Game on

May 14th 2010 What do do about the MB? I had the urge to send them an email and give them a piece of my mind, it would have been a very rude and very gory email. I decided not to, partly because there is still time and, more importantly, I need to know what their game-plan is. Are the really going to withhold this letter from us? Or are they sending it to us in the latest possible timewindow? Claiming it was lost and it surfaced just in time. Are they that unprofessional? We are talking here THE LETTER, one piece of paper that defines our future. Not sending this letter would have caused a lot of damage; relocating-selling our place-loss of income to name a few. Is that really the MB game-plan? We will know in a couple of weeks.
So the wait is on and for me it's game on. I know they don't know I know, but it is difficult because I am so pissed off. But I learned over the years that even I can be patient if need be. I killed several evenings preparing complaints. One with the CSIC, Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, of which MB employees are a member; a second one with the British Columbia Law Society where the bitch who officially represents us on our application is a member of; a third one will go to the head of the Berlin Immigration Section explaining the (un) professional level of the MB; maybe he can pull some strings.
Somehow I will go for a refund. Any which way you look at it: it is a breach of contract. It is clearly stated in the "CSIC-Rules of Professional Conduct": "4.2 When advising a Client, an Immigration Consultant must exercise due care and must never knowingly assist in or encourage any dishonesty, provision of misleading information, omission of any required relevant information, fraud, crime or illegal conduct, or instruct the Client on how to violate the law and avoid punishment."
I am really anxious to know how this will end. I'm hoping the result will be a cancellation of permits, a reprimand by the law society, a refund and maybe even some publicity.
All the dated posts will be published on June 8th, the day our initial 60 days are used up. In the meantime we received a letter from the embassy with a new date, it arrived with Canada Post after only 5 days, hence the heat for sending the passports is off and on April 12th the MB must have known, as the UK is closer to Germany as is Canada.To see the MB's attention to detail click on the picture and read the red highlighted text: it is about the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants in short CSIC, look at the second line. Correct, it's abbreviated as CCIC. Oops, very professional on a public website indeed.
In the mean time I just play stupid and sit it out. Like I said before, I'm having fun out here. To be continued.......

Going to war

May 13th 2010 What's this all about, you probably ask yourself. It is about The Migration Bureau (MB) and very very unprofessional conduct. On April 28th and 29th I inquired on the status of our application, we are getting nervous; over 3 months now since our medical was send in. On May 3rd, only after chasing them, the reply came: no need to get alarmed; the CIC had not requested additional documents (they usually don't after the medical) and there is a back log. Huh? What you also need to know is the fact the MB sends dozens of emails to me not related to our application. August last year I received an email saying: "Please confirm by return e-mail that you accept the above quote for additional work on your file. We are unable to complete any further work until we have your confirmation in writing". I refer to this one as the Blackmail letter.
This pissed me off big time as we already spend thousands of $$; do we now quit on a couple of hundred $$? Last March 2010 another one came in, how to emigrate to Canada and the possibilities we have in doing so. What the fuck, we are almost there; that one closed the door and I let them know I had enough and would file a complaint against them, and this is probably at the root of it all; please continue reading.
On Tuesday evening May 5th@9:30PM I decided to contact the embassy directly, explain them the situation as I was suspecting the MB is withholding information and ask them on our application status, this also thanks to the advice of Jutta. Wednesday morning May 6th@6:59AM the reply was there, and remember it is May 6th: "Please note that on April 8 we sent your consultant/lawyer a letter requesting all passports for visa issuance. I assume that this letter was not passed on to you." WHAT?? APRIL 8TH?? The MB inbreed fuckers are withholding information, inbreed bastards. On the one hand I was very happy, we are "granted the right to live and work in Canada" as it says officially. On the other hand I started to explode. Fortunately for me there was no MB inbreed fucker present when I read the above message. "In any case. The best way to proceed would be for you to fill out the cancellation of appointment form below and fax a signed version. We will then send you the relevant documents directly to your by regular mail or e-mail." The cancellation was faxed an hour later and I started to calm down a bit, actually still not grasping what just had happened.
How am I going to organize this? You only have 60 days to send in your passports and 30 of them were already used. After a confirmation email to the embassy, to which they replied within the hour, I received the necessary forms. I phoned up Joost to Fedex/DHL his passport to Edmonton, that took about 4 days. On May 13th Fedex picked up all our passports to be sent to the Embassy of Canada in Berlin. We are still ahead of the game and I will go to war to fight them. You cannot very easily get me really really pissed off but when it happens it usually goes with a bang. Considering this I kept my calm, surprisingly, and did not even wreck something, also peculiar. I will channel this energy otherwise this time, hopefully even more devastating psychologically. And I will enjoy every step of it. To be continued.......

