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Showing posts from 2009

AT&T Pre-paid SIM Card for LG Eve GW620

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I went across the border to Washington state yesterday to buy a AT&T pre-paid SIM card for my unlocked LG GW620 Eve Android phone . I did some research on different carriers and found that AT&T was my best choice for a GSM network with 3G data access for pre-paid accounts. Despite the Verizon advertisements that like you to believe otherwise, coverage was actually better than some other carriers I checked out. (Verizon is not GSM so I didn't consider them at all.) On eBay, you can buy a AT&T pre-paid SIM card for just under $10. I decided to take my chances and stop at a kiosk at a mall since I was going down to the US to do some shopping anyway. I was pleasantly surprised that the SIM card was free. All they asked for was my first and last name (no ID required) and they scanned my phone for the IMEI number. And that was it. No charge, no fuss. They told me to buy minutes at the Radio Shack in the mall. I bought $100 because that would give me 1 year before it expired.

Unlock LG Eve GW620 Android Phone

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After many years of resisting, I recently jumped into the world of cell phone ownership and purchased the new LG Eve GW620. It's the first Android phone from LG and Canada is one of the first countries in the world to receive it. I'm not a big talker, but I wanted the phone for the 3G data access and the ability to run different apps. I already own a 32GB iPod Touch so the natural transition would have been to get an iPhone 3GS. However, restrictive Apple policies (regarding their products and App store) as well as the high cost of the iPhone ($300 for the 32GB, even with a 3-year contract) turned me off. The LG Eve GW620 cost $50 with a 3-year contract but I got it basically for free because it came from Costco with a $75 gift card and a car charger as a bonus. Rogers has a current promotion right now selling the Eve for $0.99 with no activation fee and a $50 gift card. A much better value than the iPhone where no bonuses or deals are offered. The Android market isn't as e

Subaru Pulls Out Truck

This is what makes a Subaru, a Subaru! Thanks to Tijmen Fongers for finding this awesome video for me :0)

Winter Rims Mounted - GMC Yukon Denali 30743 km

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Winter Rims Mounted Originally uploaded by istargazer . I put the winter tires back onto our 2007 GMC Yukon Denali XL this morning. It wasn't the ordeal it was last year, but it was snowing/hailing lightly while I was doing it. I don't know if we'll see the record snowfalls again, but the local ski hills and Whistler Mountain have all opened their season early.

Remembrance Day 2009

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Our Duty Done , originally uploaded by istargazer .

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

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Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Originally uploaded by istargazer . This is my Halloween costume this year. I made the mask to go with my grim reaper robe so that I could be the Blue Screen of Death. I also made an "Any" button prop that I could dare people to press :0) Of course, after I finished making the costume Thursday morning, I got an email from admin that we wouldn't be allowed to wear masks at work. Bummer.

VW R32: Cute

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I'd heard the description before, but the other day was the first time I'd heard in person my R described as "cute". I wasn't at all bothered or anything, merely taken back for half a second, thinking to myself, really? I just don't see it. But that doesn't matter, does it? Cuteness is in the eye of the beholder. I wonder if anyone's described a STI as cute....

2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI

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2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Originally uploaded by istargazer . I was just looking at the stats on my Flickr account and discovered something interesting. For some reason, this particular picture--out of all the 900+ pictures I've uploaded--has the most views of all. As of this post, it has been viewed 26,787 times (not including myself). I wonder why that is because it hasn't generated as many comments or favorites as some of my other pictures.

Version 2: Was it a dream?

