Saturday, January 26, 2013

The car show: not bad as a father-son activity!

It’s been cold all week and I think the one who suffers the most is little Jules, who doesn’t get to go outside for his daily walk (he doesn’t do any of the walking yet, as he is only 5 months old!). I found a solution to get him out of the house this week: take him to his first car show!

Cabin fever for J!

I devised a plan to park underground and then walk the rest of the way to the car show and it worked perfectly. He was in a good mood most of the time and seemed to enjoy the bright colours, the many people and, most of all, the bright lights shining down on the cars.

I usually regret going to the car show, but I had low expectations this year. I figured it would just be a nice place to walk around with Jules.

As I say every year, I am not terribly interested in new cars, as I don’t plan to ever buy a new car with all the great affordable used cars out there. Still, I have to admit that cars, generally, have been getting better and better in the past few years. There are many really, really boring cars out there, but there are few really terrible cars… which was not at all true in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Some thoughts:

Nissan, you have a boring line-up. Also, you didn’t even bring a GT-R to the car show. What’s up with that?

BMW: there is no M3 this year, but BMW actually brought one of Bruno Spengler’s DTM-winning M3’s. That was a high point for me.


Lexus: you also have a pretty boring line-up, but I was pleasantly surprised to see an LFA. The car definitely looks better in person than in photos.



Speaking of presence, the new Range Rover also looks much better in person than in pictures.

As usual, there were few race cars on hand. Very few.

I didn’t spend much time in the room of exotic cars, as Jules was fussing a little. One standout: the orange McLaren MP4. I love that colour for McLaren’s!

The base prices on Porsche’s seem almost reasonable. However, the way the price of a car can be inflated by the options list is almost unbelievable. You could buy a nice Honda with the cost of a few options on a Boxster!

Other than that, there were no major surprises or disappointments. I got to take J. to his first car show and we both enjoyed a warm afternoon walking around while it was -20 outside.

In other news, my boys’ team won another game, bringing us to 3 and 1. It was not a great win, however, as the refereeing was all over the place and my boys played very inconsistently.

I watched a movie from the 50's called the Fast and the Furious about an escaped convict who hijacks a Jaguar XK120 and its female driver before heading to a rally. It was really cool to see that the cars being raced were lightly modified sports cars. The XK with the windshield removed (and replaced by a tiny windscreen on the driver's side) really looked like a hard core sports car. 

Finally, respect to the driver of this car: -20 degrees and driving a lowered 2wd 911!


Monday, January 21, 2013

IB40

What can I say about turning 40? It doesn't feel like such a big deal. I guess that’s because things are going well and I don’t have any regrets about not achieving specific goals before reaching 40. I’m married with a baby (wonderful wife, wonderful kid!), I have the job I want, I have a condo in a neighbourhood I love, I have 2 cool cars, I’m in good health… really, there is nothing to complain about! 

Speaking of good health, I have signed up for the Ottawa marathon in late May. I know I’m not in great shape these days because I’m not really doing any physical activity except walking to work. It’s gonna be tough to get back in shape… I have to be ready to run four times a week starting in March.

Speaking of my birthday, it was raining on January 13th. That’s the first time I can ever remember rain on my birthday.

Ready to eat


Speaking of the baby, he is doing well, and he is a joy to have around. Both Alex and I love spending time with him and luckily for us, he enjoys being out and about in the neighbourhood in his baby carrier. We are also fortunate enough to have two grandmothers willing to babysit Jules several times per week if needed!

Montreal Auto Show is on now. I will probably end up going again this year. I can't not go, yet I almost always regret going. Will I regret it this year? We'll see. 

I noticed that near the ticket counters, there were three Scion FR-S’s, all modified by different tuners. As I have mentioned before, I love that car. I realized why they look so good compared to almost any other sporty car on the road: they sit so low to the ground, much lower than almost any other car. The proportions are also great. Here are the photos of the tuner cars.

Fake race car number 1
Pretty but fake race car number 2
Prettiest of the three fake race cars
Strangely enough, they installed race seats and harnesses with no rollover protection. I’m a bit surprised this was allowed by Scion...

I have ordered a couple of parts for the race car, but nothing has been done yet about the piston ring issue or the bodywork. All that has been done is to deliver the car to Pat Boyer’s place. I can’t wait for the racing season to start, but I also worry the car will not be ready…

Cool cars spotted:
Rolls-Royce Ghost
Nissan Skyline R33
Audi RS4
Audi R8
Land Rover Defender 110
AMG C63 Coupe
AMG G55
Bricklin SV-1(!) 


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Holidays!

I was really ready for some holiday time! There is a major blizzard going on right now outside... the winter weather has really hit us in the past few days.

