Author: gfox (old content)

Snowbirds Intruded

Yesterday the Snowbirds were in town for a show for the Oak Bay Centennial. The day was very nice out, and I had high hopes to get some good shots. Last time they were here, I was extremely happy with my shots, and now I have a better camera.

The show started off with an RCMP Helicopter show. It was a little strange seeing a helicopter with a siren flying around. When that show ended, I expected to see the Snowbirds right away. Instead there was a very long pause of close to half an hour. Waiting in the hot sun was no fun, but the show was spectacular.

The show was off Willows Beach. We saw it was extremely crowded, and ended up at this small park next to the Oak Bay Marina. It was lovely. We camped out under this huge oak tree, picniced, and watched the planes. Quite a few times they flew right over us on their way to a stunt. Very cool.

Pics are here.

One odd thing though was some old lady that rudely intruded on our spot. We got there early enough that we were able to claim a bench. We had our things on it, and the nursing moms that were with us (3 of them) used the bench quite a bit. After nursing, one mom got up, and a couple minutes later this lady sat down in amongst our things. :wtf: Very rude, and very weird. If she had asked us to move some things it would not have been a problem, but to just sit down?

It was a great performance, and I had a great time yesterday. Maybe the next time they come to town Sprout will be old enough to appreciate the show 🙂 As with last show, I am extremely happy with the resulting pictures.

MessengerStatus

MSN Live Messenger is pissing me off. Time to do some testing. MSN Live has as a sponsor, LavaLife. I am not the target market for LavaLife. I am very happily married and I do not want to see these ads on MSN Live sites or in MSN Live messenger.

I decided to check my profile. There are a lot of setting there, and most of them I have left blank, or set prefer not to say. The setting for marriage status was blank. I have a suspicion (or hope) that this setting will modify the ads I see.

First thing I notice is that there is no option to specify “I’d prefer not to say”. Crud. I set it to married, and we will see if this gets rid of the ads.

I really hope that the settings on my profile will influence the ads I see. It would make sense wouldn’t it? You’d think a company like Micro$oft would place contextually relevant ads. Surely they have someone there that can code that feature up.

Update 1: now I see ads for date.ca. Not much better.

Update 2: the MSN Live preferences page still shows LavaLife ads. I am now thinking I am S.O.L.

Pirates Bust

What a weekend. Hot is the word.

My mom came down on Friday to visit Sprout. This meant Sox and I got time for a date. We headed out to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Fun movie with good action and decent effects. Long though. It was very nice to sit in pretty confortable seats in the air conditioned theatre. When we stepped outside the theatre after the movie we were greeted with the pleasantly warm evening air. Still a little humid, but very soothing and pleasing.

Saturday night we headed out for dinner (with Sprout this time). 6 adults and 3 babes = 1 very fun time. Excellent food and good conversation. It was hard to leave but Mr Sprout was up past his bedtime and was getting more than a little cranky.

After returning home I had planned to head out to Luminara to take some pictures. I wasn’t realy feeling into it, and really just wanted to stay home instead. I forced myself to pack my gear and get out there. As soon as I got close to Beacon Hill park, I was regretting going. Traffic was bad, people were streaming out of the park, and I was hot, tired, and cranky. As I was preparing to turn around and go home, I spotted a parking spot. On a whim I took it and headed in. It was a bust. Too many people, no inspiration, and it definitely wasn’t as cool as I remembered it. I took a few shots but just wasn’t into it. Also, lots of others were there taking pics too, and many of them were using their flash. This caused my pics to look like crap. *sigh* it just wasn’t meant to be. I quickly packed up and headed home.

Tonight we have another BBQ, then tomorrow some family arrives for a few days. Next weekend we are away. Busy times 🙂

GT-40 Bridge

On my way home yesterday I pulled up to a stop light, and when I looked to the left lane, there was a Ford GT-40 sitting there waiting to make the turn. Wow. What a gorgeous car.

