Post Moving Day...

Well, we have moved to White Rock on the 23rd.  Burnaby is no longer our home and we have opted for a more traditional ocean-side villa as well as eliminating the need to cross any bridges to get to work.

With Herculean efforts from my parents as well as good Ole Faithful, El Matador Gigante and his big muscles and over-worked brain, we got most of it moved in one day.  It was my first time driving a 5-ton truck.  At first, when I saw the truck I thought that it was WAY to large.  When the lady at the rental place showed it to me I gaped - then when she showed me the cavernous cargo hold I thought for sure that all of our stuff was not going to fit even HALF of it - turns out...  The truck was a beast to drive; it was  5 - ton truck, 16 or 24 feet long.  With all of our stuff and some poor packing in anticipation of all of the space, it filled the truck and we had to put a few of our bikes in the RAV4.  It was a long day of moving.


Today, we took a break from moving a went for a walk.  I wanted to explore a new area so we went to a park that was on Google maps.  It had some stairs that went down to the beach through a ravine (not so much a ravine, but it was pretty steep, I guess).  It was a good reaffirmation of our decision to move down here.  We can't wait until summer and when El Matador Gigante comes down and we can have some mad wrestling matches.

Walking down the beach - we found some sand at low tide!

Jenn and my mom walking on the train tracks.

My Dad noticed this event etched in sand - a clam meeting it's demise at the hands of a seagull or two...

I'm too lazy to flip this around - tilt your head! Sunset.

B.C. - 2nd Highest Drinking Rate in Canada

I would like to quell all the rumours that may arise about B.C. having the second highest drinking rate in Canada:

It is pure coincidence that after Jenn & I and Michael & Courtenay moved to B.C. that this increase in BC's drinking rate happened.  We are in no way responsible for the increase.

Please do not propagate these untruths.

Sittin' on a Patio

It didn't occur to me that we were sitting on a patio tonight at a restaurant while people in Calgary were told to stay at home unless they had to leave.  Then Marco Polo posted some documentation of the current blizzard events in Lethbridge...

Not only were we sitting on a patio, but we further deluded ourselves by going to a Jamaican restaurant:

Of course, Lethbridge will soon see balmy temperatures if history has anything to say about it - and everyone will be wandering about in their shorts and T-shirts...

No more Sugar Momma...

After a little more than 2 months of having a Sugar Momma to support my sewing habits, I have secured some employment.  It is only the privilege of substituting, but after wandering the desert that was education employment, a particularly arid time these days, I am elated and it should lead to easier opportunities within the school division.

I am going to miss my days of watching the Cosby Show and Magnum P.I. (throw in a dash of Matlock every now and then).  True, I did do most of the grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning but no babies as I am unable to produce them, what with the lack of a womb!

Halloween (Halloween??)

I've been meaning to post about our adventures to a Haunted House that we went to just before Halloween.  Crazily enough, it was at a private house on Dunbar Street.  I had no idea what to expect but "El Matador Gigante" had heard that it was quite frightening.  It was a very rainy night - not drizzling but coming down pretty hard.  When we got there, the line wound around the block, half way down the other side.  People were standing there, many without umbrellas.  So, we figured that it must be good and decided that we would brave the line (we live in Vancouver, that's just the way it is...).  Hopefully we weren't just waiting to get to something that wasn't worth it (like when Bart & Lisa joined a queue at an amusement park thinking that it must have been something good because it was a huge line up - it ended up being a line up for the complaint department...)

We waited for an hour or so.  I thought that we would have to pay but it ended up being a donation.  It was really good.  I don't scare easily, but when we entered the clown room, well, there's nothing scarier than clowns...

The images above were from http://www.dunbarhauntedhouse.com

They had live actors dressed up in some really good costumes and masks.  The one guy who came by had an awesome mask, taller than ST or I and deep, booming voice - he was just there to tell us that it would only take an hour to get through the line!  The scarier Line-Visitor was a short little clown that would not say anything and just stand in front of you with some sort of weapon, I can't remember what it was.  Apparently this year they raised $42,300 for the three charities they donate to.

