I'm taking a break from Second Life for a bit, to rest and recharge, and maybe come back with some fresh perspective and ideas. I'll be gone for roughly a month. If anyone has any urgent communications, please use e-mail (cubeyterra@cubeyterra.com) instead of IM, since my IM inbox tends to fill up quickly and block messages.

See you in February!

A couple of weeks ago, some idiot stole the intercom panel from my building's front door. Not only did that mean that nobody could beep me, but it also meant that the
postie couldn't get in to deliver any of the mail. Sure, I didn't get any bills for two weeks, but I've also been deprived of my DVD movie rentals, which come by Canada Post.

Finally, today the mail started flowing again, and I found two weeks of envelopes packed into my mailbox. That's two weeks of movie rentals, plus the director's cut of The Return of the King.

So there's nothing to do but accept the challenge and catch up on 724 minutes of movie-watching -- and that doesn't include the DVD extras. I'll be a wreck when I'm done later today.

On my way back from the coffee shop at the corner, I decided on impulse to pick up a little sushi combo to go. It was as I walked out of the sushi shop, coffee cup in one hand, take-out sushi bag in the other, bundled warmly in my polar fleece, that I wondered if I was a stereotypical Vancouverite. And then I wondered if sushi and coffee actually work together.

And you know what? They do.

My time online in the last couple of days has been all about tearing down my old shop and building the new one. It's a poopload of effort, but I think it's going to be good.

The problem with my last shop, and every shop I had before now, is that it was just a row of display models. Boooring. Why bother to log onto SL, if you can't have a little fun?



That's why my new shop has a fully functional hangar deck (no, not "fully functional" in the Lt. Commander Data sense of the word). The hangar door and roof open (just click it) and you can test drive any of the aircraft on display on that deck. The demo vehicles last as long as you sit on them, then disappear.

Next door to the hangar is the sub room, where you'll find a bubbly underwater theme and all of my subs. No demos in there yet, but I might be able to work on that soon.

Come and play for a bit.

There's a beauty school nearby, where they train people to become "aestheticians" (but not aesthetologists or aesthetonomists, apparently). Inside, they run a salon where students get to practise on real heads. Out front, their sign lists the prices of various cuts, but has this footnote: "*Long hair may vary".

What exactly does that mean? After a cut, is long hair hacked and slashed so badly, that it varies from one side to the other? Or does it mean that long hair becomes shorter after a cut? I assumed that would be taken for granted.

I'm confused.

Yes, on rare occasions, it does actually snow in Vancouver. Not much, usually, but enough to shut down the entire city, which means at least two or three centimeters. In all fairness, unlike perpetually snow-bound cities like Winnipeg, Vancouver is almost completely without snow-ploughs or salt trucks, so the slightest bit of our especially damp variety of snow just turns our roads into a skating rink.



It just isn't winter in Vancouver without the snow umbrella.

Update: I see a "snow-plough" in the alley... it's a private company's pickup with a plough strapped onto the front. He's helpfully pushing the harmless 2-inch layer of melting snow into a gigantic pile that blocks several parking spots.

Well that was fun. I was jarred out of a difficult evening's slothing by my building's fire bell. Everyone wandered the hallways confused, looking for the cause, and not really willing to go out into the freezing cold outside. When the downstairs hall filled with smoke, I picked up my valuables and stepped outside. It turned out to be nothing much -- just a minor fire in the kitchen downstairs.

I suppose if nobody had been home, or if they'd been asleep, it could have been worse. All of the building's tenants could have been out on the street in the winter time with no more possessions than we could carry with us.

What's really interesting is what I chose to take with me: just my wallet and my laptop. Some people might have grabbed, say, a change of clothes. Or photos of their loved ones. I grabbed my computer... because I don't want to be homeless and unable to play computer games.

I don't know, but it took a couple of weeks and five beta testers to complete the new Terra Tigershark submersible aircraft.



The Tigershark can seat two avatars and has better all around performance and usability than the Cormorant. A new menu-driven options menu makes it much easier to set up the Tigershark's options, paint scheme, and turn on-off combat.

Many thanks and kudos go to the crack team of Tigershark beta testers: Matthias Zander, Michael Martinez, Cruiser Guilman, Mak Marshall, and Torley Torgeson. You'll note that the Tigershark includes a "watermelon" paint scheme for all of those watermelon fans out there. :)

For now, the Tigershark is available only on SL Exchange, mainly because it was easier than updating a bunch of vendors. Within a few days, you can get it at my shop at Abbotts Aerodrome, in the northwest corner of Abbotts.

Only a short time after I finished the Tigershark, I started playing with an idea that I'd had a while back. I wanted to make some kind of flying sub that's inspired by the shape of a whale. They're streamlined and beautiful -- perfect models for any vehicle.

Some months ago, I made a test vehicle called "Beluga". Well it was too ugly to keep working on, but I was still interested in pursuing the concept.

Now I have a prototype for the Orca, a shape inspired by killer whales.



I'm not certain that I'll finish this one, but it sure is weird.

This year, I have only one new year's resolution: I will no longer use "lol" in conversations. Especially in real life.