Author: gfox (old content)

Celebration Route

Biking today was not too bad. The ride in was pretty easy albeit a little cold. No major traffic issues.

On the home stretch to work I could see a lot of cyclists in Oak Bay. I was a little confused at first, then I noticed the Bike to Work people had a celebration station at the Oak Bay municipal building. I was tempted to stop in for a coffee and muffin, but I ended up riding right past it.

At the end of the day I didn’t ride home right away since I had an ulti game first. By the time the game was done, the wind was still blowing, and it was raining. I got quote soaked on the way home, and to top it off the game ran late so I took back a back route home that was a little longer.

Still, it feels good to be back on my bike. Through the summer I intend to ride quite a bit. Hopefully I can stick with that plan.

Bumped Wind

The weather was much nicer for today’s bike to work. I also bumped into a friend of mine I haven’t seen in a very long time. The first few minutes of the ride I could immediately feel yesterday’s ride. That eased off the closer I got to work.

The ride home was a hard one though. A big head wind most of the way.

The only incident I has was on Old Esquimalt road. A car passed me with it’s right turn signal on. The light was green, and it is a short one. We were also on an uphill. Right after the car passed me I saw the lady shoulder check, then slow down and stop. She looked for me out the passenger window and seemed a little confused when I didn’t pass her. Enough people. Don’t pass a cyclist then stop and wait for them to pass you on the right. If it is too close and you may not safely get around the corner before the cyclist, then slow down and turn behind the cyclist.

I will not pass a car on the right when they do this.

Week Tube

Bike to Work Week is upon us again. I rode in today despite the horrible conditions. My shorts were soaked through by the time I hit Esquimalt ave. The closer I got to work, the less rain there was. By mid day the sun was out.

The ride to work was pretty easy despite the rain. I met up with Sox before going to the office to hand off something she forgot at home.

At the end of the day the weather was still looking decent. I got a call from my son who wanted me to ride in front of the car on the way home. Not sure what that was all about, but I agreed. I was going to meet up with them at Beet’s daycare, until I saw that I had a flat in my rear tire. Thankfully I had the tools and spare tube necessary to fix it. I found a bunch of glass shard embedded in the tire, and I had to scrape those out with some keys. I was on the way in no time.

The ride home was hard though. It was very windy with lots of strange cross winds. At one point I had a cliff and apartment building on my left and the wind was bouncing off those, directing me out into traffic. More riding planned for the week, but apparently the weather forecast is pretty crappy for the whole week.

League Headers

I signed up for summer league again this year. I had a great time playing last year, and I actually lost quite a bit of weight doing it. This year I am looking for more of the same. The rosters and game schedules were sent out last night, and I only recognize one name on my team. One thing that stood out for on the schedule was the number of double headers we have. Last year we played two double headers, this year there is four scheduled, with the first one in three weeks.

The first game is this Wednesday and I am primed to play.

Cherry Reflection

The weekend before last our cherry tree was in full bloom. The tree is massive and we were lucky enough to see it while it was sunny. I grabbed my camera and shot quite a few images. Cherry blossoms are so delicate that trying to convey that is sometimes difficult. As I was shooting I walked around the yard noticing all the other flowers that were in bloom. Our new yard has lots to show us. Spring here is awesome.

The below picture is a reflection of the tree in our dining room window.


Tank Stabilized

I finally got my new tank all set up and my fish moved in. Way back at Christmas my family got me a new 30 gallon tank setup. It has been sitting in my bedroom until very recently.

Right after Christmas I got a stand, but it took until March for me to get around to setting it up. Then, while assembling the stand I had a few issues and had to wait for replacement parts. It took a couple weeks but I got them, and the tank stand got assembled.

Sometime soon after I got the supplies I needed. New gravel, new decorations, and a new gravel siphon.

Then we had to figure out where to put it. The wall we chose had out furnace thermostat on it, so we waited for the appointment with the electrician, and got him to move it. That was last week.

Monday night I got the tank centred on the wall, cleaned the gravel, set up the filter, and the heater, and plugged it all in. I definitely need more decorations, but what I have is a good start. I let everything settle for 24 hours, then, last night I moved two of my six fish in. These were my test subjects. Since they made it through the night, I moved the rest of my fish in this morning.

Once everything has stabilized I can start thinking about more fish. I am thinking maybe more guppies, or maybe a few neon tetra’s. A small school of fish would look pretty cool. A Molly might be a good fit as well. I read somewhere that a Dwarf Gourami might be a good fit.

One thing I am really looking forward too is the crayfish. A coworker has a bunch of them that have been breeding in his tank. He has offered any amount to anyone who wants them since he has too many. Apparently they look something like this.

Checkout Advance

Last weekend I did some grocery shopping at Thrifty’s. I got to the checkout and the people in front of me had filled the belt. No big deal, I just waited while the clerk rang through their items.

I got a good chuckle out of the customer’s reaction though. The clerk rang things through, and created a big space in front of the scanner. A single onion was left behind which was blocking the beam, and not allowing the belt to advance.

The lady in front of me was trying to be helpful and create some space for my items. If I were in that situation I would lift the onion and let the belt advance. This lady had another idea. She moved every single item of hers forward. Not just once either, twice.

I was tempted to say something, but I didn’t want to ruin the humour.

Actually Calling

What a strange night last night. As Sox and I were falling asleep, our cat Aphro decided she needed to puke all over the floor. Twice actually.

Later, I heard Sprout calling, and as I jumped out of bed, I saw it was 4:50am. I went in to his room to see what was wrong. He asked me to put his pants back on him. For some reason he no longer had his PJ pants on.

While technically not last night, when I got home for work I found that Yoshi had puked all over his chair. Just an odd set of things to have happen in less than 24 hours.

Extra Experience

I was out playing poker with some friends late last night. There were five of us there. Two of them were definitely much better players than I, another I would peg at better than I, and the last guy I don’t think had played much.

I came home with an extra $1.20 after playing until 1:20 am. I was down to less than $5 when it was the final two. The guy I was playing against was the much better player, and I was figuring I would end up going home down $20.

I doubled up a couple times, and came out pretty happy.

I had a few good hands, and made a few good plays.

One play though I fluked out entirely. We were playing heads up, and I ended up with an Ace high flush. Pretty good hand for heads up. I never noticed what I had until after I had folded. My opponent had a full house. If I had seen the flush I would have pushed and I would have been busted. Good thing I was so tired 😉

It was fun though. I am going to start reading a bit about poker and strategy. I borrowed a book from a co-worker and will start there. I honestly have no strategy and really go with my gut instinct. So far this has treated me alright, but I want to do better. I want to learn (or learn to figure out) the strength of a hand, and the percentage chance of hitting with the hand. I know a big part of this is experience, but I will start with the book.

Sick Appetite

My poor daughter has been sick this week. She is constantly tired, eats well, drinks well, is in pretty happy spirits, but is unfortunately battling diarrhea.

The other morning I got a little experience in this. Beet was eating her breakfast and pooped. It takes a lot to disgust me, but this had done it. The smell was overwhelming and I could feel myself starting to gag. I took her upstairs to clean her up, and quickly discovered the blowout (my shirt sleeve was wet).

I managed to get her clean and into a new diaper and clothes (and only used small mountain of wipes). Unfortunately for me though I had lost my appetite. First time that had happened too.