Carmella Graduates!

Carmella and I attended her graduation ceremony today in Burnaby.  While she finished the coursework a few years ago, she needed to press the Graduate Now!  button in her Student Information System in order to be fully eligible to work her new job.  Here she is!

  

It was a nice sunny day, and since the ceremony was outside, this was appreciated.  This space was covered, but open to the air on all sides.

There were nice warm fashionable blankets on every fourth seat to keep the students and fans warm.  Most people used them on their own, but a few people shared. 

The ceremony started with the SFU Pipe Band leading the academic procession.  All the students walked down the stairs to their chairs.  In the background below, you can see the long line.  I heard there were 450 students today, so it's not surprising I couldn't pick Carmella out.

I left my chair after awhile and hung out near the place where they prepare the graduates to head across the stage.  I got to see Carmella here, which was nice and made it a bit less of a solitary experience for both of us. 

I didn't get any solid pictures of Carmella walking across the stage unfortunately.  I missed when they called her name, probably because I was trying to decide if I should film video of it, or take pictures.  When I looked up, she was mostly across the stage, and my pictures only show her back.  Not useful to post here!

SFU has a nice quadrangle, so we took some shots there too.  It's a nice campus when it's sunny, but since it's high on Burnaby Mountain (more of a hill in BC terms though I'd say) it's rarely sunny, and Carmella's comment of "Well, a good thing about today is that I never have to go up to SFU again" illustrates the consensus about this concrete fortress.

I think it was a wise decision to press Graduate Now!

Carmella hasn't told her Facebook world that she's pregnant yet, and while most people close to her know, not everyone does.  So if you post to her wall, wait until she's announced it!  She'll do that in the next couple of days.

Congratulations on Jr, and your degree!

Replacing the Sky

So I quickly changed a photo around with my new photo manipulation skills. (I'm taking a Photoshop Level 1 course, which I talk about in a previous post).

Below are two originals:

That's Carmella in the first picture, swimming under a great sunny sky.  But our group shop is not quite as nice.

I decided to fake a sunny day for the second shot.  Here it is, below.  I'm proud of my quick work!  Of course things could be improved, but I haven't learned them yet.

You'll notice I took the sky from photo one and inserted into the second shot, and suddenly the day looks a bit nicer. I wouldn't mind modifying the cloud on the right a bit to make it look more natural. Maybe I'll play around with it some more.

What a useful course!  Never trust my photos again!

An eventful evening

Hi legion of loyal readers,

I had an interesting evening tonight, and thought I'd share.  Carmella is working 3-11 shifts these days, so I need an outlet for my stories.  This blog is the recipient.

Tonight I went to a weekly course I'm taking on the photo manipulation software Photoshop.  It's really great, and my teacher is able to explain things really well.  We've learned a lot of things so far, and it's fun to be able to use my skills.  Among other things, I learned how to give a photo a new sky.  Is it too dark and cloudy in your picture?  Take the sky from a nice day and insert it into your picture! 

I've realized that almost any picture you see in a pamphlet is likely photoshopped quite a bit.  The sky could be changed, the colours modified, elements taken out or added in.  It's very interesting.  This class is called Photoshop Level 1, and I hope to take Photoshop Level 2 in a few months when it's offered.  It's a UBC Continuing Studies class that most people pay something like $595 for, but I get to take for free as a UBC employee.

As I was waiting for the bus to go home, I saw two people running full speed down the sidewalk.  I was interested because I was sitting at the bus stop with nothing much else to focus on, and because two people rarely sprint down the street.

The person in the lead was wearing camouflage pants and a camoflage hat.  The person in the rear was an Asian guy wearing fashionable shorts and a dyed and styled haircut.  Each time the guy with the fashionable clothes and haircut caught up to the camouflage guy, they had a brief pause, and kept going again.

I thought they were friends maybe, but turns out they weren't.  Camouflage guy had presumably stolen fashionable guy's camera, because I heard "Enjoy the camera you stole..." or something like that when Camouflage made is final dash across the street.

