Rant Report
First thing first, I had an absolute blast in Vancouver meeting all the folks over there. It is a shame that we had to part ways so soon. Really must meet up with folk again.
I’ll save folk the details of the flight there, save it to say that over 10 hours combined on a plane in economy class is not a nice experience. Food was ok but the thing that got me was the lack of leg space. Anyway…
Customs in Canada was the first…interesting…part of the trip. To get into Canada you need to fill out a form declaring what you are bringing in, why you are there etc. Foolishly, I ticked yes to bringing in weapons (packed a multitool) which got my stuff searched. Amusingly, the customs lady was not too bothered about the multitool, possibly due to not finding the blades on it. She was more concerned about what I meant by survivalism and what my arduino was. Thankfully she let me pass. Managed to get a taxi (expensive) to the hostel, checked in and then tried to crash for the night.
Managed to get a few hours sleep, going back in time messes with the head a bit. I had arranged to meet with Ephoy from the forums at a cafe somewhere. After an hour of getting my bearings (had to turn around twice) I got myself to the cafe early. Ephoy showed up shortly after. We introduced ourselves and then started talking about stuff.
The cafe, for those who are interested, is called Subeez and is located on a corner of Homer street and Smithe Street. They do a fantastic classic breakfast, main courses are somewhat lacking though. It proceeded to be the main meeting and hang out place for the whole trip.
We took the skytrain to a shopping center a good distance away. I too noticed something that Pig Monkey noticed when he made the trip up a couple years ago; there is a place to pay for the ticket but no place to have it checked. No conductors, no barriers, nothing. You could just walk onto the skytrain and get off wherever you wanted. In fact, after cruising around the shopping center we did just that.
The rest of the time is somewhat of a blur. At some point we agreed to meet at the Loose Moose, which has a strange policy of needing to eat to get drinks. Yugosaki and Halloween both showed up shortly after, followed by Icehawk. Good times were had, chatting about random crap.
Next day was more of the same, met up with BSV shortly before the new year, spent the time on the streets laughing at the drunks.
The day after, we had breakfast in Subeez (again), wandered around for a bit and decided to make a pilgrimage to Dave’s army surplus. Ye gods that was a trek, all the snow and the streets not having any consistent naming scheme meant that the trip took hours. However, we arrived and took a good look at the wares for sale. I picked up a new EDC pack, a 5.11 Rush 24 – which I gather is a medic pack – and a no name pouch similar to a Maxpedition 3×5 but bigger and cheaper. Yugo and BSV also bought some stuff and we trekked back. Eventually we met up with Avagdu, Hatterofmadness and Pig Monkey. More comparison of kit ensured with an amusing incident of having boots on the table. I’m sure we pissed off the wait staff.
Finally the 3rd of Jan rolled around. After a time, we got to the theatre for the main event. Photos were taken, Cimmerian was filming folk. Almost at the last minute, Alex Peake and Brognought both found their way in.
Bloody hell those two are tall.
We got ushered in to the hall to see a slideshow of amusing images of the Rant team. After a while, the lights dimmed and Server’s prayer was played over the sound system. Sean came out garbed in robes and sat on the floor. This was the new Afternow episode that was promised. Needless to say, lots of video devices were pointed at him, including my phone. Not sure if my vid has uploaded yet, besides the quality is very poor. Avagdu says he got good audio so I’m gonna steal that off him.
After the new show, the lights went off, Sean got up and promptly fell over.
Cimm: “You ok? What happened?”
Sean: “My leg fell asleep.”
Laughter and applause soon followed.
The main video of the event then rolled, going over the history of Rant which was interesting and gave a few hints of what was about to come.
The Q&A with the WhatTheHell?!? cast was awesome. Prizes were given out and I was fortunate to find one of the 5 hidden SD cards under my seat with the main video as well as a comic. I also found out that I had traveled the 4th most distance. Ephoy was 3rd (being from Denmark) but 2 Australians (figures) took the 2nd and 1st prize.
