Dammit, they tricked me! Last time I was at Ninja Market (Nijiya Market) I was happy to see they brought in the grape flavor Qoo drink, it was one of my favorites when i was in Japan. The flavor brought back memories of when I was a small kid living in Japan and popping these tiny little purple grapes during summer. So I bought a bottle and was savoring having it and just busted it out this Friday evening. Took a sip. WTH? This doesn’t taste right?! I look at the translated nutrition label, ack, sucralose! Now I notice the katakana 1/2 calorie thing on the label, curses!
Author Archive for taro
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Almost everyday on my drive from or to home, I’d look for it. In the garage down the street a few blocks down, the original baby blue, original hub capped, original owner, Datsun 510 Bluebird. This particular one harkens back from 1969, only a couple years younger than me! I laugh when the kids nowadays call my ’85 Corolla old school, now THIS is true Nippon old school. I had always toyed with the idea of stopping by and talking to the old guy about it and if he’d thought of selling it, but I know he’s been pestered by other people already. He does take it to the 76 station right around the corner for servicing, and I’ve talked to the head man there about it. I take my vehicles for safety check there. I’d noticed it has been at the station for the past weeks, longer than usual. And then this past Saturday when I saw it out front with for sale signs on it, I had to pull a quick U-ey to make sure. Oh man, he’s finally parting with it!
This is a cool car. It was often called the poor man’s BMW, comparing it to the BMW 2002. A similar size, shape and also having independant rear suspension, something you didn’t see on many cars of that vintage. Heck, my racer boy 1985 Corolla doesn’t have that. The 510 was actually quite successful in the autosport arena, and still is. Just a few years back there was a race prepped Datsun 510 at the SCCA auto-crosses that posted blazing times. Continue reading ‘Old School’
Sorry you people finding our site through odd searches, this really is about bindage, not bondage. At the end of this past WB trip, I picked up a set of this years Burton Cartel bindings courtesy of the cool people at Showcase snowboard shop in Whistler village. I only rode them one day, but that was enough for me to do a review here on how it compares to the Flows I’ve been using for years. I started a season or two on some entry level strap bindings, then switched to Flows. Flows are a pretty clever quick entry design that makes use of folding back the highbacks to allow entry into the bindings. They did not suffer the problems of step/click-in binding system of clogging with snow, having to precisely place boot, and possibly its biggest was being able to use just about any conventional boot. Continue reading ‘Of Bindage’
If you have boot fitting problems, Fanatyk Co in Whistler village is the place to go. They’re primarily a ski shop but they know what they’re doing and can assist you with what ails you in the way of boots. I first visited them a couple seasons ago with my DC boots. Good boots, but they told me that they were flat out too big. They tried what they could & it helped, but they were right. Since then I’ve switched to a Thirty Two brand dual BOA in a ladies size. So far best fitting boots for my foot shape but I still get hot spot pressure points on the bone along top of foot. We heat formed the liners with additional spacer on the pressure point that gave more space at those points. Additional C pads at back of ankle bone put in to help with heel lift. I can report that riding the day after this was done was dramatically better.
Mad dash to get out of condo to catch bus. Close to a foot of fresh fluff on village walks. Early in the morning, I entertained the thought of putting the board back together, running downstairs, and ninja a run down the stairs and down the mall. I think if they catch you it’s a healthy fine though.
Anyway, we are at YVR BK with the farewell poutine. No travel issues, down here it’s rain.
So does the 25cm flu work on airplane tickets? Of course overnight before the day we leave, 24cm has fallen and it is still going, winds are calm, the day is forecast for partly sunny, it’s a weekday with deserted village. Curses!
Can’t complain, we got some decent stuff, but man, this looks so choice.
Ok, beyond the usual third day aches this morning, the wrist sprain is now quite obvious.
No new snow, no announcement of the alpine opening, so it looks like it’s going to be a lazy morning.
Undergoing the recommended treatment for sprAins. Ice, Compression, Elevation, Beer. Sprained my wrist avoiding a Flaily boarder that kept riding into my path just before the Red Chair lift base, where all the traffic packed and scrubbed the snow down to concrete. Caught a heel edge and went down hard on my back. Didn’t even notice after collecting my wits a bit and moving to the side that my Flow highbacks had become flipped open. When I tried going again, I was pretty close to freeboarding and super wiggly!
Anyway, aside from that it was a good day on slopes, some soft stuff still was to be found on runs.
Next up in the variety pack is the Pale Ale. approached with some trepidation as I don’t like IPAs, but it seems that is a different beast. Pours medium amber with a medium head if poured aggressively that dissipates fairly quickly but carbonation stays. Pretty bright and dry, with a bitter that stays for a bit. But no strong flowery or weed taste. Not my fave of the bunch, but drinkable. 2.5 pale monkeys.
Waiting at the Excalibur gondola download crowd, checking out the hot dark complexioned Asian cutie. making up stories of why she’s standing by herself looking all pissed off after Mountain Safety talked to her. She must have been scolded fir being too extreme on her board. And now she’s getting pissed waiting for her flailing boyfriend to come down the mountain.
And then Derek comments that she looks like Ckucky, if he were a girl. Look out Chucky, someones been checking you out!