Are You Nuts?
I confess an ulterior motive to this post; I’m testing a new blog post editing application — Blogo. Rather than always have to be online to create posts in the WordPress site, this would allow me to work offline, work on multiple posts, ready images and tags, and pretty much do everything and then just push it to the site. A big question is how it handles images — specifically where do they go when uploaded. I like to know how some things work. Especially related to my self-hosted WordPress site.
Unrelated to that task, I wonder how often riders hear the “Are you nuts?” comment in regard to their riding. Or some variation of the popular incredulity people have when they think “motorcycle.” Scooters get a slightly less fierce reaction but it still happens. For me it more often comes up in the winter during a cold ride. Even fellow riders with mutter “Are you nuts?” Generally, the answer is yes. I’m overcome by the intoxicating insanity that riding pours through me. It’s a rush that causes me to assume a heightened risk of disaster.
Don’t misunderstand that last statement. It doesn’t imply reckless behavior or preclude a deliberate, managed approach to the risks associated with riding on two wheels. But the intoxicating insanity is complete. It sparks the pleasure synapses and delivers a rush of well-being that’s hard to describe. Perhaps a poet could. But my feeling is that it’s something you have to experience directly.
And there ends my test of the Blogo application (It’s for Macs only). We’ll see how things look when it’s posted.
So, you’re crazy too!
Busted.
How did the test go?
MarsEdit was my first attempt. Could not get it to post an image. Blogo is very nice to work with but some posting issues I haven’t solved yet. And it also means I can’t use the Yoast SEO plugin. I don’t know. Maybe I’m making it all too complicated.
I had noticed that MarsEdit didn’t post an image. I have more problems with images with most of the offline apps. But I’ve noticed that there was more support for WordPress than there is with Blogger.
I wasn’t wild about MarsEdit in general. And I could not get it to post an image. It would upload to the Media folder but just would not appear in the post. So I switched to Blogo. It’s nice and posts ok. But I’m puzzled about how to deal with the SEO issues that the YOAST Plugin helps with now. More education in my future. Or just not worry about it.
Beautiful beard and beautiful smile!
Happy retiree
Magnifique barbe et beau sourire !!!
Un retraité heureux
Retirement does bring a smile! The beard comes with disdain for daily shaving. But when it gets to this point my wife suggests it’s time to shave!
Hey Steve… in my 52 years in the saddle, I’ve heard, “Are you nuts?”, or a variation thereof, hundreds of times.
On numerous occasions, I’ve heard those same words echo up from deep within myself … usually as I was enduring something on two wheels that I had failed to anticipate or was ill equipped to handle… blasting down a road in Iceland at 75 mph in an air temperature of -5 degrees C springs to mind. ( so yes I think you’re winter riding is a little bit crazy).
When I was not much more than a puppy, I had the opportunity to spend a little time with the great race driver Bruce McLaren who was killed behind the wheel of his Can Am car several weeks after my time with him.
I remember someone suggesting to him that he must be nuts to hurl himself around the track at such speed.
He responded with… ” No this is nothing. Those guys that ride bulls and try to hold on for 8 seconds… well.. those guys are Crazy!”
Cleary we all have a different take on insanity.
Now I wear those words ” Are you nuts?”, like a badge of honour.
Stay well Steve.
One thing riding has taught me is that there are few universal truths in the world. Especially around what makes a person sane or crazy. There are a lot of “rules” people live by and expect others to adhere to. Dying on a motorcycle is one of those beliefs that drive people’s rules.
And I agree with McClaren — riding bulls is for crazy people!
Found it.
As to the question “are you nuts?” In my case, there’s no questioning look from the person….there’s firm conviction and belief.
You’d think they’d never seen a sidecar rig playing in the snow….
The trimmed beard looks good Steve….remember to embrace the -ish!
I shaved the beard off — didn’t want to appear any more crazy. Maybe the plan to let my hair grow long should be re-evaluated as well.
Steve, my response to are you nuts is always the same.
“Yes I am, you should give it a try”.
That’s a near perfect response! I’ll have to give it a whirl.
Perfect!
Well, well…as far as that pic of you goes, not bad for a guy one year older than me. 😉
As for the ol’ Blogo here? Less polished-looking than your regular postings, but everything works. Your doing this is rather timely for me, as I’m getting set to dust off my two existing but long-ignored blogs, on regarding photography, the other cycling, which is now going to include scootering as well, which should liven things up even more.
Oh…crazy? How can we NOT be, at least a wee bit? I think I’ve only been asked the “C word” while on the Vespa just once, last Winter, and I sort of get that – pulling into the supermarket parking lot on a January afternoon isn’t what your typical non-moto individual would generally expect to see. (Come to think of it, so moot-heads might look a bit bug-eyed at such a sight.) I’ve gotten the Crazy Question much more frequently as a NYC cyclist, which I suppose is a bit more understandable, given that for most of the 40-plus years I rolled on Gotham’s pavement, there was little to no cycling-specific infrastructure (bike paths, parking, etc.) available. So there!
(BTW, finally got my Vespa Euro-spec flyscreen and Cuppini crash bars for the GTS – pics on MV now.)
I was trying out a new selfie stick — that’s what brought that image into existence. Once I experiment a bit more I’ll post something about it for all the codgers and coots that follow Scooter in the Sticks and wonder what selfies are all about. Far too few old people taking up the selfie call in my opinion. We need to do something to offset the terrible obsession with youth.
Blogo looks great to work with but it has caused problems. Until I work them out I can’t recommend it. I’ll continue to write offline in OmniWriter, or just write in the WordPress post form as I usually do.
In regard to blogging — I’ve been working to get some technical issues straightened out in regard to page speed and other issues that affect SEO. That’s done. Today I got an email from Google saying in October search results will call out sites without SSL certificates as potentially unsafe. So I enabled SSL today — hence the HTTPS in the URL window. During this time of fiddling and lack of new content I’ve watched my Alexa.com ranking drop from around 500K to 1 Million worldwide and under 150K in the US. Smaller numbers are better. Oh well.
Good luck with your blogs. I find it all fascinating and rewarding and riding and photography is the perfect mix.
Riding in Gotham on a bicycle really is nuts. You know that already.
Your scooter looks great with the new windscreen and crash bars. And your pictures are great. Look way sharper than anything I shoot.