Six months

Time goes by.

Time goes bye.

Glenmore underpass

Drove along glenmore where it dips down to go under elbow drive and macleod... The walls by the road have large fish designs on them. I wonder what people stuck in that area as it got flooded in the mega rain storm thought of that.

Conflict

Just discovered a cousin's wedding is on the same weekend as kelowna dragonboat festival. I've been to it every year I've been in dragonboat, and I love it every time, it's a pretty big deal for me. But a wedding's pretty important too, even if it's not one of your closest cousins.

Sitting by the fire

In the back yard. It's been so long since I've sat by a fire (outdoors). Years. Kindof weird to notice things that were so normal have now become so rare and uncommon. Heard a few fireworks go off. Canada day next weekend. US independence day right after that... used to sometimes be in the US camping during that time, a couple years we were in Walla Walla. I remembered something I did back then... regarding a girl I liked. I used to be so lame back then. I guess I still am, but not as much. The difference being I know it now. I think that's the main problem, is not being lame or stupid or whatever, but knowing that you are. Though perhaps at that point, the issue becomes to just accept it and not care. Lisa, the point of moby dick is: be yourself.

Realised it's not quite true, there was a bit of a bonfire on a beach in costa rica near a bar where we sat for a while. Prior to that, also a bonfire on a beach, wreck beach, at the end of Explore. Wasn't down there too long. On the way back up, got to pretend to be a knight again and escorted Phanny (and her injured knee) up the stairs. What men really want.

Dragonboat today, was a bit windy for steering, but nothing too exciting (just a bit cold). Went into the lanes to see how they look from a steers point of view. During a start, the boat had much more power and I went a bit off track. As we came in to dock, Jay decided we should veer away from dock and do a u-turn, made things a little messy, but ended up fine of course. Guess it'll be a few weeks before I steer again. I think I need some experience in 'real-world' situations, where there are other boats, waves/wind, and some power and continuous paddling (instead of just 20 hits at a time). Maybe sometime should get more involved with the team / coaching / calling stuff, but I don't feel part of this team anyways and actually don't feel much interest to be. Hard for me to feel like buddies with the parents crowd. (though some of them could be fun I'm sure)

Friday

Wore shorts to work today. Pushing the 'casual friday' concept. I don't know if anyone cares. I don't. Exciting, huh?

Put in my application for another position at intermap that I decided I want. But it's more electrical than geo, so we'll see what happens. Actually, response is fast and danger. It said "I would kill to have two or three with your experience for other positions in the Calgary offices..." I guess that's flattering. But, it also kindof sounds like "no" for the job I was applying to.

Got some good stuff lined up for the weekend... I came across "Multiplication Rap" (a "Rock 'n' Learn" production) on DVD at the library, that should be awesome. The cover has a picture of a white dude with a backwards baseball cap, and a black kid, so you know it's gonna be good.

Also took out "The Zen of Oz", spiritual lessons from over the rainbow. I thought it might be the same author as "The Tao of Pooh" and "The Te of Piglet". But it's not.

Welcome to Summer

(officially)

Haven't been up to much... Last friday I got my cousin and a couple of his friends to join me to go hang out at a pub and listen to Fraid Knot... but everyone seemed tired from the work week and the intermission was too long so people started heading home early (11-something). Weekend spent in furniture stores... real shopping is so exhausting. Sunday afternoon only a few people showed up to dragonboat so it had to be cancelled (it was raining but not too bad). Work week pretty standard... came in extra early to run some errands... I like it actually, the air is fresher and there's less traffic etc. Fresh air smell makes me think of... that's right, hiking. Esp nighthikes. Don't know what I'm up to on weekends, might be out of town the next three weekends... Maybe edmonton this weekend (though we didn't discuss it), maybe hiking/camping next weekend (though it's possession date), and lethbridge dragonboat the following weekend (though I discovered only few people I know / cool people are there, it seems largely the "parents" team). But maybe I'll end up staying here for all three.

Uber-geeky

Just saw this and had to post it:

There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.

Distinct image

Had this very distinct image in my mind tonight, but couldn't figure out where it was from. Something to do with moving forwards (eg. x direction), then flipping upside down (eg. rotate about x-axis), then continuing the flip to be right side up again. Something fairly difficult to do for beginners. Seemed to think it was something to do with swimming. But why would I rotate upside down then continue rotating after some point? It's not that flippy-turn thing some people do at the end. So, maybe it was something I'd seen on TV or in a video game. Maybe needed to rotate a jet or spacecraft upside down to go through something, then continue? No, not that. But it had to be something where you (or the object) has more width/length than height. So you'd be lying on your stomach maybe. If you were standing up it wouldn't make sense... unless you ran forwards onto a spear that impaled you through the belly, then rotated about it to stand on your hands, then continue rotating to be right side up as you run off the other end (handle) of the spear. (That was an awesome image!) Finally figured it out... it's from surfing! I think for passing through a wave as you're lying on the board swimming out into the ocean. Anyways, once I realised it, it makes me want to go try surfing again (not to try that manoeuver, just to stand and surf).

Also was considering sailing lessons... something we actually can do in calgary! Anyone else interested?

