My trusted mower had been with our family for many years. Unfortunately, as true as its heart was, age got the better part of the mower and it didn't wake up from its winter slumber. After honouring its accomplishments over the years, we disposed it and went looking for its successor.
Now, my property is a pie-shaped lot, so the backyard is fairly wide and the front yard isn't too shabby either. Our yard isn't very big, but it definitely isn't small. We needed something that can live up to the task.
Shopping for a mower was an interesting experience. I was surprised by the selection of electric lawnmowers available. There were a lot of advertisements trying to get people to move to electric mowers to reduce pollution. Unfortunately, I was caught with the dilemma of the environmentally friendly option vs the tried and tested option. I didn't know whether the electric mowers were powerful enough and in today's wireless world, I didn't like the idea of dragging a cord behind me. Cordless versions had the issue the rechargeable battery dying after a while. I needed a mower that can last for years, so with much reluctance, I made the executive decision to go with gas mower early on. :(
After some debate, I settled on Cub Cadet CC-550SP. I was leaning towards cheaper push models, but this self-propelled version was only CDN$50 more. This model got very good online reviews too.
After giving this machine a spin, the self-propelling feature is so awesome. I'm literally just walking the machine while using a little effort to guide its direction. The single drive speed is a limitation, as I could used slower speeds when navigating around corners and edges. However, I can make do by turning off the drive mode and using the lawn mower as a push mower in these situations. All in all, after a single use, I'm in love with this machine. I still hate mowing the lawn though.
Update (May 19, 2007): After using CC-550 SP for a few weeks, I have a better feel for the mower now. It's definitely not as great and super as its initial impressions, but it's still a very decent mower.
Pros:
- Auto propulsion system is really helpful, though the single speed is a little difficult to maneuver at times.
- The wheels and bearings are smooth. Effortless gliding across lawn.
- 19" wide. While it is just 2" smaller than the typical 21" mowers, the missing inches makes the blade holding noticeably smaller.
- Mulching slightly wet grass is problematic. The smaller blade assembly makes mulched grass easily caught in the holding. I've had the engine stall on me a few times due to this.
- The motor is ridiculously hard to start after a stall. I thought the motor died on me when I couldn't start it. My older mower never had this problem.
Spring is definitely here, as Paramount Canada's Wonderland is opening this weekend! I'm not getting a season's pass though. :) With the recent discussion on amusement parks and roller coasters, I remembered that I had promised several people my Superman: Ride of Steel video from Six Flags. So last night, I finally dug out my backup CD's and found the clip. Coincidentally, yesterday was four years to the day from when the video was shot.
The video was shot from the first row of Superman: Ride of Steel from the former Six Flags Darien Lake. Some quick formalities - for Kabitzin and Catnipped - "The following program contains scenes of violence. Viewer discretion is advised." Everyone else - Enjoy!
For those who want to appreciate the speed of the roller coaster, this is a picture taken from the initial incline. The coaster traveled quite a distance in a short time.
I kind of wish I had blogged about the trip back in the days. Looking back at the picture and videos, only selected memories are floating up from that trip. Toyo in a disabled / smoking bumper car (He took the last one in the corner!) was definitely the highlight. I would post the video, but need Toyo's permission first. We spent quite a bit of money on darts getting those "Tweety in a Cage" prizes. Of course, there was also Toyo with his candy necklace.
In other semi-related news, while sifting through the CD's, I found this GEM. The infamous ISPI GUM video! Shot in the same year at Magic Mountain. lol. I-spy I-spy.
When it comes to youtube, I'm still quite a newbie. However, today, I got my first spam message from some guy telling me to post my Superman video to motiono.com. lol. No thanks.
A few hours late, but better late than never....
Yuks Yuks is an international stand-up comedy chain with clubs in most major Canadian cities. Of all the comedy venues in Toronto, Yuks Yuks is probably the most well-known one, with Second City a close..second (they picked the wrong name). Attended their 7:30pm show on Saturday night (April 28th), featuring Glen Foster, or better known as That Canadian Guy.
