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Posted
by
on February 25, 2009 at 09:01 PM UTC
in categories Out & About
JS has had the opportunity to attend an onsite and final interview with RIM in Waterloo/Kitchener. We got confirmation last friday and hop we were off to Ontario last Sunday. I have tried with the help of a friend that works for RIM to get first interviews for myself - but it was too short notice for them ;(
On our way over there was a snow storm in the Quebec region and lots of wind. We lost the cap of our snorkel. JS has made a temporary top with a hand-toilette plastic bucket, some tie rap and electrical tape. We stayed at the Radisson in Kitchener for 2 nights with Pete. Pete had a lot of fun in and around the hotel. We had purchased for him a new crate (much smaller than the previous one) and he got accustom to it. As usual we did an overdose of Tim Hortons on the road and ate soso food along the way.
Towns of Kitchener/Waterloo are quite nice (downtown's are pretty). There are lots of pubs and a local brewery (where we stopped to purchased samples of the beer). The local coffee is still to be experienced but we found the Waterloo Coffee.Com that brews their own coffee blends that looks promising. Both towns are known for Oktoberfest and their Markets at St-Jacobs. They have an Amish community north of Waterloo. Most people stay around the towns so traffic goes into town in the morning and out of town at night.
RIM has a big complex with up to 12 buildings or more next to the Waterloo university campus. Location, location, location - They scoop them right up from the engineering and IT department at 20-22 year old. The feeling of the towns is a little bit like a huge Burlington Vermont sort of feel. The bordering towns have lots of land and farms.
On our way back home we stopped to visit Janet (our breeder) in Napanee. It had been almost 2 years since we last saw her after she left Shelburne. She then purchased a place that she is fixing up and purchased a new business - a Chip Truck. Her son Chris has joined the business. They make fries (with really good potatoes), hot dogs, specialty burgers, chillies and poutines. We went out to dinner at a local restaurant The Coachmen. It was really nice to catch up and chat all afternoon. We will be back this year to taste the poutine, train Pete, chill with Janet (...) and next year year we will definitely be there for the Ice fishing in February ;) We stayed at the Royal Napanee Inn with Pete. Pete was very exited to see Janet. He was rubbing himself all over her - kissing her - making sounds ... It was very moving. It was a nice small getaway. JS will know in about 1-2 weeks if he is the One and we will then have look at the offer and see if we take the plunge and move.
View the Seasons > 2009 > 20090101 - Winter > 20090225 - Waterloo-Kitchener Visit-Interview > folder...
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Posted
by
on February 01, 2009 at 08:46 PM UTC
in categories Out & About
Pete loves running. I have taught him the command "run" for running alongside me at a steady pace. We are still training. I asked JS to take picture of us after a run.
View the Seasons > 2009 > 20090101 - Winter folder...
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Posted
by
on February 01, 2009 at 08:23 PM UTC
in categories At Home
We were in great need to shape up our work space at home to allow JS and I to both work at the same time. We purchased this nice L shape table from Ikea and matching filling cabinet. We really enjoy the results and room it provides to work on.
View the Seasons > 2009 > 20090101 - Winter > 20090102 - Home Office Improvement folder...
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Posted
by
on August 26, 2008 at 12:40 AM UTC
in categories Travel
 In the last few years, a new GPS-based service called SPOT has been gaining popularity. It allows someone to send a status message -- either OK, Help, or 911 -- to an overhead satellite, which then send an e-mail for the OK and Help messages, or contacts the authorities for a 911 message. The unit costs $170 and the basic service as I described is $100/year. For another $50/year you can also have the SPOT unit send your position every 10 minutes. This position is then displayed on a map like this one for friends. The password to access our page is "5683" (the last 4 digits of our home phone number). We'll be using this feature on our upcoming canoe-camping trip to La Verendrye park.
The SPOT map page URL with our coordinates, etc., may change on occasion. You can always find our current page by clicking on the "Current SPOT Shared Page" in the Travels folder...
