Inexpensive Civilian Space Flights are Around the Corner

With the alignment of recent political and commercial interests, the near orbital space flights will significantly go down in price in the next few decades opening up doors for space tourism.

It's been several years since Space Adventures Inc. with Russia's RSA launched their first commercial customers in space for $20M each. However, the future promises much cheaper flights available to a wider range of civilians within a decade or so. After the breakup of USSR and the end of the Cold War NASA's funding has decreased. At this point most of their effort concentrated under the umbrella of exploration is targeting past-Moon missions, like Mars Exploration Rover, leaving the orbital space and the only Earth's satellite to the commercial sector.

The key to affordable space tourism is spacecrafts built with commercial purpose in mind. One great idea was to motivate a private sector with a large prize. After the launch of X Prize competition with $10M prize to the first company who builds a spacecraft able to take 3 people to near-orbital heights two times in a week, a number of designs made it to the finals with SpaceCraft1 winning the competition in October 2004.

Google announced its Lunar X Prize competition in September 2007 and has already 15 registered teams with deadline set to December 31, 2010 (2014 latest) to send a robot to the Moon, rover it for half a kilometer and transmit visual information back!

Space Adventures Inc., the same company that launched Denis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth to space, announced the plan to deliver up to 3 civilians to the far side of the Moon as early as 2010 for $100M per seat. Now, that's a bit pricey, but it's a first step for non-government sponsored Moon exploration!

I don't know what other superpowers are thinking about this topic, but if the governments would not allow their commercial sector to enter that business, they would miss out a lot of opportunities in innovation, publicity and financial areas. I think opening up part of the orbital space is a great idea that will inspire people of all ages around the world, motivate the creative minds and cruise us through the Space Age with larger benefits for humanity.

Links:
Holiday in Outer Space
SpaceCraft1
Google Lunar X Prize
Moon tourism
Picture of Martian sunset taken from Gusev's crater (Mars)

Painful Drink Mixing Test

Asking for trouble

Last night I have executed a rather painful test. I'd like to advice not to do the following, which is quite obvious.

I came back home after my Aikido class and was fairly tired and thirsty. I had a 3-4 week old soy milk, water melon that had to be finished and a few bananas past their ripe period. With the ease of a pro, I've mixed everything up with a blender and drank it. Also, a bottle of sparkling wine was standing open in my fridge from some other occasion. I decided that I needed more "liquid" and went for it, while watching to some show. Guess what happened after... actually nothing much, just a funny feeling in my stomach.

I blame it all on watermelons.

September Weekends in Vancouver

More and more I start enjoying the downtown of Vancouver. Intensive hiking and road trip months of the summer are coming to the end with the appearance of warm colors of maple trees. At this point I realize that I've done enough exploration of the West Coast to satisfy my adventure seeking soul for now and let the other side of myself to develop at a professional and personal levels.

It is the second weekend since July of me staying in the city enjoying the calm life of Vancouver. Last weekend Alex S. came down from Seattle, which of course called for all you can eat sushi and rich in calories breakfasts with coffee. I love them as much as I love the days beginning and ending with those. In most of the cases it means that there are friends out of town that I haven’t seen for a while. It also means conversations with them will be much enjoyed as we’ve missed each other’s presence.

This Sunday while I was enjoying Internet browsing in downtown's Blenz Coffee place with Dasha at Robson and Bute, there was a man sitting right beside us in huge headphones listening to music from his laptop and non-distractively tapping with his fingers on the table from time to time. When he was about to leave I asked him whether he was a musician. The man appeared to be a composer, also multimedia artist and a poet.

Roland Bastien started his career in Avan-Garde scene in 1979. He collaborated with numerous artists and wrote over 70 chamber music scores and 100 piano solo scores. As a composer, was the finalist at Elisabeth Schneider Foundation in Germany in 2000. He performed as a pianist. He won the overall prize at The Fourth International Poetry Competition in 2006. Some of his poems that he wrote after 90's are greatly influenced by his interesting life experience during Buddhist Monastery journey.

Here are some of Roland's Haiku and poems ( poems section).
Perhaps, an empty taught

For now,
Revenons a nos moutons (come back to what we were doing),
As French would say,
And I am back to codes and antennas

Cyber Camping

All of my technical related posts can be found at Cybercamping.blogspot.com. I separated them not to bore folks out, as most the information is specific to certain topics of my interest.

Explore it!

A week ago I woke up in the morning and realized that it’s been 14 months since I moved to Vancouver from Toronto last year. For a moment I stared into the ceiling remembering what I have done to learn about Vancouver, British Columbia the West Coast overall.

