Ninjas of the Underground

Great A.R.T. Part IV: Dam it!

2008-08-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Procrastination is evil. I’ll try not to do it anymore ‘kay? This is a short one.

After we left Vegas we headed to the Hoover Dam. It was a winding and somewhat nervous road. They are building a new bridge that will make it somewhat less windy. It will be cool. I have no good pictures though.

So at the Dam, we opted out of the Dam Tour. We said “lady, you can keep your Dam Tour”. Not really, but I wanted too. Instead we took the Powerplant Tour. Which was still cool.

Did you know that the Hoover Dam is a fallout shelter? I did not see any giant robots though. That was disappointing.

After the tour we walked around on the Dam. It really is very big. Huuuuuge!

There are two of these odd things here. They look very. I’m not sure what word I’m looking for. Monumental? Anyway, you are supposed to rub their toes for luck, so the toes are a bright polished brass color.

So we didn’t hang around very long there. It was very hot. It was time to go through the desert on a horse with no name. Or a car named Isabel.

We stopped when we got to Kingman Arizona on the famous Route 66. We decided this was probably a good place to eat. It certainly was. If you are ever in Kingman Arizona, eat here.

And then we were in the desert again. The funniest part was, when we passed through Yuma, Arizona; which according to Guinness is the “sunniest place on earth”, it was raining. Go figure. That was the most rain we got until we returned to Alberta.

We didn’t see sand dunes though until we got to California. They were cool.

he sang a good song

Ow my head.

2008-08-02T22:05:00.001-07:00

I drove to Champion and back today. The family reunion was fun, but my head hurts now. So no continuation today. Maybe tomorrow.

A guy like me doesn't get many dates

Great A.R.T. Part III: Viva Las Vegas!

2008-08-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

I should be packing, but I’m gonna try to get this up anyway.
So we were in Vegas. I had booked our room that morning at the Stratosphere and check in wasn’t much of a problem. Finding our room was only slightly complicated. But we did find it. It was an okay room. The view was of a stairwell, but we didn’t come for the view.

We walked down the strip for a bit before we realised that the Strat is pretty far awy from any of the cool hotels. We decided to call it a night. In the morning I got up early and went to the temple. I think that gave me some small measure of protection against the city.

When I got back we decided to use our complimentary tickets to the top of the tower. This is somewhat different from the Calgary tower because the Strat, at 108 stories, is actually alot taller than any of the nearby buildings.

We decided to have lunch while were up there. It was a pretty nice restaurant so I felt a little underdressed, but whatever. The food was good.

We bought tickets to take ‘The Deuce’ around the strip all day. This was important because the temperature in the shade was 110F (43C). But it was a dry heat, which just meant you had to drink alot, and stay indoors as much as possible. I wanted to jump in here, but the water was probably gross. We saw many casinos. Went shopping at a number of places, and ate, I don’t remember where.

So figuring we had to see at least one show while in Vegas, we decided that “the Blue Man Group” was the most interesting. They have Arrested Development at least in part to thank for our decision. The bonus was that the tickets came with admission to the Wax Museum.

That is my Hat on the wax figure of Patrick Stewart. Sonja was excited that she also had that hat on her head.

Ryan Seacrest looked more real than the one on TV. Hmm. And I think Simon really liked me. Look at him – he’s almost smiling.

Blueman Group was awesome. If you ever get a chance – go. I obviously couldn’t take pictures of the show (on threat of ejector seat). But I took this after. I don’t know who that other guy is.

We also tried to catch the free show at Treasure Island. But it was cancelled. Now what happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, but what happened after might be called a mob. And I may have given someone a black eye, and I may have had to jump off a platform to escape. We’ll leave it at that.

We went back to the Strat. To fulfill a promise I fed $1 into a slot machine. It ate it. It was very anticlimactic.

The next morning as we headed out of town, we stopped to look at the rest of the Strip. It was mostly uninteresting.

I’m careless and I’m cruel

Great A.R.T. Part II: We were once exiles

2008-07-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well, my car isn’t completely clean, but I’m gonna stop with the procrastination.
We left Provo early in the morning and headed south. The day started out cool and bright and the temperature rose as with the sun. I was very grateful for air conditioning.
We passed through Cedar City and continued to Hurricane. There we saw the sign pointing us to Zion National Park and the Grande Canyon. We turned but didn’t go to either.

This is not the Grand Canyon.
We did drive towards Zion National Park though. We drove through a town called Virgin. We thought this was funny.

We figured this was close enough. When we opened the doors of the car it was like stepping into an oven. I figured that without water you would die in that heat pretty quick. We figured it was time to be getting on.

So we made it to St. George. That temple was closed for maintenance too, but we stopped to take pictures anyway.

So my Dad had told me that I should find a place called Pine Valley near St. George because my ancestors came through there. Despite road construction and a rather steep climb, Isabel made it to Pine Valley. I figured that the historic Pine Valley Chapel was a good place to start.

The sign said to come in for free tours so I did. The couple there gave us some historic background on the area and on the building and then showed us around. They seemed impressed that I was a Forsyth and even more impressed that I was descended from the original leader of the community.

There were even portraits of some of my ancestors, including this woman. Family lore says she is a granddaughter of John Adams (2nd President of the United States). But that might be a myth.

The couple told me that there was a Forsyth Canyon in the area (I’m assuming named after my ancestor) so I decided I should check it out. I’m glad I did. While Pine Valley is generally greener than the rest of southern Utah, Forsyth Canyon was especially verdant, and several degrees cooler I might add.

Before I left I decided I should check out the cemetery. I found a couple of Forsyth names I didn’t recognise. The center of the graveyard was this guy and his 6 wives (I’m descended from the 3rd one).

So now for real we were on our way to Vegas. The most exciting part was where the I-15 cuts through a corner of Arizona. All that there is on that stretch is this gorge. I asked Tyler to take some pictures as we drove. I was a little busy with the steering.

We survived that and made it to Vegas. I was glad we could see our hotel from quite a ways away.

Next: The place that is hotter than Hell and twice as wicked.

Who would ever want to be king?

Great American Road Trip: Part 1: Familiar Territory.

2008-07-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

So I said I'd post this like - two days ago. I suppose this trip has not taught me to not procrastinate. hopefully people will come back to see it.

Over the last few weeks I've been on a bit of an adventure of my own. I saw foreign lands, strange people, and familiar faces. I'll be posting this serial-wise, because theres just too much for one post.

I'm counting the trip from when I left Edmonton. My trip meter is on Okm and it is Sunday, July 6. Destination Okotoks.

I drove to Okotoks with Lori early in the morning. We were early for church so we went to Wade’s o see Kate early. She is very cute. I found out afterwards that she looks exactly like Aunt Ruellen.

Afterwards there was lunch at Wade's. There were alot of Forsyths and Williams there and afew others.

That night I stayed in Bragg Creek. Ruellen and Jonathan have nearly finished the basement guest room. It is quite nice, with a rustic feel. They could totally do a bed and breakfast there.

Monday July 7 – I awoke early and Aunt Ruellen prepared a stampede pancake breakfast. It was very good. I should send a thank you to them. I drove to Calgary to meet Tyler on the south side of the city. We had a little trouble getting out of the city. But were soon well on the way. We stopped in Lethbridge and bought a small power inverter for the car and an Aux cable. We made it to the border around 10:30 and were across by 11. The border guard was very nice.

