Cookie Sheet Meyhem

Last evening, I had the opportunity to attend a local Volkswagen gathering at the new Tim Hortons on 200th Avenue in Langley. The evening began with the initial meet up at Alexi's home before cruising to the site of the gathering. The turn out of nearly 30 cars at the Tim Hortons was quite impressive.

After an hour of the usual standing around outside, the group decided to cruise down to the Fresgo Inn on King George Hwy, Surrey for dinner. During our visit, I decided to indulge myself to a greasy bacon, cheddar, mushroom burger with double patties and french fries. The burger was so enormous that I had to turf the hamburger bun to finish the meal!



After my delicious cholesterol packed meal, our group cruised to South Surrey for coffee at Starbucks. Once there, food trays taken from Fresgo Inn were brought out and placed under the rear tires of a MK3 VR6 which belonged to my friend Johnny. With the e-brake cranked, he quickly launched his car and drifted it around and around the parking lot. Unforunately the trays from Fresgo Inn did not last very long as they were constructed with fiberglass. Johnny had distroyed all 6 trays within 15 minutes. Surprisingly enough, the police never showed up despite being 9:00 pm with Save On Foods, Milestones Restaurant, Starbucks and Tim Hortons open within the same parking lot.

In a successful attempt to continue our fun, we were able to collect enough money from everyone to purchase a set of heavy guage metal cookie sheets from the Save On Foods.

With the cookie sheets in hand, we drove off to a nearby industrial area to continue the senseless meyhem. Once there, the cookie sheets were immediately placed under Johnny's rear wheels. We all stood safely away from the road, we watched the sparks fly as the cookie sheets grinded away against the asphalt. After 45 minutes of drifting and uncontrollable laughter, the cookie sheets appeared intact.

Needless to say, we had a absolute gas of a time. Below are some video clips of our cookie sheet meyhem.

Cookie Sheet Video 1
Cookie Sheet Video 2

Curry In A Hurry? Our Adventures In Richmond

As each week comes to an end, I look forward to seeing my friends Alexi, Brandon, Darren, Mike, Samir, Dean, Sky at our ritualistic Friday night Starbucks get together. Normally, I would order the usual, an English Breakfast Tea with a package of sweetener and topped off with some low fat milk.

I would then make our way outside to enjoy to join the group chat about news, Volkswagen talk, rumours and gossip. I admit that I would have to agree with most outsiders views, we're probably worse than a pack of elderly grandmothers when it comes to gossiping. Others would say we're like a group of Roper & Ebert critics as we always something to say about every passing car in the parking lot.



After an hour of sitting around, I brought up the question, "Does anyone else get bored coming here every Friday night to talk about the same things? Let's do something different for a change." Immediately everyone responded, "Then why don't you suggest something interesting to do." I recieved the usual responses to any suggestions made, "...it costs too much... it's too far... I'm tired... what a stupid idea."

Finally with some arm bending, John, Mike, Harrison, Alexi joined me in a drive to visit our friend Johnny in Richmond.

Once we met up with Johnny, he decided to take us out for late night chinese food at the Golden Award Restaurant. I found it a little odd that the restaurant had a separate menu which consisted of portugese chicken, french fries, macaroni & ham soup, and toast. I decided to play it safe and ordered my favorite dish, curry chicken on rice. Unfortunately, Mike and John did not fair as well in the luck department as their pork was overly sweet without any sour taste.

We wrapped up the evening close to 2:00 am with a fill-up at the bio-diesel station in Delta.

Sianora Sumitomos, Hello Good Year!

After two agonizing years of driving on Sumitomo tires, I noticed that my tires had finally reached the wear bars! I had nothing good to say about these tires. In contrary to the manufacturer's claims, the tires are terribly noisy, and severely lacks performance/traction during wet driving.