I pleasant smile appeared on my face. Good memories of road trips, hikes and discovery of West Coast with friends came back to me. I felt satisfied.

Over the last year, at least partially I was able to capture the natural beauty of British Columbia; its calm mood; its great adventurous outdoors; its mountains with snow peaks and the oceans full of sea life as sea stars visible right from Horseshoe Bay’s pier; harbor seals and sea lions; Orca whales, Humpback whales and Grey whales swimming in the waters of Vancouver Island – all of them within the driving distance from the city where I spent over a year of my life!

British Columbia made a significant impact on my life's outlook. I am passionate about nature. BC allowed me to explore it. I learned a lot. I learned about myself.

I would like to encourage everyone of you to go out there and explore the place you live in, whether it is West or East Coast, Northern Territories or US. And for those living in BC, I would like to encourage to discover the Beautiful British Columbia, the Best Place on Earth (as BC license plates shamelessly point it out to the rest of the world).

Skookumchuk Hot Springs

Skookumchuck - Saint Agnes' Well (Hot Springs) is something I really want to visit in the near future. I've heard the temperature can be regulated to very hot, meaning this place will be worth going even during a light snowfall, as long as the car would be able to take 45 km of logging roads.

The location for the hot springs is East South of Pemberton. It's a close to 3 hours trip via Sea to Sky highway, which is still under construction for 2010 Olympics. I expect it will take at least 9 hours to enjoy the road trip fully, or overnight trip with BBQ, beer and bear spray.

Another hot springs option in the area is Meager Hot springs. That's the one we wanted to reach in March with Alex K. during our cross-country ski trip. The latest BC Forestry Ministry's report from September 12 states that the road to the springs is closed at 37'th km. Even if you pass that point, and cross the first bridge, the second bridge was washed away. There are no plans to rebuild it yet.

There is still hope, as I've heard there are more smaller hot pools past 40'th km, but since I've learned about Skookumchuk's Well, Meager hot springs have been pushed down as a secondary task.

[BC hotsprings]

When rain hits Vancouver...

I spent this weekend in Vancouver enjoying city life and in the meanwhile learning Ruby on Rails, the popular language used in many Web 2.0 websites. The original plan was to check out hot springs near Pemberton on Sunday (see next post) with a friend from Seattle, but the rainy weather affected our plans. We ended up staying in the city, drinking lattes, playing with Ruby and checking out Korean Sauna and Spa located close to Coquitlam mall with a group of friends.

On Saturday, my friend from work threw a house warming party at his newly bought place. The theme was "Hats" with mandatory compliance or no beer. I saw vikings, witches, monks and even a disco fro--it was like Halloween without blood painted faces, but still with beers, wines and flaming sambuka. To be fair not all rainy weekends end up being that flaming warm.

Last.fm

Check out the newly found wigit from Last.fm on the right of the page. I've added a few of my favorites by Rene Gruss, including The Red Room and Bellatrix.

Last.fm is a free online service that seamlessly creates a personalized internet radio that streams the songs that you want or similar to the ones you selected. The radio learns your preferences. One can "love" the track or "hate" it, so it never appears again.

It's one of the sites of Music Genome Project.

Unfortunately, Pandora is not accessible from Canada without a proxy.

Aikido in Irkutsk

My friend Alex K just came back form Irkutsk, one the Far East cities of Russia. Apparently, there is Aikido Dojo there as well. Most likely Aikikai. Here is the picture.I’ve been training Aikido Yoshinkan for several years, first, under Nick Mills Sensei (Sendokan Dojo), and then under Robert Mustard Sensei (Aikido Burnaby). This weekend I am going to Seattle for demonstration of at 10th Annual Matsuri (Japanese Festival) 2007. We’ll be performing a 30-40 minute demo there. Check out the website: http://www.enma.org/.

In the memory of my Grandfather

I still remember the night before I found out the news of my grandfather’s passing away. It was the last night before my final exam. I spent it studying, thinking about wireless concepts taught by Stanford’s professor. Inconspicuous classical music was playing in the background. In the breaks I was thinking about the upcoming summer, adventures and guests that I would show around Vancouver and BC. One of the guests was supposed to be my grandfather who had his university summer vacation from July 20 to September 20. He was waiting for visa that would allow him to visit his daughter and granddaughter in Toronto and grandson in Vancouver.

