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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
redsquared's LiveJournal:
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| Monday, December 7th, 2009 | | 12:43 pm |
Weekend update
Went to the gym Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. Went to the dentist on Saturday afternoon followed by a grocery trip to T&T. So far, it hasn't changed at all since being taken over by Loblaws. It has been sunny but cold. I have started dressing a bit warmer, but I find that just the act of cycling keeps you warm. And it is much more cheerful to have blue skies instead of gray. Bought a Playstation 3 on Sunday afternoon at Best Buy. They also had a special where you buy 2 games and get 1 free, so since a game console is not much fun with a game or two, I got three. I have never owned a game console before and most of my video game experience dates back to Pong, Ms. Pac Man, Tetris, etc. I spent a long time trying to commune with the game packages in the store. I wanted to find games that would be fun and easy for a novice to understand and play. There were several people recommended their favorites. But those were mostly very violent games that had you killing lots of people. So, I ended up with a snowboarding adventure, Prince of Persia fantasy, and a Watchmen bundle (blue ray movie and game). Originally I just wanted to buy a blue ray dvd player, since my current up converting dvd player was always getting stuck on the minor scratches that all dvds seem to have. I was getting very frustrated, since the dvds would play just fine on the laptops and desktop. Then I thought that the low end players would have the same problems as my current player. If I got a high end player, it would cost the same a ps3 so why not get the console. It has a hard drive, wireless internet, photo album feature video and music features, etc., basically it is a media computer. So, last night Kevin and I started off with going down the virtual slopes in the snowboard game. Then I played the Prince of Persia for a little while. I wasn't really certain what I was doing, and my character seemed to be running around a canyon and ending up in all these deadends. I am not even sure if I ended up turned around a few times and ran back the way I came. Then I connected to the Playstation world and set up my avatar. I interacted with other avatars in the Plaza. One guy was from Quebec. Most of the others were not that friendly. I did see a strange sight. One female avatar sat on the pavement and 3 other male avatars stood really close. In the dialog boxes they talked about sex. It was simulation of a simulation if you get what I mean. The avatars stayed clothed, I don't think that there is a disrobe option. Afterward, I downloaded a demo of Bejeweled and played that for a while. I think I could lose lots of hours on this playstation 3 thing. | | Sunday, November 29th, 2009 | | 10:38 pm |
SATB fly-in weekend
Well, another fly-in weekend has come and gone. This year we were back at St. Paul's church. It was much better than the leaky church we were in last year (where we had buckets to catch the rain water drippings). This year's attendance looked like it was up and energy was strong. Anne and John did a great job calling for us. The gca callers had fun calling for us on Sunday too! We hosted the two Michaels from SFU and had a great time showing them around town and spending some time to get to know them a bit better. I posted some pics from the Saturday morning dances on my Facebook page. As always, a good weekend seems to go by in a blur. Luckily reps from the March Seattle fly-in and the Chi-Town convention were here, so we were able to pay up for both in good old Canadian dollars. That saved us some currency conversion fees, and the inconvenience of sending out cheques. I have been spending lots of time on those damn Facebook games (Mafia Wars, Vampire Wars, Castle Age, Farmville). I have totally abandoned Cafe World, Farm Town, Lil' Farm, Space Wars, etc. I am hoping to reduce my collection of games even further. Boy, are they ever addictive. I have also been working my way through the Stargate sg-1 tv series. This evening I watched episodes 16 & 17 from season one. I am starting to really enjoy this series. I can't believe that I didn't discover it sooner. Since there are 10 seasons plus additional spin offs and films, I will be enjoying this franchise for a long while. I can certainly see some parallels with the original Star Trek series. There was one scene that I saw earlier in the week, where Jack O'Neil and Tilk (the alien) bantered back and forth, and if I squinted my eyes and used my imagination, I could see and hear Kirk & Spock uttering the same dialog. Current Mood:  content | | Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 | | 10:13 pm |
2 recent book reads
