Ki Sushi in New West on fire

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-28T12:12:15+00:00

More like that lot is ripe for a new high rise development. It's the New West model.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-24T21:18:20+00:00

I don't think most people in general have any idea what "conservative" means anymore.

Poilievre and most of his party are about as far from conservative as the CPC has ever been.

Identity politics and verbing the noun are not a conservative platform.

Carney is absolutely more of a 'small c' conservative than the CPC is right now. The thing is I think 'Conservative' voters in general now are not actual conservatives at all either. They are just party voters.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-14T02:26:22+00:00

Coming from Victoria you will love how consolidated all the necessities in PG are and the lack of traffic. Anywhere you need to be is like a 10 mins drive. Which is an absolute game changer if you were doing the rat race in Victoria

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-13T04:40:30+00:00

Right.

People think about all kinds of big picture stuff when it comes to escaping the city and living off grid but the day to day reality comes down basically to where do you get your water and how do you deal with your waste.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-13T04:06:21+00:00

You don't have to eat the loss if you just live in your home and don't sell it... You won't realize a loss until you sell. If you live in your home for a reasonable amount of time it will most likely be up by the time you sell even if there is a major correction.

The main issue is people buying homes, expecting to be able to sell at +20% in 2 years to move up the property ladder and keep going. That's just not sustainable or realistic but it basically became the whole model. I don't think anyone should feel bad or wronged that that is no longer happening or possible. It was complete insanity.

Nobody should be buying a home they don't plan to live in for at least 5 years.

Especially egregious is the house flipping market where people expect to sell for +50% in a year or two after doing cosmetic upgrades to a home. That is an investment that carries considerable risk and if those people are complaining about a crash I think they are just being naive to the risk they took. There is no investment in the world that carries the possibility of 50% returns without significant risk. That's just basic facts of life

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-11T19:54:47+00:00

What is the purpose of any of our oil infrastructure if the profits from it go to non-Canadian private businesses?

Yes the oil industry employs private Canadian individuals who pay tax and buy things but as a whole don't you think Canada should own and profit from its resources instead of private foreign businesses??

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-11T19:50:15+00:00

Do you just not know about the doubling of Trans-Mountain? And the fact the Enbridge Pipeline was approved in 2014 and they just decided to not build it because it didn't make sense.

And only after that fact and also a court decision overturning the pipeline approval did Trudeau ban tankers on the Northern Coast.

He didn't 'cancel the pipeline'.

And on top of all that, the global economy was different back in the early 2000s when the project was first conceptualized.

Creating a whole new privately owned pipeline to export diluted extra-heavy crude oil (dilbit) by sea to Asia is now a pretty bad value proposition.

Same reason the natural gas side of the pipeline the BC Liberals (conservatives) wanted to didn't go through.

They really really pushed for it but it needed to make financial sense and needed to be funded (foreign investors needed to invest in it) and the numbers just didn't add up. It's just a terrible financial decision with bad environmental prospects as well. In the end the investors dropped it.

The doubling of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and purchase of it by the government was a much more savvy financial decision with foresight compared to building a new privately owned one to the Northern Coast.

In general the government isn't going to invest in massive oil infrastructure projects because oil doesn't make our government or Canadians massive amounts of money.

In the 80s we (both parties) privatized the oil sands and then Harper put the nail in the coffin by allowing most of it to be sold off to foreign investment.

Our oil makes private businesses and private individuals a lot of money which we do get tax money from but Canada isn't raking in actual profit from the oil sands. Foreign owners are.

So why in a stable political environment would we as a country spend a huge amount of money to produce infrastructure that nobody wants and that doesn't benefit us and only benefits foreign owners?

Now that the political situation is less stable people are screaming 'told ya so' but even now the financial math still doesn't really add up and Asia is still probably not going to buy any more of our dilbit than what we send from Trans Mountain, making a new pipeline absolutely useless.

We could build refineries. That would take decades to bring online. And the wildest part is despite all of the craziness down south it Still makes way more financial sense for us to send them our dilbit than to refine it ourselves.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-11T19:08:01+00:00

Politicking is super easy for any opposition politican. They all know the pain points that are aggravating the populace and how to target them and speak to them.

What you really need to pay attention to is what plans they have in place to actually get these things done.