It was his dream. We talked a lot about it over the phone. We tried not to build big plans, but I knew I would show him everything I found out about the West Coast during my last year living here – more than I ever showed to everyone else who visited me here so far! We would have talked and talked, and felt each other’s presence. Conversed about anything, on any topic! He was a cool grandfather. Being a professor for many years, he knew how to talk with young guys, joked all the time and created a wonderful aura during the conversation. He was an optimistic guy, and a noble man. There are so many great memories associated with him that now it is impossible to think of “Deda” and not to either smile or feel sorrow.

I will remember him positively. There will be more smiles reflecting from memories of him than grief and tears. He emphasized bright mindset and hard work, generosity to people and warm friendships. It was him who has made a great impact on shaping my character both, during my childhood and beyond, for which I am truly grateful.

The night before the news inconspicuous classical music was playing in the background. It was Rene Gruss’ Bellatrix that I still remember. It almost felt as I wanted to change something there in the speed of his notes and accents. Something that my mind wanted to make more melodic in this already beautiful composition full of emotions. It seemed as I did not agree with something, yet listened to it and could not resist. I only realize it now, months after.

Bellatrix stayed in my mind for the rest of the following day while I was searching for last minute tickets to Ottawa, Toronto and Belarus. It still comes up in my memory as a soundtrack of the peaceful yet tiring night of fighting with my body to keep myself awake while learning as much material as possible before the exam – a peaceful summer night without higher worries. I remember sitting outside on a balcony during my break drinking coffee few hours before the sunset, looking at the dark blue sky, and trying to remember that night positively, enjoying what I was doing – just like my grandfather taught me! I am grateful that I am your grandson!

My grandfather, also Victor, died at the age of 75. He will forever stay in my heart as a man, who managed to show me great examples of life and optimism, and inspire for hard work. I keep his photograph in my album that he sent me a year ago. On the back, he wrote: “To my dear grandson for a good memory (of him). Be commendable, at least in most things”.

Bulletproof backpacks and American Paranoia

After various school shooting accidents including Columbine's, two fathers came up with an idea of using a bulletproof material inside backpacks. "Are you kidding me?", would say the rest of the world. However, for North American environment, especially United States with their open minded gun control policies, this seems to be normal. Living in Canada for the last nine years I understand that this might be a very useful invention and a great business case for the two "worrying fathers". I would not be surprised if bulletproof backpacks will become popular among students in the next ten years.

[source: The Boston Channel]

Lunar Eclipse

Finally! It'll happen this upcoming Tuesday!
http://www.universetoday.com/2007/08/03/upcoming-total-lunar-eclipse-on-august-28th-2007

Waterfalls

While planning a trip to Strathcona Provincial Park located at the heart of Vancouver Island, BC, I've looked at different waterfalls and compared them to Della Falls, which is considered to be the tallest in Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Della_Falls). It is 440 m high. There are other waterfalls in BC which reach up to 600 m. However, Della Falls wins with its continuous drop.

Niagara Falls - 51 m high, 792 m wide (Horseshoe, Canadian part) and 323 m wide (US). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls
Victoria Falls - 108 m high, 1.7 km wide, making it the largest sheet of falling water in the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_falls).

Online Organizer

This is an update to my previous online organizer post about www.stikkit.com. After using it for a few months, I found out that some of the features were still buggy. Send sms reminder feature did not work with my Vancouver Rogers number.

One of the things that I really wanted to see with this software is the ability to clean up your emailbox just by forwarding emails to StikkIt (allowing you to safely delete the email) and letting the tool parse the keywords to add reminders, phone numbers, links, etc. However, it is not there yet. Email forwards just get appended to a particular note, but without the ability to merge it with the main one or, more frustratingly, to modify the forward.

I believe it will reach the perfection in future. In the meanwhile, I am moving to Google Notes, which also has the feature of sharing it with others, but no text parsing (making sense of text that makes StikkIt so attractive).

Growth of India, France's views on US

India

The economic growth in India brings in such elements of capitalism as stock market to poor folk. BBC's reporter describes it as a gentrified slum. On the other hand, BBC reports that availability of newer technologies and medical instruments increased abortion rates, especially of female foetuses. It is considered that a female is a burden to a family and once the gender of foetus is known, many decide to go for abortion. Economic development has its positive and negative effects. (BBC)

France

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president from May 2007, has different views on US than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. He said that US can consider France its friend, unlike country's previous stance where it critiqued US is its foreign affairs. Current French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, visited Iran last week to support its political transition. (BBC)

Lava Tubes

From my Seattle friends, I've heard of amazing caving experience they've had not far from Seattle. The decision has been made. The originally planned road trip to the famous Long Beach at the South West boarder of Washington with Oregon was expanded to include a day drive Mt. St. Helens - the home for Ape Cave.

