Richmond to Waterfront Station

Ever since it entered service earlier this month, I finally had a chance to give the Canada Line a first ride today! As I was searching for "Mastering the Art of French Cuisine" by Julia Child at the Chapters in Richmond, the self-checking counter showed a 1 copy available at the Robson branch. And so, a "cling" on my head that I will take the skytrain from Richmond to Downtown Robson St.

Actually, the Canada line didn't give me such a good reputation as I always had trouble on the previously built Millennium and Expo lines. I mean, the instructions were pretty unclear. I could travel alone on the subways in Paris, which I dun even read French. But, I could went to the wrong directions 3 times on the Millennium and Expo lines, which all directions are in English. Anyways, the Canada Line was just amazing! The direction signs and announcements were just as clear as the ones in Asia. Quick and easy, very convenient!

Though I was supposed to go to Robson, I still went to the last stop, Waterfront. The reason for that was just to see how far it is to the SFU Harbour Center campus. After all, I will be taking the skytrain to the Harbour Campus next semester every Tues and Thurs. I got off the train and rushed to the SFU campus for the purpose of using the library computers. I logon and went on Facebook. Why? Well, on the train, I suddenly remembered that the Roses on my farm will be done soon. And yes, I play Happy Farm on Facebook and I am addicted to it. BTW I seriously hate those who steals my flowers :@ ! Anyways, I harvest my roses, and thank god no one stole them yet. I walked over to the Chapters on Robson and unfortunately, the lady told me that the available copy showed on the website is a missing copy in the store. =.=" Fortunately, I found a copy on Amazon for just $22 (more than half the price at Chapters). The reason for going to chapters was just to flip the pages and see how the inside pages are like. Anyways, it was still a cool trip. The train ride reminded me of the days in HK, riding the MTR everyday and listening to the iPod while reading a book/magazine. I think I will be back to those days starting next semester :)

2nd Boeing Visit x 1st Posting

The trip to the Boeing Factory at Everett was just a blast! Though it was my 2nd visit, it was still one of those trip that I got all excited about and not want to leave.

Driving cross the border to US had always been frustrating . . .

The estimated time on the electronic bill board near the end of Hwy 99 was 50 mins. Well, we ended up getting stuck in line for 1.5 hours. Seriously, I don't get why the government would invest so much of our tax money on the stupid online system and electronic bill board while they are not even close to accurate. While my friend browsed the border website for the estimated time using his iPhone, it said no delay =.=" These stupid estimate system don't even add value for us. There is really no difference for having or not having these estimated stuff . . .

Anyways, we were quite behind schedule and we arrived at the Boeing Factory by around 12 pm. The moment I drove into the parking, a beautiful JAL B777 was landing right infront of us on the runway. The next spectacular moment was the ANA B787-8 that was parked beside the runway! My long wait to see the real B787 . . . ! Then, far away, parked another B787 with the simplified livery (for the purpose of flight test). It was just surprising that I saw 2 of them, as I always expected to see at most one.

As the tour bus drove us into the restricted gates, we passed by the ANA B787 that we saw at the parking (thatz the 2nd B787 built btw) and a B777-F parked right beside the ANA 787 (thatz the 1st B777 freighter ever built btw). The most surprising moment came when I realized that the tour actually brings us not only to the B747 hanger (which was the rundown of my last visit), but also to the B787 and B777 hangers ! As we entered the B747 hangers, the guide told us that the last B747-400 just rolled out. I was surprised that I actually get to see the B747-8! So in the hangar, we saw the 1st B747-8 passenger and freighters on the production line being assembled. Interestingly, I realized that the Cargo version had a shorter upper deck.

As we leave the B747s, I was already all excited about whats coming up next on the rundown, the B777 and B787 hangers. Interestingly, both products share the same hanger =.=" My heart was just so excited, so excited that I just had to YELL OUT LOUD IN MY HEART. Well, you know I had to pretend to stay calm. Otherwise I will not only freak my friends out, but also the other 30 people within our tour group LoL! And so, we took the engines elevator up to L4, and "ta daa," lots and lots of B787s sitting on the production line ! On the 777 side, there was the Emirate, done with its engines and ready to roll out. Next behind the Emirates was CX's 29th 777, waiting for its engines to be plugged to the wings. And, there were a few more behind in the process of assembling. On the B787 side, there were 2 ANAs and a few with the Boeing livery. Most of them had their wings kinda in the process of fixing up at the attachments. I would assume thats related to the recent wing structural problem that the Boeing discovered. Well, I do hope that they can fix it on time and have its delayed first flight by end of 2009 (as announced).

Anyways, it was a 90 min tour after all, and we had to leave . . . And you realized that I dun have any pictures at the hangers . . . Well, it really sucked to disallow cams, cells, etc during the tour . BUT, we did took some shots outside the restricted gates.

Today, I finally went for Julie & Julia. I have to say that I really enjoyed it and its another movie that I really love after Ratatouille. With this, I realized that I do enjoy cooking related movies a lot! Probably its because I really love to eat LoL! Highly recommend it! Well, but if you are those who enjoys those actions and stabbings and killings movies, still watch it but dun expect it to be "Exciting." While watching those trailer previews prior to the movie, theres this upcoming movie, one of those ridiculous movie that talks about the end of Earth and human beings, blah blah, with buildings all clashing down the sea flooding the Earth and the attacks to kill all humans. I seriously dun get why people would want to make such movies? They really want the Earth to be torn down and we will all be killed? And, they think that we humans dun have enough worries on careers, families, money, etc, and now they wanna add another worry about the Death of all human by 2012? Anyways, only my opinion . . . I know these are just Movies . . . but I just think that movies can affect our thinking a lot . . .! Imagine a kid watching this movie, or even the trailer. Kid: Mom we will all die soon?? Mom: No son, its just a movie! Kid: But, the movie says so . . .! Mom: Its just a movie, its not real! Kid: But the people predicted that it will happen . . . =.=" and on and on with the creative imaginations of kids . . . making them worried and confused that the World will end? =.="

(ANA 787-8 . Also the 2nd 787 built)

B787 in the simplified livery for Flight Test purpose