Ok, so the second milestone came sooner then anticipated! Big fun pretty snow storm has hit MTL and the Van is struggling to get excited about it. What it doesn't know yet, is how much awesome Tokyo Drifting fun we're going to have once she decides to start!
Don't remember midnight parking lot madness do ya Dear?
That's ok. We'll jog your memory in a little bit.
First I need to spend the time to write this entry to give you a moment to get ready.
So I come out of Akiva and Shira's place in the lovely Jewish neighborhood that they live in. Walk down the snow covered lane of town houses to see a cute stalky old man struggling to shovel his driveway free of snow. In doing so, he's burring the back end of my Van, covering the exhaust.
I smile to him, and say "Anglais ou Francais" to which he replies "English" in a soft and spry voice.
I ask him if he'd like some help shoveling. He looks at me puzzled for a brief second before jumping at the chance for me to end his misery. I tell him I'll just start the Van and let it warm up first. Then come help. I clear enough snow away from the tail pipe and go try to turn her over.
*click*
The solenoid on the starter does it's "I'm too cold" routine and she doesn't even turn over.
Undaunted, I step outside, and put on my gloves, and walk around to the back of the Van where Mr. Octogenarian is having his way with a tiny spittle of snow. He says to me in the voice of someone who quit smoking 20 years ago, after having smoked for 40, "I only have one shovel".
No problem! I'm young, I can do it much quicker!
"I'm 82" is his reply. So quiet that I think he said 83
83 wow!
"No, 82!" a bit louder, but still mouse-y.
Oh, ok! Well I'm 28! We're opposites!
I take the shovel and we exchange a smile.
The snow is SUPER light and fluffy and I finish his piddly little "urban driveway" in a fraction of the time it takes me to clear my Fathers Suburban sprawling concrete automobilian mecha.
He gives me a very satisfied look when I inquire about the edge of his drive where it meets the neighbors. Motioning with his cream leather gloved hand he says "Straight line, make it a straight line".
Ah yes, make sure you don't shovel any of that good for nothin' neighbors drive!
;^)
So I finish, and our conversation turns to the Van.
"It won't start?"
Won't even turn over, I say. Needs some heat put on the starter.
In my delirium brought on by the sudden physicality of speed shoveling a driveway, I believe myself to be of Herculean strength. I ask him for his shovel, and clean a path for my Van to roll forward. We're on a "hill" that has no more then a 2 degree grade. Barely a hill. But I'm convinced a rolling start is my solution. I clear snow out from around the tires in a fury, and start trying to rock the van back and forth. I'm convinced that each time I push and pull it back and forth (from the open drivers door, one hand on the frame, one on the wheel) that I'm moving it more and more, and that soon, it will take off down the "hill" and I'll roll the engine to life!
The 82 year old new friend who had admired me moments before, now gave me a judgmentally puzzled stare.
"Why are you moving it back and forth?"
I'M GOING TO PUSH IT DOWN THE HILL TO START IT
I yell, as though he's hard of hearing.
"What hill?"
...
...
Slightly embarrassed, if not defeated, I stagger back into the Van. And sit down.
Out of sheer desperation I try the key again.
*click*
nothing
*click*
*click*
*click*
VEERRRRRRUUUUHHH Vruh Vruh Vruh
IT TURNS OVER!!!!
HUZZAH!!!
I hold the key in and pound the pedal to the floor!!!
...
...
Nothing.
Not a fart.
And that brings me to here. The Van will turn over, but won't fire.
In the past, leaving it sit for 30 minutes seemed to solve this problem.
Well, it's sat, and now I'm running out of Blog entry to write. So I'll post this, close my computer, and hope for the best!
If it doesn't start, I'll be calling Emma to cancel lunch, and spell checking this blog entry while I'll I sit and wait some more.
:^D
ADVENTURE!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wrote this while stuck at a Gas Station in Quebec...
Wow, my first "In Van" blog entry!