I went to my scifi meeting last night. We had one assigned book (Year of the Flood) and an optional book that the group read years ago, but I didn't at the time (Oryx & Crake); both by Margaret Atwood. Year of... is sort of the sequel and was published recently. Both are very interesting books and are not standard scifi. Atwood is never standard. These 2 books are very popular with readers/fans and are set in the same place and time. The story follows several hopeless characters as they experience the destruction (or deconstruction) of human civilization. The scifi group really enjoyed these books. I thought that they were a good read, but they just seemed a bit too depressing. All the humans are unhappy in these books. Atwood has a great way with words and coined some very interesting blends of words and concepts. She also created some really interesting groups in the novel like the God's Gardeners. They cultivate all their own food in rooftop gardens and only use or wear recycled stuff. In the novel, Atwood created a series of hymns that the group chanted. They have since been set to music. Her book tour is unconventional as well. The one promoting the newer book is accompanied by God's Gardeners singing hymns. I think she is currently touring the US. Current Mood:  contemplative | | Friday, November 6th, 2009 | | 9:12 pm |
Bike to Work Week
   I didn't know it was Bike to Work Week until today, on my morning commute, there was a Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC) welcome station set up at 10th and Ontario. They greeted me as I was about to pass them by at about 9 am this morning. I stopped and chatted a bit. They wanted to provide me with a coffee or tea and some snacks. I declined since I don't drink coffee and I had a leftover banana waiting for me at the office. They also gave me a gift, an emergency patch kit (I doubt if I will ever figure out how to use it). On Monday, during my lunch break, I walked over to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) and bought some winter cycling clothes. I figured that if I was going to do the winter cycle thing, then I needed proper warm clothes. I picked up a pair of winterized cycling shoes (leather, water-proof with a neoprene ankle wrap), gloves (reflective white patterns all over) and tights (a little warmer than my current ones). My toes and fingers were getting quite numb and cold on some of the chillier mornings. Now they are nice and toasty! Getting back to today, during my lunch break I looked up the VACC website and read up on the Bike to Work Week stuff. I discovered that there is a cool interactive map that allows you to set up individual routes that one cycles through the city. I created route items for my profile and then entered them in for this week. I discovered that there was a team already set up for where I work,and that there was about 5 cyclists entered. Some stats: My average daily cycle travel distance is 15 km (home to work, work to gym, gym to home). During my work week, this week, I travelled 75 km. If I cycle to the gym on Sat and Sun, that would put me at about 100 km cycled for the week. On my way to the gym this evening, I nearly had a serious accident. I was entering into the intersection (4th and Fir) with the green light, and cars coming from the opposite direction were turning left. I had to come to a near stop to allow a car to cut me off and make his left turn. Then the car behind that one, accelerated, didn't see me and then came to a completed skidding stop in the dark wet early evening. I too came to a complete stop, but that wouldn't have saved me if he didn't stop, since I was already in his direct path. There are too many Vancouver drivers that are not very good about sharing the roads with the bicycles. I have had many close calls in the last 4 months(sometimes daily) but this was the worst so far! I have a flashing headlight mounted on my bicycle, but I think I will pick up an additional light for my helmet, maybe that will help make me more visible in the night. Current Mood: contemplative | | Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 | | 5:59 pm |
My love affair with the prickly pear cactus fruit
It all started in the summer of 1984. I was a young man and went on my coming of age summer Israel/Europe trip. The first part was a short summer ulpan (Hebrew work study program) in Israel. I was assigned to stay at the Ramat Rachel Kibbutz where I worked in the morning and studied in the afternoon. One weekend day, a British guy, who worked at the Kibbutz with us, decided to take us on a day trip to Bethlehem. Our kibbutz was located on a hill half-way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It was a clear hot sunny day as we walk to the town. When we got there, the Brit, went to a street vendor and purchased enough prickly pear cactus fruit so that we could each have one. None of us had ever eaten one before. The vendor had a sharp knife and peeled them expertly, one at a time. When each was finished, the fruit was passed along to a member of our group. The fruit was red, pulpy, juicy and had little black seeds that could be swallowed. On a hot day, it was quite refreshing. I was in love with the fruit. I never did get to eat that fruit again during my stay in Israel, but I had something close to it. The Kibbutz had a private swimming pool that was for guests and paying members. They also had a concession stand that sold prickly pear flavored popsicles that were red and white with embedded black candy seeds. I enjoyed having one nearly every day. Many years passed before I would revisit the cactus fruit. About 10 years ago, I discovered that some of the smaller Chinese fruit markets would have them in stock. The fruit appeared to be the same variety as the one that I had in Israel those many years ago. I started buying and eating them, as well as introducing them to my friends. Some liked it, some didn't. This summer, on our trip through California, somewhere on the drive between Walnut Creek and Palm Springs, we discovered a little fruit stand by the highway. We noticed that they also had large prickly