Monday, November 05, 2007

5000 km Mexico Trip Report

We left at around 3h30 AM on Friday, after spending the day loading up the truck and trailer. As we were waiting at the US border and seeing all cars in front of us being searched, we were hoping that we would not have to open up the trailer for inspection. You know that closet that you fill up with all the junk lying around your home, which when opened, produces of mound of stuff up to your ears? That's what we felt would happen to the poor fellow who opened up the trailer... I have to say, it was the funniest border crossing I ever experienced. When we told him we were on our way to Mexico via Florida/Disney, we started talking about taking time off for a trip like this, talking about learning Spanish...basically no questions about your typical border crossing trek. I guess we looked pretty harmless with 2 cute kids cuddled in the back. I always found it funny that when you cross the Canadian border, they ask if you have booze and guns. When you cross the US border, they ask if you have fruit...no wonder they have more crime in US!

We drove all day till about 11h00 PM to close to Fayetteville. The next day, we of coursed stopped at the cheesiest place on earth...South of the Border.










From there, we drove all the way down to Sarasota (got there pretty late), where we stayed at Wendy's cousin's place. It was a great place to relax with a huge pool and hot tub in the back yard. Great food, wine and especially company. On Monday morning, we left for Disney and did MGM Studios which was a lot of fun, although it was raining off and on all day. At least we did not have to wait in line-ups. My favorite ride was the Rock and Rollercoaster where you start off going from 0 to 95 km in 2.8 seconds. Breanna & Ryan loved the Star Wars ride and the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show.

On Tuesday, we did Disney's Animal Kingdom. We started off with a safari, which was fun. The Finding Nemo and Lion King show was great and the kids loved it . Here is my favorite picture that I captured during our little safari of a sleeping lion. We ended the day with the Everest Roller Coaster which was pretty fun. Two days of Disney with kids is pretty exhausting to say the least. We went back to Sarasota and took a day off.

Our next stop was Destin, Florida Thursday. We were given the use of a time-share for the night by some friends of ours and we stayed at the Intrawest Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. Wow...what a room, what a resort. This was one of the best beaches we have ever been to! The sand was close to flour, and the water was aqua blue. The kids found enough crab parts to make one good one :). We rented bikes and the kids loved the free arcade.

Saturday and Sunday we spent in New Orleans. We stayed at Le Pavillion within walking distance to the French Quarter. Talk about service! They have a real doorman! On Saturday, we walked the French Quarter and loved the architecture of the balconies. The food and music was exactly what I was hoping for. Music on the streets, great food and wonderful balconies.




We left the French Quarter around 5h00 PM, when happy hour starts (3 for 1). It did not take long for it to get raunchy, so we left with the kids. A local told us that when she leaves work around 11h00 PM, she regularly has to step over passed out teens on the street, puke, and other enjoyable obstacles, sort of like the drunk Olympics.


From New Orleans, we went to Texas in a little town called Brenham to visit my friend's parents. It also served the dual purpose to have a power supply shipped to me. OK. You all know me, and what I do. Imagine now that I left Canada forgetting my laptop power cord and the power cord for our movie player (I bought the Creative Labs Zen W which I love) which was supposed to keep the kids occupied during the trip! I was only able to recharge the movie player in Sarasota and Texas...sorry kids. The Zen is great to watch movies, in fact I regularly watch TV shows or movies in bed with it. It might also come in handy if I ever get the "runs" down here :).

