A time of contrasts and contradictions

In some ways time is flying by, while dragging its heels in others. There's no denying that the past couple of months have been a challenge and I know the challenge will continue a while longer. So far so good though, I'm still up to the challenge.

May was busy on a professional level, quiet on a personal level. With the halo I'm not able to get out much and so I've been filling my time work two jobs out of my office. I did get out and walked over to the local shopping district so I could do some banking and stuff. By the time I was home I was exhausted and sweating up a storm. Wearing a [fake] sheepskin vest on a warm day isn't something I'd recommend.

The other outing I had was with Gord, another Westy owner, who offered to drive Babe to the local Canadian Tire to get the new Continental tires installed. I had ordered the tires when we still down in North Carolina so it was high time. It took a couple of hours, much longer than it should have. But the tires look good and feel great (even on a short drive like we had).

A few of my favourite things

Continental Vanco 2s

The rest of the time I've been enjoying the little things, like these.

Native Ontario trilliums

So that was the quiet side of things. One month and two outings.

Meanwhile I have been working with Pedal Magazine on the next buyers guide issue, writing the occasional piece for online publication and staying in touch with the world of cycling. The piece I wrote this morning is about final preparations for the Tour de France - the 100th edition starts on the 29th and the final preparation races start tomorrow (Dauphiné) and next weekend (Tour de Suisse).

Then there is what I've been doing between 9 to 5 weekdays... banking hours for my banking IT contract. That has been a lot of work, and quite enjoyable. There are a lot of talented people there and some very interesting projects.

Next up: my first visit to the neuro-trauma clinic to get x-rays and talk with the neuro team about how the healing process is going. That will be getting close to two month mark; not long enough for me to expect to hear the halo can come off though.

In addition to not being able to cover races, I've decided that I will have to miss BusFusion this year. I helped organize part of the event this year and was looking forward to being there. Instead I'll send along some of my camera gear so someone else can record the Saturday evening concert.

Ariana Gillis will be live @ BusFusion June 8th

Expecting about 200 buses this year

I'm doing ok though, just keeping a low profile. Making the most of what I can, not letting the rest get to me.