iTripped

Canucks iPad app Fail

2012-01-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

I have enjoyed watching the Vancouver Canucks regular season games on my iPad this year. I had to get a special app that would stream the games and it is geo-restricted to BC and Yukon. Being in Vancouver this was a restriction I could live with (although being able to follow my team while traveling seems kind of obvious to me).

Tonight however, I am frustrated. I got home shortly after the game started, fired up the iPad, launched the app only to discover that tonight's game (against the hated Chicago Blackhawks) was not being streamed. No reason was given, restarting the app doesn't 'fix' things, the option to watch the game just does not show up, making this app basically worthless for tonight's game.

This is the second time this has happened. As a customer I expect more visibility into which games will or will not be available for streaming. Actually, I expect that ALL the games for the season should be available through the app - that is basically the reason people get this app.

To be clear: this is not an anti-Apple rant. They merely supply the marketplace. This gripe is leveled at the NHL or possibly the company that was commissioned to write the app for the NHL. If you are not going to serve up some games this season , TELL ME WHICH GAMES I WILL MISS OUT ON FIRST. At this point I don't know if this app is going to work for the next game or not, or if they will withhold playoff games.

It's the uncertainty that puts a bad taste in my mouth more than anything else.

Almost six months with nothing to say

2012-01-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

I am sitting here trying to post to a blog I have not used in almost six months, from my iPad, while partially covered in hives from antibiotics I was given to address a cold that would not go away. Yes, I am using run-on sentences purposefully although to what purpose I am not entirely clear. I just know that I wanted to say it that way.

I enjoyed blogging but after losing Louise I had to walk away from it for a while. I lost the taste for it. For a while, I lost my voice. I switched to twitter and other micro-posting venues and they were able to fill the diminished need I had to write. I didn't want to do any more than that and that was okay.

While it has felt like it for the past several months, I don't see this blog as dead. I see it as something that has fallen into disrepair and in need of some restoration. At what pace I set about resuming things I do not know and I don't care to know.

But it is not dead. Well it's might be if one considers the readership I currently get. No new content generally means no more page views and I am not seeing any exceptions here. But I still like the idea of having a forum to give voice to my thoughts so I expect to resume things again at some point.

I just don't know when.

The Dog days of Summer

2011-08-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

This month was a rough one, what with the passing of Louise and an unplanned visit to Holly's family for her grandfather's funeral. The timing of these two events somehow worked out beautifully, as it had us out of the house for a week when it felt the emptiest for us. Visiting family was just what we both needed.

Originally I wasn't going to post anything about Louise on this blog. I already did put up something to wrap up her site - which ran for six years - I'm a little proud of that - and felt that was enough, but I still felt the need to add something here. Please indulge me a little, I've spared you the worst of it by far.

There really hasn't been much else going on for us this summer - the weather is finally starting to feel like summer, but I've been in the office a lot this season so I've managed to stay extra pale this year. Our days have been filled with work, and wrapping up those ongoing arrangements for Louise - like cancelling her dog tag renewal, notifying her vet, etc.

My birthday is coming up this week, I'll be 41. We hope to have some friends over to celebrate but I am pretty sure that will be a low-key affair - this isn't some huge milestone in my life. Yet it's still a cause to celebrate and I feel that I need that a little more than usual this year. Many of the people attending are folks I haven't really seen much of this summer. Oh, and my birthday gift from Holly this year: a trip to Las Vegas this fall. (it's also going to be my gift to her, since her birthday follows shortly after mine.) Some of Holly's family have arranged to go, and it looks like we will be joining them there.

Now THAT will be a good time.

No more anon comments

2011-07-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

My wife started a 'blogging challenge', where she will blog something every day for thirty days. Just seeing her start this was enough to guilt me into at least looking at my dusty old blog.

I am not participating in the 30 day challenge.

If I was to name this first photo, I'd call it 'Humble Beginnings' because this is what we started with for plants on our patio. While we have a few more now too, we still are a long way from what we have envisioned. Spring being horrible is the only excuse that I have allowed myself, but it's a slippery slope. Anyway, what we have pictured here is rosemary, mint and 'holy basil'. That last one was picked up on a whim simply because apparently the basil leaves can be steeped into a tea - it's funny how I can think something is interesting because of an unexpected quality - even a quality I generally have little to no interest in. This basil is a classic example of that, as I don't usually go for green tea that often. Still, I might like it so I figured it was worth at least trying.

Next up is a picture of Sassy, our least photographed pet. Obviously with Louise having her own blog, she gets tons of pictures. With Sassy's black fur, one generally needs a bright sunny day to get a good shot, so that already reduces the number of picture opportunities. I got this one the other day when I was lazing on the sofa and Sassy figured she would join me.

Finally, we had our anniversary recently, and as usual that meant fireworks. We walked down to the water to take in the festivities, but honestly we found the city to be somewhat quiet. Maybe the cooler weather had something to do with that, or maybe we just were expecting more activity on Robson street, like years gone by. Either way, we kept things low key this year, which was nice.

Stanley Cup fever

2011-06-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have to say, in previous years I have not bothered to watch the Stanley Cup Final games. Once my team (the Vancouver Canucks) was out of contention, I would usually stop watching. Every year I would get my hopes up and every year they would be dashed. But they kept at it and kept getting better. Now here we are in June and I am still watching hockey, more excited about it than ever.

I don't want to call it, so I'll just say this: I'm hoping my team is going to win it all. It's been fun to watch, both the games and the after-game celebrations around town. We live close enough that after the Canucks post a win, we are able to take a short walk and be in the midst of the action. I have seen the throngs of fans whooping it up on Robson and Granville Streets. Heck, I've been one of those fans on several nights. It's been fun, and is just one of the many little reasons I like living where I do.

Vertigo, again

2011-05-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while, but over the weekend I had another case of vertigo. It was in the evening and at first we were blaming it on the extra large (venti) Mocha Chip Frappuccino I had. Even though it was made with decaffeinated coffee, it was still a lot of sugar. Looking back at it now though, I don't think the frap really had much to do with it at all.

Vertigo is a pretty weird thing to experience. Basically, every time I moved my head I would experience a strong 'spinning' sensation that would make me dizzy, even nauseous until I could get it settled down. It was worst when I would go from a standing position to laying down - or vice versa.

Luckily I didn't have the other, more worrisome symptoms that can sometimes go with vertigo - ones that might indicate something far worse, like stroke or multiple sclerosis. I was and currently can still move my eyes to look lower than the mid-point, I did not have any loss of feeling on one side of my body, etc. For me, this was just plain old boring vertigo. About the only other possible diagnosis might be Menier's Disease, but that's so rare that I don't even consider it a real possibility. Also, there is nothing temporary about my hearing loss (one of the symptoms).

It was something that was a little controllable too - I knew that if I was standing, I should stay standing, for example. I was able to run out to pick up some takeout food and made it back home without incident. Of course, I didn't plan on taking a nap at the restaurant, so I was ok. Also, after settling down on the bed again, I waited for the spinning to stop and then I was generally ok - I was even able to play some Minecraft without getting dizzy. It isn't something that was visually stimulated - it was stimulated by head movements.

Ok, that's probably more words than I thought I would write about my vertigo this weekend. I can't remember the last time it happened, so I figured I should post something here and tag it for future reference.

Remembering Derek Miller

2011-05-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Almost three weeks ago I was having coffee with Bill and he was telling me about his plans for later that day. Bill was going to visit Derek, presumably for the last time. Derek, a mutual friend of ours, was suffering from colon cancer and was in the final stages. (warning, the link for Derek might not load right away. His website is getting a LOT of traffic right now and you might have to try again later.)

Anyway, at that time I asked Bill to pass on my regards to Derek, as I knew that I already had my final, albeit brief visit with Derek, back at his living wake. While the wake was a raucous success, Derek was struggling with an epic case of laryngitis that left him virtually voiceless, and with literally hundreds of his friends and family in attendance, he had time for a quick hug and about 3 minutes of conversation. It was his night, he was in rare form and it was all I needed. Then he was on to the next friend, chatting quickly, embracing and riding a euphoric wave well into the night.

Derek passed away last night, at home, as was his plan. We all knew this was coming, there were no surprises, yet coming into work today and finding out still felt like a punch to the gut. Derek made the best out of a terrible situation and managed to die with dignity and grace - even while openly blogging about the diapers and other gruesome details about his disease. His decision to blog about his cancer came from an honest place and resounded with thousands of followers worldwide. The final post was written in advance and posted on his behalf, but the words are all his. I encourage you to check it out - it's linked above.

I knew Derek K. Miller while he was alive, and I will remember him long after his passing.

Why three years?

2011-04-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

Whenever I think about how long I have been blogging, my instinctual answer is always 'about three years now.' It's kind of sad because well, it's just so far off from the truth. Perhaps this is just a little insight into how skewed my perceptions are though. (For the record, I've been at this since 2005, making it just about double my estimate.)

To say I'm losing interest in this would be an understatement. In the past, I have written in spurts, but lately it just seems difficult to muster anything worth recording. I say this even as the nation prepares for an election and during hockey playoff season - two events that usually would have sparked me to say something in years gone by. I'm not apologizing for the lack of activity here, just noting it for what it is.

One thing that the blog does highlight is my lack of consistency. I recently had to write down a checklist to remind myself of certain things I really needed to do or check on every morning before I left for work. Checking that list lasted me about a week or two and then I just stopped reading it - I figured I had it down and knew it. A week after that, I started forgetting some of the things that were on the list, which is how my wife knew I had stopped checking it.

I thought it would be a good idea to track what food I eat by using my smartphone to take pictures of it and post it to tumblr. I lasted a few days of diligently recording the items I ate and then started to miss some things - the energy bar or banana on my bike ride, that extra cup of coffee. A few days after that I was forgetting to take out the phone for main meals. It is important to note here that the decision to record my meals was MY idea.

So what does that mean for my blog? I think it means that without some consistent effort from me, it just might wither and die. It's certainly not a big job to post regularly and when I do I find it helps me to focus my thoughts, at least it does force me to think about what to write moreso than a random tweet or facebook update would (not that I ever update facebook anymore - ha!)

Perhaps I should see if defocused.blogspot.com is taken. Yup, by someone in Finland, and they haven't posted since 2006. I guess it could be worse.

No Credit!

2011-02-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't go for my morning bike ride this morning. I was up several times last night to walk Louise, who was suffering with pretty bad abdominal pain and couldn't settle down, so I was pretty tired and opted to get an extra hour of sleep instead.

Today is going to be a busy one for me - my friend Dallas invited me to watch the Vancouver Canucks play against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. It's not often that I get the chance to go see an NHL game, so of course I jumped at the chance. What makes it even better is that Vancouver is playing well right now. Even with defenceman Ballard out with a strained knee I remain hopeful that they can win against Anaheim.

Oh yeah - I had to call VISA yesterday to inquire about some suspicious looking charges on my statement. At first I thought they were related to my cell phone but as it turned out they were completely fraudulent and not related at all. I happened to have recently installed a banking application on my iPhone and this lets me easily log in and examine things like my banking statements and transaction history. It's amazing to me how many things like duplicate charges, etc. go through unchecked, especially since that is one thing that is pretty easy to flag for further inspection. It seems we aren't quite there yet though which is why I was the first to discover two identical charges of about $230 each against my credit card. This was something that immediately stood out to me and I decided to look into it.

As a side note, if the perpetrator had only posted the one charge, I would most likely ignored it completely, assuming it was a valid charge for something else. It was only because they posted the charge twice on the same day. Sometimes I'm aided by the stupidity (and greed) of others, I guess.

Anyhow, after a series of calls both to VISA and to my cell phone provider I start to gather the needed information to determine these charges were in fact false. Both companies were very adept at handling this and one representative at VISA, an energetic man named Adam had a very clear understanding of these situations in general and was able to give me helpful tips on what exactly to look for to determine if I was dealing with a fraud case or not. His tips helped to speed this process to resolution.

But yeah - tonight, hockey game. Tomorrow, take delivery of a new stove. I figure there will be a sleep debt to be repaid this weekend.

Still biking daily

2011-01-27T10:20:00.000-08:00

After about a week even I had to admit that blogging about each day's ride was monotonous, boring and overall, pointless. Compounding to that was the fact that I generally ride the same route each day, so I didn't even have that extra variety to talk about.

I am still biking though. Every day, rain or shine. After all, I live in Vancouver. I'm not faced with horrifically cold temperatures like the rest of my family is right now. I don't have to shovel a path to ride on. I have most of the gear needed to keep me comfortable for the duration of my ride. I feel lucky to be able to do this daily.

Even better, now the sun is starting to be up when I'm on my ride. It's still mostly dark, but now I can see the glow through the clouds in the east and by the time I return home I am able to turn off my lights.

A little story about Telus Mobility

2011-01-24T13:01:00.000-08:00

So today I get an email from Telus Mobility. I think this is odd, since I do not have a telus cell phone, but maybe it has something to do with our home bundle, which we did recently update. No, it turns out that wasn't the case at all, so I ended up calling Telus Mobility to straighten out the matter. I figured it would be a quick call.

Turns out it was a quick way to elevate my blood pressure. Once we sorted out that I was not in fact the same person they had on file (address didn't match) I figured it would be over. But no, the helpful gentleman on the other end of the phone then suggested that I call Google instead, as clearly this was an email problem because me and the other fellow obviously had the same email address. I was stunned. I had to slow down my speaking a bit, not because I thought he was stupid (at this point I kind of did think that) but because I wanted to control what I was saying. I explained again that this was not an email problem and that the only thing wrong with my email account was that Telus Mobility was spamming me with their email. I further explained that it would be in their interest to contact the other person with my name to get the correct email address as the one they had on file was wrong.

The representative then informed me that he could not contact the account holder.

"Doesn't he have a cell phone with you guys?" I asked.

Anyway, I hope it's been sorted out. Good luck with contacting your customer, Telus Mobility. I'm thinking you might need it.

Losing the sun for a few days won't be my idea of a good time

2011-01-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

Temp: -1 deg

Precip: overcast

I saw that the temperature was below zero today and may have over reacted a little bit. I put on all of my winter gear. Consequently, I was too warm by the end of my ride. Not the worst case scenario, but I do make a note of it because I likely could have gone without one of the sweaters. For the record, I had shorts, knee warmers, thick sweat pants and my rain pants paired with a t-shirt, cycling jersey, arm warmers, sweatshirt, sweater, rain shell and coat on top. I went with double gloves and was also wearing the toque under my helmet. No scarf today.

I wear the rain garb when it is cold in part because it helps break the wind. Without it, the cold air cuts right through any sweaters I might have on. By the time I was doing my final climb back to the condo I had a couple of my layers partially unzipped to help regulate my temperature. By the end of the ride I had the peculiar sensation of being both too hot and too cold at the same time. While I didn't hate it, I can't say that it was one of my more enjoyable rides to date.

Not quite freezing, but damn close

2011-01-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

Temp: 4 degrees
Precip: none, overcast

I went with the same gear as yesterday and concluded that today's ride was the absolute coldest I can endure with only a few layers. I was cold everywhere but was able to continue on. Next time I ride at 4 degrees I will make sure I have a pair of sweat pants on in addition to my other riding gear. Also, the single pair of gloves was barely adequate and a couple times I had to stop to blow warm air in them, or ball my hands into fists to keep my fingers from freezing.

Oddly, I am not able to get new podcasts from CBC today. Not sure what is up with that, but I set out on my ride without the usual compliment of news bulletins. Luckily I did have a half watched episode of Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, as well as a podcast from Search Engine. Those carried me through to near the end of the ride, so I was ok.

But I still missed my news from CBC.

