I’m not happy with myself lately.
I live alone in Vancouver. My fiancé lives in Houston and is trying to recover from the disaster of Harvey. So she will not be coming soon. In 2016 I saw her lots. This year I think I’ve seen her for a total of five weeks. I talk with her everyday, but it isn’t the same.
Being in a long distance relationship is putting me in a bad position. The fact that I’ve moved here from Edmonton has made it worse.
In Edmonton, I had friends and a social network. I saw them a couple of times a week.
Since I’ve moved, I don’t go out. I don’t see anyone outside of work. Since I have a fiancé, I even have an excuse to not go out to bars that I never wanted to go to in the first place. I am becoming a hermit. With the new running program, I don’t even have the run group I used to see on Wednesday and Sunday. It wasn’t much but it was something.
I’ve lost all social outlets.
And with it, my social graces. When my family visited last weekend, I was not great. I don’t know if I was tired or stressed, but I was not in a good mood and I took it out on them at times. I did the actions to give them a good time, but my personality prevented them from truly enjoying it.
Part of me thinks it is because I haven’t seen them in so long that I am not used to my mother getting old. I think of her as having as much energy as I do and expected her to keep up with me. But let’s be honest, I’m a bad person to be around now.
I’d like to be better, but I don’t feel motivated to socialize.
And even if my fiancé comes back, forcing me to accommodate someone else in my life, I fear the damage has been done. This apartment is feeling like my place, and not our place. She will be a guest in my house. It won’t be her home. And I’ll have gotten stuck in my rut, and will be resentful of anyone trying to change it.
Hopefully acknowledging the problem will help stop it from getting worse.

This weekend my mother and sister came to visit me in Vancouver. So “Operation: Exhaustion” began on Friday night.
I picked them up from the airport and immediately took them out to sushi. They were tired after the flight so I let them go to bed afterwards.
On Saturday, I did my morning run and then grabbed a dozen fresh croissants for them to have for breakfast. Then we used the Aquabus to go to Granville Island. Apparently dogs travel for free as someone brought four dogs the size of great Danes onboard. We hit the Public Market first. It is an interesting place to go, but it is crowded and the fruits there are too expensive. I don’t think we actually purchased anything. We then wandered around the island for a bit.
In the children’s section, my sister convinced me to do the 3D virtual reality simulator together. Two roller-coasters. The first roller-coaster experience was the best; you went on a track that clearly did not have enough support and whirled through simulacrum of famous monuments; the Statue of Liberty was much more endowed than usual. The second experience was very similar to “The Beast” that I rode at the fairgrounds a couple of months ago. The scenery didn’t change much so it wasn’t as entertaining. But it did bring me back to memories of the Beast, which made it more scary. But the interesting part was that if you closed your eyes, you realized that there were no G-forces at work and your chair was just shaking a bit. The visual element is very necessary.
We then took the Aquabus back and I took them to “Provence Marineside” for a classy lunch. I let them take a nap, and then we went off to Sunset Beach for some ocean. My mother enjoyed herself, but she felt that the boats that were leaving through False Creek were making it smelly.
For dinner I took them to “Legendary Noodle” and they REALLY enjoyed that. My mother doesn’t even like pasta. She got some dumplings and declared them the best she had had ever had.
On Sunday, we drove to Third Beach in Stanley Park. I left them to enjoy the water while I did my morning run, in the forest for a change. That helped a lot on such a hot day. I then changed and joined them in the water where my sister and I swam out to the buoy and then back.
From there we crossed the Lionsgate Bridge and drove towards Squamish. We didn’t get there and stopped off at Horseshoe Bay where we had a lunch at a fish and chips place. Then we watched the water in the harbour and saw the ferries leave. We drove a bit more around the area to see some sights. I would like to try and get to Squamish one day, but I will need companions with more energy. I took them home and we watched a movie before going to dinner at “The Flying Pig”. They have a great pork roast on Sundays.
On Monday, we took it more easy. I ran in the morning and then we went to a waffle place for breakfast. “Le Petite Belge” was higher rated, but the waffles were too light. I think I preferred “Waffle Bant” which isn’t reviewed with high marks. We investigated a mall that would be air conditioned, ate lunch, and then went to the cruise ship terminal. There was a Disney Cruise Line ship there. It was enormous. You don’t really grasp how big those ships are until you walk next to them. We relaxed in the area for awhile and then returned home to watch another movie. Then the public demanded that we go back to “Legendary Noodle” for another dinner.
From there we watched the sunset on the beach.
This morning I put them on the subway to the airport and they got home safely.

There are not more impressive stellar phenomena in my opinion. (Other than ones that end civilization.) Unfortunately, it requires a full solar eclipse. A partial doesn’t cut it. With a full, the sun is completely gone, and I am lucky to have experienced that in Winnipeg in 1979. 38 years ago. I barely remember it. I certainly don’t remember wearing special glasses.
With a partial, the sun does not look any different. It is still the big glowing ball of fire in the sky. Only with special glasses can you directly see that anything is different. Indirectly, you can see that the things around you aren’t lit up as much as usual. It has all the appearances of early dusk, but the sun is still high in the sky.
I had thought about making a run for the border and going to Oregon to see the full Monty. But I kept hearing about the crowds of people thinking the same. There is no way I would have found a place to stay. And the traffic back would have been obscene. So I stayed in Vancouver, and did my job. Not very exciting, but that is what is needed to keep the world going.
But it was a nice experience to go to the roof of work, borrow glasses and pinhole cameras and see that there was something funny going on with the sun.

