Author: gfox (old content)

Opportunity Shopping

The morning of Feb 19 was a relaxing one. I had the morning off as Sox had the kids with her at the library. I took the opportunity to do some shopping downtown. The downtown plaza was really nice to stroll through, and had lots of shops to browse.

I stopped in at Shadz again for another coffee (long black all the way), and I also tried their smoky bacon stack. This was an english muffin topped with a hash brown, roasted squash, cheese, and bacon, all drizzled with one of the best smoky barbecue sauces I’ve ever had. This snack was to die for.

In the afternoon the lot of us headed to the Spa pool for a swim. It was a nice relaxing time. Their warmest pool was almost too warm for me, but the rest of the pools were darn right cold in comparison. Beet had a great time splashing like always, but her brother stuck to the waterfall pool that felt almost ice cold.

That night for dinner we had home made pizza. The main one was ham and pineapple which all the kids devoured (the adults had a couple pieces too). The other pizza was delicious, but decidedly different. Take lots of caramalized onions, add on some fresh ripe pear, then top with a delicious brie, and bake.

We definitely enjoyed the cuisine while we were there.

Feb 20 was a very rainy day. We looked for something inside for the kids to do, and found a kindergym. It certainly wasn’t the cleanest feeling place in the world, but Sprout had a fun time chasing after his older cousin. He also followed his cousin into a ball pit where a ball fight was going on. It was so cute to see the two of them hiding behind a large pillow while older kids were tossing balls their way. The two of them were looking at each other and laughing their heads off. Occasionally they would toss a ball in the direction of the older boys, then duck down again. Neither of them seemed to mind when they got beaned by a ball or two.

During Beet’s afternoon nap Sox and I headed back downtown for some more shopping. I picked up a really nice long sleeve shirt. We also stopped in at Shadz where I had my final long black at that establishment.

Our trip was drawing to an end and this was getting a little sad.

Unusual Shooting

I have been a little lax about getting my last few New Zealand posts up, but I am determined to finish them.

Way back on Feb 18 I started the day by going for a walk with Beet. We wandered around the waterfront in Napier stopping at a cafe. There I had a scrumptious bacon and brie muffin. Actually it was bacon, with melted brie, on an amazing corn meal muffin, and alongside I had a long black.

After catching up with everyone we decided to head over to Waipatiki beach again, with a stop along the way at Tangoio Falls. I wanted to get some pictures of the falls, and everyone indulged me in that.

At the parking lot for the falls, we hiked in the 20 minutes and discovered the falls. Quite pretty, but not spectacular. Some other people were there, but they were just packing up. Sox seemed quite tense to me, and after asking her, she relayed to me that the people had a gun sitting on the rock. As they left, one of the women asked the rest of their party “Who has the gun”. That was an unusual experience to say the least.

The family left me behind to take pictures with the promise that I would meet up with them at Waipatiki Beach.

After spending a lot of time shooting the falls, and getting quite wet by standing in the water, I called the shoot finished. I shot a few pictures along the way back to the car too.

I made the short drive over to Waipatiki and rejoined the group on the beach. I strolled around there taking a few shots as wells. The water was way more rough this day than the precvious day. I had wanted to go in, but the waves seemed quite unpredictable. I was also feeling a little under the weather as I though I was coming down with a cold.

There is no denying that New Zealand is a beautiful country.

Total Choice

Last night I got out for a great poker game. There was 7 of us in total, and at least two of them were better players than I (not that I am that good at all). The buy-in was a max of $20, and at the end of the night I cashed out with $21.60? All that work for a buck 60. Yikes.

I played alright for the first part of the night, but I started to tire, and my concentration waned. I was down to approx $12 from $20 after playing a few hands I knew I should have folded. My mind was saying fold, but my hands weren’t doing it. I really wasn’t paying attention and my play showed it.

When I did start concentrating, I think my playing picked up. I started winning a few pots, and I started floding at the right times. I stopped chasing things, and hoping the other player was bluffing.