From Brenham, we went to Laredo Texas, where we stayed the night. We got up early the next day, and crossed the border. I was kind of nervous, since my Spanish is really bad, so of course, I choose the wrong lane, and went into the "To Declare" lane, which is where you pay taxes for all the stuff you have. Of course, I had a trailer full of stuff! The officer told me I had to go inside to pay tax, although I told him that I think I went in the wrong lane and I was really looking for the place to get a permit for my truck & trailer. He made me go in, and I again played dumb, and told the guy at the counter that I think I at the wrong place and I'm looking for the place to get a car permit. He took me outside and gave me directions to the place, and I just headed for it. Phew! After getting my permit, I still wasn't sure I was passed the border! It was a little weird. We started driving towards PV, and at the 12 mile point, there is a checkpoint where you stop in front of a light, and luckily, it was green, so we just went on through. At that point, we knew we were in.
We had the choice of taking the toll roads (which I find quite expensive), or the free roads. Although expensive, I feel that the toll roads is the way to go. The free roads go through small towns where you have to slow down, you are only a two lane highway so you have to pass big trucks, and most of the time, there is no shoulder. The toll road on the other hand is smooth, has emergency phones at regular intervals, gas stations at regular intervals (never let your gas go below 1/2 a tank...you never know how far the next one is and you can waste lots of gas in the mountains!). The scenery was breathtaking, seeing the mountains, valleys and many varieties of plants (Tequila!). We drove all day in well into the night, when Wendy and the kids had their full. We were in Aguascalientes by then, and we had a hard time finding a hotel with vacancy. We found one, which was fairly expensive for a stop-over hotel ($120 USD), but wow what a room. We were on the ground floor facing a huge pool. We were tempted to stay an extra day! We left after breakfast and headed for our new home for the next little while. The last stretch from the main toll road to the road that follows the ocean (Highway 200) was pretty twisty and again, we were behind slow trucks. We finally made it around 9h00 PM, at which time it was pretty dark, but I found our place just fine. We unpacked the trailer, and passed out on the mattress (did not even take the time to rebuild our bed!). We awoke and of course the kids headed straight to the pool while we unpacked.
7000 KM was our total trip, and with the stops, it was quite enjoyable. We love our place, and having a pool in the back yard is great and better than going in an elevator for 20 floors like when we were at 2021 Atwater (which we really enjoyed also). Yesterday, I found the little Irish Pub in town and the owners were quite helpful giving us tips about where to find stuff in Bucerias. We had a chance to see our friends down here, and the kids today are having a little beach party in LaCruz. We just got a fridge, and still need some furniture, so we have to shop some more. Groceries are really reasonable and I can see how it can eventually cost us around 1/2 what we are used to, once you get to know the good places to shop. We have relied on Walmart so far, and although you do find good stuff at a good price, I believe you can get good fruits and vegetables from local sources.
Anyways, that is the short version of our trip so far. Stay tuned for more updates and tips on how to survive in Mexico!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

The slow death of St-Catherine Street

I was stopped coming back from Blockbusters today by a reporter from the Gazette named Jan Ravensbergen started asking my son & I questions about the moving of the last open storefront on the St-Catherine's strip between Lambert-Closse and Chomedey. Bombay Palace is moving out.

I remembered reading “Tipping Point” (kind of a link to the thought behind it here http://www.gladwell.com/1996/1996_06_03_a_tipping.htm and http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/OPINION/703260308/-1/opinion04) and how small things can lead to a clean-up of a locality.

Having pretty much the whole street boarded up, with posters for upcoming (and sometimes long gone shows), graffiti…gives the impression that nobody cares for that block.

St-Catherine IS Montreal. It’s what ties everything together. To come visit Montreal and not spend some time on St-Catherine is impossible. What would a visitor say about Montreal, when he passes Lambert-Closse? It obviously detracts from our fine city.

It started with the Seville Cinema which closed in 1994, followed by the closing of the Montreal Forum in 1996. Since then, the block has slowly died.

Following the thoughts of the Tipping Point, could not the city decided to clean up that block? Why not give a subsidy to build a theatre (we all know that movies are dead) for local shows, and plays and concerts. Once you have that started, just wait and that block will be filled with restaurants, maybe a art dealer, Starbucks... If the city would take in initiative to start something, such as a my proposed cultural block, then local students from Concordia and Dawson could put on plays, we could have local artists hang their art in a gallery, we could have trendy restaurants and coffee shops to accommodate the show going crowds.

The same thing happenned at the corner of Charlevoix and Notre-Dame. They opened up a theatre, and the next thing you know, you have Joe Beef and other trendy hot-spots cropping up!

Come on Montreal...let's re-open the Seville and give some life back this dead zone!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Screaming girlfight caused by Energy Drink?

