I type this with wrecked hands,
hands that have seen and done wonders today.
The air was crisp,
the ground frozen and crunchy. Instead
of hindering me, this coolness inspired me, pushed me on.
Much ground was covered,
mud was flung. Grins by all who knew.
Up the hill, along the log, leap off the rock. A man once said “It’s all about two legs, turning two cranks, turning two wheels”. Two true.
South Ridge, Fun Trail, C-Section, Waterworks are part of the picture. The rest is fun, fun, fun.
I want to get out again. This has inspired me, boosted my drive. There is always next weekend.
</poem like thing>
As you may have guessed, I went riding today. I had a great ride. I went out with Sane, Darryll, and a couple other guys from Shane’s group. The cool morning air was awesome. Enought to keep me awake and refreshed. It hurt a little when I breathed deeply, but it was that good kind of hurt that reminds you that you are alive.
At the beginning of the ride we messed around at the Technical Training Area, and that is where I discovered that I had left at home, the compact flash card for my camera. Damn! 🙁 My goal was to have a good ride, and take lots of pictures. Guess I had to settle for a good ride.
We took our usual route up to the switchbacks, then headed up. Near the top of the switchbacks was a new log ride that was loads of fun. To get onto the log ride, you must cross a 3 foot high log pile. The log ride begins with a slight downward slope, then after a slight jog to the left, the log turns upward ever so slightly and tapers until it is only 4 inches wide. I never made it all the way, but it was most fun to try.
After we hit Champs Café, we zipped down South Ridge, along Fun Trail to Green Ribbon. Getting late on time we bombed Green Ribbon as fast as we could. I did a couple jumps I hadn’t hit in quite a while. Surprising to me since I haven’t ridden in quite a while.
At the end I was a happy camper. I had a great ride, which hasn’t happened in a long time. It totally reminded me why I love this sport. I am pumped to get back out there soon.
Last night was Aphros first vet appointment since we got her. She did not like bein in the kitty carrier! When we finally stuffed her in (with a towel), she meowed almost constantly during the ride to the vet. She would take little breaks in her caterwauling, just to make us think she had quieted down.
When we got to the vet she was pretty quiet, which was nice. We took her into the exam room, opened the door to the cat carrier, and she slowly made her way out. The vet did her exam, including weighing Aphro, and she was pretty good. The vet did the first shot, she was fine. The vet poked in the needle for the second shot, and that is when Aphro flipped! Ears flat, mouth open she tried to bite the vet, then she hissed. Claws brandished she took a few swats at the vet. To her credit the vet calmly put the needle in a safe place, got a better grip on Aprho, then continued where she left off. The last needle was a quick one, then some deworming fluid, and it was over.
Sort of. Sue and I had to get Aphro back into the carrier. 🙂 All in all a good visit. Much different from a Yoshi visit. He just stands there and lets anything get done to him. He is next though. In just a few weeks actually.
Lunchtime today was a nice treat. I wasn’t able to take Yoshi to work today, so he stayed home, and at lunch I went home for a visit and a walk. It was short (just under 20 minutes), but he had a great time. We met up with Emma, a Lab mix. She was cute. As soon as she saw Yoshi, she came bounding up to him. Yoshi didn’t see her approach, so when he did notice her, he quickly dropped the stick we has carrying, and they both did the doggy twirl (they walked around in a circle sniffing each other).
Then Yoshi decided Emma was a cool dog, and instigated a playfest with her! 🙂 I was stunned to watch this but it was hilarious. Yoshi woulld zip away, then run at her. Emma would chase Yoshi back. Yoshi would grab the stick, and Emma would chase. Emma would grab the stick and Yoshi would chase. They the two of them dissappeared into the leafless trees and rand round and round and round them, chasing each other until I thought they would be dizzy.
To cool off they zipped to the nearest dirtiest mud puddle and lapped it up like it would evaporate momentarily. Crazy dogs! I love watching playtime like that.
Our other pet, Aphro, goes to the vet for the first time since we got her. We bought a cat carrier yesterday, and we are not relishing the idea of trying to stuff her into it. I am prepared for mortal combat with her. She must get in, and I am sure she will do everything in her power to not go in. I will be totally shocked if she doesn’t spaz. More later I guess.
Today I had my morning ritual interrupted, ruined almost. I got up as always, started the coffee, ate breakfast, fed Yoshi, then went upstairs for a shower. Aprés shower I discovered that I had forgotten to buy more deodorant after emptying it yesterday :grr: I had to stop somewhere on the way to work and buy some.
I much prefer mornings where I can get through my ritual unimpeded.
To top it off, it would appear that my favorite brand is no longer being produced as a deodorant, but only as an antiperspirant. I don’t want that. I now have to try a new brand. In fact, in the aisle marked deodorant, I would estimate that there was a ratio of about 4:1 for antiperspirant to deodorant. Maybe the sign should be changed?
