The previous four posts have updated everyone about school, and the post before that about the hail storm. You'd think I was out of things to write about at this point, and you'd be close. But I have friends who ask for other updates from time to time, so this is for them. Specifically for Giselle, in this case. Hi Giselle!
The dogs are doing OK up here. We're down to 11 hours of daylight, Anne said this morning, so the morning walk is in the dark, and the evening walk is in the dark too. Rain is happening, and temperatures are dropping, and those will impact dog walks more than simple daylight, or the absence thereof.
Skookie is showing her age a bit, but she's still top dog and keeps it that way. Cruzer is still dumb as a post, and can be a bit stiff after waking up, but he's otherwise happy and healthy. Tinkerbell is going through her awful teenage years, alas. We're working on some new behavior issues that go with that and the second fear period. She's huge, of course, and that makes everything more interesting. Most amusingly, there is one place along the dyke where she will only walk on one side of a concrete bridge/thing. The other side has some metal plates in it that rattled at some point, and now those are entirely evil, and she has to stay away from them. For a day or two she wouldn't go over it at all. Dogs are weird.
Vancouver continues to be a nice place to live. Well, technically, we're in Richmond, but it's nice too. Mass transit works well for us, and the cars generally get driven just far enough to warm them up once or twice a week. Almost no miles at all, really.
We're pretty boring, though, as we were in California. Anne works. I go to school and do homework. Every once in a while we see friends in the area - which, amazingly, we have some of already - but then we go back to being boring. Every other week or so I mow the yard, weather permitting. And the other overhead of life is what it is, of course.
Most of you reading this are probably much better explorers of new cities and experiences. We're homebodies, and we tend to like it that way. What that means is when you come visit you'll have to show us the interesting places because we probably don't know about them.
Not much else to report, I think. If you want more, you'll have to email and ask for it, but be prepared to trade an update on your own life for it.
Showing posts with label random_thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random_thoughts. Show all posts
Friday, October 13, 2017
Monday, October 2, 2017
Amusing photos
Here are a few pictures I've collected. I find them amusing.
This is the line at the Tim Horton's at Langara College early in the morning, around 8 am. This isn't even a "real" Tim Horton's, since they don't sell any hot food, just coffee related beverages and pastries clearly baked in some other location. It is pretty much always jammed, and what you can't see is the cattle pen inside the cafeteria there on the right where the line continues.
While I am happy to support Tim Horton's, I can't bring myself to stand in that line, so I skip coffee in the mornings at school.
Also, for the curious, there is a Starbucks in another building. It, too, has a line, but it is a fair bit more expensive and it's line is generally a bit shorter.
And, oddly, there is a Subway on campus too, but despite signage saying they sell breakfast sandwiches, they don't open until 10 am. What is the point of that? When I want eggs and bread in the morning, I'll want it well before then, thank you.
Next up:
That's a display in the 'A' building on campus at something before 8 am. I find it interesting that we're touting our "green thinking" and "energy management" by leaving a giant computer monitor on all night. I'm not sure if the lights in the display case are on all night too, but it's a good bet that monitor never gets turned off. Someone didn't get the memo.
And then:
That's a sign in a drugstore, somewhere in California. Somehow all three of those things seem related to me.
And finally:
That's a barricade put up by Santa Cruz County sometime in the winter of 2015/16, after a tree had fallen across our road and then been cleared. They dumped the big chunks into the ditch and put up that barricade to keep cars from hitting them. And then they forgot about it. For a year.
As the winter (and rainy season) of 2016/17 was approaching and nothing had been done about that mess, some local wag put up the sign reading "When Hell Freezes Over!!" and left it that way. I honestly have no clue who did that, and I laughed about it for a while. Then I emailed a copy of that photo to the county and suggested nicely that they might clean up last year's mess before there was a new mess this year. And, amazingly, they did so. But I still appreciate the sense of humor of whoever put up that sign.
This is the line at the Tim Horton's at Langara College early in the morning, around 8 am. This isn't even a "real" Tim Horton's, since they don't sell any hot food, just coffee related beverages and pastries clearly baked in some other location. It is pretty much always jammed, and what you can't see is the cattle pen inside the cafeteria there on the right where the line continues.
While I am happy to support Tim Horton's, I can't bring myself to stand in that line, so I skip coffee in the mornings at school.
Also, for the curious, there is a Starbucks in another building. It, too, has a line, but it is a fair bit more expensive and it's line is generally a bit shorter.
And, oddly, there is a Subway on campus too, but despite signage saying they sell breakfast sandwiches, they don't open until 10 am. What is the point of that? When I want eggs and bread in the morning, I'll want it well before then, thank you.
Next up:
That's a display in the 'A' building on campus at something before 8 am. I find it interesting that we're touting our "green thinking" and "energy management" by leaving a giant computer monitor on all night. I'm not sure if the lights in the display case are on all night too, but it's a good bet that monitor never gets turned off. Someone didn't get the memo.
And then:
That's a sign in a drugstore, somewhere in California. Somehow all three of those things seem related to me.
And finally:
That's a barricade put up by Santa Cruz County sometime in the winter of 2015/16, after a tree had fallen across our road and then been cleared. They dumped the big chunks into the ditch and put up that barricade to keep cars from hitting them. And then they forgot about it. For a year.
As the winter (and rainy season) of 2016/17 was approaching and nothing had been done about that mess, some local wag put up the sign reading "When Hell Freezes Over!!" and left it that way. I honestly have no clue who did that, and I laughed about it for a while. Then I emailed a copy of that photo to the county and suggested nicely that they might clean up last year's mess before there was a new mess this year. And, amazingly, they did so. But I still appreciate the sense of humor of whoever put up that sign.
Fraser River Tides
In our nightly dog walks along the dyke that separates Richmond from the flooding by the Fraser River, we've noted a particular marker that helps us figure out just how low or high the tide is. Here's High tide, looking vaguely northwest from a particular point on the dyke:
And here is a photo taken from nearby, but looking northeast at a low tide:
That stump goes from almost submerged to full exposed, and if you look closely you can see the water's edge way out beyond.
This is a closeup of that stump:
I think it's somewhere between 4 and 6 feet tall (I haven't clambered down there to get a better estimate) and as you can see the tide goes well out beyond it at times. A particular tide tracking website tells me that the maximum tidal swing here is 5.06 meters (or 16.6 feet), and it's pretty impressive. Those photos are not taken at those absolute maximum swings, though, just a couple of times when we've noted it's been particularly high and low.
When the big one hits at high tide, Much of Richmond will have a foot or two of water in their homes, including the house we are renting. That's assuming the ground doesn't liquefy and all the houses come down, which is what I actually expect to happen.
And here is a photo taken from nearby, but looking northeast at a low tide:
That stump goes from almost submerged to full exposed, and if you look closely you can see the water's edge way out beyond.
