Monstershake!

This afternoon I went down to the waterfront with a workmate to throw the Aerobee around. Was good fun, though I reckon I did a lot more running. :P

Afterwards we grabbed some dinner at MickeyDs aka Maccas aka McDonalds. I ordered a Filet-o-Fish meal with a large milkshake (turns out that they do have milkshakes, they just don't put it on the pricelist). In hindisght, I think the correct order should've been something like "A large shake, with a side of burger and fries". This thing is monstrous. It's got to be edging towards a litre. Quite full now (me, not the drink).

Good Weather

We've finally had some decent weather here, so I went riding around Stanley Park. You really want to go around Stanley Park, and not through, because in the middle is lots of trees and a one-way road going up and down a big hill.

Of course, when they close off the normal path you have no choice except to go up the hill. Was a good test of my bike, and showed that I am still healthy but need to get back into regular exercise.

Later in the afternoon I went for a more relaxing ride along the waterfront and took this photo. Nice scenery when the weather is good. :)

Bicycle "Acquisition"

I went and bought myself a bicycle today. I would call it a pushbike, but they don't understand that term here. Anyway, this bicycle cost me about 5 times what I've ever paid for a bike in my life. Can feel the quality difference though - very light, very quiet, and very responsive. The main thing though is to secure the bike effectively - which is why I've posted a photo of the lock rather than the bike. Vancouver has a high rate of bike theft, and so you need a lock that means business. :)

Vancouver Sun Run

Somewhere around 50000 people are running past my apartment at the moment. It's the Vancouver Sun Run, which is something like the City to Surf. It lacks a Heartbreak Hill; it's a mostly flat course about 10 kilometres. In my photos the people are all still doing well, because they've done about 3km of it.

Working Late

Was up until 3.30am last night (Saturday night) working on some code. Seemed the most appropriate thing to do as I wanted to get some code done, but the weather today (Sunday) is amazing. We should reach 19c!

Feeling surprisingly awake at the moment (8.30am), though will probably crash right around the time the weather starts getting really nice. I do have 7.5L of Coke on hand though, so might still enjoy the day. :) Anyone else been working late?

Speakers vs IPW2200

Seems that the buzzing noise in my new speakers actually came from the IPW2200 wireless card in my laptop. Once I disabled and reenabled the wireless card the buzzing stopped. The speakers themselves seem pretty good now, so I won't be returning them. However, I did want to say something about the sales effort at FutureShop:

When you want to sell speakers, don't use sample music that goes "boom boom boom waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boom boom ssssssshhhhhh".

What are they thinking? There were times I had to go to the $500 speakers to check that, yes, that part of the song really is meant to sound like white noise overlayed with static. Brilliant. I suggest that, in future, they use music that people will recognise. That way you can tell if the speakers are doing a decent job or not.

Returnng faut eybard

I've had problems with my hands from typing before, so I was so happy to get the new the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 when I landed in Canada. Unfortunately it does seem to have build quality issues. The space bar was very stiff - I ended up with a sore thumb in a few days. That softened up, but the semicolon (;) required a lot more push than any other key on the keyboard. As a programmer and chatter, the semicolon key is really important. So I exchanged it for another one.

The replacement had a similar problem, but now with a bunch of keys (milko) instead of semicolon. So within 24 hours I exchanged again, and this one seems OK. Will see how it goes. If there are problems, I'm returning for a cash refund and getting a different keyboard.

Language Regressing

Have been feeling over the past few days that my language skills are getting worse. Not sure why, but have trouble writing well-structured sentences. I'm putting it down to a combination of tiredness (limits my imagination for vocabulary), and the online world. For example, I just saw the word "irradict" used in a sentence; I'm pretty sure it was meant to be "erratic". I'm not sure how anyone could mangle that word so badly, but they did.

Anyone up for a game of Scrabble?

Squirrels!

Got a surprise walking home from shopping - a little black squirrel. I stood about 2 metres away while he peeled a nut and then hopped away. The freaky thing is seeing that they really do "undulate" while they run. It's like watching a sine wave in motion.

Chinatown

Went to Chinatown today to buy some Chinese food and a rice cooker. I had planned to get some Mongolian Lamb that I've been itching for, but was too rushed so left without it. But I will be coming back. :) What is there not to like about Chinatown?

1. Bus 19 is a virtual door-to-door service from my place to Chinatown. 12 minute ride.
2. Prices include taxes
3. Everything is cheaper. A pack of lean BBQ pork, hot, for $4. Ten pair of chopsticks (excessive I know, but still) for $1.79. A rice cooker with steamer tray for $32. Guilin Chili Sauce for $2.09.
4. Lots of little shops selling all sorts of weird stuff. They're very big on their herbs here. And I found a Totoro coin jar that I know someone will love.

