It's over for another year.

Well Christmas has come and gone one more time. It's nice to have a nephew to bring back the fun. The last few years have been kinda boring really. I don't expect it to live up to the hype but it certainly doesn't feel like it did when I was a kid. I think part of it is the lack of a two week vacation. I swear school can ruin you with all that time off. I still feel like I should have the entire summer off. Traditionally the family would head to Quebec to visit the relatives. Having stayed in town for the last few years has not helped either. Oh well maybe next year I will be able to take some time off and do it the old fashion way.

No more road trips in 2010

Well, I am sad to report that there will not be another road trip in 2010. Turns out that due to our lack of humans at work none of up are getting a decent block of time off this holiday season. I guess I can count myself lucky that I got the actual holiday days off, but since they fall on the week end it really does not feel like a day off. The only week day I have off are Tuesday the 28th and Jan 3rd, I even got new years eve on call for the second year in a row. I was really looking forward to a 3-4 day stretch to explore the roads looking for adventure. I think I may need to take an extended week end sometime in late January.

We are still busy at work but at least we are now properly staffed, well we should have at least one more guy but things are much more reasonable. I am hoping once we get through the backlog things will be much smoother.

Busy busy busy

We are currently swamped at work, I am on call and I am tired. That is all you are getting right now. I had a subject in mind but I am just not in a writing mood right now.

Sudden sleepiness

Well I was planning on blogging last night but around 21:00, I realized I was simply too damned tired and went to bed.
Well I got my holiday schedule, I got the actual holidays off. Sadly because we are so busy and understaffed right now our standard practice of being "closed" for the week between xmas and new years. I don't thing I will have much of a chance for a decent road trip, I will try and get out to the ski hill though even if just for the day at Mount Holly.
On the bright side we have hired a new guy at work and he starts on the December 22. I hope he is good. We also get back two guys who have been away at trade school, the new year should start out much more relaxed. Another good thing our on call schedule will work differently for 2011. Currently we start our week on call on Monday and finish the following Monday. I had suggested starting Friday instead, that way when you are done you get to enjoy the week end to relax. We discussed it and agreed on Thursday as the switch over day, apparently that is how most other companies do it. I am just happy to have some time to chill out after a stressful week on call.
Well that is all for now, until next week.

Road trip

Well the holiday season is fast approaching and I am in the mood for a road trip. Actually I have been in the mood for the last few months. The problem right now is we are understaffed at work so I might not get much time off. I am still unsure where I would go. Skiing is certainly on the list. I am also considering a road trip to visit some MINI friends, not sure what we would do but I am sure we would have fun. The traditional family visit is always the standby. I will keep you updated as soon as I know what I have off. I am also taking suggestions.

EDIT: Forgot to add I just officially requested time off for MOTD9. If you are interested in tagging along let me know.

Changes

Well things at work have changed. My manager is no longer my manager. He will now be what they are calling technical manager, basically he is in charge of dealing with the most complicated equipment we service, quote large jobs and help us out when we need it. He did however take this as an opportunity to take a leave of absence until late January. So we are even more short on staff for the next while.
The new manager is one of the owners. I think he will do a good job but only time will tell, we are told to expect lots of change. First priority though is hiring some experienced people. This is good news, things are very busy right now which can be quite stressful. Currently I am on call, technically it is a switched week, so that means instead of 6 weeks break before my next time on call it will be 2. I had not thought of that when I agreed to switch. Ah well, I just hope we get some decent time off at xmas. It's not looking good though.

Thinking of skiing

Sadly the skiing season is still several weeks away. I say this every year but I really hope to get on the slopes more this year, actually if I go once this year I will have beaten my score for the last two years. 

I really like to go but since the closest decent resorts are about all about a four hour drive it makes for a very long day, and makes for last minute trips almost impossible. 

I will look into getting some of the MINI people together for a week end trip that could be fun, and if we all cram into a cabin it could actually be quite affordable. 

My biggest concern and one of the reason I have skipped the last two seasons is my knees, they aren't that bad but do hurt me somewhat regularly, I do try to avoid kneeling so much at work but it comes with the job. Skiing can be hard on the knees and I really don't want things getting worse.

I am late.

I apologise loyal readers, I missed my deadline last night. Frankly I was tired and really had nothing to say, or at least nothing I felt like getting into. Work has been rather busy lately.
I do have a tip for you though, if you have a machine, what ever it may be that isn't working turn it off. Yes this seems like common sense but it may not always be apparent. This week a convenience store have issues with their main cooler. Basically it was not cold.  There were no obvious noises or anything so the left it as is until I arrived much later to fix it. I arrive and realise the condenser fan motor has failed. Nothing major here happens all the time. I get it replaced, no easy task in this particular application. I turn the system back on, the compressor will not work. Many checks later, yep it done. Maybe it was a fluke, but without a condenser fan motor the pressures and heat get quite high this causes the compressor to overheat and eventually trip it's overload. Technically this should protect the compressor repeat this cycle over and over as the overload cools and damage will occur. So had they shut down the system once they realised it was not working they could have saved themselves a compressor, especially since this one was only four years old.

Back at work

Well I am done with school and I am happy to report I passed. Back at work, things aren't as different as I was expecting since the loss of my co-worker. We are rather busy though kinda hard to get back into the grove when it's this busy.
In a few weeks I get to write the test for my refrigeration license. Once passed I really don't know what I will do. I am likely to keep things as they are for a while but as a licensed mechanic it opens allot of doors. No actual plans on bailing on my current company but change is not a bad thing. I guess we will have to see.

A question for you.

Not much of a post today more of a question. How much bullshit is out there? Not the type of bullshit that Pen and Teller deal with on their aptly named show but the bullshit people believe that is just plain wrong? If you have ever gotten an e-mail full of useless facts, let me tell you right now not all of those facts are indeed facts. What about laws/right people think are true based off something they saw in a movie?
It's pretty much impossible to know what percentage of false information is out there, hell I am pretty sure there are certain things I "know" that are simply not true.

Almost time to go back to work.

Well I got one more week of school left. So far things have gone well except maybe this time around I found school to be a little bit more boring than the last two times. Well I don't know if boring is the right word but I am just not very into it this time around. I am quite confident that I will pass but I will have to actually study for the final. The scary part is the big test for my license, that one includes questions on everything I have learned from day one, the thing is lots of things I have learned are purely theory, which means stuff that I don't actually use in the field. The general knowledge questions should be OK, although I am told there are many tricky ones.
I am not too worried but I will have to go through all my old notes.

I need a bed!

I am in need of a new bed. For most of my life I have slept in a water bed. They say it's bad for the back but I have never had any major issues there, yes I do occasionally have a sore back but I can usually link that to having recently lifted something heavy or twisted it awkwardly. The thing is a bed can be pretty difficult to shop for. Comfy at the store may not be so comfy after a few weeks. Sure some places offer a fairly decent trial period, even up to 90 days but I am sure there is lots of fine print involved. The cost can also be quite high, sure if you consider how long it can last it's worth it but it's still allot of money up front. I do like the idea of the adjustable air mattress seems to me like a nice feature to be able to fine tune the firmness any time I want. I think I will head out this week end to see what's out there. I would appreciate any tips though.

Home for the week end

Greetings all,
One more week with not much to say. School is going OK although not very exciting it is still a nice break from work. Thanks giving this week end and as a result we get Monday off from school I will take this opportunity to head home for the week end and see the family and friends. Nothing really planned once I get there but it should be a fun time.

Taking a break.

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I just had nothing to say. Today is no better. I hope to be back on the ball next week.

Success!