Some Delayed posts are to be posted.

Due to the fact the Migrationbureau has withheld information from us, they should have relayed to us on or about April12th of 2010, the next few hours a series posts will emerge telling the story of our successful immigration into Canada, becoming Permanent Residents. This also happened thanks to Jutta who was so kind to give us a lot of advice prior to contacting the Canadian Embassy in Berlin. Actually she advised us back in March to do so, I still trusted the Migrationbureau. How wrong.

Oilsands Expertise

Edmonton Journal

Malcolm Mayes Cartoon

Freedom Ford: Tires for life

50000 km mainly on gravel roads had ruined the right rear tire, Goodyear Wrangler, of my F150. When I bought this car Anna offered me "Tires for life" only if serviced by Freedom Ford. Pretty good deal, it saved me 1100 bucks today as I had it serviced. So now I drive BF Goodrich All Terrain Mud+Snow, load-range E, 275/65/R18 rugged tires. Truck looks way better and more importantly, it drives better; improved grip and sound. Also Clarence and I talked on a 2" front side lift and a muffler for the, by me so desired, sound improvement. He walked over to his F150 and started it up to let me hear the sound with a Dynaflow muffler of only 60 bucks, pretty noisy but I like it. So for a couple of 100 $$ I get what I want. Looks and sound. Cool.

Decision Made

At last a decision has been made on our application, unfortunately they do not indicate the result of this decision. After more than 3 years we can wait a bit longer, but it's stressful I can tell you. There is a cloud next year September and it getting a bit darker every day. Should I look for something else? Norway maybe, as that is a cold country too. It turned out I like cold countries, this despite the fact I declared someone going skiing out of his mind for "voluntarily place his butt in the snow". Obviously things change. The wait is on...... Again......

Me likka this!!!

Unfortunately the bull did not pierce his private parts. That I would have liked even more. What stuns me is the fact this is still allowed as Spain is part of Europe. Beautiful picture and video this one. No difference to the bull, unfortunately it dies anyways, but he had some fun in this, for the bull, bloody and painful unequal battle. The coward cuts the bull's neck-muscle so it is less dangerous, but if you are so stupid that you trip over you own cockiness the bull will pick you up. So you are headlining you own stupidity and that of Spain. Great-Beautiful-Fantastic-Extra ordinary!!!!

Weather Craziness

The last couple of weeks we went from -8 with 10 inches of snow to a scorching +32 last Tuesday, the day Ellen and Gerard touched down at Calgary, to 2 days of solid rain and today we even have wet snow. The rain and wet snow are very welcome don't get me wrong, nature-wise. But with Ellen and Gerard visiting and going on a RV trip we, and they especially, could have used some improved weather. Nevertheless they made a nice visit to Elk Island and saw some bison and other wildlife, also thanks to Johan who has a keen eye on it and knows a lot about it. He sees birds where I only see branches, knows species, behavior and uniqueness. For me they are an UFBO.
E+G are in Jasper now and are on their RV tour, I really hope the weather improves and by the looks of it next week will be better with temperatures close to 20 degrees. It was very nice to have them visit us, although too short, and show them where we live, work and spent our time in this very special country.

Lower back X-ray

Yesterday I was at the chiropractor's again, I have to go twice every week now. But it helps greatly, I can walk for over an hour without lower back-pain, this was not possible the last couple of years. I remembered they had an CD with X-rays. "Take it, it's yours anyways". So now I can share an X-ray of my lower back. You can see disc #3 and #4 from below are starting to grow towards each other and, without treatment, they will soon become one. Causing a lot of trouble, potentially. The cartilage in between seems stuck also. The main goal of the chiropractor is to get all the discs moving again and in that way releasing the nerves so freedom of movement will improve. So far he is doing a great job with me. His assistant, Serena, knows 2000 patients by name from the get-go, amazing.
Also in one of his treatment rooms there is a nice quote from Thomas Edison (1847-1931): "The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease". I suppose there is a lot of truth in this quote. It is not a painful experience, at the crack-man as I call him, there are only the popping sounds of which you know it will reduce, if not end, the pain. At least for a improving length of time, until it becomes just maintenance every once and a while. Good call on March 17th to go see the crack-man.

