Author: gfox (old content)

Life Release

When life gets busy, my hobbies seem to take a back seat. Pretty normal I guess.

Lots has happened in the last couple weeks.

The truck was in for regular maintenance, and to check out a couple noises. One noise cost $800 to repair. The catalytic converter was shot. I had decided to try out Victoria Car Clinic too. As a first experience I was less than thrilled since they didn’t remember I dropped off the truck in the morning, and when I called to see if it would be ready, they panicked and I ended up leaving it with them for another day.

I upgraded this site to the latest Drupal release. Very cool. I worked on the theme today to get it more to my liking.

I’ve ridden to work a few times.

Last weekend some good friends of ours got married. It was a very, very fun wedding, and it also marked the first time I have been hired as a photographer. It was fun being the wedding photog, but I don’t think I want to do that full time.

I also finished with my probation period at my new company. I am now a fully fledged Kodak employee!

Life. Nutshell. That’s it.

Guards Great

I took the Bullit for a spin at the dump today, and it was awesome.

I wore my new leg armour that I ordered after Christmas and that just arrived recently. I got some Troy Lee Designs Combat Guards, and they are so much better than my older TLD leg armour.

It was a bit of a quick burn on the trails, yet it was still a blast. I still have my technical edge, and my fitness is pretty good, so I had quite a bit of confidence on the ride. I did a couple rock faces, and a few small jumps along the way. The sun on my back felt great too.

Movie Choice

Sox and I got out to see a movie last night. Gramma was in town and looked after Sprout while we took off. It is nice to have the freedom to do that.

We saw Spidey 3, and I enjoyed it. Action flick, good effects, characters that I am somewhat familiar with. Downsides were tackyness (gratuitous american flag), bad casting choice with Topher Grace, and overall cheesiness.

As we were leaving I realized my leg was stuck to my seat. Someone before me had stuck their gum to the bottom of the seat, and my jeans stuck to it. I was pretty angry and disgusted with that. Now I have to figure out how to get gum off my pants.

Speakers Problem

A couple weekends ago I went to Future Shock Shop and got myself some new speakers for my work computer. I don’t need anything fancy, so cheapies will do. I found some $30 Logitech speakers that looked like they would do the deed. My only requirements were somewhat decent sound, and a speaker jack on the front.

I unboxed them at work, set them up, and plugged them in. It all went bad when I plugged in the headphones. There was a lot of background static that was loud when the volume was turned down. I was pretty unhappy since the speakers were unusable.

The following weekend I was in London Drugs and saw the same speakers for $10 cheaper. I tested out a set there since I had brought along some headphones, and those had the same problem. I guess it was indicative of the design. Instead I bought a Creative Labs set. These sound awesome with or without headphones, so I am once again a happy camper.

Something I did like about Logitech ones though was that it didn’t have a power brick to plug in. Something else that was well done was the packaging. They wrapped plastic around the plug ends, and taped it closed, but the tape was dog eared so it was very easy to get off. The Creative Labs packaging wasn’t nearly as easy to unravel.

Karma Replacement

Riding to and from work is pretty easy, and really isn’t all that far. Still, to be on the safe side I always carry a small toolkit and a spare tube. That came in handy for yesterdays ride. About a 1/3 of the way to work I got a flat and pulled over to change it.

I whipped out the tools and set to changing the tube. While doing this I was passed by at least six cyclists, none of whom asked if I was OK or had everything. Most roadies and mountain bikers I know do this for one another. It is called karma. I have helped people patch tubes, wrench on their bike, and have given up tubes to others in need. Road rides I have done I have ensured other cyclists were taken care of. Here I was though, and nobody said a thing. Weird.

As I was about to put the new tube back in the tire I suddenly had an inkling that I should check the tire for debris. Sure enough I found a 1/3 inch long shard of glass poking though the tire. With that removed I got the tire remounted and inflated with my CO2 filler. It wasn’t a fast replacement, but it was effective.

Last night the wind kicked up before I could ride home so Sox picked me up, and today I rode home instead. No major ride here, but at least I know I can ride 7 km at a brisk pace with no problems. 🙂 Canmore here I come! (maybe)

Disappointed Shoes

Color me disappointed.

My intentions this morning were pretty grand. Today was my morning to sleep in, and after getting up I had some oatmeal, a cup of coffee, then I was going to head out for a ride. I was thinking 1.5 hours.

I got all geared up, grabbed some food, filled the water bottles, then searched for my shoes. I could not find them. Then it dawned on me. I had left my shoes at work.

I was very disappointed. I was really looking forward to the ride. Instead I was able to do some errands that I had been wanting to do for a bit. I was wondering how I would get those things done today too.

No ride today, but there is a plan for me to squeeze one in tomorrow.

Pushed Pace

I had a great ride home from work yesterday. I took the long way home, and rode along beach drive. I pushed myself as much as I could and sure felt it by the time I got home. From the office until the Johnson St bridge I was averaging 29 KM/H which is pretty good for me. By the time I got home, my pace had dropped to 28 KM/H. It took about 45 minutes as well.

I did have one stop along the route so I could take a picture. Other than that I only stopped for lights.

Strangely enough I arrived home at the same time as Sox and Sprout.