2003-06

Electric Cars at Science World

2003-06-07

I had heard about this event for several years now, but this is the first time I've actually made it there. As I had expected, it seemed more of an electric car enthusiast event than anything else. Many of the cars on display were just conversions of gasoline cars, including an electric Porsche which has a top speed of 120-130 km/h (which seems to defeat the purpose to me).

I knew that these tourist streetcars ran around False Creek, but I have not actually seen one before.

Hybrid Civic

Hybrid Prius

Conversions of gasoline cars

There was a race of project race cars when I was there.

I actually saw this car driving around on Broadway (around Pine) in April, but did not react quickly enough to get a picture at the time. The body was all plastic, presumably to keep the weight down and thus extending the range of the vehicle. It was locked up, so I couldn't take a look inside.

There was even a production car on display. The "it" appears to be manufactured by Dynasty Motorcar Corporation and the pamphlet I picked up shows an address in Kelowna; someone there told me that the cars are built on Annacis Island. It comes in a buggy and a sedan variety, and has a fiberglass body on an aluminum frame. Apparently, there is a low speed vehicle classification which complies with NHTSA and Transport Canada safety regulations, and permits the vehicle to "operate on roads with posted speed limits of up to 60km/h, at a speed not to exceed 40km/h". The last bit is unfortunate because it effectively makes it impractical for urban use where, although average speeds may be less than 40km/h, it is generally not possible to drive at 40km/h without having someone behind get really annoyed. If only they were permitted to go 50 or 60km/h... The range of the batteries is 50km.

The sedan	It even has plates!	Under the hood
The buggy			In the driver's seat

I don't know what this car is, but it sure looks old.

			The pedals control the speed.
The lever is used to steer.

Warren's birthday BBQ

2003-06-08

Kevin fanning the ashes	Kevin inspects his singed hairs from the fire	Around the picnic table	Soroosh munching on a cup
Warren, Beth, Jody tossing a disc	Kevin sitting on tree stump trying to catch the disc

Brenda's birthday

2003-06-14

We gathered at Brenda's for lots of yummy food. After we stuffed ourselves, we headed over to the Ridge for some bowling silliness. Each round, everyone had to do something specific. There was moonwalking, bowling backwards through the legs, bowling with the wrong hand, pirouetting, butt-slapping, bowling like a chicken, bowling across to the other lane, playing different sports while bowling, and acting like random animals. Unfortunately, my digital camera is not fast enough to capture most of the silliness from the evening.

Brenda blowing out the candle with her birthday rhubarb cake	Zaven cutting the deep dish	Brenda taking pictures	Lisa and Brenda eating watermelon
Jimmy the psychotic porn director	Zaven and Brenda moonwalking	Lisa and Sarah bowling backwards through the legs
Jimmy prepares himself as Katie makes her through the legs shot	Jimmy bowls through the legs	Deb gets ready	Deb and JenJen bowl through the legs
Andre watches his through the legs shot	Andre bowls through the legs	Jimmy bowling after a pirouette	Deb bowling after a pirouette
Zaven and Brenda doing the butt-slapping bowl	Brad scored something like 140	Jimmy is butt-slapping so fast his arm is blurry!	Andre does the butt-slapping bowl
Zaven and Brenda playing chicken	Aftermath of chicken bowling	Jimmy and Kat begin their chicken dance	Deb and JenJen playing chicken
Andre laid an egg	Zaven and Brenda bowling into each other's lanes

2003-06-17

Michael and Cynthia make apple muffins à la floor.

The muffins after the five second rule was invoked	The remains that weren't readily formed into muffin units	Michael eating some muffin bits in a big bowl of whipped cream	Michael realising that he's too full
He also ate half a loaf of bread, a plate of fried noodles, and some cookies before attacking the muffins.	Cyn reaches for the bowl that Michael could not finish...	... and ensures that it puts pressure on his tummy.	Michael getting his second wind

2003-06-19 - 20

Soroosh spending quality time with Pinky and the Brain

Soroosh bonding with Pinky while watching Pinky and the Brain

Harry Potter madness

2003-06-20

Now this is a strange phenomenon. I have not read any of the Harry Potter books so I do not quite understand the craze, but there was so much excitement surrounding the release that bookstores were open at midnight to appease the anxious hordes. The publisher had actually threatened to sue the printing company off the face of this planet if they leaked any copies; after the books were printed, all files had to be deleted and the printing plates were locked up. Living as far as we do from Chapters, we went and had a look at the spectacle.

There were prizes and cake.

The line extended halfway to Fir at 11:30 when they started letting people in.

Soroosh and Kevin went inside to check if there was "coke" or "cake".

Even Mac's Milk was selling the book. And there were people loitering in the store waiting for midnight!

Jazz Festival

2003-06-21

A whole bunch of us went to spend an afternoon at the Jazz Festival in gastown, cumulating at the mystery band which was correctly rumoured to Cinematic Orchestra.

JenJen looking spiffy	JenJen helping Brenda with her temporary tattoo	Brenda's tattoo	Kat and Jimmy
The drummer from Cinematic Orchestra was being a tourist.	This dude showed up and started playing with the band.