Travelling though Montana was pretty boring for the most part. We filled up in Helena (630 - $47.92), but otherwise didn’t stop. Once we got into the mountains it was very beautiful. We stopped again in Dillon to eat at Sparky’s garage and to teach Tyler how to drive standard. Sparky’s was very good. Tyler drove until we got to Pocatello and then he called his Aunt.

There was some construction on the I-15, but it didn't slow us down too much. What did slow us down was our directions to where we were going. We got to Provo around 10:30pm and took what we thought was the right exit, then somehow ended up in Orem. This was confusing because Orem and Provo use the same system for street numbering soo we weren't sure which was was north or south. This was a type of things to come it seems.

At long last we found ourselves and then found Tyler's Aunt's house. I will have to send them a thank-you because they were quite hospitable to us. Chris is an officer for BYU 5-0 and had some interesting stories. Apparently BYU is a hotbed for terrorists, well, apparently at least 1 suspected terrorist. Crazy. I slept on the floor of their exercise room and it was quite comfortable.

By the morning another of Tyler's cousins had also arived in the night and Aunt Sandy had made Waffles for everybody. And here I was expecting not many hot meals on this trip.

We found our way to Temple square and I was fully prepared to go to the Salt Lake Temple. Unfortunately it was closed for maintenance. Tyler and I had already separated so I decided to take a tour of the Conference center instead. I joined up with a nice tour group. A Sister from Sandy Utah and her friends from Virginia/DC area. All of us were members but for the first half of the tour the guide thought that I wasn't for some reason. It must have been the beard, or the hat?

Anyway, after this I walked around temple square for a bit, took some pictures, and went to a recital at the Tabernacle. It was quite impressive, but the Tabernacle seems smaller in real life. Not much bigger than the Cathedrals in Edmonton.

I eventually met up with Tyler and we took a look in the Visitors center and in the Joseph Smith memorial building. I had no Idea that they used it for church meetings. Also, quite by accident, I found the Distribution Center in the basement and bought some personal church supplies. I also ran into my new friends from the Conference center tour again.

So that's it for today, I have to go finish cleaning my car. Next Up: Family history in southern Utah!

You could be an air hostess in the 60s

Vegitation

2008-06-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency to assume that I only have to tell one person some news and that it will eventually get around to everyone I know. This is apparently not the case because there are still people that don’t know that I’ve been unemployed (that is freed from the oppression of wage slavery etc) for the last few weeks.

Most people know that I was planning on quitting my job. However, I was going to do it this month. My employers decided to pre-emptively fire me. This is fine because now I can apply for Employment Insurance (which, like all insurance, is a scam). I have taken the opportunity to self-reflect and vegetate. As well as hang out with my friends who are likewise underemployed.

I shaved off my beard. Took some pictures and deleted them. Decided I didn’t like it, and so grew most of it back. But I’ll be keeping it at a nice trimmed level from now on.

Next month I will post much. Stay tuned: tell your friends.

He works from 9 to 5

Long live the Queen

2008-06-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s certainly been awhile since I posted. I’d love to say it’s because I’ve been busy – but it’s really because I’ve been lazy.

Anyway – lets start with the May long weekend. I went to high Prairie. Took some drive by shooting in the Swan Hills. There was alot of traffic.

Hung out with family. Teeter-toters: not as fun as they used to be.

Apparently cookie baking is a family activity.

That is all.
Peace out.

feel the benefit of it

OMGWTFBBQ!

2008-05-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Woah

Lights all green

Times and Seasons

2008-04-27T09:45:00.001-07:00

Well, it’s certainly been a long time since I’ve made a real post. My I suppose I haven’t had much time to do such things. Well, it’s a lazy Sunday morning now and I have several hours before I have to go to church, or anywhere for that matter.

Unfortunately I don’t have much to write on. Not that things haven’t happened; from making progress in my career to shaking hands with a modern apostle of Jesus Christ. But I’m not really feeling it for those things.

But there is one thing that I suppose I can post on; for the 3 people who read this I suppose. I’ve developed my own personal calendar.

I made is several years ago now, and so far it’s been fairly useful in making predictions for my general mood. Perhaps it is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, but hey – it seems to work.

In developing it I decided that it should be a 7 week calendar, because 7 is a good number. Then named each week according to the 4 classical elements, added two of my own, and ended the cycle with a ‘sabbath’ week. Then I started the calendar at an arbitrary point. After awhile I noticed that the events of my life started to fit with the calendar. For example, I only ever get sick during the 6th week of my calendar. And almost everything that happens during my Sabbath week is a blessing. During the week of ‘water’ I am most comfortable (water being my natural element), and I tend to only develop crushes during a week of ‘fire’.

I’ve also noticed that the turnover from one week to the next generally happens in the early afternoon on Sundays. This seemingly arbitrary time supports the evidence of this being a type of self-fulfilling prophecy. But I am genuinely surprised at how profound the correlation is. I’m inclined to believe that it really is ‘all in your head’. Even health and sickness are affected by belief and state of mind. Because I have grown used to certain weeks being better or worse for me, I believe that they will continue to follow that pattern, and they do.

This was not an easy process; It took me years to actually start believing that this arbitrary pattern meant something. But once I was able to convince myself of it, it actually became real; to me at least. This leads to existential questions that I’d rather not get into, but it proves at least one thing. Faith and belief have real power. I find that, at least, comforting.

We’ll be singing when we’re winning

What the???

2008-04-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

How long has my name been spelled wrong? Either I never look at my own name, or Someone's been hacking my brain. Poll: Did anyone notice and just think I was being quirky?

Shields Up!

2008-03-21T09:10:00.001-07:00

So I was reading the other day on defence mechanisms that we use. I found it quite informative. I reflected on what mechanisms I use personally and which ones I probably shouldn’t.

For example, while genuine humour is considered a healthy way of dealing with anxiety, wit (including sarcasm) is actually considered a form of displacement, which is somewhat neurotic and not very healthy. And I think there really is a difference. It is easy to make a sarcastic or dismissive statement to break a tense situation, but it really doesn’t make anyone feel any better. But to make everyone genuinely laugh can do wonders in actually dealing with the tension. It’s an interesting distinction.

Another distinction is between Suppression (which is healthy) and Repression (which is not). Suppression is taking a deep breath and counting to ten. This allows us to temporarily ignore the anxiety so that it can be dealt with at a more appropriate time. Repression, on the other hand, is wilfully ignoring the cause of our anxiety for so long that we actually forget why it makes us uncomfortable. All that remains are the negative feelings, which become irrational and neurotic. This was the case between me and my dislike of the City of Calgary. I repressed my dislike until it became totally irrational. Only when I was ready to deal with those feelings honestly was I able to begin to like the city again.

Now I’m being very careful to not psychoanalyse my friends and colleagues, because that would be less than helpful. But I think self-therapy can be good. As such, I found a list of the defences that are considered the healthiest, found scriptural backing and I will try to use these more consciously in the future. At the same time, I will try to not use the neurotic defences that I’ve been guilty of in the past. Sanity, here I come!

Who had been there before?