It was interesting because it seemed Fashion didn't know what to do once he caught Camouflage.  He was happy to chase him, but wouldn't challenge him physically at all once he caught up, which happened three times.  They were both the same size too.  It's possible Camo had a knife or other weapon that I didn't see, but it's not likely.  I think Fashion wasn't prepared to assert himself physically to get his camera back, so each time he approached Camo, he ran out of options.

After watching that, I thought about what I'd do in that situation.  Illusions of heroism flashed through my mind, and I imagined myself chasing my assailant, yelling something like "You've chosen the wrong guy to run away from, I can keep this up WAY longer than you!" or something like that.  I have been running a lot, so I like to think I could go toe-to-toe in any footrace with anyone taking my things.

I then wondered if I should have stepped in and approached Camo and tried to get the camera back for Fashion.  I was bigger and maybe faster than Camo, so I wondered what would have happened if I did.  I think the general consensus is that you don't step in because the thief could have a gun or nun-chucks.  But is the only other option to stand by and watch?  We law abiding citizens must unite against the criminals in this world!  But maybe not, if you end up getting hurt for it.

I stopped thinking about that when the bus arrived.  It was pretty full, but I found a seat next to a nice retired lady.  We chatted about the need for more buses and how the bus we were on (22 Westbound) would empty out by the time we got to Broadway. 

I asked where she was coming from, and she said New Westminster, which is a suburb of Vancouver.  If you drove west from Vancouver, you'd hit Burnaby first, and then if you aimed a bit south, you'd get to New West.  If you kept going and found a bridge, you'd find yourself in Surrey. 

She was coming from there because her husband has sleep apnea, so they needed two bedrooms.  So, one bedroom is in New Westminster, and one in Vancouver.  I guess there are all types of relationships out there.  She was very kind and said they still see each other every day.  I'm assuming she was taking transit every day too, because she talked about borrowing her son's car for the retirees lunch that was happening tomorrow.

What a commute!  His sleep apnea must have been pretty bad.  It's unfortunate they couldn't rent a two-bedroom place somewhere, and have a shorter commute.  She told me they were the types of parents who took their son to Disney Land and had those great experiences, but now in their old age they won't have much to pass on to him.  She told me her Dad always encouraged them to save their money, but they preferred to spend it.  It's too bad they couldn't afford a two bedroom place though.

I got the impression that their son was an only child, and that they followed him out to Vancouver when he got a job.  They were all living in Ontario, where they were from originally.  I imagine they could afford a two bedroom place in Ontario, but they're choosing to be close to their son instead.

She was a very happy woman, and didn't complain about the commute, the time on the bus, the time away from her husband or their finances.  To her life was good, and she was happy.  I need to be more positive like her! 

That was my night.  I'm going to try a quick photoshop project to show how I can change a sky.  We'll see if I can get it done and posted here.  I might get tired and go to bed before, if things get complicated. 

Photo Shoot!

It's not a real photo shoot though.  Someone wanted some pictures of the Pharmacy Practice Lab at work, and needed a model to pretend to be a student.  I grabbed a wrinkly lab coat and pretended I was very interested in drug interactions, individualized patient care, and drug adherence!

You can't really seem my face though, which is just as well because most pharmacy students are 18-22 years old.

Running on Jericho Beach, Spanish Banks, and Lacarno Beach.

Today I ran in the ocean!

Not really, but kind of.  It was a very low tide day today, and the waterline was very far from where it is usually.  I've been running along the beach as much as possible for my daily runs, because I'm one of the few runners in Canada who has access to a ocean, and I want to take advantage of it.  I run along three different beach areas, and they have different names.  There's Jericho Beach, the Spanish Banks, and Lacarno Beach. 

Today as I was running, I saw the tide was way out.  I took off my shoes and put them on a log, and ran out on the intertidal sand with everyone else.  The lifeguards, who usually sit at the traditional waterline, were out at the low-tide waterline too.