My knee has been hurting since I moved to Vancouver. It may have happened when lifting heavy boxes during the move. Or it may have happened when I had to jerk out of the way of a caterpillar drifting down into my run path. I’ve tried numerous strategies to get it to feel better. I tried giving up running for a month or so during the “winter” but it didn’t seem to help.
When I finally got my BC Health in order, I went to a physical therapist. Luckily, he didn’t seem to discourage me from running. He gave me exercises to do. It helped a bit, but my knee still hurts.
Yesterday he decided that more drastic actions needed to be taken. Well, drastic from my perspective.
Instead of my 2-3 runs a week, I need to run every day. However, my distance is now capped at 5km. I can increase by 10% every week though.
The plan is that by doing a reasonable amount consistently, my body can get used to running and still do the healing. Activity does help the process. Too much activity or no activity hurts the process.
I think he decided to do this to me because I ran 33km on Sunday.
So, today I started trying to run every day. Before breakfast I went out and hit the pavement. My big problem is that there aren’t that many options around here for 5km routes. That really is true of any place though; 5km is not enough distance to have variety. But I do have options, mostly seawall based.
I’m going to try and keep this going by giving myself the challenge to find something interesting to see each day. I’ve been practicing this for awhile, but I haven’t written down or spoken of what I’ve seen or done. That changes today.
It started off well. I think I ran through the set of Deadpool 2. I can’t be sure, but the overturned car and rubble did paint a picture.

Yesterday I performed a successful vacation for Steph. Remember, I only consider it a success if the recipient is totally exhausted by the end.
I did let us sleep in, and took people out for Belgian Waffles at a cozy place near the library. Although we had bubble waffles, so not technically Belgian, but I think these were better.
After that, we drove off to Golden Ears park for a hike. I chose this one because it did not involve a mountain. As much as I like those, with the haze from the fires, the view would not be worth the effort to climb higher. And if you are already dealing with oxygen deprivation, particulate matter will not help. So, with that and the heat, I concentrated on a hike that stayed within the trees next to Gold Creek.
We started at Gold Creek parking lot and found a park ranger to pump for information. He confirmed our plan to start with the West Canyon trail.
I had a map, but it was a little confusing for me. I’m so used to ultramarathon distances with a scale that lets you run for days; it felt wrong to be walking and seeing landmarks come quickly. it also, unfortunately, did not indicate elevation. The park ranger was young, so I think his description of it being a flat trail was borne of youth and not experience.
It wasn’t too bad until we followed his recommendation to go down to the Lower Falls. It was beautiful, and worth the trip, and a great place to have a lunch. But afterwards we had to climb back to where we were, and then keep going up around Edge Peak. It culminated at a point-of-interest called the “Gold Creek Lookout”. After that it was downhill, to the aforementioned creek where we crossed a bridge to the other side.
Due to scheduling and lack-of-motivations for ascending more, we didn’t go to Alder Flats. Maybe next time.
The trip back, starting on East Canyon trail, on the other side had one hill, and then we went down to the Lower Falls on the other side. Still beautiful. There were lots of people there swimming or jumping off rocks. Steph was not pleased about that.
After that we took the Lower Falls Trail back to the parking lot. It was flat, and people were tired by then. Conversation was almost non-existent. In all it was about 12.5km of hiking, taking around six hours.
We then drove Steph to the airport where she had a safe flight home.

We were supposed to go to Well Grey Park in the interior, but the heat and smoke from B.C. burning made us decide to stay in the lower mainland. It was a good choice because parts of the park got closed off due to the threat of more fire. We still wanted to do outdoor activities, so on the advice of a coworker, we went to Widgeon falls yesterday.
It involved getting up earlier than any sane person just so that we could get to Pitt Lake in time to rent a canoe. I would like to say it was a beautiful day, and it may have been, but the smoke was making everything hazy. It felt like we were going through a fog on the drive there. We had to get there early before all the canoes were gone, and even through we got there three minutes after they opened, there was already a line. Steph and Catalina took the opportunity to go blackberry picking while I waited in line. They were still somewhat tart.
Catalina and I paddled, while Steph acted as ballast. She had the important job of taking pictures, which is a very valuable service. We crossed the Pitt river towards Widgeon creek, and I think we encountered a sea lion on the way. It may have been an otter, which would have been more plausible, but I don’t think otters get that big.
Widgeon creek’s mouth was through a marsh. We took our time so we could avoid the crowds of other canoes. (Including one who had installed an electric motor to their’s.) The canoe rental place seemed specifically designed for this route. We followed the twists and turns and it was thoroughly enjoyable. We saw a lot of herons, and I think some were posing for us. The haze from the fire meant the mountains weren’t as visible, and prevented any postcard picture opportunities. But the haze also gave some nice depths to the mountains we saw.
After an hour and half of paddling through the creek, with the way getting shallower and tighter all the time, we came upon the campsite that was our destination. We dragged our canoe out of the water and continued on the trail on foot.
It was a beautiful hike, of a bit more than three kiometers. Mossy trees and so much green. The orange sun from the smoke was actually making everything look more vibrant than ever. Especially when the light came through the trees.
At one point there was a lovely view of the river, and some people had set up their chairs there. Oddly, one was reading a 2nd edition D&D manual, preparing for the game.
We eventually got to the falls. They were beautiful. Loads of people though. I would like to come on a weekday when there aren’t as many, but it was big enough that it didn’t feel too crowded. It did make the photos less glorious because there was always someone in the view.
We ate our lunch of Subway sandwiches, then soaked in the cold water for awhile. We didn’t go in far because there was a big current that wanted to push you. From that we found someone’s prescription sunglasses. We did not find the owner though.
Eventually, we had to head back.
We stopped off again at the D&D clearing for a snack break. I decided, with encouragement, to try swimming in the area. There weren’t any people, and it looked calm and deep. It was a little difficult to enter, but it felt so refreshing. The water was so clear it was hard to judge where it was.
When we got back to the canoe and started paddling back, we discovered the effect of being on a tidal lake. According to Wikipedia, there is a three foot tidal range on the lake. And from our experience, that included Widgeon creek. Where before we easily guided our canoe through the water, now the water was almost gone. I had to get out and pull the canoe about four times. At one point the water was only a small trickle that was the the equivalent of a garden hose. Widgeon Falls water spreads out in the marsh and it doesn’t all go through the same creek we were using.
We were back around 5:30, and drove home. We stopped off at a couple of places to buy fresh produce. Purchased blackberries were a lot sweeter. Did you know you can get 10lbs of blueberries for $20? I do now. Also, Siri could do better with directions.
In celebration, we went to the Keg for dinner and then went out to see the fireworks from the Burrard bridge.

