So here I sit at the Sylvania hotel bar. (See below). A classy place. The food is good, they play old school Jazz ambient music, and I can walk here from my new place.

So far, I'm quite happy with my move from Marpole to the west end in Vancouver.
My adventurous transition from there to here involved a very cold (- 8 C ?) overnight stealth in my
88 bus, (after a few drinks at a local VW van meetup; sleeping in the cold was all part of a master plan!) and a relatively low cost night at hotel in Richmond. Short story: tell the landlord when YOU want to do the inspection. Like on the last day! Naive me. I thought they'd let me spend my last night there after the inspection. Irony though was that the heat and hot water stopped working the day before I left my old place. Crazy. Such weird timing. i.e sold my Honda the day I left my place! Crazy.

Gotta say though, the vanagons have proven themselves incredibly useful. Moved all my stuff from house to first apartment and from there to rental garage I have. Had the sense to hire a fellow from Craigslist to help with rest of this 2nd move. It's enough to deal with all the other stuff. Moving everything yourself on top of all that, well, it's just stupid.

I'm learning that there is no perfect apartment but you certainly get what you pay for at some level. I'm sure this new place will have some flaws but I'm fairly sure I won't have to endure screaming matches between spouses, mad thumping from above or smoke enhanced clothing.

I feel like I've paid my entire life of rent paying dues in just 6 months renting at the marpole place.

I'd read so many threads and discussions about snapped studs, bolts on the WBX, that I assumed I'd encounter at least one during todays foray into cooling system re-hab. So far, so good. Lucky, yes, in that this engine may truly have low miles and likely hasn't been exposed to harsh environments like one sees back east, but I took my time and used lots of penetrating fluid. Ironically, the parts really aren't in that bad of condition. Like the pump doesn't appear to have interfered with the block much if at all. But. I want piece of mind for however long I run this engine and would like to make the engine more sale-able when it's time for an engine conversion.

All in all, a good day. Rad is out, fan housing is painted, coolant is mostly drained, pump is out. I'm still torn on whether or not to replace 2 metal pipes at engine but we'll see. And since the thermostat housing is still on, am crossing my fingers that the fasteners on that part won't snap!

And so the adventure begins. Recently landed $1200+ USD of parts from my buddies at van-cafe. Had hoped for two cookies with this large order, but given the excellent tight packing they did, maybe there was only room for one cookie.    ;)

New rad, hoses, stainless long pipes, heater hoses + new metal "T's", possible fuel tank reseal, (it's ok but will do sooner than later) coolant pump (not shown), etc. The engine runs ok as-is but am doing preemptive maintenance "strikes" along with needed maintenance. All this will help should I sell this rig or keep it and swap in a Mk3/4 2.0 engine. The WBX would then be more easily sold .... I think. Selling Jaco my '81 may be an option, we'll see. Speaking of Jaco....

Went for my usual walk at Spanish Banks area. Spied another Assuan Brown bus so just HAD to park near it. Shortly after, another one showed up! What are the chances!  (oh, pretty good around Vancouver). I protected the innocent by copy-pasting their dogs face on them. Just 'splaining in case they look weird.

Apartment living is turning out "ok" for the most part. One learns patterns of folks in neighbouring units, (noise) and does what they can to adapt. My goal was to find a place and garage that fell within a reasonable monthly amount. I've done this. But it's all a "give and take" right? "no free lunch!".    ;)   The apartment is decent value but the location is noisier than some.

Part of my "madness and method" was to force myself to get out more. I've always worked from my home. But now, with gigs on the back burner (or in the compost really), I'm leading a more normal lifestyle. A smaller, potentially noisy space forces me to be outside more and this is what I'm doing. When I have both Westies up to snuff (it seems every repair is a restoration of sorts), I'll be away on weekends as often as possible.

Apartment living. Oh, how I'd forgotten you! Well, I had not actually lived in an apartment prior to this but did live in a basement suite and townhome suite in like 1985. Nothing has changed? Sold the home, moved, now am on a small learning curve about apartment life. Simple things that one took for granted living in a house, are no longer. Or at the very least, they've changed.

