Tag: Life

Cellphone Direction

Looks like our cellphone has died. I think it might be time to upgrade and actually get a halfway decent phone. Trouble is I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg.

I’d kind of like a smartphone, but not sure I really need one. I was contemplating getting a family plan with Telus since there have numerous times when a second cell phone would have been handy.

Suddenly it dawned on me that I don’t have to stay on Telus, we could feasibly switch to another carrier. Wow, suddenly the possibilities are endless, and I quickly got overwhelmed.

Rogers/Fido? Bell? Telus? Koodo? Family plan? Smartphone? Simple and cheap phone? Not sure what direction to go in.

Investigate Broken

I should have ridden to work today. I wanted to ride, but as I was on my way out the back door bike in hand, I decided to investigate a strange metal on metal sound I heard on my last ride.

I found the source. It was another broken spoke. If you recall, this happened pretty recently already.

Frustrating. I had a quick shower, got dressed and jumped in the truck. Disappointing.

Slowing Intersection

I don’t know why, but when I am out on the roads, I seem to come across lots of morons.

Yesterday I saw this guy on a scooter running a red light. More than once. He turned right on to the road I was on without slowing down at all. I know he had a red then. He approached another light that was also red (the instersection of Head and Old Esquimalt). Instead of slowing, he turns right, then noticing there is no traffic, pulls a u-turn so that he is on Head, facing Old Esquimalt. He guns it and turns right to get back on to Old Esquimalt. The same a running a red.

Today while riding to work I was moving along at a pretty good clip and some car pulls out of a driveway to get into traffic. Only there isn’t room so they hit the brakes and end up blocking the bike lane. I then have to hit the brakes and weave around them. A little later some truck stops in the bike lane and double parks so he could drop off his wife. I wanted to give him a mean look (oooooh), but he was shielding his eyes with his hand. He knew he was doing something he shouldn’t.

On the way home today I was coming down a hill to an intersection and I had a green light. A cyclist decided to try and zip across the red, and through the traffic, nearly t-boning me.

Finally, as I was climbing a hill on Esquimalt Ave, a red and white taxi blew past me pretty quickly at less than a foot from my shoulder. There was a whole other lane they could have mover over in to, but no, he had to stay in his lane.

After experiences like this, it’s

no wonder more people don’t cycle commute.

Cheaper Steps

See anything interesting about these pictures? Last weekend I was in Lens and Shutter looking at a camera for someone I know. I’ve had my eye on a new Canon 50D for a long time. I saw they had it on sale, for $100 cheaper than anywhere I was looking online. They also included a $75 gift card for their store! Sold. I picked it up on the spot.

First impressions are that I like it, a lot. Definitely a great camera, and quite a few steps up from the 20D I was using. I’m in love, but I need to do lots of reading. There are loads new features that I need to learn. Soon I will break out the manual and start reading, but first, take more pictures.

Anyone want to buy a 20D body?

Highway Superstar

On the 30th the Fox family set off for a family reunion trip to Nelson. One of Sox’s brothers lives there and he was hosting us all for the weekend. That morning we discovered our cat Aphro had escaped outside and was missing.

Sox and the kids headed to Vancouver early on Thursday, but I had to work. After working most of the day I zipped home, packed up, tried to locate the cat, secured the house then headed to the ferry.

You see some crazy things on the highway, but this one was pretty scary. A motorized scooter doing about 50 KM/H riding on the side of the highway. That was bad enough, but this one had two people on it, and only one of them was wearing a helmet. Think people. Take the backroads.

As I got to the ferry terminal I learned there was a possible wait. When I paid to get on the lady told me my lane number and mentioned I might be lucky. Luck was on my side. I was the absolute last vehicle let on the 8pm sailing.

I hadn’t eaten dinner yet so I grabbed a magazine and headed up to the cafeteria. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and got a chocolate milk. At my seat I took one bite of the burder and knew something was wrong with it. There was no patty. I took the burger back in, they all had a good laugh (I didn’t think it was funny at all), then they made me a new one.

