Comparing Apples and Oranges

It's no secret that the first car I drove was a 1971 Ford Pinto. Thanks, dad. I think my high school yearbook has a photo of Joel Thomas lowering a 1600cc Ford Cortina engine into it during shop class. They're still infamous for blowing up in a rear-end collision, although mine never did. I'll add the category tag to this entry so you can see things I may have said about it in my eJournal and images.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of blog posts about my recent decision to get a 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric. I watched a recent, YouTube review showing the difference between the upcoming KIA Niro EV and the Kona. The video pointed out that the Kona is a few inches shorter. During a test drive, Jay and I did notice that the gas version has pretty cramped back seating. That is really not much of a concern as we've been driving a pickup for 22 years. It is a Ranger Supercab but has only two miniature jump seats which are not suitable for anyone but a troll.



So it was serendipity when I suddenly wondered about the size of the two very different vehicles, one from my past and the other my future.

Length
Pinto 163.0 inches
Kona 164.5 inches

Width
Pinto 69.4 inches
Kona 70.8 inches

The sizes are remarkably similar, but these two vehicles have very few other specs in common. However, there's something nice when any part of life comes full circle.

Seeing with Our Own Eyes

One advantage of continuing to add stuff online for fourteen years in a row, is being able to search years back through things which one cannot completely remember. What was it I had for dinner last night, again?

I sort of recalled playing with a photo editor back in the days of bulky desktop computers. I cannot accurately say what prompted me to create the image but I used it right here in my eJournal and images in May of 2004. Was it simply due to a discussion at Bret's house about a movie? Obviously, in the faked shot Joel, Lynne, and I wouldn't have been very appropriately attired.


However, Jay and I went uptown this morning. We met again with Arleen at CruiseShipCenters. I hope to take much better photos of him and me on Corfu toward the end of the summer. In 2017, our trip should not require the aid of any cumbersome photo editing.

BC Family Day

It was rather a gorgeous day weather-wise. This winter hasn't been very nice, so seeing a bright sun and double digit temperatures seemed special.



It was Family Day in British Columbia. Most small businesses were closed and kids were out of school. We saw so many people out using the Pier Park and simply walking around enjoying the warmer breeze.

As well, we had visitors. Lynne and Joel were on their way to Whistler. They got here for a late lunch and will leave tomorrow morning. It was good to check in with them as they'd not been up for a visit for ever-so-long.

What a Day!

I think they get that Jay and I are lazy. Joel and Lynne are a very active couple and are constantly 'out and about' with amazing vigor. Strenuous sports and activities keep them toned and tanned. Blessedly, I guess, they know we came here for the relaxation offered by their comfortable environment.

We rolled out of bed at around eight. Rumor is Joel usually gets up at some sort of ungodly hour. Breakfast and pool side conversation created the perfect morning. Jay loves their two dogs so much he's already lavished more attention on them than they'd normally get in a month.



A bit later we did get to see some of the area the lazy way. Rather than having to expend much sweat and energy on this 34C (93C) day, we took a climb in Joel's hip, retro Suzuki Samurai. On previous trips we'd gone up on the ridges to the southwest of the valley. So, when asked, we decided to take some dirt roads on the other side.






Of course, all that effort from the little vehicle made more pool time a must upon our return to the house. In the evening we drove into Yakima for a stop at the pool supply place to swap out a defective, new pump. And that trip was topped off by a great dinner of pizza and beer on Highway 12 in Naches. The weather cools off in the evening but Joel and I were the only takers for a dip in the hot tub.

Driving Down and Over to the Sunshine

I generally count on making about 50 miles per hour of driving. I know my speed is higher than that; however, on a road trip there are other things to consider. We run into traffic, need to refuel, want to stop at historical or scenic points, or grab a meal. Therefore I calculated about five hours to get down to Lynne and Joel's plus 40 minutes for the border wait time. I thought we'd make it at around 3:00 PM.

