May 6, 2013
Motorcycle Insurance, like most types of insurance, is a total ball-ache. Last year when my bike got run over was the first time I’d had to really use it and, all things considered, I was treated pretty fairly… I felt like one of the lucky ones.
Feb 28, 2013
Aug 23, 2012
Let me tell you about my Aunt Marylyn’s best friend, John McBride. John is a real character; kind of a odd duck (which I like) but good hearted, funny, adventurous and full of good stories. Even at 75, John spends time scuba diving off the coast of New Zealand, motorcycling across the country and riding his bicycle all over the place. The unfortunate thing is that now, John is dead.
John was killed last Sunday night while riding his bike (my Aunt thinks probably home from church, but I haven’t gotten any more details than that) by a man, if we can call him that, who was driving with a suspended license.
Not only was this piece of shit driving illegally, once he hit John, he got out of the car and saw what he’d done, got back in and peaced the fuck out! I can think of almost nothing worse than hitting someone, accidental as it may have been, and leaving them alone in the street to die. Fortunately for John, it happened so close to home that some of his neighbors rushed to be with him while his life slipped away.
The driver was found and arrested a short while later but I haven’t yet heard what is going to happen to him. I hope that he is punished to the FULLEST extent of the law and if he isn’t, I hope that karma (or whatever cosmic force you believe in) climbs into a truck and runs him the fuck over.
RIP John, you will be missed.
Aug 10, 2012
Oh brother. Some guys just can’t get a break!
First. I finally get my bike back from 3 weeks away and then put in as much time on ‘er as I can. I rode out to Niagara for a wedding two weekends ago…
Then my points cover rattles off.
Then I ride out to Port Elgin to surprise my mom on her 65th birthday.
Then my exhaust flange bolts rattle off.
Pops and I (and Big A) drove around Port Elgin trying to find the 5/16″ 24 (fine thread) bolts I needed and had a hell of a time finding them on a civic holiday. All of the garages and auto parts stores in the region were closed, not to mention the HD dealer in Owen Sound, but we eventually tracked some down at a hardware store and set to task of re-installation… We didn’t reaaaaaally have the right tools so we only got 3/4 on, enough to get me home for sure.
Then my bike gets run over by a car.
So I’m at work and my bike is parked out front, like always, when some of the guys from the 4th floor come down to tell me that some woman knocked my bike over, drove over the front wheel, got out and recruited a passer-by to stand it back up, got back in her car and drove away. Fortunately, those guys are always out there smoking and they caught the license plate number and told me what happened.
Despite my “not always favorable” opinion of the Police, I called the fuzz and they told me that I had to lug the bike up to the collision reporting center which is on the other end of the city… I asked of they could send someone down and she said she could send someone down but they were just going to tell me that I’m going to have to take it up there. I said send ‘em anyway. The cop got here and was a super sweet dude, surveyed the damage, took witnesses statements and said that I don’t, in fact, have to lug the bike up to the collision reporting center and that he was going to charge whoever it was with a hit & run collision. Awesome.
Then, while the officer was still across the street, they tracked down the driver’s husband who (along with his wife) happens to run the spin studio a couple doors down from my office. The cop came back to give me the good news and while we were talking this guy comes in and tries to talk to me, presumably to try to smooth things over, but does a horrible job.
First, the guy tells me that his wife is in tears and is really sorry. Ok, I can appreciate that… Then he tells me that “she wasn’t trying to sneak away or anything.” Except, that’s what she did. He said “how is she supposed to know who’s bike it is?” Um, leave a note? Ask the guys standing there? Call the Police? I dunno… Either way, I can appreciate that she panicked and didn’t know what to do so whatever… Shit happens.
The next thing the guy says, though, made my blood boil. He said “no disrespect, but the way you have it parked there… I mean… I’ve almost hit it a couple of times before too…” so I said “parked like what? legally in a legal spot? If you can’t drive that’s not my fault.” to which he says “just saying” to which I say “don’t say” and asked him why he’s still talking… The cop had seen enough and took the guy away before it escalated any further. What a dong.
