100% Occlusion

I was flipping thru my photo database when I came across pictures that opened up my 100% blocked coronary artery back in 2004. Actually pretty cool, left frame blocked, right frame open again and the start of a new life, as it turned out later. The small frame shows the balloon that did the trick. The procedure is called PTCA (Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty). Unfortunately I do not have a picture of the stent that has been placed. I definitely DO NOT want this happening ever again, but the sensation of the restoration of bloodflow felt really good. All of a sudden my head turned really hot; just before he said "Succes Marco, its open".
This event, better wake-up call or smacking into a concrete wall head on, triggered a new look on life for me. It made me realize there is more to life than work, and if you are open to change it will happen and that one opportunity will come. There are a lot of reasons for us having made the move to go Canada, this is not the start but it's a big part of it all, for me anyways. They were very surprised when I asked for the pictures, it's not standard procedure "but I will see what I can do" the friendly PTCA nurse of section E4 said. Before I left the hospital, the next day, I had the CD and a huge hemorrhage on my right upper leg. That grew even larger the next days. That hurt somewhat, poking arround in your heart doesn't. And you can follow the procedure on two large screens. Very Cool.

Engineering The Drinks

As the holidays are arriving shortly and drinks, of all sorts and shapes, will be served here is a nice guideline on how to produce them. A little engineering background, on how to read and interprete a drawing in required or, even better, use your common sense. The more the intake the easier it gets as the palate gets worn down and it shoots up the brain triggering the mist, eh. Better not let it come to that, you'll pay the next day(s).

I've been in the US

Last Sunday we drove to the US-border. Emma has a workpermit now too, and to get that you have leave and re-enter Canada. It's a 6 hour drive from where we live, so 12-13 hours in total. Actually it is a very nice drive down there, many different landscapes, south of Calgary it is barren, hardly any trees, a real prairie. Sometimes you expect Winnetou and Old Shatterhand to cross the highway. Hi ho Silver... Arriving at the US-border we had to drive thru a battery of camara's who scan you vehicle, you have to hand over your passports and shut-off the engine, explain the purpose of your visit and meanwhile a second officer is visually inspecting your vehicle. We were directed inside where a, to my surprise, very friendly US-customs officer explained the procedure. "When you leave here you will see a sign Return to Canada, and thats what you'll do, right". After being inspected for drugs we made the U-turn when we were met by a very unfriendly and blunt Canadian officer who directed us also inside. There it got really exciting, as it turned out Emma was in overstay. We were told that applying prior to the expiry date, 6 months after arrival, for the workpermit would be sufficient. Not true, you could be arrested and sent back, the officer replied. Fuck me, that will not happen. Right?? Luckily it did not came to that and after explaining to us that we did not have make the run to the border again, for our PR visa, we took off to pick up Joka and Johan who we had left behind in the town of Coutts, if you could call it a town. When reading the webpage on Couts you expect it to be something, but its really nothing, wind and snow tortured houses. Blink you eyes too long and you will miss it, a bit like Rolly View that is. It has one advantage, its Canada's only border-crossing thats open for 24 hours. I learned one thing, again I must say, on Sunday: Allways trust your own gut-feeling, better safe than sorry. If I had done so it would have been a very smooth operation, instead of re-entering being steamblowing angry. Emma and I have been in the US, for what it's worth.

Hell of a name for a vessel full of seamen!

 

Sorry, couldn't resist publishing this.

80 Acres inTomahawk

A co-worker of me, Peter, just bought 80 acres of land in Tomahawk, a one hour drive west of Edmonton. There is a small shack on it but that is not much, its good enough for spending the weekends. He is going to build a kind of a underground house on/in it. In the middle of the lot there is a nice hill to do so, on a clear day you can look far away over the valley, the back of the house will be dug into this hill and his arched curved porch/walkway will overlook the valley.
Last weekend I drove out there to take a look, huge piece of land. "Come on, I'll show you arround" he said, and to my surprise he stepped into his truck. So we drove arround his property, otherwise we had to walk half a day or so to see it all. And I'm thinking we had a large property. So different compared to Holland, you can buy here any amount of land for a very reasonable price. The more rural the cheaper it gets. Many people own a piece of land just for recreational purposes, something that never came to mind when I was still living in NL. Could not affort it, and now it's just for the grabs here. With the economy and the interest-rates the way they are right now, it's as cheap as ever. But we need the PR to buy a piece of land that large. Have to be patient, and that is not one of my best virtues.