pear cacti (just loaded with fruit) bordering the store. Once inside I looked around to see if there was a section in the store where there might be a table with the cactus fruit. I didn't see them anywhere. So I asked the young pretty lady clerk whether they actually sold the cactus fruit. She said that they did, and that if I would just let her know how many pounds I wanted, she would have a guy go out and pick them to order. I thought that was grand and asked for about 3 pounds worth. When I paid up, and was handed my bundle in a box, I was surprised by how cheap it was. Just 50 cents a pound. I was so excited about my unexpected bounty. When I got my first opportunity, I cut into a pear and I was surprised to see that the inside of the fruit was orange colored. Also, the texture was softer and a bit mushy. Which was different than what I was expecting. I tasted it. It wasn't as sweet or tasty as the other variety of fruit that I was used to. Maybe I just had a bad one. I tried a couple more. One was not quite as mushy, but they were still not that great. I was somewhat disappointed.  The week after that, we were in Albuquerque on the second leg of our trip. We toured Old Town one morning. We discovered some big beautiful prickly pear cacti outside of a couple of stores. They were covered in dark red fruit. These fruit more closely resembling the cactus fruit I was familiar with. I carefully twisted off one of them. Did I mention that they were covered in sticky prickly spikes? Did I mention that every time I handled the fruit from the previous week, I would have little thorns stuck in my hand, pricking and irritating me as I tried in vain to find the micro spikes embedded in my skin? As soon as we got back to the hotel, I was very excited about trying this newest acquisition. I sliced it open and happily discovered the purplely red interior. I eagerly placed a piece in my mouth. So did Kevin. Seconds later we both spat the pieces out as quickly as we could. The fruit was extremely bitter! I was so disappointed. This past week, I went to the local market a block from where I work. And yes, my reliable cactus fruit was being sold there. I picked up a bunch and have been happily munching on them all week. Appreciating them all the more as I reflected on my recent experiences with their cousins. Current Mood:  nostalgic | | Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | | 10:28 pm |
Vacations go so fast
Well another week went by, and I didn't say anything about it in my journal. I guess, being on vacation, one loses a bit of discipline. On that previous Sunday, after the Peel Off was over, we moved over to another resort, Camp Palm Springs. we stayed there for another 3 nights. We didn't do much, just hung around the pool, played our newly acquired game, Bannanagrams, and went to the gym at night. We did a little more shopping at the Walmart, Target and Trader Joes. On the Wednesday morning, we drove ourselves over to Albuquerque. It was a long drive and we finally showed up at the hotel at around 11:30 pm. We were very tired from that long drive. The next day, Thursday, we visited Old Town, and went out for lunch to a place called Little Anita's. Then later, we checked out the Liberty gym, which was a short drive away and was free for the guests at MCM Elegante. In the evening we played Bannanagrams with Osamu and Chris in the bar with our free drinks. On Friday we just hung around the hotel and the gym until the A&C square dance started that night. The Dancing was great. I had a chance to dance about 5 hours of c3b during the weekend. I was quite weak, since I am new to the level, but the other dancers were forgiving and I had a great time. the rest of the time I mostly danced c3a and c2. It was great to see so many friends from all over the US and Canada. On the Saturday night, a bunch of us square dancers, went up onto the dance floor in the bar and crowded out the younger patrons. We had a been drinking (2 free drinks coupons to all guests per night) and were feeling good. Kevin and I started our long drive home on the Sunday night, stopping in Utah for the first night, sleeping in Nampa Idaho the second night, and home by the third night (Tuesday). Kevin did most of the driving while I read my books and watched some dvds. But I did help out from time to time and drove while Kevin ate some of his meals. We used our NEXUS cards to cross the Canadian border and I handed over the traveller's Declaration Cards to the border official as we passed through. I had filled them out in the dark car (at night) when we were at the rest area. Afterward when I checked over the carbon copies, I realized that I had made a mistake on one card. Where I thought that I had indicated 1.5 litres of wine, I actually put the number in the row below, so I recorded 1.5 litres of liquor. You are only allowed 1.14 litre of liquor so I will have to pay the duty on the overage. I called yesterday and spoke to a NEXUS person and he said that there was no difference between the wine and liquor rates and that I wouldn't have to pay any duty. I didn't believe him and thought that he was clueless. So I called again today and spoke to a lady that had a very opposite attitude. She did confirm that I would have to pay duty on the overage, and that I would be charged something like 200% on the overage based on the dollar per litre value that I paid. I said to her that it was a mistake I made on the card, and that I shouldn't have to pay duty when