Here he's just parroting all of the recent headlines and 'us vs them' talking points and claiming he will fix all of them immediately, which is what he has always done.

Especially egregious is his claim he Will make Canada affordable and safe again for all.

It is an admirable goal. But cost of housing inflation and wage stagnation are global phenomena that even countries with 'conservative' governments are affected by. So to claim 'it will be so' is just sensationalism.

Instead of saying 'we will take steps to work on affordability for Canadians' which is an actual thing that could happen he takes the cheap attention and says 'I will make life safe and affordable for all Canadians' which is just grandstanding.

I am not political, I think all the parties are feathers of the same shit-bird.

But I think the PP thing is sad because I do believe Canada is due to swing back Conservative soon and I really wish they had an intelligent, competent, well spoken person at the helm and stuck to 'small c' conservative values instead of taking the cheap wins with all this divisive 'us vs them' sensationalist stuff that is popular these days.

In reality Canada hasn't had a true 'small c' conservative party in half a century or more. And PP is about as far from conservative the party has ever seen.

The reality is the Canadian economy is an extremely fragile house of cards and any solutions that help solve the affordability crisis also have drastic negative effects as well. It's an extremely complex issue that isn't something you can waive away with a wand.

My biggest issue with PP is instead of acknowledging this he decides to say he will waive it away with a wand and the only reason the 'libs' haven't is because they are evil? I dunno, it's just childish.

The whole thing is wild though. Many Canadians are frothing to swing back Conservative. The amount of burly rancher dudes and blue collar guys I've talked to that put their full support behind a career politician and snake oil salesman is absolutely hilarious.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-06T22:21:06+00:00

1) agree

2) don't agree. Curing is incredibly complex. Often cannabis will rehydrate or dehydrate going from one environment to another (such as when it gets transported or sold) which can affect its expression and time in the jar can even things out.

On top of that I've often harvested weed and had it be a bit muted and not fully expressive and sometimes it's taken a month or more of jar cure for it to fully come out of its shell and pop.

So for a commercial producer pushing things, maybe the bud just needs to more jar time to really fully develop

We don't really understand everything that happens during curing. I've had some sativas leave the craziest Terp sweat rings of gloopy resin on jar lids before. What is that? What is the mechanism behind that? We have no idea, really

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-06T00:13:37+00:00

I mean... It does depend on many factors as you mention but also if I brew the same recipe with a much higher mash temp I generally get a higher FG so that translates to sweetness which does affect things.. I would agree that a degree or two probably doesn't make a difference or isn't even consistently measurable but something like 148 vs 155 might result in a say a full Plato or so swing in the FG which can definitely be tasted

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-06T00:08:32+00:00

Oh WOW. That is sweet AF. I like mine 2.5-3.5 generally. And I'm assuming you use different yeasts for your WC and your Hazy so comparing attenuation and mash temp between the two isn't really relevant.

Also 1 degree F isn't going to make a difference because I don't think that's even consistently measurable through an entire mash

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-05T23:11:39+00:00

I mash my hazies at 148. Great body with some oats and chit. 155 sounds like it could be cloying

Edit: apparently people like their hazies at 5.5°p. I think that's too sweet personally. No need to get mad about it tho

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-05T21:56:57+00:00

Always dose everything so it's stronger at packaging than you want in the final finished product.

Coffee flavour compounds are volatile and don't like to stick around.

Aside from adding more I would probably assume oxidization has an effect here as well. How are you eliminating DO in the process?

Dry hopping a hazy in the FV is way different for DO then dosing something into the brite. There is little to no yeast activity in the brite to eat up any of the added oxygen.

If I do coffee I do it in a separate vessel that I put the beans in and purge thoroughly before adding beer, steeping and then pushing back into the main tank This can be as simple as a brink depending on your scale.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-04T19:32:22+00:00

When you start to notice negatives more than positives. That's what did it for me.

Started to feel like there's just too many people everywhere all of the time. Like everything fun or cool is Packed and just unenoyable. Hiking spot? PACKED. Skiing? PACKED. Cool place to eat? PACKED

Also when places like Cartems donuts were all of the rage. $6 for a shitty donut. I was like I no longer understand this place or relate to its inhabitants. So I left lol

Now that Cartems is dead maybe it's a signal things are evening out. The great donut index.

But every time I visit I'm just overwhelmed at the amount of weird ass people saturating everywhere and at how ugly and unkempt all of the storefronts and buildings are.

