Lots of good news this week. But first a couple of short stories.

If you tried to contact us on Friday, you couldn’t. We had a brief but very intense storm go through the area. High winds, rain, hail, I think I even heard some thunder.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/11/11/bc-weather-traffic-ferries.html
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=f4887ca7-27e9-4e39-8eea-6c2ac5461ae8&k=54408
Most importantly we lost electricity about 2:00 and didn’t get it back until after 9:00. We messed about on the computers until the batteries started to fade. I worked in the garage for a couple of hours when we found there was a water problem. We discovered that when we have a hard rain some of the water runs toward the house rather than away because they have the grade wrong in one area. I made some adjustments and we’ll see if it fixes the problem. I think that next spring we’ll need to do some serious work out there to stop the issue once and for all. About 4:00 we decided to run out for Chinese. Back home we discovered a huge flaw in our disaster recovery plan. Our candlelight dinner was interrupted because neither of us knew where the matches were. We knew in Rutherford House, but here not so much. Somehow, it’s just no the same to dine by fluorescent lantern. Later in the evening the house started to get a bit chill and we discovered another flaw, albeit not of our making. The reason to have a fireplace in a house is so when the power goes out you can keep warm. Why then, did the last owner install an electric fireplace insert? Even a gas insert works without electricity. It seems more than a little nuts to us, especially when you realize that the gas furnace is in the basement located less than six feet away from the fireplace. Running a line would not be an issue.

And speaking of electricity and the previous owners we discovered that one of the previous owners must have been an electrician. Not only are there three breaker boxes in this place. Not only did he opt for an electric fireplace. Not only did he go way overboard and install a surfeit of circuits. The kitchen for example has one for the lights, and a separate one for the outlets. The garage has four circuits: one for the outlets on the right side, one for the outlets on the left side, one for the light, and one for the single outlet on the back wall we’ve plugged the freezer into.  There are breakers I’ve not yet been able to figure out WHAT they go to. He was having fun. Now, all that would be fine but in addition he used professional grade parts. Now, I’m all for top quality, but it can cause problems. The living room fan for example needs a light kit unfortunately it’s a commercial Banvil fan and you can’t pick up a Banvil kit at Home Depot. I’m not even sure if we can get one in BC. We might end up replacing the fan with a lower quality one just to be able to have a light in there. Another example: This week one of the light switches in the kitchen went out. It was a top grade Luton rocker switch with a built in dimmer. I couldn’t find that exact one here but found a similar one from another maker for $30. I ended up replacing it with a generic switch from Slegg Lumber that looks identical but cost $4. OK it doesn’t have a dimmer but we don’t need a dimmer for the under cabinet lights. Like I said he went a bit overboard with the wiring.

And now on to the three bits of Good News

First my cousin Mike moved. After living in a buddy’s basement apartment for around six years he found a place of his own. It’s a little cabin within walking distance to the beach so he can go fishing. The place is Pan-Abode construction, something I’d never heard of now.
http://www.panabode.com/gallery/photogallery.htm
Think of it as like a log cabin but the logs are milled with a tongue and groove interlock so it’s insanely solid and much more weather tight than old fashioned log cabin construction. The place is around 500 sq-ft and has a nice yard so he can park his boat right by the house. He’s renting for now but is talking about buying it in a couple of years. The owners originally wanted to sell the place but couldn’t find a buyer and ended up renting it so this seems like a real possibility. We helped Mike move and then a few days later he had a house warming party. It was a great time and he’s so happy to be in his own place again. This tops off a year where we moved twice, Mario and Robyn moved into their new house. Lance and Rachel moved into their new house, Rick and Jody moved into their new house, Andrew moved into his new house and Barbara almost had to move into some other new house. Please, next year can we all just stay put?

Second, I found a job. After weeks of sending out applications and getting nothing at all, suddenly the dam broke. I sent an application on Thursday, November 3rd. They called me back within an hour and set up an interview for Monday the 7th. That went well so on Tuesday they called me with the job offer and I start on Monday the 14th. It all happened so fast I’m a little dizzy. The company is Inuktun Services Ltd. They make robots. If you’ve seen these little tracked robots that the bomb squad uses or that search and rescue teams use in disasters, or more commonly that are used by oil and gas companies or sewer companies to inspect pipelines, that’s what Inuktun makes. I’ll be doing computer support, server management, and all the normal techy stuff. In addition though they said that they will be wanting me to help with robot design and assembly as well. Seriously, it doesn’t get any geekier than being a computer tech for a robot company. My IT ”Street|Cred” just went up a lot.
http://www.inuktun.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/inuktunservices

Lastly the third bit of news is something we’re all very excited about,... but I can’t tell you what it is. I mean Barbara, Mike, we’re all walking around with grins on because this is just so great. But we can’t say anything. You see, those involved don’t want the news to get out for a while. They told us but said not to let it go any further as it would complicate things. They want whatever it might be to develop a bit further, or not, so when they’re ready to say something about it, or not, that is if there is something to say anything about, or not, they can, or not. So for now just understand that it’s wonderful but I can’t tell you WHAT is wonderful, that is if there is actually anything. Maybe I’ve said too much already, or not.

So instead here’s the strangest BC song we’ve ever heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw09KiA9cXc

Doug & Marsha

PIX: Momiji Being Adorable. Yes her eyes glow that colour.