The boil water advisory is lifted and businesses and homes can now run their taps.
Now, another thing is happening. The forecast calls for -20 degrees C weather PLUS windchill! Driving should be an adventure.
BRRRRR.....
Now that I've talked about the snow, I now want to lead you on to another problem most BC people have had to deal with for the past week and is still ongoing. Boil water advisory is still in effect for the Vancouver area and Burnaby as their water is still murky.
The heavy rains we have had plus the harsh winds last week was a result of the Philippine typhoon that happened the week before (See my bro's blog for more details on that typhoon). It caused landslides and two of our major reservoirs were affected. Water in the Vancouver, Burnaby, North Shore and some other areas had to deal with brown smelly water coming out from their taps. As of now, it's getting better, but still not where it has to be yet.
News Link - Boil water and heavy winds in BC
In my area (Richmond), as well as most of Coquitlam did not have the same problem. Ever since the torrential downpours, we hadn't had to deal with murky water. But I still boiled my water just in case. There was never a boil water advisory in our area. The reason was that we get our water from the Coquitlam reservoir. The Capilano reservoir and the other one (I'm not sure of the name), were directly affected by the landslides, since it was near or around the mountains.
I got to see first hand at work, how bad it was that people were scurrying to get all the waters we had on hand in our store. I heard in Costco it was even worse, people were climbing over each other and lining up outside to get good clean water. And the stores were all cleaned up in no time. Many people were angry, flustered, and it even made front page news. Heck, even my sister in Toronto heard about it and I never even mentioned it (I wonder what they have thought over there. *hint* *hint* comments please!). It rivaled the lineups outside to get the new Playstation 3!!!!!!! Some people also camped outside for water.
The panic is less now but we still get cleaned out of bottled water and jugs of water everyday, even though we order a lot of skids to make up for the advisory. Water companies are sure making a lot of money these days. I hope the people in the affected areas have water back to normal very soon. Oh yeah, we also get cleaned out of snow shovels and salt (see below) lately.
For somebody coming out of the Philippines, it actually doesn't seem new to me. We have to deal with this same kind of thing every day over there. No way should you drink from the taps as you can get dysentery. Water is always boiled or filtered before drinking. Of course you can use the water to take a shower and brush your teeth, just that water needs to be filtered or boiled before drinking. Sometimes I cannot understand the panic down here, but it's understandable since we take many things for granted over here.
For BC people who don't get much snow (or at all!), when we get more snow than usual, all hell breaks loose basically. The bad drivers come out, and our city is not prepared for something like this. Eastern or northern Canada would consider snow by these standards, "wimpish". I went outside and measured the snow. I don't consider it too bad... 6 inches? but it is bad in BC standards for a province that is not prepared for unusual amount of snowfall. Here are some pics.
When I came home from work, what an adventure. The day before, I didn't know it was going to snow so I brought the conventional car. This time, however, I had to bring the SUV. I'm glad I did. There were so many stalls on the road due to cars and trucks on the road that were either stuck or had a little fender bender. Some of my friends told me that they drove around and saw worse accidents around their area. I'm just glad I came home unscathed, no bumps and bruises, on myself OR the vehicle.
For those of you that read my blog and are in the Vancouver area and are students, double check your schools to see if they cancel. Kwantlen doesn't have any school today, and I hear UBC and SFU are cancelled as well. As for other schools, please call or check your school's webpage for more info.
For those of you that have to go to work, please be careful out there. Here are some tips when driving on the snow (automatic transmission)
This is a very useful link for winter driving. If you have a stick shift, this is a good read
The Lions win the Grey Cup! Woohooo! Reminds me of the time when Gabby, my bro, and I watched the Lions win the Grey Cup many years ago on a field goal by Lui Passaglia. Haven't watched a game since but I'm still happy that the Lions won the Grey Cup.
I am a big basketball fan. When I came to Canada, I used to dislike hockey because it took time away from NBA television. The Canucks making the finals with Trevor Linden (still is my favorite player), changed all that and I started to like Canucks and hockey. Also, the departure of the Vancouver Grizzlies still left a bad taste in my mouth especially when they made the playoffs last year.
Sportsnet showed a lot more NBA games for the past 3-4 years if you have digital cable. But I couldn't believe what I saw today however. Raptors NBA TV is now part of the digital cable package! I'm so happy!!! The premise is basically this, NBA all day everyday! I also heard that they will show some college basketball as well. IT'S ABOUT TIME WE FRICKING GOT A BASKETBALL ONLY CHANNEL!!!
Weee!!!!!! I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!
If you guys know that Billy Joel song, "We Didn't Start The Fire", here is a good rendition of all the stuff he sang about with images. The creator even added some sense of humor to it as well. Check it out. It was actually pretty educational. Check it out!
http://home.uchicago.edu/~yli5/Flash/Fire.html
And oh man, this is so cute! Check out the skateboarding dog!!!!!
Yes my mom would be 60 today. I always feel she's up there watching us, and behind some of the great events that happened recently.
My niece learns how to walk! Im sure Mom and Dad are so proud of Cara (me too!) with this milestone and to get it on video! Surely to make you, awwwwwww!!!!!
She could be the next WNBA player crashing into cameraman going for loose balls or maybe a girl NFL player getting a touchdown! Check out my bro's site for more!
My Bro's site
Thanks Gabz for getting me addicted to Fantasy basketball. It's almost as bad as my old times when I used to forego everything to stay home and score basketball games. Being a stats guy, guess that explains why I like the accounting program as well.
In the 3 leagues that I am in, all made by Gabby and our cousins, I am doing pretty well in one league because I had one of the top picks in the draft. I had the last pick and the second from last pick in the other two leagues so I didn't have much to work with. Unlike the first league where we have 8 players, there are 12 players in these two leagues.
