A Weekly Update
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Another week has flown by and january is pretty much finished - mental. I recieved my new snowboard this week also...check out the rockin' graphics - I had a few comments on the hill about how it looked!
This past week at work I have been working away on learning new things regarding Drill and Blast while at the same time creating a model of a massive rock cut we are to take.
Basically it will be used to help us plan the blasts and different cuts that need to be done. I worked Saturday morning to get some more of the model finished but I ended up out on site for 4 hours or so helping with the different blasts that they had that day.
The model of Doodsons Corner (each styrofoam piece = 20m)Sunday: Today myself, Brian and Joe headed up to Cypress Mountain (
http://www.cypressmountain.com/index.asp) for a day of snowboarding. We got there at 9am and parked the car and were onto the slopes for the rest of the day. Compared to Symore last weekend there was so much more fresh snow/powder - especially when I ventured into the trees for some crazy "off trail" boarding. We were there at 9am to beat the rush but I everyone else had that idea also...we were in the main parking lot but were at the far end. Still, after we were all rigged up and ready to ride Brian gave Joe (first timer) some pointers and off we went. After it was all said and done we left the mountain around 4, and after the 20 min drive home I am sitting here updating my blog feeling pretty darn tired.
Rob & Brian at the foot of CypressNot sure what is on the menu for the week ahead apart from the Kiewit District Meeting which is being held Thursday and Friday of this week. It is a time when all employees from western canada (BC and Alberta) get together and discuss current projects as well as any workshops regarding company topics.
Until next post - catch ya on the flip side!
Author: Rob » Comments:
Rockstars
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Since my last post I have since acquired a copy of our bands poster...enjoy.
-R
Author: Rob » Comments:
2007 A new Year and a new Road Trip
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Salutations faithful readers...It's a new year and thus I figured that I should make the first post of the year. (as I have some 'stuff' to post).
First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.
As my last post was back on November 27th in the year 2006 many of you might expect an update of events after that...suckers. It goes like this: work, home to New Brunswick, Vancouver for new years. Thats it!
Now we are into the new year. I had 2 days of work this last week, these were planning session days where everyone sits down in their respective specialities and then plan what needs to be accomplished within the next 6 months etc. Enough of the work - now onto the fun. Yesterday we decided we would head for a road trip to Seattle, Washington for the day. Attendees of this trip were:
1. myself (roadhammer: the wheelman center)
2. Brian (Gunner: the navigator right)
3. Joe (Joe Dirt: moral support left)
4. The Travelling Gnome
The main reason for the trip was for Brian to pick up a digital camera (bit cheaper than here in Canada) but we decided to make a day of it and check out the sights and tour the city. I liked Seattle - it had a good atmosphere, great mixture of old and new buildings and although it was game day (Lets Go SEAHAWKS) the traffic was decent.
Hitting the open road around 8am we picked up Joe and headed for the border. People I have spoken too told me to expect a 3-4 hour trip into Seattle...thats a whole lotta Tom Foolery. It took about 30 min to the border and then from there it was about 2 hours to downtown Seattle.
Space Needle rising above Seattle
Once into the city we decided to grab some food at a resteraunt right below the space needle. That was one good burger I had there - and out of the 3 of us I was the only one who could finish the feast. From there we decided to hit the mean streets, we purchased a monorail ticket (3 months in Vancouver I havent been on the sky train, yet 1 hour in Seattle and I was onto theirs) and made our way further downtown. The waitress at the resteraunt said we should check out the big market down on the water front, thus that was our destination.
The Seattle Space Needle
The entrance to the monorail
On the otherside of the Yellow Line
The entrance to the public market - there was a tonne of things in their, mainly seafood.
After our venture into the market I wanted to see Elliott bay and Elliotts resteraunt, just because it has the same name as I do. Once we made our way down to the water front we looked to our left and saw QWest stadium (Seahawks Stadium - NFL Football) and wanted to check that out. As it was game day we knew their would be tailgate parties, however I had no idea how hardcore they were. Each stall had a truck and at the end of the bed was a tent and under the tent were 2-3 BBQs, TVs, Stereo Systems, beers and seahawk fans. To think , we were SO close to purchasing tickets for this game - it was a cracker too...Cowboys fumble a field goal attempt with 1 min to go to lose the match - uugh.
