pigletpaper.com

an eclectic mix of motorcycling, media, mania or whatever suits our fancy

September 8th, 2007

Holland Ranch

Holland Ranch was unlike any other place I have ever stayed. In talking with the owners, Hans & Bianca, they told me they wanted to make the place “a little European and a little American” and I think they have succeeded. Hans and Bianca are from Holland and moved to Texas last December, although the ranch has only been open for business since April. They stopped by to visit as I was packing up to head out and they told me that in Europe, it is common to have a separate facility with running water where you shower, wash dishes, etc. Frankly, I thought the experience was kinda refreshing. As I walked to get water to make coffee, it occurred to me the simplicity of the place. No frills, but with no frills often comes less stress. The lack of frills is exactly what gives the place its charm! Route 66-Holland RanchIt was a peaceful balance of “roughing it” camping style, but with the amenity of just enough civilization to make you feel at home. In its own unique way, Holland Ranch offers the proverbial serenity seeker an opportunity for peace by surrendering a few material niceties in exchange for a little bonding with nature.

kaartklein2Definitely a must-stay to add to your list of cool places or even purposely plan in your route! They are pet-friendly and motorcycle-friendly, which scores some points with me, since I love both. Staying here inspired me to seek “off-the-beaten-path” lodging, usually at a fraction of the cost and with a lot more character. I think by nature, we motorcyclists have a sort-of free spirited, nomadic element about us that predisposes us to like places like this. Our innate urge to be free of constraints most certainly gets satisfied here.

It’s very easy to find located between Dallas and Austin. You can link to their site by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy it! Comments are welcome!

August 12th, 2007

Paying Dues

I finally arrived, made it safe & sound, but not without battling traffic in Houston. Last year when I made this trip, I avoided going thru Houston like the plague, but it was still to no avail. I cut across north of Houston thru Conroe and that was constant start and stop traffic due to lights, which is miserable on a motorcycle in the middle of summer. Sitting still on a motorcycle is like the air-con being broken in your car, but worse because you’re sitting in the middle of an exhaust cloud on top of sweltering. So this year, I thought, “What the heck, it’s a Saturday, let’s just book it thru Houston on I-10.” My plan would have worked flawlessly, except that they had a 15 mile stretch of I-10 closed right smack in the middle of Houston. Attempting to get 4 lanes of traffic to all merge into 1 to detour around the construction is nothing short of a nightmare.

For the first hour, I tolerated the exercise to my clutch hand and the sopping heat, keeping a positive attitude that my hand was getting stronger and the sauna I was sitting in was a good unexpected detox. But after an hour, that attitude started to seem futile. So I abandoned any worries of what others might think and just started cruising past them—Ahhhh….air-con…FINALLY!!! I am sure they all thought I was being greedy and impatient, but I had long since paid my dues being nice, while they all sat in their air-conned cars. I don’t think I have ever been so grateful in my whole life to have hot air blowing on me! Whew, what a relief! Finally, I could start to think rationally again!

So in the final analysis, I have decided there is just really no good way to get thru Houston (as if that isn’t obvious, but you gotta give a girl credit for trying, eh?). The only good way to get thru Houston is to bypass it all together which sacrifices a whole lot of time going way out of the way (which isn’t a bad idea on a motorcycle), but if you just need to get there, you have to choose between two bad choices and accept their inherent circumstances. The only consolation might be paying the tolls and trying
Beltway 8, which I will probably do next time, since construction projects apparently don’t make much progress in Houston. I am trying to look at the bright side…after I do this a few years, I will know all the things NOT to do!

So now you know why it took me two days to make this post—it took me two days to recuperate!!! ;) Not really, but it sounds good!

On a more serious note, though, and not wanting to just whine, here’s a resource that might actually help in the ride planning stages anywhere in Texas. I would presume other states have something similar. Check out www.dot.state.tx.us. Under the “Travel” section, click on “Road Conditions”. You can check any road in Texas for construction, closures, damage, flood, etc. Really, it is well done, because they offer you several different search criteria to narrow your results to exactly what you need. You can look up a road condition in a specific area or you can look up a specific road. Like any good search criteria, the less you tell it the broader your search results and vice versa. They also offer a toll-free number you can call if you don’t have a PDA phone on the road with you.

Back with more tales, soon….

March 15th, 2007

Motorcycle Bloggers International (MBI) 2007 Awards For The Motorcycle Industry

[For Immediate Release] Motorcycle Bloggers International (MBI) 2007 Awards For The Motorcycle Industry

Nominated by the public, voted upon by the public, moderated and organized by MBI!