My search began at TireTrends.com. I figured that because it was a local shop, I would save on shipping and they were know for their low prices. My preference was to find and purchase a set of Dunlop FM901s or Perelli P7000s. I became quickly discouraged after discoving that many of my preferred tires would set me back at least $800-1000 CAN. I didn't think my wife would be all too impressed with that. With the harsh reality of financial responsibilities to my family, I refocused myself to find something less expensive.

After many hours of searching, I found a classifieds ad on VWVortex.com for a set of used OEM Good Year F1 tires from an VW Golf R32 located in Seattle. The owner informed me that he replaced the set with all season tires after six months of ownership due to his frequent commute to work through snow in the Pacific Coastal Mountain Range. The tires were only used for 5000 miles and were in prestine condition with no nails, patches or buldges in the sidewalls.

He had originally posted a rediculously low asking price of $300 USD for the set. With a little negotiating, we finalized the price to $200 USD. Needless to say, I've already booked off next weekend to pick up and mount the tires in Seattle.

Can You See HID?

While relaxing at home after a long day at work, a surprise visit was made by my friends Dejan and Nick. Having been good friends with Dejan for several years, I graciously offered free storage space for his VW Golf in my unused third bay. Although his car has been in storage since last summmer, I've given him the key to the garage as he frequently visits to add new modifications or perform basic maintenance on it.

A headlight swap was the purpose of tonight's visit. Dejan had bought Nick's oem VW HID set up for $900 CAN (an absolute steal) and planned to install them onto his Golf 337.

The headlight swap took approximately an hour to complete. During the process, I got a chance to take a closer look at his new lighting system. The orginal value of these headlights were approximately $1900 USD which were bought from a Seattle member of the VW Vortex. After owning them for a few months, Nick decided to send his headlights into a professional body shop to have them smoked and resealed.



Following the installation, we eagerly fired up the new headlights in the Golf 337. The beam pattern of the headlights were absolutely amazing. This was thanks to the the excellent condition they were in, with minimal/no lense pitting. The light was so bright, we were able light up a house nearly 100-200 meters away.

Cuts And Scrapes... The Reception Is Clear!

After a few days of limping from the Vancouver Sun Run, I felt strong enough to start working on my car again. My main priority was to replace my broken antenna.

As soon as Alexi arrived, we began tearing apart all the interior pieces in the rear quarter of the car. Unlike the MK3 Golfs, the amount of insulation and excessive interior pieces layering the antenna wire was absolutely astronomical. After an hour of tearing away the stubborn panels and suffering numerous cuts and scrapes on our hands, the rear quarter was finally stripped away enough to access the antenna base.

After installing the antenna base, the reception presented full of static interference. Once a few minor adjustments were made, we began reassembling the interior of the car. While we were working, my wife came down to find out what the hell we were doing. Her jaw dropped as she saw the extent of how much we had to strip out the interior.

Once the car was complete, I attached my new oem VW Sharan antenna onto the base and backed my baby out of the garage. The reception was crystal clear!

Unfortunately, we finished pretty late and decided to pack it in for the night. I guess I'll just have to wait until later in the week to install my new driver side door lock blank and cover.

My Mentoring Friend

It is incredible how fast time can fly. I had the chance to finally catch up with my old friend Larry over dinner at Guu in Vancouver. He even brought his adorable five year old son Noah. Even though we met up at the Sun Run, we didn't get much of a chance to talk.

Larry has always been very influential throughout the short time we've known each other. Although we can't meet up as much as we used to, I still look up to him like an older brother. He's always been great in providing me with guidance, with advice and encouragements.

Our friendship began roughly six years ago while I was working as a clinician at Delta Mental Health. Larry was a psychiatrist who was pretty fresh out of medical school with only 2-3 years of clinical experience. As new graduates, we were full of nervousness as this our first job opportunity to apply all the acquired theories into practice. Larry decided to take me under his wing in a mentor role. In the next three years, he shared his knowledge with me while encouraging me to think outside the box.



Just before we parted ways, he pulled me aside and asked if I would ever seriously consider returning back to school to study medicine. He kept insisting that I had great instincts, caring & compassion while always finding new ways to improve the quality of our health care's delivery system. Although I had never said it outright, he identified my desires to expand my practice to the next level.

