Benedict Decorations

decorations on a tree

Over the Christmas Holiday this year I had a very relaxing time, and took quite a few pictures. For the first time ever for either of us, Suede and I woke up Christmas morning in our own bed. My mom and sister had come down the night before with my moms dog Kodi. Yoshi and Sheba were a little confused by Kodi (a long haired Chihuahua). Christmas morning was relaxed with just the 4 of us. We opened our presents, then ate an awesome brunch of home made eggs benedict. Yum! Later in the day Suede’s dad and step-mom arrived, and we set about making Christmas dinner. Again, and awesome meal. KaptainK and JJ also came by for dinner, and brought their faithful companion Big D. In case you weren’t keeping track, that was 8 people, and 4 dogs at out place for dinner that night.

The rest of the past week has been a bit of a blur. Dogs walks pretty much every day. Mountains of laundry, and dishes were done. More people visited. Then the cleanup. Taking down the tree, putting away the decorations, putting away the loot. Phew, exhausting. I almost need a break from my vacation.

My Christmas gallery is here, and the slideshow is here.

Twisted Season

Wittys Lagoon waves

Sunday Suede and I treated her mom, my mom, and my sister to a play at the Belfry. Since it is Christmas time, we chose a Christmas play. The twist was that it was an improv play. In fact, the title was A Twisted Christmas Carol.

In a word it was hilarious. Hands down this was the funniest improv I have seen. The plot follows that of the book, but it is made modern through suggestions from the crowd. Some of the the changes involved the characters, some of then involved the scenes. For example in our play, Scrooges business was transformed into a Ballroom Dance studio instead of the classic accounting firm. The set was magnificent. The backdrop they used throughout was that of a huge advent calendar. Made for some interesting cast entrances.

If you are looking for something to do this holiday season, I can’t recommend this show enough. Call and order tickets right now. You won’t be disappointed.

Limo Dancing

Friday nights party was quite a bit of fun. The limo picked us up around 5:15, and for the next hour and a bit we toured Victoria picking up other people. Once we arrived at Sauce I was introduced toa bunch of people, and the party got going. There was an open bar, an appies sitting out when we arrived. Around 7:30 the buffet dinner was served, and it was pretty good. After dinner the draw prizes were given away (Suede won a $20 gift certificate to Sauce), then the DJ started. He was alright, but he had a few problems with a few songs.

As the night wore on, the dancing on the tables started. It was quite funny to watch the reactions of passersby on the street when they saw the ladies dancing on the tables.

As the music got louder I started to not have as much fun as I was. I ended up leaving a little earlier than Sue, but still had a great time.

Jammed Shooting

sunrise at Wittys Lagoon

Today’s Photo Club meet was a little different. We met early. Very early. I set up the meet so we could be out at Witty’s Lagoon to catch the sunrise. Since sun up was supposed to be at 7:45, and we needed some travel time, I set the meeting time at 6:30 (to allow for stragglers).

I got up, got ready, and headed out to the truck and discovered frost. I hadn’t left time to scrape the windows, so I was going to be a couple minutes late. When I got to the meeting place, they had already left (I was 10 minutes late). Crap, I was a straggler. Add on the fact that to drive myself, I was going to need to stop and get gas, I thought I was going to miss it all.

Boy was I wrong!

I got to the parking lot, and headed down the stairs. I met up with the other 3, and set up my gear. I was trying some new film in my SLR, so I was pretty pumped to use it. Then we waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. The light was slow in coming. I was gettin concered that the sunrise would be vey unfulfilling. Then I saw a plane’s contrail through a break in the coulds. The rising sun had colored it pink! It was very cool, but it disappeared within seconds.

Part of the reason the sun was late in getting to us was that there was a cloud layer right along the water. Remember the frost on the truck? It was pretty damn cold! Gradually we saw the sun start to peek from behind the cloud, and we were not disappointed. Then the mayhem began. Somehow my film SLR jammed, and wouldn’t take pictures (I suspect I loaded the new film incorrectly). Then one of the ladies ran out of color film (sun rises in B&W aren’t so hot). Then the other gentleman that joined had his tripod tip over, and his camera went lens first into the sand (thankfully not a rock). Meanwhile I had pulled out my digital and continued shooting. The good golden light only lasted less than 10 or 15 minutes. Then it was over.

We had waited for close to an hour in the freezing cold, for 15 minutes of shooting. Crazy, but incredibly fun! I still managed to get some shots that I really like. One of the sunrises I might blow up, then crop so it is a panoramic. Not sure. Afterwards we headed to My Chosen Cafe for some warm drinks and good eats.

Pics are here.

Wittys Lagoon

Played Novice

the stress and excitement were as heavy as this anchor

Friday night I played in my first poker tournament. It was a $40 buy in, and it was put on by one of my co-workers. I was a little apprehensive since I had only really played poker once before. But, it was only $40, and I thought I would at least go check it out and see how I do.

I ended up having a lot of fun, and if I am invited again, I will do my best to make it.

We were playing No Limit Hold ’em. Just like I have seen on TV. After verifying a couple rules, we were off and running. We had two tables going, and I won a few hands. One guy at the other table was out in 20 minutes or so.

