New Westminster Youth Centre
Posted on | September 2, 2010 | 3 Comments
Some ten years ago the youth of New Westminster started to make noise about the city’s need for a facility where young people could gather and hang out. Knowing how New Westminster is notoriously short of land to build public facilities, one of the biggest questions was where to put a Youth Centre. The solution was somewhat surprising.
New West Youth Centre and Century House
As you can see in the above photo, the Youth Centre is attached to the back of Century House – the place where many New West seniors go to hang-out during the day.
Seems kind of an odd location? Not so much says Councilor Jonathan Cote, point-man for City Council on the Youth Centre. There are a number of synergies that develop from having the two groups in one location. First off, the city’s data showed that most of the seniors leave Century House by about 4pm. Most of the youth are in school until 3pm. So the two groups are really only on the site at the same time for a very limited time.
Other synergies the city found were that the senior’s were in need of a new computer lab. A Youth Centre would need a computer lab. Weight room? Both groups could use a weight training room. Multi-purpose room? Both groups could use it.
New West Youth Centre Weights Room
However, the youth who were an integral part of the planning of the new Youth Centre wanted an area that was limited to youth-only. And they got it;
New West Youth Centre Lounge Area
The Lounge area is a space reserved for youth. In this space there will be, as you can see in the above picture, a Foosball table, and a bubble hockey game.
New West Youth Centre Bubble Hockey
There will also be plenty of areas where young people can simply sit and chill-out (if that is what young people call sitting around and talking with their friends noawadays).
New West Youth Centre Sitting Areas
Lounge area is filled with beautiful natural sunshine.
New West Youth Centre Natural Light
One of the things that you immediately notice as you enter the Youth Centre is the paint. The walls are painted in colours that simply make you feel peaceful as soon as you enter the space. Councilor Cote was quick to give credit where credit is due, the youth chose all the paint colours.
One of the things that the youth advocated for was the addition of a gym space. However, Council did not feel that it was appropriate to encroach into Moody Park anymore than they already had. Also, seeing as the Youth Centre is very close to NWSS, it was thought the gyms at NWSS would be accessible to youth groups.
Although there was not room for a full gymnasium, they did add in a multi-purpose room that can be used for many sport activities such as badminton, yoga or other exercise type activities.
New West Youth Centre Multi-Purpose Room
Another advantage of attaching the new Youth Centre to the back of Century House was that the washroom facilities already existed; remember the outdoor washrooms? Down those creepy stairs and into the scary space behind Century House? Those washrooms have been updated and are now inside the building.
New West Youth Centre Washrooms
As well as having the Lounge area for the youth there is a full kitchen for their use. There will also be a large screen television added so that movie nights are an option for the youth.
At the end of our tour I asked Sandon Fraser, Youth Services Coordinator, what the hours of operation of the Youth Centre will be (considering the proximity to NWSS, I thought what a great place the Youth Centre would be to hang-out rather than sitting in a Math class). Sorry kids, the Youth Centre will not open until 3:15pm. It will stay open until 9pm Monday to Thursday and on Friday and Saturday nights the Centre will stay open until 11pm.
One more benefit of locating the Youth Centre in Moody Park is that 45% of the youth in New West live within a 10 minute walk of the new Youth Centre.
Perhaps the very best thing about the new Youth Centre is that the federal and provincial governments contributed close to $2 million in the project so that the City of New West only had to come up with a contribution of approximately $1 million.
Overall my impressions are that this is a first class facility that will become a place prized by the youth of New West. I will report back after the September 15th grand opening.
Well done
Wordless Wednesday’s Foodie Tour of the PNE
Posted on | September 1, 2010 | 6 Comments
Our family-day-foodie-tour of the PNE this year…
PNE 100 years of fun!
