Applecran

Preschool!

2009-09-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

At nearly 3 years old, Lucas had his first day of preschool yesterday. Through a series of fortunate circumstances, I got to accompany him on this exciting and momentous occasion. Sharon got an acting gig and was on set all day, so, it was Daddy and Lucas off to school!

When he woke up he was very excited about going to school. I knew not only because he told me he was excited, but because I could see it in his eyes... this kid wants to go to school! I can't say I did not have visions of him in 10 years when he'll most likely not be quite as excited.

We got him ready, he packed his Pooh Bear lunch bag with the container of cut up strawberries mommy had left for him. We got his Thomas the Tanks Engine boots on, and his yellow rain jacket. He was ready to go. So ready in fact that even though there was still 10 minutes till we were to leave, he waited right by the door for the entire time, smiling and asking if it was time to go yet.

We arrived at school after a quick trip back home when I realized I had forgotten the immunization forms at the house, we parked and got out of the car, Lucas grabbed his lunch bag and took my hand and we went in search of his class room.

I told him is door was the blue door, we found and and then looked for his hook. When I showed him the hook with his name on it, again, a big smile and look of excitment and pride, and then the same followed on my face.

We hung up his jacket and lunch bag and waited for the class to open.

When the door opened, we were greeted by his new teachers, he rushed into the room, and stoped just looking around at all the new toys and things he had never seen before. He immediately got down to business... the business of playing.

The parents were told to site at the table in the smallest chairs possible in order to fill out all of the consent and emergency contact forms. Lucas just played and played, he showed me a couple of things during the 40 mintues we were there, but other than that, he was very independent and well bahaved. And I was a very proud daddy.

He helped clean up the toys at the end of class, and we exchanged a hearty high-5 to acknowledge a job well done.

I never realized that he would be off to school, even pre-school, so soon. And I never realized how proud I'd be to see him in that environment. It's something that I would never have understood before having kids, but now it just makes sense.

I'm looking forward to all the other firsts, and lasts, and everything in between. Next stop, swimming classes startup again for him and Sam, Sam's first swimming class to be exact.

Just in case someone stumbles on this

2009-04-24T00:06:00.000-07:00

It's been over a year since I last posted.... here is a quick update for anyone that shows up!

1. New baby boy Sam has arrived. Lucas is a great big brother

2. Another new car - 1989 325ix. I love this one, and it is not perfect, so I don't mind when sharon puts her purse on the trunk and drags it off...

3. Loving my job at Habaneros

4. We are renovating the kitchen and bathroom in our place

5. I pulled my first engine out of a car... now to put one back in.

All in all, things are going pretty well. I'm even more involved in the local BMW community and getting to know a lot of other people around town that love these old BMWs as much as I do (actually more).

Lucas is growing up fast, he talks so much and it's crazy that we can fully communicate with him already. He loves riding his bike, sitting in the drivers seat of cars, and wants his own steering wheel in the back seat. He even loves motor bikes! But mom won't let us get one :(

That is really all for now. I'll try to update more as I can.

You can see my work blog entries at http://sitefinity.habaneros.com and http://engblog.habaneros.com

Annual Posting

2008-02-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

I just noticed it has been over a year since I posted anything on my blog.

Things that have changed:

1. New Baby on the way
2. New job (www.habaneros.com)
3. New Car (1999 BMW 540i)
4. New iPhone

Other than that I'm the same old Adam.

More next year!

XBox 360 Amps and Babies

2007-01-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

Oh no my XBOX 360 is dead. Got the Ring of Red lights death. Luckily they extended the warranty from 90 days to 1 year, or I'd be paying for the repairs. We'll see how the return process goes...

So far the process has included
1. Really annoying automatic voice prompted phone system walking me throught troubleshooting. This guy sounded like he was trying to lure small children from the park by being their friend.
2. Really annoying tecno type music for the on hold music, i guess the 13 year olds who call in like this stuff.
3. Equally annoying live CSR asking me all the same troubleshooting questions.
4. They said they are sending me a box.

From what i've read, this process can take 1 -2 monts, and not 2 weeks like they promise. I dont' miss the gaming as much as the ability to watch videos from tvtorrents.org on my tv by streaming them off my PC. We dowload shows when we miss them. Now have to watch them on the little laptop.

Adam's First Amp

Sharon bought me these wicked noise cancelling headphones for XMas. I love them, but my iPod just was not powerfull enough to do them justice, so I went in search of a small amp, only to find they are 100-500 dollors (and up). Then I stumbled on the CMoy . It seemed easy enough, just by the parts and build. And really it was, after 3 soldering irons (1 borrowed that died, 1 bought that died, 1 exchanged for the 2nd one that still seems ok), two Altoids tins (got the wholes all wrong on the first one), a few minor burns, a messy office and about 25 hours, I have an amp. Listening to it right now, it sounds great. Now, you can buy one of these off ebay that are arguably nicer and better than the one I built, and cost about 50 bucks US, but I wanted to do it! In the end i probably spent about 90 bucks, but have tons of extra parts that can be used on other projects. I think next I'll build this.

I also had the bright idea that I would build a baby monitor since sharon wanted one. So I orderd a kit voice actived (VOX) FM Transmitter for about 10 bucks plus shipping. I bought a case for it also. But I killed a transistor when I was trying to bypass the VOX portion of the circuit so that we did not get static on the radio when the monitor was not transmitting. Have to get a replacement transistor (about a buck) and then I'll be all set to go.

And the baby, he keeps us busy and on our toes, but we are having a blast. Sharon is doing Mummy and me Yoga and music class. He stands up if we keep him balance, but he does all the standing himself, and he sings along with sharon (if you can call it singing ;0) ). And he smiles a lot as you can see in the photos from the links on the side.

One last thing, if you have not got a customized google home page yet with RSS feeds of your favorite sites, do it. Really streamlines your daily web reading.

Like anyone reads this anyway

2006-06-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted here, but really, like anyone reads my blog anyway right.

