skategoat

You still can't buy a beer. But you can go and get yourself blown up in Iraq.

Photodad hit the nail on the head - North American cities are designed for cars. Not just for work but for leisure, shopping, everything. So while it's great to want to live like Europeans, we simply don't have the density nor the infrastructure to support it. And most municipal governments are broke. So what's it going to take to build better transit, bike paths, etc.? Tax dollars. There's going to be a whole lot of pain coming.

I owned the original Carveboard with the pneumatic tires. It was a blast to ride but man, it was heavy. Not much fun to carry around. I wouldn't mind trying out this Carvestik but I was too slow on the Buy it Now. I'll bet it go goes for more than the $125.

Compared to Calgary or Penticton - yep.

Can you imagine though, a helicopter falling out of the sky and landing on you as you're walking down the street? Right out of a Monty Python skit.

"Isaiah Otieno, a 23-year-old student, was killed when he was struck and dragged by a helicopter that crashed to the ground as he was walking to the mailbox. Eyewitnesses reported that Mr. Otieno seemed completely unaware that he was in danger and a friend told reporters that he often listened to music through earbuds (in-ear headphones) with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080515.LHEADPHONES15/TPStory/National When wearing your iPod, remember to look up once in a while.

Wow, that is some lineup. I'm also a big fan of Susan Tedeschi. She's like a young Bonnie Raitt. She's playing with her husband, Derek Trucks, who I hate because he's so frickin' talented at such a young age. You should try to catch that act along with Spearhead.

Being 46, I'm a bit late to the game with new music but I'll throw in my 2 cents. After seeing these guys play at Whistler, I loaded up my iPod with Michael Franti and Spearhead. I really like their blend of reggae, jazz and hip hop. I also admire Franti for telling Capital Records to stick it and forming his own label. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WASrQFg8o&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WASrQFg8o&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> crucible, I just noticed your post. Did you see them at the Telus Festival? Nothing can beat having a cold beer on the patio, watching Spearhead after a hard day of riding.

If you ever go for multiple days, try hiding garbage somewhere. For example, put a penny on top of a bathroom stall. Or, shove a Kleenex deep inside a bush. Next day, it will be gone. It might even be gone by the time you go home. Another distraction is to find "hidden Mickeys": http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/HiddenMickey.html In the 90s, I went for 7 or 8 years straight for an entire week for a trade show. You had to find something to keep your sanity.

A lot of you probably saw this guy in Step into Liquid. It would take a bit of cash and a lot more time to pull this off in the snowboarding world. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/chris_ballard/04/23/webster/

Lots of golf, biking with my daughter, messing around with cars, hack carpentry, eating a lot, catching up on TV shows (Heroes, The Wire) and getting fat. I used to try to Carveboard but gave up on that after learning that pavement is not so forgiving. I'll jump on the elliptical in August to get in shape for the winter.

I believe the Dice works as long as you use the trunk interface. That means running a cable to the CD changer connector in the trunk. Very easy to do. It's how I have mine installed. Best to check with Tom at EAS: http://www.europeanautosource.com/product_info.php?cPath=67_69_135_170&products_id=1621 The Dice is very good. Works really well with the steering wheel and head unit controls. The only gripe is that there is a slight lag between button press (next track) to response from the iPod. Not that bad really. I had a Dension Icelink interface before the Dice and it was not easy to to use. I'm not familiar with the iSimple kits. Best to ask around on the Bimmer forums.

Guys: I replaced the door panels in my old car and chose not to cut out the speaker holes for a cleaner look. However, the sound from the rear speakers alone is pretty bad (no bass due to non-sealed enclosure) so I guess I'll be installing door speakers after all. The holes are 5.25" and I'm thinking about avoiding separate tweeters by using two-way speakers. A couple of questions: - the location of the door speakers would be about knee level. I know high frequencies are highly directional so will it make a big difference in hearing highs if the tweeters are pointed at my knees? - are component speakers really that much better for sound? I am only pushing 40 watts per channel with my amp and the cabin is very small. It's also an old, non-insulated convertible which means the road noise is overwhelming and makes hi-fi an impossibility. I'm just looking for mid-fi here.

Dave: Good thing you went this year because they are closing down the "Small World" ride soon. What child's life would be complete without that ride - the ethnic stereotyping, the animatronic robots, the annoying song, the oh-so-slow boat. Two things that really stuck in my mind other than Small World: 1) The turkey legs in Frontierland. The strangest idea for a snack. 2) The big frickin' bass in the ponds around the Yacht Club Resort. Made me wish I had brought a rod.

Jack: Almost forgot - if you're an iPod user, pick up the Dice interface for BMW. Install it yourself. Takes 15 minutes. Works perfectly with the BMW Business CD deck. Much better than the BMW kit or the HK Drive+Play (junk). http://www.diceelectronics.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=DETEST01&Category_Code=DICE_IPOD_BMW I can give you detailed instructions on how to route the cable to the centre console and make a stealth installation.

