...And the Halfling Fourth shall stand.
As of today, April 18 2012 I am officially moving to ground level. A few compromises had to be reached. I will have a smaller stove and the lay out of the kitchen will be a little more cramped. I gain a living room, dining area. The real compromise I am not sure I can live with yet is having to have a retail shop in line of site from my balcony. I might not like having an Italian specialty shop with a good deli and an excellent cheese selection next door. Then again people can get used to the weirdest things.
Other things that change, I will be farther from St Augustine's and the train station. That said the #20 bus is close and can bridge the distance quickly. The population density is more than double what it is around here as there are many more apartment units. Restraint will have to be practiced now that I will be 5 minutes away from my favorite bakery as well as a larger collection of ethnic grocery stores and bakeries.
Now here is the good news. The building has modern windows, is very clean. And the very good news I am a deposit away from having permission to have a cat.
The hobbit can has cat.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The rise and fall of the Hobbit hole
Greetings Bloggies.
It was the summer of 2010. The job was bull shit, because the boss was possessing a large series of negative personality traits. The job proved that I had burned through my life time meters of logged core. So a few days after few points of balance left the job I buggered off too. I just packed my things and drove off the site, everone should do that once in their life, its a wonderful sense of power.
A couple weeks later I was staying in a sketchy motel on Kingsway in Vancouver. It had a weekly rate, I was hunting for a new home. Money constrained the form of my accommodations life style biased me to nearer the city core. It became a Goldie Locks situation. The first place was too old, too creaky. The second place was too expensive and too far from any where, even though back than I had a car. The third place would do.
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| Stand back I'm going to do Science I mean cooking |
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| The blank slates |
The first year was good for it. I worked a few bush jobs before landing my now long term position. Between jobs I enjoyed cooking and cleaning. I gained access to a garden and through that garden a handful of good friends. And low life was good. I had Friends Credit Cards and Keys. Much food was made, people were had over for dinner.
The furniture trickled in, in torrents at first as I snagged a table and chairs and a bed as soon as I could. Despite have made solid money at jobs I hated, because I was effectively homeless for that time I did not invest in any domestic hardware beyond some kitchen stuffs. The Hobbit hole became a starter home a place to raise my standard of living to functional. In January I got a new couch. This was the trigger.
The couch a simple thing from IKEA that half of Canada likely owned at any one point in time tipped the scales. It filled up as much space there was to spare, yet it was only a love seat, I could not fit the 220 cm length of the full size model. Then I knew a side from some details this home was nearly wrapped up.
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| Kitchen Stuff |
The new couch was trigger for starting the choice for moving but it was on its way for sometime. Prior to that bit the positive qualities of the Hobbit hole were eroded . The neighbors for all the right reasons moved to a better home. I discovered, that when there are 6 people a washing machine and maybe a dishwasher, there is not enough hot water for me to get a proper hot show at normal times of day. The smoke detector is over sensitive. The kitchen sink needs to be babied to drain proper, and that is using the strainers. The garden is a no go for the 2012 summer, and I can no haz cat.
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| Making a home the early days. |
So now I am looking. It will cost more to live in any new place that meets the criteria. Above ground for starters, a generic 1 bedroom in not too old building would do. The prospect of central hot water is enough to really make the best starting place. I want it with in 10 to 15 minute walk of Commercial drive skytrain station. It would really be sweet if a cat could be wrangled in the deal. That would give me room to get more seating, more book shelves, and a feeling of being more grown up.
Now I just have to pressure myself in to actually doing stuff. I have been coasting without, post work mental challenges for months, its time to break that habit.
The Return of the Hobbit Manifesto
Greetings Bloggies.
In my self identified hobbithood I strive to achieve a comfortable and largely sustainable lifestyle. Currently I am in a home that will be as close to a hobbit hole as I will get. That will change, I am planning to move because I have made the place as much of a home as it can be. My next move will be for a longer haul. Today's post is not about me, a novelty.
On Sunday I had to go to the laundromat. This happens about twice a month, this is one of the few times I will read a print paper or watch the TV news. On this occasion I found my self reading the Province. An experience I had not missed. The issue there had a special on the high cost of housing in this city.