I didn't actually buy liquor. She said that it was my responsibility to fill out the card correctly and I would have to live with my mistake. I would be able to appeal the decision if I had the receipt, but unless the receipt indicated the volume of the wine, the chances that my appeal would be successful would be slim. She was quite unfriendly and refused to be more helpful. Anyway, after that call, I calculated that the additional charge would be quite minor, just $6, but that is if I understood her correctly. I know the Canadian government really doesn't like you buying alcohol out of the country and likes to punish overages with fines, duties, taxes, etc. So if it turns out to be considerable more money, then I will try to appeal. Apparently it can take up to 7 weeks before the government processes the charges and it shows up on the credit card bill, so I will have to wait a long time to see what happens. Current Mood: content | | Sunday, October 11th, 2009 | | 11:30 pm |
Well the weekend went by very fast. We left Vancouver on Wednesday night and we finally arrived at the resort in Palm Springs at about 8 pm. We had stopped for the first night in Portland Or. and Walnut Creek Ca. on the second night. Once at the resort, we had a long check-in process. I went to pick up Dan from the airport. When I came back with Dan, Kevin explained that we had to rearrange the assigned room with another one because of bed issues. So once everything got settled, we were only able to participate in the last half hour of the dance and we had completely missed the bbq. I picked up some A&W burgers for our supper. We ended up getting a room that was slated for renovations and the outside wall was bordering upon a highway like road. It was very noisy at night and it was difficult to sleep. Saturday went much better. We danced in the morning and then had lunch. After lunch, Kevin and I went to the 24 hour fitness for a workout. After sitting in the car for 3 long drives, we needed to stretch and work our muscles. It felt really good. I was in much better spirits after that. We met up with everyone for supper and then we all went off to the church for a combined dance with the local square dance club. That was lots of fun and we had up to 5 squares dancing. Last night I sat in the sauna for a bit. There were 2 other people in there as well. We were all quiet and no one said a word. Then the door opened, and a person entered. I spoke up and said to the new guy that the standard convention in this sauna was that when you entered the room you had to introduce yourself. So he revealed his name and everyone else introduced themselves. The room energy got so much friendly after that and we all spoke to each other after that. It was a good icebreaker. I will have to remember to use that line again some time in the future. This morning it was a bit more low key, and we danced a bit. Then everyone took off into different directions. Check out was at noon, so we packed the car and then we went out to lunch. After that we checked into another resort where we will stay for the next 3 days until we journey to Albuquerque. During the afternoon we just relaxed around the resort. I went for a swim and hot tub soak. Then we went out for supper, shopped a bit at a big Walmart super center and then Kevin dropped me off at the gym while he did some further shopping. Now it is time for bed. Current Mood:  thankful | | Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | | 10:48 pm |
Lucky or Unlucky
Today, after I left work I started my cycle to the gym as per usual. Then 2 blocks before the Burrard Street bridge, my bicycle chain slipped and jammed into the axel of the wheel. My pedaling came to an abrupt stop. Unlucky right? But luckily, I was just one block from a bike shop. I walked my bike over and described what happened. The cycle dude, hoisted my bicycle onto a lift and took off the wheel, extracted the chain and realigned everything. And it only cost me $10. The entire episode from the jam to the repaired state took just 15 minutes. I was very lucky that it all worked out so well and that I wasn't stranded on the bridge or someplace else. Also, my gears shift more smoothly now. I mentioned in an earlier post, that the left signal light in the car was jammed on Friday night. Unlucky right? And then mysteriously was fine on Saturday morning. Well, Kevin took the car to the Kia dealership on Monday to investigate. It turns out that there is a recall on the brake light kit which can affect the turn signals. So they were able to take care of it according the the existing recall and they didn't have to waste time to figure out what was wrong. Also, there was no charge. So now that we are starting our 2 week driving trip tomorrow, we don't have to worry about a failure of our turning signals or brake lights. We were so lucky that the problem manifested itself before our trip instead of during it. We are all packed and ready for our trip tomorrow. Wednesday night we will stay over in Portland. Then Thursday night in San Fran. We will arrive in Palm Springs on Friday for Peel Off. Time to get some sleep, although I never seem to sleep the night before a trip. Current Mood:  happy | | Sunday, October 4th, 2009 | | 9:21 pm |
At home at last
