Return for refund if applicable

Here in Canada you have to pay a refundable charge on almost every plastic bottle you buy, the small ones and beer cans included, large ones go for half a buck small ones only for 10 cents. Not to worry, it's a nice savings account when you return all those to the bottle depot. And money is literally on the streets here, as is probably also is in NL. Back in 2007, on our RV trip, I saw trucks filled with bottles go by, wtf?. They picked them up from the streets and garbage cans, a now I know a truck load is worth a couple of 100 dollars, and that's easy money, right? British Columbia and the Parks are clean, because of the bears. Here in Alberta it sometimes looks like a bloody junkyard. People throw everything, sofas and garbage-bags included, just beside the roads, just guess what is happening to the bags with all the coyotes we have here and take another guess of what happens to those coyotes when they come too close to or even into the city, Correct, boom-boom, you're dead. I am no environmental geek but this is a step to far, just take the effort to take it to the landfill and dispose of it. In some ways Canada is almost a third world country; you can let an old car rust until it disappears into the ground, nobody cares; with the refundable plastic bottles on the other hand they are ahead of the game; so there is a balance.

Our "new" Ford F250 Lariat Ranger RV

Model year 1981. We were looking for a new truck-camper (also known as a slide on) for 1/2 ton F150, kind of a trailer for a pickup-truck. Problem being the weight of this truck-camper, and there are not that many lightweight models available. So I started to search the Internet on a used one when I came across the one on the picture, found on www.kijiji.ca. For sale as a package for not that much money, this morning we closed the deal with Lori (A handshake is all I need she said, we are on the same page indeed). Now we are the proud owners of an RV, ready to go when we want it to be. The truck needs new tires, a new battery and an oil-change. After that we will see where it takes us. I'm sure we will have fun with it. We will test-run it a couple of times and if approved by us you can rent it for not that much money. Two adults and two kids will be fine, 3 adults also but four will be a bit inconvenient. You just have to rotate every hour or so. But it's doable. The truck has the sound I'm looking for, maybe a bit too loud but we will find out. The RV part needs cleaning a bit of maintenance, it pleasantly surprised me when we looked at it. It is an 1979 Osprey truck-camper in pretty good condition. If it falls apart on our first trip, like in the Louis de Funes movies, its a bad deal. But that will not happen. And look a it this way: it's an F250, one step closer to the F350, right! I will keep you posted on our endeavours. One other big advantage is the fact  Mac and Fox can accompany us on our trips, that makes it even more fun.

Rush 2010 Time Machine Tour

Below is the latest on the 2010 Rush Time Machine tour, life gets better by the day over here. There is only one thing that bugs me: they skip Western Canada. Me not likka that. Now I have to travel all the way to Toronto, but it's worth the trip. They will play "Moving Pictures" completely, as well as new songs from their, yet to be released, 20th (!!!!!!!) studio-album.

(Toronto – Thursday, April 8th 2010) - Rush – Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart – is without question one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock history, equally famed for both its virtuoso musicianship and provocative songwriting.

Announced today, The Time Machine Tour is an evening with Rush, where they will perform their classics, give a taste of the future – and for the first time ever – feature the Moving Pictures album live in its entirety.

The band is currently working on their 20th studio album with producer Nick Raskulinecz (co-producer from 2007’s Snakes & Arrows) and in addition to their classics plan to showcase a few new tunes live this summer.

“We were off for a year and a half, and now it's just pouring. Everything is totally crazy and there's not a minute left in the day. We've got these half-dozen songs, and we'll probably go in the studio and work on a couple of them and see how it goes, perhaps release something – and I say perhaps – and then we plan on being on the road,” says guitarist, Alex Lifeson.

This summer’s Live Nation promoted tour will visit approximately 40 cities throughout North America beginning June 29th in Albuquerque, NM and finishing October 2nd in West Palm Beach, FL with stops along the way in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Holmdel, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, and more along the way (complete tour itinerary follows).

Rush has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and garnered untold legions of devoted and admiring fans. According to the RIAA, Rush's sales statistics place RUSH third after The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.

Released in 1981, Moving Pictures was their most successful album, certified 4x Platinum and features some of Rush’s most well known songs and perennial radio favourites Tom Sawyer, Limelight and the Grammy-nominated instrumental YYZ.

“Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage” a documentary created by filmmakers Scot McFadyen & Sam Dunn (whose filmography also includes: “Iron Maiden; Flight 666,’ “Metal, A Headbangers Journey” and “Global Metal”) will premiere at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th followed by the Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival on April 29th. The band was also recently showcased in the comedy “I Love You Man” where they play themselves in a concert scene featuring actors Paul Rudd and Jason Segal as ubra-fans, a performance which has exposed the band to a whole new generation.

Inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this past March alongside Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot, Rush has also been nominated for multiple Grammy awards and won a number of Juno Awards. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and bestowed the Order of Canada in 1997. Consistently celebrated and respected worldwide, Rush is the most successful Canadian rock band of all time and they remain one of the biggest grossing arena rock bands ever.

Currently, 04-08-10@6:10PM, it's snowing

The white stuff is falling again, according to the Weather Network we will end up with 10-15 cm of accumulated snow. Cool. It's not the dump, as they the call 1 foot overnight snow over here, but it's a start. I will be gone in a day or so and brings some moisture into the ground, which we need badly. There is no fire-ban in place, yet, won't be long though as it is extremely dry in Alberta in general. Vancouver on the other hand has moisture enough, a couple of weeks ago they had 70 mm in 2 days. No thanks, looks like NL. A trip to the beach will not work for us, its about 1100 km in a straight line, but we got salmon instead of sole (lenguado). Both are extremely tasty and very enjoyable with a glass of white wine, preferably Gascogne.

How much can a rural bridge hold?

I have trouble going to sleep, so I'm boozing and post something stupid. The below listed pictures are a fine example of how not to do it.

Firstly: How much does the, to be transported, house weigh either in lbs or kgs?

 Secondly: How much can a rural bridge hold?

Thirdly: How is going to pay for this stupidity?

HOUSE INSURANCE,
CAR INSURANCE OR,
DOES IT COME UNDER ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE???

Rolly View Logging

It was another clear-blue sky and sunshiny day today and I decided to make a start with clearing out our poplar forest. There are a lot of dead and already downed trees to get busy with. The first few I did by hand and had soon enough of that. So I fired up the lawn tractor, it went in one go, found a chain and began hauling the tree-stems towards the fire pit. Even with a soar and un-cooperative lower back I managed to get a lot out of there. As expected I took it one step to far and broke the chain, never-mind I had enough of it anyways. I still have to get a power saw, preferably the Stihl MS290, to cut all that wood up. But then we can light the campfire again and have a beer and a smoke. It would be ideal to have a log-splitter too, but that's in the future. We will have a couple of wood-cutting weekends with Victor, which are great fun. He has always an odd story or two up his sleeve and usually I laugh my butt of. Couple of beers, good food and the inevitable men talk make a great day and a large pile of split logs. Life is pretty good out here.

The Ford 2011 6.7 ltr V8 Diesel

This is the one: 6.7 litre pure diesel power and joy. Build from scratch. Do I need it? By no means at all. It has improved fuel economy too and lots of power. Mike, Dirty Jobs, Rowe likes it too, and features in a nice video. When you are from Europe, like me, it's hard to grasp these engines are quite common here. And, hey, I adapt quickly, have to. Even now this engine is completely redesigned, they say anyways, whilst hybrid and electrical engines are really on the agenda. Here in Alberta we will see these Diesel engines and big gas engines for a long time to come. Chevrolet already has a truck engine that shuts down 4 cylinders when cruising at a constant speed, so even with the truck manufacturers it is an issue. And these engines do have a very nice roar, and when you are a petrol-head you will like it. Period. Oh and by the way why buy a Porsche 911 or a Audi R8 when you do not have a circuit in your backyard. So why buy a F350 with an engine like the above? When you fire it up there is that dangerous rumble under the hood, a silent roar from it's Mandrel bent 4 inch exhaust pipes, those diesel fumes stink a little, it has so much power it shakes on all 4 20 inch BF Goodrich All Terrains, the twin-turbo's whistle, when warming up it starts to hiss somewhat. When you start driving and floor it a little all hell breaks loose, awesome. You will have a smile across your face from ear to ear and beyond. When you are truck-crazy, and I am :-) , you just need to own and drive one like that. Got it?

