Allyn's Musings

Edumacation

2011-01-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to further develop myself, I've subscribed to the Economist. Now I just need to read it. Got what I figured to be a pretty good student rate and decided to take advantage of it.

International Top Gear

2011-01-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

The British motoring show Top Gear is arguably one of my favourite shows. I've followed it passionately for the last several years, despite the fact that no Canadian network I receive broadcasts it, at least not in it's original hour long BBC run time. I've always liked British shows. My Dad raised me on Monty Python, Mr. Bean, and numerous other British comedy shows. Unfortunately the Americans have a habit of taking good British shows and making US versions of them which fail miserably.

A prime example of this is the British show Scrapheap Challenge, known in North America as Junkyard Wars. The first few seasons that were produced in the UK saw a lot more ingenious inventions. The show was hosted by creator Cathy Rogers and actor Robert Llewellyn of Red Dwarf, another great British Show. The show eventually migrated to the US, and saw a bunch of bullshit "Megawars" spin-offs and such. I remember that in later seasons the challenges generally ended up resulting in teams pulling mostly working vehicles from the dump, getting them running, modifying them slightly and then completing whatever challenge it was through excessive use of the skinny pedal. Compare this to the first season where teams built water recovery cranes, it is a bit dull. This culminated for me with Cathy Rogers second show, Full Metal Challenge, where teams from around the world had to build vehicles that could take on challenges they were not informed of. This saw many ingenious vehicles, but the American teams vehicle was just an old chevy with an exo, and poorly done at that. The producers had to inspect their vehicle and make them rework it due to safety reasons.

Anyhow, the point of that rant is that such shows and their Americanization have left a bitter taste in my mouth. So when I heard a couple years ago that Top Gear was going to release a US version, I was annoyed and sceptical. However I've just finished watching the last episode of the first season, and I must say I am very impressed. The show started off a bit slow and seemed to lack chemistry between the hosts, but as the season progressed I really got into it. What I love most of all is that they just made Top Gear for the US, they didn't try to recreate and mimic what made the UK version popular, namely the types of hosts and the unique, long running jokes. I could go into detail about what I like and dislike about the US version, but I won't. Good job US Top Gear team! You've got yourself another fan!

NHL.com is stupid

2011-01-05T23:22:00.002-08:00

I'm a big hockey fan, but the NHL website pisses me off. Being from Vancouver, I am a Canucks fan. Currently the Canucks have won seven straight games and are first in the entire league with a game in hand. The Sedin twins are two of the best players in the league and are ranked fourth and fifth in points. Henrik is first in the league for assists, and Daniel is fourth in goals. We have an amazing goaltending tandem, Kesler is having a career year and is arguably the best two way forward in the league, and in general, we just have great depth.

What does NHL.com cover? Today the headlines are that the Stars won their sixth straight road game. Who cares? They still suck. They point out the Rangers beat the Hurricanes. Again, who cares, both are mediocre teams. Once again, they mention that Pitsburg won their game. It seems that every single day, the front page of the site is splattered with news of Crosby, Ovechkin, the Penguins, or the Capitals. There are more teams in the league, and while Crosby is playing exceptionally hot right now, they are not the best teams in the league.

As a Canucks fan it is annoying that the Canucks, the hottest and best team in the league right now, are ignored for boring eastern teams. To me, it seems to be the same business philosophy that makes the league keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, despite the fact that nobody in Phoenix seems to care in any way about hockey. It's annoying and aggravating. Give attention to the players and teams that deserve it.

Skiing once more on a craptastic little mountain

2011-01-05T02:11:00.001-08:00

In the last two seasons I only went skiing a few times. Three years ago I had a glorious season, at least by my standards, skiing in the Kootenays, where I experienced amazing powder and learned the joys of skiing off piste. After many years of skiing I had become bored, and that season revitalized me. The following season, I was still enthusiastic about skiing, but was working full time as well as going to school so I only managed to go up a few times. Last season I skied less than any season since the year I turned five, managing only four runs in a single day of skiing.
Since I quit my job to finish my degree last spring, I decided that this season I would find some time for myself by getting back into skiing this season. I therefore took advantage of Mount Seymour's great student, early bird rate, buying a season pass for a mere $355. Being so close to Whistler, where it now costs $91 for a day of skiing, this seemed like fantastic deal. The problem is, I haven't skied at Seymour in about 15 years, and had forgotten just how crappy the mountain was.
I shouldn't be complaining. It's fantastic to be skiing again. So far I've been twice in the past week. Having such a cheap season pass for a mountain that is only a half hour from my doorstep also allows me to go up for just a couple of hours, or to go before or after my classes, which was exactly what I did today. I decided I wanted to get out of the house, so I grabbed my gear and got in a few hours of skiing before I had to head to class; even after sleeping in until 11am.
Seymour is the mountain I first learned to ski on, so I have fond memories of it. However it is quite small, with limited terrain, an awful restaurant, and only a handful of slow double chairs. The chairs don't actually bother me, Whitewater only has a few double chairs and it's the best mountain I've ever been to. Seymour, though, is what one could consider to be the "low cost provider" of the ski resorts, as they offer only basic services and don't quite have the amazing snow and terrain of other mountains to back it up. In the end though, skiing is skiing. I'm a poor student, so I'll take what I can get, and thank Seymour for being the only local mountain to offer such affordable rates for a student who otherwise would be in front of the computer.