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Version 2: Was it a dream? Originally uploaded by istargazer . I watched an episode of Test Drive on the Speed channel this afternoon on the new 4-door Porsche Panamera. I've seen it a few times now on different shows and being on the Porsche mailing list I've seen the official literature on it, too. The look is growing on me, although I do like the view mostly either full-frontal or directly from the rear. The side profile has some nice aspects, but the overall look definitely takes some getting used to. For some reason, it made me really, really miss my 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

Thanksgiving Camp

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Thanksgiving Camp Originally uploaded by istargazer . We left home after I got off work on Friday to go RVing in our Tango trailer. It would be our last trip of the year before putting the RV into storage for the winter and would mark the 29th night of camping in 2009. A pretty good number if I say so myself! It took us almost an hour to get over the Port Mann Bridge, but traffic was pretty smooth after that. We got to the campground after dark and I had the hardest time backing the trailer. I could not see a thing back there and because I didn't remove the trunnion bars, I was paranoid about turning too sharply and breaking them off like I did earlier in the summer. It was actually my first time doing it in the dark and after a couple of failed attempts, a couple of neighbors, Mark and Steven, helped guide me into position. Without their help it would have been a very long night for us! The weather for the weekend was clear and sunny but cold because of the arctic air tha

Ballet Nouveau Colorado: Intersection

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The orange ribbon of an early morning sunrise Originally uploaded by istargazer . I was honored to receive a request that my photos be used in a contemporary ballet called Intersection that will be performed in Denver, Colorado area later this month. Very cool! Dear istargazer, I would like to request the use of your photography under the Creative Commons license you have applied to your work. My name is Garrett Ammon, and I am the Artistic Director of Ballet Nouveau Colorado. I am currently in the process of creating a new contemporary ballet, in collaboration with Poet Michael J. Henry, entitled Intersection. The ballet will be an evening length work incorporating poetry, music and dance, as well as projections of photographs, video and text. The ballet will be presented in the denver area from October 30 through November 8, 2009. Your photography will be incorporated into projections that will be displayed across two screens above the stage and/or on a television that will be uti

2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali Fuel Consumption: July '09

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These are my July fuel consumption stats for our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali. Sorry it's late. Click the thumbnail to see the full view.

Dynex® - 22" Class / 720p / 60Hz / LCD HDTV Model: DX-L22-10A

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It's hard to buy local when Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals continue to deceive its citizens and increase taxes with things like the proposed HST . Because of that, I will be spending my tourist dollars outside of BC. We took an extended trip down to Oregon and took advantage of no sales tax to save a lot of money on a basic TV for our travel trailer RV . I originally bought one locally here at a Best Buy in Canada. It was a 19" Insignia (another Best Buy brand) LCD TV that was $200, which I thought was reasonable. Plus, I had some Reward Dollars saved up that would have made it cheaper to buy up north. However, after trying it out on our next camping trip in Washington state, I discovered that it lacked a digital tuner. Having no digital tuner made it useless to me because the US switched over to digital-only broadcasts earlier this year. I checked the other products in stores in Canada and anything with a digital tuner cost significantly more. On top of that the BC governm

VW R32: Sharan antenna

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One of the first things I changed on my R was the stock antenna -- it reminded me of those long metal wires sticking out the top of old trains and buses that connect to overhead electric cables. The problem with installing a different antenna, though, was that most that caught my eye ended up touching the rear spoiler when the hatch was open. For a little more than 5 years I made do with a S2000 antenna lookalike and an angle adapter . Still, in addition to being difficult to line up properly, with time the adapter became floppy and no longer performed the purpose for which it was intended -- preventing the antenna from touching the spoiler. See below the fold for more and pics. Back in the day I'd considered the VW Sharan antenna, but it was always out of stock at Hillside Imports. Why not order it from a dealership? First, the Sharan isn't sold in the U.S. or Canada. Second, I believe there's some sort of modification required with the threads to make the Sharan ant

VW R32: VentureShield

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I decided it's much cheaper to install clear sticker on the R than having to have it repainted . I had some VentureShield clear sticker installed on the front of the R. It covers the front part of the hood, the HIDs, front bumper, and part of the front fenders. So far I'm pretty happy with it. As a bonus, the sticker makes washing off bugs pretty easy. I like how the HIDs look with sticker, removing the need for the Lexan covers ; I'm still not entirely comfortable with it, though. I just have some slight difficulty wrapping my mind around the notion that a piece of flexible plastic sticking directly to the HIDs is as or even more protective than solid plastic sitting in front, not against, the HIDs. Click below the fold for pictures. The arrows in this first pic indicate the edges of the clear sticker. The VentureShield is invisible a short distance away.

