Welcome, new readers!

I just found out from an angry blog post comment that Bayliner Magazine published an article about us. Sweet!

To update you, the commenter called us idiots, and said we should earn enough to buy a boat like everyone else. Well, we were trying and came up with this blog and raffle idea as a way to do that. Sure, it's silly and likely impossible. But hey—it makes some fun reading.

For example, I heard back from Phil Collins "people." Turns out his office is in England, but he lives in Switzerland. He has kids that live here in B.C. And Mr. Anonymous will be happy, because he didn't buy a raffle ticket. No word back yet from Eric Clapton.

So let me know—are we idiots who think Obama will help us buy a Bayliner, or is this blog just an entertaining read? We're aiming for the latter, but if Mr. Obama wants to "stimulate" us, we won't turn him down.

Smooth waters!

Address change!

Hey, everyone! You can still buy raffle tickets, no worries there, but please send your orders to this address:

#31-6450 Blackwood Lane
Chilliwack, BC
V2R 5Z3

Thanks!

Hi Bayliner Magazine Readers!

Our first media interview!

We recently had the honour (yes, Canadian spelling, get over it) of being interviewed by Roger Kamholz, and editor of BAYLINER MAGAZINE! He found our blog and wanted the detailed story of how it aaaaallllll came about.



It was a great conversation–thanks Roger! We're looking forward to entertaining your readers on our blog, and directing all 50 readers to Bayliner Magazine.

Happy boating in 2009!

Larry & Christina Aguilera GET IT ON!

Enjoy.

How close to the $100,000 are we?

Well, in late August I would have been able to tell you that we only had $97,177 to go. Pretty awesome, right? That's a combination of raffle ticket sales (thanks to our largest buyer, Pops!) and the adjustments we'd made in our lifestyle habits.

And then work slowed down for Jer-Bear. And then the economy fell apart and all Jer-Bear's work went away. Now even my day job is being cut back 20% as of January, with who knows what on the horizon.

So now we are back to the starting point. Which is okay, because in these times–especially when you factor in that Olympic Boat Centers have closed–I'm sure the price of a Bayliner 300 is less than $100,000.

Right Bayliner? Bayliner? Hello?

raffle, boating, Bayliner

The Texas dream is over

Our baby was just too far away and had too many complications - the main one being we couldn't join the frickin' forum to contact the guy giving her away to get more details on the extent of the damage.

Sometimes discussion forums are elitist and/or lazy bastards.

Have a great day!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Free Bayliner cont'd

So here's what this baby could look like if we got it all fixed up.


Jerbear says he isn't keen on a single motor, but if our cost for getting this starts at $2,000 or so, isn't that worth it? We found this one for sale for $18,500. The trick is spending less than that to get her in shape.

Hmmm... food for thought. Mmmmm... food...


Damn I hate it when I get distracted.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

FREE Bayliner cont'd

I had to show the actual post here, because I still can't believe it.



Damn, I guess it's kinda hard to read, huh? Okay, I'll type it out.

Yes! Free. All you have to do is come pick it up. This boat wsa sunk due to IKE in about 4 feet of water. Insurance has processed it as a "Total Loss" and has now left me to dispose of it. I will even give you the clear title. The boat was removed from the water approx. 4 days after the storm. If I don't find someone who wants my baby, it will break my heart to cut her up and just throw her away. Hull is in great shape and would make a good project for someone who has the time and resources.

Now, we're trying to get pictures, because in my mind giving away a 1995 2855 Ciera seems pretty extreme. I will be very interested to see what "Total Loss" actually looks like!

We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I don't care what the flippin' economy is doing - buy some rafflle tix you guys!


raffle, boating, Bayliner

OMG a FREE Bayliner!!!

...if we drive 2,400 miles to Seabrook, TX. 37 hours, $900 in fuel, 7 nights worth of meal and hotel rooms (I don't care what you say, Jerbear, I'm not good doing the "Truck-Stop Motel')

To put it in perspective, here's a map showing what our journey would be.


raffle, boating, Bayliner

Discuss amongst yourself...

whether we will see boat prices drop. I hope so.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Waaaahhhh-h-h-h (hiccup) AAAaaahhhh!

In case you couldn't tell, we are saddened that Olympic Boat Centers is going out of business for good and for real. NOW how will we see our baby? Who's going to shower her with affection and stroke her wheel and throttle every three weeks or so? How dare they mess with our visitation rights!

Well, I'm sure Bayliner will find a new delivery solution. They still have boats to sell, right? Hey, how long do you think they'd notice the deception if we open a fake store? Hmmm...

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Sidetracked ever so slightly

So here's the thing. We're moving. At least, we found a great house that kicks @$$ compared to our townhouse, and our offer's been accepted subject to selling our place.

If I could take a picture of our crappy neighbour/strata council member and tell you the stories of why he hates us, you'd totally understand why we want to bug out of dodge.