As it turned out, the border was a 10 minute breeze, but we were an hour late getting here. From well up on I-5 we saw the electronic highway signs indicating that I-90 east was closed at exit 83. We weren't sure how that exit matches up with cities along the route. Also, I had read something from a Facebook friend about clearing the highway because of a truck explosion, but that was at 8:00 AM this morning. I assumed that nothing could keep the major artery closed for too long and we'd be fine by the time we rolled through. I was wrong.



There were far fewer vehicles east of 405 than is normal. Yet at the scales well before the Roslyn exit, we came to a complete stop with lined up traffic as far as the eye could see. Luckily the line was creeping along on occasion. I rode the shoulder a bit and followed the vehicles headed past Suncadia. I knew there must be alternate ways past Cle Elem and onto Ellensburg. We did take Highway 10 and it was a scenic drive. Luckily no one was routing east-bound traffic this way. However we rode past 10 miles of lined-up traffic in the other lane. I wasn't quite sure when we got to Ellensburg which side of Exit 109 we'd be on and fortunately it was right. So we pulled in to this sunny desert oasis at a bit after 4:00 PM.






How nice it was to catch up with these two friends! We'd not been to the house since 2013 as we saw them only at Snoqualmie Pass last summer. I cannot picture a better dinner with the swimming pool and unspoilt land as a backdrop. It has been a very nice evening.

Next Week's WA Weather?

We have arranged to get away for a few days next week. We emailed Lynne and Joel and found some spare time on their calendar.

I first saw their Wenas house during winter, but knew the place would be perfect during hot, dry summers. This rural region, on the arid side of the Cascade Mountains, is a perfect retreat spot. Jay and I first made it to their desert home on a summer trip in 2009. I'm putting in the first photo from that year as it shows just the pool shed. That was before the construction of an additional big garage and the solar panel installation.


We've returned every summer save last year when we only visited at the pass for Ben and Larissa's wedding. We will go down on Wednesday and stay for several nights. I'm so ready for a blender-drink served to me in the swimming pool or hot tub as in this photo from 2012.

Foreign Visitors

They moved right along as Joel and Lynne were here at exactly 10:00 am. The border wait must've been quick; it generally takes us 5 hours to drive down to visit them. They were here in three! It was nice that they drove up from Washington State for a visit. As we leave for Egypt in a month, this was one of the only times they could fit it into their schedule. They will stay just one night and go back tomorrow.

It was foggy today. We ended up just having lunch here as Jay had made extra food. After a bit of chatting and looking over our YouTube video of their son's wedding weekend, it was late afternoon.


We walked to the Landmark Cinemas and saw The Martian on its opening day. This was a movies that was better because of 3D. The 4:00 showing was long but nobody among us checked the time during the screening. To me that indicates a worthy movie.

We had dinner here as well and went through some of our pictures of last winter in Mexico via Flickr on the TV. It was time for bed by 10:30 as they'd had a long day.

Just Yesterday, Wasn't It?

This weekend, we'll be heading down to Washington state for a big wedding.

1996 - Whit, Jay, and Ben

2005 - Me, Ben, Joel, and Lynne

2007 - Whit, Ben, Joel, Jay, and Lynne

2011 - Joel, Ben, Whit, and Lynne

Since coming to Canada, we've been lucky to see Ben grow from a child to a man. We look forward to personally wishing him and Larissa all the very best in their lives together.

Past Performance

Less than eight months ago, I offered anyone who read my blog entry a free $1. Nobody took me up on it, as there were strings attached. My offer was only available in Bitcoin. I came up with the idea because I could not seem to get my friend, Joel Thomas, interested in the concept.

I included the fact that on March 26th, I would have transferred 0.01290000 bitcoins to the wallet of the first person who asked for it.  Now, talk about a lost opportunity! At today's valuation, that same fraction of a bitcoin would be worth about ...

$10.29.

My offer of a single dollar at the day's current rates is still available to the first person to ask me.