VW R32: Front Repaint

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A short while back the cornucopia of rock chips on the R's front reached my personal I-will-pay-good-money threshold. Being new to the area, I went with a local dealership's recommendation for a good paint shop. My entire front bumper was like this: This OEM spotted bumper was painted and installed at Karen Radley VW ( under warranty , which was another issue) in Virginia. Actually, the dealership sent the bumper to a local shop to be painted. I still blame Karen Radley VW, though, for using a shop that produces such pitiable work. See below the fold for the "after" pic. I think everyone would agree it looks much better, now, after the paint job at Ontario Auto Collision CARSTAR:

2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali Fuel Consumption

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I found a great iPhone/iPod Touch app at the iTunes store for keeping track of fuel consumption and automobile expenses called Road Trip. One of the best things I like about it is that I can enter either gallons or litres and whether or not I fill the tank and it will keep track of all sorts of stats and show me my fuel consumption in either mpg or L/100 km. You can then export all of this data into a spreadsheet through email. I find it easier to simply take a screenshot on my Touch and upload it here, which I plan on doing on a monthly basis from now on. This particular screen shows all the accumulative data since I first bought the Denali back in August 2008. Click the thumbnail above to see the full stats. You can see that the fuel consumption is not great. On the highway I was able to get an average of around 14 mpg, but in the city where I do most of my driving I get around 10 mpg. Such is the cost of living at the top of a mountain. You can also see that on my last fill-up I ave

Trip Report: Concrete/Grandy Creek KOA

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Concrete/Grandy KOA : 2 nights, Site #91   Coming back from Everett, I had the urge to get out on the road again and thought it would be nice to go for a couple of nights before the weekend. There was nothing available at Sunnyside so we took a chance calling the KOA campground in Concrete, WA . It's only about 2 hours away from our home and we had heard good things about it.... This trip started out a bit differently because the trailer was actually in storage. Since the trailer was already equipped with just about everything we needed, we thought it would be simple to just pack the clothes and food we wanted into the Denali, load up at the storage yard and leave from there. It didn't go quite that smoothly though, because that morning after stopping at the Costco in Port Coquitlam for fuel, I realized that I had forgotten the RV keys at home. Luckily, we were only 15-minutes away. In the end, we wereg only 30-minutes behind our original schedule. There was a 90-minute wait at

VFD Bikers for Burns Ride

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VPD Motorcycles Originally uploaded by istargazer . My wife and I went on this charity bike ride at the end of June. It was a great day and marred only because I thought I had lost one of my memory cards. Luckily, I found it just the other day and have been busily uploading the pictures. This is a picture of the Vancouver Police motorcycles. The VPD were really great because they gave a police escort for the group of riders all the way through Vancouver, onto Highway #1 and across the Golden Ears Bridge. It was a weird feeling not stopping for red lights!

Trip Report: Lakeside RV, Everett, WA

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Lakeside RV Park: 3 Nights 12321 Hwy 99, Everett, WA 98204 Talk about contrasts! From our very first camping trip into the lush forests around Cultus Lake, BC we went to our next destination of urban pavement: Lakeside RV Park off of Highway 99 in Everett, Washington. To be fair, after first impressions of the "neighborhood", the place was quite livable and suited our goal of being close to shopping. In fact, we got a water-view "lake" side spot right next to the fishing pond. We did lots of time at Camping World, Walmart, and Target as well as doing a little shopping at an outlet mall, and I was able to install and setup a few more things on our travel trailer. Click the thumbnail below to see more photos. 2009 Everett I got to climb up on top of the roof of the travel trailer for the first time to install the MaxxAir II vent cover. It allows us to keep the vent open without letting water come in through the opening. I'll need to get up there a few more times b

