When all you do is fall.

It will be my 4 year anniversary for my accident on Nov 9th. I also consider it my birthday because I did die and come back on this day in 2009.

   I have mixed feelings about all that I've "accomplished" I am so very unhappy and alone, lost, hoping to find a direction, another lost soul mayhaps, to come with me into this unsure future.

  I have been looking for a place to move, kinda want to move into the country, mountains. Away from people, being alone isn't so bad if you just are alone. Whenever you meet someone that maybe has that special thing you are looking for. The time you spend with them, only if for a moment undoes any bit you are content with being alone. Meeting someone who you think has what it takes is something special. But rarely do dreams come true, and again I'm alone, but now with all the malcontent I can handle. I only hope I find something far away, where I can enjoy my solitude, maintain my health, sculpt my body, pursue my hobbies, spend time with my animals, time with my thoughts.

I really think that I'm meant to be alone, especially now that my tbi has really screwed me up for anyone.

Today was what I hope will happen for me in life. Started off nice, got rainy and crappy, but the sun is peeking out and the day may turn around. I've talked of suicide and thought about it more times than I want to think about. The reality is that I want to see how this shit show turns out for me. Will I turn it around? Will I be sucking dicks for crack under a bridge? We will see.

  I'm gonna go to a comedy show tonight and laugh and have a good time, forget the misery which this is now.

Listening to November rain, seems like a good day for such.

Back to the blog? Maybe...

After 5 or so years of MAJOR change in my life. I redicovered my blog. I wish i had remembered and kept a journal of my progress. Hindsight is 20/20, i can't go back, and for that i'm glad. I will provide insight into where i've been and what has happened along the way. Be back soon.

Vacationing in Long Beach California and new Tattoos...

Kat and I are in Long Beach California right now. We have been here for 3 days and we are having a great time! Started our journey in b-more, then memphis (which has some damn good ribs) and then off to LA. We picked up our rental car (toyota solara convertible) and hit the 405 freeway traffic at peak of rush hour. It was insanity (now i know why so much crazy shit happens in cali, it all stems from the traffic) We got off the freeway and hit up PCH (pacific coast highway) and drove along the water down into long beach. The weather is a gorgeous 75 degrees and slight cool breeze. Kat was taking video while i was driving when i decided to "test" the e-brake. Yea, it scared the shit outta Kat and the half dozen other people in a 4 block radius. I locked the rear tires up suddenly and let out a hella loud howl from them. It was hilarious and Kat's face was priceless. Our rental car kicks ass and is a PERFECT car for the beach. Its sporty and we have had the top down 90 percent of our drives.

The first full day(friday) we went down to the track, caught some sun, drank some beer and saw some racing. When i say "caught" some sun, i mean we got nuked. Kat and i are BOTH sunburned crucially, but it has not slowed our fun down at all. Kat found a pretty sweet tattoo shop in Long beach called "long beach ink assassins" and she got herself a BEAUTIFUL koi fish (lovingly named tina) on her left inner calf. It is very detailed and vividly colored. Its also pretty damn big, but looks very lady like and sexy when she dons some high heeled shoes.

The next day(saturday), we hit up the racetrack again to catch the celebrity pro race, lemans series race and then we headed back over to the long beach tattoo shop. Being jealous of kat's tattoo all day, i decided to get one myself. I picked out a pic on google images of a lotus (flower) and had mike draw it up for me. It is about 5" in diameter and is on the right side of my neck. Its big, purple n yellow and gorgeous. This guy can really tattoo. It hurt like a SOB, but all the artists, customers and friends that saw me getting it done "blew it up" (fist love) saying that i was "gangster" and "good job, manning up on that shit" for having my neck done with such a large tattoo. The tattoo kinda just peeks out from my shirt collar, goes on my clavical area as well. It was a bitch to get, but now me and Kat have some LA ink to remember our great trip by!

We have taken upwards of 300 photos and videos, the scenery and city are GORGEOUS, palm trees everywhere, bright blue empty sky, skyscrapers and harbor lining the tracksides, and tons of awesome people. Everyone here is really friendly, laid back and very stylish. I think it is a great place to be. The city of long beach seems like it is almost like paradise but "real". It is certainly growing on me, even though in the first 4 hours of being in LA i said i'd NEVER move out here...

Today, Kat and I woke up at 9:30 completely demolished feeling. We are both sunburned, sore from tattoos and didn't get much sleep. Kat is having a hard time walking around (which is not good considering that the big race is today this afternoon.

This quote just about sums everything up.

It’s not about the end of the world. It's not about surviving a hypothetical plane crash.
It’s about the satisfaction you get knowing you can take care of yourself, friends and family in ANY SITUATION, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE!