Well, I'm writing this in the Van. But with no WiFi it will have to wait until later to be posted. So there's another milestone to pass another time; POSTING from the Van. ;^)
But for now, I'll settle for penning the entry in Van.
This entry is born out of necessity. Like most worthy creations. You see, my lack of patience makes it nearly impossible for me to wait without doing SOMETHING. I hate waiting. Can't stand to wait. The first of many life lessons this Van is determined to teach me. Patience. Or is it good time management? The Van is currently stuck, unable to fire up, in the parking lot of a random gas station off the highway in the middle of nowhere-ville Quebec. And the more often I try and turn this key, the worse it is for my poor starter and battery, and the longer I'll be stuck here. The only solution for this problem is to wait a full uninterrupted 20 minutes, and then turn the key with the gas pedal to the floor.
I just finished a hearty dinner, consisting of a fresh apple, some peach yogurt (my fave!) and a freshly made chunky peanut butter sandwich! All courtesy of my Sittie! (lebanese for Grandmother.) No, Sittie didn't MAKE a peanut butter sandwich for her 28 year old Grandson's roadtrip. But she packed me a jar of PB, (empowering me to make my own sandwich!) a loaf of bread, some real butter in a tupperware dish (frozen solid, unable to spread at this juncture) along with all the other fixins a boy like me could EVER ask for. (I didn't ask for any of it. Which makes her gift all the more generous.) Old people are very organized. She and my Giddie have had 55 years of married life to hone, practice, and perfect their daily routines. And they managed to cope with me disrupting that routine for two days VERY swimmingly.
I'm not about to start rhyming off the entire list of things they gave me, as bragging is in bad taste, but lets just say I'm well taken care of.
So back what brings me to a point where I'm writing an blog entry:
The Van.
This Van is doing a VERY wonderful job of getting me through this trip so far. This would be it's third time deciding not to start. Lets rephrase that. This is the third time that my lack of proper maintenance and care has forced the Van to not start. It's not her fault. I'm the one with the flighty and ill prepared ambitions.
Chasing the Sunset.
Or am I running away from having to see the same old Sunrise?
I don't think so.
the PEI sunrises NEVER made me feel BAD. But these last two "on the road" sunsets have invigorated and stimulated parts of my imagination long left dormant!
The Van has been chugging along GREAT! Far exceeding it's pre-concieved speed limitations and keeping me as warm as I could ask for considering I hadn't taken the time to fix the front fan, and have the rear fan all but blocked with my 'things' all jammed up in her hind quarters.
She's drinking her fuel as slowly and as carefully as a girl her age could. Again considering the extra weight I've forced upon her cavernous interior. She's Keeping me right on budget for the trip so far. About the same cost as a plane ticket, but with all of my "things" and a killer view!
But there have been these three times that she's not been able to fire up.
This being the third of those times. And the second one to happen at a remote Gas station. At least the last time the sun was still up. I've pushed the Van into a dark corner of the Gas Station parking lot so it would be out of the way while it rests.
An eerie calm overcomes me now.
The first time it wouldn't start stressed me out. Because it happened at my Grandparents house. It stressed me out for the same reason that my initial departure from PEI stressed me out:
Other people's feelings.
See, this self centric journey of discovery I'm on is at a stage where it's still really affecting the people around me emotionally. People don't want me to leave. They worry. And this in turn worries me.
But here, now, in the middle of nowhere in the Belle Province of Quebec, I sit shivering in my overloaded old pile of steel and bolts, and I smile. Smile as the fog of my breath temporarily obscures my view of my monitor. Smile as my heels freeze in my big winter boots. Smile as I rub my hands together between sentences. Smile as I look at the clock and realize the right amount of time has passed for me to be able to justify sticking the key back in the ignition and trying to start this machine up again.
I smile because it's me. All of it. It's exactly what I envisioned. My imagination willed this into being. And if I can dream up and create this unlikely scenario, then many more of the things I've pictured myself doing will also become a reality.