We did it!
It has been a long day of`eating and cooking but we accomplished out goal. The grand total forty-four.
Here is the list:

1. Chicken
2. Turkey
3. Beef
4. Pork
5. Quail
6. Goat
7. Shrimp
8. Eel
9. Uni(Sea Urchin)
10. Tuna
11. Scallop
12. Octopus
13. Squid
14. Clam
15. Oyster
16. Turtle
17. Cuttlefish
18. Kangaroo
19. Camel
20. Lobster
21. Squab
22. Partridge
23. Muskox
24. Elk
25. Caribou
26. Guinea Fowl
27. Pheasant
28. Crayfish
29. Conch
30. Alligator
31. Venison
32. Water Buffalo
33. Ostrich
34. Duck
35. Bison
36. Maguey Grub (Tequila worm)
37. Frog
38. Crab
39. Abalone
40. Snail
41. Mussel
42. Rabbit
43. Lamb
44. Sea Cucumber

There are lots of left over to deal with but soups and stews will take care of that.
I started out taking many picture but half way through I kinda gave up. I will post the ones I got tomorrow.

The MEATENING update

Well the meatening is going well. As of 14:15 the total number of animals eaten is sixteen. We are on a little break right now soon we start grilling the various red meats we have. I missed the quail but I have been photographing each round, pictures will be posted tomorrow.

The MEATENING

A short post tonight, as some of you may recall on my trip down to the Dragon earlier this year I had a meat day. Well Saturday we are doing it for real. For those unfamiliar meat day involved eating a large variety of meats in one day. Last time it pretty much happened by pure chance. This time there is planning involved. We have at least 14 exotic meats in the freezer right now, with the hope of hitting about 30 different species on Saturday. Is this going to be health? I doubt it. Do I care? Nope. Will it be a crazy fun adventure into protein overload? I certainly hope so. I will be posting some time Saturday with a progress report and Sunday with a final tally. If I do not post by Monday it is likely I am in the hospital, please send tofu.

I decided to go there.

As you may or may not know I am an atheist. I don't really like the term actually, well not the term itself but the negative image it has. All it means to me is that I do not believe in any religion. Unlike religion there is no set of beliefs/rules of atheism we simply don't believe in a magical creator, beyond that we have as much in common with each other than people who enjoy beer.
In one sense I have no problem with religion, what you want to do with your free time is entirely up to you, be it going to church, playing video games, dressing up as a squirrel and yiffing, if it does not affect me why should I care? The thing is unlike a hobby or lifestyle many people believe their religion is the word of the creator of the universe, and if he says you must wear a hat than it's probably a good idea to listen. The thing is even if you are religious you really only believe in your religion, all other must have it wrong. So who do we believe? Who has it right? We should base laws on what we think is right/wrong not what any one religion says is right or wrong.

There is much more to this topic, but that is all for now, until later.

Unpleasant news.

As I previously mentioned my brake pad light came on while heading to Toronto. I didn`t drive my car all week and yesterday after school I drove back home. This morning I was to meet Chad at Detroit Tuned at 10:00. I got there a little early and he had not arrived. As I am waiting I get a call, it was the dispatcher from work.(I prefer to leave co-workers name off my blog) I thought it odd as she has never called me outside of work hours, but I thought maybe she had a computer related question. I answer and she asks if I had heard from anyone at work. The tone in her voice was not a happy one, I knew something was up. She then says that she has bad news, ***** hung himself last night. I was shocked. It sounded serious I knew someone was seriously ill or even dead but a suicide, especially this guy was an utter shock, I still don`t know what to think about it. Apparently he was his normal self at work Friday, he even went out for a couples dinner that night and all was good. Later at home he apparently had an argument with his wife, he went into the garage, she thought he was just going to get a beer/calm down, but he didn`t come back. I am not sure when she found him, but she was the one who did. I can`t imagine this was a last minute decision but if he was depressed it certainly didn`t show at work, sure he liked to grumble but it was always done in a joking manor, he will be missed.
I am meeting several co-workes in a few minutes to talk about ***** and hao we feel about this, I am glad I am in school right now, it is going to be very somber at work for the next few weeks.

Blogging from Toronto

Greetings loyal readers,
I am now in Toronto for my final stage of trade school. I will be done at the end of October, if I pass I can go and write the test for my refrigeration license. So far we have not really done much, just little review. I am once again staying with my good friends Colin and Graydyn. We usually find a way to have fun.
On my way here a yellow warning light came on in the MINI. Nothing too serious turns out it is just my brake pad light. Still safe to drive for a bit, but I do have to get the pads replace very soon. Too bad this didn't happen a few weeks ago. It would have been much easier to get them replaced back home, I will likely be taking the week end to head over to Detroit Tuned to get my brakes fixed. I could do it here but the MINI dealerships are not known for cheap labour, I also prefer to support my friends business. I am still undecided if I will be upgrading anything or if I will keep the brakes stock. I would like an upgrade for for better spirited driving, but the stock system is quite good for everyday driving. I guess I will talk to Chad and see what my options are. until next week.

Thank you MINI Jesus.

I got a call from the dispatcher at work this afternoon, it has been a hectic week I saw it was her calling I was hoping it was not a customer callback. I answer, the first thing she says is "Don't panic" this of course results in the opposite reaction especially since the next words were "your car". Turns out a tree had fallen onto my co-workers car, I was parked right next to him. She told me my car looked OK  the branch did not make contact, just some leaves all over. I finish up my job and head to the shop. As I pull in I see many people gathered around the fallen tree. I was not particularly impressed to see that they were pruning the tree in an attempt to clean up while my car was still under the large limb. Looks like all is OK though aside from some saw dust all over my recently cleaned car. 

My co-worker's Malibu though did not fare so well. 

That is the base of the tree, it's actually five trees emerging from one base, the trunk on the right is the one that fell. I was parked right nest to him, I normally park further away from the tree not a fan of tree sap on my car. I will make it a point to continue avoiding trees in the future.

I missed my deadline.

Very short post tonight, I will try ans make up for it.
I ended up going out with Chad, Matt, Casey, and two of their friends(sorry my name memory sucks) we had a good time but now it's 1:26 and I am in no mood for in depth blogging. I will try and post something tomorrow, or technically later tonight.

Poor little squirrel.

This is not a happy post. Kinda sad actually you have been warned.
I was on call today. I was at a bar fixing their ice machine. I had to make a call so I went out to my truck. As I am talking I notice a squirrel a couple meters away, I though this was odd ans they rarely get so close. I approach slowly and he does not run away, then I see why. His skin/fur is intact but both his back legs are kinda dragging behind him as if his pelvis is crushed. He isn't whimpering or making any sounds that he is in pain although I am sure he was. I go inside and tell the cook, he comes out and says "We need to put him out of his misery" it sucks but I agree although want no part of it, he says he will feed it then take care of it. I go back to the ice machine. He comes back a few minutes later saying he just can't do it. Being a country boy he admitted to having killed animals for similar reasons in the past but this time he just could not do it. A customer hears this and decides to check it out. I did not go back out but the customer returned after a few minutes with a bloody hand, not sure why but he decided to pick up the injured squirrel. He got himself cleaned up and bandaged then said he will take it with him alive. He is concerned about rabies, he didn't say exactly where he was going to take it but I assume the humane society. I hope he will be OK and that the poor little squirrel is out of his misery now.

Big or small?

Mom and pop or big box? Which is better? A simple answer neither. Both have advantages and disadvantages. 

Lets start with the big box stores, being big well they have lots of stuff it's pretty convenient to walk into one building and get all you want. The prices are usually lower than smaller stores always a good thing to save some money. Once you have been to one you have been to all, I love new things when vacationing but if I lose my luggage I know I can walk into a Walmart and pick whatever I need. Hours of operation are also pretty good at many of these store, I am not a huge shopping fan, but if I do need something after 17:00 I can get it.

