I am running on empty today. I have been on empty all week actually. I have been sleeping really poorly for over a week and it is starting to take its toll. I am exhausted. My mind is not functioning correctly. I cannot think straight. That is why there have not been many updates as of late.

For the long weekend I am dog sitting. I am taking care of Chester who is Duncan S’s chocolate lab. Yoshi has some weird fascination with him, and always wants to play with him. Maybe it is a weird form of dominance. Anyway, Chester is a little ticked at Yoshi and is always growling and barking at him. Last night we separated the two dogs by creating a barricade at the bottom of the stairs. Yoshi was upstairs and Chester downstairs. First Yoshi was whining because he wanted to play with Chester. Then Chester was whining because he wanted Duncan (I think). This was all at 11 pm last night.

This morning Yoshi woke up at 5:30 and was thumping around and whining. I couldn’t sleep. This woke the cat up and she was wandering around the bed. Sue got up and put Yoshi outside. I tried to get back to sleep but failed. At 6 am I was wide awake, so I got up and went to work.

Sue is going away for a couple days on Saturday, so everything should be fine then. Until then I will be pounding back the Starbucks Sumatra. Today is an exception. I started the day with a yummy Americano. I need some “Fueled by Caffeine” stickers.

This past Sunday I awoke to a huge rainstorm. I was planning on going for a bike ride, then watching the Freecross race at the dump. Well, the rain cancelled my ride. I was all about to cancel on watching the race when I said to myself “screw it, I am going”. I dressed in my best rain gear, grabbed the umbrella, and headed to the dump.

Am I ever glad I did. The race was super fun to watch, and I stayed mainly dry. Bonus! I took my digital camera, but never brought it out because of the rain. Too bad too. I saw lots of action.

The FreeCross race is basically a downhill race with time bonuses for hitting certain trail features. For example hitting the easiest line give no bonus, but a drop off the side of the trail may give you a bonus of 5 seconds. The rider with the lowest adjusted time wins. This give the rider a strategy to think about while doing his runs. Interesting twist on a simple concept.

Initially I balked at the idea of the race, but after arriving at the dump to watch the race, I wished I had entered it. It really looked like a lot of fun. I will be doing the Hammergest DH race in early May though.

Today I had Yoshi at work like I do every Thursday. At lunch I decided to take a walk over to Bosley’s to get him some tasty treats (all natural peanut butter and apple biscuits). I went to grab my leash from my backpack, but found it missing. I looked all over but I found I had left it at home. To top it off I had no vehicle today.

I did what any self respecting computer geek, MacGuyver wanna be would do. I fashioned a leash out of some extra Cat 5 cable that was of no use to the Voice Mob!

last night Sue and I had a wonderful dinner at Blighty’s Bistro. this is a small restaurant in Oak Bay that has the friendliest waitresses, a wicked atmosphere, and excellent food. while we were waiting for our appy’s (I highly recommend the mussels) Joy McPhail stopped by for some dinner. she talks very loud. she was seated next to our table, and even when the restaurant was full, we could hear most of her conversation. when the restaurant was empty though, we couldn’t really hold much of a conversation because she was so loud. oh well, the experience was still wonderful. get the lemon mousse!

Happy Birthday to me! 28 years ago to the day I was born (sometime after 8 pm). I awoke this morning to a nice sunny morning, and got to open a couple presents in bed. Woohoo! Sue had framed a couple pictures that I took a while ago, and they look fantastic. She also found me a wonderful black spring jacket (I have been wanting one for a while).