Only problem I found was that a large number of the shopkeepers couldn't speak English. Generally at least one person in the store could though, and was very friendly.

Ikea Experience - Part 1

I bought all my bedroom furniture from Ikea a week or two ago. Not the best experience I've ever had. The procedure goes like this:

1. You work out what products you want to buy.
2. You will be presented with a list of aisle and bin numbers (this is the last assistance you will get).
3. You will go through a large warehouse area and collect each item yourself. Yes, you a lone shopper must collect a flatpacked wooden bedframe (4 boxes), a bookcase (1 box), a chair (1 box) and a double-bed mattress from a warehouse, and put these on to a single trolley.
4. You will take these to the checkout to be scanned and paid for.
5. You will then take these to the home delivery counter to be re-checked.

Someone told me later that Ikea is really a 'family' store - it's designed for the whole family to help out.

Later that evening you will be assembling the bed. This will involve driving a 5mm long screw upwards through three pieces of metal that are constantly flexing. Brilliant design.

Change Management

I described how the taxes are frustrating here - you never know quite how much a product is until you get to the checkout. This also means that you can almost never have the right amount of money ready. It's just "That'll be $9.32, now".

The coins are all round and similar sizes, and come in 25c, 10c, 5c, and 1c denominations. I wouldn't be able to manage at all without my cheat sheet. But still getting the exact value quickly is hard; you end up accumulating change instead (remember, you've just finished checking out when you find the final price). So my tips for 'change management' in Canada are:

1. Avoid the pennies (1 cent). If there is a tip jar, leave them there. If there is a charity box, leave them there. Australia phased out the 1c and 2c coin years ago, and now I know why. Keep as few of them as you can. Sometimes they're useful, but most times they're not.
2. Do not try to make exact change. Just try to lessen the amount of change you will receive. You will rarely make exact change in time.
3. Favour shops that include taxes. They tend to have round prices too, like $3.25 rather than $3.19.

But taking an example price of $9.32, what should you pay?

• To be accurate you need a $5, two twoonies, a quarter, a pence, and two pennies. Don't do that.
• If you give $10 you will get 2 quarters, a dime, a pence and 3 pennies. Don't do that either.
• Give $10, a quarter and a dime and you will get a dollar and 3 pennies. Leave the pennies. Take the dollar.

For interests sake, if you were charged $9.32 in Australia, and paid $10, you would get 50c and 20c in change. :)

Emergency Service

As I'm writing this, right outside my balcony is two fire trucks. No idea what happened, but they're checking out my building. No alarms went off. Will find out in a few days maybe what happened. Once they're gone I'll start cooking. :)

Do I Need A Microwave?

I've always had a microwave - it's great - but right now I'm feeling I don't need one, and the space in the kitchen will be really convenient. It also encourages me to cook for myself, which should be healthier.

However, am I safe without a microwave? Take this tea towel for example, which was recently dropped into the oven by me, with lots of smoke resulting. If it could talk, it would say "Get the microwave! He's too dangerous!". Right?

Well, for now the plan is: no microwave, buy an oven mitt.

Those There Are Big Mountains

On my way home today I snapped some photos, trying to show just how big the mountains are around here. And these aren't even the really big ones - these are just the ones reasonably near the city.

Anyway, this photo is taken looking north over some construction work, across the bay. On the far side of the bay you can see some quite large industrial works. Then somewhere between 20km and 25km away in the distance is one of those mountains. Getting the picture now? :)

P.S. The image is deliberately underexposed to get better contrast between snow and clouds.

Updated Apartment Photos

I've updated my apartment photos. They're in the same place as before. I've added photos from the balcony, as requested. :)

So have fun poking around my apartment. :)

Odd Sights

Was walking home yesterday and there was a small alcove in the wall of the building. In the alcove was a cart carrying lots of Chinese medicines and the like. Next to the cart was a Chinese man, holding himself upside down with his hands on the sides of a plastic crate and his head inside. I walked past twice - neither of us said a word. He seemed busy.

I also overhead a conversation while on the SkyTrain. Something like "Dude, I was about to give this beggar on the street some money but then he pulled out a cellphone! Do they all have cellphones? Do they call each other up to check how much money each collected today? Are they some organised group?"

It has surprised me the number of beggars on the streets here, considering that Canada is at least as socialist as Australia. They each have their own routine, like the guy who says "sir! ma'am! si- ma'a- sirr! m- sir ma'a- sir!" over and over as people of different genders walk past. Always the same tone, always going. I remember a friend once commenting "I will give money to people in the US, but rarely in Australia. In the US there is basically no support, but in Australia there is little excuse." I wonder which applies here?