Service

Shaw came and looked at our modem, confirmed it was dead, and gave us a new one. that's right, gave (as in free), even though it was a purchased modem not a rented one that died. Shaw continues to tower over the competition when it comes to service.

Unfortunately, let us discover that the router also got damaged.

It's nice to have internet at home again. Kindof sad how reliant we become on it... Little things like checking some prices, looking up a recipe, finding a phone number in my email, etc.

Sunday and Monday

Dragonboat steering again went pretty well. Jay was coaching and made me go under the Moyie's docking bridge, which actually wasn't bad. One of Jay's main tips was that I need to be louder. I'm probably the only person Jay can actually say that to! Like last week, in bed at night again I felt like I was still rocking in the boat. Discovered I had an orange sticky star on the top of my foot, don't know how that got there.

Steered Monday too since the regular guy was away. Another beautiful evening. Too focussed most of the time to interact with the paddlers, but it was definitely more fun being on a boat with several friends and other young people than on the 'parents' boat.

Shouldn't really spend so much time with dragonboat though, got other stuff (shopping!) that needs to get done. By the way Enmax has a 7c/kWH rate on right now, 5 yr contract though you can bail out any time without penalty. Seems like an amazing deal to me. (DirectEnergy wants 10.9c/kWH for 5 yr contract. Regulated rates is about 8.3c/kWH, and this is one of the lower months). Admin and other costs seem similar. I haven't looked into detail at comparing 'green' alternatives (though greenmax seems reasonable) or at natural gas prices (though they seem comparable between providers, and you always get a bonus for bundling)

City Chase

Another great city chase day. Though I think it wasn't quite as fun as last year. But we performed better!

The scavenger hunt items seemed less difficult. One took us quite near my office, so I grabbed/produced a few more items from the office. As we left a couple officemates were arriving, wondering what the heck we were doing! After getting the clue sheet, we solved a few and called sheldon for some more info. We tried to go to an old fire station, but it was the wrong place. So we did the next closest thing... the calgary tower. Yup, start the day with 802 stairs. I like it, I wish I could do that more often, make it part of a daily exercise routine or something. Went over to mewata armouries, but it looked and sounded like there was a big lineup, and that was our downfall last year, so we just ditched it. Did the little trivia task at GAP adventures in kensington, then hopped a train to university to drop off another puzzle sheet and read some lines to a play. Felt sorry for the person manning the booth, was only one there, and then although we were the first in the room, the several teams who were also on the train came right behind, and she was kindof overwhelmed, trying to mark trivia and listen to people. I'm sure people cheated and said they read the lines even if they didn't. Actually I think in general the event didn't have enough volunteers this year. Headed back downtown, and decided to stay on the train to do some putting golf and blackjack at stampede casino. We won easily and quick (if only it was like that with real money). Jogged to talisman since it was nearby, made our 5 shots from the 3-point line (took a little while, and apparently I was the only one to wear sunglasses doing it) and were on our way again. Back into downtown via victoria park c-train, but just missed a whitehorn train. So we changed our plan of which points to hit, and did some little rafting on the elbow river by fort calgary, and then did some frisbee on St Georges island (instead of some bowling and climbing in the NE which I know Jay had been looking forward to). Continued across the island to bridgeland c-train, where it was a fair wait before the train came to take us to our one final destination, rundle community centre. Everyone was tired by this point, didn't see many people running anymore. Searched an area for the rubber ducky with our number, walked back to the train, waited a long time, and took it back downtown to cross the finish line at eau claire.

Overall, the events seemed less challenging, less time consuming and perhaps less creative than last year. And undermanned as I mentioned. Seemed to have mostly big-name sponsors who just wanted to have a banner at the start finish line, not the smaller sponsors who gave you free stuff like Propel vitamin water stations at a few challenges which had been quite good last year.

Although we were seemed more disorganized at the beginning, we finished in much less time and completed all 10 challenges this year. Mostly because of not waiting at mewata, but also cause the challenges were generally quicker. Hung out with Carol/Simon and Ellen/Bonnie at the finish line. Saw Jason in a tuxedo, then Nam, and discovered Nam was getting married that day. Congrats! Had dinner with Sheldon, Jay, and Carol. Up until that point I was still feeling pretty good, but after eating, I was suddenly super-exhausted. Went home, showered, and collapsed into a chair and stared at the TV for an hour. After that I was pretty good again. And it was still so early in the evening, wanted to do something but don't know who I can call up. Went for a walk cause I still wanted a jugo juice. Discovered my body was still capable of jogging if I wanted it to, which surprised me. Back home, think I'll go to bed now even though it's still pretty early.

Other funny/silly stuff: Debating with Jay over the weather (rain/lack of rain). Carol trying to bug us about flirting. And, me leaving the tags on my shirt.

