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August 6, 2006 - 12:12 AM  And so begins our familys' annual Pine Lake retreat / reunion for 2006. The first night: Cold and rainy. But camp was set up successfully, our tarp apparatus accomplished it's mission of keeping the rain off our group and our goods, and although the kids next door decided that I was going to be part of their waterfight, we managed to keep moderately dry. The Hanson's arrived about 11:30 and began the setup of their trailer and tents in the dark, aided by our Coleman. After their trailer was parked and hooked up, puppy and I went to bed. I'll tell you the stories later, but for now I need to get some sleep as I have to work in the morning (Hence the fact that I'm able to post this stuff tonight instead of being camping at Pine Lake. Apparantly I didn't get my vacation request submitted in time - the summer months fill up fast.) But a couple of keywords to pique your curiosity and to remind me later on which subjects to elaborate:
  Yes - That's a green mosquito!          Goodnight August 12, 2006 - 8:26 AM Today is my last day of Family Pine Lake in 2006. There have been so many times I had things to write about, but this is the first time I've actually had the gumption to sit down and write anything, and sadly enough - it's because there isn't anything else to do. The week started off great. The boat was up and running - and ran very well, the weather was gorgeous, our camp site was erected quickly and accomodated us very well. The first couple of days were spent wakeboarding and swimming in the pool. Of course, as Murphy would have it, I had to work on the hottest day and so was in Calgary hooking up people's cable instead of enjoying what could have been the best day of the camping week.  I've never had so much fun wakeboarding as I did this year. Mark and I both advanced our wakeboarding skill by exponential amounts and were pumped about continuing our wakeboarding adventures until the inevitable failure of the boat effectively sank our dreams. As for exactly how the boat failed this year, that's something of an adventure in and of itself. We had a boatload of people and were pulling Jon Pendlebury on the wakeboard with Jamie driving. Driving northward up the lake we were approaching the Green Acres sand bar, but Jamie was apparantly unaware of it's existance. Despite warnings from both Uncle Bruce and I, the boat did not veer from it's course and sure enough, the leg of the engine met up with the bottom of the lake. There was a series of bumps before what could only be described as hitting the brakes on a vessel without brakes. The boat came to a very sudden stop, jolting all aboard before. It was so stuck in the mud that the engine actually stopped and the boat sat firm in the water - it did not even bob or rock. Jon also came to a stop behind us and sank to the bottom of the lake, which now only came up to his knees. For a moment everyone sat there stunned, looking around trying to figure out both what happened and what to do next. It's not like you can just call a tow truck! Everyone moved to the front of the boat and the shift in weight allowed the leg to lift enough to clear the mud and Jon came over and pushed us out to deeper waters. After checking the prop and restarting the engine, we opened it up and were temporarily relieved to find that everything seemed OK on the boat, but that sense of relief was short lived. The next morning Uncle Bruce went to check on the boat and found that it had nearly sunk at the Sandy Cove dock. After bilging the boat out, we were able to get it started but the starter was completely submerged overnight, the alternator was also in water and more than half the engine was submerged. Once the engine compartment was drained we could see at least one spot where water appeared to be pouring in. Now it's ten after nine and the sun is trying to poke through the grey clouds that have plagued this place for the past two days. If the weather permits, we are going to take it back out into the lake and see if we can find some more definitive leaks in the stern drive.  One of the quieter afternoons, Mark and I invented a new game. We have yet to name the game itself, but all other aspects of it's rules and gameplay have been nailed down quite well. Basically, the game is played underneath an overhead wire. In our particular case, there was a wire that connected the various streetlights strung across the grass walkway that divides the campground. Starting directly underneath the wire, players take turns throwing a ball (in our case, a baseball) at the wire. Whenever either player hits the wire, they recieve one point and both contestants take a step back. An object placed on the ground can be used as a marker. When the scores are even, they are said to be "Bill." Whenever either player is up by one point, they are said to have Pigeon. If up by two points, Butterfly, three points Booger. A spread of four points is trolly, five points - toaster-oven, six - toodle-doo, seven - Badger. We might have had more names made up for other spreads, but since the games were usually played to 10 points we often did not have point spreads of over 7 points. The games is surprisingly challenging, requiring all of aim, hand-eye coordination and depth perception. We played for many hours before the rain settled in and forced us off the field, and the subsequent pooling of water caused giant mud puddles to form after quantities of vehicles drove through them. Now the center lane is mostly mud with a spattering of grass here and there and the space under the wire is all but unplayable. Now with today being the last day, (at least for me) the weather has turned much for the nicer and we're planning on heading out into the lake where the goal of the day is to get Blair up on the wakeboard.                  