Anyway, for those of you who don't read my blog, i've been really busy, mainly getting my wife pregnant, then finding out, then realizing that my life is going to be turned upside down, the realizing i need to make more money, then realizing we need another bedroom, then deciding to buy a house with my mother (yes that is right my mother), then buying the house, then realizing we needed to sell a house and an apartment to be able to pay for the house, then spending every weekend holding open houses, then finally selling the house (and hopefully the apartment finalized tomorrow) and now I have to start packing to move.

That is how 5 months goes by really quickly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited and happy to be becoming a Dad, even though i'm usually still acting like a child. I mean I'll be a great role model right? Well i'll try, as long as it does not get in the way of my XBOX 360 playing.

It is kinda strange though, I mean, i had to take all these tests to drive a car, but no one asks one little question to make sure i'm fit to be a parent. Anyone can do it. You have the right parts, you have some booze, you have some fun, now you have a kid!

Crazy stuff.

coldplay pic1

2006-01-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

coldplay pic1
Originally uploaded by applecran.

test

Coldplay

2006-01-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

Went to see Coldplay last night at GM Place.

I have not been to a lot of concerts, well, really none untill this past year (unless Raffi with my mom counts).

We went to see Sarah Mclachlan (Really good) and Michael Bubble (outside at Deer Lake park, lots of fun) last year, and now Cold Play.

My wife came with me even though she does not as much into rock as I am (even this soft rock of Cold Play). She enjoyed it, and she really enjoyed Fiona Apple (very distinct sound).

Once Cold Play got on stage (over an hour between Fiona and them) the crowd went wild and was on their feet (almost all standing up).

They sounded very good live, even in the metal box that is GM Place, they can actually perform. Some bands don't sound good live, but Cold Play is not one of them. The crowd was constantly chanting the lyrics along with the band, if they stopped singing you could still hear the song without pause.

I can deffinately see whey they are said to be the largest band of the 21st century so far, even the critics can deny that.

We had a great time and really enjoyed it, of course I forgot my camera so don't have any pictures except for my blury cell phone pictures. I'll see if I can figure out how to get those off the phone and on here.

Figured it out.

Go see Coldplay, it is a good show.

Oh Comon!

2005-04-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back Duncan wrote on a radio bit he heard where they were saying that some teachers are not using red ink to mark their student's papers as it is to stressfull for them. He says in his post titled "Dial W for Wussy" that of course this is absurd and it is making our children to soft. I agree.

Well, I'm watching my recorded "The daily show" from last night and this author Sally Satel was on promoting her new book, One Nation under Therapy. She basically talks about all these silly things including the red ink.

Things like:
- some schools don't allow the game tag, now they have a game called "circle of friends", they sit and share their emotions, and no one is ever out. I say to these school administrators, tag, your a fricken idiot.
- the Girl Scouts have an Anti Stress badge, you get it by writing feelings diaries and giving foot masages. excuse me?
- she says they found that basic activities that are good for children, having conflict, challenge, etc. are seen as being harmful to children.
- Little league teams in Massachusetts not keeping score
- Dodgeball is not allowed in many schools
Here is a good quote that gives you an idea of the bull that is going on.

Sensitivity screeners remove from texts and tests distressing references to
things like rats, snakes, typhoons, blizzards and ... birthday parties [which
might distress children who do not have them]. The sensitivity police favor
teaching what Sommers and Satel call "no-fault history.' Hence California's
Department of Education stipulating that when "ethnic or cultural groups are
portrayed, portrayals must not depict differences in customs or lifestyles as
undesirable' slavery? segregation? anti-Semitism? cannibalism? "and must not
reflect adversely on such differences."

Society is doomed.

The sky was falling

2005-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

You know sometimes things happen and you say "I got to blog this" and then you forget and you can't think of anything to put in your blog... Or is that just me?

Anyway. A few weeks back a coat hook thing that I had attached to the wall last year fell off the wall. We had about 25 coats etc on it (I think 3 were mine) and I ah... Well...Ah... Well I did not screw the thing into the stupid metal studs our building is made out of because I was in a hurry to get it done and did not take the time to go down to the home depot and ask one of the kids there if they know how I can screw this thing into metal studs and let them look at me like "what do you mean? HOW can you not know how to do this? I mean oh m' god!" and then have to pay through the nose for some screws and then come back and make the wrong holes and have like 8 holes for 3 screws. (was that a run on?). Any way, so it fell down, not a big deal.

So, two days later, I'm adjusting some cables on this big ikea shelf thing that we have on another wall that has our projector on it. This thing weighs about 80 pounds. Well, this thing I put up with these cool screw in wall anchors that you screw to the drywall, and then screw a screw into it, and there were like 12 of them, but again, nothing into the studs for the same reason as in the above run on sentence. So this thing falls down. On to the couch. Onto our table. Onto the heater. Needless to say, the heater is severely dented, the table slightly dented and the wall has gaping holes in it where these anchors were torn out of the wall.

After I recovered from the shock of having this thing fall down and having to catch my projector in mid air (it is ok), I headed straight to home depot.

Well, my suspicions were right, the kid looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed to some metal stud screw things. Well armed with those, some big mother f***in anchors that go in straight and then deploy long pieces of metal perpendicular to the screw and squish against the wall, I attached this thing backup, into the studs this time. And same with the coat rack.

Just glad no one was sitting on the couch when it happened cuz my wife definitely would have said something.

I like to laugh

2005-04-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

I like stupid funny. My friends (some) think i'm strange, my wife definately does but I just can't get enough of this stuff. By this stuff I mean:

Old School
Road Trip
Eurotrip
an National Lampoon movie (yes even the bad ones)
Scrubs
The Office
Scary Movie 1,2,3
Not another Teen Movie
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle

I think you get the idea. If you like to laugh, watch one of these movies and let the belly rolling begin.

Speeking of White Castle, why is there no White Castle in Vancouver? I could really go for some of those juicy, tasty, bitesized little burgers... mmmmmm

Oh yeah, I also like food.

Isn't that funny.

2005-04-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

I'm watching the news and the biggest story today is the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla. Now I myself could not care any less about this wedding, or the fact that Prince Charles and Camilla have both been divorced and are being remaried.

