How the internet can change your friendships

So it's a very weird thing happening to me lately. I have had all sorts of hits on my Facebook site from people that I haven't seen or heard from in years requesting to be on my friends list.

I don't mind this at all. Really. Not that I didn't remain in contact with any of these people for any good or bad reason. We just went our separate ways and got on with our lives.

Good friendships tend to be that way I think. If your friendships end on a sour note, then were you really good friends?

Look at me and my wife for example. We met and dated in highschool. Our relationship ended on an amicable note and we got on with our lives after highschool. Fast forward 12 years later. I had been going through a rather rough divorce and was really irritated one nite and my good friend and fellow piper, Don calls me up and says that he is out at the Tractor to see one of his favourite bands and suggest that I go down there and hang out and put my worries aside for the nite.

Begrudgingly I agree. So I lock up the place and head out to the Starbug to get her warmed up and prepare for the 11 mile trek into Ballard.

*Side note* for those of you wondering........I'm a huge Sci-Fi fan. Red Dwarf is one of my favourite shows and Starbug is the name of the transport that a good portion of the show takes place on. Now that that's out of the way...........my Starbug is a 1969 VW Beetle, painted in a very bright rattle can green and the entire body was pop-riveted to make it look like it was constructed of various panels much similar to an aircraft. Additionally there was the addition of a ram-air induction snorkel for the airfiltre housing and various other mods such as a 4 into 1 exhaust header and dual glasspacks, short shift kit with a reverse lock out and full gages.......you get the general idea.

My long point is that my wife and I were able to basically pick up almost where we left off even though we hadn't seen each other in years.

There will be some cases where friends that haven't seen each other in years can't do that simply because their lives went in completely different directions and they have nothing to connect them but the past. As people we have friendships for the here and now.

I'm somewhat of a social person by nature. I like to be around people and I'm genuinely interested in what goes on in peoples lives. It's still a weird concept though that some of these people may be looking to see how I turned out compared to their lives. Some may just be clicking on names and thinking "I remember this person and I wonder how things are going and what they're up to" but not really have the intention of actually getting together to catch up in person. I also don't mind if anyone actually meets up with me in person. Sometimes it's not possible for whatever reason. I happen to work in an industry where a lot of friends on my Facebook page are coworkers that work on board a cruise ship. I recently saw one of my friends last month that I hadn't seen in over 2 years. It was nice to see this person and catch up even if for a few minutes.

Some friends may not want to be found. I have one of those in my life as well. Not really. If he was in my life we would still be friends. He left for employment elsewhere 4 years ago and has since returned. I have tried to contact him to no avail. I can respect that he may not want people to know that he is back, but for someone that was as close to me as he was needs to provide some kind of explanation in my opinion. I'm sure he has his reasons and it would be nice to have that closure. If you happen to see this Royce, call man. I miss the times.

There are other friends that no matter what, you always have that bond. I have one that I absolutely consider my best friend in life................we have been through bad and good and no matter what we do to liven up each others lives or piss each other off we are friends. Maybe not as close as we were, but it's still there. BJE you know who you are. The closest thing to a brother that I have and still glad to call you my friend. Just let me know that you're breathing once in a while.

The internet has really opened up our methods of finding someone. I can remember that if you wanted to connect to someone you called their last known residence to see if they left any forwarding information. (I'm not all that old......mid 30's is young enough to still be young, but old enough for us to grow up without the things that our kids have like cell phones and the internet and some of the other tech toys that they take for granted).

So for the here and now I will enjoy those that I have reconnected with once again and those that are good enough to have met me in recent years and deem me a friend.

My advise to all of you out there.................do the same. Enjoy time with friends while you can since you never know when it will end.

God gave us the ability to choose friends to make up for the fact that we can't choose our family.

Tales of the Bronze Bitch...........The Light from Within

So this weekend was fortunate enough to have picked up some projector lamps w/city lights for my trusty E30.

They will be a vast improvement in lighting as the curved projector style lens (as the name suggest) allows better placement of the light pattern on the road from the halogen bulb over the standard incandescents that the car came with way back in 1987.

I got these wonderful new (to me) upgrades from another BMWCCA member in my area. Unfortunately he had to wreck his E30 for me to get them, but he was able to get better money from the insurance company than thought and make even more back selling the after market parts off of it. I'm happy to say that he has a newer used E36 M3 sedan. This thing is tighter than a nun!

Another thing that he was able to provide me with at no extra charge was the ever coveted Bentley manual for an E30.........these are the books that most dealership techs use. I have been wanting one and not gotten around to ordering one.