Moving day(s). Except for the "junk", moved everything by myself, in my Westy. I had the time, and vehicle, so figured I'd save a few bucks but more importantly, gauge just how much is involved in doing this and determine what stuff I'd keep or unload. eg as much as I like my grandparents dining room table and eight #@*% chairs, they may have to go; I want to be as mobile as possible.

Yes. A sousaphone and case will fit.  (it too needs to go)

Felt only a little bad dumping the nice door skin wood, lawnmower etc. but this company prides itself on donating what it can to charity. Besides. I'd donated a LOT of stuff to my favourite local charity and given away nearly as much via craigs list.

The bottom line with apartment living it seems, and something that's always bugged me, is noise. So far, I'm experiencing what is likely a normal amount of noise; low hum of voices in suite above me, clunks, clanks, foot steps. But thankfully, people seem respectful of quiet time. But the traffic. Shit. I had no idea. I knew there was a bus stop out front, that the street was fairly busy, anticipated potential noise as much as possible, but stupid people with loud exhausts or motorcycles with same, (or just smelly 2 cycles), make things un-fun. I now sleep with one ear plugged. Am hoping I get used to the noise but waking up 6 times a night is not cool. The new Ikea arm chair bed may not be helping but it may be temporary.

On the plus side of life, things seem to be according to plan. I rented a garage (shop space. More stuff has been added, including the slate blue Westy)

then found this apartment not too far from it. It's about 1.5 miles or less so within walking distance. One of my first projects is to rehab my bicycle. The apartment is good value overall. Decent sq. ft. for dollar, has elevator, I'm much closer to the US border, there's suitable shops and businesses not far away and street parking is fairly easy with no posted limits. This bodes well for the man owning 2 Westies and Honda DD.  ;)

I'm happy I sold and have little to no "sellers remorse". At this point in my life, I can pretty much choose any path I want. But as ridiculous as this may sound, (and to misquote a good family friend), the current goal is to learn how to "spend" the rest of my life.

Apologies for posting before editing.

Snowlar Power

Yup. The latest project.  ;)

Yes, this shows a funny dichotomy, but clearing snow off the panel is something one has to be aware of. And a responsible car owner would clear off their car roof regardless. Right? In past years I'd not used my Westy as a daily driver, but even light snow fall on a Westy is an added workout beyond that required to clear off the Honda.

It hasn't snowed that much here in the GVRD but truth be known, while somewhat better in the snow, the Nokian 14" studdable tires I installed weren't a huge improvement over the mud & snow Yokohama's. Granted, I've only done limited testing, all of which was done in my hill riddled neighbourhood. That said, they are an improvement and as a Syncro owner pointed out, airing down the tires might help.

Things have been slow business-wise, but this isn't an issue per se. For some time now, I've been acting out my intentions of quitting the music business and have planned accordingly. But. As anyone in this business knows, quitting is not easy. Even the level of dedication required to wait and watch for the phone to ring, is something to get past.    ;)   Seriously though. The phone can ring at any time, possibly for a (youtube) great gig. (Yes. I'm in there somewhere.  :)  Oh wait. Here I am!  ). As you turn down more gigs, you start falling down "the list". And if you stop playing altogether, your skill set loss increases exponentially over time; getting back into the business becomes really tough. But, I understand and accept that this is all business as usual. That said, contractors have been quite faithful to me in spite of me teetering on the edge of "retirement". This has been greatly appreciated. Anyhow. I have worked hard, been as (youtube) "smrt" smart  as I could, and hope to reap the rewards. We'll see.

The music business, and whatever art I contributed, was hard work most of the time, but it certainly had some highlights. There were others of that ilk  and live performances with great artists that were equally as important to me or more so, but those opportunities have long since subsided. Great memories though.

My trend seems to be "do it or lose it" these days. With a family member's sudden health issue at the forefront of my mind, I am slowly changing my ways and trying to "do" instead of "think". I find this a challenge. Hollywood would have us believe that any time this kind of thing happens, we are immediately transformed into a "bucket list" individual who will take action. Sadly, I believe this isn't anywhere near accurate and it usually takes a health issue to strike an individual before they take action with their lives.

Small steps work. We always have a choice. Choose wisely.    :)