Apr
27
I think that every parent has gone through this with their kids… I for one have experienced it even though I DON’T have my own yet…
Apr
26
For a while now I’ve been mucking around with my old WordPress theme trying to make it display properly in Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla. Finally I gave up and decided to customize a new theme… hopefully this one is more browser compliant and easier to navigate through. The colour scheme has stayed the same, and I’ve always been a fan of dark theme websites so this new WordPress template is quite similar to the old design.
Let me know what you think of it…
Apr
23
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After a disappointing game 6 and overall series the Vancouver Canucks are progressing into the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Game seven at GM Place was do or die for the Dallas Stars and the Vancouver Canucks as the series was tied at 3 games a piece.
The Vancouver fans were disheartened in the first period of play as the Stars got an early goal from Joel Lundqvist. In the second period a flurry of penalties and power plays between the two teams lead Vancouver to finally convert after a bad streak of not being able to score in a power play. After failing to score 26 times in a row with the extra man, it was almost strange to see one end up in the back of the net.
In the third period, Linden proved the power play tally wasn’t a fluke as he tipped home a Mattias Ohlund shot while Jeff Halpern was in the box. That gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead and would prove to be the game-winner. Desperate to score a goal to tie the game, the Stars sent out their goalie to assist in an offensive play and the act of desperation led to two turn overs where the Canucks scored empty net goals… The final score at the end of regulation time was 4-1.
The sound of car horns and cheers echoed throughout the downtown area late into the night as the die hard fans celebrated the first round victory.
Round two starts on Wednesday as the Canucks take on the Anaheim Mighty Ducks…. Go Canucks! Go!
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Apr
21
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Coming to North America we were faced with a big dilemma of what car we would buy. Tash previously owning a Volkswagon Beetle wanted something small and easy to drive, and me previously driving a Nissan Skyline R34 was looking to get another Japanese import tuner. Upon compromise, we decided to get a medium sized SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle)Â or four wheel drive for those of you who live down under…Â Conforming to the North American way of helping to deplete the world’s oil reserves and pollute the hell out of the atmosphere..!
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Meet the latest addition to our family… our new Jeep Liberty (known as the Cherokee in Australia). The Jeep seemed to be the best value for money as far as features, warranty and luxury. Since we plan to do lots of activities like skiing, travelling etc we opted for the extra space in the Jeep. The look of other SUV’s like the Nissan Xterra and Xtrail didn’t really appeal to us… and so many car manufacturers are using plastic non colour coded bumpers and wheel arches these days which look so cheap!!
Those of you that have seen my Skyline would know the amount of work I put into it customizing it… Alas, this type of vehicle isn’t your typical project car… so I’ve decided I’m not going to do anything over the top with it. One thing I have done is change the seats. With the cold climate here, I installed some seat warmers so that your hot little buns will never get cold… and I did a custom leather seat job with two tones to match the interior and exterior. It seemed like a drastic combination, but once it was installed I was extremely happy with it. The blue double stitching accents the seat and the Jeep logos embroided into the seat back stand out and make it look like its an OEM job.
All in all I’m happy with the car… The 3.7L engine is a little bit thirsty when doing city driving, but for the country road trips its great on economy…
Apr
07
I would have to say that out of all the blossoming trees, my favourite would have to be the Cherry Blossom tree (also known as Sakura). I didn’t know much about this particular tree other than the fact that it is an icon in Japan and my interest was sparked in the early weeks of Spring here in Vancouver.
All of a sudden the bare lifeless trees that lined most of the streets and parks around Vancouver started to produce these beautiful little pink flowers. At the peak of it, the entire streets were decorated with tree full of lush flowers and the sidewalks were covered in a sheet of pink from the petals that had been dropped by the trees.
Little did I know that this marvellous tree only blooms for two weeks and then loses its flowers to make way for fresh green leaves…
Once all of the flowers have dropped off it looks like any other regular tree… remaining dormant until next spring where it will blossom again…
Apr
03
With Spring fast approaching I’ve decided that I need to make the most of the snow skiing season before all of the slopes close down. From where we live downtown (Yaletown) there are three mountains that we can ski on and they’re all 20-30 minutes away from us. Being so close to it all we take it for granted that we’ve got some decent slopes at our disposal, and we don’t have to drive two hours to Whistler and spend a fortune on accommodation etc…
 I’m taking a liking to the idea of being able to finish a day of work and then hit the slopes to do some night skiing. All three mountains (Seymor, Grouse and Cypress) have flood lights and are open til 10pm. It’s pretty amazing to still have snow on these mountains at this time of the year… I expected it to be slushy and wet, but it was pretty decent quality considering the low elevation in comparison to Whistler and the fact that we’ve had sunny days and warm temperature. The closest mountain to us is Grouse mountain which is just over the Lions Gate bridge. The view from the peak is amazing, especially at dusk when the city lights start to turn on.
While I was skiing there was an unlimited visibility range, and within 1 minute the clouds set in and it started to rain. The fog/clouds were so dense that I couldn’t even see 3 metres in front of me while skiing. It’s pretty dangerous when it gets like that so I decided to pack up and go home after 4 hours of carving up the snow…
Once the snow melts away I think I’ll try hiking to the top of the mountain…