went to the ix center for the progressive international motorcycle show this weekend.  couldn't afford the grand for a 10x10 space, so tim, wilson, wheeler, and i snuck in a bunch of skidmark postcards and just randomly left them around.  don't think it did any good.  but it was fun.

met dustin kott.  he actually spoke with me for a good 30 minutes.  really nice guy.  totally regular dude that just happens to be a killer builder.  asked him if he had been contacted to do the show.  i am getting the feeling that all the best builders are being contacted quite regularly about doing shows, cuz all their responses hint toward not being sure if my show was one that called.  "did you say discovery, or history, or esquire?" is what i have heard more than once.  hopefully, we get our show on first.

ridin'on put the garage on the cover.  nice little story inside, too.  molly took all the pics, and she was kinda pumped to see her name in print, again.  hope it drums up some biz.  i guess thunder roads is pissed that they didn't get the story.  in truth, i wasn't supposed to tell ridin'on anything, but coolfire took so long to get back to me about what i am and am not allowed to say, that i had no direction for the interview.  so i said the truth.  when esquire sees it, they're not gonna be happy.  but fuck it.  should've told me ahead of time what rules i had to follow.

not many members coming in to do work, these days.  running out of room, too.  mclovin is moving to israel and we gotta do something with his bikes.  saw red at the show - his jaw is no longer wired shut, rather it is rubber banded shut.  poor fucker.  haven't seen his ass in months.

got to talk to phil at poc for quite a while at the show.  he's always a wealth of information.  glad we got to hang for a while.  he has great insights and suggestions for how to proceed with this, that, and the other.  i hope he can do a build on the show.

the shop is a TOTAL mess - due mainly to dani and mouth doing fuck tons of work and not putting shit back.  it drives me nuts.  but i think it'll take care of itself here very quickly when the show gets to filming in a few weeks.

tim and dani have been actively looking for bikes for the show.  i like seeing tim with some responsibility in the show.  they'll be paying him, too.  got his ass a phone, finally.  i can see a sense of importance in his stride.  call me crazy, but i swear he stands taller.

haven't had a smoke since xmas eve.  i feel no different, sadly.  thought it'd make me feel so much better...  thankfully, even all the smoke happening around me at almost all times, i don't feel the want too strongly.

hurley came in and finished the most badass wall mural i've ever seen.  he finished friday night at like 1am.  the film crew came in at 8:30 the next morning.  he's an artistic genius.  totally mindblowing.

halliday and his crew showed up saturday morning and spent the day just getting shots of the garage and how it operates and general hijinx.  it was a stressful day for me.  i did not come off too well on camera.  after the crew left, a bunch of us hung around till probably 1 or 2am.  pete brown, davison, and debelak spent a considerable amount of time and energy talking me into being more energetic and let myself just enjoy it for sunday's shooting.  i took their words to heart.

i was mostly spent when i arrived late sunday morning.  i had to immediately perform.  i slammed a 5 hour, some coffee, a pain-killer for my aching back, and then threw about 4 shots of crown into another cup of coffee.  the rest of the day was a cake walk for me.  it was mostly filming the teams doing their fake builds for the pitch-tape.  i got to chill for most of the day till 8pm rolled around.

at 8, we started filming the grand reveal of the bikes and had a crowd of a bit less than 100 people.  i had to walk out to them all screaming, welcome them, and call out the bikes.  UB and john pflueger were the judges.  the film crew all said i killed it.  they were very happy with me compared to the day before.

monday, they did interviews with dani and i.  one together, and then we each went at alone.  i thought it'd be way quicker than it was.  it was a solid hour or two with both of us, and then another hour or two with just me.  but they loved it.

it took till this morning (wednesday) for me to fully recover and not be a zombie.  the weekend was nutzo, but successful, i think.

went camping last weekend, and after i left friday night for greer, i was notified that sarah's bike started.  mike is possibly the best addition to this garage, yet.  he takes whatever time he has and spends it with anyone that needs assistance.  he's good at explaining things in a way that don't make anyone feel dumb.  he spent a lot of time with sarah and it's obvious how sincerely he wants to help others.  dani helped, and so did tim.  it was definitely a team effort - and this thing starting was a long time coming.  it truly made my weekend to get that text from dani saying the bike was running.

dani and sarah rode up and down walton for a few minutes at about 5:30 on saturday.  as they were putting the bikes back into the garage, bill came over quite angry about how loud the bikes are and how fast they were going.  he said 3 neighbors had called him complaining saying they were gonna call the cops.  sarah was not going fast, and i'm sure dani wasn't either (although he usually does), but both bikes are extremely loud.  my guess is nobody called bill, he was just pissed about everything in general.