It has been a wild weekend that, of course, I’m only now writing about it. Since what-happens-in-the-weekend-stays-in-the-weekend I will spare you some of the details. Needless to say, a bunch of friends from out of town were here and there was a lot of late night partying.
On Saturday, a couple of us went to a beach. We discovered that a beach (Sunset Beach) that is nearer to where I live is not as busy as I suspected. I usually go to Third Beach. In addition, the water is clearer. Unfortunately, I applied sunscreen before I went into the water, and a lot of it came off. So, while I enjoyed sunning myself in the pleasant summer sun, I paid for it later. We were able to get Catalina in up to her neck; that is a major accomplishment.
On Sunday, the highlight was going on a boat cruise. I enjoy expeditions where it is enforced that if you aren’t there on time, we leave without you. Even it means watching a friend from Edmonton, literally, miss the boat by one metre. It was really warm while we were in the harbour, but once we got going the breeze off the sea was very pleasant. And it is a nice change to see Vancouver from a different angle.
The boat went out into English Bay and went around a few of the big cargo ships before heading back. It was only a three hour cruise. (Ominous.) The view was great and with the haze from the fires, the mountains looked spectacular. The smoke is really coming in these days, so I can’t see the mountains any more.
On Monday, I took the day off and we went to Wreck Beach. Famous for various reasons. The place was rather crowded, but a nice atmosphere. Except for the one drunk guy who decided to yell at all of his friends. For hours. It was also thick with hippies. Some friends specifically moved their blanket because they couldn’t stand one that was playing his guitar constantly. I didn’t hear it, so I suspect he wasn’t as good as he thought he was.
The water was nice and I was able to get Catalina in again, and she even went underwater.
We stayed late enough that we even got to see the sun set. It was beautiful. I’ve been spoiled by Winnipeg though; say what you will about Manitoba, but it has had the best sunsets ever. The puffy clouds make them gorgeous, and the sea has yet to compare.

My company had a summer party at Playland today. That is a permanent amusement park in Vancouver. I hadn’t been to one in over a decade; I think I went to K-days once, but I don’t recall going on any rides. I didn’t think Edmonton had a permanent amusement park until someone pointed out West Edmonton Mall.
In any case, the company was allowed to go in an hour before general admission, so there would be no lineups. This would be a huge opportunity, so I shouldn’t waste it.
I did research beforehand to try and figure out the rides I should go on. Watch some videos, read some reviews. That was a mistake. All it did was make me realize that I don’t like thrill rides. I was getting anxiety attacks. Thankfully I forgot most of it by the time I got to the park. (Hey, I used the Vancouver bus system for the first time since I moved here.)
It was a great day to go. It was cloudy with a constant threat of a light rain. So the park would not be too crowded. It sprinkled a few times, but nothing bad.
When I got into the park, I said hello to the director. I asked her what ride she would recommend: The Beast. Great! No lineups; near the entrance; I was on it before I had a chance to see what it was really like. If I had seen it in operation I would probably have never gotten near it.
This is a ride that I feel was saying “Where are your laws of physics now?” You aren’t supposed to accelerate upwards when swinging on a pendulum. I spent most of the time concentrating on breathing without hyper-ventilating.
Afterwards I followed a co-worker to The Corkscrew. Another ride I got on without actually paying attention to it. It was a roller coaster; how bad could it be? In fact, while it was climbing up the lift hill I was looking back at The Beast, wondering how I got on that. So I didn’t notice how high we were going. And that I was going to be upside down until I was about to be. But a roller coaster feels safer because you feel solidly connected to something, and if you are weightless, there is something beneath you. Heck, we went on twice in a row.
With that, we went to the Atmosfear. Once again I wasn’t paying attention; I was following someone I knew. It was just one of those rides where you are in hanging chairs and it spins everyone in a circle. Basically a faster merry-go-round where you are suspended by chains. It was only when it was too late that I noticed that we were going up higher than I expected. Yes, the tall tower it was attached to didn’t really click in. (Who really looks up?) The worst part is that you cannot grab tightly onto something solid; you are attached by chains. This time I got through it by just focused on the ground.
I think that I didn’t sleep enough the night before because I was not paying attention to what I was doing.
The final ride I went on was the Wooden Roller Coaster. Roller coasters seem to be about the level I can handle. The rickety wooden ones make it a rougher ride though. The hills were sharp, and I made the mistake of trying to force myself to stay in my seat. It tensed me up and I think I got a bit of whiplash at one point. You aren’t going to fly out, so relaxing is better.
That was my last thrill ride. I woke up enough by then to stop myself from doing dumb things. I only went on the ferris wheel to calm down.
I did notice that the rides are the same as everywhere. I have seen these exact same rides in other cities, in other countries, in other continents. It makes sense; if you are a manufacturer of amusement park rides, you would design a good ride and sell it multiple times. Economies of scale. But I’ve even seen these same ones in traveling shows. I think the wooden roller coaster is the only unique one. (Oldest one in Canada.) You can also figure out how old the rides are by how they are advertised. I’m pretty sure the one covered in breakdancers is from the ’80’s. The one featuring Baywatch is probably from the ’90’s.
They also have the idea of gateway rides. These are rides that are mini-versions of the main attractions. So little kids can get used to them before going on the big ones. It’s a good idea.
There was a barbecue afterwards, then I had some cotton candy and a candy apple before I decided to walk home.