So hopefully it seems that at last my mechanical woes are behind me and I can get onto the fun part of why I wanted this car.......to get the body and paint back up to snuff and do some mild mods to it that appeal to me and take this feisty little German from mild to wild.

Can you say: E30's Gone Wild? Hehe............

The lake house................

So where do you go to get away from it all when you're already in the armpit of the state?

To your personal cabin on the lake of course.

So this colouful monstrosity has been her on the upper lake of Conconully since the mid 1940's.

It's been kept in the family for several years obviously and will be for several more to come.





When the lake is full, the floating dock is a wee bit more useful than in the current photo.

BTW-this floating dock is 60' so that means the lake level is down about 6-10' currently.








Of course no trip to the cabin would be complete with out dropping the boat in the water.

We at least got it in the water this time around, but the prop got a little dinged coming in so the the pitch was off and we didn't get the speed it's capable of. Then we had a fuel issue..........it's just not getting a continual flow. I sat in back and kept the pressure ball pumped up to ensure a quality ride up to the other end of the lake.

This shot is my dad driving and my son in back.


This is the view from the porch. There aren't really any words for this view. Just sit back and enjoy it. It's best at nite. No city lights, no street lights. No noise except for the light fluttery sounds of bats buzzing by on their way to find food under cover of nite.

A hotel of a differant kind

So here is where the fam and I stay when we go see my dad.........at his girlfriends place. It's the original built hotel. It was constructed in 1907. It's had some changes.

In the photo you see here, this is the south end of the building. It used to be the original entrance and had a rather large sitting porch from the photos I've seen of the original build.






Looking at the West side of the building. My dad repainted it a number of years ago and added the lettering. He also installed copper sill plate flashing to each of the windows.









This is the main kitchen. At least the one that gets used the most. This house has four functional and stocked kitchens to choose from.

This used to be a single entry door. The french doors were added about two to three years ago when the main kitchen was remodeled.













This was new last year. They have a hot tub outside, but it wasn't in the best location under a tree.

This two-sided structure was built to house the hot tub and still allow the outside in while keeping the elements off of you while enjoying the hot tub.
There's low level lighting and some deck chairs and even a stand with an ice bucket for a bottle of champagne or whatever.


This is looking past the garden area to the north of the building.

The gate leads to two areas: the grilling area and the gardening tables/storage.

The opening on the left is into the garage workshop and storage area. This also happens to be where the five resident dogs find their food water and bedding when not enjoying the outside.

Church Service of a different kind........................pews not included

I'm sure that some of my faithful readers have been wondering where I've been for the last few weeks. The blog has been a little idle to say the very least.

Well I'm about to answer that question. The fam and I have been in the north central part of the state visiting my "old man" and just getting away from it all.

So without further ado, here is the quickie version of his place.


My dad lives in the original church in Riverside. It was constructed in 1907. He's a glass blower and an artist so I can think of no better place for someone of his nature to live. Conventional housing just wouldn't do. Average summer temperature: 100 degrees daytime/low 80's at nite.

So the first shot you see is the top of the Bell Tower which he raised by 10' 2 years ago. There is an angel statue looking out over the town now and at the very peak he installed some of his own stained glass art and back lit it. Looks cool at nite.




The second pic is the wrap around deck under construction 2 years ago. The finished product is great for lounging and hosting a barbeque.

This shot is looking east at the building. The window you see is in the pantry area of the kitchen. It's a weird shaped kitchen and not all that well thought out. It's not my dad's fault though. This kitchen (as well as the apartment area that is the main living area) was added on sometime in the 1940's I believe. Don't quote me on that though.

The foundation is not poured concrete, but stacked rocks/boulders instead and filler in between.








My dad is the master of finding building materials that have been removed from other structures in the county and getting them for free or close to nothing and incorporating them into his home.

These double french doors belonged in the County courthouse and had been removed for it's renovation a number of years ago. Most of the glass panes had to be replaced and of course they didn't look this good when he installed it.

This is the finished product. Hard to imagine it with a single pre-fab door.





This is one of three 6' circumference windows in the upper loft area.


Fortunately my dad is a purest when it comes to this place and thinks that these window should stay. I couldn't agree more.

He has worked hard to track down as much of the original siding or something that looks similar to the original.

Currently the south side of the building is receiving a new roof. I hate to imaging just how old the roof is, but I believe my stated the roof was most likely replace in the 1950's.