Happy Halloween!

Memories of Halloween past...(Death/Joshua, Pooh/Thandi, Silverman/Aaron, Pilon/Dave) 2001

Remembering Greg

It was 10 years ago today that Canadian racecar driver, Greg Moore, died.

"Greg Moore (April 22, 1975 - October 31, 1999) was a racecar driver who competed in the Indy Lights and CART World Series, where he had great success with several wins in both series and a championship in the 1995 Indy Lights series. However, his promising career and his life came to an end on October 31, 1999, when he was fatally injured in a violent crash on the 10th lap of the CART season finale, the Marlboro 500, in Fontana, California. The 1999 season started off very well for Greg, with a win at Homestead, his 5th career and final win in the CART series. He led the championship for the first few races, but an uncompetitive Mercedes engine, and poor results ensured that again he would not win the championship. As 1999 was the final year of his contract with Player's-Forsythe racing, Greg began to look at his options for the coming seasons. In the summer of 1999, Greg announced he had signed a contract to race in 2000 for one of the powerhouse teams, Penske Racing."

I'm pretty sure Greg would of made it to Formula One, where he would of no doubt won a world championship.
Gone too soon, but not forgotten.
Info courtesy of Wikipedia

More Race Day Shots

I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but I caved and bought the picture package from my day at the track. And I've got to tell you, it was so totally worth it.
Check it out...
An aeriel of the track.Last minute instructions.Climbing into the car. Talk about a tight fit!Strapped in, ready to go.Love this shot!Having the time of my life, out on the track.
That's Tony in the background.Approaching turn 4......braking too late.......Spinning in turn 4.What a Blast!!
pictures courtesy of Colour Tech Motorsports Photography

Help!

I need your help.

My wife's brother and his wife have entered a Fall makeover contest at Home Depot, and the winner gets $10,000 towards a makeover for the room of their choice.

In order for them to have any chance of winning this contest, they need people to vote for them. And that's where you come in.

Please go to the website, and vote for them here.

Their entry is called "the Pink Pit".

You can only vote once a day and voting ends November 1/2009.

Let's see if we can get them enough votes so that they can have a chance at winning this thing!

Thanks.

The Boys

PT Needs Your Help

Monster Energy Drinks, recently updated Paul Tracy's biography on their website, and a campaign has been launched to show them that IndyCar fans are a proud and loyal bunch and that it would be worth their sponsorship dollars to back him full-time next year.

Those who know PT know how important he is for the health of the series, and even his most ardent detractors have to admit that increasing the car count and sponsor dollars on the grid can only be a good thing.

Please, RUSH to the Monster site here and click "shout out."

Tell Monster that you love the the thrilla from West Hilla and will buy Monster Energy drinks for the rest of your life, if they decide to sponsor him so he can get a full time ride next season.

courtesy of PressDog.

U2, Live On YouTube Tonight

For those of you that may be interested, U2 is performing a live concert from the Rose Bowl tonight, and they are also streaming it live on YouTube, 11:30 ET.

Check it out here.

Enjoy.

Drama In Suburbia

I walked out of the house this afternoon and saw this.It wasn't there when I walked the dogs this morning. Funny thing is, it was really nasty weather the last couple of days, rain and high winds. You would think, if a tree was going to fall down, those would be ideal conditions ... not a sunny day, no breeze in sight.

The Colours Of Fall

The Brickworks, off the Bayview extension, in the Don Valley. Upper Beaches.The Beach.My backyard.

NOT For Sale

When I bought my car, brand new, the salesman said to me, most people keep their new car for four years, a VW owner keeps theirs for 7 years.

Next month my car will be 10 years old. Do I want a new car? You bet your ass I do! (And I even have a one or two in mind.)

But the real question is, do I need a new car? And to that I can proudly say, no.

I drive a 2000 Volkswagen Golf, with 167,000 kms on it. This is the fifth VW I have owned, and I have owned nine cars in my life, so I guess you can say, I am a "VW guy".

Recently, over the last year or so, I have been having a love/hate relationship with my current car, the 2000 Golf. I lost a front hubcap last winter due to a run in with a snow bank, and then a few months later, I lost the other front hubcap mysteriously while on my way to work. I didn't replace them and drove around all summer without my two front hubcaps. I also stopped washing my car, something that I normally do at least once a month. And then it developed an anti-freeze leak, which I choose to ignore.

Had my love affair with my Golf finally come to an end?

I decided that I needed to make a choice. Get rid of the Golf or get off my ass and start taking better care of it.

After much thought, I decided to keep my little car.

I gave it a wash, some TLC, and even sprang for four shinny new hubcaps. I took it into my mechanic up the street to get it all fixed up. The anti-freeze leak was a bitch, it took three visits and $1500, but it finally got fixed. And in the end, I'm happy with the choice I made.

A woman asked me what year my car was the other day while I was at the pumps filling up and couldn't believe my little VW was 10 years old.

This cars costs me nothing except repairs and insurance to keep on the road. This year I spent a total of $2500 on repairs and maintenance, plus insurance. Last year and the year before that, repairs and maintenance was well under $1000, plus insurance. A hell of a lot cheaper than the monthly payments of a new car, especially if you really don't need one.

My Golf may be 10 years old, but it still has a lot of life left in it. I can drive it across the country without a second thought, knowing I would not have any problems. I'll get that new car one of these days, but until then, I am going to drive my little car into the ground.

Go, go, VW, go!

Picking Sides

Most cities can be broken up into distinct area's. Chicago has the east side, west side, north side and south side. New York, way too many to even get into.

The funny thing about living in Toronto is that there is only really two distinct areas in this city.A division between east and west, with Yonge street being the dividing line. And by that I mean, if you grew up anywhere east of Yonge you were considered an eastender, and if you grew up west of Yonge street, you were a westender.

And usually where you grow up dictates what side of the city you live in as an adult.

So the other day, the wife and I had the day off and decided to enjoy the warm summer like weather and go for a walk along Queen street west.This area has really changed over the last 10-15 years. Queen to Spadina is all up scale stores and bars now, and you have to walk a little further west, past Bathurst, to get that Queen west feel of old. You know, young, urban, hip, and black being the main colour staple of choice. Cool boutiques, with up and coming designers. Trendy hole in the wall bars and pubs. A hip place to be and live, if you are single or recently attached.

My wife, even though she didn't grow up here in the city, has lived here for the past 15 years. I had to laugh when she started noticing things about the area, like it was not very dog friendly, the area seemed kind of sketchy, it was too downtown, too busy, too young. All things that I had already checked off on my own mental checklist but had known all along.

But its nice to know my wife feels it too, without any influence from me.

Yes, that's right.

We are sooooo east end.