And then we walked over to the rides section. The girls were nonplussed by the rides;
PNE Thinking about the rides
Knowing we were going to the PNE I skipped breakfast because I knew all the nutritious food that we would encounter…
PNE Candy Floss
Our first encounter with mini-donuts…
PNE Fun Dunkers
More mini-donuts, this time from Mr Ken…
PNE Mr Ken's Donut Factory
And the international cuisine available…
PNE Food of Mexico
The scone tradition lives on…
PNE Scones
PNE Scone with jam
A fabulous new addition to the food choices of the PNE and to Vancouver, the mobile Dragon Truck…
PNE Dragon Truck
I fully intend on writing a full blog post on this concept but the idea of a mobile food truck is relatively new to Vancouver, but soooo delicious!! I had the Fries with Asian inspired spice and curry aioli…amazing…
PNE Asian spiced fries with curry aioli
And then the real thing…mini-donuts…
PNE Mini-Donuts
And mini-donuts ready to eat…
PNE Ready to eat
And no PNE is complete without a barbecued meat sandwich…
PNE Barbecue Meat
And you know these guys are serious about their barbecue when you see they bring their own barbecue, and firewood!
PNE Smokey's Tender Beef
And my all time favourite PNE food…
PNE Wiggle Chips
No trip to the PNE is complete without a burger from Jimmy’s Lunch. Add a big ol’ scoop of those fried onions…
PNE Jimmy's Lunch
Wash it all down with a 20 ounce root-beer from Buckeye’s…
PNE Buckeye's Rootbeer
And finally, for dessert I had a single scoop; I had to show restraint at this point of the day…
PNE International Ice Cream Factory
So that you do not throw any of your garbage on the sidewalk like a rotten litterbug, the good people at City Hall have provided garbage containers…
PNE Garbage Containers
That wraps up our foodie tour of the 2010 PNE. Uurrrpppp.
Dining Aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator
Posted on | August 30, 2010 | 6 Comments
Well after a little delay, my promised post about the food services available to the passengers on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator is ready to go.
The original plan was for me to have lunch in the Navigator’s steakhouse concept restaurant, Prime 7.
Prime 7 Steakhouse
However, that did not come to pass. While I did not get to dine in the Prime 7 Steakhouse, my guide, Florian Kibgilka, the Food and Beverage Manager, toured me through the steakhouse.
Here is the table that I dreamed of sitting at.
Prime 7 Dinner Table
The Navigator sources beef that is certified “prime” grade by the USDA. Their beef is from the finest Black Angus cattle and then dry aged for 28 days resulting in a tender texture and buttery taste.
When I perused the menu, I saw my dream meal; a Hearts of Romaine Caesar salad, Jumbo Lump Crab cakes and then…a 36 ounce Porterhouse steak that is carved table side. For a side I would have added the twice baked potato and a side of truffle fries. I’m in carnivore heaven.
Below is pictured the carving station for the prime rib. Beside it is the Hearts of Romaine salad prep cart.
Prime 7 Carving Station and Caesar Salad Station
Alas, my dream meal was not to be.
Until Florian said to me, “I hope you are hungry. Now we go for lunch.” You have to imagine that being spoken with a super-sexy German accent. Sort of like a kinder, gentler Terminator.
At any rate, we headed over to the Compass Rose for lunch. The Compass Rose is the Navigator’s main restaurant. It is a large room that can hold a couple hundred guests and yet nearly every table has a window view.
The Compass Rose
Usually the Compass Rose serves continental cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Kibgilka informed me that wherever possible, the kitchen acquires fresh, local ingredients. For instance, on the second night of the cruise out of Vancouver they are in Ketchikan Alaska where they will acquire a locally caught fish.
As we sat down Florian asked me what my pleasure was. I acknowledged his position as Food and Beverage Manager and told him that I would trust his discretion to order for both of us.
Before I even knew it, a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc was at our table. Shortly thereafter the Pacific Northwest Seafood Rendezvous arrived; prawns, crab meat, and scallops with three different sauces. I have to admit that the seafood appetizer was so delicious that I ate it before even thinking to take a picture of it.
