There's one more day left in 2016. "We've got to remember to take the joy sign down," said my mother, a couple of days ago. She was talking about one of her Christmas decorations, the words "J-O-Y" spelled out in lighted red letters, hanging in our foyer window. As if it's only appropriate to sanction off joy to this time of year. Of course, that's not what she meant, but I'm certain that if you've been anywhere near the social media vortex lately, you've seen the headlines.

"2016 is the worst yet," "2016, just die already," "I'm done with you and your cruel games." The titles read like a cringeworthy middle school breakup note posted on Facebook. Each one fuels the fire more. Memes get created, crappy Buzzfeed caption videos get shared by multiple people. Dark forces get lambasted. ("why did you take Carrie away from us?")

Truly, if we look back on it, it was a bad year for a lot of people. Here in the United States, you could barely tune out the white noise surrounding the presidential election, which seemed to drag on for years rather than months, and is still dragging on. The list of celebrities lost has been long and varied, from Prince to Muhammad Ali and his close friend, photographer Howard Bingham. We could reminisce on these things, and it seems like that's what we've chosen to do.

Around me, friends have felt the struggle in their personal lives as well. My friends from college, now in the 22 to 25 year range, had the same problems I did finding work. It probably didn't help that most of us went for liberal arts degrees, but honestly it seems as though everyone who's young right now is struggling. For about 11 months of this year, I was deathly unhappy in a job I took because I felt it was the right thing to do, and because I looked past what my internal rhythm was telling me.

But, saying all of this, I wouldn't write the year off as all bad. I've seen this sort of thing happen before, after all.

I can start by saying that I was an avid Tumblr user throughout college. The site was a great time-filler, the kind of thing I could hop on and spend mindless hours scrolling through. To me, it felt more personalized than Facebook, because I could express through I was largely through visual materials. Fine art architectural photography, vintage Italian cars, old photographs from the National Geographic archives, and captioned screencaps from America's Next Top Model all resonated somehow. And people would open up on their own, for better or worse.

But the point lies in the statement here. "(insert year) is the worst ever" was a post I saw dozens of time on Tumblr. For 2013, 2014, 2015, until I stopped using the site regularly. It reminded me of when I would wallow in failed relationships blaming myself, even though I knew deep down that the other person had way more problems than I did. Of course it's the worst, because I can scrape up about 20 examples of bad things that've happened, ignoring the fact that bad things happen on a daily, hourly, minute-to-minute basis. It's just human nature.

So rather than continue to harp on how terrible 2016 has been, I'd encourage the masses to think instead about some of their own personal triumphs. Certainly it's been a tough year, but think of what you've learned, seen, accomplished. It's almost impossible not to have grown through these experiences. Those intense emotions we've all felt are good, they remind us that we're alive and that no matter what's going on or what we're going through, that it's possible to come back. At the very least, we have to retain that hope and approach each day, not just the year, better than we did the last.

French Canada Road Trip: Day Five, Part One (Old City Montreal)

To brush up on Day Four, a whirlwind trip from Toronto to Ottawa and along the St. Lawrence to Montreal, click here.

My hostel was located in the middle of Old Montreal. The city of Montreal is actually an island, with Mount Royal's 500-foot peak serving as the centerpoint and namesake of the city. Montreal was established in the early 1600s, first in 1611 as a fur trading post, then officially as the French colony of Ville Marie in 1641.

Old Montreal, one of the oldest population centers in North America, is situated along the Saint Lawrence River, and about 4,000 people live in this quarter-mile stretch of cobblestone streets. In the morning, I began on the North end of the neighborhood, planning to criss-cross through the narrow streets as the morning went on.

One of my first sights was Marche Bonsecours, a shopping center across the street from the hostel. It was clear from that point (and from driving in the night before) that most of Montreal is perpetually under construction, more so than any city I'd visit on this trip.

From there, I headed up a couple of blocks to the Hotel de ville de Montreal, which now houses Montreal City Hall, and has historically been home to the mayor of the city. Across the street from this, Chateau Ramezay, an 18th-century home that's housed Canadian governors, the Continental Army, a University of Montreal building, and now is a museum.

You get a good sense of the cosmopolitan nature of Montreal as soon as you set foot on its sidewalks. The streets of Vieux-Montreal are lined with renowned restaurants, and at night you can peek into basement dining rooms and hear American music spilling out across the streets.

By law, the province of Quebec is bilingual; all official documents, court proceedings, and other government business are transcribed in both French and English. In the streets of Montreal, you hear French almost exclusively from passers-by, with the exception of the area around McGill, an English-speaking research University on the west end of the island.

My walk continued past Place Jacques Cartier, a normally-bustling square which features Nelson's Column as its centerpiece. With a quick glance, you might miss this monument's significance, and its innate controversy. The column, built in 1809 after the death of British Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson, commemorates Britain's victory over France in the Battle of Trafalgar, in which Nelson lost his life.

Unsurprisingly, in a city that's 90% French-speaking, this statue did not and continues not to go over well, especially with Quebecois sovereignists, who plotted to blow up the statue shortly after it was built. In 1930, during a public inquiry, locals dedicated the square across the street to French naval officer Jean Vauquelin, and in 1997 an unsuccessful appeal was brought to move the statue to an English-speaking neighborhood.

Further south on Rue Notre-Dam sits the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. This massive Gothic church, constructed in 1853, takes up almost two blocks and demands to be seen. Thankfully, this is made easy by Place d'Armes, a largely-open square across the street with a statue of Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve, founder of Montreal in New France.

