Tourist Trophy - did you really think you'd get away?

Won another 2005 Suzuka 8 hour endurance bike. It's actually the bike that won the race: 7 Stars Honda CBR 1000 RRW.

The real deal

In the game

At the 2005 Suzuka 8 hour endurance first and second place were taken by the Seven Stars factory backed team. Actually the top six finishers were all riding Honda CBR1000RRWs.

Permission to Land... or at least wire

So yesterday I picked up the electrical permit from Manitoba Hydro. Now I can start wiring the basement - yay! It was far less painful and much quicker than I thought it would be. The guy (Dan) basically asked me if I had done anything like this before (I said I had an 8 week home wiring course under my belt). He then asked if there were any baseboard heaters going in (no). Then he made one suggestion: to put the gym on one circuit in case a future owner (or even us) decided to use it as a bedroom so an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) could be installed easily.

Then it was a trip out to Teulon to buy the lumber for the deck. $805 later - including taxes - we were on our way. The only things needed for the deck now are the metal hangers and a day to put it up. There's no mistake that you're not shopping at a lumber yard in the city when you are in Teulon;-) Anywho not withstanding any deliverance type spiel here the cost was a bit higher than I calculated a couple days back since I didn't know the price of ceramic coated screws, or 2x10x12 lumber (1 piece) and delivery and didn't calculate taxes either.

We didn't get the basement permit yesterday because the RM Planning and Development office doesn't have interac and we didn't have the cash or cheque. Marla is going back on friday to pay for that. We were told that in the meantime we could start the wiring.

Hit the deck!

We'll soon be able to do that anyway. With some help last night we figured out how much lumber we need to build a deck at the back of our house that will sit partly under the overhang we have and extend about 5 feet out from under the roof line. From what we figure it's going to cost us ~ $550 for the lumber (pressure treated) from Timbr-Mart in Teulon. The screws, hangers and balusters will be extra, but shouldn't be more than $100.

That'll be a nice little side project sometime in the next few weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to (try to) get the electrical permit for the basement. I don't forsee any problems as I know what I'm doing and I have a very clear plan drawn up for them to review. The work is actually quite simple as it's only a few plugs and some lights when it all boils down to it. We're going to go look at an electric fireplace tomorrow as well for in the basement. We were contemplating putting in baseboard heaters but I figured there isn't enough room in our panel to put more than two in. We'll rely on the heat from the furnace and the fact that we had icynene sprayed on to the joist ends.

So once I get the electrical done I'll update with some pictures. Perhaps the deck as well=)

Tourist Trophy... yes - again

Won another one of the Suzuka 8 hour endurance bikes. The #21 YSP & Presto Yamaha YZF-R1. Handles very nice although it has a tendency to understeer under acceleration which is more indicitive of the power as opposed to a true handling problem.

The real deal (except this is #3):

vs. the one in the game (the rendition is very accurate):

30 degrees...

No this doesn't have anything to do with the Bell dish alignment. That is what the temperature is sitting at right now in the sun outside our house. 30.8 to be exact. Such a beautiful day and a lot of spring cleaning done!

So... a few inches huh?

Yeah, get the dirty thoughts out of your head. This is about our Bell Expressvu Dish and our signal... or lack thereof.

We picked up a HD Bell system last year to compliment our new HD TV at the time. We decided - or should I say being the manly man that I am - I decided that we didn't need a professional install done which of course was free. Anywho, with the aid of my brother in law, Grant (who incidentally had a ladder long enough to get where we needed to) we put the dish up, ran the cable and proceeded to get a signal strength of 62% on the needed satellite (91, transponder 11 for those interested). At the time that was quite good enough.

Fast forward a couple of months.

The stucco crew came to stucco our house (as stucco crews are wont to do) last summer. After months of enjoying our Bell channels and relishing shows in HD we lost the signal completely. Of course I had to wait until the stucco dried before I could put a ladder against the wall to check what happened. Two things; 1) The stucco crew so kindly moved the dish out of alignment and 2 (after much swearing before I figured out what else was wrong) they also switch the cables from the dual lnbs into the switch. In that case, the LNB for satellite 81 needs to go to "dish2" on the switch and 91 to "dish1". So I fixed that and managed to get an acceptable signal... although much lower than before (hovering around 51% which according to Bell Customer service wasn't enough to get any channels - but we were).