As I approaced my seat someone else was sitting there and my tray of uneaten food was gone! I asked them about it and nobody knew anything. Taking a hungry man’s food is not a good idea. I asked one of the table cleaners if he had taken my tray but he hadn’t. He did go and get replacements for my lost food though.

Interesting start to the trip.

The next day was the drive up to Nelson. I was in a car with Beet, Sox’s Mum, and Sox’s other brother. I sat in the back with Beet the whole way and we kept each other company. It was actually a lot of fun and Beet certainly was entertained by having her dad next to her.

Near Grand Forks there was a long, long line of traffic. I figured it was construction until I saw two different police cars, and a couple fire engines. Sure enough some fire crews were just mopping up a small brush fire that had started next to the highway and train tracks. I saw flames from a few fence posts, but the fire was definitely out besides that. Yikes.

The rest of the trip flew by, but the weird thing was while we were in Castlegar I could see a column of smoke. Knowing that a fire ban was in effect I thought this was odd. As we got closer realized that it was another brush fire right underneath some power lines. Thankfully there was a fire chief’s truck there checking out the situation. There was also another small fire on the opposite side of the highway. This was getting a little weird.

While in Nelson it was hot. Mid 30’s almost the entire time. We spent quite a bit of time lazing in the shade, and going to the beach. It was very relaxing and totally enjoyable. The Nelson area sure is gorgeous.

Saturday night, after the kids were in bed, the adults were sitting out on the deck talking. Down the valley a little ways we could see a storm. Lots of lightning but we heard no thunder. The next morning the town was very smoky. We could barely see the mountains across the lake and everywhere you went it smelled like a campfire.

Monday Sue’s brothers and I went for a mountain bike ride. More on that later.

Tuesday we piled into our cars and headed home. Gran, myself and Beet in her car, Sox, her sister and the boys in Sox’s car. There was one moment while I was driving when I caught up to Sox and passed her, only to learn that she was very low on gas and we were far from a gas station. I pulled in behind here and followed along until Christina lake. Thankfully we all made it there without any problems.

Beet was a superstar again. Without Sox’s brother in the car I got to drive while Beet napped. This helped break up my trip a bit, and forced us to get out and stretch out legs once in a while. We grabbed lunch supplies in Osoyoos then continued on our way.

The drive went by quickly and before I knew it we were in Langley. There I saw a spectacular sight. A gorgeous orange and black viper was turning onto the road in front of us. On top, secured in what must be a custom rack, was a kayak almost as long as the car. It was quite the sight.

We met up with Sox at her Mum’s house, ordered some pizza, then tried to get the 7 ferry. We missed it by a little, waited for the next one, then headed home. Another successful summer road trip.

Speedway Flight

Back on July 25 sox and I were able to head out to Western Speedway to watch some racing. It was their Eve of Destruction event, and it was a lot of fun. Lots of hit to pass racing, and a few other events too.


The racing was pretty intense and for the bigger races there was always lots of action. At one point I looked up and saw a gorgeous sunset. I tried taking a few pictures, but I only had the little camera, and since it was getting dark, the shots never turned out. This was the best one, and it sort of shows a part of the sunset.


During the racing it started to rain. Not a light rain, but a pretty heavy rain. In the distance I saw lightning every once in a while. Still, the show went on and only a few people left early.

Once the main racing was over, it was on to the finale. This waas the crazy Canuck car jump, the bus jump, then the boat race.

The Crazy Canuck did a trial pass in the rain and was satisfied he could get up to speed safely. They set up the ramp and the catch cars, and when he went for it, his car actually twirled in the air, and he landed on the roof. I know this is bad for stunt drivers, but he was able to get out of the wreck and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Here is my video of the jump (~22MB). I think that the takeoff ramp slipped when the car hit it, which is why the car rotated in the air. After he landed the ramp was in pieces.

Next up was the bus jump. They set up a different ramp for him, then added a fifth wheel trailer for him to crash through. This year the bus jump went off without a hitch. Here is the video of the bus jump (~22MB). After the bus jump, they didn’t bother cleaning off the front straightaway.

