It’s a truck that’s hard to miss. Plus, you can frighten small children and suburban livestock with it. The Cadillac Escalade EXT

I have been thinking about this topic for a long time. The past year or so it has been on my mind a lot. My question is: when will it stop? The nickel and diming of society (and me in particular) is having a huge negative effect. Each pay cheque I give the government a large chunk. More gets taken off for CPP. I drive a vehicle and buy gas. Insurance rates went up, gas rates are going up. Buying anything in a store and there is at least a 7% tax if not the much higher 14.5% tax.

The government is broke and they are cutting back everywhere. The schools have no money. Healthcare has no money. The highways department has no money. The local municipalities have no money. I have no money! It is all being taken away from me in nickels and dimes by new taxes, higher taxes, or new user fees.

I want to know where all this money goes? Where does it get used? It is getting to the point where I now have to think twice about going out for dinner. That is sad, and a huge detriment to the economy. It feels like a downward spiral.

Part of my problem is actually a benefit to me. Right now I am highly motivated to get out of debt. I am putting large sums each month towards credit card debt that I have accumulated. In as little as three months I will be debt free (minus my truck and my student loans). Once I am debt free I intend to continue my thrifty ways and squirrel the money away into a high interest savings account.

Back to my rant though. The nickel and diming is getting pretty brutal. We as a society are paying more and more every day, and getting less and less to show for it. As it gets worse, I (and I assume others) have less free cash for spending (I keep myself to a strict budget). In my mind this means the economy slows down more. As the economy slows, the government and businesses need more money to stay afloat, and prices rise. Hence the downward spiral.

What is rock bottom for a society? What can we do? How do we stop this?

As an aside, I don’t believe the current government is completely to blame for this. I do believe that they are doing their best to clean up the mess that this province is in. They do need to realize that the citizens of B.C. are getting sick and tired of this though.

What a great weekend for riding. I actually managed to get two rides in. This weekend was the first time I had taken my digital camera out on the trails. I have an S30, and I love it. Now that I have taken it on the trails, I love it even more. I bought an Otter Box to keep it nice and safe in my Camelbak.

Saturday I met with Mike B, Shane, Shaun, and Mark. We went up to the Switchbacks, down Southridge, down Green Ribbon a bit, then hit Sofa King. Here are the pictures from the ride.

Sunday was a more mellow ride with Mark (a different Mark than Saturday). I took Yoshi with us and had a great XC ride. I definitely needed that. Before I left for the ride I was a little sore, and was kind of hoping that Mark would call to cancel. Sure enough Mark called. He was going to be a little late due to a flat tire he was fixing 🙂 In the end I was extremely glad that I went out on Sunday. It may have been a little nippy, but the ride was fabulous.

The only downside to the weekend was a very close call. I was almost in a very bad accident. I was driving behind a little white car, and there was a large chevy behind me, then a couple cars behind him. A ways down the road some mountain bikers pop out at the side. When the little white car gets close, one of them darts across the road, but the other one remains at the side.

This white car slammed on their brakes, and stopped in the middle of the road! I then stop as quick as I can. I looked up and the chev was barreling down on me because he hadn’t seen me stop. There was no on coming traffic, and there was a grassy patch on the right. I gunned the gas, steered to the right, and started to drop the clutch. I glanced in the rear view mirror in time to see that the chev had already started to head into the grass. I jammed on the brakes, turn left really hard, and stopped. I looked to the right and saw the chev skating around on the grass throwing mud everywhere. The driver got his truck under control and ended up on a side street. The white car in front of me took off, I followed, and the chev got back on the road behind me. I gave the cyclist that didn’t cross the road a very dirty look, so I hope he gave his friend some shit for his boneheaded maneuver.

Ever wondered what Bluetooth is all about? Well the Lan Addict has a great intro. It is pretty techy, so if you have a tech background, know about networks, and are interested in how Bluetooth works, then this link is for you.

