Belt Drive Betty's Blog

So this is Christmas....

As we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it is my fondest hope for all, that the true spirit of the season fills your heart and that somehow you manage to hold on to that feeling for more than a day or a few hours. 
 
No matter your religious views or lack there of, I wish for you to experience, love, joy, acceptance and peace - not from the world around you, but from the world INSIDE YOU. 
 
Love yourself, accept yourself, find joy in being you, find peace by destroying the old tapes of negativity that run through your brain and discover the real YOU. 
 
I wish you the health to enjoy the journey, the wealth to do the things you are meant to do and the spiritual love and balance that will make you appreciate this beautiful gift called life. 
 
I look forward to talking to you all on Monday, hearing about your presents, your time with friends and family until then, have a Merry Christmas and remember, you are the best gift you can share with anyone. 
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There are a number of articles in the news feeds today that may be of interest to you. 
 
Please check them out at <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/">www.beltdrivebetty.com</a> 
 
I leave you with a few funnies shared with me by my friends on Facebook, Twitter and by email...Laughter is another great gift you can give yourself and others... 
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 Have a Fabulous Friday and a Joyous Christmas 
 
Belt Drive Betty 
Editor & Rider</div>

So this is Christmas....

Belt Drive 0 Community 7:35 AM

As we get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it is my fondest hope for all, that the true spirit of the season fills your heart and that somehow you manage to hold on to that feeling for more than a day or a few hours. No matter your relig… Read more »

23Dec2011

I wonder what it would take?

Belt Drive 0 Community 7:53 AM

I have just spent the last hour and a half or so on FB, on my own web site, responding to comments, e-mails, wishing people Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and connecting with my Cyber Family and I wonder... 
 
Almost everyone is posting the most positive, joyful and caring things from videos on random acts of kindness and the meaning of Toys for Tots to inspirations about God, the Universe, and Christmas. 
 
I wonder what it would take for this spirit of love, tenderness and kindness to continue on, all year long... 
 
I am feeling rather emotional today and these things that people are posting mean so much on days like this.  They lift you up... 
 
Why am I emotional? Christmas, this time of year that is supposed to be about hope, joy, potential, love -is also a time of sadness, longing...there are so many people who have gone to meet their make that I miss at this time of year and while I know that they are out of pain and in a better place, in a place of abundance and love, I can't help feeling a wee bit blue, because I miss their love, the arguments, the laughter, the hugs, the kisses, the giggles and whispers, the encouragement and even the chastisements...yes they live on in my heart, but man, a hug would sure feel good too - yah know what I mean? 
 
I know that many, many of you share this same experience, the bitter sweet mixture of joy and sadness. 
 
There have been so many tragedies around the world, both man made and Mother Nature driven. Thousands of lives lost, millions of lives altered. 
 
It is my fondest wish that the sharing and caring I am seeing amongst my friends on Facebook, Twitter, in emails and other places on the web and in neighbourhoods everywhere, would continue all year long and that everyone who feels strangely alone even in a crowd of people can feel connected to something beautiful and special - themselves. 
 
I wish you all the gifts of connectivity, peacefulness and wholeness - and that you always know that when you are in that emotional place of love and light, and I am in that place - we are together. 
 
I wish you love and with much gratitude, say THANK YOU, for caring and sharing and being who you are. Though we may be miles apart, lives apart, you are in my heart - always. 
 
There are a few items in the news feeds today that you might find of interest...check them out at <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/">www.beltdrivebetty.com</a> 
 
I leave you on this glorious Thursday with a few giggles to help it stay a Glorious Thursday...(Thank you to all my friends whose funnies I am sharing...you know who you are!) 
 
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Happy Thursday 
 
Belt Drive Betty 
Editor & Rider

I wonder what it would take?

Belt Drive 0 Community 7:53 AM

I have just spent the last hour and a half or so on FB, on my own web site, responding to comments, e-mails, wishing people Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and connecting with my Cyber Family and I wonder... Almost everyone is posting the most positi… Read more »

22Dec2011

I AM SOOOO In love! (And I think any true gear head will be too!)

Belt Drive 0 Community, Riding Gear 7:15 AM

An odd title for a blog post done by a crusty, rough around the edges old broad who loves motorcycles? 
NOT AT ALL! 
 