Some Traffic Advice

For those of you who are coming to Canada and going to drive an RV or any other motorized vehicle, here are some rules and regulations and advice regarding Canadian traffic.
-Be very aware Canadians do not have a clue of what is happening around their vehicles traffic wise. When turning left and a car is approaching in Tokyo they keep waiting until it is passed. This does not apply to pick-up truck drivers, they know how to use their right foot. Basically just have patience, you will need it.
-All speed limits are listed in km/h. Canada turned metric some 30 years ago, but they still talk imperial and distances go by time unit.
-An international drivers license is required!
-Remember that your RV is wide, high and long. It takes some time to get used to that, especially for the sleeping compartment above the cabin, back in 2007 I came close to hitting a parked fifth wheel.
-You may turn right when the traffic light are red, but only after you came to full stop and there is no interfering traffic, right.
-Traffic lights are on the far side of the road, you need to get used to that and it way easier on the neck. The traffic-light can be mounted vertically or horizontally. A blinking green arrow to the left means you are free to turn.
-A stop sign is what it says: STOP. And you better do so, they are keen to fine you and that sets you back some 278 dollars. Stop for at least 3 seconds on every stop-sign; also on the campgrounds. I admit to feel real stupid sometimes when there is nobody around.
-4 and 3 way crossings. They are ideal, first come first serve no matter which way you came or are going. And again always stop.
-You always stop for pedestrians, even if they do not use the designated areas.
-When you stop behind another car make sure you can see it's rear-tires, you are at the correct distance.
-When driving on the highway and you are approaching any rescue vehicle (police-fire-ambulance) slow down to 60, go to the opposite lane and drive by carefully. They are very keen on this.
-For you own piece of mind and the contents of your wallet; just obey the speed limits.
-A pick-up truck parked on a 90 degree angle to the road; probably a speed-trap. When you encounter a strangely or lonely parked car, also probably a speed-trap.
-Watch out for school signs and playgrounds; slow down to 30 km/h
-When pulled over by mr policeman, stay in the car and keep your hands visible for them.
-When planning to visit National Parks, a pass could come in handy. Single entry for two about $20, National pass $136. When retuning your RV you could try to sell it to someone departing, needless to say someone may be offering a pass when you are departing, usually the go for $80-100 but check out the backside on the absence of a signature. If signed offer them 20 bucks, chances they check out your pass are slim to nill but you never know. Look here for Parks Canada passes.
-Look here for current Canadian gas prices, your RV uses about 1 litre per 3-4 km. Probably you have a 136 or 148 litre gas tank. Fun part of filling up here in Alberta is the litres are going faster than the dollars.
-If possible bring an extra (light weight) sleeping bag each, just in case.
-Of course you go to a Tim Horton's to get a coffee and a donut (a assorted box of 12 is only $6.50). Be prepared to be very patient, it can take up to half an hour to be served depending on the amount of customers. After a while waiting in line you start to wonder how on earth they make any money and where all that customer patience originates. I you feel experienced enough handling the RV you could use the drive-thru but usually they are a bit tight.
-First thing you do after picking-up your RV is buying groceries, they are not very wide spread; certainly not in the rural areas. Remember that every camp-site comes with a BBQ and probably are allowed to build a campfire which is great fun to do. Check if your RV comes with an axe, if not just buy a cheap one. Also a small gas-bbq could come in handy for your breakfast bacon and sausages. Buy or bring some cheap steak knives.

A bit more advice as intended, use it to your advantage.

Sunshine Hours per year

I was wondering about the hours of sunshine we have here in Leduc/Edmonton. This morning I was driving Joka to work on yet another clearblue and sunshiny day, of which I feel we have a lot over here. Again Google comes to the rescue: Edmonton receives 2,299 hours (6.3 hpd) of sunshine per year as opposed to The Netherlands only having 1600 hours (4.4 hpd) on average. It may be darned cold here during winter but at least we have a lot of sunshine to make up for that and with the sun shining it at least seems less cold.

6000 Tonnes of Steel

This week turned out to be the turning point for M&D and Waiward Steel. Some 6000 tonnes of steel have been awarded for detailing and fabrication. 2600 T Kearl Lake Project, 1000 T Slurry building and 2400 T conveyor belt structures. And there is more to come, fucking finally. We need it, cause the office staff is thinning. But now we are going to build some momentum as it obviously is picking up again. Efficiency and detailing turnaround time needs to improve drastically. The outlook for this year is indeed improving rapidly. There is ever talk of bringing in the 35 Philippine detailers, who were cancelled last March, in the short term. Look here for tonne and here for ton. This switch is some what difficult in the sense that tons of steel in Canada differs from tons of steel in Holland. Mark my words; Imperial Oil is starting, Syncrude, Suncor and the likes will soon follow. Booming again.

Backpain

Turning 52 and receiving your present....... in the morning can turn in a very painful situation after all. Friday afternoon there was just a little sting at my lower back. In the evening it was painful, Saturday and Sunday I spent flat on my back, popped in Tylenol Lower Back Pain (big blue pills :-) ) but that did not help. So of to work Monday morning, it turned out to be a hellish day, could hardly walk, sitting down was even worse and driving home was like someone hammering 10" nails into my back. Getting out of my truck was a very a painful endeavour. Still I was thinking, it will blow over after another days rest flat on my back. How stupidly typical for me. So on Tuesday I stayed home, and here that costs you money (no work no pay, but I like that). "Yes honey, I will go to work today" I said Wednesday morning`. The ride to the office was not very promissing. I stumbled to my desk and decided, at last, at 10:15AM that I had a problem that would not go away by looking the other way, and I phoned the first chiropractor I found with Google. At 11AM I was at the chiropractor, indeed no waiting lists over here, who examined me and had X-rays taken. It turned out movement was poor on 3 locations in my spine, 2 disks are in phase 3 of deterioration and growing towards each other, and my pelvis bone was attached to my right hip bone and caused my right leg to be shorter than the left. So I have a big problem, but guess what; Darren can help me. That same afternoon I had my first crack session and walked out relatively pain free. The next 6 weeks I have to go 3 times a week, then 6 weeks twice a week, 4 times a month for 2 months and finally once every month just for maintenance. And it helps, I feel a lot better lately, not ideal but I'm getting there. Looking back I should have recognized it, could not walk for long periods without having back-pain. But hey, it will blow over, right? Nope, sometimes you just have to admit you have a problem and just deal with it. It's as simple as that. Don't ignore it, just face it and deal with it head on. The next couple of months I'll be off to "Mr Crackman" as I call him.