Sunday was Todd G’s annual SuperBowl Sunday ChiliFest. This year it was extended to include wings. I arrived at Todd’s around 2, and had my pick of seats. Mmmm, loads of Chili, a huuuuge pile of wings, toss in some Nacho chips and salsa, and wash down with beer. Sounds like a great Sunday afternoon. Oh, yeah, and there was a decent game on the television too. 🙂

Saturday was my first day on Mt Washington this season. I was nervous on the way up to the mountain. I wasn’t nervous about my skills, but rather the weather. This season has been pretty crappy for Washington and the weather for Saturday was pretty iffy. Either it was going to snow lightly, or it was going to rain.

It rained. Not hard mind you, but just enough to make your legs wet while riding up the lift. It was also windy, and a cloud was settled on the upper portion of the mountain. This combination was pretty brutal at times. I always have to wear goggles becuase the wind bothers my eyes a lot. Well, with the wind, the rain, and the low visibility, the goggles just washed out any terrain features, and I couldn’t see a thing. I had to ride all day without them.

Amazingly enough, I still had a fun day. I hooked up with a friend of mine who was staying on the mountain, and I rode with him in the morning. We did a few park runs, a few tree runs, and a few easy runs. It all added up to a fun day.

After boarding all day I drove to my moms, ate some grub, then booted back to Victoria. It was a good trip. Let’s all hope the coastal mountains get more snow so that us snow enthusiasts can at least get a decent season.

Finally Mt. Washington is getting some snow. Yay! I think I am going to try and get up there to hit some pow. Sliding down the hill, easing through the trees. I have only been on my board once this season so far, and that was while I was in Nelson. I absolutely need to use my lift passes I bought a while ago. This weekend I must go boarding!

I used to think that Bluetooth enabled keyboards would be great for PDA’s, but now I am beginning to think differently. How about these laser projected keyboards!

Now that is geeky!

I swear I heard my tires fart last night. In reality the tacky nobs were just slipping over a root as I ascended a steep trail. My rear tire felt as though it might be a little low on pressure but the traction gained for climbing was intense. I felt I could stick to anything and climb any line I wanted as long as my balance and my legs held out. Common sense did not win out, and I left the tire pressure alone.

I climbed, I descended, I jumped, I had a great time. All in the pitch blackness that enveloped me. Last night was my first night ride of the season. Scary! With my light fully charged and strapped to my lid I pedalled off into the night wondering how this first ride would go. My riding companions were Hugh, a co-worker of Sue’s, and his dog Digby the Nova Scotian Duck Tolling Retriever. We started off a little cool, but were warmed by the time we topped the first hill.

Riding at night is sometimes a surreal experience. Any high speed sections demand complete attention for the simple reason that obstacles such as sticks and rocks appear in front of your tire quite quickly. Should you be caught off guard, you may end up in a world of hurt. As it happened during one quick descent I started to marvel at the amount of crud being flung in front of my face by my tire. I watched as a clump of mud defied gravity, flew up from the tire, into my light stream, and seemingly hung in the air while I was bombing down the trail. I had to shake my head a little to remind myself to watch the trail and not these mysterious blobs in the air in front of me. It was difficult since my eyes would swing in the direction of anything moving towards my face.

During one break we turned off our lights and were pleasantly surprised that we could see fairly well. The moon was nearly full last night, and when there was a break in the tree canopy, the moonlight was strong enough for us to make out basic trail features. The silence that accompanies night riding is nothing that can be explained. Sometimes it feels as though there is an invisible blanket over your heard muffling every sound. The crisp cool air was a treat to ride in too. Somehow the air just feels cleaner during a night ride.

It was a fun ride. Nothing too technical, but it was a welcome change from sitting on the couch watching TV. My only close call was on the last descent on the way back to the vehicles. I stayed as far left on the trail that I could, then cut right to bunny hop off the lip of the trail. As I began my bunny hop, my rear tire slid out on some mud. My emergency reaction saved me, and I slid off the right hand side of the trail into some blackberry bushes. It was actually quite funny and I laughed about it.

I am definitely glad I got out last night. Thankfully my first night ride was an enjoyable experience. Had it been dismal, I probably wouldn’t be too interested in going again. As it is, I can’t wait to get back out there.