The "Official" Retirement Lunch

IBM gives retiring employees a lunch, and with a limited budget it was a challenge to decide who to invite... I picked 12 to share the afternoon with, and I think we all enjoyed it. The venue was Baka which Terry had suggested based on a Summerlicious event. The scotch list was enough to confirm it, and the menu was great.

I thought a late lunch (1pm) might mean people weren't going to rush back to work and it worked out well... people stayed until at least 3, and we wrapped up a little before 4. With a delightful glass of single malt... Hector looked through the list and suggested this one. It's not old, it is rare. And it was a great choice... those of us who sampled it enjoyed it very much.

Lunch was an assortment of first course dishes, followed by some amazing mains. Steak, fish and gnocchi were the popular choices.

When it came to dessert, almost everyone picked the Grey Goose Creme Brule... and to be honest I'd have to say it was the one part of lunch that didn't live up to expectations. Somehow I felt like they rushed it, perhaps having that many ordered at the same time? Still, it was good. Not great, as the rest of the meal had been. And speaking of great, our hosts were very attentive and definitely added to the delightful experience.

Here are a few photos from around the table...
https://picasaweb.google.com/pkraiker/20110427IBMRetirementLunch#

One Trip, part of One Month

Back.
Back to Toronto, back to the cool temps of early spring up here, back after a nice trip.
Back, and already planning the next trip.

It was a nice long week away, and the change on the way down was very noticeable! Warmer, greener, more spring-like. A day's drive took us through Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania and into West Virginia. A night in a rest stop there was less than relaxing, however the price was right (can't argue with free). Not a bad start to the trip, and for a first trip south I do have an appreciation of why people head south for late winter or early spring! And day one was just such a taste.

I've taken Babe out on some trips before... Elk Grove and Mt Ste Anne being the two big ones before. This was her first trip with a new engine though and it's the first trip to test how ready she is (we are) for this next chapter. In many ways... ready. Not totally there though, and so she's back in Dave's shop to deal with the final details. The new engine runs well, is very solid and strong (until we hit big hills, that's no surprise though) and she ran between 25 and 27 MPG (around 7L/100KM if my math is close). I'm ok with that, she's sipping a reasonable mixture. So this trip (2060 miles, 68 gallons of fuel) was a good test. The next one will be longer (down to Arkansas) followed by a trip up to the Gatineau hills.

Back to this trip...
One night, around 700 miles over those 2 days, and poof... in the middle of spring. Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia on day one followed by West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina on day two. Nice weather, which got better and better. And when we finally arrived at Davidson River Campground it was around 7PM, not bad. Andrea was surprised to learn that rest stops in the U.S. work the way they do, pity it's not the same in Canada! What better way to encourage drivers to take a break than to offer a free and safe place to pull over and rest. Up here, police will show up at some point to chase you out of your rest and get you back on the road.

Learned a lot about the new GPS and how to tell it where to go (and how it can get you lost when it thinks something different!), and how it feels to fight the wind in a toaster without power steering... while we weren't in any tornadoes the winds certainly were high and a few spots (high bridges in particular) were a real challenge. The first taste of that was in Ontario as we went over the Skyway... very white knuckle. There was another high bridge down on the the trip that I didn't even want to look at, just focused on keeping Babe moving ahead. Amazing. Past that... life got better and better. Here's a shot looking at some of the roads.

Camping... I think this is the first trip I've taken with Babe that I spent every night in her. No motels or hotels, just her cozy space. I really liked that and I feel like I learned a lot about the space that she occupies in my life. Driving and living... inside and out. Definitely felt good and I look forward to more. The first night at DRCG did remind me that I need to learn more about how the inverter works, I had no luck getting it to power up 120V things (including my computer). I will get a 12V inverter to help out while I learn more, and at DRCG I opted to pay an extra $5 per day to have a site with 120V external power. Otherwise, everything worked as it should. The fridge, in particular, amazes me. On both propane and 120V it kept things very cold. I will look for some way to enhance the lighting for "working" at night, the one main interior light isn't enough.

As for the Blue Ridge / Asheville area... wow. I love it. Beautiful, inspiring and so very much to explore. I knew we were on a short trip, I'm glad to have gone even for that short time. And I look forward to going back to explore more.

Simple things... like the "Pisgah Tavern", established long ago and now still very much alive in The Hub (a bike shop on the same location). A nice place to have a pint of Fat Tire Amber, while chatting with other cyclists. In my case, it was a table full of Canadians :) And all of them visiting in VW campers, one being another '82 Vanagon... a sister to Babe.

