Location: Burnaby Lake, CCW
Distance: 10.03 km
Weather: Cloud and sun
Temp: 13ºC
Wind: light with some gusts
Calories burned: 700
Average pace: 5:59/km
Total distance to date: 1160.87 km
Ten days after my last run, nine days after hurting my back and one day after a rather strenuous hike that left my legs sore and tired, I returned to my regular running schedule. I knew it was going to be hard — and it was!
The first two km were not overly fast — 5:15 and 5:23 but just shy of the 2K mark I was breathing hard and obviously overextending myself. I paused to catch my breath and continued at a deliberate pace for the remainder. Stamina was not an issue going forward but with about 1 km left my legs were feeling more tired than I can ever recall. I maintained pace and finished but even the brisk walk home (around 5 km itself) was a challenge, especially taking the steps up in Hume Park.
Joanne, naturally, congratulated me again for another 500 km completed. I believe I have covered half the distance to Mars by her estimates. Such a nice if incorrect lady.
I also had my first pausetastrophe. At the 1.8K mark I paused the workout to catch my breath and instead of hitting pause to resume the workout I hit the center button on the iPod, which ends the workout. Eek. I quickly hit the pause button and the workout cooperatively resumed. The Nike+ site seems to have simply added a 1.8K mark in addition to the regular ones for each regular km completed, so all is well.
While I am not happy about having such a sluggish pace (5:59/km, my slowest 10K ever), considering all the extenuating circumstances I am happy to have simply completed it. I will begin the work of moving back toward peak condition with Wednesday’s run. I am fairly confident I will better today’s time.
Today Jeff and I set out for our first official™ hike in a year and Jeff opted to take us along the Diez Vistas trail, as 15 km trek above and between Buntzen Lake to the east and Indiand Arm to the west. It took us just under five hours to complete. It is described thusly on the BC Hydro website:
This route is recommended for experienced and fit hikers only. Spanish for “ten views”, the Diez Vistas Trail is aptly named. Offering spectacular views of Vancouver’s waterways and mountains, the Diez Vistas Trail commences near the floating bridge. Travelling uphill into the forest, cross the powerline and pipeline and continue along a series of switchbacks until the trail forks. The left trail leads to a viewpoint overlooking Indian Arm and the right leads to a view of South Beach and across to Eagle Ridge. After reaching the high point where the trails reunite, you travel along a forest trail that terminates at a BC Hydro service road. Keep right and follow the service road and transmission line (the Old Buntzen Lake Trail) back to the Buntzen Lake Trail, where a left turn will take you to the suspension bridge leading to North Beach. From here, follow either Powerhouse Road or the Buntzen Lake Trail back to South Beach.
And now the stats:
15 km hiked
3.1 km/hr average pace
740 m of elevation gained
one billion calories burned (okay, more in the range of 2400)
Considering that neither of us are in peak condition and I was coming off a week of not running, not to mention having a still slightly sore back, this was probably more than we should have tackled but it was a fun challenge, even if by the end our feet were aching, our stomachs were grumbling and we both felt very tired.
Living up to its name, Diez Vistas (10 vistas) has lots of viewpoints along the way, though we didn’t check out all of them. The ones we did had spectacular views of Burrard Inlet and Salmon Arm, with the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island spread out far below.
Much of the ascent and descent is fairly steep and it’s the kind of hiking where you often have to pick where to place your feet, as the path is covered in rock and twisted roots. We each slipped a few times but neither of us fell, something of a miracle for me given my unerring sense of imbalance. We encountered at least a couple dozen people during the hike, not surprising given that it was a Sunday and conditions were mild (the two previous times we hiked in this area it was freezing and pouring with rain, respectively). A pair of smart alecks even jogged past us at one point while we were exhausted enough to be tripping over on our feet. Dang kids young adults.
Click the first image below to view them all in sequence or visit the gallery here at your leisure.
The Titanic sank exactly 100 years ago today. Well, not exactly. Technically it struck the iceberg on the 15th but actually sank in the early hours of the 16th.
As expected, television has been plastered with Titanic specials, some trying to find new wrinkles in a century-old story and others merely recalling and remembering the events. In the former category is probably History Television’s airing of ‘Nazi Titanic’. This obscure 1943 German film (actually named simply ‘Titanic’) was commissioned by Joseph Goebbels and, not surprisingly, served as a vehicle (ho ho) to rail against British capitalism and greed. You can check out the Wikipedia article for more. The only one topping this would be Titanic II. The 2010 direct-to-DVD film features a plot where a duplicate of the doomed liner is struck by not one but two tsunamis (the first pushes an iceberg into it), explodes, catches on fire, capsizes and sinks. I believe Mega Shark probably eats what remains of it and any passengers shortly thereafter.
