Already gone
26 August 2006 - 19:17.
Well, I leave for my camping trip tomorrow, but in my mind, I've been gone for a couple days already. Yesterday at work was virtually a total write-off for me. I couldn't focus on any task unrelated to being in the wilderness, and the concept of 'network uptime' faded as the day rolled on.
Today has been about shopping for gear though, since I can't find my own. I suspect it went elsewhere after a relationship that happened a long time ago, and that she ended up keeping the stuff. Which kinda sucks, but what can one do. But the upside is that I now have brand new equipment for most of my gear.
On a totally unrelated topic, I was at Habibi's on Broadway again last night. And while I was there, I was informed that they'll be introducing a new menu in the very near future, this time including meat items. Now personally, I don't think they need to include meat, and that's always been one of the appealing points to me about the place. Of course, only my opinion, and YMMV.
Be that as it may, they'll have meat soon, and to celebrate the new menu, they're doing an open tasting/ media launch, on Tuesday September 5th, after 6pm. All items will be available for sampling, and there is no cost. As far as I know, it's an open function - there's no guest list or anything that you need to be on.
I'm planning on attending this... anyone care to join me? Comment and let me know, and we can make plans. Of course, if we're still peckis after the fact, we can always zip into some other place in the area for mroe food - not like there's a shortage of eateries in that neighbourhood....
Prioritizing
23 August 2006 - 10:57.
Here I sit, at my computer desk at work. The phone goes off occasionally and I actually answer it, my email is on and I'm responding to emails, my helpdesk application is open and amazingly getting some of my attention. But not much.
My mind is elsewhere today and likely will be for the balance of the week. This next Sunday I'm going camping. Not just a quick 1 or 2 night trip off to some provincial park that's a 45-minute drive down the freeway (no offence), but a Real Camping Trip. We're talking about 5 nights and 6 days in the middle of Butt-Fuck, Nowhere. We're talking about 2 different ferry rides, and some 2-3 hours of driving (one way), the last 25 KM or so of which is down a forest service road that's got more holes in it than a golf ball factory has dimples.
For those who would ask why I would go to such extremes, it's really simple, in my mind at least.
- The lake in question is part of a canoe trail, which means that there are no power boats on the lake. And few things piss me off more than being awakened at 5:30 am by some inconsiderate jabroni who wants to take his buddy waterskiing behind his fucking unmuffled jetboat.
- There are no cabins on this lake, which also means that there are no late night parties, the music from which can travel across water like greased lightning.
- The isolation of the place leads to a good amount of introspection. This will be my 3rd trip to this place, and in the previous two trips (totalling about 13 nights) I've had to share the campground a grand total of 3 nights.
- The water is absolutely glassy. I'm taking my rowing shell. 'Nuff said, right?
- I live in the core of downtown Vancouver. And as much as I love it, I'm getting to the point where I need a break from the constant hustle and commotion of downtown life.
- The area is devastatingly beautiful.
I couldn't find any decent pictures of the lake onthe web that would allow me to copy to my server, and I can't find the ones I took last time. For now, you'll have to make do with this image to give you an idea of what the place is like (and yes, the water is usually that flat). I'll post my own when I get back
On Friends
16 August 2006 - 20:47.
I don't have many people in this world that I would call friends. There's Andrew, my oldest and dearest friend, whom I've known for 23 years. There's Ross and Matt. Mindy, who I haven't spoken to in years would still count, since I know I can call at 3 am, and she'd get up and come out to help me. Same for Darcy, if push came to shove. Of all the people I would truly call 'friend', Jenn is the newest. I've known her for 15 years. And of course there are a few others.
In my world, most people are acquaintances. Some are extremely good acquaintances, for whom I would do any number of things expecting nothing in return - it's not about getting stuff in return, in my world. Liking a person does not make them my friend. What makes them my friend is when they get me, and understand what makes me tick. When they understand that my exterior is just that - a shell. My friends don't have to call, but they do anyways, or they'll email. My friends have withstood the test of time when it comes to personal ethics, integrity, and honesty. (Not to imply that anyone else has been dishonest... if I know you to be dishonest, I won't have anything to do with you.)
In the past 10 years, I've met 4 people whom I thought could have become true friends. Tonight one of them walked out of my life.
But wait! There's more!
You know....
15 August 2006 - 11:38.
... that you're getting old when you're talking to your friends about laundry. And you can both go on about different facets and permutations, as well as other aspects of domesticity.
What the fuck? When in the name of all that is holy did I turn into a domestic?
Remember me?
15 August 2006 - 09:06.
Hi again. Yeah, it's me, the guy with the blog. It's been a bit, hasn't it?
I've been in Seattle for the past number of days, actually since Wednesday. I was at the US Master's National Championships, which, for those of you who don't know me, is a rowing event. For those of you who DO know me, I'm sure you already guessed. I mean, what else besides work would take me to Seattle voluntarily.
And in my infinite wisdom, I forgot my laptop's power supply in Vancouver when I left, so I couldn't even keep up with the Jones' when it came to blo0gging about what was going on. So I'll give you the 10 second rundown...