Quote from NU.nl

"AMSTERDAM - Paus Benedictus XVI ziet het schandaal rond seksueel misbruik door katholieke geestelijken als een 'test voor hemzelf en de kerk'. Dat heeft een woordvoerder van het Vaticaan woensdag gezegd"

They, the catholic church, are completely and utterly bonkers.

 

$$ I hear you thinking

No, we did not talk money. No need to. Why? The last 14-15 months Waiward and M&D have kept me and the current group of people employed, despite the fact there is not that much work; hence hardly any earnings. So money-talk is not justified in my opinion and if they suggest a raise I will just flatly decline. One needs to stay with M&D for at least a year and a half to repay them when we get busy again, if you have any decency and responsibility towards your employer this goes without question and without a pay raise. Probably I am pretty much alone in that department. However this is the only approach that is justifiable for me.

Progress is being made...

"Are you available for a chat over a curry and a couple of beers, tomorrow after work?" the email read. "Anytime, looking forward to it", was my reply to the 2 top guys of M&D Drafting. This will not be about sacking me, why spent money when that also can be done during office hours? What this all about then? At 5 PM we went to the restaurant, East Indian Cuisine, ordered beers and sat down. TELL ME!! But first we had to eat some food, in the mean time chit chatting about anything and nothing. FUCK TELL ME! So at last, I felt anyways (may be 15 minutes inside), they asked me if I was interested in becoming Project Coordinator Lead for all the 4 offices, Edmonton-Vancouver-Surrey-Parksville, of M&D Drafting. That possibility I had NOT anticipated. Maybe something major in the IT or taking Tekla to the limits. Based on experience, knowledge, personality (please stop laughing), initiative and work-ethic I am the best guy for the job. These are all their words. A couple of years ago I made an agreement with myself; I will never ever let an opportunity pass by, again. So probably with a big smile on my face I accepted, if they and others think I can do this job who am I to doubt that (It reminded me of my architectural teacher Starmans who told me once "Your capabilities are almost endless; you just don't see that", maybe he was right after all). At fifty fucking two Marco is starting to have a career and I am loving it. Life throws unexpected things at you, maybe even because of the bold move we made to emigrate to Canada at age 50. That guy and gall have balls. Where will this step take me? Don't know yet, I do know it will be interesting. The company is being restructured and I am going to be a big part of that. Pretty cool, eh!, for someone who does not plan his career. Gerry, fellow PC and Scotsman, calls me "boss, plonker" not "plonker boss" because that's rude he says. Don't know the exact translation for it but to me it's one of the most likable words in English I've ever heard, so plonker it is. Maybe I am repeating myself; change is good and gives you all kinds of opportunities, you only have to take the first step.

They Deliver...

Canada's Men Icehockey team delivered, the gold medal has been won. No coaching errors. But it was a close call. The one, Sidney Crosby, who could have ended in regular time, he failed to score in a one on one situation, finished it in 7 minutes into overtime, the golden goal. The coming night Canada will celebrate, work will be slow tomorrow I guess. For most of the players there is no time to celebrate, Monday evening the NHL calls for another game. Still 10 or so to go to the end of the season. Canada can go to sleep knowing that the rest of the world now knows who's game they are playing. They have beaten the US 2 fold, male and female hockey. A bit like Holland versus Germany.

No words needed

Just Vancouver again.

Life changes fast, one day you think Dutch speedskating will rule on the Olympics of 2010, just the other day the opposite is true. Unfortunately. I was planning to manufacture a Svencouver hat or some. No need to do so. It will never be Svencouver, just Vancouver and maybe that is even for the better. The female part of Team Canada (Icehockey) took the gold medal today, the third in a row. The male part of Team Canada has to do the same, but they have a long way to go. If there is no gold medal for them, they will be mocked for a long time. And Canada will mourn even longer because it is OUR GAME THEY ARE PLAYING. And NO GOLD is NO OPTION. It will be a tough one.

