Dean's Blog

Well, it looks like I no longer have to really worry about Calgary Transit, which is nice, as we purchased a new car, and now having 2 cars, can zip about burning up fossil fuels and avoiding the sounds of teenage girls, very late buses, and “Attention Calgary Transit customers, there will be a 20 minute delay on all lines heading in or out of the Downtown core, and your connections will not be compensated in any form.”

Anyhow, it’s funny that floor mats are considered an extra in cars these days.

Great Googly Moogly.

If you’re going to have a gigantic construction zone, with a 50 kph speed limit, and no actual construction going on for the past 2 months, remove the stupid speed limit!

We’re not all dumb, and we know that the sign that says ‘Construction Ahead’ actually means ‘Radar Trap’. It’s not like we can’t see you in your reflective vests, trying to hide the Tim Horton’s gut behind a signpost. It’s just there to increase frustration, cause accidents, and increase insurance rates, that is all it is. It’s not like there aren’t any gangs in the city to go and break up, or maybe that is a better job for the military. Just roll some tanks into some ganghouses, and see how they like that.

-Rant Mode Off-

Well, happy times on the homestead. This weekend I test drove a new Volkswagen Golf, which was nice, as it feels like a car that was engineered by engineers and assembled in an actual factory, rather than by a bunch of farmers in a clearing. However I think I’ll wait until the new Jetta Wagon TDI comes out, if I can wait that long that is. I also popped down to Totem and dropped 3 grand of building supplies. Deck and fence (and siding on the shed) here I come!

I only have to build 2 sides of fence, which is nice, although the existing side that neighbor-dude put up is going to fall down in two years, due to cheap untreated construction. When that happens, it will be my turn, and I can get rid of that stupid lattice. I’m all for 12 foot high walls with electrified barbed wire and angry bees, but unfortunately everyone wants wimpy lattice up top and bylaws that mandate a 6.5 foot high fence and no higher. Not much in the way of privacy in this city. Anyhow, I have two weeks to get the post holes and pilings dug, which is going to be mostly by hired machine. I dug the post holes for my mom’s huge back yard when I was a teenager. Still have nightmares about that.

I really like the Volkswagen, and would have loved to have taken a GTI for a spin around the block, but I’m looking for something practical.

So, yesterday I decided to take a quick trip to the vending machine for a beverage. Of course, there are no prices on the pop machines, but if you hit the button of your selection it will give you a price. So, I hit the button for a can of Diet Coke. It tells me $1.00. I insert $1.00, and hit the Diet Coke selection. It then tells me I need $1.10. So, I put in a dime, and hit the button. Then it tells me “Selection sold out.”

Frustrating, because that then meant I had to have a can of Diet Pepsi instead, and that machine wanted $1.25

So, the Canadian dollar is soaring high, around $0.94 U.S currently. However, the moronic prices of products doesn’t reflect this. For example, there is a bit of software that I’d like to buy. It costs $648.00 U.S or $980.00 CAN. Gee.. will I spend the $980.00 CAN or order it using the international store for $648.00 U.S which currently converts to $685.00 CAN. Get with the program people! This isn’t an isolated case.

Of course, everyone who bought their inventory (or manufactured something) still feels that it is worth what they paid for it last year or whatever, and that will never be reflected by, say, suddenly the price of cars coming down by 20%.

Of course, even cars 20% cheaper would still be a rip off. As for myself, I’m still going to go for the better deal at the international store.

so, this week whilst driving home from work I have come to realize that every route that I can reasonably take to travel home is either currently under construction, slated for construction, or heavily affected by nearby construction.

Guys? Hello? You’d think someone down at the dark arts planning department would have noticed that every east-west high volume corridor from Glenmore trail to McKnight Boulevard is racked up with construction. I mean, seriously, 16th avenue is just a big war zone. It doesn’t look like they’ve done anything there other than place concrete barriers all over the place Encana’s project is going to seriously mess with downtown, Memorial has that ridiculous lane reversal going on, which is completely useless and totally in the wrong section of roadway. Every other road is a traffic light-fest, with traffic lights seemingly programmed to cause accidents and wear on your brakes. The lights that are green for less than ten seconds are a part of the mass insanity coalition I am certain. And then there are the ‘interchanges’ designed by toddlers with shorts full of crap, such as the mess of any combination of Memorial - Crowchild - Bow Trail, and 16th - Shaganappi. The ban on new river crossings is also worth mentioning. It sucks!

So, I propose that they build some Los-Angeles style elevated freeways right over top of everything else, with no on or off ramps except at the ends. If you want to go downtown you take Memorial. If you want to get to Crowchild from Deerfoot, you take the elevated freeway, thusly avoiding all the traffic that is simply going downtown, without adding to the volume those that are going to, say Crowchild from Deerfoot, through downtown. The solution is indeed building upwards not outwards. For you Sim City fans, the +15 downtown is considered a proto-arcology, (Information on the Arcology here) so a full on system is the most obvious next step.

And as for the Transit Strike/Lockout situation.. How come the ridership never goes on strike due to poor service, conditions and crowding? Bah

Armour!

Well, turns out we are actually buying some Leopard 2’s after all. 100 or so mixed bag of Leo 2 MBT and logistics variants. Very cool

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