The basketball team suffered its first loss. Two of the best players missed the game and we lost 38-35 to one of the worst teams. I was not happy, and the boys didn't even seem to really care. I have to find a way to shake them up in the new year, especially since we have a new gym to break in.

Jules and his favourite toys
Jules is doing well. He laughs and smiles all the time and interacts with all kinds of people. He also got his first bus and metro rides in the past few days, thanks to Alex. Luckily for us, he does not mind the snow and cold weather and we can continue to take him out for walks in the neighbourhood.

Yesterday, Pat Boyer came to pick up the race car to begin the bodywork and the engine work. I can't wait to see the finished product! It was weird to see the Civic in the snow when we were loading it on the trailer.


Other than that, I am trying to relax and enjoy the time off with Alex and Jules!

Cool cars spotted:


Porsche 997 Turbo
Porsche 996 Turbo S
Maybach
New BMW M5
Fisker Karma
Audi RS4
Bentley Continental
Audi S8 V10
Maserati Quattroporte
Mercedes 500E
AMG G55
Jaguar XKR

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Diamonds are 2 for 2

I thought that the first team that my boys played had to be one of the weaker ones in our league, but we played against an even worse team last weekend. Despite the fact that our high scorer from the first game wasn't there, we still won by 29 points.

Discipline seems to be an issue with the boys, as many of them get detention and generally get in trouble for being loud. At yesterday's practice,  I didn't even let them leave the locker room until they could quiet down and listen to a few simple instructions. It took almost 15 minutes out of our 90-minute practice! Still, all 15 guys showed up, and they definitely have heart. I think this is my first season coaching where we start off the season with 2 wins. Our third game is coming up on Monday.

This 635csi has been for sale for a couple of months in Ontario. Want! But where would I park it?


Alex and I are getting more sleep now that Jules sometimes sleeps through the night. He is practicing rolling onto his side and spending time on his stomach... it doesn't seem like such a big step to crawling. I guess I should enjoy this time where he is not yet mobile.

Sometimes he rolls over, then sleeps!
I borrowed my friend Nico's Honda Fit to go pick up a couch yesterday. What a great little car. It's quite fun to drive and makes the BMW feel really heavy when you drive the two cars back to back. Is there a car that is as light-feeling as the Fit and as torquey as the BMW? Maybe an 80's BMW 325?

Cool cars spotted:
AMG G63
AMG SLS63
Fisker Karma
Nissan GTR


Thursday, November 22, 2012

The boys win their first game!

Shocker: my boys' basketball team somehow managed to win their first game yesterday. I have to admit I did not think they would have a great start to the season given their performance in practices. They won 39-26. They had a great first quarter (12-0) but slacked off in the third, allowing the other team to narrow a 20-point deficit down to 8 points.

We have a lot to work on... a lot! Still, I saw that the guys can play some serious defense when they are motivated. Next game: December 1st.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Jules is 3 months old!


Little Jules is three months old today. The three months have gone by so fast I can hardly believe it. Contrary to what I thought about infants, a baby can be pretty “interactive” from quite a young age. Jules seems to enjoy being around people and out of the house, which is great, given our lifestyle.

We went on a mini-vacation to Ogunquit with Jules two weeks ago and had a really fun weekend. We stayed at the Beachmere motel for the first time, and I really loved it. We went for long walks on the beach and Jules was hardly any trouble at all. It was an excellent three-day weekend. The BMW performed flawlessly, as usual!
Jules' first visit to the beach
Jules about to eat a fried shrimp at the Maine Diner 
J. and Alex at the diner
My boys’ basketball team will play its first games in the next week. I am really curious to see how they shape up against the competition. They’re a good bunch of kids… I just hope they can play as a team!

On the automotive front, not much has gone on. Marc has told me my Civic needs to have its front end straightened. I ordered almost all the parts I need to fix up the car and all I have left to find is an OEM bumper beam. Then, I just have to wait for the Boyer’s to be available to do the work.

Winter is almost here, but there are still some pretty cool cars on the road.



Cool cars spotted:
Acura NSX
Dodge Viper
Porsche 930
Porsche 997 Turbo
Porsche 997 GT3 RS
Porsche 928 S4
Porsche 993 Turbo
BMW 1M
Lotus Elise
Audi R8 V10
Audi RS4
Audi RS5
Ferrari 456
Ferrari F430
Dino 308 GT4
Shelpby GT350H
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
AMG SLS
AMG G55
AMG C63
AMG C63 Coupe
Mercedes 500E
Mercedes 190 2.3-16
MGB GT
Maserati GT
Maserati Quattroporte
Alfa Romeo GTV Coupe