Monday 05/11 - Satellite Day Part One

Oooh can you feel the anticipation. The satellite man is coming at 2pm!!

Firstly I'd like to showcase the first part of my engineering effort to make sure the TV doesn't fall over, and the shelf doesn't brake. Behold, son of Log.


Somehow the lumber yard had a piece of wood exactly the right thickness...... the gods of television smile upon us.

Oooh our shiny new DVR box:

I can barely wait for the man to come and switch it on so we can watch 1000000 channels of nothing!! YEAH!!!! Irritatingly the box only has DVI out, not HDMI, so the audio goes over regular stereo cables. I am considering a Logitech surround system for the turd, but we shall see.

A further update will be made post-installation.

Television, the drug of the nation....

Well since getting the TV we haven't really done much, except for go on walks up the hill and... watch TV. So far the viewing has been either Oz or Babylon 5 - the satellite feed will be connected tomorrow so we can bask in the radiation of a zillion channels.

Ahh... the luxury.

Our condolences go out to Sean, whose Jeep mysteriously caught on fire while being towed behind his parental unit's motorhome on the way to Illinois.

Not feeling too good today. Didn't sleep well last night was sweating like a madman. Oh well.

GIGANTOR!

It is truly difficult to convey to you the scope and beauty of our shiny new Sony Bravia 46" KDL46XBR4. It fills the room with picture and sound (having a small room helps though).

Even SD tv looks ok, and the quality from an xvid source is more than acceptable. Ahh. Our HD satellite feed will be connected on Monday!

I don't think these pictures do it justice.... this it he laptop running through it at 1920x1080.



As you can see everything is crystal clear and the colours are delightful.

Well anyway. We finished watching the first season of Dexter (thanks Bonne) last night. Not bad, not bad. I'd recommend you take a look if you accidentally happened to have some episodes lying around.

Yesterday I spend most of the day fitting the holding tank heaters to the black/grey water tanks. Unfortunately one of the 2 I bought for the black doesn't fit, so we're left with a spare one. Grrrrr...

After that we wrapped some heat tape around the hose, and insulated it with sticky foam/aluminium stuff. The turd looks like it's docked with the ISS. Must take a picture.

I also banged my head on a nice hard sharp metal post. Rockin'!!

Now I just need to know whether all these bloody heaters are even working or not!! Guess we have to wait until it gets COLD.

Mushrooms of Canadia

Yesterday turned out be a beautiful day, so we went for a small walk in the forest.

Disappointingly they're clearing some of it to make apartments or houses or something, so it kind of spoiled the tranquillity a bit.

So as usual I found strange things to take pictures of... they really do have fascinating fungal life here, so many different types of mushrooms that I've never seen before.

Like this one for instance.... looks kind of like a mushroom you'd see in a comic book or a computer game.


Everything was glistening, either from condensation or some kind of strange poisonous coating. Needless to say we didn't go around licking the 'shrooms to see what would happen.


Ahh abstract photography, my old friend. It's ART dammit!


These little guys grow out the side of a tree....


...as you can see there can be a few of them!


Excitingly, this is actually a bear claw mark. Apparently they like to mark the trunks as a territorial kind of thing.


I'm not sure whether that droplet on the left hand side of this mushroom is on the lens, or on the mushroom. Oh well.


Another classic looking mushroom.


A lot of these are very small. Not sure what the problem was yesterday, but had some issues getting focus lock and keeping the camera still. Might have been the awkward angles, and my desire not to get sopping wet on the ground.


These are maybe a couple of cm long..


Strange alien mothership mushroom.

Ahh the forest.


Guess once upon a time this tree was pretty darn tall.


Today we are off to Vancouver to buy a TV.... w00ty!!!

Stupid Mac Eat Shit and Die

I read with interest yesterday that some Mac owners were having trouble with their latest operating system upgrade. Well eat shit and die you loser artists - have fun fixing THAT.

I quote: "Frustrated users who rebooted to the install DVD then upgraded a second time using the "Archive and Install" option reported success, and no lingering blue screen after restart. "I grew impatient after the first hour and rebooted to DVD and then reinstalled choosing the Archive/Install option," said volksapple. "That worked just fine. Despite this small hiccup, it's far better than any Windows upgrade I've suffered through."'

Are you fuckin' serious?! I've never had a Windows upgrade just sit and wait for 2 hours, just for fun. How is sitting there for an hour better than a windows upgrade you fuckin' idiot!?