I had a great time at the BOW Action square dance weekend in Federal Way. Del Powell called for us and he was really fun to dance to. He came up with lots of great asymmetric stuff at all the levels he called. We had some real cool dance sequences for the c3a today. Unfortunately we did not get as many dancers as we usually get. We never had more than one square at any of the levels. Attendance seems to get smaller at every BOW Action dance weekend. Hopefully we will get better turn outs for next year. The left turn signal in the car that had stopped working Friday night, started working again Saturday morning. Maybe it just needed to rest. Kevin will take the car in to the service garage tomorrow anyway to check it out. I was making good time going home, so I stopped in Blaine for a Subway sandwich an to top up the gas. then I proceeded to the Truck border crossing secure in my convictions for a quick pass through. I had already filled out my declaration ticket for the drop box in the Nexus lane. I got a little disoriented and ended up in a parallel road (road H) just to left of the lineup for the border, just opposite from the duty free shops. The car immediately beside me, allowed me to cross through her lane after I made eye contact and wiggled my finger pointing to where I wanted to go. I then went into the right most lane, which was for the buses and the Nexus people. I advanced way up close to the border control booths, and then had to come to a complete stop. There was a gate across the Nexus lane and a sign saying closed. I then noticed the hours posted showed 7 am to 7 pm. My car clock showed 7:05 pm. I guess I just missed it. But there was a little opening, 1 car width wide in the lane fence, so not knowing what else to do, since I was so far along anyway, I went in through. That put me in the line, about 5 cars from the booth. So in the end, I still went through the border fairly quickly, despite not using my Nexus card this time. Had I been at the end of the line, I think I would have had to wait about 45 minutes. Next time, I will time my arrival better. During the weekend, I had made 3 trips to Trader Joes, where I would buy my lunch and snacks. I also picked up a couple of bottles of wine for Kevin. He was quite pleased with the wine. Current Mood:  tired | | Friday, October 2nd, 2009 | | 11:14 pm |
First night of BOW Action
I went to work in the morning, but left at noon. I cycled home, packed my stuff and I was on my way. I used my Nexus card for the first time crossing the US border. It was a breeze. Less than 1 minute, 1 car in line. I easily saved from 20 to 30 minutes by not having to go into the regular line. I hit traffic about 30 miles before reaching Seattle. Then it was stop and go all the way to Federal Way. The entire drive took a little over 3 and 1/2 hours. I got a little turned around right near the motel and had to go around a very big block. There were so many cars and the intersection lights appear to take a very very long time to change colors. Or is that just my imagination? I checked into the Days Inn. The young man behind the counter was very friendly. He was very interested to learn that I was in town for square dancing even though he had no idea what square dancing was and was interested in buying tickets to see me dance. Then he went on to say that he could tell that I was a dancer on account of my build and voice. I don't quite see how voice fits in, and I assured him that not all square dancers had my build. He still insisted that I looked like a dancer. Interesting. I went to my room, caught up with Kevin via MSN messenger, showered and ate a bit. Then on the way over to the dance hall, I stopped in at Trader Joes to pick up some healthy food. The motel serves breakfast, but they don't really serve what I like. Just when I pulled into the parking lot of the hall, the left turn signal in the dash didn't flash, didn't go out. Great! Either it is a fuse or the bulb is burnt! The car was just tuned up last week and it is only 4 months old. I don't feel comfortable that my left signal isn't working. I guess I will have to keep my window open and resort to the bicycle version of the left turn signal by using my hand and arm. Tonight was my first opportunity to dance c3b since learning it during the last week of July. I had studied it over and over but dancing it is very different. We were 10 people in all, so one couple was out each tip. All of the dancers know me, and they were very forgiving, tapping me or directing me when needed. I was concentrating very hard, but I was also very tired from not sleeping the night before (I can never sleep the night before a trip) and from the long drive. It went well, but I was definitely a newbie and it will take me a while to get some experience under my belt. Current Mood:  accomplished | | Sunday, September 27th, 2009 | | 4:09 pm |
some highlights
Yesterday, on my cycle to and from the gym (Kevin drove the car), I noticed it was very breezy. The water in the inlet was all white capped and was splashing across the sea wall (the tide was also in). The wind was so strong at one point, that even though I was coasting down a hill, my bicycle nearly came to a stop. But other than the wind, the weather has been great all weekend, sunny and nice (but a bit cool in the mornings). Last night I went to the NIFTY (clothing optional) swim at a local indoor pool. It was quiet, not as many people as the last time I went (which was several months ago). This time I didn't know anyone. I usually bump into at least 1 or 2 people that I know. I spent about 30 minutes doing laps and sat in the whirl pool both before and after my swim for about 15 minutes. Then I cycled home. This morning Kevin and I cycled to the gym. Then we cycled to the Scotia Theatre to see '9'. I would see any Tim Burton movie. I love them all. The animation in this film was absolutely great and was consistent with Tim's style. The story was interesting and somewhat violent, but hey, it served the animation well. The ending was kind of muddled but I guess it worked. For most of the rest of the weekend, I have been practicing some square dancing with checkers and recorded dances. And I have been spending lots of time playing the Mafia Wars and farm games on Facebook. Current Mood: content | | Sunday, September 13th, 2009 | | 8:34 pm |
