Summer Holiday Quickshot - Portland

3:00 in the morning is a really unpleasant time to have to get up and go to the airport.
Our flight was at 6:00, and since it was international from Canada to the US, we were supposed to be there 2 hours before the flight - i.e. at 4:00am

Here is Quebec airport at 4:00am - yes, the only other person there is the dude sweeping the floor. I am soooooo glad I got up early.



Anyway, we get to Portland and head over to John Wayland's place.
Following the GPS led us to a quite little street, filled with all manner of electric vehicles that had gathered for the Wayland Invitational drag races.

Here's Otmar's electric Porsche 914.



And Father Time's Frankendragon.



But this was the car that we came to see - John's White Zombie.



Big Zilla controller, sweet Siamese 8 motor.



John: Oh No! Someone stole the batteries! We're supposed to be racing in a few hours! What will we do???
Otmar: Gee, who would do such a terrible thing? Though isn't Bill Dube in town with his Killacycle drag bike. Why don't we send someone over to steal his battery pack?
John: Excellent idea. But who can we send to perform such a nefarious deed?
Jim Husted: I got a truck.
Mark Fowler: I got a GPS.



So the dastardly duo of Jim and Mark head over to Killacycleville to discover...



Jim: Aha! The batteries are conveniently here on the bench ready to go.



Bill Dube: Noooo! My lithium ion batteries! Don't take my lithium ion batteries!



Jim: Quick Mark, hit him over the head with one of these motors in the back of my truck. I'll tie him up with this strap!
Bill: Ouch! (thud)



Jim: Ok, now to cunningly sabotage the Killacycle so that its tire bursts when it does its warm up burnout.
Mark: This is just like that episode of Batman where the Joker put a bomb in the Batmobile triggered to detonate when it went over 75 MPH. So are you using a device triggered by tire RPM, or perhaps motor current, or maybe...
Jim: Would you shut up. I'm just going to slash the tire and cover it with tape.
Mark: oh. ok.



And so the duo return with their ill gotten gains.



Meanwhile...
So Otmar, tell us about your new AC controller.



Otmar: Sure. Well, as you all know, reptile based technology is what you really need if you want to go fast with a DC motor, but to work with AC we've had to evolve something a bit more mammal based. Behold, the HamsterDancer! We've got three separate hamsters here, each with their own wheel, controlling the three phase power going to the AC motor. And the best part about it is that we are using parts that we already have in stock. I mean, what do you think we've been feeding the baby Zillas all this time?



Otmar: And here in the back are the batteries. Generously donated by John Wayland. These batteries used to be in the White Zombie. Oh one other thing - John's a really humble guy about his generosity and stuff, so don't say anything to him about the batteries, ok?



Jim: See that red stuff all over that motor there? That's um... paint - yeah that's paint.



Bob Rice: You know, It's one thing for John to not want the Zombie to get dirty, but are you seriously going to vacuum the road all the way to the race track?



To the track! (Portland International Raceway)



Steve Ciciora: Ok, we've got 1328 Energizers, 1296 Duracells, half a mile of tin foil and a dozen rolls of duct tape. We can fix this.



Bill Dube: John, you totally suck! You send your goons around to my place, beat me up and steal my precious lithium ion batteries!
John: Precioussss? It's mine! My Precioussss!
Mike Willmon (in background): Seriously, coconuts in Alaska grow to be this big!



Cayde: Hey dad!



Jim: Ok, now lets see how my little attempt at sabotage went. Muah ha ha! (rubs hands maniacally)



John: This is so funny - watch what happens when I call Tim on his cell phone just before the light goes green.
Jim: Your going to distract your own driver? Are you sure that's a good idea?
John: Maybe not, but gee it's funny - I get him every time - watch this. (dials phone)
Tim: Hel... Argh Wayland!!!



Bill Dube: Well, despite all the setbacks, we're finally going to race... (I hope)

Summer Holiday Quickshot - Quebec 2

Time for a healthy breakfast - we have a big day ahead of us.



It seems that there are many alien spaceships in Canada - this one is out the front of the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec.



We had to stay back from where the workers were excavating the crash site...



Some of the citizens had their third dimension removed by the aliens.



Time for a cruise on the river. It seems that the authorities are not too happy about the cruises and have taken rather drastic measures...



But we made it out safely :-)



And saw all this water running down the hill.



Back in town, the aliens were causing more trouble by reversing gravity in some places.

Summer Holiday Quickshot - Quebec

Right, two days of Montreal was barely enough but the Spiderman train was waiting, so off we went to Quebec City.



I think we timed it just right - it is Festival Season :-)



The parks are filled with dudes juggling flamey things while balancing on stilts or ladders.



Best skate ramp ever.



Dinner in a fancy pancy restaurant.
(Yes, I'm wearing jeans and a T-shirt - didn't pack any going-out clothes - oops :-)

Summer Holiday Quickshot - Monkey

In the worlds before Monkey, primal chaos reigned.
Heaven sought order, but the phoenix can fly only when its feathers are grown.
The four worlds formed again and yet again, as endless aeons wheeled and passed.
Time and the pure essence of Heaven, the moisture of the Earth, the powers of the Sun and the Moon all worked upon a certain rock, old as creation and it became magically fertile.
That first egg was named "Thought".
Tathagata Buddha, the Father Buddha, said, "With our thoughts, we make the World".
Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch.
From it came a stone monkey.
The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!

Look what I found in Chinatown, Montreal....



(I know - it probably means nothing to Canadians, but to a generation of Aussies who raided their parent's sheds for garden tools that could be used as weapons this artwork has great significance...)

And if youtube works for you, here's what the fuss is all about.

Summer Holiday Quickshot - Montreal

Bye bye Ottawa - it's off to Montreal we go.

The rain on the train falls mainly on the pane.



And in the streets of Montreal.



I'm not sure just what this sign means - my current options are:
1) Warning - scissors will be flattened
2) Beware aliens hiding in the ceiling
3) Avoid early birds returning with frozen worms



Somebody crashed their spaceship into this shopping mall.



"What are you looking at?"

Summer Holiday Quickshot - East

Hi all,

Just a quick blog entry to let you know what we have been up to over the past couple of days...

First, we arrived in Toronto to discover that a huge meteor had crashed into the Royal Ontario Museum.



Next, we got soaked at Niagara Falls.



Back to Toronto for lunch in the CN Tower.
(Kind of makes Sydney Tower pale in comparison.)



Yummy food too.



Enough mucking around - next stop the afore mentioned ROM to unearth a Peruvian civilization of carnivorous llamas.



Time's up in Toronto - next stop Ottawa.



Where Delle ate a beaver tail (eewww!)



We arrived just in time to thwart an invasion of giant bronze spiders.



And check out some contemporary art.



"Excuse me sir - is that a beaver on your head?"



Mr Harper's place of work.



Enough typing - off to Montreal tomorrow.