This is a closeup of that stump:
I think it's somewhere between 4 and 6 feet tall (I haven't clambered down there to get a better estimate) and as you can see the tide goes well out beyond it at times. A particular tide tracking website tells me that the maximum tidal swing here is 5.06 meters (or 16.6 feet), and it's pretty impressive. Those photos are not taken at those absolute maximum swings, though, just a couple of times when we've noted it's been particularly high and low.
When the big one hits at high tide, Much of Richmond will have a foot or two of water in their homes, including the house we are renting. That's assuming the ground doesn't liquefy and all the houses come down, which is what I actually expect to happen.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
So many piercings...
Bonus post. If you find this, it wasn't announced in any of the usual places.
People watching is always fun, and I do it on occasion. There are the elderly Chinese gentlemen who think they can just cut into the line to get on the bus, and no one tells them they can't.
There are all the people with tattoos, most of which are totally forgettable to me.
There are the hair colors, which I am generally jealous of, and wish I had the guts to do myself. Bright pink hair on the Jeff, anyone?
There are so many smokers. What is it with people and smoking? Shudder.
But mostly, it's piercings. Lots and lots of piercings. Ears aren't really all that odd, even when there are lots of piercings in them. I get that, even if I don't want to do it myself. But lips, nose, eyebrows, and who knows where else? Really? Many of them look uncomfortable, unsanitary, or both. I really don't get it.
But life is full of things I don't get, and living in a city, and going to college with a particular cohort of people - roughly 31 to 33 years younger than I am - is showing me that for that generation, piercings are the thing.
OK.
People watching is always fun, and I do it on occasion. There are the elderly Chinese gentlemen who think they can just cut into the line to get on the bus, and no one tells them they can't.
There are all the people with tattoos, most of which are totally forgettable to me.
There are the hair colors, which I am generally jealous of, and wish I had the guts to do myself. Bright pink hair on the Jeff, anyone?
There are so many smokers. What is it with people and smoking? Shudder.
But mostly, it's piercings. Lots and lots of piercings. Ears aren't really all that odd, even when there are lots of piercings in them. I get that, even if I don't want to do it myself. But lips, nose, eyebrows, and who knows where else? Really? Many of them look uncomfortable, unsanitary, or both. I really don't get it.
But life is full of things I don't get, and living in a city, and going to college with a particular cohort of people - roughly 31 to 33 years younger than I am - is showing me that for that generation, piercings are the thing.
OK.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Mysteries Reprise
A while back I wrote a post about three mysteries, things I didn't know the answer to.
After a very brief period of time I had an answer to the first one. It turns out that these lines in the road:
in freeways, as seen here:
After a very brief period of time I had an answer to the first one. It turns out that these lines in the road:
in freeways, as seen here:
Are part of a kind of road repair called a "dowel bar retrofit". It's a way of tying one section of concrete to another so they don't move as cars cross from one to another. I'd seen these for years all over the country and had no clue.
The second mystery to be resolved was a problem with using my USB scanner under Ubuntu Linux. That was fixed with my own continued digging and a reader pointing out a final syntax issue in something I did. The scanner works again, which is the important thing.
And the final mystery is now resolved as well. A series of strange items out off the western coast of Richmond are now identified as "Beacon Piles," and are present to keep ships from running aground. They are unlit, round, orange signs visible from the north and south, looking like this from the back (on land):
(The front sides are painted orange for visibility to ships out in the channel.)
The only question I have remaining about these is why they are where they are. The actual channel is well beyond these beacons, and any ship of significance will run aground long before it gets to them. Still, the contributions of several readers helped definitively identify them, so I can stop pondering them now. (And I am sure they are not radar reflectors, despite many references to them by that name. They are simply visual markers for ships to see in the daylight.)
Much of the conversation about these things took place on Facebook, and while I have all kinds of problems with that platform, it helped in these cases. If you're friends with me there, you can find the back & forth on this in the comments to the post announcing that earlier blog entry.
Also, if you have a burning question needing an answer, consider sharing it with me. Apparently I have more than a few readers who love digging into things, and who know all kinds of stuff. Maybe we can get it answered for you.
More Canadaisms
A few more Canadaisms, just because.
Canadians call it a "buggy", not a shopping cart. I have no idea why.
Here are a few things about Canadian money. Some of these you may know, but they still interest me:
Canadians call it a "buggy", not a shopping cart. I have no idea why.
Here are a few things about Canadian money. Some of these you may know, but they still interest me:
- Canada has a $1 coin, colloquially called a "Loonie" because it has a loon (the bird) on the back. It is slightly larger than a quarter, and is gold in color making it relatively easy to distinguish in a handful of change (unless you're blind, I suspect). Why the US $1 coin has not caught on I don't know. Probably something to do with merchants not having space in their cash registers for them.
- They also have a $2 coin, called a "toonie". It's larger than a loonie and has a gold center surrounded by a silver outer ring. Again, it's pretty easy to distinguish from other coins.
- Oddly, as an American, the hardest thing about Canadian currency is telling quarters and nickels apart. They are similar in size, and since the art on them is not what I am used to, I actually have to look closely and think about it. Someday that should be easy, but a month of rarely using cash is not long enough to get me to that point.
- Canadians don't use pennies. They are still legal tender, but you can only deposit them in bank accounts. Merchants round things to the nearest nickel when dealing with cash. The US should have done that a long time ago.
- Another oddity is getting a large amount of change but no bills. Imagine you pay for something costing $1.21 with a $5 bill and getting $3.80 back in change: 1 toonie, 1 loonie, 3 quarters, and 1 nickel. No bills. (And note the rounding down to $1.20 on the cost.) That pile of change still doesn't feel right.
- When paying with something inexpensive with cash I still look for $1 bills in my wallet. Every time. I might have 15 loonies in my pocket, but I don't think about them yet.
- Canadian bills have lots of color and transparent plastic in them. They are much prettier than American bills, in my opinion.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Mysteries
This post is going to cover three different mysteries. These are things I have wondered about, and want to know the answers to, but that I have yet to understand.
Anyone who can help me with the answers to any of these things will earn my eternal gratitude, and a link here to their website if desired. Obviously that means I will update the post with new information as it arrives. As with all things, you can reach me if you try, despite comments being off here.
Oh, for all images here, click to see a larger version.
MYSTERY 1 - Strange marks in highway pavement in the USA
SOLVED! SOLVED! SOLVED!
Here's a picture taken on I-5 in Northern CA, on a trip to Vancouver:
MYSTERY 2 - Wood, round, antenna structures west of Richmond, BC
On our regular dog walks along the dyke on the western edge of Richmond, BC, we see odd, round structures, apparently made of wood. There are several of them, well spaced out. Here's one, from afar, and zoomed in. (The zoom'd image is blurry... sorry.)
MYSTERY 3 - The scanner that stopped working in Ubuntu Linux 16.04
SOLVED! SOLVED! SOLVED!
No pictures for this one, I'm afraid, but I wrote it all up in great detail in a post on the Ubuntu Forums here:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2369422
In short, I updated my OS and everything works (as far as I know) except the scanner. And the failure mode of the scanner is really, really odd. It's as if the bus ID and device ID that were in use for the scanner in the previous version of the OS were saved somewhere, but after the OS update everything got renumbered. When software to find the scanner is run as a regular user, the scanner cannot be found. When the same software is run as root, it does find the scanner (apparently).