There are a few downsides to the SPOT service... It's a commercial service which advertises 99.6% uptime, satellite coverage isn't perfect, and the GPS can be slow to send messages. But overall it's perfect for short trips not too far away. For longer and more remote trips, we'll be buying a PLB (personal location beacon). It has an internal GPS to know where you are, and in case of distress, it broadcasts on a special radio frequency monitored by SAR (search and rescue) organizations. There are no yearly fees, but the PLB is quite a bit more than the SPOT ($750 versus $170 for the SPOT).
js.
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Posted
by
on June 30, 2008 at 10:34 PM UTC
in categories Dog Training
Yesterday we went training with Steve and his dogs - Yuma and Kira. It'd been a long time for Pete since we trained in the water. He didn't do too bad at all, although his stubbornness showed when we launched a diversion bird in the water. I was surprised he tried to switch and kept trying. Only this morning did I figure out that we'd always given him diversion birds on land and not water. So this'll be something to focus on next time. :-) Steve also invited us to dinner afterwards, which was very nice. All in all, a great day out with the dogs!
View the Hobbies > Dog Training > 2008 > 20080629 - Training with Steve and his Team folder...
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Posted
by
on May 17, 2008 at 09:01 PM UTC
in categories Scuba Diving, Travel
We've been in Bonaire for about 1 1/2 weeks, and quite a few things have happened... The latest is that Melanie found a green Frogfish this afternoon. She was quite ecstatic since this was the first one she found all by herself. Frogfish, as you can imagine, are quite hard to spot. :-) We've also seen quite a few Turtles -- there are some fish species that are doing well, but others are on the decline. For example, Bonaireans have started fishing Parrotfish recently, and we can clearly see an impact. Some dive sites, far north or south, are pretty much like we remembered, except for a little more algae, while those in the bay are still on the decline. We don't dive in front of the CaribInn anymore -- the reef is just too damaged. Unfortunately Bonaire is in the middle of a mass expansion, so this isn't likely to get better. There's construction all up and down the island. All this construction is sending lots of dirt into the air and consequently, onto the reef. Visibility has been hit and miss, with very few instances of 60+ feet. Several years ago, we remember 100+ feet vis., but this seems to be a thing of the past.
We've had a few challenges to overcome on this trip, which helps to make this trip a little more noteworthy I guess. :-) In no particular order... We've gotten the pickup stuck, broken a flash, broken an oxygen analyzer, forgot a port section and killed a bird. We dug the pickup truck up to the bumper in coral rubble exploring a new dive site. Melanie took off to get help, while I used the jack to work on the truck -- All the while thinking of all the tools we have in our Jeep... It took me a while to get the truck out, and got a good sunburn out of it. Meanwhile Melanie had been busy finding a tow strap and getting a Taxi to pull us out. I'd already left by then so we met up at the CaribInn a little later. No harm done, except a few scrapes to the wheels from spinning in the coral rubble. :-) As for the flash, since I bought five, the spare was pressed into service. The oxygen analyzer of the dive shop is pretty good, so we don't really miss using out own. I had a spare sensor, but I think the electronics took a hit because the new sensor (and batteries) didn't make any difference. An e-mail to Mike helped get the port down here -- Eric brought it down with him last week. I didn't think I needed it, but we have 2 new lenses on this trip, and one of them needed that port. :-)
The diving has been good, and we're being a little more picky with our pictures. Hopefully we can process them in a timely manner this time! :-) I still have a few thousand to sort and process at home, so we'll see... :-)
View the Seasons > 2008 > 20080318 - Spring > 20080506 - Bonaire folder...
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Posted
by
on April 25, 2008 at 06:49 PM UTC
in categories Jeep
Alright, so here's a small mod for this week -- A new Kicker CompVR 07CVR82 subwoofer to replace the stocker. It made a bigger difference then I expected. There was a lot less bass "sound", but just as much (if not more) bass "feel". This allowed the other speakers to be heard better, generally making the music a little more "clear".
The new sub wasn't a drop-in replacement. I had to trim the plastic cover and cut some slots around the sub to screw in the cover. This isn't necessary if you don't want to keep the factory look, but since I have a dog riding in the back, the cover isn't really optional. :-)
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Posted
by
on April 21, 2008 at 05:17 PM UTC
in categories Jeep
A few weeks back, I started working on a new head-unit (aka car radio) and switch panel.
