Today is a good day, made better by a quick bike ride to the gas station and back.

The day started out well. Slept in a little. Sky was clear of more snow, although grey with clouds. I stayed in bed a little after waking, checking the news on my Palm Pilot from my last sync, before wandering downstairs. I checked in with the wife who was watching a little television, and then set to check in on the world on the web.

A few minutes into my on-line magazine reading, and I was reminded of an obligation to repair my aunt and uncle's PC by a power supply ad. I told the wife, who wasn't happy about wasting the one day on the weekend we don't have a kid in the house, or even in the state; she's away on a school trip to San Francisco. Anyway, she declined to go with, and I estimated an hour or so for the job.

Four hours later I return. That's another story; a good time was had by all will do for now.

I got home and decided to tinker with the motorcycle in preparation for the eventual arrival of spring. While technically it is spring, but looking out a window would suggest otherwise; there is still knee-deep snow in spots.

I pulled the cover off the bike and plugged the key in. A surprisingly bright light appeared when I turned the key. The battery had incorrectly not been removed, and had suffered through the long winter without a trickle charge. The bike turned over at the first few tries. Amazing! Then I realized I was a little out of whack and pulled the choke. The bike fired up after just a few more shots with the starter. It sputtered and died and I repeated this a few times until it would finally idle, rough as it was. I turned it off, happy that the repairs last spring had paid off and she was more reliable than I expected, again.

Then realized I was still an idiot and checked the oil. Yup, a quart low. Where does it go, I pondered, noticing that there was no tell-tale puddle beneath the bike. I know I'd filled it when I parked it in November. Alas, the mechanic said that's how you can tell the bike is alive...drip, drip, drip. (I disagree, but he is the motorcycle mechanic, while I am a software developer...what do I really know about motorcycles and leaking oil?)

I dug around the garage looking for the bag of oil I'd purchased last summer. I finally found it and refilled the tank again. It fired up much faster, and idled much more smoothly. (Mental note; that was the last quart of motorcycle oil in the garage--buy more.)

I let it sit idling while I looked it over for winter damage; a little dust and more road grime than I'd thought I remembered. The headlight worked, the horn worked, no smoke billowed from the back, the tires seemed solid with air, and the turn signals flashed when they were supposed to and stopped on command. The idle smoothed as it warmed, and all seemed well

The tail light was out, however, and no brakes either. Also, the bike had been backed into other garage too close to some other stuff to remove the light cover. Also too close to replace the license plate (the old one was nearly ripped in half from who knows what, and covered in oil from the arguably aggressive chain-lube last year).

I gave up, happy with the first pass at getting it going, and left it in place. I returned inside to be with the wife, and to try to salvage some of what remained of the day, since I'd given it to the other relatives instead.

Dinner plans have been made with a couple we like. Since he works near our house, the wife offered to go retreive her, and meet at our house, so they'd have only one car at the end of the evening. I watched a little more lame television (the 100 most outrageous red carpet moments--what the heck was I doing?) and decided to give the bike another go before it got too dark.

I pulled the stored things from around the bike, fired it up, and wheeled it out onto the garage apron. I stowed the things in the garage where the bike was (closer to the wall), making room for the bike in the garage. Inside (the apron is covered with snow and melt, mind you) I replaced the license plate and started investigating the brake light failure. It turned out to be a loose connection beneath the seat, which was quite happy when I re-routed the wire and snugged the connector.

Then I rode to the gas station to top-off the tires.

Whee!