Ape Cave is the third-longest continuous lava tube in US and one of the longest in the world (3,976 m). About 2000 years ago during the basalt flows, it hardened on the outside. When it drained, hot gases melted the inside surface again, creating stalactites on the ceiling and leaving flow marks on the sides.


This was the first time in my life when I've experienced a hike in a complete pitch black darkness for over 2 hours. The temperature in the cave was around 5 degrees (Celsius). There were 3 of us. To remember it better, we stopped for a minute somewhere about an 1-2km deep in the cave, turned off our flashlights and listened. All I could hear was teammates breathing, water dripping and a slight breeze of air. The experience was unforgettable.


Above is the basalt ceiling of the cave.

The tunnel, previously river of lava.


Fallen ceiling - stones over 2 meters each.

A first glimpse of a light we saw after 2 hours. It was not the exit yet.

I highly recommend this cave as an easy hike without the need for a guide. Recommendations: flashlights, extra batteries, warm clothes, good flash for pictures.

Links:
http://lewisriver.com/apecave.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape_Cave
St. Helens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._St._Helens

Chavez's visits to Russia, Belarus and khmmm Iran

In June, Chavez visited three countries - Russia, Belarus and Iran, tightening ties with arms and oil experts as well keeping a warm relationship with his socialistic oriented buddy - Belarus.

Chavez's tour began with a visit to Russia. Both countries agreed to invest into a joint project to explore the Orinoco oil belt. The Orinoco belt holds the world's largest reserves of heavy oil (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6252370.stm)

Following his visit to Russia, Chavez flew to Belarus. He called it a "model social state" - similar to what Venezuela is trying to create. Unlike Chavez's further visit of Russia and Iran where he made agreements with the countries to trade arms and start joint oil development projects, Belarus had nothing to offer. "Bat'ka" Lukashenko, as Belorussian falks call their president, is having hard times getting oil on his own from the only neighbour that still talks to him - Russia. Oil prices in Minsk, Belarus are close to what I've seen in Canada. Seems like Russia stopped making discounts for its "Western" ally. More on Chavez's visit to Belarus: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5209868.stm.

Chavez's visit to Iran has marked the launch of construction of a joint petrochemical plant in Iran and then Venezuela. Mr. Chavez has been supporting Iran's nuclear programme. Iran declares that its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful energy production and not for development of weapons of mass destruction as US and EU insist (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6252370.stm)

Related link - Mercosur (BBC Profile) - Common Market of the South
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5195834.stm

My Roommate Experience

About a month ago, I've found out that I've got a roommate - a little mouse. At first, I've started mentioning a little noise coming from the kitchen. When I went there, it disappeared. When I left the kitchen, it reappeared again. Finally I saw the raison d'être of the unusual sound running at a speed of light from under the stove toward my sofa. It was so fast, that it even slipped and slid a bit on its side on the smooth kitchen floor like a motorcycle on the track, but unlike the motorcycle, it recovered and booted even faster. After looking at its size and (khmm..) cuteness, I’ve decided to leave the issue as is and don’t bother about the mousetrap.

I’ve told a story to friends at work and outside and we’ve had a good laugh about it. With guys at work we’ve made up a few ways to catch the mouse without hurting it. I was going to blast the music at maximum one day and put a piece (lomtik) of cheese on the ground so that a mouse would eat it, and while it’s being distracted by both, the music and gourmet food, I would be able to catch it by covering it up with a cup. That’s all jokes though, of course.

Now, a month after, as I was checking my kitchen counters, I’ve found out that one my oatmeal boxes had a hole in it. By looking at “traces” of little black animal aftereffects, I concluded that my roommate was definitely there. The amounts of aftereffects suggested that it was there more than once.

Also, while transferring some files from my cell phone, I saw a few groves from little teeth on the USB cable. “In panic”, I’ve rushed down to the pile of cables and boxes where I keep all my computer goodies and started checking rigorously whether anything else was “probed”. Luckily enough, for now, nothing else suited its taste and at least looked untouched.

That’s it! This relationship is over, little tail! I am reporting you to the superintendent. Your destiny is in his hands now.

PS

An interesting conclusion can be made from this story. Out of all the food that I store in the counter (instant rice, noodles, even regular rice), the one mouse has chosen was the healthy oatmeal. Hmm, makes you think what’s better for you, the bleached instant rice, dehydrated noodles or the oatmeal that I hate so much. Maybe it’s time to think once again about it and cook the right food next time – the food chosen by nature, by a mouse – which cannot be tricked by flashy labels, especially "instant" that "saves" us so much time.