Despite my overwhelming desires to persue medical school, I decided to decline the opportunity. Although I had support from my family, I did not want to put off my future life with my fiancee.

After catching up with all the latest news, we ended our delightful dinner with desert at Mondos Gelatos and went back to his place for some tea at his new home in McDonalds Heights in Vancouver.

Fifty Seven Minutes Later

I had an absolute blast at yesterday's Vancouver Sun Run. My initial intention was to complete the run together with my friends (Larry & Jonathan) within 75-90 minutes. I quickly learned that it would be nearly impossible to stay together when surrounded by approximately 50,000 other participants.

In my previous experiences, I've always started out of the gates too quickly in an attempt to get into the front of the main crowd. Like a stupid donkey, I would never learn from my mistakes. This year, I was able to quickly set a comfortable pace of 5:43 min/km or 9:12 min/mile.

Between the second and third kilometer, I had already pulled away from my friends. By the 6 kilometer, I was surprised that neither fatigue or cramping had set in. Despite passing runners, I continued chugging along at my own pace.

I glanced at my watch as I passed the 8 kilometer mark. I had been able to keep my split time to within 1-2 minutes of my initial pace, while 42:00 minutes had passed since leaving the start line. I pressed on as I became determined to cross the finish line within 60 minutes.

Despite having had no spring training, I surprisingly finished the run within 57 minutes and 5 seconds. If I had trained this year, I felt that I could have been able to finish the run under 50 minutes.

My previous Sun Run times:

2004: 56:57 finish 5:41/km 9:10/mile
2005: 61:11 finish 6:07/km 9:51/mile

The Vancouver Sun Run

T-minus 1:30 hours before I start the Vancouver Sun Run. I'm hoping to finish the run with a time less than 1:20 minutes considering that I did not specifically train at all this year. My best time ever was 52 minutes. This year I'll be running with my old friend Larry and Jonathan. I figured that if I group myself with faster runners, I'll be pushed for a faster time.

In anticipation that I'll be sore for the rest of the week, I spent last evening mowing my lawn, washing the car and any house errands that would involve heavy lifting/labour.



Wish me luck! I'll have more to write later as I'll be heading over to a friend's home to celebrate Greek Easter.

My Replacement Fridgerator

At approximately 1:00 pm this afternoon, a Coast Appliance Wholesale delivery truck pulled up to our driveway. Out hopped the driver with two other sets of helping hands. My wife and I watched in awe as the three movers spent approximately 1 1/2 hours moving, wiggling and finally exchanging the units. Our new fridgerator had finally arrived!

We knew that we wanted to incorporate a commerical styled kitchen during our first draft/blue prints of our home. Despite people telling us that it would be overkill, we ended up spending nearly fifteen thousand dollars for a duel fuel 6 burner range and a commerical styled refridgeration system.

Following the completion of our home, we soon discovered that the fridgerator doors were leaking air. This allowed moisture to become trapped inside the unit. Consequently all the internal components to began rusting. We were obviously frustrated as we believed that there would be less problems with higher end appliances.



The manufacturer had initially denied our request to exchange the unit. They had orginally planned to special order all new internal parts and pay a team of three technicians sixteen hours each to rebuild the fridgerator. After calculating the cost for material and labour, the manfacturer quickly realized that the total would be three times of my original purchase price of the unit.

After several more months of endless battling, the manufacturer finally agreed to our requests and provided a full product replacement.

Mast Discount & Great Service

As promised by PG Performance, my special ordered replacement antenna mass arrived today. The final price for the mast and the antenna came out to $140 CAN + taxes due to my discount from the Volkswagen Drivers Of Vancouver Club.

Like every other time I've visited the shop, I am greeted by both owners (Paul Sr & Jr) with their crazy antics, sexual induendos and hilerious insults. I've got to give kudos to them as they've maintained great customer service which is nothing short of a class act for many years.