The piece de resistance of the night was the boat race. A boat was chained to the demo cars, trucks, and vans that wanted to participate. The winner was the last driver with some boat left attached. From the green it was mayhem. Cars and boats sliding around all over the place. Slowly bu surely the boats were relieved of their cars, and the track was soon littered with debris. After about 12 laps a winner was declared. After the race had ended, one driver started pushing a wayward boat down the front straight, towards the bus jump ramp. At the last second he steered away from the ramp, and the boat took a small flight.

Such a fun night. I am looking forward to taking the kids in the next few years.

Wave Planned

BC has been in a bit of a heat wave the last couple days. It’s been hot, but I’ve been enjoying it. Mid 30’s yesterday and today, and a little higher over the next couple days. Someone on the news called it the heat wave of a lifetime. That I doubt.

It helps that I work in an air conditioned office, and the AC actually works. This is not the case with the AC in my truck. Yesterday I had to drive Yoshi up to Duncan. He is having a vacation with my sister for the next week. The drive was very warm, and I was more concerned about Yoshi than I. All the windows were open, and even on the Max AC setting, the truck was blowing out warm air. Driving fast on the highway got the air moving enough to keep me and Yoshi cool(ish). Any time traffic was backed up and moving slowly was when it got a little much for me.

Tonight I have an Ulti game. It is supposed to be hot, hot, hot out. Not sure how I will fare, but I do plan to take loads of water. 3X as much as normal. I am drinking lots of water today, and also planning on keeping my head wet as much as possible during the game.

Thursday I have another drive planned, so hopefully it will be a little cooler by then.

Now that the warm weather is here though, I keep hearing people complain that it is too hot. This irks me since the same people complain when there is too much rain, not warm enough, not enough blue sky. What are the perfect weather conditions? Quit you’re whining and complaining. Enjoy what we have. It is gorgeous out, just a little warm.

Rough Sick

I’ve had a rough go the last couple weeks. I’ve had this cold that just won’t go away. It was fine up until this past Thursday. Thursday morning I felt horrible. Unfortunately I was very busy at work Thursday and Friday so I couldn’t take a sick day.

On the weekend, both days I had a nap, which is unusual for me, and I slept perfectly fine both nights.

Today is the first day I have felt almost normal, but the cough is still lingering. The cough is really, really annoying.

Course, now that I am feeling better I want to get on with life. Wednesday I have Ulti, and it is a double header. Too early to tell if I can play, but if I do play, I will only stay for one game.

Theatre Starting

I was out way, way too late last night. The plan was to head to Spinnakers for dinner then get over to Silver City to see the 7:20 showing of Transformers 2. After eating an excellent dinner, we drove over to the theatre and quickly discovered that the show was sold out.

Bummer. I checked the movie board out and we reluctantly chose another movie to go see. I’d heard the Hangover was getting good reviews so we bought our tickets. It was a pretty funny movie actually. The three of us had lots of laughs, and I know that it was the kind of movie that is best seen in a big audience.

As we were leaving I glances at my watch and noticed that the late showing of Transformers was starting in 20 minutes. Hmm.

I made the suggestion that we stay and see it. Surprisingly everyone was into the idea. Yikes. The movie previews ended around 11 and the show itself was 2 hours 20 minutes. If you like action movies, and you liked the first Transformers movie, then you will like Transformers 2. Lots of fight scenes, lots of action, lots of robots, lots of excellent special effects, and lots of attractive scantily clad women.

I finally crawled into bed at around 1:40 am.

Busy Options

I had a busy morning. I took the car in to get some new tires installed. While that was happening I wandered down to All-Season and priced out some different bike racks for the CR-V. Lots of options, and I am close to making a decision now.

I then stopped at the mall looking for a metal rack to make a shelf in our freezer. When I got back to the car some kind samaritan had left a sticky note on the window saying the insurance had run out. Off to get that renewed, then pick up some contact lenses for Sue.

Back home I fixed up a toy of Beet’s, then some lunch. This afternoon, once Beet is up from her nap, I think we will head out to look at some outside drying racks for laundry (no clothesline at the new house).

Tonight we have some friends coming for dinner. A busy day, but quite enjoyable.