My favorite hand of the night was me getting dealt a JQ. Me and one other saw the flop which was a 8-9-10. Sweet. The other person bet $2 which I called immediately. The turn card was another 10, without hesitation I went all in. The other guy seemed shocked by my play.

He quickly stood up, counted my chips, counted his own, and started thinking out loud. At this point I knew I had made the right move. I was making him think long and hard, and he was a good player. I heard him think out loud my possible hands, and one of the things he wondered about was if I had flopped a better straight than he did. That scared me for a split second until I realized that he couldn’t have flopped a bigger straight than me, and if we had the same cards, we would split the pot. I relaxed and watched him sweat. This was a $16 hand, and our buy in was $20. Wrong choice and you are out.

He made the right choice and folded, which was too bad for me. Exciting though.

The rest of the night I kept clawing back some chips hoping to hit a good hand to play. I am finding that patience is really hard. I want to have fun, and to me playing a hand is more fun than watching. I also want to win money, so I need to work on the patience.

This might turn into a regular game, and I am looking forward to the next one already.

Weekend Assembled

What a weekend! The weather wasn’t supposed to be that great, but it all seemed to work out for us. On Friday I left work early to come home and watch watch/play with kids. This allowed my mom to head back to Nanaimo and beat the Friday rush.

Saturday the sun was out, but poor Beet was under the weather. A slight fever and very lethargic, but otherwise ok. We walked down to our swimming lessons which was wonderful. The kids snacked while we got there in record time. The lessons went fine and after getting showered and dried we headed home for lunch.

Next up was a Home Depot run. As usual I could have spent a lot of money there, but I refrained. I had a list and I mostly stuck to it. We got a new light fixture for the bathroom, a new shower head, and a new garbage can to house more of the earthquake kit that is partially assembled. This can is slated for dog and cat food.

Beet napped when we got home, Sox went for a run with Yoshi, and Sprout played in the dirt with some cars. I was a little bored, so I set to work digging and making a new flower bed at the front of the house. After I got cleaned up I headed over to a friends house for an evening of poker.

Today Beet was still lethargic but her fever was gone. First thing I did was break out the weedeater and clean up the back yard. Once that was done, we all took Yoshi for a walk at Colquitz park which was awesome. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful spring day. We even went to a restaurant for lunch which was a nice treat. Back home Beet and Sox did some grocery shopping while I finished the flower bed. Sprout started off playing with cars, but soon switched to his TV fix.

Tonight we had an easy dinner and got the kids in bed at a reasonable time so we can get ready for the upcoming week.

Lots of fun, and lots of work got done. Gotta like it!

Leery Instinct

Yesterday it was a cold and rainy day. I had to work, so it wasn’t a total loss.

On my way home I was leery of other drivers (like normal really). I had passed a Mercedes doing 45 in the 50 zone along Esquimalt Ave.

As I approached Catherine St, I saw a Volvo come down Catherine to turn right onto Esquimalt (the same direction and lane I was in). The Volvo had a red light, and they stopped, but as I got close to the intersection, they suddenly started pulling out.

Suddenly this Volvo was halfway into my lane. I reacted instantly by hitting the horn, cranking the wheel in an emergency maneuver, and slamming on the brakes. Instinct. I felt the truck’s front wheels skid a bit with the hard turn.

I suddenly remembered that Mercedes and glanced in the rearview and was lucky to see it far enough behind me that I wasn’t going to sideswipe it. I recovered enough to end up in my lane, but my legs and arms were pretty jittery.

I couldn’t believe how close it was. Why do I attract the morons?

Silly Weather

One of the great things about being a Dad is playing. I get to play again, and boy is that a lot of fun. Being silly, playing with cars, riding bikes.

Just the other day Sprout and I were enjoying the warm weather and were riding bikes in the back yard.

Yes it was lots of fun. Sprout had a blast too. We took turns on the scooter and the push bike. This last pic is pretty funny. No I didn’t actually kick him, but it sure looks close.