In another lifetime, many, many years ago, I wanted to be a jet engine tech. I had completed my medical, my physical and my exams for entrance to the Canadian Armed Forces when I was 19 and I waited. 
In the meantime - between working as a waitress, modelling and working in a service station (I was working on my gas engine apprenticeship), I could be found down at the Old Edmonton International (Northern Lights) Race Track in the west end - powder puff racing. That's where I met my ex husband, Doug Rose of the Green Mamba Jet Car fame. The day I was boarding a plane to a new life in California to apprentice on jet engines, I got my call for boot camp. 
 
I chose California... 
 
At 21 years old, I got the opportunity to attend Bonneville and like many a gear head I fell in love with the pure raw speed and power of it all, the smells, the excitement, the fear, the disappointments and frustrations and laughter - I LOVED IT ALL. 
 
Over the 5 years that I travelled the Jet Car Circuit first as a crew member and then as a crew chief, I had the opportunity to meet men like <a href="http://www.the-rocketman.com/Ky_bio.html">Ky Michaelson - the Rocket Man</a> and <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/11/03/craig-breedlove-going-for-800-mph-land-speed-record-in-2013/">Craig Breedlove of Spirit of America fame</a> and men like <a href="http://www.vetechnet.com/rocketcar.htm">Slam'n Sammy Miller</a>. 
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While I enjoyed learning on internal combustion gas engines, I loved JET POWER and Rocket Power. PROPULSION-THRUST - the stuff fascinated me, still does. </div>
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Working with exotic metals like titanium and inconel... the plumbing of lines to feed hydraulics, fuel and air, the blending and balancing of stator blades and the tuning of ignitor boxes, the hammering and bashing to create afterburners and bishop's cones...yes, many of these are probably antiquated terms by today's standards, but in my day - this was the way to my heart....this was the talk of speed.</div>
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I remember being fascinated by the propulsion and the volatility of rocket fuel and weighing the pros and cons of jet cars over rocket cars and the wild discussions that took place in the Propulsion Enterprises Race Car Shop in Tarzana CA over things like frame designs and down force.</div>
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Watching, learning, doing - taking in every little bit of knowledge that I could glean from others. </div>
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I remember the hours, night after day after night - working side by side in the race car shop with men like Jerry Segal, George Hedebeck - the names Arfons, Sibley, Motz, Shockley, Sample, Eierdam, Hendricks,  Knuth, Ivo - some of the greatest of the greats in Jet Car Racing - these names, names I idolized, these became the names of friends & rivals.</div>
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Yes - I am in love this morning with a motorcycle that captivated my imagination and brought forth things, memories - experiences that I had not thought of in years. I can't describe how fast all of these old well loved memories came to the surface for me the minute I laid eyes on this beautiful beast.</div>
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Jet Reaction - a helicopter powered motorcycle built and designed specifically for the Bonneville Salt Flats. Richard Brown hopes to set the Land Speed record at 720 KPH.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jet Reaction a helicopter engine powered motorcycle</td></tr>
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Man 2013 is going to be a year to be at the Salt Flats - history is no doubt going to be made one way or the other...seriously, this is THE YEAR to go to Bonneville and take it all in, as on top of this magnificent jet motorcycle going for a record so too will Craig Breedlove go for yet another streamliner world record as well in 2013!</div>
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2013 - Bonneville - I may just have to be there!</div>
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There are lots of interesting articles in the news feeds this morning - check them out at <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/">www.beltdrivebetty.com</a> where we sift through the news so you don't have to!</div>
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We are offering, for the next two weeks, <a href="ttp://www.beltdrivebetty.com/home/buy-2012-calendars-limited-time-offer">the opportunity to get a 2012 Calendar</a> - the Kidz, the Ladies or the Man's - we have had comments from some who wanted calendars but missed the first deadline and have been hoping we'd bring them back so we have.</div>
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This is slated to be another very busy day so I had best bust a move and quit daydreaming about Bonneville!</div>
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I leave you with a few funnies shared with me by friends either in emails or on Facebook...laughter is the music of the soul!</div>
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Have a fabulous, incredible HUMP DAY...</div>
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Belt Drive Betty </div>
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Editor & Rider</div>

I AM SOOOO In love! (And I think any true gear head will be too!)

Belt Drive 0 Community, Riding Gear 7:15 AM

An odd title for a blog post done by a crusty, rough around the edges old broad who loves motorcycles? NOT AT ALL! In another lifetime, many, many years ago, I wanted to be a jet engine tech. I had completed my medical, my physical and my exams for e… Read more »

21Dec2011

Life a constant learning of Lessons

Belt Drive 0 commu, Community 9:50 AM

The Busted Knuckle Chronicles started out as a hobby. It was something I started to keep me feeling like a productive citizen after a car/canoe crash altered my world. 
 
