The Man behind Uncaged

There is the man I used to be and the man I am now.  With that said, there are good things and bad things about that.  Either way, when I first started this blog I posted a couple personal entries and various business entries but it's been some time since I've written anything personal and so I've decided to change that.

I started up Uncaged Motorsports with the help of a friend back in September 2008 and went from a life of living as someone doing what was needed to survive to a man with a passion focused on the passion regardless of the cost.  I lost a lot since then and may continue to lose more in the pursuit of doing what I want and enjoy doing.  For the most part, people around me have no idea of my challenges due to the fact that I smile and am happy and today I thought about that a bit.

It came across my mind that I don't spend much time with friends and how much I don't like that.  Curious why my brain focused on that fact at the million miles a second it normally runs and it spotted that my stresses and maintenance of a positive attitude causes my "free" time to be consumed trying to escape my world and very little gets done.  I really really want Uncaged Motorsports to succeed and that focus has essentially put me in divorce (obviously, under the circumstances, she didn't "Love" me because Love does not fail) breaking up my family (3 amazing children), lost me my awesome truck (2005 Ford F150 Lariat Crew Cab), my house and much of my sanity.

After less than a year of opening the wife left due to stress because finances were extremely tight due to spending all money on the shop to get it going and grow it.  I lost everything else not because she took it but because my source of income was my own business and I was now spending so much of my time trying to save my marriage including flying to Alaska (where she ran off to and hooked up with an old friend) to get her to come back.  Roughly a year after that all started, I had to give up on the business just to keep my head above water (plus I didn't have a place to run the business anymore since I lost the house to the bank).

I went to work as a Waiter at Wingers restaurant and lived off the tips primarily, because child support took 50% of my paycheck.  Then a man, whom I feel I now owe way more than I could ever pay back, contacted me about working on his Benelli motorcycle because of several people recommending me and made me an offer of working to get the business going out of his shop free of rent.  This was an opportunity I could not pass up because getting the shop going is definitely something I wanted and even though I felt I wasn't financially ready, a free shop was offered and so it started.  The downfall is that I really wasn't ready financially and still had too many debts that I accrued through the past and now I'm back to running the shop which some months cost me to do even with free rent.  Now I'm working nights at Roosters Steak and Chop house (Wingers fired me due to complications in scheduling and Roosters is only open at nights) and some of that money earned goes towards growing Uncaged, the kids spending time with me, paying debts and current bills.

Now, the time has come that I have to find a shop of my own and I'm having a hard time finding the financial means to make that happen but I also do not want to give up on Uncaged.  I truly feel I can make this work and that it would already be doing fairly well if I had the funds to have a sign made, do a little local advertising and so forth.  So I am at a crossroads of decisions and I feel like I'm falling apart due to the type of stress it is causing me.  I am currently homeless and have been since a great guy was helping me out by allowing me to live with him until he found a special someone and is now married to that person.  So I've been sleeping in my car, the shop, and with my cousin.  And I feel like I could possibly, with lots of hard work and little to no play, afford to pay rent but I cannot come up with deposit and such in the time frame that I have.

Homeless and a bit battered up I still manage to keep my self positive but at the cost of not having a best friend or many friends at all that I can manage the time to hang out with and stay connected with.  So often I have to deal with my brain telling me how much of a failure I am and that I can't accomplish anything and that I don't deserve anyone special in my life.  I expend lots of time and energy in staving off those thoughts that it's taking away from more important things that I could accomplish.

In conclusion, I need to make a decision, possibly a very difficult one for me and one that could create a stronger sense of failure, in order to save myself financially and mentally.

Well, time to get back to it.  Thanks for listening to me vent some very substantial information out of my own necessity.

My Motorcycle Mechanical Problem

Early September I made a trip to Wisconsin to be there for my Uncles wedding.  A beautiful wedding it was and an amazing visit with my Uncle whom I hadn't seen in too long of a time.  Got a chance to meet his Bride and her family and everything about the visit was super wonderful.  She's a great person and so is all the friends and family that I got the pleasure to meet.

The visit was great but for money saving reasons I was flying out of Oakland (about 6.5 hour drive from here) and decided that I would ride to Napa.  Napa is the home of some of my extended family and I planned on driving, actually riding, to visit them in the process.  Plan: Park Bike at W & R's house, get ride to Oakland airport, fly to WI, come back and visit multiple people that I know in and around that area.

During preparations to head out I just had one more stop to make aboard "Silver Monkey" and sitting at a traffic light, I hear a relatively loud pop that seemed to come from my bike.  Check it out real quick and everything appeared to be fully functional and nothing leaking etc....  And since I am in somewhat of a hurry to get going, I decide to get a move on and not look into it any further.  That is nearly always the wrong answer.