The Queen did not attend this wedding, and it did not occur in a Church as the Anglican Church refused to marry them as they say it goes against the rules of the Anglican Church.

So, I'm no histroy buff, but I seem to remember Simpons episode where I "learned" how the Anglican Church started. I could not remember the details, but a quick google search brought this site up:

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/king-henry.html

So here is a little outake from this web site on the history of the Anglican Church:

"It was not that King Henry VIII had a change of conscience regarding publishing
the Bible in English. His motives were more sinister… but the Lord sometimes
uses the evil intentions of men to bring about His glory. King Henry VIII had in
fact, requested that the Pope permit him to divorce his wife and marry his
mistress. The Pope refused, and King Henry responded by killing his wife,
marrying his mistress, and thumbing his nose at the Pope by renouncing Roman
Catholicism, taking England out from under Rome’s religious control, and
declaring himself as the reigning head of State to also be the new head of the
Church. This new branch of the Christian Church, neither Roman Catholic nor
truly Protestant, became known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England.
King Henry acted essentially as its “Pope”. His first act was to further defy
the wishes of Rome by funding the printing of the scriptures in English… the
first legal English Bible… just for spite."

So as we can see from this, the church was infact founded out of the desire of the reigning King to have a divorce and remary.

Funny that. I really find the history of the different churches quite entertaining.

Cool Photo

2005-04-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Bryan Cyr photo
Originally uploaded by applecran.

Brian Cyr has some really cool photos. He is a local artist and has is pictures in many places, he even has prints being sold by Ikea, so you know those are all over.

I really like this one. I found this in my images folder while doing the google maps thing. It is just a low res version from his site, but I would love the full size one.

Check out his other work at http://www.blindeyefotography.com/ and buy something if you can afford it! I wish I could.

2005-04-05T21:17:00.001-07:00

school
Originally uploaded by applecran.

Here is a Satellite image of my high school from Google Maps

2005-04-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

downtownvancouver
Originally uploaded by applecran.

Here is a picture of Downtown Vancouver

Oh m'god! Soooooo cooooool!

2005-04-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

Google Maps ( http://maps.google.com ) has added satellite images to it's already very cool map application.

Still in BETA, this map application has the best interface of any online mapping service. Try it out. It is VERY good.

Now, they have a link that will overlay Satellite images over the maps. This comes after Google aquired Keyhole.com - a satellite imaging company. So this also means that google now owns a satellite that can take your picture from space... just think about that next time you google yourself.

Wired 13.04: La Vida Robot

2005-03-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

Wired 13.04: La Vida Robot

After reading this I feel like a real ass for not wanting to take the garbage out tonight, geez, these kids built a whole robot!

Made Me Cry

2005-03-29T21:53:00.000-08:00

This post mad me laugh so hard when I was reading it to my wife I was in tears! I swear his mother and mine are the same person.
123 I love you: Screwed because I think I just had the same conversation with my mother a few weeks back.
We were painting the kitchen, i'm painting the ceiling.
Mom: "Are you going to paint the ceiling?"
"No I'm just holding this roller against the ceiling so the paint will drip on my eyes".
"You missed a section (pointing at the other end of the kitchen"
"I have not got there yet."
"I think the line you painted is crooked"
"Then we'll fix it on the second coat"
"Are you going to paint that end of the ceiling?"
......
Ah Mothers, we love them so.

Strata and my love for "TiVo"

2005-03-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

About 4 months ago I had an ich to build my own "TiVo". Now, I'm not religious, so I thank the almighty Gates every day that we have this thing.

It's a thing of beauty if a non-geek type can love (Tech specs are at the end of the post for you geeks).

Why does this magnificent piece of silicon deserver so much blog time? Well where do I start?

1. Strata Meeting tonight ( would have missed Scrubs)
- I think that all of our normal manners get left in our suites before we mere humans go to a Strata meeting. I don't envy those on strata council one bit. Also, if you are at Council, listen to the questions being asked. If you have a hard time listening because you are trying to remember your question you want to ask, write your question down and listen to the ones being asked. This one lady consistently asks questions that were answered 30 seconds before she asks her question. Common!
2. Dinner with the inlaws (what would I do if I had missed Desperate House Wives?)
- The first thing my father in law said to me was: "Father Tim wants you to come to Church." I reminded him that I'm not Catholic. My wife is and she does not go, why would I? When I got married I made a promise to the Church - I would not stop my wife from going to Church, and we would raise our Children Catholic (at least I would not interfere in them being raised Catholic). But I NEVER promised to go to Church myself. I really am trying to figure out how an entire Church (not the religion) recruited and retained members through extreme guilt.
3. Day Job (well, OK, I could not have missed anything, but I really needed The Daily Show when I got home.)
4. Late Night work (countless countless past misses are all but forgotten.)

Now in the past, these would have caused countless minutes of cursing when I realized I would never know if the Simpson had another wacky adventure, or just a boring normal Sunday.

BUT NOT ANYMORE! Now I can come home, and watch 1.5 hours of TV in an hour and a half by skipping the commercials. Now that is efficiency!

And, my wife, who is very busy with work and shows, can watch all 18 different CSI and Law and Order shows whenever is convenient for her.

On top of not missing things, there is nothing like a Simpson marathon. You can easily record about 10 hours of the Simpson a week. The same goes for Seinfeld and The Family Guy. I also get the X-Files, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, Alias, Medium, and new this week - The Office (freekin funny).

Now, one may say "But Adam, it seems like you watch way to much frickin TV!". But I counter that.

You see it is simple, we use to watch crap just because crap was on, and we would not necessarily get to watch things we like. Now, not only do we only watch what we want, but we don't have to watch the commercials. So I say, NO! I don't watch to much TV, but I do watch a lot of good TV :D

-----------------------------------------
**Ok you Geeks, here is what you wanted:

System Specs:
P4 3GHz with Hyper Threading
Radeon 9600 Pro video
1 x 200 GB 7200 RPM Hard Disk just for TV shows
3 x 30 GB drives for OS, DATA, Movies and other
1 GB DDR Ram
8X DVD +/- Burner
48X CD Burner
Optical out for sound
This is hooked up by DVI cable to my HDTV and is all controlled by remote control.

