Clueless Regularly

I was out at Costco this morning picking up a few things. One thing I don’t get about Costco is why the people shopping there are so clueless. The aisles aren’t that big and the buggies are. People just stop in the middle of the aisle. They block each other, they cut each other off. Generally people are pretty rude there.

Contrast that to a regular grocery, hardware, or department store. I can’t recall seeing the same behaviour there. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve seen the same behaviour at Christmas time, but it certainly doesn’t happen regularly.

Highlight This

As a parent this evening was not a highlight. I was grumpy and tired. I mostly wanted to be alone in a quiet place. Contrast that to our household. We had to tired and grumpy kids who were either crying, screaming, playing the drums, or playing with some other toy that made a loud noise and was getting on my nerves. Toss in a dog who was either in the kids way, or in my way. More than once I had to remind myself to calm down and chill out. Once I almost went outside to escape what felt like insanity.

I was not a happy camper as I made dinner, and thankfully Sox took the kids for a wagon ride. This allowed me to finish making dinner, and clean up a little. More importantly I was able to cool off a little bit, and my patience level was restored.

It was just the last few hours of the day that were hard. I don’t want this difficult time to ruin my memory of the day. I always knew there would be days like this.

Cake Donation

Mmmm, cake. There was cake after donating blood today. It was good. Their pre-donation procedures have changed a little bit due to donor feedback. Their is a new queueing system to ensure that everyone donates in the order they arrived. Kind if silly really.

I had brought a magazine to read while eating my cake and cookies, but ended up talking with another gentleman about mountain bikes, and mountain biking.

This was donation 41 for me.

Dog Loaf

Today our cleaning lady was coming, so we did the mandatory house tidy beforehand. Since the house was so clean, and the garbages empty, we didn’t close the doors to the kitchen. We thought we had dog proofed the house.

Sox got home early today and called me to tell me Yoshi had eaten most of a loaf of bread. We had started it this morning and had used one slice. There was only three remaining. That dog!

Not the first time he has eaten bread either.

Here is the running list.

Midway Donuts

Sunday we wanted to go see the midway for the Tea Party. Actually, Sox and I really wanted some mini donuts, and we thought it would be fun for the kids too.

Sprout went on his first fair ride ever, and he had so much fun that he went a second time. He also played one of the games were you pick a duck that is floating by, and it tells you how big of a prize you win. He won himself a medium prize ( he picked a pink tiger), and won his sister a small prize (he picked an orange whale).

After the fun at the midway we got some donuts and went to play on the beach for a bit. Good family fun.

Of course I had my camera there and couldn’t resist some midway action shots. Not many rides were going yet, and the sun was high and bright. I left my polarizer at home too. Grr.


Gate Behind

Yesterday when we got home from work we discovered that we had forgotten to close the gate at the top of the stairs, and Yoshi had spent most of the day on our bed. This happens occasionally, and the worst part is that we need to change the bed due to all the dog hair/sand/dirt he leaves behind.

Yesterday was a little different. Sox discovered he had pawed at the bed at some point and had torn the duvet cover (not so bad since it was very old and thin and already had holes), and had torn the duvet a little (that is bad). After duct taping the hole closed we decided to leave it like that for a bit, and sew it a little later.

Bad dog!

Detectors Linked

After we moved into our new house, we had an electrician come by and wire in some smoke detectors. The one in the basement is a combo smoke/CO2 detector.

Yesterday we had an opportunity to test them in the most glorious manner. Sox was blow drying her hair, and I think some dust dislodged from inside the dryer, hit the heating coil and burned. The downstairs smoke detector went off and started beeping. Then I head it talking “Fire …. fire”. The next thing that happened was the upstairs one went off as well. The two detectors are linked together. Cool!

Unfortunately for Yoshi he hates loud noises. Unfortunately for me the front door was open and he bolted. When I next saw him he was heading down the sidewalk away from the house, two houses down.

LOTD – Bikes Stunning

This post is all about bikes. It is a bunch of links to cool/interesting bikes I have found on the net.


This advanced looking bike features an onboard computer that collects data about how you ride, in order to help you ride better.
via Gizmodo


This wooden frame biek simply looks gorgeous. I can’t imagine the longevity of the frame though. Headtubes on metal bikes oval over time. Wood is pretty soft in comparison. Still, it is a stunning looking bike.
via BoingBoing

Now for the city dwellers, come a couple interesting ideas.


This folding bike looks extremely simply to use. Arrive at your destination, fold it up, wheel it around. Nice.
via BoigBoing


This bike has a locking mechanism built into it. Ride up to the bike rack and snap it in. No reason to carry an extra lock.
via Gizmodo


This looks like a fun stroller/bike combo unit. Looks like a stable way to carry a couple kids to daycare, or to the park … once they have their helmets on.
via Gizmodo


This looks like oit would be a blast to ride off road. At our local trails we have some excellent fireroads this thing would rip on. Not so sure about the trails though.
via BoingBoing