There were lots of people enjoying the low tide.  People with skimboards like to take advantage of the tidal pools (a skimboard is a very small and lightweight surfboard that you toss in the water, run after it, and then skim along the shallows), people with dogs love it, and families with kids like to run out there.

It was a great experience, running out there on the packed sand.  It felt nice on my feet, and I enjoyed running in the great expanse.  No trail, just sand.  It made me appreciate living where I do.  I bet tourist runners would have a run like that be the highlight of their vacation.  But I can do it anytime!

Below is a screenshot of my run.  I bought a GPS running watch, and I'm enjoying tracking my runs.  It's a little bit off though, especially when dealing with curves and turns.  If I use it on the track, it thinks a lap is 430m instead of 400.  But a track isn't the intented application for a GPS watch anyway.  Also, I have an older model that I bought on Craigslist.  Maybe the newer models preform better, but I don't mind.

Here's my run!  You can see where the beach is normally, and by my track, you can get an idea where the waterline was today.  The numbers indicate my kilometers.  Today was a 13km run.

Below is the elevation of my run.  The first 5K are pretty regular.  It's a very slight downhill from my house to the beach, and then along the beach it's flat.  But as soon as I stepped out onto the sand, my watch got confused!  It suddenly thought I increased my elevation by 300m.

That was today's run.  I'll run the same route tomorrow, but continue west until I get to work.  I'm very fortunate that I can run to work, and extra fortunate that my running route is primarily along the ocean.  Tomorrow morning I won't head out to the sand either.

I'm heading into week four of running six times a week.  It's been a great process, and I've only missed two days so far.  It's been fun getting up early to run, and I feel really accomplished when I get to run to work.

Osoyoos and Pemberton in the Summer

It's officially summer now, and so far Carmella and I have made great use of our province.  Below are some recent pictures of weekend trips we've made.

 Here's Carmella in Osoyoos, about a four hour drive west of Vancouver.  It's a desert climate there, so the mountains have sparse vegitation.  Osoyoos is a Resort Municipality like Whistler is, except where Whistler attracts skiers, snowboarders, hikers, and mountain bikers, Osoyoos attracts people with SUVs towing large and powerful boats.  They have municipal parking lots dedicated to boat trailers, which I thought was quite unique.

 I don't look quite as ready for the photo as Carmella did!  In the background is a convention centre and golf course, so they're careful to keep it watered and looking green.  Osoyoos lake is claimed to be the warmest in Canada, and our hottest, driest climate. 

 The lake had a sandy bottom, so it was quite refreshing to swim.  The weather was nice and warm when we were there, but not too hot.  Even though the lake is supposed to be very warm, it still takes courage to plunge your head under the first time.  It was also a week or two before school let out, so the town wasn't in full tourist season yet.

 Carmella and I rented a room in one of the few remaining mom and pop motels along the shore.  They had a paddle boat you could use, so we had a happy hour on the lake in the boat.  I wonder if anyone's designed a paddle boat with gears, so you can really make headway.  It felt like we were pedaling hard, but going nowhere.

 Cindy won a wine tour package, and brought Ty, Tina, and Amy,  so they were in Osoyoos also.  We played minigolf and got the biggest single scoop ice creams around.  Their tour came with a swanky 2-bedroom hotel room, so we visited them and used their pool and spacious environs for gaming.  Below is a rousing game of San Juan, which I won.

Tyler's looking strange because he was blinking in the previous shot.  In addition to this game, we played a game called What?! which is more of a party game and less of a strategy game.  One question in the game required us all to make up a new political slogan, or something like that.  My slogan was "Vote for another O in Osoyoos".  I think it would make a very funny t-shirt, so I might see about making one.

 If you drive a bit outside Osoyoos and up the mountain, you come to this lookout.  Group shot!

 This Canada Day weekend, Carmella and I drove to Pemberton, the town we were married in.  It's nice and quiet here.  Carmella found a nice bed and breakfast for us to stay at, and this is the view out our bedroom window.  It's hard to see him, but there's a horse in one of the fields.

