Last sunday, breakfast was interesting. While devouring the eggs and bacon, we had some nice road-side entertainment in the form of a Triathlon. It made up for those week long road closures around my building. A few weeks ago, Amy did some cycling in Stanley Park as well. In the picture you see her with our friend Slavica in the elevator, getting the bikes down to the street.
Tijdens onze succesvolle vlucht verrast met een mededeling van de cockpit dat NL met 3-0 gewonnen heeft.....geweldig zelfs de stewardessen in het oranje... dat is nog eens een voorbereiding.
I went to Whistler on Victoria day. Victoria day is a national holiday, which means a Monday off. Whistler is a nice resort in the mountains, and will be a primary venue for the Olympics. It is a 90 minute drive from the city. While driving up the mountain, we saw a bear at the side of the road. This was my first bear sighting. It's pretty amazing to see, wandering around so close to civilization. In the city centre, just outside my apartment building, I got to see skunks, raccoons and squirrels. But the bear beats them all.
For the first time ever, a Dutchman won the 24 hours of le Mans for motorbikes. Congratulations to Barry Veneman. See the press release of his team. And what do you know... he did it on my bike! This means that the GSXR1000 is officially the fastest production motorcycle in real-life conditions.
This morning I picked her up. I was a little concerned whether the insurance guy would let me register and insure it on my Dutch license, but he did. Convincing him that I am a very experienced rider, with 14 yrs no claim and 80 percent discount took more effort. In the end he would give me a 40 percent discount instead. Well, at least it is something. I had my Dutch insurance company make a statement in English on my history. Insurance is very expensive over here. Maybe because there are more accidents in Vancouver than in Amsterdam? With the discount, I still had to pay over a 1000 dollars per year for simple liability only. I bought two heavy duty chain locks. In addition to this, I bought the most expensive motorcycle alarm that I could find. It even has a 2 way radio connection. If someone touches my bike I will be notified if I am in a 1 mile radius. I will have to get a baseball bat or a gun to deal with the low lives that try to take away this baby.
What an amazing story. According to the Dutch Justice Department, it is impossible for Americans to get asylum in the Netherlands. Yet, one woman with her children is the living proof that it has been done. Her daughter tells the story. Sadly, the Dutch neighbour was browsing the FBI website 14 years later, and called in the feds. It must have been the reward money or maybe he did not like his neightbours?
No, I have not yet acquired a motorcycle here in Canada. Yet, my special order from the United States has arrived. My Landyachtz Spud longboard has now a new set of wheels. The quadline wheels have a larger diameter, but are much more narrow. They look more like inline-skate wheels, than skateboard wheels. The diameter and tyre width make it that they have very little friction. Also, I removed the spacers, so that even though wheel diameter increased, ride height has been lowered. It was a bit of an experiment, but it paid off. I get some really smooth sailing now on my board. And silent running on some top notch ceramic bearings.
What do a maglev train and a San Francisco cable car have in common? More than you would initially think. Conventional motorized transport, be it a ship, motorcycle, automobile, train, or aeroplane, all have one thing in common. All those vehicles lug around their own engine. Why not leave the engine behind, and just move the coach and useful cargo? And that's exactly what a cable car does. The engine stays put on top of the hill. No energy is wasted in moving it about. The same goes for the maglev, where the engine is essentially the magnetized track. So when I was attending Sony's Game Tech Conference 2008 in San Francisco, I wanted to take a closer look at the Cable Car. I did not see the cables, and was puzzled. But I think the cables are below ground, and not above, where I expected them to be. Unfortunately, I did not get to ride the car.
What an experience last night! My boss had a spare ticket for the Elans award ceremony. It is the Canadian counterpart for the Oscars, targeted to Games and Animation. Slant Six had two nominations. And the ceremony was hosted by Seth McFarlane. He is the creator of Family Guy. Since I moved to Canada, I have been watching a lot of Family Guy, and have become a fan of the show. I was excited to attend this. I dressed up as good as I managed, as it was formal dress. Luckily I brought my bow-tie from the Netherlands. I managed to get a cab, which is always tricky in Vancouver if it rains during rush hour. When I arrived at the venue, my cab pulled up behind a limo. So when the greeter opened my cab door, and welcomed me, I was right behind some celebrities, and got to walk the red carpet in style. There were a lot of photographers, and the flashes went off. I don't think they were aiming for shots of me though. Heh Heh. Cool stuff!
Gisteravond hebben we de Vancouver Opera bezocht. Er was een uitvoering van L'italiana in Algeri. Het was mijn eerste opera bezoek. Met boventitels was het goed te volgen. Ik heb me goed vermaakt, alhoewel ik niet had verwacht dat de humor zo simpel zou zijn. Maar zoals Goran al zei: Sommige operas werden voor de keizer geschreven, maar andere operas voor het volk. Voor Goran en Slavica was het extra bijzonder, want ze zijn nu een jaar getrouwd.
Too much fun! After playing some Forza Motorsports at Goran's I went home at midnight. As always, I commute by longboard, but tonight it was snowing. Hmm... skateboarding on the deserted streets of downtown vancouver at midnight. Simply too much fun. It was a good night, winning the poker game again at work. I won the 2007 season of Poker at Slant Six by the way. They fear me now. Tonight was primarily luck though, not skill. I just kept getting dealt really good hands.
