Cycling the Aqueduct Bicycle Path

Cycling the Aquaduct Path

I have been cycling the Aqueduct Bicycle Path since my youth. The Aqueduct Bicycle Path is one of LaSalle’s three bicycle paths providing a dedicated cycling route downtown. Over the years this path became neglected while the Lachine Canal and LaSalle boulevard paths have had many improvements. This has changed. The city completed some repairs and upgrades on the Aqueduct path and more are planned for 2024.

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5 Years working for C.H. Robinson 

Photo at work

Reaching a milestone is an achievement and worthy of a blog post. I have been working for more than 5 years for C.H. Robinson. This is my longest employment for the same company in my 25-year career as a database administrator.  

C.H. Robinson bought Milgram shortly after I started working for them. My future at the time of the purchase was uncertain, however new management supplied reassurances. I focused on my work and stayed positive. Recently, I was transferred to a corporate DBA group. It was a pleasant surprise and something I was hoping would eventually happen. 

Prior to C.H. Robinson I changed jobs every three or four years. I was a journeyman of sorts. Each job was a learning experience and an opportunity to apply my database craft. Over time, my ability to search out and understand business needs quickly grew. Finding technical solutions related to the database and the data that the business needed was my niche. Repetition of the process made me a valuable employee. 

C.H. Robinson is a large company. It is also a good company to work for. At this point in my life, it is time for new challenges. I want to build a career inside a company. Being part of a team with similar skills is something new. So, my challenge in the near term is to be a valuable team member. What happens after that I will need to wait and see. 

In the meantime, I will enjoy the gift of working remotely. I am the person between my teen-age daughter and elderly mother. The extra flexibility is valuable. There are a lot of demands on my time but that is my situation now. 

Cycling 2022 in LaSalle

Bicycle Path Toward LaSalle

Working from home has forced me to abandon my daily cycling commute. New company policy is responsible for that. The early morning routine of rolling along the bike trail to work is gone. No more excitement at the end of the day knowing that I’ll be ridding home in the late afternoon sun. Cycling has become a deliberate activity. Commuting vs. leisurely ridding is very different in terms my decision of where to cycle. The former only required me to deviate the route from time to time and equip myself with what was needed. The latter is quite unfamiliar. I do know, I need to upgrade my equipment.

My urban hybrid is well suited for the Montreal roads and bicycle paths. It is heavy and has a solid frame. My luggage rack was customized to support a garment bag. The sprocket, chain, bearings, breaks and tires have all been worn-out and changed several times. It is a great bicycle for commuting. A true testament to what is practical. But I need something better suited for athletic cycling.

Road bike or touring bike, or both. I really don’t know. There will be a bicycle show in Montreal next February. It will be a good opportunity for research. My budget is about $3,000. There are many new gadgets that I have never used. The shoes that clip to the pedals will be something new for me. From what I have seen cyclists take matching their clothing to the bikes seriously. There is also getting fitted for your bike. That is something new to me. There are disk breaks and wireless gear shifters. I have never bothered with even having a water bottle attached to my bike.

In the meantime, my intention is to continue cycling into the late fall. There are hundreds of kilometers of bicycle trails in and around LaSalle. Many of them have kilometers of new asphalt and I intend to find all of them. It is comforting to know that I can cycle on pothole free paths. Even the main street near my home has been repaved. Only a small section needs to be completed to provide me with a pothole free access to the pothole free bicycle path.

The bicycle path in LaSalle along the riverbank was resurfaced this spring. It is in fantastic shape. The repaired trail starts at the intersection of the western edge of LaSalle, Lachine Canal bicycle path, and Lachine bicycle path. This path is described by many as the jewel of the Montreal cycling network. The LaSalle section is scenic and has some nice downhill sections. Travelling down river you will pass a belvedere look-out, a historical windmill, a rail and road bridge, a small park around Quenneville Bay, a landing where surfers surf a static wave, a large nature reserve, and finally a beautiful view of the Lachine Rapids.

There are other paths that have been or will be repaired shortly. I plan to make them part of my Leisure cycling in the near future.

About Me Database Administrator Montreal Quebec

Database Administrator Montreal Quebec

I am a database administrator / developer with more than 20 years of experience living in Montreal, Quebec.

At my places of employment, I was the team member responsible for all databases and data-related things. It was and still is a rewarding experience to create successful system and solve problems. My preferred role in a team has been the DBA but I have managed teams from time to time.

Why database administration?

Early on I observed developers could not fix databases problems. They needed outside help. This was a lesson from my first full-time job where I worked as an assistant technical manager. I wanted my next job to be more technical and less managerial. There was an opportunity to join a large company with a large training budget so I took it. Part of my job was to support the DBAs in that company. It seemed like this could be the technical career I was looking for. It was not long before I had formal training on how to do the job as a database administrator.

Since that first job as a database administrator, I had become a journeyman of sorts. I changed jobs every three to four years looking for new challenges and learning new things. I have worked twice in companies in the industries of transportation, pharmaceutical, reinsurance, customs and duties. Also, once in robotics and agriculture. The databases were mostly mid-sized. This meant that I performed double duty as the system administrator for the servers the databases ran on.

Besides my career?

I am a proud father of my fifteen-year-old daughter. Most of my time outside of work is focused on raising her.

I have some gentrified hobbies like cycling, picking mushrooms, collecting stamps and photography.

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