happylife

Upgrade campaign

A few days ago, I received a phone call from SHAW, the cable company I have a contract with. He said that my cable service was temporarily upgraded for free and I can now watch optional channels. I don't watch TV so much and therefore I usually choose the basic plan which is most economic plan but includes more than twenty channels. I thought it was enough for me, but the optional channels I can select now are attractive. CNN provides various news with the latest video and Discovery Channel tells me interesting stories. I'm now wondering whether I should upgrade my cable plan or not. I was completely trapped by the campaign of SHAW cable.

A busy airport

Lots of airplanes were waiting for their takeoff turn on the taxi way. Out of the frame, I could see at least two airplanes approaching the runway to land and also at least three airplanes on the circuit. The airport where I usually take the flight lesson is said to be the third busiest airport in Canada. We are often cleared to land while the former airplane is still on the runway which is almost illegal or out of the regulations. The tower is so busy and is almost always talking with other airplanes that it is difficult to catch and talk with him or her just on the timing on the radio. I heard that a private pilot from Europe missed in his radio call and had to write a written explanation. Of course I don't want to write such a letter, but it could happen. As far as I know, there were at least two serious accidents here last year. An airplane crushed on the beach soon after the takeoff from the runway towards the sea. The other airplane was forced to land with the fuselage because of the malfunction of the landing gear. This airport is not only busy but also exciting.

Hotdog mathematics

As I mentioned before, I have a hotdog for breakfast or dinner almost every day. It's really an easy and good American menu item except one problem. The problem is about the mathematics when we cook hotdogs ourselves. After some trials and errors I found this perfect combination of hotdog ingredients, but there is a problem when I shop and cook them. The sausage pack has 6 sausages in it, the hotdog buns are packed in 6, and the sliced cheddar cheese is made of 16 sheets of cheese. Alfalfa serves for 8 hotdogs and the consumption rate of ketchup, mustard and relish is 3:2:1. I have to consider the expiry date for each ingredients too. If we tried to cook hotdogs with no waste of all the ingredients, the calculation becomes vast and it is much more difficult than the calculation for air fuel consumption.

Hot spot in Richmond

The weather forecast was around the VFR minimum, and I decided to go to the airport hoping it getting better. My hope was broken and I came back just booking for the next week. On the way back home I dropped in a Chinese mall in Richmond and found a very good place to do work with the PC having a cup of coffee. It is a free hot spot for the Internet connection and it has a great view of Vancouver. As the mall is located close to the approach line to the international airport, I can see often the airlines landing at the airport up close. I was happy because it is getting more difficult to find a free wireless hot spot in Vancouver. We have to pay for the most hot spots in Vancouver, which I think going against the times.

A letter from the apartment manager

The other day I received a letter from the apartment manager which more or less upset me. It said that someone requires to access to my room in order to check the fire alarm system. Oh my god! It means that I have to clean up my super filthy room by that time so that he or she wouldn't be surprised to see the chaotic situation of my room. Last night I decided to set off the clean up project finally. I moved all the newspapers and fryers into the closet and all the documents and books on the desk. Although I don't know what is where but my room looks organized.

Fogs & Dogs

On a thick foggy day, when I was walking around the white Downtown, I came across these window dogs. They were looking up at the foggy sky. I don't know what they were really thinking about, but they seemed to be waiting for the blue sky like me. Then hours later, I remembered that dogs are all color blinded. If so, the clear blue sky and the foggy white sky might look same. Dogs have a lot of expressions but we can't understand what they are actually thinking about. These two dogs might have been just hungry and waiting for the owner come back to feed them. Is this a contrary way of looking at things?

A love affir in the flower room?

Japanese products are very popular because of their high quality images. We can often see fake Japanese items in Vancouver. Today in a Chinese shopping mall, I happened to see these strange slippers which are named in Japanese. Of course I am a real Japanese but I can't fully understand this slipper's name. It is written in old Katakana characters and I can't decode it. Only the part I could decode was that "Deluxe ** cover / a love affair in the flower room / ** life series." It sounds so strange. I think that not one Japanese would purchase these pair of slippers because they look very suspicious. I wonder why the maker of these slippers did not check the Japanese phrases on them before shipping.

Email from an old friend

Today I received an email from my old friend. It was the first email in seven years! He said he happened to see my name on my weekly newsletter and gave me an email. I was a little bit surprised but very glad to hear from him. Although he is in Japan and I am in Vancouver, It is Wednesday afternoon in Japan and Wednesday mid-night in Vancouver, we can perfectly communicate. What a convenient and enjoyable thing the Internet is! There is no barrier between us if we use the Internet. I'm now thinking about searching my old friend's name using Google, and sending him or her a surprising email just like the one I received today.

Advection fog

Vancouver has been covered with fog for three days. It was so thick that the Vancouver international airport was temporarily closed yesterday. Of course my flight lesson was canceled. As I have just learned in the ground class, this type of fog is called "advection fog," which is formed when warm and dump air-mass comes over the cold sea or land surface. The warm and dump air-mass contains lots of water vapor and can be easily saturated when touching cold surface forming a fog. It won't go away until wind blows it away because the condition of air-mass is very stable; the lower the colder and heavier, and the higher the warmer and lighter. I feel this fog is getting thicker day by day. I couldn't see even the Burrard bridge from my room. I wonder when I can fly next.

Wallace & Groumit

"Wallace & Groumit" is one of my favorite English films. I bought this DVD at HMV in Downtown(used to be Virgin Record). It was priced 2 for $30 as a X'mas sale and I got it with another DVD which is about Ray Charles. "Wallace & Groumit" is a clay animation in which all the characters are made of clay dolls and the making staff takes the picture flame by flame, gradually moving the clay characters. We can easily expect that it requires a very long time and much patience to take just a few minute cuts of it. As the result of their effort, the art of work looks very good. It has a kind of taste which the latest CG films do not have. For example, the texture of Wallace's cardigan and the Groumit's skin have some burrs or finger prints. They are not defects but work for adding warm taste to the film. It is literally a handmade movie.