jbazett profile

Photographer = Me

Posted by: niels@nsmb.com

This area could be a cycling heaven but the potential is almost entirely untapped and there is the usual low-effort car-centric urban planning. Even after 14 years in North America, as a Dutchman it still puzzles me. Like, that road from Courtenay to Comox, along the water, how the hell is there no separate multi-use cycling/walking path?!? Anyway, the shoulder is pretty wide and cars don't drive very fast there.

The Valley is pretty divided politically. The few cycling lanes that we have are pretty recent and we're probably a decade behind most other communities on the island in terms of cycling infrastructure. We also have jurisdictional issues, the City of Courtenay, Village of Cumberland and the Town of Comox are starting to move forward with cycling infrastructure projects, a lot of the connecting roads between the communities are in the Regional District and are under MOTI jurisdiction. We live just outside of the city limits in the Lake Trail area and our road, which a large number of kids walk on to get to Elementary school doesn't even have gravel shoulders and MOTI refuses to improve the road, the same applies to the Dyke road along the water front to Comox. Snow removal is a pain in the ass as well because each jurisdiction refuses to clear snow for any other and they all point fingers at one another if you complain.

Posted by: thaaad

Fortunately if we did move out my wife would continue to work from home most likely so I would be the only commuter, and I would hope to commute by bike most or all of the year.

Does it feel like a sleepy little town like Victoria does? Does it feel quiet?

It's sleepy alright. There's a farm in the middle of town FFS :D

Posted by: impressedbyyourwokeness

also, brace yourself for a level of traffic and degree of getting around the CV that you wouldn't anticipate for a community of its size. and summer get's way worse. i lived a decade in Comox proper and that was enough.

Totally. We plan our trips pretty carefully and only cross the river a few times a week. Good days and bad days though, seems a lot of it is dependent on whether some impatient fuck blocks up the intersection.

When we bought our home, where we both worked and our preferred grocery store etc were definitely a factor. It's no Colwood Crawl, but it's annoying sitting in traffic at the end of the work day, especially considering how an hour later, it's a ghost town.

Posted by: thaaad

Well my wife runs her own interior design company and most of her work is online with the occasional site visit once or twice per month which would be manageable. We have a good deal in Coquitlam at just under 2k for our place. It's not nice by any stretch but it works for us for now since we'll never own a place.

Just looking to get out of the city and try to find some peace and fucking quiet...

$2000/month is around the going rate for a half-duplex or two bedroom condo in the Comox Valley right now, it's crazy. 

Deals can be found, but there are essentially zero vacancies.

Posted by: bux-bux

It's become way deeper than two sides now. Influencers, nut jobs saying whatever for attention and clicks. Whole thing has become insane.

If your ass is randomly bleeding, please seek medical help.

Posted by: Hepcat

/\Yup. So tired of wearing a mask, and the constant worry of spreading Covid to someone vulnerable. Just get the fucking shot already. 

There's been 10 billion shots given and zero people are magnetic or whatever, get over yourself.

Turn off whatever idiot media influencer is making decisions your brain should be making and contribute to the solution.

^ Yessir. 

More than half the population on the planet has been vaccinated at this point and with new, lower cost vaccines hitting the market, that's only going to increase. Stop listening to Podcasters, self-appointed unqualified experts and people who have a financial or political interest in exacerbating the pandemic.

Posted by: Vikb

If I can time it right I'll get the "last" cat and myself put down at the vet together. ;-)

That got dark. :D

Posted by: niels@nsmb.com

Posted by: Vikb

If you are happy where you are then there is no compelling reason to move. If you do want to move I would not let a good deal on your current rent sway you unless you find the rents in the new place so high they are untenable.

I'd rework your partner's comment this way for the cost of 2 weeks of AirBNB we can live in Comox 52 weeks a year! ;-)

Ha ha yes you are right. It's more a luxury problem than anything else. As said before we're not in a rush and we'll just take our time to explore the area more as well as our options.

There is a significant rental housing shortage here in the Comox Valley right now as well, rents have probably increased by nearly 50% over the last two years. There are a number of multi-family developments currently in the works which may help relieve stress on the rental market and bring down the cost of rentals. Been pretty dog eat dog in the rental market here.

I've lived in the Comox Valley for most of my life. It's an absolutely fantastic place to live for the most part, particularly if you are into the outdoors. 

Some yummy stuff to check out:

- Hot Chocolates / Cakebread bakery on 5th street - Fantastic locally made chocolate and baked goods. Hard to go back to anything else. 

- The CBC, Biblio Taco and Ryders pizza in Cumberland.

- The Church Street taphouse in Comox is great, and while youre in the neighborhood, the Church St. Bakery, like three doors down, has awesome wood fired pizza. 

- Atlas Cafe in Courtenay. Fantastic menu. Always super consistent.

- Avenue Restaurant and Toscano's (delicious fresh made pasta) in Comox are great too. Toscano's in nice and close to Marina Park as well, super nice to take a walk around the marina after a good feed. 

- Kingfisher Resort and Spa is fantastic for a stay-cation. Good food and the hydropath is pretty cool. 

Some places that are great to check out too:

- The Tea Centre on 5th street. The guy that runs this place was personally driving deliveries to all of his clients at the beginning of the pandemic. Smells AMAZING. 

- The Airpark walkway. Great place for a stroll when you want to keep your shoes clean. 

- Nymph Falls Park / Bearbait / Comox Lake Dam / Bevan Trail network. Off-leash dog walking, endless multi-use trails. Some fun family bike riding. Good swimming spots. 

- Trent River falls. 

- Paradise meadows trail network on Mt. Washington. 

The list goes on and on. Welcome to the community!

Posted by: Ddean

How does track IR work in DCS? If youre looking right behind you, what screen are you looking at? Or do you turn your head much less than 180 to see 180 on the screen?

It's really customizable, so you can have it at about 1:1 for say a racing game, when you just need to shift your view by 10 or 15 degrees either way to see mirrors, I use something that resembles an exponential curve for flight sims, so shifting your head less than say 5 degrees, yields hardly any movement (less than 1:1 ration), but the further you rotate, the greater the rate, so if my head is turned about 20 degrees from center (which is still pretty comfortable, you're facing directly behind you. You can also have it accelerate at a linear rate too, or define different linear rates for ranges of motion. Then each preset is bound to the game, so you can have multiple profiles.

Pitch, roll and yaw curves are all customizable on the TrackIR, as well as X, Y axis movement (closer to, or further from monitor, as well as left - right parallel movement). Being able to move your head closer to the monitor to zoom in on controls for more granular control is pretty nice.

I've also build my own head tracker using an EDTracker kit that uses accelerometers to track head movement and a magnetometer to keep drift in check, but it was definitely not as accurate and couldn't track movement in X/Y and couldn't really keep track of roll as well. Fun little project though.

TrackIR actually seems really expensive compared to the VR stuff now. It only does motion tracking, no screens etc and for the unit, and the clip for your headset is about $250. An EDTracker kit is about $20 if you can solder and it does a pretty damned good job for the price.