The Sussex Drive-In

The Sussex Drive-In

So... Drive-In Theaters are like... nonexistent nowadays. Like nonexistent. We were very fortunate in that there is still one located in Sussex, New Brunswick. Sussex is only a 45 minute drive away and happens to be where I bought the old, busted, and ever faithful Jerusalem. The movie season was ending so we decided that we ought to go.

Everything was sorted out and planned and we were ready to go, but then, only a few days before the movie we remembered something. Modern drive-in theaters work by using an FM Transmitter to send the audio to all of the cars' radios... the issue for this is that it only works if you have one... a radio I mean. At that time, I had gotten a radio from a junkyard, but my first attempts at installing it had not gone well...

It was ok. We were just going to borrow a good ol' shoulder ridding 90's boom box to bring into the car. Great!

So. Friday night came (the night before the not hurricane Earl came, for interests sake) and we were ready to go. We bought us about a thousand "D" batteries and brought them home. We stuck about nine hundred and ninety-nine batteries into the nineties boom box and were ready to go. It was about then we thought that we should test ye nineties boom box. Batteries in we pressed the power button.

...

Suspense...

...

Well... as you might have guessed with the nature of my suspenseful writing and the nature of my life, ye boom box did in fact not work. We thought it might just be the batteries or something so we plugged it into the wall. Still no dice. This left us sitting there in the house with very little time before the movie and no working radio... on the bright side we had about a thousand "D" batteries... uh... great?

Never fear. On the way out of town we could check the dollar store for some portable headphone radios... so we did... still no dice. Hmm... at this time we were really running out of time. Still... no worries... we could drive toward Sussex and stop at the mall on the way... there had to be radios there.

We made it to the mall. We made it to future shop. Nothing. We made it to Wal-Mart. Still nothing! The Source? Closed... Honestly, how hard can it be to get a bloody portable radio?! Evidently... quite hard.

Disheartened, we began to head back towards the highway. Our eyes were still peeled, but we were beginning to accept the unhappy fact that we might not get to see the movie... We were nearing the highway but saw one more dollar store. We stopped.

There, sitting at the back of the electronics section for $1.50 a piece there were headphone radios. for another $1.00 we had batteries to run them, and for $4.50 (and much less than a thousand "D" batteries I might add) we now had tunes.

At once we were back in Jerusalem and on the way.

We made it to Sussex just in time. We pulled into the drive-in, paid our dues and then drove into a free stall. We grabbed popcorn, drinks, and then at once the movie started. There, sitting in Jerusalem with our portable radios turned on we watched "The Switch" and "The Expendables." It was a great double-feature and well worth the effort.

The Sussex Drive-In

There may be only a few Drive-Ins left, and they may not be as popular as they once were, but I sure am glad we got to see this one.

We drove home and hunkered in for a long night waiting for a Hurricane that never came. On a side note the "we" drove home was really my better half. I was driving but my eyes were in such a terrible state that we had to pull over and switch... gah... I need an eye doctor...

Martial Arts Seminar Article

Just to show you how cool I am I am posting this link... uh... here.

This is an article written by Kim Taylor Sensei about our Martial Arts Seminar a few weeks ago. Anyways, there are some nice pictures there emphasizing the size of my... sword... so if you are interested take a look.

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Double Rainbow: Update

This is a commercial for Windows Live Photo Gallery that Yosemite Bear filmed with the Microsoft crew. Now, I appreciate that you might not all know who Yosemite Bear is, but it was he who first witnessed the FODRATWATS and filmed it for us all to share!

Some of you may not have noticed, but I did! A few posts back Yosemite Bear commented on this blog. I just thought I should make special notice of this since it is not often that the word of my blog actually gets to the topic of my blogs... if that makes sense.

Anyways, thank you Yosemite Bear for your comment and for your posting that video! It was a sight to see.

If you want more information on Yosemite Bear please check out his website. There is lots of interesting stuff on there, including links to buy your own DR T-Shirts!!!

That time o' Year

I was walking to school on Tuesday and crossed the path of four young gentlemen. They were all pimply and mid-puberty and... well... frosh. In that instant I was flooded with a myriad of thoughts and memories about those days.