A great example occurred during yesterday's visit. As Paul Sr returned to the shop wth several boxes of take-out pizza, he invited me to join in on their informal dinner!

On another note, I recieved great news from Denon Performance today! My brand new OEM 337 exhaust finally arrived at their shop and is ready for pick up.

With the 10 kilometer Vancouver Sun Run and Greek Easter celebrations this weekend, I'll be too busy to install the replacement antenna, base and new muffler. I guess it'll have to wait until late next week.

Antenna Thieving In Delta!

Following a visit to shop at the Zellers at Scottsdale Mall, I returned to my car and noticed that something was wrong. As I scanned my car, I noticed that my aluminum shorty antenna from my Volkswagen was missing. My first thought was perhaps a friend had seen my parked car and decided to play a prank on me.

My care free mood quickly changed to overwhelming anger as I noticed the base of the antenna was damaged. I am assuming that when they decided to steal the mast, they chose to physical force pull it off the base. (I guess they did not know the mast can be simply unscrewed off) They ended up damaging the base so badly that I have replace it completely. Obviously the person involved was unfamilar with Volkswagens and their antenna systems.

After leaving the mall, I immediately made my way to PG Performance in Surrey. I ended up special ordering a new antenna setup which includes a new base and mast. Seeing this as a golden opportunity, I purchased a mast from a European Volkswagen Sharan.



The Sharan antenna was significantly shorter than my orginal one and was actually amplified with threaded wires inside. According to PG Performance, the antenna will strengthen my AM/FM radio reception greater in comparison to the full length OEM one which came with my car.

I'll be back to PG Performance tomorrow to pick up all the parts. The final total this inconvience was $152 + taxes.

Good News! My Muffler Is Coming!

After a few weeks of increased frustration, I finally recieved some great news from Ron at Denon Performance. He called to let me know that my OEM 337 exhaust had been ordered and should be arriving within the week.

I was also worried by unconfirmed rumours within the local Volkswagen scene that Denon was going to close the business without any notice. After confronting Ron, he was quick to assure me that the shop would not be going anywhere anytime soon.



It was a welcomed sign of relief as I had order the exhaust using a pre-existing four hundred dollar credit with them. I was pretty worried of the possibility of losing the credit note if the shop was to close.

While chatting, Ron informed me that the exhaust system would not be a direct bolt onto my car. This was due to a difference with the downpipe between my 1.9L TDI and 337 1.8L turbo motor. This isn't any devestating news to me. I'll just have to fabricate a small adapter piece to complete the final installation.

Acts Of Kindness Never Goes Unnoticed

A funny thing happened to me while ducking out to Annacis Island to fill up my car with bio-diesel during my lunch break from work. Upon arriving to the fuel station, I realized that I had unknowingly left my wallet at home in my golf bag. Hoping that I would find a twenty dollar bill or some change, I searched frantically through my car.

The needle on my fuel guage was way below empty as I knew I would not make it home. Luckily for me, the kind lady who runs the station noticed me ruffling around the car. She comes out and asks, "what is wrong dear?" In a state of embarassment, I revealed my predicament. She replies, "No problem sweetie... I'll lend you five dollars of fuel to get you home. Just pay me back when you come back."

I returned to the station a few hours after returning home to pick up my wallet. As I lined up to pay for the fuel, I reminded the lady that I owed her the five dollars back. She informed me that is was not necessary to pay and that she did it as a simple act of kindness. "Don't worry about the five dollars, I just wanted to help you."

It made me realize how a simple act of kindness can be rewarding and helpful to others.

My Hypocritical Conscience

I found a something that quickly caught my interest while surfing the Volkswagen Drivers of Vancouver web forums. The interest was a thread was named, "Spotted: Somebody driving Rob Tang's old car".

In the thread, someone had spotted my old ride speeding through traffic in the city of Richmond. As I progressed through the thread, accusations of street racing began flying between the person who spotted my old car and her new owner.



