I was going to update earlier, but our internet connection is being a bitch lately and I haven't been able to get online at times when I'd like to.

So there was a long weekend, but I worked the monday (so I could take friday off instead). Saturday I helped Battle move some patio furniture and flower pots and shit over to his grandparents place...an interim holding spot while he moves out of his current home and waits for his new place to become complete. He fed me well and then his grandma fed us again! We also had root beer frosters cause they rock! In the evening I went out for some Pho with Herch, then over to his friends house for some drinks and video games. We hit Hugo's and met up with Frenchie, Jackson, and Frenchie's friend in from Van. The DJ, while better than the guy the previous week, was not spinning the greatest of tunes and I stayed away from the dance floor, although I grooved a bit a few times, wherever I happened to be. There was some drama and scariness at the end of the evening, which I won't get into (everything worked out ok), but I will relay another story that happened not so long after. As I walked home, I headed for the station to take a leak. Walking up Johnson St I passed by a drunk guy staggering down the sidewalk...I didn't take much notice, as the streets are littered with drunken people at this time every Saturday. When I got up to the corner though, I heard a crashing sound and turned around to see this guy pull himself out from a window cove of one of the businesses on the street, followed by a bunch of broken glass crashing onto the sidewalk. He continued on his way...I assume he fell into the glass and broke it not on purpose. I figured I should probably do something about this and continued toward the station to call the cops. Didn't have to though, as a cop turned onto Broad St as I walked along. I flagged him down and told him about the guy and gave my rough description of what I remembered. Done.

Sunday I got up at a decent time to go for brunch with Court and Chris who were visiting (and staying upstairs with Q&S). We headed for Langford and ended up at White Spot. C&C headed for the ferry after we ate, Q&S&I did a bit of shopping then back home. I rode into town to pick up my truck and then carried on to pick up Vicki's son, Shay. She had wanted a break from him for a few hours to get her house cleaned and I had agreed to take him for the afternoon. It wasn't a moment of weakness, I just thought I'd be nice, plus I should spend time around kids once in a while. We went to the Scottish Highland Games in Bullen Park. We missed the kaber toss, but caught some of the dancing and the marching bands...pretty impressive. Shay got scared when he was about to go into the dragon tunnel...this inflatable structure they'd brought in for the kids. He's only 3...maybe a tad young for it. He had an ice cream instead. We also spent some time at a playground, then it rained so we headed for shelter. In my place, I quickly realized that I have no toys and spent a good portion of my time making sure Shay didn't play with my scale model cars, which look like toys, but are not. I found solace in the silly putty that I received in my stocking at Christmas...bouncing a putty ball against thr kitchen door and floor proved to be fun enough. Sunday evening was dinner with Q&S and their friends over from Van...Alicia and Jen. I provided ice cream cake for dessert. We also went to the Sticky for a drink.

Monday was supposed to be a bike ride with P&W&R, but it was icky out, so we played wussy and bailed. I didn't do much, then work.

Tuesday I went in earlier than usual...training with BOS because I'm going to be temp BOS for the summer while he is on leave (baby on the way). On my ride in, some woman yelled at me because I hadn't stopped going through a 4 way stop. She said she's seen me do it before too (although I wonder if it was me...lots of people ride in yellow jackets and I don't usually ride at this time. And most people I see ride, ride right through the 4 way stops). I turned around and told her I was in control...I looked both ways and the only reason I did it was because I didn't want to lose my momentum. She kept going on about the rules of the road, blah blah. You know what? FUCK the rules of the road. I KNOW the rules of the road and I'm only bending them. If there is traffic at a 4 way stop and it's not going to be my turn by the time I hit the stop line, I will stop. But if there's no traffic or it's going to work out that I'll be stopping only to start right up again because it's my turn, then I'm not going to fucking stop. If I'm driving, I'll stop (or...well, slow down a lot and almost stop)...because what's it to me to use the brakes and then hit the gas? But on a bike...I hate to build up momentum and then lose it for no reason. So fuck that chick! She's a prime candidate for my Real Rules of the Road course! She had an accent too...fuckin' foreigner, coming over here and thinkin' she can tell me how to ride my bike! I never interferred with the Kiwis and how they rode or drove...