There was nearly no substance to this spread. It was a series of letters written by former Vancouver residents about how much cheaper homes were elsewhere. Extolling the virtues of Edmonton, Calgary and other cities. Now I am sure all cities have there charms, but this is not about the cities. Nor is it about the professional aims of the folks in those stories. No I question do you really need a house.
Today I found my self chewing over the whiny letters about housing costs. It struck me as I went for my lunch time walk, the arrogance of the assumption. It also crossed my mind, thank you for leaving Vancouver. Your departure makes more room for those of us who are willing to make do with constrain.
It comes down to energy, people who choose to put themselves in a self contained, conventional, house will likely use more energy in day to day life compared to and apartment dweller. Choices that lead to more energy use lead to more carbon burned. That irritates me.
In my self identified hobbithood I strive to achieve a comfortable and largely sustainable lifestyle. Currently I am in a home that will be as close to a hobbit hole as I will get. That will change, I am planning to move because I have made the place as much of a home as it can be. My next move will be for a longer haul. Today's post is not about me, a novelty.
On Sunday I had to go to the laundromat. This happens about twice a month, this is one of the few times I will read a print paper or watch the TV news. On this occasion I found my self reading the Province. An experience I had not missed. The issue there had a special on the high cost of housing in this city.
There was nearly no substance to this spread. It was a series of letters written by former Vancouver residents about how much cheaper homes were elsewhere. Extolling the virtues of Edmonton, Calgary and other cities. Now I am sure all cities have there charms, but this is not about the cities. Nor is it about the professional aims of the folks in those stories. No I question do you really need a house.
Today I found my self chewing over the whiny letters about housing costs. It struck me as I went for my lunch time walk, the arrogance of the assumption. It also crossed my mind, thank you for leaving Vancouver. Your departure makes more room for those of us who are willing to make do with constrain.
It comes down to energy, people who choose to put themselves in a self contained, conventional, house will likely use more energy in day to day life compared to and apartment dweller. Choices that lead to more energy use lead to more carbon burned. That irritates me.
I stop and stop signs
Greetings Bloggies.
This post has been sitting in my head since spring. This is a default rant of mine. My favorite mode of transportation is a bicycle. I own three with two in Vancouver. I ride to work in every month of the year, not every day, some times the weather is too nasty, sometimes I am hung over and sometimes things need done in town that make a bike a pain, but the trip gets made often. My route to work is over one of the busiest bike paths in Vancouver.
I take the Adanac Union bike route, which connects to Dunsmeir street in down town Vancouver. The majority of this route is residential side streets where the vehicle traffic is low and generally slow, but intersections must be crossed. It is the un regulated or weakly regulated crossings where I see the worst of cyclists and drivers. I have issues with both the drivers in the cars and other cyclists. Bad habits are had by both sides and need addressed.
First and foremost bikes are governed by the same set of laws as motor vehicles and it when that fact is ignored by either set of road users I get a bit angry. It happens some times that I actually get angry at drivers for stopping to let me through. Firstly I stopped because, legally I should, more importantly it is unsafe for me not to. When I have stopped I do what any driver would, look both ways and judge when to make my move.
Now two things can happen, I am ignored by the cross traffic on the other road and I make my crossing when it is safe to do so. I like this out come, I know whats going on and I am not as subject to whims of others. The other out come which makes me angry is a car that legally has no business stopping sees me and stops. In the mind of the driver I imagine the bike is viewed as toy and the rider a subset of pedestrian. Now why I hate this, I am crossing a street with two lanes, and I can never be sure if any one in the other lane has seen me. That means two out of three people know whats going on and the third could plow through there. After all they have no stop sign.
So you folks in the cars, I try to play by the rules so you know what I am going to do.
Now my complaints to other cyclists are largely mirrors of the issues with cars. Thats right folks on two wheels I expect you to signal, stop where it says you should, have lights so you can be seen. It comes down to playing nice with others. If we all agree that we are following the same rules, we all be come more predictable. For the one with the steel underneath me rather than around me that makes the differences between broken bits or not.
Now I have a special set of rants for people who, ride on side walks, ware helmets wrong, don't where helmets, or worst of all hang the helmet on the handle bars. I always imagine the rider magically putting it on adjusting the fit all while flying through the air.