This thread inspired me to share my negative thoughts about street racing. I know this must sound so hypocritical for me, but I we need to remind ourselves and friends that street racing is extremely dangerous. I admit that I was once heavily involved in this extremely dangerous activity. It happened in my younger years when I felt invisible and had nothing to lose.

In one of our recent club drives, I was very proud to boast that I did not participate in any extreme speeding. It was the first time that I had remained within 5-10 miles of the posted speed limits during any past Volkswagen affliated event. Despite driving normally, we still managed to get to our destination within 30 minutes of everyone else. More importantly, we all got there in one piece.

I feel that my stance naturally changed when I recently found out that I was an expecting father. Since then, I've spent many days, hours, minutes and seconds contemplating the uncountable foolish decisions which I have made in my life. I came to the conclusion that life is precious and in order to properly raise a child, you have to stand by the lessons you teach them. So can we all slow down a little bit?

We Will Rise Again Next Season

I enjoyed attending last night's season ending hockey game as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-3. The game ended with Brendan Morrison scoring the game winner in overtime.

Despite not being able to secure a playoff berth, I was quite surprised that there was very little boo'ing from the fans. The fans remained very loyal and supportive of their effort last night.

During the middle of the game, a roar of cheers came from the fans when this sign was held up in the stands:



At this time of year, I would normally would be getting ready to cheer on the Canuck's quest for the Stanley Cup. I feel like I am still in a state of denial. Is the season really over? With the team not in playoffs, I found myself scrambling to find anything to keep myself busy until October. Today, I spent the afternoon cleaning my golf clubs in preparation for a long summer.

I hope that the Canucks will not make excessively drastic changes to the team during the off season. I believe that the team would most likely benefit from change in their current head coach and play under a new philosphy. Only time will reveal the changes for the upcoming 2006-2007 season.

He Shoots... I Score!

While picking up my wife today from the hospital, she presented me with a pair of tickets for tomorrow night's final Canuck game of the regular season. The tickets were given to us by a physician colleague at work. It has been nearly two seasons since I've attended a Canuck's home game. This has been partly due to my hectic work schedule and responsibilities during the building of our house and the upcoming birth of our first child.



Although the Canucks have been eliminated from a play off berth, I am still very excited to go watch the game. Many fans, critics and journalists have already predicted that the there will be massive player/personnelle changes during the upcoming off season. Rumours have already begun circulating that Trevor Linden may retire and that Todd Bertuzzi and many of their core players will be traded away.

I see game as perhaps the last golden opportunity to watch this team play together. It is likely that the Canucks will never have the same amount of talent again for a long time. Deep down inside, aside of the frustration and disappointment, I still am a hardcore Canucks fan.

Here is an amusing picture that I found on the Canucks.com online forums:

Rescued

Earlier this morning, I made way to Eaglequest's Practice Range to meet up with my golfing buddy Will. Despite a positive round of golf at the Kensington Pitch & Putt, I needed to spend some time improving my driving consistency prior to Sunday's game at Golden Eagle. My other reason for visiting Eaglequest was to try out their new replacement Callaway range balls.



After driving a bucket of 90 balls, we left for breakfast at the Cat & Fiddle Pub in Port Coquitlam. Together we ordered four of their morning specials: The Cat 222 breakfast ($2.22 each) which consisted of 2 english muffins, 2 slices of bacon, country styled potatoes, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit.

After eating, we visited the Coquitlam Golf Town store & the Pitt Meadows Golfing Range's pro-shop. I wanted to check out their selection of sale priced hybrid clubs. I have always wanted to pick up a hybrid due to consistency issues with my woods and low irons. After trying one out late last season, I found it so much easier to hit while instantly improving my driving consistency.

After an hour of demo'ing a few clubs, I found that the 5 Wood Hybrid by Taylor Made was the best fit. Needless to say, I'll be at the range everyday this weekend to get acquainted with my new secret weapon, the Rescue Club.