Living lighter and the no baggage challenge

2010-09-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier while catching up on my reading I caught a "Reader challenge" put forth by Rolf Potts. Before explaining the challenge I should first frame it. Potts is an author who, to the best of my knowledge, I have never previously read. That is to say I was aware of his book yet didn't read it, and have never knowingly read any of his travel articles. He is best known for the concept of vagabonding, partly characterized by packing extremely light. Currently he is on a No Baggage Challenge, a six week, round the world trip where he carries everything he needs in the pockets of his vest and pants. While this might sound very extreme, he's mentioned a couple times in blog posts that it is more meant as a stunt and an experiment to determine if it is truly feasible. I found out about this through his current cameraman, Justin Glow, who I met almost three years ago in Europe. Admittedly I only talked to him briefly, and I do not even recall where in Europe I met him (I think it was Salzburg, Austria). Yet he seemed like an interesting guy with an ongoing story so I found him on Facebook and have discovered a few interesting projects through him, much like this.

Anyhow, the challenge put forth by Potts is to write an essay regarding ways in which you can not only find ways of packing lighter, but also "living lighter", or living your life with less necessary material items. This really got me thinking, and the more I thought about it, the more I needed to write about it. In this sense I'm a bit of a paradox. When I travel, I travel quite light. Yet I like my material items. That is not to say I hoard stuff or like to be flashy. I like to collect things that have meaning to me, and it is incredible how quickly you can collect such things. Regardless, it's still a bit paradoxical that I can be obsessive about packing light yet as I type I am currently surrounded by crap, and it has led me to think about how I can live a bit lighter in my day to day life.

When I travel I really like to travel light, to the point where I am almost obsessive about it. When I say I travel light, I don't me to the extent of someone like Potts. When I was in Europe I stressed about carrying too much stuff and was constantly in search of ways to shed unnecessary gear. I just recently went camping with my girlfriend, and during planning and packing I argued with her and subsequently apologized as I was being obsessive about not bringing things I deemed to be unnecessary and excessive. Of course, as with any trip embarked on by those who only travel occasionally, we still left some things we wanted at home and carried around a handful of things we never touched.

On the flip side, I do like "stuff". My love of things is two fold. First, I like things that have sentimental value to me. My display shelf contains the most oddball collection. There is a stick from the beach we spread my dogs ashes on, a glass insulator from the KVR, the shell of my favorite childhood toy car, some postcards, and so on and so forth. Three years after my Europe trip I still wear the same hoody and belt, despite their ragtag condition. Secondly, I like new things. I recently finished a sociology class in which we studied personality types (as they relate to business). It turns out that I'm the type of person who gets very excited by new ideas and new things. This certainly fits with my personality, as I have many various bits of technology, books, and other collectible items that I really probably don't need, but that the concept of excited me enough to acquire them. I am not however the type of person who hoards things (a pack-rat), or buys things to impress others. Of course I care what others think of me, everyone does and they're a liar if they say they don't to some extent, but I don't have a need to impress others with material items. Yet I still have collected a fair bit of stuff in my short years.

So Potts has made me think ahead to how I could live lighter. I constantly think ahead to how I would pack lighter on my next trip, what other things I would take, what I would leave at home, and what I'd modify. Yet I have never really thought this way in terms of day to day life and the possessions I keep in my house. I suppose the easiest area to remove redundant possessions would be to thin out my wardrobe. I'm not really a trendy, stylish person, but I do have a lot of clothes I don't wear yet hang on to for the one day I might need a particular item. I also have boxes of old camping gear, computer parts, office supplies, and cheap collectibles with little value to me that I've kept around for no apparent reason. I don't have that much stuff which would fall in to that category, but when you stack it all up it does begin to take up a fair bit of room.

As far as what I use on a day to day basis, I can't think of much I would want to give up. I don't tend to pack heavy. I don't carry around things I don't use. I keep only a few keys and a relatively basic phone. I don't carry unnecessary office supplies to school. One way that I intend on living lighter is to shed my largest possession of all, my truck. I don't intend on giving it up entirely, but my goal for the next two semesters is to take public transit to school as opposed to driving. I've grown accustomed to taking my truck everywhere over the last few years despite the cost benefits of taking transit.

All in all, the challenge from Potts is quite an interesting one, and has caused me to think about my lifestyle on a material level, something I don't often do. I've quite enjoyed following his no baggage trip thus far, and am excited to not only see how the rest of the trip will go, but also what he intends on doing with all the footage they're shooting.

Introducing Voice Actions for Android

2010-08-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

This totally makes me want to get an android phone. Absolutely awesome.

Pure awesome

2010-08-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

Pure awesome. A friend linked to this picture.

