It’s March and there is work to do. Not just at work but in other places too. I guess I need that or I’d be bored. It’s nice to have stuff to do, if not I’d be on the porch with a shotgun aiming at squirrels.
There is all this work at work and then more work outside of work and apparently some of my colleagues are in the same boat. Except that my colleagues definition of doing work outside of work is hiring a contractor to do the work (how many more times can I write “work”) lifting the phone to talk to the contractor tires them out. Unlike my comrades, I do all the manual labor, learned all that from my father, he was a contractor for a million years (exaggerated for effect). I guess it’s the way I was brought up, “here take this wrench and wrench something, go go go!” My father never actually said that, when he was fixing the car it was more like “pass me the 11/16″ socket and the .0025 inch feeler gauge”. I knew what the socket was but unfamiliar with the feeler gauge. Contrary to my belief, a feeler gauge had nothing to do with feelings, the things you find out at 10 years of age. What was my point in all this?
Ah yes, all this work I have to do. I guess in the end it’s stuff that I have to do and it should be done. There have been a few things that I have put off due to bad weather; in the end I can no longer blame it on the rain. I believe that was an eighties song. So back to this whole work thing.
Other than house stuff, one of the things I need to work on is the restoration of my Yamaha YX600 (that’s a motorcycle, for those who aren’t in the know). It has been neglected and I feel bad because when I look at how she once was and what she is now, well, it brings tears to my eyes ~sniff. I plan to fix her up so that she starts and rides well and then do some aesthetic work, change the look a little but not too much. It should be fun and a pain in the rear from past experience on other projects, nonetheless it should be fun. You can see below how the Yamaha looked many years ago, she was a beauty. In case anyone was wondering, the seat was custom made, the round headlight replaced the stock square one and the fairing was added. The stock air-box was removed and washable air filters were added instead. I couldn’t take a present photo to show the world b/c people would call me a murderer. Actually motorcyclists would call me a murderer for letting it get to the state that it’s in. Well, time to get cracking and push myself to do it, that’s all.
And now…
it’s time to get back to all this work @ work. Fun.
Yamaha YX600 and Triumph S3
Yamaha YX600
Rear quarter shot of Yamaha YX600 and the Triumph S3
Montreal has always had some sort of construction going on somewhere and of course this year is no exception. This construction however has nothing to do with the Ville de Montreal but I am sure that’s not what the drivers are saying. Construction, Montreal’s fifth season.
It has been about a good week and a bit now that I have been feeling the ground shaking beneath me. Okay maybe not shaking because that would give some people the wrong impression like we were having earthquakes, perhaps vibration is a better term. So these vibrations are caused by a pile driver in front of the building, it pounds away on giant metal pillars and in the process makes noise and as mentioned, sends vibrations through the building. This is all happening because of a tunnel system that they are installing to connect 2 buildings. It’s quite the feat and I really can’t wait till they get it done because its causing more than just vibrations. It has taken over an extra lane and a bit on the road so in turn has caused a bit of traffic congestion at certain times of the day. There is dirt, grime and the smell of diesel and gas which enters the building, quite unpleasant indeed. But Montrealers have grown accustomed to this, I guess people put up with it because in the end they know that it will end, the question is when. Don’t worry folks, once the pile driving stops concrete trucks will start to make their way and then it starts all over again. Oh happy happy, joy joy!
There is actually 2 pile drivers in front now but only one present when this photo was taken
Like most of the population I go into work every Monday and finish on the Friday but unlike the majority of the population I enjoy what I do.
I commute in and on occasion will sit in traffic and as I sit there I observe others around me. There is a look of gloom on their faces, not all but most. As I arrive to work, I see people in the building with a look of dread and misery like sheep being corralled into a pen. I learned a while ago that if you are not happy with what you are doing then it may be best to stop. I had a job in the past where the people I worked with were nice but the clients were the biggest pain in the rear, surprisingly I lasted a few years. Then as technology evolved I decided to evolve with it and am happy that I did because the work I am doing now is great, at least I think so.
Some people say that I am lucky to be where I am and I agree, I am lucky but I didn’t get here by twiddling my thumbs and praying. What got me to where I was is good old fashioned “working” and being proactive, leaning towards opportunity and not backing away from it. Yes, there were tough times but that has made me what I am today and yes, I learned from it. I don’t think of work as work anymore, it is instead my place of play and it’s nice to get paid for playing all day and then going home in the end to relax from playing.
Gotta go now, it’s time to play.
Just a small example of some of the things I do. Testing and more testing
I often take my car into work and sometimes I even park in the garage at work. In the summer I’m riding my motorcycle so I park outside because it’s free. Now on Friday before heading out to the Montreal Motorcycle show one of my colleagues informs me that there was an accident in the garage. Now I didn’t expect it to be a big deal but when we went to check it out the car was indeed damaged. There was damage to the driver’s side and the rear right side, basically enough damage that the car must be written off. It was enough of an impact that the air bag went off and an ambulance had to be called. The one thing we were wondering is how fast this person was going up the ramp to lose control in that 40 ft of space. Not to be disrespectful nor do I want to offend any Honda owners but when I first saw the car all I could think of was that Honda commercial with Jacques Villeneuve, “In every Honda, there is a Honda engine”. Yeah, that’s right, there’s also an idiot.