the previous saturday, he laid into tim for parking in front of my garage door before i arrived.  scolded him quite shittily.  didn't matter that i had told tim to park there if my truck wasn't there so that the spot is saved for when i arrive - i'd rather get him to move than search the building over for a person i don't know that parked there.  bill scolded him again a few hours later; peter had to step in and ask bill to chill.  wtf.  and earlier that morning, bill had to fire the electrician, dave, for lying to him about permits and such.  moments ago, bill raised his voice to tim, cussed him out (!!!!!), and ordered him to move his van because it was blocking rising star's spot or someshit.  -even though bill will be the first person to tell me that nobody has their own spots...  bill's on a rampage for some reason, and it's mostly about petty shit.

so dani brought in two dudes to help him catch up, cuz he has more bikes in here than he can handle.  it's getting overwhelming and by all appearances he's taking over the garage.  mouth went through psi and is a harley mechanic by night.  mike is a dude that just really wants to turn wrenches for no other reason than the soul-filling feeling he gets from it.  he paid me for a month without me asking and without him even having a bike that needed work.  he just wants to get dirty and help people.  he is the quintessential member.  he sees this as therapy.  he did 70% of the work on terry's suzuki (carbs were all effed up and a REAL pain to deal with), so i gave him half the $200 i got from terry.  i'd like to keep collecting membership fees from him AND paying him when he adds significant value to my garage.

mouth earns his namesake.  he's almost too much, sometimes.  he keeps calling me over to look at stuff - not cuz i can offer advice or help - so he can just talk more.  it's tough to get things done.  i don't know how he gets anything done.  nicest dude ever, though.  i think he will be a decent addition to the garage.  he said he has more than a few tools (lifts, even) that he'll contribute to the garage - which i told him i'd take off his membership fees.

scotty bought a 6 month membership and the basketcase goldwing about a month ago and came in monday night to do a general inventory on it so he knows what's missing.  the guy i bought it from in columbus told me a month or so afterward that he forgot to give me one more box of parts for it.  and scotty and i figured out that we're missing the top of the triple tree, the radiator, the front wheel doesn't look correct, and a few other odds and ends.  and this jim dude moved to colorado or someshit and was supposed to leave the box of shit with his neighbor.  but jim won't get back to me.  hope his number is still valid.  gonna have to call his ass soon.  texting just isn't cutting it with him, anymore.

joe sass has his cb750 completely disassembled and had to keep his virago here for a few weeks cuz the carbs were fucked up.  gas was literally shooting out his exhaust pipe as he went to leave on it one day.  he can't get here much cuz he has two jobs, so it sat for quite a while.  i didn't record exactly when that was, though.  so i don't know how many days for which to charge him.  i feel like it was a month, but it may have been less.

sohail owns a gym in univ hts and had me get his cb360 and his wife's vespa.  dani is gonna work on his vespa, and sohail finally came in to work on his 360 monday night.  mike helped him out tremendously.  sohail told me straight up that he doesn't know the first thing about doing mechanical work.  he's such a nice guy.  he's gonna write up a good press release for me.  hopefully, we get to working on it soon.

had a crain's interview a few weeks ago - with a photoshoot - and the published article was KILLER.  got me a fair amount of phone calls.  had another crain's interview yesterday for a woman that is writing a story about maker spaces and their business plans.  it was kinda cool, although i did not sound too intelligent about how i went about opening this place.

had an interview with cleveland magazine? last week, too.  but it was more about the new businesses that have opened in the hildebrandt building.  this reminds me, i gotta contact the freshwater guy about his progress with the atlantic monthly article.

ran into a major roadblock with hake's cb500.  mike put the jugs on and one piston is stuck inside the cylinder, somehow.  thinking a ring got tweaked and bent inbetween the piston and cylinder wall.  if that's the case, that's a fair amount of money (new rings, new piston?, possible boring of cylinders - which means ALL new pistons and new rings, but at the very least probably another honing of the cylinders.  fucking sucks.  i wish i had the time to do it myself, but i asked mike to tackle it.  i can't get irritated with him for this happening.  live and learn.  i know he learned from it.  so fuck it.  i just feel horrible for hake.  i think i'm just gonna have to give him his money back, actually.

the tv show is coming this weekend to film the pitch-tape.  halliday is coming with them, thankfully.  and davison will be up, also.  we're gonna fake two builds with a few parts bikes and then show them riding out on TOTALLY different bikes to much fanfare in the courtyard late sunday night.  don't know what to expect, but i'm freaking out.

