Hazards

Going back and forth to the office this past week has been filled with hazards I don't normally have to deal with. For one, we have had a lot of snow lately, much more than is typical for this time of year. The temperatures have been fluctuating to something above melting during the day, and something below at night. The magic recipie for black ice! I do notice a big difference in how much traction I have depending on which shoes or boots I am wearing.

Another hazard, or obstacle course, would be the exit stairwell in our building. There is a florist on the bottom floor and they have this habit of filling up the space at the bottom with extra stuff. I'm sure this violates all sorts of fire safety restrictions. According to the person we had to squeeze past, it will all be cleared out in a 'few days or so'. We use this exit quite a bit since our desks are close to the door, but in case of fire, we would all HAVE to use it as the elevator would no longer be working. Unlike the florist, we wouldn't have other exit options aside from the two stairwells.

Then we saw this contraption on the roof of a nearby building while out for lunch. Our best guess is that it is a camera but dang, that looks like some sort of automated gun. Maybe I have been playing too many video games. Hallways filled with boxes and junk and automated turrets are in too many games. At least they haven't thought about making a shooter game with black ice.

It was a white holiday

The holiday season was a little hit and miss for us. We had plans to visit friends for Christmas Eve - they cooked a 20 pound turkey and everything. We never made it.

Our plan was to take the Skytrain over to their place as they are across town from us. Snow laden trees fell on the tracks and stopped the trains from running. Then, when they did start again, they were stopping intermittently due to snow and ice in the switches on the tracks. This meant lengthy delays and fewer trains running. At no time was Translink ever able to tell us simply when we could expect another train - they just kept suggesting that we find alternate means of transportation to our destination. I'm not sure how they hope to cope with the Olympics, given that it is also a winter event. This kind of performance is not going to make the world proud of Vancouver. But I digress. Being the day it was, we also were not able to get a taxi and the bus schedules were all notably off due to the weather. Our only option was to retreat.

Things were running smoother the next day (Christmas) although it still took us twice as long to take the train to our destination, due to mid-station stops. We were also able to get a taxi to the train station. We did have a great dinner, gifts were exchanged and the host decided to give us a ride home at the end, rather than dealing with the train again. (I'm sure it's fine now, by the way.)

So overall, we had a 'white christmas' like so many people always wish for. This year, I think people got a bit more than they thought they were asking for. Honestly, if the train had been able to keep running, I would probably not have been that impacted by it, and it is fun when the snow is coming down hard and fast. When people's kids have grown up a bit, I would warn them of all the stories they will hear about the 'Christmas of '08' and how the snow was 'up to here' (hold hand up to your chest) in Vancouver of all places.

At least, that's the outcome I hope for, because it implies that winter goes back to normal for us next year. If this becomes a regular event, Vancouver is in trouble.

Two days before Christmas...

Greg and I were arguing over what street this building was on. While I took the actual picture, he was right on the location - I was off by a block. So much for walking past it every friggin day on my way into the office. 

But nevermind all that, just look at the orange lights and a semi-frozen water fountain! Now you know why the rest of Vancouver shuts off their fountains in late November. But I'm not condemning this bank, I think it looked pretty neat.

A little late, a little early

A few days ago I met my buddy Phil for lunch. During that visit he gave me a belated birthday gift, one that he had been holding on to for the past few months. (We don't exactly see each other every day, if you haven't already guessed.) Phil works at Rockstar and the game was released around my birthday. I remember him being quite excited about it at the time. Everything about the meeting was typical Vancouver: we met for sushi on a rainy day over lunch at a place close by our offices. In other words, it was fun.

The irony here is that I do not (yet) own an xbox 360 so I can't actually play the game. In that sense, this late gift is somewhat early. Phil was hoping that this would finally push me to get said console. Only time will tell, I guess. Speaking of timing, as it turns out the PC version of this game is now also available. Based on reviews though, it sounds like this version is still better and has fewer bugs in it. On the plus side, whenever I do get an xbox this game is on the 'must get' list, much like Halo or Gears of War.

