14 Sep 09 A rough Sunday morning : smashed Chevy Venture windshield
OK, a bit of a breather over lunch after a hectic morning; 2 of my colleagues are out of the office while they take 5 days of training on Windows Server 2008.
I just realized that I haven’t published anything here since the mid-Spring several months ago! Don’t worry, I’ll be soon retroactively sharing some stories of my adventures and fun over the extended leave I enjoyed with the family over the summer.
So it was a brisk Sunday morning yesterday just before 8:00am as I drove on a local road near my home when suddenly a bit of a whooshing sound… I had about 0.25s to view the hood on my Chevy Venture rising up… and then a resounding smashing sound as it hit the windshield hard. The Chevy Venture hood has the front grill integrated into it and as such includes a near 90° angle. That hood angle is what caused most of the damage to the windshield which, despite being severely cracked, did not completely shatter. I was able to solidly close and latch the hood afterward, which surprised me a bit; I’m guessing it was improperly latched during a recent service visit or perhaps by me when I check the oil and other engine components.
As always, it could have been much worse, since I was driving on a secondary road at only about 65-75 km/h; I’m quite convinced the damage (and potential collision risk) would have been much worse if I were on a faster and busier highway.
I realized afterward that I had lost the chrome grill inlay and I returned with the boys (they weren’t with me at the time it happened) and Tristan was most proud to spot the shiny chrome grill just barely peeking out of the grass on the side of the road.
That was actually a good thing since just the replacement grill on eBay goes for between USD $70-105 and that’s not including shipping. Extra large bowl of ice cream for Tristan (and Zach, who checked his side of the road)… 
Ah, it could have been worse… but still, about $450-600 all included to have the windshield (and possible molding) replaced. So, it’s riding my great Trek 6500zx bike for a couple of days depending on the repair delay…
Tags: Cars, Chevy Venture, Tristan, Zachary
06 Oct 08 Mercedes AMG SL63 Black Series spy shot at Nurburgring showing off impressive braking
Err, I think the pic attests to the power of the brakes
(For the uninitiated, Nurburgring is a race track that is also officially part of the Autobahn (highway) network in Germany and is used by most manufacturers to test the limits of their new performance cars. It’s undeniably one of the most challenging and lengthy courses in the world.)
Who would have thought doing a motorcycle like stoppie in 4000+ lb car? Nice brakes. German, of course. 
Tags: AMG Black Series, AMG SL63, Brembo brakes, Cars, Nurburgring
05 Jul 08 eBay Canada free listing week – list your car for free on eBay Motors Canada…
It starts July 6th and ends on July 12th. Basically you save $4.25 by listing your car on eBay Motors Canada during this free listing week. Note that the transaction fees (if someone bids on and/or buys your vehicle) are not free, but hey $4.25 saved is $4.25 saved. That’s almost 3 litres of gas.
27 May 08 L’essence pour seulement $1.30 le litre / Gas for only $1.30 a litre – what a bargain!
Je me demandais pourquoi il y avait un grand fil d’attente pour faire le plein d’essence à cette station de ravitaillement Shell sur la rive-sud de Montréal hier soir quand le prix du litre était “seulement” $1.30 le litre.
J’ai pu avoir la réponse ce matin… $1.434 le litre, ca change pas le monde, sauf que…
Avec 3.78 litres par gallon US, ca fait environs $5.42 par gallon.
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I was wondering why there was a line-up for getting fill-ups at this Shell filling station on the South Shore of Montreal when the price was “only” $1.30.
I got the answer this morning; $1.434 per litre, it doesn’t change anything except…
At 3.78 litres per US gallon, that converts to about $5.42 par gallon.
Tags: Cars, gas prices, prix de l'essence
20 Mar 08 Snowmageddon 2008 : What does 31cm of snow driven by 133 km/h wind do to an engine bay?
Well, Saturday March 9th 2008 will be a night to remember … for once I think all the blizzard, snow hurricane and ice pellet typhoon were all justified.
The day after, I wondered why my wipers had stopped working … so I decided to pop the hood and take a closer look….
Hmm.
BTW, that was one of the first photos I took directly from my HTC Touch P3050 (HTC Vogue 100) smartphone’s 2 megapixel camera – with all standard settings.