Something for Sven and Gerard

Maybe Sven and Gerard need a lane change assistant to keep track of where they are. What in the world's name is so important to write down when the one you are coaching is doing his ultimate 10 km? And then when you did not look at him for over a whole turn (at least 110 m) shouting him to another lane, why the fuck interfere? 4 years of training in the hole, taking over the title "Worst exchange ever" from Dick A, from success coach to the most stupid speed-skating coach ever in 110 m. But lets not forget Sven himself, ultimately he is responsible, he is on the ice skating effortlessly, painlessly (his words) towards the Olympic gold medal and being a highly paid professional he should not have listened to his coach, who by the way never guided him in lane-changing. Maybe they should buy a Garmin, Magellan or Navignon GPS navigation device with lane change assistant. 200 dollars will do the trick.

Returning home

Monday a week ago we flew to Holland to attend the graduation of Joost as a bachelor of ICT. It was just a short trip. Landed on Tuesday the 16th and returning Sunday the 21st. But the return took a while. At Schiphol there was some fog, in Frankfurt there was some snow. Indeed that screwed our schedule. You would think Air Canada has the courtesy to wait 30 minutes or so, people on at least 2 flights from Amsterdam would be able to board AC895. But no, the fuckers decided to keep their schedule. We were only 20 minutes late. We were directed to the Lufthansa Ticket Centre to rebook our flight. Arriving there we were not the only ones, a line-up of a couple of hundred people. It turned out the Lufthansa pilots were going on strike the next day, demanding more pay (Yes they are at the bottom end of the payment scale indeed) and people were re-booking their flights. We stood in line for 2.5 hours before it was our turn. We had 2 options; one via Chicago-Edmonton and one via Montreal-Ottawa-Edmonton. We choose the latter and Lufthansa paid for the hotel and the food. Next morning, Monday, we left Frankfurt at 11:10 and arrived in Montreal 7:30 hours later, where we had to wait 5 hours for the connecting flight, onwards to Ottawa and another hour waiting. Finally we took off to Edmonton which was 3:15 hours away. The last couple of hours were not easy, restless legs, not being able to sleep, a sore butt of all the seating we did. At last on 10:30PM local we touched down in Edmonton where Emma and Johan were waiting for us. Not a pleasant return flight, but we made it. Sunday morning 09:00AM checking in at Schiphol and landing 10:30PM in Edmonton the next day; that's a 45 hour journey taking into account the time-difference.

A small cloud over Svencouver.

Unfortunately the Dutch speedskating women could not impress on the olympic 3 km. Like Catriona Le May said on CTV, the Dutch women are too inconsistent throughout the year. And they started too optimistic, it's draggy ice, so save your strength for the final rounds. I know for me it's easy with a beer in one hand, to comment on all this. On the other hand they get paid way more than me for living their dream.
I like Martina Sablikova, she has a wonderful style, long hauls from a tiny almost frail body, but beware there is a lot of power in it and she knows how to transform that to speed. I was happy she won.

Svencouver Part 1

 

Watch it, Sven!!

Pointing your finger.....

Today I heard a really nice one: "When pointing your finger, usually 3 are pointing back". There is a lot of truth in that come to think of it. First take a hard look at yourself before you point.

There it is, the 2011 Super Duty

It's there, the 2011 Ford Super Duty Pick-Up. Beautiful, no? I think it is, stunning. Take look here for a full impression. Imagine it lifted, 2 inches, with some serious tires (they call it meat over here) touching the asphalt. Lets say the BF Goodrich All Terrains or Toyo Open Countries. And of course a MagnaFlow exhaust system for that oh so nice load roar.

Mac speaks with no words.

It is quite funny the way Mac gets her point across. Or she starts looking at you, after silently creeping up beside you or she just stands in front of you staring. Most cases I know what she wants and spring into action. If that does not do the job she gently touches you with her nose. And then finally I realize her water bowl must be empty; and yes 999 out of a 1000 thats the case. And this just happened a couple of minutes ago. Thought you should know.

Meet Tulip

By the way we have, again, a new cat. Number 10 probably ended up as coyote feed, we like to think he just moved after getting lost. This number 11, but our first Canadian one.  Hope to keep it that way for a long time. Her name is Tulip, up for all kind of other interpretations; I will leave that to your own imagination. Tulip is a bit stupid, suites me well right, but I like her. That does not happen much with me and a cat. Emma adopted her from her work where she had been living in a garage for about 6 months. How she got there I do not know, probably just disposed off.

I found this on NU.nl, coincidence?