That would probably explain my obsession with go anywhere vehicles, outfitting them with go anywhere accesories and stocking them with supplies, tools and weapons for anything i can think of.

Ps... I'm also hoping that zombies will be our demise.... that would be right up my alley :)

New Jacket, boots and Helmet Review

So i just recently purchased some new motorcycle gear and decided to review it all for you.

The first and most important item is the Airoh S4 hooligan helmet. It is a cross breed between a MX style open faced visor'd helmet and a Closed faced, shielded street bike helmet.

The result? A very different style and a very distinct performance advantage. This helmet has it all, and can be set up in multiple ways. Mx with a visor and no sheild, street bike with no visor and a sheild, or neither.

The helmet is VERY comfy, although tight on my cheeks (which all good helmets seem to be) It has removable pads that can be washed, and seem to be well made and easy to remove. The strap is a clip type which is something i hated at first, but have learned to love. It makes taking the helmet on and off with gloves easy as ever. No more fussing with buckles and straps.

The fit and finish isn't bad at all for the price. My only complaints are as follows: the visor does not open more then about 4-5".. i wish it opened all the way up to the visor. The shield also does not seal very well against the helmet and gives a VERY atrocious whistle at speed if fully shut. If i open in even a mm, the whistle is gone and it still deflects 99% of the wind away.

The gripes are minor and i would easily recommend it.. if i wanted anyone else to have such a cool looking helmet as me! (note that my helmet has been modified with a red mohowak down the top to allow it to have more visibility, plus look EVEN more hooligan.


The next gear on review is the Joe Rocket Touring boots that i purchased on closeout for nearly 70% off. They are waterproof, side zippered with a huge velcro flap and are very light. The other nice thing is that they have a very aggressive yet comfy tread on them and allow walking in slippery mud with little traction loss. There is also reflective piping and panels located in strategic locations to provide protection to the bike's frame where boots typically rub.

They are VERY comfy, well made and are almost so light that i forget that they are on. After about 1000 miles on them, i was figuring that the boot would look like crap from the shifter rubbing on the toe, but it has NO wear whatsoever on it.

It seems like they are great for touring or adventure riding. They are warm in the cold weather and cool in the warm weather. So far i love them.


Last but not least, we have the Hein Gericke Timbuktu Camo Air jacket. This jacket i got for nearly 80% off due to its...... less then becoming looks. It honestly isn't as bad as i thought it would look, but it sure ain't the prettiest. I hope i have enough time to write up all the features of this jacket, i seem to find a new pocket or interesting feature EVERY time i put it on. (in the pic, mine looks like the lower right)

The coolest feature of the jacket is its versatility. With the waterproof and windproof THICK inner liner removed (which is held by no less then 10 snaps and 2 zippers) the outer jacket is so cool, that i walked around in the middle of an 85 degree day in the sun and felt as if i was wearing a t-shirt (not an exaggeration AT all), on the same day while riding, the wind just goes right thru it and cools you completely. On the other hand, this evening it was 45 degrees and chilllllly. I snapped the liner back in and went for a ride. Almost INSTANTLY after suiting up in the house, i was SMOLDERING hot. I started to sweat before i even made it a whole 60 seconds. Outside in the cool air, on the bike, i was completely warm, and could have ridden all night in such conditions. I felt no air thru the liners and it was so toasty that i could have halfway unzipped it to get cooled off a bit. with a heated vest liner, i think i could use this jacket from the arctic circle to the sahara comfortably.

It has all the armor you would expect (shoulders, elbows, back) and the material and jacket are very heavy duty feeling and thick. Overall quality is fantastic and couldn't find even one flaw in the jacket in build quality or construction.

This jacket has pockets ontop of pockets inside of pockets. There are so many pockets, i swear i haven't found them all. They are also pretty easy to open up with gloves on and they are also very large as well. The liner and jacket have seperate pockets so you can hold a lot of things, some on the outside, and some inside the waterproof area as well.

The other cool feature is that it is set up to accept a camel back H20 setup. It has straps, holes for hoses to sneak thru and a pocket on the inner/lower back of the jacket for the bladder.

For the price i paid, i would easily consider paying the retail price for the jacket if i ever replace it. The versatility of the jacket makes it worth the purchase alone. This jacket does all seasons well and is comfy, useful and actually the looks of it are growing on me. Honestly, i have gone over about 10% of the crap it does/has. It is absolutely an amazing jacket and is extremly comfy and i will be wearing it on my alaska trip. Although i will be taking a heated vest to go under (just in case)

I can EASILY recommend these products above, they are fantastic and i would purchase them all again if i needed to replace them.

