Bajaha's introduction

[Bajaha]

Hello everyone!

I've joined the journal in hopes of picking your collective brains as I am going to be building a dream home with a dream garage attached, and hopefully will avoid making any boneheaded mistakes in the process.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is the frozen wasteland I call home, half the year we're frozen solid, and the other half we're blazing hot. The prairies are definitely a land of extremes in terms of temperatures.

I'm a visual person but before I can share links to photos, I will need the minimum 5 posts. So here goes...

 

[Bajaha]

A little background on myself, I'm an electrical engineer who's into cars. I have had quite the assortment over the years with one of my favorites being my 03 Subaru Baja that I swapped a 2010 WRX motor and 2013 STI transmission into. It was a huge learning experience and I had many years of fun with it, until it was broken into and vandalized when they attempted to steal it but were thwarted by the immobilizer. Unfortunately insurance deemed it a total loss and I parted out the car.

 

[Bajaha]

Other than doing mechanical things with cars, I also enjoy racing them. I'm on-and-off again with AutoX and I've previously gotten a racing license to compete in time attack at the local motorsports park. Still learning and have to dust the cobwebs off and get back into it, but as mentioned, I will be shortly in the process of designing and building our dream home and garage so that might have to wait.

 

[Bajaha]

Which brings me to an exciting time in my life. When it rains, it pours they say, and well it's all coming at once. Mid 2020 we worked through a real-estate deal where we put in a conditional offer on a vacant lot contingent on approved variances and we're now at the point where money has exchanged hands the lot is ours. During this time, we also learned we are expecting a baby this summer so there will be some more excitement there.

Work is ramping up with many projects as well, and because it seems I'm a bit of a masochist I also bought a project car with a blown motor and towed it home through a blizzard.

 

[Bajaha]

As you can see, I've got my hands full. For the majority of my life I've only worked out of a relatively small two car garage (funny story with that, our current home was designed by my father and the garage was sized by going out to the parking lot of their apartment, measuring two spots, and adding a couple feet to what felt right to him). Coming from an apartment, it felt huge, but it's a pretty tight space overall.

I obviously would want to avoid making mistakes that come from inexperience so I will be posting a thread here and hopefully getting some guidance and avoid some of the more obvious mistakes.

 

[Bajaha]

Photo of my latest project:

E: good thing I checked, looks like Imgur blocks GJ... bit of a bummer.

 

[nadogail]

Welcome to the Forum from Southwestern California. To the best of my knowledge, I may be the only guy on my block who knows where Manitoba is.

 

[Bajaha]

Thanks! I'm assuming you've moved south or have family up here somewhere?

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I know exactly where Manitoba is but then again I live just a few hours west of you. Portage and Main still the windiest corner in the free world.
I still have relatives in Wpg but haven’t been there for awhile.
Welcome to GJ looking forward to seeing more of your pics.

 

[nadogail]

Thanks! I'm assuming you've moved south or have family up here somewhere?

Neither of those, I lived in Anchorage from when I was 12 to just before my 22nd birthday. But during that time I made two round trips through Canada by way of the Alaska Highway. A family in Whitehorse, Yukon introduced me to Canadian Geography and talked of duck hunting on windswept stubble fields in Manitoba.

 

[erlski]

Welcome!