As with the other mysteries, Google has not revealed a solution so far.
And that's it. Fame* and fortune** await the people who help me understand these things. Consider it a challenge, please!
Footnotes:
* "Fame" defined as a link to your website, if you want it.
** This is a lie. There will be no fortune for anyone who helps. Sorry.
Anyone who can help me with the answers to any of these things will earn my eternal gratitude, and a link here to their website if desired. Obviously that means I will update the post with new information as it arrives. As with all things, you can reach me if you try, despite comments being off here.
Oh, for all images here, click to see a larger version.
MYSTERY 1 - Strange marks in highway pavement in the USA
SOLVED! SOLVED! SOLVED!
Here's a picture taken on I-5 in Northern CA, on a trip to Vancouver:
Look at the road in front of the car. See those sets of 3 marks on each side, roughly where the wheels of the car go? Those are the mystery. Here's a closeup:
What are those things? Here's what I know so far:
- I have googled quite a bit and been unable to find a search that tells me anything.
- It appears that they happen on expansion joints (or some other linear crack in the road, perpendicular to the direction of travel).
- I have seen them in several states, mostly in I-80, but also (as above) in California on I-5.
- The spacing between groups (in the direction the cars travel on the road) can vary.
- Sometimes there are 2 groups of 4 marks instead of 2 groups of 3. No idea why. But that happens on very different roads. I have never seen groups of 4 & 3 on the same road.
| Mystery 1 has an answer! Readers K and P (possible links still coming) tell me these marks are made as part of a 'dowel bar retrofit', which is a mechanism used to reinforce cracks in highway concrete. Here's a Wikipedia article about the technique. |
MYSTERY 2 - Wood, round, antenna structures west of Richmond, BC
On our regular dog walks along the dyke on the western edge of Richmond, BC, we see odd, round structures, apparently made of wood. There are several of them, well spaced out. Here's one, from afar, and zoomed in. (The zoom'd image is blurry... sorry.)
And here is a shot showing several of these things off to the south:
And finally, here is a captured image from Google Maps, where I have measured the distance between these things. The points on the white line show their locations.
And here's what I know (it's not much):
- They appear to be made of wood, and have no apparent electrical connections.
- They face South West. (Bring up google maps for Richmond, BC, switch to satellite mode, and zoom in to confirm that yourself. You can see them in some detail there.)
- The spacing between them isn't regular. (See map above.)
- They are in a straight line running very close to due North/South, as far as I can tell. (Again, see map above.) It is just possible that they do not run perfectly North/South, but from the level of detail I have, it's hard to know.
- And once more, Google has let me down on finding more details.
That's it. I know nothing more.
| Mystery 2 has been solved. It prompted a lot of discussion on Facebook and in email, and many people participated in the conversation. K suggested these are navigation markers for ships, and looked at some nautical charts but didn't find them specifically. I found them in openseamap.org, but couldn't find the description of the actual things I found. J found the actual information about the chart annotation that resolved it, along with the formal description of the item type - "Daybeacons" - which says: "Generally, daybeacons are unlighted aids used primarily to assist the mariner during daylight hours" and goes on with other information that makes it clear that these things off the coast of Richmond are there to keep ships out of trouble. Thanks to the many people who looked into this and helped find the definitive answer! It was really fun to get it worked out. |
MYSTERY 3 - The scanner that stopped working in Ubuntu Linux 16.04
SOLVED! SOLVED! SOLVED!
No pictures for this one, I'm afraid, but I wrote it all up in great detail in a post on the Ubuntu Forums here:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2369422
In short, I updated my OS and everything works (as far as I know) except the scanner. And the failure mode of the scanner is really, really odd. It's as if the bus ID and device ID that were in use for the scanner in the previous version of the OS were saved somewhere, but after the OS update everything got renumbered. When software to find the scanner is run as a regular user, the scanner cannot be found. When the same software is run as root, it does find the scanner (apparently).
As with the other mysteries, Google has not revealed a solution so far.
| Mystery 3 has been solved. Without going into too much detail, there was a permissions problem because of changes introduced in Ubuntu Linux between 14.04 LTS and 16.04 LTS. I, personally, got the problem about 95% solved, but thanks to confusing and inaccurate documentation, I missed a bit of syntax that kept it from working. A good friend (John M.) pointed that last issue out, and suddenly everything works again. I think someone at Ubuntu needs a kick in the head for this, but such is life. The scanner works, and that is all that matters for now. Anyone wanting all the details can read this thread: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2369422 wherein I document the entire mess. |
And that's it. Fame* and fortune** await the people who help me understand these things. Consider it a challenge, please!
Footnotes:
* "Fame" defined as a link to your website, if you want it.
** This is a lie. There will be no fortune for anyone who helps. Sorry.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Last night's sunset
click for full size image
That's taken just a couple of blocks from the house, looking a bit north of due west along the Fraser River, on 8/21/2017. We walk the dogs along that dike (spelled 'dyke' here) most every night. It's lovely.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Random Canadian Obervations
Just Trudeau tweets in both French and English. Should be obvious, but still made me say "huh... that's kind of cool." Imagine if Donald Trump was able to tweet in two languages. Actually, forget that. Imagine instead that he was actually fluent in English. How different things would be.
Tortillas in Canada. Yes, they exist, but note the manufacturer:
I have to admit I laughed out loud when I found these in Costco.
Speaking of Costco, you know how the items they carry are different from store to store down in the US? Well, it gets worse up here, because there are products that are US only or Canada only items. Years ago they stopped carrying Turkish apricots in the US, switching to California apricots (which are not as good in my opinion) and (for a while) some awful organic things that tasted like bland cardboard soaked in bit of corn syrup. Well, those Turkish apricots are available up here. For me that is just about reason enough to remain a Costco member all by itself.
Also, alcohol is expensive. We're trying BC wines out of curiosity. So far they are drinkable, but a bit sweeter than CA wines. The red varieties I see most are Merlot, Malbec, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, plus blends of those. On the white side I see Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and a couple of others. Thus far the most impressive bottle we've had (and all the ones we've tried have been comparatively inexpensive) is the Naked Grape Pino Grigio. It's quite good. Not too sweet, with some citrus notes in it. Most of the local bottle shops, however, have fairly poor selections as a rule, and we'll have to go a bit farther away to find more choices. The Wikipedia article on BC wine indicates there are more varietals grown up here, but I haven't seen them yet.
People are pretty much unfailingly polite, unless they are driving. A small but significant percentage of drivers are rude, aggressive, horn honking, elegant gesture making, um... individuals. Not sure why that is, but it is a thing. In person, though, apologizing really is as common as the stereotype would indicate - much more so than in the US - and it's a way of greasing the skids, of making society work more smoothly. Apologize early and often - and be certain to politely acknowledge apologies! - and you'll blend in a bit better. (Being American means I will never completely blend in, but I try.)
