Bugs Palace!

STAR WARS IS BACK. Shannon, the kids and I along with some of the family made the trip to Ancaster on Monday to finally see Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens. Because the movie is still only just came out, I will avoid any spoilers and just say that we LOVED it. Well worth the wait. Now we have to wait 12 months for Rogue One to come out and 18 months until Episode 8. Considering how much I enjoyed Ep7, all I can say is BRING IT ON!

Thruxton is out at Smouts shop and we have the engine covers all removed and ready for powder coating. I will be dropping the parts off just after the New Year starts and hope to get them back within a month. I’m in no rush. Just want them back in time to get the bike back together for spring. Heck, if winter doesn’t come, I may just have to start riding again – ya right. Winter IS coming.

So after some toying with the idea, I decided to make a full court press and try and get ahead over the next 6-12 months. I sold the MINI to a nice kid from Barrie and used that money to pick up a Mk4 Jetta Wagon. Great little (temporary) commuter car that I can drive until my renovations at the house are done. At which point, I’ll be selling the car to my Dad and looking for something a bit more – sporting.  The rest of the money from the sale is going towards paying off my Triumph loan. Goal is to pay it off in the next month or 3 (3 years early), and then go talk to the bank about finally getting the garage/laundry room addition put on the house. One way or another I want to see the garage built by the end of the summer. Fingers crossed!

Work has FINALLY settled our contract issues. No strike! It wasn’t looking good there for a while, but thankfully in the end they were able to reach a deal without losing any more money. I don’t think we gained too much, but we also didn’t lose much either so I guess it’s a wash for the most part.

Christmas is upon us. Sunday Shan/I took the kids to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. They enjoyed it, but were a little bored. All in all it was a very fun day, topped off with a trip to the Outback while we were still in the USA.  Tomorrow is Christmas eve so the annual flurry of crazy is about to begin. Merry Christmas to all my friends and family. Have a safe holidays and I hope to see most of you !

Merry Christmas, and May the Force be with You!

24 days until Star Wars Episode 7 The Force Awakens! Sadly I’m not going to be able to see it for a week or so after it’s released, but still, I’m beyond stoked. As are my two little people. We’ve been re-watching the original 6 movies and the cartoon Rebels to get ourselves all up to date and ready for the movie. Hard part is going to be the time between the movie coming out and the day I actually go see it. Avoiding spoilers on the internet is going to be near impossible. I may even have to take an internet hiatus for that period of time. Yikes

Winter is here-ish. Temps keep flipping from 15degrees to -3. Little flurries here and there but so far we’ve avoided any accumulation. Hoping that is still the case for at least another month. If I could go all winter without shoveling, I would be a happy guy. That said, I may have to go without shoveling, as I just remembered my shovel didn’t survive last season. Sounds like I need a Costco/Depot run.

As mentioned last month, bug is sleeping, and MINI mods are pretty much done for the year. Bike is going to my mechanics this week to safely remove the engine covers so I can get them powder coated. Hopefully Santa is good to me and brings me some of the other parts i’ve asked for so I can get the bike the way I want it by spring time. As for the Jeep: Dodge contacted Shannon last week to offer her a deal on a ’16 Wrangler. We thought long and hard and looked at the website. Found they don’t offer orange this year. PASS. Keeping the big pylon for a while yet. To be honest, even if they had the same colour, I really doubt Shannon would have parted with her baby.

Christmas is coming soon. Chaos has been surrounding our lives already as far as scheduling and we haven’t even looked at the week or Christmas yet! Parties, shopping, tree hunting, etc etc.  One day I am looking forward to is Dec20. I bought tickets to take the wife and kids to HBC Arena (or whatever it’s called now) to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Shannon and I have been a few times before, but never with the kids. Should be a fun day! Following it up with a trip to the Outback so Joe can have his ‘brown bread’

Been going for nearly two months on work sanctions now. Such a pain in the ass. Somewhere someone thinks it’s doing something, so for now we continue. I’d find it easier to support if we were given more details as to exactly what we’re fighting for but as with all union negotiations we must simply hope they are indeed doing what is best for us. I have a real hard time with this, but for now, I will follow the heard. Hopefully this will end soon without any loss of income or full work stopages.

Onto more fun stuff…

Decided to pull the bike apart this winter and do some work. Going out to my mechanics in the next couple weeks to get a hand yanking the covers off the engine for some powder coating. Most of them I’d do myself but the clutch cover has some fancy springs etc underneath which I’d rather have a hand doing. Also no easy way for me to catch and dispose of the fluids when it all comes apart.

The Bug and the MINI are mostly done tinkering till spring. Bug is gone to sleep for it’s long winter nap- aside from a short trip to my parents garage in a week or so. The MINI is done getting new toys added for now. I have some audio stuff to finish up. Every thing is in and working, just needs some tidying and panels reinstalled. One good day and it will be 100% done as well.

I’ve started doing a checklist and prepping a blueprint for my new garage. Barring any work stopages, we’re hoping to break ground in the spring. Likely in May providing I can get my uncle and cousins booked up to get their build on! I’m finally getting into the details of what I want where, sizes, dimensions etc. No more random rectangle with a door drawn on it. Time to make these plans official.

Kids have been keeping Shannon very buys with Gymnastics and skating lessons. They both seem to be loving it – and doing very well. Joe went from needing to be held up to moving up to the next group within 3 weeks. Sounds like he’s got the hang of it. And Abby is just flying around the ice like an old pro. As for gymnastics – I am pretty sure they are both made from the same rubber as a superball. They bounce and bend beyond what I would have expected bodies should be able to do. Very proud of my kids.

Finally a little over a month till STAR WARS: the Force Awakens comes out. I may be a touch excited. |-o-|