Back to the Monday routine

2011-01-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

Temp: 8 degrees
Precip: Overcast, intermittent showers, very little rain

I woke up feeling tired this morning, but headed out anyway. Last night I managed to wake up my wife with my snoring again and she was less than pleased, so it wasn't like I could skip out on my exercise even if I wanted to.

Of course, as usual, once I was underway things got better. What little rain I encountered early on was all but gone by the time I got to the park. I wore the same gear as yesterday and once again, I was fine. It's still very dark in some spots of Stanley but I'm able to continue on because the trail is so familiar to me. I do slow down though, in case there is a branch or some other obstacle.

My feet were dry when I got back in this morning. That felt so nice. I guess I managed to stay out of the puddles today.

Burrard Bridge revisited

2011-01-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

Temp: 9 degrees
Precip: very light rain, mostly

Today I decided to try riding without the sweat pants and it turns out I was fine. So I was over dressing recently, at least once the temperatures warmed up. My rain pants are very good at keeping the water off my legs, so with regular biking shorts and knee warmers, I was fine. More importantly, I'm still wearing a toque under my helmet and I'm sure that is helping lots.

My feet still get wet. That's all there is to say about that.

So today I rode into Kitsilano, one of Vancouver's more expensive neighborhoods. This of course had me go across the Burrard St. bridge, which is always a nice ride. I made it as far as Alma street, which is actually into Point Grey and almost to UBC. I debated riding around the campus but was a little pressed for time so I headed back instead.

Temperature in the double digits!

2011-01-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

Temp: 10 degrees
Precip: None!
Clothing:
cycling shorts, leg warmers, socks, thinner grey sweat pants under rain pants
t-shirt under cycling jersey with arm warmers under a sweater and rain shell
toque on my head and regular socks in worn sneakers

This morning was warm AND without rain. I felt so lucky riding today. While there was no rain falling, the roads were still plenty wet. This was especially true in the park, where runoff continues to make muddy sections of the sea wall. This is what fenders are for and mine caught a lot of the mud (but not all).

Near the end of the ride I stopped in at the office because I knew I had some chain lubricant there and after yesterday's significant rinsing, I knew the bike would need some. A quick check of my tire pressure and I was off again, to return home.

Superwet Friday

2011-01-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

Temp: 8 degrees

Precip: constant rain

I just love how Vancouver weather tends to clear off about half an hour after I arrive at the office. It was warm though, so I persisted to do a full ride around the park. Of course that meant I had soaked feet and hands - I forgot how the colour in my gloves bleeds when they get wet - my hands were ink stained by the end of the ride.

With this much rain, I also noticed that it was very dark. There was one section on the back side of the park where I had to slow down because I knew where the road was supposed to go, but I couldn't quite see it clearly. I didn't like the idea of suddenly riding off a curb without knowing it. Luckily that didn't happen.

Got out before the snow arrives

2011-01-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Temp: -2 deg

Precip: none

Listening to: Kevin Pollak's Chat show

A brisk, cold ride this morning. Did a single lap around Stanley Park and found I had to pull my fingers out of my gloves and make fists to prevent frostbite. One thing that was nice was there was no wind. The water was like glass in the marina, reflecting back the city lights perfectly.

Again with the brakes, I really should not have put off adjusting them as long as I did. It feels like a brand new bike again. On today's ride I really needed them too, as the far side of Stanley Park was pretty icy. This is normal, given the amount of runoff that comes off the cliffs.

Oh yeah, on yesterday's ride I was interrupted briefly by a family of sea otters as they crossed the sea wall into their home under a tree. Pretty cool, and it happened too fast for me to get out my camera (it's usually in a pocket 2 or 3 layers deep).

Adjusted for more stopping power

2011-01-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Temp: -3 deg, no precipitation

It's still dark when I leave for my rides but is generally starting to brighten by the time the ride ends. Last night I adjusted the brakes on my bike and am happy with the result. Honestly, the thought of heading out into the cold this morning wasn't very appealing to me, but wanting to test out the new brake setup was a more powerful draw. Well that and the fact that my snoring kept Holly up most of last night, which indicates I need to bike MORE frequently, not LESS.

As I was riding I couldn't help but realize just how well my bike continues to work, day in and day out. It's about 15 years old now, well at least the frame. Much of it has been upgraded over the years but things like the headset and wheelset feel solid and true. Overall, not a bad ride today.

Saturday Sunshine

2011-01-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Temp: somewhere between 2 and 4 degrees
Precip: none (yay!)
I have a feeling I am going to recycle my blog titles soon. Today I decided to ride into greater Vancouver, making a point to cross over Burrard bridge. I used this bridge a lot when I was commuting and really like the view. I briefly stopped into the office because well, they have a good bicycle pump there and my tires needed a little air.

I was wearing quite a bit today because I knew it was not going to be as warm as yesterday, even without the rain. I had my coat over the rain shell and was wearing double gloves, as well as the rest of my gear. Oh, and I put a thicker pair of sweatpants under my cycling pants too - that really helped with staying warm. Even with all of this on, I never really got 'hot'. I was comfortable though, so I'm glad I went with the extra layers and didn't try to go with less.

Today was also the first day I rode with my ipod again, after breaking the glass on it. Thanks to my wife's support and suggestion, I am going to attempt to repair it, as it still has life in it. Expect a separate blog post to deal with that.

Soggy Ride today

2011-01-07T23:08:00.000-08:00

It was about 8 degrees this morning, and raining heavily when I set out. My plan was to bike around the Stanley Park sea wall instead of biking to the top of the hill at Point Roberts. This was because I didn't really like the idea of riding down the hill and having my face pelted with rain at 40-60 kph.

I didn't like the idea of negotiating around a rockslide either, so when I saw the barricades up preventing me from taking the low road I prepared for a climb. As expected, the descent was very wet and the rain was pelting me in the face pretty hard, so I controlled my speed as best I could with wet brakes as I rode down the hill. Wow. This sounded so much better this morning as I was thinking of what I would say.

Anyway, by the time I made it into the office later that morning it had stopped raining and the sun came out. I knew I should have been out riding the night before, when it was dry.

Wimpy Ride report, and two cups of tea

2011-01-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

I wimped out on today's ride. I slept a lot last night, but still I was unable (or unwilling) to push myself for very long. I will have to go longer tomorrow, this is plenty of rest, even if I am fighting off a cold (still).

The temperature was about 5º C and it was raining - not hard rain and my gear was up to the task, keeping me dry and not cold. Only one pair of gloves today, with the toque under the helmet, and I was back to the wet weather cycling shell instead of a heavier coat. It seemed to be okay with a sweatshirt underneath. My sweatpants were in the laundry hamper so I went with my rain pants and knee warmers which also served me well. I probably would have found another pair of sweats if it was colder.

Last night, while skyping with my parents, Holly brewed me up a cup of tea to help clear my throat a bit before I settled down. It was delicious, so once I arrived at work I figured a cup of tea would be just the thing - but this is horrible bitterness in comparison. I don't know how people drink this shit, honestly. (I'm going to finish the cup though because bitter or no, I bet it's good for me somehow.) I probably overbrewed it, or had too much of it or something. Either way, I think I prefer my wife's tastes in teas. This stuff is just nasty.

Ride Report: Jan 4

2011-01-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

It's supposed to snow a lot today, at least in terms of Vancouver snow. When I got up this morning though, it had not yet started so I was able to head out ahead of the forecasted storm. Temperatures were around freezing, which is a little milder than the past few days. As such, I didn't need the second pair of gloves, or the extra coat. I was cold, but it was bearable.

Unlike yesterday, there was no fog bank to ride through but there was still quite a bit of frost on the streets. I noted that it was unpredictable as to where I would encounter it. Some streets would be bare and dry while others frosted over white. Then there were the inconsistent sections as well. So long as I wasn't standing on my pedals though, I was fine with my slick tires. At least so far.

Prepare for another inversion?

2011-01-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

I had the luxury of not heading out on my bike ride until a few hours later today, which meant I could bike in the sun. While the sun was indeed out, as I got down by the water I was enveloped in a thick fog bank.

Normally I like fog. The thicker the better. Today's was a pretty cold one, as I was noticing frost forming on the outside of my jacket as I was riding. But, I had my two pair of gloves on, and multiple layers, so it wasn't until I was riding down the hill from Prospect Point in Stanley Park that I started to freeze out my feet.

Mental note: investigate my options for insulated shoe covers.

Today's ride was nice. I like how quiet it gets in a fog bank. It reminded me of when we had a weather inversion a couple years back, although this was nowhere near as extensive. I'm glad I set out when I did, as I am sure that by now the fog has burned off.

Last bike ride for the year

2010-12-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

Man, was it cold out this morning. Still is, actually, but was especially so at about 6:30 am when I set out for my morning ride. I was wearing quite a bit too - cycling shorts with knee warmers under a thin pair of sweat pants - and all that under my wet weather biking pants. Thick socks in regular sneakers. Two pair of gloves, because just the one pair wasn't cutting it yesterday. A t-shirt under a sweater, a thin hoodie and an insulated coat over that - today was not the day for my rain shell, it was too cold for that the other day. Under my helmet was a toque and a scarf wrapped high around the back of my neck.

I still wasn't warm. I really needed some sort of a wind breaker, like what I get with the rain shell. On today's ride the wind was extending through the layers I had on my arms and torso, leeching what little heat I had from me. At least the double pair of gloves worked better than just the single. To compensate, I chose to ride at a slower speed, but on hills so I could be working hard enough to stay warm without the wind chill. I didn't bother with listening to my podcasts on this ride because I didn't want to have to stop and take off a glove to change tracks, etc. At least I remembered to change the batteries in my lights though, so I was extra visible.

Overall, the ride wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't horrible either. It was dry and I noted that the ground now has frost in it, something that wasn't there just last week. And as for cold, well it was at minus 6 degrees Celsius. That's cold on a bike, but I have been in worse and fared better. It's just becoming a little clearer to me what sorts of things I am going to need to keep riding in this weather. Like perhaps an insulated biking jacket for starters.

Running on little sleep

2010-12-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

Last night, Holly asked if I wanted to join her in doing something 'crazy'. That something, as it turns out, was a late night grocery run. There were several factors that led us to this expedition: the car coop doesn't charge the hourly fee after 11:00 pm, we needed groceries for our open house party this weekend and most compelling of all, we hoped that we would avoid the mad rush of holiday shoppers by being out at such a late hour.

Overall, it worked. What we did not count on was the aggressive restocking that goes on at that time though. While there were very few actual shoppers, there were at least as many warehousemen busy unloading pallets of stock. We had to negotiate our shopping cart around their pallet jacks on several occasions. Still, the staff were friendly and helpful with finding items we couldn't so overall I think it was a good plan.

By the time we got home, the pair of us were completely exhausted. I remember looking at the clock shortly before dozing off and it was almost 3:00 am, meaning that I would get roughly half the amount of sleep I normally run on.

Getting out of bed this morning was difficult. It was so very comfortable and warm. Maybe a nap this afternoon will help.

Different Strokes

2010-12-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

We have been visiting the family on Holly's side over the past week, which involved a lot of driving and eating of sweet potato pie. It was a very good visit with family. Near the end of our stay however, we got news that my mother had suffered a stroke. This came out of the blue for me, although in hindsight I should have been able to see the signs. I started calling other family members straightaway to do what I could to take some of the load off of Dad. Being on vacation in the US meant I really could do little else, and I needed to do something.

The kicker came when I got in contact with my cousin in Hamilton, or rather, when his wife called me back. She informed me that my uncle (mom's older brother) had also had a stroke just days before and was also in the hospital. I began to wonder if my mother's clan had expiry dates.

In both cases, they had bad strokes. When I say 'bad' I mean ones that dealt significant damage. This isn't the first stroke that my uncle Don has had - he's had significant strokes before as he has the misfortune to inherit very bad circulation from my grandfather. This was Mom's first stroke though (at least a diagnosed one), so when she posted a comment on my brother's facebook page that read

Was in the hosp for the day today. Symptons, frothing at the mouth, delerious, diagonozes. take an aspirin a day, come back for more blood tests. ha ha Did have a c.t. scan, blood work and ekg. Was back by 3:30, not bad

both Shawn and I figured that Mom was joking around. Neither of us understood what she was saying at the time, even though in hindsight all of it is pretty clear except for why the doctor let her out of the hospital after reporting symptoms like that. Of course, Mom wasn't able to get out so easily on her second visit.

At this point, both Mom and uncle Don are conscious and in the hospital (in different cities.) Both are recovering at whatever pace they are able to and for the rest of us it is still pretty much day by day. More later as this develops.

Mid-Movember update

2010-11-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well this is it, my moustache after a fortnight. Unlike a goatee it isn't as itchy although the hair is still just as bristly. It is not soft at all. Now that it has some length, I find that I need more self discipline to stop smoothing it.

This is only after two weeks.

Just to remind everyone, I'm growing this facial hair for charity, not just for kicks. Please check out the fantastic logo to the right - the one called 'Bigote Bros.' It will take you to the Movember website, where any donations you make will go toward helping to find cures for prostate cancer and other men's health issues. There is a lot more information on that website so I encourage you to check it out.

Movember and Remembrance

2010-11-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

I tweeted my thanks to a prior generation for their sacrifice this morning, despite the fact that it is all but guaranteed to not reach the target audience. Let's face it, twitter is a technology for this generation. No matter, I put it out there anyway.

If you look on the right of my blog you will see a fantastic logo for the Bigote Bros. Bigote is Spanish for 'moustache' and a few of us at work have banded together to participate in this year's Movember event, where we grow moustaches in an effort to raise money for prostate cancer and men's health issues in general.

I must say, it's a lot easier than biking to Seattle.

If you feel like making a donation to this worthy cause, just click the logo and it will take you to my official page, where you can make an online donation using their secure webform. If I get a donation, I'll post a picture of my current moustache - oh, and anything over $10 will get you a tax receipt as well. I'll be honest - this is not my preferred look.

Finally, the picture is one I took of Robson street about a week ago in the morning as I was heading into the office. I like how the lights reflect off the wet pavement.

Return of the mouse (for now)

2010-10-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

Our mouse is back. He hasn't dared to come inside this time, but it did inspire me to tear down the patio so I could clean in behind the benches. Telltale signs of the mouse were there although I didn't see the rodent while I was cleaning it up. It was an all-day job but that was ok, it needed to be done. I figured I had solved my mouse problem until later that night when the mouse returned to inspect my work. He knocked over a can set out to be recycled and I caught him in the beam of my flashlight. I knew I had more work to do.

The next day I made a trip to the store and got some traps. They are installed and I'm ready for the inevitable. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but when I was picking them up at the store the lady was very experienced and knowledgeable, so I got a very informative lecture on the pros and cons of each type of trap. Until I've caught the mouse though, I have to put up with our cats wanting to go outside to the balcony area with a look of excitement in their eyes. Of course, all they seem to do is stare at the mouse - they haven't actually managed to catch one.

One of the best dishes in Vancouver for less than $10

2010-09-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, Holly and I ate dinner at a little Japanese restaurant in town called Aki. This is a place that serves wonderful food, but whenever we go, unless we have been going often, I usually get my favorite dish. It's what I would consider one of the top dishes to eat in Vancouver for less than $10. That's a pretty tall order in my opinion, but the beef curry at Aki lives up to it, in my mind.

It's a little strange ordering beef in gravy on rice at a place known for good sushi. It also takes a while for them to prepare, but it is oh so worth the wait. Meanwhile, Holly ordered a rice bowl that was covered in various sushi that she seemed to also enjoy, although since it was assorted sushi, there were one or two pieces that she offered to me instead. While she is not a fan of octopus, I can attest that it too was delicious, assuming you like that sort of thing.