Scoff at the idiocy of my bliss if you'd like. But it's mine. And soon, when those I love, and that love me, learn to count on themselves to provide the happy release of their own dream fulfillment, and I have only myself to impress and sate, it will be ALL MINE!
The next four months are going to be exciting. They are going to be fun. They are going to be a lot of hard work. But deep down, I know already that I've done the right thing. This Van is going to start when I finish typing this, and it's going to make it to Montreal, then to Ottawa, and finally to Toronto.
Dreams will come true, and new ones will be made. And the ball will only grow bigger and stronger as it rolls forward!
In the word of Stan Lee:
Excelsior!
Well, I'm writing this in the Van. But with no WiFi it will have to wait until later to be posted. So there's another milestone to pass another time; POSTING from the Van. ;^)
But for now, I'll settle for penning the entry in Van.
This entry is born out of necessity. Like most worthy creations. You see, my lack of patience makes it nearly impossible for me to wait without doing SOMETHING. I hate waiting. Can't stand to wait. The first of many life lessons this Van is determined to teach me. Patience. Or is it good time management? The Van is currently stuck, unable to fire up, in the parking lot of a random gas station off the highway in the middle of nowhere-ville Quebec. And the more often I try and turn this key, the worse it is for my poor starter and battery, and the longer I'll be stuck here. The only solution for this problem is to wait a full uninterrupted 20 minutes, and then turn the key with the gas pedal to the floor.
I just finished a hearty dinner, consisting of a fresh apple, some peach yogurt (my fave!) and a freshly made chunky peanut butter sandwich! All courtesy of my Sittie! (lebanese for Grandmother.) No, Sittie didn't MAKE a peanut butter sandwich for her 28 year old Grandson's roadtrip. But she packed me a jar of PB, (empowering me to make my own sandwich!) a loaf of bread, some real butter in a tupperware dish (frozen solid, unable to spread at this juncture) along with all the other fixins a boy like me could EVER ask for. (I didn't ask for any of it. Which makes her gift all the more generous.) Old people are very organized. She and my Giddie have had 55 years of married life to hone, practice, and perfect their daily routines. And they managed to cope with me disrupting that routine for two days VERY swimmingly.
I'm not about to start rhyming off the entire list of things they gave me, as bragging is in bad taste, but lets just say I'm well taken care of.
So back what brings me to a point where I'm writing an blog entry:
The Van.
This Van is doing a VERY wonderful job of getting me through this trip so far. This would be it's third time deciding not to start. Lets rephrase that. This is the third time that my lack of proper maintenance and care has forced the Van to not start. It's not her fault. I'm the one with the flighty and ill prepared ambitions.
Chasing the Sunset.
Or am I running away from having to see the same old Sunrise?
I don't think so.
the PEI sunrises NEVER made me feel BAD. But these last two "on the road" sunsets have invigorated and stimulated parts of my imagination long left dormant!
The Van has been chugging along GREAT! Far exceeding it's pre-concieved speed limitations and keeping me as warm as I could ask for considering I hadn't taken the time to fix the front fan, and have the rear fan all but blocked with my 'things' all jammed up in her hind quarters.
She's drinking her fuel as slowly and as carefully as a girl her age could. Again considering the extra weight I've forced upon her cavernous interior. She's Keeping me right on budget for the trip so far. About the same cost as a plane ticket, but with all of my "things" and a killer view!
But there have been these three times that she's not been able to fire up.
This being the third of those times. And the second one to happen at a remote Gas station. At least the last time the sun was still up. I've pushed the Van into a dark corner of the Gas Station parking lot so it would be out of the way while it rests.
An eerie calm overcomes me now.
The first time it wouldn't start stressed me out. Because it happened at my Grandparents house. It stressed me out for the same reason that my initial departure from PEI stressed me out:
Other people's feelings.