Some things are expensive. Car insurance is something like four times what we paid in the US. Renters insurance is also costly. Maybe our rates will go down once we've been in country and insured for a year or two, but I have my doubts. Gas is also really expensive. Blueberries, though, are pretty cheap at the farm stands. Still trying to figure out electricity and natural gas. The weather has been so warm that we haven't needed much of either yet. Come January, that will have changed, and we'll see what the bills look like.
The overall pace of life is a bit slower here. Admittedly I am used to Silicon Valley - where things are rather intense - so perhaps most places would feel slower, but it is notable. It's not quite all the way to island time, as on Hawaii, but it is still significant. I am told that Vancouver Island - home of Victoria, the capitol of BC - runs on island time. Eventually I will confirm that one way or another.
Video availability on the internet is highly variable. Some things I used to watch simply aren't available. John Oliver is mostly not accessible. Rachel Maddow's stuff on YouTube is available, but the free segments from her show on the MSNBC website are not. (And don't ask me how to get paid content. Last time I looked into that, MSNBC wanted to know which cable service we subscribed to. Being cord cutters, we had none, and the same is the case here. So I guess we're out of luck on that front.) But some of these limitations are odd. Why isn't the stuff that John Oliver puts up on YouTube available world wide? No clue. Seems like they are unnecessarily reducing their available audience, but maybe there are considerations I don't understand.
Speaking of TV, so far it appears the city of Richmond mostly shuts down on Sunday evenings for Game of Thrones. Without a cable subscription, we don't watch it (and I began loathing the books somewhere along about volume 4 or 5) but we can see the park is mostly empty on Sunday nights when I think it is on. We walk the dogs every night, so the difference is pretty obvious.
Canadians pay for most everything with plastic. Credit or debit, makes no difference. Some, apparently, never carry cash at all. And they use a tap & go (NFC) system for smaller payments that doesn't require any ID confirmation. Above a certain amount, though, you have to enter a PIN. We had the tap & go system in the US briefly. I think it was called something like "pay wave" but it never caught on, and as far as I know it disappeared from all our cards after a brief time.
And of course the US never went to chip & PIN on credit cards, opting for chip & signature instead, which is dumb. Chip & PIN is much more secure, but apparently the CC companies in America thing Americans are too stupid to adapt to that. Alas, the current occupant of the white house makes me think the CC companies might be right about that.
I'll probably have more observations like this over time, but school will overwhelm me starting in about two weeks, and I hope blog posts start being about art more often once that happens.
Tortillas in Canada. Yes, they exist, but note the manufacturer:
I have to admit I laughed out loud when I found these in Costco.
Speaking of Costco, you know how the items they carry are different from store to store down in the US? Well, it gets worse up here, because there are products that are US only or Canada only items. Years ago they stopped carrying Turkish apricots in the US, switching to California apricots (which are not as good in my opinion) and (for a while) some awful organic things that tasted like bland cardboard soaked in bit of corn syrup. Well, those Turkish apricots are available up here. For me that is just about reason enough to remain a Costco member all by itself.
Also, alcohol is expensive. We're trying BC wines out of curiosity. So far they are drinkable, but a bit sweeter than CA wines. The red varieties I see most are Merlot, Malbec, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, plus blends of those. On the white side I see Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and a couple of others. Thus far the most impressive bottle we've had (and all the ones we've tried have been comparatively inexpensive) is the Naked Grape Pino Grigio. It's quite good. Not too sweet, with some citrus notes in it. Most of the local bottle shops, however, have fairly poor selections as a rule, and we'll have to go a bit farther away to find more choices. The Wikipedia article on BC wine indicates there are more varietals grown up here, but I haven't seen them yet.
People are pretty much unfailingly polite, unless they are driving. A small but significant percentage of drivers are rude, aggressive, horn honking, elegant gesture making, um... individuals. Not sure why that is, but it is a thing. In person, though, apologizing really is as common as the stereotype would indicate - much more so than in the US - and it's a way of greasing the skids, of making society work more smoothly. Apologize early and often - and be certain to politely acknowledge apologies! - and you'll blend in a bit better. (Being American means I will never completely blend in, but I try.)
Some things are expensive. Car insurance is something like four times what we paid in the US. Renters insurance is also costly. Maybe our rates will go down once we've been in country and insured for a year or two, but I have my doubts. Gas is also really expensive. Blueberries, though, are pretty cheap at the farm stands. Still trying to figure out electricity and natural gas. The weather has been so warm that we haven't needed much of either yet. Come January, that will have changed, and we'll see what the bills look like.
The overall pace of life is a bit slower here. Admittedly I am used to Silicon Valley - where things are rather intense - so perhaps most places would feel slower, but it is notable. It's not quite all the way to island time, as on Hawaii, but it is still significant. I am told that Vancouver Island - home of Victoria, the capitol of BC - runs on island time. Eventually I will confirm that one way or another.
Video availability on the internet is highly variable. Some things I used to watch simply aren't available. John Oliver is mostly not accessible. Rachel Maddow's stuff on YouTube is available, but the free segments from her show on the MSNBC website are not. (And don't ask me how to get paid content. Last time I looked into that, MSNBC wanted to know which cable service we subscribed to. Being cord cutters, we had none, and the same is the case here. So I guess we're out of luck on that front.) But some of these limitations are odd. Why isn't the stuff that John Oliver puts up on YouTube available world wide? No clue. Seems like they are unnecessarily reducing their available audience, but maybe there are considerations I don't understand.
Speaking of TV, so far it appears the city of Richmond mostly shuts down on Sunday evenings for Game of Thrones. Without a cable subscription, we don't watch it (and I began loathing the books somewhere along about volume 4 or 5) but we can see the park is mostly empty on Sunday nights when I think it is on. We walk the dogs every night, so the difference is pretty obvious.
Canadians pay for most everything with plastic. Credit or debit, makes no difference. Some, apparently, never carry cash at all. And they use a tap & go (NFC) system for smaller payments that doesn't require any ID confirmation. Above a certain amount, though, you have to enter a PIN. We had the tap & go system in the US briefly. I think it was called something like "pay wave" but it never caught on, and as far as I know it disappeared from all our cards after a brief time.
And of course the US never went to chip & PIN on credit cards, opting for chip & signature instead, which is dumb. Chip & PIN is much more secure, but apparently the CC companies in America thing Americans are too stupid to adapt to that. Alas, the current occupant of the white house makes me think the CC companies might be right about that.
I'll probably have more observations like this over time, but school will overwhelm me starting in about two weeks, and I hope blog posts start being about art more often once that happens.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
We have car insurance... finally
On Wednesday evening we finally completed the car registration and insurance process here in BC. That took a long time, but it is now done for a year.
Car insurance is very expensive here. We're paying something like four times what we were paying in California, but that comparison isn't really fair, since we bunded our home and auto insurance there and got discounts as a result. In addition, we had a very long accident free record in California, and while have a letter from our insurance company saying we were accident free for 10 years (which gets us a substantial discount) there may be more discounting available once the ICBC has insured us for some time.