The mom and pop store well if big is good so is small. If I am looking for something unique it can be much easier to locate in a small store. The staff care more, a little bit of a generalisation but if the owners also work the cash register they want their business to succeed. If you decide to open say a plumbing supply store chances are you know a thing or two about plumbing. The quality of products sold can be much higher of course this is reflected by a higher price. If there is a problem with your new product it's much nicer to deal with a real decision maker than a customer service specialist. 

So there you have a basic list of why both have advantages, now why the hate for the evil big box? They kill the mom and pop store, this can be true and it is unfortunate but we live in a capitalist society if customers chose the competition over you well that's just the way it is. They pay "slave wages" I think that argument here is not what they pay their employees but what they are allowed to pay them depending on the state/provincial minimum wage, if you don't think it's enough to live on full time minimum wage lobby your government to increase it. The problem with that is the cost of living always goes up, sadly minimum wage will never be enough. I will say the practice of having very few full time employees in exchange for benefit free part timers is a practice I do not agree with. That being said is this really only a problem with the big box stores? 

Almost time for school

As you may or may not know I work as a refrigeration technician, technically  I am still an apprentice. Part of my apprentice training requires that I attend school three separate occasions, this will be my third round after that I can write the test for my licence. School is actually kind of a nice break from work. I would not call it a vacation but the day are pretty short and since school is in Toronto I get to stay at my friends's place. Since my days are short I make dinner most nights, I am not a good dinner maker under normal circumstances since I have trouble planning ahead of time what I will want to eat, once I get home I just want something quick. This way I am home in the early afternoon and at that point I can usually decide what I want and I have time to prepare it properly. It's also nice to prepare food for non picky adventurous eaters.
I am hoping to check out some Toronto eateries while in the area, dim-sum is already on the list I have yet to try it but I am told it is quite good, and quite cheap too.
As for school itself I am hoping to get the same teacher again that I got the last two times, he is a good guy and knows how to make sometimes boring subject matter interesting. I do not think I will get my wish though, last time there the third round teacher was a different guy, I had him for one class in round one, he is actually an interesting guy but his teaching style is not optimum to my learning style, I might actually have to study with him.
Well that is all for this week.

Zero tolerance for Zero tolerance.

Recently a law was passed, a zero tolerance law. The law states that persons under the age of 22 can not drive with any alcohol in their blood. First off I do not condone drunk driving, or for that matter "buzzed" driving, but this is not how we should try and stop it. In a radio interview today, a politician involved in enacting this law(sorry didn't catch her name) was saying that this law is to help change society's attitude towards drinking and driving, a noble effort but there are other ways. The interviewer even asked if this zero tolerance law would eventually apply to all age groups, she didn't give a clear answer but started talking very political like.
There is no doubt that alcohol will affect ones ability to drive, the question is how much? When you hear of an accident where "alcohol was a factor" what does the really mean? Is alcohol a factor if I crash my car with a BAC of 0.05, what if I was simply hooning about and lost control, was the alcohol really a factor? What I really fear with this is the innocent person who had a few drinks earlier in the day, had a meal then gets into his car for what ever reason thinking the alcohol is long gone, wrong, it's still there, now he does still need to get caught but he does and a drunk driving charge is not a good thing. "Well he should not have drove" some will argue but you tell me how you know when your BAC is at 000? A night out drinking, when can you drive again? the next morning, noon, afternoon?
Zero Tolerance just doesn't make sense, be it for school yard violence, drinking and driving or even murder, yep murder if there was a zero tolerance law what do you think would happen in self defence cases?

Why do I feel guilty?

It's not Wednesday but I had something to say. Why is it that I feel guilty for refusing to take an extra night On Call? A guy at work asked my to cover him for Saturday evening to Sunday morning. I don't have any actual plans but I am not really in the mood. I just got off the pager Monday morning and I would like a weekend to relax. I told him I would think about it and this morning told him unless it was something important (friends wedding) it was a no. He seemed a little disappointed but said never mind. I still feel guilty though, it was the same thing back in the Bingoland days I didn't want to cover a shift yet I would feel guilty and end up saying yes. At least now it is more likely that the favour will be paid back, but when? The guy who asked me is a real good guy but I can't expect him to drop his plans last minute if something comes up on one of my Saturdays On Call. The thing is there is a very good chance if I do say yes nothing will come in, I get to be the good guy and I don't actually have to do anything, yet as I said before, it's not really the work itself that bothers me when On Call it's the not knowing where or when, also if parts are needed for a big fringe or freezer it can be a major pain to track down.

Anyway I am still contemplating calling tomorrow to say yes, but I will not be happy, wish me luck sticking to my word.

Thank you

I have come to find out that I have at least 7 followers on my little blog here. Sure in the grand scheme of the internet that isn't much but it's more than I thought and there may be even more than that.
I have temporarily located for a little over a week so that I can dog/house sit for Colin's aunt and uncle. They have a jack russell, she is a pretty easy going dog, although she is blind so I have to be sure not to cut her off or she will bump into me. The house itself is also pretty cool, there is a party hut at the back of the yard.
I am also reporting this week from a MAC, I was originally thinking of bringing my own computer but they have internet through bell, unlike cable I would need to login and I don't want to mess with that. I won't bash the MAC quite yet all I have really done so far is open up Firefox to surf the net. Do people even say surf the net anymore? I will say I am not happy with the mouse though it just feels cheap to me.  I don't know what this house is made of though because the cell phone reception sucks indoors, yet is fine outside.

My week on call ended on Monday morning so I actually had a day off to relax a bit before heading back to work. So far the week has flown by. I am looking forward to a proper week end though. I know a guy who is heading to the Grand Bend dragstrip Friday, I know the MINI isn't really a drag car but I may take it out there just for a pass or two, it's always fun going fast without worrying about the police.  I may ed up chickening out though State Farm is not likely to pay out if something were to happen, even if it is rather unlikely. It will be fun to watch either way.

I have been reading Richard Hammonds book  On The Edge, it's pretty good, but I was under the impression that it was a little more about how he got to be on Top Gear and his life as a motoring journalist/enthousiast. While that is covered it is done so rather quickly. The book is more about his accident with the jet powered dragster and his recovery. Severe brain injuries can be scary. The funny thing is my first day here I notice the "Uncle John" has the same book on his bookshelf. Had I waited a week to order it I could have read it for free.

Well that is all for now. I may actually update sometime before next Wednesday, I had a subject in mind earlier and forgot what I wanted to talk about, I was driving at the time so writing a note was not possible.

Fix or buy new?