The Internet, March 15th, 2007 — Motorcycle Bloggers International (MBI), announced the winners of the 2007 Riders Choice Awards. The awards, voted by thousands of riders in 88 countries, recognize significant achievements and serious lapses in judgment during 2006 by motorcycle and related product manufacturers, persons and organizations. This years winners are:

MBI Riders Choice - Star Awards

* A rider’s dream — To ride the Silk Route, from Istanbul Turkey to Xian, China
* Best concept motorcycle or scooter — Ducati Desmosidici RR
* Best exhibition of 2006 — Intermot
* Best looking new in 2006 motorcycle — Triumph Daytona 675
* Best manufacturer’s website — BMW Motorrad
* Best motorcycle or scooter blog — Scooter in the Sticks
* Best new in 2006 every day motorcycle — BMW F800S
* Best new in 2006 motor scooter — Piaggio MP3
* Best new in 2006 motorcycle — BMW F800ST
* Object of lust — Ducati Desmosedici RR
* Wish we’d thought of that — Piaggio MP3
* Women riders booster of the year — Ardys Kellerman
* Standing ovation — Ardys Kellerman

MBI Riders Choice - Fallen Star Awards

* Thumbs down — Billy Lane
* What were they thinking — Speed TV Superbikes
* Worst manufacturer’s website — Icon Motorcycle Gear

The Riders Choice Awards are unique in that the nominees and winners are chosen by every day riders around the world. The awards reflect the judgment of the motorcycle buying public, not motorcycle industry insiders. Anyone could vote, there was no restriction on age, gender or country. Even non-riders could vote. No registration, nor email addresses were required. However, a system of storing and analyzing IP addresses was put in place to minimize duplicate voting.

After the success the first Awards had last year, membership in MBI skyrocketed from 12 to 96. Millions of readers worldwide read about the 2006 Awards.

About MBI
MBI (whose motto is “Riding and writing is what we do”) is a group of 96 international motorcycle weblog authors from China to Chile. Membership is open to any motorcycle rider who maintains an active motorcycle-related Internet weblog or news web site with original commentary. With a combined readership over 2 million readers per month, the awards represent a true feeling what lives amongst the biker communities. The awards are not given by professional journalists, commercial publications or companies, but by the public.

More information about MBI, its members and the complete list of nominees will be found at the MBI web site http://www.mbiweb.org/ .

MBI Website: Http://www.mbiweb.org/
MBI Awards 2007: http://www.mbiweb.org/2007/

Interview Contact: Mike Werner
Telephone: +33-2-35297230

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February 15th, 2007

Clean Your Cloudy Drinking Glasses

Cloudyglasses-1

If you are like me, or most people I know, somewhere in your cupboard, there is at least one glass that has been clouded by hard water. Seems you scrub and scrub and scrub only to dry the glass and the cloudiness returns.

Help is on the way, however!

Apply some cheap (apparently, the cheaper the better), white toothpaste to the glass and scrub with a toothbrush. And like magic, your hard water clouds should disappear.

How’s that for simple?

How to clean cloudy drinking glasses [via Lifehacker]

Cleaning that funky, cloudy glassware [via Curbly]

January 28th, 2007

Never Be Without Your List Again

I am a list maker. Or at least I try to be.

It is a habit that I am sure I picked up from my mom. She was always SO organized. She had working lists for all sorts of stuff. And boy, could she get things done! She seemed to always have whatever list she was working off of with her and easily accessible. A detail that sometimes escapes me. But that is where a new service from Gubb shows promise to me.

Gubb, a free service, appeals to my ‘inner geek’. Not only because it is web based but also due to the way in which you are able to utilize the service.

So what is it about Gubb that makes it worth mentioning here you ask? Well let me tell you. And thank you for asking, by the way!

Gubb (did I mention that it is free) allows you to create your list on the web. Which is not new or different. What distinguishes Gubb from other online list services is it’s accessibility, which is a function of each list that you create.

Each list that you create has it’s own email address. This allows you, or other’s if you wish, to add to your list as well as retrieve it. And with an SMS capable cell phone (one that can send and receive text messages) you can perform these same functions.

That means that the next time you make it to the grocery store only to discover you have left your list at home, you don’t have to try to remember what was on your list, only to arrive back home to find that you forgot the main ingredient of your planned culinary masterpiece. You simply whip out your trusty cell phone and text ‘get’ to the contact email of your list and, voilà, you get your list, as well as maintain a little of your sanity.

Sounds like fun, huh?