The Explosions of Every Nuclear Bomb to Date

2010-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Explosions of Every Nuclear Bomb to Date

The Peak - Is Casey Printers running out of ink? - Sports

2010-07-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Peak - Is Casey Printers running out of ink? - Sports

This is a story written by a friend of mine. I always think it's cool to read articles written by people you know!

Machete (2010)

2010-07-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

Machete (2010)

Just look at the cast listing....Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Cheech Marin, Steven Segal...and those are the supporting cast. This movie looks like it'll be very fun to watch, I really enjoy the intentionally overly campy action movies.

Weight: Weeks two and three

2010-07-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

So the first few weeks have been a bit discouraging. Within five days of my last update I'd gone up to 220lbs. It's actually rather confusing. My eating habits have not really changed. If anything they're better considering I'm eating less sweet dessert type foods and eating smaller portions. I'm not binge eating, and haven't really changed my diet in any way otherwise. Generally my weight does not fluctuate quickly, and I can eat like crap and not gain much (similarly I can eat well and not lose any). I like to think that at least some of the weight is attributed to a bit of muscle. Thinking that makes me feel better.

On the bright side I have stuck to goal of going to the gym three times per week. I'm not going four to five days a week as I did last year, but thats OK. My emphasis has been more on core strength and cardio, but I've been increasingly doing more strength training. This change happens somewhat subconsciously, as it's the part I most enjoy. However I've made the choice to focus just on core strength and cardio to slim down and get my endurance and stamina up. I think as an alternative mode of measurement I'll get my wonderful mother to take some basic measurements of me and use that as a basis for how well I'm doing.

I would love to be travelling again...

2010-07-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Steveston

2010-06-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

I like the fishermans warf. The idea of walking around a bunch of fishing boats excites me, and thoroughly disgusts the girlfriend. My Grampa was a fisherman for a while, my other Grampa was a sport fisher, and my Mom worked for BC Fisheries as a fish inspector for a few years, so maybe it runs in my blood.

Weight: Week One

2010-06-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

To avoid discouraging myself, I'll just say that week one was neither productive or unproductive. My weight as of Saturday was just shy of 215lbs, so I actually progressed further from my goal. I did however manage to go to the gym three times last week, so I stuck to my overall goal in that sense, even if I haven't gone yet this week.

I'm not terribly worried though, it's an ongoing process, and I can't expect to start living like an angel (an extremely athletic one) from day one without paying someone else to help me.

I have one further goal for this week, and that is to start roughly tracking my caloric intake. It's something I've thought about for several years. I recall reading several years ago about how blogger Jeremy Zawodny did so and have kept it in the back of my mind ever since (even if I don't still have the actual link). What he essentially did was to keep a spreadsheet where he tracked the number of calories he had each day, and compared it to his weight. By knowing roughly how many calories you should be intaking each day, you can slowly reduce the amount you eat until, in comparison to your weight, you stay at the same level and begin to lose weight. The idea is to determine approximately how many calories you need to retain your weight, then eat less than that.

While I don't have any intention of being as detailed as he did and want to place more emphasis on physical activities, it's still a great idea and one that appeals to my nerdy side (in terms of setting up the spreadsheet). So I figure I'll give it a go and see how it works out.

New season of Top Gear

2010-06-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

This upcoming Sunday is the first episode of Season 15. I've been an avid watcher of Top Gear for the last few years since I discovered it over here, and have watched many of the episodes a half dozen or more times. What I'm most excited about however is the fact that they're talking about how they have tried to take the show back to basics. I've found that the last two seasons have been trending downwards...still highly enjoyable, but not as good as past seasons. They addressed this in a blog post after the end of last season, and I'm glad that they've kept it in mind. Of all the various shows I follow, Top Gear remains my favourite and I'm greatly looking forward to this upcoming season.

Summer

2010-06-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

The great weight struggle

2010-06-21T00:45:00.001-07:00

So motivating factor #12 in posting on this blog again was to help motivate myself to meet several goals, one of which being weight loss. I've always been a chubby fellow. Not really fat, as all my kind-hearted friends and family constantly point out to me (I have a self-depreciating sense of humor and make fat jokes about myself), just not toned.

Last summer and fall I had nothing much to do so I worked out four or five days a week, and aside from putting on a large amount of muscle I also dropped a lot of weight, coming down to 202lbs for the first time in a number of years. For reference, I'm 6'0" tall, and have a very broad build so I will never weigh as little as an Asian man of the same height. I've always used my dad as a reference for weight, as he has is somewhat of an athlete and is of almost the same height and build.

My goal for this summer is to weight in at 200lbs by August 21st, 2010 (my cousin's wedding). I currently weigh 213lbs, having made negative strides towards my goal in the past 8 weeks.

Furthermore, I wish to weigh in at 195lbs by September 30th, 2010. I'll be happy to be back in the hundreds for the first time since high school.

I will reach this goal through two means:

Regularly working out at the gym or running again. I will do either at least 3 times per week. At the gym I will focus on cardio and core muscle strength as opposed to body building as I did in the past.
Eating less and better. This means reducing meal sizes, reducing the number of carbs I take in (I love my carbohydrates), and generally just eating healthier. I don't want to calorie count, but keeping a general tally won't hurt.