1000 mile 2008 Kawasaki KLR650 review and impression

So i have been living with the 2008 Kawasaki KLR650 in Candy Lime Green for a little over a month and a half and 1000 miles. (my poor jeep has been parked since the day i picked the bike up) I am going to go through the good, bad and indifferent with my experience with the bike so over the period of ownership so far.

So first things first, lets get into my farkles. These should play a fairly important role in the way i love the bike or not. I have installed Sw-motech crash bars, Utah motorsports aluminum skid plate, galfer stainless steel braided brake lines, HID wholesalers h7 6000k hid setup, Dowco soft luggage set, Ram mounts for camcorder and blackberry phone (gps and mp3's as well from the blackberry) I have also added a 12v power plug in the right side fairing, use a xena disc brake lock with alarm.

These above mods make the bike better for the daily use that it gets, not to mention make it much nicer looking and more "me". With the above things, i feel the bike is more capable, safer and better equipped to carry my stuff around with me. So far all the mods have been welcomed additions, except for the rear stainless brake line, it feels much more stiff and has absolutely no braking feel or feedback when using the rear brake.

Grand Cherokee ZJ: ARB Safari Snorkel Install Review Thanksgiving 2014 update!

***********************  Edit Thanksgiving 2014  ***********************


I did this install 5 years ago. I must get an email every week about if i have the original instructions...Sadly i don't. But i have sourced up some help for anyone looking for such.

FOUND THEM, HERE YOU GO!

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ARB PDF Install instructions from my Dropbox
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Imagine you are out on a backcountry camping trip in your fully equipped (or so you think) off road rig. As you are enjoying your day cruising the wooded ORV park, you sit, feeling mighty, without worry as you climb over boulders the size of Honda Civics and crawl up muddy/rocky inclines that would make mountain goats cringe. Your rig can do it all, you think to yourself. Suddenly, a bad storm comes in, much worse then what was mentioned earlier as you entered the park, talking to your buddies on the CB. As you try to get back to camp, the dry creek beds that you easily crawled thru earlier are now raging rapids, seemingly a few feet deep (at least). You start to cross without much thought or worry, knowing how capable your rig is. You put your front tires down the bank and dip your hood in to hear the unmistakable gurgle of your air intake slurping down gallons of water… Your truck stalls, and you are STUCK there with a hydro locked motor.

This situation may sound unlikely (or you are too man to admit that even the best of us run into big problems), but for the people that it has happened to, with and without warning, they would tell you otherwise. The way you can solve this problem is with a snorkel kit. A snorkel for a vehicle is the same idea as a snorkel for a person swimming. It keeps the air intake of your off-road truck above the roof, that way you can clear river crossings, the occasional mud hole your buddies dare you to cross (and don’t tell you that its actually 4 feet deep) or any other water situation you encounter. There are also other benefits to it. (besides looking absolutely awesome) They can provide you with cleaner air in dusty environments, cooler air with a ram type effect for better combustion and sometimes fuel efficiency and also it looks ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. (When something on an off-road vehicle makes a 65 year old woman in a car in the next lane at a traffic light, roll her window down and ask you what it does, You KNOW it’s pretty cool.)

If you are like me, and own a ZJ bodied Jeep Grand Cherokee, you may be surprised to find out that no one has designed a snorkel kit for them. Until now! (January 2008). For the last few years, many people including myself have been following the ARB press releases closely, awaiting the arrival of the Safari Snorkel Release for the 1993-1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Unfortunately the release was pushed back many times due to problems with ARB Australia actually finding a ZJ to get in their shop to get the product designed (apparently they aren’t very common over there). I sent many an email to ARB’s US division, asking for updates and information on the product’s release, pictures, pricings and info I could get my grubby paws on. Eventually I was in contact with Jim Jackson, the President of the US division of ARB. I exchanged emails with Mr. Jackson, and he updated me as he got information on the product. He also was kind enough to show support for the ZJ wheelers by sending me one of the first ARB Safari Snorkel kits to land on US shores, to demo on my own personal trail vehicle. He also put me into touch with his Tech Manager Marc Bowers. After going through the install process with Mark, I felt confident that my crack squad of mechanics and I could get the job done with no hiccups. Mark Also mentioned to me about the design and production process, telling me that every Safari Snorkel kit made is flow tested, and dyno’d to make sure that has no reductions in performance (and typically yields added performance). This alone shows the dedication to quality that ARB is known for.