I spoke with the woman, herself, last night and while I don’t doubt that she feels badly, the unfortunate reality is that no one really understands that when you make a stupid mistake like that, nothing can make it better. Let’s say, for a second, that insurance covers the full cost of the repairs, who is going to pay for my time to deal with this? Is anyone going to rent me a bike to ride while mine is in the shop? Is anyone going to pay me for my monthly bike/insurance payments on a bike I can’t ride?
Without having taken it to a mechanic I can tell that the signals, brake lever, brake pedal & exhaust heat shields are all damaged but the biggest problem is that the front brake rotor is horribly warped so the bike really can’t be ridden. I can only hope that the wheel hasn’t been ruined and that there aren’t any more serious fork, alignment or frame problems… I’ll find out once I take it in, I guess.
Imagine I hadn’t noticed all the smaller things and gotten on it and rode away like I normally would have? I could have been seriously hurt and this is the over-arching issue with her making NO effort to tell me about the damage she’d caused. Not to mention the fact that I’ll again be without bike for, at best, a couple of weeks and at worst the rest of the summer. Not that I’m expecting to be out that long but seriously, summer will be over before we know it and I want to enjoy this machine that I put so much time, money and energy into.
Then I get home and my new points cover is in from Old Gold Garage… Looks like I’ll have to wait a while to install that beaut.
Jun 26, 2012
You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice has been a pretty regular read of mine for many years, it makes me feel super cool when I’m out being social and someone says how much they like “so and so” which gives me the opportunity to be all “yeah, they totally ripped that off” which makes them go all “oh, you’re so cool, Matt, how’d you get to be so cool?” and I’m like “I dunno, man, just born super cool I guess…”
Anyway, if you’ve spent any time around me since the shirts (& patches) were released (July 20, 2011 – I know that because we picked them up on the way to Chicago last year) you’ll undoubtedly recognize the symbol on the left as designed by the buds at Doublenaut…
…if you frequent unoriginal, garbage retailers like ASOS then you might recognize the obviously poached-then-made-shittier symbol on the right.
Sure, it was probably some junior designer at ASOS that just saw the image on ffffound and thought “that’d make a cool shirt” so they changed it a little while making it worse (as my man Ben said “the crown is next level”) and put it in a black box on a white shirt (what?) and submitted it for production…
It might not even be “the company’s fault” as the higher-ups may not have even known… That said, they profited from the hard work of two very talented designers (and probably many more in the past and present) and for that… it’s official… and it’s been a while since once of these has been given… but… ASOS gets The Gas Face!
More at You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice.
Oct 12, 2011
I know that there is a lot going on in our city, country and around the world that is worth getting fired up about but it can be overwhelming and it’s far too easy to watch from the sidelines. Every now and then, though, there is a cause that urges you from the comfort of your couch and into action!
I had my watershed moment tonight! Just watched Drive… featuring Gosling… Amongst other things, within the first 5 minutes I felt like Gosling was trapped in the middle of… oh, you know, only the best music video ever made and the best story of true love ever told…
My goat has been got – Wanna know why?
If I could find the opening credits online I’d post it up for a real side-by-side but I don’t, so here…
First line in the video: “Drive straight through the night”
Lyric from the opening credits of Drive: “Drive through the night”
Grum:
Drive:
Grum:
Drive:
Grum:
Drive:
Grum:
Drive:
The jacket? The fucking jacket? Ohhh god dayyyyyum. C’mon now?
There had better be a good explanation for this… The people will not abide.
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As an aside; while trying to piece this mystery together, I happened upon the director’s website and found “More Chance & Rick” – Sparkles, enjoy.
May 9, 2011
Oct 26, 2010
I’m both saddened and embarrassed for my city, today.
I hope all of you suburban so & sos that voted for this maniac based on his platform of tax cuts and fiscal responsibility made up numbers while simultaneously overlooking his backwards thinking and boorish behavior (don’t forget to read page two from some genuine classics) are happy with yourselves – they’re making fun of us are far away as Florida and these are the same dipshits that elected George Bush… Twice!
Sure, council will hopefully block most of this moron’s efforts, but wouldn’t you rather live in a city that is actively working towards making the place better rather than struggling endlessly internally in an attempt to keep it from getting worse?
