Smiley Shock

Wet. Muddy. Smiley.

That’s how I described myself after today’s ride. I was lucky when I started my ride since I had beaten the rain. The first ten minutes or so my hands were pretty cold and I was doing what I could to warm them up. Once I started climbing some hills the blood got flowing and they warmed up.

I took fireroads up quite a way and descended down North Ridge and South Ridge trails. I certianly could stand to ride more though since I found myself walking a lot of the uphill portions. My legs just don’t have the strength they used to so getting the big bike to the top now seems to take a lot more effort than it used to.

One thing I love about riding in the wet is that the technique come back fairly quickly. Using body english and lunging the bike to get over roots. No front brakes to get down slippery rocks. Avoiding mud on corners. I love being able to see a tree root and be able to accurately envision what will happen to my wheel if I hit it in a certain way.

Just today I was slithering down a steep rocky section when I started to go off course. I purposely rolled over an off camber tree root knowing my tire would slip. This slip got me centred on the trail again.

Nearing what was supposed to be the end of my ride I took a wrong turn on a new trail. This took me down a fun trail with lots of berms. At first I wasn’t going fast enough to actually use the berms. A few pedal strokes and I could hit higher in the berm. The next one that I hit I was going a little too hard and felt the bike start doing a two wheel drift around the corner. All of a sudden the tires bit into solid ground, I shot out of the corner and straightened out. Very fun, and a good little adrenaline rush.

My brakes were feeling awesome today and that little bit of confidence was a nice bonus. I knew I could attack the trail and not worry about whether I could slow down or not. I’m glad I changed those front pads and after a slight adjustment, the rear brakes felt balanced with the front.

As I exited the trees and made my way to Shock Treatment the rain started. It wasn’t a hard rain, but it made me pick up the pace to get back to the truck quicker. I couldn’t have timed that ride any better.

A nice hot shower and home and good cup of coffee were the perfect caps to the ride. Those and a foot long sub from Subway. 🙂

Idiotic Guessing

I see lots of morons while I am out driving. The clueless people scare and incense me. The truly idiotic almost put me into a rage.

On Esquimalt Ave there is a lot of construction these days. Where Catherine St meets Esquimalt Ave we’ve gone from a 3 lane road with a left turn lane, down to two lanes using lots of traffic cones. The traffic heading into downtown must pass through the left turn lane, which alway trips the advanced left turn.

The other day the Esquimalt Ave traffic had a red light. Since I was heading downtown I knew our traffic would get the go ahead due to the advance arrow. Sure enough, light goes green and my lane of traffic starts to go.

But so does one lone car from the on coming traffic! Totally oblivious, the lady ran a red. She went because she saw the oncoming traffic go. Thankfully nobody was turning left. She was the clueless person.

The car behind her pulled up to the stop line, stopped, looked around, then ran the red. What? I’m guessing they thought the lights were broken? This was the truly idiotic. Again, thankfully nobody was turning left at the time.

LOTD – Christmas Rocket

Well, Christmas is officially over in our household. All the decorations are down, the tree has been undecorated and removed from the house, and today I took down the remaining lights outside and inside. The only thing left to do is get the tree chipped, and we have a charitable organization coming on Saturday to do that.

I wonder though. Is there still time for this? I’ve always wanted to fire a rocket.


via BoingBoing

2009 Photography In Review

This is the part where I am supposed to reflect on the past year of photography. Last year I wrote that I intended to try and rekindle my photography in 2009. Honestly, that never happened.

I still took pictures, but I didn’t get out for dedicated photoshoots. I still want to do that more.

I am still proud of the pictures, and still proud of my photography. My skills definitely came in handy when we visited New Zealand for 4 weeks. I came away with many stunning pictures that I will always cherish.

2009 also saw me get a new camera body. Again something that could have stimulated more photography.

What held me back? I was enjoying my young family too much. Weekends became family time and evenings are busy.

What do I want to do for 2010? I honestly don’t know. I’d like to try and get out shooting more. The kids are older and a little easier to take care of. Perhaps there will be more free time.