Super Bowl Chili Part II

Well I cooked the chili, nothing much special. Just a chili, but it was quite tasteful. As for the Super Bowl itself, this was my first and last time I watch it on TV. ^#@!$@*$& What a load load of bullshit all those commercials, sorry but I cannot and will not look at that again. Its not about sport, it about commercials. Bullocks. The only positive comment I have is the, commercial free, performance of The Who at halftime; is it a coincidence that only half of the original The Who lineup is alive?. Pete had his trademark arm-backwards-circle-swinging-hitting-the-guitar-snares-full-force going. Cool. I was wondering if he would demolish and wreck his guitar. But no, he behaved unfortunately (After all it's the US). Daltrey did not (could not?) do his mike-swing act, his trademark. Pitty. And no "My Generation", damn.

How fights start

My wife sat down on the seat next to me as I was flipping channels. She asked,
'What's on TV?'
I said, 'Dust.'
And then the fight started...
******************************************
Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch, and slipped quietly into the garage. I hooked up the boat up to the van, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day.
I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, "The weather out there is terrible."
My loving wife of 5 years replied, "Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that?"
And that's how the fight started...
*****************************************
My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary. She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds..'
I bought her a bathroom scale.
And then the fight started....
******************************************
After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply for Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked me for my driver's License to verify my age. I looked in my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home.. I told the woman that I was very sorry, but I would have to go home and come back later.
The woman said, 'Unbutton your shirt'. So I opened my shirt revealing my curly silver hair. She said, 'That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me' and she processed my Social Security application.
When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my experience at the Social Security office.
She said, 'You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability, too..'
And then the fight started....
******************************************
My wife and I were sitting at a table at my school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table.
My wife asked, 'Do you know her?'
'Yes,' I sighed, 'She's my old girlfriend. 

I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, 

and I hear she hasn't been sober since.'
'My God!' says my wife, 'who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?'
And then the fight started...
******************************************
I took my wife to a restaurant. 

The waiter, for some reason took my order first. "I'll have the steak, rare, please."
He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?""
Nah, she can order for herself."
And then the fight started...
******************************************
A woman was standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. 

She was not happy with what she saw and said to her husband, "I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.'
The husband replied, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.'
And then the fight started..... 

******************************************

Super Bowl Chili

I have been told this is a must when watching the Super Bowl this weekend. And by the looks of it, TV and the Chili, it going to happen. Prepare it a day in advance is the general consensus. 1 lb (pound)=0.454 kg, 1 oz (once)=28.35 grams.
The best way to eat it is on thick sliced Texas Toast. Enjoy!!


Ingredients:
1 lb. Italian sausage, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
3 lbs. beef stew meat, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
4 med. onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz.) can tomatoes, cut up - do not drain
1 (12 oz.) can beer
2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chili peppers
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
2 (16 oz.) cans pinto beans, drained
Shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)

In large Dutch oven, brown sausage on all sides, then remove to a large bowl. Cook beef, onion, and garlic in sausage drippings on high heat. Stir often. Cook until beef is browned. Return sausage to Dutch oven. Stir in undrained tomatoes, beer, chili peppers, tomato paste, pepper sauce, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until meat is done. Skim fat if necessary. Add beans and heat through. Serve in individual bowls topped with shredded Cheddar cheese.

WhoReads

Could be a unix-command, the post title, and guess what; it'd based on the unix command [whois]. Here you will find a extended explanation of this command. It basicly provides internet information regarding the registrant or assignee of Internet resources, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system number. Pretty technical, eh.
What I would like to know is [whoreads] my blog. Please be so kind to leave a comment or drop me a line. Just out of curiosity. On sufficient numbers I will post a count only.

02-06-2010: Wouw I already got 1 (Één, One, Uno, Eins) reply. I'm flabbergasted, impressed, moved to tears.... Actually this thundering silence says a lot.

Prombron

If you are looking for an exclusive truck, stop looking; you have found it. Look here. Whale penis leather interior, yes you read that correctly. Can it be more macho? Go check out their website. No more words needed.

Something to make you smile

Click on the picture for slide show

The Birth of Mozilla

Writing my previous post I remembered the "Code Rush" documentary, a very interesting one on the birth of Mozilla, I watched this years ago on, I think, Discovery Channel. Some time ago, when trying to obtain a bachelors degree on computer science at the HU (failed due to our Canada move), I tried to find it, but was unsuccessful. It seems the movie was put online somewhere in July of 2009. It's really worth, and fun, watching it. Also for the recently graduated ICT boys, if they didn't already, as to know how software engineering and deadlines work.

Finally Developments......

At last we received a request from the Canadian Embassy to do our medical tests. And this is very good news, it probably means we are approved to stay in Canada as Landed Immigrants pending the results of the medical. And me being a project coordinator ( ;-) ) I had anticipated this request; we were already tested on December 23rd of 2009, so we gain a couple (6-8) of weeks. And to be honest its about time. Next week February the 4th it is exactly 3 years since we lodged our stage 1 application. Truthfully I never expected it to take this long. When arriving in September 2008 I really thought I would take like 8 months or so to finalize. We are not there yet, but the dark cloud lurking at September 2011 is just a bit less dark now. The medical should pose no problem as the doctor is obligated to tell any major problems that might occur as a result of the test. It looks like we are pretty healthy at age 50 and over. Good to know. And yes nurse Penny is very wishful thinking. You gotta have dreams, right.