Jaaaaaaaysus. To quote someone who’s name I do not know, which seems somehow fitting; “a Mayor Ford administration would make the Lastman years seem inspired.” True, true.
It’s been a long time since I’ve busted it out but I just can’t help myself… here it comes… BOOM! Rob Ford gets THE GAS FACE!!!
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Update: This interview is amazing (listen to the interview, seriously, what a cock) and this graphic does an amazing job of illustrating how someone like Ford gets to run a major metropolitan center and why the megacity was and still is a horrible idea.
Jun 29, 2010
I have a long, drawn out account of my thoughts on this weekend and all that transpired half-written but I don’t know if I’ll ever bother finishing it and/or posting it. I’ve read a lot of articles this week that do an excellent job of explaining what happened and how/why it all happened but this little blog entry sums up my feelings pretty well in very simple and relatable way.
The bottom line is that the script played itself out exactly as it was intended to and our world is no better or no worse off for it – it’s exactly as it was and exactly as it always will be.
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Oh hell, rather than make you click the link I’ll just repost…
Cop Car Burned! All Criticisms of Global Capitalism Rendered Moot!
i don’t endorse violence. i don’t think it’s the ideal way forward to a better society. i think all sane people would agree. heck, i don’t even endorse vandalism in the “service” of social change. i’m conservative that way. but the disproportionate reaction (to the disproportionate mainstream media coverage) to the image of a burning car and some broken windows at the G20 summit in toronto needs to be put into perspective.
i won’t bother with the obvious comparative study of the isolated “violence” of a handful of protestors versus the overwhelming violence practiced day in and day out at the expense of millions upon millions of human lives by national states the world over in order to secure their geopolitical interests. too easy. too obvious. too fundamental.
i will however, point out that unless you’ve been in the situation of being a direct, physical and psychological target of overwhelming and belligerent street-level force FUNDED BY YOUR OWN TAX DOLLARS, it can be hard to understand the frustration and rage that can build over the course of an afternoon let alone over the course of a lifetime.
hell, you don’t even have to have experienced it directly. just sitting on our couches in our homes, cursing the stinking system, we all know that the state has a monopoly on ultimate violence and total control. otherwise it wouldn’t exist as it does, right? things would be different, cause we would have gotten up off our couches and changed it if we were operating on a level playing field. but their is no level playing field between the state and its subjects. citizens plainly have insufficient institutional power to derail the sociopathic behaviour of the prevailing order. frustration and rage is the predictable result.
that frustration and rage is exacerbated when you’re pitted face to face against a wall of riot cops who are alternately corralling and intentionally provoking your otherwise peaceful demonstration into a corner, firing rubber bullets at you, detaining and searching you with no cause, hitting you with batons, singling out and abducting organizers, impersonating protesters, firing gas canisters intentionally at head level, exploding sound grenades by your ears, permanently damaging your body with exposure to chemical bombs (all based on personal experience by the way) and then having it all portrayed in the media as if it were YOU that needs to be restrained and punished rather than the megalomaniacs on the other side of the fence that continue to plunder and pillage the planet at these obnoxious publicly-funded private-parties of the global elite.
in these situations, there is only so much futility a person can take before their rage can get the best of them and a burning cop car or a smashed bank window starts to look pretty appealing. yes, these are futile acts, but what do we expect people to do when they are treated like shit and the justice system does nothing to intervene on their behalf?
sure, ideally we could all rise above it and aim for a perfect, superhuman state of restraint. sure. and yes, ideally i too would prefer the demonstrations were strictly peaceful (for strategic reasons mainly) and that other, more polarizing means of demonstration and protest and disruption occurred outside of these public gatherings (where they would be more effective).
but the people who manage the security state won’t let that happen anyways. they WANT violence. they provoke it. why? it justifies their absurd budgets. it lets them test and refine (and demonstrate to the rest of the population) their methods of population control in a managed setting, preparing for the day that the shit really hits the fan and the police state finally gets to give up any pretense of democracy. why else would they have the summit in fucking downtown toronto, where spirited protest was absolutely certain to occur, rather than on some cruise-ship in the atlantic where it could all be completely avoided? these are essentially war-games being staged on our nickel. and we, the people, are the enemy.
so let’s just try to keep things in perspective when corporate media habitually fails to hold concentrations of global power to any sliver of account and instead chooses to replay footage of a stupid burning cop car on a loop for hours on end as their marquee story.
there are plenty of examples of independent video footage of cops provoking and mistreating people at the G20 summit surfacing on the net. do yourself a favour and check them out and ask yourself how you would feel if you were on the receiving end of it. or if it were a member of your family.
that’s all i got to say.