Anyway, the original was a terrible disaster, of course. I get nervous riding on a ferry and it starts to rock a bit but at least I know there are enough lifeboats in the event of an emergency.
Here, for your amusement, is my entire journal entry for January 24, 1987. I was 22 years old. As the journal was handwritten I often scribbled footnotes at the bottom of the page or in any other available space. I have attempted to mimic the effect here as best I can.
The most amazing thing about this and so many of the journal entries is how insanely thorough they are. It seems if I sneezed, I wrote it down. Also, do skates come in different sizes than shoes or do feet keep growing into your 40s or what? Because there’s no way I’d fit into a size 7½ these days (I wear size 8½).
***
Saturday, January 24, 1987. 11:33 p.m. A bad night is better than no night at all.
I blissfully, though (oddly) somewhat guiltily, slept in till around eleven this morning¹. After I got up I moved around the apartment lazily, carefully ignoring anything that needed to be done (laundry, dishes, etc. etc. and especially etc.)
Finally I sleepwalked to Pacific Centre, browsed for awhile and came home around five p.m. I ate a gourmet bachelor’s meal (Kraft Dinner and sausage) then went to the Youth Group meeting, even though I knew there was a skating party and that I probably wouldn’t go and would end up just sitting at home alone with nothing to write about.
But some people did show up, including Alex, who had obviously forgotten it was the skating party tonight². After a bit of talk and an umbrella demonstration courtesy of Don, five of us piled into Wayne’s scary old car and headed off for the Kitsilano Arena, secure in the knowledge that we were all fairly inept on ice skates. I didn’t wear a seatbelt (couldn’t find it) and that’s usually when I’m in a car accident. Tonight I lucked out and we arrived safely.
After forsaking my shoes and donning a pair of 7½ skates, I took my first few steps on the ice. I didn’t fall. Good. Now if I could maintain this consistency for two more hours, I’d be fine. I glanced over to the metal pushy things (hell if I can remember what they’re called) but decided I was approximately 15 years past the age where you can still use them without suffering through extreme embarrassment. Fortunately I did not fall during the entire evening. I almost hit the ice a few times but tried to disguise my slip ups as dramatic flourishes. I was not very convincing.
Wayne fell. So did Alex. Oddly, they both fell (at separate times) right in front of me. Am I a jinx or was it just a coincidence and they were actually so nauseated by the AWFUL music on the PA that they just plain fell over in disgust? (The music was 90% of all the country music you never, never wanted to hear.)
After some square dancing on ice (featuring a bearded man in a large dress similar to a can-can dancer), we abandoned the rink for the lounge upstairs. Much to my chagrin, no one, save for Peter and Wayne, from the group stayed. I stayed — for a few minutes, then decided to trot down to West Broadway to catch the bus. Lo, there was Alex!
We rode the bus together and walked a couple blocks up Davie, to where we had to turn off to get to his place. We talked about the group and he told me how it was difficult fitting in because he’s not very outgoing. That’s a problem (?) we both share. I asked him if he had any plans on doing anything. He said no, which was fine because I didn’t really want to go to a bar or similar establishment. So we went our separate ways and here I am thinking (and writing) about him.
A part of me (yes, I’ve set up a great joke for all the perverts out there) is attracted to him sexually but mostly the attraction is deeper, more substantial, something wildly profound like that. (author’s note — 25 years later I can verify that if you reverse the types of attraction listed here you’d have a more accurate picture) I haven’t found out anything about him yet that I don’t like (which is the quickest way for the bubble to burst. Imagine meeting someone you really liked only later to discover something downright putrid about them — such as they smoke or go to the bars a lot, two things I’d put on my list of “turn-offs”, right after nuclear war and static cling). But it’s too early to get a clear picture so I shall say no more (and besides, this isn’t supposed to be a diary. I’ve already divulged WAY TOO MUCH personal-type stuff. Tomorrow it’s going to be nothing but financial reports and stock market predictions).
RANDOM NOTES: I’m liking Gaudi more and more. It may be APP’s best album since Eye in the Sky. My laundry is threatening to slither out of its bag and attack me, so I’ll do it tomorrow. Also, the Great Canadian Dishes Saga will be concluded. Watch as Mr. Fork and Mrs. Knife go for a naughty dip plum-naked in a sink full of dirty utensils. Thrill to the excitement of plates clinking together underwater!
Hmm. It would appear I’ve run out of viable subjects to discuss. Perhaps I’ll say goodnight now.
Goodnight.
Log off: 12:23 a.m.
¹ this sentence deserves some sort of award for being so hideously, horrifically and otherwise badly structured.
² I had asked him previously if he was going and, as Mike crudely put it, he wasn’t exactly “shit hot” on the idea. I discovered he had not skated for 13 years moments before we hit the ice. This, perhaps, explained his lack of unsuppressable excitement.
