Mikey's Blog

Condo News

2011-02-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

So we've decided to put up our condo for sale since it will make our life a bit more simple (compared to renting it out) and it will give us more money for house renos. After talking to our lovely realtor, she had the great idea of replacing our kitchen appliances with new stainless steel ones to help speed up the sale and possibly get us more money. Our old appliances worked fine, they just weren't pretty compared to brand new stainless ones so off shopping we went.

We looked at Sears and The Brick but the Brick had some fantastic sales on so that's where we went. I had picked out a nice Frigidaire set for a great price but then things started to get complicated. The way our kitchen is, we need to have the hinge on the left side which apparently is not common. The fridge I had picked couldn't be converted so I had to pick a different fridge. I really liked the idea of getting all the same name brand since things match much better and unfortunately there was a big price jump in Fridigaire to get a unit that could be converted. So the sales guy went off for a while and tried to find a set that was a good price, could be converted and was in stock. Eventually he came back with a Whirlpool set that was more expensive than my original choice but would work well overall.

My wonderful friends Tom & Lorraine helped us move the old stove & fridge to our house (since they were in good shape) and I unhooked our old dishwasher (which we weren't going to keep). Then the next day, the delivery truck arrived with our 3 new appliances. They fit the stove & fridge right in but the dishwasher they leave in the box (since the install is more complicated). When I opened the door, I realized that the door was not switched (which was the whole reason for buying this particular fridge). I asked the delivery guys and they said they could do it (even though it's not their normal job) and they were able to swap it in a few mins and were on their way. Almost as soon as they left, I noticed a lot of cold air coming out of one side and realized the seal was not doing it's job. After a closer inspection, I realized that the seal on the whole side was not even close to touching the fridge. I stopped by the Brick and talked to the manager and he actually took a fridge apart with me to see if we could figure out why this was happening (since it would be easier for both of us if I could just tighten a bolt & fix it). Unfortunately nothing I did fixed the problem so the repair crew came in. They tried to uncompress the seal which worked for about 20 seconds and then they said nope, I need a new one (which is what I'm waiting for right now).

For the stove we got a fancy clean-top style which looks really nice. My only complaint about the stove was that they stuck a sticker on the glass which took a lot of work (and some goo gone) to get it off. Why do companies do things like this?!

The dishwasher was more work since it required some plumbing along with it's electrical connection. It's normally pretty easy as just connecting hoses together but I soon realized that I couldn't re-use the old hoses (since the connectors were different). I got some new hoses and tried to hook it up but the new hose would not connect to the shut off valve under my sink. I went back to Home Depot and talking to a plumbing guy there and from my description, he thought the valve was on backwards or was the wrong type. Apparently there was no adapter I could buy to make it work and he suggested I replace the valve. This would be past my level of comfort (ie requiring a plumber) and would also require the water be turned off to the complete condo building while the work was being done. This was not very easy to organize and also expensive... After a day of thinking, I had the brilliant idea of just using a T connector off of my kitchen sink. Unfortunately the hose was not quite long enough and I had to make another trip back to Home Depot.

So this morning, after a week of Angela doing dishes by hand, I finally have a working dishwasher. Notice how I said Angela doing dishes? I would have just piled them up until I got it fixed but she doesn't mind doing them by hand (luckily).

So with the new appliances installed & working, we're almost ready to sell the condo (we still need to do some touch up painting). We had professional pics taken of the condo this week and we will put it onto the market Feb 22, just after we move into the house. Here are the condo pics (they look great)

Baby News!

2011-01-25T21:34:00.000-08:00

So lots has been going on lately. As you've probably all heard by now, we're expecting a new addition to the family. Our little Timbit is expected to arrive on May 26.