OS is Windows XP Media Center Edition.
- I tried about 8 different TV Recording / Watching apps, and this one was the most stable. It did not have all the features, but it does everything the average person needs, and it only crashed once in the last 4 months.

I also use it to play my Itunes collection on my stereo.

Back to my Tivoed (is that a verb yet?) Desperate House Wives.

Just as I figured

2005-03-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

I took this questionnaire at the BBC website, it is a scientific study consisting of 6 parts that is suppose to be able to tell you if you have a more male or female brain.

It also told me I like more fimine faces (no surprise) and that I'm interested in systems of all sorts (again no surprise).

So, really it told me what I already new.

But it was still interesting. For one part in particular, they show a series of 3d shapes, one on the left and 4 on the right. 2 of teh 4 are matches to the one on the left, but the are all at different angels.

Well, 1/3 of men got 100% on this, but only 10% of women did the same. Quite interesting.

If you have about 30mins to kill, take the test and find out once and for all, if you are manly or girly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

Why do I watch this crap

2005-03-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting on the couch watching TV. I flick through the onscreen guide and for some reason I flick to "What not to wear: Americas worst dressed couples".

Why am I watching this?

I want to change it, maybe throw in a movie or turn it off and read, but for some reason I am drawn in by the fact that I get to laugh at these people for the way that they express themselves through clothing. Now, I'm not the sharpest dresser, but I have to say, these guys dress kinda strangely. BUT, they dress this way because it is who they are. Why do the rest of their friends feel they need to change them?

Now they are getting the couples to say stuff about outfits their significant others are wearing, they are now laughing at each other and we all get to watch.

Update: A minute after I published this post they interviewed the couples after they had been torn down by the "fancy smancy" hosts of the show and teased about their clothes. One lady is crying, one wants to change her clothes, but could neve afford it. The guys were basically like "whatever, i'm happy the way I am, but since the clothes are free i'll do this".

This is television at it's best.

2005-03-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

Living downtown, when you go out of your house, you see and meet all sorts of people. Now that I don't have a car (gone a week ago, since I work withing 100Meters of home, figured driving would over do it) I'm walking around quite a bit more, and I'm noticing that people are following me!

Now, I'm use to people asking me for some spare change, and I usually don't give change, but have bought the occasional cheese burger or coffee when someone really seems to need food. When they turn that down, they usually want cash for drugs and hey let's face it, I can't even afford to keep myself at an acceptabel intoxicated state let alone others.

Lately though, I'm not being asked for change, i'm just beeing followed with a cup. Take tonight for instance. I walked up granville from smithe, this girl on a bmx bicycle was following me on her bike with a cup in her hand. She was a couple of steps behind me, so I could only see her if I looked to my left, but she was holding the cup in my direction.

Now, I did not want to be rude (I am Canadian after all) but I had my ipod turned up and my earphones in, so I chose to pretend I did not notice her. Afte a block and a half she stopped to ask a group of teenagers for change - actually, she stopped because she saw this old guy walk up to one of the teenagers and take their lit cigarette from them and then walk away smoking it; it was pretty funny.

So I went to london drugs to pick up new headphones (the ipod ones always fall out of my ears, and they bug me), and then walked back down granville to Davie St. Down Davie I saw this woman who I see all over town asking for money. Almost every time I'm walking around I see her, and she just looks at me pitifully and put a white styrofoam cup in my direction. Now, I proably gave her change once or twice, but common, I can't do it every time. So I walk buy, again with the ipod on choosing to ignore the advance. A minute later I glance to my left and she is right next to me about a pace behind with her cup in my direction!

Was there some kind of begging convention on that tought them to use this following technique or is this just me?

Maybe I just look like I'll cave in and give them a buck, I don't know.

If I were needing change, I would find some way of earning it through entertainment. There was a guy in gastown a few years back that would tell you an original poem that he made up on the spot. That I will pay a couple of bucks for.

While on the topic, there is this one guy that stands outside of the London Druges on Robson at Bute who my wife and I both agree has the MOST annoying whiny begging voice in the city, if not the country. He is there almost every night, and has been for a couple of years. He says to every single person walking by: "Please sir/miss, can you spare some change", and this web page does not do it justice, you have to hear it to beleive it.

Ahhhhhh... the joys of living downtown.

Cookies

2005-03-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

At my new job our department has a tradition that the rookies bake everyone cookies. They call them ... (drum roll).... "Rookie Cookies".

So, I have spent the last 4 hours cooking 154 cookies. I need about 250, but I bought the wrong stuff and now have to go back to the store to get some more cookie making stuff.

I was going to do the entire thing from scratch, but my wife who is wise beyond her years suggested I use these bags of mix that i just add eggs, butter and some water... man am I glad I listened to her.

I think the worst thing about cooking all these cookies is that I can't eat any as there won't be enough for everyone if I do.

I'm also not sure how I will distribute them, I'm sure they have a system for this.

I usually like to have a beer while I'm cooking, but I don't usually bake cookies, or anything for that matter, is it wrong to drink beer while baking cookies? I feel like I should be drinking milk or something.

What about a beer flavoured cookie? They have oatmeal cookies, they have oatmeal stout beer, why not outmeal stout beer cookies?

Things that do not make sense

2005-03-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

I saw this article on Slashdot today: "New Scientist 13 things that do not make sense"(New Scientist 13 things that do not make sense - Features). It is a list of 13 things that do not make sense - most of these items have cause some deep and profound problems for some of physics generally accepted theories, without which all of our rules for explaining the Universe fall apart.

I found this quite interesting, and it got me thinking of other things just as profoundly confusing that just don't make sense in this world.

So I thought that I would write my own list of things that just make sense, but funny that, i had writers block.

Here is a start, feel free to add:

1. Why is it that the simpsons have not aged over the last 13 years? Come on, we can tell, just make the kids a year older at least.

2. I know university graduates who can't read a map - how does this happen?

3. ...

A little bitter....