Exhausting Frustration

Day three of my extended long weekend was marred with feelings of frustration. I still had not recieved any updated news regarding the arrival of my OEM 337 exhaust from Denon Performance. During my telephone conversation, I was told by the owner that he had failed to follow-up with the order.

After venting on the phone, I was promised a definate answer by next Tuesday (following the Easter holidays). I have been waiting for almost eight weeks for the exhaust and had initially hoped to have had it installed well before the Dubglomerate Club International's barbeque on April 8th.

The picture below is a used exhaust system which is nearly identical to the one I have ordered:



Despite being a longtime customer of their shop, they are notoriously known for disorganization, long delays on special orders and poor customer service. However, the benefits with them is that you are always guaranteed to recieve the lowest quotes/prices for parts.

I have no worries that I will recieve the part, but question when it will arrive. I'll keep my fingers crossed for some better news next week!

Canucks Eliminated

Tonight was a very sad night for all Vancouver hockey fans. The Canucks lost against the San Jose Sharks 5-3 tonight in their battle for the eighth and final playoff berth for the Stanley Cup.

I really do not know what to say. I feel really disappointed and betrayed as a fan. The Canucks were billed as one of top contenders to win the Stanley Cup this year. This was supposed to be our year and it's not going to happen now. I could act as if I was in denial and lay blame on the many factors which contributed to their demise. Midway through this season, we became injury plagued and experienced multiple losing slumps.



The Canuck's next and last game of the season is against the Colorado Avalanche, I'll still be watching it. What will the off-season bring? Trades? Management changes?

Adding A Little Asian Spice

After returning home sick from work, my wife and I made our weekly grocery run to the local Costco. During the visit, we noticed that they had finally opened up their annual garden center. We picked up two different japanese maples for $47.95 each (an Acer Palm Diss Beni Shidare & a Bloodgood Japanese Maple). After leaving, we made a stop at the local Art Knapps Nursery to purchase a few yards of premium top soil and a container of bone meal.

Upon arriving home, I eagerly pulled out my shovel and wheel barrow to plant the new trees. After a lot of time spent carefully chosing it's planting location, I dug the holes, added a handful of bone meal and placed the trees in their final placings. According to the labels attached to the plants, one of the trees will take appoximately 4-5 years to reach their optimum height of 15 feet.



As the weather improves, I'll be making an initial order of approximately 10-15 pre-selected trees/shrubs for my garden from Art Knapps. Once delivered and planted, I'll then order a extra yards of top soil and bark mulch for decorative purposes in forming the flower beds.

Funny how gardening can be so addictive and rewarding. It's definately a great way to destress and relax yourself.

My Six Day Long Weekend

I had started work today with my usual routine. I arrived to my office with my typical extra large Tim Horton's steep tea, and was off to a great start. I felt relaxed and looked forward to assessing my patients in the emergency department. Prior to the daily bed utilization meeting, I visited the emergency department to get the usual morning update. Upon arriving to the meeting, everyone was smiling and laughing. It was going to be a good day.

Like every other day this week, we began discussing our shared concerns about the Norwalk virus which has been circulating within our hospital. For the most part, many admissions and surgeries on our slate have been cancelled in attempts to quaratine/eliminate the spread of the virus. Also many staff have fallen ill with symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, dizziness and upset stomach. A emergency protecol was issued in which any staff presenting with these symptoms are to be sent home until symptom free for 48 hours.

Well... I am sure you can figure out where this story is going. Following the meeting, I returned back to my office to do my routine e-mail check and return phone messages. Within minutes of sitting down, I felt my stomach begin to tie up in knots. "Oh no," I said to myself. As per protecol, my work week came to an abrupt end as I visited our Occupational Health Nurse. She immediately confirmed my symptoms as possible for Norwalk virus. I informed to immediately leave the hospital.

As I drive home, I realized that provided that if my symptoms quickly resolves, I may be able to enjoy a six day long weekend!