What's wrong here......

Antoni Gaudi

Once, a long time ago, I lent my Antoni Gaudi book to someone, no clue as to whom. And you guessed right, it was never returned. It has some memories attached. Anybody have my book? If so, please be so kind to send it to me.

Marco Schriek

#50 49228 Range Road 234,

Rolly View, Alberta, T0C 2K0

Canada.

It would be highly appreciated and there are no hard feelings.

En Van Seumeren als je dit ooit mocht lezen, stuur dan ook eens mijn Gaudi scriptie terug die je 27 jaar geleden van mij hebt geleend.

Oops

Regularly I receive email with series of accidents, whether it be on cars, buildings and stuff like that. If it's extreme somehow it shows in my In-box. These ones I share with you. I am not aware of any casualties, the pictures speak for them selves I guess. Click on the picture for the series. Have fun.

Thesis Joost

This is an occasion or happening that triggers a downside feeling of emigrating to another country. Joost has to do his defence on his thesis in 41 minutes and we are at the other side of the ocean wishing to be a bit closer. On the other hand there is nothing much you can do other than give him support and a reassuring pad on the shoulder. Which I now did by phone. Probably won't catch any sleep the next few hours. Knowing him he will be fine and the next hour pretty nervous. That was a stupid question I asked "Are you nervous?", "Of course I am, what do you think". Anyways he will do just fine. 31 minutes to the the start.........

07:02 MST: He made it and is now a bachelor of ICT. A very wanted profession, also here in Alberta, Canada. I'm told pay is high and working conditions are excellent. They will go a lengthy way to get you to work for them.

Asphalt...

Last Friday we had to go the top brass of Waiward Steel Fabricators to have a conference call on Firebag 4 (Waiward-M&D-Jacobs Canada), yep my first project with M&D that got cancelled 3 months after my arrival. What gave a lot of worries on my part. We went there in a small Toyota Ralley... something. I have to confess; I am not used to small cars anymore. I had a hard time getting in, felt like a folded handkerchief, and I was bumping my head against the posts; that hurt. It was a strange feeling looking up to those trucks and have your butt so close to the tarmac, or asphalt if you like, you could almost feel it. Eerie. Yes I know, spoiled to the bone in a short period of time. But anyways, finally some real positive news, we got the go ahead on detailing for Suncor's Firebag 4. Its a start, maybe 5 and 6 come into the picture too the next few months. The steel-structures we detail and fabricate are only some 5% of the total cost, I think Suncor is spending like 3 billion in 2010. Hopefully they will increase this number at the next board-meeting. The next conference call we will take my truck for a comfy ride.

At the vet's

Unfortunately I had to go to the vet this morning with Mac. She has been eating reluctantly the last couple of weeks, and loosing weight. Yesterday evening she threw up and had a blood strain in it, all in all she did that 5 times last night (it turned from yellow, quite normal, to brownish, which is not good). Fuck, that can't be. The advantage of the Internet is that you can find any information at anytime on almost everything. I found a veterinarian hospital in Leduc that opened Saturday morning at 8 am and Joka found a possible cause of what could be wrong, and she was pretty close if not spot on. So of to the vet this morning to have Mac examined. It turned out pretty good as she has no pain spots anywhere, temperature is ok, no lumps and bumps. So most likely she ate something wrong, has an infection where the stomach and the bowel system connects or she has the flu, even H1N1 is possible according to vet Ed Doornebal. Yes a dutch-man from Maartensdijk who emigrated to Canada in 1952, his parents had a farm and his primairy language, until age 6, was dutch. So he could understand me when I was talking to Mac, it turned out later, when paying the bill ($120). In the mean time Mac is on medication to ease the stomach, a penicillin cure (just to be on the safe side) and a acid re-leaver, the last one I had to get at a pharmacy. Before spending dollars, how dutch indeed, on blood samples and X-rays; lets see how it goes the next couple of days. If there is no progress we will dig deeper and take it from there, she is a geriatric (10+) dog and you never know what going on in the liver and pancreas, Ed told me. Luckily there is progress and the meds are working, Mac is already more cheer- and playful and wants to eat (looking for her bowl), which she is not allowed until Sunday morning. All is going well, she wears her party-hat and looks very happy. Yes?