A gathering at Hozomeen
 The Gathering took place at Ross Lake. It was a joint event hosted by Environment Canada and the native tribes from the Skagit Valley. On Friday, I left work at 12 pm and cycled to the gym for a quick work out. I was home by 3 pm. Kevin spent the morning preparing for our trip. After packing the gear and the dogs, we finally left the house at about 4 pm. Traffic was absolutely awful on the no. 1 highway. It took us about 4 hours to do a 3 hour trip. We finally rolled into the campsite at Ross Lake at 8 pm, after sundown. The last third of the 50 km of dirt road was all washboard and quite rough driving. We put up the tent in the dark. While the electric pump was filling our mattress with air, we ate a small supper. A bunch of small bats flew around us catching the flying bugs. After we ate we met some of our camping neighbours. There was a young couple with a big black dog searching for the water tap. They went searching along the road, first one way then the next with their bright flashlight. Then there was this lady from the Womans' Fly Fishing Group. As she stood there talking to us, a big moth was attracted to her bright flashlight. Then a second later, a fast bat swooped in and snatch it up. Then we retired to our tent. Once we were nicely cuddled up in our sleeping bags, we watched an episode of Doctor Who on the laptop. This morning I took Butch on a small jog with me. He was going aggressively faster than me, pulling me along, but after about 15 minutes, he seemed tired out so I dropped him off at the campsite and continued my run without him. I ran past where the Gathering was setting up at International Point, and ran right into the United States for about 100 meters before turning back. No passports required here! Back at the campsite, after the run, I took off my clothes and jumped into the lake for a quick bath. Then I shared a nice little breakfast with Kevin. We joined my uncle Richard, Yvonne, cousin David and Andrea at the Gathering and sat and listened for a while. Kevin and I got a bit bored, so we headed back to our campsite. I finished reading a book and then went for a bit of a swim. We later joined up again with everyone for supper where a nice bbq salmon buffet dinner was served by the lake. When it got dark, my relatives joined us at the fire at our campsite, where we drank wine and reflected upon life. Then once again, Kevin and I watch another episode of Doctor Who before going to sleep. The next morning, I got up, did a run. I passed by the campsite and picked Butch up for the last 15 minutes so that he could join me in my run. Again, he was pooped out after that short run. I am going to have to make more of an effort to get that dog into shape. During my run I picked up some food from the breakfast buffet to share with Kevin. But before I ate, I jumped into the lake again to wash up. We packed up our gear and then headed over the Gathering and sat for a while listening to the archaeologists lecture. It was interesting, but after about half an hour we were ready to go. We left the campground at about 11:30 am. We stopped briefly in Hope for a quick lunch and then arrived home at about 3:30 pm. The traffic was quite bad coming back, along the no. 1 near the Port Mann bridge. It is always nice to be back home. Here are a few more pictures in my Live Journal Gallery. http://pics.livejournal.com/redsquared/gallery/00071fzgThere are also a bunch more pictures on my Facebook site. | | Monday, September 7th, 2009 | | 3:14 pm |
Long Labour Day Weekend
It has been a nice and quiet if somewhat rainy weekend. Just did the usual things, gym, dvd movies, hanging out, etc. On Saturday night we watched TransAmerica. We enjoyed it and thought that it was well done. Last night we went to Dave's BBQ party. About 30 people were there. It was nice to see familiar faces and catch up with what people were up to. We spoke with our friend Steve, who agreed to take on some home fix projects for us. We have a long list of things that need fixing, so it was quite opportune that we saw Steve at the party. I have been upping my cardio, doing more running at the gym in addition to all my cycling. I have suddenly realized that I am not taking in enough calories and have lost several pounds. Some pounds lost were good ones. So either I have to cut back on some of the cardio, or eat more food. I think that I will try the 'eat more food' option first and see if that works. I had two lunches today. I was famished when I finished my workout today. So the first lunch I had at a Persian/Greek restaurant just beside the gym. Then I bicycled home and had the lunch that Kevin prepared for me. Now if I can just arrange to have two suppers tonight, then I am on my way to a bigger badder me. Current Mood:  amused | | Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 | | 10:26 pm |
Not again!