I’ve gotten lax in my cooking skills. I have a series of recipes I follow and I haven’t added to my repertoire in awhile. So last weekend I worked on improving that.
The biggest problem is trying to figure out something I want to eat. It’s like going to a restaurant I’ve been to before. I know what I like so I constantly order the same thing. Why risk an experiment? Eventually though you should see if you like something else.
Going to restaurants actually gives you an idea of other things you may like so it is a good source of inspiration.
On Sunday, my inspiration was Chinese lemon chicken.
Online I found a few recipes. A key ingredient needed was lemon curd. I was not properly organized for this; if I had researched a bit harder, I would have probably been able to find it in a grocery store, among the jams. But, I found a recipe that seemed good. So, with my big bag of lemons I spent about an hour making the lemon curd. The recipe claims it will take 15 minutes, but I think that is if you have some minion who has prepped all the ingredients for you already.
Truth be told, it tastes a lot like lemon meringue pie. Which it probably is.
The next time I make it, I think I will use less sugar to make it more tart. And less pie-like.
The recipe for the actual Chinese lemon chicken was from the same site. The advantage of this one, was that it didn’t need to be deep fried. I was actually thinking I would be able to use my Actifry to do the frying without using enormous amounts of oil, but it looks like I didn’t have to.
The end result was a good meal, but it wasn’t exactly as I wanted. The chicken was not crispy. Not surprising, since it was stir-fried instead of deep. ”Jeanette” has a way to make crispy chicken in an Actifry so I may experiment next time with that method. In the meantime, I still have about a litre of lemon curd still, so the hard part is already done.

On Saturday, I was in Edmonton, visiting friends, and we decided to go to Pembina River Tubing. Great idea!
My advice:

• Bring Beth along. Her willingness is optional, but you must bring her. She has river rafts that are much nicer than the ones rented by the company. And apparently, they cost as much to buy as it was to rent the small tubes that you would normally ride around in.
• Bring two cars. The bus that the company uses to ferry people is often crowded with lines, and you have to sign a waiver to use it. Which means you have to wait in line with all the other plebs. It is better to leave a car waiting for you at the end to ferry you and your friends back to the start.
• Bring food. It is great to just float on the river, munching away.

Looking at this advice, it seems designed to prevent giving the company any money.
In any case, it was one of the hottest days of the year. If I had gone with the original plan, I would have been running the Sinister 7 instead. That plan was abandoned months ago when I just wasn’t training enough. It seems to have worked out for me.
I wish I could have taken pictures, but it was on the water. I wouldn’t have trusted a camera to survive.

On Canada Day I did absolutely nothing. Didn’t see fireworks. Didn’t have pancake breakfasts. It was wonderful.
The previous day I did do a lot of something; I drove from Vancouver back to Alberta. I had barely driven my car in the last nine months, never needing to fill it up with gas, and suddenly I do a road trip where I need to fill it up twice. I did a half day at work and then began driving at around noon.
I started out nervous as I was worried I wouldn’t have enough gas to get out of Vancouver proper and to where gas is cheaper (they have some added gas tax in the city.) But I got to Abbotsford successfully and my stress dropped.
I knew I would be having a difficult drive with the long weekend traffic, but I forgot about how bad Vancouver drivers are at driving. They have a great mass-transit system and wonderful bike trails, so they never have any experience when they actually have to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. This was never more evident than on the road to Hope.
It took about three hours to get the 153 km there. I kept getting stopped in traffic jams. And every time, the road was completely clear. Usually there was a single car, pulled off to the side, representing the initial cause of the jam, and fast movement afterwards. I’m guessing that a car not moving scares the Vancouver people and they slow down in panic.
The last jam had a camper trailer upside down on the side of the road. That didn’t look healthy, but there were people removing furniture from the inside, so I guess no one got hurt. But after the long jam that led to it, there was clear sailing for the rest of the trip.
I was able to get all the way to Revelstoke before I stopped. I have a mixed relationship with that town. I know, from experience, that it has the highest gas prices on the route, but it is also conveniently located for stopping for a meal and gas.
The rest of the way to Priddis was without incident, except that my iPhone ran out of power and I couldn’t listen to my stories anymore. That also causes additional worry; I know the route to drive, but if you are unsure there is no way to check. Do you think I have a paper map in my car anymore?

