Destructive Chaos

All fixed up!

Well as some of you may already know, my blog has not been working properly for the past few months. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been able to post. Anyway, it turns out that one of the plugins that I was using did not agree with the update I did on the site months ago and it’s only now that I fix it.

 Alot has happened since I last posted. First things first. I killed my baby. It was horrible! (if you don’t know by now, my baby - is my car.) I was driving home from school when all the sudden it died on me.

I took her to Canadian Tire and they told me it was my fuel pump that had quit on me. (CND Tire isn’t so good at mechanics I think). They quoted me $700 to fix my broken fuel pump for me. Of course, being me, and always looking for the cheapest way to fix my problems I took my car home. I dropped in a new fuel pump and the car still did not start.

After some more tests we figured it might be the PCM that was acting up or fried. So I went online to find a new one to drop in. I bought a Mopar Performance PCM and dropped it in, still no go.

Finally we check the fuses again. (I know, it’s the first thing you should always do. The thing is, we thought Canadian Tire would have the brains to do that before me). We dropped a new 20A fuse in and magicly the car starts.

Now my problem isn’t solved by a simple fuse. No, of course not. It’s never that simple. We took the car for a drive and it died 30 minutes later after we bought 91 grade gas (new computer needs it). We called a tow truck and now my car is sitting in my drive way again.

We’ve narrowed the problem down to a short in the wiring somewhere. The only problem being that the little fuel pump fuse seems to be connected to everything that is of importance. Tomorrow we’ll be swapping back in the stock computer to try and get some error codes from the sensors. The new computer needs to be plugged into a scanner to work and I don’t feel like spending another $150 right now.

So that’s what I’ve been up to for the past few months. If you have any ideas on what could be my problem. I’ll be happy to hear it! I’m looking for all the help I can get. The guys over at Neon Canada have been great too!

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Welcome to Sunscape!

 The start!

 Let me just start by saying, my vacation was amazing! Going to the Dominican Republic was the expericence of a life time! I’ll start from the begining when we left Medicine Hat.

Flying out of Medicine Hat was the worst part of the flying. Not because there was confusion about the passports (that we didn’t have). It was because of the little tiny plane we got to ride in. This plane fits 18 people in it and everyone gets a window seat. Air Canada Jazz is great if you like flying in a tin can.

The Calgary Stop-n’-go!

When we landed in Calgary the landing was amazing, it was shacky and all over the place, you know it’s bad when the pilots are even laughing. It’s true, they broke out in laughter when we touched down.

There isn’t much I can say about Calgary, we didn’t stay long.

After landing in Calgary we had a 30 minute wait to hop a plane to the Toronto airport.

Toronto Here comes Ian!

 The landing in Toronto was easy because it was a normal sized airplane. The Toronto Airport is huge! We stayed over night in Toronto, we met up with my Auntie Kim, and went to the CN Tower. I stood on the glass floor and we took pictures of our feet. Mine are the white shoes!

 We got First Class tickets to the Dominican so that ment we could hang out in the VIP Lounge, in the top of the airport. This VIP area was big. I mean, you could even take a shower while you were waiting for your plane. I decided I didn’t need a shower so I sat down at their computer area and talked to Jaga for a bit.

Me, being how I am, I took pictures of everything in there. I got some pretty wierd looks from the high class business people. I didn’t care though, I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to go to that area of the airport again.

After waiting in the Toronto airport for 3 hours, we were finally on our way to the DR! The flight was pretty boring - I played my PSP and watched the in flight movie. Did you know, in first class they give you a hot towel to whipe your face?

We’re here!

 When we finally landed in the Dominican Republic it was about 9:30pm and dark - so the pictures I took in the plane might not have turned out.

When the plane door finally opened and we got to walk out - the humitity hit us like a train. Dang was it hot! As soon as you get off the plane you have to walk right on to the tar mat - and your greeted by a bunch of people shaking your hand and welcoming you to their county! And all this happened before you even step foot inside the airport itself.

The airport in Punta Cana is amazing on its own. It’s all fatched roof and open air - there are no glass windows or air conditioning like we have here in North America. The building does have some “Big Ass Fans” (name of the fan) to keep you cool though. These fans area really amazing - they are really really huge! I’m glade they were there.

When you get in the door - past security, your met by a group of people ready to take your picture (I didn’t get it though - because it wasn’t very good and cost $7.00 US).

Taxi time!

When we got our bags off the plane we had to find our bus - they had people all waiting to help you with your bags, they all stood in a huge group and when you walked up to them they grabed the bags right from your hands and took them to where the van was waiting.

We got to the van and were met by the rep for Air Canada, she told the driver where to go and then we were off.

Now the roads in the Dominican Republic are nothing like the roads here in Canada and The United States. Their roads do not have street lights and no speed limit signs anywhere. The size of the normal 2 lane road is about a lane and a half wide. When other drivers go to pass you all they do is honk their horn twice then pass. And since it’s so dark on the roads everyone drives with their high beams on - blinding me and the driver. My mom was so scared because the driver drove so fast! I watched the speed climb past 110KMPH!

