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plunkybugI believe I left off on Wednesday, last week, so let me pick up with Thursday.
So, Thursday was our last day in Vancouver, so we got up pretty early and headed out to a few places in town. Chas wanted to visit the Apple retail stores in the area, and I wanted to visit the Lunapads office. We went to one store called Mac Station on Nelson and Homer in the downtown area, within walking distance from our hotel. The interesting thing with this location is that it is the same store our friend here battled with over name rights...his shop was called Mac Station too. We took a picture of it for him. The shop was pretty new to that location, but it was a nice shop. From there we found the bus stop we needed to cross the Cambie Bridge and get us to the other side of the False Creek, so we could get to the Lunapads office, as it was only a few blocks walk from Cambie on West 6th Avenue. We had a nice chat with the Lunachix, and even got a few of the new pads in a new pattern, nether of which have been released on the website yet.
We had a nice chat with the Lunachix, and even got a few of the new pads in a new pattern, nether of which have been released on the website yet. Here is the new pad and pattern I got. I got 4 of these. They came with 1 liner each, and they tossed in 2 of the new winged mini liners. How sweet! It was great meeting Sandra, who I have emailed and spoken to on the phone with before.
The deal with this pad is that it combines elements of old style pad with elements of the newer slender style pad in an attempt to streamline the product line. They kept the thinner slender design, and added the breathable nylon layer from the thicker old style pad. Also, it was only added to the pad part, not extending through the wings as it did with the old style pads. Another change was the snaps. While keeping it a single snap from the slender, they changed it from the original round plastic snap to just one (instead of three) of the regular style snaps. I actually like the round snaps better. I have no idea why that was changed. Maybe there was a quality control issue with them, though I never had a problem with them, or perhaps it was just a cost problem. In any case, it doesn't really matter I suppose.
After this stop, we walked around the corner and up a few blocks to West 2nd Avenue to catch the bus over to Simply Computing on Pine and Broadway. We had to walk a few blocks from where the bus dropped us off. This store was bigger, but busting at the seams for space, and just not as cool looking. On the way to find the bus stop back to the hotel, so we could check out, we came across this cool little shop that had tons of hats! I found a few that were cute, but did not get anything. Back at the hotel we checked out and waited for the Airporter shuttle, and then was off back to LA a few hours later.
For point of reference, our hotel was on Beatty and Robson, right near BC Place Stadium. Sorry the image is from a legal website, but it was the best one that had all the street names mentioned. Oh, and let me tell you how much better the public transit system there were. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for a bus or the Skytrain. The busses in Vancouver were on an electric grid, and the busses in Victoria were hybrids. What Orlando could learn about public transit...and how to do it right!
Friday was the beginning of the convention, but we got there late since we had wandered to a few nearby stores, and Chas scored a deal of deals! In the Circuit City he found a Samsung camcorder/4.1 megapixel camera with optical zoom for...
...wait for it...
...$69.99!!!
Ok, so it was sold as is with no accessories, though even buying the accessories separately puts the total at about $200, and the unit runs close to $400 normally. We highly suspect that it was supposed to be $169.99, because it took a long time to get it approved for sale from a manager.
We had a fantastic lunch at the Del Taco, and headed to the convention. It was near the airport this year, and MUCH closer to where we were staying, and it was also MUCH larger. It actually dwarfed the convention, as everything was in one organized area. The great thing was that about 1/3 of the people there were new fans. Usually first timers is much smaller, and it tends to be more of a family reunion as much as a convention.
Saturday was more of the convention. We met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
teajade and joscobo in the lobby of the hotel and chatted for a little bit, but they couldn't stay too long, as they were just passing through LA to get to San Pedro, to catch a cruise to Mexico, I think. The rest of the day was much a repeat of Friday at the convention, though we were trying to meet up with other friends who came to the convention for the day. The only bad thing about the convention was that my cell had no signal in the ballroom level...I had to go up to the lobby in order to make any phone calls. Suxor.
Sunday, Chas was co-hosting the annual charity auction, so I stayed with our host's girlfriend and cleaned the house a little while we girl chatted, then went to visit our host and had lunch together. She had to go home and our host came home a little later. We just relaxed a bit and then went to the convention later, though it was nearly over by then. We had Benny's BBQ for dinner. Not Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ or anything, but pretty good stuff.