While I really like the beef curry, I also know it's not the kind of dish my dad would ever try. It has the word 'curry' in it, and that puts him off, even though it's nothing at all like Indian curry, which is what he is thinking of. Having said that, it does have a bit of spice to it, but not in a burning hot kind of way - more like 'a lot of different and subtle flavours exploding in my mouth with each bite' kind of way. Oh well, his loss, my gain. Even though I'm not hungry right now, I'm salivating just at the thought of this delicious dish.

A nice Wedding and some Cross Border Shopping

2010-09-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

So Chris and Amy got married. We were in attendance and had a great time. Amy's dress was beautiful (as was she) Chris and the boys were looking sharp and everything fell into place for a great time. It was a long day but there is no way we would have missed it.

Anyhow, congratulations you two, and thanks again for including us.

Both Holly and I had to behave ourselves at the reception because we had rented a car for the weekend and planned to use it for some cross border shopping the next day. On our way into Washington we noted that even the Nexus lane was pretty busy and that they did something unusual this time: they allowed TWO lanes for the Nexus cars and shunted all the other regular traffic through ONE lane, where they queued up cars to have the dog run by and sniff. It made for a long wait to get into the US on this rainy Sunday afternoon.

We made it through though, and managed to get our snacks at Taco Bell, among other places. There were some deals to take advantage of but really this was a small trip with very little coming back. But it was a nice drive in the rain.

Red Robin wins on service

2010-08-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

For my birthday supper we planned to dine at Red Robin out in Langly, with our friends Bill and Colleen (and baby.) As usual when it came time to order our drinks, I happily ordered a Guinness. Our server came back shortly to inform me that they didn't have any, so I was to choose a different beer for the night.

Soon after taking delivery of a Rickard's Red beer, we had a change in servers. Our new guy, Ryan, quickly took our food orders and basically did his job.

Part way through our meal Ryan came back, asking if we wanted another drink. I had declined, as I wasn't drinking the beer I had in mind, and that it was okay. Ryan then asked me if he could find a Guinness, would I want it, to which I let him know that I would, but that others had searched before him and they didn't have any in stock. He left and I thought nothing more of it.

Ryan eventually returned, with a freshly poured Guinness in hand and the rest of the server crew in tow, to sing me a happy birthday song. It turns out that he left the restaurant to go get some Guinness just to be able to serve me the beer of my choice on my birthday. This then became the most appreciated Guinness I have ever had.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic birthday with an unexpected touch of kindness from a complete stranger. Yes, he was only doing his job, but he did it far better than most. When I look back on yesterday I won't really remember that Red Robin was out of Guinness on my birthday so much as I will recall Ryan stepping out to fill my drink order.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a customer satisfaction survey to fill out.

I am the new 40

2010-08-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Lordy Lordy, look who's... yes well it isn't a surprise. I look the part, feel the part and my wife hopes that one day soon I'll even start acting the part. While some might not consider me to be old (your numbers are dwindling daily, I might add) I also can no longer be considered to be young.

I'm in the purgatory of age brackets.

Oh and apparently I'm now old enough to be called a 'mamil' which oddly, I'm okay with. Speaking of biking, I was up this morning for a leisurely ride around Stanley Park this morning and I have to say it was fantastic. There was another truck coming through the infamous intersection I had my accident at today, but I was already braking properly and there was no drama involved. I even wore my favorite cycling jersey, a green and black one from a shop I used to frequent when I lived in Aldergrove. The shop is long gone but the jersey still fits (barely).

My old bike is still holding up, mostly thanks to the work I had done on it two years ago in preparation for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. It is developing some new mystery creaks and the shifting is getting sloppy but somehow it continues to carry me over each hill, or at least down to the pizza shop and back on those evenings when ordering a pizza is just easier. I continue to lust after new rides but after a solid year I haven't managed to do much about that. They say we procrastinate against not only the things we don't want to do but also against the things we really want to do too. I'm a classic example of that I guess.

One of the things I hoped to do last year was to learn how to ride a fixed gear bike. The closest I came to that was to sit on one once at a bike store, so that goal will have to roll over into this year instead. Part of the problem is that I don't have a bike that is easily converted to ride fixed gear. The other part of the problem is that I don't want two bikes, so whatever I end up with should be convertable. I don't care if it is because it is a road frame that has horizontal dropouts or a track frame with cable stops for internally geared hubs. Boy, am I ever getting off track with this post.

For years I have asked Holly for a leather jacket, be it for my birthday, or other gift giving holiday. The problem has always been in finding something that actually looks good on me. Two days before my birthday Holly and I are out shopping and while I'm waiting in line to pay for some things she stumbles across something she thought might work. It turns out the one she picked was too tight for me (see the link above) but we were able to find a size larger that fit me correctly.

Today is only partly done, but already it has been better than good. Just about everyone at work has wished me well and I've heard from lots of friends and family. That's pretty much what it is all about, right?

Ad-supported dreaming

2010-08-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

So last night I had a weird dream. I was in some futuristic setting and was using one of those fancy new computer interfaces like what made the film Minority Report so famous when all of a sudden it happened: my user experience was interrupted with a commercial. I don't recall the commercial being brand-specific in my dream, it was more just the notion that it's increasingly more of a norm for us to be interrupted by advertising. At least, that is how I interpreted the dream that I had.

But it's interesting too - aside from a few movies like Robocop, not too many future depictions include the adverse side effects of all this marketing and advertising. I mean, how many 'free' services do we currently have that are ad-supported? This is a fact of life for the modern computer user and I don't see it going away anytime soon, except maybe for those willing to pay for the privilege.

Anyway, it was a weird dream that I hope doesn't repeat itself. For my sleep at least, I'd like it not to be ad-supported.

BBQ Salmon

2010-08-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

The other day we decided to cook up a nice salmon fillet on the BBQ. It wasn't going to be for dinner that night, but it was already thawed out so it needed to be cooked up. I fired up the grill and Holly wrapped it in foil, along with whatever other cooking magic she normally does. We put it on the grill and promptly forgot about it.

I went out for a quick errand and when I got back I asked Holly about the salmon. Her face went from surprise to resignation pretty quickly as she responded "Well it's gotta be pretty burnt by now! Let's go check it." She was surprised that she hadn't been smelling burnt salmon though.

Once out on the patio it became clear: luck was on our side that day because the grill ran out of propane shortly after cooking the fish to perfection. Sure it was cold by now, but it was going in the refrigerator anyhow. To make matters even better, Holly confirmed that it was actually slightly under cooked, which meant that it would be just right when she heated it up later.

Of course, filing this blog post serves to remind me: I need to refill the propane tank for the BBQ now.

Bird Crap

2010-07-30T13:26:00.001-07:00

As I was walking home last night a seagull was kind enough to crap on me. I felt the droppings hit the back of my head but the 'bulk' of his load landed on my thigh. While it was pretty gross, there really wasn't much I could do until I got home.

So naturally, I made sure to purchase a lottery ticket on the way home.

Yeah, it's a little superstition but it did make my evening a lot more enjoyable. Instead of fuming about being shat on I was feeling 'lucky.' Having said that, the shower I took when I got home felt pretty good. I was happy to be cleaned up.

Weekend explorations along Robson Street

2010-07-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

Ah, the weekend. This was a slow one for us, which was quite nice to be honest about it. We stuck close to home but did manage to get out to a couple places. One of those places is a little coffee and desert bar called Chicco. We discovered it in the KLIP coupon book that Holly picked up on our most recent stop in to Konbiniya.

Okay, let me explain all that a bit. My wife has been learning to speak Japanese, so naturally we will sometimes stop into Konbiniya as it is basically a Japan-styled convenience store. For all I know, that might explain the name but really I have no clue since I'm not the one learning the language. But they do make tasty dessert crepes on-site there, so I say the store is good. One of the things that can be found in the store is the KLIP coupon booklet. It's like a free, very thin magazine. They have both English and Japanese versions and we discovered a while ago that there is usually a 2 for 1 coupon for Waves coffee. I'm somewhat surprised that the staff at Waves don't know us on a first name basis yet. (Interesting note: I wrongly guessed at the url for waves and entered waves.ca, which led me to a website for a religious group in Vancouver, BC. No word yet on how good their coffee is.)

So this weekend, my wife suggested we try a couple of the spots that were advertised in KLIP, which we did. Chicco cafe was the first, where I had a Red Beans and Soy with coffee drink and Holly had a Red Beans and Soy with Green Tea. These were some mighty fine drinks. They were kind of like a bubble tea, and the red bean added sweetness to the drink. Since I normally prefer my coffee unsweetened, it was a nice mix as the bean never got too sweet. We will most likely be back to try more of their menu.

I can't even tell you the name of the other place we tried last night. It used to be called Blueberry World, right next to the McDonald's on the corner of Robson and Bidwell streets. I think it's called something like Fresh now. They sell frozen yogurt but unlike most other places, it tastes like they actually use yogurt. It was very refreshing and I preferred it over the 'no difference from regular ice cream' variety of frozen yogurt.

Unplanned Early Start

2010-07-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 5:00 am this morning and despite my best efforts, I couldn't get back to sleep. Since that was not going to happen, I reached over and grabbed my ipod to check twitter - more out of idle curiosity than anything else. While it was no surprise to see Bill and a few friends in Europe actively tweeting, what surprised me was how many Vancouverites were already active - including some who are notorious for craving their morning sleep. I'm talking about you, gwilli - what the heck were you doing tweeting at 5:30 am this morning?

Anyhow, since I wasn't going to be sleeping I figured I might as well get up and go for a bike ride. I'm so glad that I did because I didn't realize quite how much I was missing it. The temperatures had not yet warmed up so I made sure to put on a long sleeved shirt under my cycling jersey but I took a chance on not wearing more than shorts. It was chilly at first, but I soon warmed up.

Since I had a little extra time on my hands, I figured I could complete one task that has been left open since my trip to New Brunswick to visit my brother. During that visit we had gone to see the Hopewell Rocks and my brother took a little time to discover a geocache while we were there. This was all new to me and he had to explain what a geocache is, and what it's about. Here comes my shortened, bastardized version of that explanation: people hide crap in the woods and expect other people to come find it. Most use expensive satellite receptors in order to find this stuff. Some even think it's fun. They even have their own lingo, which somehow makes it worse although I'm not yet sure why that is.

The net result of all this was that Shawn discovered a 'travel bug' in said geocache and figured it might be fun if he gave it to me so I could place it in a different cache, located back here in Vancouver. A travel-bug is basically a token that you are invited to steal so that you can hide it somewhere else. It usually has a serial number on it, so that you can record where you hid it on the geocaching website. Some, like this one, are quite nice and not crap at all. However let's be honest - most of the stuff you will find in these random tupperware containers is going to be crap.

So I've been carrying this travel bug as a guest in my wallet ever since that day trip in New Brunswick. It came with me to Las Vegas - at one point we thought about stashing it somewhere along the strip in Sin City, but well, that didn't happen. It seems that while things that happen in Vegas stay in Vegas, things brought into Vegas tend to leave shortly thereafter despite all best efforts to the contrary. So while this travel bug spent some time at the slot machines, it was but a brief stop before ending up (for now) at Stanley Park.

I haven't linked directly to the geocache in question mostly because it is supposed to be a bit of a treasure hunt and I didn't want to make it too easy to find. There are enough clues here though that for those who are into this sort of thing, they could find this travel bug easily enough. Of course, once my brother updates the website, the official geocachers will have all the info they need. (that should happen later today, btw.)

Near the end of my morning ride I happened to notice the new location for this year's Celebration of Light barge. It's a little further out this year which means the best locations will be different again.

Oh yeah. here's a fun fact: on Friday (tomorrow) it will be 40 days until my 40th birthday. I've been thinking about this a little bit lately and am still not sure what I would like to do to mark the occasion. Maybe that's why I couldn't sleep.

Rodent Intruder

2010-07-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

I didn't expect to be blogging again quite this soon.

Last night, at around 4:00 am we woke up to the sounds of our cats crashing about in the living room. This was more than the usual late night friskiness, so I got up to check out the situation. As I enter the living room I notice that Sophie has a mouse (or baby rat, I have no idea) trapped in a corner. Sassy isn't far behind her. At first they weren't sure if they were in trouble or not. Obviously, I wasn't going to be sleeping until this situation was resolved. Once they saw that I was going to be joining them in this hunt, the two cats immediately fell in line and we set about chasing out the rodent.

At first I thought it was going to be easy - I startled it and the mouse ran toward the patio door, which was open. This was my fault, we don't normally leave the door open all night and presumably this is how the mouse came inside. My luck ran out fast though, about as fast as the mouse as he ran past the door and behind the desk. I hopped up on the sofa so I could lift the drapes to the window - I didn't want to lose track of the little beastie. In the process, I kicked over a glass on the coffee table. Of course, it broke.

By now Holly wants to know what is going on and if I am okay. I let her know we have a mouse and continue with the hunt. The cats managed to keep it contained to the desk area while I picked up the worst of the glass and got socks and shoes on my feet. Then it was my job to try forcing the mouse to retreat back out the patio door. But the cats didn't get that memo. They had blood on their lips and were liking the taste. Instead of letting the mouse go from the desk to the door, they were waiting at the edge of the desk for the first chance to strike.

This sent the mouse back at me, jumping. At this time I'd like to point out that when a human attempts to catch a mouse, it's a lot like a game of hot potato. You don't really want to be touching it. Cats on the other hand, well to them it's more like tackle football, but with a tasty, moving piece of steak. The ~~steak~~ mouse took a leap into the middle of the room and made a run for it, with the two cats in hot pursuit.

We were very VERY lucky that night. We were all very lucky that the mouse headed toward the main entrance of the condo and NOT into the bedroom, where Holly was in bed, listening to the commotion. Still, once I saw they had the mouse cornered by the door I knew I had an opportunity. I opened the door and chased the mouse out of the condo. Finally I could close the patio door and put my pants on.

I quickly dressed, grabbed the broom and headed out in the hall after the mouse. I couldn't just leave it there to be discovered by someone else, or even worse for it to enter another condo. I propped open the main door with some papers that had been delivered and started my search. I found the mouse hiding over by the mail boxes and started my chase again.

By now I was getting the hang of things and with the broom to extend my reach I was able to coax the mouse over to the right corner so that he could find the door. Once he was outside he disappeared into the darkness faster than I could have kept track. I closed the door, returned to the condo and praised the cats after updating Holly on the status of the mouse. It was about that time when Louise woke up, wondering what was going on.

While I was able to go back to bed and fall back asleep quickly, the cats were way too hyped up to think about sleeping. I'm pretty sure they stayed on patrol for the rest of the night - just in case.

Married for Ten Years

2010-07-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

As of today, Holly and I have been married for ten years. To mark the occasion we Holly booked a trip to Las Vegas. Neither of us are gamblers but both of us were craving that dry desert heat. I mean, let's face it: Vancouver has been cool and damp this spring and things have yet to warm up much as summer rolled in. I should warn you now that this won't be a short blog post.

The trip started with a VERY early morning to catch our flight out of Vancouver. Holly had booked us in online the night before so we were able to bypass the first checkin and proceed directly to airport security. This was in part because we were flying on Delta Air and they charged extra for any checked in bags, despite the fact that we were flying international. We have had our gripes about West Jet and Air Canada in the past, but at least they have always allowed us to check in luggage without charging extra for it. Anyway, we had adjusted our things and planned it out so that we would carry on all our stuff. When we arrived at the security checkpoint Holly was flagged for the 100% check. It took a LOT longer for her and they even made her take off her flip flops. In contrast, I was through security in mere minutes and was waiting on the other side for her. Why they decided to split us up I have no idea.