After receiving the kit, I inspected the contents. Impressed to find a VERY thorough instruction and install manual, templates for drilling and all modifications to the factory airbox, and all the necessary parts to install. The only things I needed to install this kit were a 4 ¾” hole saw for making the large hole in the fender for the snorkel tube to pass thru. I actually found out that a 5” hole saw was MUCH cheaper (about 5 dollars) and worked just as well. The extra 1/8” of diameter was covered up by the snorkel assembly just fine. I also purchased a pop rivet gun because the install required the use of pop rivets for the windshield bracket and the airbox blank off plate for the existing air inlet. The last purchased item was some black automotive silicon sealant made by GE that was waterproof, flexible yet strong, UV resistant, oil/grease/dirt resistant and also resistant to varying changes in temperatures.

I was initially going to walk through the install step by step, but afterwards I feel that the install went more smoothly than ANY other modification I have EVER performed on ANY vehicle. This kit is so complete and the instructions are so detailed, that you’d have to be doing something very wrong to mess it up. Overall the fit and finish of the kit is Top notch and worth every penny that it costs. The installation took about 3 ½ - 4 hours with basic tools (drill, ratchet, sockets, air saw, tin snips, hole saw, pop rivets, silicon sealant). The kit looks like it was an OEM component and uses the factory parts making sure that you can continue to use either you OEM air filter, or an aftermarket drop in replacement like a K&N. Here are some pictures of the process throughout the installation. If you have any questions regarding the installation, either email me or you can view a PDF copy of the installation instructions here.

My first seat-of-the-pants driving impression is that you can hear the snarl of the intake when you step on the gas hard. It sounds like any other upgraded intake system, except this one uses about 4 feet more tubing to get the job done. Day to day driving, I have noticed that my MPG has slightly increased, by about .5-1.5 MPG better. I also noticed better throttle response and slightly more oomph on the hwy. It seems like the Jeep doesn't have to downshift on every slight uphill grade that I come to. I wouldn’t add this part just for performance benefits, but the benefits are welcomed.

Last weekend, I was able to attend a Maryland Jeep Club meeting at Rausch Creek Off-Road Park in Pennsylvania. Upon arrival, I noticed the weather was not in our favor. It was cold, rainy and foggy. Although these weren’t perfect conditions for rockcrawling, they could make a good test bed for the ARB Safari Snorkel kit. As our group aired down our tires and went over the game plan for the day, went over safety regulations and all synchronized cb’s. Everyone joked about seeing the snorkel in action. The mention of “Hummer Hole” and “Frog pond” kept getting tossed about, i guess trying to talk me into creating some sort of entertainment through carnage.

To make this post somewhat dial-up friendly, i have added links to some videos for the day.

In the woods

Rock Garden

Cresting a Good sized Hill

Runaway Rubicon

CJ playing + Hillybilly Fender Fixins

Fast forward a few hours, as we stumble across “Hummer Hole” I was delighted to see that someone else had already tried it for the day (without a snorkel, or good results). Their jeep wrangler sat helpless in the hole, sunk nearly to the hood on the drivers side. We lent a hand and after a while managed to scoop them out to safety. While their jeep was not hydro locked, it was damaged. They managed to rip off the evap canister, fry some wiring, and get water in the differentials. After seeing the hole (which was mostly a 2” layer of ice at the top of a mud hole that was 4 feet deep at least), we all decided it was a pretty sloppy hole and that nothing good was going to come of it, and wasn’t worth damaging the jeep just to try out the snorkel. We decided to look for a river crossing that may have cleaner conditions and allow for a little dip for the hood to sink under on the approach. Unfortunately, we were unable to find such a crossing (at least deep enough to realize the full potential of the snorkel) even though we did get to find some water crossings and puddles that were decent to splash around in.

Video Compilation From JKForums Member

Rausch Creek Impressions

Though I haven’t had the ability to go thru hood deep water to try out the kit in real life situations, I do know that the snorkel is fully sealed. After the install, before I put the top angled intake tube on, I was able to start the jeep, put my hand over the hole and was able to choke the motor out by doing so (which means no air is going to the engine from anywhere else) So basically I know the kit will do its job when the time comes.

The bottom line is this: If you want to protect your engine from water, you can do no better then the ARB Safari Snorkel kit. The quality, fit and finish is some of the best around and you will not be left with a bad taste in your mouth. The money spent on this system can save you LOTS of money down the road if you happen to catch yourself in deeper water than you should be in.

I would like to thank my Crack squad of installers as well as Jim Jackson and Marc from ARB USA for the snorkel kit for the review, the Maryland Jeep Club for the great offroading and my girlfriend for taking the pictures and video (and putting up with my ZJ obsession).

And for a closing picture, a playful pose from Sandy the ZJ.