Kayaks in Deep Cove

I recently went on a kayak trip with Amy and my colleagues Sandro and Goran. We rented some kayaks at Deep Cove. The kayak always reminds me of the classic Monty Python joke: what is the similarity between American beer and making love in a canoe? You can find the answer on youtube's recording of Monty Python at the Hollywood bowl (1982).

Anyway, back to the kayaks. It was a strenuous undertaking for which I did not have the upperbody strength. It was still fun though. T

he kayaks were fitted with a rudder, quite similarly operated as aircraft controls, which made things a little easier. I think rowing would suit me better, as it leverages your leg muscles, not just arm and torso.

Flying a home-built aeroplane

Yesterday, I had a flight scheduled on my regular C-ISLA sportstar aeroplane. It turned out that it had a brake-defect and it was grounded. My instructor, Sebastien, was so kind to take me to a grass strip at King George. He gave me a flying lesson in a Rans S-6S COYOTE II home-built ultra light aeroplane. I raced his Dodge Hemi on my Suzuki from Boundary Bay airport to the grass strip. I finally had a use for the 6th gear on my bike.

The Rans S-6S is quite a difference from the sportstar. Sebastien calls the latter a Cadillac. It has leather seats, glass cockpit, gps, and all the comfort in the world. Now the Rans.... is different. I had a good laugh about the duct tape on it. I kid you not: there is duct tape on the end of the wing. Heh heh ...

Landing this plane on a little grass strip is a lot more difficult than landing a sportstar on a long and wide stretch of tarmac. But it was fun none the less. I did not perform very well, but it was nice to buzz the bald eagles. It's very easy to hit a bald eagle when flying in the Vancouver area. There were lots of them around, hanging around right above the airstrip.

Royal decoration for my mother

Today, my mother was inducted into the order of Oranje-Nassau. This royal order is headed by our Queen Beatrix. My mother was distinguished for a life of volunteer work. The regalia were pinned on her chest by the mayor of Heemskerk. Each year, a day before the official Queen's day holiday, a lot of people are distinguished this way. I am very proud of my mother. It's nice to see that volunteer work does not go unnoticed.

Sayonara Nihon

Our Japan trip has ended. It was so full of impressions, it is hard to comprehend. Amy was doing pretty well with the Japanese. I was at least able to thank the locals in their native tongue. I was a big hit with the girls from the Onsen staff when I used my Japanese.

We managed to pack in a lot of Japanese culture in our three weeks there. We rode the bullet train, we ate the octopus, we visited Buddha's, we stayed in the ryokan, we soaked in the Onsen, we did the rotemburo, we watched the fashion victims, we bathed in neon, we drank Sapporo beer, we fed the deer, we used the vending machines, we stayed in a love-hotel in the red light district, we admired the blossoms, we experienced Tokyo, Niirita, Oga, Sapporo, Hokodate and Osaka. And my favorite: we went to "Canadian World": the relict of a bankrupt theme park that actually hired Canadians to portrait Canadian life. The theme park was doomed to fail, but it is still there, now a ghost town. I felt like a social archeologist. It was truly fascinating stuff.

Today we left Narita airport, taking off from runwy 16R and we landed 8.5 hrs later on Vancouver's runway 8L. The trip west was faster then the trip east, due to winds.

Bram and amy are in tokio

We made it to tokio. We landed on runway 17 of narita. The pilot took a big detour. We are staying in asakusa district. It is pretty awesome. Today we saw the imperial castle and the electronics district. Nobody in japan leaves his wifi open btw. Tomorrow we take the train up north.

Vancouver Auto Show

I visited the Vancouver Auto Show today with Goran and Auday. After nearly two years, I finally sat down behind the wheel of a Chevy Camaro again. It felt nice to be in a muscle car again. It's pretty affordable too, as the V8 model, with a big ass 6.2L engine starts at 40K Canadian dollar. I guess some people think there is plenty of oil left in the ground. Also the Dutch pride was present (Spyker). I still think it has the best looking interiour of all the cars. The exposed gear linkages are a brilliant touch. The website of the show lead me to believe that the new Ferrari California would be there. However, there was only one Ferrari present, a dark 599. Also there is a big community of electric car owners in BC. A lot of people convert there petrol car to an electric car. They were showing off their conversions on the exhibition floor.