My New Search Begins

After installing my lower OEM 337/R-Line body kit, it has now become apparent that my car does not look complete without a trunk spoiler. This realization came to me during tonight's dinner with my friend Nick.

He said, "Rob... your car looks great! But it's missing something." After a few minutes of silence, he replies, "You need a spoiler to finish up the look. The roof line seems out of place with the lower part of the car. The bottom flares out... but the top looks too narrow. You need a spoiler!"



Soon after returning home, I compared pictures of my car and those with spoilers on VW Vortex. I have to admit that I totally agree with Nick's opinion. *Sigh* Now I embark on a new search to find an OEM MK4 337/R32/GTI upper hatch spoiler. I've already have a few good leads from classifieds section of the VW Vortex.

I also plan to call Denon Performance tomorrow to inquire the whereabouts/status of my long awaited OEM 337 exhaust.

Fore! A Beautiful Afternoon On The Links

My cellular phone rang as my lunch break drew to a close. It was my golfing buddy Will. He asked if I wanted to fire off a few buckets of golf balls at the local driving range. Tempted by the warm sunshine, I suggested that we play a round of 18 holes at the Kensington Pitch & Putt course in Burnaby.

As soon as we agreed to the plan, I quickly called the secretaries at my office and told them that I was gong to take the rest of the afternoon off. As soon as I arrived at Will's home, we threw his clubs into the back seats of my car and sped off to the course.

We arrived at the Pitch & Putt at approximately 1:30 pm and were able to immediately tee off. Although this was my first time on a course this year, my first 9 holes were horrible as I bogied seven and doubled two holes. My luck would change on the back 9 as I was able to pull off a birdie and several par shots to save my score. I managed to score a 71 and Will scored a 64 on the par 3. It was not too bad considering that I spent the last season frustrated while working on fixing my swing.



Following our round, we grabbed a quick lunch at Cockney Kings Fish & Chips in Burnaby. During our meal, we began organizing a weekend of pure golf which includes a visit to the range on Friday, Pitch & Putt on Saturday and a full round at the Golden Bear Course in Pitt Meadows on Sunday.

Snohomish, Seattle & Shopping

Following a visit to the Aubrurn SuperMall, Ikea and Costco, we met up with my sister for lunch at City Deli in the Snohomish Wine County. Despite the food being overly expensive, the setting was very unique and appealing. The one half of the establishment was a trendy restauarant and the other half was a wine store.

The food was absolutely amazing as I quickly scarfed down on a cranberry turkey sandwich on an onion, rosemary bread. For dessert, I indulged in a slice of their mocha chocolate cheesecake. Yummy!

Following our late lunch, we met up with the remaining members of the Volkswagen Drivers of Vancouver Club at the Seattle Premium Outlets in Marysville, Washington. I had spent $300 USD for new clothing after 2-3 hours of outlet shopping. I was very surprised that I did not purchase anything from my favorite store, Banana Republic.



At approximately 6:00 pm, we saddled up and began our trek back to Canada. The drive home was pretty uneventful as there was not a single police speed trap during the drive home.

Despite a minor pitstop in Burlington to top up our fuel supplies and to purchase milk & cheese, we reached Canadian soil at approximately 8:00 pm. The remaining drivers (Chris, Harrison, Kendall, my wife and I) met up at the Boston Pizza Restaurant in White Rock for some appetizers and dinner.

Following dinner, I made a slight detour to top up some bio-diesel in my MK4 Golf TDI. I had consumed approximately 5/8th of a full tank for approximately 723.3 kms of mixed highway/city driving. Not too bad... not too bad.

2006 Dubglomerate Club International's Annual Spring Barbeque

After a long day of driving, we finally reached the Five Mile Lake Park in Federal Way, Washignton for the 2006 Annual DCI Barbeque. Although it was raining, we all had a great time with endless laughs and good food.

Despite organizing an Elitist Group, the group broke apart mid-way due to some errors in the maps provided. I ended up separated from the pack early in the early stages of the drive. Although I cruising alone, I ended up joining another group of Vancouver VW owners caught up to me. The entire group was re-united upon reaching the park.