Was it not just yesterday that I was walking from my grandparents house, where I had left my van, towards the University of Calgary for the first time? Was it not just yesterday that I found my way into the Engineering buildings and joined my fellow to-be-engineers in orientation? Was it not just yesterday that I was that mid-pubertyed teen starting to find my way in University?

Heh. Just yesterday, and yet, six years have passed. I remember it all so vividly. People all around me, and threats that at the end of the program only one third of us would remain. It seems like just yesterday that I graduated that program with one third of my peers. Just yesterday.

How can this be?

I have mixed feelings about this lost nostalgia. I feel lost. I feel saddened that it is all behind me, and saddened at the friendships that I built and lost. It is a strange feeling to remember it all in the blink of an eye and to know, that this six year stretch of my life is coming to an end. My university days are numbered, and the friends I had are truly gone.

I suppose I cherish all the more those that I have. All... like... two of them...

Pffft... that's plenty.

Anyways. To all those whose path has crossed with mine and parted. Be well.

The Adventure of Split Rock

The Split Rock

I am going to try something. I am going to try and let my videos speak for me. I know that I like to be all typey typey with these blogs, but I truly will try to let my film speak for me. If you have been watching for a while you will have seen a place called Duck Pond. You will have also seen me trying to find a way to scale the cliffs of Split Rock... we returned to Split Rock, better equipped and better prepared.

This is our adventure, the Adventure of Split Rock:

An Introductory Soliloquy

The Base of Split Rock

The First Shelf

Hauling Swag

The First Shelf+

More Higher

Almost There

Summit

The View from the Summit of the Split Rock

The Split Rock

The Hole on Split Rock

The Bay of Fundy

Relaxin'

Flowers like Giants

Our Deserted Island

Half way Up

Eye of Poseidon

A Windy High Tide

A Higher Coast

The Channel

The View

The Camp

Mine Kamp!

Flight!

Keep Running'

Note: We did not see these ducks. We stood on the edge of the cliff and started speaking. They heard us and they took off. They did not fly, they merely ran across the water. It must be what a herd looks like running across the plains. The run of the Kingfishers!

Light

A Falling Star

The Eye of Night

The Last Blink

Sunset

Jet Stream Night

Foreground

Sunrise

Sunrise

Rise on the Cliffs of New Brunswick

A Light in the Back

Light Line

The Grand Rise

Second Shelf-

Looking Up

The Periwinkle Whisperer

A Hike through Low Tide

Cliff, Cave, Cove

A Closing Word

A Summary of Tides:

Low Tide

Medium Tide

More Higher Tide

Less Higher Tide

Low low low Tide

Lowish Tide

Uh... no more photos... we were rushing down the Rock to escape before the tide came back!

Hurricane... Tropical Storm... Earl

From Wundergound

As the remainders of Earl just pass over us I must say that I am disappointed. Last night Earl decided not to head up the Bay of Fundy, but instead decided to head straight for Nova Scotia. Before arriving the winds died down and Earl was downgraded to a Tropical Storm.

Today all we had was a little rain and a little wind... on the bright side, if you could call it that, in the next 4-6 weeks we should be seeing a little more... action...

Hurricane Earl

I have never been inside of a hurricane before... I mean, I have been to Mexico in hurricane season many times, with hurricanes on either side, but I have never been in one. I suppose that that is a good thing. Even seeing the tropical storms blow past the coast of the Yucatan you get an idea of their strength, but still.

Wouldn’t it be a great adventure to be inside a hurricane?

Well, New Brunswick has provided me with many adventures, and this is one that it might yet provide. With hurricane Earl coming up the eastern seaboard I might yet get to be inside a hurricane. I have been told that as it crosses the Bay of Fundy it will lose a great deal of its... chutzpah... but still... hurricane.

Do you think I can still go to the Drive-In movie theatre if there is a hurricane on? Hmm... we will see.

Anyways, it looks like Earl is going to plow into Nova Scotia and leave us with a tropical storm in Saint John... I guess we will see.

If you want to see its route check this out!

Wunderground Map (Just drag the map northwards to see Saint John, New Brunswick)

UPDATE:

Storm warning article... AWESOME!!!