Pilar meets Gene Simmons

When Pilar worked for Canada AM she had the opportunity to produce a segment on the new book Gene Simmons had just wrote. (Gene is the bass guitarist for the rock band KISS.) And of course Pilar got to see Gene's tongue!

Meet Calvin!

As I mentioned before, today is my wife's birthday. We had agreed that the trip to Vegas would be her gift ... how wrong I was. Turns out it was more my gift then hers. I know, I know, but in my defence the trip to Vegas HAD been all her idea. Anyway, she decided to make up for my lack of judgement. She decided she wanted another dog for her birthday as her real gift. I immediately resisted. No way, you are out of your mind says I! It would be too much work, what about Hobbes' feeling? and every other reason you could think of for not getting another dog. All day yesterday she persisted and I resisted. We argued. I gave her a list of reason why it wasn't a good idea, she gave me a list of why it was. This morning I gave her a set of luggage for her birthday ... we needed luggage for our trip to Vegas ... but it didn't quite get the reaction I was looking for ... luggage what was I thinking? I had to think fast, this afternoon we took a drive to place just outside of Peterborough called Hastings....

Meet Calvin.

This is Calvin's dad,And this is Calvin's brother and sisters.
And this is the breeder. She had border collie's everywhere.
I finally get the reaction I was looking for....
And Hobbes doesn't seem to mind having a new pal to hang around with, as long as we keep the treats coming.....
Happy birthday Pilar, and welcome to the clan Calvin!

My first car

Here is a picture of my first car. A 1978 Honda Civic CVCC. I got this beauty when I was 17 in 1987 for $200. It was found forgotten in some lady's garage. I think it cost another $1000.00 to get it road worthy. It was rusty, it leaked when it rained, and the smoke that would come out of it when I started it freaked out a neighbor so much that he asked me not to park near his house for fear the carbon monoxide would kill his family in their sleep (no word of a lie!). I even replaced the steering wheel with a racing steering wheel and to this day I still am unsure how I did it, I have no clue when it comes to auto repair! It was my first car and the pride I had in it blinded me to the fact that it really was a death trap on wheels.

I think I only had it for about 6 months before I destroyed it. Its a funny story. I drove it into a park with my buddy Tony. We were on a spare in high school and were looking for something to do. I get the car stuck in wet grass after I strayed off the path, burn out the clutch trying to get it unstuck and we both get covered in mud. I call a tow truck, it gets right up to the car and it gets stuck. They call another tow truck, it gets stuck at the entrance to the park. They call in a 4x4 tow truck who decides he will drive through the wet grass instead of use the path to get to us and you guessed it, he too gets stuck. Now its dark, its getting late, I'm a stupid kid and I have school in the morning. I leave, with the promise that they will get everyone out including me. Next morning I find my car still stuck in the mud only now it has a fence built around it by the city of Scarborough and its been impounded, literally! As for all the tow trucks? Gone. Turns out later that night, they brought in a tow truck that tows buses. It drove in tore up all the grass, got all the tow trucks out and left my car there.

Long story short, I along with the Tow truck company (which shall remain nameless) were both sued by the city of Scarborough for damages done to the park. I got off lightly (although I'm sure my mom would disagree) and the Tow truck company had to pay the majority of the cost to repair the damages.

My car sat in that park for 5 days before I rounded up about 10 guys from high school and we literally broke down the fence that surrounded my car and pushed it out of the park. Unfortunately by that time the damage had been done. The 5 days my cars spent in the park was too much for kids who had to walk past it on their way to and from school. They vandalized it, and basically tore it apart. It was a complete write off by the time we got it out.

So the next time you happen to drive through the intersection of McNicol and Birchmount think of me. That park on the corner? I own a piece of that!

Picture courtesy of http://www.adclassix.com/ads2/78hondacivicwp.htm

The joy of street parking

My house is one of two houses on our stretch of street that doesn't have a driveway. And for 1o months of the year this is not a problem. I can usually find a spot within two or three houses from mine anytime of day or night. But as soon as the snow falls, parking becomes a major problem. Snow from ploughing the road and snow from people shovelling their driveways and sidewalks reduce the number of street parking spots. Parking becomes a premium and a major pain in the ass. It would be nice if the people who owned driveways would actually use them, instead of parking their cars on the street. Hey, I know most people own two cars these days, (hell we do!) but could you park them in your driveway? Please? There is nothing that burns me more then not being able to find a spot, because someone has parked their cars in the street and their driveway sits empty. I've had enough of this snow already, only 4 more weeks to spring.

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What happened to the Goof?

What happened to the Goof? Ever since the renovation over a year ago, the Goof just hasn't felt like the Goof of old. Sure the food and the staff are still the same, but that 50's style Canadiana diner feel has been replaced with a more modern upscale feel more appropriate in another part of town. Gone are the the old padded booths along the west wall and the front window and the long diner style counter along the east wall where you could watch them cook your breakfast while seated on a stool reading the daily paper with a coffee. The 25 cent style table top juke boxes in every booth, gone too without a trace. All replaced with dark mahogany wood booths along both walls and in front of the new giant floor to ceiling plate glass window. The kitchen is now hidden in the back behind a tile wall with a running waterfall! Sure the menu is the same, but half the fun of going to the Goof was to soak in the neighborhood diner atmosphere with your homestlye meal. Now the food just feels out of place and so do I. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Things you see walking the dog...

Have you ever noticed when you read the paper or watch the news, it always seems like its someone walking their dog that always discovers the dead body or the house on fire? As I was walking Hobbes this morning, I started to think of all the weird and strange things that we have encountered down in the beach during our daily walks and I'm starting to think I maybe that guy....

Check this out. Since Hobbes and I started our daily walks,
we have discovered a dead body,
discovered a cabin cruiser washed up on shore,
discovered a downed power line and had to call the fire department,
aided police with the arrest of a robbery suspect,
saw a guy at 7:30 in the morning on a unicycle ride past me on the snow covered boardwalk,
saw a guy in a wet suit on a surf board paddle past me a hundred feet off shore in the middle of winter,
saw some crazy surfer dudes surfing off the pier behind the Waterworks in the middle of a snow storm,
saw a guy in a wet suit appear as if out of nowhere come out of the water at the Waterworks after swimming all the way from the other side of Ash Bridges Bay (training for a triathlon),
saw a man literally get his ass kicked by another man, then had to break up the fight,
saw a dog literally walk itself almost daily (the dog Pogo would be let out be its owner and he would do a circuit around the Waterworks, then return home!),
saw a dog who will only walk on its front legs with his back legs in the air, because it doesn't like the snow.

And these are just the things that I remember off the top of my head!

And people wonder why I now carry a camera with me every where I go ... how else are you going to believe me?