Approximately 30- 35 miles into my trip I get caught up in road construction which kills about 25 minutes of time and still concerned about what that noise was, I got off the bike and looked around it still not finding anything.  The gentleman ahead of me gets out of his vehicle to stretch his legs and we end up in a conversation and it was nice.  Other direction traffic is starting to come by so he returns to his vehicle and I begin putting my gear back on.  When I press the start button for the bike it seems oddly unfamiliar in character but she starts up.  Not 5 miles past the construction area, she starts acting like she's out of gas and then dies out altogether.

Now I'm on the side of the road a bit upset and trying to add up the information I have to figure out what happened.  My display is now showing an error code (46 on a 2004 Yamaha R1) meaning that the fuel injection system is not working properly which makes sense on the "running out of fuel" feeling I got just before.  And it's seeming to me that there is a charging system issue which I'm guessing is stator or reg/rec.

Well, I start making calls because as of now I'm going to end up very short on time and will now have to travel through the night to get to the airport in Oakland on time.  Thanks to the great friends I have, S picks up my motorcycle and takes it to his house, E picks me up and takes me to W's place where W proceeds to let me take his motorcycle to complete my trip.

Get back after about 2 weeks of a much needed vacation and start to work on "Silver Monkey" to find out for sure what needs to be fixed and so first thing I do is take the cover off for the stator and find that the stator is find but Yamaha used a very cool but "special" system and that the magnets are affixed to the Rotor not the stator, well at least they are suppose to be.  Mine have not been able to hang on any longer and the loud pop I heard was the breakage of the setup that has them there.  The battery was able to keep me running long enough to get out of town and stranded but no more than that.

The other bad news to that is just how much the new Rotor Assembly is because of how "special" it is.  Retail price of $540.  Goodness gracious.  So, I track a used one down and manage to get a great deal on it (in fact I purchased the part I needed and the stator, stator cover and bolts, and starter clutch all together.  I now have an extra stator just in case.  I found a couple minor little tidbits that were not mentioned in the service manual that if not properly completed could cause additional problems.  But tested everything, put it all together and my baby was once again running and I couldn't wait to go for a ride.

This Sunday, I will be going on a very nice ride to truly break her in and I'm very excited for it.  If anyone out there has a 2004-2008 Yamaha R1 and gets the error code 46 and finds they have the same problem as myself.  Contact me for more information and also I may be able to help find a great deal for you on the parts and I will also give you all information to assist a smooth and successful operation.

Have a great day and keep riding.  And stays safe too.

James

Kiddos ~ Bowling :)

Had a chance to get together with the kids yesterday.  They spent a bit of time here at the shop, Uncaged Motorsports, with me.  Helped me clean up and remove some tires (handed me tools) from a little Suzuki TU250X (very cool little bike).  After that we got a bite to eat and then headed to the bowling alley.  Anthony beat me in the first game, little brat.  I'm out of practice lol.

I mean really? 102 points is all I got?  And that little brat that's about to be 8 got 116?  We had a great time and Epicenter here in Klamath Falls was hooking us up with such a great deal that we bowled another game.  However, in the second game I beat that monster but our scores weren't as high as the first game, wth, and I only beat him by 1.  And Hailey (4) beat her sister (9) in the first but it flipped in the second too.  Of course, Hailey was using the rolling assist device they had there too  lol.

It was very cool to be able to get out bowling with the kids.  A great friend just happened to show up and bowled next to us as well.  Such a great time.  We have to go more often so that I can get some practice in and show that dang boy who the real bowler is lmao.  Get out bowling and have fun too, till next time, Peace  :)

Messing Around

The little monsters are here with me again and this time I have a video to prove it!  Tell me their not scary!

I hooked up my XBox Live Vision camera to my TV and we're messing around with it.  The 'negative' effect on it ended up being the most fun.  They laughed a lot at it and so did I so I decided why not post it up for you to see.  Also, I took a picture of all of us in this mode.

Hope you enjoy checking it out as much as we had fun making it!  LOL

Now we're going to relax and calm down.  Have a great evening and sleep well  :)

James

My lifes starting point

I've been looking through a lot of other blogs trying to find some others about the same subjects that I'm planning on writing about and haven't had much luck.  However, I have discovered that most blogs are about the writer or close family members.  Made me think that I should write about my personal life, although I will continue to write about the other aspects that I have already mentioned.  This way, you can get to know me in a way that basically nobody else can.  Obviously, it's all from my perspective but I'll do the best I can.  Also, I understand for those of you who bother to read this, I am not a very good writer.  I write what I think and it doesn't exactly come out academically.  LOL

To start things off I guess I will say that I was born in Hawthorne, CA and for the first 3 years of my non-memory filled life I lived in Gardena, CA with my mom and E (The dad that is on my birth certificate) until my Grandpa got transferred to Napa, CA and their kids, including my mom, followed along like little ducklings.  At that time my mom didn't give much of an option to 'dad', I'm going, are you going with.  Henceforth, I never knew him. 

I will continue this story soon.  Ran out of time, must get other stuff done.  Until then, enjoy yourself.

James

I was going to start a whole new post but decided to try editing this one instead.  Here goes.

