Tomorrow, I’m headed up to Old Orchard Beach, Maine on the Harley for some camping, fishing, drinking, partying with Chad and his friends. Its a guys weekend so we’ll see how much trouble we get into. This year, I’m going to take some ’stuff’ so that I hopefully don’t get sea sick again. Two years ago the highlight of the fishing trip was me being the only one to boot. I don’t want that to happen this year… ha.

This week, the weather has been pretty rainy straight through, but luckily I think Friday to Sunday its supposed to actually be nice. Yesterday, I went to the Harley dealership and ordered some saddlebags designed specifically for my bike in preparation of my huge road trip (yet to be officially announced, stay tuned). So now I’ll have those bags plus the large rack bag. I also picked up a couple odds and ends I’ve been meaning to get.

Back to work… Maybe I can sneak out early today.. hmm..

Friday night I went to a really fun kickball league open bar event at the Hong Kong in Harvard Square. I’m not a member of the kickball league but who am I to turn down open bar! Met lots of people.. Before that, we stopped at Charlie’s Kitchen/Bar and I met another harley biker, chatted it up for awhile.. Who knows.. might be seeing him around North Shore sometime.

Saturday I had hoped to do a day trip down to Foxwoods on the bike. I was going with Arty but his bike was down on the Cape. So we were going to swing down there first (him in his car), get the bike and hit the road for CT. But by the time we got the Cape, there was a huge thunderstorm on radar between us and Foxwoods. So we decided to stay on the Cape for the remainder of the day. We checked out a couple beaches, had some great food and hit some nice back roads he knows. BTW: We still ended up getting hit by rain, but luckily I had my rain gear with me!

Some quick pics from my iPhone that day…

Being busy with work, the bike and other goings-on I forgot to post about a very important milestone.

June 1, 2009 represented my living in Boston for 5 years…

On June 1, 2004, I moved to Boston and flipped this city upside down - never to be the same again for both of us.  In those 5 years, we’ve seen the Red Sox win their first world series in 86 years and then again in 2007.  I’ve been on a local TV station (for something good).  We had a horrible election and Bush got re-elected.  We’ve been in Iraq and Afghanistan the whole time I’ve lived here.  I’ve worked for the same company for 5 years.  I waited hours in line to get to see President Barack Obama at a Primary event.  I’ve toured the U.S.S. Constitution so many times with friends/family visiting that I have an honorary bunk.

I haven’t kept the love to just Boston.  In 5 years, I’ve traveled to Washington DC, Seattle, Toronto, London, Miami, Switzerland, Italy, passed through Germany (I have the passport stamp to prove it), Omaha, Aspen, Chicago and NYC.  And just recently with the addition of Zeus, I’ve been spread through out the Northeast in 6 states so far.  Which I personally am more proud of for the simple fact that the weather has been horrible but I’ve made the most of every available moment.

I’ve seen some great concerts 5 years in Boston…  To name just a few:  Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Beck, The Beastie Boys, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews Band, Of Montreal, Cold War Kids, Modest Mouse, Ani Difranco, Supergrass, Rusted Root, Red Hot Chili Peppers.  In July, I have tickets for AC/DC at Gillette Stadium and we’re taking the Harley’s down to Foxboro.  Loud Guitars, Loud Pipes..Watch out..

Countless Red Sox and Celtics Games.. I honestly don’t know how many I’ve been to.  Technically 4 Sox games this year so far although one got rained out on me but I was in the gates, drinking beer friends and paid for it.

Well, here is hoping at least for the next few months it doesn’t rain quite as much in New England.  And we all have a fun Summer 2009…  I know I’ve got a lot lining up.

EDIT 6/30/2009: I was reminded by my Mom that I saw Neil Diamond with my Parents at Fenway last year!  How could I forget that on the list!! ha..  And, with my upcoming July travel I’m not longer going to be going to AC/DC.. Which sucks but is ok..

On Friday, I didn’t end up going up to Laconia.  Sorry people.  The weather was just too rainy off/on to do a big trip like that.   I did end up going out in the afternoon with Arty to the Framingham Harley dealership to check it out.  I think I might do my next service there as they might be a slight bit cheaper then the “Boston” location.

On Saturday, I was at my normal dealership getting my detachable windshield finally.  The thing has been on back order for a month so its nice to finally get it in.  Then, I headed down for an short afternoon trip to Rhode Island.  Found a nice town, had a quick lunch and then shot back up to Boston.  So this makes 6 States now and basically at 1,900 total miles..