August 14, 2006 - 10:47 PM  You don't see THAT every day... So I was driving down 52nd Street, southbound between 32nd Ave and 26th Ave NE. I'm in the left-hand lane of the two lanes of southbound traffic and there is about 6 or 7 cars in the right hand lane beside me. There's a bus up ahead in the right lane that is probably going to stop at the bus stop, so as one might expect, a couple of alert drivers in the right-hand lane behind it are starting to think about changing lanes. One small blue truck in the right lane flipped on his turn signal, but he was travelling much slower than the flow of cars in the left-hand lane and I wasn't about to drop half of my momentum to let him in when he could easily wait a few more seconds for me to pass. I believe I must have been the last vehicle in the chain of cars in the left lane. I remember chuckling a bit as I thought to myself, "Did that guy really expect someone to stop and let him in? It's one thing if you're moving at the same speed and there's a space, but that was not the case here. What a goofball." So on I continued. By this time the bus had stopped and began unloading passengers. I was passing a string of cars that were now having to slow down behind the bus when the sudden movement of this one red car parallel to my van caught my eye. The way he veered he seemed to have intended to change lanes but then after looking beside his vehicle, realized that another, larger vehicle (me) was there and that two solids could not occupy the same space. He then pulled back into his own lane, and (at full speed still) drove RIGHT into the back of the stopped bus! I checked my speed to see what he would have been doing, and I honestly don't think he even had time to hit his brakes. He went from 60 km/hr to zero in one bus stop. It was awesome. Talk about not paying attention! I could understand if someone caught some glare on their windshield and didn't see a pedestrian, or changed lanes into one of those smart cars that was hiding in his blind spot, but there is simply NO excuse available for driving directly into the back of a city bus. You've got a large, bright object, complete with flashing lights on the back... And then the sound the vehicle made hitting the bus... It was kind of a bump, a crunch, and a crumple all at the same time. You don't see that every day... Allright, now do you want to know something wierd about my body? Normally throughout my day I drink quite a bit of fluids, usually water but I have been known to give in to the offer of some Pepsi from a grateful customer now and then. (And ok, yes I sometimes actually buy the stuff too... Slurpees are also great sources of temptation and relief on hot days.) So today I had consumed quite a few of such beverages, and by the time my last call was done, I had to pee as one might expect. In fact, as I was on the phone with Pat my need to urinate grew so desperate that I was in considerable pain! But without a relief facility immediately available, I crossed my legs and bore it. When I arrived at Mike's house, I had originally planned on using his washroom right away, but before arriving there I had come into two large (the big ones) slurpies and mine was already a quarter gone. So when I got to the door I had forgotten about the bathroom. I continued sipping away on the slurpee and drank the whole thing until suddenly it struck me: As I set the empty cup down on the table after sucking the last bit of ice out I realized - I no longer had to pee! Those big ones are what, 1.18 litres??? If you drink 1.18 litres of practially ANY fluid with a full bladder and you will explode! But for some reason my urge was gone. Not even lulled, it was GONE! It wasn't until I drank two large glasses of water that I began to feel the tingle again. Is that not very bizarre? It was so wierd I had to share it with you. August 18, 2006 - 2:11 AM  Nothing like a new toy... Before I tell you about my day, I'm sitting here in my room with my headphones on, listn'ing to moozak. But these headphones are killer - the bass inside them is so potent that every thump and rumble actually tickles my ears! If you could see my ears, you'd notice they're actually moving inside the 'phones. I don't really have a song for the day yet. I'm sifting through a bunch of new tunes here. One of the more intriguing bits is a little night song called Lovely Head by Goldfrapp. It reminds me of a Bond Movie mixed with a Roger Whittaker ballad if that doesn't conjure up enough of an abstract audioliphic sound-image for you. But if you heard it you'd probably understand. (That was about the best introduction and