My jobsite and camping at Dioniso. Too busy to post...gathering material for future posts...

The "Tiger Jade"

Jade Fever

My new hobby... Stone cutting!

Three cool cats...

The tiger striped jade was cut from a raw boulder using a 14 inch rock saw and diamond blade. Very, very nice piece of material. I'm standing at the polishing station in front of the 30 inch saw, which is currently without a blade. Lots  more to come. Enjoy!

Mount Washington Ski Trip

Basket star caught by underwater submarine.

Ferns growing on a dock on Mayne island

Vancouver Island ski drive

       Here are a few highlights from my trip to Mount Washington, Vancouver Island, BC. I drove my new truck and that was lots of fun. Good thing there were lots of dinosaurs that died so I could have gasoline. It cost 135.00 to fill the tank which  got me there and back, but I wasn't too disappointed. It was around 500km round trip. 

Lots of good snow on the mountain. Around 100cm of fresh powder had fallen that week.

I was skiing some intense black diamond and double black diamond runs in the trees and down cliffs. I only did one double diamond, and it was a real leg burner. Down beside a cliff, through the trees and out into a big bowl.

All that skiing went without any major wipe-outs, and then...
I was gliding down the bunny hill to the lift and I was taken out HARD!
Some 'little' kid had blindsided me at Mach 5, and I lost both polls and a ski while slamming down into a headfirst, downhill skid. The kid was totally fine, didn't lose a thing and skied away. I thought I was fine, but the adrenaline wore off and my shin, shoulder, and neck were all sore for a few days. That is the way it usually goes.
I wouldn't have been satisfied with the weekend if I didn't have at least one good yard-sale bail out.
  

Shum is one crazy dude

 

Unmanned Submarine on Galiano and Mayne Islands. Exclusive Photos!

The Neocaligus, meaning 'new sea louse'. The carrier for the submarine doing research on the underwater electric cables and also on local swimming scallop populations. Crew of 6 or 7 and lots of cool gadgets. The boat is a converted salmon trawler and is still used for test fishing, mostly non-salmon species, such as prawns, groundfish, crabs, and whatever else they might want to bring up from the sea. Most test fishing is done on a catch and release basis, and with only enough for research purposes. However, some 'research' experiments do end up in the kitchen.

This is the unmanned submarine. It is mounted with two video cameras, and multiple still cameras. The newer video camera records at 1.5 gigabytes a second. There is a computer that compresses that down and another device that records data directly onto re-writable hard-drives. The submarine is also equipped with two lasers that self adjust to always appear 10cm apart on the images, in order to let them scale the pictures to match. There is lots of mapping that must be done and investigating not so exciting things like sunken power cables. This can also be fun though. The operator of the submarine was cruising today and saw a group of starfish creatures with their arms outstretched into the current filtering the flow for food and when the bottom bar of the sub brushed their arms they wrapped around and two held on for the rest of the ride. One is destined for a salt water aquarium in Nanaimo. This particular species has multiple small tentacle like protrusions along it's arms that act to grip onto things and grab the bottom in strong currents. The submarine has a long green 'umbilical' cord that has recently been upgraded with a fiber optic cable and the new video camera. It also has some bad-ass headlights and two forward thrusting engines, one horizontal engine, and one vertical trusting engine. All electric and controlled remotely from the ship. 

Controls for the Submarine.

Sea Sponge Picture.

The Control Station. This is where they set up the controls and mount screens for the multiple cameras and mapping images necessary for navigation. This is below decks, and there are three areas in communication at all times; this below deck command station, the deck crew who control the umbilical cord, and the captain who is driving the ship at just the right speed and course up high in his area. Lots of work and effort to get everything co-ordinated. This is more difficult in bad seas, or when the computers start acting like computers and stop working. 

Leap Year February 29, 2012: Sunset on Mayne Island

My 'New' Wheels: 1994 Chevy 3500 4X4 one ton Truck

Mmmm...Truck

Red Hot Photos...

 Climbing Maslow's pyramid, one day at a time.

Brain Drain

He had a bright mind

But no decent job could he find

Far away did he move

To find a new groove

South and then West

He did his damn best

His mind, it got drained

His body equally strained

But he carried on

Knowing it wouldn't be long

Till' he was back in St. John's

I'm Going to Alberta

So I've made a big decision to leave my home and move to Fort Mac to make some money and pay off my student loans...

It seems like the oil sands are like a giant magnet for young people looking to make a few bucks in these economic hard times.

But, I'm not actually going. I was just thinking about how many people must have thought about, or actually moved to Alberta, in search of those oil dollars. How many of us have imagined leaving behind our rented houses and moving into something half as big for twice as much in picturesque Fort Macmurray?

I have actually considered doing so many times since finishing university, but something always convinces me otherwise. I will do the math and convince myself that it isn't really that much money, or I will imagine 40 below mornings before a twelve hour shift. It is usually enough to keep me here in southern British Columbia.

However, I can't ignore that earning between 90,000 and 250,000 dollars a year wouldn't be a decent pay raise. Then I just have to convince myself that fancy cars and hats aren't really necessary. But I do like a nice hat.

These are some thoughts I had on the prospect of moving to Alberta. Lots of people seem to be going there, and also leaving there.
Any thoughts?