Nelson Venture

The Nelson trip. I find it hard to believe it was so long ago (over a week and a half), but it was awesome. We left Langley when Sprout was ready for an extended venture in the car. The plan was to keep moving as long as he was happy, or when we hit Bromly Rock (whichever came first).

As it turned out we got o Bromley Rock and stopped in for 45 minutes or so. The little guy liked seeing the water and we enjoyed being able to stretch our legs. We ate lunch there, and were lucky enought o snag one of the remaining shaded areas. When we first arrived there were only a couple cars in the lot, but by the time we left it was quite packed. Eating our lunch on the sandy beach was a great relaxer too. Back in the car our next break was in Rock Creek (another 45 minute break out of the car that included milkshakes for us), then we motored on to Nelson.

Our stay in Nelson was heavenly. No major plans, good eats, visiting and fun with family. Sprout got to spend some quality time with his cousin, and we got to introduce his Uncle to Weboggle (sorry about that Auntie).

We went on an awesome (and warm) walk along the Kootenay Canal. At the end of the canal was a power generation plant. I had a great time walking along taking pictures, and Sprout enjoyed being carted around in his new backpack. Sox and I picked it up specifically for the trip.

All my Nelson pics are here.

We also had a picnic lunch at the Lakeside Park, and watched a childrens entertainer for a while. He was having some technical difficulties with his assistant, and was not handling it well (IMO). He seemed a little short with the assistant, and quite frankly was rude to him. Strange.

All too soo we packed everyone and everything into the car again and headed down to Penticton to watch Ironman. While we were in Nelson our stay was very enjoyable and was the right length, yet as we were getting ready to leave I couldn’t help but think it was a short stay. I find those mind tricks very strange.

Nelson was fun, and Sox and I hope that this will become a bit of a summer ritual where the cousins get to visit.

Peckish Donation

Yesterday I rushed home form work so I could get changed, and grab the truck and head out for my blood donation. Time was a little tight, but I got there in time. As I pulled into the lot at the Canadian Blood Services I was feeling a little peckish. I went through all the screening and questions and the nures said that my blood pressure is really good (it measured at 104/60 which according to the chart on this page is optimal).

To stave off the hunger I grabbed some cookies to eat while I donated. Noone said anything, but I think I was eating them in the wrong spot of the clinic. One of the nurses talked to a couple of the volunteers, and they kept looking over at me. Oops.

The donation went well as always, and I hurried through the cookies and juice so I could get home for dinner.

One thing that struck a chord with me was one gentleman that was at the cookies was telling everyone about a bine marrow donation that he made to a young girl who was only a few months old. The girl was now 5 years old, and he was showing her picture.

It got me to thinking about stepping up to bone marrow donation as well. I will think about that one a little more. I am going to read up on that too.

Eye Experience

I signed up for something else this week too. I enrolled in another course at Camosun that starts later this month. It is another photography course, but is not technical in nature. This course is titled Creative Photography: Developing Your Eye

Now that you know how to use your camera, how do you take great pictures? Taught by an acclaimed professional photographer, this course will teach you not only the fundamentals of light, space, and line, but also how to explore feeling, seeing, and thinking exceptional images. Optional weekly assignments will assist you to develop or enhance your personal style for whatever your photographic goals may be. This course is open to all levels of experience. Bring your camera and a desire to learn how to capture your world.

Sounds like it could be a very interesting course. I hop it works out better than the 100 Ways to Sell Your Photography course I took. Starts in September.

Canmore Distance

Well, I did it again. 😉 Actually I will be doing it again. I am talking about the 24 Hours of Adrenaline. There will not be a race in Whistler, so this time Mike has signed us up for the 2007 event in Canmore. Woohoo, I can’t wait. Should be a lot of fun again.

I plan to set up some kind of training schedule. Road biking is going to be a big part of it. Long road ride, hill repeats, and some off road riding to keep me accustomed to my bike. I will definitely be breaking out the heart rate monitor, and learning how to use that.

I don’t expect a technical race, and even if it is, I am sure I can handle the course. For me it is all about going the distance. The last race I did was a blast, despite the nasty weather. I am expecting great things from this race.

Snowbirds Intruded

Yesterday the Snowbirds were in town for a show for the Oak Bay Centennial. The day was very nice out, and I had high hopes to get some good shots. Last time they were here, I was extremely happy with my shots, and now I have a better camera.

The show started off with an RCMP Helicopter show. It was a little strange seeing a helicopter with a siren flying around. When that show ended, I expected to see the Snowbirds right away. Instead there was a very long pause of close to half an hour. Waiting in the hot sun was no fun, but the show was spectacular.

The show was off Willows Beach. We saw it was extremely crowded, and ended up at this small park next to the Oak Bay Marina. It was lovely. We camped out under this huge oak tree, picniced, and watched the planes. Quite a few times they flew right over us on their way to a stunt. Very cool.

Pics are here.

One odd thing though was some old lady that rudely intruded on our spot. We got there early enough that we were able to claim a bench. We had our things on it, and the nursing moms that were with us (3 of them) used the bench quite a bit. After nursing, one mom got up, and a couple minutes later this lady sat down in amongst our things. :wtf: Very rude, and very weird. If she had asked us to move some things it would not have been a problem, but to just sit down?

It was a great performance, and I had a great time yesterday. Maybe the next time they come to town Sprout will be old enough to appreciate the show 🙂 As with last show, I am extremely happy with the resulting pictures.

MessengerStatus

MSN Live Messenger is pissing me off. Time to do some testing. MSN Live has as a sponsor, LavaLife. I am not the target market for LavaLife. I am very happily married and I do not want to see these ads on MSN Live sites or in MSN Live messenger.

I decided to check my profile. There are a lot of setting there, and most of them I have left blank, or set prefer not to say. The setting for marriage status was blank. I have a suspicion (or hope) that this setting will modify the ads I see.

First thing I notice is that there is no option to specify “I’d prefer not to say”. Crud. I set it to married, and we will see if this gets rid of the ads.

I really hope that the settings on my profile will influence the ads I see. It would make sense wouldn’t it? You’d think a company like Micro$oft would place contextually relevant ads. Surely they have someone there that can code that feature up.

Update 1: now I see ads for date.ca. Not much better.

Update 2: the MSN Live preferences page still shows LavaLife ads. I am now thinking I am S.O.L.