segway I could come up with to link this paragraph to the last one.) Speaking of Bond movies, I got to play with a new toy today. The other day my brother got two electric scooters from somewhere. I think they were thrown out but he salvaged them and we poured over their design and components tonight, ascertaining whether or not we could make them ride. After putting their batteries on the car charger for a couple of hours while I tinkered with the little control circuit that didn't seem to be working, it dawned on me after a heavenly nap on the deck of my parents' house. The scooters have two handlebar mounted controls - a brake on the left and an actuation switch on the right. While sitting on the floor, the actuation switch did not seem to do anything even though we confirmed that the switch and the motor both worked and there was adequate power in the batteries. So as I was napping I was pondering the design of the simple control switch. It suddenly dawned on me in my dream - the power that closed the relay was not fed from the battery but from the motor! You had to be pushing it first before it would 'start'. I put one of them back together with the batteries inside, scooted it along the floor and pulled the trigger. Guess what. The wheel started spinning on it's own. Excited, I decided to take it out on the road for a real test. The little contraption actually hauled pretty good! It took a little bit of getting used to, especially since the handlebars are adjustable and the latch that holds them in place was not securing. Too far forward and the front wheel scraped against the frame of the scooter; too far back and the bottom of the scooter dragged along the ground. Oh - and I discovered one thing too. The speed of the unit is very deceptive. I tried to ride it up a rounded curb. Bad idea. The bottom hi-centered on the curb, effectively stopping scooter's platform but my momentum and the laws of physics demanded I keep moving in the direction I'd been travelling. I'm not entirely sure how I landed, but somehow in the adventure I hurt the arch of my right foot. Even now as I sit with it resting atop my computer it hints of a sting. But that was minor and I rode it two blocks to the end of the park and back twice and then decided to try it on a bit of a hill. Going down hill was easy, and although it's RPM's slowed a bit on the rebound, it still pulled me all the way back up the street beside my parents' house that has the incline. The verdict: I can't wait to play with them again tomorrow! I want to see how far the batteries can actually take it when fully charged. According to my estimates, the batteries are each 12V 4.5Ah cells, connected in series to produce 24 volts DC. The motor is listed as 6 Amps or 100 watts of power consumption, so given that amount of draw, I would estimate that if they're both fully charged and working properly, it should run for a little over 45 minutes - a theory I am quite curious to test tomorrow. In the mean time, I've got some sleeping and more dreaming to do. Even though I set my alarm on these days, it never seems to do a thing. I'd also like to set up a hammock in the back yard. Maybe I'll buy one tomorrow and bring it to Tombstone Lake where Bo and I are camping this weekend. I haven't been in a hammock in years. August 19, 2006 - 6:25 PM ALWAYS keep the safety ON your can of Bear Mace!  Bo and I went backcountry camping this weekend at Elbow Lake, by FAR the easiest hike in the history of our backcountry camping trips. The total distance from the trail head parking to the campground was 1.38 KM. Galetea is about 6.1 KM, Mt. Romulus is about 11 KM. We were both feeling pretty tired and worn out this weekend so decided this would be a nice easy hike for a change. The site was actually quite scenic, poised on the edge of a small lake that apparantly starts the river that runs past the Romulus campground. Small world.   My bladder got out of bed before I did this morning so I had to follow suit and satisfy the needs of nature so as to prevent a domestic disaster in the domacile. Wouldn't you know it but I still had my camera with me so I managed to get a couple of nice sunrise shots over the lake.   Here's a nice morning shot of me. Never mix your drinks.  This is one of the group firepits at Elbow Lake. Because you are in bear country, all the cooking, eating, and food storage facilities are located a safe distance away from the sleeping areas so that if a bear did wander into camp in search of food, he would hopefully be far enough away that you could escape safely or at least not be attacked by him in the night as he tries to consume your covert supply of contraband in your tent.    