See, this self centric journey of discovery I'm on is at a stage where it's still really affecting the people around me emotionally. People don't want me to leave. They worry. And this in turn worries me.
But here, now, in the middle of nowhere in the Belle Province of Quebec, I sit shivering in my overloaded old pile of steel and bolts, and I smile. Smile as the fog of my breath temporarily obscures my view of my monitor. Smile as my heels freeze in my big winter boots. Smile as I rub my hands together between sentences. Smile as I look at the clock and realize the right amount of time has passed for me to be able to justify sticking the key back in the ignition and trying to start this machine up again.
I smile because it's me. All of it. It's exactly what I envisioned. My imagination willed this into being. And if I can dream up and create this unlikely scenario, then many more of the things I've pictured myself doing will also become a reality.
Scoff at the idiocy of my bliss if you'd like. But it's mine. And soon, when those I love, and that love me, learn to count on themselves to provide the happy release of their own dream fulfillment, and I have only myself to impress and sate, it will be ALL MINE!
The next four months are going to be exciting. They are going to be fun. They are going to be a lot of hard work. But deep down, I know already that I've done the right thing. This Van is going to start when I finish typing this, and it's going to make it to Montreal, then to Ottawa, and finally to Toronto.
Dreams will come true, and new ones will be made. And the ball will only grow bigger and stronger as it rolls forward!
In the word of Stan Lee:
Excelsior!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
In Too Deep?
I've ventured too far into the realm of possibilities for this Blogger account. Between Kelley's ever evolving layouts, and frustrations mounting from not being able to code my own web design work, I've figured out that the possibilities for this blogger stuff are, for all intensive purposes, nearly limitless.
So instead of just picking out some nice colours, and pasting a custom header on my current template, I'm now obsessively researching and trying to teach myself HTML!
GAAAH!!!
On the plus side, I created a Twitter account to satiate my need for constant stalker-level self promotion.
Levar Burton, and Brett Spinner (Geordie and Date from STTNG) are also Twitterers! Haha
Whooo hooo!!!
Click this link and watch the video for big smiles!
http://revision3.com/blog/2009/01/16/levar-burton-jimmy-fallon-and-diggnation/
So instead of just picking out some nice colours, and pasting a custom header on my current template, I'm now obsessively researching and trying to teach myself HTML!
GAAAH!!!
On the plus side, I created a Twitter account to satiate my need for constant stalker-level self promotion.
Levar Burton, and Brett Spinner (Geordie and Date from STTNG) are also Twitterers! Haha
Whooo hooo!!!
Click this link and watch the video for big smiles!
http://revision3.com/blog/2009/01/16/levar-burton-jimmy-fallon-and-diggnation/
Thursday, January 8, 2009
So Many Things I Want To Do
I want to make a video. (have scads of footage, but no time to edit it)
I want to pen a long blog entry. (lots of stories, but too busy getting ready for the big story)
I want to go hang out with my friends. (Tri-fecta of birthdays, People going home after being here for Xmas break, etc)
I want to design a new desktop background for myself. (the current one is played out)
I want to work out. (my fitness trainer sister created a routine for me)
I want to edit and post photos on Facebook. (character validating instant gratification feedback)
I want to create my SmugMug account and do a backup of all my photos. (you can also order prints off SmugMug)
I want to do a Photo Show at Ampersand. (this was supposed to happen over Christmas)
But instead, I'm sorting through old drawers of SHIT I've been carrying around with me for 10 years. Trying to let go of it all and throw it out. (This camera is gone! Do I still need the dock and all the cables to connect it? It might come in handy someday. Can't throw it out!)
And I need to do some major work on John Connolly's webpage too.
Ok. Enough procrastinating. Out to the Van I go to sort through more (hopefully) garbage.