Isabel and I

2008-03-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

I’d first like to thank those of you who remembered my birthday and wished me a happy one. Birthdays are really not a big thing for me personally, but it’s still nice when people make you the center of attention for a little while.

And from my horoscope, this looks like it should be a good year from me ;)

For those of us born on: March 12
Happy Birthday! The months ahead are likely to start with some excellent developments at work or school. Sometimes it’s easy to follow someone else’s lead, but by being different or innovative you’re sure to find success! April will be a very strong month in terms of forging ahead even more, while June could bring up an old issue from the past, which will need to be sorted! August is likely to be a challenging month in terms of work or school; it could feel like one step forward, two steps back, but from September this will ease, and romance should really start to take off! Singles are more likely to meet someone very special from this time on! The run up to Christmas will be unusually hectic, but the New Year is likely to be slow!

But I would like to share my adventure from yesterday with you. It was spent mostly in my car, and spanned 1140km all told.

I left the apartment at around 7:30 in the morning. I had originally intended to go the night before and stay in Lethbridge, but then decided against it.

I filled up Isabel at my usual Husky station and then realised – ‘oop, forgot my tie’. So I went back and got it. Only a very slight detour and I was back on my way. 109th St, 61st Ave, Calgary Trail and I’m on good ol' QE2 for the long haul.

The weather was not too bad for the most part, although the roads were pretty wet. The drive to Calgary was mostly uneventful and grey, as it usually is.

The Deerfoot was nice and open and I ripped through Cow-town fairly quickly. After this the sun was starting to peak out from the clouds and it was beautiful weather.

A little after noon I reached Lethbridge, city of my birth, land of my nativity, and promptly got lost. I really didn’t mind though. I saw some of the newer subdivisions and got a nice view of the coulees. But this was no time to stop for pictures; I had places to be and people to see.

So after a little bit of back-tracking I found my way to highway 5 onward to Magrath. After getting lost in Magrath (but only a little; there is only so much of that town to get lost in) I found my way to the chapel.

It was a lovely reception. The bride was stunning and both bride and groom were just beaming with joy. That is truly why I like weddings; the air is just saturated with good feeling. The food was really good to.

I ducked out of the wedding a little early so that I could make it into Calgary by 6. On my way out I saw 4 deer running full tilt down the street. That was interesting. And as I was leaving the town I saw a funeral procession coming in. It struck me as profound.

I took the more scenic route between Lethbridge and Calgary and discovered a new hobby. I call it drive-by-shooting. It’s where you stop and set up the camera for multiple shots, and then, when you see a particularity good vista, you just hold up the camera (while keeping both eyes on the road and 1 hand on the wheel) and press the shutter. Take a few shots, and then sort through them later. This was my best.

I got to Calgary in good time, and then I got wonderfully lost. It was as if I had lost all navigation skill. Whenever I was presented with a fork in the road it seemed I always took the wrong one. I ended up seeing places of the city not usually seen (did you know there are streets in Bowness that aren’t paved) And as I was driving through Tuscany I started to doubt my choice of profession for some reason. Very odd.

At any rate, I managed to find the West Stake centre just in time for the opening prayer. I had hoped to sing with the choir for this Alberta-wide concert, but it was just as enjoyable to watch.

Then came the real adventure. It had just started to snow as I was leaving the church, and before long it was coming down in a beautiful but deadly way. I made my way through the city to the north end of the Deerfoot and got on the QE2. This was white-knuckle driving. I am very thankful for rumble strips because I certainly couldn’t see the shoulder.

I varied between 100 and 60 km/h based on how hard the snow was coming and how many people were around me. The worst was just outside of Innisfail when I really couldn’t see at all. That was fun.

After I passed Red Deer the weather improved and I made fairly good time. I pulled into my apartment at around 12:30 and went to bed. My trip meter was 1140, And I only stopped for Gas once in Lethbridge. I love my car.

He grew a beard as soon as he could

Narrativium

2008-03-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, especially in science fiction or fantasy writing, an author feels the need to take some time to explain something that doesn’t quite jive with our understanding of things. Done right, this is very entertaining and educational. Terry Pratchet does it very well. So does this guy.

For your amusement. Pardon me if this makes no sense.

Kevyn's statement about events taking place "simultaneously" while "light hours apart" may give itching fits to those familiar with Einstein's General and Special Relativity. If the speed of light is the maximum speed of propagation of information, then there is no frame of reference in which events light-hours apart can be meaningfully said to have occurred simultaneously.

As Kevyn himself can tell you, however, the speed of light is not the maximum speed of information propagation. Hypernet nodes can relay information across the galaxy instantaneously (assuming proper configuration, no user-serviceable parts inside, past performance is not an indicator of future results, your mileage may vary) and gravitic sensors can detect the distortions of space and time caused by concentrations of mass before those distortions can ripple through Einsteinian space.

Consider an observer in a room full of people. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two of those people several meters apart pull down their pants. Simultaneously. At these distances and on this scale, the observer's frame of reference is the same frame as that of the events (pants pulling-down), so simultaneity can be described in a meaningful way. The observer can quickly conclude that he/she is in a frat-house, college dormitory, or sans-a-belt slacks convention.

Now consider the same observer in a system full of starships. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two of those starships several light-hours apart pull down their... umm... pants. Yeah. Whatever. Stay with me. If this was observed via electromagnetic radiation, the observer's frame of reference is the only frame in which these events were simultaneous. But (and this is the important part) if the observer was using gravitic sensors, or hypernet-equipped sensors a few hundred meters from each ship, his frame of reference becomes the SAME frame of reference as that of the events in question, and the events are simultaneous in that frame.

Oddly enough, with the right clocks and a good A.I., this common frame can be established even when one of the ships is moving at relativistic speeds. The pants just come off slower. Or faster. Whichever.

The profound, causal absurdity of a universe in which a single frame of reference can be used to describe events light-years apart pales in comparison to the absurdity of a universe in which starships remove their pants at the speed of light.

Fortunately, Schlock Mercenary is not about starship pants, and is therefore no more absurd than it needs to be.

Thank you, good night.

He could’ve smashed through any bank in the united states

The better part of valor

2008-03-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

I was going to write an entry on a personal matter. I have decided against it. If any of you would like to discuss it in person, I would be happy to.

Instead, as promised, I’d like to share a dream. Inspired by some guy I met, I’ve started keeping a dream journal. So far I’ve discovered that I have some tripped out dreams. To preserve the trippines of the dream, this next part will be without punctuation. Because dreams are rarely punctuated.

i was playing a rather complicated game that included playing cards game pieces dice dominos and paperclips everyone else in the dream seemed to know the rules to the game but i had no clue what i was doing nor even the object of the game all i knew was that it involved moving game pieces from one end of the room to the other end

people were trying to explain the rules to me but were speaking in obscure riddles like does not peanut butter also give rise to freedome and such like i was doing my very best to cheat by hiding my paperclip but i got the impression that everyone else was doing a better job a cheating than i was

at one point a rolled a 2 on the dice which was apparently a bad thing i think i at least got the sense that i was losing badly then again i rarely win at games i resolved to cheat harder next time

So what does that mean? I think it means I need to stop eating chimichangas before bedtime.

