Evil cable II

I spent all last week trying to get the dvr fixed. It finally turned into having a service appointment today anytime between 1 and 5pm. The service tech showed up at 3:30, not too bad. He was here for 2 hours. He was going back and forth with the service center. They would tell him it was fine, he would boot it up, it wouldn't be fine. He left with the service center saying it should be fine and that the dvr should download the guide at some point. Do I have a guide right now? (1.5 hours later) No.

If it still isn't working tomorrow, I can have someone come look at it again. I seem to have all the time in the world to dick around with this.

It was Fashion Day at QVC and I haven't bought anything ALL day.

Duane had some crisis at work at isn't home yet.

Vancouver part deux

On Monday we went to North Vancouver on the Seabus. It is a short ferry ride, but the ferry is totally enclosed. I guess they don't want people falling or jumping into the water.

We first walked around Lonsdale Quay. It was nice, but not anything special. We then caught a bus to Lynn Canyon Park. The park has a suspension bridge, similar to the Capilano Suspension bridge, but it doesn't cost $30 to walk across. The park is beautiful. There are many paths to walk, waterfalls, and swimming pools. We didn't see those things though because we didn't have much time there. We ate at a funny cafe at the park run by an Indian couple. I say it is funny because it seems strange to find a full blown nice restaurant in a park. We checked out the Nature Center at the park, which had tons of ecological information (although mostly geared towards kids).

We jumped back on the bus and had a nice chat with a Scottish lady who runs a B&B. We thought about going to Grouse Mountain (we probably should have gone). We ended up heading back to Vancouver on the Seabus (after looking for a bar listed in the guidebook for about 20 minutes!).

We got on the Sky Train (aboveground subway) and took a ride to Commerical Ave. We were heading to a Belgian Fries place. Duane had an unfortunate encounter with a woman who was on some kind of drugs (Vancouver has safe injection sites). Duane thought she was trying to tell him something, but she really wasn't. The Belgian Fries were awesome, although they did not have Storm beer as the guide said they did.

We were off to Dix BBQ & Brewery for some beer. There was hardly enough in the place, but the bartender was not interested in talking to us. We had Red Truck Ale and Red Truck Lager. Ok, but nothing special.

We walked down to Chinatown to see the skinniest building, the Sam Kee building. We then headed over to Gastown (walking through hobo land). We ended up at the Black Frog (I had to go to the bathroom). There was also no one in this place and the bartenders were more friendly. We ended up drinking way too much beer (4 each, but we had 2 each earlier). The beer was good, although I can't remember exactly what we had.

We stumbled out of the Black Frog to head up to a hotel with a revolving bar on top. It was on top of the Westin Bayshore and called Vistas. While we walked up Hastings, we encounter a crime scene. There were cops and news crews and we didn't know what had happened. We got to the revolving bar and ordered our beers (Stella as they didn't even have any good CA beer on tap!). We argued about whether or not the restaurant was really moving (Duane was being silly), but it really was. We contemplated ditching the tab when we found out it was $16 for 2 beers. We figured someone would catch us downstairs as we had to go down 42 to stories. We headed back down Hastings and ended up at a steak place for dinner. I had an awesome rare fliet mignon with a blue cheese crust. We were pretty loopy by this point. We made it back to the hotel where I found out about what had happened earlier that night. There was/is a person in Vancouver who had been attacking homeless people. That night was the fourth person that was attacked and they had had their throat slit (they didn't die though). Freaky.

We got up Tuesday and made it to the airport. We weren't feeling too bad either. The Vancouver airport is beautiful with lots of glass, waterfalls, and open spaces. When you have an international flight and go through security to your gate, they sequester you in this area with only a few restaurants and shops. You can see all the cool shops and restaurants, but you can't get to them!

I will get to posting some pictures soon.

Evil cable

We have been having troubles with our dvr lately. We had a tuner go out, so we traded it in for a new box. The new box had a terrible picture (which actually would have been fixed be a reset signal), so we traded that in for a different box. I got the picture issue resolved, but now I have no guide. The box has an interactive onscreen guide. No guide means no recording!

I almost missed Veronica Mars!! I set up the vcr to tape it, but I am afraid to go check it out. I think I can watch the episode online though.

We had a beautiful day yesterday and today is crappy (rainy and cold). I got some of my halloween decorations up, but not all.

Duane is in LA this week. He paid $30 for a cab ride to In and Out Burger to get an $8 meal!

I still have some work to do at that stupid rental house I closed on last week. I have to go in to the office and get my check as well. I decided that it isn't a good idea for me to go to the rental by myself tonight, so I will wait till Duane is back in town.

I am cleaning and organizing Duane's office this week. He has real walls now (instead of cube walls) so he can hang pictures.

So many projects, so little time.

Sleep

No, I haven't been asleep since the 19th.

I have determined over the past few weeks that I will wake up after sleeping for 10 hours and I will feel good. Is it possible that I need 10 hours of sleep? If so, it is no wonder that I felt like crap and was tired all the time.

I did go to the gym twice last week, but I didn't go at all last week. I should have, as this week was pretty stressful. I had a closing on Friday that almost didn't happen due to many screwups by the lender (not that my buyer is a peach either). I am cleaning out the basement of the building tomorrow and then hopefully I will be done with it.

I don't have much else to say tonight, even though I have lots of stuff I should write about.

Not much

I didn't do much today and I don't have much to show for it. I didn't post here, do work, or work on any of my projects.

