Gripping Badness

Keifer props up the show

One of the shows I like to watch is 24. Every season the story is so gripping, I can’t escape it. If I should happen to miss an episode, there is always the online story guide that gives enough detail that I can get by.

Yet, nearly every episode I watch something happens that I have difficulty watching. Sometimes it is the horible acting. The blank looks on a character that seems to go on forever. Sometimes it is the pathetic and useless sub plot that goes nowhere. Remember Kim getting caught in a cougar trap? Sometimes it is just the extraneous characters that don’t add anything to the show.

Despite the badness, the show is still gripping. The story is so good, and Keifer Sutherland definitely carries the show with his acting skill. The funny part is near the end of every episode I know there is going to be a cliff hanger twist. As this twist approaches, I am always trying to guess what it will be. I never get it right.

A couple season’s ago Sox and I got a couple episodes behind near the beginning of the season. We ended up taping pretty much every single episode. I grew to love the count down timer that indicated the show was about to being. I grew to love being able to fast forward through the commercials. I was so used to that, I will still occasionally reach for the VCR remote when the commercial break starts.

Postings Supplied

Just configured the Aggregator2 module for this site. I am now importing my postings from gf-tech to this site. Cool! This will happen automatically as I post on gf-tech.

The documentation on this module was a little difficult to understand. The thing I really want to do it have these posts imported into a specific category, but I can’t figure out how to set this up. The supplied documentation doesn’t help. Time to delve into the forums I think.

4 Things

Stupid memes.  I never participate in these things.  Until now.

Four jobs I’ve had in my life

  1. Dishwasher
  2. Carpet Warehouse Dude
  3. Overpaid Gopher
  4. Software Developer

Four movies I can watch over and over

  1. Clerks
  2. A few Good Men
  3. Die Hard (any)
  4. Hackers

Four places I have lived

  1. Nanaimo, BC
  2. Victoria, BC
  3. Penticton, BC
  4. ??? – that’s it

Four TV shows I love to watch

  1. 24
  2. That 70’s Show
  3. CSI (the original, none of the crappy offshoots)
  4. Survivor

Four places I have been on vacation

  1. Mexico
  2. Ottawa
  3. Sooke, BC (Point No Point)
  4. Alaska

Four of my favourite dishes

  1. Ginger beef 
  2. Lasagna
  3. Sushi
  4. Hamburgers

Four websites I visit daily

  1. BoingBoing
  2. Canoe
  3. Pinkbike
  4. Dilbert

Four places I would rather be right now

  1. Mountain biking
  2. Mexico
  3. Walking Yoshi
  4. No where (home is just great)

Four bloggers I am tagging

  1. Jason Kemp
  2. KandE
  3. James
  4. de Goede

Little Features

Little web site update here. A new bug fix Drupal release was made a while ago, and I finally got around to testing the upgrade, and performing it. muddylaces is now up to v 4.6.5

I really wish there was a version number printed somewhere in the admin interface, so I could easily see what version I am running. I guess that gets a little complicated when talking about CVS versions, and beta code. Still, it would be a nice to have feature.

I have also recently upgraded the gallery software. Not sure if I really like some of the new features, but I’d imagine I will get used to them.

Potholes Filtering

ghostly light switch

Today was the first meeting of the photo club in 2006. The destination was the Sooke potholes. We car pooled out there, and parked right next to the remnants of the failed resort. The river was raging. I had only been there once before during a summer, and the river had a gentle flow. I took a few shots of the river, was fascinated by some exposed re-bar, and was enthralled by a rusty tank.

I had a great time at this shoot. I felt inspired, and had no trouble seeing pictures. The above picture took me many tries to finally nail it. I found it very interesting that I could see the picture I wanted in my mind, but each succesive failure to meet it, pushed me to keep trying.

When all was said and done I had capture 89 shots. Filtering through them at home I was very pleased with my shooting on the day. Great start to another year of photography.

Pics are here.

Conditions Ungroomed

can you believe this is Mt Washington

Super mega wicked awesome, that was yesterday.

Friday night I climbed into be a little later that I had wanted, and tried to fall asleep quickly. The windstorm did not help though, and I probably got no more than 5 hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 5 am. Yikes. Pitch black out, wet, and cold. The only reason I could do it was I knew I was on my way to go snowboarding. This may turn out to be the only day I get in this season too.

Mike stopped by my place, we took off, and snagged Shane along the way. With everyone in the car we started the long drive to the mountain. Further up island we could see stars. We couldn’t believe that we might actually have nice weather considering the storm the night before.

On the mountain we could not believe the conditions. Stunning. While in line for our first run we could see the fresh snow, and desperately wanted to be on the slopes making first tracks. Once at the top, it was simply unbelievable. Light, fluffy, white gold. So very unlike Washington.

