I have decided that Canada is dumb. Not that Canadians are dumb, but Canada is. They don't have real freeways, when they do road construction the lane modifications don't make sense, stuff is way too expensive, and they are WAY too concerned about the environment.
Now I know that these are bold statements, so let me explain:
My father in law got the police condo this last week in Whistler. It is beautiful country, don't get me wrong. We left our house at about 6pm and got on the I-5 and drove straight up to the border. It was easy, no problems. Then we got to the border and things went downhill from there. After we got through the border we stayed on the road that I-5 turns into, Hwy 99. Little did I know that this poor excuse for a highway goes straight into downtown Vancouver and that following it through the city takes special driving skills. The signs that tell you where to turn don't give you any warning, they just appear at the intersection you are supposed to turn at, so if you are in the wrong lane, you're stuck. They are also positioned high and in the trees and are small, making them hard to read or see even if you ARE in the correct lane. All of this=dumb.
Once we finally navigated our way through Vancouver and again found ourselves on some semblance of a highway, they were doing construction. They are trying to improve the roads for the Olympics next year. That is all fine and dandy, but the way that the lanes are marked for the construction is dumb. There is no warning that you are about to be redirected into a new lane. The cones just all of a sudden veer of into a new direction. Trying to stay in a lane is difficult enough, but trying to stay in the correct lane is harder still. I had at one point a few cars behind me following closely to make sure that they were in the same lane that I was, and when I decided I didn't want a bunch of people behind me on this dangerous road I put my hazards on and pulled off to the side of the road between some cones. The dumb people behind me kept on following me and ran over a bunch of cones before realizing that I wasn't leading them through the cone maze anymore.
The expensive part isn't as much a gripe about being expensive as it is about the differences between currency. The monetary values of our currency are so close that Canadians will take our currency instead of their own, but not calculate the difference between the two. In other words, they charge us more and that gets expensive. Do Americans accept Canadian currency as legal tender here in the US? Nope. But the Canadians will steal from you without a second thought. Dumb.
The last thing isn't so bad. Being concerned about the environment is a good thing. But if you are Canadian, it's like you HAVE to be concerned about the environment. All of the activities that they have for you to do up in Whistler all talk as much about how environmentally friendly they are as much as they do ABOUT THE THING THEY ARE ADVERTISING! I am pretty sure that they think I wouldn't give them a second look unless I knew that the brochure I was reading about them was printed on 100% recycled paper using 100% biodegradable vegetable based inks using printers in buildings only powered by wind power. Oh, and they also purchased a bunch of carbon credits for you, just in case your trip up to their activity made you burn any gasoline. No wonder they have to charge you so much... DUMB!
So if you are Canadian and reading this, sorry, but your country is a little less awesome than mine is.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Updates
News about the property for those who care:
1: The property is still there.
2: The city of Federal Way says it's not all there.
3: King County says it is all there
4: All the other maps I've looked at say it is there.
5: Even if it isn't all there, there is still enough of it there to build on.
6: The first environmental expert we talked to came with good references.
7: She didn't sound very enthusiastic about helping us small timers.
8: The second firm we talked to had connections with the city.
9: We hired the second firm.
10: They will look at our lot on Tuesday.
11: We might talk to Stanbrooke Homes on Wednesday or Thursday.
1: The property is still there.
2: The city of Federal Way says it's not all there.
3: King County says it is all there
4: All the other maps I've looked at say it is there.
5: Even if it isn't all there, there is still enough of it there to build on.
6: The first environmental expert we talked to came with good references.
7: She didn't sound very enthusiastic about helping us small timers.
8: The second firm we talked to had connections with the city.
9: We hired the second firm.
10: They will look at our lot on Tuesday.
11: We might talk to Stanbrooke Homes on Wednesday or Thursday.
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