After all the fun and games were over, we had food someplace, probably Subeez yet again. I had to go back to my hostel to drop off some pointy things and my laptop then we made for the club, Sanctuary.
Alex Peake was charged with navigation which…was less than optimal. But hey, we got there and I managed to shake hands with both Cimm and Sean.
I will say one thing about Sean. I suspect the only time he stops talking is when he is asleep. I swear the man could go on for hours. Though I suspect the drinks helped. He dropped some more info about Patrolling series 3, namely the idea of “tactical thinking”.
The rest of the time was more blurry. Folk had to disappear, the group shrank quite rapidly. I too had to leave on the 5th to get my plane.
10 more hours in economy. Joy. Thankfully, getting back into the UK was a lot less hassle, look at the passport and waved me on. Had more trouble getting my case off the baggage conveyer.
So there you have it. My jaunt to Vancouver. Would I do it again? If I had the money, in a heartbeat. I look forward to the day when we can meet up again.
Back
As you should have gathered by now, I’m back from my jaunt to Vancouver. Jetlagged with man-flu but it was so worth it. Met up with a lot of cool folk and I am so glad I went. Will have a report up as time permits, got coursework due for uni on Monday so I need to get on with that.
I am also making more tweaks to the site. If you come to my domain directly, you may notice that you are not there now. I have whipped up a script to check if Trinity (my main pc and server) is up and if so, redirect to the site on her, if not, you get pointed to the livejournal which is a backup.
This is part of my plan to reduce dependance on systems outside of my control. Yes, I can get 99% uptime with a fully managed system but I cannot do whatever I want. Having full access to the hardware and software as well as minimaising the hosting costs is a good trade-off for some downtime. I will still keep the domain up for the library, there is no way I am hosting 30gb of stuff on an 8mb adsl line.
And I’m off
By the time you see this I will be on my way to the airport.
Net access will be sporadic, if any. You can try and contact me by various means: email, twitter or the various IM protocols I am on. I will also attempt to get a Canadian SIM card for my phone, will post the number here for folk to get in touch. Will only be good for the time I am in Canada so I’m not to bothered about having it on the web. Those who have my UK number, well thats gonna be useless as my phone will be in offline mode before getting on the plane.
I’ll try to update when I can, most likely will use Twitter for quick updates as well as organising things with folk in Canada.
Almost time
Less than 4 days until I leave for Canada. Getting excited, my first international trip on my own. Should be interesting.
Stuff still to pack:
- Toothbrush
- Boots
- Maybe another pair of trousers
Polls widget
I have installed a polls plugin on this site. Not sure how often I will use it. Edit: this will not work when crossposted to LiveJournal, if you have a burning desire to vote then come to my real site.
I do have a poll up though regarding what computer I should bring to the RantMeet. My main laptop, Resistor is a fair bit of a beast, has everything I need but is a bit bulky and I do have concerns about theft. My EeePC is a lot smaller and lighter but lacks in battery and storage space, not good for entertainment on the plane. The other option is to bring neither and go “primitive” as it were. I would only be relying on my phone’s WiFi (not gonna do roaming except to get in contact with folk).
So internet, what is your suggestion?
[poll id="2"]
More Vancouver planning
I have booked the accommodation for the Vancouver trip at new year. I will be staying in at the HI Vancouver Downtown hostel from the 30th of December until the 5th of January. There is apparently free WiFi which I will make much use of while I’m there.
The interesting part is I will be staying in a dorm with possibly 3 other people that I don’t know. Hopefully my social skills have increaced.
Got my ticket!
I have just bought my ticket to the 10th anniversary RantMeet. I guess i’m committed now. Need to really start saving for the trip.
Canada, Eh?
Anyone fancy a trip to Canada over the new year? I think it could be quite cheap if we organise it soon. Found a hotel with rooms at £30 per night (need to find out if that is per person or not). I’ll be going for the 10th Anniversary RantMeet but would be doing other touristy things as well. I plan to be no longer than a week but it is all negotiable. I am going to make a serious attempt at this. Will be working a lot of overtime to help pay for the trip.
So, who’s with me?