So, I never knew my dad.  What I did know was that E was on my birth certificate and that my Grandma swore up and down that B was my dad not E.  What I didn't know was vast and now I know much more and can put the puzzle together pretty well.  I think however, I will put off telling more about what I know now that I didn't know then till a little later.  First, I will go over my early life because it was influenced greatly by the lack of knowledge about my dad situation.  I truly believe that if I was a little more informed that it may have been different but it's all part of what made me, me.  Although, that's not always what I wish it was, I'm happy with it!  :)

I grew up very anti-social and extremely shy.  Not to mention that I was always being told how smart I was and how good I was going to do.  In an unfortunate way this drove me to be very unsatisfied and depressed.  I tried hard to make sure that I continued to do good but it didn't always work out.  The first time I had to move from one school to another I rebelled against it all and started failing and then I would forge my moms signature on my bad grades.  Needless to say, I got into trouble quite a bit but it didn't last very long.

My childhood was very uninteresting as I remember it.  I didn't have very many friends at all and I never wanted to bring them over to my house because I was embarrassed of it.  It was rarely clean, my mom spent most of her time yelling either at me or one of the other two siblings.  So, every once in awhile I would hang out with a friend of mine but mostly I just lived in my bedroom, hung out at the creek or rode my bicycle around.  I didn't get involved in school functions, which is something I really wish I would have done, and I didn't play games much.  Some of it had to do with finances.  We didn't have money to spend on "silly" things, but mostly because I didn't know how to interact with others.  I had a very low self esteem and took everything overly serious. 

Well, back to the dad situation.  I don't remember for sure when F came into our lives but I know that I really started to notice a father figure in my life around 13 or so.  I isolated myself from everything and it was mostly because what I saw I didn't like (Drugs and angry people).  In fact, I think I may have some repressed memories, sometimes I feel like I repressed a lot of the bad things that happened.  Not sure.

But I started getting out of my shell hanging out with F working on vehicles.  I don't think I was involved enough but I do know that I started having an interest in it and I think that it was simply because there was a man in my life that had an interest in it and was willing to involve me now and then.

At about 24 I decided that I was done hiding myself from my father situation and I found contact information for E and I called him.  He was very excited to hear from me and said that he had been waiting for that day.  It was rather exciting for me as well but I think because of the disagreement between my mother and grandmother (Oma) about who my father was I don't think I was as excited as I should have been.  My girlfriend at the time who became my wife a little later and my ex wife recently and I flew down to meet him and his wife.  It was a great trip and went very well.  I'm extremely glad to have made the decision to call him and get connected and forever he will be dad.  However, there was this thought in the back of my head about B.  The only picture I had of him was from my moms and his wedding and he looked a lot like me.  In fact, many people said they were very certain that he had to be my dad. 

Just last year, I got contact information for B and decided to give him a call.  The difference with the call I made to B and the one I made to E was that when I called E I was calling my dad and I was treating it exactly as such.  When I called B, I was calling someone who may be my dad but I already had my dad in my life.  So, when I explained who I was and the reason for calling, I also explained that all I wanted was a DNA test so that I could know for sure.  He agreed and we had a few conversations in the mean time before getting the process started.  B explained much more of the overall story than I had ever known up to this point.  Him and E had been working together at PB and he was married to my mom when one day she (my mother) came to him and said that she was pregnant but it was not his.  She had an affair with E and it was his child not B's.  You can imagine the feelings he had about this.  Now for me, I was born of an affair and my whole life I was not aware of the specific fact but I was aware that I was born out of wedlock because my mom was not married to E.  But then the twist.  My Oma was right.  The test came back that B was my biological father which also meant that I was actually born in wedlock although a twisted and not so connected one.  I have not yet met B and I hope to do so sooner than later but there are much too many things going on in my life to be able to focus on that.

More to come in future posts.  Next post however will be something different because honestly, I'm getting a little depressed thinking about this stuff and I was in a pretty good mood before hand.  Thank you to everyone who actually read through this.  It feels good to get it out in this fashion oddly enough.  I hope that E does not stumble on this (I doubt he will) for I have not told him the details and seeing as how he has no other children and is not in very good health (diabetic with a not so strong heart), I have not figured out how or if I am going to tell him.

Till next time,
James

Darn Kids :)

The kids have been bugging the ex once again to come stay the night with their Dad!  Dad, me, has been around them most days but staying the night again is what they just had to have apparently.  So, they're here with me and we just finished eating pizza.  Yummy.  I took a couple pictures to post up here:

1.  First one is them laying on the floor popping bubbles (Sorry, cell phone pics are not very good quality lol )

2. All of us trying to get close enough to get the whole group in the picture :)

So, there you go!  Me and the kiddos goofing off!  Now it's time to relax before bedtime so we're going to watch a movie.  Hope they like it and hope the go to sleep as well as they usually do when they're here with me!  Usually, however, I don't do well sleeping.  I guess I should hope for me to get some decent sleep tonight!  :)

Have a great night everyone and sleep well,
James