Shiny, sporty, long, wide, and short. Couldn’t have been much taller than the bike I was riding. Some passerby yelled out nice car.

When the light went green the car left the line, but as soon as the road went straight, the driver goosed the throttle, and that car shot across the Johnson St bridge. The sound it made was something else too. A deep grumble that just emanated power, but I could tell that what I heard was nothing compared to what that car was capable of.

And just like that the car was gone.

Cowichan Otters

Ahh, a week at the lake. I actually didn’t get a week up at Cowichan, but I did get 3 glorious days of relaxation. I headed up after work last Wednesday, and met up with Sox, Sprout, JJ, Kaptain K, and e.

Eating, sleeping (ha, yeah right), swimming, relaxing, reading, and photography. That is a good sounding vacation.

Right after arriving, I started to get a little concerned. Yoshi was a spaz. Running amok, bugging everyone, swimming, bugging Digger. I thought we were in for a hard time. By the second day Yoshi had worked off enough steam that he was more relaxed. The third day (Satruday), Yoshi was very subdued and spent most of the day sleeping.

Pics are here.

Let’s rewind a little. After arriving I noticed a dead bat hanging from a power line. When I was unpacked I took a few pics. Cool. Looked like it got stuck and couldn’t untangle itself. Poor guy.

Friday Sox and I headed into town, and checked out the museum.. Small, with barely enough room for our stroller. After learning about the history of Lake Cowichan we headed to Copper Moon for some coffee. We were the only customers and we struck up a conversation with the owner. Very interesting guy. Moved from one of the Gulf Islands because the local governance is tending to strangle businesses a little.

Saturday morning I was up early so I headed outside with camera in hand to capture some of the rising sun (finally making a showing after several cloudy days). While enjoying the chilly air I heard, and located 3 mink, or river otters.They were playing, frolicing, and making some interesting chirping noises on one of the neighbours docks. One of them was diving down to grab some tasty treats. I could hear him crunching down on some food which I later learned was crayfish.

Once veryone was up, Sox and I then decided to head home early. The original plan was to come home Sunday, but we were having a few issues sleeping. Sprout played a part in that, but so did the beds.

Three days for me and Yoshi, 5 for Sox and Sprout. Cabinning on a lake. Fun summertime activities. Thanks for having us along jj and KaptainK. It was a blast.

Sleep Budget

Sox and I got new pillows recently. We have each had the same pillow for years now and recently we decided it was time for new ones. I chose to move to a down pillow. I have been using a poly-fill pillow for as long as I can remember, but when I was really young I had a feather pillow. Maybe it was time for a change.

Sox did the purchasing, and got us medium support down pillows.

The first night I slept on it I was surprised by how flat it got. My head flet like it was right on the bead, and that the pillow wasn’t doing anything at all. The first morning I felt more tired than when I went to bed. Not a good start.

I gave it a couple more tries, but each night I used my new pillow I did not sleep as soundly and felt horrible in the morning.

I switched back. In one night, having less hours of total sleep, I felt well rested and back to normal. sigh. So much for a nice clean new pillow. I guess I will have to go shopping for a new pillow myself. Trouble is, how can you tell if a pillow will work for you unless you actually sleep on it a few times? How much do you use a new pillow before reverting to the old one again? What is the acceptable life span for a pillow anyway?

Sleep is such a valuable and necessary thing, that it is hard to mess with what works for me. Sleep is always a sticky topic for me. Many nights I have a hard time getting to sleep. It can take me upwards of 1.5 hours to get to sleep. When I have something that works, I tend to stick with it, and not mess with it. Unfortunately you have to, once in a while, investigate what may work better. Is trial and error the true path in life?

So, do I give the new pillow another chance? Right now I don’t feel like it. My old pillow allows me to sleep pretty well. Do I shop for a new pillow, but not a feather pillow? No easy answers on this one. If only I had an unlimited budget.