After we hopped on the Chevy, we pulled out the google direction with the MapArt I just bought from the bookstore. From the direction on google, it didn't look difficult. We need to get to a grocery store and head to the West Edmonton Mall for our camping supplies.
We were both excited. I looked at the QE 2, which is supposed to take us all the way to exit 160 something. We never really saw the sign of Queen Elizabeth but we were sure that we stayed on some highway with the number 2 for most of time. After getting in Edmonton, we hit huge traffic.(According to a local joke, Edmonton has 2 weather, Winter and Construction.) I was looking at the map because we were on Gateway blvd and I thought we should stay with #2. I kept telling J to make a left but I probably weren't clear. So, we missed the turn of #2 and had to improvise.
During our improvisation, we explored Zellers(good for nothing), Safeway(got a Safeway card I never used again), and finally we got in Edmonton Mall. It was huge and we were both so lost in the Mall. I was in love with those themes of amusement parks and the ice skating ring in the mall. We soon grabbed some food and found the store for mountain life. After a brief conversation with the sales people, we got a bear spray and a small can of gas. Back to the road, for our first night in Hinton.
We could sense that we were getting closer to the Hotel according to google map. Either the road/street signs weren't clear, or google just didn't match the names to the current day yet. We finally got there, we asked for the WIFI the ad says but "it is not working", said the lady at the desk.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Canada 2011~ 1 -Taiwan is no longer ROC?-
J and I went to NJ the night before our UA flight. When we tried to get our e-ticket printed out before we head to the airport, mine ticket couldn't be printed out. Perhaps because I am a Taiwanese and UA couldn't trust any foreign country. So, I had my ticket printed at the airport and we joyfully made it on our first flight.
The 1st one took us to Chicago. J and I had different second flights. We literally ran between the terminals because there was no airtrain or some sort which transports people to different terminals without getting out from the buildings. We were fast. We managed to run there and still had time to go to the restroom before boarding.
My flight left first. We said a short good bye and I took off from Chicago. My flight looked so old that I was worried if it was gonna fall apart. The flight attendants were really laid-back. Their hair looked like they just woke up. When one of them was announcing safety instruction, she was reading it from a note and still made some mistakes. That was cute. When we got closer to Edmonton, I looked down from the sky. Canada looks like a perfectly pieced together map as in Cilvilization 5 when players have squares of farm worked on.
I landed and I went to the customs officer. He told me that I need a VISA to get into Canada. I told him that since 2011, Taiwanese people can go in Canada as a visitor for a month without VISA. He said, your passport is REPUBLIC OF CHINA, not Taiwan, so, you need a VISA. I was speechless. I told him that I was a Taiwanese as the passport stated inside. He sent me to the immigrant office. There were 2 people before me. I overheard their conversation a bit and found out that they both had some kind of criminal record in Canada before and that was why they were there getting extra Q&A time. At the end, they both got in Canada OK. The lady who was in charge of my case was very sweet. She said, Taiwanese people don't need a VISA and she is gonna let me in. The guy who told me that I need the VISA went into the office and started a very long discussion about me having a Chinese or Taiwanese passport. He said the real Taiwanese Passport has Taiwan printed on the cover. However, mine was quite old and it didn't have the words. (I guess when I had my last passport applied, our government may still have the fantasy about taking back China again.) I told them to check when the new passport started, and it was unfortunately the same year I got mine. (I may have got it slightly too soon then the current Taiwanese.) So, I told them to call Taiwanese organization in Canada and they finally let me in.
After I got in, I treated myself a hotdog. I went to the bookstore upstairs to get a map of Alberta and came down to the meeting place J and I picked from the map of Edmonton airport. In not for too long, J appeared and we went to pick up our car. It was a pretty new Chevy.
The 1st one took us to Chicago. J and I had different second flights. We literally ran between the terminals because there was no airtrain or some sort which transports people to different terminals without getting out from the buildings. We were fast. We managed to run there and still had time to go to the restroom before boarding.