Enjoy!

Gubb.net [via Lifehacker]

January 28th, 2007

Paper Robots Projects


Looking for a fun weekend project for the kids or grandkids? Or maybe even for yourself or the ‘grownups’? (Added because I am pretty sure that Lisa is dying to try this.)

This is the type of project that was much more common before the arrival of X-boxes and Playstations. So perhaps the ‘nostalgia’ effect is in play here. (Does that date me?)

Surf over to Paper Robots 1999 where you can find photographs, blueprints and instructions for building all kinds of paper robots. As well as accessories to go along with them. Some which are even of the ‘Star Wars’ variety.

Enjoy your inner child!

Paper Robots 1999 [via Lifehacker]

January 15th, 2007

Recycle Old Wine Bottles

Not to say that you would have a lot of old wine bottles laying around. But in case you do…

Try this project for turning old wine bottles into ‘chalk art’. I think it would work especially well (as shown in the demo) on odd shaped bottles.

Enjoy!

Chalk It Up! [Curbly via Lifehacker]

January 15th, 2007

Change Cell Phone Providers

Have you ever wished that you could change cell phone providers but were stuck waiting for your current contract to run out? And doesn’t it seem to happen when you are about 4 to 6 months into a 24 month commitment? If so, you may want to check out Celltradeusa.com, where you might be able to find someone that is interested in assuming your current contract.

The folks at Celltradeusa state that they work with all the US carriers that require a signed contract. And they also state that the service providers are happy to assist you in transfer your contract responsibility to someone else.

And by the way, you can use the service on the other end as well. That is, to pick up a plan that someone else may not want anymore.

See the Celltradeusa site for more details.

Ditch your phone contract with Celltrade [via Lifehacker]

January 10th, 2007

Riders Choice Awards

Being a member of Motorcycle Bloggers International, we wanted to pass on this PSA about the upcoming Riders Choice Awards. If you are a fellow rider, we encourage you to follow the link and enter your own nominations.

Thanks!

===============================================
Riders Choice Awards - nominations are now open

Are you tired of awards handed out by industry insiders? We are. Motorcycle Bloggers International (an association of, you guessed it, riders who blog about motorcycling) decided it was time that the riding public have a chance to express their opinions. So we created the Riders Choice awards. This is your opportunity to nominate and vote for your choices for the best and worst in the motorcycling world for 2006.

There are various categories for events, actions by a person or group and new products. Some examples:

  • A rider’s dream - The dream ride, tour or event that given enough time and money you most want to experience.
  • Object of lust - The production motorcycle of any model year that is desired above all others.
  • Thumbs up - The person or organization who during 2006, made the most significant contribution to motorcycling.
  • Best new in 2006 every day motorcycle - The production motorcycle most suited to commuting that was first delivered to dealers in 2006.
  • What were they thinking? - The new in 2006 concept or production motorcycle, related product or other idea that is the worst idea of 2006.

Head on over to www.mbiweb.org to see all the categories, view nominations already entered and submit your nominations. Join us in letting the industry know what we, the riders, think. While you are there, sign up for an email reminder notice that will be sent when voting for the awards begins in February.

Help us make this awards program a success. Nominate and vote.

===============================================

December 24th, 2006

Spreading Christmas Cheer!

This is the creation of Mack Collier at Viral Garden.  It’s called the “Z-Lister Meme,” , and it is insanely brilliant!  You can read the testimonials Mack has posted at Viral Garden here.

I thought it would be great to include some of the local blogs I frequent as a sort of Christmas gift to them in the hopes that it will increase the traffic to their blogs.

For our regular readers, this is an opportunity for you to explore some other interesting blogs out there.  And a chance for us to thank you for your help this year in the development of Piglet Paper.
Want to join in the fun!  Simply cut and paste the entire list below to a post on your blog, feel free to add a few of your own favorites, and overnight, you will have dozens of bloggers–new readers and new friends–flocking to your blog.  It’s as easy as that!

Remember, don’t add your own blog.  Someone else will give you that gift!

Streams
Eclectic Photography
Sleepless in Midland
Jessica’s Well
Fireant Gazette
Sounding Forth
Sticky Door Knobs
Archaeo Texture
West Texas TV
Bloggin’ Bert
Midland Blog
Talking Story

Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
100 Bloggers
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Simple Rich
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
OrbitNow!
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That’s Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Andy Nulman
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Darren Barefoot
Two Hat Marketing

The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Carpe Factum
Steve’s 2 Cents
Simplicity
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Make it Great!
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
Urban Jacksonville
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com