I must be getting too old... I can hardly remember any of the jokes. The first act was performed by this guy named Mike with a Maple Leafs hat. He sucked. Didn't like much of his stuff. The second act was by this Latin American woman. She was pretty awesome - a lot of jokes on "Canadian-ness" and Canadian ways. "When I walk around Toronto and say I'm from Latin America, everyone takes it naturally. When I go back to my motherland and say I'm a Canadian, people ask, WTF is a Canadian? What can I tell them? We like beavers tails?" She went off and discussed many other minorities related jokes. Third act was the return of our host, and Professor Mike (1st act guy). Professor Mike would teach our host how to respond to heckles. The audience would yell out a heckle to the host, the host consults Professor Mike on how to respond. The audience is asked to repeat the heckle then the host will reply in kind. Got the typical heckles like "You suck", "Get out", etc. The best one was some guy yelling, "I hate your sweater!!!". The host turned to the professor, discussed a little to come up with a response. The host then asked the guy to repeat his heckle. "I LOVE your sweater!!!". The host just stood dumbfounded for a second, then took off his sweater and tossed it to the guy. Later on in the show, the host came back onto the stage wearing a rain jacket over his sweater. "It's getting too cold!". lol.
The main feature of the show was, of course, That Canadian Guy. He apparently did some Comedy Network Special. I think I've heard of him, but cannot recall. He wore this shirt with dozens and dozens of red maple leaves. I want one. His finale act covered many topics that are dear to every Canadian, such as political correctness, environment, frenchies in Quebec, etc. "I never understand why people still say 'Cowboys and Indians' today.. that's so politically incorrect. We should be saying 'Cowpeople and Indians', there are Cowgirls too, you know." "I don't understand why people complain about Canada's inaction with global warming... What exactly is wrong with Canada getting warmer by a few degrees?!?" "Nature is always in balance... Warmer climate means fewer animals survive... but the endangered species list will also get smaller as they go extinct.... fewer animals, fewer endangered species, always in perfect balance." Amsterdam was also the subject of many jokes. Comedians must love their weed and prostitutes. Must visit there one day.
Overall, the show was so-so. Good laughter, good fun, but could have been better. I'd say 70% of the material was gold. 30% was coal. But laughter is the best medicine and the evening very enjoyable.
A freakish storm swept through the GTA yesterday afternoon. At around 4pm, my boss and I were chatting, then all of a sudden, my boss exclaimed: WTF! The sky turned uber dark and 5 minutes later, the winds and rain picked up. The winds were so strong that the you can see sheets of rain flying by, similar to what you see on TV with hurricanes. An hour later, the sun was out again!
During the storm, my neighbourhood suffered some damage. The power was out due to downed power lines (didn't get power back until 12 hours later - 4am). A decent sized tree had toppled at a property several houses down from mine, crushing some dude's backyard fence in the process. Fortunately, it was only his fence and not his house. -_-;
Since the weather was so nice outside in the evening - the sun was out, the air was crisp and fresh - a lot of people were out strolling through the neighbourhood. Kids were out in full force - in their bikes, playing pick-up hockey, etc. I haven't felt this overwhelming sense of civic life in so long. Had hot pot for dinner, since only the portable gas stove worked. And yeah, I missed both HEROES and 24. :(
Sorry to worry some folks with my lack of online presence. Contrary to popular belief, I had a blackout - I did not get blacked out!!
Haven't published a post in a while... Things have been super busy and writing about my trip is sucking up the little blogging time I have. I found that blogging about trips has been quite difficult. It's not really that I don't want to blog about them, but there's just so much I want to put down. Given the scope of these posts, they are big time investments. I've had to essentially force myself to expand these posts by one paragraph a night to keep things going.
However, I discovered the true wonders of reading one's old posts when I dug up my Cat Cradle's review from a few years ago, after hearing the news of Vonnegut's passing. It's pretty cool to read your past thoughts and activities from almost a 3rd person/fresh perspective. Extra motivation for me to preserve the trip memories in writing.
I do have one thing to rant about. Why don't digital cameras have some rudimentary gyroscopes to automatically rotate your picture based on your camera's orientation when you took the shot? I spent at least 1.5 hours going through my trip pictures just to rotate them properly. A very simple innovation that can save avid photographers much grunt work. Now you all know why I took so long to get the ShanDong pictures uploaded. -_-;
I have more things to rant about, but it's 1:39AM already. I'll finish off with the wise words of the night, spoken by a very wise and smart lady: "[One] can be stupid, as long as [one is] happy." Cheers m8s!
ETA: Wiselady corrected me. She meant to say: "one can feel happy as long as he/she is *stupid*". lol.