Author: gfox (old content)

Hammer Disc

Ulti on Wednesday was fun. I am still trying to learn everyones names, and to try and help some of the newer players learn how to play. Whenever I get out on the field, I am always surprised at how quickly the game comes back to me. My throws during warm up felt completely natural, and I even threw a perfect hammer for a point during the game.

My biggest problems are the team size (specifically the number of men), and my fitness level (the whole reason I joined the summer league). The league is 4-3, meaning 4 men 3 women on the field. With the abundance of men on each team, this means lots of sideline time. Good right now when I can’t play more than a couple points, but bad when later in the season I want more play time.

I worked up a good sweat on Wednesday, so that was good. I took it easy during the game though, tried not to get involved in too many sprints or hard chases, kept my feet moving, and handled the disc when I could. It all comes back like riding a bike.

The weather was perfect Wednesday too. The sun was trying to peak out from behind the clouds, but never quite made it. The temp was mid teens and the ground was soft from the earlier rain. Perfect introduction to this season.

Ultimate Names

Tonight is the first game of the 208 Victoria Ultimate summer league. Yikes. I am definitely out of shape, but I am looking forward to playing again. It is a cool day, and it rained earlier so it should be pretty good conditions on the field. I am going to try and take it easy while I play to just get back into the game. I don’t want to start off this season like the last time I played.

Game time is at 6, and I will likely leave home around 5:15 or so. I want to ride there to warm up, and I want to arrive a little early to meet my team. I only recognize a couple names.

Should be great fun. Almost time to eat some dinner.

Vacation Things

Vacation update here. It has been a very busy week.

This past Wednesday I fired up our brand new gas powered weed eater. Holy smokes is it ever powerful and does an amazing job. Once I got it running I hit the twitchy gas trigger and the engine took off. When that happened the trim head also took off with the torque from the engine. The electric variety never do that. I also got through the trimming in no time flat. Awesome.

Thursday Sox had a dentist appointment so I had the kids for a little while. After dropping Sox off at her appointment, we headed to the mall to see the fish at the pet store. We then spent some time in the play area.. Later, I got out for a tiny ride to downtown to meet a friend for lunch. I also stopped at MEC for a bit of shopping. Since I was on my bike I wasn’t able to pick up the new tires I was going to get.

Friday I spent some time on the computer upgrading some software and I also did some yardwork. These are all some things that I have been wanting to do for a while, and it was nice to knock them off the list.

Vic West Fest was pm Saturday so we took Sprout and Beet out there to check things out. Sprout checked out the fire engine, played on the playground, checked out a smart car, and had a hot dog for lunch.

Mothers day I had plans to sneak out when Beet woke up and get Sox a morning Chai. Of course that morning Beet slept in and my plan was foiled a little bit. Everyone seemed to get up at the same time (8 am) and that is when I went out for coffee’s. After breakfast Sprout and I headed out to Kinsmen Gorge park to check out a new playground.

Yesterday Sox and Beet had some errands to run after dropping Sprout off at daycare so I had some more computing time (a nice way for me to relax), then did some more yard work. Sox, Beet and I then walked Yoshi and bought the week’s groceries.

Busy week, but extremely productive and satisfying.

Roundhouse Refurbish

I was at Vic West Fest on Saturday, and came across a display for the proposed changes to the Esquimalt Roundhouse. I’ve been to the Roundhouse on a couple picture shoots (Oct 2005, Feb 2006) and it is a pretty amazing historical site. Here is the development’s website.

The problem is that the buildings are in disrepair and partially condemned. Many people want to save the site but they cannot raise the funds to preserve and refurbish the site to its former glory. The plan I read is to revitalize the area and completely redevelop it into a live/work arrangement that saves the Roundhouse, and its usage for the E&N dayliner while introducing high rises, shopping, restaurants, a brew pub, a market, and condos.

I really have mixed feelings about this. I’d love to see the site preserved as is, but without the money, it just isn’t going to happen. It is sad to think that the site may cease to exist in its current state, and only the roundhouse building will be saved. Even at that, the roundhouse will be forever changed into mixed use.

Lose it and save it. I guess that is better than losing it altogether.

Pictures Engage

Monday (day 3 of the vacation) I got out to shoot some pictures. I ended up at the Kinsmen Gorge Park which has some excellent flower beds. Unfortunately I didn’t hit them at their peak. The Tulips and Daffodils were ending so they were very bland, and nothing else had really taken off yet. Some of the Rhododendrons were blooming, but I find it difficult to get good shots of them.

I was struggling creatively too. It has been a while since I was out on a real photoshoot and my brain would not engage. I took approx 130 pictures, and most of those were discarded.

This heather (I think it is called) provided some opportunity to play with depth of field. Most of the plants like this I find have a purple flower, yet this one was white.

These were the only decent Tulips in the park, and the sun hadn’t reached them yet. I still have a hard time taking good pictures of Tulips. The flower is so simple, it is very easy to end up with a picture that doesn’t highlight it.

I’m not 100% sure, but I think this was a weed. It was a few feet high, and had these clusters of buds. I played with the aperture to change the depth of field, and this was my favorite setting.

I’ve experimented with HDR images a little bit. Below are two examples. The Rhodo and the bridge shots are composed of 5 exposures, ranging from -2 ev to +2 ev. PaintShop Pro took care of the rest.

Adventure Trailer

Sunday was day 2 of my extended vacation and Sprout and I had a grand adventure. Sox and Beet were off visiting a friend, and we wanted to head down to the petting zoo. The big hurdle was that Sox had taken the car, but the solution was to ride a bike.

Sprout was pretty eager to get in the trailer and head down there. It was a lot of fun, and good workout too. Nothing like towing over 45 pounds up a hill on a bike.

The ride there was very uneventful. Once I got there my plan was to lock the trailer to the bike. This was complicated by the fact that we had brought too much stuff to carry by hand (extra clothes for he and I, snacks, non biking shoes for me, toys). I was going to just push the strollerized trailer until I remembered that I hadn’t brought the front wheel with me. Actually I left it at home on purpose. Not sure where my head was.

Sprout had fun at the zoo with his buddy, and when it was time to leave he hopped right back into the trailer. During the ride home he sat quietly and ate his snack. At one point I could hear him telling me something so I pulled over and stopped. He was pointing out a parked car 🙂

I really enjoyed this outing with my son, and look forward to many more.

Vacation Planned

Today is the first day of vacation. I don’t return to work until June! This is the longest vacation I have had in probably close to 20 years. We have all sorts of things planned for the month, many are chores, and many things should be lots of fun too. Parks, beaches, Vancouver, bike riding, swimming lessons, Duncan, Yoshi walks, photography and catching up with friends are all some of the fun things.

Yard work, cleaning the house, and selling unnecessary furniture all some of the work things.

This is going to be an excellent month to spend time with Sox, Sprout, and Beet. I am hoping that the weather improves though. Today’s Yoshi walk got a little wet, and that made me a little cranky.

Cory Dwellers

I was doing some running around today, and needed to get Yoshi some food. Since I would be at Petsmart anyway, I decided on getting a couple new fish for the tank.

I perused the tanks looking for something to be compatible with my guppy, my platy, and my danio’s. I came across a tank full of Platy’s and some Albino Cory’s . I thought they looked pretty cool so I got a couple of them for the tank.

The Cory’s look similar to tiny catfish, and are definitely bottom dwellers, which is an excellent fit for my tank. Turns out they need a different type of food so I had to get some of that. I rounded out my purchase with a couple more live plants, and a new snail.

I’m very proud of my tank now. I think I have an excellent blend of fish and plants and I can spend a long time watching my tank.