I’ve been a bit out of the loop with local news lately and so missed last month’s announcement that local bookstore chain Book Warehouse would be closing. You can read the owner’s statement at the Book Warehouse website but I assume that may not be around forever so here it is in full, recorded for posterity.
Dear friends and customers,
Our leases are expiring and so are we. For many years we’ve had a fantastic time bookselling. We’re leaving with no regrets and many, many happy memories of customers, books and colleagues. In particular, I cannot say enough about the support, encouragement and friendship our landlords have given us throughout.
For many years it has been our privilege to be your bookseller in the Lower Mainland. We have been truly blessed to be welcomed into our neighbourhoods and we’ve enjoyed every year we’ve been here.
I would like to express thanks to the many booksellers who have served you so well over the years. We’ve had our joys and even tragedies but throughout we have had a rich and rewarding experience serving you. On behalf of all the Book Warehouse people who have built relationships with you I would like to thank you for all your support over the years. We won’t forget you, and we hope you will remember us as fondly as we will remember you.
Please enjoy our closing sale, and please take the time to chat with us. We’re going to miss you!
Sharman King
This message is much more positive than the “We are doomed” one Duthie’s posted when they closed shop two years ago and that reflects on King’s general optimism. In the end it wasn’t enough to keep the 32 year old enterprise going as the book market undergoes a sea change with ereaders and companies like Amazon changing the way people get books.
I shopped at Book Warehouse semi-regularly, visiting the reference section for books on writing, nabbing the occasional bestseller (always discounted by at least 20%) or something from the fiction section. The staff were always friendly, ready to help and the atmosphere was relaxed. With most of my reading shifting to ebooks I can’t honestly say I’ll miss Book Warehouse in a practical sense but I will miss having the opportunity to walk in and look over the new releases and end up buying something I didn’t even know had existed. That tangible contact, being able to pick up a book and examine its cover, read the blurb, it wasn’t magical or anything, really, but it was nice and now one of my most-frequented places to do this will soon be another memory.
Charlie Smith has written an excellent reminisce for the Georgia Straight. Read it here.
Five days later and my back is starting to feel a little closer to normal after The Stooping Incident. I have written a haiku to help remember this less-than-cherished event.
This Back of Mine
Bending down and zap
Pain and the old man shuffle
Stupid random back
Google has been having some interface issues of late. Adam Snell, via Chris Nahr posted an image that aptly illustrates the problem with the newly-designed desktop UI for Google+ as seen below:
Check out the post on Google+ itself here. I don’t have anything to add except for agreement. The Google UI team is going for some kind of minimalist aesthetic, I suppose, but falling down fairly badly in their attempt. I shouldn’t have to scrunch up my browser window horizontally to get a balanced design.
Update: As Jason Pace points out in this post, the white space in the redesign is where ‘hangouts’ (video chat) go. As he also wisely points out, if that’s the case the space should be allocated dynamically so it doesn’t otherwise leave a huge chunk of nothing staring you in the face.
Putting new lyrics to an established song is nothing new — it’s done regularly for parody but it’s still a fun exercise, especially if you try for a specific focus.
For example, the song ‘California Girls’ (Mike Love, Brian Wilson) takes 2:47 to explain how girls all around the U.S. (and the world) are nifty but what would be the niftiest of all is if they were California girls, presumably because they’d have rockin’ tans and actually be near enough to date/chase/moon over. Not exactly deep stuff:
Well East coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Southern girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I’m down there
Doing the old gender switch is easy for the chorus since it doesn’t rhyme.
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls
Becomes:
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California boys
Simple! In fact, the rest of the song can easily be switched around, gender-wise, too. This is probably the trickiest verse:
The West coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a French bikini on Hawaii island
Dolls by a palm tree in the sand
What would be the equivalent of a French bikini for guys, especially of that era (mid 1960s)? How about cut-offs? A substitute for ‘dolls’ is tougher. Studs, maybe? Was that in the vernacular back then? I don’t know offhand because I was about one year old at the time and my fashion sense was limited to diapers and pooping in them.
The West coast has the sunshine
And the guys all get so tanned
I dig blue jean cut-offs on Hawaii island
Studs by a palm tree in the sand
Not exactly a masterpiece but hey, if someone ever starts up The Beach Girls, they’re good to go.
How about making the song about music?
Well East coast bands are hip
I really dig those styles they play
And the Southern jazz with the way they strum
They knock me out when I leave L.A.
The Mid-West farmer’s hoedown really make you feel alright
And the Northern cats with their drums and songs
Will keep you grooving all the night
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California bands
Again, not the stuff of genius but we’ve shifted focus of the song while keeping as much of the original lyrics intact, creating a kind of alternate universe version of it.