Due to lack of interest, tomorrow’s cancelled

Less is More

2008-03-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Not much of a post here, as the title suggests, sometimes minimalism can be a good thing.

For example, I would like to point you to this site. It is Garfield minus Garfield. Some of you may not find it very funny, but with the absence of Garfield I find a hilarious (and yet somehow sad) strip about Jon. It just goes to show that sometimes the punch-line can ruin the joke. Just remember – Garfield can’t actually talk, so he’s more or less an imaginary friend already.

Also, I’ve started a dream diary. You might expect some of my better ones sometime in the future.

Peace out.

jibun ni taerarenai morosa

I'm sorry for what I done

2008-02-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would like to apologise for my flagrant use of baby pictures. I realize that it is somewhat cliché, and much overdone in general, but hey, they are cute babies. To make up for it, I’ll post a really dirty picture at the bottom of the post. If you don’t want to see it, don’t scroll down.

This leads me to the topic of this post, apologising. I suck at it. I have too much tendency to do this because I can. Usually I do feel much regret for when I screw up, but accepting responsibility has never really been one of my strong suits. For this I apologise.

This morning I read a public apology from one artist to another who he had inadvertently plagiarised. The copying was not an accident, but the offending artist had never meant for the piece to be published. It was obviously sincere, and he took full responsibility for his lack of judgement. But at the same time it read as somewhat awkward.

In fact I think I see something that is a bit of a key to sincere apology. It should be awkward and show some real embarrassment. If I’m truly sorry it is not that I got caught, and not even that the other person was offended, but rather sorry that I did something really dumb.

I’m sorry about alot of things. I’m also not sorry about things that I think that I ought to be. I’m a little sorry about that, but it’s not really the same is it?

I also apologise for things that I’m not sorry about at all. For example, I am not sorry for posting pictures of my niece and nephew, and yet I apologised for it just afew moments ago. What I should have said is ‘excuse me’. Which is to say, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong, but I realise that I may be taxing your patience a little bit; If you will indulge me for this small thing I would be greatly appreciative”. But that really takes too long to say.

So my new resolution is to say ‘excuse me’, and ‘pardon me’ more often, and ‘sorry’ less often. Hopefully I’ll also do dumb things less often so that I have less things to be sorry about.

And now, as promised, a really dirty picture.

This is a guy I work with. This could have been me on valentines day as I was doing the same job as him. This is posted with his permission.

your highbrow Marxist ways

OMG BABIES!

2008-02-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Quick update: Babies

Introducing to the internets baby Enzo

And baby Keira

Peace out

I’ll sing a song you’ve never ever heard

Yes, I'm still alive

2008-02-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, things just keep moving on and on.
This last week was exciting. Last Sunday my sister Sarah gave birth to Lorenzo “Enzo” Mylo Ridley. Weighing in at 8lb11oz, he looks too cute to be real.

And as if being an uncle once in a week wasn’t enough, On Saturday, my sister Amy gave birth to Keira May Archibald. I haven’t seen Keira yet, but at 9lb10oz, I’m sure she’s just like her mom. I was apparently one of the first to hear the news. When my mom called, I was in a rather public place and didn’t really care if I was making a scene. Is that bad phone etiquette? I’m sure this would be a valid exception regardless.

And on Sunday I drove myself down to Champion to visit my grandparents on their 60th anniversary (also my grandpa’s birthday. Besides the tons of great food, (always present at Ellis gatherings), and visiting with family, it was well worth the 8+ hours of driving. I took no pictures.

Between the exciting bookends, the week itself was fairly exhausting, but interesting.
On Thursday (Valentine’s Day), I went to help flush kitchen drains in a high-rise. In such a building it was interesting to see the great variety of tastes and decorative styles that can exist in such a building. First of all, all of the condos would have been fairly expensive based on location and view, but some of the flats were quite posh, while others were very humble. For example, two adjacent units looked like they were separated by about 2 decades and several tax brackets.

It would have not been too bad, except for the flushing we were doing on the 19th floor caused a backup on both the 17th and 16th floors. That took awhile to fix.

And on Friday, I was on (as in on the roof) of a several million dollar house (one of those on Summit Drive). I thought to myself that I could definitely get used to such accommodations. Now I just need to win the lottery, or rob a bank, you know, whichever.

Messy recipes of romance

New Year’s Eve Edmonton-Style

2008-01-01T18:53:00.001-08:00

For the past 5 New-Year’s Eves I have been in Southern Alberta. A couple of these were at The Farm, but most of them were in Calgary; usually with various relatives. While I enjoy spending time with my family, I needed a change for this year. This year I celebrated like a true Edmontonian; Edmonton-Style.

Also; I just bought my first camera phone. Because I did not want to carry around my true camera, the photos are lower quality, but not too-too bad for a cell-phone if you ask me.
I had dinner with friends (a good NYE activity), and then headed over to the ‘tute for the big YSA party. There was dancing, ping-pong, and even karaoke.

But the city was calling me. I was able to convince a few hearty folk to join me in celebrating downtown.

There were some bad apples (darn punk kids) on the LRT, but for the most part everyone we saw was friendly, good-natured, and really having a good time. We got downtown just in time to catch Captain Tractor on the main stage. To be honest that in itself would have made the evening worthwhile.

There were great music to bad had everywhere, whether on the square, at CBC centre stage, or in City Hall. I’m not sure there is anywhere else in the world that has a party like this inside City Hall.

Getting closer to midnight everyone (thousands of people) crowded into Churchill Square for the final minutes. I am not usually a fan of big crowds, but this one was amazing. In spite of the cold, all these people gathering together. The air grew warmer with the shear numbers.

And then... 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Happy New Year! The sound was gloriously deafening. And then the fireworks, which last for 13 solid minutes, drew actual “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd. I don’t think I’d ever experienced that before. I think the best word for the fireworks is “resplendent”.

I really love this City.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Screw the GST

Christmas in HP AB

2008-01-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

Edmonton set a record today for the most simultaneous blog posts. I forgot about it, but I offer my belated support with two posts today.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. In spite of not gaining any weight (I was sick for much of the last week), I had a great Christmas in good ol’ High Prairie.

When I got there on Saturday, I was greeted by Sisters and their families already there. This is the first I’ve seen Amy since she started showing. She looks happy doesn’t she?

That evening Amy continued to keep us in on the traditional Gingerbread house. It really was most fun for my niece and nephew.

On Sunday I was greeted by the sort of sunrise that you can only get in the far north. The photo doesn’t do it justice.

Also, my parents like to take pictures of their posterity on Sundays. Here we are.

On Monday, it was nice enough to play outside. My nephew helped build a snowman (Although the peanut eye was problematic)

And we all helped build the Quintse, even me; I have proof.

Christmas morning was fun too. Though the kids were excited, probably the most excited face seen that morning was this one. It’s okay Randy; I don’t hold it against you that you are a Flames fan.

And then I got sick and forgot to take pictures. Eventually it was time for me to take that lonesome highway back home. (And I do consider Edmonton as my home now – more on that in the next post). Don’t worry; I did pull over to take this picture.

Coming up Next: New Year’s Eve from my cell-phone.

