Author: gfox (old content)

Surgery Recommended

Yoshi was in at the vet today for some surgery. He has had a couple lumps growing on his chest for a while but recently they started looking really gross. Our vet was more comfortable removing them than leaving them on so we went for it.

While he was under Yoshi also had his teeth cleaned, and a small part of his gum removed (it was growing down over his tooth). Of course with pets anesthesia is a bit tricky and can be dangerous so it is not an easy decision. He was under once before with no side effects so that helped us a little.

His appetite upon arriving home was normal, and he was quite happy to eat. Less happy to take his antibiotics though. This resulted in him spitting one out a couple times reducing it to a paste which coated my fingers. Yeuck.

One of the after care things we need to do is provide him a soft cushy bed. We also have to prevent him from licking and scratching his incision. The solution recommended was an old t-shirt. Looking good Yoshi!

Visiting Tired

We are just winding down an incredible weekend. Tiring, lots of visiting, lots of food, and lots of fun. Friday night we didn’t really do too much, but Saturday we watched the Oak Bay Tea Party Parade with some friends. We then stopped at the office to check on a couple work things while Sox did some shopping at Nicholas Randal. Then it was home for nap time.

Saturday evening we went to one of Sox’s co-workers houses for a pasta feast. Lots of adults, and lots of kids at a lot of home made pasta. Very, very yummy.

Today we went to another of Sox’s co-workers for a visit, some playtime, and some lunch. Home again it was nap time for everyone except me. Don’t feel too sad for me though since I got to finish my novel.

This evening we had some friends and their three kids over for a big home made pizza feast that also celebrated a couple birthdays. After a quick bath we managed to get the kids in bed and asleep.

Just thinking about doing all this makes me tired!

Recommended Clean

Friday Sox got the call from PreTech Collision that our car was ready. PreTech came recommended from the Honda dealership, so we took our car there to get the body work done.

I realized after the fact that I never took any pictures of the damage done to our car, but the fixed up car is looking good. It seems to be in better shape than when we got the car, which is just fine in my book.

The best part? They completely cleaned the interior which included a carpet shampoo. Sure the car stinks of cleaner, but at least we know it is clean.

I met Sox down there after riding in from Oak Bay on my bike. The Enterprise car rental people drove Sox, Sprout, and Beet down there and I was there to help do the transfer of car seats to our car. One funny thing was that Sprout didn’t want to get out of his seat. He wanted to just sit there eating his crackers. After giving him ample warning that his seat was coming out, I did it. But I left him strapped in it as I removed it from the rental. He thought that was funny, and I thought it was a fair compromise.

Surpassed Fun

Friday was my last day of Bike to Work Week. My main goal for the week was to break 80 km so I could get a free beer 🙂 Then on Thursday night once I had surpassed that I thought that I should try for something more lofty. At first I thought I should make 100 km a goal, but when I arrived at work on Friday I noticed I was 4 km shy of the 100km mark. Too easy.

The goal changed to be 120km for the week, which meant I needed a long commute home (over 24 km). My day transpired against me, so I was only able to eek out approx 16 km on ride home Friday which lead to a week total of approximately 112.35 km ridden. I am still very proud of that number, and it is something I am aiming to beat next year.

Over the week I came to love riding my mountain bike turned road bike. I put some fat slicks on my green machine, and wow, was it ever a blast to ride. I know the balance points on that bike really well, so I felt very comfortable leaning it into corners. It also has a favorable geometry, comfortable seat, cushy front fork with 5 inches of travel, wide handle bars, and some nice hydraulic rim brakes. Fun fun fun.

The other thing I grew to love was riding with my messenger bag. I bought a plain jane MEC Brenta Courier bag. I found this way more comfortable than a back pack, and offered more visibility when looking for traffic. I also thought that my gear was more stable on my back when twisting to look for traffic. Overall the slicks and the pack were excellent purchases from MEC.

Effective Ground

Ulti last night was awesome. We lost the game 11-9 but as a team we played great.

I was very happy with how I played too. I was able to pace myself so I didn’t run out of gas, but I was still very effective in the game, making cuts, handling the disk, and being strong on defense.

One specific play I was happy with we were pulling. Actually I was pulling, and we were planning to throw on the zone defense. I actually volunteered to be the top of the cup, so with me pulling I had to book it down the field.