Rolly View or Rollyview?

Both are listed in several official documents, so I do not know yet. I do know Rollyview made Wikipedia, check it out. In 2005 we had 58 inhabitants, it's not much more currently I'm guessing. When you enter Rollyview it is listed a one word, so I will go with that for the now. Does it matter? No not really; post arrives anyways based on the postal-code at the general store. On another note I always thought it was zip-code instead of postal-code,  that's probably used in the US.
Emma and Johan are on a camping trip enjoying the great outdoors, fly fishing at Kananaskis Lake, Joka is off to work and I am postponing lawn-mowing on this beautiful sunshiny Saturday afternoon, all next week it will be 20+C and better. I'll have a beer and enjoy Vos having fun outside.

CAD$ to €

I started watching the € a couple of weeks ago, it was valued at $1.42 to €1.00. Over the weeks this dropped bigtime due to the Greek deficit, rumors on Spain and Portugal being even worse than Greece, contributed to this steep decline. I needed to transfer a big chunk of $$ to €€, so my smile became bigger with the hour. I had locked in a target, with the help of Graham at Custom House, of $1.285, which is valid 24/7, and Wednesday overnight it had hit it's target, just around the low of this week. At our office we have a guy, Gerry, who watches the exchange-rate very closely. The word is one is hoping the rate will not break US$1.25; if it does all hell will break loose and the € will go into a free-fall towards $0.98; if that happens we are fucked worldwide. So I am really hoping the worst is over and I have been just bloody lucky, again. Maybe I will open a Foreign Exchange (ForEx) account and go trade currencies also. I'm just having fun over here.

Echoes.....

This is truly one of the best ever rock songs by Pink Floyd, especially the Live in Gdansk version. But if you are in a emotional state of mind, like to have had your dog put down, it is not the best song to listen to. Why? It really gets the tears rolling and goes right in and thru your bones. At least with me. Pink Floyds music does this to me anyways, Echoes-Sorrow-Wish You Were Here-Comfortably Numb, really get to me in a positive way. There is always that touch, sometimes it hits you like a ton of bricks and another time it's only goosebumps. The heavy blow is not very welcome if you drive your car or truck, but turning it off is a no go; cannot do that. So you have to sit it out and that a pretty good thing. Slowly I am getting over Mac. Fortunately there will always be the Echoes......

Oilsands

 

From the Edmonton Journal, Malcom Mayes Cartoon 

Nice wheather on May 5th 2010

Alerts: Leduc Co. near Leduc Beaumont and Kavanagh

Snowfall Warning : Leduc Co. near Leduc Beaumont and Kavanagh

Issued at 11:31 AM MDT Tuesday 4 May 2010

Summary

A narrow band of heavy snow has developed over and just west of the city of Edmonton.

Details

Radar and public reports indicate that a narrow band of heavy snow has formed just west of Edmonton. The snowfall is moving slowly southeastward. Amounts reported as of 11.30 AM range from 2.5 cm in Spruce Grove to 9 cm at the international airport to as high of 16 cm in the town of Calmar. Further accumulations of 5 to 10 cm are possible before the band weakens later this afternoon. In addition strong northwest winds will lead to widespread blowing snow causing near zero visibilities at times.

V-sign(s)

A post on the v-sign. It means victory, right? And wrong too. There are two meanings to this sign. Firstly there is the Churchill one on victory with the palm of the hand towards the receiver(s) of the v-sign. The second meaning is the same as the globally recognized middle-finger-sign, the palm of the hand is directed towards the issuer. I never knew this, always had it mistaken for someone not knowing how to give the middel-finger. So today I gave Andy the v-sign, immediately explaining why; he had a big smile on his face and explained it stems from an ancient war between Britain and France where the archers fired their arrows, the enemy responded with the v-sign grabbing the two fingers as to say "when I get you I will chop of your 2 fingers" hence no more arrows. Somehow through time this has evolved to an obscene gesture used only by the British. Of course it also means the cypher 2, but keep you fingers on a 45 degree angle to be sure not to walk into a British fist.