Nothing is broken nor do I have any big purchases planned in the near future. I have been thinking about this quite a bit lately though as it comes up frequently at work. When an expensive item breaks and is getting old is it better to repair it or buy new?
I see this allot at work, I get called out to repair a piece of equipment, lets say a residential air conditioner. I get there and realize it has a refrigerant leak and the unit is over 20 years old. At this point you have spent $80 and it's still broken, to fix it the bare minimum is about another $200, including a charge to find the leak, one pound refrigerant, a small leak repair, it can however approach the $500 mark as I had the other day. Including the diagnostic charge you just spent $580 on a 20 year old air conditioning system that still has all it's original parts.
A new system will run you close to $3000. For this you get a 5 year warranty with option to upgrade/extend a much more efficient unit and since everything is new things are less likely to break. As good as that sounds though it is still quite a bit more money than the repair and also a new unit will take a few days before it can be installed the repair is likely completed same day. What to do?
I like to give people the heads up before I start any repairs because if just told the price of repair most will say just do it, however in the past I have had people tell me once they saw the total they realized they should have considered a new unit. I tend to compare it to repairing an old car, sure it's cheaper to repair it but what else might go wrong next year or heck next month?  It seems people are more willing to upgrade their car than their furnace or AC, I seen many people fix 20+ year old equipment yet I am sure the same person would never dream of dropping $500 on a 20 year old car, yet the cost of a new car is way more than $3000, why is that, heck your old car you can sell even if for only $100 there is a very limited market for 20 year old furnaces.
Speaking of cars, I got rid of my Sunfire because it was at the point I no longer wanted to spend any money on it, I had not really spent much on repairs the time I had it but I knew I did not want to do it again. Had I kept it sure there would have been repairs due but it still would have been less than what the MINI has cost me, although the MINI is many times more fun.
Now for the cheaper stuff, lots of mass produced good these days simply cost less to make than to diagnose and repair. |This is fine for a non sentimental appliance that has worked well for many years. That 3 year old washing machine on the other hand is a waste, it's no longer under warranty, is it even worth having a guy come out spent $80 just to have him tell you it's not worth fixing? Yeah there is a chance it is just a burnt wire or a no part required repair but we assume the worse and simply go buy another one, throwing the not so old one in the trash.
This repairs not worth it can be frustrating for electronics. A camera for example can take a while to get used too, if it breaks and is very expensive to repair if repairable at all(obsolete) can be upsetting sure the new one may be better but by how much really?
Anyway all that to say,,,, actually I don't really know what my point is does everything need a point?

Common sense

This my sound like a rant but it is not.
We call it common sense but how common is it really?
Today I went to a call for no cooling, I get there everything is operating. The first thing I check is the filter, it is FILTHY I have rarely seen one so dirty. No big deal people forget, heck this was a rental house (currently unrented) so I can understand having forgotten to change it. The thing is once I took it out and checked the operating pressure everything was OK. Now there is a small chance there is some sort of intermittent problem, but I am certain the only issue was the filter. Checking you filter should be common sense, since it obviously isn't it cost someone $90 for me to tell him.

What I propose is a common sense class in high school, by propose I mean discuss on the internet, there is no way I am motivated enough to try to implement this for real. Really all we need is a big list. There is no need to go in depth for most things out there, As my example above if your AC isn't working properly check your filter, if your oil light comes on in your car pull over as soon as possible you have no oil left, you can't use margarine to pop popcorn(stupid room mate story), resting you feet on the dashboard of a car is a bad idea unless you want to knee yourself in the face real hard. You get the idea. Do we have a project? Shall we come up with a huge list and put it out there for everyone?

You may or may not know but I am not a huge concert fan. I don't hate them or anything but I generally only like a few songs from your average band so I am rarely motivated to attend their concerts. Bayfest a local music festival, is usually quite the event featuring well known bands, although not usually at the height of their career, I have only attended once(The Tragically Hip) and that was only because a group of friends was going and I wanted to join them. I had a good time, but as I mentioned I only like a few of their songs so it could have been more entertaining.

I have also been to an Arch Enemy concert a couple years ago, I got invited to go and agreed having not heard any of their music, the thing is this is a metal band, well death metal I was curious as to the whole mosh pit thing. Sure I did not like all of their songs but they are all "danceable" well moshable. It's quite the interesting activity, pushing a shoving stranger without anyone getting mad is quite invigorating.

Why am I bringing up concerts? Well there is one band out there that I really want to see in concert. Rammstein, I am not sure what branch of metal they consider themselves but I do enjoy plenty of their songs, and being part of the metal genre the moshing should be quite good. Above all though their concerts are supposedly quite impressive.
Here is a video showing clips from various concerts, FIRE
As you can see, that is allot of pyrotechnics and I love that stuff. I found out yesterday that they are playing Quebec city on Sunday, sadly the concert is sold out. The thing is I had actually been checking Rammstein's site for any North American concerts and saw nothing planned. I was actually willing to take a road trip to see them and this would have been a fun one. I checked their sit yesterday and there are no other North American dates but a friend has said he heard of a proper NA tour in the works. I will certainly check out their site more often and hopefully not miss out again.

It's Summer, it's supposed to be hot!

Yep it's hot out there. It's also Summer in my 30 years of living here it always gets hot. It's not very comfortable but I don't need to be told multiple times a day that it is indeed hot out, and how to deal with it. I understands your AC is broken yep that is why I am there, I am not however your saviour, I appreciate you thanks but tone it down a little, many of us grew up without any AC and we survived. 

Sorry about the little rant, I prefer to keep my blog positive but I just needed to get it out there.

Cell phone.

As you may or may not know my current cell phone isn't working to well these days. I can only talk on it in speaker mode since the standard talk speaker is broken, occasionally the ringer simply goes silent not actually in silent mode or the volume turned down, the phone simply stops making any sounds. The only way to reset it is to make a speaker phone call. The screen colours are all off, and I fear it will simply stop working soon. I need a new phone, I just wish it would have lasted longer for a supposedly tough phone.
    The thing is work covers a fair share of my cell phone bill ($50 a month) if I have a "MIKE" plan. MIKE is a direct connect walkie talkie service. I actually do like it. It's quicker than a phone call and unlimited so no need to worry about minutes. It's nice to have with my line of work because sometimes you just need to ask a quick question. You send an alert, if the guy can answer he will if not you simply keep working or whatever till he responds, unlike a regular call where you call let it ring leave a message and so on. It's kinda like texting.  If I get a non MIKE plan work will only give me $10 a month.
    The choice seems simple stick with a MIKE phone right, well there are issues with that. The phones available for use with the MIKE plane are pretty limited, and only one smart phone is available, the Blackberry Curve, not a bad phone, but I would like a DROID but none are available with MIKE and if I decide to go without I lose $480 a year, not a small amount of money. Even if I do decide to go with the Curve, I was told the data plan was unlimited, "That's sweet" I thought, the thing is data on the MIKE network is really slow, so yeah it's unlimited but that's because you would never use all you data anyway.  So the whole point of a smart phone becomes pointless. There is also the toughness issue I mentioned earlier. I work in a trade, I crawl around in tight spaces, my hands get dirty, I get caught in the rain regularly. I need a phone that can handle such things without breaking. That is what my current one is supposed to be built to handle yet it barely coped with it after two years. I just don't see a smart phone lasting all that long either.
Any suggestions are welcome.

Summer is here and it's flying by.

I can't believe that June is almost over already. Summer just started and yet it seems like it will be over soon. I have no official travel plan or anything like that but I think it will be a busy summer. I do have some MINI events of course, a pic nic this Saturday. I do want to do some camping at some point even if it's just for the week end. I actually prefer multiple short trip to a big one. Sadly I likely wont be heading up to Killarney for any of these trips.

I do need to get back on the bike though, I have been seriously lacking in motivation department. I enjoy once I am out there, but getting motivated to head out is hard. I am still thinking of joining a martial arts class of some sort, I just need to find a good place. It's my understanding that many of them are run by douchebags. There are good ones out there though.

I also want to explore the good food opportunities in the metro Detroit area. Toronto is good but it's a far drive just for dinner. Ethnically Sarnia is dead, I like pub food but the variety just isn't there. I like the local sushi place but I also find it a little pricey. 

Have a good summer folks, hope we all have a good time.