2005-03-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, as my friends will tell you, I tend to get a bit bitter at companies who do things that don't make sense or just piss me off.

I had to go to aircare yesterday. I have a 2002 car, so I only have to go once every two years. Great! you say... that will only cost half as much!

But WAIT! It does not work like that. The f****ers charge more for the newer cars. Here is the price structure:

1991 or older car: $26/year
1992 or newer car: $47/every two years

What!? How can this be you ask?

That is right, on new cars, they only test 1 time every two years, but you pay $1 more than the older cars, who get tested once a year.

THIS MAKES NO SENSE! Why pay more for half the work? I hate blatently obvious cash grabs! If they made me go each year I would not like it, but i would not feel as ripped off.

I had a simmilar problem at the Keg in Whistler. We went for New Years Eve. I ordered a New York Steak Classic dinner. The waitress asked very causally - "Do you want some peppercorns on that?".

Now I had looked at the menu and I new that the price difference between the New York and the peppercorn New York was $1.00. Yes a buck. So I said, well, ok, but can you put the stuff on the side?

So the steak came, it was undercooked, and peppercorns were cooked right into it. It was OK.

When the bill came, there was a charge for peppercorns as expected. $5.95! That is right SIX FRIKING DOLLARS FOR PEPPERCORNS!!!!!

Now, I don't mind paying for them, even 6 bucks if that is what it costs. But it is the principal of the matter. Whey would it be a $6 difference on this meal versus a dollar on the other?

Man it gets my blood boiling.

Anyway, don't tell my wife I was talking about the peppercorns, she hates it when I talk about the peppercorsn.

Feeling a bit better after venting.

Correction.

2005-03-11T00:54:00.000-08:00

Actually I'm 26. I can't even remember how old I am.

And my wife says I act like i'm 12

2005-03-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

Saw this on Blogthings.com. Suppose to tell you what age you act.

You Are 25 Years Old

25

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Good thing, because I am 25. Hah! See honey, I doooo act my age... nananananaaaanaaaaa!

Geek Etiquette � The Poo Rules

2005-03-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

Geek Etiquette - The Poo Rules

I saw this and immediately thought of a friend of ours Christian. For some reson, all of our friends know WAY more about his bowel movements than we even know aobut our spouses or anyone else for that mater. It is funny most of the time but his wife really gets annoyed with it. His co workers call him 2 by 9. He is so regular you can set your clock by them. Anyway, the Poo Rules have just been emailed to him.

Blogs I have seen afar

2005-03-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

Sharon is away on business for the week so I have a lot of free time. This actually combined with the fact that really I have no work to do this week until Thursday afternoon and Friday, which is my last day at the current job.

So I have been reading a lot of blogs. I love that little button at the top of the blog page that says "next blog". Every click is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. (The honest truth is that I wasn't sure what type of stuff I should write in a blog and so I was peaking at other blogs for ideas.)

Having said that I have noticed a few themes as far as the types of blogs that are out there. I have found some really intersecting information, some hilarious links and a lot of garbage as well.

Here is are some of the types of blogs I found:

1. Political blogs. Now I'm Canadian, but as a most Canadians I follow US politics about as much as Canadian politics (not that I follow either a lot). So I know that currently the US political scene is about as divided as possible. C'mon, I watch the Daily Show, I know what is going on.

So Republicans Unite, democrats for Peace, my Political blog, and on and on. The only thing I think of when I see these sites is "why the heck would anyone want to read this boring crap". I have yet to find a single Canadian Political blog - I'm sure there may be one or two out there - but they will not be as numerous as the US political blogs. I would not want to read the Canadian ones either.

Politics boring me...

2. Religious. Yup, the top number of sites I have found have been the two things you are not suppose to talk about: Politics and Religion. It is just good manners, I was brought up that you don't talk about these things with people you don't know to well as it is possible to offend. So why is it then that these bloggers feel the need to talk about these things in the most public forum of all? Well, after thinking about this for a while I figured it is because as public as a blog is, it feels somewhat private as no one is "here" so to speak. No one can immediately start arguing with me right now, and even if they do I can just delete their comments.

Jesus, Buddha, Athiest, Satan, and I'm sure some of those languages I could not understand spelled out the bloggers feelings on their own God who is unknown to me.

Some of the religious sites were preaching on behalf of their god, some ranting at their god, some mocking their religion or the religion of others. One spoke of a missionary who met someone who would be stoned by their own family if their family found out they had converted to Catholism. Freaky.

As a point of mention, I have no specific Religous sect that I belong to, take part in etc. My wife is Catholic and so I have spent a few Christmas eves in Church with her while she sings in the Choir. I always feel out of place there, but that is another post. I have not studied any religion to the point of being able to tell if I would take part fully in one. I know that I see things in the most public of Religions that we see in the news everyday that I do not understand and do not agree with, and things that make sense.

Huh, I guess I have answered my own question on this one, the reason I think people blog about religion and politics is because people feel so passionately about both of these topics. It is always easy to speak convincingly about something you know and you are passionate about.

3. Link Farms. Yup, blogs are a huge repository of link farms.

Example: http://headache-relief.blogspot.com/

This is a blog that has the sole purpose of having search engines place the site they are promoting higher in search results. This is a tricky but most likely somewhat effective to increase your visibility on the internet.

4. Poetry.
Things like this:
self-imposed
dot my I's
cross my t's
the burdens of
being me

This was not from me, but from someone who's blog claims they have a fondness of big words. I have never been into poetry, and most likely couldn't write a poem to save my life... Or could I :0)

Adams TV Haiku:

Survivor and Lost
Law and order CSI
My week on TV

5. Vacations
Well this seems obvious. I have friends who have traveled Europe, Asia and other areas of our beautiful planet, and have sent us emails every few days. That is great, but it is better on a blog. Why? It is permanent and maintains context. You can post pictures and links. Vacation blogging should be mandatory for any trip over a week.

6. Family. This is always interesting. Peoples lives are generally interesting as they are different from our own.

Family posts come in many sorts. New Baby. Sick Sibling. Rambling about family members.