Anyway whatever. I fuckin' hate Apple, and Apple users (and while we're at it - Linux can go and eat some bear shit as well) with their bullshit holier than thou attitude to computing.

Sorry lamers, without Windoze (despite it's MANY shortcomings) there probably wouldn't BE a computer for you to be all freakin' artistic with. Go and jam your iPod up your ass as well. Bet you'd never even heard of an MP3 before you bought that. Loser.

Phew. Not sure what brought that one, but it sure feels good. Kind of like after you have a massive dump after eating like 2kg of steak.

I'm pleased to report that that MAXXAIR roof vents are installed without an issue, although the vent in the toilet appears to have been replaced from its OEM state and is PLASTIC not ALUMINIUM like the other two. Hm...

I've become annoyed with the reporting and commentary about the recent deminse of Oink.cd.
Let's set a few facts straight shall we...

1. Payment was voluntary (I never paid).
2. A lot of material was uploaded from copies OWNED by the users.
3. There is no more "pre-release" material than anywhere else on "the scene" - in fact, all "pre-release" material CAME from the scene (I should know as well).

I thought it was hilarious that some users "got invites" but "didn't sign up" because they thought that enforcing strict standards for the audio formats was "eliteist" - go back to isohunt fools.

Anyhoo. Enough ranting.

Sudden Death Sauce

Yesterday we accidentally paid CAD20 for a bottle of hot sauce.

The blurb on the website says: "Take Mounds of Fresh Red Habaneroes, Mash Um Up. Slice Up Some Firery Cayenne Chilies, Squeeze in The Lime Juice and WAIT...Dont Forget the Clover Honey and Ginseng and We Have Blairs Sudden Death. FEEL ALIVE"

Yes it is similar to the famous death sauce that we had in Niseko.
Yes it is ball tearingly hot, however with an intriguing flavour.
Yes I felt alive.

For those that love the burn, I highly recommend the Blair's line....

Now... for some art... I've been experimenting with the colours and such in Lightroom. I really do love that program, version 1.2 that was just released appears to have significant speed and stability improvements over 1.1....

I will be relying on someone for the 1.3 update when it is released though, because Demonoid has blocked .ca IPs due to legal action. Motherf**kers!!

Some frosty leaves...

A frosty ninja.... Frosty thistle... Frosty leaf and wood - I was trying to capture the sparkle of the sun on the ice crystals, don't think I've done a very good job....
Same experiment here... I will have to work harder. If someone can tell me what the below is, I'll be very grateful! This is close to what it looked like, there was a kind of green hue to the light. Mr. Mushroom. This morning I've woken up with a blocked left ear, quite disconcerting actually.

Today I'll be attaching these MaxxAir vent covers to the roof of the turd. This might provide an extra cold and moisture barrier between the roof vents and the chilly Canadian winter.

It says not to caulk around the base of it to let moisture out, but fuck them I say - I don't want moisture coming IN assholes.... (please note fine GE product I will be using for this job).


There's a bit of condensation inside the turd... will have to keep an eye on this as winter progreses.

Time for breakfast!! Tasty cereal and coffee!

Cold Photos

So this was the scene that greeted us yesterday morning. The jeep with a large coating of frost.

I took this shot of the campground. No you're right, it doesn't look blue like that normally, but I think it gives it a cold, eerie feeling.


We drove to Pemberton to investigate the RV skirting business, and while we were there I picked up a coupling for the leaky grey water pipe. After a little hacksawing and tightening of clamps, my foray into plumbing is complete. Behold....


In the afternoon we went for a walk, so.. have some photos.
First is the stream near the campground.

I'll be sure to keep this in mind....


Cool looking mushrooms...


Path into the forest.


My friends, the fungi.


Ahh trees.


Apparently dogs, hockey and contemplation are prohibited.


A view of the mountains....


Some tasty autumn leaves....


And a half green, half yellow, pine-like tree. Odd....


Now THIS morning was even colder.... holy crap.... water had frozen out of the fridge line...


This is our next door neighbour...


I must have left the hose dripping last night, and there was an icicle, and a small poopsicle...


Frost on the tires...


...and that is all the for time being.

Brrrrrrrrrr!

Allegedly it's -1C this morning. It's kind of cold.

Still it's pretty toasty in here, although we need to think about insulating the door, as it's probably the least insulated part of the turd.

