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Nothing scheduled until the afternoon, so much of the day was free — freedom to wander the white sands of the beach, freedom to do nothing. Walking was a challenge — too hot and too humid to get far, so I inevitably ended up in the water.
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There are times and places when you don’t want to discover that you don’t have a valid passport. Two days before flying to a conference for work is one of them. Fortunately, in theory, Canadians don’t NEED a valid passport to get into the United States — (but I’m sure if we pawn off another Celine Dion on them, the rules will get tightened up) — a passport just makes things easier. Continue Reading »

Travelling for work this weekend, heading down to Hollywood, Florida for a conference. (Yeah, I was as surpised as you are about Hollywood being in Florida.)

In preparation, checked the Hollywood FL weather forecast and discovered why people must winter in (and retire in) Florida. Wow, its warm. Especially for a Canuck that is settling in to a (much belated!) season of hockey, it’ll definitely be a change of pace.

I’m bringing at least one loud Hawaiian shirt (maybe two), and my pair of shorts that I can hike up almost to my nipples. So I’ll fit right in, I’m sure.

Apparently the only major weather system of note (other than the forecasted thundershowers) has a name that made me giggle. She’s currently Tropical Depression Tammy. Maybe I’ll bring Prozac. Or recommend booze.

Fall has officially started in Vancouver.

It’s the first big, significant dump of rain since the last day of summer. Woke up this morning to the pitter patter of rain on the rooftop, to heavy rain warnings on the radio.

And I decided to bike. The biking is a lot like the driving, I’m sure — its a lot slower and a lot more cautious, the puddles are still a lot of fun to ride through. Hopefully cyclists didn’t have as many accidents as the drivers seemed to have today (based on what we heard on the radio), although at least once poor schmuck was reported as having run into a parked car.

Maybe it was a quickly opened door. Or maybe it was a matter of ‘brakes, they don’t work so good in the rain….’

Last nite, after a pefectly pleasant evening of Vij’s dinner, wonderful company and lots of wine, 24601 and I woke to the sound of cats growling – which is not exactly the most pleasant sound to be woken up to. However, things got extremely surreal when we found Jake and one of the neighbourhood cats squaring off underneath our bed. We’re still not sure how the other cat got there (was he there all evening or did he jump in from one of the windows, and if so, how?), but those are things not normally pondered at quarter to two in the morning! Uh! I think we’ll need a nap this afternoon!

The wife and I returned from our vacation today. Yes, I said today — thats Monday. We actually departed on Sunday morning and travelled quite casually down the east coast of Vancouver Island, with SlantyOD and IrishKate.

When we reached the ferry terminal at 5:45PM, however, we parted ways. We were obliged to queue, as we had not made reservations, assuming that the traffic on a non-holiday Sunday would be quite tolerable. This was not the case. We waited in line as three ferry sailings came (and went), our car an ant crawling under the late afternoon sun, traversing the several block long sprawl towards the gates of the ferry terminal. We were three cars away from making the third sailing but were not let on.

Were it not for the crackers given to us by SlantyByMarriage, I could well have not been telling this story — I might have gnawed my limbs off in hunger. Were it not for the incredible patience of my wife, I could also well have not been telling this story — you would probably be able to find my watery grave somewhere near the Departure Bay (hah, what an irony) ferry terminal.

We boarded the ferry at 11:15PM and arrived home at around 2AM on Monday.

Lesson learned, never again!!!

(Oh, we swore many times for a fixed link to Vancouver Island. A quick read of the government study seems to indicate “its never been done before”, so I think it best that we make reservations in the future.)

(If you’re still reading this, you could check out these beautiful BC Ferries. You’ll have to scroll down a wee bit.)

Well, the wife and I are now on vacation — off to the hopefully peaceful land in the east. Or at least, it’ll be peaceful once we escape the clutches of BC Ferries.

My sister is housesitting — I reckon it’ll be one of the first times that she’s been responsible (like really responsible) for a dwelling place. That, and she’ll be responsible for the cat.

Hopefully she’ll be able to keep the website up, the plants alive and the cat affectionate — Cya in a week.

Just finished an ulty double header in the hottest weather we’ve seen all summer.

Of course, running and doing any strenous activity is against the recommendations of Canadian Blood Services after you’ve given a pint of blood… Which I also did today.

My line for the evening was: “If I faint, tell my wife I love her.”

The beer also tastes particularly good this evening, and maybe its hitting a little harder than normal.

Peace out.