Trip Report: Sunnyside Campground Cultus Lake BC

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Sunnyside Campground : 2 Nights The maiden voyage in our Tango RV travel trailer was a great success. There were a lot of "firsts" for us and the kids, but we all had great fun--despite my returning home with a minor concussion and whiplash! More on that later. We left home on July 1st, Canada Day holiday morning. It took me a while to get hitched up again after only doing for the first time over a week earlier. We finally got on the road around 10:30-ish and went over the Port Mann Bridge to the commercial truck scales to weigh ourselves. After a brief stop in the empty parking lot of an Abbotsford church for lunch, we arrived at Sunnyside Campground in Cultus Lake early in the afternoon. Despite waiting an hour so that we could get "Twilight" admission to the Cultus Lake Water Slides (4 hours of playtime from 2:30 to closing) it still cost our whole family over $90 to get in. To me, it wasn't worth it because most of the time is spent waiting in lines, but the

7th Annual Vancouver Firefighter's Bikers for Burns Ride

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DSC_0259 Originally uploaded by istargazer . My wife and I took part in the 7th Annual Vancouver Firefighter's Bikers for Burns ride today. It started in Vancouver at the Flying Swan Cafe and followed a route that included going over the new Golden Ears Bridge and continuing on to Harrison Hot Springs where there was a motorcycle stunt show to end the day. There were over 270 motorcycles and it was a great ride. What was really cool was that we got a police escort all the way to Maple Ridge. We got waved through intersections and the VPD even did rolling road blocks for us on Highway 1! On top of that I won a t-shirt and a hat registration prize! The only damper to the day was the discovery that I had lost one of my SD cards. It had pictures from the first half of the day including pics of the Burgman and the Vancouver Police Motorcycles. I do have some video footage that I'll upload soon.

Barker VIP 3000 Electric Tongue Jack Installed

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From RV Mods and Accessories An electric tongue jack seems to be a very popular modification especially with the larger trailers. The idea of cranking the jack up and down didn't appeal to me and after doing it the first day we towed the trailer I could say that I had "been there, done that." The Barker 3000 offers a 3000 lb lifting capacity as well as a built-in LED light (for hooking up at night) and a bubble level. I have to tell you, being able to lift and drop the trailer with the tip of my finger is a true pleasure. A few additional pictures are available here .

Digital Programmable Thermostat Installed in RV

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From RV Mods and Accessories When I found out that it was possible to install a regular household thermostat into the RV travel trailer, I knew it would be one of the first mods I would attempt. At first I didn't want to get a programmable model, but the selection available at RONA was very slim. The non-programmable ones were actually more expensive than the programmable ones. This particular one was one of the cheaper ones but it has a bonus of having a humidity display as well as separate temperature and programming displays. In fact, it's much fancier than the digital programmable one I installed in my home 9 years ago! Full details of the install in our travel trailer is posted here: Tango Hotel Mod: Digital Programmable Thermostat

Tango Hotel: Tango 289BH RV Travel Trailer

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I finally had our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali setup for towing and got some time on Friday to pull home our new 30-foot travel trailer--which I nicknamed "Tango Hotel." The original plan was to keep it for one night and bring it back the next day, but our schedule was so busy that instead of rushing the next day, we decided to keep the trailer for the rest of the week. It actually worked out well because we were able to sleep in the trailer for two nights. It allowed us to get familiar with how everything worked in the trailer and start to setup everything the way that we wanted. I got a chance to complete some modifications and one of the first things I did was replace the old fashioned RV thermostat with a modern digital programmable thermostat . I've got a few more mods that I want to do before we live for our first trip next week.

Tekonsha P3 Brake Controller Installed: 20700 km

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Our RV dealer initially installed the Tekonsha P3 brake controller under the dash to the right of the steering wheel but there's not much clearance there in our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali. With it angled up and my seat moved back a little, there was just enough room so my leg wouldn't rub against it. But I didn't like it. If there unforeseen forward movement, the Tekonsha would be firmly embedded in my shin. Besides, I couldn't see the display nor could I easily reach the manual control on the bottom of the P3. On top of that, they used the permanent bracket mount. There is no switched power in the Denali. Everything is on all the time. Even though the P3 has a built-in power-save mode, after the battery troubles I had on the Denali, I didn't want to risk it. So I removed the permanent bracket and installed the second bracket provided by Tekonsha to the left of the parking brake release and solved all my problems. It is now easy to see, easy to access, and easy to r

Reese Weight Distributing Hitch with Trunnion Bars and Dual Cam Sway Control

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I had a weight distributing hitch installed on our travel trailer today. It looks like a fairly simple setup to use. I'm anxious to try it out but our schedule is so busy right now that we'll need to wait a few more days. In the meantime, we've bought a few things to equip the trailer including some wheel chocks and a power tongue jack that I'll need to install. I have a list of other things I want to get, but with prices in Canada about double the price it is in the US, it's hard to make purchases. We've planned our second camping trip for south of the border so that we can pick up things that we need.