Yesterday we applied for jobs. If all turns out well, Kat will be selling tickets, and I will be validating them. A far cry from our respective careers, but oh well.

Once we've got jobs we've decided we'll buy a TV, most likely a decent one that we can ship back with us. I'm thinking a 46" Sharp Aquos to be honest, but anyway :D

I've added two clocks to the blog page, so you can see what time it is here (and we can see what time it is there).

I've a feeling the next few weeks are going to be kind of taxing, as we wait for the season to start, and don't have much to do. Today I think we'll head over to the next town and check it out, and see about buying some kind of board to make a skirt for the RV.

We have an "appointment" to open a bank account this morning. Fascinating.

Dunno what's going on with me lately though, am so tired all the time. Daniel will say this is nothing new, but it's even worse than usual.

DIY, or not.

In the boiling 15 degree heat today, I had high hopes of plumbing and replacing the weatherstripping on the door.

Alas the coupling I had bought for the pipe was too big, and the weatherstripping was too wide.

Gosh darn it!

I also managed to cut myself underneath the nail of my middle finger on my right hand. Great work.

On the plus side, our snow equipment and Florida licenses arrived today (thanks to Team Bohannan for that). I also got a new pair of boots.

Tonight we went to see "Michael Clayton" - an excellent movie, with a terrible title. I couldn't help but think of GE. I highly recommend this one, for those tired of post 9-11 action movies with terrorist bad-guys.

On the way back to the car we stumbled across a fully grown black bear!

Kat did not see it at first, and when I politely pointed out the presence of the large wild bear, she ran a few steps backwards. I of course bared my beard and the bear retreated (well continued on) into the bushes.

I'm definitely going to have to do something about this beard shortly, it's getting ridiculous - I'm in danger of being mistaken for some kind of messiah!

By jove it's late! Midnight already! Must head off to bed before I turn into a pumpkin and get made into a Halloween ornament.

Bubble wrapping SIN city...

Today we drove to North Vancouver to get our SIN.
That's social insurance number, not a license to sin. Ho ho ho.

2 hours waiting for 5 minutes processing, that's government quality for you, world over.

To insulate the turd I have been placing bubble wrap on most of the windows. Like this....

It sounds stupid, but I've read that it works - and to the touch the window area is noticeably less cold.

Last night the window you can see in the right hand side of the picture above started leaking again. This morning we discovered it was due to a blocked drain hole in the frame. My only question is why does it only leak AROUND BEDTIME. Thankfully tonight I won't be having a cold and slightly damp sleep.

Dinner tonight was spectacular. Canadian salmon on the weber, server on a bed of mashed potatoes. Topped with a chili, onion, lemon, butter and cayenne pepper sauce. Accompanied by sauteed broccoli (in butter and lemon juice).

Someone has been doing all the cooking since we arrived, and it's been excellent.

Tomorrow I will be doing a bit of plumbing, some more bubble wrapping, and if the weather is nice (as it's supposed to be) maybe we'll get around Whistler a bit and see the sights....

...maybe we'll even find the cinema - two attempts have failed so far.

G'night!

Meat and Coleslaw

After such a long time on the go it's kind of weird doing not very much.

In the morning yesterday we filled up the turd and a couple of small tanks with propane.

We pulled out the skirts for the motorhome and found they don't really fit. Not sure what we're going to do about that, perhaps buy new ones. Don't really fancy the idea of sub-zero wind flowing underneath the floor sucking out the heat.

With that enthralling stuff out of the way, it was time to hit the beer. So I did.

We'd bought a 1.5kg piece of rib-eye from the supermarket.... so it was steak for dinner... check these beauties out:



I cooked em a bit long actually - the little Weber seems to heat a little more ferociously than its big brother. Nevertheless the steak was still very tender and juicy enough - although not rare at all :(

Here I am tackling a bit of bone....


Wiping up....

...and cheers kids, time for another beer....

I believe I was in bed shortly after 9pm, fully clothed. Super effort.

I realised I haven't posted a picture of the Jeep since its makeover... so here it is, the new winterised urban look for 2007/08.....


Irritatingly one of the joints in the gray-water system is leaking. I tried spraying Leak Stop on it, but... it looks like the pipe is moving too much. Looks like I'll have to branch out into plumbing this week then......

I don't know whether this will be a regular occurrence, but todays word of the day is....

Defenestration - the act of throwing a thing or esp. a person out of a window.