It's always inspiring being out in Kananaskis. The mountains are huge. The lakes are crystal clear. The air is fresh and clean. You feel small but empowered at the same time. It's refreshing  Now I had to take a picture of this sign. There were two caution signs on the trail leading to the lake, one considerably larger than the other - but they did not indicate what danger they were cautioning you about! I was tempted to write underneath the word Caution the word "Bear". (But I did not have a marker.) Oh but for a felt the best-laid plans fall to the wayside... August 22, 2006 - 11:00 PM My day? Let me tell you about my day: Maddy was over tonight and being quite the bundle of joy she usually is. We were playing with the laundry shoot, talking to each other through it and me expostulating profusely when she dropped the gum out of her mouth nearly getting me with it. (All the while laughing, of course.) Then I held her up from the bottom of the shoot and Bo took an adorable picture of her looking out through the hole in the bathroom wall. Very cute. I told her about how I lost my birds the other night and she says most matter of factly, "Well, that's why I always tell you you have to keep the door shut!" (She has NEVER told me that.) I was working in a house running cable through the cold air ducts in the basement when suddenly I heard the buckling of tin and watched as the tin duct began to buckle sequentially from the place I was pulling the cable all the way down the tube. The owner's cat had spotted the open vent, crawled in, and was now exploring their central heating system. Fortunately it got out ok and was none the worse for wear. Quite funny though, and I wish to goodness I'd had a video camera. Then at another call I got to hear some more new house horror stories. This guy had a new house built over in Cranston or Valley Ridge - over a million if it's a dime. Within 14 months they had to replace ALL the stucko because the house leaked everywhere. Sloppy craftsmanship "underneath". They'd used over 400 pieces of left over 'scraps' of Tyvek (plastic wrap) to "seal" the house up, taping them together and in some cases - not even overlapping. Many of the windows had to be replaced and reflashed - and even some of the shingles were underlapped - meaning any moisture would actually be *welcomed* through instead of being rolled away. The walls of the house were missing studs in them, and to "top it off", when they were replacing the soffit, the building inspector discovered that half the trusses that form the roof of the house - had never been nailed down. It was set in place, held together by everything else and gravity, but barely fastened to the building itself. Fortunately the builder was working with the new owner and paying for all the re-construction. Oh - and when the garage floor (pad) cracked and they broke it up to replace it - they found the ground beneath it had sunk in places over a foot! I admire his restraint in the words he used to sum up his experience - "It's a damned inconvenience, that's what it is..." he says. My house may be 30 years old but at least the roof is nailed on. Plus - if it hasn't broken in 30 years, it's probably ok. What I'd always be worried about with a new house is the things that may work or look fine for the first couple of years, but then - like the outer walls of that guy's house missing 2x6 studs - you may never even know there's a problem until the new home warranty is up and it winds up costing you a fortune simply because you didn't notice in time. August 27, 2006 - 6:54 AM What a beautiful day for a sprinkler   Last night I went to the finale of the Globalfest Fireworks competition with Kristin, Kevin, and his friend Alex (although I went around all night calling him Eric for some reason and no one corrected me.) It was the perfect night for it too. Nice and warm, no wind, Ellisdon park was packed! They had this band, the Canadiaks, playing for most of the night leading up to the show - and they weren't bad as far as bands go... But everyone that was there went to see the fireworks, not to hear a cover band and as such, the croud's response to their requests for noise was quite embarassing. At one point the band asked if they had time to play one more song and I heard a subtle but distinct boooooo eminate from various bolder pockets of people. But once the fireworks started the show was great and well worth the wait and the walk.     August 31, 2006 - 1:09 AM Here's an interesting bit of information from the Calgary Herald the other day I thought I'd share with you: The Calgary Herald reports that the vacancy rate in Calgary is .06 %. A rate of 2% is considered a zero vacancy rate because there are always suites which require maintenance. A rate of .06% means that people are so desperate they are moving in before the unit has been cleaned and/or repaired. Landlords are able to remove tenants with a 24 hour eviction notice. They simply change the locks while the tenant is away. The onus is now on the tenant to sue the landlord. Calgary Police may assist the tenant with recovery of their goods. An average one bedroom apartment rents for $1000/mth.......two bedrooms $1400/mth. Calgary Housing Authority has a minimum one year waiting period. Priority will then be given to families who have been assisted by Inn >From The Cold for the previous year. Inn From The Cold is currently maintaining 145 families who are waiting for subsidized accommodations to become available. Landlords are able to demand double, triple and sometimes quadruple the previous monthly rate. Oakhill Estates which, for a number of years, had been a subsidized housing complex in NE Calgary is now renting a two bedroom apartment for $1439/mth. The cost to build a home in Calgary has doubled over the past year. 75% of the