Despite popular beliefs, our group only recieved one speeding violation . My friend Albert (Stargazer) in his 2006 Subaru WRX STI was caught speeding in Everett, Washington.

After a few hours of crazy antics and watching Nick (SR71) try to burn down the park with lighter fluid.




Following the barbeque, my wife and I left for some shopping at the Super Mall in Auburn, Washington. We later met up with my sister and her boyfriend for some dinner downtown at Pad Thai Garden Restaurant and eventually retired for the evening at the Lakespur Hotel. We chose to have a quieter night to ourselves as my wife can easily become tired due to her pregnancy. Unfortunately we missed the house party and pub crawl hosted by DCI.

Tomorrow's plan includes some more shopping and brunch with my sister in the Snohomish Wine County.



On a side note, my MK4 Golf TDI is running smoother than usual since changing the fuel filter. The mileage remains uneffected as I have logged 387 kms so far during this trip. The fuel gauge still shows that I have only used 1/4th of a tank of bio-diesel!

The Twelfth Hour...

Twelve hours left until our departure to the 2006 Annual Dubglomerate Club International's Barbeque! I anticipate that we'll have a lot of fun during this drive down.

I've already gotten the heads up that their has been an increase in police speed patrols on the I-5 from friends who went down to Seattle today. I am hoping that my newly acquired Motorola FRS Radios will prove useful with heads up from the faster drivers.



We'll be meeting tomorrow at 8:00 am at a secretly determined starting point in Surrey, BC. I've spent the better part of the evening, washing, waxing and detailing the car in preparation. The car's services (60,000 km) has been completed re: fuel filter, cabin filter, oil change. My overnight luggage, passports, and maps have already been pre-loaded into the car!

Here is the map of our route (courtesy of Stargazer's page):



I'll post pictures upon my return home on Sunday night.

2006 Vancouver Auto Show

After spending a seemingly endless day at work, a few friends and I decided to visit the 2006 Auto Show at the BC Place Stadium, Vancouver.

The first exhibit which we visit was the Mercedes RMG test driving tour. We were tossed the keys to a 2006 M-Class SUV, Smart Car, and a turbocharged B-Class to drive around an auto cross course. I was quite impressed with all the vehicles which I drove. Although I was asked to tone down due to excessive drifting and wheel squeeling, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Needless to say, I did not adhere to the course speed limit.



Following the test drive, we spent approximately an hour visiting various automobile manufacturers displays. My main reason for visiting the auto show was to see the Volkswagen MK5 Jetta R-GT. This would be the first and last time that this car would be displayed in Canada. Following this auto show, the R-GT will be shipped and displayed in various European auto shows. Upon competing the circuit, the R-GT will be retired and moved to it's final home at the Volkswagen Museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.



The R-GT was a specially authorized and 100% funded by Volkswagen Europe for the Moonraker Project. It was a VW concept vehicle built in collaboration of build three major tuner shops in North America and Europe.

The most well-noted contributer were my friends at HPA Motorsports in Surrey, BC. Their contribution included a 3.2 L VR6 twin turbo motor transplant, capable of punching out a minimum 550 hps at the wheels. Four adjustable race seats, a fuel cell, air jacks, and much more.




My breath was immediately taken away as I stood back to admire the craftmanship which was put into the car. As we were preparing to leave the display, I overheard a Volkswagen sales representative making false claims about the vehicle. He informed a middle-aged individual that the car was available as a factory option for a mere $40,000 extra. As I corrected his endless false information, "Let me introduce you to my friend Alexi. He actually played a key part in building her."

(Alexi providing some education to the VW Sales Representatives)

To make a long story short, we were tossed the keys to the $250,000 USD R-GT. We ended up spending approximately an hour correcting the mis-educated Volkswagen representatives with an indepth tour of the vehicle.

Perhaps one day, I'll visit the museum in Germany and tell them that my friends built her.