Samsquamsch this weekend! Woo freakin' Hoo! Road trip! Camping! Good times!

I don't understand the obsession with toasting. Subway introduced toasted subs a few months ago (to compete with Quizno's who have been toasting from the start), and people like my dad have always been gung-ho on toasting hamburger and hot dog buns before meating them up. I just don't enjoy a toasted bun as much as a nice soft fresh one. Toasted buns get all dry and crumbly, whereas a nice soft fresh bun is moist and a little chewy and way less messy. I just made myself a couple of burgers and used awesome cheese kaisers from Country Grocer...they made great buns. Maybe it's the way a bun is toasted. I don't mind a light toasting, where the inner surface gets a bit crispy, but the outside is still soft. It's when it stays on the grill for too long and get crispy all over that I don't enjoy it as much. Maybe I'm alone in my plight against toasted...maybe not?

Played some tennis with Becks this morning. Beautiful day, perfect to be outside. I did alright...she whooped me 6-2, but at least I got on the board. I hadn't played in quite a while...probably since I was in NZ. It came back pretty quick (squash probably helped). I had some good returns and managed to serve more in than out. Hopefully we can make tennis tuesdays a regular thing.

I'm gonna go take apart my tranny now...wish me luck!

Good times, good times, good times.

Friday, I partook in the FireFit Corporate Challenge as I explained before...except it wasn't quite as I explained. Originally it was going to be only two of us running a relay course that is designed for five. We got a third team member...so in addition to myself and JN, ET was there and took on the forcible entry task (alongside his MCing duties). I didn't really know how the event was going to be structured...I thought we'd maybe run the course once or twice and get a best time and that would be that. We actually competed against the other corporate teams in a whittle down system until one team was crowned victorious. The A-Team fared well. In round one we faced off against Coast Capital Savings Team #1. We lost to them, but one loss wasn't enough to boot ya out. Round two we ran against the team from Rogers and royally kicked they asses pushing us through the round 3, where we met the team from Harbour Towers. This was by far our best race...I got us off to a bit of a slow start on the stair climb, but JN evened it up by the end of the hose hoist and ET rocketed us ahead on the forcible entry. JN breezed through the hose haul/target shoot, and I finished it off, well ahead of the competition, with the dummy drag. Our best time (1:53) and a comeback from behind...felt good! We didn't have much rest time before our fourth race, versus Sidney Thrifty's. We did not do well. I was slow going up the stairs and that just put us completely behind. We were all feeling the exhaustion. When the relay came back to me for the dummy drag, we were well behind and while I knew I couldn't catch them, I could at least try to make the time respectable...so I pushed it faster and ended up tripping over myself and falling with the dummy. I got up and finished things off...we ended up with 2:05 which wasn't bad. We placed third out of eleven teams...and I was happy with that (I didn't want to run the course again anyways). We got a cute, little trophy, and a one month membership to a gym as a prize. It was a fun event...I would definitely do it again! Maybe next time we'll have five team members! We did have a good cheering squad...several friends and colleagues from the station, as well as Dad, came down to support us, which was really cool.

Saturday was BBQ at S&A's...the highlight of which was ladderball. Picture two golf balls on either end of a rope (a little over a foot long). Then you fling this at a three rung ladder made of PVC Pipe. Top rung is worth three points, middle worth two, bottom worth one. Each player has three throws per round. First person to 21 wins. I won some, I lost some, but it was way fun! There was also much drinking, good music, and good goofin' off goin' on. We hit up Hugo's afterwards and I actually had a good time! The "DJ" sucked balls (although he did cover by saying he wasn't the regular guy..I don't even think he was a DJ at all, I think he was a last minute fill in), but I danced anyways. 2 Live Crew - Fuck Martinez was probably the highlight song of the night (except for the "DJ" throwing in all these weird pauses and scratches and shit). Pizza at Pacific Rim and then I walked home.

Sunday, Mother's Day, I picked up Grandma and headed to mom's house. Dad and I cooked up some burgers and made a salad. Gord couldn't make it cause he was sick. It was a good relaxing day spent with the family.