Barring that I will continue on like I did for 2009 and making the most of what comes my way. That is the great thing about photography, everywhere you go there is potential to make a great picture.

January

While on a photowalk in Napier, New Zealand I spied this jumble of nets and fishing gear. The colors and randomness attracted me.

February

Again in Napier I could sense a grand sunset was forming. I jumped in the car and drove to the opposite side of the bay we were on and was treated to something truly spectacular. I desperately wanted to do this sunset justice. I recomposed many times, but I think this shot shows how all encompassing the sunset was.

March

A walk in the local dog park. The honey bee provided some entertainment for me as I followed it for a bit hoping I could frame it on some of the flowers.

April

There is a massive cherry tree in our backyard and when we moved in I hoped that the blossoms on it would be worthy. Seeing this tree decked out in blossoms was pretty amazing.

May

Messy stinky dogs. I love them. Digger, you are such a photogenic dog.

June

A carnival was in town for the Oak Bay Tea Party. This is a shot of the midway.

July

Canada Day fireworks. Good fireworks shots are hard to come by. Next year I think I will try some composite shots and see how they turn out.

August

The house we moved into had the largest lavender bush I had ever seen. In bloom the aroma was almost overpowering. So was the sound of all the bees.

September

A sunset from my Mom’s house. The trees here frame the sunset nicely and add some depth.

October

I think this is one of my favorite shots of the year. My kids looking out over the water. They were both hopping off the fence at random times so getting them both like this was challenging. You can’t see what they are looking at which add to the mystique of the shot.

November

I did a photo shoot at Beacon Hill Park in November. I had just learned I had been laid off and thankfully I had my camera with me that day. Instead of heading home I headed out on a photoshoot. There weren’t many flowers out, but I found thousands of these mushrooms growing in all sorts of flower beds.

December

This shot is stretching it a little, but I didn’t take many pictures in December.

Bonus Shot

This was taken in October up in Nanaimo at my Mom’s house (similar location to September’s picture). This is a beautiful sunset that feels lighter than the September shot. The lightness of the sunset is tempered with the boldness of the tree.

Crayfish Personal

Bummer. When I got up today I saw that my largest crayfish had died. Just yesterday it looked fine and was zipping around the tank. Today, nothing. It just lay on its side not moving and looking way too pale.

As I was scooping it out of the tank Elliot was asking me about what I was doing and why. I told him about how sometimes when pets get old they die. I stayed away from mentioning Yoshi.

Of course Elliot being a boy wanted to see it up close and personal.

Lusting List

I’ve done a bit of window shopping as of late. I’m holding off on new purchases for a bit while I am looking for a job. That and I don’t like wasting money. Unfortunately lusting over items is hard. Very hard.

On boxing day I went into a Chapters and spied several books that I would love to read if I had the free cash and the free time.

Front End Drupal

Cracking Drupal

Regular Expression Cookbook

WPF In Action

Yesterday I was in Munro’s and spotted a couple more books that looked interesting:

From Camera to Computer

Googled: The End of the World as We Know It

Yesterday I was also in Lens and Shutter perusing.

I fell in love with the Gary Fong flash diffuser sets until I saw how big they were. Huge. I then looked at some other diffuser options. I ended up finding the diffuser I wanted at a reasonable price, but they didn’t have the one I needed for the Canon 430EX.

I also spied a wonderful new camera bag. The Crumpler $7 Million Home. Looks awesome, and I think it would hold my gear more comfortably than the current bag I have.

What’s the point of typing all this up? To remember for later. If when I have a job and I have some spare cash I still think I want these items, I now have it recorded what they were.

Haircut Better

After a trip to the dentist, I decided to swing by the barber and get a quick haircut. I’ve mentioned before that who you get at the shop is a bit of a crapshoot.

As I pulled up today I first saw one guy waiting for a haircut and almost kept driving. Then I saw my favorite barber sitting in his chair reading the paper. I thouhgt I might get lucky after all.

Turns out the guy was waiting for a different barber, so I walked in, and basically got to sit down right away. 20 minutes later I was feeling much lighter and looking much better.

The question is, when I get a job, do I keep going all the way to Oak Bay, or try to find someone else?