My flight left first. We said a short good bye and I took off from Chicago. My flight looked so old that I was worried if it was gonna fall apart. The flight attendants were really laid-back. Their hair looked like they just woke up. When one of them was announcing safety instruction, she was reading it from a note and still made some mistakes. That was cute. When we got closer to Edmonton, I looked down from the sky. Canada looks like a perfectly pieced together map as in Cilvilization 5 when players have squares of farm worked on.
I landed and I went to the customs officer. He told me that I need a VISA to get into Canada. I told him that since 2011, Taiwanese people can go in Canada as a visitor for a month without VISA. He said, your passport is REPUBLIC OF CHINA, not Taiwan, so, you need a VISA. I was speechless. I told him that I was a Taiwanese as the passport stated inside. He sent me to the immigrant office. There were 2 people before me. I overheard their conversation a bit and found out that they both had some kind of criminal record in Canada before and that was why they were there getting extra Q&A time. At the end, they both got in Canada OK. The lady who was in charge of my case was very sweet. She said, Taiwanese people don't need a VISA and she is gonna let me in. The guy who told me that I need the VISA went into the office and started a very long discussion about me having a Chinese or Taiwanese passport. He said the real Taiwanese Passport has Taiwan printed on the cover. However, mine was quite old and it didn't have the words. (I guess when I had my last passport applied, our government may still have the fantasy about taking back China again.) I told them to check when the new passport started, and it was unfortunately the same year I got mine. (I may have got it slightly too soon then the current Taiwanese.) So, I told them to call Taiwanese organization in Canada and they finally let me in.
After I got in, I treated myself a hotdog. I went to the bookstore upstairs to get a map of Alberta and came down to the meeting place J and I picked from the map of Edmonton airport. In not for too long, J appeared and we went to pick up our car. It was a pretty new Chevy.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Make better, keep complaining!
It's very unfortunate if anyone comes to the point to complain. However, many times, it's the only way to make some preferable change. It's true that people can choose to ignore the complaints. Still, once in a while, there is a potential of making things better because someone actually listens to it. Here is a pretty unbelievable example if I may.
July 12, I had to take the public transportation(buses mainly) from where I live to Tranquil(cross counties). While browsing online, I got lost totally and wasn't able to find any bus line I should be taking for the part in Broome County. I was clueless because all the bus stops were in description instead of a clear map with different colors to indicate different routes. I am a total foreigner and there is no way that I can figure out all the names of stops without looking at a map. It took me a great deal of time going back and forth between google map and the website in order to know where every stop is. And still, I couldn't figure out which bus I should take because of the possibilities to transfer at different stops on that day.
So, I spent 3 hours writing to the webmaster and the person in charge of public transportation(information from the website) about my experience searching for a map online. I tried to make my suggestions very specific and on top of that, I had an online bus map of Manhattan forwarded as a good example with the email. A few days ago, I was trying to look at some more bus stops and realized that the transportation website was under construction. Finally after the weekend, I was able to get on the site and surprise, there was this little map with all the bus lines with different colors available on the bus schedule/map page. It looks like it's still under working progress but it's coming. How exciting is that? It's only Aug 2 when I saw the colorful map!
I may have imagined this connection between my complaint(or suggestion) and the result(seeing a new map or finally discovering that). I would love to think that people who work in the office do hear voices from everybody. As a resident, it's our duty to say something when we want something to be better. I'm not encouraging any kind of aggressive or violent language. It's just a very considerate thought for everybody to make lives easier. If anyone is interested in what exactly I wrote, just ask and I will show you.
July 12, I had to take the public transportation(buses mainly) from where I live to Tranquil(cross counties). While browsing online, I got lost totally and wasn't able to find any bus line I should be taking for the part in Broome County. I was clueless because all the bus stops were in description instead of a clear map with different colors to indicate different routes. I am a total foreigner and there is no way that I can figure out all the names of stops without looking at a map. It took me a great deal of time going back and forth between google map and the website in order to know where every stop is. And still, I couldn't figure out which bus I should take because of the possibilities to transfer at different stops on that day.