Couple quick pics of the new windshield with my iPhone using a ‘magazine’ filter.  I think for the most part I’m going to leave the windshield off and just use it for longer trips.  But it easily comes off/on in less then a minute - so its really not a hard decision either way.

Today and tomorrow I have off thank goodness!  I need a break from work…  This morning I turned in my coffee can of spare change and got $100.65 back so that was awesome.  Going to do some laundry this afternoon and that kind of stuff..  Tomorrow, I think we’re heading up to Laconia, NH for bike week up there.  Simply put, you don’t have a real bike week unless I roll the fuck through, so I’ll make an appearance for the people up there.

After some deliberation over the past couple weeks, I have officially come up with a name for my bike…

And the name is:  Zeus

Last night after work, headed down to Plymouth, MA south of the city and met up with Arty on his bike.  Quick pic of bike parked on the street near the coast, Plymouth Rock, all that jazz..  I like the aura coming down from the sun..  Zeus demands respect from all passerby’s!! haha..

And we can now make it 5 States (and over 1,600 miles) that I’ve taken the Harley through.  Yesterday, I did a day trip up the coast to Portland, Maine.  At the NH border, I took Route 1 all the way up through Portsmouth, crossed over into Maine through Kittery, York and Kennebunke which were are really great to ride through.  Lots of shops and eateries.   Once I got up there, I had a HUGE lunch!!  I was going to get lobster but then last minute I decided I didn’t really feel like dealing with battling shell and whatnot.  So I got a great native 1LB Maine Shrimp entree that was awesome.  I also met up with an ex-coworker Jill, had a couple drinks on the water front, and hung out with her for awhile before heading home.

This past week I was super busy FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY launching a HUGE project that I’ve been working on basically since the end of 2007.  The first phase launched last summer and the final phase lunched on Friday.  This will let me use some my major amount of vacation time I’ve been painfully waiting to use..  Time to make plans..

My road trip was simply awesome..  Great riding Thursday night with Aaron & Sarah and Zack & Jamie..  Little bit of a fifth wheel..  need a hot chick for the back of my bike.  Friday was great riding, Saturday was great riding with Shane and a fun night on the town Saturday night with Zack…  And then.. Sunday driving BACK to Boston….

All said and done, the bike has been in 4 states and has over 1,300 miles on it now..  I LOVE the bike but I’m going to take a couple days off and ride the subway to work.. ha..  (And I really wish I wasn’t back to work already..)

Below is a quick pic of me that Sarah took from the back of Aaron’s bike on the strip in Lake George…

Tomorrow, bright and early, I start a mini vacation and road trip home to NY on the bike.  This week and weekend is Americade in Lake George so they’ll be LOTS of bike around the area.  Thursday night, getting together with the normal crew for some riding and hanging out.  Friday Zack has off as well so we’ll be doing lots of riding then as well as Saturday.  Then its back home on Sunday and I also have Monday off as a comp day for working my ass off…

Definitely looking forward to being out of the office for a few days and seeing everyone in NY!

Time to get to bed..

Had a really nice weekend getting a visit from Aaron and Sarah with Charlie..  Or as he is now known as: C-MAC!!  ’Cause he brings it like a MAC truck!!  Friday and Saturday nights we hung around Fenway for some DMB.  Saturday during the day, I picked up my bike from the dealership which is now S.I.C.K., and then met back up with the group.  Did a LOT of walking around the city, hit up Earth Fest 2009 at the Esplanade..  Most interesting was stumbling upon free draft beer  at a Boston Sailing Club event on the water front. Nice.  :-)

Time to get Monday through Wednesday done and hit the road for a short road-trip / vacation on the bike home to NY!!

Great weekend so far.  Had a blast riding on Friday and Saturday with Chad and had a nice time at Amy’s birthday party barbeque.  Put on nearly 500 miles on the bike now and have scheduled this week to do the first upgrades and maintenances..

The main modification people will immediately notice and hear are my new pipes.  Vance and Hines - Big Shots - Staggered in the black ceramic.  These pipes are going to be sick…  Dropping the bike off on Wednesday and the bike will be ready for pick up on Friday.  I also got a Screamin’ Eagle Air kit and Screamin’ Eagle Race Tuner hardware/software for calibrations, etc.  Really great stuff.

Pictured below is a Cross Bones (my bike) with the pipes I got..  Can’t wait..