Next was the roasted garlic and potato soup garnished with creme fraiche and herbed croutons. The garlic was roasted to a very subtle flavour so that it was an accent to the flavour of the soup, not an overwhelming influence.
Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup
I had our server add a grind of fresh pepper to the soup. To me the soup was a home-run; I was wondering how I could ask for seconds without seeming gauche.
Following the soup course came the main; broiled fresh local halibut fish fillet sitting on an artichoke-potato puree with scoops (from the world’s smallest ice cream scoop) of fresh seasonal veggies alongside. The sauce was a blood orange beurre blanc with a drizzle of basil oil in it for taste as well as visual appeal.
Broiled Fresh Local Halibut Fish Fillet
My halibut was cooked to perfection. The fish flaked apart perfectly revealing a lovely moist interior. The basil oil in the beurre blanc sauce added a stunning visual to the dish as well as added a unique flavour twist.
After the halibut had been served and consumed we prepared for dessert. To refresh my palate I had a lovely Cafe Americano. Then the dessert arrived.
Chocolate Trilogy; chocolate raspberry mousse, chocolate cherry sorbet and chocolate biscotti with ginger ganache. Wow, delicious, sensational, out-of-this world. Yes, I enjoyed it.
Chocolate Trilogy Dessert
After completing the dessert course, I had to! I did not want to offend the chef, I enjoyed another Americano.
And then the friandises arrived.
Friandises
Sadly, especially now as I look at the picture, I did not get a chance to sample the majority of these delicate treats. My mouth waters when I look at these tiny morsels.
And then we sat back, sipped our coffees and just let our meal settle.
So although I did not get to sample my dream-sized Porterhouse steak, I am all the more fortunate to have had the pleasure of dining at the Compass Rose. Not only was the food exquisite but the service was exceptional. My water glass was always full, my wine glass was topped up regularly; we were served professionally and discretely at all times.
So that was my visit to the Regent Seven Seas Navigator. Soon the Navigator will make its final journey of the season from Vancouver up to Alaska. After that final sailing out of Vancouver the Navigator will continue on from Alaska to Russia and down along the Russian coast and into the Asian ports of call…what a dream…ahhh…after one afternoon on the Navigator I am prepared to throw it all away and cruise into the sunset. The Navigator….what a ship…
A Night in the…
Posted on | August 28, 2010 | 2 Comments
A couple of days ago I was on the Regent Seven Seas super-luxury cruise ship, the Navigator. The Navigator is a six-star luxury cruiser with suites of 1100 square feet. Suites that have a butler to make sure your eggs are cooked as you like them and to make sure your shoes are polished. What a world…fabulous…simply fabulous.
As my regular readers will know, I posted my description of the Navigator on Thursday with a promise to have my description of the food services (amazing and delicious) posted today. Instead, my home turned into a puke-a-rama-vomitorium last night.
Both of the girls picked up some kind of a puke-bug and have been puking semi-regularly for the last twelve hours.
When Baby B started to vomit in the living-room I recommended that my Sweetheart pick her up and get her to the kitchen (a few short steps away over the baby gate). The result of my “recommendation” was that not only was there baby vomit (a special kind of horror of its own merits) on the living-room carpet, there was also then baby vomit all along those few shorts steps to the baby gate and over and into the kitchen.
Fast-forward to midnight. Just as I was about to draw the winner for my soap giveaway (congrats to Marilyn W) we hear this blood-curdling scream from the nursery. Baby A is in full exorcist horror-show mode. Not learning from my earlier mistake, I lift her up as she spews more vomit onto my chest, over my shoulder and onto the newly carpeted room. Why we put new carpet in before the girls turned 21 I will never understand.
Call in the clean-up crew (my Sweetheart and me). Bathe Baby A and get her into a new sleeper. Then, thinking that it is probably safer to have her in bed with me, I go to sleep in the guest room with Baby A in the bed beside me.
