IgloONotes

School! Nothing better, nothing worse.

So because of school, travels, packing up and leaving Germany, adjusting back to Windsor life, and all the things that go about life, I've just had no time to write in here! Kinda sad, but true. I still really enjoy coming back here and seeing what I've done in the past So many things have happened since then. Just a Quick run down...

My girlfriend visited me in Germany and we went travelling all over Europe, stopping in Paris, Rome, and Berlin as the major stops. Then we did a couple small trips to Rothenberg, Munich and the BMW museum, and of course my favourite next-door city, Erlangen. The Pizza in Rome was amazing, the Cold weather in Paris, not so much.

After she left, I found a cheap flight to Hong Kong and decided to make a quick trip out to see her before flying back to Canada.

Of course, an extended time in germany would never be complete without a trip to the Nurburgring. I spent a whole day of driving, and had some pretty amazing sights along the way. Being passed by a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera and a Porsche 911 GT3. It sends a chill down my spine thinking that I was on the same world famous racetrack as them.

Then I did a road trip driving along Germany's most scenic driving roads. I drove along the German Romantic road, and the German Alpine road, the latter being more exciting and scenic because of the mountain range we had to drive beside, through and over (under?). With our Trusty Mini Cooper, we carved out the roads and finished up with a tour of the Audi Headquarters Showcase.

Before staying in Windsor for a long period of time, I decided to make a trip to China to visit my Dad. Somewhat odd feeling because I wasn't sure if I was going to be there for an extended time, and when the next time I would be back. I got a chinese haircut that had to be fixed by myself when it started growing longer.

Back in Windsor, life has been pretty much filled with School, Engineering, and uh...School. I did manage to get my old computer up and running at full steam again after being attacked by internet worms the whole time I was in Germany. I also just picked up a Wireless PCI card so that I can write this on my Desktop computer while in the Basement. As they say, life must go on. And after reading about all the tragedies going on around the world, to famous people, not so famous people, I feel pretty lucky to be here.

After months of waiting, looking down at my watch and scratching off the days on the calendar, the day had finally arrived. My Girlfriend was going to be arriving in Germany for a wondrous holiday together. We would be flying, taking the train, and of course, driving to cities all across Europe.

Let me highlight driving.

I had to pick up my Girlfriend from Frankfurt airport. I wanted to use the company car but policy doesn't allow the car to stay with me overnight. The company cars available to me are simple. Either a green Ford Focus which is falling apart or a Blue Opel Astra. I've honed my Manual driving skills in both cars and each has their own characteristics. The Focus for example is easy to drive smooth, but once you're on the road it starts to complain that you didn't service it yesterday.

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I never would have thought that looking for a new moblie phone would be so hard. I've had a simple Sony Ericsson z520a for a good while, enough to tell me that I don't really need gadgets on my phone. All I do is make calls and send texts. The camera, I never use, nor do I use the browser, or even the games. The novelty of those things died out after just a month.

On the other hand, there's all these smartphones popping up and with prices plummeting, its made me rethink what I really want in a phone. Are 5 megapixel cameras going to tear me away from my beloved Panasonic TZ5? Are web browsers on phones going to rip me apart from my Macbook? I did a bit of cell searching and this is what I found out...

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So for those of you who follow Formula 1, you'll certainly have followed the final race to a dramatic, chaotic, and very controvercial season of Formula 1.

For those of you not really into the loop, just know that the winner of the Formula 1 world championship turned out to be a fight to the last race, the last lap, and the very last corner. It was an extremely thrilling finish to a crazy season, with two drivers Filipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, vying for the crown.

It started out as any other Grand Prix, cars lining the grid, ready to race. But just as the lights were about to go out, the heavens opened and smothered everything that she could offer. This lasted just a few minutes, but it threw the teams into confusion as to what tires to slap on their cars. Should they gamble and stay with the dry tires, or be safe and go with the wet tires?

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So after a very long time, IgloONotes Galleries is finally up and running! Here's a couple things you might be interested in checking out...