Me outside of Elliott's Oyster House
Safeco Field - It is here that the Seattle Mariners play ball (MLB)
Outside of QWest Field_1
Outside of QWest Field_2
Following the venture downtown to the stadiums we made our way back up through the older portion of the city and back to the space needle where we begun. At this needle there was a musem of music (EMP - Experience Music Project). Part of the tour was that we got to get up onto stage with all the instruments and sing/play a tune. "Brian and the Mean Street Band" rocked it out to Wild Thing. Brian the Gunner was on Lead Vocals and keyboard, the hammer was heading up guitar while Mr Joe Dirt rocked the drums. As part of the experience they took a picture of us on stage - unfortunately I dont have an electronic version of this poster. For those 3 minutes we were absolute rockstars.
After we had gotten out of the city and drove all the way home it was about 10pm when we got in. Planning for numerous other road trips within the near future might begin shortly, along with numerous sporting events aswell.
With a new year comes me saying that I am going to attempt to post more often, I say that but it doesn't always happen (I shall try though).
Until later, R
Author: Rob » Comments:
Quick Post
Friday, November 17, 2006
Another delayed post...a summary of events for the last 2 weeks is as follows:
1. Attended an NHL game - Canucks vs Blues (November 17th)
2. Brians car (the desert storm) was stollen (November 18th)
This was crazy - we went to the mall, parked the car and then upon returning to its location some 2 hours later we came to find it not there. There is still no word about where the car might be or where it went.
3. Vancouver - a place that eveyone tells me never has snow had a big snow storm yesterday (November 26th). There was between 20-50cm of snow in or around the greater Vancouver area. I think they have 1 maybe 2 snowplows for the entire area, and they were on the highway this morning...I shall leave with some pics:
A view looking out at the mountains from Horeshoe Bay
Brian and I went for a cruise in the snow - this is what the streets looked like
Another snowy street
Another shot of the mountains
Author: Rob » Comments:
3 Day Weekend: SUPER Duper!
Friday, November 10, 2006
Another week over and another weekend looms...except this one is a long one - BAM.
This week I continued to learn about all the responsibilities that come with working with the DCP Rock Anchor crew, a lot to learn but it is all interesting information. Weather this week has been very wet, I think there was one dry day of the 5. Each of the other 4 days were listed as "heavy rainfall" with something like 50mm falling each day - so much rain. I am used to cold dry winters of Fredericton - cold but sunny.
Rain Water flowing thru a culvert.I figured today (monday - day off work) that I would go for an adventure. I knew that somewhere around the immediate area there were filming locations for smallville (Superman TV show) thus I decided to go looking for them. The "downtown" smallville is filmed in a place called Cloverdale which is part of Surrey, East of Vancouver. After I found this and took some pics I went looking for the Kent Farm - home of Superman. After getting into the back roads consisting of all farms I finally found it. I am officially a nerd. Not sure if they get many people taking pictures but from the couple of people walking their dogs along the path they probably thought I drove from NB to get these pics.
The Kent Farm - this is where superman lives in the TV show
Entrance to the Kent Farm - a common scene from the TV Show
Cloverdale Theatre - Home of the Talon from the TV show
After the excitment of seeing Smallville locations I went on another tour around the area to see what else what there was around the area. The Rodeo Exhibition Grounds seemed to be the main attraction - as the surrounding area is all farming and horse stables it seemed fitting that this was here. Along with the Rodeo there was the "Fraser Downs Race Track" - not sure how often horses race here or if any big races attend it still seemed like a pretty large complex.
Entrance to Cloverdale Exhibition Ground
The Stetson Bowl Stadium - I assume Rodeo Type Activities take place here.
This sign reads "Flamingos & Buzzards Rentals"...?
