While I still hate what Christmas stands for in our society, I have to admit I hate it less now that I have Brandon and seeing how happy he is makes me happy. Hope it’s a good holiday for everyone else!
Oh in some other exciting news the James Webb Space Telescope was successfully launched and I wish the mission the best of success in the future! I very much look forward to what secrets it can reveal about our universe. 🙂
So we had a small Christmas gathering at Megan’s house but before I went, I did a rapid COVID19 test on Brandon and it came up negative. 🙂 Anyway we went to Megan’s house to celebrate and the kids were very cute as always but I feel bad for Georgia & Brandon as they don’t get as much attention as the little kids.
Since it was an early gathering, we let them open the presents that were there and they really enjoyed it. 🙂 Sigh stupid covid, makes things so much more difficult and this will be our only gathering so the rest of the holiday will be relatively quiet. Hopefully 2022’s xmas can be a grander affair.
So today I purchased a Canon MF4770n multifunction printer, oh wait that’s not the cool thing I bought today (even if it’s useful). 😉 No instead I bought a new (used) car, a 2015 Lexus IS 350 AWD.
I wanted to get the F-Sport model as I like how aggressive it looks but this car was a good deal and came with a ton of features that I wanted so I went with the regular IS 350 AWD with Executive package instead. Our insurance hasn’t paid out for the Lexus NX 200t yet but they will on 27th and I wanted to get another car. Maggie and I debated if I should get another NX as we really liked that SUV but seeing as how we only have a 1 car garage I think it’s safer to get a sedan as those aren’t as high up on the stolen car list. That and there are a few other current generation Lexus IS’ in our neighborhood parked on the driveway and they’re still there.
I won’t ever buy another new car as they depreciate so fast and 2015 is a bit older than I initially wanted but that’s alright. With a 3.5L V6 engine putting out 306 HP, I’m sure I’ll have some fun with it. 🙂
While I won’t know what insurance is going to give me yet for my stolen Lexus NX, I go back and forth on if I should buy another or buy something cheaper. Car prices have really inflated even during the short period of time from when I bought in the summer to now. This morning I went to look at a 2013 Lexus IS 350 AWD, I’ve decided to only buy a Lexus or Toyota as I want something that’s reliable anyway the second generation IS originally was released in 2006 and this car had a cigarette lighter as well as an ash tray in the front and back lol.
The car itself was in great overall condition and comes with a set of winter tires (on Lexus rims instead of ugly steel wheels) which makes things handier. With 306 HP, the car is pretty darn fast and when I stepped on it, Brandon’s initial reaction was “Ahh!” and I thought that was very cute.
The 2013 Lexus IS 350 AWD from this morning definitely lacks modern technology but it drove really well & had lots of power, I could see myself having a lot of fun with that car but is it the right car for the family… No I don’t think so unfortunately but who knows maybe I’ll be selfish and get something that I’ll enjoy and worry about space later.
Forgot to post an update… So I’ve passed over the footage I have to the police but they frankly said the Lexus NX is probably already on a container. Sigh makes it sound like auto theft is not high up on the list of priorities, I guess I get it but it’s still disappointing. Insurance says they’ll give the cops till Dec 27th before writing it off, I’ve asked them to give me the methodology on how they determine a car’s value and it’s a good thing I did because the spec sheet sent over was of a lower end NX than mine which was the top of the line.
I’m also debating what should I buy, I really did like my Lexus NX but cars have gotten really expensive even compared to when I bought in the summer so I’m now debating if I should buy something cheaper and just wait out this high period. Even cheaper is still expensive but right now I’m eyeing an older Lexus IS 350 AWD, I’d get the previous generation so that’d probably won’t be high up on a thief’s list and it should be quite a lot of fun too.
We’ll see what the future brings, no one was hurt and a car can be replaced so that makes me feel better. Brandon has finished school for the year and we’ll see what we can do together before the holidays. 🙂
So last night my Lexus NX 200t was stolen off my driveway argh! I was definitely targeted as two individuals riding electric scooters rode right to my house to break into the car first at 11:45pm, then they came back at 2:15am to finish the job. Interesting even in the early morning they didn’t actually drive off till 3:10am. I do have video footage of the whole event (which I won’t share, I don’t want people to know my camera angles) and when they were initially attacking the driver lock you can see that they were pushing and rocking the car a lot, why didn’t the damn alarm system go off…
Anyway yeah the Lexus NX is gone and I doubt I’ll see it again, sigh I had a shoot planned today so I had my tripod in the car and left my DJI Osmo Action in the back seat (I used it yesterday) by accident. 🙁 Ahh well nothing of huge value was in the car so it’s not the end of the world but very aggravating and I’ll have to deal with the headache of insurance.
This morning we decided to take a drive to Belleville, wanted to do a pass by the new place (that’s always fun) and to see the city of Belleville. It’s small but to be fair all cities in the province will feel small compared to Toronto.
We walked around the downtown core, there was a small farmer’s market and Maggie picked up a few things & we had lunch at the Tiger Chicken & Rib restaurant. They’re revitalizing the downtown core and it certainly gives you that small town comfy feel. Were a few homeless people on the streets which makes me wonder what type of support structures they have in the city, it’s going to get cold soon and with the close proximity to the water, I figure they’d get a lot of snow.
We didn’t stay long as we only really went out there on a whim and came bay in the early afternoon. Nice that it’s not too far out, in the morning it was 1 1/2 hours to the cottage, coming back traffic was heavier so it made the trip coming home 2 hours.
We take ownership of the house at the end of the month so it’s a bit tight but everything is looking ok so far. 🙂
I’m not really a prime lens person but for fun I picked up a Canon RF 50mm F1.8 lens. I’m thinking about going back to a 50mm focal length for the RP when I’m using it as a webcam so you can see less stuff in the background.
Even if it replaces the Canon RF 35mm F1.8 IS STM lens, I’ll still keep the other lens just in case I want things wider again. They’re cheap enough it that I’ll keep them forever so woo another RF lens for the collection!
Yesterday Maggie and I went to see two cottages, one in Belleville & another in Bancroft and we liked both of them. Maggie liked the one in Belleville more (I preferred the Bancroft one) so of course we bid on that one and well we won. 🙂
The house is meh, just over 900 sq ft but we bought it for the view in the back and it’s pretty damn nice. Better yet, the house is on a double lot and is 85’x176′ wide so potentially we could split the lot, build two houses and sell them for a pretty big profit. The house backs onto the Moira river and if you look across the water, you’ll see a new sub-division, the houses there go for $800k and they don’t even back onto the water like mine does. 😉
Yes this lot has a lot of potential but I think for 2022, we’ll use it as a cottage and put it on airbnb when we’re not there. The house closes pretty quickly, end of Dec so we’ll have a bit of time to bring it up to snuff cosmetically before the warm weather hits.
Last night I took Brandon to get his first COVID-19 shot at the Scarborough town center clinic and boy was he worried. LOL no kids like to get shots but it was pretty efficient and we were in and out within an hour. Great to see lots of kids out and I hope it protects them well should they get sick. I had pretty adverse reactions to both of my shots but Brandon is just fine today so I guess he’s stronger than I am lol, for that he gets to go back to school but that’s alright he likes school. If I were a kid, I would have taken the opportunity to stay home.