Two hours later I wake to her kicking the cobwebs out of my head and howling in a very unnatural manner. Unfortunately not all the cobwebs were out of my head so when she began to spew vomit again I was not fast enough. Yep, all over my dry-clean only silk comforter, our best quality 180 thread count pillow cases, bed sheets, guest room carpeted floor, and hallway. And of course all over her sleeper and through her hair. Charming. A 2am wake-up call to a baby doing her best Linda Blair imitation.
Bath number three. Sleeper number three. An hour later Baby A and I are sleeping on the guest room bed with a raggedy old comforter under us and some beach towel as a blanket.
No word of a lie, an hour later we have our final curtain call of the night. This time I have learned to recognize the guttural-gurgling sounds of a brewing spew. I grab a hand knit afghan (Baby A’s favourite bedtime blankie) and try to limit the spread of the vomit. Sort of like trying to catch porridge with your open hands as someone is spraying it at you. Ineffective.
To top the night’s performance off, this morning after doing the 47 loads of laundry down in the laundry-room, I returned to the nursery with the freshly laundered laundry to find that my nemesis, the orange cat has puked up a massive hairball on the nursery floor.
So I will have the Navigator foodie tour details online shortly. Sorry for the delay…
A Visit Aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator
Posted on | August 26, 2010 | No Comments
I am home again after visiting the Regent Seven Seas Navigator. Ahh…the Navigator….a world unto itself. A world where the service level is unparalleled, where at every turn there is a smiling crew member welcoming you aboard, offering assistance, offering a glass of Champagne. Ahh…the Navigator.
Seven Seas Navigator
I was intrigued by the Regent Seven Seas Navigator after I read that in December 2009 she had been in a German dry-dock for 40 days where she received a $30 million refit. To put that into context, the typical cruise ship is in dry-dock for 7-10 days when being refit. So I was excited to see what the end result was like.
The result is what I would call a boutique-style, six-star cruise ship. Boutique in the sense that she carries some 490 passengers with a crew of approximately 360. The Navigator has some of the highest space and service ratios in the cruising world.
All of the suites, and this vessel is an all-suite, all oceanview vessel, are well appointed and spacious. The suites are extraordinarily large, some of them are over 1100 square feet. Each with beautiful natural lighting due to the fact that every suite has a balcony with an oceanview.
Penthouse Suite on the Navigator
Another benefit that comes with some of the suites is the individual attention of a butler. Yes, a butler. When I asked Florian Kibgilka, Food and Beverage Manager and my tour guide aboard the Navigator what a butler might add to your cruise experience he informed me that it is the personal touch that some people enjoy. The butler will see that your shoes are polished, your appointments and reservations are made, your breakfast arrives as you like it and when you like it. And perhaps most importantly to some, the butler keeps the mini-bar in tip-top shape.
In Suite Mini-Bar on the Navigator
The butler simply makes your cruise experience everything you want it to be.
Regent Seven Seas made the decision to go all-inclusive in their cruises in order to change their cruise culture. Each guest is provided a complimentary bottle of Champagne when they arrive in their suite. The ship’s management and crew found that many people were then staying in their rooms and enjoying the free drinks without coming out of their suites. This detracted from the cruise experience because there was not the energy of people meeting and mingling in the social settings. Now you can wander into a cocktail lounge and order a drink when you want. Interestingly, I was told that over time there has only been a slight increase in the volume of alcoholic beverages served.
Smoking aboard the Seven Seas Navigator is very closely controlled. There is not smoking in the suites or in the public spaces. However, there is a smoking room called the Connoisseur Club. As we entered the smoking room the pleasant aroma of cigars and pipes took me back in time to when I was a small child and I would visit with my great-Grandfather.
In the smoking room you can find a selection of fine single malt and blended Scotch whiskeys to be enjoy.
Scotch Cabinet in the Smoking Room
My eyes really light up when I saw in a glass showcase of its own a bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII. I asked if this was part of the all-inclusive beverage package and was advised that in fact it was not.
Remy Martin Louis XIII
As you can see in the above photo, at some point, someone has enjoyed this fine Cognac. Understandably, I was not offered a sample during my brief visit aboard.