Views of Great Britain and US on conflict in Iraq

Gordon Brown, the future prime minister of Great Britain insists on non-military resolution of Iran's conflict. He thinks that the key to solving the problem is the rebuilding of economics of the country. Poverty and lack of jobs is the main reason that pushes the coutry to become dangerous on world's scene.

On the other hand, USA does not deny the fact of military intervention. On May 23rd, 2007, 9 US mility ships have entered Persian Golf for "military training" purposes. Washington's main point here is that under the peaceful development of nuclear power plant, Iran is pushing the development of the nuclear program [source: http://top.rbc.ru/politics/27/05/2007/104117.shtml].

In the meanwhile, Iran is working on finishing its first nuclear station, which is being built by Russian experts at Bushehr. The plant's launch date is scheduled for March 2008 [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/05/1b73ff45-8007-47b5-83a2-7a1f2232d520.html].

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus talks to Owen Bennett-Jones during The Interview

Muhammad Yunus, economics professor, received a Noble Prize for creating an organization that would lend money to people in need. It is completely based on trust. Who would think that such an idea would bring him to the point where he is standing right now: after 30 years he is leading the Gremeen Bank with 6.7 million customers! He lends small amounts of money and develops a program for people to repay it.

Muhammad believes that the world can exist without poverty. He insists in the interview that it is not the fault of poor people that they are poor. It is the fault of the ones above them. So, they, people with better fortune, have to help them. He also brings up an interesting example of a plumber and CEO of some big company sitting at a table drinking whatever they like... and both of them are respecting each other, both of them are making the same amount of money.

I don't know whether this would work in North America, but it proved to be successful in the third world countries with a large population below the poverty level. Nevertheless, the idea reminds me of the Canadian system with a strong social support for the RF (regular folk), taxing harder the rich and providing cheaper services like medical assistance for everyone. There is a potential to slowly realize his ideas into life in the rest of the world, as long as the critical mass of supporters is out there.

Audio Interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/the_interview.shtml

Wicked Online Organizer tool

That's the online tool I was looking for. Stikkit.com is an organizer, really easy and intuitive. Nothing needs to be installed, meaning you can use it anywhere where there's internet. What I found useful is the support for various email keywords. Forwarding your friend's email to your Stikkit account's address and adding a few words will automatically tag and format the note.

Trip planning demo

Nanotech: World's smallest book

Nanotech: New World record - SFU beats MIT's smallest book published in 2001
MIT: 5 x 5 mm
SFU: 0.07 x 0.1 mm

Cell phone hacking

http://www.break.com/index/cell_phone_hack.html

Canucks clinch Northwest Division title

Vancouver Canucks beat Sharks 4-3 to clinch Northwest Division title: cbc.ca and canada.com reports. I knew I moved to Vancouver at the right time : )

Canucks website: http://www.canucks.com/

Home Fusion Reactor - I thought it was a joke

I just came back from the club, partying it up with a some friends from work. A few pages were still open on my laptop that I was planning to shut down for the night. Being all myself, I didn't want to just close it, and gave it a few more minutes of attention. Here is what I came across.

Home made fusion reactor by a 17 year old. "Pumps, deuterium source, neutron bubble dosimeter? Check." http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/03/high_school_stu.html
Full report: http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/radioactive-boy-scout


...and if you need to get some deuteruim gas for your next fusion experiement ; ), check out "deuterium oxide" following this link: http://unitednuclear.com/chem.htm, from which you'll be able to get "pure deuterium gas" for just $10!

On climate control...

It looks as the most current trend for the failures of presidential elections as well as previous presidents themselves, is to concentrate their attention on Climate improvements. I am talking about Gore and Clinton respectively.

When you are a president, you are faced with the reality of the country not been able to spend money to meet Kyoto protocol's standards. However, when you are not, it is a great tool for use as the critique.

Clinton Climate Initiative: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/cf-pgm-cci-home.htm

Web 2.0 Articles

What is really a Web 2.0 that everyone is talking about? Here is the article by Tim O'Reilly: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Paul Graham's essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html

Ukranian residence - guys play a joke on curious students: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ZebndiGd1M

A four-day trip to California

Wickedest road trip combining good company, new visited places, both natural and urban, three states along the West Coast, 2400+year-old Red Wood tree, Pacific Ocean, National Parks, Stanford, conference, and finally San Francisco. Oh yeah, did I forget two speeding tickets? I blame it all on super nice and powerful Alex's Mazda Speed 3, code 'grey'.

summary:
2 days on the road -
.5 day in Stanford
1.5 days in San Francisco

details to follow

March 10-11, 2007 - Pemberton Valley (Skiing and and Camping) report

March 11, 2007. The first outdoors overnight trip of the year has been complete. I was waiting for it since the fall. Back then I’ve started throwing the ideas around among friends at work and outside and the responses were quite promising. Co-workers have mentioned a few interesting places and some friends have shared the enthusiasm as well. No one was expecting that this would be that soon.