Check it out: Dunbar Haunted House, 2008 Gallery

More news to come, need to keep up with Marko Polo...

Sewing Info

This is for any of you that are considering finding some sort of project to sew... OK maybe only for a select few...OK, maybe mostly for Marco Polo...

If you are looking for stuff, I have rated the following in accordance to goodness for outdoor gear & clothing:

The best:

1. Shelby (Finland) - http://www.shelby.fi/catalog/default.php, are prompt with orders and have the best selection for supplies out of any online place (or any sewing place in Vancouver)
2. Thru Hiker (US) - http://thru-hiker.com/projects/index.php, have a lot of free stuff and not just for sewing
3. Seattle Fabrics - http://www.seattlefabrics.com/, they are OK, good enough to make the top list

Mediocre:

1. "Make Your Own Gear" - http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html, can't buy stuff but they have a lot of plans for making all sort of things for the outdoors
2. Quest Outfitters  (FL) - http://www.questoutfitters.com/, have a lot of stuff, but not much good in terms of patterns (you can find the patterns anywhere) 

I'm working on trying to get special fabrics through dealers...wonder if that will work...

Sewing Project (Part Final)

Finished!!

It took me a while to design my cuffs, more specifically how I was going to insert the straps along with adding cuffs that added to the length.

I drew up a pattern after some experimentation:

Unfortunately the cuffs were to narrow to fit an easily sewable strap so I inserted a strap between the sleeve seam and the cuff seam:

There was enough room to fit the other velcro piece on the cuff though:

This was actually one of the more satisfying things because I made it from scratch as opposed to just following the pattern.  The pattern was good, that's why my final product is good!!  The cuff adjustment I am pretty happy with.

Then the very last sewing bit was securing the hood adjustment cord so that the brim would sit flat no matter how tight you tightened the hood:

You can see the black dots.

I never showed the hem adjustment system, which is pretty interesting:

The black fabric is the pocket and the cord comes from the hem, up a tube and then to the pocket - that's where you adjust your waist.  Keeps the cord out of the way.

Here's a bit of a close up:

All that is left now is aesthetic stuff, and that's just for the inside so I probably won't be too worried about it...

Next project will be a down jacket I think.  The one I have is old and a little bit too big for me and could compress down a lot smaller.  I'm going to order a kit:

http://thru-hiker.com/kits/whitney_kit.php

$115US for 800+ fill down and ultralite fabric - for my size it should weigh about 292 grams (~1/3 kg) or .65 lbs and keep me nice and toasty warm at -30C.  For perspective, a loaf of raisin bread is 570g and a package of 12 hot dog buns is 500g...  I'll probably attach a hood to it as well.

It's for those times when it bottoms out to -11C here...those are cold nights...

Twigg & Hottie

Well, I was walking down Main Street the other day after buying some stuff for my jacket when I came across this sign on the sidewalk:

**link to person's page who took this photo**

I never took this picture (I had trouble taking the picture files off of my phone, with which I took a couple of pictures with, for various reasons).

I figure though that it perfectly describes my union with Jenn...well, maybe not as true as with Maureen and Kristin!

Here is an image-altered picture (I chose not to use "photoshopped" - should have used "GIMPed" actually):

If Maureen and Kristin would like me to create their own, just let me know!!

Sewing Project (Part VII) - ALMOST done!!

I've been busy lately and the next steps for completing the jacket were a little finicky so I put it off a little bit.  The jacket looks good, but if you look close enough you'll see some oddities, on the inside for sure! I didn't really care about the inside though, I just wanted it complete.  For you video game players - do you know how it feels when you are trying to complete one particular part of a level and it takes you try after try?  Each time there is some finicky part that if you don't do it just right you plummet to your death and have to start all over again, and then once you pass THAT finicky part there is yet another!  That's what some parts of the jacket were like, so when I got through a "level" and it wasn't quite perfect, but still good, I stuck with it!

(ASIDE:  I have to admit, there are a lot of benefits for playing video games.  Tetris for geometric visualization (and challenging it by going faster), all sorts of other games for perseverance and basically practicing until you are  good enough, etc.  Keep that in mind parents...)