I think I shall stop the post here as I am going to get a hair cut and run some errands. Until the next Post...
-R
Author: Rob » Comments:
West Coast Life
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Downtown Vancouver Skyline
Long time since the last post - about 3 weeks or more I think. Myself and Brian are now settled into our New Apartment. We now have a steady internet connection and thus it is posting time.
It has now been 5 weeks today that we packed up the wheels and hit the open Canadian roads for the west coast, cant believe that its been so long - doesn't feel like it.
For the first 3 weeks we were holed up in a hotel. At first I was like "yeah hotels are awesome, its like a vacation" but after the 3 weeks It was starting to get pretty shitty. We couldn't cook anything for ourselves, all our stuff was jammed into a corner and stacked up, no clothes were unpacked etc. We were eating out pretty much every night. Our new apartment is a basement suite located in Lynn Valley, North Vancouver. There are mountain bike trails just up the road, a mall with all the stores we need just down the road. There are 3 ski hills within 20 minute drives and golf courses close by too.
The Bridge leading to firepit, BBQ and deck (backyard)
Looking down the Chamberlain Street
The stream in our backyard
The past week we have visited IKEA 3 times (my first ventures to this Swedish creation). I knew Ikea sold furniture but I had no idea that the store was monstrous - this thing was about the same size as a mall.
As you knew I had a job working on a big Highway project. Brian now also has a job with the same company as I do but just a different project (he is working on a power plant in the jungle a bit further north of Vancouver). I have been working for 3 weeks now, with my day starting at 6am each day (5am I wake up) and then I usually finish around 530-6ish. The first week of work was relatively slow - it consisted of orientation style activities and office work. Since then I have started to get out onto the field more and more. This past week I have been assigned to the Drill and Blast Squadron. It is our job to blow up the rock, drill the rock and then install and grout any rock anchors that are used to hold concrete retaining walls to the bedrock (all fun stuff). It is quite a lot different from what I am used to, my previous job consisted of producing building plans and performing design calculations. This job involves equipping myself with steel toe boots, hard hat and then storming around a job site. We are in charge of Drilling, Installing, Grouting and then Testing all the rock anchors within our job segment. This segnemt of the highway (Segment 2) has the most anchors of the project - 3600 in total. There are lots of opportunities to do things I haven't done before and it is a different learning experience to that of the office. For instance last thursday there was a situation where we had to install some anchors on the face of the mountain thus someone needed to be tied off just to help guide them in. Taking the training course in this I jumped at the opportunity. I was strapped into a harness, tied off and then dangled over the mountain edge to help feel the rock anchor into the drill hole, it was all cliffhanger and shit.
A conc. retaining wall with all the Rock Anchors sticking out from its face.
The Rock Anchor Kubota - a 4 wheel drive golf cart (45km/h downhill = raw power)
The view while testing Rock Anchors
These pictures were all taken early last week - while it was sunny. Since then the heavens have opened and it hasnt stopped pissing down. It just rains like crazy - and it doesnt stop. Last friday there was water running off the mountain face and it looked like water falls all along the edge of the road. I can see myself missing the cold but dry eastern winters.
I still havent adjusted to West Coast Life just yet. My TV schedule is still all messed up. I miss all my soccer on saturday mornings. I havent fully had time to really explore the downtown area of Vancouver. We have toured around most of the exterior though, while visiting apartments we were all over the place. The other night we drove past a filming set (not sure what it was though). There are movies being filmed all over this place - last week Fantasic 4 (Jessica Alba and Co.) were in town, along with people like Charliez Theron, Paris Hilton, Scarlett Johanson etc. I am going to have to get myself downtown more often to see whats going on.
Well I think this update covers most of what we have been up to for the last month, hopefully now I can keep up with my updates as certain events occur. I shall post some more pictures of work and the city as they come in. Until later -R
Elliott Street
Laurel Street Crossing - the Bridge that my previous boss in NB built while he lived in BC. Mirrors on the edge to reflect the sky and make the bridge "disapear".