Giving yourself the freedom to change the lyrics as much as you want, sticking only to the actual meter of the song (‘sung to the tune of…’) makes it both easier (no need to hew to the spirit/theme of the original) and more difficult (what will the song be about?)
I’m still mulling over choices but I’m thinking of something profound and grim to go with the jaunty music. I’ll post an update when I have put together my morose musings. If I can record it via some karaoke thing, all the better*!
Way back when I started what I didn’t know at the time was called a ‘Let’s Play’ I blogged about my first experience with The Sims 3 and the sim I had created, Ferris Wheele. After three posts I got sidetracked by work and a billion other things. I recently (and finally) completed the LP on Broken Forum, which is hosted by Scott ‘Lum the Mad’ Jennings. BF was revived in January 2012 as a refugee camp of sorts for people who had been banned from Quarter to Three or disagreed with the way the admin ran things there. One of the things Lum did differently on BF was to break up the games discussion more discretely. There are dedicated subforums for PC/console games, MMOs (understandable given Lum’s work in that particular area), traditional (board) gaming and the most recent addition was a Let’s Play section after several requests went out to have the few LPs gathered in one place.
The LPs took off, in no small part to Angie Gallant’s pigeon dating sim LP. This has brought out a veritable flood of people posting their experiences, largely in Japanese dating sims — but you can find everything from Master of Orion 2 to Minecraft, X-Com, Morrowind and even big rig and train simulators (with zombies!) It’s really quite neat and has given BF a distinct flavor to set it apart from Qt3.
I revived my Sims 3 experience and carried it through Ferris Wheele’s entire life. You can read the thread here. I’ll eventually bring it back over here. I’m planning another LP soon and it will also go to Broken Forum first then make its way back here. Have a look in on Ferris’s wacky life.
I find myself distracted on this Easter Sunday by my back. Sleeping with the pulled muscles last night was not as bad I had expected, with it only being an issue when I wanted to roll over. Starting the rollover motion was a bit of a pain (ho ho). I tried to just lay on my back but when I’m awake I’m like a shark, I need to keep moving. Tonight I plan on having my brain and back discuss this and come to an agreement of sorts that will minimize anything that will hurt.
Putting my socks on this morning was also not the most fun thing I did today but by afternoon I was well enough to walk to the store. I sometimes even had it slip my mind that my back was sore at all. I am skeptical about being ready to run tomorrow, but hope springs eternal and all that.
This afternoon I noticed a splotch on the kitchen tile. Rather than bring out the handy Swiffer mop to clean up such a minor scuff, I broke out the spray cleaner from under the kitchen sink and gave it a few blasts.
Something funny happened when I stooped to put the cleaner back under the sink and by funny I mean ‘extremely painful’. I felt a sudden jolt of pain shoot through my lower back. I spent the next hour or so feeling very sore and rather immobile. Tonight, three Advil later, I am still sore but a lot more mobile. I am hoping that a good night’s rest will help heal the ol’ back muscles to where they were before this unexpected and unwanted event occurred.
I don’t recall doing anything that may have led to my back suddenly spasming like this (or whatever it was) so I’m also hoping this doesn’t happen again any time soon. Or ever.
Location: Burnaby Lake, CCW < NEW
Distance: 10.02 km
Weather: Cloud and sun
Temp: 9ºC
Wind: light
Calories burned: 700
Average pace: 5:33/km
Total distance to date: 1150.84 km
The weather for today’s run was a bit of a reverse from Wednesday, with it sunny to start and cloudy to finish. It remained mild throughout and a t-shirt probably would have sufficed.
Given the Good Friday holiday and benevolent sky (can a sky be benevolent? It can now!) there were quite a few people at Burnaby Lake. I counted 24 vehicles in the parking lot and roughly a million people on the trail, a mix of walkers (some in large groups), joggers and a few obnoxious types letting their dogs run all over sans leash. My favorite, though, was a pair of women coming toward me. One had a dog off leash, the other was on a bike. They occupied the entire width of the trail (off-leash dogs and bikes are both verboten as the lake is classified as an environmentally sensitive habitat). I remained polite, not even offering a dirty look. I may have muttered something unkind under my breath in passing, however. On the last stretch leading back to the parking lot I passed a woman on a horse. This isn’t too unusual, as that particular part of the trail is mixed use but it was the first time I’d seen someone on a horse that was galloping. Given that the path is not especially wide it seemed odd. Maybe the horse had to pee.
The run was remarkably similar to Wednesday’s, although I managed to shave three more seconds off my pace, a modest but welcome improvement. With an average of 5:33/km I have an unofficial target of beating 5:30. I hope to do so next week as I continue to increase my endurance.