citizens of Calgary do not earn enough to qualify for the mortgage required to purchase a home. Most rental housing is not advertised. Landlords simply place a sign in the front lawn and accept applications Priority is given to those with no kids, no pets, full damage deposit and first month's rent. On average.........each and every day of the year.......75 new people arrive in Calgary and they all require housing. There is a rental property in Forest Lawn. The upstairs is being rented for $900/mth. The basement is being rented for $600. Last week the landlord rented the garage to a couple and their two dogs for $500/mth. There is no heat, no kitchen and no bathroom in the garage. Last week a family of 6, (parents 4 children ) were referred to the Crisis Specialist. She made 89 phone calls attempting to locate low cost housing. Calls were placed to housing agencies throughout the Province of Alberta. From Fort McMurray to Edmonton to Red Deer to Lethbridge to Medicine Hat, a total of 18 housing complexes in other centres were contacted. There is no vacancy in the Province of Alberta. When reading something like that it sure feels good to own a house... Bo and I bought this place at exactly the right time. It literally couldn't have been any better. Any sooner and we wouldn't have been ready - any later and we wouldn't have been able to afford it. I am very grateful to have a friend like Bo. August 31, 2006 - 10:51 am  Well, it finally happened. Remember my old cell phone? The one I've had for almost 4 years? Well, in a cluster charge of strikes against it, last Thursday I finally managed to lose the antenna. It's been broken for months and would sometimes fall out of the phone, but this time I didn't notice it's departure and as such, travelled great distance before I realized it's absense. The phone continued to work without it's antenna but the reception was severely hampered. But then, the final kicker came when I was at Barb's house on Saturday (or whatever day the finale of Globalfest was. I think it was Saturday) My phone rang, I reached into my pocket to answer it and somehow it fumbled from my fingers, bashed into the floor and from that point onward the screen displayed a seemingly random array of color dots. Needing a phone for work, I had no choice but to go out and buy a new one. The phone I bought, the Samsung A950 is a wonderful phone. I love it. It has all the useful features I've ever wanted in a phone, a camera / camcorder, voice recorder, mp3 player, calculator, calendar, speakerphone, and all the usual phone stuff. I love everything about it - except for the fact that the sound quality SUCKS! People you talk to sound muffled, like there's a pillow between you and them. The wierd thing is that on speakerphone they sound clear, so I almost wonder if it's a faulty phone. But whatever the case, there's no other phone that has the culmination of features that this one does, so muffled or not, I think it's a keeper. I took that picture above with the camera on it. I really wasn't expecting much from a phone camera, but it's actually a 1.3 megapixel camera and doesn't take half bad pictures! So the other day I was in a gas station getting breakfast when I decided to do something that went against EVERYTHING I have stood for since about grade 7. Anyone who's followed this knows that Pepsi Lime seems to be going the way of Pepsi Blue, slowly disappearing from store shelves. It used to be in every Mac's, Mohawk, Shell, and Seven-Eleven - but one by one these retailers have been leaving it off the order lists. So I noticed in the Coke shelf a bottle of COKE Lime. I honestly never thought the day would come when I could say this, but I bought a bottle of Coke. Not surpsingly however, it didn't taste nearly as good as it's competitor's counterpart and seemed to have something of an "artificial" taste to it. Kind of hard to put your finger on a matter of the tongue, but that's the best way I can describe it. But you can mark August 28 2006 on your calendar - the day John bought a Coke.  I made a list of things I wanted to write about in my next entry on the web site so I'm trying to cover everything on that list. One of the other things I've mentioned to a number of people was the fact that I saw a bear a few days ago, and actually managed to get a picture of it.  Yesterday I was leaving this appartment when I noticed a sign on the message board advertising someone's parking stall they were trying to rent. If you have a suite in this appartment, I guess you get one or maybe two stalls in the underground garage to park in, but if you only have one vehicle (or no vehicle) you can rent out your stall to someone else who might have more vehicles. So this sign on the wall reads, "Underground Parking Stall for Rent. $200 / month, please call so and so." Well someone had written under it Does that include utilities? I laughed my head off. If you read my entry from yesterday you'll know that housing in the city is at the crisis level with some people even renting out their garages to families for $500 / month, with no plumbing! It's not too far fetched that someone might even try to rent out their parking stall to a family who, say, could set up a tent in it. BACK to Journal Index |