Gord sold the engine from my parts truck...that's friggin' awesome! It recoups much of the costs in buying and transporting the truck...and I still got a tranny (that I still have to figure out how to make work in my truck) and tires and other parts out of it. My brother is the shit!

Again...or maybe I should say still, I hate being a human.

Conservation officers were called into East Sooke to other day to hunt down a cougar who had killed some farm animals and pets. East Sooke is the wilderness! You wanna fucking live there, you live amongst the wild animals! I grew up there, and while I never saw a cougar, I knew they were there, and I respected them. If you don't want to lose your animals to a cougar, keep 'em locked up better. If you fear for your family's safety...don't fucking live in East Sooke! Don't kill the cougar! It's a wild animal...you've encroached on it's territory...what do you expect it to do? Ricky and Julian and Bubbles didn't kill Steve French when he encroached on their pot field...learn a lesson from the trailer park boys for fuck's sake!

Argh...people piss me off! There's a lot of stupid ones out there...and even the so-called smart ones aren't always that smart.

My fish tank is still empty...one day...soon...maybe?

I bought Mobile's debut album, Tomorrow Starts Today, a couple weeks ago. I'm diggin' it!

I saw a Black Cobra driving up Johnson Street last night. I didn't get a very good look...it was half a block away and I was walking. It was loud. It was probably a replica, but would be nice to find out for sure. From what Earl tells me, there weren't many cars from the factory that were painted black...so it's quite unlikely that one of them is in Victoria (I don't even know if there's a true cobra on the island).

I got drunk on Saturday...it was fun times. Did some dancin', did some eatin', downed a lot of beer. Crashed at Frenchies. 'Twas AdLee's birthday...happy 25th to him!

I'm in the FireFit corporate competition tomorrow. Dressed in turnout gear and carrying a SCBA unit, I will run up four flights of stairs with a 42lb roll of hose, then back down while my relay partner hauls up a roll of hose via a rope. At the bottom we will tag off again and I will hammer a 165lb block five feet, then tag off to him who will run around some obstacles and then haul a charged hose 75 feet and spray down a target. He will tag off to me and I will then haul a 175lb rescue dummy 100ft to the finish line. I haven't really trained...but I'm pretty sure we'll kick ass. Last night I filled a garbage can up with some old phone books until I figured it weighed around 42lbs...then ran it up the back stairs at work. I was huffin' and puffin', and that was without wearing gear or an SCBA...I'll manage though. I can pull energy outta my ass when I need to (except in Fiji).

Gotsta go to work.

Here's an idea for a business: Real World Driving School.

Young Drivers, Cops, City and Highways departments would probably have problems with it, but here's how it would work. Teach people how to actually drive in the real world. Lots of people learn the rules of the road and how to work the car (although some are just barely squeaking by)...but this school would teach how to bend the rules and what to do in real world situations.

For example: You want to turn left onto Dinky Doo Street, but there is a no left turn 7am to 6pm sign hanging over the intersection. The reason the sign is there is because the city has found that this intersection is quite busy during those hours and they don't want someone tying it up by trying to make a left turn. Obviously the left turn is possible (it's not a one way street, etc) because you can do the turn outside of those hours. But, if you happen upon the intersection within those hours and want to turn left, and there happens to be a break in the oncoming traffic...no harm is done in making the left turn. That's a bend of the rules...thinking outside the box, still keeping things safe but realistic is what the Real World Driving School would teach. Similarly, some people don't realize or respect those signs and the reason they are there. I saw two cars trying to make a left turn onto Dinky Doo Street yesterday, when traffic was busy (and yes, there was a no left turn sign that was valid at the time this was happening). Those people are set in their ways and know they need to make that left turn. Those people are fucking idiots and are contributing to the traffic mess. Instead, they could travel further to the next intersection where it's less congested and allowed to make a left turn, then back track to get where they want. Go a bit out of your way to not fuck a buncha other people over.

That's just one example of a situation the Real World Driving School would address.