Fast forward to last Saturday.

The new season of Trailer Park Boys is coming on Showcase, which is one of the channels we subscribe to but don't get because of the weak signal. I decide that I'm finally going to get up and fix it (and the ground is dry enough after the snow melt). First off I can't find satellite 91. Then I lock onto 82 using the 91 LNB. Then I lose 82. Then the received won't recognize the switch (the switch takes both LNB feeds and puts it to one cable). I get a compass and find the direction I need to point (161 SW) and then realign the dish to "stock" settings (31.8 degrees elevation and 84.1 degrees skew). Nothing. absolutely nothing. No signal anywhere.

Called Bell and they sent out a service guy for a flat fee of $75. He tells us that the roof of our house is in the way to get a signal from 91. I ask (over the phone with Marla) how that's possible when we were getting a signal before? Doesn't know he says, but there is no signal.

Then it hits me. When we put up the dish we put it up on the outmost edge of the cantilever for our fireplace. When the stucco crew came I made a plate using a pressure treated 2x6 and moved it in from the edge of the cantilever. Well, guess what? That also moved the dish in a few inches in towards the house and effectively cut off our signal. That means now that I have to either put the dish on the roof or move it to the outside edge of the cantilever so we can get everything we pay from from Bell.

Moral of the story? If you can get a free professional install on a piece of equipment as tempramental as a a satellite dish, get it.

Busy

Well, spring is definitely here. The sun is shining and it's been above 20 degrees for the last week. Southwestern Manitoba is getting flood warnings and the Ag industry has picked up a lot for me here at work. My day is about 75% Agricultural applications now which is a good chunk.

That being said we were told just a few minutes ago (yes I'm at work right now) that two analysts have tendered their resignations. That means it's going to get busier. Best of luck to the two guys leaving (Scott and Stephane) in their new positions.

Ahh well, like I said, the sun is shining, I can drive with the windows down and put on a pair of shorts when I get home.

Well that was fun

With what has happened recently it was nice to get back to the basement. We secured the walls yesterday (they're most likely sturdier than what's upstairs) with a 25 caliber ramset. Quite nifty and fun. It was on it's lower setting and still had no issues driving a 2 1/2" nail through a 2x4 and into the concrete below. I was expecting Marla to return with one that you hit with a hammer, but as you can see this baby looks like a gun and took 10 shot magazines.

So, as I said, the walls are now secure top and bottom. Next is the electrical. We finalized our lighting and went out today and purchased it (potlights) along with additional wire. Everything else is ready to go once I get a permit.

Yeah, even more Tourist Trophy

TrickStar Kawasaki Ninja Race Bike

So I'm getting a bit better at the game now. Apparently the race I was having trouble with before is a very hard one to complete so I've decided to move on to other challenges.

Last night I won a beast: The TrickStar Kawasaki Ninja race bike used in the 8 hour endurance race at Suzuka (or it could have Tsukuba) in 2005. It's fast... stupidly fast. I had it going 205mph last night and it was still picking up speed. I only slowed down because of a wall coming up=). Along with it I also got the race suit worn by the rider. It's definitely a brute, easily pulling wheelies at 160mph+.

Studding complete

Well, the walls are all up. They just need to be fastened more permanently to the floor and float to the joists. Both Marla and I are really happy that we took Ron's (my Father in Law) advice on pushing the wall back a bit at the end of what will be the rec room.

Dimensions are good. The area we pushed out will be for TV viewing and where our aquariums will go. It's 14'x20'. The next portion is just an open area and is 15'x20' and the office area about 10'x12'. The gym is an odd shape and is 17' deep and at it's widest is 12' wide and is 8' wide at the narrow point. So it's a couple square feet short of 900 sq ft (if we count the hallway, then it's over 900). A bit more than we had first estimated, but that's not a bad thing.

Here are just a couple pics. It's hard to get a good angle and there's way to much stuff piled up to get a good shot.