Macie's Escape

This morning, I received this email:

Macie broke out of her cage and the building at the kennel she was staying at tonight when a thunderstorm rolled through Ellensburg. We need a couple good recent photos of her to put on posters.

Thx,
J & L

I sent along the top photo used right here in this blog back on August 26th when we were down visiting. Joel and Lynne have two dogs, but Macie always seems to receive more of the attention in our photo collection. We may have more of an affinity for Macie as she travelled up to Canada when still a pup. This is the second photo.

By the time I got back from work, I got a text message saying the dog was safely found in a neighbouring yard.


Washington State, August 2013


New Westminster, BC, July 2004

Summer Days

In retrospect it was quite a full day. Lynne, Joel, and I started it by walking down to the Pier Park right after breakfast. Joel tried out my e-scooter. After coming back it was still early. We figured we could go to Vancouver for both lunch and dinner.

We took the SkyTrain to the end of the line and exited to see the two cruise ships docked at Canada Place. As we walked around we didn't see very many people waiting at the new Fly Over Canada attraction. It consists of a row of seats which extend out in front of a huge parabolic screen. As well as a 180-degree picture, there were water mists and unique smells during a flight from Canada's east to west. Viewers must buckle into the seats as they tip and move in sync with the action on the screen. It was interesting with some amazing moments. I think most people feel it is a little short at less than 15 minutes in length.


After, we walked around to the front of the Waterfront Station and ate a late lunch at Rogue Kitchen & Westbar. When the sky's so blue and the sun is out, food was meant to be savored outdoors. Wanting to maximize the use of our transit day passes, we jumped on the Seabus to cross the harbour. We walked the Quay and took a bus up the hill to North Vancouver. There was really no reason for the trip, but somehow getting up in elevation seemed right even if there weren't many views from Carisbrooke Park. We needed to do a bit of walking to catch up with a bus to get use back to the Quay and the ride back to the Waterfront.

Towards 5 o'clock we caught a Davie Street bus in order to watch the crowds at English Bay. Ah, having the beach in a major city is special. By this time, we were ready for dinner. By 7:00 we walked to the Olympia restaurant on Denman. It seems we often eat Greek when Lynne and Joel visit.



It was a complete day by the time we got back here to New Westminster.

Friends from Washington

It seemed like a race. At the end of class, I got a text from Lynne saying that she and Joel were waiting in line at the border. I wondered whether they'd get to New Westminster before or after me. I got back and had not even washed my face by the time the doorbell rang. These friends had come up for two nights from Washington.

None of us had eaten and it was already 2 pm. Jay had, fortunately, put together Sri Lankan lamprais that only needed to be heated in the oven. It was a perfect and filling late lunch. After that and one of my stout beers we knew we had to get moving or we'd end up napping. A walk would be good. We walked up to Queen's Park first. The goats in the petting zoo were happy to see us.



We walked to Sixth and Sixth for a quick ice coffee, down to New Westminster Station to check to see what movies were on at the cinema, and then back. This jaunt was longer than my usual uptown walks. We had a pleasant evening.

Tracking Down Siglinda

I'm pretty sure the whole purpose of my eJournal and images is to allow me an Internet version of my own gigantic scrapbook. I guess I should arrive at some definitive purpose for this blog as it's now approaching ten years of daily entries! I do know time and distance used to allow memories to slowly dissolve. An occasional incomplete misty fragment had to be left wanting as there was no means to refresh it. No way existed to revive a concrete image of little snippets of things gone by.

I somehow found my 2005 entry in which I first posted a photo from the 80's. Today, I added it to The Harbor Gameroom's Facebook page as it also contained old friends, Bret and Joel. I noted the title and wondered if I could find out more.

