happylife

A helicopter ride

On this day, I was going to fly in a helicopter piloted by my friend. I invited my friend from Redmond, but when she arrived at my apartment, the weather was not good enough to fly the helicopter. We drove around Vancouver waiting for the weather improvement, from White Cliff Park, Horseshoe Bay, North Vancouver, and Steveston. We had several meals on the way and I was almost full. In the late afternoon, we visited Helijet almost giving up the helicopter ride. Although the weather had been improving, the time was too late and my friend told me we couldn't fly on the day. We completely gave up and visited another friend in Downtown, but an hour later after we came back to Downtown, I had a phone call from the pilot who told that we could ride on the helicopter if we could reach the airport in thirty minutes. It was almost the rush hour time, we hurried to the airport and we could catch the helicopter. It was a 10-minute flight from Vancouver International to Vancouver Harbor. The flight was great, but we had to walk back to my apartment to pick up my car and drove back to Vancouver International to get back my friend's car. It's really a great deal to ride on a helicopter!

A long break of my blog

To tell the truth, I'm writing this blog almost a week behind the date of it. I had been too busy to have my own quality time owing to some parties, guests, and my body trouble. Anyway, on this day, I went to Caulfield Pier by my car with my friends who are the member of the coming cruise in the Gulf Islands. We were looking for a good cove where we can anchor at the night of the first cruise day. Unfortunately, this cove was too small and shallow to stay over night. It was actually at the lowest tide, and the small sailing boat at the head of the cove was sticking in the beach! I'm wondering what to do on the first day because we have to cast off the marina at an inconvenient time; we don't have enough time to arrive a good anchorage before the sun sets. It's difficult to persuade other crew members that we can't leave the marina on the first day.

Fireworks party #1

It was the first night of fireworks event in Vancouver. I enjoyed it from my friend's condo room. The fireworks were sponsored by Italy and it was Fairly good, but I couldn't take good pictures of the fireworks tonight because I didn't have any tripod. This picture is not of the fireworks, but of the numerous boats coming back to their marina soon after the fireworks finished. The red lines on the sea are the tracks of navigation lights. English Bay was full of boats which are almost crazy and are still anchoring around the fireworks barge. I don't like to be among them because I know it would be terrible if the wind changed around the fireworks event. They are all anchoring without enough room to swing. It's really dangerous but every one would repeat it every year.

Unexpected expenses

As the oil change lamp of my Cavalier came on, I drove to Canadian Tire in Kitsilano. I left my car with the mechanic and walked around Kits Beach waiting for the car is ready. It was a hot but dry day and I was happy walking on the white, pleasant sand until I received an unexpected call from the mechanic telling "there are some problems in your car!" I came back to him at once and he showed me the problems including the timing V belt with some cracks, the front break pad which was 95 percent worn out, the muddy break oil, and so on. As every thing seemed to be urgent, I had him fix and adjust every thing. The money I had to pay after waiting for more than four hours was $613 in total! It was really unexpected expenses.

Pandora

Pandora is an Internet radio service made in USA. I found this service a few months ago, and since then I have been staying tuned to this free radio. It's a kind of highly developed music radio in which you can enjoy your own personalized list of music as much as possible. It's quite easy to enjoy it; all we have to do is just entering your favorite song title or artist's name. Once you did it, the system automatically choose a related songs for you one after another. While you are listening to the music, you can vote by pushing "I like it" or "I don't like it" button, and the voting is reflected to the next song. I'm not sure how the next song is selected, but the system's selection is fairly reasonable. Different from YouTube, this system seems to clear the copyright issue perfectly because it is almost the same as traditional radio services. The business model is simple. You can purchase any song by clicking Amazon or ITMS(iTunes Music Store) button if you like it. With the help of this service, I've found a lot of songs which I love but I hadn't known before. I think it's really a Long-Tail business model.

A box of blueberries

Today I bought a box of blueberries - 5lbs for less than $9.80. It's the season I had been waiting since last autumn. I filled the biggest pan in my room with the washed blueberries, but I couldn't empty the box. They are so sweet and fresh that I will eat them directly from the pan in the refrigerator. I think it's ridiculous to make jam from them. Fresh blueberries should be eaten raw as far as possible. To tell the truth, I bought a box of vanilla ice cream which I had been giving up for a month. The combination of blueberries and vanilla ice cream is too perfect to be prohibited. I feel now very happy just thinking about them.

Busy creek

False Creek is getting busier and noisier as the hot summer comes. It has been hot these days in Vancouver, and more and more people go sailing, swimming, kayaking, and so on. The sea looks so attractive in hot days. The Coast Guard and Vancouver Police are patrolling in case of marine accidents. We can even see a hovercraft which is super noisy with two turbine engines. Several cruise ships full of passengers are operated every night and they enjoy dinner cruse with loud music. As the sun does not set until 9:30, the noise wouldn't seize until midnight. I miss the dark but quiet sea in winter.

Coal Harbor

Vancouver Downtown is located between two inlets; the north side is called Burrard Inlet and the south side is False Creek. I live on the south side and prefer this side because it is simply beautiful with English Bay. The north side has a large harbor called Coal Harbor or Vancouver Harbor. It is an industrial area which is rather dusty and rusty. The view of yellow sulfur mountain is almost ugly. However, when I visited Coal Harbor last night after a long break, I found it had been much renovated and become beautiful. It might be the effect of the coming Olympic Game in 2010. I would be happy if I could sail in this area, which is thought prohibited owing to the busy traffic of cargo ships and sea planes.

The condition of camping site

Water, fire, people and protection are the points when I select an ideal camping site. I prefer a lakeside, seaside or riverside camping because I know the sounds of waves are fully relaxing. Fire as the second condition means a campfire. I love watching fires way more than any kind of movies or TV shows. I think they make me almost philosophical, so it's a very unhappy thing for me that fires are banned at most camping sites for fear of bush fire. Sure I don't like busy and noisy camping sites, however, I'm not wild enough to enjoy totally isolated situation, therefore, I like to camp where I can reach someone by walk in case of emergency. The last condition might seem wired. I prefer a small cove to a long open beach. I prefer a top of a rock to a vast plain. I feel pleasant when I am surrounded by woods or rocks in a cozy space. It might be because I was born and grown in a small island country.

Maintenance

At the east apron of our airport, we can see a lot of filthy airplanes which seem to have left for years without flying. Some of them are even filthier than my boat. Different from boats, airplanes are regulated by law in details; how often each part of the airplanes should be checked or exchanged in what kind of ways by what kind of people. I have forgotten most of the rules seven months after my flight test, but I remember well that the rules were absolutely strict and detailed. If I could find one of the littered airplanes' owner and talk to him, I might be able to get it for a super reasonable price, but the maintenance fee should be high. Owing an airplane is a great thing even in Canada.