Cam I Am

Last night, I was driving to North Vancouver where a couple friends of mine from Ontario are camping.  I left Maple Ridge, and headed down the Mary Hill Bypass.

So, I’m driving along, listening to my daughter tell me about something that happened at school earlier that day when down the road I see a person wearing a yellow jacket walk out into the middle of the road, point at me, then to the side of the road..

Oh crap!  I’m being pulled over..

Anyone who knows the Mary Hill Bypass could probably agree how easy it is to speed down that stretch of road.  While the limit ranges between 60-70km/h, it’s easy to do 80-90…

The officer comes to the window, tells me that he’s pulled me over for speeding.  Then he asked if I knew how fast I was going.  I sheepishly reply that I thought it was about 85 km/h.  He says that was close, it was 86.   Then he asked if I knew what the speed limit through that area was.  Embarrassed, I reply that it is 60 km/h.

Double crap!   The first thing I think when he goes to write the ticket is that my wife is going to be pissed with me.  (Yes, she is!)  Then, I have to explain to my 6 year old what is going on.  I tell her that I’m getting a ticket for speeding.

“Are you going to jail?”, she asks.  I quickly reply, “No..  I certainly hope not!”.   Then she wanted to know if it was a special ticket. 

“Yup..  An expensive special ticket”, I answer.

A few questions later, she had all the answers that she needed to be satisfied.  The officer comes back to my window, presents me with the ticket and I’m back on my way.  As I continue down the road, paying very close attention the the speed limit, I pass by another speed trap.  For the remainder of our trip, my daughter read out to me what every speed limit sign says.

So, I’ve learned my lesson.  Unfortunately, it’s going to cost me $196.00…

The last few days have been eventful!

First, Colleen went on a business trip to Chicago.  She had a great time!  She went to the House of Blues (twice!), a White Sox Game, and countless other attractions!  I got to see a good portion of her trip in the 276  pictures that she took! 

On Monday, my friends Mark and Christie finally arrived in town on their 30 day cross-country RV trip.  They’ll be staying in Vancouver for 6-7 days before going down through the states, so it will be a short visit with them.  We haven’t seen Mark since my wedding, but we talk frequently.  (Gotta love text messaging!).  We went to visit them at the campground that they are staying at in North Vancouver and had dinner and took the kids for a swim.  We’re planning to see them a couple times before they move on!

Yesterday I had my first follow-up appointment, since my surgery, with the neurosurgeon.  He tested my range of motion, checked the scar from the incision, and then said that I seemed to be healing well.  I asked him a few questions about some discomfort that I’ve felt in my back and leg and was relieved to hear that it is very normal to have that.

Today I started physio.  Just starting off with stretches and a some basic core muscle exercises, but I’m hoping to progress quickly..   Ideally, I should be able to return to work within 4-6 weeks! 

That’s about all for now.. 

I have an issue with Translink.  I went to an event last night that was in downtown Vancouver.  Instead of driving from Maple Ridge into downtown, I decided to take transit. 

It’s been years since I’ve taken the bus or SkyTrain, but I thought that I’d give it a shot.  The venue that I was going to has limited parking and I didn’t want to fight for a parking spot.  I decided to drive into Burnaby, park near Lougheed Mall and take the Skytrain into downtown.

What’s the deal with all the signs clearly stating “No Park & Ride”?  I understand that Lougheed Mall doesn’t want a full parking lot of people who aren’t shopping there, but you would think that Translink would try and make some provisions for this. 

In a time when people are generally more aware about being “environmentally friendly” and are trying to find alternative ways to commute, there should be measures taken so that this could be accomplished. 

Why doesn’t Translink provide parking facilities for commuters?  This seems to be a big problem.  I did eventually find street parking a few blocks away, but I shouldn’t have needed to do this.

If Translink truly wants to promote transit as a viable alternative, they really should consider some changes.

First, more park and ride lots. 

Second, work on improving the West Coast Express.  I’ve heard that there are issues with CP Rail not wanting to give up “track time” for this because it would open the gate across the country for other municipalities to want the same treatment, but something needs to happen.  When the Greater Toronto Area has a great system like GO Transit with trains running all day, surely the GVRD could do the same.

Third, expand your rapid transit plans.  Once the future UBC, Evergreen and Canada Lines are done, these further ideas should be looked at. Skytrain should run into Maple Ridge (not just the projected line to Coquitlam.  The Surrey line should be run right into Langley.  That’s when you start to have a rapid transit system that is usable for the majority of people living in the Lower Mainland.

So..  my message to Translink..   Get with the program!  Start creating COMPLETE and VIABLE solutions to transit, or you’ll never get us out of our cars.

After my less the successful attempts of trying to install and use Easy Media Creator 9 the other day, I tried to find a new solution.  So, I did a little looking around online and at our local Staples, I decided to give Easy Media Creator 10 a shot..  So, with a little hesitation, I bought it.