Today is a bit of an anniversary. It was nine months ago that I first moved to Vancouver. It is hard to believe that I’ve been here that long.
My job has been getting better. There was a steep learning curve when I first arrived, but I’ve been getting more proficient with the language, the product and the architecture. I actually feel productive on most days. My development is also a lot more old school. In previous jobs we had a lot of tools to help make programming easier; the computer could give lots of hints to help you along the way. Now I’m developing without any of those tools. And learning a lot more Unix command line.
My running has certainly not improved. Since I arrived my left knee has been bothering me. I didn’t see a doctor about it because it took me a long time to get BC health to acknowledge me. I’m now seeing a physical therapist and doing some exercises. I’m running more often, because the therapist recommends it; running only twice a week meant my body got shocked when I did run. I’ve added two 5km runs to my weekly schedule. I’m also doing more barefoot/Vibram running now, because it forces me to do a more forefoot strike, which will be easier on my knee. I would like to try and do the Grouse Grind again. (Nature’s stair master.)
I’m continuing to enjoy downtown living. I would like to own some real-estate here so I can get on the property bubble, but I’m learning that the landed gentry does not like newcomers. Also, no one owns downtown; they all have to rent. Too expensive. Generally, if you want to make conversation with anyone in Vancouver, talk about real estate prices. It’s the same as other provinces talking about the weather.
Because I live downtown, I have barely used my car. I have taken it for servicing more often than I’ve filled it up with gas. Mainly because I haven’t needed to fill it up yet. And I needed to get an out-of-province inspection to use it here. It is in for servicing right now because I’m planning to take a road trip to visit family next week, so I thought I better make sure it still runs.
The big thing I miss is my social support network. I only have a few friends, and they are all ones that previously lived in Edmonton. I have co-workers that I have lunch with, but that is about it. I have a run group, but not really anyone I see often. Due to how this city is setup, my friends all live far away, so I don’t see them that often. I miss having a social gathering twice a week; friday feast and movie night.
I need to do more to connect with the friends I left in Edmonton.

The day after the lovely mountain hike, we went for a walk to Stanley park. And here is where I got to do something that I couldn’t do in Edmonton: We went to the beach. By foot.
Of course, on a beautiful holiday Monday, the beach was packed with people. Fortunately, it was Third Beach, the furthest from downtown. So, it was possible to get a small patch of beach to put our stuff. Then I did my standard practice of changing under a towel, and I was ready.
The water was cold, but not nearly as cold as the lake the previous day. My feet did not go numb. And after awhile, I got used to it enough that I could actually go swimming.
Really, this beach was better than some I’ve gone to in the Caribbean. It was sandy, and there weren’t sharp rocks in the water. It wasn’t as warm as a tropical beach, but I’m Canadian and that doesn’t bother me.
I will see if I can go again. I’m also intrigued by “Wreck Beach” which I’m told has more privacy.

It is a beautiful long weekend in Vancouver. Additionally, it is the first nice days here in months.
Now that I have someone to hang out with again, we decided to go do a hike. There is a website called Vancouver Trails that describes all sorts of hiking trails in the area. They even, conveniently, had a blog entry on May Long Weekend Hikes. Great!
So, I decided we should do the Sendero Diez Vistas trail. As advertised, it should have great views. It was only an hour away, which made it the furthest I’ve driven in Vancouver since I arrived. I think I might be coming close to the time where I need to fill my car up with more gas. But I think I can survive another month. That would make it nine months since I arrived.
The trail is around Buntzen Lake, which is managed by BC Hydro. It’s technically a reservoir. Unfortunately it is also a popular beach. Going into the park was a bit of a conga line of cars. As soon as I saw the overflow parking, I ducked in and found/made a parking spot for myself. I figured the main lot would be impossible, and we weren’t even heading in that direction. Once we started, it did take us a bit of time and wrong direction to find the trail head.
We crossed a floating bridge in a marshy area and then started climbing up. That wasn’t too bad. I don’t mind upward climbs, but they do have an unfortunate after-effect known as the downward climb/plummet. It took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the first view, and it was glorious. I don’t think I got good pictures from any view; it was very bright with some hazy clouds. Not conducive to good photography. They still look impressive.
Two hours in we got to the second view, and it was packed with dozens of people. The problem with the view points was that it caused people to bunch together. We still got a nice spot to sit and eat lunch and watch. This was the best view of the whole trip with views of all of Vancouver, far in the distance. You could almost see all of Stanley park, but the tip was hidden by the foothills of Mount Seymour. The ocean inlet of Indian Arm was there to see.
Five minutes after leaving, there was another view point, with no people. I guess everyone had stopped for lunch at the previous because it had been the first spot after a long time. If we had kept going, we would have had more privacy.
After that, we continued along. The views were never quite as good. And some were just not there anymore because the trees had decided that they deserved to see it more than the hikers. When we got more into the forest it was another level of beauty. I liked seeing the moss covered rock walls and undulating terrain. It looked like a great place for a fashion shoot, but I would not want to have to deal with trying to get diva-like models up there.
Of course the downhill came. Steep too. I had not brought poles, but I should have. It wasn’t a serious problem not having them, but it did not help my injured knee. But if I paid attention to my injured I probably wouldn’t have even gone out.
Towards the north end, the hills stopped and we turned back to the lake. We rested at a pumping house and ate again before continuing. After we crossed a suspension bridge we got to North Beach. I had prepared for this; hauling swimsuit and towel with me the entire way. This beach was a five kilometre hike from anything, so it wasn’t crowded, although there were people. (And a pushy goose.) I thought it would be nice to take a swim there to refresh. Ha ha. After testing the waters out with a quick wade, I was reminded that I live in Canada where the lakes are begat by glaciers. It was refreshing to wade for half a minute, but that was it.
The rest of the hike back to south beach was easy. We passed over a tunnel that had been dug to Coquitlam lake that was responsible for filling the reservoir and giving the power generators their water.
South beach was still filled with a lot of people. They had a nice fenced in area where dogs were allowed to play off-leash and get into the lake. I accidentally let two escape.
Since we only had one kilometre to get to the car, I changed into my swimsuit and got into the water. I was, surprisingly, able to get Catalina in as well. Up past her knees too. The freezing cold water was good for our joints after the hike. I did do my best to impress her by doing a bit of swimming. Refreshing!
After that, a quick walk back to the car and home. The initial plan had been to go out for a nice steak dinner, but pizza seemed like a better idea when we got home.

