One thing you should always carry is a good working pen. You'll need it if you get in a car accident, to get the other person's insurance information. And you definitely need one at the Dept of Motor Vehicles. No matter what your business is, they hand you a form and say "fill this out". The last time I went was to renew my drivers license and take an eyetest. Everyone around me asked to borrow my pen.Of course, the DMV does not provide pens. I used to work for Social Security (federal govt) and we had pens on chains for people to use. I once left my desk briefly and came back and found the chain broken and the pen gone. Also had a small calculator stolen.

I was just searching for tips on highway riding and came across this thread. I just took MSF course a month ago, bought my first bike (Harley Sportster 883) 2.5 weeks ago and have put on a little over 100 miles on it. The bike was intimidating at first, after only having experience on 250cc in the course for a few hours on the parking lot. So I took it to the parking lot to practice what I learned in the course. A week later my buddy and I agreed to go for a ride. Even though I was very nervous about riding on the roads, I decided to just go. My thought was "I would not be more ready later than I am now." It was very challenging and I made a few scary mistakes at first at very low speed, but I was getting better as the ride went on. We ended up riding about 30 miles with speeds up to 45 mph that day. I rode once more with him and then made a 30 mile trip on my own. It was even more challenging than it should have been cause it was drizzling and the roads were wet. It feels great to be on the bike, although challenging for me. So now I am contemplating to challenge myself a bit more and go on the highway on saturday morning, even if its just for a few miles. Of course I'm nervous about it. I also have advice to people who are very nervous to ride: First, read the tips that are found on this site: http://ridingsafely.com/ridingsafely3.html Second, if you think motorcycling is for you, then let go of the fear and just relax and ride. If its not fun for you and you're glad when the ride is over, such as one poster posted on this thread, then I highly advise to stop riding. I just bought my bike 2.5 weeks ago and can't wait for a good/warm weather so I can ride it. I even take a ride around the block if I don't have time for anything else. I LOVE it. Yes, I'm scared, yes, I'm nervous, but I do my best to leave it behind me while I'm riding. I'm not telling people to go on the highway if you're not comfortable with it, but you must enjoy it and ride without fear. As this site on safety says, riding with fear will get you into trouble. Ride safe and enjoy! p.s. As I've mentioned, I'm a beginner rider with almost no experience. So this is my opinion from my short experience and from what I've heard from experienced riders.

Peroxide will not remove grease. Buthyl alchohol and potassium hydroxide removes grease stains and a number of oxidized stains as well. Known in the trade as KOH. None of the bleaches, borates, percarbonate, or chlorine will remove grease. Ammonia on the dry side before the garment is wet, will remove grease. Matter of fact all grease stains are treated BEFORE (dry side) the garment is wet washed or dry cleaned. As previously mentioned Pro Simple Green Max removes grease on the dry side. A couple of squirts and wash as usual, grease gone. Simple, easy, and under 5 bucks.

J Cosmet Sci. 2003 Mar-Apr;54(2):175-92. Effect of mineral oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil on prevention of hair damage. Rele AS1, Mohile RB. Author information Abstract Previously published results showed that both in vitro and in vivo coconut oil (CNO) treatments prevented combing damage of various hair types. Using the same methodology, an attempt was made to study the properties of mineral oil and sunflower oil on hair. Mineral oil (MO) was selected because it is extensively used in hair oil formulations in India, because it is non-greasy in nature, and because it is cheaper than vegetable oils like coconut and sunflower oils. The study was extended to sunflower oil (SFO) because it is the second most utilized base oil in the hair oil industry on account of its non-freezing property and its odorlessness at ambient temperature. As the aim was to cover different treatments, and the effect of these treatments on various hair types using the above oils, the number of experiments to be conducted was a very high number and a technique termed as the Taguchi Design of Experimentation was used. The findings clearly indicate the strong impact that coconut oil application has to hair as compared to application of both sunflower and mineral oils. Among three oils, coconut oil was the only oil found to reduce the protein loss remarkably for both undamaged and damaged hair when used as a pre-wash and post-wash grooming product. Both sunflower and mineral oils do not help at all in reducing the protein loss from hair. This difference in results could arise from the composition of each of these oils. Coconut oil, being a triglyceride of lauric acid (principal fatty acid), has a high affinity for hair proteins and, because of its low molecular weight and straight linear chain, is able to penetrate inside the hair shaft. Mineral oil, being a hydrocarbon, has no affinity for proteins and therefore is not able to penetrate and yield better results. In the case of sunflower oil, although it is a triglyceride of linoleic acid, because of its bulky structure due to the presence of double bonds, it does not penetrate the fiber, consequently resulting in no favorable impact on protein loss. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12715094