That takes a big thing off our backs, and we're almost fully settled in and ready to just live. It's getting close, at least. That means there isn't a lot going on for us right now as a result, which is good. We've lived the last several months in a state of heightened tension as we prepped for this move. Some down time - before school starts in September - is a good thing, at least for me.
I've had a few discussions with people about the wildland fire situation in BC, and it's pretty dire. I heard yesterday that there were 138 fires burning in BC, and an online article said 26 of them were significant. I hear about evacuations on the radio, but I am not yet savvy enough with the local geography to know where they are or how many people might be affected. It is clear that most of the problems are north and east of us from online fire maps. Also, the province just re-authorized a wild fire state of emergency for the third time, and it now continues through September 1.
I know California has sever fires as well, and I wish all my mountain friends the best as the fire season progresses. Someday the rains will come back - both here and down there - and at least reduce the danger. In the meantime, be careful and keep in touch with the news.
Car insurance is very expensive here. We're paying something like four times what we were paying in California, but that comparison isn't really fair, since we bunded our home and auto insurance there and got discounts as a result. In addition, we had a very long accident free record in California, and while have a letter from our insurance company saying we were accident free for 10 years (which gets us a substantial discount) there may be more discounting available once the ICBC has insured us for some time.
That takes a big thing off our backs, and we're almost fully settled in and ready to just live. It's getting close, at least. That means there isn't a lot going on for us right now as a result, which is good. We've lived the last several months in a state of heightened tension as we prepped for this move. Some down time - before school starts in September - is a good thing, at least for me.
I've had a few discussions with people about the wildland fire situation in BC, and it's pretty dire. I heard yesterday that there were 138 fires burning in BC, and an online article said 26 of them were significant. I hear about evacuations on the radio, but I am not yet savvy enough with the local geography to know where they are or how many people might be affected. It is clear that most of the problems are north and east of us from online fire maps. Also, the province just re-authorized a wild fire state of emergency for the third time, and it now continues through September 1.
I know California has sever fires as well, and I wish all my mountain friends the best as the fire season progresses. Someday the rains will come back - both here and down there - and at least reduce the danger. In the meantime, be careful and keep in touch with the news.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
An update on the move
We continue to settle into our new neighborhood.
The smoke from all the fires in BC blew out of the Vancouver area yesterday as the wind changed. Last night we had rain for the first time, and it was lovely.
The moving truck brought our stuff a few days ago and we are unpacking the important items. Since this is only a rental, we're not unpacking everything, but we are making good progress on getting things setup for regular use.
We have BC driver's licenses, and it appears we finally understand enough about car registration and insurance to deal with that this coming week. Both of those items were interesting but in different ways.
On the driver's license issue, we went to an ICBC office and the process of getting BC driver's licenses is simple: write down your new address, show them your passport, give them your old license and $31 (CAD), answer a couple of questions about driving, get your picture taken, and done. They give you a printed, temporary license on the spot and keep your old one. All too easy. The amusing thing is that we were told it could take up to two months for our new licenses to arrive in the mail, but they actually arrived in a week. Not bad.
Car registration and insurance is something else, however. There are two groups that seem to be at odds with each other. The federal government controls vehicle imports into Canada, and their people - the Border Services Agency - told us this was easy. Because we're here on my student visa, we're only temporarily importing the cars, so we're exempt from vehicle inspections and compliance requirements, just as if we drove them across the border as tourists. They issued us the paperwork and told us that was the case, and I confirmed it several times, with different Border Services people.
The insurance and registration side - handled by the ICBC (the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) - has a different story. When you find a competent insurance person (and a couple we tried early on were not competent, or were rude, or both) they tell you that we still have to get the vehicles inspected to register and insure them. And that inspection will be sure they pass the rules, which include a requirement for DRLs (Daytime Running Lights).
How to resolve those conflicting statements?
It appears that the Border Services people are right, but only about federal level vehicle inspections and requirements. We're exempt from those. But we are not exempt from BC level inspections and requirements.
So after a week of trying to figure it out, we are doing the inspections. The newer car passed with no problem. The older car doesn't have DRLs, but I did eventually find a local dealer that claims they can install them this coming Tuesday. Then we can get it inspected and assuming it passes - which it should - we can register and insure them both.
This is complicated by the fact that the insurance on the older car was going to run out a couple of days ago (I extended it at the last moment) and by the fact that registration on the older car ends at the end of August. So getting this done in a hurry was the plan, but we didn't manage to get it done quickly enough to beat the insurance ending. Oh well. This can be handled.
Given I am already registered for classes and orientation at the school I am attending, I suspect my dealings with bureaucratic world are done for a while. Anne is dealing with registering for provincial health insurance and work stuff, so she's in the thick of it still.
There are also interesting bits about getting mail from the US to Canada. We had one package of forwarded mail go into a black hole in the US for 10 days with (so far) no explanation. When it finally arrives (we hope in a couple of days) we might figure out what happened. Another forwarded package seems to be on the cusp of arriving in good time. And a birthday card sent for me is now 13 days into delivery and we have no clue where it is. So we're still working this mail thing out. Thankfully the person forwarding things for me in the US gets tracking numbers, and those have been helpful.
We're walking a lot - enough to lose some weight - and will be using transit the bulk of the time we need to move around, which is interesting and different from our US environment. School promises to be fun and I look forward to writing about it here.
That's about it for now. We wish all our friends and family only the best!
The smoke from all the fires in BC blew out of the Vancouver area yesterday as the wind changed. Last night we had rain for the first time, and it was lovely.
The moving truck brought our stuff a few days ago and we are unpacking the important items. Since this is only a rental, we're not unpacking everything, but we are making good progress on getting things setup for regular use.
We have BC driver's licenses, and it appears we finally understand enough about car registration and insurance to deal with that this coming week. Both of those items were interesting but in different ways.
On the driver's license issue, we went to an ICBC office and the process of getting BC driver's licenses is simple: write down your new address, show them your passport, give them your old license and $31 (CAD), answer a couple of questions about driving, get your picture taken, and done. They give you a printed, temporary license on the spot and keep your old one. All too easy. The amusing thing is that we were told it could take up to two months for our new licenses to arrive in the mail, but they actually arrived in a week. Not bad.
Car registration and insurance is something else, however. There are two groups that seem to be at odds with each other. The federal government controls vehicle imports into Canada, and their people - the Border Services Agency - told us this was easy. Because we're here on my student visa, we're only temporarily importing the cars, so we're exempt from vehicle inspections and compliance requirements, just as if we drove them across the border as tourists. They issued us the paperwork and told us that was the case, and I confirmed it several times, with different Border Services people.
The insurance and registration side - handled by the ICBC (the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) - has a different story. When you find a competent insurance person (and a couple we tried early on were not competent, or were rude, or both) they tell you that we still have to get the vehicles inspected to register and insure them. And that inspection will be sure they pass the rules, which include a requirement for DRLs (Daytime Running Lights).
How to resolve those conflicting statements?