This last Saturday Night, a fight broke out around 3 am (Tonic club closing) at the corner of DeMaisonneuve and Atwater. The loudest female scream I had ever heard was gently thrust upon me for the duration of about 15 minutes. This was very reminiscent of the Nancy Spungen whining in Sid & Nancy. When my ears started to bleed, I finally went to the balcony to find my wife looking at the live "Cops" show below. Three squad cars where there separating some hysteric group from this small group of about 3 very loud and whinny ladies. What surprised me was that when these peace disturbing ladies finally got into their car, in whatever state of inebriation they were in, calm came back to Atwater street.

Unfortunately, I mistakenly thought they got into a Honda Ridgeline that was plastered with Base Energy Drink logos. It seems that Base had nothing to do with this drama, except trying to market their drink to club goers.

In the good old days, people would drink...get plastered and fall asleep. Now, they drink, and are wide awake, being fueled by caffeine, ginseng, ginkgo biloba and who knows what else. I actually like a Guru & Vodka every now and then, but you have to be careful with that combination...moderation is the key.

I haven't tried Base Energy drinks yet but their marketing is targeting the right crowd. As I drive to Mexico, I might just stock up on some of these drinks (minus the Vodka).

They should put a warning on those things: "Warning: Mixed with Alcohol, may cause female club goers to yell and get involved in fights at 3h00 AM. Possibility of incontinence or puking (as seen by the opposing side on our side of the street)."

Monday, July 23, 2007

Friday, June 08, 2007

Trinity Restaurant Review (Montreal)

On Wednesday, May 23rd, we were invited to the opening of Trinity Restaurant on Drummond Street. Intrigued that it is from one of the owners of Queue de Cheval, Peter Morenzos (Pete as we called him), we were anxious to have a night away from the kids and celebrate that we sold our house.

The decor was inspired by monasteries, making us believe we are in the Mediterranean, tasting Greek delicacies and wine. Like Queue de Cheval, the kitchen was open and amazingly huge!

Since Trinity specializes in fish, we became adventurous with the menu. We started off with Calamari (I would have preferred it a little more tender), Octopus (Amazing), and they suggested a third entrée - Greek salad. Now the Greek salad had the biggest piece of Feta I have ever seen for a single serving. Much like the quantity you would buy for a week! It was interesting that every plate was inspected by Pete, and generously adorned with olive oil. Pete seemed like an owner totally invested in his creation. At one point, my wife felt the need to give Pete a hug, in a motherly way, calming him down, as he was obviously passionate about the preparation of the dishes, and being opening night...stressed. Pete was very inviting, and passionate about the food he serves, he told us. My wife choose the Sea Bass (to die for), and I opted for the 1/2 lobster (not usually a big fan of lobsters, but it was good). The side dishes were great as well.

As for the service, it was on par with Queue, but it was obvious that the staff was new, and understandably a little disorganized as it was their first night. I'm sure that given a few days, they will be at their best.

I have no clue what the prices are, but if I compare with Queue, I'm sure they will be up there, but worth it. We had a great time, the food was amazing, and the staff were terrific. Treat yourself to a trip to Greece, without needing a passport.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Ever Fold a Protein?

How would you like to help cure the following:
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Cancer
  • Huntington's Disease
  • Osteogenesis Imperfecta
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Ribosome & Antibiotics

Now you can, simply by running a piece of software on your computer while it is not in use.

You can get more info at http://folding.stanford.edu/

Join the CompuQuest Folding Team (68608) and let's help.

Here are a few other "diseases" I would like to cure:

  • Chronic signaling (caused by senior drivers in the left lane with their flashers on)
  • Auditory Cancer (People talking at the movie theater)
  • Remote Control Addiction (Affects all men)
  • Spare Tire Disease (Affects all men...eventually)
  • Techno Babble Disease (Cannot stop talking about new gadgets)
  • Shopping Channel Addiction (Affects many woman)

Let's cure the important ones, so we can finally concentrate on my list above.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Vote for the Worst


I don't follow American Idol, but I have watched it on occasion when I was visiting people who do watch it. I saw the faux-hawk episode, and I was wondering why Sanjaya Malakar is still on the show...that is till I found the website http://www.votefortheworst.com/ which encourages everybody to vote for the biggest loser on the show to win the contest. I love it! Backed by Howard Stern, this site has finally made an obvious influence in the outcome of the show.
So spread the word, vote for Sanjaya to win! Watch out William Hung...you've got competition!

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Cool Toy...for the kid in all of us!