A long time ago, back in my days growing up in Winnipeg, I purchased a game called Pax Imperia. It was a 4X game devoted to taking over the galaxy. What was cool about it was the level of detail in ship design. You could tweak the design of weapons, shields, and engines in very specific ways.
One of my proudest achievements in the game was that I could design weapons that were very good at maximum range and utterly useless at short range. I then put it on ships with very good speed. This was a devastating combination. Enemy ships would try to move to a closer range, and I would do my best to keep just the right distance between us. My weapons would rip them to shreds, while their close-combat weapons would never get the chance.
The fact that the empty spaces between stars were not just something you pass through, but a place you could send ships helped with this. I could choose to approach enemy stars in the form of a phalanx of ships. I was unstoppable.
This strategy collapsed when my ships were in an enemy star system and they suddenly built new ships. These ships appeared within the dead spot of my weapons. I couldn’t move away fast enough and my ships were destroyed. It was still a good strategy.
I’m sorry I never finished the game. There were other problems with it such that it didn’t keep my interest. That, and I had school.

Last Christmas, I was exploring the USS Lexington and saw the scale model of the “Dreadnought”. I did research on this ship afterwards. It was a major innovation in battleships, and all ships afterwards were referred to as Dreadnoughts. It brought a lot of new ideas to ship combat. A key point was the “All-big-gun” idea. Previously, battleships would have a range of weapons for varying distances. This was in keeping with the prevailing theory of naval combat that battles would initially be fought at some distance, but the ships would then approach to close range for the final blows, when the shorter-range, faster-firing guns would prove most useful.
The innovation was to just use big guns, which were easier to target and did more damage. Battleships never seemed to get into close combat, so focus on doing what you are good at.
That sounds familiar.
So, I’m a little proud of myself. I had, independently, figured out the same idea that changed modern warfare forever.

Today I ran the furthest I have in over a year. Due to injuries that keep happening, I haven’t had a distance that is comparable to a marathon in quite some time. While it has been nice to do short runs that don’t ruin an entire weekend, there is something missing in my life. But today I had had enough. My broken toe is better and the Running Room group was doing 29km.
It was also beautiful weather. We finally had some blue sky. Towards the middle part, after climbing enough hills, I was given great views of the surrounding mountains. With all the rain here, I hadn’t seem them in so long I forgot this place even had them.
I also saw a fairly impressive car crash. It happened right in front of me. Hard enough that a minivan got shoved sideways through a stop sign and into the bushes. I’m really going to double-down on my theory that the people here can’t drive. There was no blood and no need for medical evacuation, but those vehicles are not going anywhere soon.
And I got to end the morning by hitting a croissant place and grabbing a bunch for an after-run snack.

Today was the day that Catalina was supposed to arrive back in Vancouver.
Unfortunately, life happened. Her job needed her to stay in Houston for a bit longer.
I have known of this development for about a week now. Initially I was upset, but that passed. Actually, I think what irritated me the most is that a plan was made and agreed upon, and then it wasn’t. That might be my autistic tendencies rearing their ugly head. I was not excited about Catalina coming, so I had no emotional skin in the game.
And for the record, that is not as horrible as it sounds. I do not get excited about anything. I look forward to things and anticipate their arrival, but excitement is not an emotion that I am familiar with.
After the initial upset-ness had passed, I’ve just been trying to be supportive of her. It’s not her fault and it would do no one any good to make things harder for her.

I enjoy looking at maps. Especially topography. There is a warm spot in my heart for waterways. When I generate artificial maps I usually try and guess where canals would be best placed. Meandering rivers also intrigue me.
I grew up in Winnipeg where there is a distinct lack of terrain variation. What it does have is the pedigree of being a young land. Thousands of years ago, Manitoba, and really most of the Canadian prairies were covered by Lake Agassiz. So every waterway was formed after the lake drained away about ten thousand years ago. Rivers at this stage of their life are meandering as they are still trying to find their way. Eventually their twists and turns become so great that they make shortcuts for themselves and the remains form oxbow lakes.
I’ve always wanted to see if I could do that myself. Would it be possible to find an exaggerated meander and dig into it and create an artificial shortcut. Wouldn’t it be cool to dig a channel right here:

The river would rush through it and expand it quickly and soon enough the river would use that new course and an oxbow river would form.
I would have effectively stolen a river.
That’s how super villains like Leonardo da Vinci and Machiavelli roll.
I suppose you could “pretend” it was for the greater good; with a more efficient channel, the river would flow faster and start cutting a deeper valley, making the area less prone to flooding. Winnipeg does have a bit of a problem with that.
Of course, in my imagination, I keep in the realm of the possible and I think of doing that with little streams.
Today, I was looking over maps (I find it relaxing. Don’t judge me!) I happened to find someone who has done exactly that!

This person has stolen a river! There are clear channels that have been artificially created, forming oxbow lakes from where the river previously went.
Sir, you have my respect!

I should cover my trip to Houston in more detail.
It was great to see Catalina again, except we were both too tired to really take advantage of each other. She had just come back from Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and was behind in sleep. I had stayed up far too late and gotten up too early for my flight to be effective. We actually napped our first afternoon together. Her mother had also surprised me with a huge lunch, so there was some digestion happening.
The weather was fairly nice for the first part of the week, and I was able to use the pool a bit. It was quite a bit more pleasant than around Christmas. That early part was generally low-key and I did a lot of relaxing.
The latter part of the week was wild parties with friends. We stayed at a hotel and attended grand galas with great conversation. It was nice to see the old friends from all over the world. There was free alcohol that I felt no need to drink.
Unfortunately the weather turned so the pool party was cancelled. It moved indoors, but barbecue hamburgers aren’t as nice in a hotel hallway. (In their defence, it was a BIG hallway.)
My flight home was fairly straightforward. Except my luggage didn’t make it. This is something that has happened numerous times and while I am not happy about it, I understand it and it doesn’t make me angry. What does make me angry is that with all of the technology that the airline has, they don’t bother to let me know. Instead I have to wait at a luggage carousel until I get suspicious and check with baggage services. The airline has my phone number. There are many ways they could have let me know that I was able to just leave the airport and go home to bed.
The reason I don’t usually get angry is that every time the missing suitcase has arrived the next day. This time included.