When I started it, I had a dream and vision of helping my community have a place to celebrate it's triumphs, discuss and share important issues and information. For me, the newspaper has never really been about me - even though it is my baby...I have always wanted it to belong to the motorcycle community here in Canada - to be about the motorcycle community here in Canada. 
 
Well, I have realized that dream and along the way I have had a lot of life lessons thrown at me. 
Some I got, some I have had to repeat, some are new - I have come to view life as a perpetual classroom. 
 
Not only am I learning how to become a bona fide business person, but I am learning how to teach people what I know, what I do, as I build a team. I am learning how to use new technologies, to become a better and more effective communicator.  I am learning on so many fronts, tripping and falling, dusting myself off and trying again. I did not know one could trip and fall and get back up that many times! 
 
I feel like I am in Hyper drive...learning to find some sense of balance - being able to shut the business off, the chatter off in my head - that is my single biggest challenge and the life lesson I feel I need to learn the most. Every time the business grows it is the same challenge, finding that balance - learning how to manage things. 
 
When I get out of balance, I become over sensitive, sharp and insensitive, I forget important things and struggle with things that should come naturally. A lot of it comes from the constant dialogue that runs through my head - I have been learning meditation as a way to shut that constant chatter off, and it seems to be helping. 
 
For me, riding my bike has always been a way for me to get my priorities straight and during the winter when I am deprived of being on my bike, I tend to struggle with balance worse than in the spring, summer and fall. 
 
It is my fondest hope that others who ride that are in business will share some of their techniques for staying balanced, focused and calm. When you can't be on your bike, when you can't get that therapy session in, how do you cope? 
 
Other things I want to learn more on are time management, prioritizing, effective leadership, communications - there are so many things I need and want to learn and so many courses out there by so many teachers. 
Finding the one whose method of teaching hits home for me has proven very tedious and expensive. Buying books, CD's, spending time only to find - I didn't come away with the things I needed to learn. 
 
I appreciate and value your ideas, experiences and suggestions - so please, feel free to help a girl out and share the tools you have used to take charge of your life and to be the best person you are capable of being. 
 
In the news today: 
 
There was a false story leaked out on a blog that Jon Bon Jovi was dead - <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/bon-jovi-jokes-about-death-reports-at-concert.html?track=icymi">rest assured that it was a hoax.</a> 
 
There are some workers at Harley-Davidson <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/14406-harley-davidson-offers-voluntary-layoffs-in-wisconsin">that have tough choices ahead</a> 
 
A company in India reached an out of court settlement with<a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/14411-future-group-a-harley-reach-out-of-court-deal"> Harley-Davidson over a trademark infringement.</a> 
 
In Ontario a judge overturned an acquittal of a cop. <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/14412-cop-in-document-leak-has-acquittal-overturned-">Const. Dean Rudge is to be retried for leaking police documents to the Hells Angels</a> 
 
There are other articles in the news feeds that may be of interest to you, check them out at <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/">www.beltdrivebetty.com</a> 
 
 
I will leave you with some funnies that have been shared with me by email and on Facebook...hope they brighten your day! 
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Have a FABULOUS Tuesday! 
 
Belt Drive Betty 
Editor & Rider

Life a constant learning of Lessons

Belt Drive 0 commu, Community 9:50 AM

The Busted Knuckle Chronicles started out as a hobby. It was something I started to keep me feeling like a productive citizen after a car/canoe crash altered my world. When I started it, I had a dream and vision of helping my community have a place … Read more »

20Dec2011

A Moving week...

Belt Drive 0 Community 6:42 AM

In Alberta and PEI there are many people saying prayers and shedding tears. One young lady is having surgery today and three of her friends are going to be buried soon. The tragic shootings on an Alberta highway by a jealous former boyfriend have devastated so many people just before Christmas. My own family has been affected as my niece Casey went to school with two of the three young people from PEI who were killed. 
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As we get ready to celebrate Christmas my prayers go out to those who are hurting, lonely, sad and scared. I hope that they find the strength and love they need to get through the days and weeks ahead. 
 
It has been an interesting time around <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/">www.beltdrivebetty.com</a> 
 
While the rest of the world is winding down for Christmas Holidays, Ali and I are busier than ever. 
 