- We found out we were pregnant in early September. Angela peed on a 3 different sticks on a Sunday morning and they all said positive. She told me by jumping on the bed & shoving the pee stick in my face.
- We don't want to find out the sex of the baby (it will be a surprise for everyone).
- We are using Dr Elizabeth Grant and plan on having the baby in the hospital ('cause that's where they keep all of the drugs).
- Angela's sister is expecting their second son 3 days after us.
- We mostly kept it a secret until Christmas time. We had to tell our bosses for various reasons and Angela couldn't keep it a secret from her sister. This was pretty useful since she's a nurse and had a baby a couple years ago so Angela was able to ask her lots of questions plus it quenched her need to tell someone. We told Angela's parents via webcam and this was the only time I've seen my father-in-law speechless. We told my parents & sister on xmas morning by giving them wrapped frames containg an ultrasound pic. My mom even let out a little shreek!.
- 5 mins after my parents found out they were going to be grandparents, my dad went downstairs & came back with a brand new soccer ball for the baby, it's first present!
- We told Angela's co-workers at their xmas party. I stood at the end of the table to take a picture. I counted to 3, took the pic and then told them somone blinked. I counted to 3 again, took another a pic and then said someone blinked again. I counted to 3 again, yelled "Angela is pregnant" and took the last pic (which shocked everyone).
- This was definitely the big reason behind us buying a house.
- We've started taking pre-natal classes through VIHA at Queen Alexender Center
- Angela is extremely excited about shopping for baby stuff (especially diaper bags).

We'll be posting baby related pics here.

I'm broke

2010-12-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

So because of the ever expanding waistline of my kitties and Angela's habit of buying purses & shoes, we have slowly been outgrowing our condo. We've been looking at houses on & off for almost 2 years but today, we finally found the perfect one. We came to an agreement with the seller this afternoon and will get possession Jan 20th (but the deal is still subject to financing & an inspection). A big thanks to our wonderful real estate agent!

The house is at the end of a culdesac off of Cedar Hill Cross Rd & Blenkinsop Rd, which is a great location. The house is 2400 sq feet, with 3 bedrooms upstairs and a 1 bedroom suite downstairs. It needs a good coat of paint inside, some new floors and a slight bathroom makeover but it's a big, solid house with lots of potential. Here are some pics from the MLS site

This is our favourite room in the house (the bathtub & toilet are also purple)!

So does anyone want to buy a condo in downtown Vic?

Slacktivism

2010-12-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

The latest Facebook craze has been to change your profile pic to a picture of a cartoon you liked as a kid. Somehow this is supposed to help end child abuse but no-one really knows how. Instead, people should do something useful like donating to a real charity or volunteering.

The word Slacktivism has been coined for this act of useless action:
Urban Dictionary
The act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem.

Wikipedia
The word is considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. The acts also tend to dilute awareness campaigns and require minimal personal effort from the slacktivist.

Of course, these trends have created some pretty funny responses:

Changing your profile pic to a non-appropriate image such as pedo-bear or Herbert (from The Family Guy)

Change your profile pic to your favourite fast food restaurant. Now you've helped end world hunger!

Breaking News: Facebook Campaign brings end to child abuse.

Vegas Report

2010-12-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

So my buddy Denis is getting married on New Year's Eve and so of course he needed to have a stag. 13 of us (7 from the island & another 6 from Winnipeg) headed down to Las Vegas togther. Most of us left on Friday and came back on Monday but a few people had to stay for a work conference.

We all stayed at Caesar's Palace and some of the guys even splurged to get suites. Unfortunately we arrived to find out Caesar's had screwed up everyone's room but things eventually got fixed up (though it took a day in some cases). Caesar's is huge and some of the rooms are really nice but some are pretty old (and for some weird reason, not all of the bathrooms have a door which is pretty stupid when a couple guys are sharing a room). We stayed at the Mirage last year (which is right next door) and I thought it had better restaurants and was generally a better deal. With so many choices in Vegas for hotels, I don't think I'll go back to Caesars.