Once through that the rest of our flights were pretty smooth. We had a layover in Salt Lake City and even there we noticed how much warmer it was. For some reason the airline stewardess on the first leg of our trip did not like Holly. She would look at her sideways and was somehow bothered by her mere presence. It was a strange experience since Holly hadn't said or done anything to provoke her. It was a strange encounter and we laughed it off afterward.

We landed in Vegas and took the shuttle to the car rental area. It's in a separate building from the airport and the whole system runs pretty smooth. Originally we planned on renting a car with Dollar, but while arranging to pick it up, and going through the extra fees, hidden insurance costs, etc. we asked if there was a penalty if we canceled. We were informed there was none, so we decided to walk away and just explore Vegas on foot instead. Our agent was completely fine with that and even offered to give us a free shuttle ride to our hotel, even though we were not going to be renting a car with him. I'll be clear: the fees and extra insurance costs are not unique to Dollar, but are part of Nevada's state law. This means all the car rental spots there operate the same. In my mind we got great service from Dollar and we took them up on their offer to shuttle us to the airport.

Our shuttle driver was a helpful and friendly guy who was originally from Chicago. He told us stories about Las Vegas and gave us advice on where to buy cheap bottled water on the strip. We made sure to tip him well because he made this short part of our trip that much more enjoyable.

Finally we were at the Venetian Hotel, our destination. Actually we were staying in the Venezia, which is part of the same complex. This hotel is decorated in a classic Italian theme with painted murals on the ceilings and lots of extra crown moulding. The suite we were staying in was very large and well appointed. It took not one, but two elevator rides to get from the front desk to our room.

This became a theme in most of the large casinos on the strip. They are built in a way to make it difficult to escape. Even after leaving the hotel, if you wanted to go south, you had to first head north until you got to the strip. I am not really complaining about this, it's just something we noted while we were out and about. Holly really enjoyed the heat outside so a few extra minutes in the sun was no bother for her.

On the strip there was a LOT to see and do. We made no attempt at trying to do everything - it would be pointless to try in the time we would be there. But we did get to see a lot. We walked to most places and discovered a few gems to eat at, like Canters in Treasure Island and Chipotle, an organic mexican food restaurant located right on the strip.

On the third day we got a 24 hour bus pass each so that we could go shopping at the Premium Outlet mall. There were several options to choose from but only one actually went far enough to get to the mall, and none of the options were all that fast. Still, the bus was air conditioned and took us past many of the sights one would hope to see on the strip. And it sure beat walking. At the outlet malls, and also at various places on the strip were these mist sprayers designed to return some of the humidity back to the air. They didn't actually cool you down at all but they did help to keep the air breathable.

Now for the geek tip for Las Vegas. If you happen to buy a ticket for the Ace Gold line bus like we did, it can take you to the only Frys store in Nevada. Just go south, and get out at the Town Square stop, near the southern outlet mall. It's a three minute walk south from there. I picked up a bluetooth mouse for my macbook pro, and was using it on the flight home. I stopped there though. I could probably have spent an hour or so going through the various deals they had, but really, the mouse was what I was hoping to get this trip.

Another stop we made was to the Rainforest Cafe. We went to the Rainforest Cafe when it was in Burnaby on one of our first dates, so it held some sentimental value for us. The Burnaby store is no longer in business and I wasn't expecting to see one in Vegas, so it was a pleasant surprise, and we both enjoyed our meals. A lot. It was located inside the MGM Grand hotel and casino, a place we had to visit again the next day to see the lions on display. None of my photos of the sleeping lions turned out that well, but it was fun to be able to walk down a glass hallway and see them sleeping on Plexiglas above you. Apparently they sleep quite a lot.

There was so much more that we did and saw while there, it was a fantastic way to ring in ten years of marriage. There were high points and low ones, but overall it was memorable, happy and most importantly, blazingly hot.

I love you Holly. Thanks for putting all of this together because really, none of it would have happened without you.

A falling out with Enterprise Car Rental

2010-06-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

My wife and I wanted to book a car for an upcoming trip. In the past I have been a fairly loyal customer for Enterprise Car Rental. There was a stretch when I was renting cars from them just about every other weekend - we were on a first name basis. They liked my repeat business, I liked the personal service and the price breaks they gave me. I was a preferred customer in the truest sense of the word.

Times are different now. I no longer require a rental car every weekend. The Enterprise location I used to rent from (one block away from the office) was recently bulldozed down to make room for some new development next to the Olympic Village. My personal connections were relocated to alternate offices.

So as I mentioned earlier, we needed to rent another car. Naturally, we started by checking rates at Enterprise. This go around, they weren't already the best price in town, and we happened to notice an oddity: if we varied the dates even a little, the rates dropped by about a third. I figured that since the website wasn't making sense, perhaps I could get the better rate by phoning the company.

I ended up calling them twice, but both times I got the same pat answer: 'our rates vary by date, time and availability.' Both times the service rep quoted me that line. Neither one was able to explain it better than that. The best attempt I heard was that one tried to say it was just like the airlines. Unable to get the rate I was prepared to pay (and generally what their competitors were offering) I thanked the reps for their time without booking.

Now as it happened, on my second call I was randomly selected to partake in a call survey (if I liked) on my customer experience for the call. Of course I agreed. When prompted, I rated my experience as a 1, which meant completely dissatisfied. Predictably, this triggered an opportunity to speak with a supervisor (finally!) or I could just leave a message. I opted to talk to the supervisor and eagerly awaited an answer.... which never came. Apparently the supervisor wasn't taking calls today and instead I found myself back in the automated routine. It all happened so fast I am not sure if the person just put the phone on 'make busy' or if the whole process of shunting my call was automated. Either way the net result was the same. I eventually left my message (not pleased, going with competitor) and concluded my business with Enterprise.

Dollar Rent a Car, you get my business this trip. I don't normally rent with you and you certainly will be on a trial basis. Let's hope your cars and service can meet my expectations.

Family visit - the Maritimes in the Summer

2010-06-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

We are back from another visit with the family on the east coast and I am feeling refreshed. My brother took us out to see Hopewell Cape as it was close by his place and we got a lot of pictures there. It was fun scrambling along the muddy beach - we ensured that we would arrive at low tide for that reason.

From there we stopped to visit at my sister's, as well as at my parent's place. While we weren't able to see everyone, we did manage to visit with a lot of family. There were many hours spent driving as well, so Holly and I had plenty of 'downtime' between visits.

Perhaps on the next trip we might try to take in a few more sights as well. Prince Edward's Island is one place we considered on this trip, but really didn't have enough time to fit it in. I think this was also Holly's first time to visit the Maritimes in the summer. Our normal routine has been to plan a trip around the year end holidays. It had been quite a while since I had been back in warmer months so I also appreciated the sunshine - something we haven't been getting much of here in Vancouver.

This last photo is of me and my paternal grandfather. Can you see any resemblance?

Oh yeah - Holly had the great idea of setting up my family on Skype so that we can video chat with them. I'm amazed that we were able to get everyone going so easily - even Mom took to it once she saw her grandchildren on the computer screen. Maybe now we can show her Louise in real time.

Finches have been denied thier cartoon roles

2010-06-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

I had good intentions of blogging tonight. But Holly discovered GI Joe cartoon reruns on TV and well, the overacting is distracting to say the least. It's very likely that I won't be able to string together two thoughts in this post.

So in other words, a pretty normal post.

We were out giving Louise a walk when we noticed a pair of finches who were perched on a bush next to the sea wall. I was surprised at how close we were able to get without them flying away.

I wanted to talk about the proposed changes to copyright in Canada, but I don't yet know enough about the new bill to say anything informed. I've started to follow Tony Clement and James Moore on twitter - they are the two members of Parliament who put forward the new bill. Maybe that will offer enough of a counterpoint to the various websites that are raising objections to this bill.

Oh no, Cobra escaped! Okay I gotta go now.

Changing a few things

2010-05-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

As you must know by now, I'm a fan of the local graffiti artists. They tend to spray intelligent messages that comment on society, as witnessed with all the interesting Olympic themed renditions. I saw today's photo opportunity and laughed out loud at the perfect juxtaposition.

I really should photograph more of them though, as they never seem to last all that long. Anyway, this is my way of showing props, even though the chances of the persons responsible for this art seeing this blog is very remote. (Okay, a virtual impossibility - happy now?)

Anyway, I've decided to make another 'subtle' change to the old blog format. The template I use is old and brittle so it often requires careful massaging of raw HTML in order to get things looking the way I hoped. Today's edit involved widening the text area so that when I link youtube videos I can use a 640x480 resolution instead of having to scale it down to something so small as to be unusable. Anyhow, this involved quite a bit of restructuring, including new banner photos, as the entire blog had to widen by about 100 pixels.

That's right, I run a fixed width show here.

Anyhow, the thing I am noticing now is that when I compose a blog post, my edit window no longer lines up with what the finished product looks like. This is only an issue when dealing with multiple photos, as they don't easily line up anymore. This might not be that big a deal though, as the preview function seems to account for the width, meaning I can arrange the photos as I need to.

Certifiable

2010-05-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Some people head off to an 'ivory tower' for learning. In my case, it was more of a glassy affair, with a silver look to it. I spent a couple days getting certified as a Scrum Master, which for those not in the industry, is a fancy way of saying I learned another way to do the same job. Hopefully a faster, less risky way, but still nothing more than that.

Now that I've downplayed it, I will also say that I was really excited to take this course and felt I got quite a bit out of it. Of course I will still have to follow it up with further reading but it's interesting to now see the why behind how certain things we do at work actually achieve their purpose. Most of the time. I suppose if everything was working fantastic there would have been no need for me to go for further study.

I also learned last night that my sister in law broke her arm and elbow in a rather nasty fall from a ladder. Darlene, I really hope your recovery goes well - I broke my elbow last year while training for my ride to conquer cancer and remember how long it took to regain full mobility.

In happier news, I heard from Dallas: he has met his fund raising goals for his ride! Now he can focus on the physical training. Since my back injury I haven't been out riding with him (not from a lack of his trying to get me out on the road) and I do hope I can get out there at least a few times before his ride. My physio appointment yesterday was interesting - they used some machine to stimulate the muscles in my back. It felt great at the time, but wow, is my back sore today! At least it's Friday.

Always A Day Behind

2010-05-14T21:54:00.001-07:00

I'm really liking the experience of getting my news via podcast these days. About the only drawback I have with it is that due to the delayed nature of a podcast, I'm getting my timely news in a later-than-timely fashion. Still, this is acceptable for me because I'm usually able to keep caught up with the podcasts I listen to during my commute to and from the office. If it's been a busy day then I can finish listening to the extra podcasts while walking the dog.

So for the most part, it works well for me. About the only time it catches up with me is when I say to my wife 'so hey, did you hear about...' and her response is usually along the lines of 'um, yeah - I saw that yesterday when it was on the news.'

So the net result is that I tend to be a day late in breaking news unless I go look it up in a browser. But I guess that's ok because my daily walks are a lot more entertaining this way.

Coast Guard Rescue

2010-05-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

It was such a nice day outside that Holly and I decided to take Louise down to the beach yesterday. It's always fun to let her run into the water and well, the place was pretty crowded. Seems like just about everybody had a similar idea. At least, the going to the beach part, if not the 'bring your dog' part. Anyway, we had just arrived at the section for dogs when this massive Coast Guard hovercraft comes racing into False Creek. It was quite an impressive site but the odd thing is that our first guess wasn't that it was actually responding to some emergency call, but that it must have been doing sea trials or something.

The next time this happens, I'm going to assume the Coast Guard is doing it's job. This morning I did a quick google search and came up with this piece of tragic news. The hovercraft was responding to a call after all and it looks like the young man drowned before they could get to him.

Still, this hovercraft is pretty serious business. The thing is huge. I also took a quick video clip of it racing by and you can see how it dwarfs most of the other boats in the creek. Take a look for yourselves:

Back on my feet

2010-05-08T21:57:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week I returned to the office. I quickly took this photo on my way in that morning - seeing a police car (there were several, complete with police tape surrounding the building) is a little unusual in this part of the neighborhood and I didn't really hang around to find out the details. Really I was just hoping that the bright lights would transfer nicely into the photograph.

It is good to be moving around again but I find that Holly has to caution me again and again about overdoing it. She's right of course - and she has threatened to come to my physio appointment next week to ensure the doctor doesn't get the 'nice' version of my story but the full extent of what I have and haven't done for my back lately. I guess it's ok since no matter what I really need to take preventative steps going forward.

PS - a big thank you to all those mac users who have been super helpful over the past few weeks. I have pestered quite a few of you on how to do this or that and have picked up quite a bit - overall I am really liking this platform!

2010-05-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

I missed the sun. I was able to get outside this evening briefly to walk the dog, but it was during the first period of the hockey game so it had to be brief. Still, I caught some of the last of the afternoon rays before it was too late and it felt good.

The hockey game is about half over now and honestly, I'm losing interest. The Canucks aren't playing well, doing their same old skate around. I'm still hopeful but at times it's too painful to watch this slow spiral toward as the clock runs out. Maybe someone will wake up in the third period.

It's hard to believe that I have been indoors since Thursday afternoon. It's even harder for me to accept that my back has been too sore to move comfortably for this long. I definitely have cabin fever and well, Holly is probably eager for me to get back to work as well. She's been very patient with my extended home stay and helped to keep me off my feet instead of letting me get up too soon. Thanks hon.

By the way, I hurt my back again by putting the pictured flowers on the patio table. This was a couple days ago, when I was trying to move around too soon, re-injuring myself.

Crippled

2010-05-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've been off work the past day and a bit and if things continue like they have this weekend, I'll be off a while longer yet. Even with medication to help cope with the pain, I am not very good at taking it easy.

It's not all bad though. With Holly's help I was escorted from the bed to the sofa so that I could watch the hockey game. Everything was going well until I sneezed and really wrenched things badly. It took a little while to calm down from that one and it was a good thing I was already on the sofa so I didn't have to move.

Somehow it seemed worth the effort though, as the Canucks pulled off a strong win for the series opener against Chicago. By the time I was feeling better we were already ahead by a couple goals. It seemed that as the game went on I was feeling better and the Canucks were playing stronger. For my part, the truth of the matter was that my pain medication was starting to kick in.

So the first photo in today's post was taken on my way to the doctor as I was leaving the office. This is one of the really good things we have left as a legacy from the Olympics. Of course, I'm talking about the digital display that informs riders when the next bus will arrive. We have it on the new Skytrain line too and it's very helpful.

Following that are a few photos taken at English bay a couple days ago, when I really should have been taking it easier instead of thinking I was still okay to walk the dog. Anyhow, the last one is of one of my favorite condos in Vancouver. Great view and great gardening sense. I almost don't want to see what it looks like inside for fear of it not living up to my romanticized view of the exterior.

Settling in without Settling

2010-04-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

Wow. I'm liking laptops these days. Sure there are the usual tradeoffs between portability and capability but just being free of the desk is a breath of fresh air. I say this even though I really liked my old computer. (It seems weird to call it that, since it never really was that 'old'.) But to be able to sit on the sofa instead of a plastic chair, or have the computer in bed if my back is sore, well these are things I am appreciative of.

I figure I have about half of the things I need on it so far. Windows is in, but MS Office is not (I need that for work sometimes). I made a note to install Charles, a testing utility again for work and completely forgot to install a decent bit torrent client. So things are coming together, some things faster than others.