One blog I was reading a frustrated mother was writing about her son who seems to have what would most likely be described as ADD, but is most lilkely due to being bored. She takes him to gimberee, he is not interested and seems to be in his own world. She mentions that all the other kids do all the moves, and do them well, but her some will not, and just seems to do his own thing and not pay attention. She takes him to a class where he is not interested, until the teacher starts talking about food, and then he is interested and asking questions and participating, once this topic is done, he is no longer interested and goes back to his own world. She finds this quite frustrating and then remembers and incident that she had when she was 17 and attending some classes for gifted children. She realizes that he is a lot like her. She is frustrated, but obviously loves her son.

Another mans blog with a title something like "living with a bipolar child" describes living with his two children, one bipolar and one with ADHD. The description of the site mentions all the drugs his son is on.

7. Single Posts.
Some people start a blog, post one thing, and never return.

8. School, boys and icky stuff like that.
Teenage life is so complicated.

9. Work.
Not to much on the specifics, or you can get fired. www.dooce.com.

10. Random other strange items and inner thoughts.
These are the most interesting as far as I can see. Duncan wrote 13 paragraphs on The Lost Art of The High Five. Common! That is good writing! Who would of thought such a thing could be done? The NewYorkIntern did an experiment with google adsense (the ads from google you see on the right of the page). He put a bunch of really strange phrases in a post to see if it would affect the type of ads that come up. The results were that google is not funny.

11. Misc.
Everything else.

All in all there is some pretty strange stuff out there. What does it all mean? As Napolean Dynamite might say "How the HECK should I know!?"

2005-03-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

I came across this at Darren Barefoot's Blog (www.darrenbarefoot.com) :
http://www.brightcoop.com/livehaul/ez_video.htm
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am not a vegitarian, or even close to one. I like meat. I know about all the horrible things that are done to animals, but I, like most of the rest of the world, just try to not think about it as I go on with my daily activities. This type of thing still freaks me out though.

One part of me is amazed at the engineering and just completely strange and brilliant thoughts that went into designing this machine, and another part can't help but cringe as the chickens are flung through the machine.

DVDs
I received my first 4 DVDs from zip.ca today via express post. They shipped Friday, and arrived Monday, not bad. I'll be trying to get them back tomorrow to see how fast the turn around on the next set will be.

Napoleon Dynamite
If you like dark comedies, different comedies, you have a strange sense of humour, or just have two hours to spare, this movie is good. The more I think about it the funnier it is.

Anyway, Napoleon is a teenager with absolutely no social skills. He is what we might call weird, or a dork, or a weird dork. He lives with an almost equally strange group of family members and makes some strange friends.

Anyway, I saw this linked from someone else's blog and thought I'd share. http://www.lookatentertainment.com/v/v-243.htm

Rent this movie if you like to laugh and are not only into the usual Hollywood comedies.

To blog or not to blog... about work

2005-03-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

I was just reading slashdot and it pointed to this article on CNN regarding people who were fired for things they posted on their blog to do with work. Really makes you think twice before posting anything in such a public forum. Having said that, some of the things they got fired for were not quite fair in my opinion. This one lady from Delta Airlines got fired for some pictures of her in her uniform... nothing racy, just playful. And one lady (dooce.com) now has a word in the the urban dictionary from her getting fired. DOOCED: to lose one’s job because of one’s website.

I wonder how many people have been given jobs because of what is in their blog. I'm sure the numbers are equally low as those who have been dooced.

On a pretty geeky note, I was reading this article on how to set up your own PBX system using Linux and a peice of open source software called Asterisk. For a couple hundred bucks max you can have a full fledged PBX with voicemail, VOIP access, faxing and fax forwarding to email, and on and on. and that is just cost for hardware, the software is free. http://techdatapros.com/asterisk/ is where the how to article is. I think if i can get an old pc that is powerfull enough I will try this out.

Sharon and I went for some butter chicken and curry on Friday night at India Gate restaurant. We have had take out from there before, but I did not find it very good. Well we went back because there is a coupon in the entertainment book and a lot of reviews on the web said it was good. Well we really enjoyed it. Really good butter chicken, great service, clean and nice atmosphere, and not to expensive.

We went over to future shop after to get some blank DVDs to backup movies to ;0). While there, i was showing sharon the HP Media Center Z545, the coolest media center pc currently available. Someone had put some songs on there including a rendition of "Baby it's cold outside" by Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey... man that is the worst thing I have ever heard.

Sharon is off to Denver tomorrow for the week. It is the first time she is travelling on business. So I'm baching it for the week, that will involve pretty much the same as usual, minus Sharon sleeping next to me. I'll miss her but she's back friday!

DVDs

2005-03-04T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last week i cancelled some shaw services, shaw extreme, the movie channels, Independent film channel, tech tv. We don't really use them anymore as we are recording tv shows on the normal channels. We have so much tv that we can't always watch it, so why pay for these other services we don't use.

So, instead, i'm trying out www.zip.ca. It is an online DVD rental company. You pay $25/month, they send you 4 dvds at a time, you watch them, send them back in the pre addressed envelope, and then get 4 more sent to you. There are a few companies out there that do this, but this one has the best selection of movies, and the nicest interface on their website.

I added about 50 movies to my "Zip List". This is the list of movies I want them to send me, they have shipped the first 4 today:

The best of Triumph the Insult Dog
The Delicate Art of Parking
My Little Eye
The Terminal

I'm going to try this out for a month or so and see how it goes, depending on how long it takes to ship, this may or may not be a good deal. It is nice to be albe to research some good movies and then just search the site and add them. I always hated looking for movies at the movie store because you never know if they are good or not. This site you get user reviews, they have their own "critics" who recommend movies, and you can check reviews on other sites as well.

New Job, New web site

2005-03-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

Well it is official. I have taken a new job as a Customer Support Engineer for Server products with Business Objects.

Business Objects is one of the largest software companies in the world. In Vancouver they are known for buying out Crystal Decisions a couple of years ago. Their products are business intelligence products. Really cool stuff if you are into business, data and making things more accessible to the people running businesses.

