TIFF for Tat

Although it is a bike accident. That wasn't me.
I've been down this road many times and it's a little rough in parts but I do not know how this guy went over his bike.

It's the road going into Home Smith Park.
I usually go here with my club and we are flying.

This guy was a poster child for how you should be riding WITH a helmet.  He was bleeding from a cut to the head.  There were 2 women and a runner that were there to call 911 and flag the paramedics as we saw them shoot by the entrance to the park on Dundas.  I left shortly after they came just in case.

Then it was time to hit TIFF.  We were only going to meet our Sharknado cousin for lunch.  This was his first time to TIFF.  Because he's not a open the vault, I'm entitled type of exec.  But we are glad he came.

Maybe he'll make it a yearly thing.

We didn't go to watch any flicks.  We can't afford it.  So we just look for free stuff.


We met him a BOSK which is at the Shangri-La Hotel at Adelaide and University.  A few years ago, this spot was a parking lot.  I used to work right next door.

Now there is a fancy schmancy hotel with no parking.  Awesome!
You can stay here, but leave your car at home.
Take a Bixi.

The service was superb.  Now I know how a B-Lister is treated.

This is the eggs benedict with smoked salmon.

This was Tresa's meal. They took her salad away pre-maturely.
I noted that on the survey.








Puzzled.
this is the granola yoghurt.

Then it was off to the free stuff zone.
What's it like in a Pepsi can?
and more importantly what free stuff can we get.
Other than sugary drinks.
Ans: burgers, t-shirt and something else.

DJing in the Pepsi can.

Lite-Brite in the Pepsi can.
I made that happy face.

BM & TK.









Who cares.
We were there for the free ice cream.

King St was closed from University to Spadina.
To make room for the free chess board.  That people were
using to play checkers.
That guy was crowned.

And free musical entertainment.
I think he was trying to get discovered.
So he wouldn't have to go to work and bus tables.

Ellis Bike park

The city made this cool bike park down by Ellis and Lakeshore.
We headed there one afternoon a few weeks back and I was expecting it to be full of older kids doing massive jumps.







But there were tons of little ones on the one side that had bridges and small bumps.  There were pink bikes with tassels and all trying to get on the bumps.  It was so cool. I was a bit afraid of joining in, but then I had a go and it was fun.  Some of these kids are fearless.  They squeeze in just like commuters on the tube in Hong Kong during rush hour.




We went back just last weekend that coincided with the Ukrainian Festival to check it out and then possibly hit the BWV for some perogies.


The bridges seem harmless until you slip off and the top tube of your bike hits you in the family jewels.


Or you fall off and the thing that get hurt most is your pride. Luckily I have no pride.  Haha.

You can't see it from these photos but just beside the pump tracks and the bridges are the larger jumps.

I thought I took a video of one of the fearless kids taking in some big air.  But I think I deleted it.

Kieran miss timed his dismount from this pump track and exited right off the top of the mound there and wiped out.  He got a small cut but he was okay, just some dirt and blood.

He only cries when he's really hurt.

One Two - buckle my seatbelt I'm on my way

I am nearly 1 month behind in posting this.
Twelve years and where am I in this photo?  Sprig and Vine.
I missed it!
Food looked great and yummy.

Our kitchen reno was in full swing.  Well it had started in mid-April and we needed to get many things done to get the permit closed off. So I'm on the Canadian side of this photo.

I missed the bulk of this trip this year in order to stay behind and get all the remainder of the plumbing (which was the drain and pot filler supply location), and the insulation and get all the drywall up, taped and mudded.  And after some late nights, I got it done.  I had to take advantage of the fact that I was home alone.  Plus I had nothing to do except the kitchen reno.

I also got rid of our stove.  It was almost fully functional.  Only 1 burner.  The largest wasn't working any more.  Other than that.  It was working.  I wasn't sure if I could sell it and on our anniversary Tresa asked me and I hadn't done any research so I put it on Kijiji.  And within minutes of posting my ad.  I got an email that they wanted our stove.  It was gone by the end of the day.
Not by the original inquiry, that dude was at a party.  So I sold it to this really nice couple that came from Simcoe.

I was so happy it was gone.  It was a real pain in the butt moving that stove out of the way.  That's 1 less thing to keep moving in and out.  The sink and fridge are the other two PITA items in our kitchen.  But we need those.

Let me backtrack. The NJ trip didn't start off on the right foot.  If you take a look at Kieran's bike.  The front wheel is silver instead of black like the rear wheel.  Cuz his OEM one is somewhere in Lake Ontario near the base of the Burlington Skyway Bridge.

It fell off the wheel carrier on top of the Civic.  Glad there wasn't an accident.  But I wasn't too happy.  But what could I do?  Well I called Bernie's bike shop that is near my cousin's in NJ and got them to build a new wheel and put it on K's bike so he can use it.  They even put a QR on it.  It's okay.  It bothered me more than Kieran.  He said he laughed when it rolled off the roof of the car and off the bridge.
As long as he has a bike to ride, that's all that matters.  I need to learn some of that "don't worry be happy" attitude.


I tried the FindMyIphone app and it works pretty well.  There's about a 2-3min delay.  Once Tresa and Kieran got over the border into NY state, I got Kieran to turn on the app.  And I was able to guide them all the way down to NJ.  Even when Tresa took the wrong exit and was heading toward Philadelphia.  It delayed her arrival by about 45mins.  But it was a really came in handy!

So fast forward almost 2 weeks and I had gotten done what I needed to and left a couple of messages for the Etob permit office to let me know what next steps need to be done to close the permit.  It took a while but I got it done.  Felt like a big weight off my shoulders.  Now I can move forward with the floor, cabinets, hood, etc.

And since I had done quite a bit, I decided to head down to NJ for the Labour Day weekend.
I was pretty tired, cuz I was up late the night before doing some reno work. I left at 5:11am Friday and made it down to NJ, even stopping at Harbor Freight Tools on my way down.

And this is what I found.
Grace's teeth and if you look close, you'll see a bit of gum.
And Teen's Scarborough gangster friends staying over to go to their cousin's wedding.  It felt like I was still in TO.


I was squashing down the boxes my Yakima bike tray came in and the hitch that I had ordered.  And thought. Skateboard + box equals hours of fun.
Boxes are the best.  Once it's beat up.
It can be recycled for the the next set of kids to use their imagination and have fun.

When not on the skateboard it doubled as a Minecraft outhouse.

I noticed this past weekend that the price went up 92.00 USD on the Yakima Hold Up that I bought in August.  I wasn't going to order it, but glad I did.

I finally made it to dinner.
I forget the name of this place but it was good.
All we ate were appetizers but after that we were all full.

We ate at this other place, I forget the name, but it was also good eats.




And no one can pass up a tree trunk as a soap box or a go-go dancer stage.  But it's no good if you are afraid of dogs.