Runnin' errands

I haven't posted much lately. We bloggers come, and we go.

Some of the going is voluntary, some is imposed.

I have come to the end of some roads. Other roads beckon.

If I was a commuter, now I run errands. Like a run to Costco last week, to buy new cordless phones.

2015 Blogger to Blogger Tour - Epilogue, and lessons learned

It's been a long time between posts. The main reason is that the past two months have been, by some measures, the best and busiest of our lives. There was the annual conference of the national organization I chair that was, for the first time ever, held in Montreal. As soon as that ended we celebrated the marriage of our eldest son. Sonja and Roland came to visit, then Susan and I went on an amazing trip that took us to Edmonton, Jasper Park, Vancouver, and Maui. Phew.

Along the way, I worked on this post, mostly during our flights. I hope you will find it was worth the long wait. 

I'm getting slightly more experienced with touring. That means I still have a lot to learn.

Toying with Templates; Flirting with Failure

I've dropped hints about wanting to make changes to the way this ongoing story is presented.

The choices are unfortunately unlimited.

It's like shopping for a BMW vehicle with an unlimited budget. Sedan? SUV? Limousine? No problem. Suede headliner? 100,000 LED mood-lit interior? Built-in cigar humidor in the console? No problem. No kidding. I was chatting with Billy at Canbec BMW just the other day. Got millions to piss away to annoy your siblings and leave your heirs breathless and nervous? No better place to start than by ordering a custom seven series sedan with oodles and oodles of options and doo-dads.

Project report - Installing heated grips on a Honda Shadow VT750 ACE

The Honda Shadow is a shared bike. One day I'll get around to explaining in detail how Sonja and I came to co-own the Honda Shadow, which we now call Thunderbird.

Thunderbird is new to us, it's a gently used 2003 motorcycle. True to its roots, Thunderbird was fitted with a bunch of aftermarket accessories installed with thoughts of cruising down the boulevard with the sun glinting off as much chrome as possible, to the tune of very loud aftermarket Cobra exhaust pipes.

2015 Blogger to Blogger Tour: Safe travels

Sonja and Roland returned this past Thursday from their Ontario trip with Sonja under the weather.  Apparently traveling makes Sonja sick. Her love of travel is so deep, that she considers a predictable head cold to be a small price to pay for adventure.

On Friday I resumed my tour guide duties and took the traveling dynamic duo to see the remaining must-see sights of Montreal.

We had seen the southern and eastern sides of the city from the three drive-to lookouts on Mount Royal.

The ScootCommute on CITY TV

Today was the day I got about three and a half minutes of the fifteen minutes of fame that Andy Warhol kindly alotted to me.

Some time a few weeks back, I got an e-mail asking if I would mind being interviewed on Montreal CITY TV's morning show Breakfast Television. I was both surprised and genuinely honoured.

When I mentioned to Susan that the show's managing producer told me that it would be a three-minute interview, Susan burst out laughing "You can't even introduce yourself in three minutes!" she teased.

2015 Blogger to Blogger Tour - The Magers are here (no, not baseball)

I was going to title this post "Thunderbird, meet Sonja. Sonja, meet Thunderbird", but really, it's a continuing post in the amazing 2015 Blogger to Blogger Tour series.

They came, they saw, and... Whoosh!... they are on their way.

Sonja and Roland, that is.

They are hearty and hale folks, that's for sure. They barely look the worse for that tiresome east to west jet lag.

That said, Susan and I did our best to squeeze in the quintessential must see, and must do experiences for our out of town guests.

Yesterday we did Mount Royal (all three lookouts)...

... the Plateau (grabbing some iconic snacks along the way)...

... downtown (a coffee break at Myriad steps away from Concordia's campus)...

... Old Montreal and the old port...

... dinner at Wellington (in Verdun, with a decent Merlot/Syrrah blend we picked up steps from Notre Dame, appropriately labeled C'est la vie!)...

... and winding down with a leisurely cruise home along the Lachine Canal and the shores of Lake St-Louis.

Before they went their merry way headed to their rendez-vous with Karen in Morrisburg, Sonja hopped on Thunderbird for a quick spin.

They'll be back in a few days' time to complete the tour of Montreal's remaining must see and must do wonders.

Keep an eye on Sonja's blog, on Karen's blog, and on Dave's blog and you'll be able to follow their progress in Eastern Canada!