It was about a scary hour drive to the resort. About 10 minutes before the resort the driver slows down and picks up some guy off the side of the road… that was a little scary. They were okay guys though. The man he picked up worked at the resort.

Only in the movies!

Pulling up the the resort it looks like something off a movie. This place was so huge and beautiful. All the floors in the main building were marbal, and the first thing you see when you walk in was my favorite part - the bar. The roof of the buildings were all thatched roofing.

When we got our rooms, we ran into a little problem - we paid for ajoining rooms, but there was no door joining them. When we called the main desk to see if we could get this fixed it was a little stressing not knowing much Spanish. But we were lucky because Rafele (our bell hop) was there and he understood what we needed and got right on the phone talking to them, within seconds we had a new room! Thanks alot Rafele!

After we got our rooms sorted out we went and got some food from the buffet and then watched a show on stage.

That was the end of our first night in the Dominican Republic. I wouldn’t have changed anything.

Day 1

Morning on Sunday we went and got some Breakfast and went exploring. You’d be amazed what kind of animals they have running a round in the resort. The first thing we saw was a chicken. Yes, just like the ones we eat. But that’s not all, they have pee-cocks! I wasn’t able to get one to make it’s tail feathers fan out, that would have been awesome!

That afternoon we went swimming, in the ocean. Then had lunch on the beach. (hamburgers). We swam most of the day. When we went up to the bar - the bar tender would always ask me what I wanted - I was afraid he might ID me if I ordered a drink with alchol but after a bit I decided to just try and see if I got some, it worked. Then the flood gates opened. I was able to get my own drinks - which was a lot of fun.

That night we ate at the Himitsu. This was a lot of fun! We got to see the cook make it right in front of us! He flipped things high, low and around his back. Flipping eggs into his hat and just doing tricks. It was really cool. The beef there was the best!

My BIRTHDAY!

July 16th, my birthday. You all know what went down. Party! This day was full of swimming and singing. We decided to walk down the beach to the shops - but we waled right past them and ended up walking threw a dead resort. It look like an old abanded resort. I didn’t get any pictures of this because we thought it might be better to leave the camera at the resort.

We found the road and walked to the next resort (they were pretty close together). We took this walk to find the bank but never did, so we took a taxi and got to the bank. It was only 3 minutes away! Going in the bank, it was very secure, taking out money from the teller was easy because their were 3 police men behind us gaurding.

We got back to the resort at about 5PM and went to dinner at the Mexican Resturaunt, El Platio. This was my very favorite part of the whole trip! Our waiter, Winder, was great! He came over shook my hand and was very excited that it was my birthday, we ordered our food they brought the mariotchy band over and they sung a song. Later on, to my surprise the lights went out in the resturant and they came out with this cake singing happy birthday! Leaving the resturant was fun, everyone was shaking my hand and wishing me a great birthday.

After that we all went to the bar and had a few drinks. Then finally went and watched the show. Dad and I went to the Casino - it wasn’t a good night - I lost my $20. I was up to $26.00, but ended up loosing it to the slots. Darn.

That was the end of my birthday, what a great day! I’ll remember that forever!

Outback Sufari!

Next day we went on a Sufari threw the country side with Franklin. When we got in the truck, Franklin says “Your now my family! If anyone asks your “Franklin’s family”. On our trip in the Dominican Republic, we saw a Dominincan cow, along with lots of other animals.

We went into town and saw a school. This was interesting because they have 3 different classes a day. They way this works is the younger kids go to school in the morning. Then the older teenagers go to school in the afternoon. Finally the adults go to school in the night.

Franklin took us to a local shop where I bought some Dominican Cohiba cigars. After the shop. We got to see how they make coffee and choclate. The coffee was amazing. The best coffee I’ve ever had! We also had a chance to try Mama Jauna!

Mama Jauna is a shot drink made in the Dominican Republic. Mama Jauna is made up of Red Wine, Honey, and the rest Dominican Rum, left to sit in leaves and wood chips (you dont have to worry about the leaves and wood, the rum kills everything) and left to sit for at least 10 days. We bought a bottle of this drink for $13.00US. You can remake the drink at home yourself. The more you make it, the better it tastes. The locals say that it’s a liquid viagra! Mama Jauna tastes pretty good. It doesn’t burn going down :P. When we went down the beach to the shops I got to try the Mama Juana that Kiko makes. That stuff was strong! But more on that later.

On the trip we learned that coco beans are really purple, not brown or green. We also learned that the Pine apple is a flower and takes 9 months to grow in the Dominican Republic. Also, if you get caught smoking a marajana cigar in the Dominican you get charged at least $2000. The second time you get put in jail for 2 years. Third time it’s up to 5 years in the Dominican jail.

Dominican Jails are not nice places. If you go to Jail here in North America you get food, showers, time out side, a washroom area, a bed. Just like at home. In the Dominican Republic it’s different, You don’t get food everyday, the government doesn’t supply it for you. If you go to Jail, you better hope someone on the outside cares about you enough to send you food everyday. Sometimes even if your family sends you food everyday, you don’t always get it. As for the washrooms, they just put tolets in. Before that, you only got to go to the washroom once a day. Laws are stricter in the Dominican Republic than they are here.