The world just spins faster than me

Christmastime in the City

2007-12-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Strings of streetlights, even stoplights blink a bright red and green.
Last Sunday, a group of us, instead of going to our stake choir concert, we went to the provincial legislature (or lege) so enjoy the lights. I felt much more Christmassy after last weekend. Between baking to my hearts content, singing carols at the international airport, Christmas songs at church, and this, well. My heart overflows with excitement and joy.

I’m sorry Melody. This picture was just too good.

Better than this one. My initial thought was to just chuck this one but then I noticed that the focus and color are just perfect. And really, what is not funny about a picture of an elf’s bum.

The crèche in the lege pedway,

Okay I do have strange friends. Apparently Natalie here can make her stomach growl at will. Here she is demonstrating.

We also serenaded each other from lofty... lofts.

And then there’s the pretty lights.

And the pretty tree.

This one’s for you Locke.

We wish you a merry Christmass. What’s a figgy pudding?

And aparently temporary blindness is really fun. I’ll have to try that sometime.

I am going to have a tiring and merry week. And then a relaxing and merry week. I hope you have a merry week as well.

Merry Christmas!

Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble

The In-Between

2007-12-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry to wax philosophical here.

It started with a comment about the great place when we hear good news for the first time and when we hear the details. And then I thought about how we really don't see the world continuously, but see events as they come and go. When you watch TV you are really just seing a series of still images, and our brains fill in the space in between, but if it wasn't for that space, it would just be a mess.

And then I had an epiphany; The space in between is where the magic is. It can't be measured, it can't be held, because if you look at it too closely it disappears. But that's where everything important happens. It's in these places that faith and hope have their power.

And so what is to be done? I suppose the only thing is to enjoy it. Stop living in the future, or the past, or in this place or that. The present is the space in-between. It is everywhere and everywhen. It's where the magic is.

this should be our time

Epimetheus, Prometheus

2007-12-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

They say hindsight is always 20-20. I suppose this is true. After the failure of the liner in the last post, I took it on myself to see exactly why it didn’t work. After asking some questions, and crunching some numbers, I came up with this.

I know this really doesn’t mean anything to anyone so I’ll just put it like this: The red is bad. This is good to know, and it will be good to know that we can check things so that bad stuff doesn’t happen again. Hindsight is a very good thing, but it would be cheaper and, well, better if I could have seen this coming before hand. The trouble with experience is that it generally has to be gained the hard way.

It’s a short post today. I’ve got stuff to do.

Peace out.

the future's here today

This is Why I'm so Tired

2007-11-25T16:15:00.000-08:00

Many of you may have noticed that I am a little more mellow and/or distant lately, you haven't seen me around as much. You may think I have a girlfriend you don't know about. Unfortunately this is not the case (though I do pine...)

Well I will let you in on my very long day yesterday/today

Yesterday morning, I wake up at the late time of 8:30 (this is quite late for me) and start making cookies, One of my true joys in life. I scarcely had time to pull the last pan out of the oven before rushing out the door to go to another great joy, singing. Yesterday I Coristi, which I am a member, had there second recording session for our CD coming out next year. It was fun, this is a good group of people, and not as blurry in real life.

The day included 4 hours of singing (and sitting around between takes) and a potluck lunch, which was very good.

After this I went to my sister’s house to help my brother-in-law in the basement (he is finishing it for my sister to live in). It looks slightly better than this; this was last week, I didn’t take any pictures this week.

I went home to rest for an hour and to change, and then, At 7:00pm, I went to work. “Why?” you might ask. I’ll tell you. We were installing a manhole liner. I was there for both phases. If you’re interested in what I do for a living, read on, if not, I won’t judge.

Phase 1 is preparing the liner. The liner is simply a giant fibreglass sleeping bag, with a zipper down the side and a narrow part at the top.

Inside the liner they put a bladder, like a giant balloon. This is use checking the liner for holes and partially turning it inside out. Fun stuff.

Then we wait for the people preparing the actual manhole to give the go-ahead on putting the resin on the liner. We wait because the liner has to go into the hole within 2 hours of starting to spread the resin. To keep us from getting resin all over, we wear these white jumpsuits. We looked like..., well we looked funny anyway. But it’s a good thing, because that resin gets everywhere, and it doesn’t come off.

I have no pictures of spreading the resin because we were all working furiously once we started (that whole time limit thing), plus my hands were covered in the stuff and I did not want it on my camera. We started the wet-out at 11:45 and finished at 1:10am

Eventually we got it all soaked in the stuff and loaded onto a flatbed trailer. A couple of guys rushed it off to the site. I cleaned up and followed in my own car.

I got there just as they were putting the liner in the hole. It went in very quickly, so I don’t have any pictures. I forgot to mention that they top the liner with a thing for pumping the air into and monitoring the pressure. It has windows as well to visually monitor the process.

So they filled it up with air and then things started to go wrong. The bottom of the bladder broke. This is very bad, because the liner has to be pushed firmly against the side of the manhole. After a heroic attempt to fix it by one guy who went down into the hole, the guy in charge called an abort and we had to pull the liner back out. This is what it looked like going in as well. The epcor guys had to move the power lines.

I stuck around until 4:30am when I decided there was nothing I could do but get in the way. I was tired. The worst part is we will have to try again. I have some ideas for making it better next time, which I suppose is what they’re paying me for.

So that’s why I’m so tired. I sort of wish it was because I had a girlfriend.

When the the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away

Bona vita mea est

2007-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

My life is good. When I woke up this morning this is what I saw out my window.

Now, not everyone likes snow. I know some of you would be fine if you never saw the stuff again in your life. Not me, I like it, even when it means that I’m greeted by this when I go outside:

I am pleased to introduce you to my new vehicle (name pending, definitely needs a girl’s name though). She is a 2008 Nissan Versa Hatchback and I am very excited, even though I’m once again poor. For those who know me, I don’t really like driving. This car is changing my mind.

This morning was the end of Daylight savings time. I very much enjoyed the extra hour added to my rest, but I thing that DST should be abolished. The people that track this sort of thing noted that the effect of the time change on energy usage is negligible for Albertans. I say we join with our friends in Saskatchewan in not doing this anymore. Did you know that on there are more traffic accidents on the Sunday of the time change than on any other SundayÉ. Okay, why does my question mark come out like thatÉ I think someoneès been messing with my keyboard
But I digress. I took afew more photos this morning that I think youèll enjoy. Okay this is ridiculous.

It was Stake Conference today

It may be clichè, but I like pictures like this.

You’re not a land mine, you’re not a gold mine, no, you’re not mine at all

Mild-mannered

2007-10-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

So some of the recent comments have heraled me as some sort of superhero. I am flattered, but unfortuneately I'm not so much. But in spite of this I wanted to do a post on the subject.

First a little lesson on the subject. Superheroes come it four main flavours, with some mixes.

1. Mutants. These are otherwise ordinary humans who develop powerful abilities due to some mysterious mutation. Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk and any of the people with powers on the show 'Heroes' fit in this category.

2. Mystics. These are people who draw their power through some arcane knowledge, or a magical artifact, or some orther mystical power. Mystics include The Shadow, Wonderwoman, and most heroes in mythology.

3. Mechanics. These people use fabulous tools to augment extrodinary, but still human, mental and physical fitness. Mechanics include Batman, Ironman, and James Bond.

