An Exercise In Futility

I ate way too much processed food and sugar yesterday and now feel like i’m paying the price - feeling very anxious (sort of like when i take pseudoephedrine). I guess this is what happens when you stray from that path to living better.

Gas prices are going up and up, which i think is great - apparently US DOT reports that people are actually driving less in the USA. I imagine the same would be the case here too. Sometimes i like to think that high gas prices are simply a sneaky government tactic to force people to drive (and thus pollute) less, since most people will never make that choice if it’s not a matter of money. Unfortunately i have to admit that even i can be accused of driving more than i need to - the grocery store is only a 15 minute walk away from here and i never ever walk there. Maybe it’s time to change that. I’ve also been thinking about fixing my bike so i can ride to the climbing gym.

Yesterday there was a police chase out on the Lougheed highway where the cops were persuing a stolen truck. At one point the driver had stopped and talked to police to inform them he was going to blow up a bridge, and then drove away again. The chase ended after the truck had been used to bash a couple of cars and then lost its tires due to spike belts. the driver tried to flee on foot but was rammed by a police truck. As you know i hate cops with a passion, they’re generally egotistical pricks who go overboard when trying to ‘diffuse’ a situation. In this case, however, i think their response was totally appropriate. The truck thief was lucky he was not in the USA where i imagine he would have been shot on site.

By fluke i have ended up on the Coastal Renaissance for my return trip from to Nanaimo, so i get a second look at everything that was new to me on Friday when i came over to Vancouver. The vessel has just pulled out and i’m in the ‘Sitka Coffee Place’ at the rear of the ship (though the amenities announcement says ‘forward end of the vessel’). There are quite a lot of dull vibrations occuring as we accellerate out of the berth, just like the old ferries; which is unexpected since our departure the other day was hard to detect - i was walking midship on deck 6 at the time and happened to look out a window and notice that we were under way!

The first thing you notice as you walk the halls of this boat is the size. It is very big. I have already heard several parties commenting on being lost, haha. With 7 decks that passengers can access it provides a larger volume of amenities than its predecessors and it feels both longer and wider than the old Nanaimo boats. There is a restaurant, this “cafe”, and a snack bar, plus a lounge, which i was very excited to discover; that was until i found out that there was a $10 cover and no bar! It is simply a quiet zone with complimentary tea, coffee, pastries and newspapers.

The second thing i noticed was that the decor was very familiar yet the boat seemed ‘foreign’. Most areas have the same theme as the rest of the fleet’s large vessels, however i immediately noticed one oddity: Green pictograph exit signs. I wonder if this is some marine standard or perhaps a European thing (i have seen them on the old harbourlynx ferry which was built in Europe). Other foreign touches include German height limit signs, square electrical outlet plates and light switches (also seen on harbourlynx!) and strange brand names:

• Consillium - fire alarm system
• Wilka, Geba - door locks
• Bohamet - windows frames and glass
• Roediger - toilets
• Duravit - urinals
• Iqua - faucets and flushers
• Braun-Aufzeuge - elevators

I have to wonder if anyone has considered the cost of servicing foreign equipment like this.

As a perfectionist i automatically look for flaws, and on this boat i do not see very many. Unfortunately, to me, this gives it the ‘Not made in Canada’ stamp. Things run in straight lines, are evenly spaced, and are square. Wiring in racks is neatly arranged, and welds and caulking beads are uniform or smooth. So far i have only found a couple of annoyances which included a bathroom door that did not close properly, inconsistent caulking on the trim around the large restaurant windows (some place have gaps), and skirting board which (compared to everything else) looks like an afterthought. Also annoying are the stairway banisters which have screws protruding from every single mount point - made me want to avoid using them for fear of cutting myself!

One last annoyance would be that despite Canada being officially bilingual, and this vessel having been built in Europe, there is a severe lack of multi-lingual signage. In fact the only place i have seen any non-English sign was at the elevators: plaques indicating maximum capacities - in English, French, German, Spanish, and Chinese.

There are some nice touches i should mention too - An elevator in every stairwell, windbreaks flanking upper-deck exterior exit doors, varied seating configurations (lots of 2-person arrangements and noise reducing divisions between lounges), and a helicopter landing area!

I give it an A-. Very nice boat! I look forward to sailing the Super C-Class again!

“Hybrid synergy drive” might be buzzwordy and not very meaningful, but subaru has that beat: Today at the grocery store i saw a “partial zero emission vehicle”. That seems ludicrous to me - you’re either zero emission or you’re not.

I haven’t updated much recently, which bugs me because i had a couple of things to talk about. Those things have all been forgotten as my mind has been totally focused on work and i could not spare a minute to come to the blog, if you can believe that (i can’t). Maybe they’ll come back when the current push is over.

I cannot code any more tonight so i think it’s time to hit the hay.