dani is convinced he's gonna open a triumph dealership here.  he met with the triumph peeps last week and had investors take a gander at things today.  i want no part of it.  for one, i don't think it's gonna happen so i don't want to waste any energy stressing about it, and two, even if it does happen, i don't want the stress of running it.  i can barely handle what i have going on in my life as it is.  if it wasn't for molly vaughan taking care of my personal life, i'd be mostly unable to handle things.

sarah came in last night while i was gone.  thankfully, dani was here to help her.  when i came back, he had just left.  they somehow got her exhaust pieces separated - which i was unable to accomplish.  i was afraid of breaking shit.  she started stripping the paint off her tank, too.

i kinda feel guilty with sarah.  i kinda feel like i got her in over her head - i think she's feeling overwhelmed and maybe panicking.  she confessed she doesn't know what she's doing.  her and dani got the carbs together, so i think we can start attempting to get it running.  i think that will make her feel better.  it'll make me happy to see it running.  i hope she doesn't end up resenting me and thinking i pushed her into something she was not prepared to deal with.  i know it'll all be good in the end, but since this is her first foray into this madness, she might not see that light, yet - hence her anxiousness.  i get it.

how do i avoid this, next time?  how do i set proper expectations for the next person that falls into this same situation?  i know i told sarah that it was gonna take her at least a month of playing around to get it going, but just saying it like that is obviously not stressing that reality enough.  but i don't wanna stress it so much that i scare anyone away from doing something so damned rewarding, either.

geoff stopped in this morning!  a great surprise!  he dropped off the carbs for his cb350 and plans on coming in next week to do some jetting and testing.  can't wait - he's creative as fuck and a blast to have around.

the flies in this place are DRIVING ME CRAZY.  the sticky strips don't seem to be enough.  i gotta get some legit fly shit from home depot.

zuba grabbed my truck and took his bike (formally an out-of-stater) to the bmv for the VIN inspection.  after a few hours in line, he was finally victorious.  he's new york bound in only a few days, i think.  sucks for the garage, but good for him.

i'm picking up sohail's cb360 friday morning - he just let me know he's ready to join.  pumped.  seems like a super nice dude.

wilson brought in his xs650 today to do some charging system tests.  he can't seem to get enough power to the starter for it to work, properly.  and his turn signals will cease to work halfway into a ride.  that thing is so nice looking, i can't stand it.  quite jealous of my friend, actually.  and it's cool to see him learning how to fix shit on his own.  wish he lived closer so he could be here more often.

dani is on his way over for the call with the tv production company.  this should be interesting.  it's being referred to as a creative call - so i'm thinking we're gonna discuss ideas that will be shopped to the networks.  it's in 8 minutes...and i gotta take a dump.  i'd never make it out in 8 minutes.  gonna have to clench for a while, i guess.

i wish geoff would come back to work on his cb175 and cb350.  he designed my killer logo and came in once to play around with his stuff and hasn't made it back, yet.  dude's a riot.

tim is hopefully gonna buy geoff's other cb175 and work on getting it road-worthy with his son, tyler.  that bike is SO damned cool.  i was kinda hoping nobody would want it so i could buy it from geoff and restore it, myself.  so funny that it has a big windshield on it...  quite rusty, but really, really cool.

3 minutes...  really gotta poop.

amid my current, and hopefully short, bout of pessimism and doubt about this place, came some positive encouragement from a close friend.  "be patient.  you knew this wouldn't be easy."  lo and behold, a total stranger strolled in this morning after reading about disowned customs and skidmark garage.  he has an old cb360 that he wants to get running - and even more he wants to learn and have help.  i told him the current pricing structure, adding that there is an hourly rate for dani's help and also for mine (if he wants someone standing over his shoulder for extended periods of time.  he was all in.  totally not phased by the costs (of which i'm terrified to share with people).  he LOVED the place and i will hopefully be picking up his bike at his house this friday.  the dude owns a gym - he was of formidable size.  definitely too tall for a 360, and was asking about buying one of the 750s in my possession.  i'd sell him mine, i think.  but i'd have to get it running, first.  maybe i can do that over the winter.

but another new member!  i'm really excited.  word is leaking out - i just need to bust open that hole so the dripping leak becomes a torrent.

zuba is having difficulty getting his cb750 titled, registered, etc...  looks like he'll have to borrow the truck to bring it to some government office, tomorrow.

