Author: gfox (old content)

Powered Dementia

out in the woods again

Yesterday I had an excellent ride out at the dump again. A co-worker and I headed out and I chose a route that had lots of climbing. We powered through the ride pretty hard. From the parking lot we headed over towards the far end of the park. We eventually hit South Ridge, and started the big climb there. Up we went until we the top of Birth Control. We headed down the walkup trail, then went over to the switchbacks. Up the switchbacks and up waterworks. I actually cleaned the waterworks again.

We then took twister around then went up to Daves Dementia headed for Snakes and Ladders. For the first time in a very long time I cleaned the last climb before Snakes N Ladders. Woohoo! Been a long time since I have done that.

Down SnL. Then a couple more small trails, and we were back at the TTA. A 2 hour climb fest that was lots of fun, hard work. Trail conditons were excellent. The recent bit of rain helped the dirt pack in a little, but the rocks were still dry with lots of traction.

I was in a big riding slump for quite a while, but I feel like I have turned the corner. I am enthralled with riding again. I want to spend more time riding than I can reasonably afford. I am really looking forward to the race in September. I have that race to thank for the turnaround in my riding.

out in the woods again

Sidewalk Dragging

Someone took it! Someone really took our BBQ! Amazing. Sox and I got a new one recently, and we weren’t sure how to get rid of the old one. A friend mentioned just leaving it on the sidewalk with a free sign, and that someone would come along and take it.

I was a little sceptical. This BBQ was very run down. It needed a lot of new parts to work well, but it did still work.

This morning before heading out, I set it at the side of the road, and put a free sign on it. When I got home, it was still there. Damn. But, as I was sitting at the computer around 4:30 today, I could a strange racket outside. When I looked I could see a lady dragging it away (it had no wheels). Hurray!

Friends Mandatory

what do I do first?

There are so many things going on this weekend, I don’t know what to do first. Tonight Sox and I are going out for dinner. Tomorrow there is mountain biking, and then on Sunday some friends are going to be in the Half Iron Triathlon. Busy weekend. Napping will be mandatory. In amongst that we wil have to fit in dinner making, grocery shopping, and house cleaning too.

Maybe if there is time I will perform some site maintenance.

Castle Shooting

Craigdarroch Castle

The photoclub met tonight at Craigdarroch Castle. I chose it since I had never been there before. I most likely won’t be going back. Sure it is a nice building, but there wasn’t much else on the grounds. Perhaps I just wasn’t into shooting tonight. Noone else was there either. In any event, I was definitely feeling less than inspired. Imagine my surprise when I got home and looked at my shots and discovered that I actualy liked a few of them! :jawdrop:

Pics are here.

Batman Hallucination

Just got home from seeing Batman Begins. Jim got tickets to a sneak preview thing, so we headed up there to see it. I had heard the movie was going to be quite a bit different theme-wise compared to the older ones. It certainly was. This movie gripped me from the beginning until the end. I was tense throughout most of the movie. The action scenes were well done, and really not over the top. The plot flowed nicely, and as some reviews have noted, the hallucination scenes were extremely well done.

I liked the little touches (the explanation as to why he created ears on his cowl) that really helped me suspend disbelief. The background info on how batman came to be with all his toys and fighting skills was also covered, and again, was very well done.

In short, I loved this movie. I want to go see it again. Our seats were pretty close to the screen, so I missed some of the dialog, and the action. I just want to see it again. I don’t say that about too many movies.

Tiring Plastic

no time for relaxing at home

Busy, busy (and tiring) day. Mike (a coworker) and I went for a spin at the dump with our dogs. We rode pretty much non stop for between 1.5 and 2 hours. When I got home I did a little computing, then started cleaning up the house a bit. I tossed back a couple PB & J sandwiches, grabbed my cleats and a couple T’s then it was off to pickup Ulti. I got there around 1:30 and left at 3:45

I am a little exhausted but it was a lot of fun. The ride was good and challenging. I ran into a couple people I hadn’t seen in a while: Loch and Naomi. They had gotten seperated from their group.

Ulti was really fun today. Running around in the sun playing with a hunk of plastic. I felt pretty good throughout the whole game, but got run down when the points were long (the wind played havoc with the game). I felt like I played a pretty strong game, but my feet paid the price as I developed blistes on both feet. Hopefully I will be good to go in time for Wednesdays game.

All in all I think I deserved that beer I drank tonight.

Kinsmen Locations

beautiful flowers

Tuesday night was the most recent Photoclub meeting. I chose the Kinsmen Gorge park (although I think it is called something else now), as the destination. I got there a little early, and since Yoshi was with me, I took him for a short walk. This allowed me to scout out a couple nice locations to shoot. I actually enjoyed the location, and came away with some nice shots.

I got a bad surprise when I got home though. I had forgotten to change the iso setting on my camera, and it was set at 1600. I can see some noise in each of my shots, so that is a little disappointing. Overall it was a good experience. Nice park too. I will definitely go back there.

Pics are here.

Panorama Coffee

faster than a speeding turtle

Sunday I got up a little early, and headed out to the Panorama Rec Centre to watch the Panorama Triathlon. Sox wasn’t in this one, but a couple other of our friends were. Their significant others were there, so I had some company which was fun. I practiced taking action shots, which is definitely a learned art. The overcast sky with slight sprinkling action made me keep the camera hidden as much as I could. Taking pictures of the swim was impossible. Either I was up high looking through the glass, or I was inide the pool area, and having my lens fog up. Aaarg. I think that the race went well for the two guys I was watching. Both looked good at the end of the race. After the race I grabbed a coffee and headed home to meet up with some guests. It was Sox’s bday, and we were having a barbeque.

Pics from the tri are here.

Tea Floats

cars on parade

This is only a few days late, but on Saturday Sox and I joined K and E to watch the Oak Bay Tea Party parade. It was pretty good! I had never been to it before, but for me it was the perfect length. Not too long, not too short. It had a couple marching bands, some fire truck, some military vehicles, and other random floats. Very fun.

After the parade was done we walked down to Willows beach to have a little fun at the midway. We had burgers and mini donuts too. Fun day.

Pics are here.