We moved web hosts last week and while we are far from done with the revamping of the web site into it's new template, things are coming together nicely. With every new module and component that Ali is installing to get all of our content displaying right she is testing and tweaking and testing some more. It's an arduous task moving some 500K pages of content but she's doing a fabulous job! 
 
Being on a web host that offers cloud servers is fantastic too - the speed of the site makes me SOOOO happy.  Yes it will be a little inconvenient for another week or two - some of the navigation isn't in, some of our tools aren't loaded yet, but when it's all done I think we will have one of the best sites around...at least that's the goal! 
 
I decided to make the 2012 Calendars - the Ladies, the Kidz and the Men's available for one more week. 
I just got the reprint of the Kidz calendars in and am so happy with it - I will be sending them out to all who ordered - free of charge - later today. I am also sending out a reprint of the Men's and the Ladies calendar free of charge - they should be here today. I - along with everyone who got them first time around was disappointed - it is my hope that the new calendars will make everyone happy. 
 
They are costing me more but, you got to do what's right - RIGHT? I want people happy! 
 
So - if you wanted a calendar but didn't get one - now's your chance - <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/home/buy-2012-calendars-limited-time-offer">http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/home/buy-2012-calendars-limited-time-offer</a> 
 
The Biker's United in Remembrance Patches are selling well, I can't wait to tally up the donations we are going to be making to the Military Families Fund and Camp Maple Leaf...I think it is absolutely impressive that the Canadian Veteran Freedom Riders has already ordered another 100 patches - they will be making a nice tidy donation too! 
 
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7zyaRr-PQZIw45-y_jnS6ahpEw0PRc4t06zR7zH3gMq0XPjm5tQxgeG3-wMXDoRc-H99pyGA6sGZWy77jRc3nfDXe5xwnwfBiRWWLhXbsPuJLFDmZ0b9t1dFiClhsuWNvcfn/s1600/BKC-LOGO-BLACK.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7zyaRr-PQZIw45-y_jnS6ahpEw0PRc4t06zR7zH3gMq0XPjm5tQxgeG3-wMXDoRc-H99pyGA6sGZWy77jRc3nfDXe5xwnwfBiRWWLhXbsPuJLFDmZ0b9t1dFiClhsuWNvcfn/s200/BKC-LOGO-BLACK.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZq5YjxNkDE-FDdmMZuIhe79anxzZop_12Nk-vKPwiFRanSiIRcq6AyG7NFO9RDTph3wwaCoDqLeQ3WgkgA0cxaCpPhqzLmcEA7fxd5oDs_QckYfVsGRejZ4lukXPheDLtEBsZ/s1600/Busted-Knuckle-LogoR.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZq5YjxNkDE-FDdmMZuIhe79anxzZop_12Nk-vKPwiFRanSiIRcq6AyG7NFO9RDTph3wwaCoDqLeQ3WgkgA0cxaCpPhqzLmcEA7fxd5oDs_QckYfVsGRejZ4lukXPheDLtEBsZ/s200/Busted-Knuckle-LogoR.png" width="200" /></a>Speaking of patches - we finally have a new logo for the newspaper, and yes we are getting patches made! I hope you like it.. 
 
 
I will know the cost and delivery times later today - we will have them in time for the Bike Shows I hope!!!! 
 
 
Speaking of bike shows - I want to thank everyone who has volunteered to help us in our booths in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver - we are fully staffed!!!! 
 
It's been an incredibly busy week and I don't see that slowing down any time soon! 
 
In other news: 
 
In Mumbai - Blue Tooth head sets for<a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/286-news-international-/14393-bikers-bluetooth-headgear-spells-headache-for-cops"> motorcyclists are giving the cops a head ache</a>... 
 
In Quebec they are <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/297-motorcycle-television/14311-quebec-motorcyclists-should-pay-more-report">trying to make a case for higher motorcycle insurance</a> - AGAIN! 
 
In Ontario there are two petitions that really need your signatures! 
The first is on<a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/296-motorcycle-television/14379-petition-to-have-ontario-regulations-59610-and-61143e-deemed-of-no-force-or-effect-"> handle bars</a>  and the second is on <a href="http://www.beltdrivebetty.com/component/content/article/296-motorcycle-television/14380-petition-for-hov-lane-use-in-ontario">HOV Lane use</a> 
 
 
I leave you with a few funnies from around the internet, from my emails and my Facebook friends...Laugh - it's good for the soul....it's necessary to your sanity to laugh! 
 
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Belt Drive Betty 
Editor & Rider

A Moving week...