Saturday, April 15, 2017

Rider profile: Dar Duncan

Name: Dar Duncan
Find me on Earth: Victoria, British Columbia
Find me Online: Scootermayhem.blogspot.com, @Moto_Diva on Twitter and Instagram, @Motochat and #motochat also on Twitter, and on Farkle Garage, a motorcycle show broadcast on Shaw cable TV and available on the Farkle Garage channel on YouTube, and at farklegarage.tv. Finally see Dar's Life on two wheels interview
Interview Date: Saturday, April 15, 2017
Interview Location: Victoria, British Columbia


Life on two wheels: When did you start riding, how old were you?

Monday, April 10, 2017

Ken Wilson and the Oyster Tour wrap up



Subscribe to my channel:


Yes! It's another episode of Life on two wheels.

In this episode you get a short and sweet interview with Ken Wilson where you find out what makes him skip, tick, and talk.

The musical selection is Acoustic Blues by Audionautix courtesy of the excellent YouTube audio library.

Peering into my looking glass into the future, I see a meet up with a moto blogger on the west coast, and more insight into my "Is it possible?" puzzle.

Stay tuned, there's more to come folks!

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Is it possible?

This is the year I celebrate my 65th birthday.

It's a milestone like few others.

Turning fifty was a major event, so was 21. But 65, that one really does loom large. This may be the season for something big. Perhaps something really special.

These past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about my grandfather. He was my mother's father, Georges Terroux. He was in the Canadian Armed Forces and he fought in World War I. His fight ended in a fog of mustard gas. He was lucky. Lucky because he didn't die, and lucky because he met the love of his life in England, my grandmother Margaret, his war bride.


Saturday, March 25, 2017

Truth



Subscribe to my channel:

When I was a kid, truth seemed simple. Over the last sixty years I learned that truth is not really simple at all. Truth can be surprisingly elusive, and finding it can require a whole lot of intelligence, energy and time.

Some devote their entire lives to finding truth.  They search for decades in the hope of discovering the truth about tiny slices of our reality. Think of astronomers, particle physicists and cancer researchers. Some philosophers have devoted their careers to thinking critically about the very meaning of truth. Those explorers are the vanguard in the quest for truth.

For most of us truth is more mundane than the study of cosmology and the meaning of life. "It's raining"; "I'm hungry"; "that shirt doesn't fit me well"; "it's dark out". Statements like these are easily verified. We measure truth with our eyes, our gut, our skin.

When it comes to things that others tell us, truth is more complicated, though we can usually verify what we are told. I test your honesty when you tell me "It's raining". Your coat is wet, I see the rain, I know it's true. As I learn that you speak the truth, I come to trust you. Once I trust you I simply accept what you tell me in the same way as when I see the rain myself. The truth we speak, and the trust we earn and share, are the bricks and mortar of our society.

How is the truth complicated?

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The people you meet




Subscribe to my channel:

That's right, episode 5 of the vlog has landed.

Here are the show notes:

Monday, March 13, 2017

Unexpected recognition: Top 100!

I received word over the weekend that Life on two wheels was recognized, based on social media metrics, as one of the top 100 motorcycle blogs.

I can't begin to express what a pleasant surprise that is.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Coasting for oysters: Lostboater's Oyster Tour

I know some of you have been anxiously waiting for episode four of the vlog.

But first I have incredible news!!

On Monday, February 27th, 2017, I rode my Vespa all the way to the south western end of greater Toronto to fetch some parts for our living room lighting. That was a first. I feel almost bullish about global warming (no, not really).

Well back to the matter at hand. Wait no more, here is episode four. If I were a more proficient producer, director, editor, sound man, camera man, script writer, and cinematographer, episode four would have landed in your inbox yesterday.



Subscribe to my channel:

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Hangin' with legends

Thanks for your patience.

Here at last is Episode 3 of Life on two wheels, the vlog.



Subscribe to my channel:

In this episode I meet up in northern Florida with three Vespa legends. Ken Wilson, Jim Mandle, and Bill Leuthold.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Rider profile: Bill Leuthold

Name: Bill Leuthold
Find me on Earth: Jacksonville, Florida in the historic neighborhood of Avondale.
Find me Online: Rocket and Me
Interview Date: Thursday, February 9, 2017
Interview Location: Cedar Key, Florida

Bill near Klosters, Switzerland

Monday, February 13, 2017

Rider profile: Ken Wilson

Name: Ken Wilson
Find me on Earth: St. Petersburg, Florida, sometimes
Find me Online: lostboater.comMotorcycle Men Podcast interview and the Life on two wheels YouTube channel tnterview
Interview Date: Thursday, February 9, 2017
Interview Location: Cedar Key, Florida


Monday, February 6, 2017

I hit the road, Jack

At long last, it's episode 2 of Life on two wheels, the Vlog.

I has been a long day folks.

Episode 2 crashed my iMac, at least twice.



Subscribe to my channel:

As promised I returned and added some show notes, useful links, a hint or two about what I'm up to, a list, and some other stuff too.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Leap of faith



Subscribe to my channel:

This is a first, and you are witnessing history.

Last week I got a little lift courtesy of Ted Kettler's Motorcycle Men podcast when he interviewed me. I say a little lift because that interview took me from publishing my thoughts here in writing to sharing my thoughts in audio on his podcast.

I have had to scramble the rest of the way up to the windswept pinnacle of video blogging (or 'vlogging').

Let me know what you think.

I am brimming with a few vlog topics so this may not be the end (unless you are particularly cruel, in which case I'll take you on in a Twitter duel).

Finally, in response to David Blackburn, here are pics of those business cards. They are hot out of the mailbox:



 


Friday, January 20, 2017

So what the hell am I up to?

That's what Sonja asked a few days back. But so much more politely, I hasten to add.

I feel that I need to say something to break the suspense, you all deserve some kind of an accounting.

Things have been hectic and I have had my hands full (Christmas and the holidays, professional stuff, estate settlement tax reporting stuff, the stuff below (read on), and on, and on.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

31 days...

... hath December.

This is the second year that December sees me still in the saddle. My last jaunt on the Vespa in 2015 was on the 8th of December.

On Thursday the first of the month I rode downtown for a fruitful meeting at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Scribbled - Voting in a Democracy

Susan is a little concerned. She may be right.

Lately I have taken to sending e-mails to Toronto Star columnists. I have also written to the Prime Minister on two or three occasions.

We're not talking about angry Tweets, or dozens of e-mail messages, or about indiscriminate rants, much less unpleasant ad-hominen diatribes aimed at reporters and politicians. Still, Susan's concern is certainly warranted (she doesn't want me morphing into either Statler or Waldorf, those angry old muppet men).

That said, I may be done with the few topics that recently prompted me to take to my keyboard.

This morning I was ingesting my daily ration of news (Toronto Star, New York Times, and Quartz) and found it largely indigestible. This is a steady diet of worrisome stuff, after all. I can't write letters every time I read an item that rattles my cage. I'd spend my days doing nothing but. I certainly shouldn't devote too much time airing my concerns here, right? Who cares what I think, anyway?

So that may be it for a while.

Let me say this though.

The copyright in all text and photographs, except as noted, belongs to David Masse.