Bummer

Saturday, 23-Sep-2006
It was a bad day yesterday...

Don't know what happened. Well, actually, yes, I do know WHAT happened; the boat decided to rest on the bottom. I don't know WHY it happened.

Night Lights

Friday, 22-Sep-2006
Rode bikes to West Cliff last night to see the Night Lights display. Here's the link to the event:

http://www.scica.org/scica2_094.htm

Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as bright as the concept pictures shown on the web site. They were strongly encouraging people to visit the exhibit without their cars, but of course, this is America, so that didn't happen. There were cars bumper to bumper all along West Cliff, and - along with creating general havoc for people on bikes or foot - it severely impacted the display. It's kind of difficult to see the beams pointing up when the whole area is drenched with car headlights.

Here's a pic that I took right near the lighthouse... my camera was sitting on the ground looking up at about 20 degrees from horizontal. It's a 15-second exposure.


Because it was a 15-second exposure, the beams actually look a little stronger than they did in person. Still, it was a very cool event. I just wish the cars stayed home...

Vancouver, cee

Sunday, 17-Sep-2006
Slept in again. Drizzly, blustery day. A fine day to meander down to the ferry dock, and sit on a boat for a couple hours. It was just misting a little, and we didn't get too wet during the mile trek to the ferry. Felt kinda good, in fact.

Hey Athens, here's some of the cars driving off the boat:

There's two cars driving off the top deck, and down below that, you can see the ramp where cars (and even trucks!) can drive on and off.

The bus ride back to downtown was much calmer without our cussing Nanaimo teens. Stayed at a motel with a hot tub (ahhhhh) near the airport Sunday night.

Monday, 18-Sep-2006
After our pancake breakfast, we headed to the airport. Got through customs, immigration, security, etc. with just about 15 minutes to relax before boarding. And then they made the announcement that the plane engines had to be tested.

Just what does that mean, anyway?

So at about the time the plane should have been pulling away from the gate with us inside, it was pulling away from the gate to go get tested. I guess the "check engine" light came on. So we got to wait for a couple extra hours. But, because of that, I got to see James Brown, and had him say, "Hey, how's it goin', big guy?" to me. I just wish that I'd said, "I feel good!"

An appropriate sentiment for a fun trip.

Vancouver, bee

Saturday, 16-Sep-2006
We really wanted to hike to the top of Mt. Benson today, so we got up at 6am, had some yogurt and oatmeal, some juice, and a handful of ibuprofen, and hit the road by 6:45.

Uhhh... right. Woke up around 8:30, made some coffee in the room, looked at a crossword puzzle for awhile, lifted arm not holding coffee to write in an answer, put crossword down, rolled over. ZZzzz. Vacation, right? At about 11am, we actually started moving towards the mountain. And by this time, we realized we had to pare down the hike to just Westwood Ridge instead. Not really the major trek that we'd been thinking about, but probably the wiser thing to do even if we HAD gotten going at 6:45. (Eh??? I can't hear you because my joints are creaking too loudly.)

We were hiking around the lake, and heard a little rustling near then side of the trial... Athens, can you find anything here in the grass?


Okay, so that's really not that great a picture, but I thought Athens might like playing hide and seek. Well, seek anyway; he could hide, but I'm not sure the snake would ever find him.

[Okay, so after looking at this again, I realize the snake is harder to see than I first thought. If you didn't see it, check this:Personally, I think it would be more considerate of the snake to be outlined in turquoise in the wild; it would certainly make it easier to see when walking along.]

We kept hiking and started getting to some really steep sections. The trails weren't very well marked, so we decided to make sure we'd be able to find our way back at a few of the forks in the trail:

Here, Vanna, is indicating that the way home is down to the right behind lovely tree #2.


We kept winding up the ridge, and expecting the top to be just around the next bend, and we'd get around the next bend, and ... there would almost be a great view. But just around the next bend, I'm SURE that we'll be there. This went on for bend after bend. After bend.

