As I get older and a bit wiser, I'm starting to see the wisdom in not always buying the cheapest items. That's never been a problem when it comes to technology, as I'm attracted to shiny objects. But when it comes to items like food, it's a bit more challenging to spend an extra dollar or two on a dozen eggs, or to buy hormone free ground beef. Lately I've been making purchases that I wouldn't have made in the past, mostly people I've been trying to go out of my way to help smaller businesses. One such transaction I made before Christmas was to go to a local tire shop and buy a set of tires from ...

I've made a few posts about the little tube amp project I'm probably going to tackle in the fall, but decided to put the entries on its own blog, as I want it to be a single glimpse into a big design and build process. If you want to follow along, subscribe to the feed over at tubeamp.posterous.com. It'll probably only be an entry every week or so for the next few months as I debate things in my head, but I'm hoping to be in a position to build something in the fall or early winter. ...

Yes, the rumours are true: today is in fact my birthday. Unlike other years though, I'm purposefully taking this one a bit slower. There are no bar nights planned or anything of that nature, and the highlight of tonight will probably be me eating a nice dinner in front of the TV while catching up on Lost. And that's the way I wanted it this year. Last night my dad took me to the Canucks game in Vancouver, and we had a lot of fun. I slept in a bit this morning, a little treat to myself, and am currently at a coffee shop about to do another day of work. Strangely enough, lots of things have already ...

I spent the last hour before bed last night searching out the type of tubes I want to use my home amplifier. Generally you need at least three variants - one for the power supply rectification, one set for the pre-amps, and one set for the power amplifier prior to the speakers. There are lots of different ones to choose from, each with its own unique set of pros and cons. One of the most well known power tubes for home audio is the KT88. Not only does it produce a really great tone, but it has a cool shape which I think would look really nice on the chassis. The KT88 pictured above is a reissue ...

Back when I was about 20 years old, a friend of mine living in the same building at UBC as me ending up building a little do-it-yourself audio tube amplifier for home. It was one of the coolest looking devices I have ever seen, and made me really want to try putting something like that together. When most people think of vacuum tubes, then think of outdated technology from the 60s that was generally inferior and not long lasting. That was typically true of a lot of audio applications back in the day unfortunately. That said, while the vacuum tube has mostly been replaced by the transistor, there ...

Without a doubt, the Lost episode the other night was one of the better ones I've seen. If you haven't seen it yet, then don't read any more, since there are a few spoilers. Seeing Richard's back story helped put some of the pieces together. Like most people on the island, Richard's past isn't all rosy -- he lost his wife and accidentally killed a person. He's been on the island now over 150 years, and obviously hasn't aged at all. We're led to believe that he is an immortal now due to Jacob's touch. I found it a bit odd how irritable the Jacob in the past was. It seemed like this was deliberate ...

My new year's resolution this year was basically to try and stop drinking caffeine and diet soda if at all possible. I used to drink probably close to 2L of diet pepsi a day in Vancouver, mostly because the office I worked at had a fountain pop machine that everyone could use for free. Whether or not diet soda is a health concern is still up for debate, but undoubtedly it has aspartame (even though it has a good safety record, it's still a chemical) as well as caffeine (which has been linked to weight gain and elevated levels of adrenaline, and cortisol, the stress hormone). I figured while I ...

As most people know, I'm quite fond of nachos. I haven't had them in quite a while now (which is a relative scale, equal to a few weeks or so), but it's the one treat I really enjoy. You'll rarely see me eating a cookie or a chocolate bar (in fact, I don't really have a sweet tooth at all), but nachos are my weakness. I have to say, I make a pretty mean batch of nachos. But like most things, my nacho making ability has slowly evolved over time, and is still evolving. Given that my birthday is coming up shortly, I've decided to attempt to outdo myself in the nacho department that night. To that ...

Rebecca and John showed up late Friday night to hang out in the country for the weekend, which was a nice surprise. We had planned to do a quick hike on Saturday, but none of us were really up to the challenge when the time approached. So instead, we decided to drive the 40kms or so from my place to Chilliwack Lake. I hadn't been there in probably around 10 years or so, so it was cool being back, especially with the snow-capped mountains surrounding it this time of year. I'm going to have to try a camping trip up there sometime this summer, as some of the spots looking fairly nice. Other than ...

For those of you who haven't been following along, there are some new airline rules going into affect regarding delays that force aircrafts to sit on the tarmac. There have been many documented cases of passengers being stuck on the tarmac for extended lengths of time, often without any food or water, while waiting for clearance to depart. A recent example involves Virgin America and a plane that was on the tarmac (loaded with passengers) for nearly 4 and a half hours. The solution to this problem, in the eyes of the FAA, is the impose fines on the airlines in the amount of $27,500 per passenger ...