New friend

Greetings all.
Yesterday I was given some calls just like any other day. Now my boss decides who gets what call, I am not sure if he did it on purpose but one of my calls was for a neighbour of mine. This is the second time this year, might be a fluke since I don't know if my boss actually knows what street I live on. Anyway I get to my neighbours house and introduce myself. I am not normally chatty with neighbours, just a friendly wave when I see them. He is actually new to the street, having only moved in last October. He has an insurance program on his HVAC equipment only requiring a $50 deductible per service call.
The problem was his blower wheel on his furnace was packed with old dust and the evaporator coil was quite dirty reducing air flow, and his insurance does not cover any cleaning. I can understand them to a point but this dirt was due to the previous owners neglect, you would think before accepting equipment into their program they would have it inspected. I was able to convince them to cover a replacement belt as the existing one was getting very worn out. The cost to get everything cleaned was going to be around $100, unfortunately due to a car crash a few months ago he is unable to work, and money is tight. I thought about how to proceed and decided to help him out for free.
I could not do it right away since I have to account for my time, but I told him I would return after dinner. I returned around 18:00 and got the blower out, he took it outside to clean it while I tackled the evaporator coil. We got everything put back together, and it is now working much better, not quite 100%, but it appears to be the original system from roughly 30 years ago.
While the repairs were going on we were chatting and he seems to be a real nice guy. After all was complete he gave me a beer and a headlight flash light as a thank you, we continued to chat for a bit, joined by his girlfriend. I will be soon getting an invite for dinner, she is Chinese and apparently quite the cook. I am not sure how far this will go, but a couple new potential friends does make ones week a little brighter.

Lots to say but can't say it

This is my final attempt at a post tonight. I seem to have lots of things to say, but I start writing and then nothing. What I have on my mind is more of a two way discussion that a narrative. I have a few things to bitch about but I want to avoid such matters for this blog. 

I did just finish watching an interesting movie(my spell checker does not seem to recognise movie).  Garden State written/directed/starring Zach Braff. It was more of a film really, not normally my style. I enjoyed it though. I don't really like describing movies since I don't want to give too much away but you can check out the trailer if you want Garden State trailer it does make it look more exciting than it really is, and as with most trailer does give a little too much away. 

I am not sure of my week end plans just yet, aside from no gravel involved this time, but I think it will be an exciting one, if it is I will be sure and let you know how it went.

Science time with Prof Jay

As you may or may not know I work in the heating and refrigeration field. I figured I would do a post about how refrigeration works.

First off you can't make cold. Cold is the absence of heat, so if you are hot you want to take some of that heat away. The term heat pump is generally used for an air conditioner that can also be used to heat your home, but basically any type of refrigeration is a heat pump. What we are doing with refrigeration (this includes air conditioning) is removing heat from a location where we don't want it to an unobjectionable location. 

How is this accomplished? Well that is where the refrigeration cycle come in. The first step is compression of the refrigerant vapour. Once the compressed vapour leaves the compressor it enters the condenser. The condenser is a coil of copper tubing that is finned that acts as a heat sink, a fan helps pull air through it. As the refrigerant vapour cools is condenses into a liquid the pressure remains the same. One thing you may not know is that this change in state actually requires lots of energy, much more than a simple change in temperature. This liquid now goes through a metering device for this discussion we will only cover the fixed orifice. This is basically a restriction in the system, this is where the refrigerant enters the evaporator pretty much the same thing ans the condenser, at this point the pressure drops. This pressure drop changes the boiling point of the refrigerant, just like if you are high in a mountain water boils at a much lower temperature. As mentioned earlier changing state requires lots of energy. This is where the magic happens. As the refrigerant boils it requires this energy where does it get it? From the hot air in the conditioned space, as this hot air gives up some of it's energy it cools down. Now the refrigerant is a vapour again and returns to the compressor, to start the cycle again. The energy it picked up inside ready to be released outside through the condenser. 

If you noticed something I have yet to mention Freon, well Freon is actually Dupont's brand name for their line of refrigerants. The name is no longer used because of the bad press because of the ozone depleting characteristics of some refrigerants, they now call it Puron. Refrigerant comes in many types for different applications, Your home AC likely has R22, older cars and refrigerators had R12(the first refrigerant to be banned) newer fridges and cars use R134A. 

Contrary to popular belief refrigerant does not need to be topped up regularly, yes it can leak out but if there is a leak it should be repaired before adding more refrigerant. One of the most important and easy maintenance requirements for any refrigeration system is to keep both the condenser and evaporator clean, the condenser (the part outside) by hosing it off with water, be sure not to bend the fins over, and the evaporator by regularly replacing the filter.

The secret Life of Machines did a great episode on the refrigerator check it out http://www.techno-fandom.org/slom.shtml    actually all their shows are great. 

Feel free to ask questions I will do my best to answer them.

It's hot

Well it's hot out, I am not one to complain about the heat but the heat does cause my work day to be rather busy. It also happens to be my week on call. I finally was getting to the point where on call was much less stressful and now the first heat wave hits on my week. Oh well such is life, I will be free from on call for a good portion of the rest of the busy season though.
Will keep it short tonight, my mind just needs a rest, last two days have been go go go.

Almost forgot

Greetings all,
I just about forgot it was Wednesday. Almost forgot to post.
First thing I just finished washing and waxing my MINI. I was way overdue for a good cleaning. I got done after dark, I can't wait to see it in the sunlight. Tomorrow I will be replacing the spark plugs and changing the oil. I am wanting to do some of my own work, partly to save some money but mostly for the satisfaction of a job well done, yeah it's corny but whatever. That being said I think I will be returning to Chad at DT for the oil changes, it's a good excuse to visit and frankly I think it ends up cheaper, royal purple oil is not cheap here.
Now to the fun stuff, Saturday was the annual Detroit Tuned Spring clean up party. It was a good time as usual for such events, even though there was not much cleaning up done. I actually took a picture of every MINI that attended. pictures here  A couple friends from DC, Stacey and Jay were visiting Chad for the week end, it was nice to see them again so soon after the Dragon. After the Spring clean up party wrapped up some of us (Chad, Stacey, Jay, Josh, Matt, Casey) went out to a karaoke bar. Well no one else other than Chad had been there before, he knows a few people who work there. This place was right downtown Detroit, quite close to Comerica park actually. Chad had mentioned going out for Karaoke before but what a surprise when I walked in that place. This place was rather small and somewhat dingy. The customers sitting closest to the door looked like hobos their lady friends were later identified as toothless hookers. The rest of the crowd was also quite diverse. This may not sound like a good review but actually this place was great, we all had a terrific evening, laughs were had by all. I was even told I was cute by Chad's friend that's always good for an ego boost. I hope to hang out with her a bit more next time I go, she seemed pretty cool.  Chad being the MAN meant that our tab for the evening was only $50, I lost track of exactly what we consumed but it was definitely more that $50. We ended the night with a run to White Castle, Stacey and Jay were first timers, I think they enjoyed it, until of course the sliders took affect, but hey that`s part of the experience.