However, OUR DREAM IS STILL ALIVE. We have to scale back on the lottery ticket buying a bit, but we're still selling three-for-a-dollar raffle tickets, so buy some!


And of course, we're still going to implement some of our crazy schemes (like the weight loss booklet and a new one I just thought of but haven't posted about.) And I'm pretty sure I'll still be able to blog almost every day. But I may be a little distracted and some of the posts might be called "Hey, can you help us pick kitchen colours?"

So I apologize in advance. But seriously. Start looking at colours, okay?

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Bayliner dreams

Bayliner's tagline is "Where fun lives." I find that interesting, because I never thought fun had a home or a hometown or anything like that. Because if it did, it would be a lot easier for people to go there to visit, and most of the world would be happier. Don't you think? Unless it was a transatlantic flight, which are brutal to make on a regular basis.

Anyway, I went to their public site recently because I wanted to screen capture a photo of our baby for the blog. So I try out there fun game called "Find the right boat for you" which isn't really a game OR fun, because after I entered all the details that I knew matched a Bayliner 300, I got this:


It's hard to read, but it says "Based on the choices you've made, we have 0 results." And yes, just to bash me over the head and make me feel inadequate, the "0 results" is in bold.

So then I browsed through other parts of the site and found a parts manual, an owner's manual, trailering instructions, and lots of fun pictures of families with kids on the water having FUN, and I realized - www.bayliner.com is where fun lives! Cool.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Final Installment

Our trip back was actually filled with strange adventure. And nothing starts a trip like that better than a healthy meal!


Midway, we were attached by gnomes of unusually large size...



but luckily the Navy came to our defense.


Jer-bear's stepmom recently got Mac-ified, so we had a bit of a geek fest while the PC boys were sulking by the shed.


And then, despite having visited several times, we forgot how to get back home! Thank goodness Larry could help us by reading grandpa's charts we'd brought back.


Then we overstayed our welcome and Larry started burning our belongings, so we figured we'd better leave.
We were so tired, our faces were permanently blurred. And for some reason, my head swelled to a freakishly large size.


Not only did Canada welcome us back with open arms, she welcomed every item in our truck personally. After 20 hours, we arrived back home at 1 a.m. Whew!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 6

These kinds of things are never actually fun. All your life, you grow up with these things surrounding you, and then at some point you have to come back and weed out which memories you'll keep and which ones have to go. And because it is so different and so personal for everyone, you have to check and double-check things as simple as keys or books.


Check out the beautiful wooden coffered (I think that's the right term) ceiling, and natural hardwood floors.


James Dean was alway spouting off. See him on the left, instigating things while they're trying to roll up the carpet? In the end we had to throw him in the truck to get him to shut up. Now he's instigating in our garage.


It was tough for Jo. There were piles called "good will", "almost good will" and "probably too good for good will." And of course, far too many decisions.


Jer-Bear had never spent so much time in his grandpa's room with his grandpa's belongings before.


And after this, time to hit the road.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 5

Visiting Jer-Bear's grandma and grandpa's house really was like walking through the past. Check out these vintage items you just don't see anymore:





raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 4

Sometimes you see things that really appeal to your aesthetic. These shots were like that:








raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 3

Our trip even brought us within spitting distance of an Olympic Boat Center. Okay, I guess you'd have to be a world champion spitter... however, I did get this amazing shot off at 70 miles an hour.


Imagine how fast WE will look when we are in our Bayliner 300 and others are trying to take OUR picture!

Astoria has some famous stuff going on. Like, it was the setting for The Goonies. And... well, I guess that's all I know about. However, James Dean was at the house when we got there. Pretty hot, eh? Of course we took him home with us.


And there were some very scary things in Grandpa's house, like this torture instrument from long ago. If you don't think school was torture in the olden days (I've heard the "Torture Story" from both my dad and my former dad-in-law, neither of whom are liars or exagerators) so it must be true. Plus, just look at this desk, right?



raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 2

The I-5 is very bumpy. It is a real challenge for professional photographers.

Turns out the Jer-Bear does not like bright flashes early in the morning.


See how unblurry the Space Needle is? You'd never know we were going full out on the highway. Of course, there were about 8 bad ones before this.

Mt. Ranier is beautiful. And man, is this car ride was boring. We ran out of conversation about 2.5 hours ago.

We had about two hours of good radio, and then we were incommunicado in the wilds of the southwestern Washington forest. Travel time to Astoria would end up being 5.5 hours.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 1

OMG, you know it will be a long day when it starts like this:


And while Jer-Bear's Grandpa Ed didn't have a Bayliner, he left Jer-Bear some great boat-related items after he passed away in July. And this was our trip down to Astoria to pick them up.

The first hurdle is always National Security. Which looks like this at 4:30 a.m.


And for some reason, I just wanted to add a picture of Niko's wagging butt.


It's wagging so fast it's ALMOST INVISIBLE.

raffle, boating, Bayliner