So, I spent 3 hours writing to the webmaster and the person in charge of public transportation(information from the website) about my experience searching for a map online. I tried to make my suggestions very specific and on top of that, I had an online bus map of Manhattan forwarded as a good example with the email. A few days ago, I was trying to look at some more bus stops and realized that the transportation website was under construction. Finally after the weekend, I was able to get on the site and surprise, there was this little map with all the bus lines with different colors available on the bus schedule/map page. It looks like it's still under working progress but it's coming. How exciting is that? It's only Aug 2 when I saw the colorful map!
I may have imagined this connection between my complaint(or suggestion) and the result(seeing a new map or finally discovering that). I would love to think that people who work in the office do hear voices from everybody. As a resident, it's our duty to say something when we want something to be better. I'm not encouraging any kind of aggressive or violent language. It's just a very considerate thought for everybody to make lives easier. If anyone is interested in what exactly I wrote, just ask and I will show you.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Go! Amazon Instant Movies~
Netflix announced that starting from Sep 1, the current plan which has 1 DVD at a time and Instant Watch online(both unlimited) will be separated into 2 plans. It means that from 9.99 per month for both services will become 15.98 if the consumers still want to keep the same services.(read it here, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/netflix-price-subscription-plan_n_895779.html)
As a cheap customer, I started to do some math. Amazon Prime definitely has enough collection to keep me interested and busy. I will definitely stop my unlimited instant watch plan with Netflix from Sep 1.
The only reason I could think about keeping Netflix for DVD rentals from mails is for the TV shows Amazon hasn't covered for free yet. The episodes from different TV shows cost differently from free, 0.99. 1.99 to 2.99. I think Amazon should price the episodes a lot lower. If a customer uses Netflix for TV shows rental with 1 DVD at a time unlimited plan, plus the time mailing between places, 7.99 a month may give one person 84 episodes to watch(approximately 4 episodes per disc, 2 discs per week, 4 weeks a moth). However, for TV shows, maybe one should just look into hulu. If one can read Chinese simple or traditional, tudou is a good place to check out, too.(Quality may be not as good.)
TV shows are huge commitments to make. Most likely, I am gonna quit the unlimited DVD rental as well.
If one uses Netflix mainly for movie DVD rental, the math told me that it will bring the price to about 1 dollar per disc.(2 discs per week through mails, 4 weeks a month, the plan is 7.99 per month.) Well, if you have Red Box around, renting a DVD costs 1 dollar and if you have a lot of time to watch DVDs, it actually gives a person to rent more 1 dollar movies in a month.
Well, there are many more sites and servers online one can choose to stream free movies as well. So, increasing price? Netflix, I hope you are ready.
What I've been watching on Amazon for free as a Prime member(Click on the picture will take you to Amazon website for more detail)
As a cheap customer, I started to do some math. Amazon Prime definitely has enough collection to keep me interested and busy. I will definitely stop my unlimited instant watch plan with Netflix from Sep 1.
The only reason I could think about keeping Netflix for DVD rentals from mails is for the TV shows Amazon hasn't covered for free yet. The episodes from different TV shows cost differently from free, 0.99. 1.99 to 2.99. I think Amazon should price the episodes a lot lower. If a customer uses Netflix for TV shows rental with 1 DVD at a time unlimited plan, plus the time mailing between places, 7.99 a month may give one person 84 episodes to watch(approximately 4 episodes per disc, 2 discs per week, 4 weeks a moth). However, for TV shows, maybe one should just look into hulu. If one can read Chinese simple or traditional, tudou is a good place to check out, too.(Quality may be not as good.)
TV shows are huge commitments to make. Most likely, I am gonna quit the unlimited DVD rental as well.
If one uses Netflix mainly for movie DVD rental, the math told me that it will bring the price to about 1 dollar per disc.(2 discs per week through mails, 4 weeks a month, the plan is 7.99 per month.) Well, if you have Red Box around, renting a DVD costs 1 dollar and if you have a lot of time to watch DVDs, it actually gives a person to rent more 1 dollar movies in a month.
Well, there are many more sites and servers online one can choose to stream free movies as well. So, increasing price? Netflix, I hope you are ready.
What I've been watching on Amazon for free as a Prime member(Click on the picture will take you to Amazon website for more detail)
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