SCOOTERCAST Episode 90 [23:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The last couple of weeks I have been ignoring my blogging and podcasting responsibilities. Sorry. I was sick most of the week after returning from Denver and haven’t gotten back in the groove until this week. This hasn’t stopped me from scooting a bit during the brief warm weather hits that are popping up every few days. The 7 Hills Scooter Club had a delayed ride a few weeks ago after the first Sunday ride of March was rained. Although everything in the garage is running, I was a bit lazy not wanting to risk a break down, so I took the Vespa GTS out.

My favorite scooterist, Alex from Peace Scooter has posted a video on her site she is calling a minumentary. It a mini-documentary that chronicles her two years of scooting for peace. It occurred to me this week that Alex didn’t have one of today’s great social connectors when she was riding. I am talking about Twitter. Loved by some and hated by many, Twitter is an amazing tool for connecting. I use it myself, mostly when I travel. Right now there is a guy called the Twitchhiker who in just a few weeks has traveled from New Castle in England to New Zealand San Fransisco by using twitter to connect with people who help him get from one place to another. You can see all the details of his trip on his website.

I got tagged as one of the top five scooter blogs on the Go Motor Scooter website. I am not really sure this has any credibility to it, as I tend to think that reader and podcast listeners’ feedback is most valuable. It may be a bit pedantic, but shouldn’t we really be talking about the real powerhouse scooter blogs like 2-stroke buzz, Scootin Old Skool , The Scooter Scoop and Scooter in the Sticks. I have always thought of them as having an editorial credibility and an authority that I can only aspire to. But my thanks goes out to Paul, who does the site. Any link love is appreciated.

I want to comment on a post over on 2-stroke buzz, where the blog posts are usually to the factual with minnimal editorializing. But in this case a bit of editorial license was just what the scooter doctor ordered when it came to talking about Steve Guzmans’ departure from Carter Brothers and SYM. The post makes several very good points about how the power-sports industry not seem to understanding the scooter lifestyle. We are very accepting of almost anyone who comes into the community with an honest interest in scootering. One of the problems, not that I profess to know anything about Steve’s situation with SYM, but when a short-term perspective motivates what you do, you can expect the deal to go south pretty fast. Thanks to 2-stroke buzz for speaking up and we wish Steve the best in keeping up the Scooter Scoop Blog and anything else he jumps into. He is an honest, straight-up kind of guy.

Scooter Website Link
All Styles Scooters – A ton of information, including brochures,repair manuals, owners manuals, schematics and much more from a scooter parts site out of England. Focus is mostly on Vespa and Lambretta, but not just vintage bikes. They have instructions on making racing modification including barrel tuning, intakes and plenty more. The tech page seems to compliment all the parts options they offer, the kind of thing that could really get someone like me in trouble.

Music For this show

Dance Hall Night from Jonny Barber, an old friend of Chuck Hughes another Denver Rock-A-Billy star and also known as the Velvet Elvis. Jonny has played with numerous and is associated with the Rock-A-Billy Record Co. label. I love this music, but to get the full experience you have to see it live. Jonny is constantly on the road so make sure you check his website to catch a live show.
Mashuptown has endless remixes of known and unknown music. Six Songs Collide played on this show mashes: Jason Mraz, Howie Day, Five For Fighting, Angela Ammons, Boyzone and 3 Doors Down.

This is my first post since attending Wordcamp Denver, where I was encouraged to write more about what I believe. Over and over, speakers talked about how “influence is not created by how many people you know, but by how freely you share your ideas and connect with people.” I have known for a long time that “knowledge is power” and when I was traveling a few weeks ago, this proved to be very true. It has been a day of bad weather on the east coast and my original early morning flight out of Denver on Delta was canceled. According to the ticket agent I wasn’t going to get home until midnight the next day, if I was lucky, so I should give up and come back the next day. I stood looking at hundreds of people standing in line, some yelling, others crying, most resigned to having sleep in the floor, eat crappy airport food and have their lives be miserable for the next two days.
You might say, “so what” this is air travel these days and even if it is uneventful, it sucks. But with millions of air-miles under my belt I have learned that there are a lot of secrets to traveling. First, I never believe what the ticket agent says and second I aways smile and say “yes sir/miss”. In this case I backed away and jumped on my wireless laptop and pulled out my Iphone to call Delta. The search was on for an alternative flight. Within 15 minutes I had purchased an affordable flight through Dallas/Ft Worth and began dreaming of sleeping in my own bed.
Another truth I have learned is that in many cases “those who know don’t say and those who say, don’t know”. Realizing this has made me rather intolerant of people withholding information. Although it may be revered in business as “a competitive advantage”, I think that in everyday life it becomes a way to demean others and neglect another truth I believe in, that we are all responsible for “the greatest good”.
Sitting in the airport last week, I calmly clicked to confirmed my ticket on line thinking “knowledge is power”. The Delta airline employees herd hundreds of people around, yelling, “stay in line. This is the only way to get re-booked”. As I walked away, I pulled a mother with two kids aside and said, “use you cellphone, call the Delta desk while you stand here, rebook over the  phone. You have to take care of yourself, they aren’t going to take care of you.”

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