My Encounter with the Bugatti Veyron!

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So if you’ve all been keeping up with recent news you’ll know that the Canadian dollar has surpassed the US dollar in value. For us Canadians, that only means one thing…shopping!

Looking for the best place to go netted only one result; Great Lakes Crossing. It’s a shopping mall filled with outlet stores and has a land area of about 1.4 million square feet! As a plus, it was only 45 minutes away, which meant more time for shopping.

I would be going with two friends, both girls. You must be thinking…are you crazy?! Me, being a guy and both my friends being professed shopaholics. Thanks in part to my many travels in China, I was prepared for what lay ahead. I had already been on a few shopping marathons in my life. Read More »

Our hunt for a new car is finally over! After many months of scouring the internet and browsing the classifieds, we found our car.

Mind you, it was not an easy task. We had three basic requirements to fill. Firstly, it had to have at least 4 doors or else the insurance company would think we’re into street racing. Secondly, it had to use regular gas and be miserly on fuel. Third, it had to be a practical replacement for our 1991 Toyota Previa; the little van that could.

The first requirement  was easy enough and that meant we were either looking at a hatchback or a sedan. The second meant it had to be a four-banger, but the third requirement was a little bit tougher.

Our 1991 Previa had a little under 390,000 kms on the clock. Sure, the turn signal solenoid had to be replaced, as did the muffler and the sliding door handle after an enthusiastic tug on the door that was frozen to the body. Read More »

Would you ever think that you could define a whole country simply by riding in taxi? On the way to your destination you can see the scenery that flashes by. On the radio, you’ll know what type of music they listen to and most importantly, while sitting in the passenger seat, you’ll fully understand what the locals have to drive through on a daily basis.

I never really thought much of the blue and yellow cabs that roam Windsor. You see them parked outside of shopping malls and airports, waiting for new customers. They’re essential in our lives and yet we just don’t notice… that is, until I went to China.

You’ve all heard of the game Crazy Taxi right? Just the name of it brings flashes of yellow taxi’s zooming around downtown New York. You always hear of the people who complain about the crazy taxi drivers (me including) but I never fully understood why. If anything bad happened on the road, you blamed it on the taxi. Read More »

(Written in May 2008)

Wow...its been a long time since I've blogged about... well, anything! You can tack the reasons onto the exam boards. I'm pretty sure I passed all my courses, which is a great thing because now I can fly off to Gemany knowing I don't have to wind back into a course that I would have totally forgotten how to do. I digress.

This is about what I've been doing since my last blog post; the review of my new camera, the Panasonic TZ5 which by the way has served me very very well so far.

First up on my list was my last week with my girlfriend before she headed off to Hong Kong. Bittersweet, for those of you who knows what its like to have a loved one fly across the world. Before I let her go though, we took a bike ride all the way to the Windsor riverside to watch the sunrise.

Yes, it was very early, and because it was April, yes it was cold in the morning. No matter, we had a sunrise to catch! We woke up around 4:45 and left the house at 5:45 ish to catch the sunrise which according to online sources, would rise at 6:31 AM. On my road rocket, I can bike from my house to the river in 30 minutes. With both of us on Mountain bikes, it would be slightly longer... Read More »

No, Höllentalklamm is not an ancient chant used by witches. Though it would be fitting because translated into English, 'Höllental' means 'Valley of Hell'. I guess I should of read about this before putting my name down for the trip. Nonethless I stared danger in the eyes, and prepared for what would turn out to be one of the most amazing places that I have ever seen.

My friend Jeff is a really avid hiker and when he approached me to go hiking, I was really quite excited to go hiking for the first time in Germany. This was the reason I bought a pair of Timberland Hiking shoes, as well as brining along a hiking backpack. The date was set in stone and for once the weather, the reason for many previous cancellations, near the hiking trails was projected this time to be excellent. Hiking up a mountain in nice clear weather? Awesome. Read More »