It appears that the Border Services people are right, but only about federal level vehicle inspections and requirements. We're exempt from those. But we are not exempt from BC level inspections and requirements.
So after a week of trying to figure it out, we are doing the inspections. The newer car passed with no problem. The older car doesn't have DRLs, but I did eventually find a local dealer that claims they can install them this coming Tuesday. Then we can get it inspected and assuming it passes - which it should - we can register and insure them both.
This is complicated by the fact that the insurance on the older car was going to run out a couple of days ago (I extended it at the last moment) and by the fact that registration on the older car ends at the end of August. So getting this done in a hurry was the plan, but we didn't manage to get it done quickly enough to beat the insurance ending. Oh well. This can be handled.
Given I am already registered for classes and orientation at the school I am attending, I suspect my dealings with bureaucratic world are done for a while. Anne is dealing with registering for provincial health insurance and work stuff, so she's in the thick of it still.
There are also interesting bits about getting mail from the US to Canada. We had one package of forwarded mail go into a black hole in the US for 10 days with (so far) no explanation. When it finally arrives (we hope in a couple of days) we might figure out what happened. Another forwarded package seems to be on the cusp of arriving in good time. And a birthday card sent for me is now 13 days into delivery and we have no clue where it is. So we're still working this mail thing out. Thankfully the person forwarding things for me in the US gets tracking numbers, and those have been helpful.
We're walking a lot - enough to lose some weight - and will be using transit the bulk of the time we need to move around, which is interesting and different from our US environment. School promises to be fun and I look forward to writing about it here.
That's about it for now. We wish all our friends and family only the best!
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
First Impressions
We are settling into our rented house now, and waiting for the moving truck to arrive next week. The dogs are getting lots of walks, and we are doing lots of yard work to catch up with a suburban lot that wasn't maintained for months.
The house has more than a few quirks, but it is pretty liveable. The biggest problem is that our oldest dog hates the fake wood floors. They are slick and noisy when her toenails encounter it. And given it sounds like it is raining whenever she walks around downstairs, there is a lot of toenail / floor interaction going on. Even worse is that she has her paws spread as wide as they will go, and is nervous about her footing, which only makes things worse. Thankfully we have a number of area rugs on the truck that arrives next week, and we'll put those out to give her have safe zones.
The weather is, frankly, not what we were promised. Hot, humid, and smokey about covers it. Here's tonight's sunset:
In all it's good so far. A couple of days is hardly a valid sample but things are going well.
The house has more than a few quirks, but it is pretty liveable. The biggest problem is that our oldest dog hates the fake wood floors. They are slick and noisy when her toenails encounter it. And given it sounds like it is raining whenever she walks around downstairs, there is a lot of toenail / floor interaction going on. Even worse is that she has her paws spread as wide as they will go, and is nervous about her footing, which only makes things worse. Thankfully we have a number of area rugs on the truck that arrives next week, and we'll put those out to give her have safe zones.
The weather is, frankly, not what we were promised. Hot, humid, and smokey about covers it. Here's tonight's sunset:
That was taken at about 8 pm, and you could stare right at the sun without harm. Smoke in the air, and lots of it, from fires all over BC. Having come from Northern California, I understand it, but where is all the rain? Where are the cool temperatures? There are heat alerts going out for parts of Vancouver and the lower mainland - particularly a bit more inland - and people are suffering. So far, we're lucky. We have a strong prevailing wind off the ocean that has kept us in the mid 80's or so, but it will be warmer for the next few days. We'll see.
We still have things to deal with, alas. Drivers licenses. Car registration and insurance. The overhead of life as a good friend of mine taught me to call it. Now that the yard is pretty much beat into shape I will try to get onto that ASAP.
In all it's good so far. A couple of days is hardly a valid sample but things are going well.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
The Eagle Has Landed
Short post today.
We've arrived at our rental home in Richmond, BC. It's still here, exactly as we left it a month ago.
The dogs are exhausted and clingy, but they seem to be realizing ("realising" in Canadian English) that we're staying here for a while. At the moment they are all stretched out on the floor around Anne as she talks with her mom. We went for a long walk this morning and that combined with the stress and the complete lack of desire to eat anything other than junk food (which always happens on long car trips) makes for tired puppies.
Today we build a list of things to do while Anne organizes ("organises") the kitchen. There is a bit of shopping to do, and I get to start mowing the jungle (formerly a yard, before it was left unmowed for months). That will take me several days, I am sure.
The moving truck doesn't get here for a week or more. When it left our place in the Santa Cruz Mountains it was heading to LA, and then to Calgary. It will arrive when it arrives. We're fine.
Not much else to report for now. More in a few days when I have started to catch up.
We've arrived at our rental home in Richmond, BC. It's still here, exactly as we left it a month ago.
The dogs are exhausted and clingy, but they seem to be realizing ("realising" in Canadian English) that we're staying here for a while. At the moment they are all stretched out on the floor around Anne as she talks with her mom. We went for a long walk this morning and that combined with the stress and the complete lack of desire to eat anything other than junk food (which always happens on long car trips) makes for tired puppies.
Today we build a list of things to do while Anne organizes ("organises") the kitchen. There is a bit of shopping to do, and I get to start mowing the jungle (formerly a yard, before it was left unmowed for months). That will take me several days, I am sure.
The moving truck doesn't get here for a week or more. When it left our place in the Santa Cruz Mountains it was heading to LA, and then to Calgary. It will arrive when it arrives. We're fine.
Not much else to report for now. More in a few days when I have started to catch up.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
What Has Jeff Been Doing?
Here are two images. That do they have to do with each other?
The first:
The second is of the flowers sent to my home by the oral surgeon and the dentist, thanking me for letting them treat me. Really. That's what the card said.
The second:
Ignore the colors being screwed up in the second image. The flash was on and I didn't get a shot without it. It's the content that matters in any case.
So... how do those images relate?
<Insert Jeopardy "waiting for an answer" theme here while people scribble frantically on cards. Or something.>
OK! Time's up! Here's the answer, but it's not phrased as a question.
The first is an image of the tools used by an oral surgeon. I had a tooth removed and an implant stuffed into my jaw to replace it. (Note the covered hypodermic needle on the right edge of the image, in particular, if you doubt me.)
In response I have a couple of questions:
- Am I spending too much for my dental care?
- Are these guys hoping to get me back to replace more of my (admittedly bad) teeth?
- Should I go looking for a cheaper provider?
- Yes, the surgery went fine. No real pain, no swelling, no bruising, etc.
- The implant has to sit for 3 months before they can install the peg and the fake tooth.
- I've had bad teeth ever since I had braces as a kid, as far as I know. Correlation appears to be a fact between braces and gum recession and bone loss, at least in some cases, but causation isn't clear.
Finally, always remember: Teeth suck. Jeff's teeth suck absolutely.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Revisiting Alien In A Different Way
I don't want to over-share, but I have a better appreciation for what happened to Executive Officer Kane - played by John Hurt - in Alien, just before the beastie popped out of his chest in that iconic scene.