 Here are some shots of the first of three Joffree Lakes, about half an hour away.  The other two are off in the distance, closer to the glacier you can see in the centre of the picture below. Carmella came prepared with her towel and bathing suit, but it turned out to be too cold.  The lakes are glacier fed, so they're frigid.

The parking lot was very full!  There's a campground about 5K away from this lot, but you have to hike in.  Apparently it takes four hours to get there.  The campground is by the third lake, but we only hiked in for 200m to get to the first lake.  We saw about ten or fifteen people on our short hike, and at the lake, so the rest must have been elsewhere.  I wasn't expecting this many cars for a place with a campground four hours away!

So far it's been a great trip.  It's very quiet here, and a great time to do nothing and not feel bad about it.  We'll head home to Vancouver tomorrow, and get ready for another week.  Carmella's having a short snooze, and I have the whole bed and breakfast to myself.  It's quite nice. 

Whenever we leave the Bed and Breakfast, we pass a small Catholic church called St Francis of Assisi,  and is a tad smaller than the one we got married in.  Judging by the outside of St Francis, there probably isn't a bog under it that breeds mosquitos, and I bet there's not a cable strung between the walls to keep the building from collapsing.  It looks quaint and nice and kept up!  Carmella and I need to remind ourselves that we like the church we got married in better because it had a church bell to ring, and also because it had feral dogs and friendly locals peering in, wondering why anyone would get married there!  I remember the pastor of that church saying that he's never had a request for a marriage there before, and he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it!

So, that's been our trip so far!  Time to wake Carmella up before she naps too long.

Day Six

I've just spent the most satisfactory Saturday.

Last weekend's surf excursion was busy, but very enjoyable.  My ensuing workweek went by quickly, a testament to the energy I put in.  In retrospect, I think I prefer that to the tedium of rolling carpets at the Beaulieu textile factory in the summer of 2001.  The factory had rolled carpets inside-out, and as the temporary summer worker, my job was to unfurl re-roll them correclty.  There was a clock right in front of my table that told me I could do one carpet in about a minute, and my shift was eight hours long.  Time was not kind to me then. 

I was quite tired by the end of this week, and was looking forward to sleeping in.  At work I was asked the classic Friday afternoon small-talk question numerous times, and was happy to say that I had nothing special planned, except sleeping in and resting. 

And I did that today.

I woke up late, and then bought a Weekend Edition paper.  Because I'm not the only person in Vancouver who wants to relax with a newspaper on Saturday, I avoided the coffee shops, and instead spread out the paper alone in a sandwich business.  I slowly read all the sections I cared to, then walked home.

I had a nap, even though I didn't need it.  I did a few things, but not much.  I've left our dishes, one of the regular cleaning tasks, in the sink dirty. 

It's almost 3am, and I've just finished my book.  There's something very satisfying about reading late into the night, and turning the final page.  I was reading Terry Fallis' Best Laid Plans.  I don't know much about Parliament (including how to spell it, according to my in-line spell checker) and this funny and fictional story gave me some insight.

What a great day.  Some days are meant to be productive, but today was not one of them. 

Good night!

Tofino Surf Trip!

Carmella and I, along with my/our friend Michael (he used to be my manager, but now that I don't work for him anymore, I still find it hard to call him Mike!) went on a quick surf trip to Tofino last weekend.

Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and is a great spot to surf because of its exposure to the Pacific ocean.  While a lot of BC and especially Vancouver Island is on the ocean, it's usually protected bays, inlets, and sounds that supply our southern coastline.

Because it's Canada, and the Pacific, it's really cold!  Some people call it cold water surfing, thinking that it needs to be differentiated from the other kind, where you don't need a 5mm wetsuit, gloves, boots, and a hood.  I think it's all the same.

Here are some pictures.  I'm trying to get this written before I go to bed, so I hope to be brief.  Pictures say a thou...never mind.

Shiffy gets ready to go, Saturday morning while it's still dark.  We'd drive to the ferry terminal, and then take off the boards and park the Shif.