This is Aprho(dite) helping me on the computer. She curled up like this while I was composing the last post, so I thought I would take a picture and show how cute she can be.
Yesterday myself, Sue, and Yoshi met up with Coreman, Justine, and Oscar for a walk at Devonian Regional Park. This park is out in Metchosin, and was quite a nice walk.
After walking along a nice trail for about 20 – 30 minutes, you pop out on a beach. We walked along the beach quite a ways while the dogs played in the sand, chewed and retreived sticks, and swam in the ocean.
After the walk Sue and I went to a friends’ house to help them pack their moving van. They are moving to Vancouver, and will be missed.
After the walk on the beach, and the loading of heavy furniture, I was zonked. We went to Costco to grab a few things, then it was home so I could rest and sleep. All in all, it was an enjoyable day!
This week I have been sick with a cold. Nothing too severe though. :barf: I took half of Monday off, then Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday and today I have been at work, but I haven’t been all that effective. I hate being sick. I probably should have stayed home until I was completely better, but I was getting bored. Besides, I am not contagious any more.
Anyway, the point of this post was to talk about Yoshi. I got up at 7 this morning and took him for a 20 minute walk around the neighbourhood. He was full of energy the whole way and kept pulling the leash. I was stumbling along behind him feeling quite ill. When we got back home I let him in the door, then went upstairs for a shower. When I got out, there Yoshi was all curled up on his bed sleeping soundly. He is such a great dog!
Dec 27 was my turn to by myself a new present. I had been ogling the new Palm OS5 PDAs for a while now. More and more I wanted to retire my Handspring Visor Prism.
Well, I did it. I went out and bought a new PDA! My choice: the Palm Tungsten T3. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds though.
First step: head to Future Shop. First step: make a big mistake. I walked in there, went straight to the PDA’s, told a salesman I was going to buy one. Since I wanted to shop for other stuff, I got him to set it aside. When I was ready I went back to him and proceeded to his checkout till. He went through the whole spiel about their extended warranty even after I told him I wasn’t interested. Just before he rang it up, I told him I wanted to check one thing. There have been a few reports on the Internet of Ts screens being darker than they should be. The whole point of the T3 is the gorgeous screen. The guy looked at me and told me he couldn’t let me open the box. :jawdrop:
I was almost speechless. I told him to hold on a minute. I was about to buy this $600 PDA and the salesman wouldn’t let me see it? I challenged him on it. I had opened one in the Victoria location. He blubbered something about warranties and stuff. So I looked straight into his eyes and told him he lost the sale. I turned around and walked away. I was so pissed off. I had a CD I wanted to buy, so while I was talking to the checkout girl I asked to talk to a manager.
The next chapter in this saga begins. I was already steamed, and I had to wait at least 10 minutes to talk to someone. When he finally arrived I explained to him what had happened. He was a little dumbfounded, but of course sided with his employee. He said that the employee was wrong on the warranty but, and that he must have misunderstood what I was asking. 😕 What? I wanted to open the box to turn on the unit to see the screen. The salesman said no. Anyway, I left a very unsatisfied customer.
On the way back to my mom’s house we stopped at the Staples near her house. They had just sold out.
Back at my moms house I was a little dejected, and disappointed. I had been looking forward to this for a while, and this was not the experience I wanted.
I decided to turn this around. I called up London Drugs in Nanaimo and confirmed they had some in stock. The guy I talked to said they had some. I jumped into my truck, drove across town, ran into the store, grabbed the first salesman I could, and asked him to grab a T3. He disappeared into the back to get it. He was taking a long time and I started to get a bad feeling. Sure enough he emerged and said they didn’t have one. Another sales guy (the one I talked to on the phone) went into the back and looked. Sure enough, he thought he had one, but it was an empty box for the display one. Grrr.
I left all pissed off. As I passed A&B Sound, I decided to whip in to see what they had. Turned out they had them on sale for less than anyone one else was selling them for. They also had sold out of them.
I was dejected. I got into my truck to head back to my moms and while traveling along the highway I spotted another Staples. I didn’t think they would have any, and I wasn’t even sure if they were open. I stopped anyway and went in. It took a couple minutes to track someone down. The young guy I talked to did something no other sale guy did when I asked if they had any in stock: he checked the computer! :O They had them in stock! Yay! I picked one up on the spot. I also bought an additional USB sync cable that had a cigarette lighter attachment for charging. It made me very happy, but not happy enough to forget the headache involved getting it.
Stay tuned for my upcoming review of the device.
Here are a couple comparison pics of my new PDA compared to my old one.
Today must be upgrade day for me. I just finished upgrading this site to Drupal version 4.3.0. I was a couple versions behind. Some of the new functionality is good, and other bits I can do without.
If you see anything amiss, shoot me an email. I am pretty sure I upgraded everything I was supposed to, and re integrated my customizations. I still need to do a little CSS work, but all should be good. 😛