Despite all the nice cars on the floor, I am not considering getting one here. I used to think that the Netherlands had the most anti-car government. It's just my luck that Canada is worse. I picked up just one speeding ticket in a year, but ICBC is already threatening me, and want me to enroll in a driver improvement program. Are they kidding me? And then there are the insane insurance premiums. No, car owners do not have it easy here.

So that's what it's like!

Yesterday I had 0 fillings in my mouth. When I was in the army at age 23, I still had perfect teeth. From then on I stopped going to the dentist. 15 years later I saw one again, in Vancouver. He helped me heal my gums, and then started work on the decay. As of this morning, I have 8 fillings in my mouth, and a whole lot less dollars on in the bank :-) I hope the insurance will repay most of it. I was quite nervous, but did not feel much because of the anesthetic. So now I know what it is like to have a drill to your teeth.

Flying for minimalists

As Douglas Adams said: "Humans always wanted to fly like the birds, but it is easy... it is just a nack! You simply throw yourself to the ground as hard as possible, and you make sure you miss."

I really like the minimalist approach to flying. No radio, no air traffic control, no certifications, no expensive maintenance after every 50h of use....


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

These clogs were made for walking

Wow... I used to be so blond. This is during a visit, in the early 70s to a clog maker. You can see the raw wood that my little clogs were made of. It was somewhere in my native Holland, but I do not know which town or city. Maybe my parents remember.

Police Radar

Ouch! And that was the first one. In Lelystad I was quite familiar with police radars and speeding fines. I payed up the fun-tax, and once even took a case to court. Because I was in Canada at the time, I could not be present myself. It was a 40 euro fine or something, but the speed camera showed two vehicles, one of which was my motorcycle.
The judge must have been sleeping, because in his verdict he was referring to my car. It was was my car that was going too fast. Hello.... I was on a motorcycle! However, Dutch bureaucracy sucks all the energy out of you, and I left it at that. What a joke. The judge did not even read my defense letter.
Back to Canada... this morning a police officer stopped me. He did not get a good reading on his radar, but estimated my speed. I was fortunate that his estimate was low. He gave me the lowest possible speeding fine (138 dollar).
The real venom is in the insurance though: one more offense, and I will be paying more insurance premium. ICBC is the only institution who can legally insure you in BC, and they can tack on up to 24000 dollars to your insurance bill. I think my speeding days are now finally over. I give in. I cannot beat the system. I guess I no longer have any use for a 170hp motorcycle, other than stripping out the engine, and putting it in a small aircraft.

Just for Gags.

I am a big fan of Just for Gags, from Montreal, Quebec. I always wanted to be pranked by those people. My friends did one on me at my birthday party. And for two seconds, they had me convinced that my application for permanent residency was denied, and I was to be deported if I did not respond in 30 days.

Slapend geld verdienen

De afgelopen tijd is er een ware revolutie aan de gang op het gebied van software publicatie. Men spreekt er van dat de software markt gedemocratiseerd is. Wat is namelijk het geval? Apple heeft de markt compleet op zijn kop gezet. De gewone man kan nu software verkopen op Apple's appstore. Apple regelt alles voor je omtrent de wereldwijde verkoop, tegen een redelijke provisie. De auteur behoeft slechts de applicatie aan te leveren, en kan vervolgens achterover leunen. Ook ik heb een tweetal applicaties in de verkoop op Apple's appstore.
En daarmee heb ik er een nieuwe verslaving bij. Elke ochtend als ik wakker wordt is het eerste wat ik doe surfen naar Apple's website. Dit doe ik om mijn verkoop rapporten te lezen. Rijk wordt ik er nog niet van, maar het feit dat ik nu slapend geld kan verdienen middels royalties is toch wel heel bijzonder.
Mijn eerste applicatie was een vingeroefening in het programmeren van iPhone en gemaakt op verzoek van Amy. Dit is de iNutrient applicatie. De tweede applicatie, iVOR heb ik gemaakt voor de training van piloten (zoals mijzelf) in het gebruik van Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range instrumenten.