Power Tempers

I wrote about my problems with my truck already. I thought I had the problem fixed, but I discovered I was wrong. Last weekend I lent my truck to a friend who was moving. He found out for me that there was no power steering fluid left in the truck and it had leaked out all over the driveway in his new house. Grrr.

I called the shop, told them what I knew, and asked what I should do. He said it had to be towed in, and said that if it was the pump or a certain seal he would cover it, and that if it was another issue I would cover the tow.

Immediately I was on edge. I had taken my truck to them to get it fixed and it wasn’t. Why should I have to cover a towing fee? I disagreed with him, and we ended up going back and forth a couple times on why each of us shouldn’t pay for the tow. Finally he said he didn’t want to get into it with me over the phone, and that he’d cover the tow. He gave the number of a company that he has dealt with many times.

Thursday my truck was towed in and fixed up. The shop owner called me and told me that it was the pressure hose leading out of the power steering pump that was the culprit. He then layed out the charges and I OK’ed the fixing. When he gave me the total though, it included the tow charge. Things is, I have a BCAA membership. I agreed to use his tow company since he said he was going to cover the towing fee. I hadn’t thought to mention that I had BCAA earlier since tempers on both sides had flared.

I rode down to the shop and after he showed me what was wrong, I mentioned I wanted to talk about the tow charge. I reminded him that he had said he was going to cover the fee. He backpedaled and said that he hadn’t said that, and had only said he was going to cover it if it was the pump or the seal. I was starting to get mad again, but I did my best to stay calm and work it through.

I had several points I wanted to make to him, including the BCAA bit. Once I mentioned BCAA he got quite angry and asked why I hadn’t brought that up before. I hadn’t since by that point he had already said he was going to cover the tow. He also reminded me that when the truck was fixed the first time, he had asked me to bring it back after a couple days. I actually don’t remember him asking me that, but I believe him when he said he did (I forget a lot of things). I then suggested to him that for future customers, it would be a good idea to include something on the invoice about follow up work. My invoice had nothing about coming back in a couple days, and that would have ensured I came back.

As I was trying to get across my points, he kept cutting me off and wasn’t listening to what I wanted to say. I ended up getting quite assertive and asked him to listen to what I wanted to say. He got to a point, where he just wanted me gone, and said he was going to eat the cost of the tow. I still had a couple things I wantd to bring up, and after I finished saying my mind, I offered to split the tow fee with him. He refused to do that. He mentioned something about not wanting to let me leave angry since he wanted me to come back. He doubted I every would.

I felt bad. I thought I was being quite fair in splitting the fee with him, but he wanted nothing to do with that. It’s too bad really. He is a small business owner, and I wouldn’t have offered to split it, if I hadn’t meant it. Eventually we split on good terms, but because of this experience, and my very first experience with them, I won’t be going back. Unless there is another problem with the power steering fluid leaking out of my truck.

Racing Today

I recently wrote about wanting to do some racing this year. A couple weeks ago that plan changed. I haven’t been getting in many training rides, so my fitness just isn’t ready for racing. Also, I haven’t spent any time on my mountain bike so I just don’t feel comfortable going all out for a race. My balance and jumping skills are a little rusty, and so is my timing. This just adds up to a bad combination.

I had contemplated just doing the Victoria race, but it would prove too expensive. A club membership is needed for insurance purposes, and that runs around $45. Add on races fees of $10-$20, and that is an insane amount of money for a 5 minute race run. I am going to pass on racing this year, and plan to get some racing in next year.

Of course I did get out for a nice ride today. It was a lot of fun, but it really reinforced in my mind that I made the right decision to not race. My fitness is nowhere close, and I was not showing the finesse I normally do. I had a great ride though, and my friend and I rode some excellent trails. I had a few good jumps, good log rides, and some good rock faces. I also had a few close calls, and a couple off-bike excursions.

I am a little disappointed about not racing this year, but after today’s great ride, I am more comfortable with my decision.