Last week my umbrella was stolen from outside my apartment door. I guess I can no longer leave it in the hall to dry off which is too bad as I had been doing that for at least three years without incident. Speaking of all wet, I see that my brother is finally among the plugged in and will hopefully be updating his blog more regularly. It's linked on the side there, just look for River Dog. You can be the judge of how much we are alike these days.

iTripped 3.0

2010-04-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, my previous computer lasted almost three years - at least if I look back I see that my previous upgrade post was made that far back. It was a good computer and I had lots of fun playing games on it. Despite running Windows Vista I never had a virus problem with it. However, one day last week it just stopped working. I suspect a failed motherboard but really, I'm so far removed from actual computer maintenance these days that I shouldn't be faking like I know what is wrong with it - other than it doesn't work.

Of course, this all happened right when we finally had decided to purchase a new refrigerator - a much needed upgrade to our kitchen. In some ways that was a good thing as it meant I was plenty busy on delivery day - even though I still managed to procrastinate until then on all of the installation jobs required. As I type this now I can say that all I have left to do is finish putting food items back in the cabinet.

But this isn't supposed to be a refrigerator post. I ended up getting an Apple laptop for my next computer and so far I have managed to turn it on, install Firefox and download some photos from my camera. This is my first blog post with it and I couldn't be happier with the keyboard as I type this. There are too many features to list on this machine and plenty of information online about it so I'll just say that this is my first laptop - Holly has had a couple now and has always appreciated the more convenient form factor.

So why get a laptop for the computer game player in the family? Well for one, computers are pretty fast these days - I'm hoping I can still play most, if not all, of the games I already have. Of course that will mean installing Windows on this machine but I'm happy to do that anyhow because it will make it more useful for me to do work. A few co-workers have earlier models of this computer and they have been able to play a wide selection of games, so I am confident that I will be able to as well.

There is a lot to learn here though. I haven't quite figured out how to upload my photos onto my blogpost yet! iPhoto seems to have hidden all the actual files for me (how helpful). I'm sure it can be done, but well, I have some learning to do I guess. I should go do that before posting to Wheezie's blog - her fans might be less tolerant of no photos.

UPDATE: As you can see, I got at least one image added, but wow, this will take some adjusting to. I'm sure there is a better way.

Aftermath

2010-04-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's now Sunday. The wind we had was back on last Friday. Apparently it got worse again after our ride in the rain, as evidenced by this tree along the path we were on. City works must be really busy to not have this cleared off yet.

Of course I know this is true as I was out for a ride again this morning and Stanley Park is littered with debris piles from hasty removal of branches. Roads dedicated for cars still get priority I guess. Not that I am arguing with that - as a cyclist I have a choice of roads to take, be it bike paths or actual roads. Despite what some will try to tell me, I'm legally entitled to be there. Not quite the same for cars on bike paths and for good reason.

Once again I find myself trying to blog with the Chrome browser. Once again I realize why I keep going back to Firefox. In this case I do note that things have improved in Chrome, but I still can't drag and drop uploaded photos like I can in Firefox. It does make getting the layout correct a lot easier.

So hey, note the reclaimed wood in this red building? It is the Vancouver Salt Co. building, part of the Olympic Village, freshly restored for apparently nobody to appreciate, as evidenced by the fences still segregating the village from the rest of humanity. Apparently the construction workers renovating the last touches are still scared of a terror attack, I dunno. There was a security guard in a car nearby and he informed me that the area would be fenced off for 'many months yet'.

Windy, Wet and Undaunted

2010-04-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dallas and I had been planning this ride for about a week. One would think that one of us would have checked a weather forecast sometime before today, but apparently we are men. I happened to be out walking the dog earlier today and that's when I grabbed the above video, which I shot because the boats were bobbing like corks in the water. At that time I sent a text message to Dallas advising him to dress warmly. He responded with a comment about how nasty it was looking outside.

I had to preemptively play the wuss card, sending him another text asking if he was going to wimp out or not. To his credit, that was all Dallas needed to commit to this adventure. Let me explain: Dallas is registered to do the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year, and this was a training ride.

We set out at a relaxed pace headed toward Stanley Park. Both of us were slightly bothered by the rain - within the first three minutes Dallas noted that my bike actually had fenders on it and how nice that must be. Not being known for social tact, I agreed, and continued the rain gear talk while Dallas continued to get wetter and wetter. We hadn't yet arrived at the park.

Arriving at the park exposed us to the wind that has been the talk of the town today. We heard it before we felt it as it howled past the boats in the marina, advising us that once we rounded the next corner, it would be against us. We pushed onward until reaching the lighthouse, at which point our direction changed. Maybe it was my imagination but it definitely seemed like the wind lessened at that point too as if refusing to help us along.

Instead of continuing along the seawall we decided to take to the road and climb to Prospect Point. At the top we rested a bit, hoping the rain would subside (it didn't). We continued on like this for the rest of the ride, heading out of the park and along False Creek to Science World. From there we doubled back along the Kitsilano side of the creek, crossing the Cambie bridge back into downtown.

Some of you have been asking if I will be doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year. I'm not. But when I get the link to Dallas' donation page I'll put it up here in case you would like to help him reach his donation goals.

Cross Border Shopping trip

2010-03-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

So I had the day off on Friday and we decided to take a day-trip to Seattle to do some cross border shopping. I'll be blunt: Despite the cost of renting a car, the consumed gas, the ENTIRE DAY spent running around, it is still worth it. Yes, we can save that much. Something is horribly wrong with the relationship between Canadian consumers and the local retailers.

Don't believe me? My first example is a little furniture store called IKEA. You may have heard of it. We use a fair amount of their stuff at home so on this trip we planned to get some doors for our book shelf as well as slip covers for our two love seat sofas. As luck would have it, the doors didn't work out (they didn't have the ones we were looking for) but we did get a pair of slip covers for our sofas. Price for the slip covers: $39.99 each - Price in Canada: $119.99 each. Those two items alone paid for the rental of the minivan and all the gas we consumed.

Then add on that all the items we were able to get that just aren't available in Canada, and the restaurants we tried, etc. Even when we don't get everything we planned, we still seem to come out ahead - way ahead.

Plus, it's just a day trip into another city, which is just nice to do once in a while. This last photo is of a fantastic mural inside a Chinese restaurant we had lunch at. Our lunch selections were nothing spectacular but the place definitely had the ambiance. Oh by the way, the minivan in the first photo is the one we rented, thinking we had extra long doors to bring back. Had we known they weren't going to work out we could have gotten away with renting a Smart Car. Thanks to Enterprise Car Rental though, for giving us a free upgrade and giving us consistently great service. There is a reason we go all the way to Richmond to rent our cars now. Kinda like our reason for going cross-border to do some shopping once in a while.

Paralympic Patch Job

2010-03-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

Hi. Remember me? I'm the one who hasn't been able to blog in almost two weeks. Like the rest of the city, up until yesterday we were all suffering from a bit of post-Olympic depression. Luckily for us though, the Paralympics kicked off yesterday so that should help most of us ease back into normality.

Over the past couple weeks I have managed to photograph a couple interesting bikes that I have noticed on my lunch breaks. They aren't the sort of bike I want to own or anything like that - I just think they are interesting for one reason or another. Sometimes it's the rusty-yet-functional aspect of an antique ride, or in the case of the second example, something unusual. Either way, I thought they were interesting enough to take pictures. The fellow riding on the tall bike happened to have a camera crew following him too. Some guys are popular I guess.

As mentioned, the Paralympics are underway and on my way into the office on Friday I stumbled across the torch relay. The biggest difference between this time and the first time was the lack of a crowd. Look at the picture, I think I captured just about everybody who was interested in following it. Also keep in mind that most of these people are related in some way to the guy carrying the torch. Here you can see that his grandson ran with him and his son is the man in the foreground. I get the impression that the Paralympics are going to be a much more intimate event, which could be nice although it is still a shame that it isn't promoted like the main Olympic event.

So - the real reason I am blogging this morning is because I am drying out a little bit. My bike had a flat tire and I wanted to ride it this morning. I inflated it enough to ride into the office, using a hand pump and rode in the rain to get here. Once here I made use of the office bike pump, which is much easier to use. I also figured I would dry out a little bit before heading back out. Pictured is the fixed tire and tube. I noted that there is a definite hole in the tire now, so I will probably have to replace it soon. That's ok though, my tires are pretty cheap - less than twenty bucks. I won't do it today though because I have wasted enough time as it is and would like to get some actual riding in. Later!

It's over already? So soon?

2010-03-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

The Olympic main event ended with an overtime goal by Sidney Crosby. What a game! It easily could have gone to the Americans who put up a fantastic effort and provided us with the biggest obstacle on the way to Olympic Gold in Men's Hockey.

We decided to watch the game in the comforts of our own home, which was a great plan. I was literally on the edge of the sofa in front of the TV for the third period and could barely stay seated for overtime. The game was so tense! Twice we missed a goal and instead hit the goal posts. In a bid to stay alive, the US team tied the game with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Sophie, our cat who was sleeping on the back of the sofa behind me, decided she could take no more of me jumping up and screaming every time Canada came close to getting a goal - she relocated a safe distance away, to the other end of the room.

The game ended and I convinced Holly that we were going for a walk down Robson street. This is where the real celebration was! Luckily for us, Louise was pretty sleepy so we were able to leave her at home for this trip. Risk of accidental trampling was just too high.

The crowd was massive, hyper and elated. Everybody was happy and the cheering just didn't stop. Complete strangers were giving high fives to each other. Red and White were the colours to wear. A little while later the flame in the cauldron was extinguished but the party continued on. I cannot overstate how big this celebration became.

It hasn't sunk in yet that the party is over. Everyone had such a good time.

3 Strikes in Olympic Curling

2010-02-22T15:58:00.001-08:00

We went to see another Olympic event last night - this time it was Women's Curling. I already had a passing interest in this sport so when Holly suggested we get tickets for it, I was on board. Since there are quite a few games to be played leading up to the medal rounds, the event was structured to show three games at a time - this meant we got to see the US play against Sweden, Germany play against Japan and Canada take on China. Someone to cheer for in each contest.

Or, in our case, we had the opportunity to see our three teams lose, each in a different way.

Admittedly the US team isn't really in medal contention this year. That's ok, they are already cleaning up on lots of other medals in other sports so nobody feels too badly for them. They played until the 9th end at which time they conceded defeat. The final score: 9 to 3 for Sweden.

The Japan vs. Germany game was a lot closer. Japan played to the end, using up every last second available (the clock ran out during the final shot). They played well but ultimately lost during regulation play.

China came out with an early lead against Canada and held on for the first half, at which point Canada actually tied it up. Regulation play ended as a tie, which sent the teams into an extra end (or in hockey parlance, 'overtime') where China scored. Much of the strategy involved has to do with who gets to throw the last stone, an advantage China capitalized on in the 11th end. It was a fun diversion from the Men's Hockey game which was also happening at the same time. (we lost that one too.)

Here is a brief video of the Canadian shot that tied up the game with China. Listen for the crowd as they go crazy. Oh, and the final shot was taken on the skytrain as we made our way home - there is a lot of Olympic gear being worn and I think the biggest seller by far has to be the mittens. This is the center hand rail to hang on to while standing on a crowded train.

First time in Snow Shoes

2010-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

I was up at 4:00 am this morning.

Let's just let that sink in a bit. 4:00 am is so early it's really late from the night before. I call myself a 'morning person' but generally speaking, 4:00 am is not what I mean. I'm more of a 7:00 am kind of guy.

But I digress. I had good reasons to be up so early. I had a gondola to catch at 5:20 am on Grouse Mountain - all so I could be ready for a 6:00 am start for my first mountain trek on snow shoes. On a good day, when I am feeling motivated, I will get up early to ride my bike around Stanley Park, which admittedly is an enjoyable way to get exercise. However, just the day before my boss offered to take anyone who was interested on this morning hike with snow shoes. I was in.

The plan was to start hiking while it was still dark so that we could be at a good spot to watch the sun rise over the Lower Mainland. Roy (my boss) was kind enough to lend me the gear required for the day - a pair of snowshoes, a head mounted light and 'gators'. The last item is basically leg skirting to keep out snow and wetness from entering in your boots. All three items turned out to be very helpful and I was happy to have them.

Our guide for the hike was Eric. He had the perfect personality for this kind of job and it soon became clear that I was hiking with frequent visitors to the mountain as he knew Roy and the others quite well.

I could go on about the actual hike, but I think the pictures speak better than I could. In short, it was fantastic, I had a great time and everything went off according to plan. We saw wildlife, Matt Lauer from the Today Show, Eric named off most of the local mountains as they came into view and of course, we saw our sunrise from the top of a mountain.

I already can't wait to convince Holly to come out with me next time.

Olympic Hockey

2010-02-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a lot of fun. We stopped working at 1:00 pm (any day that happens is a good day in my mind) and started celebrating. The entire office was going to watch one of the Olympic Hockey games! We had food and drink brought into the office, former employees started to arrive and we even let Greg up on the roof again.

When the time arrived, we all walked over from the office to the stadium (about a fifteen minute walk) and started waiting in line. At one point I turned around and took a picture of the people still behind me - this is after going through the security checkpoints - you can see them in the background. It was going to be a busy place!

In order to fit in everybody we ended up having two separate box suites - I had only been in a suite at a hockey game once before. It's definitely the best way to watch a game. Each suite has a kitchen area and private bathroom at the back. That saved a lot of lineups and running around between periods, for sure. Anticipation was building with just about everyone as we arrived, the view of the rink was fantastic and the beer, well somehow we managed to keep it flowing.

The stadium was pretty full and unlike the games with Canada as one of the teams, the colours were pretty evenly split between the blue and yellow of Sweden and the black, red and yellow of Germany. In our booths we had supporters for both teams. It was a bit of contrast though from the sea of red and white for Team Canada games.

Eventually the game was over - it was a great game to watch. Definitely not a blowout, Germany did a great job holding back the stronger team from Sweden. However, when it was over the Swedes skated off with the win.

From the arena, we headed over to Irish House - one of the many pavilions around town. Thanks to some great connections we were all able to enter a VIP area that was above the main floor.

We continued to party here until the night ended. Such a memorable day, just about everything worked out better than planned. If anyone doubts Vancouver's enthusiasm over the Games here, they are blind, deaf or just plain not here. I have never seen this town so enthused to party over anything like this before.

The net result? I'm even more excited now for the rest of the Olympic sporting events, but especially the rest of the hockey games. Go Team Canada! Go for Gold on home ice!

Olympic Dishwasher

2010-02-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

We bought a new dishwasher over the weekend and I took half a day off yesterday in order to swap out the old one for the new. The project was a bit challenging for my not-quite-so-handy hands but I'm happy to report a successful job.

The best part is that the new machine works. The old one doesn't, but that didn't stop someone from responding to our craigslist ad for a free non-working dishwashing machine. If they can fix it, I hope they make good use of it. It will just be nice to have someone come take it away.

I think this is now the second time I have gone to youtube.com to get advice or instructions on how to do a job. The first time was to learn about tiling, a job we eventually didn't do because when we went to get the tiles we left with more questions than we started.

Of course, it was Valentine's Day on Sunday and we did manage to celebrate the occasion. Pictured are some of the oysters we had as appetizers. The main course was steamed lobster served with butter and well, I was too busy removing the shells to take pictures. Maybe next year.

Protest the Cherry Blossoms, oh my!

2010-02-13T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well it's underway and the picture I lead with today is one of cherry blossoms. Why? Because it's probably the most under reported story of the games. Thanks to the warm weather, the cherry trees around here started blooming early. I'm sure the tourists will enjoy seeing pink trees around town.

The opening ceremonies went off with only minor hitches last night but overall I think they did a great job. I really enjoyed hearing K. D. Lang perform and at times the visuals to the art performances were stunning - like when the killer wales 'swam' across the floor. My wife was troubled by the frayed bowstrings of the fiddlers though - she's a violinist, so seeing the equipment in such a state was distracting.