So far the only plans I have for today are to go for dinner with Sue at the SouthBay Pub. This Sunday we are having a bunch of my friends over for a brunch. Should be fun!

after last night’s late night driving session I was looking forward to sleeping in. 7:30am my cell starts ringing. it’s mike wanting to know if I was still in for riding. the destination was mt prevost for some shuttle runs. I hear the word shuttle and decide instantly that I am in. I then found out everyone was meeting at 8:15. crap, better hurry. I ran around, and managed to find clean riding gear, eat breakfast, drink some coffee, pack clothes for after the ride, load my bike and gear into the truck, the zoom out to the Helmken Park N Ride.

we gathered into two vehicles and headed to Duncan. wee! when we finally got to the top I was pretty excited. I haven’t ridden my Bullit in quite a while, and this was a good time to ride it. we quickly learned the trails were very sloppy. tires became clogged, and you could tell how fast you were going by how much mud your tires were throwing. the trails were steep, greasy, and fun. after the first run I was ready for the next.

our second run we started off on a different trail. again, it was steep, but this one had a shale base so traction was great (at least for me it was). we popped out on to a fireroad and were a little lost. since I had never been there before I relied on the rest of the group to lead the way. they did good though because we did find the trail we were looking for.

pretty much everyone had a crash of some sort. nothing serious, but somehow I had escaped. until “the incident” . I am not sure exactly how I did it, but while going down a steep pitch quite quickly, both feet slipped off their pedals, hit the ground, and then flew out behind me. there I was with my belly on my seat and both legs extended out behind me flying down the trail. I was braking for all I was worth, but I couldn’t stop. I hit a bump, got a little airborn, but managed to pull it together (still in the superman). I couldn’t do anything about my position, and I wasn’t gaining speed so I wasn’t too worried. eventually I wrangled my bike to a stop, laid it in the bush then proceeded to laugh for a few minutes. Jason was right behind me when it all happened and he was laughing pretty good too. the rest of the run was a blast (but uneventful).

we only got two runs in, but it was sure fun. in the summer that place would absolutely rawk. I can’t wait to get back there.

here are a few aftermath shots of my bike

friday night Sue and I headed to nanaimo to crash at my moms place since saturday we were planning on hitting Mt Washington for a day of sliding down the slopes

saturday morning came early as Yoshi decided that since the sun rises earlier so should he. we had our breaky, then hit $tarbuck$ for some caffeine to go (an americano for him, and a Tazo Chai for her).

heading out on the highway we made good time on our way towards courtenay. the only scare I had was the suicidal robin red breast. yeesh. birds aren’t that bright. maybe this one was depressed/ not sure, but as we were maching along the highway this bird darts from a bush into the front of my grill. I never saw it fly away, but I also never saw any remains. I am not sure what happened to the bird but I hope it gets some help!

washington was fun. the weather was all over the place, and the snow had the consistency of a slurpee. we slid in fog, rain, wind, a touch of sun, and general overcastedness. we hit all areas of the mountain, and I had a great day boarding. I had one wicked bail though. we were trying to cross an untracked field, so I kept my speed up. I hit it, leaned back, and was feeling pretty good. very quickly I hooked an edge (not sure how I did that), then did two complete sommersaults. I left a couple greg sized dents in the snow. when I sat up I felt like I had rung my bell a little. I was a little dizzy, but that quickly passed

also on the hill satruday was the big stupid bike race. imagine a dual slalom race with a few big berms, a gap jump, and a table top to finish. put it on snow. then make the snow really sloppy. people were crashing left right and center. I think that maybe next year I will try it out. 🙂

after we left the hill we went back to nanaimo. mom took me out for my birthday dinner. myself, my mom, my sister, and my sue went to Milano’s on Milton street. they serve italian and grrek cuisine. the location is an old converted house. the food was excellent, the wine was excellent, the company was excellent, and the ambience was excellent.

after that it was a quick jaunt down the island highway and we were home (very late).

if you have a cell phone with Telus Mobility the you should be advised to go over your last few bills with a fine tooth combine … err I mean comb. I have SMS text messaging, and this month I got double charged (last month too). luckily I caught it before I paid. I called them up (several times since their IVR system kept dumping me) and when I eventually talked to someone she reversed the charges. she then put me on hold and called another department.

get this, they know they have a problem, but haven’t told their customers yet. also, “they are working on it”. they hope to have it fixed soon.

I really wonder how many people haven’t noticed this yet.