Re: I'm moving... (gnostic203)
You're right, I did forget the rain. I think it's more along the lines of me blocking it out. If you're in the city, the rain can be terrible for flooding within a matter of minutes. Besides being below sea level, the city is shaped like a bowl, with downtown right in the middle of the bowl. I recently moved out of the bottom of the bowl to a place on the western "rim" of the bowl, so to speak. The bugs really are outrageous down here. I've never seen anything like it. The roaches are what really get me. I'd never seen a flying roach before. You spray them with Raid and they look you in the eye, laugh twice, and give you the finger. They then proceed to slap you in the face and go about their business. I gave up trying after a friend explained to me that everyone has them and there's really nothing you can do about them. Oh, well.
As far as the shop in town, I talked to the owner who's a really cool guy, but I think the service department might be a bit less than stellar. I asked the mechanic what the 12k valve job on my SS would be and he quoted me, are you ready for this... $800. I laughed when he told me that he estimated that was including the 10-12 hours labor for doing it. I tried to explain to him that I didn't want him to port and polish my heads, just do a standard service, but he didn't really understand what I meant and that I was being sarcastic. At that point I turned and walked out the door. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and there's a great shop owned by a well trained, former team mechanic by the name of Chuck House. He's a great guy, really knows his stuff, and his prices are very reasonable. I get my parts from him and have him do any repairs I don't feel comfortable with. The only down side is that he's a really great salesman, and every time I take it in I end up doing things to the bike that I never previously considered seriously doing. Up next are high comp pistons and some head work. He just makes spending massive amounts of cash seem so logical... At any rate, he has a very quick turnaround time as well.
I also forgot to mention the food. My God is it good. If you have any appreciation for cuisine you'll love this city. You can walk into almost any place, fancy, dive, or anywhere in between and you'll get top notch food. There's a reason for the three week waiting list to see a cardiologist... But it's so worth it. I mean, what's a little triple bypass here and there? Speaking of bypasses, when you're down here, try Tucker's: they deep fry everything! They stuff hamburgers with whatever you want and toss the whole thing in the fryer. Twinkies, pork chops, pickles, why not fry them? So if you have the metabolic rate of a racehorse, or if you're feeling lucky, go for it, it rocks.