Then there was the cycling... it was one of the main reasons for the trip. I didn't fully appreciate the "hills" there, now i do. My second ride was about 5 hours long, of which the first three were almost all climbing! I'm not sure if this link will work for everyone, however it's the map from my Garmin...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/80245038

If that doesn't work, here's a couple of photos from along the way. The first is looking back at the route up to Mt Pisgah. The second is from the valley roads.

Some days were spent watching the big races in Europe and then being tourists in America, some were just relaxing. It was very much about the bike, though not exclusively. There were a few trips that were exploring this land of waterfalls, and I like some of the photos I was able to take... here are a couple:

And then, eventually it had to come around to the return trip... which included a stop at one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous creations... Fallingwater.

The return trip was 3 days (2 nights), included L-B-L, crossed 4 states and one province, and was very enjoyable. We went through every sort of springs you can imagine... and camped in Blowing Springs. A nice spot, down the road from Hot springs and Warm Springs... don't ask me, they named them!

Andrea wanted to see Fallingwater and I agreed it was worth the detour, so we planned a route to get us there and still allow us to be in a place to watch Liege-Bastogne-Liege Sunday morning. I'm glad we did, what an amazing place. I'll end with this photo of the classic view of Fallingwater (taken from where the original thinking had the home placed... well!)



These and more photos are on my picasa site, feel free to explore...

After One Month, and One Trip

I'm sitting in my study/studio (I refuse to call it an office anymore) and knocking things off my lists, feeling good about life. A month ago today I walked out of the doors of IBM and it really has been quite an exciting month. I guess it still hasn't hit me, I have yet to find myself missing the old routines and I keep not having enough time in the days to do the things I want. And it's been a month already.  I thought there would be a "moment" around now when it would all feel real and something would shift... so far it's all just rolling along nicely. A few friendly emails from ex-co-workers (what's the right term for that? lol) and some queries about tornadoes (yes there were some in the area we were in, none that came anywhere near us) and soon a final "official" IBM event; my retirement lunch.

I've invited 10 friends, with Greg and me an even dozen, and have a room at Baka on Avenue Rd. reserved for Wed. I tried to find someone from each era of my time at IBM and I think I did ok on that front. Lots of these people span many years so it wasn't that hard to do. 
Keith and I went on the "welcome to IBM" sessions together in 1981, he's very much of my roots in IBM. Another I wish could be there is Darryl, as he is my closest friend and we've known each other since around '82. Our lives have intersected in so many ways... however the "rules" say I can only invite current IBMers or retirees and Darryl is neither. I'll see if I can sneak him in, along with Terry who is also right up there on the list of close friends. He's only wanted to do contract work and so again the rules get in the way. And he fits firmly into the early '90s and all the buzz around OS/2. Of course, Petercam was as good as it gets for our work/life intersection. John C and Denis are mentors to me, people who showed me ways to think and respond and make "it" better. Insightful and generally soft spoken, their thoughts have helped shape mine. It will be good to see them both there. One who will be missing is Mark, who left us over 10 years ago. He took SIS to places it never dreamed possible and I was amazed at riding along on that wave. The things he did, we did, SIS did and the potential that was lost when he died. I still have "Mark moments" and I can still see that smile when an idea landed in his mind.
Janice, Brad, RJC... in different ways we've been close for many years. The '90s gang, we did lots of things together and a lunch-time game of cards was a common thread. Growing up, together... nice folks to be with, I'll tell ya.
Hector (and while he won't be there, I'll include Ric O) are the very definition of "pub night" and it's been a tradition since the early '90s.
And the "newbies"... Jacqueline and Nada. Along with Joseph they make up the future hope for SIS. If the business is prepared to listen, they will be the ones who teach folks like Peter M and Yousoof about how to lead and shape the future. We'll see...

In any case, lunch on Wed. will be fun :)

Three hours of riding to get here, and almost 3000 ft of climbing

As for "one trip", I'll write that up in a separate entry. It was great, and I miss the warm weather already! Over 2000 miles of travel, 68 gallons of diesel, and lots of great rides. Stay tuned.

On The Road, Trip One

Finally! On the road, at last. It's been quite a while in the planning and this is the first trip in the list of possible trips. The next couple are already set too (more on that later).