We wanted to save as much money as possible, and it was cheaper to rent a car on the other side than bring our own on the ferry, so we walked on with all our gear.

We stopped at a surf shop half way to Tofino, in a landlocked area.  We rented great, warm suits for a good price, and didn't have to drive past the surf spots to rent our gear in Tofino.  No wasted kilometers!

Carmella checks out the surf at Long Beach, part of Pacific Rim National Park.  It was the off-season, so parking was abundant, and we didn't buy a Park Day Use Pass.

We're ready!  One board is a rental from a Vancouver shop (you can rent surfboards in Vancouver, surprisingly) and the other is Hiroshi's, Michael's friend. 

 These suits were very warm out in the water.  It was a rare sunny winter day, so that helped also.  If I had to buy a wetsuit, I'd buy this one in a second.  I don't know how much it costs though, but it sure worked well.

I like the driftwood-laden beach.  Different from other surfing areas, and part of what makes surfing here unique.  Not that I've been to many other surf areas though.

Carmella and I lasted about an hour, then came in.  After getting out of the wetsuit, Carmella goes hiking on a rock island on the beach.  She's hoping to find...

What's she looking for?

A cell phone signal.  The beach is nice too, but Facebook is a necessity!

The sun started to go down as we were leaving, so I tried to capture it.  A rare winter sunset, it was very beautiful.

Another shot.  I had to keep the sun just out of the frame or else it gave my pictures trouble.

Part of our cost saving plan was to stay at the local hostel.  It's the off-season, so there were maybe ten people there.  Here, a jam session beaks out, and Carmella shares a phone showing lyrics with one of the fellow hostelers.  At 30ish, we were the average age there.

Carmella grabs the guitar and played a set including hits from Nirvana, Sarah Harmer, and Frente.  It was a great moment in time, everyone enjoying new company and old familiar music.

We even had time to Settle!  On the left is Alex, who we called Klaus.  He was German, and told us tales of his cupboard at home filled with Settlers versions and expansions.  Carmella was dominant, beating us all soundly.  Michael played his first game ever, and then dreamed about it all night.

On Sunday morning, we were on the water by 9am since we wanted one more session before we caught the ferry back to the mainland.  Here, Michael and Carmella head out.

Carmella in the water!  We surfed close by mostly, because both of us had to learn all over again.  It was great fun.

It was really enjoyable to be in the ocean playing around.  It's much more fun than just wading in, or getting in a dinghy.  I did enjoy my childhood dinghy voyages at Sauble Beach though.

Carmella is trying out the surfboard that Michael made, and that his kids painted.  You can buy a surfboard blank, shape it, cover it in fiberglass, and sand it smooth, all if you're feeling ambitious.  Michael was.

Mike rides in the last wave of the day.  He was the best surfer of the three, and didn't have trouble getting to his feet.  I struggled.  In Bali 5 years ago I thought I had the standing part figured out, but not anymore!

Carmella and Michael bring it in for the last time of the weekend.  Even after an hour in the water, the cold wasn't the hardest thing; tired arms were the issue of the day.

Classic Tofino surfing shot before we pack up.

Carmella snoozes away the 90 minute ferry ride back home.  It was quite the task to haul our boards on the ferry, but we didn't mind.

Our trip was a great success.  We had a few different highlights, and for me, they were

• Surfing, of course!  I stood up and controlled the board a few times, so that was satisfying.  I also enjoyed being near the trees and ocean, and away from the city.
• The hostel.  We made our own supper and shared the leftovers with the others.  It was fun to experience some unexpected community.  The jam session, the Settlers game, and the short conversations with the other travelers helped bring everyone together in a first-year university residence kind of way.
• Listening to funny CBC radio programs during the drive.  We liked one particular show that pretends to be a real news program, but is actually all made up.  Callers phone the show incredulous about the various guests and stories on air. 

We all had a great time, and plan to do another trip before Christmas.  It was a great weekend.  Michael said "This trip is tops as far as memories per dollars spent goes.  Las Vagas is great too, but it's so expensive and not quite as memorable."