- I didn't sell any boats
- The weather was both good and bad
- The racing was fantastic
- I was up far too bloody early all 4 days of the event
- Which means I'm exhausted
So that's about it for now. I'll try to post something far more pithy later tonight
Go North, Young Man
07 August 2006 - 10:05.
Last night was the Annual Northerly Migration of the Great Musical Sex Beasts. Yeah, I know it's a fucked up name, but we don't care - we're both great (in our own minds at least), we've both got strong musical tendencies, and we're both animals in bed (even though sex is not part of the migratory equation). For those keeping score, my friend Jenn and I started doing this some 15 years ago, when we were dating, and every year since we repeat the trip, as long as I have a motorbike to ride.
Funny story to it really... I'm 4+ years older than her, which would have made me 22, and her almost 18. And it was the first time I had met her mother. So I rode to her place on my motorbike to pick her up, and her Mom is standing on the veranda looking over us from on high, as we bundled up for a September ride to Whistler. Her Mom says "You be careful with my little girl on that thing". I looked straight back at her and said "Don't worry... it's the safest thing she'll ever have between her legs". How's that for an introduction to your significant others' parent? Whereupon we got on the motorbike, and went to Whistler without really waiting for a response from her. S'okay - I'm told she didn't have one. Apparently, the woman was left speechless, which if you know Rosemary is quite something.
And this year, instead of being able to do the migration in September as we would normally, it was done in early August. Jenn is going back to Thailand at the end of this month, and I'm going to be out of town for a bunch of it, so this seemed like one of the best opportunities to make the ride. I'm glad we did - the annual migration is one of the few imperatives I hold on to, and there's always a certain sense of correctness when we get to Whistler.
Thanks for a great evening Jenn... hope you're back next summer so we can do it again.
A day at the beach
05 August 2006 - 18:36.
So I'm down at Kits beach this afternoon. It's gorgeous out; the waves are lapping at the beach, the sun is beating down without being oppressive, and there's a breeze to keep it all tempered. There are dogs playing everywhere, both in the water and on the sand. And there's a fair amount of eye candy, if ya know what I mean. And then out of the water comes this redhead in a bikini. Definitely not a supermodel, but very easy on the eyes and besides... I've always had a thing for redheads. She starts walking my way with her dog. And as she gets closer, I start looking over the form that's revealed by the beach wear. And to my disgust, what do I see?
A swath of fine red hair, rising from the bikini bottom up towards her belly button.
It's not that it was barely there, and I only saw it because she was within 2 feet of me. I could see it from 12-15 feet away. It's not that the hair was wispy and nearly invisible - it was clear as day. It's not even that it was a thin line, maybe trimmed for some sort of decorative purpose; 2 inches of hair on the middle of a woman's abdomen is rarely decorative. I busted my brain trying to think of a way to explain, justify, or rationalize what I was seeing, and I came up empty.
For the love of all things holy, if you're going to wear a bikini to the beach, spend 30 bucks and get a wax job. Buy a fucking razor, and learn to use it. Better still, teach your boyfriend to use it on you. Buy some tweezers. Anything. But for Christ's sake, keep that shit under cover.
And the worst part, she-squatch wasn't even alone - she was there with a female friend. Ladies, isn't there some sort of rule of sisterhood that says that you have to tell each other if you're doing something stupid? If not, can someone please bring it up as an agenda item at the next Lady's Union please?
Welcome back
05 August 2006 - 10:23.
So if you've made it this far, you remembered to update your bookmarks. Thanks. It'll be interesting to see how many people actually updated, as opposed to those who just followed links. I gonna keep a close eye on the log file for the old URL to see who was doing what - there are still some IP addresses that I know off by heart.
As far as the new page is concerned however, I think I managed to get all the links and references to the old site removed and/ or updated. So please, if you happen to find something which appears to be broken, please shoot me an email to let me know about it. Thanks all.
Remember When?
04 August 2006 - 11:20.
Remember that bit I mentioned a while back, about the old URL going away? It's going to happen tomorrow. Time to update your bookmarks kids.
Also, there's going to be some other testing going on, to implement a filtering firewall. You may see sporadic outages over the next few days, although I hope not.
La Vita e bella
01 August 2006 - 16:36.
The smirk is back in my smile, and the gleam in my eye is shining once again. I'm not sure what exactly caused this to happen, after my afore mentioned blue period. Part of it I'm sure is the fact that I've had a spectacular weekend.
Donna's housewarming party on Friday was a blast, and I got to see a few people that I knew peripherally, and get to know them better, which is tres kewl. I was out for movies with Sandra (whom I'd link to, but the twit has turned off her blog again). There was rowing, of course. There was sushi with Jenn on Saturday. There was the fact of getting up distressingly early on Sunday, and then sleeping until 11 am on Monday - how often do I sleep till 11 am??!!??
So what happened?
It's a good question, and not one I have a clear answer for. Maybe in my old age, my body is slowing down and spring fever has finally hit me, albeit 4 months late. Maybe it's the fact that I have an honest to goodness vacation booked, and I even know what I'll be doing with it - leaving town, going into the deep woods, and camping at a forest service campsite, and doing an absolute fuckton of rowing on the glassiest lake you've ever seen. Maybe it's the sunlight, and the abundance of vitamin D in my diet. Who knows? But then again, who really cares.........