Yearly Updates

2010-06-21T00:32:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to try updating this blog again. Generally I'm not the bloggy type of person, and will only post on something like this if I have a reason. When I first started posting, it was because I was extremely bored living in a small rural town. A year ago, I did it to help shake the rust off my writing skills to help with school. This time around I'm trying to both exercise my writing muscles while helping to self-motivate for some personal goals. Regardless, I feel a need to first fill in any gaps to my non-existent readership as to what has happened since my last posting. Despite the fact that most people reading this will know of the companies, people, and institutions involved, I will refrain from naming them directly and try to use witty synonyms whenever possible.

Since last summer I've continued my education, taking one course last summer and three in the fall, winter and this summer. As it stands right now I have eleven courses remaining to complete my degree before I move on to higher levels of education. Last fall I became involved with the business association at my school, acting as the Accounting Representative for the executive team. This position has provided me with excellent connections, opportunities, and experiences. I have also become involved in another club hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC (ICABC) consisting of the presidents of all the accounting clubs in BC. This has been a great opportunity, and has lead me to acting as the CA Ambassador for my school.

Last summer I continued to work as an Office Manager for a particular local restaurant chain. I worked part time roles at four locations in various simultaneous combinations before taking a full time position at a fifth restaurant. Last December I left this company to accept a spectacular job in a local accounting firm where I worked as Junior Accountant doing bookkeeping, taxes, preparing financial statements and that sort of thing. In March I left this position to refocus on school and ultimately finish my degree. I made the decision to finish my remaining courses as quickly as possible, meaning taking five courses this fall and six next winter, as opposed to spreading it out over two or more years.

Perhaps the most exciting change in my life since my last posting was meeting a particular lady. I have been with my lovely girlfriend since last December, and suffice to say am quite happy. I've spent the last couple of days not communicating with her Grandparents, who don't speak any English and who I picked up from the airport Saturday evening.

Anyhow, I am currently fighting to keep my eyes open, so I'll end my summary here. I could talk at length about any of the subjects I've mentioned, but I won't because it's not that relevant and anyone who wishes to know either already does or can ask me.

Job Interview

2009-05-28T15:44:00.001-07:00

I had a job interview today! Take that recession!

Red Orcheestra

2009-05-27T00:12:00.003-07:00

So Tripwire Interactive recently announced a new version of Red Orchestra coming out, and some scans of a magazine preview were recently posted on a forum I frequent.

Red Orchestra is a weird game. I've owned it since it came out and I absolutely love it. I just don't play it. It's the only game that when I do fire it up I can't believe I never play it, and how despite a few draw backs it's utterly fantastic. Yet the majority of the time I don't have any inclination whatsoever to play it. Probably the only time I do play it is when I see a friend on.

I therefor have very mixed feelings about the new version. I have no doubt it'll be a monumental game with mediocre graphics, just like the old one, yet I don't really foresee myself playing it too much. I am still excited to try it though.

Innapropriate?

2009-05-14T22:22:00.002-07:00

For this story to have full effect I must first lay out the scene. I go to a college which utilizes small class sizes in order to promote more interaction with the teacher. The rooms therefor are the size and layout of a classroom you may have used in high school. This particular course was highly demanded, they had to open second section and there were still close to thirty people on the wait list when the semester began. Therefor the people in the room are generally very attentive to the lecture.

Now that you've got a mental image, what the hell am I blabbering about? I made some sort of snide remark to a friend during lecture which resulted in a conversation. Near the end he said "and know I know". Being a nerd, I immediately replied "and knowing is half the battle". We then both spouted the harmonized "G-I-JOE!" phrase.

When I turned back to the front of the room I realized that everyone was staring at us, and that most had obviously not gotten the reference. Apparently my nerd humour is not universally appreciated.

Free Time

2009-05-02T02:52:00.003-07:00

So the winter semester at school finished about two weeks ago. After spending six or seven days a week dealing with school for the latter two months of the semester it has certainly been weird not having anything to do. I still work two days a week, but otherwise have had few obligations and likewise have had little to do. I’m not sure how I spent so many years being a lazy slacker. Granted I was working full time back then, however working in a kitchen was entirely different; it could be extremely stressful while I was at work, but as soon as your shift ends you have nothing to worry about.

As of now I’m just looking for full time employment to carry me through the immediate future. My sole summer class starts next Thursday which is rather exciting. I don’t generally look forward to classes but this one, a business law class, is quite interesting and is taught by who I consider to be the best professor at the college. In the meantime I’ve just been (slowly) getting done all the things I put aside until after the winter semester.

Hankering Ambitions of Culinary Glory

2009-03-25T21:59:00.004-07:00

It's funny how life works. I spent a few years working in kitchens, generally in a more "senior" role both in terms of difficulty and position. It was something that just came naturally to me, I suppose I had the disposition to be a leader of a crew of either young and stupid or old and stupid people, and the ambition and cool head to take pride in creating delicious food under pressure.