Notre-Dame's parish on the island of Montreal traces roots back to 1657, and more recently the church has been host to events such as Celine Dion's marriage to René Angélil (and his memorial service in January 2016), Justin Trudeau's eulogy to his father (and that funeral service in 2000), and Pope John Paul II's visit, raising the church to basilica status in 1982.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to tour the inside of the basilica, but it features a 7000-pipe organ dating back to 1891, and the stained glass windows rather unusually display scenes from Montreal's history. More on that fascinating organ though; most organs are rated by stops. These stops control individual ranks (vertical groups based on timbre and pitch) of pipes; the bigger the church, the more pipes, and the more stops. According to the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America (yes, a real thing), the size of the pipe organ in a church should be determined by the number of congregants, and the size is determined by stops. 5-10 stops per 100 people is a good rule of thumb. The amount of stops in Notre-Dame's pipe organ? 88

To further put this into perspective, think of the maintenance involved. Pipe organs need to be tuned twice a year, generally with the change from warm to cold season and vice-versa. APOBA says the cost of tuning varies from $85 to $125 an hour. Now, take into consideration that it takes an hour to tune each stop.

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As I neared the edge of the Old City, I turned onto Rue Saint-Pierre. On this street, housed in a former fire station, the Montreal History Center set up a giant inflatable octopus, presumably for Halloween. Standing across the street is Maison de Mere d'Youville, a stacked stone 1693 building that housed the old General Hospital and Saint Marguerite d'Youville, who founded The Grey Nuns of Montreal.

Still walking along Rue Saint-Pierre, I headed towards the water. On the corner, a monument to John Young, who was responsible for enlarging and developing the port of Montreal in the late 19th century. It sits in front of the Allan Building, a structure which holds an interesting piece of historical significance.

The H & A Allen Company, a shipbuilding outfit founded in 1863, was headquartered here when one of its steamships, the Virginian, first sent its wire of having received the first distress signal from the Titanic. This Montreal office was where the crew of the Virginian asked for permission to alter their course and rescue survivors of the shipwreck.

While I was there, a group of protestors played metal and held signs in opposition of Trudeau. They effectively drew attention; it was about 9:30 in the morning and the music was blaring. I still heard it as I walked towards the port, where a massive orange ship was docked.

Across the water, I saw Habitat 67. This fascinating piece of Montreal architecture was designed as an experimental utopia to be displayed at the 1967 Expo. It's one of only two remaining structures from that Exposition, the other being the Biodome. At its core, Habitat 67 is a set of prefabricated concrete cubes set together in an organic fashion. The idea was to create a style of apartment living that defied the conventional high rise, instead creating individual spaces that were more like single-family homes, in that they had gardens and streets running throughout.

But the idealistic project soon ran into trouble. During construction, the budget ran out of control, leading the government to set rents artificially high for the building. Further, the concrete cubes needed frequent repair, and made the spaces more prone to mold. Now the building houses fully-renovated spaces and a strong sense of community, but its edgy ideals have fled even the man-made peninsula on which it was built.

Next, I head to the Montreal Botanical Garden. Find Part Two here.

Lane Motor Museum: A Sneak Peek at the Basement Collection

The 132,000 square-foot industrial building sits on the outskirts of Nashville. It began life in 1951, housing the Sunbeam Bread bakery, but when the bakery ceased operations in the 1980s, the building sat unused until 20 years later. 

The charming space, with its original maple floors, hand-laid brick, and some machinery still in place, was purchased in 2000 by Jeff Lane, a club racer and automotive collector who grew up in Michigan. 

Renovations soon began, and the basement of the building became a storage facility and workshop. Now it houses most of the collection, which rotates every couple of months. About 300 cars reside in the basement at a time; another 150 are on display upstairs.

Here are some photos of the rare and unusual cars that are living downstairs right now:

A Czech Tatra ambulance in the workshop. About 80% of the collection runs and drives, and Jeff says he tries to drive each car at least twice a year.

Parts are organized in shelves and bins surrounding the workshop. Some, like the Tatra emblem, are in poor shape, but incredibly hard to find.

A 1960 Saab 93, which began racing in the early 1960s, and was raced extensively from 1987 to 2001.

1938 Citroen Berline 11 Gazogene. This car was converted to run on coal during the German occupation of France in World War II. Range for this coal-powered car was only about 30 miles.

A mid-engined, rear wheel drive Alpine Renault GTA Turbo. This 1800 pound car was good for 200 horsepower and 140 miles per hour. It was also the first car launched by Alpine under Renault ownership, so the Alpine factory was completely overhauled to build these cars faster than Alpine alone could ever have managed to.

Another racing Saab on the left, the Saab Sonett. The "Sonett II" originally came to the US with a two-stroke engine, but it was woefully uncompetitive, and quickly replaced with a Ford V4 unit. Sonetts were designed and built as race cars, and competed well against Austin Healeys and Triumphs in SCCA events of the era.

Wartburg was one of two East German automotive manufacturers. This, the 311 five door Camping-Limosuine, used a frame and engine from DKW, probably a violation of intellectual property as Wartburg used BMW designs as their own until stopped by court order in 1952. This car, while stylish and well-appointed, was body-on-frame and used a two-stroke engine. In 1957, it was already badly outdated.

Staying in Germany, this is another DKW. This one, a DKW Universal van, has a quite modern layout, with trailing arm rear suspension and a front engine, front drive layout. However, the engine was only 700cc, and simply couldn't pull the weight when the van was loaded with cargo.