I’m happy to say that business has been improving slowly but steadily over the past 6-9 months. In January my employer returned us to full hours/pay, and things appear sustainable thus far.
With more confidence in job security, and with the price and tax incentives going on last year, I made some purchases that were timely or that I’d been putting off for a while.
Late last year Harley-Davidson announced that they were stopping production of the Buell motorcycle brand. Buell makes sport bikes, and though they had finally produced a world class American sport bike to compete with the Japanese and Italian companies they weren’t turning a profit, or at least enough of a profit to keep making them in light of the economy.
Rather than using Harley engines, which are too heavy for a sport bike, 4 years ago Buell went to Rotax to build a new, lighter, V twin engine. The Austrian company has built motorcycle engines for Aprilia and BMW. The resulting Buell 1125R placed well in racing competition and the reviews of the street version were good.
When the announcement was made, they held a fire sale. Harley will assume parts and warranty responsibilities, and the bikes went on sale for less than half the original price… you guessed it… had to have one. So, I bought a new Buell 1125R. I figure I can enjoy it for a couple of years and even if I resell it down the road I won’t be out too much.
In November we (Rockwell Automation) had our annual Automation Fair in Anaheim, CA. Overall attendance was slightly down, but better than expected for the economy. We even increased out Safety Automation Forum conference attendance by 16%. Automation Fair is a huge time investment, months in preparation, and we were glad to see it come off so well.
December included Marnnie and Travis coming up for Christmas, though it took them much longer to make the journey than expected. They got caught in the big snowstorm en route from South Carolina and wound up st
opping in North Carolina for one night due to Interstate closings, and very nearly stayed the night in the car, stuck on the Interstate in West Virginia. Kim’s son Brenden came up from Southern Ohio and we all had a fun Christmas. We had a Christmas project installing a new HiDef TV I bought on discount.Traditionally, the Ludwig family has a get-together over Christmas at my sister’s place in Toledo. Her location makes it convenient. Unfortunately, my Brother-in-law had some medical issues that delayed the larger gathering until mid-January. I’m happy to report that Paul is doing very well.
Another purchase, the largest one, was made the last day of December to
take advantage of the Federal tax write-off which expired January 1. The 2005 Ford Escape I’d been driving had 105,000 miles, and though it was a great vehicle that I’d recommend to anyone looking, I traded it in on a new F150.Living in Cleveland I wanted to stay with a 4WD, and I’ve found myself with some regularity wanting to pull or haul something that was beyond the Escape’s capabilities. So far, I’ve enjoyed the convenience, space, and functionality of the F150. In retrospect I might have gone with the shorter bed to improve maneuverability, and I miss the back-up beeper I had on the Escape, particularly with the length of the truck in parking maneuvers. But as I said, pretty happy with it so far.
Winter started early and, fortunately, ended early this year. From early December through April we had plenty of snow, and then in April we pretty quickly moved to 80 degree temps. Living where we do, we usually have lots of deer traffic through the yard, and this year was no exception.
In April I took the traditional spring trip to Talladega for the NASCAR races. This year was the 25th annual trek, and two of us – Bob Ulmer and myself – were planning to marry in the coming months, so beyond the usually debauchery, this trip included a trip into Birmingham for a little bachelor party. We had some nasty weather on Saturday with tornadoes and T-storms moving through the Southeast. We rode out the storms and then enjoyed the sunshine when it came out. The ditch that runs next to our campsite usually only has an inch or so of water in it, but after the rains it was flowing pretty high. Our fellow campers, fueled by alcohol consumed as they rode out the storm, chose to enjoy riding the “rapids” on air mattresses… I wished for one myself!
Around this time I also took a trip to Chicago for work, and had the opportunity to have dinner with Brian and Tomi, which I enjoyed as always.
This brings us basically up to speed… and to where I can make an entry on the wedding once we get all the pictures back.
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