The Wiki @ Stargazer's Garage

The Wiki @ Stargazer's Garage I created a wiki to better organize the information posted on our blog. It is an archive of the specifications and modifications of the different vehicles that have occupied Stargazer's Garage as well as the experiences of ownership. I think it will be easier to have everything like mods, links, and resources all in one location rather than in separate blog posts all over the place. I'll still be posting my most immediate updates on Twitter and I'll use the blog to give more detailed information. The wiki will be used as an archive to gather all the info from the blog posts.

The Shakedown: Sunnyside Campground Cultus Lake

Sunnyside Campground Cultus Lake BC The date has been set. Our spot has been reserved. The destination for our very first RV trip, the "Shakedown" trip, will be a campground within walking distance of the Cultus Lake Waterslides. A tip that I've read in every RV book and website is to take a short 2-3 day trip in the RV at the beginning of the season before you head off for a long trip. That way you can make sure that everything is working and deal with any issues close to home before you hit the road. The is commonly called the shakedown trip. Having never been RVing before, I feel that we still have a long journey before we get to that point with our new travel trailer. Wish us luck!

2009 Tango 289BH Travel Trailer

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We jumped through another hoop today and the financing has been approved for our new 2009 Tango Travel Trailer. We're another step closer to parking this behemoth on our driveway. Overall, we must have looked at over 25 different RVs over this past month. This particular Tango happened to be the very first one we saw when we started this journey. On that first day, it was shown to us as a high-end trailer with high-quality materials throughout. But the $33000+ CAD list price was a lot of money. The sales person showed us different trailers and configurations (even used ones) until we reached an entry-level double-bunk model with slides that was very reasonably priced. We left the lot that day with a handful of brochures and our heads about to explode. We went to other RV dealers and looked at many more models and realized that there were certain things we liked and didn't like.... Click below to read more. Some things just seemed to be standard issue so we didn't concern o

Miserable Failure

Well, once again there was a pathetic voter turnout in the May 12 BC provincial election and the referendum for proportional representation failed miserably. Talking to some colleagues afterwards, I found out they voted "No" because they didn't completely understand what it was about. Kinda sad, really. I don't see voter turnout in BC improving any time soon or in the distant future because without proportional representation, my vote in this riding is pointless.

A New Addition to Stargazer's Garage: Tango RV!

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  This has been an exciting weekend for us because we just added a new member to our (virtual) garage: a 2009 Tango Travel Trailer. (Being 30-feet long, it doesn't fit in our real garage.) While the idea of getting into RVing has been with me a long time, taking it seriously and acting upon it didn't start happening until about a month ago. Since we had missed the spring RV shows, we stopped at our local RV dealership a few Saturdays ago for a look and we got a very informative and educational tour of different types of travel trailers. Our 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali is the most tow-capable vehicle we've owned, and I wanted to see what a 7800 lb. trailer looked like. The sales person spent a lot of time showing us the entire spectrum of RVs from modern upscale to affordable entry-level. We learned about GVWR and towing limits, as well as about slides (not the ones we're used to that you find at playgrounds!), outdoor showers, and saw that there were almost infinite varie

Photosynth: Torin Black Jack Low-profile Floor Jack

I was at a professional development work session today and someone showed us a video clip demonstrating some very cool technology called Photosynth . It's built with the technology of Seadragon and has the ability to create a model of reality built from the photo memories of the collective whole--very Borg-like! The individual members of the collective benefit by creating something more complex and rich than would have been very difficult if not impossible to do by themselves. One example shown was using photos found on Flickr to create the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Here's my simple attempt at making a synth of a floor jack I bought at Costco for R32Argent: Click below to check out the TED video and see the demo yourself: Jaw-dropping Photosynth Demo

VW R32: O.Z. Crono HT Installed

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I purchased some 5-spoke O.Z. Crono HT wheels for my summer tires a short while back. This weekend I finally installed them. Click below the fold for pictures. First, for easier comparison, this first picture is with the stock Aristos: Now, the last two pictures are with the O.Z. wheels: Me likey! I think the O.Z. wheels make the R look cleaner and a little more aggressive than the Aristos.