Thanks Gabz :p
This guy is my idol. He is the drummer of the Dave Matthews Band. Just watch his drum solo playing "Ants Marching"
On a sad note, Nina, my brother's toy poodle, died today. One of my fondest memories of her was when she would come up to my lap and lay her head on my arm while I was playing playstation or watching TV. She was a real cute and loving lap dog. Condolences Gabz. Hang in there bro...
Update: Nina passed away because she has a heartworm infection. I just read the link to it and it's pretty gruesome. Click at your own risk. At least she's in a better place
This pic is taken from Gabby's old website, when he just got Nina. RIP.
I would like to thank god that this situation didn't happen to me yesterday at work because it could easily have been.
Long story short, I moved to a different register that was less busy because the person who I was replacing was going home. The co-worker that replaced me got held up an hour before closing time when it was not that busy. The robber showed his gun at my co-worker and he was forced to obey his orders and gave out all his money. The customers behind this robber came back to the store and acted as a witness to the incident after closing. I'm curious to see what happens when I go back to work this Friday. I hope they catch that bastard!
The important thing is that he didn't get hurt but he was really shaken up. I just hope that he recovers from this incident. Me, on the other hand, I was shocked as well as it could have easily been me hadn't I moved from my till.
Do not take things for granted. You never know what may happen.
Yes, I dressed up for an early Halloween celebration on Saturday. I have other pics, but it is in Mike's phone and he doesn't have a data cable yet. So, until then, this is all I have to offer for now. LOL! Rock on! Lindsay thought I looked like an Asian Napoleon Dynamite. Hahahaha!!!!
Also, my fantasy league basketball draft was yesterday and I am happy with the turnout of my team. There are only 6 of us in the league, so the teams are pretty much all star teams. This is who I have
Analysis: I have a good mix of big players and 3 point shooters. Unfortunately, I am lacking in the assist department. Kidd is on the decline and could be injury prone, but capable of having triple doubles now and then when he is healthy. Bibby is starting off the season injured. I'm not sure what Artest and TMac can give me in the way of assists but let's see how it goes. I have a couple of moves in mind so this lineup will change before the regular season starts.
Update: Acquired Ben Gordon and Andre Miller for Chris Kaman and Jorge Garbajosa. I think I have enough big men, so time to get some possible playmakers for my team. Andre Miller did really well for me last season as he was one of my top assist men. Ben Gordon was ok, I had him for a little last year. Even though I had Kobe and TMac on my team, Ben Gordon gave me more 3 point shooting.
Vancouver has always been known as a goalie graveyard. We never had an elite goaltender ever since Kirk McLean and it usually bites us in the ass come playoff time. The Canucks went 97 games without a shutout until last night. The shutout is Luongo's 28th for his career. One goal didn't count, however, because of an early whistle but who cares, it's still a shutout and a win for us
On to another sports topic, the draft day of my Fantasy Basketball League is this coming Saturday. I will post more about this when my players get drafted. Last year, Gabby tried to persuade me to join the league but I didn't want to. I finally caved in and this season, I'm joining from the start. I was 2nd from last place last season but was able to move up 3 notches at one time. There were 5 of us last season, and the same group this season. It's my team now and my players, so I cannot make the same excuses.
Lately, Pops has been having problems with his back whenever he sleeps on our bed. It was about time we got a new bed and I guess Pops got other stuff too! Hahahaha... but it looks real good! I guess being a furntiture buff, he knows what he is talking about when he buys furniture
We now have a recliner/chair to accompany the new TV we got
We also got a new chest
And finally, his bed!!!!!
So, what does he think of the bed? No more back pains? Yes! He can sleep better at night which is a good thing. He wonders, however, if Carls will like sleeping on the bed since it's stiffer than the previous bed we had.
In any case, I really love the stuff he got for the house! Looks real good! Good job Pops!
And it is due to hard work, relentlessness - that never say die attitude. They were 3-22-2 trying to comeback from games last year. It is still early but the signs are encouraging. Luongo, coach Vigneault and the Canucks are making believers out of us fans and it's hard to not like this version of the Canucks, unless you're a fan of run and gun free wheeling hockey which was last year.
In all honesty, it is only the come from behind wins that make the games exciting. The overall play is not as exciting vs last year but it is still exciting in its own way. If you watch Luongo it is fascinating to see how an elite goaltender like that moves around the goal. And you would want to cheer for a team that actually deserves to win with all the hard work.
They play the Dallas Stars today who only have lost one game so far this season. Law of averages would mean that the odds are against the Canucks this game but we will see. Game Time is at 5:30.
You know, the winekone is a natural comedian. I love this guy, his videos are so entertaining and hit home to many of us out there. This is one of my many favorites made by him, it's about myspace. I have been visiting these kind of pages lately and I am peeved about all these customizations that make the page load slowly. Everyone should take a course in business communications because keeping it simple, in most cases, is the best way.
This is a nice montage of "waking up" in the morning
This one too.... hits home to many of us... LMAO!
Paolo's Myspace Page
I had to take off the automatic play in the blog, coz it doesn't work after a while. But check out Paolo's two pages especially "Clear View". "Knowing for Nothing" is another song that hits home for a lot of people and "Free" is good to listen to as a hopeful song after a breakup.
Paolo's other music site
In the spirit of the coming Halloween and Friday the 13th, I present you three videos of Michael Jackson's Thriller. The Indian Thriller is the funniest while the Final Fantasy One is also cool. The last two videos are the REAL Michael Jackson Thriller. The way he dances is just unreal.
Indian Thriller - this rocks! One person had commented, "I will now have nightmares of that moustache when I go to sleep tonight." LMAO!
Final Fantasy version
And the real one...
The full version