4. Aliens. Fairly self-explanitory, strangers from another world. Aliens include Superman, the Green Lantern, and others.

I apologise for the pedantics, I suppose it's not so necessary, but I think the important thing is for all these types, there has to be some sort of sacrifice. Mutants and Aliens feel alone more than usual because they have trouble relating to others. Mystics usually pay some sort of spiritual price for their powers, and mechanics have to fully appreciate their own mortality, and yet still put themselves on the line. Power always comes with a price.

So the usual question for people is what one super-power would you choose. But I would ask, what price would you pay for that ability? I guess I'll ask both.

As for myself, I'd consider two abilities. The first ability is precognition. This is difficult because to know the future is to be trapped by it. Better would be the ability to perceive the consequences of choices. The price for this one is actually pretty clear. It is to study history. History repeats itself, so when we know what has happened in the past, we can predict the future better.

The second ability would be telepathy. This also has a cost. It is to become interested in other people. In order to know what others are thinking, one has to really want to know. Then we try to find out about other people, to empathise with them, and really get to know them. Then we can almost read their minds because we can hear the words that they don't speak.

So am I willing to pay the price? How about you?

Peace out.
Rock on.

Drive the car and always get the girl

M.I.A.?

2007-09-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Ah my friends, I am not forgetting, I am very busy though. I like being busy. For example this morning I left for work at 6:15 and got home this evening at 6:15. Then I went home teaching. So now I'm home, and while I could be doing other things, I want to enter something in the blog.

For those of you who don't already know I have a job now. I work at a company called IVIS that does sewer inspection and relines. I have a hard time describing what I do at work but I think I've been hired as some sort of miracle worker. It's fun, but long and tiring.

Last weekend was the Turkey Trot as most of you know. I participated, and despite being in worse shape, I did slightly better than last year. The rain was good.
And afterwards the annual Chimichanga Turkey dinner was fantastic. Congratulations to JAS for making this year another success.

The weekend before was my dear sister Sarah’s birthday. It was enjoyable to spend time with family as always. As if a good omen of the day, I took this picture. There was another just two days before that was even more spectacular, but I did not have my camera with me. It made me smile much.

Tomorrow I get to spend the whole day singing. It should also be fun. Next weekend is Conference/Thanksgiving. Will I ever get a day to just relax? I hope so. I also hope I see you all again often and soon.
Peace out.

I know when it's a dream

Dream Along with Me

2007-08-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

This week’s ‘interesting people’ comes with a topic. My friend Amanda has gotten into the habit of remembering her dreams on a regular basis. I don’t even remember what she’s told me, but if you ask her you will be amazed at the detail of her latest dream.

Amanda also has a way with words. If you are ever looking for a new word to add to your vocabulary, talk to Amanda. She’s got language and knows how to use it.
But I’d like to talk about dreams for a bit, and since I can’t remember any of Amanda’s dreams, I’ll relate the one I had last night.

I was stranded on an Island somewhere, although it wasn’t a tropical island, more like a sub-arctic island. Anyway, the people there had apparently shipwrecked or crash landed or something, and had reverted to a more primitive lifestyle, much like the YSA. There was some sort of leisure center on the island (maybe something like the institute building).

Anyway, the people had adopted a particular method for courtship on the island. The men would run down into the water, catch fish by whatever means they could. Then they would run back up to where the women were, smack a woman with the fish and carry her off. I had no fish, and therefore, no luck with the ladies.

Now apparently there was another way to be impressive on the island, and that was to find a piece of the shipwreck on the other side of the island. Now, even though I don’t like swimming in real life, I’m very good at it in my dreams. I can hold my breath indefinitely and even sometimes breathe underwater.

Well some jerk was taunting me to jump into the water where the shipwreck was, but I didn’t want to. So he pushed me in. I responded by pulling him in with me. When we got to the bottom, this jerk tried to hold me down underwater. I didn’t really understand the point of this because, well, I can hold my breath forever down there. That’s where the dream ended. What does it mean?

Besides being able to swim like a fish, there is another recurring ability I have in dreams. I run like a wolf or a dog. A dog runs by pushing off with both hind legs, catching himself on his front legs, and then swinging both hind legs underneath his body for another stride. That’s how I run in my dream, and I seem incapable of running any other way. I seem to be able to run very fast like this too.

So tell me what you think. Am I crazy or normal? Share your dreams with us.

They must have said it at some point

2007-07-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

This comic made me think about quoting famous people.

Yogi Berra is confirmed to have said “I didn’t really say everything I said”, meaning there are many quotes attributed to him that he never said, or at least doesn’t remember ever saying. But I decided to come up with a list of quotes that people must have said at some point in their lives. If they are foreign it’s even easier because of the translation leeway.

Here goes.
“This is less than ideal” – Julius Caesar
“That’s not kosher” – Moses
“I hate this hat” – Al Capone
“I have the worst headache” – Abraham Lincoln

“And then it struck me” – Isaac Newton
“Now I’ve seen everything” – Magellan
“Again?” - Brigham Young
“This is boring” – William Shakespeare
“I’m hungry” – Gandhi
“I’m cold. Let’s go home” – Leif Eriksson
“What time is it?” Thomas Edison
“We’re out of milk” – Bill Gates
“Eureka! – no wait” – Archimedes
“What do they want?” – Darius I

I mean, they must have said it sometime – probably not in any sort of profound context, but still. What other quotes can you think of? It’s fun – use it in conversation. In the words of Socrates “You should try this.”

Now it's over, I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want

2007-07-23T15:51:00.001-07:00

Or I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do.

Occasionally I get in a strange sort of mood. Sort of an impatient mood where you feel like something is about to happen, and you can’t do anything until that thing happens. Does anyone else ever feel like that?

On today’s edition of interesting people, I would like to tribute Sonja Hoag. Undoubtedly one of the most colourful characters that I have ever met, she is the heart of any party, and generally just a good person.

In my defence I did not take this picture, someone was playing with the camera. I have much more damning pictures.

I’m not sure when I first met Sonja. I think it was when she lived with my sister, but I could be wrong. I blame my muddled memories on drugs; I wasn’t taking enough of them. But I digress.

Sonja is one of those rare individuals that can say anything and make it sound fantastic. To give those who may not know her (though I don’t think anyone who doesn’t know her will read this) a glimpse into the linguistic abilities of this wonderful person, this is a recent entry into the church bulletin;

Does anyone remember the time when Harrison Ford used to move his lips whilst talking? He definitely did as Han Solo but by the time we fast forward to Firewall (don’t bother if you haven’t already) he no longer possesses the ability to move his lips when he speaks. I don’t understand how that comes to be. I’ll blame 6 Days, 7 Nights. It was a tragically weird movie that only cast dear Harrison in a really odd light. I think after watching himself in theat movie he must have whispered in his heart of hearts, “I’ll never love or move my lips again!” Speaking of Harrison though, Fugitive was great. It will still be great when we play it with Highlands on Monday night 7 pm starting at the Institute.

I honestly think the bulletin announcements are Sonja’s favourite part of her calling as FHE leader. Although I think she also enjoys the reverence and awe (awwwwww) that she inspires in the youngsters in the ward.