However that was just a stepping stone in my life. I never intended to make a career of it, and likewise after several jobs and a few years of school I've comfortably set my course to being an accountant.

Yet those old ambitions just keep gnawing away at me. I don't like the stress of the job, it has already taken a toll on my health early in my young life. The job was too dirty for me and required the cleaning of things no sane person would want to. To top it all off, the pay was generally just crap. Sure I could have made some money if I'd made a career of it, but as has been established that will never happen.

But there were so many things I did love. The feeling of accomplishment when you kill a two hour whiteout without a single table coming back. The pride you get from creating what can subjectively be called art; art that tastes fantastic. The camaraderie that develops in a kitchen. Simple brotherhood that is without all the political bullshit involved in office relationships. Almost like army buddies, except while we have to deal with the stress of being "under fire", there is never actually any chance we'll be killed.

Every time I hang out with one of my old kitchen pals who are still in the industry the urge comes back. Knowing that I could still do that; be a part of that war story I'm being told. Whenever I watch a good cooking show late at night I want to be able to make food rivaling that which is being shown. I crave for the creative freedom a stocked commercial kitchen provides.

The most recent pang came after reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. Yeah, as everyone who has ever worked in a kitchen and read the book will say, I could relate to much of what he said. I laughed at many of the references and thought back to how my own relatively short kitchen career compared. But what really got to me was his anecdotes about Steven the baker.

I've never had to bake at any point in my kitchen career. The most complex baked goods any restaurant I've worked for produced generally came either frozen or in a pre-made batter. After reading Kitchen Confidential I really had the urge to learn to bake; I want to make fantastic breads, superb pastries and rolls to die for. I have no idea why of all things the urge I get is to bake, something entirely different from my own cooking experience of broiling, sautéing, and other creative ways of cooking meats and vegetables.

My Granny apparently made the most amazing pie crusts. I know my mother certainly gained that skill amongst her many other top notch baking talents. However that skill never made it down to the next generation, and that is something I intend to fix. It's only too bad that none of my friends who now have kitchens have any need for a baker, especially one who doesn't know how to bake at that.

I Miss Being Lazy

2009-03-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I miss the ability to have three days off and accomplish absolutely nothing.

The school semester is starting to wind up for me. I suppose the positive way to look at it would be that it means summer is coming up, and after three full semesters of being a poor, stressed student are coming to an end. Yet all I can focus on right now is the increasing work load. Group projects, tests, quizzes, presentations, and the regular homework are what essentially dictate my life schedule right now, and are the major reason I've spent the better part of my last six weekends at school. Oh and there are those silly final exam things coming up soon too. But yeah, positive thoughts!

On the bright side I managed to get into the only class I wanted to take this summer. It's a business law class and I've been waiting three semesters for the chance to take this class with this particular teacher. The only downer is that while I know half of the people who want to take the class, many can't even get in because of the huge demand for it. I consider myself lucky to have squeaked in as the last few slots filled within a few hours of my registration time.

This week was officially the start of my summer job hunt. It's something I probably should have gotten on sooner, but I'm a superb procrastinator, even if all this work and school means that ability of mine is dying. While my first choice would be the Finance department where my mother works, I'd certainly relish any accounting of finance related job that would actually put some of my schooling to the test and better prepare me for future classes.

My current job doing basic bookkeeping for a local restaurant is certainly nice. I enjoy the people I work with, and have a fantastic boss. However it suits me much better as a school semester job; I find it very easy and if need be can finish my days work in only a few hours. The downside to that is the pay reflects it.

I suppose the only other thing to talk about is future travel plans. Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Australia are looking pretty much locked in for next January, money permitting. But the details of those can wait until later, mainly because I haven't figured them out yet.

It always seems worse from the train station

2009-03-20T14:43:00.005-07:00

I've always found when traveling to a new place that everything about a place seems worse when you step off the train and onto the platform. It never really mattered whether I was traveling by myself or with trusted friends, or whether I arrived at night or during a bright sunny day. I would like to believe its because the stations are gloomy, but often they're spectacular examples of architecture. In fact the only negative thing I've ever had to say about train stations are the type of people that like to hang out there.

No, I suppose what has always given me a sour feeling about a city as I walk through the station towards the exit is my own fear. All I can notice are that people aren't speaking my language. I don't see the beautiful glass ceiling, only the shady looking guys leaning near cafe. I can't stop thinking about the fact that right now I have absolutely none of the local currency. I only focus on the fact that, regardless of what time of day it is, I have no where to stay, and even if I have for some reason booked a bed ahead of time I have only a limited idea of where it is and less of a clue as to how to get there.