I was in this bathroom fixtures store the other day, having a look around for Earl, as he is looking for some cool taps and faucets and shit. A couple things sorta caught my eye...nothing much. I'm wearing my AC/DC Back in Black shirt and one of the sales guys comes over and says, "You know the original singer was better". Now, I'm a pretty big AC/DC fan and I love the works of both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. Something about the way this guy was so cocky about saying, "The original singer was better", just irked me though. Do I care what you think? If you think Bon was better why don't you actually say his name...not just "original singer"? If you really knew what you were talking about, you'd know Bon wasn't the original singer, it was Dave Evans (I'm quite sure he was insinuating that Bon was the original singer though, as most people don't know about Dave). And even if Bon was better, so the fuck what!? It's not like the band ousted him and picked up Brian...Bon died and they decided to carry on! Good for them I say. Brian is respectful of Bon's legacy and they still rock and Brian even does some of Bon's songs better than Bon did them (in my opinion). Bon Scott rocked, Brian Johnson rocks, AC/DC kicks ass...that's all there is. Fuckin' guy... (he is entitled to his opinion, as I am mine...but just don't be cocky about it and pretend to know it all)

I've got an empty fish tank sittin' here...need to get me some fish.

I'm starting to catch shit for not posting in a couple weeks...so here we go!

Without getting into too much detail, here's what's been goin' on:

I travelled to North Carolina with Earl a week and a half ago. Our mission was to take pictures of three 427 Shelby Cobras, which we did. I bussed it to Vancouver, flew to Trail, met Earl, drove to Spokane, slept, flew to Chicago, then through to Raleigh North Carolina, then drove west as far as Statesville. We got all the pictures (300+) in two days and it was an enjoyable and educational trip. NC is a nice state...very lush vegetation and decent infrastructure. The people we met were very nice. The pictures we took will accompany an article about the cars that Earl will be writing and submitting to major magazines in the near future. The return trip was just as long, but it was all good.

Got back to town and got organized and settled again. Saturday I went up to Gord's and we stripped off the rest of the useable stuff from my parts truck, then wheeled it across the road to the wreckers. Choy met up with us and we started to work on my truck, prepping the transmission for replacement with the one from the '89. We discovered a problem though...the tranny in the '93 uses an electronic speed sensor, whereas the one from the '89 uses a mechanical sensor...the speedometers in the trucks looked the same, but worked different. Research was going to need to be done. I left the truck there, borrowed their van and went back in to town. Met up with Bex and Dan at her place...watched some of the Ottawa game then picked up Frenchie and Jackson and hit the Monkey Tree for Music Bingo. P&W joined us, and Q&S showed up later. We played some good games, although Frenchie was the only one at the table to win anything (and when he won, Q ran the card up for him only to get beat out by someone else for third, meaning Frenchie got himself a sexy Saanich Firemen's calendar!). We played all four games, and even received a shout out from the woman running the show (she played "Thank God I'm a Country Boy for us"), then headed out. I was going to join them at the Gorge Pointe Pub for Yeech's dragon boating party, but I decided to give my ticket to Jackson and head home...having to run the 10K the next day (I don't think I missed much at the party).

Sunday I did indeed get up and run the TC10K. It felt pretty good, and I ended up beating my last year's time by almost five minutes! My time was 52:27 and I'm happy with that. I sprinted the last hundred metres...a similar sprint to my Fremont Street run when I reunited with the boys in Vegas. Q & Rol came down to take some pictures and hang out afterwards. P&W also ran and managed some personal best times too! We went to Moxie's for brunch afterwards. Choy and LEJ met us there and LEJ gave me a flower! They didn't stay to eat though. The waitresses at Moxie's were incredibly hot...and I think ours was the most attractive. I went up to Gord's in the afternoon again and we just ended up replacing the tranny fluid and changing the oil. No transmission replacement yet...not sure if the one from the '89 will work. There was a lot of metal grit in the tranny fluid that we drained out...that tranny is dying a slow death. I drove the truck home and it works fine like it did before...so at least nothing got fucked up.

That pretty much catches things up.

I need a hobby, I need a passion, I need something to focus on. I feel like a lost soul with no purpose or direction.