I’ve wanted a Harley for years. That’s no secret to anyone — I’ve talked about it here, and among friends and family it’s a given that if you’re going to ask me what I want for a gift-giving occasion — birthday, Christmas, anniversary, Father’s Day, whatever — I’m going to say “Harley. Road King Classic. Vivid Black.” And oh my, have the family and friends had fun with me about that — they’ve given me a Harley desk calendar, a Harley telephone that goes “vroom-vroom” when it rings, and a Harley clock that plays a sound clip of a Harley going by every hour on the hour. Oh, the comedy. So every single day when I tear off a page on the calendar, and every time the phone rings, and 24 times a day when the clock marks the hour, I am reminded that I don’t have a Harley.

Well, I do now.

That stupid clock was the last straw. I announced to Beth after I got it that this is The Year of the Harley. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself, so I pledged that come hell or high water I was getting myself a Harley this year. I picked up my brand new, 2006 Harley-Davidson Road Glide last Saturday:

No, it’s not a Road King Classic. I don’t know what happened — all this time I’ve been saying that’s what I wanted, and then I went and bought something completely different. Go figure. But the point is that I’m finally riding a Harley.

Life is good.