Feeling Homesick

Just feeling all the pressure. Haven't stopped moving. Even tonight I've been working. So today I went looking for a chocolate milkshake (ended up with the hot chocolate, see below), but guess what, they don't have them! At least not common enough to find without going to McDonalds. I mean, you can buy a milkshake in Woolworths in Australia. Flavouvered milk comes in 3L family packs.

It's just these little pleasures that make you realise how far you are from home. And talking to someone about it, it occured to me: I miss the sun that feels like it's trying to beat you into the ground. I miss having the windows open at night without freezing. I miss going to the lounge room to play Tekken on the PlayStation. I miss the horizon that is flat and blue with just that slight curve to let you know the world is round.

I think I'm going to get over most of this homesickness. But I swear I'm going to find a damned chocolate milkshake here somewhere. And not at Starbucks, even if they do have them. Just some little shop. That hopefully includes taxes in their prices.

Tipping and Taxes

In Canada, the price you see is rarely the price you will pay. The reason being that most stores don't include taxes, which may be 7% or 14% depending on the product. And most services expect you to tip. This expectation for tipping is offset by the huge amount of change that you will accumulate (they still use 1c pieces here) - tipping is always a good opportunity to offload the shrapnel in your wallet.

I have started a little crusade of my own though. There are a few stores - generally little places in food courts - which actually include taxes in the price. When I get this nice little surprise I make sure to tip. Especially as, being a small store in a food court, they don't offer much service and don't really expect tips. Like today when I bought a hot chocolate, advertised as $1.25. I expected to pay $1.34 so had $1.50 ready...

Her: That's $1.25 thanks.
Me: Here's $1.50.
Her: (puts $1.25 in register, returns quarter) Uh, it's $1.25.
Me: (returns quarter) No. I appreciate someone who puts bloody taxes in their prices.
Her: (laughs) Thanks!

Sure it's only a quarter, but that's a 20% tip for hot water with chocolate dust in it. When did you last feel the need to do that in Australia?

We Have Connection

Just got my cable internet connection setup. So of course downloaded 60 megabyte file. Took about 200 seconds, which translates to 307 kilobytes per second. In Wollongong that would have been 52 kilobytes per second. Mind you, the speed is not predictable. Check the graph of download speed. :)

Time Difference Advantage

There's now an 8 hour time difference between me and Australia, which has its advantages sometimes. One more recent one comes with Column 8 from the Sydney Morning Herald. They work from submissions from readers, and they review incoming stuff really early in the morning - about the same time I get to work. This means I can sit down, read the latest stuff, and give my comments. Just means that you are fractionally more likely to get your submission accepted, which is always fun.

Yesterday someone commented on the odd traffic signs outside legendary cricketer Don Bradman's former residence. So there I am now (Peter Harvey, Vancouver) noting "Doesn't it seem uniquely appropriate to have a strip of grass with 'No standing' signs at each end in front of Don Bradman's former residence?".

My previous submission was to list out all the longest numeric palindromes that form a real word on a mobile phone with predictive text. For what it's worth, they are:

• depressed 337737733
• discharge 347242743
• evaporate 382767283
• imitating 464828464
• possessor 767737767
• represses 737737737

What Style Guide?

I've started to show that I don't fit the usual 'style' of working professionals here. On my first day at work we all went out to lunch to a fancy Italian-style restaurant, and most people had pasta or steak; I had a burger, though I did get soup instead of the offered fries.

Similarly, at the workshop with a number of research and industry types, I was the guy using a Winnie the Pooh pen. Seriously nothing writes better, and don't think anyone noticed. I did slip at that meeting with the phrase "all hell breaks loose" but oh well.

Buying Furniture

Yesterday I visited Ikea ($1006) and United Furniture Warehouse ($425). Was difficult to do - 3 taxis and I still just managed to arrive at UFW 10 minutes before closing. But got some good deals on everything in the end. So far all I have to show is this desk ($150). The chair and all the bedroom stuff arrives tomorrow morning.

I Call Misere!

My cards at the moment are:

• National Australia Bank - card invalid, probably wiped
• HSBC Australia - forgotten pin, new one coming
• HSBC Canada - no money, 3 days to transfer from Australia
• Virgin Mastercard - 3% extra, and two-thirds used

As an Australian I also can't get credit cards easily from stores, or just easily at all. I might be able to get a Canadian credit card in about a month after I get more Canadian ID.