I’m not entirely sure what she does at work, but as far as I can tell from her stories, it involves large amounts of bodily fluids and old people. I guess that what makes her a nurse. Seriously, if you’re ever eating dinner with Sonja, do not ask her about work until after you’ve finished your pasta.

For her shear amount of knowledge of things, and her insurmountable home-spun wisdom, Sonja Hoag is a shoe in for the MVF (most valuable friend) award.
Not enough can be said about Sonja, and I must be finishing this, so tune in next – something, for another exciting webisode of INTERESTING PEOPLE!

Oh, and Harry Potter was fantastic. Anybody else finished it?

I hope that I get old before I die.

2007-07-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Canada Day weekend. Mine was fantastic. Here’s why.
Last week Grandma Ellis turned 80 years old. We (and by ‘we’ I mean my Aunts and Uncles) decided to throw a huge party for her. There were 126 of her closest relatives, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc.

She really doesn’t look 80 if you ask me, and she can still run circles around many people my age. I suppose I should write something about her. Audrey Racher was born in 1927 near Champion Alberta. She joined the church when she was 18 (though she’d been going to church most of her life). She married Jim Ellis later that year (although he wouldn’t join the church for another year after that) and moved into the farmhouse where she’s lived ever since. She raised nine kids, my mom being born in 1948, and my uncle James being born in 1963. In 1989 she and grandpa served a mission in Wisconsin.

So what do you give someone for their 80th birthday? Here is my sister Lori presenting a gift from the grandchildren. It is a scrapbook of all of her descendants over the last year. I think that’s a pretty good gift.

Another bonus of the big party is that all of my brothers and sisters, and my nieces and nephews were there. It is a rare opportunity that we get to take a picture like this. So my parents have 7 kids, 5 kids-in-law, and 8 grandkids. That makes them about 1/5th to where Grandma and Grandpa Ellis are.

So, what is everyone doing this summer? We should start with this week. The street performers’ festival starts this Friday. I’m also going to suggest that there be a picnic of sorts on Saturday. Any suggestions on locations? I was thinking either downtown by the library, or else near the Farmer’s Market off of Whyte.

Also on Saturday there is a swing dance that I might be interested in going to. I’ve been to them in the past, and they’re fun, but I’m wondering if anyone else would like to. Click here for more information.

Also I would like to see the Transformers movie. Because I'm a geek.

Anyone?

Un-boring

2007-06-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have interesting and exciting friends and family.

Occasionally I fall into the habit of feeling sorry for myself, usually when I’ve been particularly lazy or tired. At such a time awhile back, I thought to myself, “Am I boring?” and, being in a moment of self pity, I thought, “why, yes, yes I am”.

Then I got over it, as I always do, with a hot meal, a good nights rest, and some scripture study. I don’t think I’m un-interesting (although I have been rejected by a girl who said she “wasn’t interested”. I could go on a whole other rant on what I think that could mean.) I think I’m a modestly interesting person (and not in way of “My, what an interesting shade of green”). The seeming lack of brightness I think stems from the fact that I surround myself with characters that shine so brightly that an ordinary person might feel a little dim.

And so, since it is boring to talk about oneself all the time, as blogs tend to do, I think I’ll talk mostly about other people that I love. They are all much more interesting than me. You’ll love it. I’ll probably ask permission from most people before I expose their lives to the internet community, this is not a guarantee.
I do have to write a few things about myself though. Since my last post I’ve gone from graduand to graduate. It’s an anticlimactic finish to a roller coaster education.

Also graduating was my younger sister Amy. She got her cap and gown and degree, but decided not to go to her own convocation. I don’t really blame her.

My dad was so proud that now all seven of his children have post-secondary degrees or diplomas. I think Amy was a little embarrassed.

Anyway, I need to get back to work. Being self employed has the one setback of the fact that you only get paid for the work you do. The flip side is that I don’t have to feel guilty of slacking off while I’m on the clock.

Oh, and my sister-in-law wanted me to send her this picture. Just click on it for high res.

Peace out.

The Continuing Adventures of Frank

2007-06-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Live Darn You Liiiiiive!
June 6, 2007
Frank the car is vexing me sorely. I came to the realisation this past week that having a car that doesn’t work is worse than having no car at all. This is because having a non-working car is like not having a car in that you can’t drive anywhere; it has all the bad things like the time and money that you end up putting into it to try to make it work again.
I now know that the reason for my Frank’s previous problems and the basis for its current inoperability is the fuel pump. For those of you who only know as much as I did at the start of this, the fuel pump is located inside the fuel tank. There are various good reasons for this, but it makes getting at said fuel pump a real pain in the neck.

A bypass option is to install a second pump outside the tank. In theory, this should work by drawing through the other pump and supplying the necessary fuel to the engine that way. In practice, if the first pump isn’t working because it’s blocked, the second pump does nothing but suck air through tiny gaps in the line.
So I need to figure out how to either unblock the first pump, or else find another way into the gas tank. I’m thinking about the second option right now.

Woohoo!
June 7, 2007
Frank is alive! After much effort and more than several dollars, the Frank is riding smooth once again. The final solution remains a mystery, due to an unscientific final push. For the last push I did two things. I went to Canadian Tire and picked up a gas can, a siphon kit, and a small tube of thread sealer.
I first tried to siphon gas from the tank. I have a good reason for this, but it didn’t matter because I couldn’t get any gas from the tank anyway. So much for that idea.
So I went to the nearest gas station and bought 10 litres of fuel. I transferred this into my car, and Tried to start it. No luck. So the final option was the thread sealer. I used it to seal any gaps that might have existed in the hose fittings. Tried it again: no luck.
Then I realised that I hadn’t re-connected the jumper supplying power to the fuel and ignition system. Silly me! So I reconnected that and Voilla! It started right up, and stayed started. So either I was out of fuel (possible, but not likely), the new fuel unclogged the old pump, or the thread sealer did the trick.
Okay so Frank works. Woo!

Never say die.

2007-05-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

So Frank the car is working again. I am extremely grateful to the man from AMA. On Tuesday I managed to get a tow-truck out to my car at the Temple, even though it took all day. We decided to try and get it started before trying to tow it. So we boosted it and he pounded on the gas tank as I tried to start it. Lo and behold it started with a vengeance. Hallelujah!
The guy said that it’s surprising how often that works. In the winter you can get a car to start 95% of the time just by pounding on the gas tank with your hand. Who knew? Well I’m glad I learned that because I had to do it myself just yesterday. I like Frank but sometimes I think it doesn’t like me.
Well, every good blog needs pictures. Friday was such a beautiful day that I had to go outside to take some pictures of the cherry blossoms outside our apartment window. I may have to take more.

Later that day I saw a Rabit outside our flat eating dandilions. After a dozen or more shots I finally got this one. Apparently my nephew loves it.

Also, my camera is excellent for taking close up photos. I happen to think they are cool, so here is a close up of some cherry blossoms.

We don’t have apricot trees but as far as popcorn popping I imagine cherry blossomes, only more white.

And this is a tiny little plant that I saw on Mothers day as I went out for a walk with my folks. I realise now that I didn’t take a picture of them. I’m not very good at taking pictures of people. As evidenced here.

This is from the ultimate Frisbee activity that we had yesterday. Word to the wise. Do not get in Rand’s way. Unless you’re Adam.