I’m flying to Houston once again.
Due to recent events in the political sphere, I am less trusting of American customs. So before I left, I removed all traces of Facebook from any electronic devices i was bringing. Technically, I can only access it from my home computer. I have no need to use it on the trip so I felt it would be better to be safer that way. I probably should have disabled my phone’s fingerprint reader as well. In reality, I didn’t need to do any of that. I do not fit the profile of someone looking to make trouble. And I breezed through immigration and security.
It probably helped that I did the immigration while still in Canada. Maybe they have more Canadian sensibilities there.
I worry about the police force in America, particularly the ones in the northern states forced to arrest illegal immigrants. There was that news report where they stopped these people trying to flee the states into Canada. He was doing his job, and the refugees conveniently escaped him to sprint across the border. What must it do to his soul to suddenly be in a country that people feel the need to flee from him? I don’t see a scenario where he is the “good guy” in his story.
I do not seem to have those issues.
My flight is going well so far. The plane has not needed to make any emergency landings anywhere. (My bar for a good flight is pretty low.)
I get a good joy from being in window seats. I get to see the topography going below me. I like to try and remember interesting geography and then try and find it later on a map. On a previous trip from California I was thrilled to notice that a lake didn’t seem to have any outlets, and when I found it on Wikipedia, I was proven right.
Unfortunately/fortunately things are different now. Cell phones are no longer considered unclean, so I can take a picture and the GPS will tell me where I was. It takes some of the thrill out, but it beats drawing pictures on cocktail napkins.

I have two ways to get me through films that are painful.
I get annoyed if I am watching a movie or TV show and I see the characters do something dumb. It makes it painful to watch. I can accept them doing dumb things if it has been set up as part of their character. But when someone is carrying the idiot ball, I am not going to enjoy it.
I also have trouble letting go of tasks/missions. I want to finish things that I start. I realize the Big Bang Theory actually did an episode on this called The Closure Alternative. Closure is as descriptive a word as necessary.
If I start a book, it will annoy me if I don’t finish it. Even if it is a terrible book. Heaven help me if it is a terrible book in a series. I would like to think I’ve gotten better over the years.
The problem that I am having is that a movie may get painful from idiot ball usage, but I still feel the need to finish it. This is less of a problem with television shows than movies, because a good television show will have more time to bring up plausible reasons for things to happen, or the show will be over soon anyway. A film has to move things along quicker and doesn’t have the opportunity for character development.
I was watching a film that I expected to be bad, The Late Bloomer. I don’t mind bad films so much as long as the characters are true. The movie was predictable and I don’t mind that. Except when it decided to do predictable idiot-ball usage. Where a child gives the adult dating advice which is “be mean to the girl”. Ugh. Classic idiot-ball.
Then I had a realization. It was a predictable movie. I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew it so well, I didn’t need to watch the painful scene. I simply fast forwarded through the scene and then continued with the rest of the film. I got my needed closure and I had a better time.
My other method of getting through films is less noble. If I can see that something bad is going to happen, either because it is a suspense/horror film or because the classic arc requires a tragedy to setup the third act, I will get stressed. The solution is to quickly scan the wikipedia entry on the film at the appropriate time. It give a synopsis and knowing what bad thing will happen makes me relax a lot more.
I actually get to enjoy the film.
I think this is true for a lot of people. It’s why trailers spoil entire movies. People like to know what will happen.

I remember seeing “The Slipknot”, a fringe play by T.J. Dawe. It was so good I bought the script to it. (Which I don’t have on me because I have put it into storage.) In it he describes his life in Vancouver and the trouble he had with a van that a friend asked him to sell. It was not easy.
I am now living in Vancouver, and my car’s Alberta registration is going to expire at the end of this month. So I will need to register it in B.C. (I think I was supposed to do this within a month of arrival…) This province is picky about the cars it allows to drive here. Specifically, they need to have an “Out of Province Vehicle Inspection”. The registration place that I went to recommended a place to have that done. It’s a ten minute drive away from downtown. However, their hours are almost identical to my work hours. Which means I will probably never see them face-to-face.
On Monday I drove out to their place, dropped the car off, put the keys in the mailbox, and then walked home. The walk took about 45 minutes along a fairly major road. It gave me an opportunity to watch the locals drive.
I’m probably stereotyping here, but I don’t trust B.C. drivers. They have a wonderful mass transit system. This means that they don’t have to get behind the wheel of a car often. So they don’t get to practice as much as other Canadians do. I hear more honking horns here than I did in Edmonton. When they get a bit of snow they also tend to fall apart. Mind you, this causes icy streets that are usually inclined, so I can’t blame them too much for that.
With this lovely mass transit system, and the fact that I can walk to work, I have been wondering if I even need a car. If the car fails the inspection, it might be worth it to abandon car ownership. I could, before the month ends, do an epic drive to Calgary and sell my family my car for a buck and then take a bus home. That sounds exhausting though.
Life without a car would mean I would have to second-guess every time I want to go somewhere I used to drive to. Going to the Superstore outside the downtown would be more complicated, and would the lower prices and wider selection against the cost of the skytrain be worth it? But I’ve been hermitting a lot this winter as I’m trying to get my life organized. The lack of a social life in Vancouver also prevents me from going driving anywhere. But I should keep my options open for the future when I will want to explore the city more in summer.
The inspection failed.
It failed for the same reason TJ Dawe had trouble with his friend’s van. The windshield has cracks. “It was good enough for Alberta!” is how Mr. Dawe put it, if I remember correctly. If I had paid more attention to the play, I could have handled that issue beforehand.
All is not lost, or Alberta bound. The inspection place is having a guy come in tomorrow to replace my windshield. So I don’t need to deal with the logistics of dropping or picking up a car unnecessarily. It will cost money, but not obscene amounts. It does mean that I will actually have to see the proprietors face-to-face; the cost of the windshield is more than they can handle over the phone. I’ll probably try and get there before they open on Thursday so I can get to work at a reasonable hour.