The second shot is of some of my co-workers getting ready to cheer on the torch relay. I'll attempt to embed a brief youtube clip of the torch bearer running by at the end of the post.

Did anyone say protest? I heard of at least two times that the torch relay had to be re-routed to avoid trouble in Vancouver due to protests. The local news ran stories about elementary school kids who were sad and disappointed because they waited and waited and no torch came. You just know those kids are going to grow up with pure hatred for protesters in the future.

I think I am ok with that.

The final two shots are first a police road block and second, reinforcements. Yet another protest happened on Robson street today - I was walking the dog and had to go around them as the closest officer to me claimed 'it wasn't safe'. I'm not so sure about how dangerous it is to walk past stoned street performers more interested in flag waving and raising awareness of their pet issue but I also didn't feel like pushing the matter. In a way, I'm kind of glad that protesters are given as much as they are in the way of rights, etc. here. Welcome to a democratic nation, peoples of the earth. Ok, without further ado, here is the youtube video:

Olympics begin

2010-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

After all the anticipation, the games are finally starting. We still don't have much snow but it does feel like the protesters have mostly left town and the extra space has been filled by those more interested in celebrating and having a good time.

I'm one of those looking to make the most of this event.

Things haven't really started yet but already so much has happened. Wether it is pre-olympic parties or watching the torch relay or just enjoying some of the many cultural exhibits, Vancouver already feels like it is in top gear. It's fun. It's a party. It's barely begun.

It's not completely clean - note the horse shit in the torch photo here. But we have been able to step around most of the shit and carry on. I mean, look at the last photo. People were swarming the torch bearers just to get photos of them. This is an enthused, happy crowd ready to welcome the world. I'm just glad to be here to participate.

Ride Report for early Feb

2010-02-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

This morning was the first time in a long time that I got out on my bike for a ride. It felt good to be out riding around. So good I was wondering why the heck I haven't been on it more regularly. I was also able to get a few photos from around town and chose a route that allowed me to explore areas of Vancouver that I haven't been to in a while.

But really, it was too short of a ride. I'll have to follow it up soon with another.

I really wanted to gripe about my sinus infection and especially about the one who is presumed guilty for giving it to me, but I won't. Instead I'll talk about the Coast Guard setting up sub nets and the like. I'm not sure if this is an anti-terror measure or just anti-foreign country measure.

Oh and of course last night I did like I said and took some video footage of the Vectorial Vancouver light show. I have to admit my camera isn't really up to the task though. But, if you like you can see them on youtube, where I have them uploaded.

Olympic Lights

2010-02-04T23:39:00.000-08:00

I might as well get my fill now - this light display is going to be on for the duration of the Olympics and it is situated nearby the usual route I take when walking the dog. This is one of the things that people in my neighborhood were moaning about leading up to the event yet I was eagerly anticipating.

Every couple of minutes the lights reposition so it never stays the same - one person I spoke with said that people can go online to program routines for the lights to move in. Right now it looks like they are following several different routines - it's certainly not random as the lights tend to move in synchronized sweeps and passes. Maybe next time I will take some video to better capture the motion, but tonight I was interested in getting up close to the actual light units.

They are quiet. Somehow I expected to hear diesel generators or something, but did not. The lights are very powerful but also focused enough that even in rain/cloud/fog it doesn't diffuse enough to cause a problem for nearby residents. Despite the protests, none of the beams ever actually hit a nearby condo, although at one point they do illuminate a Canadian flag quite nicely.

This last shot is basically what it looks like in the night sky, at least at certain times when the beams are pointed to converge. It's visible from all over downtown and the Fairview and Kitsilano areas. I know that I will be enjoying this display as much as possible for the next few weeks.

Wireless mice are beyond me

2010-02-01T11:51:00.001-08:00

When it comes to mice (the input device, not the rodent) I have been a staunch traditionalist, insisting on a wired connection. My usual excuse was to complain about having to replace batteries needlessly. But to be honest, I really haven't tried a wireless mouse to make a proper assessment.

The reason this has come up recently is because of my work computer. It has a wired mouse and although I have been using this computer for about a year now, the chord still gets in the way. It tends to bump into the monitor stand. This is not a big problem, just a minor annoyance. At home I only have one monitor so my mouse chord never interferes with the stand.

I wish I could get feedback from folks who have used both to find out what their preference is and if there are any pitfalls with the wireless device that I don't know about. Oh right, I should be using Twitter for that, not my blog with a readership of 4 non-technical peoples. My bad :)

To Fly Naked, or Not to Fly

2010-01-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

We now have scanners at the Vancouver Airport that can see through my underwear. You know, just in case I have stuffed a bomb in my crotch. It makes me wonder what is next, aside from the collapse of the airline industry as everyday people decide the extra hassles are no longer worth it.

I mean really, how much time is saved by flying if I have to be at the airport three or four hours before my flight is scheduled? Now that I cannot carry on most of my things there is no way to avoid another hour or more waiting for my checked in baggage so before you know it, flying ANYWHERE is an all-day affair. In many cases, the simple solution is going to be to drive. At least then I won't be subjected to digital strip searches that achieve nothing.

Isn't this what the terrorists wanted in the first place? So much for ideals.

How did I forget a title?

2010-01-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

Well it wouldn't be Vancouver without some over the top drama, I guess. Yesterday, they reported that Whistler Blackcomb went into foreclosure - just days before the Olympics are scheduled to take place there. Additionally, it's been rather mild here in Vancouver - so much so that local ski hills like Cypress have been desperately trying to keep snow from melting off the mountain. Finally, add to that a disgruntled local population who feel their sense of entitlement has been dashed with the planned road closures and you have the perfect backdrop for an Olympic event on the West Coast.

Like they say at McDonald's (the Official restaurant of the Olympics, don'tcha know): I'm lovin
it.

I got an email the other day from my cousin in Burnaby and it was just filled with links to describe all the other events going on around town for the Olympics. There is way more in that list than I ever hope to see, but after reading it I know for sure that there are several things that I plan to check out. I'm still sorting through it right now, but as we get closer to the main event, I for one, remain enthused.

Bring on the World

2010-01-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

The Olympics are just a few short weeks away and I for one am pretty excited about it. I don't even have any tickets to any of the events. I just like seeing the extra activity, I'll take part in whatever public activities take place and will certainly have fun commuting into the office with the rest of the world. Literally.

There are so many people in town speaking negatively about it and for what? Because they will be slightly inconvenienced for a period of a couple weeks. I suspect they are the same folks who complain about the Festival of Light, any parades or any other events held in the city. Get over yourselves already. So what if a bunch of rich people make money over this event. News flash: a bunch of rich people make money on each hockey game you enjoy watching. Like those concerts that come to town? Same rich folks profit there too.

Honestly, for once I would like to see the people in this town at least try to be friendly and hospitable. It's not every year that the entire world shows up to visit. Try to make them feel comfortable at least.

Ready to ring out 2009, bring on 2010

2009-12-30T12:28:00.000-08:00

Another year nearly done. I've noticed that I have blogged significantly less here compared to years in the past - perhaps it is because of twitter, perhaps it is because I've gotten lazy. It's a statistic and I'm not going to read too much into it. There were certainly things to blog about, like participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, crashing my bike while training for said ride, rediscovering my love of just about all things bicycle related as well as my first taste of durian (flavoured gelato).

There was also a lot to write about locally, including the Burrard Street bridge bike lane trial, the metamorphasis that Vancouver has been going through as it prepares to host the Olympics (just a month and a half away now!)

There was also a lot not to write about. I tried not to comment too much on my progress with various video games I played throughout the year, despite how fun I found them to be. I continue not to write too much about work because well, I guess I'm a little old and cautious about mixing such things still. not a lot was written about our two crazy cats but I think that had more to do with the fact that I kept up the blog for our dog and that was time consuming enough.

So what will next year bring? Hopefully a lot of Olympic gold for the home team. Hopefully another bike adventure, although ideally not something that takes quite so much time to prepare for. Also it would be nice to bring a few house projects to conclusion, like properly finishing our patio area (while it is still warm enough to be enjoyed, instead of well after) and at least one more round of de-cluttering.

Happy New Year wishes to the three or four people who still read this blog. May the next year bring you closer to realizing some of your dreams.

Virtual Heat Wave

2009-12-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

Vancouver is finally into the negative temperatures and if anyone noticed, it certainly was our pets. Our first pet, Sophie, is such a heat-hog that she will go out of her way to position herself in front of the heaters we have around the house.

Yes that's right, we find it is way cheaper to use plain old space heaters instead of the baseboards. Besides, our condo is barely 600 sqft so it's very easy to heat such a small area.

Anyway, Sophie will contort and stretch herself beyond what would be considered reasonable, or at least comfortable just to get better access to the heat. She's like this in the summer too, sitting in the sun just baking, reveling in the hotness. While our other pets enjoy being warm, none are quite as hardcore about it as Sophie.

Birthday for Takaki-san

2009-11-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

I had lunch with Kevin and Behzad today, celebrating Kevin's birthday. It seems that we tend to get together as a group of three these days, which is somehow appropriate. You see, I have worked with Kevin and Behzad, but at different times and for different companies. Further, Kevin has also worked with Behzad independent of me. It's an interesting intersection of circles that makes for fun conversations where sometimes only two of the three participants really knows what is going on.

Okay, I'll be honest - I'm the one usually in the dark.

It's ok though. We are three guys who really have very little in common other than a shared work experience and possibly a common interest in video games. Yet I count both of them as more than just casual friends. Maybe it's because while we were working together we ended up chatting about whatever was going on in our lives so we just got to know each other well. Who knows? However it happened, I'm happy.

End Credits

2009-11-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

The other day I completed Far Cry 2. At the end of the game, the credits roll. While this used to be just an afterthought, if at all, I've noticed that it is becoming a much bigger deal for a lot of games. Last year I played Portal, a much shorter game and got a huge payoff with the ending credits. They had put together one of the most memorable endings to date, complete with a catchy tune and retro ascii art. While the end credit sequence for Far Cry 2 wasn't as original as Portal's, it was still polished and did include a separate musical score. I did find it was a bit long though.

The other thing about ending credits is that often, they aren't interruptable. You have to let it play through. This is in contrast to say, a movie, where you usually stop watching. I think it is why some films started putting in out takes and using better music - most people just aren't there to read the fine print.

Another game that handles end credits well is Left 4 Dead but in that case the credits are just a fun way of displaying player stats for the round. But then, you can complete one of the campaigns in that game in a little more than an hour, far shorter than a typical computer game.

Of all the games I have played, I probably only finished about half at best. In all cases, they are my favorite games. I guess this makes sense as I wouldn't continue playing a game I didn't really enjoy.

As usual, I've put up photos taken from around Vancouver. Also as usual, they have nothing to do with what I'm talking about. But I figure every story ought to have some pictures.

Not Selected

2009-11-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

Jury Selection. I was actually excited about participating in this process until I learned that it also meant going a month without pay. When faced with that reality it became clear that I needed to prepare my reasons to beg off, at least for this trial.

Still, on the morning of, I arrived at the courthouse with the excitement of a kid on a factory tour. Okay, a factory that produces something the kid is at least somewhat interested in. It was a new experience.

Just because it was a new experience did not mean I was to arrive unprepared. As luck would have it I recently purchased a paperback novel and was careful to make sure my ipod had the most recent podcasts and a fresh charge. This was court afterall and if one trial was estimated to take four weeks, then the selection process was likely to go all day.

I could not have been more right.

It took hours just to get inside a courtroom, where the selection process still would not happen. This was just a holding tank. I made myself comfortable and settled in to read my book as this wasn't going to be quick. Coffee was provided to keep the mob from getting unruly.

Eventually some lawyers showed up and so did a few more baliffs (ie. cops). They brought in the accused and a hush filled the room. A hush that lasted about three minutes before people resumed chatting among themselves. I continued reading until eventually a judge arrived. Charges were read, the plaintiff plead not guilty, a list of witnesses was read and then they ushered out the man who now faced a murder charge. The judge stayed a little longer to explain the rest of the process to us potential jurors.

The basic idea was that they would randomly select about twenty people at a time to take into another courtroom to undergo the selection process. This was where the lawyers could challenge or accept a juror as well as the one time we would have the chance to plead hardship, play the senior card or give whatever other excuse for why we could not be a juror. In other words, so long as I stayed in this room, things would work out okay for me and they would end up selecting twenty OTHER people to serve on the jury. Given that there were over two hundred of us, my odds of being selected were a mere one in ten. I could live with those odds.

So the process took all day but I was one of the 'lucky ones' who was not called. I didn't even have to plead my case, which is kind of too bad because I had this fantastic story about the judge who stole Christmas all worked up and ready but whatever. The verdict is in, and I get a paycheque this December.

It's the Olympics! Welcome?

2009-10-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

This shot was taken at the Downtown campus for UBC. This secluded little rink is hidden underneath Robson street and is right in front of the main campus entrance. I am fortunate enough to be taking a course there over the next few weeks for work. I have walked past this campus hundreds of times without ever having a reason to go in and explore so it was nice to finally check it out.

There has been a lot of activity around Vancouver in preparation for the Olympics. We have had police drills lately where officers were climbing Science World and helicopters were flying around at low altitudes. At this early stage it is all a novelty. I'm curious to see how novel it all is two weeks prior to the main event. I fear the world may be introduced to some grumpy Vancouverites who are near the end of their collective rope.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

2009-10-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since I hurt my back last, I have stopped shaving. While the natural result was that I was sporting a full beard, it was also driving me crazy. My facial hair tends to be very coarse and somewhat curly which means that if I manage to get past the first 'itchy phase', I have the pleasure of going through it again usually a few days later.

It also didn't help that the beard wasn't very popular at home. My wife put up with it at first, but after a few weeks started to protest. From then it was really only a matter of time before I was to shave again.

Anyway, at this point I am once again clean shaven. It took me two days to get the beard off but the job is done. Normally the first shave after a while is extra smooth, but this one was very difficult. I was just happy to get the job done without too much discomfort.

My first taste of Durian (gelato)

2009-09-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

It was done on a whim, but I must admit I have had an odd fascination over the durian fruit for a long time now. Greg and I decided to try durian flavoured gelato today.

Luckily it is only a block away - this is the kind of distance I can still hobble without too much worry. Yes, the back still hurts when I move wrong, but the doctor does say I should try to keep moving as it's the fastest way to recovery. But back to durian gelato - we wander into Amato Gelato, which is conveniently empty due to the construction on their street - they face the Olympic Village site and their block is being resurfaced. This is a store that takes their gelato seriously. There must be over fifty different flavours on display - durian is the only flavour they keep covered up. (The lady behind the counter doesn't like the smell.)

I ask about the durian gelato and she offers to let me taste it first. She is expecting that like so many other customers, I will try it and then move on to a different flavour. My first reaction to the taste is to comment 'Wow, I can see why so many people hate this.' Our server was surprised when we proceeded anyway to get an order of durian gelato.

We took a minute to sit outside where we could eat our gelato and contemplate this strange flavour. Later I was asked if it was 'good' and it wasn't an easy question to answer. My guess is that there is not much of a market for artificial durian flavouring, so this stuff is probably made with real durian fruit. It was not overly sweet - in fact, I do not remember much sweetness at all. I do remember the taste, which is not nearly as strong as the aroma.

I'll leave it to others to describe the taste and aroma of durian. The net result of my gastronomical taste test is that now I am less intimidated by the real thing. Gelato is already creamy and the thing people always talk about with durian is the creamy texture. Now that I understand the flavour, I'm game to try it.