The irony in all this is that most of the times I've sat around gloomily pondering what exactly I've gotten myself into, the city turns out to be fantastic and nothing like my pessimistic fears. After getting kicked off of a train just outside of Amsterdam, and finding out that the first half dozen people I had to deal with on reaching Amsterdam did not even speak English, I found myself wondering how Holland had become such a hyped up country. After I'd had an hour to find my hostel and start exploring I knew why, they are a remarkably friendly people, with a great command of my native language, and live in a beautiful city. Salzburg was a similar story; I walked out of the train station to find a dozen cops taking down a bunch of drunkards fighting. However Salzburg is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to and high on my list of places to return. I arrived in Krakow, Poland after dark with several trusted companions I had been traveling with for several weeks. We are all more than capable of looking after ourselves, but spent the long walk to the hostel looking over our shoulders and calming ourselves with the knowledge that we had our own improvisation weapons at hand. Anyone that has ever been to Krakow knows it is a remarkable city. I could go on and on with such examples. In fact most of the cities I visited would fall into this category, regardless of who I was with or when I arrived.

Of course there are exceptions, both positive and negative. Cesky Krumlov was an absolute pleasure to arrive in. I got to travel through the scenic Czech countryside sitting on my bag with three friends in the back of an old two car tram. We arrived to a one platform, outdoor station where the sun was shinning, and a wall plastered with posters for local hostels to quell the fact we didn't have the slightest clue where we were going to stay. However Cesky Budjovic, the city we had just departed was the exact opposite. We arrived in a big, dirty, concrete station late at night. We had no money, no where to stay, and none of our guidebooks said more than a few lines about the city. The girl at the ticket counter spoke a miniscule amount of German and was able to communicate passably with one of my companions who himself spoke German only as a fourth language. It took us a good hour of walking, arguing with the counter girl, and asking strangers to determine that the city did not have a hostel, and that we would spend our two nights in the scummiest hotel I've ever seen. Aside from a fantastic brewery tour, it's fair to say that the city did not improve upon our first impression. Sure we had a lot of fun, and maybe we only happened to stay in the crummier parts of the town during a part of the year it maybe isn't an exciting place to go, but my opinion of it wasn't particularly high.

Of all the lessons I learned on that trip, one of the best was to not judge a place by its local train station. Through my entirely unscientific and non-reputable statistical sampling I determined that train stations are never a good representation of the experience you will have in the city. Even if the station itself is a masterpiece, I found in myself that when visiting a new place I would never be in the right frame of mind to realize it until I had a chance to actually see the city for what it is and meet those who inhabit it.

Back to civilization...

2008-05-23T20:00:00.003-07:00

So I'm back to the (other) grind. The end of tax season was extremely busy, hence breaking my promise to actually post on this blog. After a couple weeks without days off or generally much stress free free time it was done and I had to head back to Vancouver for school. On the way I stopped in Calgary for a day to visit family before the 11 hour drive back home. I left Creston on May 2nd, Calgary on May 4th, and I started school on May 5th. Right now I'm taking a full course load at school (Accounting Management Program) and as of today started my new job as Office Manager for the Byrne Road location of Cactus Club Cafe.

Life doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon. I've got at least one test almost every single week until August and I'll be working on weekends. I'm going to be the best man at my brothers wedding in July however which is certainly something to look forward too. Guess it's better to be busy than bored!

Busy busy busy

2008-04-19T01:18:00.003-07:00

Well, I'm apparently really terrible at keeping a blog up to date. I'll try harder, honest!

Work has been quite busy. I've been working 6 days a week, and have started going back at night to keep up. Luckily taxes are due on April 30th, so in less than two weeks I won't have to worry about it all anymore! The work itself is still pretty interesting - while a large chunk of what I do is repetitive, I still get to work on new types of files, and learning new things is always interesting. Admittedly, some of the work is pretty daunting and it can be hard to find the motivation to do it, especially considering I have very little formal training and no experience to fall back on. However like any puzzle, it's rewarding when it's done.

It looks like life is going to be quite busy for the foreseeable future, even after tax season is over. My classes start at Douglas College in Vancouver on May 5th, and sometime between when I leave Creston on the 2nd or 3rd I want to swing through Calgary to visit family and still make it back to Vancouver in time for school. To put the distances in context, Creston where I live right now, and Vancouver which I call home are about a 9 hour drive. Calgary is 6 hours away from Creston, in the wrong direction, and then it takes 10 hours to drive from Calgary to Vancouver (they're in a triangle). So even though I may have 2-3 days to make the trip, a large part of two of those days will be dedicated to driving.

Speaking of school, I'm excited to go back. It's been almost exactly a year since I finished my last semester, and the thought of all the schooling ahead of me just makes me want to get on with it. I do like learning new things, and after spending six months in a farm town getting back to college life (and college girls) will certainly be nice. The downer is that the car won't pay for itself, so upon returning home and getting school organized, I still need to find a job.

On July 19th my older brother is getting married which is pretty exciting. I know that between school, work, being the best man, and having to entertain a lot of family I don't know and don't particularly like might result in a heart attack, but for my brothers wedding I guess it'd be worth it. I suppose I should start writing my toast soon.

But of course with all the stressful stuff it's important to look forward to the fun things. After spending most of the winter cooped up in an office I'm really looking forward to sailing again. My dad bought a new boat last year, a 14 foot 420 class racing dingy. I only got to go out a couple times last year but while I sit in front of a computer all day I dream about getting to be outside in the sun and on the water. I'd also like to get out and try and take my truck places people wouldn't normally take a vehicle, but that depends on other people wanting to do the same with their vehicles, and more importantly money I probably shouldn't be spending on it.