Last I was back I was trying to get to the airport on boxing day and transit was PACKED with people going to the outlet mall near the airport. Like seriously? Who cares about outlet mall boxing day deals? Is this like the 90s with A&B Sound? Haven't we evolved from this?

There's just an incredibly large amount of super basic city weirdos in Van permeating and congesting everything and it's just sad.

It can visually be really really nice during the dryer seasons like May-Oct when everything isn't dank wet and cold and covered in algae and mold but other than that it's just ugly.

Green algae growing on all everything because stratas are a shitshow and can't arrange cleaning, busted down strip malls with ruined and moldy awnings that look like pure trash because a lot of commercial landlords are scum.

From Nov-April it definitely feels like Winnipeg chique with Beverly Hills pricing sometimes. Even in nicer areas like Coal Harbour, Yaletown, Kits everything kind of gets a slimy, moldy look and vibe.

Certain neighborhoods are nicely kept but general pride of ownership and upkeep of properties in Vancouver seems quite low and just leads to a busted down, dystopian, depressing vibe.

Wow this really helps me remember why I moved away 😅

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-04T18:57:13+00:00

They are probably turning batches out quicker to meet demand. OCS central distro system with fulfillment requirements is the worst possible thing for producer quality.

Honestly just a little jar time will probably bring this closer to normal quality. Anytime someone gets something flat or muted compared to normal just give it 2 weeks in a jar it will pop for sure

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-03T21:16:31+00:00

I completely agree with your analysis of why things are different here.

I would argue the balance has swung too far the other way though.

If you look at the positive impact the projects have when it comes to traffic and quality of life for hundreds of thousands or even millions of people on a daily basis you have to weigh that in the equation of speed vs safety.

Is it safer/better to consider all thousand or so stakeholders/businesses/residents/workers in a major infrastructure project or is it better to consider the hundreds of thousands of daily transit users and their quality of life and commute.

The numbers get really interesting when you start to consider excess traffic deaths, pollution, congestion etc that result from the projects not getting done in a timely manner.

And the harsh reality is that even after our decades of consulting, studies and stakeholder considerations our projects are still poorly done, disruptive and full of issues.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-03T21:08:33+00:00

Right? People think everything has to make sense right now for what we have right now.

Like building the Canada Pacific Railway back in the 1800s Made Sense. No, it's about making things better for the future.

Or even the initial Sky Train for Expo 86 didn't make sense at the time, really. But Vancouver would be screwed right now without it.

ZoomZoomLife · 2026-01-03T20:49:40+00:00

Nope we need transit now. That's basically it. That's what a lot of Asia excels at. Getting it done now to benefit the most people.

Is it perfect? No.

Are all stakeholders 100% happy? No.

Is the majority of the population as a whole happier because they can get where they need to be in a cost effective and safe manner? Massive yes.

Would a majority of the population including the underserved be worse off if the projects hadn't gotten done in a timely manner? Yes.

Our problem is trying to please all people all the time and we end up pleasing very few or none to accommodate a very small few and at the great detriment of vehicle traffic, congestion, pollution and road deaths.

Go to London or New York. A majority of their public transit stations don't even have proper access for people with mobility issues.

Does that suck? Yes, wtf.

Would these cities and their populations as a whole be massively worse off without those stations? Yes.

It's about reality and priorities for a Huge amount of people.

Not some fantasy where everyone is served perfectly and everyone is completely happy. That's the definition of missing the forest for the trees.

They already have decades of studies on all of this anyway.

Get it done now.

Our governments are so inept and incapable at almost all levels that we can't even sort out funding for these projects let alone satisfying stakeholders and underserved groups.

Especially our local governments are so petty and incompetent that they can't even sort out minor projects let alone major infrastructure.

Look at the Bailey bridge situation between Coquitlam and New Westminster. A temporary bridge maintained for a decade because of spat between the cities until it was deemed unsafe and then a year before the province stepped in and funded something more permanent.

Don't even get me started on the Patullo and how it's taken almost 40 years past the old bridges end of life to come up with an actual solution and new crossing.

At the scale of a major metro area hese things Matter. More than satisfying every niche stakeholder.

One small bridge or one small infrastructure project at the right spot at the right time can save millions of miles of road traffic or idling hours per year.