We went out as a group to a number of bars & restaurants but trying to organize 13 guys can be pretty tough (especially when they're drunk). A few guys went to see the Beatles Cirque Du Soleil show & to the gun range but I didn't (partly cause I did both last year). I did do a lot of wandering around and even walked from Caesar's to The Stratosphere (which is around 5km). While there, I went up the tower & saw the fantastic view (this had been on my todo list for a while). I didn't do any rides 'cause rides usually make me sick but the one where you jump off the top & ride a cable all the way to the ground looked pretty awesome. We also spent some time in the malls checking out all of the big sales (this was the weekend after thanksgiving).

A fantastic restaurant that we went to was a traditional German beer hall where we had pretzels, snitchel & beer. They had a live band playing and the waitresses were all wearing the traditional outfits. The highlight though was definitely taking shots of Jagermeister and then getting spanked with a big wooden paddle. I don't know if this is a traditional German thing but it was pretty funny (even though it really hurt) and most of our group got a spanking.

Lots of pics are posted here.

I also have lots of vids:
German Spanking Video
Karaoke Video
My Jackass Tryout Video
The View of the Bellagio Fountain from our room
Denis Playing Cowboy

Johnson Street Bridge Referendum

2010-11-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we get to vote on whether the City should replace or repair the Johnston St Bridge.

The 86 year old bridge is near the end of it's life & needs some major work (which of course costs money). The city wants to borrow $50 million to totally replace the old bridge with a new one (which will last 100 years) and improve the roads leading to it. Some people want to spend less money to upgrade the existing bridge which will still cost lots of money but won't extend the life very long (at least compared to a new bridge). Apart from the lower costs, people are used to the historical bridge and want to see the landmark stay the way it is.

Based on the financial numbers, I think it makes total sense to replace the whole thing. It will definitely cost more but it will cost much less per year (base on the longer life) compared to fixing it up.

For the people who like the look of the bridge & want to preserve it for historical reasons, I have another solution. Use the old bridge for new artwork and the first thing they can replace is the ugly statue in front of the Save-On-More Arena. That thing is an eyesore and I'm sure a real artist could make something cool out of parts from the old bridge.

Anyways, get out & vote (YES) on Saturday!

Halloween!

2010-10-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

For Halloween, I was a fat ninja & Angela was a fat ballerina. We bought some blow-up suits which use a battery powered fan to inflate the suits. The suits are surprisingly comfortable but you end up taking up a lot of space!

More pics are posted here

Cats are great

2010-10-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

So this is the events of last night:
5:00 - one of the cats barfs
5:03 - one of the cats is scratching at the barf
5:05 - a cat fight starts
5:06 - I get up to break up the cat fight and step in the barf
5:08 - I hobble to the bathroom & wash my foot
5:10 - I go back & clean up the cat barf
5:15 - I go back to bed

CrossFit Report

2010-10-19T19:31:00.001-07:00

So I've been doing CrossFit for a couple months now at CrossFit Taranis and I love it. I started off doing the required 15 one-on-one sessions and now I've got around 8 team sessions under my belt (I go around twice a week). For those that haven't heard of it before, CrossFit is constantly varied randomized functional movements executed at high intensity. It's great because you just have to show up at the gym & there's already a workout of the day (WOD) planned for you along with a coach to answer any questions & to make sure you do things correctly. You never have to think about what to do for a workout 'cause you're guaranteed a challenging workout. As an example, today's WOD was 10 rounds of:

150 m run
7 chest to bar pullups
7 front squats 135 lbs
7 handstand pushups

The goal is to complete all of this as fast as you can with the least ammount of rest. This ended up being 1.5 km run, 70 chest to bar pullups, 70 front squats & 70 handstand pushups which I completed in just under 40 mins (but of course I had to scale).

Everything is scalable since most people (including myself) can't do the WOD's as prescribed (ie you can reduce the weight, reduce the reps, add elastics etc).

Today's workout was extra hard and I got a slight injury that I'm a bit proud of. Getting calluses & then tearing them off is pretty common among crossfitters so it makes me feel like I'm part of the group!!