Pics are here. Read on for more.

After a couple quick runs for a warm up we hit the trees. Pure ecstasy. Loads of light powder, nice glades, tight turns, tons of fun. Each run down the mountain had different weather too. Sun, cloud, sun, snow, sun, wind, sun, fog.

The lineups for the eagle chair were pretty long so we got a good break between runs, but we wanted more. We decided to get a hot dog snack, and continue riding while everyone else went in for lunch. Good idea, but the hot dog stand was run by a bunch of dim wits who just didn’t get it. They were cooking the hot dogs as people ordered them. WTF? It is a hotdog stand right next to the busiest chair on the mountain. Throw a ton of them on, and you can get people eating quicker. It took us a half hour to get 2 hot dogs. That is just stupid long.

Once fed we headed over to the Boomerang chair that had finally opened. They were blasting for avalanche safety earlier and this caused delays in opening the chair.

What an addition to the mountain. Expert ungroomed runs. Steep, tight glades that were at my limit of comfort. I had to keep in mind that for terrain like this you have to attack the slope. You can’t be hesitant, you have to go for it, make your turns, not stop. It was awesome. The snow on this side was even nicer. Some of the short steep runs were super fun, but the longer runs were real leg burners. We did a few of the longer ones, and just as we decided to head over to the other side. As we loaded we heard the lifties called out last run.

Back on the other side we did a couple runs to get us back to the eagle chair. I decided to call it quits while Shane and Mike did one more run. I was so happy with how the day turned out, and I was already so tired, I didn’t mind at all. It gave me time to get changed, call Sox, and relax a bit before starting the drive home.

What a day though. I was completely wiped by the time we got home. I was able to unload my gear, grab a beer, check my email, then hit the sack. It was such an awesome day. I can’t accurately describe just how good the boarding was. I pushed my abilities, but never really felt like I was in over my head. There was one extremely steep, icy face that I ended up on that I would have rather avoided, but the whole way down all I could think of was how I could get in a position to start my turns. The new terrain is a wicked addition to the mountain. If only every day up there was as good as yesterday.

Hellish Relaxing

overlooking the ocean

What a weekend. As a Christmas present to me, Sox booked us in to Point No Point for a weekend. It was just what I needed. I’ve had a hellish few weeks, so the chance to get away from everything and spend some time with my wife relaxing, was sublime. The Eagle cabin (our usual) was gorgeous as usual. Overlooking the water we could hear the surf all weekend. Sox had to refrain from the hot tub this time, but I managed to get in a couple good soaks.

On Saturday we took a side trip to French beach, then back up to Sharky’s in Jordan River for some hot chocolate. Later, I took a hike on the Point No Point trails while Sox napped. Saturday night we ate dinner at the resort, and it was fabulous as always.

With some reluctance on Sunday we packed our belongings and headed home. I definitely felt relaxed and refreshed after the weekend. Back at home we dove into the continuing paint job. Hopefully we can finish this up quickly.

Yoshi Zing

You ever get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as soon as you realize (or it is pointed out) that you did something so utterly stupid that you will pay dearly for it?

This story started a couple weeks ago. Sox and I were going to paint a bunch of rooms in our house. We cleaned the walls, emptied the rooms, and generally did a lot of prep.

Last weekend some friends came over and helped us paint. We got 99% of it done in that weekend. All we had to do was some finishing touches, and paint our focus wall in the office. We had chosen Cranberry Zing. Very nice color. Very hard to get even across the wall. After 3 coats I think I have finally given up.

The story took a turn for the worse yesterday when we got a call from our dog walker. Seems Yoshi decided to chew on the plastic container (we know he likes to chew things) that I had used for painting the edges of the wall.

I hadn’t cleaned the container so there was some dried red paint in the bottom. Red latex paint. Red latex paint that didn’t dry all the way through.

The dog walker reported that there was dry paint on the carpet so we assumed that meant paint chips. There was that sinking feeling.

When we got home it was much worse than I thought. Paint smears that had dried were on the carpet in the office. Paint smears in the hallway. Smears on the hardwood and tile (easy to clean though), and paint on our couch (as well as a dog bed). There was even some paint on one of the counters (he must have gone counter surfing at one point). Uggh. Remember Cranberry Zing? A nice bright red color.

Down on our hands and knees we scrubbed and scrubbed until it was almost all out. Then I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets. Not exactly what I was planning on doing that evening. I would have much rather been putting our things away in our newly painted rooms, but thankfully we seem to have gotten it mostly out. If you know where to look you will still be able to see a bit of red where there shouldn’t be any.

Today I am sore and tired, wondering when we will finally be finished this paint job. My fingers are especially raw today too. I just want to go home and crawl back into bed. Instead Sox and I have a weekend away (with no dog). Something relaxing, rejuvinating, and much needed.