Let's try this again

Well last week I had a post written, due to some sort of technical glitch it got lost. I said I was going to do some research and give you a more informative post but that did not happen. I do plan on making it interesting non the less.
Basically my lost entry was about road trips. I have been on many in my life, but until my most recent trip I don't know if they count. They involved lots of driving but any stops were on the way and rarely very long. I have fallen in love with the multi stop road trip, have a destination but plan ahead as to where you will stop research great places to eat and explore a strange city. On our way to MOTD in Fontana Village, our two stops along the way were actually D-tours, and it was fun.
I grew up rather far away from where my parents are from, so for many years we would pack up the car a couple or more times a year and headed out on the road to visit my rather large extended family. The drive is roughly twelve hours with stops for food and gas. Rarely did we break up the trip in two days and even rarer did we stop somewhere to check something out. I understand why but I am sure we missed out on many adventures.
What I would really like to do someday is go on a road trip where my destination is the same as my departure location. Of course it would be nice to wonder about North America for a few years, but that can't be done until that whole working thing is over with. I think three weeks or so could be done realistically. I would plan out a basic route and scope out some fantastic eateries but I would also keep my schedule open for unplanned side trips, although if I plan for the unplanned is it really unplanned?
Now the question is what to drive, yes I know I love my MINI and it is a really fun car. The thing is I would want something I can sleep in. I have seen set ups in cars with the passenger seat removed and a makeshift bed set up. This could be cool but I just can imagine I would be a getting a good nights sleep. I think a motorhome no bigger than a full size van would be perfect, I could keep food properly stored and cooled, and have a climate control system that does not involve idling the engine all night. I would have to figure out my best option for this, buy an old one have it checked out and sell it upon my return or rent one.
The other decision is to go solo or not. More than two the vehicle choice may be seriously affected but I really don't know on this point. It's great to have friends on a trip but there is something about being on your own and making all the decisions. I don't mean that in a selfish way just that in a group everyone makes some sacrifices on what they want to do or not do on a particular day,  I don't want to feel like I am forcing my friend to tour a boring to him museum, and I don't want him to miss out on an antiques store because of me. I think in the end I would like at least one companion, but we would have to agree before we go on a voting system for activities. It would sure make meals out much better, something about eating alone in a nice restaurant just seems wrong.
Let me know what you think and any suggestions you can offer will be appreciated. This trip is still far off but I will do it one day.

Wednesday already.

Well this sucks. I had a blog post written up and when I hit post it gave me an error. I thought no big deal, I constantly see the autosave doing it's job. Well it didn't I am just glad it was not a long post. I guess I will re-write it and maybe elaborate a little. That's all for now though.

It was fun.

Well I am back home. The MINI is unloaded, but needs a good cleaning, funny how driving in the rain does not help with that. My pictures (375) are currently being uploaded to my computer, next step organising. XIEK crashed on the spare bed last night as he was too tired to drive that last leg to Midland. I actually drove most of the way home alone until about midway through Ohio after a meal break and some gas I got back on the road just as XIEK, Ryan's Lotus, and a Michigan MINI caravan were passing by so I joined them.

It was a great trip but I a glad to be home, glad I took Monday off to relax a little. I will miss my friends and those curvy roads. I am also glad the MINI made it back this year unhurt.
I don't know where to start, I had planned on constant updates, but I was busy having fun that I did not feel like sitting in the lodge on a sketchy internet connection.  Here is a link to Colin's blog http://colinswanderings.blogspot.com/ he did a better job at updating as he went. Since I already covered the first two parts of the trip so might as well not repeat that. With US129 being closed to through traffic just before the section known as |"The Dragon" to make our way to Fontana Village we had to go through the Cherohala Skyway, it's a great drive with even greater views but it's a long detour when you want to get to your destination, and it was quite foggy, although at that altitude I think it's just clouds. We made it to Fontana Village safely though, the Volvo wedged between two trees however was not so lucky, we stopped to help but they had already been rescued. My friend Paul actually witnessed it and was the one who called for help, no one appeared seriously injured. Eventually the police put up some yellow tape to let people know they had already been there, it was still there when I left Saturday. We checked into our cabin(506),  our cabin mate Shannah had already arrived. We introduced each other and everyone got along, she actually lucked out he room was supposed to have bunk beds but she got a double bed.
That evening we ended up on a friends cabin for a party because it was raining.

Tuesday it was raining on and off all day. Did some MINI watching and a little exploring, close by. Graydyn and Susan went to Blackberry farm for a wonderful dinner, and decided to spend the night as the drive there was much longer than expected. Colin and I had a spaghetti dinner at the DC metro MINI cabin, it's a unofficial event for all the people who show up early for MINI's On The Dragon. (MOTD) It was a fun evening.

Wednesday is officially the first day of MOTD there were lots of MINI's around before but now they seemed to be arriving by the minute. My friend Aaron and "Kentucky Pete" arrived in the afternoon. We caught up and hung out for most of the day. I attended the welcome dinner afterwards went for my first Dragon run. As already mentioned US129 is closed due to a rock slide, the section known as the Dragon (318 curves in 11 miles) was not directly affected. However since there is nothing between the Tennessee state line and the slide they had closed the road right at the state line. Because of the major tourism created by this section of road The Dragon is going to be open as a dead end for people to enjoy from 8-8 daily. We got there at about 7:45 thinking they would let us do a full run, but we got turned around about 3/4 of the way through, I got lucky though, no idea why but they drive through with a large plow truck at the end of the day, my friends got stuck behind it going very slow breathing in diesel fumes. I actually don't really like The Dragon, it's a very technical road, and because of the switchbacks I get a little nauseous. I much prefer the other roads in the area including the road from Fontana Village to the start of the Dragon known as Hellbender, still very curvy but no as technical. When we got back we made it to the fire pit AKA stone henge for the nightly party.

Thursday hung around a bit, took Colin for a drive up and down the Hellbender, he took some video, although I don't have it yet. Not much else exciting happened other than having fun with friends.

Friday went for a few more drives and hung around the village, even got a game of mini put in, it was a fun course. Friday Brewswap night, see my previous post for what a Brewswap is. We eventually all made it up to the fire pit.

Saturday Colin, Graydyn and Susan left in the morning. I was really looking like it was going to start all day but we only go a small amount late in the evening. Went for a drive again, then met some local friends for lunch at Deals Gap. Being our last night there the party was quieter than normal. I said my goodbyes and headed to bed. I got up early and headed home.

Well that was my road trip over 1600 miles covered, I had the GPS off while in the Fontana area, it was a good one and I am going back.

All pictures can be found on Photobucket not sure why but they are in reverse order.

Last Day

It's Saturday and I leave tomorrow morning. Still having a great time. I will have many picture to post up when I get home.
Last night was the Brewswap basically everyone brings some beer to trade, it's always fun to try new beers, of course if you really like one it may be quite difficult to get some back home. Not much planned for today besides a lunch with a few friends from the area. It will start raining shortly here but we have have perfect weather since Wednesday so I really can't complain, well maybe a little since I will be helping my friend Chad take down him vendor tent later.
That's all for now, just wanted to give an update but i will be giving you my full report once I get back home.

In Fontana

Hello all,

We made it to Fontana village, the final stop and main destination of out trip. Because of a rock slide we were forced to get here via a road called the Cherohala Skyway, a scenic road in the smoky mountains. Sadly is was not so scenic due to low clouds we could barely see the road ahead, but we made it through safely.
I am enjoying reuniting with all my MINI friends, and today is cloud and rain free unlike yesterday, it is truly beautiful here. Once again I will be leaving you picture free, but I have been taking many. I will keep it short today but will try for a longer post tomorrow.

Meat day 2

Hello all,
Today we made it to Nashville, didn't realize there was a time change until the GPS lady informed us at 10:00 that our ETA for Nashville was 11:00, "curious" I thought "Seems much earlier that I remembered, Oh well", soon after she let us know that we still had 120 miles to go, I won't lie I would have been glad to cruise at 120MPH but I am sure the highway patrol would not have approved. This is why I like road trips, it's the little things.
We arrive at 11:00 without hitting triple digit speeds, and promptly headed to Chappy's for Champaign brunch, it was a great meal, (meat count 6.25 turtle, snapper, trout, crab, shrimp, pork and the .25 was a trace amount of alligator in the smoked alligator butter) After the meal we headed to Centennial park, for a nice walk, saw the Parthenon(replica) and enjoyed the terrific weather. We checked into a much nicer hotel this time, then off to the Opry Mills mall for a few needed supplies. We were all still pretty full but had wanted to try Jack's BBQ, and it was close to closing time, so we headed there, it was good but I am now still a few hours later very stuffed. My meat count was increased to eight for the day (turkey, beef)
We attempted a walk when we got back to out hotel but it started to rain a bit, and looked like it might get worse, so we came back, seems like we overreacted since it is still dry out, Colin and Graydyn went down to the gym for their nightly workout. Once they are done I think we will head out to a near by pub for a bit.
We should be leaving for Fontana village fairly early tomorrow so it won't be a very late night.
Took lots of pictures today, but did not upload them yet, maybe tomorrow.