This morning on my cycle commute to work I was stopped again by a motorcycle cop with his flashing blue and red lights. He pulled me and the cyclist behind me over to the side just after we crossed Kingsway. On 10th ave, which is a bicycle route, there are two pedestrian activated lights a block apart. One at the corner of Main, the other at Kingsway. If both buttons are pressed by a cyclist or pedestrian, both of the crossing signals come on at the same time. They can take a long time to be activated, since if you just miss the light cycle, you can wait almost twice as long as a regular light. Multiply that by two for both corners, and potentially you can wait the equivalent of 4 lights to traverse one city block. Not a favorable setup for a cyclist. So, most cyclists, pedal like hell after going through the first one to get through the second one in time. Which is what I do every morning. So the cop says to me, "Did you see the stop sign at that intersection?" "Yes". "If you are on the road, you are operating a motor vehicle. You are obliged to stop at the stop signs." "But I thought that if the signal was on, it overrode the stop sign, isn't that what the signal is for?" "No you have to stop anyway." "Okay" head down, acknowledging defeat. The other guy behind me said nothing. And he let us go with just a warning. Now I will have to accommodate the cop by not racing through that second intersection. I will to stop and wait for the next signal cycle. It will lengthen the time of my commute even more. At the very next block, at the 4 way stop sign, I stopped, like I always do at the regular stop sign intersections (since I was pulled over earlier this summer by another motorcycle cop for going through a 4 way stop sign intersection without stopping) but the guy behind me sailed right through, yes the one that was stopped by the cop along with me. At the rest of the stop sign intersections, I stopped at each one yet several other cyclist sailed right through. This happens every morning. I do sometimes see cops giving out tickets, but that doesn't seem to change the behavior of most of the cyclists. I think that the city should really try to make the bike corridors more like express routes, and where there are 4 way stop signs, take out the ones to favor the bicycles. It is silly that for many blocks we have to cut our speed to zero, stop and then slowly pedal back up to speed only to brake it all down again. The city should improve the cycle routes since their goal is to make the city greener and more cycle friendly. Current Mood:  cranky | | Saturday, August 29th, 2009 | | 11:13 pm |
Biking gear upgrading
This morning Kevin and I rode our bikes to the gym like last Saturday and again after the work out we had a nice take out lunch at English Bay. What a gorgeous day. Then we rode over to Mountain Equipment Co-op so that I could spend some of my bus pass savings (June was the last monthly bus pass I bought). I bought a new helmet. The old one was over 15 years old and looked it. I tossed the old one in the trash and rode home with the new one on my head. I also got a new bell. My old one was rusty, and would make a very short sound sometimes if I was lucky. But usually I would just shout "watch out" to wayward pedestrians and others as I passed along side them. And a new LED headlight and backlight. My old headlight mount kept sliding around which meant that my light either pointed straight down or straight up. Last night when coming home from the gym, I was so frustrated at having to spin the headlight back every couple of minutes, I vowed that today I would finally do something about it. Last week I tried to tighten the screw, but the plastic mold was stripped. I contemplated buying more stuff, but luckily Kevin stopped me in time. Current Mood: happy | | 11:08 pm |
I am now on Facebook
I Have finally bit the bullet. I signed up on Facebook today and started added bunches of people that I know from square dancing, my old high school, some old friends, and family. Where does it stop. Every time I look at someone's friends, I realize that I know some of them. At first I was so excited that there were so many people from my old high school class on Facebook, I started adding/inviting every name I recognized without really thinking about whether I actually wanted to connect with that person. After amassing a bunch of those, I realized later that I really don't have anything in common with most of these people and never really talked to them in high school either. I wonder if anyone would be hurt if I just go and un-invite most of them. Or maybe I should just leave it as it is. I am still not that sure how people interact on Facebook. I am still learning my way around it. Current Mood:  silly | | Monday, August 24th, 2009 | | 12:29 pm |
Busy Weekend - BOW Action dance and other stuff
