Let's see...halfway through the first month. 

 

I went to see the surgeon regarding getting my back fixed up.  Seems after seeing the surgeon to discuss options, surgery is still 6 months away.  So what happens is I will be scheduled for surgery in July.  Problem is, I will be out of commission for 6 weeks after that.  At the end of July, my good friends David and Lisa are getting married and they have asked me to take pictures at their wedding.   Also, we cancelled a camping trip to our usual place because of a family matter last year and had promised the campsite folks that we would be there this year.  So I'm going to try and get the surgery postponed until at least August.  We can go camping in July and I can take the pictures at the end of July.

Hope August isn't too hot.  Lying in bed for 6 weeks is going to be a problem.

 

The Fiero club started talking about some other hobbies other than cars and scale model building came up.  Somebody wanted to see pictures so I've added a gallery to this site.  Some of them aren't much to build.  The "topshelf" cars are actually metal bodied models that come built already but detail is somewhat lacking and I've gone in and added some detail on my own.   Especially the Fiero model (that's how we got on this topic).  There were some incorrect things on that model and I went in and correct them.  The plastic scale models usually take me 6 or more months to build.  I do a lot of research and mix paint schemes to look as real as I can get it.  The turbo charger on the Lotus Esprit was a mixture of enamel, latex and oil paints to get the texture and heat/rusted look.  I've got a few models left unbuilt and as I age, my eyesight is making it harder and harder to paint the details onto these cars.  I was unable to get the two-tone and worn look to show up very well on the Ferrari or the white leather on the NSX.  So I have some lighting techniques to work on in my picture taking.

 

Snow persists here, which is very unusual and has prompted me to go out and buy snowtires for the MINI.  The MINI club told me to go to a place fairly close to my place and they set me up a pretty decent discount.  I've never been to a place with some many custom wheels to choose from before.  So that worked out pretty good.  MINI related, we've registered for AMVIV so will take our spring break vacation visiting relatives and motoring around.

 

Well, time to go shovel some snow.

 

Til next time.....

 

 

 

Well, another has come and gone.  2006 was very eventful.  Myself, I'm still waiting for a surgery date and am still hobbling around somewhat handicapped.  I hope it gets done soon...in 2007. 

 

The yearend was certainly eventful, though I did everything I could to go bah humbug.  It was good to see friends.  I failed to send out any Christmas cards to anybody but managed to deliver a few by visiting a few people I hadn't seen all year.  Some of you weren't even home.

 

Also, on a not so important note, the Korean Drama series on TV called "Emperor of the Sea" finally ended.   It was historically based and the hero and everybody associated with him all died in a hail of arrows, swords, and other weapons...they didn't have guns yet.  And it turns out his best friend killed him only to find that he (the best friend) was gullible and sucked into doing the dirty deed.  This was on historical story where the bad guys won.   The series was broadcasted an hour a week since June.  It's about time it ended.  Park wanted me to tape the whole thing for him (Park graduated earlier with a degree with special interests in Asian studies).   Well, I got bored of it all after about the 3rd month.  So nope. 

 

On a sad note, my friend Ricky (also best man at my wedding), lost his father after a long illness.   I suspect it was again....cancer as he called asked me about setting up a trust regarding donations to the Cancer Society.

 

Going into 2007, I have 2 things to look forward to.  

 

Firstly, in March, we will travel to Las Vegas to visit my wife's stepbrother, Ryan (and his wife Rose).  There's ulterior motive to this also as I also plan on taking a couple of days and attending AMVIV.  I've never driven to LV before so this should be fun.  I hear it's a very long drive.  

 

Then in the summer, we will go camping.   We missed out last year because my wife had to make an emergency trip overseas because her uncle was not expected to live through the month due to cancer.   Well, they operated and the trooper is still alive.   The folks at the campsite have a policy to not refund my entire deposit but they made an exception because we regularly camp there.  So we owe them, at the very least a trip over and to maintain a family tradition.  It's a great place to relax and get away. 

 

So we go into the new year with anticipation of another eventful year.  Along with the two mini vacations, there's always the work around the house, a few MINI drives, a few Fiero drives, some relatives from overseas visiting, and hopefully, if you live near enough, when it warms up, we hope to have you over for a barbeque or something.

 

Thanks for reading.