Author: gfox (old content)

Jeans Big

I am not the kind of person that likes clothes shopping. I do it out of necessity, and I am certainly not what you would call fashionable.

Shopping for jeans is the absolute worst. A Old Navy I tried on a 34×32 (for the first time in a long time I can fit a 34), but they were too big. The 33×32 were way too tight.

At Winners I tried on a 34×32, but they were too short. Another store I didn’t like the style of their jean selection. At the Bay I tried on a bunch of styles, but they all fit incorrectly.

I will just keep looking for something I like, and when I find it, I will buy two pairs!

Strange Vacuum

Here is the strange sight of the day.

I was driving to work, noticing that fall is in full effect. Leaves are on the ground every where.

As I passed one store I noticed a strange light on near the ground. Then I noticed the shop clerk vacuuming. He was vacuuming the leaves off the sidewalk using a very old vacuum (the kind with the headlight on it). Nice!

Perhaps that is easier than sweeping?

Discovered Passes

Ulti tonight was a ton of fun. I was the first person there, and quickly discovered that there were three guys and one woman. Noone else on our team showed. We managed to pick up two more guys and fielded a team of 6.

Our opponents were strong and plenty. They had several subs.

The game itself was pretty one sided. We had to zone them, and they got to go man with a floater. Still, we managed to score quickly and often. We were definitely the stronger team. We were able to complete our passes, break our checks, and make the catches we needed.

On the defense side we were effective. The 2 person cup was kept busy, the mids did their thing, and the lone long kept everyone moving. I was in the cup for a while, but then settled into a mid position. I was even fortunate to make a good defensive maneuver. I saw that a swing was about to happen, and managed to take a swipe at the disk and knock it down.

Heading to the game I was pretty tired. I didn’t sleep well last night and felt like I was running on fumes. Once the game started a switch was flipped. I was running strong and didn’t once think I was tired. I was doing well until I started to stitch up. I took it easy for a few points until that cleared.

I also made some good catches. There was one that I caught for a point that was fun. We caused a turn over and as we were setting up for the offensive, I saw someone checking me. Suddenly she turned away and I was left alone. There was noone between myself and the end zone. I took off, yelled that I was poached, and kept going. The disk was thrown perfectly. It traveled up the sideline, but just out of bounds. When it caught up to me I was able to reach out of bounds and haul it in.

Let’s see what happens next week.

Firehall Extinguisher

Boys and their toys. Today was the annual Esquimalt Firehall Open House. The were lots of activities for kids to check out, information for parents, and some food to eat too. Sprout loved to see the big fire trucks and his friend L was pretty keen on them too. There was a mini obstacle course for kids, and at the end they got to don a firemans jacket and put out mock flames with a real hose.


Sprout an mum sitting in the back.


Looks almost like a real firefighter.


Sprout and L sharing the seat.


Contemplating where he should drive to.

Sox even got to try out firefighting.  Here she is wielding a chemical fire extinguisher putting out a stubborn propane fire 🙂

Washing Quickly

Our washing machine broke down this past week. Now we need to work with our Halifax based landlord to get a replacement. PITA.

2 young children and 2 adults can produce a mountain of laundry quite quickly. Sox was able to take it to a laundromat today and got everything washed. Now we are in the process of running our dryer. The coordination needed to make time to get the washing was a pain. I can’t imagine living in a place where I needed to use a laundromat on a regular basis. The laundry room in my old apartment was bad enough.

Apples Picked

I harvested as many apples as I could from our tree today. It hadn’t produced anything in a few years, but we had it pruned last spring. I think that made a big difference.

Sprout has been pretty excited to eat the apples off the tree. I knew they were ripe when the squirrels started taking them from the tree and eating them. This picture shows what I picked today and doesn’t have the 25 or so Sox snagged this morning for applesauce, nor does it show the few here and there we picked for eating.

This yield could have been much bigger too, but there was a big wind storm yesterday that knocked a lot to the ground. That is the bad part of procrastination. As I was gathering, the ground was alive with slow, lethargic wasps eating the apples on the ground, and some of the ones in the tree.

LOTD – Olympic Photography

Only a few weeks late, but here are some Olympic links. These links are all photography related and I found them pretty amazing.

This page contains some pictures depicting preparations for the games.

I didn’t catch any of the opening ceremony, but these pictures certainly left an impression. The sheer scale of the ceremony is astounding.

Finally, for the photographer in me. Ever wondered what a quarter million dollars of photography equipment looks like? Check it out.

Twitter Try

I’ve decided to try out twitter for a bit, and see if it can add anything interesting to my blog. My tweets are here.

I haven’t been to interested in Twitter since I don’t really get the point, but I thought I would try it out anyway. So far I can see how it would be more useful if I had a cellphone to post with. For now I will rely on the web, and a couple powershell scripts that I found and modified.

Bike Fears

I took my bike into Oak Bay Bikes today to check out the mark on the frame I found on Sunday. I was concerned that a crack was forming, even though I couldn’t feel anything on the inside of the seat tube.

My fears were confirmed, and that is indeed a crack. Bummer. It isn’t bad yet, and the seat post I have is incredibly long so it extends well past the cracked area. Problem is I don’t really want to be riding the bike when it fails. It is probably fine to ride on for a while, but who wants to take changes like that?

Next step is to call Santa Cruz and see if they can help me out. I see they are making the Chameleon again so there may be some hope.

Reduce Telemarketers

The Canadian version of the National Do No Call List (DNCL) is now available for signing up. I just tried, but the site was down (maybe due to volume). It is sad that we need a list like this to try and stop telemarketers, but let’s look at the DNCL more closely.

From the site:

2. Who can still call you?

* Registering on the National DNCL will reduce but not eliminate all telemarketing calls and faxes.
* There are certain kinds of telemarketing calls and faxes that are exempt from the National DNCL, including those made by or on behalf of:

* registered charities seeking donations
* newspapers looking for subscriptions
* political parties and their candidates, and
* companies with whom you have an existing commercial relationship; for example, if you have done business with a company in the previous 18 months––such as a carpet-cleaning company––that company can call you.

* Telemarketers making exempt calls must maintain their own do not call lists. If you do not want to be called by these telemarketers, you can ask to be put on their do not call lists. They are obliged to do so within 31 days.
* For more information, see Part II of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and the Telecommunications Act.

Good god, that is pretty much all the unsolicited calls I get. Charities seeking donation, newspapers wanting me to buy their waste of paper, and political parties. What is the point in signing up then? I’m still going to sign up all the numbers I have, just on the off chance that it might block one, but something else to remember is that you must remember to renew your entry in the DNCL every three years. I think that sucks, but phone numbers turn over still, and marketers need to be able to reach out. Still, couldn’t the phone companies let the DNCL know when a number has been released?

On the charity note. A tact I have taken recently for charities seeking donations is this: I tell them I don’t donate nor buy things over the phone. So far that has always made them stop talking and go away. Another ploy I use at work is that I always tell them they have reached my work number. I usually get an apology 🙂 Nice!