And then there is the food…Prime 7, Compass Rose, La Verandah, the Pool Side Grill, and little coffee shops nestled everywhere. If you don’t feel like leaving the comfort of your room there is 24 hour room service. Of course if you are in one of the suites that has butler service, your wish is his command.
Myself, I enjoyed a beautiful lunch in the Navigator’s largest dining room, the Compass Rose. My lunch companion was my on board tour guide, Florian Kibgilka. And remember, he is the Food and Beverage Manager so not only was the kitchen trying to impress me, they also had their boss sitting at the same table as me. For now I will say that our lunch server, Annika was perfectly attentive.
To hear about the details of our lunch, check back in tomorrow and I will provide a full account of my lunch as well I will talk about the many other dining options that are available on board the Navigator.
Disclosure; My tour of, and lunch aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator is being sponsored very generously by the kind and thoughtful people of Regent Seven Seas. I am not obligated nor expected to write about my experiences aboard the Navigator or any follow-up entries, but I certainly feel that my readers will benefit from my description of my tour of this ship. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times. Should you have any questions or concerns, contact me at editor@theleftcoast.ca
Tags: cruise lines > cruise ships > dining > fine dining > lunch
The Regent Seven Seas Navigator Visits Vancouver
Posted on | August 22, 2010 | 1 Comment
It is with great delight that I can say that I will be going aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator later this week. The Navigator is a truly amazing ship.
Seven Seas Navigator
The Seven Seas Navigator was refurbished in December 2009 and now offers guests a six-star cruise experience (did you even know there was such a thing as six-star experience?). The Navigator has all-suite, all-oceanview accommodations. While I was perusing the Regent Seven Seas website I saw that one of the suites, some 1100 square feet of it, comes with a butler!! I also noticed that all the bathrooms on the ship are done in marble. This ship sounds more luxurious than my great-Uncle’s yacht, which is for sale, by the way. (Email me if you are interested in a 72 foot wooden yacht, it really is a thing of beauty…I can get you the details).
The Navigator only carries 490 guests thereby offering some of the highest space and service ratios at sea. I do not recall the exact number but I believe there are something like 300-some staff on board the ship when it is in service. That seems like an amazing level of service for the guests.
This very special ship has been cruising from the Vancouver, BC port up to the Seward, Alaska port all summer. This week it be in Vancouver to do a turnaround and before returning to Seward, Alaska. While the crew is doing the turnaround, I will be touring the ship to see what an all-suite, all-oceanview ship actually looks like. The best part of a ship being an all-suite, all-oceanview is that eliminates any self-doubt before the cruise, “Should we save that couple of bucks or should we splurge and get an oceanview.” This way, the decison is made for you. I love that.
As well as seeing what the accomadations look like, I will be provided a tour of the food prep areas and kitchens. The Navigator has four gourmet restaurants including the new, by reservation only, steakhouse Prime 7. I am particularly keen to see what a kitchen looks like on a cruise of this service level. How can they serve so many meals at the same time while maintaining the quality that they are so well know for? I will endeavor to find out and let you, my valued reader know how it works.
Disclosure; My tour of, and lunch aboard the Regent Seven Seas Navigator is being sponsored very generously by the kind and thoughtful people of Regent Seven Seas. I am not obligated nor expected to write this preview entry or any follow-up entries, but I certainly feel that my readers will benefit from me touring this ship so that we have a better understanding of the positive influence that cruise-ships and their many passengers have on our city. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times. Should you have any questions or concerns, contact me at editor@theleftcoast.ca
Tags: cruise ships > fine dining > foodies delight > kitchen > luxury
Computer Changes and Crashes
Posted on | August 22, 2010 | No Comments
After a few days of computer troubles we seem to be back in business. We tried out a little netbook for a couple of days and all I will say is, don’t buy a single core processor!