Only in the US

Checkout this site for some nice cars and more. Girl magnets they are called. Not here in Edmonton, too bloody cold. In the summer though it would be nice to speed down the North Saskatchewan River. That would attract some female attention for sure.

Mud Pipe Cleaned

It took quite some effort to get rid of the mud. Five go's with the high pressure rinse, highpressure presoak and soap, broom with foam (to get rid of the roadfilm), again a high pressure rinse and a highpressure wax took care of it. Now it as shiny as ever again. Not for long though, as you can see on the adjacent photo. The collected mud splashes are from 3.4 km gravelroad, driving like a Sissy. Come to think of it; much better to have a dual Magnaflow exhaust at both sides of the tailgate, extra power, a very nice roar and cleaner exhaust tips.

Mud Pipe

When I took the dogs for a pee this evening I noticed my exhaust being covered in mud, the bottom 3 feet of my F150 are covered in mud, but the exhaust is worst of. Go wash it? Not much point in doing so, on the return trip it's mudcovered again. That's one thing about living rural, the gravelroads turn from dust to mud after rain or melting snow. Yes, winter disappeaed quickly again. For the now temperatures will stay well above zero and if the weather forecasts are a bit accurate it will also be pretty wet. And that's a good thing, it has been way to dry lately; we have no city water and our well can run dry; at least I think it can. I don't know if it ever did. The well is 60 feet deep and produces 3 gallons of water per minute. I will do a post on well-water shortly, that is a issue in itself. F*** me, a post on mud and water, even the simplest things can be used to share your experiences. Is it interesting? Who knows. Driving those muddy roads is, playing with the throttle......unleashing the hp's......leaving a trail......just having fun.

To All Pink Floyd Addicts

It doesn't get any better than this!!

Shooting Pool

Today we went to The High Run Pub to shoot pool or to play Snooker. It turned out to shooting pool. Actually a fun game, it was my first. And I did not get a practice run, and that showed. On TV, when Ronnie O'Sullivan plays it looks just darned easy. In real life its pretty difficult, but I am going to practice a lot just to get back at them. They were making fun of me and my Dutch balls, wasn't shooting very well. Because of the beer I argued, knowing that's just BS, right. It was a fun time, a nice game, a few beers and something to eat. We will be there again.

Big engines

That reminds me, putting my food down. A couple of weeks ago we had been chopping wood and were driving home with a box full of chopped fire wood, stacked compactly. That's at least 2 cubic meter, weighing some 750 kg, maybe even more. Victor was driving ahead of us with his F350 Powerstroke V8 Diesel and including trailer he was doing 120 km/h, with ease. On highway 16 I was thinking whether or not my engine would notice the extra 750 kg. By no means at all, my F150 5.4 XLT sped forward when putting my foot down. No problemo, but it had a little side sway I must say. So I could have pulled that trailer too, but I felt unexperienced trying it, in the dark also. Next time I will give it a go. Now I know pick-ups are not only eye-candies but also able workhorses with those big engines, tow and haul with ease and comfort. Good to know.

Autumn or Winter?

October 14th, 2009. An all white day in Rolly View Alberta. Winter came suddenly last week. But tomorrow and next week all this snow will be gone as the temperature will rise to, as predicted by The WeatherNetwork, some 15 degrees. For how long? Not sure. But its slippery on the roads, luckily we travel the rural gravelroads, less traffic (we only come across a car or 4 before arriving in Edmonton) and less slippery, still you have to be cautious. Snow is snow and compacted its ice, but with our 4x4's its pretty doable and every once in a while that big engine with all its power has to roar, so I put my foot down and have the goosebumps. Awesome. And I am pretty sure I have a smile from ear to ear when hitting the throttle. Maybe we have a nice autumn after all.

