Bugs Palace!

MINI is FINALLY home. Looks great. Needs to go back in for a door adjustment, but otherwise the body work turned out excellent. Since it’s been home I finished the stereo install, installed a boost gauge and swapped out the rear sway bar for a nice beefy H-Sport bar. Pretty sure that’s the end of the mods until spring. Pretty happy with it so far. Only a small handful of things I’d like to do, but they will wait till after the winter.

Speaking of winter, the Jeep will be getting the hardtop on soon + it’s first set of winter tires. Also on the docket for the winter months is a small handful of tweaks to the Thruxton. Hoping to black out  the engine covers, convert to clip ons, and some other small tweaks. Should keep me busy over the winter while the Beetle sleeps at my parents again.

Shannon’s settling into her new job with Norfolk County. Seems to love it so far. Hopefully things keep going as well as they are and she can really make the job her own. My work on the other hand has been a bit of a shit show. September came and went in a blur of chaos as always. Making things tougher this year are some sanctions that have been put into place. My unions contracts are currently up and we’re going through a bit of a labour dispute. Meaning there is a bunch of ‘non contracted tasks’ that we are forbid from doing. Makes doing my job pretty impossible. The goal is to put pressure on the board. I’m not seeing the benefit yet. but hopefully the union knows what they are doing.

Only one more update for this month, and it’s a bit of a tough one for me to post about. I’ve been trying to figure out just what to write since the day it happened, but I am still just not coming up with the words to express the hurt and sadness that I am feeling over the recent loss of my Grandfather, Frank Armstrong.  I can’t bring myself to go into the details so I will simply say that I love you Grandpa, and hope I can make half as much out of my “dash” as you did with yours.

Summer has come to an end and everyone hit reality with a large thump. Actually things (seem to) have transitioned fairly easily into their roles. Abby in gr3, Joe into SK, Shannon into her new job with Norfolk County and of course Reese started JK as well! Everyone is settling into the schedule again. Couple sleepy kids come Friday. Wishing all 3 kids an amazing year at St. Mary’s and also wishing the wifey all the best at her new job!

Speaking of the wifey, we have officially hit the 12 year mark! Love you as much now as the day we wed. 12 years of marriage, 1 house, 2 kids, 2 dogs and lots of laughs.  Here’s to many many more dozens of years!  Still not sure how I suckered you into marrying me, but I’m afraid warranty is up, and you are stuck with me for the long haul.

Automotive Updates:

Jeep has officially hit 100K kms and is now sadly OUT of warranty. That’s a lot of seat time in 3.25 years. A couple tiny hiccups here and there, but all in all it has been a great vehicle so far. Trips to Florida (Miami, Tampa Bay), New Jersey, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleavland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and many more.

Beetle is just about ready for it’s long winter nap. I’ve been able to do a good bit of driving this year. Ran fairly well too! Pretty sure next year, I’m gonna have to seriously start looking into new carb(s) for it as well as a new starter. The only two pieces that have yet to be replaced. Car is tough starting once in a while as it doesn’t make a great connection. And the carb has never been great. Sadly the more I drive it the worse it gets. Bumpers mounted soon, carb replaced and new starter installed and it should be back in awesome shape! Hopefully all done before June Jitterbug

Thruxton has gotten as much seat time as I did all last season, and with any luck in the weather, I should have another 1-3 months of semi-regular riding. Last night I hit 12,345kms.  My goal is to hit the 15K mark before putting it up on stands for the winter.

MINI on the other hand has been at the body shop longer then I had the car before dropping it off. There has been some crappy communication from the shop and some mechanical issues – such as a dead alternator and possibly battery. Turns out cars don’t like sitting around for 3-4 weeks at a time. Funny, the bug never cares 🙂   Stopped in and had a fairly firm conversation with the service manager and looks like we have a plan sorted out. They are going to be fixing things up on Tuesday when parts arrive and I should have the car back *finally* by the end of next week. Fingers crossed it looks as amazing as it should and runs as well as it did when I dropped it off. Once it comes home, I have a new rear sway bar, boost gauge and stereo all ready to install.

And I can’t forget to wish my Mom a very happy birthday. I know it’s late, but your gift IS coming. Just need to figure out some stuff 😛  – No it’s not a trip to Florida.

Lots of little updates this week.

As the title indicated,  someone is leaving their job. After a lot of deliberation, soul searching and lists, Shannon  has officially decided to leave Haldimand County and move on to Norfolk County. The new job moves her into a senior position with a slew of new challenges. She is going to do awesome. Congratulations Wifey! You deserve it!

My work is a bit of a roller coaster right now.  Summer break means several projects to be done etc. I just finished the main project of re-wiring every one of my network racks. Tedious but satisfying when you see it go from a rats nest to neat and tidy. Now time to clean up any outstanding work orders from previous school year as well as make sure all the rooms are hooked back up once the custodians are finished their waxing/cleaning.  Less fun part : there is still a fairly strong chance I could be on strike before school even starts. Fingers crossed they will come to a resolution before any work stoppages happen. Time will tell.

Kids have been crazy with summer. Now the car shopping is over and done with we have been busy with little funner things to do. Trips to the park, playing around the house, visiting Grandma/cousins, swimming lessons, baseball etc. Last week we made the GO Train trip into Toronto for a Yankees vs Blue Jays game. Lots of fun even withe Yankees losing. Kids always seem to love the train, and have gotten really good at sitting through the full ball game. Hope they enjoyed it as much as we did. Before school starts we’re hoping to make a day trip to Wonderland and possibly visit the Andersons’ at their camp site. And can’t forget back to school shopping 🙂

As I mentioned above, Joey (and Resse) played their first year of baseball! T-ball actually, but close enough. He seemed to really enjoy it and is already saying he wants to play again next year. Funny thing : Abby is even thinking she’d like to try next year. Will see if she changes her mind when registration comes around.  The kids season came to a close on Saturday with a tournament and medal ceremony. The pride on the kids faces was awesome. Good job guys!

Bike officially hit 10,000kms this week. Took longer then I expected, but I guess 3 day work weeks will do that to you. Took it in to Sturges Cycle to have the 10K service done. Nothing fancy, just an oil change with a full bike inspection + adjusting. Still aiming to have 15K by the end of the season.  Also, seriously need to look into taking my M2 Exit test before next summer.

MINI is doing a great job as a daily. Lots of fun to drive, quick, nimble etc. So just like every other car, I thought I’d get rid of it for a month 🙂 MINI has approved my rust warranty claim! So on Monday Shannon/the kids and I dropped it off at the MINI repair facility to have it completely ripped apart, all new panels welded in and a fresh paint job. From the looks of the quote, the dealer will have spent more on the car then I have.  Good news is when it comes back it will look like a brand new car! Or at least damn near. Crappy part is the job is massive and will take 20ish business days to do. I won’t likely get the car back until the mid/end of September. Once it gets home, the rear sway bar and the stereo will go in, and I can put it in the garage until the snow comes and the bike goes away.

Even with the MINI doing great job filling the loss I am finding myself still missing the truck. No, I won’t be doing anything about it for a while, but I have pretty much decided that at some point, I will indeed build another truck. Won’t be for 3-5 years at least, but you have been warned 🙂