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Battle Cat

3/17/2015

My second Motorcycle, Battle Cat! I will always love and miss my first bike, but thieves decided they needed it more, and besides... that's life. Rocinante, aka Rozy, was a 1200cc Harley Davidson Nightster (great starter bike). I logged about 10k miles for the 2yrs that I rode Rozy. It was a great city bike, but I noticed that after riding about 40 miles my tail bone and back would need a rest. I also experienced great neck and shoulder fatigue on longer trips.

When deciding on my next bike, I carefully measured the priorities of comfort, reliability, and aesthetics. Price was also a bonus as I was paying cash. (never buy a motorcycle on credit, finance if you get a great rate, but cash is always king!)

I drive back and forth from Dallas and Austin, TX at least twice a month so I wanted something that could handle the 200 miles of highway riding easily and with confidence. Rozy, while great in the city, would feel cramped and small on long stretches of highway, in addition to succumbing to road winds from larger vehicles when passing by. Battle Cat is nearly 200lbs heavier with a 1900cc engine which doesn't get pushed around easily and can cut through traffic and wind turbulence with a slight flick of the wrist. Fourth and fifth gear seem to purr between speeds 70 to 100+ mph in fractions of a second. I now average about 1100 miles per month at 40+ mpg!

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Learned Behavior

3/14/2015

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In light of the recent OU fraternity scandal, I’d like to point out that true brotherhood transcends race, religion, wealth, and orientation. I attended the same “elitist” prep-school that the instigator of the racist chant from OU did. I have seen firsthand the leaders of the future and I know that power currently favors these “entitled spoiled brats”. It’s not fair to summarily dismiss an entire school for the misguided antics of a select few, but it doesn’t rule out the fact that hatred and bigotry are a learned behavior. Poor Learned behavior starts at home, and continues where ever the individual spends their time.

Thus, you become the average of the company you keep.

That is why I am passionately committed to changing the dynamics of learned behavior (especially with the GFC). There is no weakness that can’t be re-purposed into a strength. This is a mindset. In boxing, they refer to this as the “Winner Mentality”.

In order to become the Man I wanted to be, it became necessary to conquer fear (aka myself):

A good way to accomplish this: build a computer, fix a car, cook a fancy meal, build a house, read a book (then attempt to write one), go bungee jumping, then sky dive, compete in dangerous competitive tournaments, travel the earth to visit both the poor and the “civilized”, climb 'insurmountable' mountains, quit a big boy job and start your own company.

While some of these may not be your goal, I’m sure they illustrate the point of seeking actions that challenge and lead to growth. Failure is temporary, as long as you learn from your mistakes and seek to improve upon them.

As humans we are entitled to making some mistakes, but if we continue to fail and accept these failures as normal, then we will continue to suffer the fate of the “loser mentality”.

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Battle Cat

Learned Behavior

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