, I opted to take an hour of personal leave at work, leaving at 1530. Went home, met Christina there, drove to Hayfield Animal Hospital, fetched Molly, dropped her off at home, donned my motorcycle boots and jacket, and carried my motorcycle pants, gloves, helmet, and paperwork. Off to Coleman we went!

Found Reid, who took me to the bike and gave me a once-over of the specifics of this bike's controls, gauges, keys, cases, locks, etc. (He also fired it up, and oh, what a beautiful rumble and roar this engine puts out.) I questioned the "antitheft device" paperwork, which turns out to be, as I thought it might, a guarantee of compensation in case of theft, kept in a database, nothing technical on the bike. I also got a copy of the service record for a '99 Ducati ST2, as they didn't have one for the '01 on hand--hopefully they will by the time I need service! (And, unfortunately, their used bikes are sold As-Is, which means that this one has no owner's manual--for some reason, the previous owner kept it, and I'll have to buy my own--and apparently they run about $70. Update, 1am: Fortunately, Ducati has their owner's manuals downloadable for bikes from 2000 on!)

With all paperwork complete and signed, I got the keys to my new machine, donned my gear, had Christina take a few pictures, and off I went for my first ride--primarily to get used to how it handles--while Christina waited in the parking lot. The thing that's taking the most getting used to is the steering--much more solid and responsive than my old Maxim, due to the sport design--and the slightly different pedal locations and body position. I rode it to a nearby large set of linked parking lots, where I tooled around for a few miles of riding, until I felt confident enough to head home. I then returned to Coleman, Christina snapped another photo, I chatted with Reid for a few minutes, and homeward we went, Christina trailing me, as it began to get dark. (I'd like to get used to the bike in the daytime, thanks. ;) Lemme tell you, that bike can move--though I doubt I ever used more than 50% throttle, if that! Pretty comfortable, too, though my legs and hips are going to have to get used to the different position--until then, I may be a little sore. :)

(Oh, nice little design bits: There's a u-bar Kryptonite lock stored under the seat, in addition to a cable used to lock a helmet to the bike; the side cases are designed to hold a helmet each, if it's small enough--mine's a little too big; there's a digital clock, digital fuel gauge, and digital temp gauge in the dash; there's a special handle on the side to help get the bike on its center stand; there's extra rear turn signal hardware included if I choose to remove the side cases' brackets.. good stuff!)

Once home, I parked the bike in one of the townhouse's two spots, took the truck from the other, and off to Red Hot 'n' Blue we went for dinner. Upon our return, the truck was relegated to a nearby street, as the bike gets the better spot. ;]

Oh, and those pictures? Here's the thumbnail of one, click to see the gallery of the rest!



Shame the weather's going to crap again--bring on the sun! :D
('course, speaking of rain, I found that my cruiser-style cover doesn't really work with this bike, even if I remove the side cases--rain would just pool above the bike!)