Bugs Palace!

Happy Birthday to Donna! Ok, Happy Birthday two days ago.  was a busy day on my end, and I forgot to update my page. Hope you had a great day!

Speaking of celebrations, this weekend, we are having a 50th wedding anniversary party for my Grandparents.  Looking forward to having some fun with the family! Congratulations guys!

While driving home from work today, my MINI crossed the 130,000km mark. Now, I didn’t buy this car new, so I cant comment on the first 80K of driving, but the last 50K or so have been some the best times I have ever spent in a car. Aside from a ABS sensor, the car hasn’t needed anything but regular maintenance done to it. (touch wood!). Oil changes, recent brake job, and a soon to be replaced windshield are all par for the course when you spend 60K a year on the road.  Aside from that, the only money it has needed have been for modifications to make it faster 🙂 Reduced supercharger pulley, intake and exhaust along with some suspension work have really transformed the perky little MINI into a small beast, and I couldn’t be happier.  Here’s to another 130K of happy driving!

As posted before, I am in summer mode at the school board. Holidays have me down to two-day work weeks for all of July and August. During that free time, I have been able to pick  up some shifts at ALNC while Ian is away on holidays visiting his family. Because of these extra shifts, and the paycheck I deposited this morning, I am officially credit card free!  It took a bit longer then expected (wasn’t planning on dropping money on the brakes and washing machine, but oh well).  At long last the card is at zero.  I can get back to my old ‘use and pay it off in the same month’ mode.  Man I’ve missed those days. 

Now that we are caught up, and its looking like my bug is going to be a bit longer then we had hoped, I may spend some of my hard earned cash, and get my driveway paved sooner then later. I was planning on doing it next spring, but if I can swing it now, and not have to worry about shovelling a gravel driveway again this winter, I would be very happy.  Going to spend some of my time off tomorrow looking for prices. If the price is right, I may go ahead. Time will tell.

Welcome to summer time. Boy has it been a hot one so far. Not complaining. I like it hot out.  I’ve carefully worked my way into two-day work weeks all summer. It’s kind of like an inverted weekend. 2 days on, 5 days off 🙂   So I’m making good use of the heat

Speaking of summertime, my Grandpa came over on Saturday, and helped me cut a hole in my wall. In its place is a brand new air conditioning unit. Now I know most are saying ‘why not install central air’? Well, the window unit cost me 250$ (minus 100 gift certificate), versus nearly 3000$ for the central air. Sure the hydro may be a bit higher, but I just couldn’t pony up the coin right now. Thanks for the help Grandpa! I haven’t slept this well in AGES!

While I’m thanking people, I have to send another one (or two) out to Kevin. He and I spent several hours last weekend doing a full brake job on my MINI. New rotors all around as well as new pads. Car finally drives without making weird noises anymore, and no more shaking when I slow down. Oh, and get this. The car stops too.  Through the week, I started installing my boost guage. I got everything done, accept for tapping into the vaccume line. As I was not 100% sure of the instructions. I went into Hamilton on Sunday for some assistance finishing up the project. Man is it ever fun watching that needle dance when the boost kicks in.

Lastly, not too much to update on the Beetle front. Car hasn’t changed much in a while now. Paul has been stuck at his full time job alot. The doors are coming along slowly, but thats it.  It’s at a point now where not too much more needs to be done before paint. Problem is, that last little bit is taking the most time. So, since theres not much more I can ‘watch change’ until this last bit is done, I will not be checking on the car again, until they are ready for the final paint and clear stage. So there won’t be any more bug updates until that time. With any luck, that will still be sometime soon, Until next time….

4 More days until classes are out for the year, and my summer shortend hours begin. I’m lucky enough to be able to spread my holidays across the summer, giving me 3 day work weeks all of July and August.

Bunch of updates. We had a wonderful Fathersday party at Uncle Shoupie and Aunt Lindas house. Food was excellent as always, and we had a great time. HERE are the photos from that day.

While at the Shoups, I took some quick PHOTO’s of Brodies Civic. Car looks excellent with the new body kit and hood one it. Nicely modded, without being over done. 

Saturday night, Shannon and I met up with Jim and Alicia on our way to the VW Cruise in Niagara falls. We took a quick peak at the cars in attendance, and then made our way on to Red Lobster for some good eats. The pile of food was followed up by a game of mini-putt, which I’m pretty sure I won, reguardless of Shannons poor math skills with the score sheet. HERE are some pics from the evening.  

Lastly, Shannon, Alex and I attended the JuneJitterbug again this year. Biggest VW show i’ve ever been to. And this years was bigger then any previous year that I’ve been at.  Hundreds of gorgeous cars, and a couple odd ones too. HERE are the shots. I didn’t take as many pics as ususal,  but I think I got all the ones which stood out and that I don’t have pics of from years passed.