I start March 14th. The best part... the office is right across the street for our apartment :D

I am most likely going to be completly inactive with Nerds, but not gone. I don't want to close any doors. There is a small chance that I may help with some things in my free time, but that remains to be seen as of right now.

I've also finally got my new website up and running. www.CheapEatsToday.com is a website to find deals at restaurants in Vancouver. Basically, if it is Tuesday night, and you want a good meal, but you want a deal, go to the website, under Tuesday and see what is available.

I'm also want to do a website for good food in Vancouver. Not expensive food, just good. I would review places with my friends as we all love great food.

Christian and I have been doing this thing Tuesdays where we go for some cheap good food, then watch a movie. Now his brother Reiner and Dylan are starting to come. We all love food, cheap food, good food. Makes sense to tell others what we find.

I'm finding myself a little bored at night lately, probably because Sharon is so busy with rehersals. I'm looking forward to seeing her next show wich is Guys and Dolls. Anyway, I guess I should do something... excercise...read...go out... but i just seem to watch tv. I think i will at least try to watch more movies.

Anyway, all for now.

Wow it has been a while.

2005-01-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well we have been really busy, and have not updated our blog in a while.

So let's see....

Well, all the baby guppies are still alive, and we have 2 new Tetra's. All our grownup guppies have died though. The babies are still quite small and it will be a while until we put them in their own tank.

Over Christmas we stayed in town. We had 2 Christmas dinners, one with Sharon's family and my Mom, and one at my Aunt Amanda's house with Dave and the kids, Grandma and Grandpa were also there. That was the turkey dinner, we did Peking duck with Sharon's family.

We went to Whistler for New Years and were up there for a couple of days. We stayed at our friends Niki's cabin. It is an interesting cabin, only about 25 feet wide, but 3 stories high. there is a spiral staircase to the second floor where the main bedrooms and bathroom is, then some wooden ladders to another room that has 2 queen bunks and 2 single bunks that are up yet another ladder. Very cozy and we had a great time. We went for a walk out in the snow one day, but mainly stayed in and played cards, games and had some drinks. Karen and Christian, Niki, Mike, Romana and her boyfriend Claude, Tim and Eva were all there as well.

Sharon got a nice new wool coat for Christmas, and i got some big new speakers :D. We went shopping on boxing day and got some clothes for sharon and I. Good sales, big crowds as usual, but always fun.

Christian's friend Darick was in town a couple of weeks ago, this gave me an excuse to go skiing! And it happened that there was a lot of snow that week. I bought myself some skiboots and we went. Well, it snowed tht day, and as fun as it was finding out that I still remember how to ski, the pelting shards of ice flying into my face was not fun. On top of that we only had two pairs of goggles, so we ended a little earlier than we would have liked.

Other than that, everything is same old for now.

Happy New Year!

Fish everywhere!

2004-11-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, mom finally burst. We have about 40 baby guppies swimming around in the small tank. The two babies from last time are now in the big tank and doing fine.

It was really cool watching the little guys pop out. they are really squished in therer, they pop out and unfold and get bigger right away.

Hopefully most of them will last, we can sell them back to the fish store for a few bucks each. Should help us recoup some of the hundreds of dollars we've spent there :D

Sharon is currently knitting what I would say is the worlds longest scarf. I is over 6 feet long and she is still going!

Another Week

2004-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

It was a busy week with for me with the Nerds. We had the SOHO small business show on Wednesday. Everyone helped out and our registration database and badge printing went quite well. No problems.

I also toured around to some clients who were being assigned a New Nerd, every client we went to wanted more work done, and we got a referral for a new client who is quite large. Busy.

The baby guppies are getting quite big now, about a half inch long. And none of the other fish have died! I think it has been a couple of weeks since one died, this is a very good thing.

Nothing else to exciting lately. Out for now.

Bought the kids a Condo

2004-10-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

We got a new small tank for the little guppies... all 2 of them :D

Mummy is good, she has a new guy and there already going at it. We think she is pregnant again/still and so Sharon is ready to separate her as soon as it looks like she's pumping them out again.

Went to costco tonight, as usual that was an expensive trip, but hey, who does not need 30 bake and serve bread sticks, and 24 flat breads, and 4 KG of chicken breast and two bags of chicken wings and 12 bagles and... Oh, I did get a great deal on some USB cables, and found a salt and pepper grinder with sea salt that came with olive oil and vinegar... mmm sea salt.

We also looked for new glasses, Sharon has an amazing ability to walk towards the giant wall of glasses and immediately pick out the most asian looking glasses there, and then wear them while we are there.

Best part of costco was that 15 minutes before close on a wednesday there was no line up at all.

Today one of the Nerds told me he is taking a job with Boeing as a systems analyst, really good opportunity. I'm happy for him but will miss having him on the team, great guy and a great nerd. Means a couple of the newer Nerds and some of the potential nerds may get some new clients soon which is good.

The nerds will be at the 8th annual SOHO small business show on the 20th, www.soho.ca. We are providing registration services on site, as well as some other things.

Sharon put an offer on a place for mum today, hopefully mum will get it, looks like a good condo with some income opportunity.

All for now! Off to watch CSI re runs.

Adam and Sharon.

late Night

2004-10-13T01:53:00.000-07:00

Just spent 5.5 hours building a website for a client... actually rebuilding, we did it once, but the designer sent us the wrong size images so we had to redo it...

We had some babby guppies appear this evening! Very exciting, Sharon will probably write some more about this as she was looking it up on the web. We lost the daddy guppy the other day, dead when we got back from Victoria.

Fin looks like he may not make it much longer, he has the red butt like some of the guppies got before they died, i think it is some sort of bladder thing...

Off to bed.

Victoria

2004-10-10T11:43:00.001-07:00

Just recovering from Matt and Alisha's wedding last night. Nice wedding, open bar :D, they looked VERY happy and we all had a good time. We even got a bunch of candles and two center peices which are quite nice.

Thanks Karen for correcting my spelling :D

We're going to the Royal BC Museum today to try and see if we can get into the Egypt exhibit. It has about 200 of the best exhibits from the British Royal Museum's egyptian exhibit.