Monday was a little laid back. We went to the store, and on the way back I was allowing my imagination to run wild with the idea of moving to Victoria. We started making an early dinner/late lunch...Greek chicken and potatoes...both cooked slowly in the oven. Oy it was good. And now I know the recipe! :) After eating we headed back to Irvine for another dance performance. This was much better than the previous one we saw. We saw a friend in Long Beach, ate loads of Krispy Kreme (oh my!) and rushed home to pack and go to bed. We had to be up at 5am Tuesday for our flight back home.
Tuesday we made it to our flight on time, but very drowsy and hungry. Grabbed some food at the airport and good job for us because there were no meals on either the flight to Atlanta, or the flight from Atlanta back to Orlando. It was a long day. A packed full flight on the leg to Atlanta, though much less crowded on the much shorter jump to Orlando. Did I mention the 3 hour layover in Atlanta? Oh yeah, I slept through it. We got back safely, and our luggage was already sorted out because of the transfer, and soon my parents arrived to take us home. I knew something was wrong the minute they pulled away from the curb, but I kept it to myself, because I constantly get taunted for hearing things a car is doing (that is usually an indication of a problem). But lo and behold, the car was having trouble. Transmission trouble. We almost got home. Almost. The car died at the intersection of Horatio and Orlando Avenue. A police car showed up soon after and helped push us over to a parking lot, then the fire department had to come and clean up, because the transmission fluid was going straight out after being poured in, and it was a hazard. Luckily, they got the car from Don Reid Ford, which is right in front of our complex, and that they got the warranty for as long as they make payments on the car, so it cost them nothing. We had the tow truck bring Chas home, so he could get his car, get us, take us to the car so we could unload our luggage, and then take my parents home. We stopped at the store to get cold stuff for Chas, and food for dinner. Got in after all this at about midnight. Oh, and I learned that a guy I knew in high school, who lived about 5 houses down from me then, was killed the night before. I'll be going to the funeral on Saturday.
Today was back to work.
Must go to bed soon. Still tired from yesterday.
PS. The digital camera died on the trip, though we did get a disposable in Victoria, and Chas took a lot of video footage. So, I will post info as soon as we have some to post. :)
So, Thursday was our last day in Vancouver, so we got up pretty early and headed out to a few places in town. Chas wanted to visit the Apple retail stores in the area, and I wanted to visit the Lunapads office. We went to one store called Mac Station on Nelson and Homer in the downtown area, within walking distance from our hotel. The interesting thing with this location is that it is the same store our friend here battled with over name rights...his shop was called Mac Station too. We took a picture of it for him. The shop was pretty new to that location, but it was a nice shop. From there we found the bus stop we needed to cross the Cambie Bridge and get us to the other side of the False Creek, so we could get to the Lunapads office, as it was only a few blocks walk from Cambie on West 6th Avenue. We had a nice chat with the Lunachix, and even got a few of the new pads in a new pattern, nether of which have been released on the website yet.
We had a nice chat with the Lunachix, and even got a few of the new pads in a new pattern, nether of which have been released on the website yet. Here is the new pad and pattern I got. I got 4 of these. They came with 1 liner each, and they tossed in 2 of the new winged mini liners. How sweet! It was great meeting Sandra, who I have emailed and spoken to on the phone with before.
| New mini front view New Lunapad and pattern. |
 |
| New mini back view New Lunapad and pattern. The color is not as crisp as it is in the front view, but this is a little bit closer to see the pattern detailing. |
 |
The deal with this pad is that it combines elements of old style pad with elements of the newer slender style pad in an attempt to streamline the product line. They kept the thinner slender design, and added the breathable nylon layer from the thicker old style pad. Also, it was only added to the pad part, not extending through the wings as it did with the old style pads. Another change was the snaps. While keeping it a single snap from the slender, they changed it from the original round plastic snap to just one (instead of three) of the regular style snaps. I actually like the round snaps better. I have no idea why that was changed. Maybe there was a quality control issue with them, though I never had a problem with them, or perhaps it was just a cost problem. In any case, it doesn't really matter I suppose.
After this stop, we walked around the corner and up a few blocks to West 2nd Avenue to catch the bus over to Simply Computing on Pine and Broadway. We had to walk a few blocks from where the bus dropped us off. This store was bigger, but busting at the seams for space, and just not as cool looking. On the way to find the bus stop back to the hotel, so we could check out, we came across this cool little shop that had tons of hats! I found a few that were cute, but did not get anything. Back at the hotel we checked out and waited for the Airporter shuttle, and then was off back to LA a few hours later.