I brought it home and started to go through the recommended Clean Install instructions.  Any remnants of EMC9 were removed with great ease..   So far so good..

I pop the new disc into the drive and run set-up..  I enter the Product Key#.  All good so far..

Then, the next 45 minutes of it slowly installing the software..  annoying, but at least there were no pop-ups to deal with..   Then the moment of truth..  I try to run it..  ARGH!  Same errors as EMC9 pop-up!  So, I try going to Roxio to download any software updates.

The update takes about 5-6 minutes to download because it’s about 750megs..  I watch it download, all the while thinking that this can’t be a patch, but an entire program download.  Sure enough, when it’s done downloading, it starts installing EMC10 again..   <sigh!>..   I wait another 45 minutes for it to install.  By this point, I’m not impressed and tempted to return it..

After waiting for the update to install, and following all the steps, I still get the same result.  I then looked at the forums to find that there does not seem to be a solid fix to the problem..

I packed up the disc in the box and went to Staples..  As soon as I mentioned Vista, they smiled, nodded and offered a refund..

Vista wins again.. 

If by posting this, I save even one person some time, it will be worthwhile.

For the last several months, I’ve been trying to find a decent video editor to take home videos on my DV camera, edit them, and put them on full size DVD’s (not the mini’s that they are currently on).

I tried about a dozen various programs, including the one that comes with Windows Vista.  The Windows DVD maker has the features that I want, but it doesn’t work properly (freezes anytime I actually try to edit the video…. not very useful!)

So, I gave up for a couple months..  A couple days ago, I was looking through some software CD’s I had in a pile in the corner when I see something that caught my attention.

I already had Roxio’s Easy Media Creator 9!  Wow..  I’ve heard generally good things about this program, and had no clue that it was shipped with my Dell computer that we about a little over a year ago!   I popped the CD into the drive, and sure enough, it confirms that it is already installed!   Cool..

I try to run it..

Here’s where the Vista factor kicks in.  It doesn’t work.  Cannot load a DLA file.  Unable to find a skin. C++ runtime error..   Yes..  my nemesis Windows Vista is rearing it’s ugly head.

So, I start searching on Google for answers and patches.  I find a couple patches, and get a little farther with the process.  I following the “Instructions for a Clean Install“..  No better..

So..  Do you get the following messages?:

1. Anything involving an error with C++ runtime.
2. Roxio Creator BDAV Plugin no supported by Vista
3. Skin Image menuseparator.png not found.
4. “Gathering required information” appears over and over when trying to load EMC9 up.

Here’s what to do..  Just give up.  After much exhaustive research, it seems that EMC9 is just not meant to work on Windows Vista.  Don’t bother with patches or the rest of the crap.  Just give up. 

Apparently, Easy Media Creator 10 is compatible with Windows Vista..   I don’t know if I want to try spending $80 to find out..   (I probably will in the end)

I hope that this helps someone.  There are a lot of message forums that have a flurry of activity about this dated Feb 2007 to July 2007, but not much else after that..

Comments?

Since I have some spare time right now, I was going through some pictures that I took on my cell phone, usually while working. Here are a few things that I found amusing.

I know that it’s a little fuzzy, but I found this on the lid to a big Rubbermaid storage bin. The caption reads “Warning: Suffocation Risk.” Really? You think?

This just looks like a tragic accident. I don’t know who I feel sorry for: the mouse or the wheel!

The slogan at the bottom of the right door reads “Let us remove your shorts!”

That’s all!    

After a few days of having my sites down, including my blog, everything is up and running again! 

This time, it isn’t 1&1’s fault like it was a couple weeks ago, but all because of me.  For the last several months, I’ve been running everything from a friend’s webhosting space.  Everything was working out well, until he told me that he is going to switch to another server that is run by someone else he knows.  This would have left me without a webhost.

So, in the past couple weeks, I have been (slowly) working on getting my own account with 1&1 and having my domain and everything else of mine switched over to my own account.  I think there was about 3 days that nothing was up and runnning until last night..  All that was left was a minor issue with my blog.  Obviously, I have it running now..

This past Friday I finally had the back surgery that I have been waiting for, for months.

The discectomy seems to have gone fairly well.  I was back home by Sunday morning, resting fairly comfortably.  For the first time in nearly three years, I have no more pain shooting down my leg!  I have to say that I’m surprised at how well I feel, considering that 72 hours ago, I was having the operation.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be at home resting, and taking it very easy.  No lifting, no sitting, short walks (5-10 minutes), but gradually increasing that every day.

So.. that’s about it.  I go to my doctor next Monday to have the 22 staples removed from my lower back (something that I’m not really looking forward too!). 

Overall, I feel relatively good!  I’m hoping that the recovery time is going to be shorter than what I was originally told..

Time will tell..