Patina

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!

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

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

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.

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.'

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.

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

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.