Author: gfox (old content)

Parent Scream

Today was one of those days where I felt ill-equipped to be a parent.

I almost lost my temper many times due to my children’s normal behaviour. Normal, but not desired.

So many times I just wanted to scream.

The kids were not their normal selves and easily lost it at the slightest thing that didn’t go their way. It made for a long tiring day.

This morning I actually expected the day to go well since they both slept in.

Delivery Freeze

Sox and I have wanted a new fridge since we moved into this house. That was over 1.5 years ago. A few weeks ago Elliot and I got a couple quotes from two different places. Sox and I talked it over, the pulled the trigger and bought the first brand new fridge either of us has even owned. Well, this is actually the first fridge I have ever owned period.

Tonight the delivery guys came with it. I am extremely glad that we paid the extra for delivery. The fridge barely fit through the doorway. See, when I measured, I only measured the space the fridge was in, and not the openings it needed to fit through. Whoops. The salesman never asked about that either.

The delivery guys were awesome though. They measured all the doorways, figured out the best way to get the old fridge out, then tried getting the new one in. The fit was so tight that they had to try a few times and eventually moved to another doorway that had enough room to squeeze through. They also mentioned to not plug it in for an hour.

I then took the next hour to unwrap all the shelves and trays. I also had to reverse the door which took the longest amount of time. It wasn’t difficult, but I ran into a couple hitches that I wasn’t prepared for.

Once I got everything together, I saw that the hour was up so I fired everything into the fridge as I plugged it in. Tomorrow Sox and I will organize things, starting with figuring out where we want the shelves and bins to go.

So happy with our purchase so far though.

Zone Twinges

Ulti is such a fun game, and tonight I had a blast. My team played quite well and we had a lot of fun at it. We got to practice a bunch of things, even throwing on the zone as well as being zoned.

I was still a little concerned about my leg so I took it easy the whole night. I only did a couple full sprints and that was enough for me. I felt a couple small twinges, but nothing major. It should be fine for next week’s game.

One of my sprints I was chasing down a disc that had been hucked to the endzone. The disc was hanging in the air against an opponent and I managed to swat the disc without any foul. The other person was standing still in the endzone waiting for the disc and I came flying in from the side. After I hit it, the disc actually made forward progress toward a second opponent. I followed the disc and knocked it down again. I would have rather caught it, but the situation prevented that.

This season I am really enjoying not being typecast into a handling role. I don’t mind doing it once in a while, but I really want to get out and run. Hopefully I can get my cardio level back up to where it needs to be.

Vivid Yoshi

Sometime this morning I had a very vivid dream, and when I woke up I felt the effects for a long time.

The dream was about Yoshi. In the dream I got up one morning in “my” house and went to the kitchen. The house wasn’t the one that I currently live in, but int he dream it was definitely mine.

As I walked to the kitchen Yoshi came trotting by me and brushed up against me.

In the dream I knew that he was dead and for some reason him being there was not abnormal.

Still, I was elated to see him so I grabbed him and gave him a huge hug then lay on the floor with him for a while. From the dream I can remember his smell, hearing him breath, feeling his fur.

I woke up suddenly and felt intensely sad.

I sure miss him a lot.

Later Disappointed

Tonight was the latest Ulti game. In typical Ulti fashion the game started late. I rode to the game which gave my legs a chance to warm up. Throwing with the team, then a little stretching, and I was feeling pretty good.

We started the game off alright. I was a mid in the horizontal stack (which I still don’t totally like) and I was doing pretty good there. I was getting free and making a few good catches.

I was only on for about four point when I started to feel something funny in my right quad. I tried to take it a little easier for the rest of the point, but my guy got a break on me so I pushed a little bit and I felt a small twinge. I backed off right away and when the point was over took a break on the sideline.

I came back for a point later but I could not run fast, and I could not cut. Pretty useless.

Instead I stayed on the sidelines getting to know my team and offering advice to some of the new people.

In all I was very disappointed with tonight’s game.

Waffle Shopping

Today is Mothers day and I didn’t really plan much. I did let Sox sleep in though, and when Amy woke up at 6:30 we got up and I made some waffles for breakfast. Elliot got up around 7, ate breakfast then the three of us played for a bit. Sox got up around 8 so I made her waffle and some tea.