It won't be much longer now until things start heating up around here. It seems like just a few days ago that Christmas was here (or possibly it only seems that way because my tree is still up). I for one am getting pretty excited about enjoying the sun again when it comes. This summer I'm hoping to do quite a bit of camping and hiking. The campground reservation system for the lower mainland isn't open yet, but I found out that the one in Tofino actually opened the other day. So I decided to whip out my credit card and book three days of camping on the Island in July. I'm going to probably take ...

Turns out I haven't written anything in almost two weeks now. Truthfully, I almost completely forgot about my blog, partially a consequence of not having anything to write about, and partially due to all the things I have going on lately. I've actually quite enjoyed taking a break, and don't really think you'll see much in the way of content over the next few months, other than a post here and there when I'm bored or have something on my mind. If you want, follow my Twitter stream for some random amusement. I spent the last weekend pretty close to home. My friend Jeff had a birthday party for ...

I spent this afternoon out in Hamilton, Ontario, watching the Canada vs the United States hockey game. This morning I predicted that they would win with a 3-2 margin, which they did. And on that note, thus ends the 2010 Winter Olympics. I'll be honest -- I was against the Olympics. I was against the costs, against the expenditures, against the further widening of the gap between the rich and poor. But truthfully, I'll carry the three days I spent in Vancouver at the start of the Olympics with me for the rest of my life. I have always loved Vancouver, but I have never seen a Vancouver in love before: ...

I woke up yesterday to another sunny day here in CowTown™. I was debating going to the gym, but decided instead to go and try a local hike. So I pulled my hiking boots out of a box, found some clean socks, and drove up to the trailhead for Teapot Hill, which is only about 10 minutes from my house. Teapot hill isn't that hard of a hike, but considering I haven't been hiking really in years, it did a good job of wearing me out. The elevation gain is only around 300 meters, but a lot of that comes near the end. At the top of the hike is a pretty nice view of Cultus Lake, so I snapped a few photos ...

I read a great story about Roger Ebert last night on the Esquire website. It's an article written by Chris Jones, and it's one of the better pieces I've read in quite a while, partially because I've been a long time reader of Roger's film reviews. Many people probably aren't aware of this, but Roger had a run in with cancer a few years ago, and ultimately lost not only his lower jaw in the process, but also his ability to speak. There's a great quote in the article from Roger Ebert (I believe it actually came from his blog), talking about how he feels about death: I know it is coming, and I ...

I went down to the Atlantic House the other day with Rebecca, John Bollwitt, and John Biehler. We did our best to help the Atlantic House with their excess beer problem, and eventually had to solicit the help of a few other people, namely Robert Scales and Kris Krug, who happened to be in the area and swung by. Since I had my video camera on me, I thought I would take a quick stroll and see if I could find out what some of the people in Atlantic House thought about the Olympics. The end result is this 13 minute video, which I'm hoping to have on Blip.TV and/or YouTube sometime soon. ...

We started the day yesterday down on Granville Island, eating a nice healthy breakfast of cheese fondue at the Swiss House. Rebecca was there to judge a chocolate contest, and we tagged along for the event. The Swiss House is in Bridges on Granville Island, which is a really picturesque location. The prices were a little steep for the food, but I guess you're paying a bit for the novelty of eating Swiss Food and having a great view of False Creek. Afterwards we decided to head on over to the Atlantic House, which is currently in the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island. We waited close to 90 ...

John Biehler and I decided to grab some grub around 7pm tonight, but unfortunately, had a hard time finding a place that could initially accommodate us. The first pub we tried to get into (on the corner of Robson and Granville) was completely full, so we decided to try the Kingston Pub on Richards street. While it was also extremely full, they managed to find room for the two of us downstairs near the large screen TV. Shortly afterwards Rebecca and John showed up, and we watched the Women's Mogul event while sipping a few beers. When Jenn Heil started her final run, I turned my video camera on, ...

We just walked back to the west end from the Kingston Pub, and ended up walking past a huge group of people around Granville and Robson. Here's what it looked like about an hour ago. ...

I've started putting some of my Olympic photos on VancouverStockPhotos.ca for use by organizations seeking stock photos from around Vancouver during the Olympics. John Biehler is also going to be putting a pile of his photos up soon there, so if you know of anyone looking for commercial licenses for photographs, by all means send them to the 2010 Olympic Stock Photos gallery. If you're a non-commercial organization, then you are free to use the photos as long as you follow the attribution clauses as indicated on their associated Flickr photos (non-commercial, attribution). The set of CC licensed ...