Bugs Palace!

Well the old girl is gone. The FZR600 has gone to a new home. It was an awesome bike, and I couldn’t have asked for a better bike to start on, but in the end, I wanted something newer, easier to commute on and most importantly fuel injected. I know the family who bought the bike, so I am sure I will see it around at work from time to time. Good luck John. Keep the shiny side up!

CBR has been treating me well. Sadly due to the amount of hardware i’ve had to haul for work and the weather I haven’t gotten to ride nearly as often as i’d have liked. Not ready to put her down for the winter yet! Hopefully can get a few more K before putting it up on stands.

Joe seems to be tired of diapers. Little bugger has apparently decided to potty train himself. Slow going but he’s doing well. Very proud of himself every time he tinkles in the toilet.

Last but certainly not least : HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!  My baby girl is officially 5! Getting smarter and cuter with each passing day. Couldn’t be more proud of her. Especially since she started figure skating again this year and has been going like a champ.

Well, as mentioned in my last post, the Yamaha is home and running well. Because it was running so well, I officially stopped looking for a replacement. And just like when I was young and single, the moment I stopped looking, a bike basically fell into my lap. Friends were over for dinner. He got a text from his brother-in-law about his bike going up for sale. Got the details, 2 weeks later I went to check it out. One more week, and I bought it and brought it home. Yamaha is still on the road till spring or when it sells. Whichever comes first.

New to me is a 2007 Honda CBR600RR. Its flat black, couple small modifications (exhaust, etc) and is fast and smooth as hell. Can’t wait till it becomes the daily beater. Amazingly, from my short ride home, I would have to say the ergonmics are actually MORE comfortable on the new bike then my old. Complete opposite from what I expected. So…. Until spring or sale I will be sadly walking by the CBR every morning as it sits in the garage and taunts me.

Bug news: nothing much to say. I’ve officially decided to narrow the front beam 3″ and convert the drums to 5×100. One of these days my mechanic is coming over to help yank the beam and drums so I can drop them off at a shop to have the work done.

GTI is alive and kicking. 3.5 months left in the bet ;-P  It’s still giving me the typical mk4 issues and fighting me daily. Currently I’m looking at new ABS sensors, hatch latch, headgasket and cam guides I believe it was. First 2 being done Friday. The rest over the winter. Slowly keep chipping away at the issues. Some day I will be driving without something needing to be done.

Couple weekends ago the entire family packed up and headed to African Lion Safari. It was a hoot. Kids loved it. Sadly the day was a bit shortened due to double booking the day but it was still good. Definitely going back next summer when we have a full day to do all the shows.

Work has been chaos as per usual during September. Back to school hook ups and typical new year stuff keeping me hopping. Not to mention a slight re-organizing of the department has found me 4 additional schools. Not like I was bored last school year. Sure as hell won’t be bored this year. On top of that Ian has taken a parental leave so we’re short a man in Haldimand-Norfolk. Never a dull moment I guess. Can’t blame him. I’d love  9 months off.

Speaking of school, Abby has started senior kindergarten and she has been doing awesome. I pray it carries on the same way. She has really been thriving so far. Amazing the difference year can make. She is still my nervous little girl, but shes getting much better at just going and making the best of it. Joey on the other hand is having  rough time of his sister going to school and leaving him 2-3 days a week. He loves going to Grandmas, but really misses his big sister.

The bike has FINALLY came home. After 2.5 months of tinkering and diagnosing the issues the shop finally sorted the last problem. Turned out the emulsion tubes which I was told by a certain Yamaha shop were NOT replaced as they had indicated. New tubes installed and shes running better then I have ever seen it. Hopefully I can still do a fair amount of riding before the snow starts flying. With luck, it will be like last year, and riding will continue until Christmas.  With the bike finally home, I am spending more time riding, and less time on Kijiji looking for replacements 😉

Beetle updates. Finally got some updates written up on the restoration page. Not too much to say, as I’ve merely been tinkering with a couple projects that I want to finish before this winter. The bug sadly wont be on the road this season, but I intend to have ALL my tasks done this year so that it can be put on the road at the beginning of the season. I plan on getting a bunch of driving in next season. Finally.

Got some updates on the house. I have pretty much finished the base and deck board on the new deck. Still needs some ‘finishing work’ as well as a railing and stair cases, but it has come a long way since I started digging holes earlier this summer.  Not sure if funds will allow to finish this summer or not, but should be able to get it cleaned up a bit more.

Final quick update. Shannon and I knocked another ballpark off our list. After leaving Abby and our sick little Joey with my parents, Shannon and I drove down for 2 days and 1 night in Detroit City. Cool old city. Sad to see it in a shadow of its former glory. The nice thing is that you can really see them pouring money back into it and trying to resurrect it. The area around the ballpark is really nice. 10-15 years from now, I suspect the city will once again be a thriving city where people WANT to take it all in.  We had tickets for the Thursday 1pm game, so we came in Wednesday afternoon. Shannon and I took a walk down to the Comerica Stadium (10 minutes from our hotel). We stopped and had dinner at a great light bar which had a bunch of old British motorcycles in the windows as decorations. How could I resist? After dinner, we decided to cross the street to the ballpark and ask them what happens if our Thurs game ends up being rained out. While getting info, we bought a couple ‘standing room’ tickets to watch the rest of the Wednesday night game. 8$ a head for a great view from deep right field. Best 16$ i’ve ever spent to see a ball game. Met a really nice couple and spent the 4-5 innings laughing and enjoying the beautiful August night. After some intense rain Thursday morning, the 1pm game started about 20 minutes late. Minimal sprinkles during the latter half of the game made it cooler temperature wise, but still very worth while.  Now to plan the next park 😉