Phil, thanks for lunch and the gift. It was a good seeing you again.

Holy Whack-a-mole!

We were out doing some gift shopping yesterday when we noticed a traffic slowdown. As we approached the scene, it became obvious why things were backing up. Normally I don't condone people slowing down to take a good look at accidents as it does hold up everyone else. But c'mon - look at how deep that truck crashed through this church. This had to be like a Ford missile launched by some drunk driving terrorist who.... oh wait, that administration has less than a month in office. I should probably update my rhetoric.

Anyway, the really fun part about all of this is that it happened a day BEFORE Vancouver got another small dumping of snow. Not a speck of the white stuff to blame this on. Real crazy driving. Oh, and thanks to my wife for grabbing these pictures, since I was driving. We weren't TOTALLY irresponsible, you know.

Strange Days Indeed

As a Canadian, all I can say is 'wow, 'eh?'

The political events of the past week or so have been nothing if not unprecedented, at least for our stripe of politics. I guess it just goes to show that our population loves nothing more than a good political fight, so long as it only goes as far as a war of words.

But let's notice something here: Jean Cretien and Ed Broadbent had to be called in because the leaders of the opposition parties were not up to the task. While everyone except Jack Layton can agree that a change in leadership is required tapping the shoulders of the guys from the last round was the wrong direction to go. I think it is long overdue for Ben Mulroney and Justin Trudeau to enter politics so they can fight it out. We need new blood, not old. I will be surprised and disappointed if at least one of them does not join a party soon.

Okay, enough political rant. The guy photographed today was standing on beams as the building next door was being erected. We are on the 4th floor, and this guy was standing taller than us, apparently unsupported. I guess you have to be born with that ability, as a couple of us in the office were commenting on how being in that situation would either make us vomit, assuming we didn't just fall off and die.

Somehow, I just love ending on a morbid note. So much so that I am not going to do a haiku today.

A photo from the best day of my vacation

yarmouth beach
Originally uploaded by iTripped

So I finally got around to putting this photo together. I took a series of pics from this spot to capture the surf coming in and then put them together as an 'animaged gif' sort of like what Greg does.

The primary difference between his gifs and mine is that he takes two photos from slightly different angles to simulate a more 3D viewing experience, whereas I was merely hoping to animate the motion of the waves on the beach. It means less shake in mine.

To see the animation, I suspect you are going to have to click the photo and go to flickr, where you can see it full size.

I say this was the 'best' day of our vacation because it was the one time we got out to do some exploring. My dad took us out to do some beach combing, where we collected up some smooth pebbles and took the photos from my last post too. One last thing: the black specks in the picture are actually some of the flies we encountered on the beach and not birds. I was kneeling, which is why they appear so high in the frame, although I do remember they were a bit of a nuisance even while standing.

My mother has lost her marbles

I did not take nearly enough pictures. It seems I rarely do. But we did have a good visit with family this trip, and did manage to get my parents set up with a new computer, which was one of the goals I had when I left.

I've already seen my mother on facebook, which is a milestone in itself. My father figured out by himself how to watch a TV show on the computer too. They like the show but usually miss it because it is on Sunday nights, when they are out.

The first picture here is of a section of coastline we visited. I wanted to take pictures of this scenery, my father wanted to comb the beach for plastic bottles and my wife wanted to explore and have some fun. Since it was deer hunting season, we all dressed in bright orange sweaters and headed out. Along the way we saw some very typical sights in Nova Scotia, including many of the lobster boats that were getting ready for the start of the season (it starts today, exactly one day after I returned home. sigh)

This was perhaps one of the most enjoyable days we had, in part because the weather, while a bit windy, was very nice. The cows were grazing on a field directly behind the beach and weren't too thrilled to see us. The metal things on the horns are to prevent serious injury in case that particular bovine decided to use them. Since they weren't on all of the animals, I suspect that this one had a tendency to use it's horns once in a while. We gave it a little extra space.

We spent a couple hours on the beach before returning to visit with more family. I'll post more after I have had time to go through the photos I did take.