An exhaustive Net search for Siglinda Steinfuller turned up little, but here's the scoop. I remembered the name and was pretty sure pinup posters were a marketing campaign for a beer company. Eventually, although it required a substantial amount of image editing, I'm proud to present this:


She was the Dean of Beer. People, I guess, drank Schlitz in 1977. This was the year I was a college freshman. By 1982 Schlitz had been sold to Stroh Brewery Company. I'm not sure how effective Schlitz was in increasing college beer sales with these posters, but I recall them being a big hit in male dorm rooms. The legal drinking age, back then, was 18. Siglinda Steinfuller was probably the most popular girl on campus that fall.

Wanna Dollar Absolutely Free?

So far I've mentioned Bitcoin three times in this blog, two of those times occurring this month. Here's another as things that catch my attention end up showing up on these pages. I can't say the time correlates exactly, but my head-space definitely affects what ends up in my eJournal and images.

It took a lot of research before I got excited about Bitcoin. Now I want to share the concept with others. It is in my best interest to get more people involved. The word-of-mouth aspects of the alternative currency helps to grow its user-base and raise the value of coins accordingly. Actually, it's just hard having a hobby or interest that one cannot share with others!

Due to this, I made an offer to friend Joel Thomas that I'd send him a buck if he took the time to open a Bitcoin wallet. He said he might when he gets a bit of extra time. Now, I'd like to throw it open to any current friend on Facebook.

Give me a wallet address and I'll send one person the equivalent of a US dollar gratis. Of course it has to be the current value which, in fact at the time of the writing, turns out to be 0.01290000 bitcoins. Come and get 'em while they're hot. First come, first serve. Some restrictions apply.

We're Not Talking Molehills Here!

I'm on Joel Thomas' mailing list. Rather than Facebooking, using a camera phone and email is often his way of sharing events with family and friends. Today, I thought I'd share one which I received. It shows currently burning wildfires taken from I-90 between Cle Elum and Ellensburg.



The land across southern BC somewhat mimics the terrain of Washington State. We're much larger, as my province extends all the way over to the Rockies. That mountain range actually forms the border with Alberta, our neighbour. Still going west means moving from a very wet climate to the relative dryness of the Okanagan. It takes just a number of hours to drive from coastal rainforest to Canada's only true desert.

The type of fire above is common for people on the other side of the mountains here too. We can even track what's burning at the current time from this provincial government website. It may seem weird to people from back east to know that there are folks who live with the threat of fire nearly every summer.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Some people call this area "Hollywood North" because of the large number of movies and TV shows that are shot in the Lower Mainland. My city of New Westminster, BC has also had a starring role in a great many of these. This fact is somewhat hidden as the more generic "Vancouver" is often entered under the locations listed at IMDb.

When we're watching TV, we often play a kind of "Is that...?" game.

As a creative industry, it must be beneficial to have filming for the province. I often see catering trucks parked at the lot near Tipperary Park. So, as well as technical folks needed for the production, additional jobs are created.

One other interesting effect is that the old shops along Front Street's Antique Alley offer items to rent for movie shoots. Looking for an antique typewriter or a stuffed moose? What about a retro b&w television? Today, I took a look around one shop and realized even things from my college days are now classed as antiques!



I had to snap this photo. Joel, my friend, has to let me know the brand of the receiver that he had in college. Is that what we called them, or did we say stereos? I'll email him this link. I seem to remember one that looked an awfully lot like this vintage Yamaha from somewhere.

Electricity from the City

Every two months we get an electricity bill. Seeing how I live in British Columbia, many would expect that it comes from BC Hydro. Yet, I have to settle my bill by paying my own city. New Westminster has an electrical utility and has since 1891.

I was thinking about the advent of home electricity use and the historical implications of current systems. By email, I have been following a friend's successful installation of solar panels in Washington State. All excess power that he generates must be purchased back by the grid. I didn't know which utility would service his area between Ellensburg and Yakima. Before emailing, I searched on the Net and came across the acronym, PUD, for the very first time. Hum. The location of the Public Utility Districts must be relevant to historical population characteristics in the state in the early part of the last century.