One hand in the first round that stuck out for me was a hand that came down to me and Craig. Craig was low on chips, and I had a pair of 10’s. I was feeling pretty good, so I was going to stay around. Craig went all in (I think it was after the flop). It was all he could do. I called, and we showed our cards, Craig with a Jack high, me with my pair. The turn card was a Jack! Crap! Then the river card was another Jack. Craig lived to play a little longer. 🙂 It was pretty exciting, even though I lost that hand.

The table I was at was the first to get down to 3, so we waited for the second table to knock another guy out.

At the final table I think I played fairly well, and only got suckered into one bad hand.

Another really fun hand was when it got down to Jason and I. I had a 9, and another lower card. In the community cards were 2 9’s, and 2 10’s. Sweet. I did my best to keep Jason in it, and when it came time to show, I told him full house, 9’s over 10’s. He was not happy and threw his cards down. I didn’t pay attention to them. Another player pointed out that Jason had a 10. That meant he had a full house, 10’s over 9’s. Doh! I lost that one by a hair.

After making it to the final 3, I was feeling pretty happy with myself. Part of the pot went to the person with the highest hand. Jason had 4 of a kind (3’s with a Queen I think). Mike and I got into in one hand. I was dealt a pair of 10’s, and was pretty happy with those. The flop contained 2 more 10’s. Hmm, now that is a hand I wanted to see. I did my best to keep Mike in the hand, but he ended up folding. Being a novice, I tossed my cards in and started collecting the chips. I mentioned that I had 4 10’s and was hoping Mike was going to stay in. Then I was told that if I had thrown them in face up, that would have counted as a played hand! I could have had the highest hand, but I didn’t know to throw them in face up.

Around 12:30 Jason, Mike and I agreed to put a time limit on it. When time rolled by, we called the game, and split the pot 3 ways. I ended up with $110. Sure was fun though.

Eastbound Horn

Not a stoplight nor a green light

This past Saturday Suede and I were on our way to a friends house for a party.

We stopped at the lights on Lampson to cross Esquimalt. We were heading north, and the intersection lights are a little different. The Eastbound Esquimalt road traffic gets a green with a left run arrow. Next goes the Westbound traffic, again with a left turn arrow. Finally if there is any traffic on Lampson, it will get the green.

Suede and I were in the truck on Lampson, and the Westbound traffic light had just gone red. When our light went green I checked the intersection, and noone was running the light. A split second after I started moving, Suede yelled for me to look out. Heading Eastbound, a lady had taken off from the line!

I jammed on the brakes, and with both hands layed on the horn as she crossed less than 5 feet in front of me. I saw her look up at the light, look over at me. She was scared. I left the horn on for along time to drive the point home.

She continued through the intersection and pulled over. I think my message got through to her. I put the truck into first gear, and proceeded to the party.

I have no idea why she jumped the light like that. When I started into the intersection she definitely wasn’t moving. Inattention almost caused an accident.

Servicing Change

Will Work for Peace

So yesterday my truck was in for regular servicing. While it was there I asked them to look into a few oddities that are starting to drive me nuts. The brakes were making some funny noises, and any time I hit a bump the suspension would make a rattling noise.

Around 4:10 I get a call and they did the regular maintence, but I need to fix my front brakes. The rotors were pitted, and the pads were needing replacement. My options for the rotors were outright replacement, or I could get them to machine down the rotors. With the pitting that might have left them rather thin, and needing replacement soon any way. Also, I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to take chances with the parts or the vehicle that stop me. The rattling was linked to leaking front shocks, and some worn out bushings in the rear sway bar. I told them to fix the brakes, and hold off on the shocks and sway bar. I will also need a new battery some time soon too. Over $580 later I had my truck back. Once the brakes had bed in a little it felt great.

I work hard so I can spend the money I make on things that I like and need. I love my truck, and as much as it pains me to spend that kind of money on it, it is one of those reasons that I work. Today after leaving work I got hit up by a panhandler. Normally I tend to keep walking and not pay any attention. As I passed this gentleman, I noticed that as he was asking for my spare change he was lighting up a smoke.

I have seen this many times. Panhandlers begging for money while they are eating a McD’s cheeseburger (granted someone may have just handed it to them). I was a little miffed at the guy tonight. I work hard, I pay my bills, my taxes, and even find some money to donate to charitable causes that I believe in. Something about this guys priorities struck a nerve.

I kept walking and didn’t give him anything, but the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. I would like to think that if I was ever hard up for money that I would give up the unnecessary things in life. If I smoked, that definitely would be one of them. I have seen what cigarrettes do to someone, and to the bank account of someone on a fixed income. I know addiction is a tough thing to break, but if I had to choose between eating and smoking …. well, there really is no choice is there?

Battling Better

statue in Victoria

The last week I have been battling this awful cold. Last Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat, and by noon I had to leave work because I felt so bad. Wednesday I spent the day at home trying to recuperate. Since then it has been a series of feeling better, then relapsing. Sheesh. Be gone cold, be gone! I hate colds a the best of times, but when they drag out like this, it makes me miserable. I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is, let alone trying to sleep while I am coughing, wheezing, and aching.