Long F’ing post

Starting this post, I have some bad news.  At the age of 96, Cathy’s Nana passed away. (Shannons step-great grandmother).  She passed peacefully with Cathy by her side. Nana will be sadly missed. Rest in peace Nana.

On to happier times. This past weekend was Thanksgiving. Once again, Shannon and I had 3 turkey dinners in one weekend. Sadly 2 of the meals were at the same time, sending Shannon to her families, and me to mine. We both had a great time, and even better food. We also hosted one of the meals at our place again this year. Despite me being in a crappy mood from work, it was still a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone for such a great holiday weekend! It was especially great seeing all my cousins home from school. Congrats again Mal and Mike!

Also, as many of you know, Thanksgiving Monday is the day Shannon and I consider the anniversary of our first date. We mark the day by getting as many of our friends as we can get together and go to the Simcoe Fair – Demolition Derby. This year was no different. Grant, Donna, Adam, Kevin, Shannon and I sat through probably the warmest derby any of us have ever been too. Aside from the boring first round, the derby was excellent. Happy 7 years together Shan. I still can’t believe you have put up with me for this long!

More on anniversary/birthdays. Some how, either through my mistake or computer glitch, one of the posts I typed up last month vanished into thin air. I am certain I posted it, as some people remember reading it. The only important parts of the post were to wish my Mom and all the other virgo’s in my life a very happy birthday. I know I posted this before, but alas, consider this a belated happy birthday to you all! And Mom, don’t forget to pick a date. Green Acre’s is callin! Also in September, was Shannons and my 3 year wedding anniversary. Much like I said above, I can’t believe you have been with me this long, and even more so, am shocked you let it become official! Love you !

Monday night, Kevin was looking for excuses not to work on his car while I was on IRC at work. So I banished him to my garage. That way he had light and was out of the cold. Meaning: no more excuses. I arrived home just in time to see him finishing up his stereo. His car is gonna be a monster when it’s all together. As we were cleaning up, he offered to help me install my new grill which I had been putting off installing for a week or so. An hour, lots of dremeling and a pile of dead plastic on the floor later, and the grill was nearly complete. Too bad we broke the bit before finishing, and needed to get a replacement. I did that yesturday, and grill is complete. Thanks for the help Kev, grill looks awesome. HERE are pictures of the completed job. More MINI news, Shannon and I spent an hour installing some of my new sound deadening material in the MINI. Stereo hits lower now, and hopefully the road/exhaust noise will be subdued a bit too.

Beetle update: Sooo close. Paul has been VERY busy. I believe the body is completely ready, interior is stripped and ready, and now the fenders have been stripped, and fit snuggly as well. It is ready to be sprayed. Finally. Shannon and I went to the PPG paint store in Hamilton and placed the order for the paint. It should be here early/mid this week. The colour we decided on is called ‘oh-so-sexy’. Very appropriate. HERE are the most recent photos taken of the bug. Hopefully we can get the paint onto the car in the very near future. Maybe even as soon as this weekend. Don’t forget to keep up to date by clicking HERE

Last but not least, Christmas is coming soon. And even though I am not a huge fan of the gift giving ritual in my old age, I know everyone else is, and so as I used to do in the old days, HERE is a link to what I want for Christmas.

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Seriously …

Holy Matrimony Batman. Congratulation to Uncle Joe and Bonnie for tying the knot this past weekend at their home in Cayuga. It was a very nice service, and its nice seeing you both so happy together. Also, congratulations to Mallory and Mike and ALSO to Jeff and Steph… Seems like everyone is getting married these days.  Can’t wait till you guys all walk the plank err  tie the knot as well.

BEETLE UPDATES: Finally some good progress again. Paul is on holidays this week, and working hard on the Bug. Hood and fenders need finishing, and some other odd ends, and its ready for paint. I will be stopping by throughout the week to snap some pictures of each step. Go to the RESTORATION page for daily updates which I will start posting later tonight. More details will be found there as they become available. Paul is hoping to have all the body work done this week, and will be painting sometime early-mid october. I can’t wait!

And if you are wonderring what the topic means.. well… then you obviously don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, nor know that this season started last week. W00t.

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Wow…. It’s Sooo big ;-)

Another whack of updates.  First up, after months of humming and thinking, Shannon and I decided to purchase a new TV. We had planned to wait till Christmas and get one for each other as a gift for the basement, but we are weak. And having Ian looking for one too didn’t help. He and I went to Best Buy and both bought a Samsung 56″ DLP. Shannon and I also picked up a new Samsung HDMI DVD player. Big screen + HD quality. Shannon and I couldn’t be happier. I am sure Ian will be as well when he gets his hooked up this weekend.

Couple bug updates. First, I was finally able to catch Paul on a day off. We spoke about the beetle, and when it would be done, etc. Looks like I will have the car back no later then the end of October. First instinct was ‘wow’ thats still a long time from now. Then I realized, actually no, thats 1 month from now. More or less. So a big wahoo for a soon to be painted beetle. Also, on the beetle front, I had a spare engine graciously donated to me from one of my VW Get together buddies, Sandor. It started as a 1600DP block, and has been machined to work as a 1776cc or an 1835cc engine. Either way, it should be a good starting point to build up a slightly stronger/faster enginer.  Here are some pictures of the short block. Needs some loving, but hopefully I can shine it up and make some power.

Kevin finally talked me into working on my rear seat delete for the MINI. I figured, i’ve owned the car for over a year now, and I have taken back seat passengers 2 or 3 times, yet I have had a car full of computer parts dozens of times.  That and the weight reduction is an added bonus. Less weight, less car to move. Faster it goes 🙂 . Turned out really good. Carpetted it all up to match the sub box. Almost looks like it came this way from MINI Canada. While on the subject of the MINI, got some new parts on the way at the end of the month. New grill, and some maintenance items. Will be picking them up the last Saturday of the month at the September MINI meet.

Lastly, if I have any money left over at the end of the month, I will be picking up the lumber I need for my basement to get the framing started.  Slowly but surely, all my projects will get done.

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