Additional casualties

besides the cable modem...
RIP one answering machine (though the phone connected to it was fine)
RIP two telephones

Haunted house

That was one of the nastiest storms I've seen. I was out, trying to go to dragonboat practice (stupid huh?) but eventually headed home as the roads were flooding and I wasn't going to make it anyways. Got my car washed by a fire truck zooming through foot-deep water. The semi-flooded intersections seemed to be starting to drain already on my way back, but traffic was backing up even more. Got home, and my parents were downstairs, and called up to ask if I had had my desktop on. I hadn't. I went downstairs and discovered it was on. Apparently my dad had gone down to check that my laptop was unplugged since there'd been some big nearby strikes (it was). While he was downstairs, there was one so bright and loud he figured it hit an alley telephone post, or perhaps a tree across the alley. He thought he saw sparks from something in the room, but it might have been a reflection. Meanwhile, upstairs my mom had jumped out of her chair with the startling bang, and found herself listening to a couple little battery-operated music box things on the shelf that had turned themselves on. I guess the vibration had rattled it enough for the contacts to hit? She went downstairs to join my dad, and a moment later they heard a beep, and discovered that my desktop computer had just turned itself on. How creepy is that? I got home a minute after that while they were still downstairs, received the question, and went downstairs to see what was up. So we unplugged it all, and went back upstairs. Only to discover my dad's super-old stereo had turned itself on since I had gone downstairs. It was really weird. We also discovered the phones were dead. It reminded me of some kind of scary movie. Anyways, nothing else turned itself on, and eventually the storm passed.

Damage report... Things seem to mostly be okay. Except for the cable modem. It's lights suggest it can communicate with the internet, but it can't connect to any computer (I believe modem's ethernet port is dead). Oh well, I guess there are more valuable things that could have gotten fried. We figure the jolt entered via cable (which explains why the computer and the stereo got affected despite surge protectors) so it makes sense that the cable modem was the most likely casualty. Oh, we found a small water leak in our house too.

More Assorted

After dragonboat sunday, laying in bed, I could still feel the sway of the boat, it was neat. The same as if you've been on rides at the stampede during the day, or jumping on a trampoline, and still feel those once you're lying in bed at night.

Been sleeping with the window open the past several nights now that it's been warm. I really like having the window open. I'm not sure why specifically, if it's the fresh air, or some extra feeling of freedom, or what.

I got the watt-meter from the public library, and have been testing some things around the house. Of course things like the kettle and toaster are major power hogs (1500 W), but they're only on for a couple minutes at a time. Probably same with microwave. The fridge was less power hungry than I thought, averaged ~55 watts. The deep-freezer uses more (avg ~160 W), but it's pretty ancient. Wanted to test the washing machine, but haven't yet. Same with dishwasher, though we rarely use it. Can't check the clothes dryer or stove since they use 220 V, but I bet they use a lot. I'm not sure what else would significantly contribute to the overall power consumption. My laptop is about 30 W idle, 105 W for heavy processing. The small kitchen TV was about 30 W when on. Haven't tested the bigger TVs. Any other suggestions?

Overall though, electricity is cheap. Perhaps too cheap. Maybe if prices got jacked up, it would encourage people to be more efficient.

Arrr me hearty

We all know that pirates wear eye patches. But apparently it's not because pirates all have a certain clumsiness when it comes to sharp pointy things and their eyes. It's actually for night vision. Be in a bright place and go somewhere dark quickly, and you're blind for a couple minutes. If one eye is covered by a patch and the rods are fresh, go somewhere dark and slide the patch across to reveal your 'dark' eye, and see just fine. Cool, huh?

Also concerning pirates, a new reality series called pirate master started up. The challenge was kindof cool, had to paddle up a river, hike to a clue, paddle somewhere else, sabotage the other team, and find the treasure. But overall it didn't seem that great. But it has pirates so I'll give it another chance.

Also concerning pirates, went to the 'asian night market' at olympic plaza sat night. Well, it's canada, so not much pirated stuff. And actually, it wasn't much of a market, just a few assorted booths. (I expected more since it's a one-time event). And it wasn't even that asian, they had some guy singing in chinese when I arrived, but then the rest of the evening had some ordinary band playing which happened to have an asian person in it. But I guess there were a fair number of asians there. And it got the 'night' part right, provided you went there late enough. At least I ran into a couple small groups of people I knew and invited myself to hang out with them a while.

Went on a hike saturday. Had so many people, we split up into subgroups and changed the plans a bit, hope everyone was okay with that. Great weather and I think everyone had a good time. Though my fairly new boots were really hurting the bump thing on my right ankle, not sure why.

Dragonboat today, paddling was nice, steering the second practice was a bit hard and feel so unsteady still. Was tired after.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Entranced by Iz's ukelele version of somewhere over the rainbow (I still remember first hearing it in 2002, at the HR Macmillan Space Centre in Vancouver after watching some short educational spacey film, just sat there and listened the whole song through, and didn't hear it again for years), and watching again the scrubs wizard of oz episode, I realised though I know many elements of the story that everyone knows, I'd never actually read the book, or seen the film. So this evening, out in the warm evening air, I read it cover to cover. Quite pleasant. Anyone want to watch the film with me?

If you are reading this...

... you are invited to a home-warming party. Yes, even if you stumbled across this blog by accident (though you won't know the details). Probably on or shortly after the canada day long weekend. Details will come sometime in the future.

And I may try a roommate for a while, in case you know someone interested.