I had no idea what the difference between a single, double or triple core processor was until this weekend. The difference? Aggravation. With a single core processor it was aggravating to try and run Tweetdeck and blog at the same time. So the single core processor experiment came to an abrupt end.
After that it was back to the drawing-board. Or at least back to the computer retailer. We are now running a larger than we wanted HP laptop. It is amazing how light the new laptops are, so even though the laptop is larger than we had wanted it is still very light to carry about as I chance the twins around the house from one disaster to another.
Speaking of which, I have to go see what the latest crash in the living-room was…and I know it was not a computer crash this time.
Goddess Blends Soap; Another Giveaway!!
Posted on | August 19, 2010 | 15 Comments
After our twins were born and we finally had them at home we started to become much more aware of the cleaning products that we were using around our house. One of the products that we became acutely aware of was the soap that we use when bathing ourselves and our baby girls. So instead of buying commercially made soap, we looked for a source for hand-made soap.
And that is the why soapmaker Betty Jane Ware, owner of Goddess Blends Soaps of Kingston, Ontario came onto our radar.
Before buying any soap from Goddess Blends I decided to ask Ware some questions about her soap. She happily agreed to answer any questions as well as send me a free sampler of her soaps. Within a couple of days of her dropping them in the post we had an envelope in our mailbox with four 113 gram bars of soap: lavender soap, mojito soap, cucumber aloe soap and raspberry mint. Each bar had such incredibly delicious scents that I was almost tempted to bite into the soap. I resisted.
First thing I wanted to know was what got her into the soap making business in the first place. She told me that her journey into soapmaking began from a rather different perspective than most; she is a practicing witch.Yes, a witch. And one of the things a witch does to prepare for ritual is a bath or cleansing for the particular ritual. She notes “I wanted to use something specifically for me that brought in the elements of whatever I was working on, this led me to soap making.”
Okay, now that is definitely unique! So what made you want to start a business of selling soap? She says that selling happened more by accident than design. While making soap for herself one time she made more soap than she could personally use. The first recipient loved her handmade soap and there it was, her business was started. It has continued to grow from that point.
The best thing she’s learned as a soapmaker is that there is always more to learn and finds within the Handcrafted Soap-makers Guild, of which Betty Jane is a member, a willingness to share information and experience. She found the Guild while searching online and she joined right away. As well as being a soap-maker, she is also a certified herbalist.
Betty Jane’s advice for new soapers: “Join the Guild for the information and expertise that comes at so low a cost and GO TO CONFERENCE!”
Last year she attended the conference and says that she had a blast as well as learned many new things. She emphasizes, “You cannot put a price tag on what you learn at Conference. You will meet suppliers, fellow soapers, and business mentors. There is no way that you should miss out on this opportunity.”
To help you, our reader get an idea of just how luxurious these handmade soaps actually are, Betty Jane has very generously offered to be part of our second giveaway. To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is add a comment to this blog post describing your favourite soapy-sudsy memory AND post the web address for Goddess Blends Soap into your comment.
To give you a hint about the type of comments, here is mine; when I was about 10 years old I discovered that whenever I dropped the F-bomb I got a wild reaction. This continued until my older cousin Clayton and my Dad held me down and washed my mouth out with soap. My first word post-sudsing? The F-bomb.
What is your favourite memory? Remember to keep it clean (until you get your soap). Add your comments up until one minute before midnight on Friday, August 27th and at one minute after midnight I will randomly draw one winner from all the entrants.
I will then contact you via the email address you have provided and within 24 hours you respond, I email your mailing address to Goddess Blends Soaps and a short while after that you are bathing with the most delicious bar of soap. If you want the Skinny on Entering Contests (the rules, so to speak) click here.
Let’s have it people. Post your comments. And that link.
Test Drive of the Ferrari Maranello 550
Posted on | August 19, 2010 | 5 Comments
As I said in yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday post, we have begun our search for a new family car. Rather than simply go out and sign up for a ten year term with a characterless mini-van, I thought it would be fun to shop around and see what our options are before buying a new family car. Seeing as I rarely make snap decisions I thought it would be fun and educational for you, our reader to follow along with us as we test-drive a variety of cars.