I'm on e46fanatics.com as hk_ont. e46fanatics is e46 specific (obviously), so I prefer it to the general BMW forums. Based on the info on that forum, I figured out how to retrofit cruise control and a multi-function steering wheel. Cost me $300 in used parts and a couple of hours of labour. At purchase time, it would've been a $3,000 option. autowerkes looks like a decent shop based on their web page description. It's also not a bad idea to join the BMW Club and get recommendations there. Just because it's under warranty doesn't mean you have to get your maintenance service at a dealer. Brake work is an absolute rip-off at Toronto area dealers. And they are always recommending questionable, non-warranty service like "fuel injector flush" or crap like that. I once went in for a $120 oil change (yep, $120) and they recommended $1,500 worth of optional but "recommended" work. Another good idea is to buy a Bentleys manual. It's about $80 on eBay and it is money well spent. http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=B305 Jim: I've owned a '89 325ix and now own a '03 320i and I never get any attitude. BMWs are a dime a dozen in this neck of the woods. The older models, e30s and e36s, are now pretty much in the hands of 25 year olds who like to mod them up. I would think it's the same way on pretty much the entire West Coast. In San Francisco, I see pizza guys driving Bimmers. As Jim says, they are not cheap cars to own but you can really bring the costs down by doing your own maintenance. Oil changes are an absolute breeze. The filter is a disposable cartridge that is accessible from the *top* of the engine. How smart is that. Lastly, another great resource here: http://www.bimmerdiy.com/dir/e46 Enjoy. And remember Jack, a BMW is not happy unless it is driven hard. I highly recommend a track session to familiarize yourself with that fine piece of German engineering.

Nice. Sign up on e46fanatics.com for lots of great info and Bimmer chat. I hope you found yourself a good, independent BMW mechanic. Taking your car to a BMW dealer is a road to financial ruin.

With an SLR, it's all about the lenses. You're gonna want to build a quiver. This is why I went the Pentax route. With the Pentax DSLRs, you can use any Pentax lens with a K mount. That means you have a choice of thousands of used and new lenses. The Pentax is also a bit cheaper than comparable Nikons and Canons.

I'm fine now but I have a history of concussions (4-5 of them, maybe a couple more I can't remember <G>) so I needed to be careful. The crash on the Prior really took me by surprise. I was really enjoying the carve on it but on lower G.S., the pitch just before you get to Harmony chair I dove too aggressively into a toeside and I could actually see the nose fold in front of me. On Sunday, I was actually out on skis. I only took about 10 runs and called it a day. Glad you guys had a good day and I will be back soon. My cousin lives in Whistler so I have an excuse to visit. BTW, who is Roy. I went to demo the Prior at Fanatyko with thoughts of buying it but it had big strips of tape on it marked "Do not Sell" and "Roy".

Quick explanation: Beer and a big mouth. I predict $250,000 final bid.

I rode the Dupraz D1 ++ last Thursday and the 5'5" on Saturday. First, major props to Yohann for loaning me those boards for two full days of riding. My thoughts on the D1 ++: It draws a lot of attention. Just walking to the lift, I had three people stop me to ask about the board or just to comment on what a cool looking board I was carrying. I rode the same board Dave did. I was the second rider to get a hold of it. Snow conditions were not ideal. Freezing level was around 1000 feet. The top of the mountain was hard, sometimes icy. The middle was just about ideal carving snow and the bottom was slush. It would have been a real challenge to ride a race board in those conditions. The Dupraz handled all those conditions well. It is a great all-mountain ride. This is a well behaved board. It never did anything unexpected and was generally easy to handle. It did not feel like a 6 foot long snowboard. Even when I hit some bumps, I was able to swing it around like a freeride board. As for the nose, unlike Dave, I did not find it soft. In fact, I was able to load the nose and not feel like I was going to fold it. The board carved very well in soft-ish snow and good, groomed conditions. I rode a few runs with a guy I met on the gondola and he told me I was leaving "huge trenches". The 5'5", I was just not able to carve. It handled well in choppy conditions but when I tried to tip it over and carve, it just didn't seem to bend. It felt a little too stiff and a lot too short. It just seemed to skid on every turn. I was going to go back on Sunday to buy the D1 ++ but after my crash on Saturday (I folded a 177 Prior WCR), I just wasn't in a buying mood. I will be back next season and bring back the Dupraz. I think I could live with just the Dupraz and my Coiler Freecarve as my two board quiver. That would lead to a major garage sale of boards.

Sorry I did not make the meet up. I crashed hard on Saturday on a demo Prior WCR. I folded the nose when I dove into a turn and landed on my head. Woozy and a bit of a headache. I didn't get out until 10AM on Sunday. I looked for hardbooters but didn't see anyone. Despite the crash, I had a great few days. Hard to believe it was -18 at the peak yesterday. Those snow conditions were tricky. BTW Dave, I demoed a Dupraz and thought it was a great ride but not that different than a big freeride board. I guess it would've been much better on a powder day. I'd be interested in reading your review.

Just about to leave for the airport. The weather forecast is looking perfect. I'm bringing only boots and bindings. First time I've ever left the boards behind. I have demos set up with Underground Tuning and FanatykCo. See you guys there. If anyone is around before Sunday, call me and we'll have some beers. I gave Boris my cell number.

Come on over for a beer and tell me how to get the alternator/fan back into my 911. Do German people have really small hands? P.S. If you ever make it to Mosport, let me know.

Hey, speaking of elite athletes and brushes with fame, how come no one has commented on my new avatar? Huh?