If you kill someone, you go to jail for 25 years. Not like here in Canada where as if you kill someone and say your only 12 years old, you only go to a detenion centre for 6 years and 4 years of community watch. I’m not sure what a Dominican trial is like. Franklin didn’t tell us about that.

That was the end of our Safari in the Dominican Republic.

All historical information about the Dominican Republic in this section of my artical was given to me by the tour guide - Franklin.

The End! Oh no!

We spent a few more days in the Dominican after that, but I don’t want to go into detail about that at this time. I’ll edit this post later and fill in the blanks.

Hope you enjoyed reading this! I had a hell of a time in the Dominican! I’ll be going back to Sunscape the beach sometime in my life. Everyone was so great there!

¡Viva La República Dominicana!

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¡República Dominicana!

I’m in the dominican republic today! Yay for that!

I hope we leave the resort. I want to experience the culture - not american stuff - if I wanted that, we would have went to the states. I’ll be taking tons of pictures well we are there.

Things to buy in DR:

1. Cigars (I’ve been told they are better then Cuban’s if you get the right kind)
2. Shirt for Jared
3. Dominican Flag
4. Tons of clothes

That’s just a few of the things that I will for sure be buying in the dominican. We’re not sure exactly what we’re going to do when we get there. We’re staying at Sunscape The Beach in Punta Cana! If you know of any cool things to check out when I’m there, comment, I’ll be sure to check it out.

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And so the exams begin!

It’s that time of year again! My exams have started! I go into school at 9AM tomorrow to do my Social exam. Then I go in on Thursday at 9AM to do my Phys Ed exam and then at 1PM to do my Spanish exam.

Tomorrow’s exam is going to suck because I hate Social and never really got good marks in it. Oh well, I’m studying now and hope I at least pass. I’m pretty sure I will get a good grade.

PE exam on Thursday should be no problem because I know the sports we played and studed this year. The only thing I know I’m going to have trouble with is the bowling scoring sheet. That thing is a little confusing at first.

Finally, I have my Espanol exam, should be interesting. The teacher says that it’s not an easy exam, so I’m studying that alot so that I can pass and take the next level next year. Spanish is my favorite class this year - I have a pretty good grasp on the language - I just hope I can remember all the grammer and spelling.

It’s been a long time since I posted something on my blog - sorry it’s not very interesting - but nothing so far is very interesting to blog about.

Oh! I leave for the Dominican Republic next month! It’s going to be a great birthday in the Dominican! Don’t forget to send me a birthday card everyone! My birthday is on July 16th for those who don’t know.

 Anyway, Nos Vemos mis amigos! I’ll post something as soon as I come up with something good to blog about.

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My first car!

My dad went out to buy a new car (to improve his trip to work - but we all know he wanted a new car). Anyway, enough about his car - that’s not important here - even though it’s really really really nice! Like a brand new jet (and it’s hybrid for all you tree huggers).

Since he bought a new car and the Neon is to old and has to many miles on it to get any significat money back my dad has past the car on to me! Woo! It’s stock right now, but you know me, I love cars and what you can do to them so I’ve already been looking on eBay and other sites to see what others have done to their Neons. I can tell you for sure I’ll be putting speakers in first thing .  I’ve been looking at neons for under the dash, and below the seats - they’re pretty cheap to buy, but I don’t know what installation is like. Installing the speakers is no problem, I know people that work at Future shop and others that have been doing it for years.

My car is a 97-98 Plymouth  Neon with chipped white paint (as all the Neons have). 4 cyl 5 speed manual. Great condition. No coffee stains or cigar burns on the seats. A few cracks in the windshield but that’s fine, they’re not that major.

 But before I can get to drive the car I need to get a job to pay the massive insurance this beast is going to have. It’s going to be $1300 a year - because I’m a primary driver :S. So the job hunt starts tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I will be handing in an application at Giant Tiger! (Yes mom, I’m really doing it - so lay off).

This afternoon I cleaned the inside of the car, now it’s extremely clean! I spent two and a half hours just cleaning the inside. I love this car - I can’t even drive it yet and I love it so much. It’s like my unborn baby. Tomorrow afternoon I will be armoral’ing the inside to make it shinny, then I’ll hook the power washer up and take all the paint off… oh I mean dirt, that’s right, it is really white - silly me.

Some of you (a select few) may be wondering “What about your hermano? Do you have to share?”. The answer to that one is.. yes. But that’s not for another 4 years, so I don’t know, we’ll see how that works out. Eric thinks the car will be past on to him when he’s 16, that means I’d only have the car for 1 year. Hmm, I don’t think so. I think we’ll just stick with sharing for now. Maybe I’ll buy him a scooter - that’ll get him away from the car right? Ha. Yeah right.

Anyway, I’ll post pictures of the inside of the car tomorrow to show off my clean job. And of course the outside before and after pictures of the dirty-paint removal. I swear that thing hasn’t been cleaned for months, maybe even a year.

I hope you enjoyed reading this! Post your comments cause I love reading them!

In closing, anyone got gas money? Happy mothers day - to the mothers of course! Love you mommy!

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