Motorcycle Escort

On my way to downtown yesterday I got to see an interesting practice by the Victoria police. I was on Esquimalt road waiting to cross Tyee when a motorcycle cop roared up the hill with lights and sirens going. He then stopped in the intersection, got off his bike and stopped traffic in all directions.

Several motorcycles came ripping along acroos the bridge, and up the hill toward me (by ripping I would estimate 80-90KM/H). Then it dawned on me. Some of the royal family was in town. Hmm, I wondered where they were heading.

I got out my cell phone and got ready to snap a picture.

At the bottom of the hill I could see about 8 motorcycles coming, and they were going slow, and riding side by side. Behind them was a big police SUV, then nothing. As they proceeded past me I saw a sign on the back of the truck that said “Police escort, do not cross”. That was it though, no royal family sighting for me.

Staffers Painful

Yesterday I went out and did some clothes shopping. I’ve needed jeans for a long time, and now I need some nicer clothes for interviewing.

I though I would check out some of the higher end shops and get some help picking out something fashionable (something I am not). I started with Outlooks since they have a reputation. When I walked in there were at least four staffers wandering around, but noone greeted me. I looked at some of the racks, and one staffer walked right past me but never said a thing. From a store like this I expect impeccable service, but so far I got worse service than the Bay. I walked out.

Up the street was a store named Hughes. I went upstairs to the mens clothes and looked around a little, but again, the one staff member ignored me until I started to walk out of the store.

Since I needed jeans I headed over to the Levi’s store. When I walked in the store was dead, and the four staffers were at the front desk talking to a group of three friends. I browsed a bit, but didn’t really find anything. After a few minutes one of the staff people asked me if I was finding things, but I had already made up my mind to leave.

At Street Clothing I got greeted as I walked in the door. This was a good sign. I browsed the racks a little, but struck out finding something that I liked, and that was close to fitting.

Since it was in the neighbourhood I wandered into the Bay. Lo and behold I found some pants. I ended up buying 2 pairs of jeans, and a nice pair of pants and matching shirt. The staff there lived up to what I expected of them (which isn’t saying much).

I have always found clothes shopping a painful experience. Now it is getting to be something I dread. I easily get exhausted after a half hour of frustration. I hate browsing bargain racks looking for a gem. I’m also fairly particular about what I like, so I have a hard time finding clothes I like. This also means I can’t get someone else to do it for me. Frustrating.

LOTD – Green Possible

In recent years it has been very vogue to go green. More people think about it now which is awesome, but some companies now market their existing products as green. I try to do little changes to my life that over time can add up to a lot. Changing driving habits, refusing plastic bags as often as possible, reusing items when it is safe to do so. Every once in a while I come across a list that really makes me feel good about what I do.

This is one such list. 50 Ways to Help the Planet. When I first read the list I was suprised at how many of these I was already doing.

via Darren Barefoot

I ran across another list recently on reducing food waste. 50 Ways to Never Waste Food Again

For our family we don’t waste a lot of food because we do menu planning. For 95% of the grocery items we buy, we buy because we need them, and the other 5% are for sale items on things we use regularly. Still, there are some good ideas in there that I might like to try some time.

LOTD – TShirt Reference

The basic tShirt is something that everyone needs and wears. A true geek needs geeky tShirts. Here are some good ones I have stumbled across.

Just what every Jedi needs: an eco-friendly lightsaber.

via Gizmodo

Getting myself dressed is hard. I can’t imagine if I had to choose a head to go along with that. Lego mini figs have it rough

via Gizmodo

Sometimes you just need to spell it out to people. How many of these icons apply to you?

via Gizmodo

I may not drink caffeinated coffee any more, but I still enjoy a cup now and then. I also still feel my coffee tank running on empty throughout the day.

via Gizmodo

Nothing like a good CSS reference to fill your geek quotient.

via BoingBoing

What’s better than one CSS reference? Two CSS references.

via BoingBoing

Finally, something for the math geek in all of us. If you don’t get the shirt, I’m not going to explain it to you.

via ThinkGeek

Photo Mood

I got out for a bit of a photo walk in Beacon Hill park this afternoon. Fall can be a spectacular time of year for photos. I would have loved for more mood to the photos, but sometimes when you go out on a whim, you take what you can get. Some fog would have been awesome, but I had overcast.

It was nice to get out and think creatively. This was definitely needed today.


Coffee Suggestions

On the weekend I had to buy some more coffee. I made the plunge and bought by first bag of decaf beans. I couldn’t find the Decaf Cliff Hanger Espresso by Kicking Horse coffee that I so dearly desired.

I opted for something roasted locally and chose the Fernwood Mile Zero Decaf. So far I am not enjoying the espresso shots I am getting out of this. Unfortunately for me I had a whole bag of this to get through before I can try something else. Maybe I should just grind it all and take it to work for my own special brew in the office. We have one of those single cup makers that takes a filter and grounds. This could get expensive trying to find a new favorite.

I might try the Decaf Espresso beans from Serious Coffee since I know they will sell by the half pound. Anyone have any suggestions on where to get great decaf espresso beans?

Karma Driver

I got some good bus karma on the way home tonight. As was exiting the building when I left work I saw the bus I wanted to be on at the stop just down the street. I knew I would never make it in time so I started the heading to the next stop.

I sprinted as quick as I could while holding my bag in one hand. The bus passed me, but I held out hope that there would be lots of people at the next stop. Thankfully the intersection I had to run through was still green. The bus driver waited for me, and as I jumped on the bus I thanked her. She replied with “If you put in the effort, I’m willing to wait”. That was nice.

Once I got downtown I got off and walked over to my stop for the #6. I only waited a couple minutes when a bus rounded the corner. Awesome. I expected it to take 45 minutes to get home and I got there is just under a half hour.

Movember Shaving

Movember is on. This morning the rest of my facial hair was removed. I had pretty much forgotten what shaving my lip was like. Damn that is difficult.

Before Movember picture:

Movember 1st picture:

The first thing I noticed after shaving was that I could feel my breath on my lip. Odd sensation. My ride today highlighted the lack of facial hair too. I could feel the wind more.

To make a donation go to my MoSpace.