Not a good start to the week

2009-09-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

Warning, this is a whiny, complaining post. I pulled a muscle in my back again this morning - not nearly as bad as the last time, but enough to remind me that things aren't well with my back. I was swimming this morning and then later pulled it while lifting the dog into her stroller.

I'm beginning to wonder if the stroller is a good thing or not.

I know that I am supposed to bend my knees and stuff when picking up the dog, but there are times when I have to act quickly, like to prevent her from getting into something she shouldn't. Today was one of those days and I knew immediately that I had hurt myself again.

Mostly I'm just grumpy because someone switched the coffee beans at work and now I can't (or don't dare) have coffee anymore. I didn't realize I was drinking caffeinated coffee and had a couple cups on Monday morning. By the afternoon I had the usual chest pains that I get when I over caffeinate, and Tuesday had the withdrawl headaches. I really don't want to wake up on Thursday now.

High Speed Adventure

2009-09-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

Friday was the last day for Greg's car to be insured. We also weren't sure how much gas was left in it. The second statement is pretty much normal as the gas gauge hasn't worked in quite a while. Naturally, it was a good day for him to bring his car to work, which inspired the Quality Assurance Lunch Drive 3000. (I don't know where I am going with this, Tommy made that last bit up.)

Anyway, Greg, Tommy and I left the office for lunch and all piled into the Charger. I managed to call shotgun, so all was good in the world. At least, if I was going to die in a head on collision, I'd see it coming. Here's a photo of Greg in action - as you can see, I had every reason to fear for my life. The next is a self portrait of me, doing the aforementioned life-fearing. You can just see the raw terror in my face. Look hard, you will see it.

We had only travelled about five hundred yards when Greg stopped the car abruptly. Standing on the street corner was a former co-worker of ours, Phil. No wait, this was clearly Phil's evil twin brother, as you can see by the fu man chu he was sporting. Since Phil's evil twin is even cooler than Phil, we stopped to let him in and he joined us for lunch. Tommy was not dismayed.

Once underway, we were in search of some open road - not an easy feat in Vancouver. We settled for a bridge, where Greg could stomp on the gas for a minute at a time. We enjoyed the note of the exhaust, all noted the strong presence of gas fumes (this was reassuring, as it meant the car wasn't yet empty) and enjoyed the ride with all the windows down. I do believe that Tommy enjoyed this part of the trip.

The plan was to meet up with another couple ex-co-workers at H-Mart for some Korean food. Andy and Neil eventually arrived and from that point on my little story gets boring. I'll understand if you stop reading here. See this picture of Tommy? Even he was losing interest by then.

We made it back to the office without running out of gas, although I don't remember the fumes being as strong as when we set out. I do hope Greg made it home later that night without incident. I guess we will have to hop over to his blog to find out.

Jury Duty

2009-09-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

I have been selected for Jury Duty. Yes, I capitalized it because well, it's a rare event in my life. In fact, I have never served on a jury before. I believe I have been summoned once before but there was some reason why I could not attend - it was many years ago when I was still on the east coast and my memory isn't serving at the moment.

I haven't got anything more to say about this right now. I'm a little excited at the possibility - I still have this naive sense that 'courtroom' and 'drama' are words that belong in the same sentence. Intellectually I realize that I will probably need more coffee than I have ever used before just to stay awake through what are boring proceedings. But one can always hope, right?

Of course if I am selected I will take the role seriously. Just because serving on a jury is a new experience doesn't mean I can't do the job properly. I may have to find someone to give me some guidelines on what I can and cannot blog about though. Who wouldn't?

Oh yeah, I had a filling at the dentist today and this was the first time in my life that my dentist was late for the appointment. This is something I just took for granted before. He seems to have done a good job though so if I had to pick the failings in my dentist, that would be it.

Summer Vacation

2009-09-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

After a few failed attempts, we finally managed to fit in a vacation this summer. My in-laws arrived for a week for a visit and that was enough for me to take some much needed time off from the office. It was a lot of driving around and sight seeing, but really, we don't do that sort of thing enough as locals so a lot of the sights were still kind of new for us as well. Or at least, they were places we would want to go.

The important part for our visiting family was that they wanted to see where we were living now and get an appreciation for our neighborhood. So the first half of their trip was spent here in Vancouver, where we ate locally, took several walking tours and generally just woke up each day and figured out what to do. It was a little stressful at times figuring out what to do, but we managed to do it without any fistfights. That's good for family visits, isn't it?

I'm kidding of course - the vacation was a good one in part because the second half of the week was spent in Seattle, where all four of us were tourists. While we have made many trips to Sea-Tac airport to pick up or drop off folks, this was only my second time to see some of the sights in downtown Seattle. I had just as much fun this time as I did then. As an added bonus we also were able to take in a lot of Bellevue simply because that is where our hotel was. They had quite a lot there that we would never have found if not for the fact that we I had forgotten to print out the hotel address, forcing us to wander through downtown Bellevue asking for directions (futile, both times the locals had no idea where our hotel was) and searching for free wifi, which ultimately gave us the info we needed.

Overall it was a good vacation. My litmus test for such things is to consider how many times I thought about work while I'm away. This week, the only consideration I made was what little trinkets to get for my team back at the office. Oh, and the dragonfly was one that my wife spotted while we were out walking the dog and showing her parents the sea wall along English Bay.

Patina

2009-08-28T15:41:00.001-07:00

I recently got a replacement phone, since my old Nokia has caused me one too many problems. The transformation isn't complete yet - I still have to pull a lot of information off of it and transfer to the new phone - but it's definitely underway.

One of my habits is to put stickers on the things I use, especially if I use them a lot. It's not something I do to everything I own, but I have been known to decorate my bikes, and have pictured my decorated phone next to my ipod - both proudly displaying stickers from local breweries.

The interesting thing about the ipod sticker is that it really isn't a sticker at all, but a neck label off of a beer bottle. Well that, and the nice patina it has taken on as the ink wears off in an uneven way. For the record, green ink is apparently very good - it seems to be lasting much better than the black or gold used in this label. Makes me interested to see how the red ink will fare from the Russel label.

Oh and no, I did not opt to get an iphone even though I had a great excuse to do so. I already have most of what the iphone offers with my ipod even though it's now a couple generations old. If I am going to spend money on a luxury item, I'd rather spend it on a bike, so that's what my savings will eventually go to.

Cheesecake!

2009-08-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

I don't mind saying that we bought this cheesecake from Urban Fare. Nope, I don't mind it one bit. This cheesecake looks as good as it tastes and was on sale for about ten bucks to boot. Basically one of the world's perfect desserts.

Which was appropriate, since we also happened to have one of the world's perfect dinners: lobster. Yes, this evening we had a meal to remember, if for no other reason other than the stars happened to align to make it so. The creamed lobster was a couple days in the making, and the dessert was a last minute touch.

So tasty.

Ok, I'll stop. I know that when I read this later I will regret it because it will make me hungry just thinking about it. Even the green beans were tasty! (My mother will probably faint if she reads that.)

It is Finally August

2009-08-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

August is my favorite month of the year. There are just so many celebrations and things going on around town, my birthday falls in this month, it's summer, so the weather tends to be hot, etc. Overall, I have very little to complain about at this time of the year.

We attended the final show for the Celebration of Light and while I got a few photos, I forgot to bring a tripod so they all turned out a little shaky. Still, a couple were blog-worthy and I've posted them here. I particularly like the one of the girl standing on the back of a bike while wearing a traditional kimono. She was one of many people we saw dressed like that this year.

For the past week or so my cell phone has not been working. I took it in and had someone look at it and they proclaimed it dead, so I had been on the hunt for a replacement phone. I'm too cheap to spend the money on an iphone so I have been looking for a basic cell that will do the job. After all, I already have an ipod touch and a camera. Later in the week, as I was taking out the memory card I noticed a screw was loose. I tightened it and voila, my cell started to work again. This is good because I'm with Fido, the cell phone company with a few perks and even fewer phones to choose from (most of which suck). Hopefully I can wait until later this month when they release some newer phones that I might be interested in. Failing that, I guess I will be looking at other alternatives.

Biking across the Burrard Bridge has become habitual now, it's just part of how I get to work. I think I prefer riding along the seawall (and not taking any bridges) for the scenery, but the bridge is not a bad alternative. I don't participate in Critical Mass, so I guess this is the little bit of cycling activism that I do. No, I have still not purchased a bike either, although I figure I should probably go in and get a proper fitting, especially if I decide to pick up a classic Italian road bike off Craigslist instead of buying new. Of course, there is also the option of taking track lessons at the Burnaby Velodrome, something I've always wanted to do.

The other thing I have been doing when I can is to play a few video games. Yes, I said it. I'm a gamer. It's pride week, remember? If people can be proud to be gay, I can be proud to be a gamer. I have still been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead but realize that there are a few really good games that came and went that I missed. Games like Far Cry 2 or Dead Space. The reason I was wanting to try Far Cry 2 was mostly because of the setting. Set in a make believe African country you are some miserable mercenary who has a bad case of malaria and a penchant for setting fire to things. Apparently the way fire is modeled is quite realistic. For Dead Space, it's a creepy alien shooter set in a defunct space ship. The hook here is that it is supposed to be a thriller, which my wife will likely hate since she already gets creeped out with the zombie groans from Left 4 Dead - so much so that I had to switch to headphones.

Ah yes headphones. While my headphones work great, one thing I am missing is a working microphone. It might be time to get one of those headphone/microphone combo units, and then bring my old headphones back to the office.

The best part about older video games is that the prices drop after a while. Also, I've been using Steam, which is basically iTunes for video games. It's nice because getting games through that means no more packaging to deal with, and often one can get better sale prices as well. A few of us have been 'gifting' games through this system over the past year and it has worked out well.

Another side effect of summer - it's getting hot in here, so I'm going to wrap up this post. Time to get outside, maybe take the dog out for a swim.

Phoenix Festival

2009-07-19T22:53:00.001-07:00

This year it is called the HSBC Celebration of Light, but if you ask me, it should be called the International Phoenix Festival, because this is one event that keeps rising from the ashes of the one before.

It used to be known as the Symphony of Fire, and has a troubled history of losing sponsorship every few years or so. I'm happy it's still around though because it's one of the events that has become a summer tradition in Vancouver. This Wednesday is the first show and I expect the usual pandemonium to take place. Police will be on high alert, residents will be alarmed at how inconsiderate people walk over their lawns and flowers, suburbanites will not understand why there isn't more parking downtown and the helicopters will fly all night. I still love this festival.

Ok, enough of that, I'm sure I'll be blogging more about the fireworks later in the week. If all goes well, I will also still be riding across the Burrard Bridge a few more times. By Friday of last week my back was still pretty sore, forcing me to take it easy again this weekend.

I was originally planning to just go to the Vancouver Aquatics center but it is scheduled for maintenance from tomorrow until... September 8th. So it looks like I will be finding a different pool. I guess I could do some swimming out at UBC once the Sports Medicine department starts working on my arm. That might be a good possibility.

New Bike Lane Day, update on my arm.

2009-07-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

Starting off the post with another x-ray - how cool is that? It's not the most informative one, but it was the one that had the best focus at least. The reason I am starting with this one is because it turns out that my arm has been broken for the past two months.

Yes, I rode to Seattle with a broken arm.

Obviously, it wasn't broken in half or anything like that. After 8 weeks, the fracture looks like a very small crack, in part because it has been quietly healing during this time. There is still an excess of fluid in the joint though, and none of this is visible to the untrained eye, especially not in this particular view of my elbow. (The crack is only visible from another angle.)

I got the x-rays done today and the doctor at the lab made a point of speaking to me prior to letting me leave, pressing on me the need to get into the hospital to get a cast on my arm. The situation sounded dire. I came home to drop off my bike and planned to head to the hospital. Holly suggested I call first to see what the wait times were - the hospital close to us had close to a two hour wait but they suggested I call the UBC hospital - a good idea since they don't receive ambulance patients. I called and they suggested I come over as they weren't busy and could patch me up.

I bus over to the campus, enter the hospital and the guy there informs me that after 8 weeks there is no point in putting a cast on and that they wouldn't be doing anything for me as it clearly 'wasn't an emergency'. I explained that the doctor who saw me earlier that day insisted I come in to get a cast and he informed me that said doctor was wrong. After being ushered out, I was perplexed. I still have the x-rays so I figure I will take them back to the doctor who originally requested them, and let her at least decide what is best. The whole thing seemed a bit odd to me, with such conflicting opinions on what should be done to treat me.

So it's an update, I'll have more to this story later I suppose. Oh, and for another update, the rest of the photos I took while riding across the new bike lanes on the Burrard Bridge! Apparently it was quite a big deal, with media camped out on both sides interviewing anybody and everybody they could convince to stop. But hey, notice how many bike helmets you see? Twenty-six in the last photo, or loosely translated into 'every single one of the bike riders.'

2009-07-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

I'm moving around a bit better today. I would have been pretty concerned if things weren't improving. I didn't stray too far from the house, but did manage to take the dog out for a walk and got as far as Coal Harbour and back without any real drama. That and well, I've been able to sit at the desk without problems afterward too.

I just hope I'm well enough to ride my bike soon. Monday morning is the opening of the bike lanes on the Burrard street bridge and I plan to participate if possible. Of course, at some point I also have to fit in an appointment at a medical clinic to get an x-ray on my arm. It feels like I have been saying this a lot, but I realize it is because I've been twittering and posting to facebook like a bored madman. There really is little else to do (aside from play sudoku) on an ipod with wifi. In hindsight, the laptop vs desktop decision takes on a new dimention. Laptop would have won this past weekend.

So it looks like I will have to take up yoga. Either that, or at least I have to be more consistent with stretching and strengthening my abdomen muscles. These past few days have sucked pretty bad for me, so I have the motivation (at least for now) to give this a real shot. Holly also suggested that I start swimming laps at one of the local pools, another viable option. All I know is that I have to do something if I don't want to continue pulling back muscles.

Self Inflicted Torture: back pain strikes again.

2009-07-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

As I was leaving the office on Wednesday, I managed to hurt my back again. I was lifting Louise into her stroller and felt things go bad instantly. I made it home but the next morning was pretty clear - I needed to see a doctor.

The doctor examined me and ensured that I wasn't suffering any other more serious problems from this, but really the focus was on what I can do (ought to have been doing for years) to help prevent this sort of thing from happening again. We talked about yoga to help strengthen core muscles, among other exercises. We also talked about my arm, which is still not completely healed from the bike crash I had weeks ago. I have instructions to get an x-ray on it for them to determine what needs to happen next. I had been meaning to get in to the doctor regarding my arm - it just took back pain to get me there.

The second worst part about all of this is how boring it is at home. There is nothing good on TV in the daytime, I can't be out enjoying the sun very much and even being on my computer is pretty painful, except in small doses. I'm on it now, but figure I will have to lay down again within an hour or so. If I was sick, I could at least medicate myself to sleep.

I can tell when my time is up on the computer. I start shifting positions a lot, leaning forward, leaning back, anything to find something comfortable. Since I am shifting a lot right now, I should probably wrap up this post.

Two Weeks wait for Burrard Bike Lane

2009-07-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

On July 13th Vancouver starts a trial on the Burrard Street bridge to reconfigure it so that one of the lanes normally used by cars is dedicated to cyclist traffic. One of the pedestrian walkways will be used for bikes as well.

This means that in two weeks I will adjust my commute to work so that I ride across the Burrard Street bridge in support of this measure.

Could this have been done differently, or perhaps better? Definately. But I see this as a step in the right direction and don't mind showing the city some support by making use of the lanes allocated for cyclist traffic. I am sure that over time some valuable information will be gathered from this trial and that like other traffic measures, it can evolve into whatever makes sense for the city. The point is, they are recognizing that many more of us are choosing to commute by bicycle instead of by car and at least they are willing to try new things to better accommodate this growing segment of Vancouver's urban commuter public.