Here's the building with the array on one side of the roof. Incidentally, we're going down to visit and stay a weekend at their semi-desert house in about ten days.



It now seems a nice tradition to go for a three-day weekend during the summertime. Here's the pool in August of 2009.

Greetings from Vancouver!

Lynne and Joel made it up late yesterday afternoon. It was a nice evening and we managed to get going fairly early this morning. We took the SkyTrain downtown and just walked around the Waterfront for a bit. Then we boarded the Canada Line, got off at King Edwards, and waited a few minutes for Bus #15. We walked up the hill from 33rd to the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park.

Yesterday's weather was stunningly beautiful and tomorrow's promises to be. Today, however, has been rather typical for December. It was cold and there was a relatively steady, misty drizzle for most of the day. So I guess it was a suitable day for the planned trip to the dome. We were inside for quite some time.



After, we were getting hungry and it was getting rather late for lunch. We went back to the bus stop and went all the way downtown on the north bound bus. We got off at Davie Street and made it to Stepho's for a Greek lunch at around 2:00. It was a return visit as last year we did the same. One thing that I did differently today was to order the moussaka rather than my usual souvlaki. Good all around.

Later, I wanted to see the German Christmas market but we ended up saving the $5 admission and just walking through the stunning Vancouver Public Library, the T&T Asian Supermarket by the Stadium/Chinatown SkyTrain station, and International Village Mall. There were no movies we were very interested in seeing, so we just had coffee and came back to New Westminster. Of course it gets dark at around four o'clock on a day like this.

Very pleasant time, even though the weather was rather uncooperative. This is, after all, Vancouver in December. We have learned to love it, mostly.

Coming North for the Tropics

Friends, Lynne and Joel, are coming up from Washington state next weekend. It's a bit of a tradition arranging a few trips a year to see each other. Jay and I were down for their son's graduation from college in the spring. It's their turn to drive up here.

I asked Lynne what we should plan for activities on Saturday and she suggested we try something "Christmassy" (Or should that be "Christmasish"?) I will leave some of the options open and let 'em decide after they get here.

I did think of a great way to spend at least one hour though. I had to look in this blog to see when we last visited Bloedel Conservatory in Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park. I found that Jay and I visited during the week between Christmas and New Years last year. I'm pretty sure 2010, after connecting with VanDusen Gardens, was the first year it was decorated for Christmas. I'd love walking into the humid, tropical environment under a 70-foot, triodetic dome on any cold day. Even if one spends an hour inside, it really feels like a mini-vacation. I guess that might be because I like vacations wherever verdant banana trees grow. In addition, seeing all the lights and poinsettias is a bonus this month.

And actually, I want to see if my friend is still there.

The Three Amigos

Bret, Joel, and I were at Joel's house between Ellensburg and Yakima Washington this weekend in recognition of Ben Thomas's college graduation. There were many people and lots of food and drink. It was a great afternoon for photos.

You see, the three of us have known each other forever (which, in case you weren't aware, was 1976). That's the year Joel moved to Sunapee, New Hampshire to join us in high school. During college days, having the Harbor Gameroom in common strengthened the friendship that continues to this very day. Even fate would guarantee that we live within 250 miles of each other, although we're on the opposite side of the continent from where the friendship was struck.

I think Bret figures we need to step up the frequency of our Three Amigo shots. I also think I know why. I agree with the idea of taking the shots more frequently as years pass. We don't have the chance to meet often but when we do the camera must come out. The lapse between the original group shots was nearly twenty years. We were still young. Then, it was only twice per decade. I don't see much change there. But this time, it has only been a little less than two years between photographic evidence.

We must continue often so future changes don't become too startling; you know, I'm just thinking about upcoming wrinkles and all. Perhaps every pose from now on should occur at a greater and greater distance from the lens too. Eventually, perhaps, I'll need to do a little photoshopping to conceal the ravages of time. But at the moment, I think we all still look marvelous!

2011


2009


2004


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1980