Freebird

Who knows...they may be accepting applications.

LOL...yea...they have coffee in the lobby. But they seem to get an attitude when I have just woken up and go down there in my birthday suite. I just don't get it.

LOL...yea...I may have had better days. I'm OK now though......

Click on "membership" in the menu bar at the top.

You are probably right. Food wasn't as good either. Bad attitudes can be allowed to spread through places.

OH NO!!!! Have I become a grumpy old man?

Most of you know that I travel a LOT. Way more than I really want to but it's the job I signed up for. Here's something relatively new that, in my opinion, is just not working. I'm talking about restaurants that are "no tipping". I had read that some of the larger chains were going to that system. I assume that they are raising the prices so that they can pay the servers more and so they say that tipping is not necessary. My first experience with this was at Joe's Crab Shack in Warren, MI. I have eaten there a few times over the years because I usually stay at a hotel just down the road from it. It was probably about 8 months ago when I first noticed it. Upon entering I saw a sign on the door that stated "this establishment is now no tipping"....or something along those lines. So I got seated and the waitress came over. She was friendly enough and did a decent job. I asked her how the new system was working out and she said that she felt that the really good servers were making far less money. The really bad ones were probably doing ok. I asked if people were still tipping in spite of the change and she said that some would leave a couple of dollars on the table but not very often. There is not even a place on the bill for you to add a tip. She was a decent waitress so I left $5.00 on the table. Far less than the 20% that I would typically tip but at least something. A few weeks ago, I was in that area again and once again stopped by there for dinner one night. The service was awful. The waitress seemed to have too many tables and though I won't say that she was actually rude, she was very fast and to the point. No small talk or any attempt to actually be friendly. She took my order. It took a LONG time to get my drink. It finally came just moments before my food did. A different person brought my drink out and a different person yet brought my food. The waitress never stopped by my table again to ask if everything was OK or if I needed another drink. The only time she came by the table again was to drop off my bill. She didn't even say anything....just placed it on the table and kept going. So....I would say that all of those GOOD servers that were making more money when there were tips have found jobs elsewhere and the only ones left are those that didn't do well with tips. Maybe the no tipping plan sounds good in theory but in the real world, it's not working out. At least not at this place. Not only was the service bad but I know they must be losing money. I would have certainly ordered another beer had anybody asked. I don't typically eat desert but if I had wanted to order one, I would have had to tackle the waitress to get the order in.

I don't think so. When I went down, she had the coffee maker and the little tray with coffee and etc. so it looked like she did get it out of another room. @cowpuc, the days of those small 2 cup (I think they call them 4 cup) are pretty much gone. Now most of them are SINGLE cup where you sit the actual cup under it to make one cup of coffee. But that starts an entire new pet peeve.

OK...I'm in a hotel in Dayton, OH. A Comfort Inn. I am just getting ready to call it a night and as per my usual routine, I am ready to get the coffee pot ready for tomorrow morning. I see the little basket with the coffee and etc. but there is NO coffee maker. I look around to make sure but sure enough, there is not one. I call the front desk and tell them there is no coffee maker in the room and she says "yes, I know. Somebody stole it and another one is on order". Now I know that their weren't many cars in the parking lot so I say "so are all the rooms booked tonight" to which she replies..."oh no...we have a few vacancies". So I ask..."well....do you see a solution to this issue". She says "well yes, I suppose we could move you to another room". So now I'm starting to get in a mood and I'm silent for a couple of moments until she says "would you like to move". So I ask her, "does it make sense to you that at almost 11:00 at night that I want to gather all of my things and move to another room". She says..."well I don't know what else to do....the coffee maker is on order". hmmmm......"may I suggest that you perhaps go to one of those rooms and get me a coffee maker". There is silence and finally she says..."do you want to come down and get it or should I bring it up". Not wanting to cause her any further confusion, I told her that I would come get it. Major problem resolved. I wonder if they pay her $15.00 an hour due to her superior intelligence?

No problem with me.

I agree with Cowpuc. If 2nd gear hasn't been repaired, it will need it soon. If you test ride it, hammer it hard and see if it pops out of 2nd. It is at the miles where many of them start to go out.

LOL....nice try.

I used to be as bad as you guys. There was a time, it's been at least 25 years ago, that I had somewhere around 80 guns. A mix of rifles, shotguns and handguns. Went through a divorce and they disappeared. Never was into the antiques but had some nice ones. Everything from Ruger Blackhawk revolvers, Ruger International .308 rifle, several various Remington 700's including a 30.06 BDL that kicked like a mule but oh so accurate, Browning BLR .308, Marlin .444, Winchester 30/30, a couple of Remington 870 Wingmasters, a Colt Trooper .357 nickel plated..........lots more. A few I would mind having back but just never got into collecting them again. I am in the market now for another handgun. I bought a Sig P938 a while back. It is a 9mm and I love it. Great size for a carry gun. I plan to buy something for the wife and as much as I like the Sig, I may let her have it and pick up something else for myself. Heck, I may just buy another one just like it and we'll have a matching pair.

I don't think that anybody has contacted Quaker Steak yet but I can do that.

Under the "community" tab in the lower menu bar at the top. What do you mean "is that gone too"? What else are you missing?

Do you have a screenshot of that? I have no idea what you are talking about.

OK...the factory seats are two piece so I assume that is what you have. There was no factory backrest at all so it is aftermarket. To remove the passenger seat, you have to first remove the drivers seat. After you remove the drivers seat, you will see two bolts on the front edge of the passenger seat. Remove them, lift and slide forward.

They are the muffler tips. Sold separately.

Yes, those eyebrows are stock. I don't know what they are called by Yamaha but any exploded parts diagram should show them. Of course we can look at the wiring at MD. No problem my friend.

Is there any real interest in this? There are only 35 people confirmed at this time. We skipped the year before last, did it last year and scheduled again for this year but there just doesn't seem to be much interest. I realize that people have only so much time off and maybe we've done this so much that it's getting old. Should we cancel this year and go to an every other year schedule?

I think just as a package would be best.

I don't know if there is any interest or not but if so, I will donate these pins. Most are somewhat historical and may mean something to any of you who were members of the old Venture Touring Society. There are 9 of the year pins. Those are the triangular ones and marked 1 - 9. Some are from their V-Daze events. I think there is 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002...maybe another one or two. Their is their old "V Rose" pin and "V Eagle" pin. Then some various pins from toy runs, the VTS Texas Gathering, etc. A couple of AMA pins and even a 2 year membership Venturers pin. If there is nobody interested, I'll just keep them but if anybody is, I'll donate them and pay the shipping to the winner. I had them mounted on a board the 3 or 4 of them have the pins broken off the back.

There have been a few posts about the bikes that we started with or have owned but how about just Yamaha bikes? I don't have pictures of all of mine but here are a few from the past. I can think of an '83 Venture Standard that I can't find a picture for and also a Yamaha 200 street model years ago...it was a 4 stroke but I don't remember the model. Probably more too but I don't remember. Oh....and a 535 Virago....

If you search Garage Buddy with Google, you will find some IOS versions. I don't find it in the app store however. I saw some comments that it didn't work with the newer versions of IOS so maybe it was removed from the store.