Nous Allez! Ride report

2009-06-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Seventeen hundred and one riders. $6.9 million dollars raised. After day one we had used all of the medical crinkle tape. By day two getting Advil was becoming more difficult. I got mine from the doctor's personal stash - he was a rider too but happened to drop by the medical tent when I was there.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This was the first time I participated in a charity event like this, so the whole experience was new to me. I have seen thousands of riders together before, but this was different - I was now one of them. Collectively we were slowly freezing as we stood around in our riding tights waiting for things to get underway.

A feeling of intimidation swept over me as I looked around me. Easily four fifths of the riders here were on road bikes of one sort or another, most either aluminum or carbon fibre in construction. These bikes were all less than twenty pounds, while mine probably came in close to double that with everything I had on it. Could I hope to keep up? As I kept looking around I did identify other mountain bikes and that did make me feel better.

Speeches. Stretching. Then finally, Starting! The ride started on time and we stormed the gate with helicopters watching above. It felt good to finally be riding - it was cold standing around in a parking lot and it felt like it would rain. Best to leave Surrey as soon as possible.

Our first pit stop came at 35 km and was at the border. We had to line up with the cars but they did have two lanes dedicated for cyclists. News broadcasts were advising drivers to avoid the Peace Arch crossing at all costs. None of them looked too pleased to see us ride past. If it comes as any consolation, it still took me about 45 minutes to clear the border. The only ones getting through quickly were those who had a Nexus pass.

One thing about the border though was that it thinned out the pack considerably. No longer did I have to push through dozens of cyclists clogging the roads. Now they came in groups of 4 or 5 at a time. I was starting to get a little confidence. Or maybe it was just warming up some. Either way, I found myself at the next pit stop filling up on oranges and bagels with peanut butter. I did not want to run out of energy from a lack of food. This plan almost backfired as I wasn't able to eat all of my lunch - I was still full from all the snacks at the pit stops!

The stops were fun though and I am glad they were so frequent. The support crew were friendly and helpful - there would always be people cheering for us as we arrived at a stop - a welcome crew, I guess. All I know is that poor lady with the bull horn must have been pretty hoarse by the end of day two. Yes, that guy is wearing denim coloured tights.

The lunch stop was 88 km into the ride, at Lake Padden Park. It's ok if you don't know where that is, I certainly didn't. What I do know is that getting there required us to ride up a long, slight climb to the top of some hill with a lake on it. I made it up but was feeling some pain in my right knee. It was time to visit the medical staff.

My leg was wrapped up, they gave me some Advil and told me that should get me through the day. I tried getting some good photos of the lake but they didn't turn out. Just as well, since this blog post is already too long.

I got back on the road - only one more pit stop before arriving at Edgewater Park, where we would be spending the night. The route out of Lake Padden should have been fantastic - lots of curvy downhill with very little traffic. Unfortunately I was faced with a headwind that kept me from gaining any speed at all. Still, I made it into that stop and then on to the camp in good time. It had warmed up and turned into a nice day after all.

I checked in my bike and then collected the gear I had checked in at the start line. This process took mere minutes and worked very well. The tents were all set up and ready. The tent pictured here was reserved for one of the guys who raised the most money. A nice gesture, I thought.

My tent mate, Simon, arrived at camp about 15 minutes ahead of me and was unpacking. We spent the afternoon chatting and relaxing - trying to remember when we passed each other, things like that. Both of us were already tired but we knew we had to eat and drink as much as we could first. We did turn in early but neither one of us could say we slept 'well'.

It rained in the morning but that stopped by the time the ride was ready to start again. Still, the roads were wet and once again we were cold. Simon and I rode in the same pack for a while until I noticed a rider with a flat tire and no pump. I stopped to lend him mine while they continued on.

So many riders passed me while we got his bike working. I know it's not a race, but the people I rode with were getting further away. Once he was patched up I was ready to press on, sore knee be damned.

Eventually we got on to the Centennial Trail. This was a fantastic paved bike path that we took for many miles. I only wish I was with those road riders for this part - I'm sure they went fast. It was during this stretch that I came across Theresa and her crew, the Screamin Beavers. Theresa has done some technical writing for us at the office so of course I had to do some trash talking as I caught up to them. We rode together for a while but eventually I pulled ahead, hoping to catch up to Simon. At one point the Beavers made an effort to catch me which added some fun to the ride. They chased me into the lunch stop but I didn't see them after that.

I'm glad they did however, because at lunch I spied a couple riders from earlier in the day, before my delays. Robbie and Dan were also hoping to catch up to some faster riders, so we decided to make a go of it. We set out straight away before cooling down. Riding with this pair was fun and we stayed together to the finish line, at the University of Washington. The last twenty kilometers or so were still on a bike path, but they were rough as we were all pretty saddle sore and roots had pushed bumps into the pavement. I remember one rider laughing because we all groaned as we went over the same bump.

So that's the report. I might wax philosophical about the implications later, but for now, I wanted to record this new experience for what it was. One hell of a good ride.

Forecasting rain

2009-06-18T10:16:00.001-07:00

Gone are the hopes and delusions of two hot and sunny days this weekend. Reality has taken it's place, with a weather forecast of a decidedly mixed nature. We will have rain. We will have cloud. There is a slight chance of sun. How very typically Northwest.

So yesterday I finally got some fenders. It wasn't as straightforward as I hoped because my bike wasn't really built to have fenders installed.

Consequently, most fender designs just don't work. I did manage to find some plastic ones that will at least give me some coverage though. Today I am going back to get some rain pants and a breathable cycling jacket. Possibly get any other last minute odds and ends too.

I was out for a quick ride this morning, just to make sure I still feel good on the bike. This week has been pretty relaxed though, without much riding so that I can be well rested for this weekend. To that end I managed to get a photo of this guy today. There were a lot of herons out, I guess because the tide was low. This was the best photo I got since most of them were pretty far away from the seawall. Either that, or the photo just turned out blurry.

The ride is this weekend!

2009-06-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was on the phone with my parents this weekend when a strange but delightful thing happened: my Dad gave me a hard time for not blogging more regularly. He was subtle about it but got his point across - he gets bored waiting to see if I have updated things or not. I suppose if I wanted to I could introduce him to the wonders of RSS feeds but that might be rushing things a bit. I gave them a lesson on how browser tabs work recently - maybe I should see how that goes first.
In other news, the taser graffiti artist strikes again! It seems I am a bit behind the times in reporting this one - the office staff went out for lunch at a local eatery and noticed this on the way back - but some of them were blase about it since they noticed it a few weeks ago. Why I was not informed is still under investigation. More on this as it develops.

Oh, remember that little tree I posted about last time? Seems we have had our first garden casualty. A local squirrel decided to dig it up and make a midnight snack out of the chestnut that was 'planted'. Perhaps it was the same squirrel who planted it. This leaves a grand total of zero plants in my garden this year. At least I have been out on the patio to barbecue some tasty meals (well, manage the BBQ while Holly cooks something amazing.) You can see Louise strategically positioned to make nice with our neighbors, who like to reach through the fence to pet her. They often are cooking up something tasty and Louise remains hopeful although it hasn't panned out for her yet.

Oh, and yes my ride to Conquer Cancer is this weekend. I've been trying to get the last few things together in preparation. The anticipation is certainly building and I'm getting nervous about forgetting something. I'm sure I will, I just hope it's nothing too crucial.

Packages arrived

2009-06-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good day. It has taken me several rewrites of this post, but here it is. My enhanced driver's license arrived today, courtesy of CSIS (the Canadian version of the CIA, in case you don't know). I was worried that it would not arrive before my bike ride to Seattle. This would have been a minor problem as one of the main reasons for me getting the card was for that trip across the border.

In short, it's smaller and more weather resistant than your typical passport document, something I didn't want to have to bring if not needed.

In addition to my EDL, a package also arrived from the Cancer Foundation - my check in kit, along with the ride jersey was here! I had to restrain myself from geeking out too badly - my first impulse was to fasten the rider card to my bike, slap on a sticker and try on the jersey - but I remained calm. (I did try on the jersey though.) Now all that is left for me to do, aside from ride my bike as much as possible in the next week is to get medical insurance and decide if I will stay in a hotel or in one of the provided tents. I feel somewhat guilty about tenting it as I know my snoring will probably keep up everybody around me. Oh, and making the arrangements for Holly to make the trip too - that is also yet to be done.

So: like the little tree? We left some dirt outside over the winter (mostly sand used for the paver stones) and I think a squirrel decided to bury a chestnut in it. Now we have this little sapling, growing like a weed.

Weak link in the chain

2009-06-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I installed a new chain on my bike. Regular maintenance, it was working fine but starting to stretch. I figured a new one before the big ride was only prudent. I changed it, went for a 10 km ride, all was good. I was happy.

The next day I rode over to ICBC and back - about a 2km round trip. On the way back the chain broke. I can't recall ever breaking a chain before. Luckily it was a short walk back to the house, and even luckier, I had not yet thrown out the spare links from my new chain.

I am not 100% sure why the chain broke, but I have suspicions. I connected the chain correctly but as you can see in the photo the link appears to be stretched. That would certainly explain the pin working it's way out. So I am not sure if I picked up a crappy chain, did something wrong or just had a bad link. I was able to replace the broken parts and things seem to be working ok now but the new join does seem a bit stiff. It's only noticeable when the stiff link goes over the reverse cog on the derailleur though, and only under no load (ie. pedaling backwards while coasting).

Needless to say, I'm packing my chain tool and the rest of my spare links to take with me on all my rides for the next while.

A week later and still, iHurt.

2009-05-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Looks pretty nasty, doesn't it?

I was actually surprised when I went into the hospital and they decided to x-ray my wrist instead of my elbow. I guess they were able to determine that the injuries to my elbow were tissue only and not bone, but weren't so sure about the wrist.

The good news is that despite the size of this bruise (possibly the biggest I have ever had) it really doesn't hurt much anymore. More than anything what I notice is a loss of strength in the arm but that is due to the combination of this bruise and the one on my thumb. Otherwise, the arm is healing nicely.

My hip continues to give me grief though. I have a bruise on it also, but my biggest complaint is that I pulled something on the inside of my thigh so while I can walk comfortably (and ride, luckily) I cannot run at all without pain. This is the biggest area of concern I have right now because while I can still train, another wipeout will only make things so much worse. I figured that much out this afternoon when Holly and I were rushing to get off a bus and I mis-stepped, forcing me to catch myself with my sore leg. I pulled it again a bit, and it took about an hour to get back to 'normal'.

Oh, and I thought I would add a photo of the accident site, as I saw it. I was attempting to turn left here when I had to stop (too suddenly) to avoid hitting the truck that came out from that tunnel. Oh and let me just say again, thanks to the driver for stopping and being so helpful. I really appreciated it.

Wipeout

2009-05-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Nothing starts a day quite like an accident. As usual I was out for my morning ride, doing laps around Stanley Park. I was moving along the connecting road to start my second lap when it happened. Coming around a corner I noticed a truck approaching and I had to brake hard to avoid it, which, I did. What I did not do was control my breaking and weight distribution well enough to avoid going over the handlebars.

I hit the pavement hard enough to knock the wind out of me. This has only happened to me once or twice in my life so I recall noting the novelty of the experience. The other thing I remember thinking is wishing that all of this had been caught on video. Yes, I was thinking of how well it would do on youtube. The driver of the truck stopped and made sure that I was okay. He helped me off the street and offered me some water, which really helped to catch my breath. After about five minutes I felt a little banged up, but well enough to at least ride home. I thanked him for his assistance and got back on my bike (which doesn't seem to have any new scratches.)

I didn't go far without realizing that my right arm hurt more than the rest of me. Specifically, the bottom of my thumb (near the wrist) and near, but not quite at the tip of my elbow. I couldn't put much of my weight on the arm while riding so I figured I better get it checked out. But not before going home and getting cleaned up.

As it turns out, Friday morning at the Emergency Ward can sometimes be kind of quiet. I was lucky in that there wasn't much of a wait, although the way processing works I found that I still had ten to fifteen minutes to wait between each stop along the way.

The doctors wanted to take a couple x-rays of my wrist to be sure nothing was broken there. Once they confirmed that I had nothing more than a serious sprain, they sent me on my way.

Somehow I'm sure I will be paying more for this after a good night's sleep.

Riding with back pain

2009-05-12T21:06:00.001-07:00

For the record, suffering from mild to moderate back pain has been a lifelong affliction. This is nothing new to me and to be honest, I am surprised that I went a few months on the bike without any problems at all. My back pain is directly attributed to the fact that I have an office job and haven't really spent a day in my life strengthening my stomach muscles. Add to that one weekend of lifting the dog incorrectly (not bending my knees) and you find me complaining around the house and office about a sore back.

However when I was out riding this morning I noted that my back felt fine while on the bike. Being able to support my weight with my arms helped to take a load off my back and it actually felt good riding. Sure, my wrists got sore quicker but that was a small annoyance more than anything else, especially since this was just a short early morning ride and not a marathon session.

So I won't complain. At least not much, and not too loudly. It's still a joy for me to be able to ride like this and when I look at how much the people I know have donated for this cause, well it feels good. Thanks again to everyone who chipped in, you all helped to propel me to over fourteen hundred dollars raised for cancer research - and this is before the anonymous donor makes a donation large enough to match what is raised. Truly exciting, at least for me. I just hope I didn't pester you too much!

The utility of cycling

2009-05-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. I'm ordering pizza pick-up orders now instead of delivery. I can get to the pizzeria in under 5 minutes so it just doesn't make sense to wait a half hour to 45 minutes anymore. The 'za is still hot by the time I get back.

Of course, none of that matters when I get home and find out that what we have is not what we ordered. A quick call back to the store and I was off for a second trip to pick up a second pizza - this one free of charge, and this time made with the right ingredients. But hey, at least I'm getting the miles in on the bike, right? It's kind of like eating for free as I practically race home.

Not that I'm at a point where I am counting calories - unless it's something truly sinful like a DQ Blizzard or a hamburger and fries - if I'm going to go hog wild with junk food I will make informal calculations like 'it's probably going to take me thirty kms to burn this off.' But hey, if it keeps me motivated to spin the wheels, it's kind of justified, right?

Spring time cycling

2009-04-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

Training for my ride to Seattle goes well. I no longer worry if I miss a day because I am feeling stronger when I do ride. When getting back into cycling it is typically your legs that tire first, then they strengthen up enough for you to lose your breath, then legs, etc.

I think I'm mostly through that. Now my endurance is measured more in terms of how many calories have I consumed for the ride, as that's another big factor in when you will become exhausted. If I'm going to ride long distances, I have to eat for it.

I got mail today from the organization putting on the Ride to Conquer Cancer and the envelope said 'IMPORTANT! Open Today.' I had no idea of what it could be, so I ripped open the envelope as fast as I could. All it had in it were two donation forms for me to pass out. To say I was underwhelmed was a bit of an understatement. I must have printed out dozens of those forms already, so this was hardly earth shattering. Still, I guess it was nice to have a couple extra forms.

All of this riding has me noticing a lot of the other bikes around town. There are a lot of really nice ones, like this one I saw parked at a church. Hey, even Catholics ride fixies I guess. Fixies, or fixed gear single speeds are insanely popular right now and I have to say I'm more than a little intrigued. I really like the clean lines and uncluttered look. I'm not really into some of the current trends like that extra narrow straight bar with the red grips, but that's just my taste.

One thing is for sure - I won't be riding a fixie to Seattle this year. That's just crazy talk.