Play nice folks. Enjoy the spring.
This post has been sitting in my head since spring. This is a default rant of mine. My favorite mode of transportation is a bicycle. I own three with two in Vancouver. I ride to work in every month of the year, not every day, some times the weather is too nasty, sometimes I am hung over and sometimes things need done in town that make a bike a pain, but the trip gets made often. My route to work is over one of the busiest bike paths in Vancouver.
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| The Georgia Via Duct, looking toward Main Street |
I take the Adanac Union bike route, which connects to Dunsmeir street in down town Vancouver. The majority of this route is residential side streets where the vehicle traffic is low and generally slow, but intersections must be crossed. It is the un regulated or weakly regulated crossings where I see the worst of cyclists and drivers. I have issues with both the drivers in the cars and other cyclists. Bad habits are had by both sides and need addressed.
First and foremost bikes are governed by the same set of laws as motor vehicles and it when that fact is ignored by either set of road users I get a bit angry. It happens some times that I actually get angry at drivers for stopping to let me through. Firstly I stopped because, legally I should, more importantly it is unsafe for me not to. When I have stopped I do what any driver would, look both ways and judge when to make my move.
Now two things can happen, I am ignored by the cross traffic on the other road and I make my crossing when it is safe to do so. I like this out come, I know whats going on and I am not as subject to whims of others. The other out come which makes me angry is a car that legally has no business stopping sees me and stops. In the mind of the driver I imagine the bike is viewed as toy and the rider a subset of pedestrian. Now why I hate this, I am crossing a street with two lanes, and I can never be sure if any one in the other lane has seen me. That means two out of three people know whats going on and the third could plow through there. After all they have no stop sign.
So you folks in the cars, I try to play by the rules so you know what I am going to do.
Now my complaints to other cyclists are largely mirrors of the issues with cars. Thats right folks on two wheels I expect you to signal, stop where it says you should, have lights so you can be seen. It comes down to playing nice with others. If we all agree that we are following the same rules, we all be come more predictable. For the one with the steel underneath me rather than around me that makes the differences between broken bits or not.
Now I have a special set of rants for people who, ride on side walks, ware helmets wrong, don't where helmets, or worst of all hang the helmet on the handle bars. I always imagine the rider magically putting it on adjusting the fit all while flying through the air.
Play nice folks. Enjoy the spring.
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| Viking 1, the Long Bike |
Thursday, November 10, 2011
A Week of Mondays
Greetings, Long time no words.
So I have not been writing here, hardly ever. It comes down to the usual list of things that took effect once I moved to Vancouver. Not the least of which is I am connected so I don't need this medium to break my isolation. Full time work and being spent enough at the end of a day where not much has happened is the other reason.
This week I feel venting is a bit in order. It started well enough, with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer's zany live show. This ran latter than I had expected, leading to not getting home till past midnight. It was worth the cost but, sleep is a resource I do not wish to give up. Monday started good. I choose to ride into work despite the cool damp nature of the morning. I was warm enough and dry enough but the streets were wetter than they looked.
I was coming up on to Gore street, at the south eastern corner of china town, I had picked up a little too much speed on the long section of low grade. One way or an other I miss judged how far I was from the intersection. Breaking hard to stop back fired. My breaks worked perfectly. My wheels stopped turning, the ground was lubricated. We fish tailed. Now as it turns out I have more control over the bike than I thought I did, because I was able to pull up and out of the skid and loop around to the edge of the side walk.
Some thing felt off, checking things out on the other side of Gore, reviled a minor warp to the rear wheel. There was discussion after the fact that if I had bailed the wheel would have been fine. That logic is good because the recovery put a lot of strain on the wheel. Against my better judgement but in the absence of better options I rode the rest of the way to work.
Work was a slog. Full of revision after revision. At the end of the day, I checked on the bike, I had through the abuse of the morning broke a spoke. I took the train home and left the bike in the builds locker. I had hoped to take it to a down town shop during the week but found my self stuck behind a deadlind for too much of the time to make it outside over lunch.
On the flip side I have a new bed and when I do get a full nights sleep I am well rested.