The other thing that keeps me going through the stress is thinking about where I'd like to go for my next big trip. I still intend to spend around 3-4 months backpacking, starting in Australia, then heading to New Zealand, before heading over to South America and winding my way north until ideally I end up back home. If all goes to plan I'd like to do that trip in either the fall of 2009 or spring 2010.

Anyway, time to head to bed so I can get up early and head to work tomorrow (Saturday!).

Ugh

2008-02-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Apparently it's flu season. Not feeling too bad, but not that great either.

I've been procrastinating in terms of this blog. Been up skiing a couple times and have some great pictures and videos from a helicopter ride my cousin took me on which I'll get up to posting pretty soon.

I want one

2008-01-23T18:15:00.000-08:00

Pretty damn cool: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/

Shows how to use a wiimote for a virtual moving desktop, an interactive whiteboard and more.

Things to pack part 1 and random other things

2008-01-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

I did a lot of research before my recent Europe backpacking adventure, especially considering it was my first big trip. Everyone has their own opinions on what to bring, but generally if they spend the time to write it down they only talk about the big things. Even when people discuss the nifty little things that will save your life, you don't listen or don't process the information because you get so caught up in what sort of pack or jacket you are going to bring. Well, at least I did.

So since I'm such an upstanding sort I figured I'd list the smaller, seemingly more insignificant things I brought that I really came to appreciate and often still carry around now that I'm back home. Keep in mind these are things I recommend you bring if you're living out of a bag, not necessarily if you're hotel hopping or heading off for a nice weekend.

1) A lanyard. Hitchhiker's Guide preached the towel, I preach the lanyard. I won't lie, it's not the most useful thing you'll bring, but I at least didn't appreciate the value of a lanyard. I generally used it to keep track of keys, as it was designed for. Considering my life is locked up with a padlock, I valued the key, and when you're living on a very low budget, lost key charges will kill you (especially when you go out drinking on a nightly basis and things tend to get misplaced). Of course the value goes oh so much further. They're particularly great for securing things to your person in countries known for pickpocketing, whether it be a wallet or a camera. Then there are the more obvious uses for what is basically a piece of string. Could you actually use a piece of string for this? Yeah, but it's not as sexy. I'd like to think my Whistler/Blackcomb lanyard didn't make me look as ghetto as a piece of string around my neck.

2) Tide pen. Pretty simple really, traveling you have a limited wardrobe and are pretty likely to wear things a few times before they get washed. A tide pen will help you stay clean, especially in Europe where it either costs you up $7-10 per load or the countries don't even have laundry and you have to rely on a cheap hostel's laundry service.

3) A padlock. Something you should have, and if you don't you'll end up buying one pretty quick. You'd think it would be an obvious thing to bring but there were a surprising number of people without them. Worth the money to invest in a good one, but keep it as nondescript as possible. The fancy lock is probably locking something equally if not more fancy.

More to continue when I can think of them...

As for my daily stupidity? I pulled the center console out of my truck to see how much room I have to update my stereo system and install my CB there. Unfortunately I accidentally disconnected my driver heated-seat switch and the lights for the left half of the console. Poo.

Trail

2008-01-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

To get to Red Mountain, as I've talked about before, you've got to pass through the town of Trail, BC. Trail is a pretty interesting town; whereas most of this region is comprised of quaint mountain towns or farm communities, Trail is quite clearly an industrial town. On driving in the first thing you notice is the ginormous Lead/Zinc smelting factory built up on a pedestal of slag from a lead mine. Despite all the snow, the Columbia river, and the cute little buildings, it really reminded me of an Eastern European city from my recent trip. I was asking my relatives who have lived in the area for a while about it, and they said that up until recently nothing at all would grow in a 20 mile or so radius. Even today there isn't a whole lot of growth in the valley and everything looks sort of dead. Apparently they did a study on children growing up in the town and found they had a higher than usual lead count.

Oh, and while doing some quick research for this post on my favorite site, Wikipedia, I found out that as part of Canada's contribution to the Manhattan Project they stuck a Heavy Water plant in Trail. Kind of scary.

More skiing and gear woes

2008-01-12T21:55:00.001-08:00

Never got around to posting this last weekend, so I'll stop procrastinating and do it now.

Last weekend was the last in which my cousin was in town before he had to head back to school so we went up for a couple days of skiing. On Friday Red Mountain had their annual free day so of course we had to head up for that. My bosses were nice enough to give me the day off work to go up, but I rather attribute that more to one of them being my Uncle and the other skipping work as well to do the same as I :). I've never been to Red before so it was a great chance to try out a new mountain. The mountain itself is quite nice, a good combination of modern ski lifts while still offering the old crappy ones for the harder terrain that keeps all the beginners away. It wasn't however a very nice day to go skiing. It had warmed up for the last few days so the snow itself was pretty heavy. Morning conditions weren't bad and we got a few good powderish runs in through the trees. However as the day wore on the weather turned to shit (sleet!) and after our first post-lunch run we decided that we were too soaking wet to keep going and headed home.