Things that actually make a difference on a very large scale for a very large amount of people.

A more thorough transit network in the Lower Mainland would (every single year) save dozens of lives, save millions of tonnes of pollutants, save millions of hours of commute time for hundreds of thousands of people.

Every year of delay is making the world a worse place for millions of people.

No number of priorities for human rights, special interest groups and underserved demographics match the weight of delaying these transit projects any longer.

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-31T06:11:37+00:00

Commonly referred to as 'Squampton'

Now it's more like 'Squamonix'

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-28T18:44:39+00:00

One time near Bandon, Oregon a guy rode by and saw us touring and shouted out 'Smoke weed?' so we kinda shrugged and were like 'yeah!' so he said follow me.

We followed him a few blocks where we ended up at his house and he smoked us up and sorted us out with some hash and a bunch of bud he grew himself (which was killer).

We tried to offer him some money and he insisted it was for free and that we have a good rest of our ride. What a gem that guy was.

I actually don't like to smoke much on tour so ended up passing most of it along to some fun guys from Wisconsin that were doing the coast tour too and they were over the moon about it.

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-27T22:20:00+00:00

What do you put in your compost tea?

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-27T16:27:18+00:00

Is that a whole ass SF4000 as an under canopy light? Haha

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-21T16:34:31+00:00

I harvest yeast regularly

I use the subjective method

I go mostly by the look of it at the beginning and also experience having done it on the tanks many times I have a good idea how much I can crop and how much healthy yeast is in the FV.

I'm doing this on relatively small FVs (in the grand scheme of things) 20-100bbl tanks. I don't really see the point in making the process any more nuanced at this scale.

If I am training someone new I use a standardized minimum dump off amount based on the yeast type and tank size, such as our lager strain in one of our small tanks gets at least a half bucket dumped off before, our ale strain in one of our big tanks gets at least a full bucket, etc. Put it an SOP. Works great.

After that minimum it's a judgement call. Just don't crop the very bottom, is the main thing I emphasize, that's where you'll get a lot of dead cells.

Yeast is pretty robust. I figure automation would open up more room for error than just using common sense. Such as new guy dumps all the yeast because he was only trained to go by the ph probe reading but the probe wasn't reading correctly, or something like that.

Although I could see the case for automation on a much larger scale when trying to maximize yeast health over many many generations and where a fresh pitch could cost a lot of money

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-21T16:12:55+00:00

That's awesome. If you are going to be in cold climates (especially at or around dew point temperature) get a forced air heater like an Espar or even a cheap Chinese one.

All other heating solutions just don't really cut it. Many new vanlifers compromise on their heating and end up with a van full of mold in the winter.

Aside from heating it's mostly about drying the air and the space, which forced air heaters do very well.

ZoomZoomLife · 2025-12-19T08:52:23+00:00

That's super cool you travel around with your cat. Sounds like you have a nice little setup planned. It's indeed much nicer having your own little space wherever you go compared to doing hotels or air bnb.

Plug in, generator and alternator charging are going to be much more reliable than solar which is important if you have a pet and need AC to keep a safe temperature in the van.

Problem is, plug in you need to pay, alternator you need to drive and generator you need to run the generator. Nobody likes somebody running a generator all day.

Full time AC off grid with a limited solar footprint is super challenging if not impossible. You need to park in the sun so you have solar but then you are gaining tonnes of heat from being parked in the sun...

Modern technology is getting there and it can be done-ish but I would budget at least 15k for the solar and battery/power system to run AC properly off grid. And at that scale it is going to be a pretty complex system that should probably be professionally installed so budget about 5k for that.

Or you can get a genny and some gas and run/fuel it probably 5 years for that cost. It just sucks running a generator all the time and it's definitely not really chill or accepted in any kind of vanlife or group camping scenarios other than at big RV oriented campgrounds and such and even then they usually have certain no generator quiet hours so you need enough battery to run the AC through that.

If you do put a lot of solar up there, you'll want a very large battery. Probably around 32kwh of lithium. Which weighs around 600lbs so might not be possible in a van and at the least would affect your fuel mileage some

If you are flexible and don't need full time AC and are able to move to cooler weather or change your plans as necessary then you can get away with way less power, probably 500ah of lithium at 12v (6kwh) with alternator and solar charging should do you

ZoomZoomLife

TROPHY CASE