After bend.

And then finally... we made it. Well worth the perserverance!

That's Westwood lake in the foreground (well, Marc, those are actually trees in the foreground, but just beyond them is the lake), and then the city of Nanaimo back there. Downtown is to the right where you can just barely see a tall building sticking out beyond the trees above the very right end of the lake (just a little white smudge). The big body of water (past the lake, Marc) is the Strait of Georgia, and then way back there in the distance is mainland BC.

Lynne was so excited, that she was jumping all over the place; I mean really, you try to take one nice picture of the view, and she just gets all over it...

We sat here and had lunch, (pb and honey sandwiches, apples, chocolate), and discussed the important things in life, like what we were going to have for dinner. Cheeseburgers seemed the likely choice. Sitting here at the top, we really felt like we were actually (finally) on vacation.

Headed down to make sure that we didn't miss the last bus of the day, showered back at the motel, and headed downtown in search of the burger joint that Lynne had seen from the bus window. Didn't dress up, 'cause, let's face it, it's a burger joint. Uhhh, well, not exactly a burger joint, as it turns out. It's a gourmet burger joint. But what the heck, we're hungry, we're in front of a restaurant that sells burgers, we don't know where another one might be... we go in.

Do you remember the scene in Pulp Fiction where Travolta and Thurman are at the restaurant, and Uma orders a milkshake? Travolta says (probably inaccurately quoted here), "You just ordered a 5-dollar shake?!?" Well, I have now had the cheeseburger equivalent. And just as Travolta seemingly decided that the 5-dollar shake may have been worth the money, I think that he may have decided (perhaps you should sit down now) that my 17-dollar burger was worth it. Yes, granted, it was 17 dollars Canadien, but that still puts it over $15US. But hey, it came with a salad. And you know, I think I would have been willing to pay another $5. Officially it was a bacon, cheddar, mushroom burger. It came on a large plate; half of which was covered with the organic salad, and the other half looked like a hamburger bun resting on top of a 4-inch high stack of grilled mushrooms. Seriously, without some serious excavation, you couldn't see that there was even a burger on the plate. The mushrooms alone would have been a filling meal. Split a piece of cheesecake for dessert... great meal. Mmmm.

So much for taking the bus home... after stuffing ourselves, it was definitely time for another walk. And boy, did we pass out that night.

Vancouver, eh

Lynne and I went to Vancouver area last weekend. Specifically, Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

You can see Nanaimo over there to the left of the V in Vancouver.



After getting bumped from our flight while returning from Sheri and Meghan's wedding last year, we each had a $300 travel voucher that expired on 19 September. We quickly made reservations to the furthest place we could get under $300. Hellloooo Vancouver. $297 each including all taxes.

Friday, 15-Sep-2006
Flew out of SFO at 0730. Arrived in Vancouver, and jumped on a bus downtown where we had to change busses to get to the ferry. Really enjoyed the bus ride from downtown Vancouver to the ferry terminal. We got to share the bus with about thirty 15-18 year old island punks that had just been to see the Chili Peppers the night before in Vancouver. Did I say punks? Oh, sorry that was rude. I should have said obnoxious jerk loud inconsiderate (and many other words that my mother clearly wouldn't approve of) punks. Really, and it's not just that I'm old now. Some of them were so loud and obnoxious that even some of the obnoxious punks were embarrassed by them. The had all the seats of the bus filled, while many older folks (even older than me!) had to stand, they said f*** every other word very loud, and ... oh god, I am old aren't I? But really, I was never like that, and none of my friends, well, except for Steve maybe, were like that as teens.

Sheesh! So anyway, we took the ferry that follows the dashed line that goes along above "Vancouver" in that map up there (one end in Nanaimo, and the other at that "101" box), and got into Nanaimo about 2pm. Here's the ferry docking at Horseshoe Bay:

I think if you consult Athens, you'll find that this ferry can carry up to 362 cars on two decks.

