It's been all quiet around here for a couple of weeks -- despite the Legislature in a "Special Session" to work on budget and revenue issues.  They may be in session but they don't be in Olympia.  It's a classic stalemate between the House and the Senate -- no members really around, and a few of the "leaders" waiting for the other one to blink.  The special session can only go thirty days -- and we are at day 23.  With any luck it will wrap up this week.  So while I've tried in vain to figure out what's going on, to work with a few members on making sure the budget and revenue packages are the way they are "supposed" to be, it has left a lot of time to catch up on things.  I got the taxes done, both Canadian and US, and sent off to the accountants, and sit dreading the bottom line I'll have to pay. 

My April column in Quick Throttle came out and I think it's one of my best -- and I've gotten a lot of good comments.  A fair amount was lifted from an entry on here last fall.  www.quickthrottle.com/Editions/NW/2010/april10/roadsigns.html  And then there is an ad smack dab in the middle of it -- which sort of ticked me off until the Editor said that my column was the most read article and that's why the company requested that it be put there.  And then the front desk girl at Eastside Harley recognized me when I came in from the magazine.  Made my day.

I've done some thinking about my future writing projects and outlined a road map of sorts for that.  And I've been dreaming about an upcoming bike trip or two as well.  Right now I'm leaning towards a couple of weeks riding down through New Mexico and Texas to visit some friends in Austin before looping back North and home, most likely the last two weeks in May.  It will be a long trip -- through areas I've never ridden in too, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I've also been anxiously lusting after the delivery of my new I-Pad. So much so that I left notes on both doors for the UPS guy when I left to run errands yesterday least I miss him.
Well as promised, Apple delivered it yesterday and I've hardly put it down.  No, I'm not writing this entry on it -- that's a bit more than I want to do.   It is essentially a giant I-Phone.  Now I've been jealous of folks with I-Phones since before they came out, but for business reasons I'm unfortunately tied to Verizon and thus cannot get an I-Phone (or so they say, the Wall Street Journal last week said that Apple will release one for Verizon this summer -- but I ain't holding my breath.)

The Pad is a touch screen device -- with full web and email capability, along with an electronic book reader, and it runs all the "Aps" for I-Phone as well.  It's a nice size, my aging eyes can read it well, and it will be perfect for taking on long bike trips.  I can plot routes, check maps, see live weather, and all in a device the size of a magazine that can ride in my saddlebags.  I still will take notes on my old-fashioned leather bound hand made journal -- and then translate them into my journal entries using the laptop at night in the hotel room.  I love that journal -- how it's gotten weathered, how the leather smells, how it rides in my tank bra and I can grab it and jot down things as I sit on the bike under  a tree in a nice roadside spot.
There is something about doing things the old fashioned way -- it somehow makes it all the more "real" to me.   And the Pad doesn't have picture capability, but then again it doesn't need it -- I'll have the camera and cell-phone for that.  Funny, now on road trips I'll have more cords, devices and gadgets than pairs of socks and underwear!

So does the I-Pad change "everything" like Apple claims it will?  I don't know.  The I-Phone certainly changed how folks think and use cell phones for sure.  This is similar -- it will be nice to be able to grab it and see a full sized web page, and it will certainly take the place of packing a book or two on a long trip (I've already downloaded Atlas Shrugged, which I've not read in about 12 years for this year's road trip -- the print version isn't exactly a "carry along" book -- but on the Pad it takes up no room at all).  The I-Pad is fun, it's cool -- I'm glad I have it.  But is it a game changer?  We'll see.

Meanwhile, as the Legislature fiddles like Nero did when Rome burned, so I'll be thumbing through my Ride Atlas, and plotting things on my I-Pad for for the May trip to the Southwest.  The weather is gross this weekend in Seattle -- so it's a nice day to stay in and ponder and dream.