I gave the disc a whirl and it floated down the field. It was an awesome pull and gave the whole team to get down field and set up the zone. As I got set for a lot of running I saw the handler getting ready to toss the disc to my right. I went to block it with my hand but it was pretty low to the ground. Then I felt an amazing sensation of disk hitting the pad of my hand and I saw it fall to the ground.

Turn over on the line. Gotta love that.

Zipping Close

Wednesday I headed in to work late. Ulti was a late game so I rode to work, and stayed late. The ride in was a little circuitous as I tried to find a new and longer route to work. It was pretty fun poking around in different neighborhoods.

Leaving work and heading to Ulti was interesting. As I was zipping along Granite a car that was stopped at a stop sign turned left onto Granite cutting me off. Luckily I was watching for such things and I grabbed a handful of brake. Later I saw this same car do some other lame brain maneuvers. Also on the way to Ulti I was rounding a long sweeping corner at a pretty good clip. As a car was overtaking me, they squeezed me toward the curb. Dude, if I can reach out and touch your car, you are too fucking close!

The plan was to go for an extended route after Ulti too, but I was pretty wiped after the game, and it was getting late. Instead I headed straight home.


Meandering Week

I was up late last night due to Ulti, so I dragged my butt out the door late this morning. By the time I got going, the rain had picked up and I was not looking forward to my ride. Again I took a meandering route to work trying to avoid some traffic and to have a little fun.. By the time I got to work my lower half was soaked. My jacket did a great job of keeping my dry, but I don’t have proper rain pants.

I had a dentist appointment, then my ride home from that was longer. I took a route down by the water which was really enjoyable. With this ride done, I have beat the 80km mark for the week, and have earned my beer 🙂 I still have 1 more day to go, and I think I am going to see if I can surpass 100km commuted by bike for this week.

Trailer Provider

The ride today was interesting. In total I rode just under 23km which is pretty good. The ride in I was rained on pretty good, but the slicks I have did a great job of shedding the water and not spraying me with it. I was actually surprised at how little water was being thrown. I was cold on the way to work though, but still very sweaty. The twist to today’s ride is that I was towing Sprout in the trailer.

Climbing some of the hills to and from home were hard! He is not a tiny boy, and his added weight behind me led to a great workout. I think I’d like to do that again some time. The downside was that the ride took a lot longer. A 20 minute ride stretched into 45 minutes. This made me late for dropping Sprout off at daycare, which meant he had to come to work with me for a short while as the daycare provider had some errands to run. Oops.

Bike Beer

Our office is doing Bike To Work Week again this year, with some added challenges. Two people in our office have ponied up some extra prizes for participation. Each year our office has succeeded in 100% participation. The extra prizes are a beer to anyone who cracks 80 kms traveled to and from work in the week, and the person with the most mileage gets a bottle of liquor of their choice (or 6 pack).

Today was day 1, and also fday 1 for me back to work after a month off. I took a pretty direct route to work which ended up being 8.8 km. The ride home I stretched out a little so that it was 11.3 kms. This gives me a day 1 total of 20.1 kms. Nice start I would say.

Soleil Afternoon

A while ago I saw that Cirque du Soleil was coming to town. I knew Sox had been wanting to see a performance of theirs for quite a while, so I got us some tickets for her as a birthday present. This happened a few months ago.

We set up some child minding with Gramma, and we tried (unsuccessfully) to train Beet to take a bottle.

Today was the performance, and I was a little nervous about how Beet would be with Gramma. I knew Sprout would be fine since he would be napping. Without the bottle, Gramma might be in for some trouble.

The show itself was fabulous. I thoroughly loved the show. The performers were amazing, and managed to make a lot of what they do look easy. I know for a fact that juggling 7 balls is not easy. I know that the acrobatics are not easy. I know riding a bike on one wheel while facing backwards is not easy. Yet, the performers all made those actions look normal.

The music accompanying that performance was excellent, and the singer was amazing. All in all it was an extremely enjoyable show. I just thought of this now, but I almost wish I could buy a DVD of the performance so I could see it again.

Arriving home I opened the car door and didn’t hear screaming. As we climbed the stairs I saw that Gramma was reading her book. I knew then that it wasn’t a difficult afternoon like had been envisioning. Yay for sleeping babies, and yay for adult fun.