Posted by Jesus H. Chris
Feb 10, 2010
I don’t know what it is about a little bit of white stuff on the ground that causes the mental retardation of many Toronto drivers to multiply tenfold?! Take ‘er down a notch, you big re reeeees!
Dec 9, 2009
Snow all night… rain all day…
Old Man Gloom, Deserts In Your Eyes:
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Nov 16, 2009
One of the biggest things that I’ve learned through this renovation project is that you’re going to have to do a lot of things yourself. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to do things myself, so that’s all fine and dandy, but what I find especially annoying is doing things myself that I’ve already paid someone else to do. I’ll delve into that, much deeper, when the big “before & after” post happens in the next couple of months but for now we’ll just talk about one simple thing… Cable.
The plans for the reno included several new cable outlets to be installed – towards the end of the contract with our GCs I started asking about how all of that was going to be wrapped up and was first told “everything will be taken care of” and then after a couple of weeks of asking with no results was told “oh, you have to get someone else to take care of that.” Fuck it, and more specifically fuck you, I’ll do it myself.
This is what they left me with; nothing terminated, nothing connected, nothing labeled.
So, I bought myself a crimper and a bunch of insulated coaxial cable terminators and figured out how everything goes together.
Unfortunately, when it came down to terminating the ends of the cable lines running into the electrical panel I kept screwing up at the crimping stage and wasted a bunch of my terminators.
In the end, I opted to whip back over to Active Surplus and picking up some screw on terminators which are far easier to use and are apparently just fine as long as you’re working indoors.
So I still need to button everything up and mount the splitters on the wall (and probably pick up better quality splitters, while I’m at it) but at least now every outlet in the house works and I went through the time consuming (and massively annoying) process of tracing all the lines and labeling them so that I know what goes where in the future.
As an interesting note; in my bedroom there were two outlets in a double box. I noted this to the GCs and they said that they weren’t sure why the electricians had done that and they’d get back to me. The official response was that there was an existing line but I’d specified a new line on the plans so they ran a new one and left the old one… Ok, sure.
So I figured I’d open up the wall and see the existing line and the new one – I found something totally different. TWO old lines to the basement (one of which works, the other doesn’t) and one new line running from a splitter in my living room which has a secondary splitter supplying the two new cable outlets. What? All of that jammed in the wall for no apparent reason with no real value. Thanks boys! Good work!
Lazy electricians and even lazier general contractors get The Gas Face!
Nov 2, 2009
I just read this story about my man Aaron and though I’d share…
You were in the back of a cab heading West on Dundas Street towards Ossington on Friday night, October 30th at about 1:45 AM. I was on my bike in the lane adjacent to your taxi. The driver got in a shouting match with me over how much room I was taking up on the street while he was straddling the line dividing our lanes. That cabbie decided to cut the argument short by steering the car into me, knocking me off my bike in traffic.
Two cyclists picked me and my bike up off the street and watched over me after I had blacked out. I am very grateful to them, but neither got an ID or description of the cab and neither did I.
While this occurred I saw a passenger in the back of the cab (female?) on the passenger side. I checked with police and no one called the accident in last night. I will be filing my own report and I urge the passenger to please do the same. I spent the night in the emergency room because I remembered very few details of my night when I regained consciousness. I’m sure my helmet saved me from very serious injury, but I am cut and bruised, and you don’t have to be a cyclist to realize the risk posed by a driver who deliberately uses his car as a weapon. If you see this, PLEASE contact the police about what you saw. Thanks.
He’s currently trying to track down whoever was in the back of that cab so if you know anyone who knows anything, please, please reach out.
Having had a guy intentionally swerve into me a while back I can certainly sympathize, I just got really lucky and managed to escape accident & injury.
