Peter's Useful Crap

Heading up to the Haleakala crater at sunrise is one of the must-do Maui activities. The pictures and descriptions cause little hesitation about getting up at 2 or 3am in order to experience it. You can drive up yourself, or take a tour, or take a tour with a bike ride down. You can explore much of it on foot as well.

There are plenty of places on the Hawaiian islands where it is almost always sunny and dry; Haleakala is not one of them! The weather up there is generally cold and windy, but you can deal with that by bundling up appropriately. Most importantly, it can be cloudy and rainy up to 25% of the time at Haleakala. On those days, the sunrise will consist of standing inside the visitor centre, huddled close together with everyone else, looking at the varying shades of gray of the clouds! I know this firsthand, because I made the mistake of not checking the forecast before booking a non-refundable tour!

By all accounts, it is a beautiful sunrise, the crater itself looks like another planet, and there is plenty of interesting vegetation… but do a bit of weather forecast research beforehand — and plan your scheduling accordingly — to increase your chances of actually being able to see it all!

This is rather ancient news in Internet time (as Google officially added this toggle in September and October 2010), but still a relevant reminder to some: you can now turn off Gmail’s “Conversation View” in its webmail interface. This is the feature that groups all e-mails in a particular thread into one conversation, and was arguably the main Gmail feature when it first came out, other than huge amounts of storage space and a fast loading Ajax interface. It is a polarizing feature: for some people, this feature was enough for them to never want to switch to Gmail; some people were just averse to change, and some found it very difficult to identify and manage individual e-mail messages. For others, this has become an essential feature in being able to efficiently organize discussions.

Conversation View can be turned on or off in the main Gmail Settings interface. It took more than 3 and a half years for this option to become available!

See Google’s official blog post on this subject.

I can fully recommend Vancouver-based Queensberry Flower Company. I first stumbled upon their kiosk in the Granville SkyTrain station ticketing area (which is rather convenient). The kiosk itself is cute and polished, and I can say the same about the flowers. I had a few good experiences in purchasing some of their small bouquets, which start at $5 — they were unique and fun.

Later on, when it came time to look for a wedding florist, we had initially looked into more typical florist retail shops, but their price and lack of energy were less than inspiring. Queensberry had a sign saying something like “Sorry Bridezillas!” and “Hello brides on a budget” so we decided to look into it. The Queensberry staff were helpful and communicative in person, over the phone, and via e-mail. They gave us confidence starting from our initial questions, to the first official consultation, through to the wedding itself.

The price and delivery cost to Delta were very attractive for our basic set of bridesmaids bouquets, bride bouquet, corsages, and boutonnieres. We decided on a colour scheme, general arrangement ideas, and flower priorities. The catch with the “budget” aspect was that we had to be flexible regarding flower types, depending on the season and what would be available in the days leading up to our wedding. That was absolutely no problem for us, as we were already pleased with what Queensberry did with their normal flower arrangements… and we didn’t have a Bridezilla!

The end result was beautiful. We are extremely glad that we went with Queensberry.

Check out their Facebook page for more pictures of their flower arrangements.

I can fully recommend Vancouver-based Lyndsay London as a wedding photographer. She was our favourite wedding vendor.

Her pictures are of outstanding quality. They are sharp, fresh, and bright, to use my limited photography vocabulary. She took all sorts of shots that turned out great: from people stills, to object stills, to candids; in different settings; in low and bright light; indoor and outdoor. In looking at some of the photos she took, she made some locations look even better than we thought they looked at the time!

What makes Lyndsay so easy to recommend, in addition to the pictures, is her personality and her communication skills. She is fun and engaging to work with, and she gives good instructions for all of us non-models. She interacts well with the young and old, and we received many positive comments from wedding guests.

Lyndsay is incredibly organized, and remained on top of every detail leading up to and during the wedding day. She provided useful suggestions for photo locations. She was quick to respond to e-mails, sometimes within minutes, and always by the next day. In fact, we coined the expression “the Lyndsay London of ___” to describe people who are reliable and responsive. She was a breath of fresh air among some other frustrating wedding vendors (which surprisingly included a couple of very disappointing potential wedding coordinators / planners).

When we decided to hire Lyndsay, her prices were a bit lower than they are now, but she likely still fits in the middle tier in terms of what we had originally researched.

As I am probably doing a disservice to Lyndsay’s photos by posting “optimized for web” versions, be sure to check out her blog, which is regularly updated with each photo shoot she does, including engagement photos, baby photos, weddings, and more!

I recently had to purchase 3 specialty items online, to be shipped from the United States to the Vancouver, BC area. The shipping cost per item to Canada was $90, versus $10 to have it shipped within the US. Unfortunately, I could not purchase these items in Canada, even at a higher base price. Therefore, I was resigned to throwing out my usual preferences of 1) supporting local business; 2) avoiding hassles with cross-border customs taxes and return policies; and 3) avoiding the cost and pollution of driving. I had to look into getting an American mailing address, which I’d always imagined to be difficult to do. Based on what I experienced, I can recommend Blaine, Washington-based Pacific Mail and Parcel.

During this go-round, I first researched some options in Point Roberts (just south of Tsawwassen), and was turned off by some negative online reviews. So I looked into some Blaine post offices and found the most appealing to be Pacific Mail and Parcel. Their website isn’t particularly elegant, but it is straightforward, seems to get updated regularly, is full of good information, and provides detailed, specific instructions! There’s even a page dedicated to border and customs information and tips, which I’d recommend reading if you’re planning on bringing anything back into Canada from the US.

I used Pacific Mail and Parcel’s package receiving service — not their mailbox service, which has a separate cost. You can sign up over the phone: you need to provide your name, e-mail address, and phone number. In return, they will provide you with a personalized mailing address to which you should have your parcels sent. The annual fee is $13, to be paid when you pick up your first parcel(s), and then there’s a per-parcel fee of less than $3 for packages lighter than 50 pounds. They accept cash only.

Whenever a package sent to your personalized address arrives at the post office, Pacific Mail and Parcel sends you an automated, descriptive e-mail. They will store each item for 2 weeks before you start to incur additional costs.

Pacific Mail and Parcel is located two blocks south of the Pacific Highway truck crossing (down 176 Street on the Surrey, BC side), and isn’t too far from the Peace Arch border either. The area is quiet, and the border line-up is likely to be minimal (no guarantees, though!) if you go early enough. (I’d suggest being at the border at 8am if possible.) I found the staff at Pacific Mail and Parcel to be friendly, helpful, and organized. I hope to not have to pick up any more items from the US in general, but if I do, I won’t hesitate to go back there.