The most enthusiastic reply to this idea was the response of Alex K., who’ve have also considering winter camping himself. That was the time when I’ve smelt the approach of the trip and we started planning. We’ve decided to cross country ski in Pemberton Valley and ideally reach either Meager Hot Springs or another nearest natural hot springs location on Lillouet River around sixty kilometers from Pemberton. Thinking about it again, we have not been really planning too much, but for some reason we’ve shared the confidence in the success of our trip.

Alex have been there before a few times during the summer and once in winter. Last year his car got stuck there in snow. Also, from his stories, he lost two tires due to the holes and sharp stones on the logging road. I think he was just a mad man holding a wheel. Nevertheless, his optimism about the whole trip made me convinced that he’s the right person to go with.

The idea was to ski for about 20k depending on where we’ll be able to leave the car. If there was not too much snow, we would have driven up to the springs and ski around the area for fun. On the other hand, if the snow and weather conditions would not be supportive, we’ve decided that we can just ski as far as we want and camp out in the woods.

The plan has been passed to friends. No one wanted to join. We did not insist as we understood that it’s not a resort we are going to.

We left Vancouver past 6 am and reached Pemberton at around 9. Soon, we were on the logging road with warning sign informing that the access is closed past 39^th km, where the hot springs were located. The road itself was quite bumpy. Comparing to the road I took my car on in September in Vancouver Island, I think this one was worse by a factor of 1.5. Who cares. The adventures were waiting for us!

After 9km, we’ve reached the parking lot. There were a few pickup trucks. The sound of snowmobiles at distance suggested that we were not completely alone in the area. Past the parking lot the road split up: one branch going towards the springs and another one up the mountain, where the noises of engines were coming from. The road was obviously not accessible from this point. We took our gear, jumped on the skis and began our trip.

It has been over ten years since I last put on cross country skis, which made me worry a bit at the beginning, considering the distance we had to cover and the weight we are carrying with us. However, the last ten years of downhill skiing have proved to be useful. We were picking up the speed with each hour.

After a few kilometers we saw a fresh meatless skull of a fox lying on the road with no other body parts visible. From a distance it looked as a McDonald’s burger bag – colored red and pale yellow. We’ve looked at each other, almost questioning how are we doing, then cracked some motivational jokes and kept going.

The road was covered with thousands of animal tracks. Most of them were huge imprints of cougar paws. They were all over the place, sometimes mixing with a few smaller ones. Also, several times we saw deeper than half a meter holes in the snow from something bigger and heavier – probably a deer, moose or similar.

This area is supposed to have a higher than in other places concentration of grizzly bears. That’s what I’ve heard at least. We were not expecting them to be up yet, but who knows? The weather has been rather warm over the last few months, plus the snow was melting on our eyes, suggesting that we should be careful.

I bought a bear spray two days before the trip from MEC store, which was rated for 5.5 meters with 8 seconds of working time. I’ve done 6 steps approximating 6 meters and realized how close this is! If a bear stands 5-6 meters away from you, you better not drop that spray! Many times throughout the day in my head I was rewinding the situation of how, in case the furry animal jumps out of the forest, I would grab the can hanging on my chest on one of the backpack’s straps like a smoke grenade on the SWAT team’s member, slide the protective plastic and press the “trigger”! Quickly removing skis and the backpack itself seemed almost unreal. It’s either fast or never. A sharp Finnish knife was hanging on my hip, but then again, I was just aware of it just in case. The first goal was not to get into the situation that would require using it. So… I was using seemingly the most ridiculous weapon against animals – a bell from a Canadian Tire store. I attached it to the wrist loop of the ski pole and was hoping for the best.

For the first five to seven kilometers the majority of tree population of the forest was leaf trees. Then pines and cedars pushed out the foliage-less due to the time of the year community and replaced the surroundings with a green and cozier atmosphere. By that time we have already got used the weight of the backpacks on our backs and increased the speed.