When you get really good, you can compete at different competitions

Fort McMurray Vacation Report

2010-10-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Fort McMurray (in Northern Alberta) is not normally a vacation destination but we had a good reason to visit: Angela's parents just moved up there. They moved there (from Kitimat, BC) for the same reason anyone moves to Fort Mac and that is because of all the jobs up there (mostly in construction or the oil sands industries).

They had snow two weeks before we arrived so we were expecting cold weather and had packed our warm clothes (I had to go out & buy pants!). Luckily the weather changed and we had great weather the whole time we were there. It was sunny & hot most afternoons but the mornings were often cool.

We took the 2 crazy dogs on lots of walks & hikes. The town has lots of nice paths around the sub-divisions and then there is a big hiking area right in the middle. When we had arrived, the trees were all covered in bright orange leaves but these all fell off while we were there which really changed the look of everything.

The city itself is divided into a couple of different areas. The downtown & older area is "down the hill" and near the river while all of the newer homes (including my in-laws') are "up the hill". It's only a 10 min drive between the two areas as long as it's not rush hour, which is a major problem. A good chunk of the people up there work shift work and have to commute a fair distance to the oil refineries / mines outside of town. This creates a ton of traffic at certain times of the day which you definitely don't want to get stuck in. Combined with lots of big trucks, road / bridge construction and lots of dirt and the roads can be a mess. This problem could be a lot worse but they use big buses to ferry people to & from work and lots of people stay in camp.

There is a major home shortage up there (which has driven the prices up) and there are lots of new house being built. Combined with some major road construction and trucks coming in from the mines etc, this has made the roads very dirty (which of course makes the cars all very dirty). Hopefully this will be better in a year or two when there's less construction but in the meanwhile, it would drive me crazy.

We went on a bunch of nice drives to check out some fishing spots and to see the big oil sands refineries & equipment. When you're near the refineries, the air stinks of heavy oil but luckily the smell doesn't make it to town very often. Coming from Nanaimo which has a big pulp mill which you could occasionally smell, we would call it the "smell of money". The other weird thing you notice when near the oil refineries is a constant banging noise. I think this is supposed to simulate shotguns and comes from fake scare-men that are located all around the tailing ponds to scare away the birds from the contaminated water.

Misc things:
Angela & her mom dragged me out shopping
The town is full of bad drivers
They have bison!

Lots more pics here

Labour Day Road Trip

2010-09-19T19:30:00.001-07:00

On Labour Day, we had a road trip up island. First we headed to Coombs, then Qualicam, Parksville and then we stopped off in Nanaimo for dinner with my parents. As with any trip near Coombs, the highlight was watching the goats on the roof.

More pics are posted here.

Fat Cat

2010-09-19T18:21:00.001-07:00

Angela weighed Big Guy the other day and he tipped the scales at 22 pounds.

I have no idea how he got that fat! Here he is having some ice-cream with his Dad for breakfast.

Saanich Fair Report

2010-09-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Saanich Fair was on this weekend & we dressed up in our rain gear & headed there for a bit. I had lots of fun posing in all the put-your-head-in-the-hole picture spots but surprisingly Angela didn't want to partake in any of them.

We had fun wandering around & seeing all the animals. I learned from the last time I was there & skipped the not so exciting parts (ie the pickled carrot & quilt competitions).

For the first time in 20 years, I went on a ride at the midway. I get motion sick pretty easily on this sort of thing so they're something I normally avoid but we figured it would be fun to ride on the ferris wheel.
We started off in line for the big wheel but the carnie running it wasn't letting anyone on (I think he was waiting for the seats to dry from the rain?) so we headed to the smaller one. I think this was a wise move for a number of reasons including getting a good view of everything.

Misc notes:
I was disappointed that we didn't see any of the expected farm-animal on farm-animal action
Carnies are stinky
It would be very easy for a family to spend a lot of money in a place like this (admission, food, rides, games etc)

More pics posted here.

Sunday Adventures: Sidney Island

2010-08-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we took the little passenger ferry from Sidney to Sidney Island for a hike & a picnic. We arrived just as the ferry was about to leave but luckily they still let us on. It was around a 20 min ride & cost $19 per person return.