Stage one complete.

Greetings all,
Well we made it to Louisville in one piece, well in four pieces but that's how we left. The trip was uneventful, overcast the whole way, but only significant rain for the last half hour of the trip, it stopped raining about five minutes after we got wet unloading the cars.

Here is a screen shot of the GPS unit containing all our driving stats of the day.

Well my text is now centered even though I tried all I can think of to get it to align left, blogger is being fussy I guess.

The Internet connection is rather slow here so no more pictures today.

Our hotel, a Days inn, is reasonably clean but not in a great area, I don't fear for my safety but I also would not venture out for a walk at night here.

We went to a restaurant that Graydyn found online Lilly's, it was quite good, and decently priced. As usual with this group of friends I got to try a little sample of everyone's dish, and finish any left overs. During the meal I realized that today I have eaten 7 different animals: pork, turkey, beef, trout, shrimp, duck, lamb. Some may find this gross, me I am quite proud.

Tomorrow morning we head to Nashville, we are really hoping to get some brunch, apparently Sunday brunch in the south is something special. I will let you know how it turns out.

Almost time to go.

Well it's Friday night 20:22. I am officially on vacation. All will be ready to go shortly, just waiting for my last load of laundry to dry. As stated in my Wednesday post I hope to be able to update regularly while on the road.
My last day of work, well last for the next week, was uneventful but seemed very long, I was happy to leave, and will be happier when out of cell range. That's all for now, I plan on logging every stop with pictures so be prepared for a big album when I get back.

Another week another post.

Hello all,
If you are unaware I got new glasses this week. The ones I had been wearing for the past few months had been pulled out of retirement due to the most recent ones being broken. The lenses were stained due to the coil cleaning chemical I use at work and obviously the prescription was way out of date. Needless to say I can now see quite well. I am still waiting on my sunglasses, the first lenses arrived with a flaw, the new ones are in town, and should be ready tomorrow, I am quite excited I never had a dedicated pair of prescription sunglasses.
I have a picture on Facebook if you wish to take a look. I will be posting pictures of my Dragon vacation, I will be sure to include some with each pair.

Now as for that Dragon vacation, there is no other way to put it I am really psyched for it.
We leave Saturday morning and frankly it seems very far away. There has been a slight change to the plans though, Colin decided not to bring his bike after all. It's a long ride from Toronto, and he says that it gets very uncomfortable after a 2 hours double that and the hassle of having to return to pick it up when it gets back, I am sure we will still have a great time though. I will try to update a few times while on holiday but that will depend on how much fun I am having, after all how much time do you want to spend online when in the smoky mountains?
I promise many picture on my return though.

Cool weekend

Greetings all,
Last Saturday I headed once again to Detroit Tuned, nothing wrong with the MINI, I was heading there for a tune party, hosted by Detroit Tuned and Mynes Tuning. What is a tune party you ask? Well all cars/engines of a certain brand/model/trim are built and programmed the same, the thing is they aren't all the same, many small variables affect the cars ideal air fuel mixture, once you start modding a car these small variables aren't so small any more. What the guys at Mynes tuning do is put the car on a chassis dyno to get the power numbers as well as many other measurements such as the air/fuel ratio. They do some number crunching taking into account your mods and "tune" the car, another dyno run to see how things went and then they fine tune it until they get all the power they can safely, they can even increase your redline if the mods allow it, on a MINI tach the redline is adjustable.

Now a chassis dyno(dynamometer) is a device used to measure a cars power output at the drive wheels. (HP and torque) Most power numbers quoted by auto manufactures are the power numbers of the engine because of many factors in drivetrain loss, this number can be from 15-20% higher, than the power at the wheels. Anyway standing next to a car under load in second gear all the way to reline is pretty intense. The turbo car were loud the supercharged ones were from another world. The exhaust being thrust out of the engine can be felt from 15+ feet behind the car.

See this thread on Michigan MINI Motoring about the tune party some people posted videos.
http://www.michiganmini.org/forum/index.php?topic=5833.60 (you can also see a link to the pics I took)
Sadly due to a lack of funds I only attended this event to hang out with my MINI friends and see some car get some horsepowers and torques. I always enjoy meeting up with my friends but around 19:00 it was getting a little boring, after all I had been there since 11:23.(why so specific? well just for fun I guessed my arrival time and I was spot on)

Earlier in the day I had chatted with some newer members, Ari and Derek here is a pic of them next to Ari's former RedBull MINI

We met up picked up a friend of theirs (sorry I forgot her name but her nickname for the night was tails)

We killed some time in a park for a bit then headed to Detroit proper to go to City Club this was an interesting place it's classified as an industrial nightclub. Well some of the following comments may sound negative but they are not, this place was a freak show, lots of leather (in a non fetish way) over the top make up, strange hats, even people wearing respirators, finally something you don't see in most clubs a few topless women with tape covering their nipples. I actually felt out of place wearing jeans and a t-shirt, yet everyone I talked to was very friendly. Although feeling somewhat out of place I did not feel unselfconscious like I normally do in a regular club, I even danced completely sober. The music was in the large dance/electronic family that I am sure has a name but I would say it was similar to house music but a little harder. 

I was enjoying myself but was getting a headache from what I can only assume was some sort of incense that I found overpowering, I imagine the cigarette smoke was not helping, we left around 1:30. 

On my way home, since it is only a couple minutes out of my way I stopped by Detroit Tuned again, curious if anyone was still there, not many were left but they were indeed still tuning some cars. I only stuck around for a few minutes though.

Well that was my week end, well Saturday but nothing exciting happened Sunday.

    

Not much to report.

Short post this week. Frankly I don't have much to say tonight.
I did get myself a new computer, it's not exactly what I wanted but what I wanted was way more money. I am happy with it though.I will try to do a proper post later this week.

Computer woes

Well my computer has died. Make that both my computers have died. My computer was not running great and only had 40gigs of HDD space, not quite enough for me as I like to save all my media. Graydyn gave me his old machine he told me it was not much faster but had much more storage. A few weeks went by and all was good. Then those nice big hard drives crashed, well the one with th OS did. So I tried my old machine again and it would not operate, I forget why but I took out the HDDs and combined the power of two computers into one mighty Frankenputer. Sadly this mutant was not meant to be, I had some issues playing videos causing freeze ups, the last freeze up was permenant. When I turn on the computer I go directly to the CMOS and when I exit nothing happens, or if it does there is certainly no disply on either monitor. I can`t be bothered to repair it, it might not be much but it`s just not worth it at this point.




I started shopping around already but can`t seem to find what I want, there are a few out there that would work well but none support a dual screen set up. I know I can go back to a single screen set up, most people do just fine but what can I say I like it, heck I originally set it up on not thinking I would keep it but here I am 3 years later.







On a more positive note the weather today and if the weather people are to be believed the next few days was great. First time the car people were out at Canatara park. I cruised by in the MINI and stopped to chat for a while, finally got to get a good look at Justin`s turbo VR6 Jetta, next time we will trade rides.



Lastly I am getting pretty excited for MOTD, it`s now less than a month away and I am sure it will fly by.

We do it to ourselves.

I was listening to the radio earlier this week. They were talking about the rise in lawsuits for overtime for the perpetually on call. I don't agree with a lawsuit unless your job was at risk if you refused to work 24/7 but things need to be done. One guy was the only dispatcher for a trucking company, as a result if any of the drivers had any issues at any time he was the one who got the call and had to deal with it. As stated above he should have said something at the time, simply refused or asked for compensation but if he felt that he would be fired I can understand the lawsuit.