It is interesting when XKCD has a comic that matches my resolution fairly closely.
I continually have a plan to get my inbox cleaned up. One of the better methods I’ve had, which is more prevention than a cure, is to avoid the current year.
Let me explain:
When I receive an email, my mail program doesn’t necessarily show the date that it arrived. It will say “Today” or “Yesterday” as appropriate. If it arrived two days ago, then it will show the complete date, along with the year. So my current goal is to not have the year “2017” show up as a date in my inbox.
This requires me to stay on top of my email. It has actually helped me to be more productive. Things don’t sit around. I have a software project with my father that I now have to stay on top of. Because I am keeping mentally occupied with it, I found I am sleeping better. Mental exhaustion helps.

For Christmas, my family and I went to Houston and the surrounding areas.
It was nice and warm for the most part. A pleasant change from the usual Canada standard.
We were spoiled rotten with great food. Catalina’s family in Corpus Christi were superb hosts that had formerly owned a Chinese restaurant. For eight people there was a nine course meal. My family is now going to expect that with every vacation.
In Corpus we were also a one minute walk to the beach. It could probably have been closer, but an aircraft carrier was taking up all the parking. I mean that almost literally. It couldn’t possibly be true, but it sounded too cool not to say. Really, the aircraft carrier was not taking up any parking spots. But it did add a certain je ne sais quoi to the view.
The museum ship, the USS Lexington was very cool to see. You can wander over more of the ship than I would have expected. I did ask and discovered that it no longer floats; it was sailed into the mud and then allowed to settle. It will never move again. On board there were a lot of tight staircases, and good displays. I liked the scale models. The story of the Dreadnought was also good. There were lots of planes on the deck to look at. And they let you move and pretend-fire the big guns. I don’t think we covered everything in it; after awhile you get tired from too much learning.
My flight to and from Houston was fairly easy, except my razor was confiscated on the way back. I can not say the same about my family, who are now swearing they will never fly with Air Canada again. Their flight down was delayed by 140 minutes and their Bombardier plane was cramped and uncomfortable. Their return flight was at 7:30 in the morning, which meant getting up very early. I still do not know if that plane ever made it back to Canada. It certainly didn’t fly that day. I don’t even think it flew the next. Luckily my family was able to get switched over to United for the next day and had a stay at the airport hotel for their trouble.
For flying purposes I don’t know who to trust anymore. Last year, United gave me a lot of trouble for flying to and from Costa Rica. And I know that they break guitars. But Air Canada sat on a throne of lies. They claimed they were sending another plane to rescue people, but that never happened; they kept trying to repair the one they had and telling people fantasies about departure times which required continual false returns to the airport. I think it was the same plane they took down, implying it was on its last legs for awhile.

I am coming to realize how much I dislike driving. Especially since I barely have to do it anymore. But I still want the ability to drive, so I have to pay attention to my driver’s license.
From what I can understand, I have 90 days from moving to British Columbia to get a local driver’s license. That time limit is coming up fast. Unfortunately it appears that all the places that I can do this (ICBC) are only open during work hours, and not a second more. (I may be possibly exaggerating, but not by much.) I did find one in Burnaby that is open on weekends.
So, on Saturday I decided to make the commute. I have discovered that Vancouver does not really have a fast transportation system. They appear to be doing well on mass-transit, but there are not many freeways here. So my drive was through slow traffic with lots of lights. I haven’t had to do that in a long time, so I really noticed how stressed it made me feel.
I also have another problem; I seem to have acquired another challenge: I’m trying to see how long I can go before I have to get gas for my car. This has nothing to do with cost or anything, just a challenge. I’m doing well. In the three months I’ve been here, I have not gotten to a half tank yet. This goal of mine, which serves no purpose, further exacerbated the stress of my 40 minute drive to Burnaby.
In Burnaby I discovered that this ICBC was actually located in a mall. A very large mall. On the weekend before Christmas.
Parking was its own layer of hell.
When I finally got in, I was told that I needed another piece of ID, besides my existing driver’s license. Such as a passport. I think I’ve had friends mention that I would need that, but I had clearly forgotten. This did not help my level of stress.
I seemed to get really angry on the drive home. About really anything.
The workaround to my problem was to walk to the ICBC that is downtown before work. This was technically open half an hour before I should be at my job, so I could do it.
However, this Monday, Vancouver had gotten snow. And while they tell me they know how to handle water drainage, they have clearly no idea how to handle snow. Lakes formed at most crossings. The actual process of getting the license was quick and easy. The swimming there and back was not.
I went home to change socks and shoes before continuing on to work.
All that said, it is the little things about walking everywhere that make it nice.
When you are driving, to stop off at a place during your commute is never as easy as it sounds. There many small tasks that wear on you: try to pull into the place; find parking spot; get out of car. But if I have to walk to a place on my commute, you just keep walking through the front door. You can’t really do that in a car. Well you can, but the authorities will have words with you afterwards.
In other words, going to the post office is really easy now, even if I have to walk a block out of my way.
A lot of this could have to do with downtown living.