I want to pen a long blog entry. (lots of stories, but too busy getting ready for the big story)
I want to go hang out with my friends. (Tri-fecta of birthdays, People going home after being here for Xmas break, etc)
I want to design a new desktop background for myself. (the current one is played out)
I want to work out. (my fitness trainer sister created a routine for me)
I want to edit and post photos on Facebook. (character validating instant gratification feedback)
I want to create my SmugMug account and do a backup of all my photos. (you can also order prints off SmugMug)
I want to do a Photo Show at Ampersand. (this was supposed to happen over Christmas)
But instead, I'm sorting through old drawers of SHIT I've been carrying around with me for 10 years. Trying to let go of it all and throw it out. (This camera is gone! Do I still need the dock and all the cables to connect it? It might come in handy someday. Can't throw it out!)
And I need to do some major work on John Connolly's webpage too.
Ok. Enough procrastinating. Out to the Van I go to sort through more (hopefully) garbage.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Holy Crap. Talk about the calm before the storm...
"Peej, where's the Blog action, huh?"
Coming!
But this isn't it yet. This is just a quick entry I need to make to document and timestamp an idea I have that I've over zealously and prematurely unleashed upon the collective unconscious. So I need to pen this entry to secure the idea as having been mine before others capitalize on it.
Ok, so I have an idea for an application. But since I can't build applications, I've reached out for help building it.
The person I reached to said "my idea now!". So I'm beating them to the punch by spilling the idea here.
My Dream Application will be called "Beautiflow". A combination of Beauty, or Beautify, and Flow.
OK, so what the fuck is it already?
It's a custom iTunes album art generator!
That's right.
Import photos, or any other custom created JPEG, and the application allows you to position and scale the image, just like an iPhone wallpaper. Then you enter in your custom text, choose a typeface and formatting options for the text, then you export the file to the appropriate MP3 file. The application then attaches the image to your MP3 and voila. Suddenly your iTunes and iPod Cover Flow is a useful and beautiful tool. Not just some abstract "oh, that would be nice" idea. But a real, useful, visual way to scroll through and browse your music.
I have WAY too many MP3's that aren't even FROM any album. So simply going to Amazon.com and downloading the actual album art, then importing it to iTunes isn't a viable solution for me. Many of the custom DJ sets and mash-ups my friends have sent me don't really HAVE any album art. So wouldn't it be sweet to be able to use ANY photo or any of a collection of stock abstract images, with custom text laid over top of them?
Great idea, I know.
I only wish I could build it myself!
"Peej, where's the Blog action, huh?"
Coming!
But this isn't it yet. This is just a quick entry I need to make to document and timestamp an idea I have that I've over zealously and prematurely unleashed upon the collective unconscious. So I need to pen this entry to secure the idea as having been mine before others capitalize on it.
Ok, so I have an idea for an application. But since I can't build applications, I've reached out for help building it.
The person I reached to said "my idea now!". So I'm beating them to the punch by spilling the idea here.
My Dream Application will be called "Beautiflow". A combination of Beauty, or Beautify, and Flow.
OK, so what the fuck is it already?
It's a custom iTunes album art generator!
That's right.
Import photos, or any other custom created JPEG, and the application allows you to position and scale the image, just like an iPhone wallpaper. Then you enter in your custom text, choose a typeface and formatting options for the text, then you export the file to the appropriate MP3 file. The application then attaches the image to your MP3 and voila. Suddenly your iTunes and iPod Cover Flow is a useful and beautiful tool. Not just some abstract "oh, that would be nice" idea. But a real, useful, visual way to scroll through and browse your music.
I have WAY too many MP3's that aren't even FROM any album. So simply going to Amazon.com and downloading the actual album art, then importing it to iTunes isn't a viable solution for me. Many of the custom DJ sets and mash-ups my friends have sent me don't really HAVE any album art. So wouldn't it be sweet to be able to use ANY photo or any of a collection of stock abstract images, with custom text laid over top of them?
Great idea, I know.
I only wish I could build it myself!
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