This seemed like a really busy week.
Never mind the normal hustle bustle of the life in the Communications department at King’s University College. I was actually out and about a fair bit.
On Monday, I went to visit Paul and picked up the latest issue of Shelf Life Magazine along with a couple of books to read. I need to begin updating the website so keep an eye out for that.
Then on Thursday, I finally broke down and had someone come look at my laptop. I bought it in January or February but for some reason whenever I started working on it, my cable and internet completely shut down. I kept thinking it was just a coincidence but eventually I realized it had to be the laptop. By then, of course, COVID was well underway and I couldn’t get someone to come out and take a look at it.
The weirdest thing, however. On Wednesday night, for the first time in a year, I decided to boot up the laptop just to make sure it was working before the repair guy showed up. While it took about 10 minutes to get it up and running, once I did so, I had no issues with my Internet. Seriously! I let it run for about an hour or so and not a single glitch. I had him come over anyways and take a look at it just to see if he could find something that might be causing the issue. (He didn’t.)
Then on Saturday, my folks and I went to Ailsa Craig and Stratford. Over the last couple of years, my Dad has been wondering if anything is in Ailsa Craig to commemorate Earl Ross, who won the 1974 Old Dominion 500 and became the first and thus far only Canadian to win at NASCAR’s Premiere level. A couple of weeks ago, I contacted the North Middlesex Historical Society and the Donald Hughes Annex Museum and arranged to visit on Saturday to see their display on Earl.
I must give MASSIVE kudos/props/appreciation to Shawna, the curator, for the very warm welcome we received. She brought her Dad and their friend, Bill – both who knew Earl Ross personally – over to talk with us about Earl and his career. The display on Earl Ross was incredible, with several diecasts of his cars (both in NASCAR and the Ontario racing scene) and newspaper and magazine articles about his NASCAR win and his career overall. It far exceeded my expectations.
If you have an interest in NASCAR, auto racing in the area or any ties to the Ailsa Craig area, definitely arrange to visit the Museum. Even above and beyond their Earl Ross display, there was a lot of stuff about the history of the town and area there. (I really enjoyed seeing their model train display that runs through a scale model of the village.) And Shawna was so nice, very accommodating and really made us feel welcome. My folks are still raving how much they enjoyed the visit.
From there, we went to the Value Village and the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Stratford. My Mom had wanted to go there and it wasn’t too far to go on the way home. We didn’t come with any major finds (I got a couple of t-shirts from Value Village) but it was nice to be somewhere that wasn’t in front of the computer monitor in my home office. Especially since we’re headed into a long period of time where travel may not be possible due to weather.
So, all in all, a good weekend. Got to watch some racing in between, so that was a plus as well. I hope all of you had a good weekend as well. Stay safe and stay healthy.
johnmilner.ca 