Friday night's dance was to have been my first opportunity to dance c3 after having done the lessons 3 weeks ago. But unfortunately, when roll call was done on a Thursday's email broadcast, only 7 dancers were available. So the dance had to be downgraded to c3a. Oh well, I will now have to wait another 5 weeks until the next BOW Action Challenge weekend in Seattle. It was still great fun dancing to Sandie on Friday night. Saturday morning, Kevin and I cycled to the gym, did our workout and then ate a take out lunch on the beach at English Bay. Then we cycled home and bummed around the house for the remainder of the afternoon. That evening we went to a friend's place for a Gay Party. There were several people there that I hadn't seen for a long time and so that was a nice surprise. On Sunday I rode again with Len and John (in Len's car) to Langley for the morning and afternoon c3a dances. Again it was great fun. It was also the first opportunity that I had to have some short conversations with Sandie that went beyond the 'hello' and 'how are you' greetings that we usually exchange. We both remarked that we have been encountering each other a lot lately, since we were both at several venues in the last year (iPAC in Germany, Convention in Washington, AACE in Milwaukee, Scares & Squares in Portland last Halloween, etc.). Did some house chores when I got back home Sunday afternoon. Then we had a nice bbq steak supper and settled down to watch a couple of Doctor Who dvd episodes (Season 3). Earlier in the week we watched the first 7 dvd episodes of Primeval. We decided that 7 was enough since each episode was the same, find the monster, chase the monster, don't hurt the monster, trick it to go back home via the anomaly. Current Mood: happy | | Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | | 10:15 pm |
| | Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | | 3:52 pm |
NEXUS a minor travel adventure
A little over a couple of months ago, during my last driving trip to Seattle, as I waited in the stupid long line at the US/Canada border (both ways), I noticed that the NEXUS line up was virtually empty. Cars would go into that line, and be spat out at the other end in no time flat, while we unfortunates had to wait for up to an hour in the conventional lines to get through the border. I vowed at that time to do something about it. So, I downloaded the NEXUS application form and filled out one for me, and one for Kevin. I photocopied all the necessary documents, and sent it off. Eventually, about a month ago, we received our letters which instructed us to make appointments with the NEXUS office for our interviews. Our appointments were yesterday at 3:15 pm. Kevin picked me up at work at 2:30 and we proceeded to the airport (where the office is located). Now we have driven to the airport countless times, but always from the East along Marine Drive. This time we drove south along Oak from Broadway (close to where I work). Well, we went over the Oak Street bridge and then we were in unfamiliar territory. We did see an exit ramp sign that directed us towards the correct way. We did. Unfortunately, when we got to No. 3 road, we went left instead of right (the wrong way, but we didn't know it at the time). So here we are going south along no. 3 and I am certain that we are going the wrong way and that we were lost. We drove for several blocks through heavy construction traffic and Kevin was insisting that we were okay and that he was right on track (he was driving). He wouldn't pull over and let me ask someone directions. So I picked up my phone and called my 'lifeline'. I called my cousin in Richmond, since we were in Richmond, and Kevin would just have to believe a local Richmond resident. My cousin David picks up the phone. After a hurried explanation he passes the phone to Andrea, his wife. She confirms my suspicion, and tells us to u-turn on No. 3 and follow her directions. The funny thing about all this, is that it turned out that my cousins were not at home in Richmond. They were at the Montreal airport waiting for their flight back home to BC! So we made it to the NEXUS office at the exact moment of our appointment and we checked in. Then we waited over 45 minutes until we were served. We had to wait for a young family of two parents and 5 young children all under 4 years old. They had to take pictures and retinal scans of all the children. There was also at this time, only one US customs officer, so the queue got to be really long. Eventually Kevin and I had our turn for our interviews, first with the US customs person then with the Canadian one. We were asked all the expected questions. For some reason, the Canadian officer, who was very friendly, found it hard to believe that I had such a squeaky clean record. She asked me in several ways whether I had ever taken or used drugs and when I answered no, it seemed like she didn't believe it. "Not even marijuana? You never tried marijuana?" I said, "no". Then when she asked why I wanted a Nexus pass, I explained that was travelling often these days into the States for square dancing and I was tired of the long lines at the border. She got so excited about square dancing that she asked me tons of questions about it and even called over a colleague to share the conversation. Anyway, we passed the interviews, had our photos, fingerprints and retinal scans done, and we will get our NEXUS cards in the mail within 2 weeks. Yay. We will be driving through the US border 3 times in October, so I am hoping for a big time savings there. Current Mood: accomplished | | Friday, August 7th, 2009 | | 2:00 pm |
Of interest to square dance geeks only
Last night while sleeping, I dreamed that I was square dancing. I danced to a call that doesn't actually exist. I guess I am still consolidating the c3b definitions from the recent lessons of last week. Anyway the name of this dream call was 'Twinkle'. From waves or lines, centres circulate, and the ends circulate once and half to form a galaxy. Or 'anything and Twinkle'; ends circulate 1/2 to form a galaxy. The fluff that people called out in the dream was "little star big galaxy". Anyway I thought it was cute. Current Mood:  awake |
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