The current 5-switch panel was too small and I needed a second one. Space is rather limited in the Jeep, so the only way to fit an additional series of switches, was to install a smaller head-unit. :-) The one I chose allows us to connect an iPod, which is located in the glove box. Here's what it looked like assembled.
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Posted
by
on April 21, 2008 at 04:42 PM UTC
in categories Jeep
This week-end Mike and I spent almost 2 full days working on some new wiring. We added this strip of 5 relays in the battery box:
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Posted
by
on January 22, 2008 at 04:58 PM UTC
in categories Website
 I've installed a new Network-Attached Storage (NAS) file server with 4 Terabytes of disk. I've moved all our music, pictures, websites, etc. onto the NAS, and now I'm just fine-tuning the file and directory structure. You'll notice some small changes in the photo album folder names. For example, the "Canoeing" folder is now called "Canoe-Camping". There are many, many more changes, and some of these could cause broken links here and there. If you find something doesn't work, please let me know. Thanks.
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Posted
by
on November 28, 2007 at 01:34 PM UTC
in categories Out & About
We went to get our first snow tires yesterday in Champlain NY (JS bought them from a place in the US and had them shipped to a warehouse in Champlain - literally on the border line). Yep we could not get those snow tires in Canada - TOYO's 33 inches M55 studed. In Canada, they only have the studeless version. We did not wait at all to pay the Duty on the tires. They are quite heavy 60 pound each. Now we are missing 2 wheels before we can have these installed.
View the Seasons > 2007 > 20070922 - Fall folder...
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Posted
by
on November 23, 2007 at 03:48 PM UTC
in categories Pete
This week we got our first snow storm in Montreal. Pete loves it. He loves to smell the snow, run in it ... and yes in this picture you can see that Pete likes to recycle. He carries empty bottles to the trash !
View the Seasons > 2007 > 20070922 - Fall folder...
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Posted
by
on October 01, 2007 at 12:22 PM UTC
in categories Out & About
The Event
Last September 27-30 we attended our first Jeep Jamboree in Bethel Maine. It was the 18th annual Jamboree for Bethel. There were over 130 Jeeps of all kinds and 250 + people. The types of Jeeps varied widely - Willy's, Army Jeeps, CJ's, TJ's, YJ's, Jeep Cherokees, JK's 2 and 4 doors - Sahara, X's and Rubicon .... and 1 Jeep Liberty. Doug and Jodie Wilson are the organizers of the Bethel Jamboree. Many thanks to all the land owners who allowed the use of their land for the trails, all the trail guides who accompanied us and prepared the trails before and after, the lunches were prepared by the local school ... The whole weekend went very smoothly - at least from a participant standpoint. Our experience was great and yes we will be back next year to the event. THANKS to all.
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Posted
by
on September 05, 2007 at 02:19 PM UTC
in categories Canoeing
Melanie took a few days off to go canoe-camping last week-end, while I took a few more to prepare the Jeep. It started with a 3" lift (shocks, coils, control arms and trackbars) last Monday August 27th. The install went well, but it took all day, and there were still 1 or 2 issues to finish. I didn't think they were serious, but Melanie felt it better to postpone our trip by another day and get these issues addressed -- the front trackbar could touch the diff when the left side coil compressed. So, instead of leaving on Thursday, we left for La Verendrye on Friday August 31st. The first day is always hectic since we arrive at La Verendrye around noon, then have to assemble and pack the canoe, then paddle to our camp site, set everything up, and have dinner. Not much time to rest. The second day was a lot better. We got to enjoy the sun and relax in the afternoon at our second camp site. Quote a few things happened on this short trip... We broke a paddle, I cut hands a few times, and I struck a rock with my axe twice. Aside from that, it was great. The new tarp with mosquito netting was excellent, and the weather was great. We ended up coming back on Sunday instead of Monday -- it looked like it might rain on Monday, and Melanie wanted to do some washing, etc., before going back to work on Tuesday. Our equipment selection and procedures are really coming together now. We're looking forward to our next canoe-camping trip!
View the Seasons > 2007 > 20070621 - Summer > 20070830 - Canoe Camping in La Verendrye folder...
