Friday, May 27, 2005

Had a weird dream last night

Okay, so this happens to me every now and then. I get these freaky dreams that tend not to make sense on the surface of things, but later, as events unfold I can see they were a warning. So before I go any further, I must say I'm awfully sorry to my brother Shawn.

Yeah, it was one of those dreams. For some unknown reason, my brother and I were in a mean, dirty, pick-your-opponent-off-the-ground-so-you-can-beat-him-some-more kind of fistfight. About the only detail I truly remember about it is that I was not hitting him as hard as I knew I could, and that fact bothered me. (Hey, I already apologized once!)

The other part of my dream that I remember is that I was driving a brand new, red Chevy Colorado pickup truck, and I had my road bike in the back. Now, I am in no position to buy a new truck, and even if I was, red is not my colour of choice, but here's the thing: In a couple weeks, I will be travelling to Ontario for my cousin's wedding. My brother will also be attending the wedding, which means I will be seeing him in person for the first time in years. One of the things we hope to do is visit with friends who happen to be holding some stuff of ours that we weren't able to take with us when we moved back to BC. Included in this stuff is my road bike, which I hoped to reclaim while I was there. So it COULD happen.

So Shawn, if I happen to find a sweet deal on renting a red pickup truck to attend the wedding, I'm sorry. I was really looking forward to seeing you again, but if you do or say something stupid, I may just have to take you down a peg.

Who says there is no such thing as brotherly love?

Monday, May 23, 2005

I got my PDA

As some of you know, I have been pining for a new PDA for some months now. (my apologies go to my wife, and to Kevin for listening to me go on about this for far too long.)

On the weekend I discovered an online sale at Staples, where I could get a new Tungsten E2 for $250 CAD. Of course, by the time I tried to buy it, they were out of stock. So I did what anyone would do in this situation: I printed a copy of the advertisement and took it to their nearest competitor, to get them to match the deal. The boys at London Drugs had one in stock, and were willing to match the advertised price.

So yes, I'm happy and yes, I'll stop going on about it (unless you really are interested in hearing about it.)

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Dangit, I STILL wanna learn to fly!


verroen-holland2
Originally uploaded by iTripped.
My wife has only herself to blame.

You see, she has a healthy fear of me flying.
I guess that's reasonable, considering the motor coordination skills I have. But the simple fact is that I have wanted to fly for a long time. As it happens, there is a place close by that teaches pilot classes about 3 times a year. An added bonus to learning here is that I would also be mountain-rated.

The airplane pictured here is an example of the kit plane I would like to build and fly. It's made by Zenith Air. At one point I thought I wanted to fly a helicopter, but these little airplanes are way more practical. I don't know if it is the sense of accomplishment on being able to build something like this, the ability to explore places in a whole new way or some idealistic notion of being able to get away to pretty much anywhere that appeals to me. Maybe it's all of the above. All I know is that I'll be sure to learn on a Cessna 152 so that when I finally take to the air in one of these babies, I'll know how much of a hot rod I'm in by comparison.

Some stats: without floats, the XL tends to cruise at about 135 to 140 MPH, while getting about 20 to 30 MPG, depending on what engine is installed. Given the tank size, the typical range is about 450 to 500 miles. With floats installed, the range and cruise speed are reduced, but you can land in most any puddle of water.

That means I could fly from Vernon to Vancouver in about an hour and a half, with time to spare. Trips across the country become feasible, without the hassles of scheduling a flight through an airline. Yeah, one of these days, I'm seriously going to do this.
zodiac-xl-b

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Kancho Assassins

Okay, so a friend reccomended a site to me yesterday, and it was surprisingly good. It is a humorous take on one man's experiences as an English teacher in Japan. The name of the site is Outpost Nine and he tends to post every few days or so. Az, good job on the writing, and good luck on defending the Tootsie Roll.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Some fun propaganda

Those crazy organic farmers are at it again. In the bold tradition of Thumb Wars, they have created Store Wars as an ad for their product. There are just enough Star Wars references to keep the preaching sweet enough to swallow.

I think organic farms are having a comeback of sorts. People are suspicious enough of the possible effects of pesticides and hydrogenated oils to consciously decide to eat organic foods.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Company BBQ

Yay, we finally released the latest version of our software. So to celebrate, we had a barbecue at Guy's house.

We had a game of bacci ball while we were waiting for the food to be prepared - as usual, I gave a stellar performance. (yeah yeah, we did lose, but I blame my teammate.) Dinner was eventually served, and the food was great. Or were we just really hungry?

While we were sitting around the campfire, a mule deer crossed the creek and wandered across the back yard. Guy mentioned that bears also appear quite regularly as well. Luckily, we weren't frying up any bacon at the time, so they didn't bother to show up. Man, I feel like a high school reporter, typing this. I really need to find something more imaginative to say.