So I have not been writing here, hardly ever. It comes down to the usual list of things that took effect once I moved to Vancouver. Not the least of which is I am connected so I don't need this medium to break my isolation. Full time work and being spent enough at the end of a day where not much has happened is the other reason.
This week I feel venting is a bit in order. It started well enough, with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer's zany live show. This ran latter than I had expected, leading to not getting home till past midnight. It was worth the cost but, sleep is a resource I do not wish to give up. Monday started good. I choose to ride into work despite the cool damp nature of the morning. I was warm enough and dry enough but the streets were wetter than they looked.
I was coming up on to Gore street, at the south eastern corner of china town, I had picked up a little too much speed on the long section of low grade. One way or an other I miss judged how far I was from the intersection. Breaking hard to stop back fired. My breaks worked perfectly. My wheels stopped turning, the ground was lubricated. We fish tailed. Now as it turns out I have more control over the bike than I thought I did, because I was able to pull up and out of the skid and loop around to the edge of the side walk.
Some thing felt off, checking things out on the other side of Gore, reviled a minor warp to the rear wheel. There was discussion after the fact that if I had bailed the wheel would have been fine. That logic is good because the recovery put a lot of strain on the wheel. Against my better judgement but in the absence of better options I rode the rest of the way to work.
Work was a slog. Full of revision after revision. At the end of the day, I checked on the bike, I had through the abuse of the morning broke a spoke. I took the train home and left the bike in the builds locker. I had hoped to take it to a down town shop during the week but found my self stuck behind a deadlind for too much of the time to make it outside over lunch.
On the flip side I have a new bed and when I do get a full nights sleep I am well rested.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Not so sucky
UPDATE.
I got a call around 1:30pm today. The bike mechanic was able to contort the steel back into form. I will be picking it up tomorrow.
I got a call around 1:30pm today. The bike mechanic was able to contort the steel back into form. I will be picking it up tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Well this just sucks
Greetings Bloggies.
A warning if this post has even more typos, grammar errors and spelling errors it is because I have had several needed beer.
In July I ordered and received a new bike chosen because it would be the best fit in its class. Money was put aside over several months for this purchase. Cutting corners was not on my mind, I wanted a frame that would last years and I wanted a good ride.
Well today the wrong part was out of true in the worst possible way. I bent parts that should not be bent, 180 degrees from where they should sit. I am angry, numb, pissed off, worried that it can not be fixed, hopeful that it can. If the best case plays out, the parts will be bent strait others replaced the machine will be ride again. Should this play out there will always be the taint on this frame of it failed once. This machine was to be my long turn ride.
Built of steel with quality parts, I spent more money than I had originally planned to because I wanted one of the best frames that could fit me. Now it sits in the shop where it was built waiting its turn on the mechanics rack in the hope that malleable qualities of steel will allow it to role smooth again.
What little luck I had was that the fail happened near Main and 33 close enough to the buses that I had a chance to make it to Mighty Riders be for the closed at 6pm. They say it can be fixed. Hearing that alone pushed me out of the near shock state I had drifted into towards angry.
A warning if this post has even more typos, grammar errors and spelling errors it is because I have had several needed beer.
In July I ordered and received a new bike chosen because it would be the best fit in its class. Money was put aside over several months for this purchase. Cutting corners was not on my mind, I wanted a frame that would last years and I wanted a good ride.
Well today the wrong part was out of true in the worst possible way. I bent parts that should not be bent, 180 degrees from where they should sit. I am angry, numb, pissed off, worried that it can not be fixed, hopeful that it can. If the best case plays out, the parts will be bent strait others replaced the machine will be ride again. Should this play out there will always be the taint on this frame of it failed once. This machine was to be my long turn ride.
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| Healthy and ready to ride |
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| Pay close attention to the way the parts are bent wrong. |
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| Seriously, FUCK. FUCK FUCK. FUCK FUCK> |
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| Its a damn good thing the frame is light, I was carrying it a ways today. |
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| BEER. A few are needed on a day like today. |
What little luck I had was that the fail happened near Main and 33 close enough to the buses that I had a chance to make it to Mighty Riders be for the closed at 6pm. They say it can be fixed. Hearing that alone pushed me out of the near shock state I had drifted into towards angry.
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