Monthly Archives: October 2007

October…’d!

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Well, that was a ridiculously quick month…

As we march ever onwards towards the months where snow and ice dominate the landscape, the weather has definitely taken a turn for the “worse”. There is much more of a bite in the air, and I need to keep reminding myself that 7 degrees in October is nowhere near the same thing as 7 degrees in July. Snow fell (and stayed) on my path for the first time earlier this week, but by this morning it was down to isolated patches that manage to avoid the sun enough to remain a solid.

While I struggle to accept that long pants, gloves and long sleeves are now required equipment for the morning commute, I have to say that this has been a most productive and enjoyable month of riding. In fact, I’d even go so far as to call it one of the best months since I got my bike. The colors of fall were spectacular, the bike is humming along (almost time for a pre-winter tune up), I feel great physically, I only got caught in really ugly weather once, and many more miles were put on the bike.

This morning I decided to take a picture of one part of my commute that makes me happy I don’t drive to work every day:

their road vs mine
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Samurai

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At first glance the game seems pretty simple… you place tiles of various types and values on a board shaped like Japan (a board that expands with the number of people playing) to try and capture pieces representing the three houses – High Hats (ruling), Buddha (religion), and Rice (peasant). It looks like survive in reverse, how hard can it be?

Once you start playing you realize that it isn’t as straightforward as you thought. Almost every tile played impacts 2 pieces at the same time, and with limited real estate mistakes can be costly. You can only change out one tile (using the swap tile) in the entire game…and some pieces can’t be changed at all once they are played. Opposing players can mess with your perfectly laid plan and swap out the game piece at the last second, leaving you wondering why you didn’t act sooner to capture what may turn out to be that all important piece. Pieces that wind up being tied don’t count towards the end result.
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grumble grumble

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If I had a dollar for every time I said to myself “I wish I had my camera” when I am out and about, I’d have a tidy little retirement fund all set up.

This morning is a perfect example… nobody around for as far as the eye can see, relatively unspoiled snow, the black path cutting through the lower left portion of the frame, trees holding just enough snowfall to create the contrast of light and dark, and a perfectly golden sunrise peeking through all of ths as I ride along the river in to work today.

I really don’t know why I don’t carry it with me more often, because the images I wanted to capture now exist only in my head…. and with a mind like a steel sieve they don’t last for very long.

ah well, one day I will learn and pack it in with my work clothes when I am commuting, or part of the wallet-phone-keys mantra I say every time I leave the house to make sure I didn’t forget the “essentials”.

Gay Wizards!!! What the Fawkes!?!

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Poor JK Rowling, she has not failed us, she has failed herself.

If she wanted Dumbledore’s character to be either homosexual or heterosexual, there needs to be a little more of something in the texts to support it. If she was hoping to make some kind of great point of social commentary with this recently released news, she has failed horribly. As a person, we all well know that I couldn’t care less what the Headmaster’s (heehee) sexuality is but as a former English Major (that was a lifetime ago!) I cannot disregard the lack of facts supporting either direction and so Dumbledore’s sexuality remains nothing but hearsay to me. And I like the fact that he is an enigma. Loose ends are ok by me.

The news here.

Brings a whole new meaning to the term magic satchel.

“We’re not saying the signs were completely obvious, but a little effort could have easily unscrambled “Albus Dumbledore” to read “Male bods rule, bud!” – from http://flixer.com/

I wanted to put comparison links to a “sexy male wizard” and “ sexy female wizard” but I won’t even tell you what the first few pages of Google results are like when you enter in “sexy gay male wizard costume”!

Oh, and don’t forget to get your shirt “to celebrate your inability to turn off your gaydar while reading a children’s book.”

I put on my robe and wizard hat…

Vacation – planning stages

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Last week I got my passport in the mail, making my tentative vacation plans just a little bit more real.

To break it down as clearly as possible (because I tend to ramble from time to time):

Who? just me (anyone want to join me? :D )

What? 5 weeks outside of the country I call home.

Where? New Zealand… plus ;)

When? late February to the end of March 2008.

Why? Because I can, and because I haven’t taken a real vacation since Jesus was a baby. :)

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Fish Tales

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Better late than never… well, VERY late in this case… but still…

Spent the better part of 5 days on and around Vancouver Island last month with my dad, uncle and brother. It was another of our Mostly Annual Fishing Escapades, and this was probably the most eventful one yet! It may also be the last on the Pacific, but we’ll see how things go next year…

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hmmm

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I am confused.

Late Saturday evening I come back into the room that contains my computer and all the electronic gadgets that go with it, and I seriously expect to see flames shooting out of something because the stench of burning plastic was overwhelming. It proceeded to get stronger while I was in here (it seemed like 2 new “waves” of burnt smell came along) shutting stuff off and pulling the plug on absolutely everything, so my mind is telling me once I check everything out I will find a melted blob that used to be something useful.

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