busy day at the garage, today.  marketing machine dani scored us an interview with crain's cleveland business.  super nice woman named rachel came and hung out at the garage for about an hour listening to us babble on about shit that she probably didn't care about.  she was extremely gracious and if she truly didn't care, she fooled my ass.  she asked some cool questions that really enabled me to explain my passion for this dream.  i came out of that feeling pretty good.  i hope dani did, as well.  he's got a great story to tell, and i think much of it will be told in rachel's article.  they're coming back next wednesday to do a photo shoot and hopefully even talk to some of the members.  it'd be fantastic if every member could be here for it, but that's not realistic.  i've gotta take what i can get.

but to me, crain's cleveland business is THE write up.  it alone almost makes me believe that this is actually gonna work, cuz i'm having my doubts.  it seems the addition of dani to skidmark is precisely what was needed.  he's a social media madman and has tons of connections that he'd never had the opportunity to take advantage of when he was working out of his driveway.  so he's getting in contact with all these people that showed massive interest in the recent past.  really, if he'll let me ride his coattails for a few months, i think it'd be enough to get the word out for real - and connect with my demographic.  but it's all so exciting that i'm super anxious and my nervous shits have resurfaced for the first time in a LONG time.  for the first time since january, i don't feel like i'm in control.  in the distant past, this would have subconsciously pushed me to get a tattoo.  but fuck that shit.

dani was here all day (he often is on mondays) and worked on at least 4 different bikes by the time he left.  he took el chapo out for its maiden voyage and we found him pushing it back up the driveway after a few minutes.  we all smelled something burning.  i truly feel like it's the brand new paint on the engine.  or maybe it's the brand new brakes?  but it was strong enough to make any rider turn the damned thing off.  MAN does it sound badass.  sounds WAY cooler than i thought a 400 could sound.  it's a beautiful bike with an interesting story - which i won't get into.  hopefully just making note of it will cause us to never forget the story.  the first bobber he worked on here came back tonight cuz the fender was starting to rub on the tire or something.  so he had to deal with that.  AND this is soon after he picked up his cousin and that kid's new/old 1980 xj550.  dani spent a lot of time cleaning pretty dirty carbs and then we wrestled the bank of carbs back in - holy shit that sucked.  the air cleaner is NOT REMOVABLE unless you take the exhaust off, take out the front engine mount bolts, and then tilt the engine forward/down!  that's absurd.  so we truly had to wrestle those things in.  we had to use a come-along!!  wtf!  dani and his cousin got it started and it seemed to run alright.  i dunno.  and then bruce came in and dani did some quick welding on his harley frame.  this was followed by helping zuba get his cb750 running.  -which WAS running previous to tonight.  nothing a squirt of starter fluid in the air intake won't fix.  started and ran like it was new.  great sound to it, too.  it's only headers, i think.

wilson came over - first trip on the freeway for him.  his bike is so gorgeous.  he ran out of gas and didn't know that's why the bike was stalling till he pulled over and opened the tank.  so he threw it on reserve and rode to a gas station.  but he went through the same thoughts i always do, "is the wind slowing me down more than normal?  am i running out of gas?  should i throw it on reserve?  should i now put it back to the ON position, cuz it doesn't really feel any different?  or is it different?  i can't tell."  nich came to play with electricity some more.  he's putting LEDs on in place of the turn signals.  LED strips, mind you.  and i must admit that it looks kinda cool.

i'm working on terry's suzuki.  i can't get both cylinders to fire.  i have to take effing carb off!  this is gonna take FOREVER, and i have a feeling he's not gonna pay me for the time i'm spending.  i'm not doing any more favors for neighbors like this.  i tell them that i don't work on bikes, but it's like i'm not even saying anything.  and since i melted the first battery, i'm gonna be out an additional 80 bucks at the get-go.  damnit.  lesson learned, don't guess when it comes to the battery; the terminal set up is on purpose; don't try to make a different set-up work.  it doesn't.

looks like the cb500 rings and carb kit are gonna be here soon!  dude, i can't WAIT to get that together and to hake.  i'm such a douche for promising shit in any sort of timeline.  i keep thinking i'm gonna finally be able to do something on a specific timeline and i continue to fail.  piss me off.  so assuming there's no other hurdles with it, i COULD have it together and ready in a few weeks.  -why did i even say any of that?

so rachel made the comment about how affordable it is for someone to use the garage.  and she stressed affordable.  i just raised my prices a bit, and that's likely what she saw.  frankly, i'm terrified to raise them, again.

good talk...good talk.