Care to guess what day it is?

Yep, my birthday. I am not really too interested in celebrating in a big way this year so Sue and I are heading out for dinner to our favorite restaurant. It should be really nice.

I did get a phone call a few minutes after 7am this morning. Sue’s dad and step mom called to wish me Happy Birthday.

Pretty lazy week. Work, ride trainer, spent time with Sue, play with the kitty. These are just some of the things I have done this week.

I bought an old machine from work a couple weeks ago. It had no hard drive, and was pretty cheap. I bought a hard drive for it yesterday, and my plan for the weekend is to install some variant of linux. Right now I am leaning towards Suse. Not sure why though. I do like the Gnome desktop. Whatever.

This week, while boring, will turn into a geekfest weekend. plus I have a ride planned for the weekend. Yay!

Wow, what a great weekend. Very revitalizing. This weekend seemed much longer than it really was. Thursday night I went to Nanaimo for dinner with my mom and sister. Friday morning I drove back to Victoria for work. This little excursion messed up my internal clock. When the work day was over on Friday, I didn’t know which way was up!

Friday night I stayed home and did a little bike maintenance. It is definitely time to get some new bushings for my Fox rear shock. The is a slight clunk when I lift on the saddle, and it is definitely coming from the connection of the shock to the frame. I also did a little work on my front fork. It was in dire need of a top up of fork fluid which I purchased from this shop.

Saturday morning was the photo club. I forgot to mention in my other post that I received a :fuck: parking ticket! I purchased parking time, placed the receipt face up on my dash, then closed up my truck. Turns out, the receipt had slid down my dash, beneath the tinting on my windshield. It was pretty windy that morning, and I wonder if a breeze blew it down the dash. Crap, this is the second time that has happened! $25 down the drain. Grrr!

Saturday afternoon was Todd and Jennifer’s wedding. Very nice ceremony at St Ann’s Academy, and an absolutely wonderful reception at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Sunday. What can I say about Sunday. I didn’t really do much yesterday. I was a little hung over, and basically lazed around the house all day. I did take Yoshi to the park for a walk while it was warm and sunny, so that was good.

Monday morning I awoke and felt awesome. I am refreshed revitalized, and ready to tackle the week. Isn’t that what a weekend is for?

In a nutshell, that was my weekend.

Spring has sprung,
the grass has riz,
I wonder where
my sleep iz.

I have this love/hate thing going on with spring. I love the warmer temperatures, the flowers, the blue skies, and the longer days. I hate the longer hours of sunlight.

I have always had difficult sleep patterns. It always takes me a long time to get to sleep, and in the mornings I tend to sleep very lightly. Why is this a problem? This time of year our pets get up early due to the light. The light wakes me up sometimes, and when it doesn’t, the restless animals do. Once I am awake, it takes me a very long time to get back to sleep. This results in me being very tired for a few weeks while my body, and sleep patterns, adjust to the new light levels in the morning and night. Usually I just get used to it, then DST comes into effect, and I get sent into a tailspin all over again.

Today was no exception. I woke up around 6 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was drowsy, so I just stayed in bed until my alarm went off. Copious amounts of caffeine (only in the morning) will get me through this. I just wish there was something I could do to alleviate the sleeping bit.

What a weekend! Amazing. I highly recommend Point No Point to anyone wanting to get away from it all.

Friday we dropped Yoshi off, and made the lovely drive out there, stopping at the 17 Mile Pub for dinner. Yummy! While driving out to the resort, we encountered a bit of snow mixed in with the rain! Crazy. I began to wonder if maybe we would wake up Saturday to find a covering of snow on the ground.

After checking in, we took our stuff from the truck down to our cabin. Wow. What a nice cabin. It was a one room deal with a deck over looking the ocean which was 75 feet below (their measurement not mine). On the deck was a nice sized hot tub! We could hear the waves crashing onto the beach below. The floors were a beautiful hard wood, the bed quite comfortable. The thing that struck me most was how private it was. There were large windows facing the ocean, but no windows on the side of the cabin. From the deck you couldn’t see the next cabin (unless you leaned way out over the railing). Quickly we stowed our stuff, got changed, and had a very relaxing hot tub session. It was quite serene sitting in the warm tub, with waves crashing in the background, under a clear moonlit night.

Here are all the pics, read on for the rest of what we did.

After we got out of the tub, we started a fire and played some Scrabble. Later I stepped outside to take a couple pictures from the deck.