I spent Sunday (starting at 4:45am) wondering if the same thing was going to happen to me. By bedtime, whatever it was had passed, with nothing more than occasional - if semi-painful - discomfort.
I wish I knew what it was. Maybe it was mild food poisoning, maybe it was a mild food intolerance, maybe it was an alien foetus, incubating within me, but that died for some reason before piercing my chest. If that latter is what was going on, then I hope the old phrase "this too shall pass" is true.
I suppose said alien infant could still be in there, lulling me into a false sense of security before killing me in a spectacular fashion, but I doubt it.
Whatever, I am glad it's over now. It was an awful day spent doing absolutely nothing. I felt like a slug.
I spent Sunday (starting at 4:45am) wondering if the same thing was going to happen to me. By bedtime, whatever it was had passed, with nothing more than occasional - if semi-painful - discomfort.
I wish I knew what it was. Maybe it was mild food poisoning, maybe it was a mild food intolerance, maybe it was an alien foetus, incubating within me, but that died for some reason before piercing my chest. If that latter is what was going on, then I hope the old phrase "this too shall pass" is true.
I suppose said alien infant could still be in there, lulling me into a false sense of security before killing me in a spectacular fashion, but I doubt it.
Whatever, I am glad it's over now. It was an awful day spent doing absolutely nothing. I felt like a slug.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Google Reader is Gone (and I don't miss it)
Today is the last day for Google Reader. Or maybe yesterday was, depending on what they meant by July 1st being the end, and whether or not there is an off-by-one error in their code somewhere. (Joke!)
But I don't miss Google Reader at all, and I was a fairly heavy user. Why not? Because I use BazQux Reader.
I started trying all of the alternatives back when Reader's demise was announced. I tried bunches of them, and pretty much disliked them all. But BazQux was different. Actually, I think it's better than Reader, at least for my usage model.
I'm not paid for this plug, and I hope I am unbiased.
If you've been living under a rock and only found out that Reader dies today, now is the time to look for an alternative. First, of course, export your Reader subscription list, if you still can. Then give BazQux a try. I hope you like it.
http://bazqux.com/
But I don't miss Google Reader at all, and I was a fairly heavy user. Why not? Because I use BazQux Reader.
I started trying all of the alternatives back when Reader's demise was announced. I tried bunches of them, and pretty much disliked them all. But BazQux was different. Actually, I think it's better than Reader, at least for my usage model.
I'm not paid for this plug, and I hope I am unbiased.
If you've been living under a rock and only found out that Reader dies today, now is the time to look for an alternative. First, of course, export your Reader subscription list, if you still can. Then give BazQux a try. I hope you like it.
http://bazqux.com/
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Thing About Things
The internet does weird things to me.
A few weeks ago, Amanda Palmer put up a sound only recording of a brand new song on her bandcamp website, I think it was. She'd performed it for the first time at a live concert and someone there had recorded it, possibly on a cell phone, and made the recording available to her.
As you might imagine, that recording wasn't all that great. Hardly ideal circumstances for such a thing.
But the song... the song grabbed me. It's titled The Thing About Things.
Without specialized software it wasn't even downloadable... you could only listen to it on the website. I really liked it.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, maybe even a month. I find out that now she's made it downloadable. And that she has recorded - but not yet released - a better version of it in a studio. I downloaded the concert version, and am waiting for the song to appear somewhere that I can actually get a good version, for which I will happily give her money.
Fast forward some more. Today, on Amanda's blog - which is in my RSS reader - I see a new post. It's the text of a speech she gave about writing. She gave the speech after a poem she dashed off after the Boston bombing horror caused a kerfluffle, and I'd already watched the speech elsewhere. It's quite good, and a reminder to me to keep creating, and that there are a lot of people in the world who judge without understanding. Here's a link to it. If you're an artist or creator of any sort, you really should watch it: http://vimeo.com/65681037.
Anyway, as I'd already watched - and been moved by - that speech, I just skimmed the blog post. But down at the bottom I found a link to a post by someone who runs Grub Street, which is the writer's organization that Amanda was speaking too. Amanda said it was a good post, so I read it too. And it was. The author talks about some points Amanda raised - about how writers feel validated and who decides what you're doing is worthwhile. Good stuff. Chase that link too.
Now, in that post, there was an embedded video of Amanda playing her Ukulele Song, which is very funny, and worth a listen too. I've heard it before, several times, and figured I'd listen again. And it was worth it. Again, chase the link.
Are you getting how my morning was going yet?
Anyway, the Ukulele song finished up and Vimeo handed me a list of other videos I might be interested in, and there was a link to Amanda playing The Thing About Things. The first version I heard was Amanda and her piano, and despite being a bad recording it brought tears to my eyes. This recording is Amanda and her ukulele, and once again, I cried. It's a much better recording of the song, and she sings it with passion, which is her trademark in my mind.
And so, in my meandering way, with lots of diversions, here, finally, is the point of this blog post: Amanda Palmer's The Thing About Things, performed live at Grub Street in Boston.
May it bring you joy, and maybe a few tears as you remember someone, somewhere.
Peace.
Edit 6/25/13 - corrected the link to The Thing About Things... Not sure how it was wrong unless Vimeo changed it on me.
A few weeks ago, Amanda Palmer put up a sound only recording of a brand new song on her bandcamp website, I think it was. She'd performed it for the first time at a live concert and someone there had recorded it, possibly on a cell phone, and made the recording available to her.
As you might imagine, that recording wasn't all that great. Hardly ideal circumstances for such a thing.
But the song... the song grabbed me. It's titled The Thing About Things.
Without specialized software it wasn't even downloadable... you could only listen to it on the website. I really liked it.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, maybe even a month. I find out that now she's made it downloadable. And that she has recorded - but not yet released - a better version of it in a studio. I downloaded the concert version, and am waiting for the song to appear somewhere that I can actually get a good version, for which I will happily give her money.
Fast forward some more. Today, on Amanda's blog - which is in my RSS reader - I see a new post. It's the text of a speech she gave about writing. She gave the speech after a poem she dashed off after the Boston bombing horror caused a kerfluffle, and I'd already watched the speech elsewhere. It's quite good, and a reminder to me to keep creating, and that there are a lot of people in the world who judge without understanding. Here's a link to it. If you're an artist or creator of any sort, you really should watch it: http://vimeo.com/65681037.
Anyway, as I'd already watched - and been moved by - that speech, I just skimmed the blog post. But down at the bottom I found a link to a post by someone who runs Grub Street, which is the writer's organization that Amanda was speaking too. Amanda said it was a good post, so I read it too. And it was. The author talks about some points Amanda raised - about how writers feel validated and who decides what you're doing is worthwhile. Good stuff. Chase that link too.
Now, in that post, there was an embedded video of Amanda playing her Ukulele Song, which is very funny, and worth a listen too. I've heard it before, several times, and figured I'd listen again. And it was worth it. Again, chase the link.
Are you getting how my morning was going yet?