There is also a Marathon right now and the finish line is in front of the Museum, also we don't have tickets so we'll see what happens.

Hope the fish are ok when we get home tonight, the last male guppy's tail was starting to disapear and the ram had a red butt, every fish we have had that got a red butt has died :(

Off to the races :D

Piiiiigggggsss iiiiinnnn spaaaacccceeeeee!

2004-10-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Cool. Space ship one successfully made it to space and came back safely for their second flight yesterday. This is very exiting I think, I may be able to go to space in my lifetime!

I watched the video of this flight a few times, very cool looking craft, very exiting feeling.

Virgin has already licensed the technology and started a company called "Virgin Galactic". For a large large fee, you too can go to space very soon.

Also reloaded my laptop today, not quite as exiting :D

One day maybe Adam in space?

Sunday ramblings

2004-10-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

As usual on Sunday I'm home surfing the net, with the TV on. Sharon is working and tonight were going to Mom's for dinner.

I decided to click on the "next blog" link at the top of our blog page ( go ahead and try it). I was quickly browsing through and read the odd one that caught my eye and was not in some foreign language. I was wondering what people write about on these blogs, we had plenty of people with poems, art and the likes. We had happy people writing about their new boyfriends / girlfiriends and sad people writing about the opposite. Plenty of students complaining about homework/hangovers and life in general. One poor women with a blog called "my eggs are cooked" who's husband won't let her try invetro fertalization so that they can have kids... Plenty of people posting about the good old conversation taboos; religion and politcs and much much more.

Well this passed some time for me anyway.

I'm going to test some software today for managing a website that I had an idea for. I think it could be a good idea in the long run and worst case it will at least be interesting and fun.

I'm seem to be constantly looking around and seeing businesses that people started that are so simple, yet so effective. I'm still and always looking for some idea, some business to start. If I had the money or could get my hands on the money I would probably buy a proven franchise that works; the problem is most of these franchises require a networth of over $300,000 plus startup etc.

Anyone want to invest?

Yesterday the Nerds held a food drive for the Greater Vancouver Foodbank Society. We got a couple of hundred pounds of food and a couple of hundred dollars! We were at 3 locations - 2 IGAs and Metrotown Superstore. You would think with the 10 thousand people that walked by us at Metrowtown we would be able to get more, but people constantly ask us "what is the foodbank"... sad.

Out east when they hold these events they get 1,2,3 nerdmobiles full of food, thousands of pounds... different out here...

Had fun none the less.

Oh, and my taco stand idea, it won't fly currently in Vancouver. The bylaws state that no one shall sell food from mobile food vending units unless they are selling pre-cooked frankfurters, nuts in the shell, or prepackaged food.

Kinda hard to fit a fresh cooked taco in there somewhere. Silly considering in most major cities taco carts and other types of carts are quite popular. Also found out you are not allowed to have mobile ice cream vending in the downtown core.... strange.

All for now.

My First Post

2004-09-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, as if you don't already know, I am not the nerd in the house, that's why Adam's already posted 2 posts and this is only my first one.

I've been doing some thinking and I really miss being in a musical, so I am starting to audition for them again. I didn't get a part in Miss Saigon. I think it's because of my dancing, so I will be starting jazz and tap lessons at Harbour Dance starting next week.

I'm still singing with the Vox and still loving it. The music selection is more to my liking now; there is a lot of variety and lots of fun stuff. Maybe I'll get a solo again this year. The Christmas concert is already set, they are going to be at the Mt Seymour United on the first Friday and Saturday of December and one performance at the new Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver the following Saturday. I will give you details as it gets closer.

Speaking of singing, because of changes with my schedule at work, I can now go to church regularly. I will be singing with the Christ the Redeemer 10am mass choir for masses starting this Sunday. Yeeaaahhhh!

Work. Work is good. I am still enjoying it and am planning to stay for a little while. I'm not bored with it yet. I think it's because there is always something new that I'm learning. Each deal is different and they each have their individual challenges. I don't want to jinx this by saying that real estate might be it, but it sure feels pretty close. Although, I still want to do a musical or two or three a year while doing it.

I think that's a good start for this blog for me. I guess I'll update you with my life a little later. I have an audition this weekend with the UBC Gilbert and Sullivan Society for The Pirates of Penzance. Wish me luck!!

Back at it!

2004-09-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

Well being away for a week in Mexico sure was a good relaxing time. Although it did take a physical toll. The week of constantly sitting in the sun, eating at the all you can eat buffets, the midninght snack bar and the constant and ever flowing alcohol sure are hard to give up.

They had these beer taps all over the resort, except they faced the wrong way... or should I say the right way :D they face towards me! So you could poor at anytime, on top of that there was a never ending supply of underpaid Mexican bartenders waiting to poor you any drink you wanted.

The ocean was warm and salty, the pool was not quite as warm, but not salty.

I finished yet another Dan Brown book - "Point of Deception" - while on this trip. Good book, I like all 3 of his books I've read so far, they have a bit of a nerdy edge to them in the way that all the information he puts in there is a bit intriguing and possibly quite accurate.

Here is me just being myself at the beach... Would you believe they laughed at me?

After the pub crawl:

And the sunset last night there, I was wishing Sharon was there....

Monday back was a long one, back at it full tilt now.

Oh, we had to freeze another fish last night, one of our Neon Tetra's just was not looking good, so we put it out of it's misery. Now we have:

2 iridescence Sharks (Sharky 1 and Sharky 2)
1 flounder (Slim)
2 Ottos - sucker fish (both named Bob)
4 Lemon Tetras (don't think we named them yet...Hammy)
2 Guppys (also no name) 1 boy 1 girl... I think the girl is getting tired...
2 Neon Tetras
1 German Ram (Flapping
Fin)

Hopefully no more die this week.

I got Tacos on the mind right now....

Adam.

Welcome To Our Blog!

2004-09-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Adam and Sharon Crandall's Blog.

In our busy world that we all live in, it is sometimes hard to keep in touch. We thought this would be a good way to keep our friends and family abreast of what we are up to. So if you're borred enough or interested enough to read all this, then welcome!

More to come.

Adam and Sharon