I had Babe in to get an oil change, and Dave looked at the small oil leaks from his rebuild and decided to lift the head and redo the head gasket & seal. I'm sorry to say... it made it worse. The good news is that his rebuild is holding up well, not burning oil and after around 1200km of driving the only oil I've had to replace is what has leaked out. The bad news... it's leaking enough that the back is splattered with oil after any long drive and the puddle under the camper is much more that a little spotting. I need to get that addressed, as I only have a week between this trip and the next... and the next trip is even longer! 

West Virgina Rest Stop... windy and noisy.

Andrea and I opted to bring road bikes, it was a tough choice because this is such a mountain biking mecca too. Still, that was the thinking and we stuck to it. So a couple of long days got us down to North Carolina and the trip included using a rest stop in West Virginia. One province and 3 states in day one, then 4 states in day 2. Davidson River Camp Ground was the destination, and we made it around 7pm. 





The driving on and along the Blue Ridge Parkway was awesome, and challenging. Not as challenging as driving Babe in high winds like over the Skyway, still very challenging. And it was our introduction to waterfalls in this amazing part of the USA. I'm sure I'll have some great sets of photos of them... not yet though.

Looking up at the Blue Ridge Parkway

Camped at Davidson River

Davidson River CG is nice, I think sites "off the grid" would be more to my liking however as a test of all the systems it's good to have the options it provides. The one part of the camper I'm not sure is working right (other than the head gasket, see above) is the inverter. I can't seem to get it to work for running anything off it.

A Tasting

For a while now a small group of friends has been getting together to do a regular scotch tasting... we've tried to do it every three months and for the most part it's worked out. When we started we were all employees of "Eightbar" and as of this tasting none of us are. I was the last to leave, and felt it was appropriate to host this tasting at my home. It was fun to say the least.

I also extended the invitation to my son (Zef) and I was delighted when he arrived. Of course being the "newbie" he got to take notes of the tasting, I'm looking forward to reading the notes he took. There were 5 fine single malts on hand, with a theme based on the new BRUICHLADDICH 16 YO CUVEE offering from the LCBO as well as a classic 18 YO Auchentoshan and a new whiskey from Wales.

A few hours of the pleasure of good company, good whiskey and good food (top on the food list being the applewood smoked cheddar... now a staple at our tastings).

Here's a photo of what was being sampled (missing the Auchentoshan).

Restored and Working... "My Retirement Watch"

Looks great, full of character and beautiful compared to "before"

I took my father's old gold watch in to Bell Jewellers (since 1937) last week to see if it was worth repairing. The woman behind the counter very quietly asked if it had sentimental value, I'm sure she knew it did and that's a common reason for bringing something like that in. And of course it does, and of course it's worth getting fixed... she had me with that one simple question. Here's a photo of it now, compared to a photo of before...

The watch is a Tissot Visodate

It didn't take them long to repair it, cleaning the inner workings, the outer case and the actual face before putting a new crystal on it. I then bought a new strap (a Hirsch black leather strap with gold-coloured buckle) and proudly put it on. I will call it "my" watch now, and treat it like something handed down from father to son. Hope he's happy with that...

"My" watch was crafted based on the Tissot Visodate design which first came out in the '50s. This one is a Seastar Seven, which was produced in the '60s. I believe it's 9ct gold. And I have no reason to get it appraised, I learned the value of sentiment with this watch...

What an amazing "Hell of the North" today's Paris-Roubaix was

Cobbles and Classics... today was Paris-Roubaix!
 

(C) Peter Kraiker

Close friends know Andrea and I were intending to go to Belgium for the Ardennes Classics and to see our friend Wim. That trip would have also included Paris-Roubaix. It didn't pan out (stay tuned), so we watched it online instead. Not nearly the same, although I was certainly thinking of friends who I'm sure were watching (and envious of the folks Wim was guiding around).

Here's a snippet of an email I got from him this morning:

"All my crew left now (sunday morning 6;50am) and I do have 2 spare minutes.  I worked out a new route for today. We will see the cyclists at our lunch-place and then 2 cobblestone sections, then I'll drive the customers OVER 3 other sections of which the last is section 8 (Pont-Thibaut à Ennevelin).  That's where our TV-tent is, same place as last year but now WITH TENT.

At this last place we will of course also see the cyclists.

Weather is perfect (blue sky and 23°)

Devolder will win."

(I picked Hushovd to win, at least I got the right team!)

(C) Peter Kraiker

Wim does an amazing job getting his customers to really experience the race, and a one day classic is a very different experience compared to following a grand tour like le Tour de France. He's now heading up special trips with Thomas Cook Sport Travel, take a look to see what he's up to (much of the text is by Andrea, most of the photos are mine). Here's a shot of some of the key riders from last year, both Cancellara and Hushovd were active today, as was Boonen until misfortune struck once too often.

