Spent Labour Day in Kingston, Where It’s Awesome

Spent the long weekend in Kingston, Ontario, visiting friends, a photoshoot with Suzy (I’m not allowed to show you anything yet) and celebrating a 60th birthday.

If you would like to get away for a weekend, come here.  There’s 1000 Islands, 1000 things to do, and Kingstonians are known as party-ers.

Let’s start with these four places:

1 – Go there for a beer – The Toucan

2 – Buy your books there – Wayfarer Books (smells so good)

3Pan Chancho – get a coffee and chocolate croissant

4 – I never go here, it’s for hippies, but green arrow: she’s _still_ there :O

Or, you could go see me on the walls of here.

My favourite ever army suprlus store is here – Smith Army Surplus.  If you’re lucky Kyle will be working, say hi.

I cruise through, sift through the patches, talk shop and swap lies.

You can shoot in Kingston, too.  Well I can, you might have a bit harder time.

This was S&R – Canada’s oldest (50+) independently owned department store.

It closed two summers ago, which I went around for weeks proclaiming sad and wrong.

I wish I had video of inside here; places like this don’t exist anymore.  I heard some mid-level-restaurant-franchise is going in.  Golf claps.

70% of all Kingstonians own something from here, maybe one of those glass balls, likely received as a gift.

I’m being dramatic, but not really.

Where you should be buying gifts from is Dwell Boutique, which I should have taken a photo of.

It’s a great place for Morning Drive.

YA BUDDY!  THE STUDIO LIVES!

Thanks Claus! <3

He also gave me silver dollar.  I put it on my fridge.

I left it there though, my car.  It’s no longer fit for the highway, not even I’m that wacked.  So kinda cool eh….

Me – “Pardon me?  Oh yes yes, I do keep a car in Kingston” :|

Ha.

This place below is my personal real estate brokering deal dream… it’s the old Psyc Ward down on the water.

Executed correctly, it could be one of the premiere mini-areas in Southern Ontario.

Kingston is a good-sized city that you’ll be leaning on a wall texting, someone strolls by you know, now you’re on a patio making jokes.

The streetlights are an inside joke.

Kingston is filled with buildings like this, Canada’s very first bank.

The arrow is pointing to my old apartment. I was the last person to live in it before the City took it over.

There was a restaurant on the main floor, who’d pass me ahi tuna on my way up the stairs, which I’d eat on the fire-escape (they removed it), from which I may have once thrown handfuls of mini-bouncy-balls from, to see what would happen (fun happens).

Go to Kingston, you’ll love it!

 

 

 

Things From My Break

Thursday night I’d had it, that familiar feeling of GAH.

So Friday I packed a bag, walked down to the closet car rental spot (I’m still without wheels) and said, hi one car please.

Ended up with a Jeep. Won’t be buying a Jeep.

If you need a car though, go here and see Bedi, he’s awesome. It was his last vehicle, which he scrambled to get me, because as he said, “I want you to be able to walk down like this and know you’ll get a car”.

I got in and drove it all over.

I took tons of photos, here’s one.

That’s it for now, because I invented a Keri On Security episode using them, so I’ll post them in a couple weeks.

Great city to return home to.

I decompressed using:

My Summer’11 routine…I walk down to the water, see the yellow arrow? I tuck in behind there (you can’t see me from the path), and I make a sushi picnic.

Walked home and settled back into my plotting.

I’ll explain more via video next week what you’re looking at, basically it’s my masterplan for my two shows, and I was deeeep into it.

So I’m flipping between excitedly Sharpie-ing up calendars and spreadsheets, to very still, deep, concentration.

Hand over mouth always.

Like my nomenclature?  Haha, I kill me sometimes.

And that’s how I didn’t notice the extreme storm coming in through my balcony door.

It’s almost okay today. That thing is old, a decade anyway. It’s the first ever Chameleon couch with wheels. They sell them with that option now, and that was allll me.

Can’t wait to start sharing my ideas with you, this security blog of mine, oh man, wait till you see. Haven’t been this excited in a while.

 

 

Watch Me Drive a Volkswagen Very Fast

One Saturday Volkswagen invited me to a parking lot by Ontario Place.

They asked which cars caught my eye, then, “okay, here. Now make it go as fast as possible around this awesome track we’ve built.” And then the angels sang.

Here’s footage from a rearview-mirror-mounted camera.

Casie cleverly filmed another round from the back seat.

I’d have stayed all day if I could.

Thanks for being great hosts, Kristi and Danie (who should be in this photo).

This is the new 2012 Beetle, and the only one in Canada.

Better, non!? Less hippie-ish, girly.

Look at the interiors, see the consistency? Mine’s a ’99, below.

Also, to talk photography for a sec, this may be one of my best framing jobs to date.

I’ll now conclude with…

… don’t VW and I match very well wink?!

This driving event was 3 weeks ago, and my car had just broke down, remember?

They emailed me shortly after, they felt my woes, how about an Eos for a week to help out?  Thank you very much yes please!

I’ve been flying around, morning drives, Grandma and errands, a road trip yesterday, and not showing up places sloppy from riding my bike.

I’ll leave you with this.

See the sign? I placed that in my parking spot when it was empty, for good luck. It worked.

Yellow arrows – that’s my parking job BOOM first time like a glooooove.

 

I've Been Car-less For 2 Weeks Now

Here lies the studio beneath my buddies cel tower. Not putting a RIP anywhere, not giving up hope.

Two weeks ago the horn started going off by itself. Like, three times a minute. I’d drive past people with both hands in the air, smiling while it honked at them.

Halfway to my destination it started to stutter, and I could see the electricity arcing under the steering wheel.

Swapped some fuses around, and broke one with my knife, which is normally used to open the glovebox.  It’s all class around here.  The passenger windows don’t go down, which really highlights the exhaust leak.

Much as I like adventure, this happening is no longer funny.  Plus I’m out of tows.

When I do get new car, I’d consider another VW.  I was ridiculously hard on this thing, and it always performed.  The heater is still really hot.  And the ergonomics, ahhhhh yes to those.

CAA to the rescue.

If you’re driving without CAA, I’m shaking my head at you right now.

The average tow costs minimum $100, annual membership isn’t much more than that, and I’ve never met a CAA driver I didn’t like. And I’ve met many.

Then Suzy came and rescued me roadside, complete with a hot homemade meal.

My bff is better than your bff.

This is the longest I’ve been without a car in 10+ years.

Le sigh.

 

What You Missed Recently

Me with my head down, deep into my computer mostly.

This latest invention of mine might be my very best yet.  Stand by, details soon!

Additionally.

Lots of lost of what I call Life Admin.

Life Admin: all the things you have to do that are horribly dull and tedious, but must be kept on top of, so that your life runs smoothly. © KeriBlog 2011

Left to right:

– that was my Saturday night.  Big city girl here.

– I would totally crush that job.  Seriously, I’m very fast with excellent accuracy.  One time I blogged about the possible negative ramifications of that.

– missing from my key rack – car keys.  That’s a whole other blog post unto itself, le sigh.

See text in photo, both above and below.

Did this surprise you, too?

It’s free admission all summer, that’s how I ended up there the day I went to the Indy.  Might be a nice place to spend an afternoon that’s off the beaten and all that.

Scattered-me.

Kay that’s all I have time for right now, TTYS