Monthly Archive for November, 2007

Humidity shock

Just got back home. Yikes! The culture shock not so bad since buying the Angus combo meal with poutine upgrade at YVR airport Burger King (BTW, the most expensive lunch of our trip!) got me prepared for slow service shock, but this humidty and heat! Guaranteed if i had bought some Tim Horton’s doughnuts to bring back, they would have turned into a gooey mess by the time I reached the end of the jetway.

Anyway, it was a very good trip. Good way to start the season, with a trip just long enough to get the legs going, but not enough to burn them totally out. We were pretty hardcore flying the redeye on Wednesday, catching Whistler Taxi on arrival early Thursday morning, checking into hotel, and hitting the slopes right then. Come back for more details here later. In addition to Dave’s hints, watch for Fabio and Root, the “powder” poaching pirates, and dammit, why’s it start totally snowing when we’re leaving?! It’s sure to be a 10cm or more flu day tomorrow in Whistler! I’m sure 1cm accumulated during the time we waited for the Perimeter Express van.

Thanksgiving Snow

I got back from Whistler last night from a long weekend of snowboarding.  Root, Fabio, and myself flew up on Wednesday night and hit the slopes on Thursday morning.  I rode on Friday and Saturday and flew back on Sunday in order to make it in to work this morning.  Root and Fabio come back tonight.

Conditions were fairly good for opening week, with a little under a meter (39-inches) of accumulated snow.  There were a few secret stashes here and there, but the marked runs were scraped down to the icy substrate by Saturday afternoon, especially toward the bottoms, or on the green runs back to the lifts.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

Dining was good as usual, but the fall of the USD versus the CAD made things hurt a little all around.  I got $0.93 CAD per $1 USD when I converted.

Expect more in future posts, like:

Los Luchadores!

“Viva La Mexico!” …(bam-bam-bam) “Security!”

Last Tracks

Jibtastic 

Where the heck are my socks?

Why is it that every time I need my socks I cannot find them?  Its not like I dont have enough socks.  I end up buying socks every time I cant find them.  There should be at least a dozen pairs of techincal socks in my house.

This again lead to a frantic packing session!  I hope I got all of it!  If I missed someting important because of the distraction of hunting madly for socks, I’m gonna be really grouchy.

Ignorance

Wow, I completely ignored the cars today. Except for going outside and looking under them. Sheesh, leakyness. The FX is leaking from one of the transaxle output seals. The AE86 is no longer leaking from the steering because all the fluid is gone, but I see it looks like it’s leaking from the transmission output also. Well, I’ll just ignore them for a little longer, gotta take care of the snowboard!

Car-ma, Random Tightness

Well, the parking brake is still acting strange, the tightness changes randomly, but it works. It was good enough to pass safety so everything’s all legal now. Still lots of work to do, but at least all the paperwork is taken care of, whew.

Car-ma, Too Tight!

Last night decided to try & fix the parking brake on the FX. Went over to the donor and pulled off the piston assembly. Something seems to be wrong with the cylinder adjuster on it, doesn’t move. The new FX, other than munched boots, and a missing lock pin, seems to work fine. Odd. I start messing with it and finally figure out that the problem is that the brake cable is too tight! The brake needs to release tension all the way in order for the self adjuster to ratchet and… self adjust. Whew, easy fix, and while I was at it I switched rubber boot from the donor. Looks like Saturday will attempt safety again!

Be Cautious of the Car-ma Passed to You

Darn, I had hoped to have the cars legal this weekend and even join in a bike ride. It’s not like I don’t enjoy working on cars, but working on these two cars for the past days kind of wore me down so I didn’t do anything with them tonight.

dscf0533.JPGAnyway, going back to the weekend, after the Saturday fun, I went out to take a closer look at the power steering of the AE86. Cleaned off spooge and ran the car for a bit. Strange, the new hose connections look fine. Don’t see any leakage at all, I figure if the high pressure line is leaking should be seeing some good spray. Continue reading ‘Be Cautious of the Car-ma Passed to You’

Whistler Lite

Monday, 12 November 2007

Time to rideThree XC rides on one long weekend? It’s starting to sound like riding in Whistler! Jeff, Chris, Ckucke, and I hit Maunawili Ditch Trail again on Monday afternoon. It was clear and starry at 0530 when I got up, but by the afternoon, the clouds had rolled in. I would have actually liked to do maybe a Wailuna ride in the early morning, but I didn’t think anyone else was up for that. Even with the overcast sky, there were no signs of rain, so it was all good. It was crazy hot and humid again like on Saturday. Continue reading ‘Whistler Lite’

Doppler Ride

Saturday, 10 November 2007

Manana IslandThe blue sky of yesterday afternoon continued into Saturday. Ckucke called me to say that Jeff had called him and said Atomman got rained on in Waimanalo on his road ride in the morning. Also citing Doppler radar information indicating continued rain in the area, Jeff, Sara, and Chris were opting out. I went outside and it was indeed overcast over the Pali area, even though a bright noontime sun hung in the cloud-spotted sky above Kaneohe. Ckucke and I agreed to give it a chance and hit the trails. Continue reading ‘Doppler Ride’

Weather Relief

Friday, 09 November 2007

Last weekend’s thunderstorm and the continued heavy rain persisting through the beginning of the week kept me indoors and off the bike. The rain had subsided by Wednesday, but a late drizzle and dark skies put a damper on riding by the time I got home. I managed to get home fairly early on Friday. The sun was still above the mountains and was challenging the mixed clouds for dominance, but there were no hints of rain. Gearing up, I went out on my normal loop. Continue reading ‘Weather Relief’