Author: Rob » Comments:
Pit Stop 7 - The Home Stretch
Saturday, October 07, 2006
The bow valley beer can and the real view, car of Andy RichardI left of with us having a few brews with Andy and his compatriots. This Bow Valley beer was cheap and for a cheap beer it was surprisingly good...do I see sales for this on the east coast? OH YAH, YOU BETCHA! I do warn you though, this beer provides you with stinky farts the following morning.
We (myself, Brian, Andy, Andy’s friends Kim, Ally, Jody and 9 Stitches Niki) headed to downtown Banff. This girl has the nickname of 9-Stiches Niki because she cut her leg while back and got 9 stitches, so she srecieved the nick name of 9 stitches niki. I don’t really know the names of the pubs we went too but there were two of them. On the way home I was all pumped hoping to see some more "big game" but no dice...there was nothing out.
We were in bed by 3am and then up again by 730am. At 830 we (Brian, Andy, 9 Stitches and myself) were heading up the Banff gondola (http://www.banffgondola.com/) for some breaky. These bacon and eggs were damn good. Following this breakfast break we took a walk along a boardwalk type feature to the summit of Sulphur Mountain. I think I should have brought my oygen pack for this little hike. The view of the valley and town of banff was amazing. At the summit we were at an elevation of 7486 feet above sea level. Following the trip back down the gondola we said farewell to Andy and the banff bonanza was concluded. I would like to thank Andy for his hospitality and letting us crash at his place, we hope to see you out in Kelowna and Big White within the next few months.
Brian, Rob and Andy - Mnt. Sulphur
Banff from Mnt. Sulphur
Rob & Brian atop Mnt. Sulphur
We were on the road by 1030 local time and this would be our final day of driving to Vancouver. The road down the mountains was 2 lanes for the most part thus speeds were not as fast as we had been used to during our previous travels. There were a few sections of road where the red hawk was really lacking its usuall bevy of power. Even on flat sections trying to pass trucks it would not get up past 80km/hr. I thought I was in trouble, but I put this down to heavy load and the thin air from being up in the mountains.
Views as we went from Banff to Vancouver
At one point we came around a bend in the road and there were all these cars just abandoned in the ditch or side of the road, there were people running all over the place with their cameras - I was confused. However it was people stopping to see the pacific salmon heading up the river to their spawning location. We decided to take advantage of these people pulling off and contiuned with a clean stretch of road. The next stop we wanted to make was at Craigellachie. It was at this location that the last spike was driven for the CP railroad. It now meant that there was a rail road connecting the east and west coasts of canada. The date was Nobemer 7th, 1885 - this railroad is still active today.
We stopped for supper at Kamloops, filled up with gasoline and then were onto the home stretch towards vancouver. After driving a distance of 5559km spanning 7 provinces we are now situated within the Comfort Inn on Capitalano Road, North Vancouver. It was an interesting trip in which I saw some amazing scenery. I think when the time calls for it the trip back to the east coast shall be made via the states.
Author: Rob » Comments:
Pit Stop 6 - The Day of Rest
As I am getting behind in my blog posts I shall make it quick and to the point...put in a lot of pictures so you can all see it instead of reading.
Today we were up at 730am local time or 930 Atlantic Time – it felt like a huge sleep in compared to what we were used to. Andy, using his abilities was able to get us booked onto one of the Brewster (tourism company) bus tours. This tour we were booked onto wasthe Columbia Ice field.
We drove ourselves to the bus station and were off onto the tour. The tour departed at 845am and returned by 6pm. It was a full day. The trip up to the ice field was about 2.5 to 3 hours long making stops at numerous sights along the way. The first stop was at Lake Louise. This lake is fed by glaciers, and due to the sediment etc that is washed into the lake it is an emerald green color. It was here that the Lake Louise Chateau is situated…a big fancy hotel. Rooms range from $800 to & $1500 per night. As me and Brian were walking thru the hotel everyone was staring at us, since we looked like lumberjacks (see picture). After leaving Lake Louise we make our way up thru the Rocky Mountains, we climbed to an elevation of approx. 7000 feet above sea level. For those who care, it is at this elevation that vegetation stops growing thus all that was around was rocks and sediment left from the glaciers.