The kids gave her their presents they made at daycare, then ate Sox’s chocolates that came with Amy’s gift 🙂

After this we got packed up and headed to Esquimalt Lagoon for some beach time. It is pretty sunny today, but not exactly warm. It was windy down at the beach, but we had fun anyway playing in the sand and eating snack.

On the way back into town we stopped off at a Park and Ride where a regular group has RC car racing in a parking lot. We watched that for a bit then came home. The racing was a lot of fun to watch and I think the kids and I will go see it again.

This afternoon Sox is out doing a bit of plant shopping then when she gets home will spend some time outside gardening. Wonderful day really.

Torpedo Road

Yesterday was the perfect day for riding. Warm, sunny, not windy. I met a friend out at the trails and off we rode. It was great to catch up with him and to get out and ride.

We took some very familiar trails and rode up to one of the highest points. Along the way we checked out a reworked torpedo run. That looks like a fun A line style trail that is nowhere near as big as A line. We ran across one guy who was on his fifth lap of it. The nice thing is that SIMBS has provided a walk up for the trail so that riders can easily lap it. Apparently the trail is fun, but still has a couple issues with flow.

D and I took Snakes and Ladders down. I still want to know what SIMBS was thinking with their rework of that trail. They absolutely wrecked it. The first three or four turns are lots of fun, but then the re-route starts. The new section feels nothing like what Snakes and Ladders used to feel like. No meandering down the hillside. Extra jumps. Less flow. I am decidedly not a fan of the new trail.

The ride was a lot of fun and a little under two hours. It did highlight I need to ride more though for me to really have lots of fun. With Ulti started for the summer I hope to ride more. Road biking during the week and maybe more mountain biking on the weekends.

Game Throws

Last night was the first game of the Ultimate Summer league. I met up with my team early and got to know some names. As we went around the circle we all said who we were and approximately how long we had been playing for.

Wow, our team has some experience. The least experienced person had played one season already. We didn’t have any complete newbies. Bonus.

The first game didn’t count towards the season, so we went out to have some fun. I am definitely not in shape for running, but I was amazed at how quickly my throws came back. Backhands, forehands, and even a hammer.

My cuts felt pretty strong and I didn’t really ever feel like I was in the wrong place so that was a bonus. I threw pretty well in the game even though I was never called on to be a handler. Previous seasons I was often a handler which meant I didn’t run as much as I wanted. Maybe this season will be different.

In the end our team even won the game which was a bonus. The team got along well, played well, and had fun. This looks to be a good season.

As a super bonus for me, when I was getting my cleats on I felt something in my right shoe. I pulled out my pair of riding glasses that I have been looking for. I thought I lost them when I was in Nelson last summer. Now I remember that at the end of the last summer league season I was wearing them. Woohoo!

Shoved Bluffing

Last night was my first poker game in a while. I don’t feel like I played all that well all night. There were definitely quite a lot of mistakes that I made that cost me dearly. I MUST MUST MUST keep looking at the board and thinking about what possible hands my opponents might have. All too often I get fixated on my hand and don’t think about other hands that will beat me.

I got lucky a few times too. There was one pot where I was dealt pocket 8’s. Not a stellar hand, but I had a decent enough position to put out a strong bet and got a lot of folds. One person stayed in. After the flop, nothing helped so another strong bet to try and scare him off. He came over the top enough that if I just called I would have been left with only a few big blinds, so I shoved all in. He called and when we showed our cards, he had pocket 9’s. I sucked out on the river though and got another 8 to beat him.

Something similar happened when I was dealt something like an A10 hand. Me and one other in the pot, and on the flop I paired my A and won.

One hand I felt like I played well, I was dealt pocket 9’s. I made a set on the flop, and only one other was in the pot still. On the turn I ended up with a full house, 9’s over 3’s. I looked carefully at the board. No flush was possible, and no straight was possible so I knew I was in the clear of a straight flush. My goal was to get as many chips into the pot as possible, and I felt like I did that well.

Over the rest of my night I kept getting hands like K2, A6, J4. Very frustrating. What closed out my night was a flush though. I made a flush, and on the board was a J and an A. There was only 2 cards to beat my 10 and my opponent had one of them when I was all in. I honestly contemplated whether he had the Q or K, then decided to gamble that he was bluffing. The person I was up against is a very good player and rarely can I beat him in a hand. His reads are so good that when I bluff he calls, and when I have something he folds. Sometimes though I just wonder if he is bluffing. I took the chance and lost.