We arrived and headed out on the loop trail which was approx 2km and took you past cliffs on both sides of the island which gave some great viewpoints. While waiting for Angela to use the outhouse, I read some of the many signs that described the island. Many years ago there was a brick factory that used to sell 1000 bricks for the big price of $8.

There was also some signs that described the massive deer population on the island. With no natural predators & lots of plants to nibble on, the deer have continued to multiply to an approx population of 1200 deer per square kilometer! This lead us to believe they were all inbred. We did see 4 different deer during our wandering but they didn't look particularly slack-jawed.

We had a picnic on one of the many sandy beaches where we saw lots of herons, cormorants and seagulls (of course). After that we walked out along the spit to the end point and then had to hurry back fast so that we wouldn't miss the ferry back. There were a ton of boats moored alongside the spit which wasn't surprising considering what a great spot this was. This is definitely a great spot for a day trip or an overnight camping trip.

More pics are posted here.

Saga of the TV

2010-08-14T22:52:00.001-07:00

I've had a 42" Sony rear projection tv for around 6 years and it finally died on friday. I did a little bit of research online and that night we headed out to Costco to buy a new one. Getting a new tv was a pretty high priority 'cause Angela likes to watch a lot of "documentaties" (Teen Mom, The Bachelorette etc). I found a nice 55" Samsung LCD that had good reviews so we plopped it onto a cart. Next we found a great tv stand and plopped that onto the cart too. We paid for our stuff and headed out to the car to try & fit everything in. By uppacking the tv and having the hatch open, we were just barely to fit everything. If we still had our civic, we wouldn't have been able to fit either of these items!

We made it home safely and finally got everything upstairs. I moved the old tv & stand and discovered all sorts of cat by-products that needed to be cleaned up. Next I unpacked the stand and after a little bit of head scratching, we finally got the tv up & running. It was pretty late by that time so I didn't bother with the pvr, receiver, dvd player etc.. In the morning I started to set up the remaining electronics but soon discovered we had a major problem, the cabinets in the tv stand were not wide enough. I could fit the pvr in but not the receiver / dvd player. I tried all sorts of combinations but it wasn't going to work so I was soon looking online for a new stereo that wasn't as wide and would fit in our cabinet. After looking at all sorts of combinations at the store, I found a brand new Shaw pvr that would fit in the side cabinet and allow me to keep using my old receiver. The new pvr was similar to what we had but newer with a bigger hard drive which will be very useful. So now I have the pvr, receiver and front speakers setup but I still have to setup the rear speakers & probably buy a new, smaller dvd player. This has turned into an expensive (and hot) weekend. Here's our new setup

As expected, Big Guy inspected everything for me and acted as foreman by watching everything I did.

There's more pics (mostly of BG) here.

August Long Weekend

2010-08-02T20:35:00.001-07:00

The August Long Weekend was a busy one!

The annual Symphony Splash was on Sunday so my parents came down to see that. They staked out their seats around noon, puttered around with us for the afternoon & then went back to claim their seats again around 6:00pm. We don't have the same patience as they do so we just went down there for the end around 9:00. We sat near the Navy ships which was great for the symphony finale because they fired off some cannons & then we had a great view of the fireworks.
More splash pics are here.

On Sunday we headed out to Sidney where we wandered around & then had some lunch. On the way home we stopped off at Sea Cider to taste their ciders & checkout the view.

There's lots more pics from Sidney here.

Sun, Park & Bums

2010-07-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day out so we grabbed some take out from Noodle Box and ate it overlooking the water.

Then we went to the park & played some putt putt.

We were part way through our game when these fellas decided to play a game too. I'm pretty sure they had been on the 19th hole for a while before trying to play. They also brought along their own whiskey.