Anyway, the Ukulele song finished up and Vimeo handed me a list of other videos I might be interested in, and there was a link to Amanda playing The Thing About Things. The first version I heard was Amanda and her piano, and despite being a bad recording it brought tears to my eyes. This recording is Amanda and her ukulele, and once again, I cried. It's a much better recording of the song, and she sings it with passion, which is her trademark in my mind.
And so, in my meandering way, with lots of diversions, here, finally, is the point of this blog post: Amanda Palmer's The Thing About Things, performed live at Grub Street in Boston.
May it bring you joy, and maybe a few tears as you remember someone, somewhere.
Peace.
Edit 6/25/13 - corrected the link to The Thing About Things... Not sure how it was wrong unless Vimeo changed it on me.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
On Memory
Way back in 1979 - when I were a lad, as a friend of mine would say - the movie Alien came out. I'm not sure if I saw it in the theaters during its first run or sometime later, but I definitely saw it in a theater before I went to college.
Over the years since, my memory of that experience has become somewhat interesting to examine. I recall the interior of the spaceship as being incredibly realistic and scary, and it seems there were miles of corridor full of venting steam, all dark and full of hiding places. I see the egg/face hugger scene in flashes, so it seems truly terrifying, even now. I know I spent a lot of the time studying the tops of my shoes during the movie because I was too scared to watch it closely. And, of course - being a teenage boy at the time - I remember Sigourney Weaver getting into the space suit at the end. (If you need an explanation of that, well, you must not be - or ever have been - a teenage boy. Or you didn't see the movie.)
I've avoided several opportunities to see the movie again, including at least one in college. Possibly as a result, time has made Alien into something larger than life, something so scary and so real that seeing it again was not something I wanted to do. But finally, just the other night, I broke down and watched it again.
For reasons that are amusing but too complicated to go into here - except to say "well, I guess Alien is a period costume drama... of a sort" - I now own the DVDs for all four movies in the Alien series. So I watched the theatrical release of Alien again, just to see how it compared with my memory.
And I can now confirm that my memory is really bad.
Yes, the movie is good, but it's not nearly as terrifying as I remember it. The sets are nicely made, and the entire thing is well filmed, but a bit less dry ice and steam would have been better. The infamous scene in the dining room on the ship - you know the one, if you've seen the movie - is still striking and memorable, but the creature itself almost struck me a laughable this time around. The larger version of the xenomorph is still well done, particularly for the time the film was made, but I simply didn't think it that scary.
But it turns out my memory of Sigourney Weaver getting into the space suit at the end was just about perfect. Go figure.
Memory is a very odd thing, when it works.
Over the years since, my memory of that experience has become somewhat interesting to examine. I recall the interior of the spaceship as being incredibly realistic and scary, and it seems there were miles of corridor full of venting steam, all dark and full of hiding places. I see the egg/face hugger scene in flashes, so it seems truly terrifying, even now. I know I spent a lot of the time studying the tops of my shoes during the movie because I was too scared to watch it closely. And, of course - being a teenage boy at the time - I remember Sigourney Weaver getting into the space suit at the end. (If you need an explanation of that, well, you must not be - or ever have been - a teenage boy. Or you didn't see the movie.)
I've avoided several opportunities to see the movie again, including at least one in college. Possibly as a result, time has made Alien into something larger than life, something so scary and so real that seeing it again was not something I wanted to do. But finally, just the other night, I broke down and watched it again.
For reasons that are amusing but too complicated to go into here - except to say "well, I guess Alien is a period costume drama... of a sort" - I now own the DVDs for all four movies in the Alien series. So I watched the theatrical release of Alien again, just to see how it compared with my memory.
And I can now confirm that my memory is really bad.
Yes, the movie is good, but it's not nearly as terrifying as I remember it. The sets are nicely made, and the entire thing is well filmed, but a bit less dry ice and steam would have been better. The infamous scene in the dining room on the ship - you know the one, if you've seen the movie - is still striking and memorable, but the creature itself almost struck me a laughable this time around. The larger version of the xenomorph is still well done, particularly for the time the film was made, but I simply didn't think it that scary.
But it turns out my memory of Sigourney Weaver getting into the space suit at the end was just about perfect. Go figure.
Memory is a very odd thing, when it works.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Trying the new version of blogger
The next few posts I write - here and in my other blogs, as they come up - are something of an experiment. I'm trying the new (draft) version of blogger, just to see what is coming.
If you want to try it, login to www.blogger.com as usual, then go to "draft.blogger.com" and you can see what it looks like. From there you can also make it your default version if you so choose.
Not sure what to make of it just yet, but I am keeping an open mind.
If you want to try it, login to www.blogger.com as usual, then go to "draft.blogger.com" and you can see what it looks like. From there you can also make it your default version if you so choose.
Not sure what to make of it just yet, but I am keeping an open mind.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Rumours of my Death are Greatly Exaggerated
It's been a long time since I wrote here. Or at least it feels like I long time. I started work on June 14th, I think, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride hasn't ended since.
What to tell you?
Well, firstly, work is, well... work. My employer and I are both equally surprised to learn that they wound up hiring me for an operations job, not really (in my mind, anyway) a release engineering position.
Yes, technically it is release engineering, but the reality is that for the foreseeable future I am doing support and debugging of applications and the existing release process. Without intending to slight him, the person who used to do this work, and who has now moved on, had a very high tolerance for pain, errors, unexplicable behavior, and so on. As I figure things out I need to spend time fixing things just to keep sane. Adding simple things like, oh, error handling, would be good in a lot of places.
The house remodel project continues. Slowly. The original estimate was 8 weeks. We're at 16 now and still going strong. There is visible progress and not only has demolition ended, but construction has happened. We have a new kitchen roof, for example, and the main deck is being put into place now, though that is taking plenty of time too, and has not been without surprises.
I hope we actually get things done this year. At this point, though there are still 5 months left, I cannot say with certainty it will happen.
There isn't much else to report right now, and until the house is done and I get to feeling like I have enough of a clue at the office there probably won't be. I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
What to tell you?
Well, firstly, work is, well... work. My employer and I are both equally surprised to learn that they wound up hiring me for an operations job, not really (in my mind, anyway) a release engineering position.
Yes, technically it is release engineering, but the reality is that for the foreseeable future I am doing support and debugging of applications and the existing release process. Without intending to slight him, the person who used to do this work, and who has now moved on, had a very high tolerance for pain, errors, unexplicable behavior, and so on. As I figure things out I need to spend time fixing things just to keep sane. Adding simple things like, oh, error handling, would be good in a lot of places.
The house remodel project continues. Slowly. The original estimate was 8 weeks. We're at 16 now and still going strong. There is visible progress and not only has demolition ended, but construction has happened. We have a new kitchen roof, for example, and the main deck is being put into place now, though that is taking plenty of time too, and has not been without surprises.
I hope we actually get things done this year. At this point, though there are still 5 months left, I cannot say with certainty it will happen.
There isn't much else to report right now, and until the house is done and I get to feeling like I have enough of a clue at the office there probably won't be. I appreciate your patience in the meantime.
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