I am perfectly willing to take a call here and there uncompensated as in my case it is to help a co-worker/friend and if needed I expect help too. But constant calls/e-mails after hours on holiday really do add up. A friend was given a cell phone to be "On Call" for the week end, as this was not part of his work contract he took it but left it off, after a few more times he was asked why he left it off. I don't know what was said but it was pretty much "I will not work without being paid." I applaud him for this.
It's not just unpaid overtime we as a society are proud to be free yet we seem happy to give up that right, unpaid overtime, no dating policies at work, home owners associations, doctors working more that 24 hours straight, not yelling at our government for being stupid.
We work so we can live but sometimes it seems like we live so we can work.

Had a couple ides on what to write about tonight, but nothing I really feel like getting into right now. I do want to say that I really need to get out and meet new people. I have friends and good acquaintances that could become friends but most live too far away to call up and hangout at any time. The thing is making friends is not as easy for some of us. For one unless I am in a group setting (work/MINI club) I am not about to walk up to a stranger and chat less so a group of people. Secondly once you do meet someone going from acquaintance to friend can be awkward for me, recently I was talking about this to my friend Chad, I met him through the MINI club and he is also my MINI's "doctor" we got along well enough but it took me a while before I felt comfortable to ask him out as a friend, I told him he was nice and all but I was also a customer so really it's expected that he be nice, not that I thought he was faking it but I also had no idea if he had any interest in hanging out outside our business relationship.
I have had this happen a few times over the years, often times I let a potential friendship slip by because of a fear of coming on too strong, fear of rejection I guess.
I even delayed a friendship, Colin is a really good friend I met through work, but the thing is we had actually met about two years before we actually started working together/became friends. He was dating a coworker at the bingo hall and he joined he at the christmas party. We sat at the same table and really hit it off, (yeah yeah I know how this sounds) but at the end of the night that was it , never asked for his number, never asked his GF how to get a hold of him, It was not until we started working together much later that we actually became friends,
Anyway I am just ranting a little so please forgive me, I just need to get out there and meet people, just need to find a place with a low douchebag ratio.

MOTD

Time is getting close for this years MINI's on the Dragon. This is the 8th year for this event and my second time attending. MINI's on the Dragon(MOTD) is a gathering of MINI Cooper enthusiasts from all over the US and Canada. It takes place close to The Great Smokey Mountains national park in North Carolina close to the Tennessee border.
 The Dragon is a section of US 129 that has 318 curves in 11 miles. Some of you might think that would be horrible, but to driving/riding enthusiasts this means fun. I will admit that the road does scare me a little it really is a challenge to drive and can be dangerous if you are not careful as you never know what might be around the next corner. Here is a video by Killboy a photographer who makes a living taking pictures of cars/bike on the Dragon, in the video he is being chaced by his wife, watch it and you will understand.Killboy's video
 There are lots of other really fun roads i.e curvy roads in the area but MOTD is not just about driving. In fact not counting the drive there most of the time is spent hanging out with some fun and interesting people. There is also a wee bit of drinking every evening.
 This year I am actually attending with 3 of my friends Colin, Graydyn, and Susan we will be sharing a cabin with a 5th person who needed a room, I do not know her but I am sure we will have fun. I am getting pretty excited for this trip. I plan on taking lots of picture and will post them up when I return. 44 days until we leave.

Working out

Greetings all!
When I was away at trade school living in Toronto I got into a habit of semi nightly walks with Colin as an attempt to keep in shape. It is better than doing nothing but hardly a great workout. Sadly my knees did not like this very much. This is partly due to constantly being on my knees at work (yeah I know how that sounds) partly because I don't walk right, never have really evidenced by the wear patterns on my shoes.
Since I got back home I have been doing nothing at all, this change Sunday. My friend Molly had posted on Facebook that she had gotten back on the elliptical. This inspired me to go out to the shed and get my bike out.

I went for a 12KM ride and repeated this on Monday and Tuesday. Today I skipped due to getting home late and it was getting to dark to start my ride, I have lights on my bike but I still feel much safer riding when it's light out. Speaking of safety I have never been a fan of bicycle helmets, just stubborn I guess, I know they are safer but much like old guys and seat-belts  it was just not comfortable and felt awkward. I have been wearing a helmet. Strictly speaking it is not a bicycle helmet it's actually a ski helmet but I find it comfy and as soon as I figure out whats wrong with my MP3 player I will be enjoying tunes on the built in earphones. I might have to pick up a proper bike helmet once the warm weather gets here.
I do not want to call it a diet but I am also watching what I eat, basically cutting down on unhealthy snacks, I recently discovered I really like lychee fruit, they make a great snack.
Thats all for now folks, until next update.

Wednesday update.

Well here we are on Wednesday and I have no official topic. I had thought of various things all week but I either forgot or simply lost my interest in that reticular topic. I think limiting myself to once a week is not the best solution for someone like myself, if I need to get something out there I need to do it right away.

One topic I guess I can address is that you should always read the manual. I realize this may seem obvious but if you buy a familiar product that you already know how to use how often do you take the time to read the manual? I am guilty of this myself partly due to a poorly written manual or simply a lack of interest in the extra features. I find this is especially important for a car, you may have features that you can turn on/off that are simple to change but are not something you can figure out by pushing random buttons. There may also be various warning lights that aren't always obvious as to their function, if you read the manual and one comes on you know if it can wait or if you should pull over immediately. I once read on an automotive forum someone who did not know he had to push his turn signal stalk forward to keep his high beams on, every time he used them he pulled back and held the stalk, he did this for several months and finally asked online, had he simply looked it up he could have saved lots of aggravation.

As for myself not much is new I did meet some new MINI people on Saturday at the monthly Wheel to Meals event. I somehow missed out on thees last year but I am really enjoying it now. I wanted to host the next one but it was already taken, I will be putting my name down for the April event. It's a pretty easy event to plan all you need to do is make a reservation for X number of people at a restaurant, I think I will got with Saturdays formula and invite people over for the desert portion of the evening, my maple pie is quite popular in the club, and I will be honest I like an excuse to make it.

Well that's pretty much all for now, I will continue with a regular Wednesday update but I will likely be making small updates throughout the week.

Blog revived.

Greetings one and all.
After faithfully following my friend Colin's blog for a year now I decided to revive my blog.
I started it in 2007 when I went to Japan with the Young brothers, Colin and Graydyn. I was a great trip, but once I got home I pretty much forgot about the blog.
I am hoping to do at least on update per week, since it's Wednesday lets call that my update day from now on.

I plan on keeping my subject matter pretty open, pretty much whatever I feel like saying on the day I update.

I recently purchased a digital camera with some Xmas/birthday money. I am quite happy I got something to show for it, many times in the past I simply deposit gift cash and then it just becomes part of my funds, after that buying a "toy" with it becomes a do I really need it situation. This time I said fuck it and blew it all on something I honestly could have continued to live without.
I was kinda limited to getting it at the mall since some of my Xmas cash was in gift certificate form that was only usable at the mall. I headed to The Source, they were having a sale. Without any research I picked up a FujiFilm Finepix S1500 for $200. I am pretty happy with it, although I was originally looking for something water proof for unexpected rain showers while hiking/camping but I also wanted something with a decent zoom, I will just have to get a weatherproof case.

I had some computer issues and lost some of my pix but here are a few I have taken last weekend.

I also have some on my Photobucket account
I know they aren't perfect so I would appreciate any tips/comments.
That's all for now, check back next week.
Jay