Me @ Lake Louise
Chatteau Lake Louise
On our bus were myself and Brian and then 6 to 8 asians, all very excited and equiped with an array of photographic tools. This particular tour cost a total of $132 (or close to it) - I think I slept the whole way home, so I can only emagine what the others on the bus thought of me.
Once back at Andy's he ordered us each "the best burger ever". For some reason I thought it was a buffalo burger- but I dont think it was. Either way they were pretty damn good.
I am currently sitting on Andy’s couch drinking a local beer – Bow Valley Lager. I bought a 6 pack for $6.30, a very economical beer that is. I haven’t showered yet and we plan to head out to the bars shortly. The events from this point will be spoken about with tomorrows post.
Me and Brian on the Columbia Icefield
The Rockies 
More of the Rockies
A Deer in Banff
Author: Rob » Comments:
Pit Stop 5 - finally
1450km and 15 hours later we arrived in Banff from Winnipeg. We drove through Manitoba, Saskatchewan and then ½ of Alberta. We were expecting a long day but it was one hell of a lot longer than I thought it would be.
We got up @ 6am (Atlantic time) had some Timmy Hobo for breakfast, gassed up and then were tearing down the highway at 730am (530am central time). As it was so early we traveled for about 2 hours in the dark. There was plenty of road kill – all of it seemed to be mown down by a huge truck in front of us. Total annihilation it was.
At 730ish local time the sun started to rise over the plains, it was actually quite a site. We decided that today we would only stop to eat and take a leak. Any photo shots would have to be taken by me on the fly from inside the car.
I had always imagined that the plains were totally flat, with nothing but grass and the occasional cow or something. To begin with it was actually quite hilly and rolling; there were still miles and miles of grass with absolutely nothing on them.
We stopped for lunch at a Husky Gas Truckers Stop, ate quick, filled up with “go-go-juice” and were once again tearing down the highway. After passing through Regina and then Moose Jaw about an hour later the plains suddenly started to flatten out; as I imagined it to be. They call this area (along with Montana etc) the Big Sky country and rightly so. You could see for miles with no end in sight. We decided that we wanted to have a picture of us in the fields of the Great Plains – thus we decided to pull of the highway and drive down a dirt farm road, a road that was very rough and at one point I thought the red hawk was going to sustain some damage.
That was our last stop before supper in Medicine Hat, Alberta. We now knew we were close to our destination of Banff. Back onto the road again we were once again tearing down the highway and basically owning the road.
We knew the day before that we would hit Calgary right at the peak of rush hour, it sucked. I spent about 1 hour going at speeds less than 20km/h and it was all constant brake, clutch, gas, brake, clutch, gas – my knees were pretty sore at the days end. I thought that with the Rocky Mountains being so huge I would see them rising up from the plains but it wasn’t until we had passed thru Calgary that I saw the Rockies in the horizon. Even though we were quite a distance away they looked very formidable. The closed we got to Banff the larger the mountains became, they were slowly engulfing us. I knew the Rockies were big but until you are within a hundred feet of the base of them you just have to stop to take them in…WOW.
We located Andy’s residence and set up HQ however we would not go to sleep just yet, it was off the local for a few beers and some hockey. After 5 pints and at about 12 (2am Atlantic time – we had been up for 19 hours) we made our way back home. I thought Andy was joking when he said “watch it boys, we might see some wildlife en route to the apartment”, BUT as we made our way home a deer came crashing out of the bushes and onto the street in front of us. All I could think to say was “Holy f*#k A deer”, I was so amazed to see a deer it was all I could talk about. It was as though I had never seen a deer in m life. After than excitement it was time for sleeps.
More Plaines
A Train
The Little House on the Pararie
Searching for the Rockies
The Rockies
Author: Rob » Comments:
