Venter

Do you like to 4X4?

Last Sunday I went 4X4 with my brother in law with his old land cruiser, which he got from the states because He flipped his old one beyond repair.

Signs You know what you are doing when you 4X4

1. The vehicle you are taking has tools in the back, just in case something goes really wrong in backcountry somewhere.
2. You have a Winch.
3. The vehicle runs on diesel.
4. You have someone who knows the vehicle well, preferably a mechanic or hobbyist.
5. Full tank of GAS
6. Patience :d.

The trip

We went up to Stave Lake at night because all the runs we found at MR were closed. The first experience of 4X4 was vertical incline of near 90* angle, just enough so it wouldn’t flip over. Then we were going through trees where only those vehicles can go. During this time I had to hold a spotlight to see where were going, it was fun! Then we went through a steep dip where we scrape up dirt, what a riot! We also got to pull an older s10 out of the ditch cause the driver was DUI in the bush with his girlfriend. End of the night we headed back and took it easy the rest of the way home listening to the low pitch sound of the engine, it sounded beautiful and beefy!

Anybody else gone 4×4ing?

Cheers and Good Riding.

Technorati Tags: 4X4, Stave Lake

Upgrades…

Finally, its 2:30 am and have my blog up and running with the new wordpress 2.2 version! I had something break on me today, so I forced to make some changes and some upgrades. I had to also upgrade my db for soem reason so I did and it worked WOHOO!

 However theme is still the same. Should I change this theme what do you guys think? More post to come… now that everything is in good working order! Thanks to Bill the advice he provided me with. Cheers and have good day to all!

5 Lessons from Buses and Marketing Project

Today, I went to school for my marketing group project team meeting @ 8:30 in the morning. Firstly I am not a morning person but I made it in. However, only one person was there besides me in my group of five. Then a another one showed up at 9 am. Then another two members showed up at the end of the meeting. There excuse – slept in and nothing. So I decided to go downtown today and learned some valuable lessons riding the bus to Victoria.

5 Lessons Riding the Bus

1. Location of seat is key

. Where you sit is generally important because it can either say that, don’t mess with me I am bad – most people choose the back as there place of badness and vandalism! OR it can give the general statement that you have no means of other transportation. Or you have chosen to give your spouse the car. I was thinking that what percentage of people are truly concerned about the environment when riding the bus? because it seems that everyone nowdays is on a environment speech path but are they truly Riding the Bus, I must say.

2. Tunes to tune out or abstract conversations?

So if you like the majority of people who have Ipod, MP3 Cell, or other mp3 device, you can either fit into two groups. The ones that blare there music insanely loud so that the whole bus can hear. I am sure all of us had to go through this when either going to work or coming back. For example, one gets there token kid or even adult who has a rave or dance party going on or a rap session and the whole bus has to join em. One I we should try that, start breaking the bus into a dance floor – old school style. When taking the bus, if one doesn’t have mP3 Player, one can usually can get easily into conversation. This usually rings true when someone’s life isn’t going well and they want to tell you there troubles – i.e 0 drug, achl, and other addictions. Also, this applies to the other way around when someone Loves life. Perfect example was this guy who started talking to me about how he came out of coma from 11 years in it, and how good we have it., just a general thing of being alive and breathing normally.

3.Respect for Bus Drivers.

Generally 50 % bus drivers nowadays are friendly as per Vancouver and Victoria. However tolerance is alot more in Victoria due to more relaxed life style and less stress. and busyness Van offers. Either the bus driver leaves you at stop or doesn’t wait for you for 10 seconds when he clearly sees you Sprinting for the bus. I don’t know if any one has been caught like this before – if you have I feel sorry for you cause i have definitely been caught too. Also, too contribute to the problem of bus drivers increasing rudeness, people don’t have respect for them. There has been several instances where bus drivers have been beatin up – this is just sick whoever does this. These bus drivers are also people. Usually 30% or less give thanks at the end of the ride – taking the service for granted. A little thanks can go a LONG way.

4. Don’t smoke pot on the Bus – special submission from fewleftstanding.

OkAy this is a funny story… Well coming back from the Symphony of Lights – last bus – 1 or 1:30 in the morning. Someone starts lighting up a joint on the double bus that is packed like a can of sardines waiting to explode. Then the bus driver pulls over and says whoever is smoking the joint get rid of it or we call cops and unload the whole bus. Obviously the joint got put out pretty quickly, but the bus reeked of pot till I got off. It was a gong show in there cause there were parents who were yelling in the front of the bus and getting paranoid and angry. Me and my buddy were stuck in the middle. So we learned Never smoke pot on the bus.

5. Realization that – we actually don’t have it that bad, but not that good either.

Well I think I have learned one of the greatest lessons starting out my life in Africa – where public transportation is non-existent.

Either you have no wheels and you are pushing or you have 30 people @ once. But below is the classic African ride.

Well we are lucky compared to these, however, transporation in New York and Germany rely on subway systems and more effecient means of transport than Vancouver and Victoria. So we are at a good medium but there is always room for improvement.

Those are my thoughts on the bus system feel Free to Contribute your stories and comments

Coming Home on the Bus

Well after leaving marketing went downtown acted like a tourist because I was collecting information on my marketing project. Also went to the Bay Center downtown and got really frustrated cause I could’t find a good store for guys clothing. Returned with the bus to CanWest Mall, however this one can right away cause I had good timing, once again an interesting bus ride like always. In the afternoon went to the beach 5 Min’s from my house – just to read and relax at one of my favorite spots in the world – Witty’s Lagoon. Feel the relaxation of the of the tide coming in and the sun reflecting on the ocean is gorgeous. Then I went for a nap when came back and ate dinner. Then here I am now writing this post. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Feel free to contact me as well.

Cheers

Dave

Whistler Released 07

I went to Whislter to snowboard Friday, it was awsome..let me tell you why. We left Maple Ridge at 6 am with no sleep and running purely on adrenaline. Live for the mountain..i might say. Once we got there, we were greeted in the parking lot by a random guy from Washington, also a student, trying to sell us tickets. So he explained to us that his buddy injured himself and had to go back early meaning that we could get good deal on tickets – 1/2 price.

So we were stoked…and headed up soon after giving him the cash. Once we were up ther, Justin, my friend who I went up to board with binding bothered him during one run from the peak of Blackcomb. So I was leading and he dissapeared and I was like O no shoot! Where he go? So I waited for like 5-10 minutes and he still didnt come to the lodge. So I jetted all the way down the mountain and he wasnt at any chairlifts. So I went back to the lodge and randomly found him again. He was with a Swiss-German guy who came to visit his girlfriend. Bu they both lost there partners and meet each other, so they decided to have a beer. After all the troubles we headed back up to the top and road a couple more runs, but it started snowing…so we went back down and bought myself some googles, so I can see where I was going. Then headed back to the top of Blackcomb to do some riding cause the top was where the snow was at.

After taking some photo’s I was dead tired and hungry! So we ended up going to a local bar and ate some burgers and beer. Then it was my turn to drive home….on the wonderful Sea to Sky what a nightmare!!!! I was driving the speed limit with people getting irritated with me. I was so tired, I nearly fell asleep, I still know it was by grace that we made it home! Here are some pictures from the trip.