The area that we pushed back to give some more room

Looking into the gym. We have double french doors (total opening of 48") going in there.

To immobilize or not to immobilize - that is the question

Just read in today's paper that Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) has offered to pay for an immobilizer for people with vehicles deemed "most at risk" for theft. See car theft is a rather large problem here in Manitoba, especially Winnipeg. Well above 20 vehicles a day are stolen and MPI has made up a list of the most stolen. My 2000 Neon is on the list with the odds of 1 in 45 of being missing when I come out from work, or the store, or a friends house... well you get the point.

So here's the catch. If you have an immobilizer installed and your car does go missing then you aren't covered by MPI for theft. Their reasoning? The car can't be stolen with a correctly installed immobilizer. Of course they forget about such things are tow trucks and flat beds. Another catch is that any damage done to your car from an attempted theft is considered vandalism which I believe adds a premium onto your license renewal (unlike attempted theft which doesn't). I may be wrong on that last count, but not the first.

Mind you, I could probably live with some damage done by an attempted theft than I could with my car being stolen. Having an approved immobilizer installed also gets a $40/year reduction in insurance cost. The approved immobilizers cost $280, so that would be free, plus an additional $40 savings per year. If I do get one installed I will have to pay extra since I also have a remote starter that I'd like to keep.

Suggestions anyone? I'm on the fence here.

More Tourist Trophy

Just a few more pictures from last night. The game has also started to get hard. I tried winning a 125cc racing bike last night (can't quite remember the name of it right now), but I could not catch the AI rider. I must be missing something in my technique.

Racing at Tsukuba Circuit (above and below)

Racing a TZ250

While we're waiting

for more updates on the basement (coming this sunday - I promise) I figured I'd talk about one of my hobbies. Video Games. Yes, I'm a 30 year old video game player. My first system was an Atari 2600 with authentic fake wood trim that my brother and I received for christmas back in 1983. Currently I have a Playstation 2 and a Sega Dreamcast. I gave a Nintendo 64 to a friend of mine in Saskatchewan... or is it Alberta? It's Lloydminster - that strange town on the border between both provinces. I also gave a Playstation 1 to kids of our friends. They still use it apparently. Not sure about the N64.

The video game library I have for my PS2 is small. My sole reason for getting a PS2 (thanks to Marla who actually bought it for me as a surprise) was for the Gran Turismo series of games. I have 2 3 and 4. I had the first one but it went with the PS1 I gave away. It's a great way to drive cars I could never afford and speeds I would never survive if I crashed =)

My friend Scott knows about another game series that I play (occasionally now): Dance Dance Revolution. I can only imagine the hilarity in seeing my 265 lbs try to grove on a small dance pad. It's a fun game though and great for get-togethers where alcohol may or may not be served.

Just yesterday I splurged on Tourist Trophy for the PS2. It's a motorcycle racing game from the creators of Gran Turismo, so I knew it would be well done. Graphics are great, sound and control are great. The only downside is that there are only a maximum of four bikes (including yours) on a track at any one time and some courses (such as Nurburgring) are one bike time trials only. I won't get into a full review here, but a quick google search will get a number of them if you so desire.

Here are some pictures from my first night playing:

And here's a picture of my "setup." The Logitech Driving Force Pro (saweet!) is for playing Gran Turismo and ToCA Race Driver 3. The TV is a 52" RCA HDTV we got for free a couple months back.

Step one of many

Well, we didn't get all the walls up this weekend (not that I thought we would), but we did make a good dent. We probably would have finished if we had enough lumber to keep us going. All in all it was a good learning experience for me. With some of the walls up it gives a much better idea of the two dimensional drawings we had.

Here are some pictures that I took tonight.

Looking down the first part of the hallway. On the left is the gym and on the right is a small utility area


The larger part of the basement (rec room). The walls will run down the left side, and then go back to where that 2x4 is laying on the floor. It's about 800 square feet that will be added on.


Door way at the bottom of the stairs and smaller doorway to small utility area (houses water softner and reverse osmosis system).

The remainder of the studding will be completed next week. Then I get to start running the wiring for the electrical. Now that's going to be fun!