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Posted
by
on April 23, 2007 at 03:51 PM UTC
in categories Travel
We're off to Bonaire again! Since our personal e-mail accounts receive too many messages to check/sort/read during our vacation, we've setup a seperate e-mail account. You can reach us at vacation@mvlan.net while we're away in Bonaire. We'll try to send a few pictures while we're there -- if we can find some time between diving, servicing the cameras, and sitting around the gazebo. :-)
In other news... Our Jeep should finally start down the assembly line this week, and should be at the dealer by the time we get back. So it looks like we'll have some wheels this summer! Woohoo! :-)
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Posted
by
on March 18, 2007 at 02:00 PM UTC
in categories Special Events
Our friend Patrick with girlfriend Tove and their newest addition Leon 6 months have decided to make their home in Canada. They have a great flat on St-Hubert street. We had a small dinner with them to celebrate their arrival and a contract signing for Patrick. Leon is wonderful. He is very outgoing & happy little boy. On top of that he smells very nice !! Welcome back and Welcome home to our friends !
View the Seasons > 2007 > 20070101 - Winter > 20070317 - Welcome Dinner Tove, Pat & Leon folder...
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Posted
by
on February 06, 2007 at 09:25 PM UTC
in categories Dog Training, Mushing
I took the day off and went mushing with my Mom in St-Lazarre. The Ottawa Fun-race is coming up, and we wanted to try some passing maneuvres before this week-end's event. Well, it didn't quite go as planned. Pete was great and plowed along as usual. I had to run/push up the hills, and kicked a little along the straights. Getting back to the car after 4 km, Pete and I were so tired that we took a break about 100' from the car! :-) Michele stayed behind, and the girls were pulling so much, she had to ride the break almost the whole way! :-) The girls fought a few times. I think Tsumi was very excited, and when dogs get excited, all their character traits -- good and bad -- seem to come out. :-)
Pete did pretty well. I usually rate our trainning sessions, and this one would rate an 8/10. He was responsive to commands, and caught on quickly to what the job was. He still tends to turn around up front before we take off, and I'd like the line to stay tighter, but overall, it's not too bad. I also got a chance to try out the new Hybrid Running Jacket we bought him to keep his balls nice and warm. It worked out pretty well -- I just rolled up the back end when we stopped for pee & pooh.
View the Seasons > 2007 > 20070101 - Winter > 20070206 - Mushing in St-Lazarre folder...
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Posted
by
on December 28, 2006 at 09:38 PM UTC
in categories Out & About
 It was time. After years of renting, we decided the time was right to make a serious week-end commitment and bought a 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. It's a four door Jeep -- their first model. It's been selling waaaaay beyond Jeep's expectations, so we probably won't have it before mid-March. The 2007 Jeep Wranglers come in several configurations -- The Unlimited is a four door, and then there are "trim levels": X, Sahara, and Rubicon. The X is the basic model, the Sahara is the full equiped street model, and the Rubicon is the off-road model. We added just about every option to the Rubicon, including power windows, hard and soft tops, towing option, etc. Now I have to order the winter tires (Nokian Hakkapeliitta SUV with studs), the roof rack and basket, Cold Air Intake (adds about 10-15 HP), etc.
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Posted
by
on December 07, 2006 at 02:15 AM UTC
in categories Dog Training
After training the basics over the summer, and using the Mountainboard a few times to get things going, Pete has finally graduated to the kicksled! We've been looking forward to taking out the kicksled since we got snow a few days ago, but I've been on-call this week, so couldn't participate in the usual morning training / walks. We took two videos of this afternoon's ride, although it was a little dark for decent video, but we wanted something to mark the occasion. :-) Next time, I'll wear a headlight to illuminate Pete and our path for the video. Hopefully we'll get more snow next week when I'm no longer on-call. The kicksled is a lot of fun, although a little more side-wiggley than the mountainboard. :-)
View the Seasons > 2006 > 20060923 - Fall folder...