BC-STV Proportional Representation--Vote YES for Fair Results!

We have a chance to change the electoral system in BC on May 12 by voting YES for proportional representation. It is far superior than the traditional "First Past the Post" system where it's possible for a political party to win a majority government even without a majority of the popular vote. With BC-STV Proportional Representation, people won't have to feel that their votes are "wasted" like it is now with the current system. May 12--Vote YES for fair election results! Check out http://stv.ca for more information.

ANZAC Day: April 25

It's been almost two years since I first uploaded this video, The Band Played Walzting Matilda by Eric Bogle. I have to admit that I didn't know very much about the Battle of Gallipoli at that time. I've learned more since then especially after reading people's comments about it I've grown an even deeper appreciation for the sacrifices made by everyone.

420 Day: April 20

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420 Originally uploaded by istargazer . I took this picture almost 2 years ago shortly after I had the RCE Sport springs installed on my 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The location is a Park and Ride station and I thought it was an interesting spot. I had no idea the significance of "420" until someone posted a comment. I had to google it to find the meaning to educate myself--LOL! Anyway, there was a huge crowd in downtown Vancouver today commemorating the occasion.

2009 Lincoln MKZ - Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom (Coming Home)

This song, a cover of Major Tom by a group called Shiny Toy Guns is played on a commercial for the 2009 Lincoln MKZ which you can see here . This is the latest song to make it into my collection, but my iPod Touch went wonky this afternoon and became unreadable by iTunes. I had to restore the factory settings and am currently waiting while everything gets gets transferred from the backup. I don't know why what happened but I did notice the last couple of days that more apps were crashing on it. Hopefully, this will cure the symptoms, but right now I'm going through a little withdrawal from the iPhone apps :-P ---------------- Now playing: Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom (coming home) via FoxyTunes

VW R32: Importing a vehicle into Canada from the U.S.

I've posted previously that I imported my 2004 VW Golf R32 to Canada from the U.S. when I relocated to the Land of Tim Hortons; here I want to provide some of the details on an initially daunting but ultimately straight-forward process. It goes without saying (though I'm still saying it) that I'm describing my own experience with importing my R32 -- and my memory is already hazy -- and anyone planning on importing a vehicle in to Canada from the U.S. is advised to visit the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) and the U.S. Border Protection Agency (BPA) websites for the latest information. Read more beneath the fold.... First things first: visit the RIV website for the link to the latest list of admissible vehicles, hosted by Transport Canada . The list will tell you what if any modifications to a stock vehicle are required for importation, and whether it can be imported at all. This list does get updated. For the first few yea

New Volkswagen Golf VI Commercial: "The Fight"

Nice moves. Catchy song.

Zinga Warriorz - The Gun

I was searching YouTube tonight for a couple of songs I heard on some TV commercials when I happened to find this song: The Gun by the Zinga Warriorz. I'd never heard of them before and this is from a live recording they did in May 2007 at down 2 earth studios in Birmingham, UK. Pretty catchy and now living on my iPod.

VW R32: O.Z. Crono HT

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The stock Aristos on my R32 have been relegated to winter wheel status. In preparation for the other three seasons I purchased 18x8 O.Z. Crono HT wheels. I haven't installed them yet as it still hasn't been consistently warm (it snowed 6 days ago) in the Land of Tim Hortons. I went with 5-spoke wheels because no matter how much I like how they look the 15-spoke Aristos are a pain to clean. The Crono HTs are also lighter at 19.5lbs a piece, compared to the hefty Aristos' 28-29lbs. See below the fold for a picture. I'll post more pics once I get these wheels installed.