A small rain began an hour or so after our departure. It was about one to three degrees Celsius, but felt way over ten when we skied and way below zero when we’ve stopped. We had to take off all of our outer layers leaving just a hoodie or a wind breaker. Ten minutes of not moving almost guaranteed the numbness of the toes and the loss of flexibility in other fingers due to cold wetness.

Making a few short stops along the way and one sandwich party we have approached the twenty kilometers mark in six hours. I should mention that Alex’s sandwiches were a blast! He really put a lot of effort “assembling” them from high energy “parts”. One sandwich filled you up. Two could have been considered pigging out. Three – possibly death… from animals after they figure out that you’ve became immovable, yet happy. Happy, by the way, is a good state before the “meat” dies. Less toxins in the flesh, you know. Animals do.

It was four in the afternoon when we’ve decided to stop for the day. The springs were another ten to fifteen kilometers away, while the sunset – about three hours. We spotted a “nice” place in the cedar forest and decided to camp out there. “Nice” in this context means some protection from direct rain, even though the water was still mercilessly dripping through tree branches and soaking everything around with the same constant intensity as it would have without the trees.

As soon as we took off our skis and walked a few meters, both of us one after another got sunk up to our knees in the snow. It was wet, yet soft, which made walking much harder.

We’ve spent the first half an hour picking up branches and chopping up some larger logs, preparing the subammunition for the fire. It took us another hour and a half with the help of camp fuel and some camping paste to dry out the soaked and cold sticks and start the fire. It began suddenly, almost exploding from a bare glowing to meter high flame, bringing smiles to our faces and promising a better time in a warmer place. However, after removing the tarp with which we covered the firewood to prevent the rain from distinguishing the fire, it died in a matter of a few minutes. Glowing sticks melted the snow and fell into the hole. The wet ones on the top were still there annoyingly smoking. We were not able to resume the fire in the next little while. It even looked pointless at that point, because even if the fire was there, we would have been getting wetter and wetter with every minute anyway. We called it a day, threw the stuff we wanted to stay dry into the tent and sneaked in there ourselves, opening the pack of smoked sausages and the throat warmer – apple flavored Smirnoff.

With warm woolen grandma’s socks on our feet zipped up in the sleeping bags we were lying in the middle of forest somewhere 40 km North West of Pemberton with most likely not a single person around us in that range. We were lying with a flashlight hanging from the top of the two-person tent talking to each other, telling mostly anecdotes and some stories. After a while we’ve turned it off. The rain was hitting the tarp that we hanged over the roof of our waterproof shelter and the shelter itself making us appreciate their very existence and slowly hypnotizing us with the monotonous sound to sleep.

A few lessons have been learned that day. If one has a chance to take a shovel to winter camping, do so. It can prove itself useful when digging into the snow first – to protect the fire from the wind if there is any and, secondly, to prevent melting a huge hole that might steal the burning sticks. I bought the shovel from CT a week before, but left it in the trunk with the second axe and a saw that we considered a useless load.

The second thing we could have done here is to place the logs as the base for the fire and start heating up the branches above them. That would have prevented everything from falling down the melted snow hole. Live and learn guys. This was the second time I went for winter camping, but the conditions were a bit different. Before it was nice and sunny, even though -35C in February 2003. However, there was no freezing rain to “help” us learn from our mistakes.

That night we slept like babies from 8:30pm to 6:30am. I woke up a few times during the night, mostly because the absence of a pillow was a bit discomforting and the usual stack of extra clothing was not there to put under my head. Most of it was wet and left outside in a backpack, which I squeezed between the cedar and the tent under the tarp.

With the sunrise came the smile on my face. I think I was just glad to see the light and happy that our mission was half accomplished. When I was a kid, I was sometimes wondering why all the birds would wake up with the first rays of the sun. After the trip I knew that it was because they are just happy they are still alive after a pitch-black, cold and possibly wet night in the forest.

It was not that bad at all though. We were full of energy and our immediate clothing was not too wet. Looking around I’ve mentioned that some water somehow got inside our tent and collected at one of its corners. My winter gloves designed for snow were swimming under the water line, not understanding what is going on.

We opened up a zip locked bag of smoked sausages, swallowing a few along with more trail mix bars while lying in our warm sleeping bags. The rain was still going. It took us about thirty minutes before we got outside and started packing. Quarter to eight we were out of the forest on our skis with the backpacks on. Not surprisingly, they were heavier than before from the wet clothes that have had absorbed the water.