I didn’t really sleep all that well Friday night. I am a city boy with very poor sleep patterns. Any strange sounds tend to keep me awake until all hours of the night. Strange as it may sound, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach (I absolutely love that sound), kept me awake until all hours of the morning. Aaargh, the waves were tormenting me.

Saturday morning, after being awake for what seemed like most of the night, I got up and made some breakfast. Mmmmm, Eggs Benedict! After we ate, we sat in front of the large window, and played another game of Scrabble. The lamp right by the table was plugged in the outlet in the floor. I had noticed that I could see bare copper wires as I guess some previous guests had hit the plug while moving the table, and this had scraped off some of the protective plastic coating. While Sue was moving the table, she also bumped the plug. Unfortunately for us this caused some freaky arcing, and sent a couple of sparks flying across the floor! It scared the crap out of both of us.

When heading out for a walk to explore the trails we stopped in at the front desk to mention it to them. They sent someone down right away to fix it.

We explored all the trails on their property, and stopped in at their beach house to check it out. It was peaceful to sit in the chairs, under cover from the light sprinkling of rain, overlooking small waves lapping the shore inside the small cove. Serene. One trail lead to a small point. The only way to get there is over the bridge that was built on top of a felled log. It was a little scary crossing, but gave a magnificent view of the coastline. While walking back across the bridge I was watching the surf and noticed a large piece of kelp getting tossed around in the waves that were crashing into a tiny fjord. It dawned on me that the kelp was moving on its own. When the next wave receded, it stood up and started to walk away. I had spotted an otter, and it had lunch in its mouth (a small fish). I called Sue back, and we looked at the creature through my SLR camera that just happened to have my 135mm lens on it. Very cool. It trundled off after a couple seconds, and you could mark its progress up the hillside by watching the plants wave back and forth.

After our walk we headed into Jordan River to see if we could track down some tea for Sue. Instead we got a couple hot chocolates and went across the road to watch the surfers and kayakers play in the water. I snapped a few shots here to end my first roll of the weekend.

Once back at our cabin we made some excellent shrimp sandwiches for lunch. While Sue napped I headed out to the trails again to take some more pictures. This time, at the same point where we saw the otter, I watched a seal chowing down on a large meal while a seagull looked on waiting for scraps. I watched for a long time, and every once in a while the seal would finish the chunk he was working on, dive below the surface for a few seconds, and when it reappeared, it had more food.

When Sue was done her nap we played another game of Scrabble, then several games of Yahtzee. Something got messed up in my mind though, and I kept calling Yahtzee Scrabble. It must have had something to do with the fact we were rolling the dice into the Scrabble box. That must be it. We (more specifically I) ended up playing games until we were almost late for our dinner reservation. You see, Point No Point also has a wonderful restaurant. More on that at a later time.

After dinner, we started another fire to heat up the cabin before we went for another soak in the tub. I stocked the fireplace, and was all set to have a roaring fire. When I struck the match, a piece of the flaming sulfur broke off, and stuck to my finger! Ow! It is the weirdest burn I have ever received. There is a small part of flesh that is slightly discolored, and feels a little plastic like. As soon as I could, I ran it under cold water, so it didn’t hurt too much. The hot tub Saturday night was a different experience too. It was raining as we sat there. No moonlight this time, but we still had the waves crashing on the beach. I gave Sue the seat under cover while I sat in the rain. I actually found it quite refreshing having cold rain drops falling on me while I was sitting there. After we got out of the tub we played some more Yahtzee, then headed for bed. I slept much better Saturday night.

Sunday we both slept in, ate breakfast (not as decadent), played some more games, cleaned up and checked out. We couldn’t spring Yoshi until 6 so we went home, rented a movie, got some refreshments, and watched Runaway Jury.

In all it was an excellent weekend. Very relaxing, very enjoyable. It was great for Sue and I to get away together, with no distractions, or dependants. If you are looking for someplace to go on Vancouver Island that is quiet, private, yet comfortable, I would consider Point No Point. I am sure Sue and I will go back some day.

Soon Sue and I leave for our weekend away. We are heading out of town, just the two of us. We are staying in a cabin mere feet from the ocean. They are located on the southern edge of Vancouver Island, and with the recent weather, the seas should be pretty rockin!

Yoshi is going to his own resort (Thetis Lake Boarding Kennel), and Aphro gets the shack to herself.

Aaaaaah, relaxation.