Toy of the Year winner for 2006, this lets you basically battle with little ping-pong like painted balls in mid-air combat. Check out the video on www.verticonwarriors.com.

Please buy me this :)

Friday, March 23, 2007

Attention DiCi One Thritii Two


Hey Johnny boy...tonight is the night!

Têtes à Claques has made it to the US! Finally, for all you English folks who can only begin to appreciate this very Québécois humor, you can check it out here.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Global Warming caused by Burritos

So we have all seen the Oscar winning Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth" which blames greenhouse gases for global warming, and countless others have read the book "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton which links the global warming fears is simply replacing the Cold War fears.

Countless websites examine the "facts" such as National Geographic which agree with the movie, and countless others contradict the same "facts" such as this article. While this back and forth commentary is quite entertaining, Michael Crichton does bring one point to the table that makes sense, funding for scientists. Now there is no doubt that man is killing the earth at an ever increasing rate. Efforts have to be made to reduce the damage, as soon as possible. Even CompuQuest has a e-waste initiative in place. But the source of funding for scientists can clearly alter pure science. When you know where your next check comes from, you could be biased to please those signing it. Even with the best of intentions, it's hard to be objective all the time.

Now, imagine a body of scientists who do not know where their funding comes from. When one team decide to start a study, another undertake it, and yet another study the results. What conclusion would they come to?

I have myself examinated the problem of global warming and have found a strong link between the popularity of Mexican Food, and the greenhouse gas rise. Quebec is now threatened by the introduction of a Taco Bell in the West Island. Will all this "natural gas" melt the polar caps? Will the Burrito called a weapon of m-ass destruction? Only time will tell, but as for me, I will stick with the poutine!


Monday, February 19, 2007

I've got a bad case of the Vistas

So, I decided to be the guinea pig and buy Vista Home Premium from Future Shop (comparable to XP Media Centre). I happen to have my computer in the shop, and was able to do a full backup...just in case. I purchased the upgrade version for $168.00 plus tax. The best way to install an OS is always from scratch. Unfortunately, Vista Upgrade will only install from within Windows XP (or 2000), but it does do a clean install in the sense that it moves all your files to a folder called windows.old. The upgrade also invalidates your existing XP license. There is a way to perform a clean install it is reported, and this is how you do it:

Install Vista (Boot from the CD) and install the version you bought. DO NOT put your serial number, and it will become a 30 day trial. Finish installing Vista, and do it again, this time from Vista (Windows) and choose to upgrade. Now put in your Key and you will have performed a clean install. Of course, make sure you abiding by the license agreement, but it seems like a good compromise to get a clean install.

Wow. Talk about eye candy. I have a P4 3.2 GHz, with 2 GB of Ram, and a good Nvidia card with 256 MB of ram. Not the most recent, but not too shabby either. I am able to use the Aero desktop, which is because I have a dedicated video card.

Observations:
Takes a little getting used to finding out where everything is.
Whenever you install something or the CD autoruns, you are asked to confirm the action. Although this might sound annoying, it is actually a great protection.
Nice little extras like Mahjong and Chess games.
The built in DVD movie maker is pretty good. I normally use Pinnacle software, but it was getting more and more buggy.
Playing DivX or Xvid files where a little strange using vlc media player. I would say a little blocky. Hoping updating the video driver will fix that.
I installed Lego Star Wars Trilogy and that worked perfectly, but tried installing Bratz Babyz (for my daughter...not for me!) and that did not work at all!
My Sound Blaster Audigy was not detected, but installing Beta drivers from Creative Labs got it working.

Should you upgrade? Make sure you use a high end P4 with 1 GB, but preferably 2 GB of ram, and a good video card. Make sure it is not your primary work computer, because its stability has yet to be proven. Install it if you are not afraid of change (How did you react with the new IE7? Hate it? Then don't upgrade to Vista).

On another note, I also tried Office 2007. Love the new look. Love the new menus (completely different from what you are used to). Outlook on my laptop is a dog! Sloow as molasses. Kind of frustrating.

So, I'm glad I upgraded, and I'll let you know when I get my first blue screen.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Drug Testing for Rock Stars

Being that the Grammy Awards are a competition, how funny would it be if we applied the rules of drug testing in sports, to the rock star lifestyle.