Here are a couple of pictures.  The only thing that I have left are the cuffs, speaking of finicky.  Making straps with the fabric that I am using is stretchy.  This made sewing the non-stretch zippers with the stretch fabric difficult and the smaller details, such as the straps, harder to keep precise (see the top-stitching around the zippers for an example of both).  You can also see a mismatch on the hem because of the inner zipper flap being on a little crooked (another zipper-fabric instance) and therefore the mismatch.  I may do it over, it's not that hard to do so, but, it works and people won't notice it unless they are closely inspecting it.

Anyway, enough talk, here are a couple of pics:

Sewing Project (Part VII)

I was going to wait until I was finished everything but it is taking longer than I expected. I have all of the necessary finishing pieces ("notions") but the webbing to attach the cord-locks that I bought is just too thick so I need to go buy some new stuff.  And again, like the zippers, I need to sew these into the hood and most, if not all, the rest of the finishing depends on me having that finished.  Here are some pictures of the assembled jacket though without any finishing.  I still need to finish the main zipper and I only have the hood brim pinned to the hood (that's what needs the cord-locks installed).  I also have the hem of the waist and the cuffs to finish.  I could do that actually...

Apple Picking

We went to Abbotsford Sunday to go pick some apples.  Unlike the Okanagan Valley though, we did not find "U-pick kittens"...

It was a beautiful day at the Willow View Farm, it made for a lovely afternoon.

There were many varieties of apples, many I had not heard of before.  They were $0.60/pound, which apparently is a good price (shows how much I buy apples/pay attention to prices...).  All of the askew posts marked the name of the apples that were in that row.  If you click on the pictures above for a larger view you should be able to see the names and the apples on the trees.  It is clearer in the picture below:

Apparently you are allowed to graze, "to test out how the apples taste" apparently (so says SDT).  I never did see that written anywhere, mind you, there are only so many apples you can eat in the small amount of time that you are there.  We were sharing apples to taste them and we were all promptly full and had the "apple-sweats" as we lumbered along to gather our final pickings. Jenn beautifully demonstrates the eating of the apples below:

Our final haul.

There were also a few, very large, pumpkin patches with many different varieties of pumpkins:

 

The patch with the "Do Not Disturb" sign were very large, I think that Jenn or I could've sliced it open and snuggled up inside enabling them to survive a blizzard on Hoth...no need for Tauntauns! (I had to look that up)

We also figured out that Jenn was worth about $2 as a pumpkin (only for her head though).

Combining the information from the above picture and the one below is proof that Jenn is not a Knuckle-Head though...

Not only fun, but now we have yummy apples to eat!

Over and out.

Sewing Project (Part VI)

I sewed the side seam together and now I have something that actually looks like a jacket.

I now need to sew the hood on, the front zipper and other finishing including the cuff.  I'm not sure which type to do.

The following type seems to be traditionally done on all of the outdoor technical jackets that I have with velcro straps. (I'm going to sew in a velcro tightening strap)

This next cuff is traditionally done on most types of other, seemingly "non-technical" type clothing.  It is an extra strip of fabric sewed on to the end of the sleeve.

My only worry with the first one is that it will shorten the sleeve length too much.  On the other hand, the second one will make it too long and maybe not as robust?  But if the cuff wears out, I can easily replace it then...

Anybody know what I'm talking about and have their own preferences?

Sewing Project (Part V)

The sleeves are on....

1st Pic: Sleeve shoulder seam + dart

2nd Pic: Whole jacket together

3rd Pic: Seams joining at sleeve shoulder seam

Next, the jacket will actually look like a jacket!!

Sewing Project (Part IV)

I have put the sides on the jacket last night.  Next posting will show a jacket without any of the finishing or the hood. Though, I'm hoping that there aren't any parts that are slightly off and therefore requiring me to take some pieces apart!

Sewing Project (Part III)

Like I said, it wouldn't take long after I finished the zippers.  I finished this stuff this evening...