Just before we were done our game, their friend came along with a giant bag of balloons & let them all loose on the course. Then when we were about to leave, the bum tried to tell everyone the story about why there is a small statue of Robbie Burns on a big pedestal. No-one wanted to listen but since I was closest, he came over to talk to me. He started to tell me the story but I interrupted him to say I didn't think it was nice to be drinking in front of the kids. He told me it was ok since he never offered any to them. Angela really does not like me talking/confronting bums so I told him I had to go. Then as I was walking away, he proceeded to tell me that he had a better camera than me (which wasn't very likely).

Birthday Weekend Report

2010-07-20T19:56:00.001-07:00

I turned 29 (again) on Sat and surprisingly Angela had the whole weekend off too. We don't get multiple days off together very often so when we do, it usually turns into a very busy weekend. We had gone up to Nanaimo last weekend to see my family so that wasn't part of the festivities.

On Sat we went to the Moss St Paint-in, had lunch (and a belini) on the patio @ MileStones and then we headed to a picnic for another friend's bday party.

On Sunday we went to the car show downtown, had sushi and then played 36 holes of mini-golf.

Lots more pics posted here.

Top Ten Signs You've Purchased a Bad iPhone

2010-07-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

David Letteman is the best! On his show last night, he had the Top Ten Signs You've Purchased a Bad iPhone
10.To make a call, you have to insert a quarter
9.Automatically answers every call with a computerized, "Yello!"
8.Operates on 20 "D" batteries
7.Pre-loaded with naked photos of Steve Jobs
6.You keep getting anonymous texts reading, "iPhone kill you"
5."Apple Store" looks suspiciously like some dude's trunk
4.Looks, smells and tastes like a Pop-Tart (videotape of Dave eating iPhone)
3.There's no lather when washing your cornea (Sorry, that's a sign you've purchased a bad eye foam)
2.You check your email and it shocks your nuts
1.Only accepts calls from Mel Gibson

You can watch the video here:

Crime Sucks

2010-07-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Normally, I use my Visa card for everything. Not only is it really conventient but I also collect points that I can redeem for cool stuff (like Starbucks gift certificates). Every few weeks, I check my balance online and pay off whatever I owe. Today was one of those days but I had a large surprise when I logged on. I was scanning through my purchases and started to see a lot of charges from the past week that I didn't recognize. Overall, I saw around $1000 in charges to grocery stores & gas stations that definitlety didn't belong to me.

I quickly called Visa and was connected to their security department. I explained to the operator that I had not made these purchases and we stepped through my bill to verify which purchases I had made. All of the fraudulant purchases were removed from my bill including a few that had not shown up on my online account yet. The operator said from the information he could see, someone had copied my card and was using a physical copy to make the purchases around Vancouver. He then cancelled my card but told me I would not be responsible for any of the fraudulant charges and they would send me out a new card asap.

Unfortunately I probably won't ever find out exactly how the crooks got a copy of my card but I'd love to know. My card is one of the newer types that comes with a micro-chip and it was never lost (ie I still have it). I do not get any paper statements and generally shred anything that has my name /address on it. I suspect the crooks had my card when I was paying for something, copied the magnetic strip (from the back of the card ) and then created a new card without the micro-chip. When they used the card, they probably only visited places that did not have the newer style that required chips. It seems these new security features aren't too great since they can be circumvented so easily. The only time my card is really out of my sight is when I give it to a waiter/waitress while paying in a restaurant (which I suspect was when it was copied).

I asked the operator how someone could copy my card & how I could avoid it from happening again. Surprisingly, he said there was nothing I could do to prevent this (which was a bit shocking). He said the copying devices are so small and the people using them are so quick, they could do it right in front of me and I would never notice. He said to just keep doing what I have been doing but to always keep an eye on my balances and call them if I ever see anything suspicious.

So apart from the big hassle, this won't cost me anything directly and overall Visa handled it very well.

Summer has arrived!

2010-07-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

It took a while but it looks like summer is here. We both had today off (which is Monday) because it was Angela's normal day off and I had worked a holiday floater the previous week. The weather wasn't great in the morning so we just ran around and did some errands (which is another story). By early afternoon the sun came out & it was gorgeous so we headed to Beacon Hill Park. On our way into the park, we saw a momma deer and her little baby fawn.