Google keeps impressing me

Year after year, Google keeps impressing me with their products. Currently I am heating my home with electricity. This is pretty inefficient and expensive. Look what Google comes up with: a perfect tool. I'm pretty sure I need to buy some hardware to go with it, but I like what I see in the video. When we finally get the flying cars that we have been promised since the 50s, I am pretty sure they will be coming from Google.

Grounded

Today I had a booking for another flight lesson. The weather was pretty grim, but I took off from home to the flight school on my motorbike. When I got there, I was completely soaked. The conditions were what they call Marginal VFR. And VFR means visual flight rules. So I did not go up today. Damn that Vancouver weather. While I was at the school, I did some google mapping. There is a neat aerial shot of our aerodrome. A small aircraft has just taken off from runway 12.


View Larger Map

Flight

Yesterday I had my first flight in C-ISLA, or as we call it "India Sierra Lima". It is a high powered ultra light with state of the art avionics. It was more difficult than I expected. There is so much you need to control simultaneously. If you concentrate on keeping one of altitude, course, airspeed steady, the other two are likely to veer off. I did three approaches on a grass strip and then the instructor landed it back at the base, or CZBB as we call it. Twice I heard the stall warning go off. But this puppy has excess power, as it is the GSX-R of the ultra lights. Most important thing I learned yesterday: the throttle is used to control altitude, not so much your speed. Also, if you "floor" it, the plane yaws to the left and the nose pitches up. The rudder is more dominant than stick (elevator + aileron) control.

Blik op de weg

Toch wel jammer dat ze in Canada geen Koefnoen hebben. Maar ja, grappen over files zullen ze niet snappen hier, want die zijn er niet zo veel. Mijn les vliegtuig is eindelijk gerepareerd: morgen heb ik een vliegles.

Snowed In

We can now consider ourselves as being snowed in. The VW Beetle can no longer leave or enter the parking garage, due to all the snow. And as for the Suzuki GSXR, heh heh... it would be a stunt worthy of airing on the jack ass show.

The first photo shows our apt building as viewed from the Burrard bridge. I marked our apt with a yellow arrow. The second photo shows the entrance at Beach Avenue. It's tricky to keep the apt warm, as it is electrically heated. I think I will add some insulation.

Also, Robbert's Xmas gift arrived today: a Digital Versatile Disc containing spoofs on Star Wars. That is pretty awesome Robbert... Thanks!

White Christmas

I am pretty sure that Vancouver will see a White Christmas this year. The roads are clogged with snow, and day-time temperatures are below zero. It makes driving in the city a tricky business. There are a lot of steep hills down town, and cars are struggling with it. Driving on the highway is easy, but all smaller roads are treacherous. The picture was taken with my iPhone around the corner by our office.

Beat the system: pre-paid iPhone 3G

I consider myself a Libertarian, yet some government laws I can only applaud. In Italy it is illegal to sell a cell-phone that is locked to a provider. In Canada, there is no such law protecting the consumers. This means that if you want an iPhone in Canada, you end up paying more than 3000 dollars in fees to Rogers in 3 years. And that is the best case scenario. It may end up being much much more.

Well, I am happy to announce: I beat the system! I got my iPhone from ebay, imported to the US from Italy. This means that my iPhone (the fancy white one with 3G) will work with any GSM provider. I now have a rare commodity in Canada: an iPhone that works on pre-paid vouchers.

I Sincerely hope that Rogers is punished severely as soon as possible for their nasty business practices. I did my part. I hope the rest of Canada will follow.

The bastardization of Saint Nicholas

Today, the downtown area was closed off by police for the parade of Santa Claus. Santa Claus is a big thing, also in Vancouver. Santa Claus has his origin in the Dutch culture, and is derived from Holland's Saint Nicholas. It found its way into American popular culture through the Dutch Immigrants in New York (or New Amsterdam).

It's a bit sad to see Black Pete replaced by an elf, and the white horse replaced by reindeer. Some interesting trivia: pre-war Holland only had one Black Pete. The Canadian liberators wanted to reinstate the festivities for the Dutch kids. When doing so, they decided to have multiple Black Petes, which is how the festivity is celebrated today.

I guess Dutch culture is a fluid concept. The quick assimilation of the Dutch abroad probably helped in replacing the Saint with Santa.

And on an unrelated subject: I am finally officially licensed to operate a motorcycle on the public roads of British Columbia. My third road-test was successful.