The first car that caught my eye was a shiny silver car; a Ferrari Maranello 550. The Maranello is named after the city in Italy where the Ferrari head office is located. The 550 refers to the engine displacement 5.5 litres in a V12 format.
The prancing pony on the hood made me realize that this was a quality built vehicle.
The Prancing Pony
I have to admit that the Ferrari was not as easy to get into and out of as I might like. One benefit of a purchase of a Ferrari might be that I would be forced to maintain a healthy body weight, simply so that I can get in and out of my Ferrari.
In the Driver Seat
Once I was seated in the Ferrari I felt like I really belonged in that seat and I needed to feel what the performance was like.
Although the Maranello is billed as a grand tourer, it does not lack for power. On paper it will do 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds and complete a quarter mile sprint in 12.5 seconds. It reaches 100 miles an hour in 9.6 seconds. That is on paper.
On Burnaby Mountain, after easing the super-stiff clutch out, I stuffed my foot into the gas pedal, jammed the clutch back to the floor and with barely a flick of my wrist shifted the six speed-rear mounted transmission into second gear. The revs jumped to about 4500 and my stomach felt like it was literally getting pushed into my spine. The Maranello leapt forward with such a thrusting forceful roar that I was actually a little taken aback. I didn’t have a chance to see what third gear was like.
And just in case you are running late for work, you can get out on the freeway and really open it up. The Ferrari tops out around 320 kilometres per hour. Imagine that, you can get from Vancouver to Kelowna in about an hour! How cool is that!!
However, as impressive as the performance was, I had to think about how practical the car would be for our family. First thing I noticed was that here are no cup holders in the front seat area. What a silly oversight!
Note-No Cup Holders
And then I asked about rear seat belts. There aren’t any…in fact there is no back seat…at all.
Ferrari Maranello-No Back Seat
The Ferrari has impressive forward performance and equally impressive stopping power with four wheel disc brakes. While coming down Burnaby Mountain, even though I opened her up and got up to 160kmh, I never felt a bit out of control knowing that the four wheel disc brakes would stand the prancing pony on her nose.
Confidence Inspiring Four Wheel Disc Brakes
It was a nifty feeling sitting in the Ferrari Maranello. Even though the car is not all that ostentatious it still draws many looks and second looks as you pass other people.
Side View of Ferrari Maranello
My favourite view of the car is the front grill which is unspoiled with a license plate.
Front View of Ferrari Maranello
At the end of the day though, I’m not so sure that this is the car for our family’s needs at this time. Fun to drive but no cup-holders…deal breaker for me. Never-mind the lack of room in the rear seat, well the spot where the rear seat might have been. Perhaps if it came in a four door we would consider it. As it sits now, it is not the car for us.
Ferrari Maranello 550
Not too sure what the next test drive will be but I hope it is half the car that this Ferrari Maranello was/is. The prancing pony really is a work of art.
Children of God; Go See It
Posted on | August 18, 2010 | No Comments
This evening I attended a screening of the movie Children of God. The show is part of the Vancouver Queer Film Fest. My reaction? Wow. Simply wow.
Cinemaphiles may disagree with me but I couldn’t help but think about Brokeback Mountain while I was watching Children of God. A Brokeback Mountain filmed in the Bahamas with the surprisingly intolerant Bahamian culture pervading everything. Perhaps I should issue a spoiler alert at this point, but WHY do love stories never work out in movies about gay men?
For me, the most memorable line from the movie was when the mother of a gay man said to him, “I wish your problem was as simple as a drug problem.” Imagine a mother wishing her son had a drug problem rather than facing up to his sexual orientation.
As I exited the theatre I tweeted; “Just out of Children of God. Breath-takingly beautiful and tragic yet happy in a mournful way. Emotionally confusing.” That about sums up Children of God. Beautiful.
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