On Sunday we headed down to Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho. I had been to Schweitzer once before when I was younger and was looking forward to going back. It's a much more modern mountain than those in the Kootenays where I live, featuring the only 6 person chair I've ever been on. Weather was much nicer than Red, though it was pretty socked in up top (which I hear is the usual for Schweitzer). The snow was pretty heavy though, so after doing some tree runs in the morning I headed over to do a few groomers after lunch which happened to be where I had my major spill of the day, and right under the chairlift to boot.

What I haven't really mentioned yet is that I've got some ongoing problems with my gear that have put a dampener on the last few days skiing. First one of my bindings isn't set right so I'll step out of my ski mid turn at least a couple times a day. This hasn't been a big problem so far this year as I've almost always been skiing powder when it happens so even when my falls are spectacular they are in soft snow. However the bindings are the reason I had my nice fall on Schweitzer ultimately causing a nice faceplant and skidding down the hill about 30 yards. Of course this keeps happening because I'm simply too bloody lazy to fix the problem. All this requires is spending 10 minutes in the shop adjusting my bindings.

The other problem I've been having is with my boots. I've got weird shaped feet and for the last ten years or so have never been comfortable wearing ski boots. Generally "not comfortable" means my feet burning to the point where it hurts to stand and I want to rip them off. About 3 years ago I decided I'd had enough and went to a great little shop in Vancouver called Snowcovers. These guys do custom boot work and came very highly recommended by everyone I know that has been to them. Generally they'd fit you boots that match your weight and size, but I'd bought a new pair of boots the year before from Comor, a store that I'll never go back to for anything I need advice on again, that turned out to not be strong enough for my weight. They were pretty good about it though and did a lot of work putting screws through the back to stiffen them up, plane the bottom to make me stand straight, and punching them out to accommodate my ogre width feet. The last bit was the problem though. Know when you go to the eye doctor and he keeps flipping the lenses asking which one is better but you don't really know because they're almost the same but are actually pretty different? Well thats kind of the same thing and I ended up getting them to punch out the heel too much, something that you can't undo. ANYWAY, what that all means is that now I have way too much movement in my boots, a great way to break your ankle and something that makes skiing quite challenging. Usually to compensate I wear a second pair of thick socks, but the toe of my boot is the right width so that generally means either my heel moves or my toes don't have circulation. Bottom line is I'll be dropping another wad of money into new boots for next season as these make baby jesus cry.

Anyhow, won't make it up to the mountain this weekend but I'm going to try for next given good snow conditions. I'd like to try Fernie mountain which I've heard great things about but have never actually been to.

Digging a hole

2008-01-12T21:44:00.001-08:00

Note: Copied the text over from a pathfinder forum, hence some of the references.

Forgive the lack of pathfinder pictures, I was more worried about digging at the time and all the latter pictures don't include my pathy as it was happily sitting on the road in the background. Guess it's a testament to the pathfinder that I managed to get it out with good old muscle while the GMC ended up needing a tow from a tractor.

I went for a burn around under the power lines on my way to my Grampas house today and got my truck dug in deep. I didn't take many pictures since I was busy digging, whole thing took about 3 hours.

Up to the bumper with a few inches packed under the tires. This is before I spent half an hour on my own digging and another half hour later on.

Ended up walking to my Grampas house to ask him to help me. His truck ended up getting stuck about 10 feet from mine while he was trying to turn around.

Victory! A lot of digging and a few minutes of rolling my truck back and forward got it out.

GMC still dug in, went back to get the tractor.

Huzzah.

Final damage.

In hindsight it was real stupid to be rolling on my own, but a week of desk work and half an hour of doughnuts and driving up sand piles in a quarry got the better of me. Guess now it's an excuse to invest in a lift and bigger tires

Champagne Powder

2007-12-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

I went skiing today at Whitewater Ski Resort just outside of Nelson, BC and all I can say is wow (note: the picture is not me). Whitewater is known for it's powder but I've never skied anything like that before. I spent much of the day knee deep in beautifully light and fluffy powder. Around 2pm they finished avalanche blasting one of the further bowls and we headed out there finding waist deep powder.

Now I won't lie, I'm really not that great at skiing this sort of stuff. I've skied my entire life but I've generally stuck to more on-piste type runs. So when I say I was skiing in waste deep powder, that means with a few spills and ungraceful lines. I had to dig myself out of a hole deeper than I, dealt with cramps because I'm in pretty bad shape, and took a couple of nice spills. I'm sore, exhausted, but after taking face shots of champagne powder I couldn't care less and can only think of the next time I get to go up.

I hope to head up to either Red Mountain or Fernie next week as I've never been to those. However if the conditions are great we might go down to Schweitzer in Idaho, a mountain I visited a few years ago

The first post

2007-12-13T23:51:00.000-08:00

I suppose you have to start somewhere. Probably was not a good idea to post half an hour after I needed to go to bed however.