Amusingly, there are currently no Canadian or American dollars in my wallet, and those are the only currencies that you can spend at every store in Canada (although these days most will take American only at face value due to its weakness). I don't really know why it makes me happy — maybe it's a “virtual travel” thing, or maybe it's fantasies of being a supersecret-agent — but my wallet contains quite a few different currencies right now, all with specific memories attached:
Sad day for me, I've put my Manta Montage on eBay.
Other than that, let me quickly catch-up — Badur and I have spent far too much time in the last week over at the BME co-lo. Here's a photo of our server room neighbors (they do email solutions I think)… Their setup is much, much more impressive than ours so I'm posting a picture of it instead of ours. I don't know if that's a violation of the intense security at the facility… I hope not!
Oh, and I also got to see Orbax and make plans for the (delayed) release of his book and DVD.
Last night I had a nice Ethiopian food supper at Lalibela with Blair and Ryan (who had the sense to order Bedele which I'd not had before). My favorite thing about being in a big city is access to food and people of all kinds and cultures.
As a point of trivia, my agent also had paperwork from another house… on Larratt Lane (and it's not a common name). I had no idea there was a street with that name here. Unfortunately the car was too dark at the time to take a clear picture.
Since I probably can't get my Manta Montage into Canada (quirky import laws on this sort of car), I'm going to have to sell it… It's running well and at this point the linkage is fixed. With a touch of body work and a new interior this is a show winning car. It's not a VW kit — this is a custom tube chassis with a 350 V8 mated to a Porsche 911 transmission. It should easily do 250 kph.
The car is currently plated in Illinois, and should be street legal in every state in the USA. I'll probably put it on eBay in the next day or two (very sad), but I first wanted to give anyone reading this on IAM or Zentastic the opportunity to take it. I'd consider letting it go for as little as $13k US (not negotiable). Depending on where you're located, shipping could be arranged.
If you are interested message or write me now; include any questions you have, your location, and your phone number please.
Well, right now my references are being checked for the house, and I'm told it's “99.9%” confirmed… although I've seen 0.1% probabilities come true before, so my fingers are not yet fully uncrossed. Assuming it's a go I'll have to head over to the bank tomorrow and get my first and last and all that, go get renter's insurance, and get something on the road to drive.
I think I may have to sell my Manta Montage which is very sad… There's a good chance that it can't be imported into Canada*, and the total cost of upgrading the IAM server and drive array is going to be between $17,000 and $25,000**. Since I basically run the site for free (most members are at least partially free, and at $0.05 a day for those that aren't, it's not really a break-even project financially), I'm going to have to come up with that money from somewhere. It will be a depressing day for me, but, as in other matters where I have no real choice in the matter, I'll try and make the best of it.