Who would fail the Urine Test?

Keith Richards would probably melt the cup with his sample.
If Cristal was on the list, what Hip Hop artist would survive?
Pete Doherty would fail, but at least he gets a reality TV show!

How would the music sound?

Maybe we should just leave them alone, and enjoy their music as they enter the ever growing list of dead rock stars.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Truth in Business

I would like to hear this when calling tech support/customer service:

"Your call may be recorded, because frankly, I will probably ignore you and not listen to anything you say. I'm stuck on this Sudoku puzzle at the moment. My boss on the other hand will probably want to know what the big deal was, so might as well record you."

Thursday, January 25, 2007

I never knew I was a Jew!

Did a funny little test from this site called the Belief-O-Matic. You answer a series of questions (quiz style) on your belief system, and it matches you up to the closest religion. Funny, but I was told I was 100% Jew, while only 98% of my own religion. Luckily, Scientology was only 33%, because I'd have to hang out with this crazy couple!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

HD DVD vs Blu-Ray = VHS vs Beta

Remember back in the day, when you had to choose the Beta or the VHS. Sony introduced Betamax in 1975 and a year later, VHS came out to battle. Betamax was superior, but VHS eventually won the shelves of the video stores. (link).

Some claim that porn was the reason VHS won the battle, being the format chosen by the industry ($57 billion annualy worldwide revenue). So as a new format war is starting, it is interesting to note that the porn industry has spoken...and they are going with HD DVD.

Cost & production seem to be the factor, but also it seems that the delays and flop of the Playstation 3 (which has Blu-Ray) may also be a factor.

I don't watch porn, and still have my old DVD player, so I'm going to wait a while till the prices drop. For those on the bleeding edge, I suggest going for the HD-DVD format.

This war might be all for nothing as viewers want digital distribution. Download the movie and watch it on your Apple TV!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Wow...the new iPhone


Today was MacWorld 2007 and among the annoucements was the new iPhone from Mac...



Got to give it to Apple, they sure do make sexy geek stuff!
You can get either the 4 or 8 GB model for your MP3/Movies.
Honey...you now know what to get me :)

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Do you Digg my Podcasts?

As many of you already know, I have two Podcasts. One is called "Outside the Artist's Studio - The Podcast that would have saved Van Gogh's ear!" which is a show I do with Kevin Jenne who is a great artist, living here in Montreal. We discuss art and mostly marketing & business tips for artists. We have a great time doing it.

The other show I have is "Cuddle Podcast - Bedtime Stories with daddy" which is a show I do with my kids where I read them bedtime stories that I have modified, such as "The Princess & The Pee", the story of a princess who wets her bed, and all the king and queens cleaning whoes.

Many of you listen to the show. Some are afraid by the name "Podcast" and think you need an iPod to listen. Leo Laporte is one of the many Podcasters I listen to regularly during my 2 hour round trip commute everyday. He is starting to replace Podcast with Netcast, which implies that all you need to listen is the Internet. Good point, and it is true. I embed a player for every show, so you can listen from the website, but if you have iTunes (free - and you don't need an MP3 player either), you can subscribe using the links in my show notes. This allows you to receive every new episode as it comes out.

The hard part about having Podcasts or Netcasts is that you have to market the thing yourself. We once made the top 25 podcasts in the Visual Arts section of iTunes for Outside Podcast, thanks in no small part to Tonya Jenne who offers marketing services through CompuQuest. I can tell when she goes on vacation, because out stats drop significantly. That tells me two things. First, her work really does help! Second, till you hit that tipping point, you have to continue to find clever ways to get your shows know.

I digg Digg. www.digg.com is a website that allows anyone to post links to stories they find interesting on the Internet, and others either digg it, or not. Stories with alot of diggs make it to the front page. This is called social bookmarking. It allows each and everyone of us to be the editors and choose the content that we enjoy. You can also link to friends and see what stories they digg.

Today, I found out that they now allow you to Digg Podcasts! I submitted both my shows, and I truly hope you will support me and digg them. You need to be subscribed to digg podcasts, but it is really a great site, which gives you an overview of all the hot stories out there in one place.

Start Digg-ing and vote for my shows!