First and foremost, I hope you heal up well and get back on your bike soon. Secondly, I hope that someone comes forward and they catch this piece of shit. Not that I think they’ll do much of anything to him (unless the fare/witness agrees with your perspective of what happened – often people inside the cars have a skewed perspective of events) but at least there’d be an opportunity for some sort of justice to be doled out if anyone knew who the fuck he was.
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Edit: I also just heard that my friend Tobin was awarded the coveted door prize yesterday. Rod, tell our lucky contestant what he’s won! Well, Bob, our friend Tobin will be going home with the pain and overall life disruption of a broken collar bone and a solid year of bumper shock while riding in traffic! Congratulations, homie!
But seriously, heal well, friend… and don’t forget to Spay & Neuter your pets.
Sep 21, 2009
As the story goes; This man was witnessed allegedly stealing the rear wheel of a bicycle belonging to Torontoist reader Dean Perlmutter. According to the witness, when the man was asked if he was stealing the wheel that he just removed, he allegedly threatened the witness and rode off. Perlmutter continues:
Undeterred, our nameless hero got on his own bike and rode after the [alleged] thief and pulled out his iPhone. He tried to grab some shots of the villain as he rode, even managing to get in front of him. He finally got off a shot of the man’s face.
Looks like a pretty big dude so I might think twice before ‘don’t steal bikes, bro‘ing him if I saw him on the street but I’d liberate the fuck out of those wheels if I saw that bike locked up anywhere and pass them off to any number of poor souls I know who have had their wheels ‘misplaced’.
Via Torontoist
Sep 8, 2009
I’d been biting my tongue, trying to keep a level head and waiting to see some of this footage before I said all that much about what happened last week to Darcy Allan Sheppard on Bloor.
Now I’ve seen it and I find myself at a loss for words. Heavy.
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Somewhat related;
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Not really related but somehow relevant; I full recognize the hypocrisy of condemning one act of violence while condoning… hell, borderline endorsing another… but I’d be lying if I said that this video didn’t give me a sense of quiet satisfaction.
Sure, where crimes against property are apparent perhaps violence isn’t an appropriate response. And sure, two or three on one doesn’t sit all that well with me. And sure, hitting someone who won’t hit back isn’t exactly nice but the guy took a few well deserved lumps and as far as anyone who has come out to find their beloved bike missing is concerned, homie got off easy. These things aren’t black and white and the lines are very fine, but whatever, fuck a bike thief.
via Prolly
May 24, 2009
I actually meant to post about this a couple of weeks ago but I didn’t have my camera with me and when I went back to snap, someone already had the good sense to remove this useless piece of garbage from the ring & post to which it was attached.
Apparently some genius, well versed in the art of guerrilla marketing, sees fit to take up our often limited bike parking space with big red corrugated plastic scooters directing us to their website.
My curiosity has been piqued; what is it that I need to see so badly that you feel the need to annoy me in order to get me to see it? Oh, scooters. Scooters are cool and everything but I’m aware that they exist so what makes this particular scooter worth looking at? Oh, you made a video.
I mean, hey, they’ve taken the time collect a bunch of young, fashionable douchebags and make a little video for all of our viewing pleasure so the least we could do is take a cue from their poorly placed advertising and check it out, right? Wicked, you’ve got people talking. Success!
As if having scooters that think they’re bikes on the streets and in our way isn’t bad enough… Now we’ve got ads for scooters that think that they’re bikes too! What a world.
Dear Fuckfaces,
Please keep your advertising off our parking spots.
Thank you,
The Captain.
Photo courtesy of Spacing.
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Speaking of retardo advertising and people that don’t really understand their demographics (or maybe they do, which is even scarier). I keep seeing “fixies” popping up in advertising and store windows everywhere and it always leaves a sour taste in my mouth. They look cool, they’re fun to ride, all those things… I get it, I ride one. But just because something is cool doesn’t mean that you have to attach yourself to it – it’s ok for something to be cool and just let it stay that way. Or is it?
Flip cap? Track stand? Coffee shop? Ghetto Fabulous? This has to be a joke.
This is, by far, the most impressive “fixie” shark jump I’ve seen as of yet.
via Tracko