Paris-Roubaix is an amazing race. Having ridden  some of these famous cobbles, including Arenberg, I know how punishing it can be to any rider. Having watched the race, I know how committed the racers are. They all know that the "HoTN" can be cruel and bad luck abounds. This year had lots to go around, as did other years (anyone care to ask Hincapie about carbon?).

 

One of the highlights of the race was seeing Canadian David Veilleux (riding for Europcar this year) compete in his first Paris-Roubaix. He spent much of the race in the breakaway and was in the hunt for a good result. When the dust had settled he was 25th overall and the top North American. Here's a photo from SteepHill.TV/Sirotti that's very clear in showing the effort required (wish I'd been there to take it!). 

I interviewed David after the Tour of Elk Grove in 2010 and asked him about his thoughts on Paris-Roubaix...

PK - You've said you like Paris-Roubaix.  Has racing in France given you a
taste of what it might be like? 

DV - Not really. A part of the last stage in Tour of Bretagne was on cobbles and gave me a taste of what it is like to race on such a road. However, Paris Roubaix is unique and it is a complete different level of race so I don’t think any races I participated in so far can be compared to it.
PK - and is it a race you see yourself competing in? 

DV -Definitely.  

Impressive result David!

Getting some opportunities, looking forward to exploring them

Photography:
I've spent the past while organizing my time and putting it together on a calendar to share with the community I'm getting deeper into. And I've already gotten some positive feedback on events I thought were questionable... if I can get enough interest to cover expenses I'm all set to go. I know this will be a year of exploring and learning, I'm happy if it can come out as "neutral on the $$ side and positive on the future opportunities". It will be interesting to see how that works out.

VW:
On a more immediate note, I dropped Babe off at the shop to have Dave look over his handiwork now that it's got 1000+KM on the rebuild. An oil change at least, and a good look over the engine. It's time to get the camper ready for a long trip to test all my theories. Stay tuned!

And no... no photos today.

Sunshine and Snow

I wonder what the race earlier today would have been like if this arrived earlier...

I hope it will turn to rain, there's still a lot of salt on the roads.

And yes, I've seen the highlights reel from Flanders... wow.

Covered My First Bicycle Race of the Year

The Homage to Ice is a MTB event held at Mansfield, ON and it kickstarts the season. There was a road race as well, and the one race I really would have preferred to be at (the Ronde van Vlaanderen -- Tour of Flanders). I haven't seen the results, I am hoping to get to see some video coverage before seeing the finish so don't tell me what happens!

As for the race I was at, I hadn't even turned off the engine in Babe when I had a big smile on my face. Team Van Go was there, three lovely Westies sitting there with their tops popped. All of them early 70s bay buses, and two of them had been converted to diesel! Johnny is a VW mechanic and he did the conversions, having finished his 1.6TDI conversion over the winter. Very sweet.

I only used my new 7D with the 24-105 F4, another exercise in limiting my options. I can definitely say I'm happy with my choice of camera body... the 7D is fast, has a much better focusing system and feels great in the hand. It will take a little while for me to get used to the location of some of the controls as they have changed from both my other bodies. Here's a photo to give you an idea of the conditions. Much of the course was like this (yes, we still have a little snow up here).

There were two races, one lap (approx 20KM) @ 10am & two laps @ noon. The day was sunny, and warming up so by noon it was nice and mushy... hard work. And speaking of "work", time for me to get back to sorting photos. The gallery is at KraikerPhoto.com.

Babe Is back, back on the road, about to get on the road

It's now a week... wow. It's gone by quickly, I haven't slept in as often as I though I would, my list of things done is longer and my list of things to do has grown even more. Love it! I have posted a few things on my FaceBook page, you're welcome to check that out too.

I've enjoyed relaxing, going out for lunch, shopping for tools and toys. Getting things ready. And I've enjoyed seeing my camper outside, inviting me to get real about this next chapter. I tested out the Garmin GPS today that she now has, I should start a poll on what voice people like... Aussie, Brit or 'merican. Maybe I'll try the French Canadian... I'm not likely to get lost.

Week 1 is done, so far so good.
Week 2 starts with a farewell.. Bruce Keenan passed away and tomorrow (Saturday) is the service to honour his passing. I will be there. The loss of your parent, your dad... I don't have word to express that. It's been over 40 years for me, and I don't have words.

And then, well... it's a new day, week, month, year... time only has one direction.