It took us five ours to get back – one hour faster than a day before. We were using the same tracks as we’ve made on Saturday. At some places, our tracks were stepped over by cougars. We haven’t seen any during these two days, but I am sure they saw us. Seeing the car around the corner of the forest on the same parking lot from which we began our trip yesterday was a great reward! Alex had a huge grin on his face. The feeling was amazing! We shook each other’s hands appreciating each other’s existence right there, right at that moment in the March’s rainy countryside of British Columbia somewhere 200km North of Vancouver.

Epilogue

On Monday, March 12, sitting in front of the monitor at work, my thoughts drifted back a day ago to the night I've spent in the forest with my friend. The reflection of a flash light from our wet jackets, constant evaluation of situation and asking your body and yourself how long more can you last outside in the freezing rain before you have to sneak inside the tent and wrap yourself around with a sleeping bag to preserve the heat.

Sitting on a nice cozy chair with a mug of hot tea beside you and mp3 player with Armin Van Burren playing his beats in the background now seems so different and almost unreal. The fact that I am being here now, enjoying all of these commodities made me almost shiver for a split of a second. Never before I went to the wilderness with just one more person in the team. I have done a few day hikes in the mountains by myself in July 2006 when I just came to Vancouver, but the feeling now was completely different. First of all, this was an overnight trip in winter season. And secondly, I haven’t had the chance to see so many fresh predator paw imprints around while being so far, relatively speaking, from the rest of the civilization. We were thirty kilometers away from the beginning of the logging road. We were thirty kilometers away from a cell phone signal or any sort of help. That kept our adrenaline level high and our minds clear. Moments like these remind you how used we are to the commodities we enjoy in our daily lives. Moments like these make you appreciate other people and their presence in your life.

This trip was definitely worth our time and effort. This one weekend can be compared to a dozen of others, but only if you sum all of them up! The experience, impressions, feelings, and memories all came together condensed into two days and impacted our lives. We grew mentally and emotionally. We saw each other and we saw ourselves. And what is out there to tell you what you can and what you cannot do, what you are and what you are not – when it’s you who defines your own path, when it’s you who defines the future.

Heavy Vancouver rains flood water supply

Over the last month in Vancouver there was so much rain (warm tropical rain from Hawaii) that our water supply system has been flooded. Officially from Thursday/Friday it was suggested not to drink from tap. At work, all the tea and coffee machines have been shut off. Useless water filter stations now have signs warning of the hazard. On Friday morning at one of the Costco stores in Vancouver a fight has been started .... a fight over a bottled water!

So, now, the official safe drink is beer for most of people and cola for the ones that cannot take the smell of the first one (?what the heck?). Beer with toast in the morning. Beer during lunch with sushi and, finally, beer at night with the main meal. I believe it's more healthier now than the tap water.

Now, since we do not have a clean water supply in the company and since before that all of the drinks including tea and coffee were free as well, I think beer should be supplied for free for the time being and supported as a solution for water hazard problem. I will raise that question on Monday. It should boost the productivity of engineers.

Finishing University...

After exams, after projects, after five aggressively interesting years of studying and internship have passed since I've stepped onto the ground of McMaster University campus, I am finally done! The Engineering Ring that has been praised by Canadian Engineers since 1922 has finally found its owner. To tell you honestly, I am happy.

Going back in history, five years ago, somewhere in March during one of McMaster's tour days, I have visited the campus for the first time. I remember it as a shiny day full of new faces, guys and girls, serious and happy, looking at everything with large eyes. The whole new world in front of them had promised the new atmosphere to breath in, the new friendships to start, the new challenges to overcome. The “large eyes” might be an exaggeration, but that's my way of telling that there is a huge difference between a frosh and a graduate student (or not?).

(I will continue in the next post as it is 1 am and I am really trying to get on Europe time before the trip, even though this is not happeing for now : )

Gettin' ready to eat SPAM

My blog had been spammed after I've posted the first message. Instead of cursing the spammers, I've remembered about good summer days. I will explain. During the second half of summer 2005, I've discovered about SPAM ham - a really delicious brand of ham, canned and ready for camping - at least that is my application for it. Out there, in the wild, it pleases you every second during its consumption and digestion, suggesting to smile and enjoy the good times.

Here is an image of me and SPAM. I can freely say: "Spam is good and useful!" - and not feel bad about it.

First message

Sitting at my work, having a late lunch, I came across this page.

What a great nifty service. I've seen Blogger before, I even saved a link in my favourites. Funny enough, it took just several years for me to actually open an account. Only after I saw a link under Google's additional tools!

That pic is taken by my friend Nazar, while Volodya is holding a kite - his new toy he've picked up while working in Miami - several meters above the ground.

Cheers