Een Laatste Poot

Vandaag heeft onze Mac mij een laatste poot gegeven. Afgelopen zaterdag ben ik met haar naar de dierenarts in Leduc geweest, wat ik juist niet wilde horen hoorde ik toch. Een groot gezwel in haar onderbuik en een milt die ook veel te groot was, waarschijnlijk haar lever ook. Exploratory surgery behoorde nog tot de mogelijkheden, maar voor wie? Zou zomaar kunnen dat ze op de tafel zou worden opgegeven. Wat was het vooruitzicht daarna? 3 weken, 3 maanden, 3 jaar? Geen idee, ook de dierenarts niet. Voor Mac was de enige acceptabele oplossing "De laatste Poot". Je kon zien dat ze pijn had, lag alleen nog maar in haar mandje, kon geen voedsel meer binnenhouden. We moesten dus afscheid van haar nemen. En dat is een moelijke beslissing, op zijn zachts gezegd, want het welzijn van Mac MOET voorop komen. Want het ging snel sinds zaterdag, uitstel kon echt niet meer. Vanmiddag om 4:33PM MST hebben wij haar uit haar lijden laten verlossen. Nogmaals de X-rays bekeken met een andere dierenarts; die ons gelijk gaf met de beslissing die we hadden genomen, Joka had ze ook nog niet gezien. Het was een moeilijke rit naar Leduc, viel mij echt zwaar.

Nooit meer zullen we die trouwe oogjes zien, niet meer achter ons aan keutelen, niet meer gewoon aanwezig zijn en effe dollen, iets wat de laatste maanden al niet meer kon. Maar je blijft hopen, eigenlijk tegen beter weten in. Ik zal haar missen, ernstig missen. Maar ze heeft ons 10.5 jaren heel erg prettig gezelschap gegeven en ik weet dat ze bij ons een goed leven heeft gehad. Ik heb menig traantje weggepinkt sinds zaterdag, want het was echt een maatje.

Dually

No not a RAM3500, F350 or HD3500 but a genuine Neway dual clockwork watch, courtesy of Klaas from Nieuwer ter Aa. So now I see in one go the time in Holland, on the left side, and here in Edmonton, on the right side. There is one peculiar thing about theft left dial. Obviously it's Roman digits but look at the 4, usually it is IV but here it is IIII, I expected the IX to be VIIII. Too long I suppose. Maybe its done on purpose, it looks odd nut nice. On the other hand it makes this watch even more unique. Anyways it's a very cool watch and comes in very handy to keep track of both continents, time-wise.

For The Chainsaw, By The Chainsaw

Snow gone, it's a clear blue sky today and 22 degrees, no weeds growing yet I was cutting wood in our poplar forest when I came across some wooden planks, 1.5"x5.5"x15'. Cutting all those logs, 10-15 feet long, needs a saw horse to cut them into stubs suitable for splitting. So today I fabricated a saw horse out of the wooden planks. Instead of burning them, my initial plan (not possible because of a fire ban almost for all of southern Alberta), I encountered in my first DIY project. And it was completed successfully on a Sunday afternoon. And all cuts were made with my, bought last week, new Stihl MS270 chainsaw. Fortunately Johan knows about chainsaws and all the add ons, oil-fuel-sharpeners, to have a complete package.
In case you're wondering about the chains: they are my log locking devices; so I can cut both ends of the log, if loaded symmetrical, without the log tipping over. The trestle is wide enough to ensure stability, although the work-points and work-planes are not as they should be, but hey it's only a wood-log-cutting-saw horse. See how environmentally friendly I am!!! Re-use of materials and an afternoon fun earns me a beer, preferably Rickard's Red. Very good tasting.

Emma 21

Today our Emma turned 21. A bit of a bummer is we could not throw a big party as all her friends are back in NL, luckily Johan is here so that makes up for some of the losses. We had a pleasant supper and a couple of beers, Emma a Mojito, at Original Joe's a restaurant on Ellerslie Road in south Edmonton. I remember her coming into this world with a bang and with a beautiful little nose pointing somewhat to the left, impatient to explore the new world and now here in Canada she is also building a career as she likes to work with animals. She even leases a horse for those oh so pleasant horse rides a couple of times a week. What the future will bring is what the future brings, just take it one step at the time. Happy birthday, girl.

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.