Last night a bunch of us descended onto Shane’s house to play Downhill Domination. I had read a bunch of reviews, and heard some mountain bikers thought on the game. It seemed that “gamers” didn’t enjoy the game play or the flow, but the mountain bikers did.

I fall into the latter category. It was a fun, challenging game with plenty of opportunities for carnage. On the different tracks there was all sorts of natural and man made jumps. The powerups definitely helpd get you down the course in one piece.

There are some downfalls to the game. Sometimes I found it difficult to discern which features were rock faces, and which ones were jumps. The characters make a nice sounding splat when they hit a rock face, instead of the nice jump I was expecting. The thing that bugged me is one of the power ups was a temporary speed boost. When your player hits it, they sometimes take off so fast and unexpectedly that they are difficult to control. Many times I got the boost, then missed the next corner, and splatted myself into a rock face.

Things I liked: graphics were pretty good, the courses were extremely varied, the riders and bikes were names I could recognize (for the most part), and the tricks weren’t too off the wall (besides dropping off a jump and falling for seeral seconds, only to have the bike suspension soak it all up ;)).

All we played was 2 player mode. I can imagine that single player has the standard unlock tracks, strengthen character, improve equipment as you progress.

Very fun game. I am going to look into getting a copy I think.

I should not be allowed to have toys that can be upgraded!

Today I went downtown to Broad St Camera’s to pick up a cable release. A simple little $11 item. I thought I would check out their lenses while I was there. I noticed a huuuuge 300 mm that was $949. Yikes. I asked about zoom lenses. All they had was a 28-80 mm. I saw a lens that caught my eye, but the price tag looked a little steep ($350). The clerk told me it was a 135mm. Hmm, that would complement my setup nicely. I asked how much it was, and braced for the worst. $35

:jawdrop:

I’ll take it.

Now I have a 28mm, a 50mm, and a 135 mm for my Yashica. Nice. I can’t wait to play with it.

The weekend trip was good. Friday night we grabbed the 7pm ferry, just barely. We were going to stop and pick up some dinner before getting on the ferry, but after checking out the lineup, we opted to head straight to the ferry. We got very lucky. After us, there was only 4 more cars let on. If we had waited any longer at the restaurant, we would have missed the ferry. The rest of the evening was no big deal.

Yoshi simply cannot sleep in the same bedroom as us. We keep trying it, and he ends up keeping me awake all night. We know that he is more restless if he has access to us. Anyway, Saturday morning I got up at 6 because I just couldn’t sleep any more with a pacing dog nudging my face with a cold wet nose. I got up and read for a bit.

When Sue got up, we headed out for our appointment in Squamish. After that was complete, we zipped back to Vancouver to meet some friends for lunch. We were going to go to the Red Onion, but it was too crowded, so we walked down the street to the Ginger and Garlic. Mmmm, what a feast. The menu situation was a little strange though. They handed out at least 3 different menus to everyone. There was a daily specials menu, a today’s specials menu, their regular menu, and I think one more. Their regular menu had a whole bunch of different sections to it too (Malaysian, Eastern, Western). All the food we ordered was excellent, and it was fun catching up with everyone.

After lunch we headed to Kits beach for a little stroll, and some picture taking too. It was such a beautiful day. I couldn’t believe the amount of people out on the beach in February (apologies to the East Coasters right now).

Next Sue and I headed to Erin’s place to catch up with him and Christine. It was great to catch up with them. Erin and I have the kind of friendship where we may not talk to one another for a while, but when we do get together, we do a total catch up, then repeat. Well, it seems that way to me anyway. Feel free to chime in Erin 🙂 We left Erin’s fairly late and made the trek from Kits all the way back to Langley.

Sunday morning, after sleeping in, I went and did a bit of shopping, including getting a bit more dog food (we save approx $15 a bag by getting it in Langley). Sue and I then visited a friend of hers, the booted out to the ferry.

We thought we were being smart but getting to the ferry terminal at 4:10 for the 5 ferry. As we paid the lady told us that the earliest we will get on is the 6 pm! :O Crap! I sat and read for a while, then I wandered around the terminal taking pictures. When our ferry landed I meandered back to the truck to wait for our turn to load. To the ferry workers credit when there is heavy traffic, they try to cram as many cars on as possible. We were the last ones on the top deck, and to get into my spot I had to squeeze my truck into a space with only a few inches on either side. Thankfully the narrowest spot was the entrance, so once we were parked, there was lots of room to open the doors. I haven’t worked through my pics yet, so expect them later tonight or tomorrow (later for the film ones).