Arctic Fox

Couldn't resist publishing this photo of our Vos dressed up to go Arctic. It looks like he is enjoying it, right. We had two birthdays this weekend, Mac turned 10 and Joke grew one year older too. We celebrated with a turkey dinner for 4, tomorrow october 12th, it is Thanksgiving here in Canada. So we combined it as Joka has to go to work tomorrow. Click for impression.

Out for lunch

Every Thursday we go out for lunch, either at Smillies Village or Vicky's, both located in Sherwood Park, just about a 10 minute drive. Chinese or European cuisine costing about the same and both very tasteful. Vicky's is our favorite because of, what else, the pretty waitresses. Sometimes when one of us (Peter, Dave, Greg or myself) had a good day at stockmarkets, and that's quitte often lately, we treat ourselfs to a glass of wine or a beer. And alcohol is pretty expensive here in Canada; so every once and a while it tastes very good. You can have a steak for about $15 and a wine or beer for $5; eating out is not that expensive overhere, as where the Canadians feel the 15 bucks is. And I still keep wondering how they can serve a good and complete meal for $15, and stay cheerful and friendly too; but you need to give a 10-15% tip as service is not included. I had a very good one on the TSX today, so I will buy eats and drinks tomorrow I announced with great gesture and a big smile. As it is my turn anyways its a bit of a Dutch Treat, right.

Good choise!

Today in the Edmonton Journal Canada in UN life quality ranking: #4. For me only Norway is a serious contender and they are #1.  The Netherlands are trailing at #6.
While writing this I feel this post as a typical American one; all about ranking, position and competition. And that is not the issue. Point is life in Canada is pretty good; we experience it first hand.

10-08-2009: Victor sent me this link on Canadian Banks, also a very good choise. Boring but solid.

8 cubic meter firewood

Last weekend we, Johan and I, went to Victor's place in Stony Plain to chop firewood. He has a mountain of logs, Black and White Poplar to be cut and chopped into firewood. "Come help and take a truckload home" he said. I was thinking he meant my F150-box. It turned out he had rented a big trailer (4x2x0.8 m3) and that was a load in his view. We ended up with a trailer full, my 6.5 feet box full and his 8 feet box half full. All in all that is about 8 m3 firewood. We did not split it by hand, lucky us, but we had rented a log splitter, still a lot of work as we nicely stacked the splitted logs into the trailer instead of throwing them in; so you end up with a lot more firewood. Over the whole weekend we filled 5 trailers and that is a lot of firewood. At the end of day one, and 3 loads, I had a pretty sore back and Johan's leg muscles were painful too. Day 2 had a slow start but we managed to produce another 2 loads, I hardly could bent over to pick up the logs and Johan's legs were aching too. But we did not complain, tough guys as we are, right. And the fun part is; we do not have a fireplace inside nor is our woodstove installed.
And by the way, in Holland they make wooden shoes out of poplar.

Olympic Questions

Now that Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking. Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website. Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? ( England )
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? ( Sweden )
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada ? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto , Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? ( England )
A: What, did your last slave die from?

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? ( USA )
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ? ( England )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-t ri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )
A: No, WE don't smell.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? ( Italy )
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? ( Germany )
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada , but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

Please send this on to anyone who you think will enjoy it as much as I did.

-9

Things change quickly here around Edmonton, Canada. Last week +34 degrees and this morning -9 degrees. We had to de-ice our car windows. Actually frost on a willow tree as on the picture can most likely be possible here in rural Alberta. If so I will let you know and show. Anyways I had my gloves on while driving to the office and an encouter with 2 deer, mother and bambi, completed the nice trip. One says there is moose too, not seen yet.