Even then. I guess Adam was voted as the ‘coach’ of the day, because they poured the ice from to cooler on him. I missed the event itself, but here is the aftermath.
As for myself, I’m sore all over and I have sunburn on the back of my legs, where I missed putting the sunblock. I have skin that tans with SPF 45. It’s a curse I tell you.

My Car vs. the Temple

2007-05-19T16:44:00.001-07:00

Pictures! I need pictures! For now words will have to do.

I had a very interesting day today, centered around the title of this entry. This morning started out pretty good. I managed to get up bright and early and made it to the early session at the temple. When I left the temple however, I was disappointed that my car would not start.

This is not a usual thing. I usually expect my vehicles to work, especially when they were working mere hours before. I had not left any lights on, or anything that would drain the battery. In fact the engine turned over quite merrily, but alas, it would not start.

Well being stranded at the temple I went inside the stake center to use the phone. Naturally I called my roommate Adam first. Well I got the answering machine. This I sort of expected. My instincts told me that he was still asleep in bed. I left a message to wake up and inquired on whether he could please come and get me.

In the meantime I considered my next course of action. I tried in vain to start my automobile (analogous to beating a deceased equine I suppose). I considered even going to the 1030 session at the temple, and I tried again to call my roommate. But by-the-by he arrived and extracted me from that location. I should also mention that we had pushed my car across the parking lot to a spot that would be less in the way of others, and easier to access pretty much everything.

So we came home and I changed into clothing more appropriate for dirty work. And thus prepared we journeyed to the institute to see whether there was anything left to clean. There wasn’t. There were people there however. Those who had cleaned were sitting in the central area chatting it up, and there was a troupe of local actors apparently rehearsing for a musical in the large multi-purpose room. We stayed and chatted about various topics ranging from the insipid to exceedingly nauseating. Health care professionals should not be allowed to talk about work at the diner table, among gentle company, or really at all. Only they could flow seamlessly from the topic of punctuation to an anecdote involving, well, I don’t want to burden you with a mental image.

At any rate, we eventually moved from that spot back to the apartment, where I proceeded to research what could be wrong with my car. Using my mum’s library card number, which I had to retrieve from my old computer, I found the online auto repair database and started to diagnose.

I came to a hopeful conclusion that it was a matter of worn out ignition cables. For those with limited auto experience, these are a set of cables that carry a voltage from the ignition coil (that produced a high voltage) to the distributor (that times the sparking) and then to the spark plugs. These cables can wear out suddenly and make the car simply not start.

So Adam, being the fantastic roommate that he is, chauffeured me for the rest of the day in my efforts to fix my vehicle. I grabbed some tools that I figured I would need, and we went back to the temple. I pulled out the existing ignition cables, breaking one of them in the process. Now it didn’t matter, they had to be replaced anyway. So we went to Canadian tire, my favorate place for auto parts I’ll admit. I found the necessary cables and also picked up a set of spark plugs for good measure.

Back at the temple, I quickly installed the new cables and crossed my fingers. Alas, the endeavour was in vain. The car still refused to start. Also, I had brought the wrong size of plug socket, so I couldn’t try to replace the spark plugs. However, we did test the main ignition cable and there was sparking. This ruled out the ignition coil as the problem.

So we returned to the apartment once again. I retrieved the correct tool for the job and did a little more research. I concluded that it would not be good if the distributor was the problem. I hoped that replacing the plugs would provide the needed break. We returned to the temple.

I replaced the spark plugs, and we tested each plug for sparking. I learned a valuable lesson that when dealing with 40,000 volts, you do not have to be close enough for sparks to get a shock. Simply having one hand in a high electric field and another hand at ground is enough to induce a current. Not to fear, it is not enough current to do any damage, but was a learning experience nonetheless. Unfortunately, my newfound knowledge failed to start the car.

Good things did come of this however. As I was under the hood, a woman approached us and inquired as to weather we were mechanics. She was having problems with her car a few blocks away and was stranded. We told her that unfortunately we were quite amateurish at this car repair business but asked if there was anything else we could do. She said that her husband would be able to come fix the car later that night, but that she really just wanted to get back home. She asked if she could borrow $12 for a cab. Something I had decided long ago was that if I stranger asked me for a specific amount of money in excess of $5, I would help them. So I did. I gave her a twenty and she asked how she could return it. I told her to just pass it on and she said she would definitely do that. That felt good.

Unfortunately automotive blessings were not immediate. The car still refused to start. It still turned over merrily though. I’m sure we were wearing out the starter. Well, as we were about to call it a day and go do some more research, another young man on a bicycle, and blinged out I might at, stopped and asked if he could take a look. I’ve got nothing to lose so I said sure. He told us his name was John, and he said he was an apprentice mechanic. He began exactly where I did by checking all of the cables for disconnection. His final diagnosis was that it wasn’t getting enough fuel. From what I know about cars this seems plausible. If there is a little fuel, but not enough, then there will be no ignition. The same is true of too much fuel, but I digress. He checked a couple of things and showed me where the fuel pump was, and told me how I could check a fuel injector if I managed to find it. However, he too was unable to start the car.
He said that he had met the missionaries from the church before and found it interesting. He was intrigued at the odd name ‘Elder’ too. We explained a few things. As an afterthought, we really should have taken the missionary opportunity better. But we didn’t. I need to do better at that I think.

Anyway, John was also unable to get the car started, and so we decided to call it a day. The rest of the day was spent in wonderful company. Jill and Alyssa invited us for food and games, and company. While there I saw an interesting cookbook entitles ‘The way to a Man’s heart”. I have always said that it is through his stomach. I stand by that. It doesn’t even have to be a gourmet or time-consuming dish, it just has to be food. Any time a man gets food from another person, that person improves in standing and importance to that man. Alyssa and Jill are both more beautiful to me now than they were before yesterday. And they are already quite high in my books.

We played a game of Settlers of Catan, which I lost. I don’t know if I’ve ever won at that game. Then again I try very hard not to be overly competitive. I used to be a real jerk in games. I hope I’m not as much of one now. After this we went to a birthday party. Happy Birthday Dana. I am not sure I was specifically invited, and I hate crashing parties, but I felt welcome anyway. Also, there were cupcakes. Tara is also now more beautiful as well.

I played a game called ‘Mao’ for the first time. It’s fun, the idea of the game is that it is a card game with certain rules, but only people that have played before know those rules. You would think that would give big advantage, but its fairly easy to catch on. And then more rules are added by people that win rounds. I think many of people were sick of it by the time we finished the first round.

So we left that party in good spirits and went back to Jill and Alyssa‘s for a movie and crochet circle. Adam and Tyler learned how to crochet. The movie was partially lost on me, but it seemed like it was okay. Well that was a long day, and a long blog entry. Not bad for a first real entry.

Oh, and as an epilogue. A short time ago, I stated that I couldn’t name my car until it broke down. I think I was jinxing myself. My car’s name is Frank.

Peace out.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

2007-05-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

So It seems everyone is doing it these days. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but it doesn't really matter.
If anyone does care to read, I can promise intriguing, though random topics, bad spelling, and most of all, a chance to invade the private life of someone who doesn't have anything to hide.

So this is it, I'll maybe post more tommorrow, for now, I must sleep.

Peace out.