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Posted
by
on November 18, 2006 at 09:23 PM UTC
in categories Dog Training
Since Pete and I started mountainboarding together, Melanie needed something to keep up with us. We went to the bicycle shop looking for a kick scooter. I wasn't expecting much since these are mostly used in Europe. It turns out they'd bought one for rental a few years back, and it had been siting in the basement ever since. It looked almost new, and they gave us a great deal on it. So, Melanie has a scooter to follow us around. Of course, now we have to find a place for it... :-)
Melanie took some small video clips of our training yesterday and this morning. Since our outgoing network pipe is rather small, I've uploaded them to YouTube. You can view them in a playlist here.
View the Seasons > 2006 > 20060923 - Fall folder...
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Posted
by
on November 11, 2006 at 07:36 PM UTC
in categories Website
Sorry folks - a small bug caused an excessive number of unsubscribe links to listed in notification e-mails sent earlier today. A quick fix should have solved the problem now. :-)
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Posted
by
on November 11, 2006 at 05:34 PM UTC
in categories Dog Training
Since it wasn't raining, like last Thursday night, Melanie was able to take some pictures (and two videos) of Pete's second day of dryland mushing. He still has to learn Gee and Haw, but we're halfway there. He also has to learn this is work, so no stopping to check things out (like benches and trees). :-) It takes quite a bit of effort to get the mountainboard going, but once it's on the way, it's pretty easy for him. I'm looking forward to Pete really "catching on" and taking longer rides. For now, we still have to stop once in a while amd do a little training. :-) After some tweeking of the suspension, brakes, etc., I expect someone on a mountainboard could handle 3-4 dogs. Perhaps next time at my mother's place we can try Pete and Tsumi together... :-)
View the Seasons > 2006 > 20060923 - Fall > 20061111 - Mountainboard in the Park folder...
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Posted
by
on October 03, 2006 at 04:34 PM UTC
in categories Pete
We went to visit Janet, Don and the dogs. 2 litters were born. The last one of Flirt and the first one of Tracy. It is a lot a work to care for 2 litters, the dogs and the farm. They have a new member of the Farm, Wimmie the mule. We helped give out the puppies and prepare the dog basket. We also helped to do some stone work on the kennels. Don brought us to visit the Creemore brewery.
View the Seasons > 2006 > 20060923 - Fall > 20060925 - Donnett's New Puppies folder...
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Posted
by
on September 09, 2006 at 08:29 PM UTC
in categories Camping, Canoeing, Travel
We planned a 4 day and 3 nights canoe trip. Our route has taken us on circuit #10 - Jean-Pere. A 3h50 minute drive from Montreal took us to the Domaine. We setup and lunch and we were ready to leave the Domaine at 2pm. We were lucky to have to wind at all for our first ride. It was 26c. We missed the same entry that lead to our first camping site and ended up at another site #10-83 at 4h10pm. Pete was very excited and JS had to trow him over board to scare him so he would be calmer into the canoe. We saw 3 otters on our way over. It took 1h30 to setup kitchen and tent. The dinner that night a southern coucous was so so. JS tried to make a fire with wet wood and we did not have great success. We went to sleep at 8pm. The night was very hot. we had to sleep out of our sleeping bags onto our thermarest. I was very happy that we had taken Cliff advise and that I had made covers for the mattress. It rain that night. We have to mention that until the last morning, we may have seen 20 mosquitoes total. Also, I want to mention that we saw each day and early evening - an helicopter and hydro planes go by.
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Posted
by
on August 14, 2006 at 01:07 AM UTC
in categories Canoeing
We finally got to canoe with Pete. We had a great time. JS was very good handling him. There is far bit of currents between the islands. While crusing down around the islands a dog from shore wanted to protect his territory and trew himself into the water and started swimming our way. Pete wanted to get out of the canoe. We did not capsize but it makes a good story. The water was soo clear we could see fishes everywhere. The water was at 77 degree celcius. I did some swimming. We tried our new tent. It is amazing - Easy to install and has great ventillation (Eureka El Capitan 4). Pete was great sleeping into the tent into a corner. Eric was capimp and doing some boating with his friends - Patrice, Benoit, and Simon. They had a great time too. Two magnificent days. Cool nights, great food, canoe !
View the Seasons > 2006 > 20060621 - Summer > 20060813 - Camping and Canoeing at Ivy Lea - Thousands Islands folder...
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Jean-Sébastien Morisset and Mélanie Vallée.
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We bought Melanie an Epson 