The weather is chilly here and it looks like the thermostat may have taken a dump. New thermostats aren't that expensive, and we needed a better one.

Why is it that I don't like to eat by myself? Duane is eating dinner with customers tonight and I haven't eaten anything yet. I will probably wait till he comes home and have him get something for me.

I think I will work a gift for a friend and get something productive done today.

I went to the gym today!

I need to write about the other part of our Vancouver trip and I will do that (as well as include some pictures).

I went to the gym today. I hadn't been in awhile, but I knew they were making some changes. They have put a tv screen with every bike, treadmill, and eliptical machine and you can watch any channel you want! Holy cow, there is no reason not to exercise now.

Duane and I purchased at 42" LCD tv yesterday and a Bose surround sound system. I know we will enjoy it very much, but I have a lot of different feelings about it. We couldn't fit it in the car yesterday (that should probably have been our clue that no one needs a tv this big), so a friend of Duane's at work will help him today.

I ate some high fiber cereal this morning and I think my lower intestine is freaking out.

Yea Hi

I may have been posting under the influence in that last post. Duane and I had a total of 15 beers on Monday. Luckily neither of us were feeling too badly Tuesday morning.

We made it home safe and sound, and we got to sit in first class again (Duane did for both legs, me just for one). They served food, which was horrible! It was a meat and cheese plate. The meat was grisly and the cheese was tasteless. Our flight left an hour late, but we made our connection without much trouble.

We were at the Vancouver airport for quite awhile and were trying to use the wireless internet. We read in a few places that it was available, but couldn't make it work. Duane figured out in Minneapolis that he had the wireless turned off! Duh! (There was a moment where I thought I broke the computer because I had dropped it the night before).

The first day was rainy, but not terrible. We had breakfast at Lupo Cafe. I had coffee! (and didn't especially like it) and eggs benedict. It was a lighter version with no hollandaise, but really tasty. Duane had cinnamon french toast which he said was ok. We jumped on a tour bus and went to the aquarium. They had Beluga whales there and the biggest sea lion I have ever seen! They also had a sloth (one of Duane's favorites), but we couldn't find him. We headed off to Chinatown after that and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden. We had a great guide who explained all the principles of the garden. We jumped back on the bus and rode down to Gastown where we ate and drank beer at the Steamworks Brewing company. I had a lamb burger that was tasty and Duane had fish and chips. His fish was awesome. We walked up the street by the water and had a beer at the Mill Marine Bistro. I had a Granville Island Brewing company hefeweizen which was pretty tasty. Back to the hotel to watch V for Vendetta.

The weather was gorgeous after that first day. Duane and I rode a tandem bike around the park! It took a little coordination, but it was fun. We had lunch at a great greek place that gives you tons of food. I had moussaka and Duane had roast lamb. We went to the Museum of Anthropology after that. I insisted on taking public transportation which took about 1.5 hours (we should have taken a cab). The museum had lots of totem poles, which Duane enjoyed. We were off to Granville Island after that. My shopping time was greatly reduced because of not taking a cab earlier. We had some beer at the Granville Island Brewery. It was good, but didn't wow me. We also had some beer at the Dockside Brewing Company. Duane had a jamaican style beer there that was very interesting! We had a little fight about babies. :( We went to the hotel after that and watched Elizabethtown (well half of it). We went to the Christ Church Cathedral for an evening mass. It was a mass of gregorian chant and was quite peaceful. We had to find something to eat after that and ended up at the Cactus Club Cafe . We had a Shaftebury Cream Ale that was very tasty. I had raw tuna with mango salsa, alvacado, and macademia nuts with crispy wontons. It could have been much better than it was. :( Duane had chicken strips and fries. We finished up Elizabethtown and went to bed.

More later!

Oh Life

I am here in Vancouver thinking of you all and thinking about posting. Duane is in bed snoring away. He tired himself out today. We are on a plane back tomorrow.

We talked about babies this trip and how it is easier to NOT make a decision than it is to make one. Duane asks me why do I want babies and I don't have a good answer. Why does anyone want babies?

I am 102 on a list of 121 at work( out of all the offices my boss owns). Not too terrible, but I must do better.

Time to roll into bed, tomorrow will come too early.

Vancouver

I meant to post more last week, but got wrapped up with work and planning for the trip. When I tried to post, the website was slow.

Vancouver has been awesome. We got upgraded on the flight from Minneapolis, due to a kind lady at the NWA World Club. We rode in a nice hybrid taxi to our hotel, and our hotel turned out to be very nice.

It was rainy yesterday, but we managed to have a good day.

I will post more later. We have to run out and rent bikes and start our day!

p.s. always check the batteries in your camera before you go somewhere you might want to take pictures!

I must have gotten busy

I was doing so well with posting every day, and then I must have gotten busy. Duane and I did manage to get up to my sister's on Friday. We even slept outside under the stars and didn't shower for 2 days! The dogs had a blast, and were good for the most part. There was a skirmish between them, and Brisco ended up with a small owie.

It rained all day Monday, and it ended up being a very lazy day.

I wrote another lowball offer today for my buyers. I wish I had more money so I could tell them to take a long walk off of a short pier.

I slept terribly last night and I am sleepy now.

I bought 2 more things from QVC in a smaller size. If this size doesn't fit correctly, then no more QVC clothes for me.

We will be in Vancouver in 3 days.