Kind of interesting. Got on a plane in the early morning, grabbed a bus in the late morning, jumped a ferry at noon, walked a mile, and were reclining comfortably in a motel 1000 miles away by early afternoon.

Got some food and walked down to the "seawalk" which is basically a path that winds along the waterfront to downtown. Some cool boathouses:

Liked the green door, and the bright yellow barge.

A bit further along here's the view from a bench looking out at the harbor:

Okay, so it's actually a view OF the bench looking out at the harbor. But still nice.

We hit perfect weather- it was gorgeous on Friday and Saturday. Sunday morning it was a bit blustery and sprinkley when we walked back to the ferry.

More Vancouver to follow (oh boy, you say...).

Not Modesto

Monday. 1500 hours. Moss Landing, Ca.

My truck is back to the coast.

Just went out to Modesto this morning and retrieved it. The battery was stolen (they cut the cables, too, so they had to be replaced), and they took the faceplate to my stereo, but didn't take the stereo. Hmmm... now it's useless to both of us.

They left an empty gas can in the back with a funnel. They left several lottery scratcher tickets. And they left baby food packages (one full) in the cab of the truck. So the truck was stolen and used in an "armed home invasion", and all the while, they've got this infant in the cab. Wonderful.

And now, there's rust all over it. Oh wait, that was there already.

Modesto

Okay, so I got a call from Sgt. Steele of the Modesto police today. They found it. In Modesto. I couldn't believe it.

Hmmm, perhaps I better back up a bit, eh?

Here's the view from my kitchen window.


See it? It's right there in front of that black car. No, no, no, ... not the grey car. It's really quite obvious if you look closely. Right there in front of the black car is the distinct lack of my truck. Ahh, yes, see it now? I thought so.

On Sunday morning last, the lack of my truck wasn't there. And then on Monday morning, I woke up, looked out the window, and noticed that the lack of my truck had shown up... completely out of the blue! Anyway, I hadn't put the lack of my truck there, and so I called the police, and let them know that someone had just made the lack of my truck appear over night. They saw it immediately, but I guess that's the policing mind for you.

So back to the beginning of my story... the Modesto police found my stolen truck. It had apparently been used in an armed robbery in Modesto. They took my truck! They had guns in it, and used them (and my truck) to rob somone! But worst of all, the scum that stole it were - get this - SMOKING IN MY TRUCK!! Phuqueurs!! (That's french.)

Hmmm. Pardon my french, I suppose.

Anyway... for those of you who knew that my truck was stolen, I just wanted you to know that it has been found, and now I need to find some way to get it back from Modesto.

For those of you who didn't know that my truck was stolen (that would be most of you), I just wanted you to know that my truck was stolen. (I guess now you should go back and read that previous paragraph.)

It's funny; I really haven't been that upset about it. I think because I've just been too ... surprised maybe? Like, "Wow, I actually have to call the police, and report Grand Theft Auto??" Not something that I've done too many times this month. But somehow, now that it's been found, it really pisses me off. And actually, though I was joking up there, it is somewhat because of the smoking. That little fact just drove home the point that someone violated my space, and did something that I don't allow: they were smoking in my truck. Sounds kind of silly when the other thing that the did in my truck is carry guns and stolen property, but that's not as "real" to me, so I can't really wrap my thoughts around it as well. But the smoking...

"Wow, LA sure is a big place."
"LA? This is Modesto."

Hanging bikes

One for Dad...

Keep meaning to show you a picture of the bikes hanging in the garage. Here you go:



Thanks for helping on the higher anchors! (I guess I've stopped growing, eh?) And Marc, no fair making "short" comments when I bring it up first. You neither, Mom.

The rest of the garage is perfectly clean, and I can park my car in there now. Well, maybe not "perfectly" clean. And by car, I don't mean a real car; I mean more like one of Athens's cars. (Okay, fine, those wouldn't fit either... so what?)