Update 01-18-2020: This one, a Rhino fight in South Africa, I got from Niko Reijneveld

Oilsands again

Positive developments by a small energy company Excelsior as posted today in the Edmonton Journal. The Oilsands are the lifeline for many here in northern Alberta. Like today. I was going to get Emma from her work at 7 pm. A truck stops at our entry road, drops his window, sticks an arm out indicating me to stop, so I did. "Hi I'm Frank your neighbour, most of the time I work up north in Fort Mac". A typical Canadian encounter? Two trucks, windows down, shaking hands and having a conversation at minus 11. He is and was busy working on projects M&D detailled and Waiward fabricated. All oil related, and a small world after all. We agreed on a beer at better temperatures.

"And now for something completely different"

A very old unix remark on the so called power of unix: U-nix , We-nix. So now are we levelled again, and no I do not know one for/on Apple other than it being a fruit and some believe it has to do with The Creation. And I leave it at that.
Here is another reason to like unix.
Not a very original title, but if you ever have a chance go look at Monthy Phytons "Ministry of Silly Walks" episode. Here it is on YouTube, hilariously funny.

"Life Without Walls (tm)"

The latest Dell slogan is "Life Without Walls", it's even TradeMarked. But why? If there are no walls, you don't need Windows. But you had seen that one coming from a mile away, right. Probably they argue one big window. And that's even worse, you can see the outside world but you cannot touch it. Any thoughts?

Cucumbertime

January, its the time of the year with a low profile. After the build up to Xmas and the New Year things go slow. All the coziness is slowly stripped from the rooms and the houses. Literally, the lights go out. Hence cucumber-time. No English word I guess, but you know what I mean. There is not much to tell, work is slow. I started up some automation projects for the company on my own account. Show them real automation, indeed with Delphi. Plain simple fast desktop applications using MySQL. But as always it's the ideas and experience with processes that generates powerful automation; Delphi, Java, C#, CBuilder are only tools. The snow here just stays until March or something. There is no salt problem; they do not use it over here as extensively as in Europe, like in hardly anything. Just drive carefully in 4x4 mode and you're good to go. Every once in a while however, on roads with black ice, a couple of cars slide of the road, some of them wrecked. They leave them abandoned until they are towed away the next day or so. The last month temperatures fluctuated between -43 and +4, last Saturday. We noticed we are growing winter-hard, -4 seems like a comfortable temperature nowadays. Got some unexpected Xmas cards too, that was a nice surprise. People have not forgotten me, yet. Good good, like they say here.

Thanks to Anke I learned the following:

Cucumber time in German is Saure-Gurken-Zeit and that in English is Big Gooseberry Season.

Sea Of Snow

This night the wind was blowing fiercely from the east, and the snow being pretty light over here, the adjacent fields, unprotected from the wind, look like the bottom of the sea. Almost like waves. Could not withhold to show it. The photo is the view from our backside, wide open and nobody close. The outside temperature is only -18, actually rather pleasant. Unfortunately I have to redo all my thrower tracks, they filled up overnight. Most of them that is.

Snow Thrower Tracks

To put our snow-thrower to good use, I have created a set of snowfree tracks on one half of our estate. The other half is still my nature reserve, as I like to call it. That way it is maintenance free for the now. I just criss-crossed our lawn with the snow-thrower and thus created some nice walking tracks, and the dogs use them; beats plowing thru the snow I guess. All in all it takes about 10-15 minutes to walk them fully. BTW we've got a new thrower, the first one had a difficult rotating blade. Exchanges her in Canada are as easy as one-two-three. "This blade is stuck" I said at the return-desk @ Canadian Tire Leduc. "Okay, you go get a new one, I will do the paperwork"; 5 minutes later we left with a bright and shiny new one, an upgraded and newer model too. I'm working on a upload to Youtube, regrettably it takes forever and has been aborted twice for no reason at all. The upload to Youtube failed, you have to do with the picture.

Happy New Year

 

May prosperity be with you in 2010,

personally and business-wise.

Happy New Year to all.

The Newyears Campfire

I froze the Champagne

In order to cool the champagne I just put it into the snow, outside. And yes at minus 32 it freezes up real quick, so now we have champagne-ice. Hopefully it will melt before midnight. We have build a fire and at these temperatures that is not an easy task. Fortunately we have scouts in da house, so no worries there. Click on the photo for some more pictures of this endeavour. We managed to get the fire going and together with some gluehwein it's pretty doable out there.

Fireworks

This is what are going to shoot tonight. These are just your average Canadian fireworks you can buy yearlong. No ludicrous storage requirements, just in the open. But using it to the welcome the new year is not usual here. We will probably be the only ones using it this evening at a fore-casted -32 degrees. Permit required? Who knows.

01-01-2010: All tough the package looked vicious, as always it disappoints a little. The expectations were too high. We like to hear loud bangs but it were more like farts. But the colors and sparkles with very nice. That compensated it slightly.