Next we played some golf on the putting course.

Then we went for a walk around the park and fed the various ducks, squirrels and pea-cocks. We had one especially tame squirrel climbing all over us to get some tasty peanuts.

After that we went for another walk along the breakwater.

After all that fresh air & sun, I had to go home and have a nap. I've posted more pics here.

BP Jokes

2010-06-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

"BP is running with this, I guess. Their company newsletter has an article that says most Gulf residents aren't upset with BP because their cleanup crews have boosted the local economy. BP taking credit for boosting the economy in the Gulf is like Al Qaeda taking credit for creating jobs in airport security." –Jimmy Kimmel

"The BP president said yesterday that the company would survive. That's like someone running over your dog and saying, 'Don't worry, my car is fine.'" —Jimmy Fallon

"Here's a little bit of good news. The Coast Guard says that BP is now catching up to 630,000 gallons of oil a day. The bad news is that they're capturing it with ducks." —Jimmy Fallon

"BP CEO Tony Hayward said recently, 'No one wants this thing over more than I do. I'd like my life back.' Tony, I'm so sorry you had your summer disrupted. I'd buy you a drink, but you'd probably spill that too ... and make me clean it up." –Craig Ferguson

"The president met with BP CEO Tony Hayward, and Obama was demanding that BP clean up the Gulf. And I'm thinking, good luck. They can't even clean up their gas station restrooms." –David Letterman

"BP wants Twitter to shut down a fake BP account that is mocking the oil company. In response, Twitter wants BP to shut down the oil leak that's ruining the ocean." —Jimmy Fallon

"In a new interview, BP's CEO said that the Gulf Coast oil spill is relatively tiny compared to the 'very big ocean.' That's like telling someone who's just been shot not to worry about the bullet because they're really, really fat." –Jimmy Fallon

"In Louisiana, BP claims that it's making progress with the leaking oil in the Gulf. They're working on a plan to heat the Gulf up to 600 degrees and use it to fry chicken." –Jimmy Kimmel

"You folks been following the big British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? I'm telling you, British Petroleum has put more birds in oil than Colonel Sanders." —David Letterman

"On Monday, British Petroleum promised to pay all necessary cleanup costs for this oil spill. And they said they will do it, no matter how much they have to raise gas prices." —Jay Leno

If It Was My Home (aka BP Sucks)

2010-06-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

My friend Jonnie forwarded this website to me. It shows you how big the BP oil spill is compared to where you live which gives you a much better idea of the true size. The following pic shows the areas affected if the oil spill had happened here in Victoria. I'm not sure how accurate this is (especially since it seems to be getting bigger every day) but it still gives a unique perspective.

Check out the website, it lets you see the oil spill where you live plus it has lots more information about the spill.

Giant spider crab sloughs off old skin

2010-06-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Wow this is cool! As I was watching this, I was thinking of how good that would feel if I was a crab!

Vancouver in June

2010-06-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

We spent a busy few days in Vancouver over the weekend. Friday was mostly spent shopping & checking out the UFC weigh-ins.

On Sat we went to Stanley Park (including a ride on the mini train!), Lighthouse Park, Ambleside Park and then met up with the rest of my family for dinner before going to the 2010 BC Soccer Awards. My dad received an award after 40 years of volunteering with BC soccer.

On Sunday we slept in but we needed the energy 'cause it was another busy day. We went to Queen Elizabeth Park, Bloedel Conservatory, Van Dusen gardens and then had a late lunch in Steveston. On the way back to the ferry, we noticed a Buddhist temple (it was huge & shiny so it really stood out) and decided to try and have a closer look. They allowed visitors so we wandered around a bit and were very happy we did because it was beautiful!

Of course, I've posted lots of more pics:
Misc Vancouver Pics
Soccer Awards
Queen E Park & Mac Blo Conservatory
VanDusen Gardens