For point of reference, our hotel was on Beatty and Robson, right near BC Place Stadium. Sorry the image is from a legal website, but it was the best one that had all the street names mentioned. Oh, and let me tell you how much better the public transit system there were. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for a bus or the Skytrain. The busses in Vancouver were on an electric grid, and the busses in Victoria were hybrids. What Orlando could learn about public transit...and how to do it right!
Friday was the beginning of the convention, but we got there late since we had wandered to a few nearby stores, and Chas scored a deal of deals! In the Circuit City he found a Samsung camcorder/4.1 megapixel camera with optical zoom for...
...wait for it...
...$69.99!!!
Ok, so it was sold as is with no accessories, though even buying the accessories separately puts the total at about $200, and the unit runs close to $400 normally. We highly suspect that it was supposed to be $169.99, because it took a long time to get it approved for sale from a manager.
We had a fantastic lunch at the Del Taco, and headed to the convention. It was near the airport this year, and MUCH closer to where we were staying, and it was also MUCH larger. It actually dwarfed the convention, as everything was in one organized area. The great thing was that about 1/3 of the people there were new fans. Usually first timers is much smaller, and it tends to be more of a family reunion as much as a convention.
Saturday was more of the convention. We met up with
teajade and joscobo in the lobby of the hotel and chatted for a little bit, but they couldn't stay too long, as they were just passing through LA to get to San Pedro, to catch a cruise to Mexico, I think. The rest of the day was much a repeat of Friday at the convention, though we were trying to meet up with other friends who came to the convention for the day. The only bad thing about the convention was that my cell had no signal in the ballroom level...I had to go up to the lobby in order to make any phone calls. Suxor.Sunday, Chas was co-hosting the annual charity auction, so I stayed with our host's girlfriend and cleaned the house a little while we girl chatted, then went to visit our host and had lunch together. She had to go home and our host came home a little later. We just relaxed a bit and then went to the convention later, though it was nearly over by then. We had Benny's BBQ for dinner. Not Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ or anything, but pretty good stuff.
Monday was a little laid back. We went to the store, and on the way back I was allowing my imagination to run wild with the idea of moving to Victoria. We started making an early dinner/late lunch...Greek chicken and potatoes...both cooked slowly in the oven. Oy it was good. And now I know the recipe! :) After eating we headed back to Irvine for another dance performance. This was much better than the previous one we saw. We saw a friend in Long Beach, ate loads of Krispy Kreme (oh my!) and rushed home to pack and go to bed. We had to be up at 5am Tuesday for our flight back home.
Tuesday we made it to our flight on time, but very drowsy and hungry. Grabbed some food at the airport and good job for us because there were no meals on either the flight to Atlanta, or the flight from Atlanta back to Orlando. It was a long day. A packed full flight on the leg to Atlanta, though much less crowded on the much shorter jump to Orlando. Did I mention the 3 hour layover in Atlanta? Oh yeah, I slept through it. We got back safely, and our luggage was already sorted out because of the transfer, and soon my parents arrived to take us home. I knew something was wrong the minute they pulled away from the curb, but I kept it to myself, because I constantly get taunted for hearing things a car is doing (that is usually an indication of a problem). But lo and behold, the car was having trouble. Transmission trouble. We almost got home. Almost. The car died at the intersection of Horatio and Orlando Avenue. A police car showed up soon after and helped push us over to a parking lot, then the fire department had to come and clean up, because the transmission fluid was going straight out after being poured in, and it was a hazard. Luckily, they got the car from Don Reid Ford, which is right in front of our complex, and that they got the warranty for as long as they make payments on the car, so it cost them nothing. We had the tow truck bring Chas home, so he could get his car, get us, take us to the car so we could unload our luggage, and then take my parents home. We stopped at the store to get cold stuff for Chas, and food for dinner. Got in after all this at about midnight. Oh, and I learned that a guy I knew in high school, who lived about 5 houses down from me then, was killed the night before. I'll be going to the funeral on Saturday.
Today was back to work.
Must go to bed soon. Still tired from yesterday.
PS. The digital camera died on the trip, though we did get a disposable in Victoria, and Chas took a lot of video footage. So, I will post info as soon as we have some to post. :)