Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Dinosaurs out - Alan Jackson in

Sunday was a day pretty much to rest up for the out of the Walking with Dinosaurs show.  I went downtown early to get a parking spot and it was no trouble at all.  It was interesting showing up and seeing the old gang from Camosun there.  Steve, Daryl, Alan, and Bryce were there.  Actually there were quite a few people there for a relatively small move in.So I chatted with the guys and slowly got ready.  We began by loading up the brontosaurus outside - he is only used in the first act.  He travels in his own trailer and takes two fork lifts to lift him up on the loading platform.  Then it was inside to get ride of the boarders and remove patagonia.  then we lifted the dreaded floor.

We were out of the arena by 11:30 which was kind of nice.  Especially because I had to be back in the arena at 9am for the Alan Jackson concert.  It was a much smaller show than Dinosaurs - rather than 20 trucks we only had three.  Ron was head LX which was good.  I like working with him.  We also had Vince and Stephen on the LX crew and we were a pretty good bunch.  Apparently we set a record because for the first time in the tour we hand all the gear set up and ready to fly before all the points were in.  We were out of the arena by 1pm so I had the afternoon off.  Marla was out seeing Dr. Quartley so I had the place to myself.  I finished packing up for our LA trip and had a bit of a nap with precious.

I went back for the show call and the closest parking spot I could find was way down on Douglas Street.  That kind of sucks but I parked in a bright area and headed up the hill.  The opening act was a girl and her group from Alberta.  Boy she really liked herself and came across with lots of "how good am I" lounge singer.  Alan Jackson's show was really good.  It was a little weird because he played a lot of his old videos behind him and yet singing up front he was about twenty years older.  I kept wondering who is the "old guy."  That being said, it was still an excellent show.  We were out of the arena by 12:45am and it was real nice to get home.  Even if it did mean staying up until 2am before my mind would shut up.


Sunday, September 21, 2014

I missed Friday

Saturday, September 20th


Up early for a walk with Christopher and Precious.  I am going to be busy for a few Saturdays coming up so this will be our last for a couple of weeks at least.  It was a beautiful still morning for a walk.  The ocean had this strange purple hue to it.  However the air was fresh, sun was starting to shine and Precious was ready for a romp.

I stopped on the way home to get a replacement suction cup stand for the Garmin.  We are going to need it in LA.  First stop was Canadian Tire and then Future Shop.  Finally I went on line and found a good one, on sale, at the Source.  So that was cool.

We went out to Leslie's for supper.  It was treacherous stew.  But we made it through, came home and watched Dr. Who.


I do have to mention something from yesterday.

Friday, September 19th
Got up really early to take Marla to the Memorial Pavillion and her volunteering.  I picked her up at 12:30 and we drove over to Sears.  I had Marla's brown fringe bag but we payed full price for it the other day.  So we went in and checked it out and sure enough all bags were on 40% off.  So we exhanged her brown bag for a black bag and then traded it for the brown bag and more money off.

We celebrated save 30$ by going to John's for lunch.  I radically reduced my order to a simple slice of meatloaf with the marcella gravy and a little bit of potatoes.  I had them hold everything else.  It was still too much but it was pretty good.  Marla was adventurous and tried and egg benny.  Good for her.


Thursday, September 18, 2014

A day of recovery - Thursday Sept 18

I was pretty stiff this morning when I woke up.  I actually slept in until 8am.  Precious and I went out to play ball a bit - when it is morning and it is a little damp her getting and returning the ball equals once.

Marla and I caught up on some tv (AGT and Amazing Race Canada) then Marla was off to get her hair cut and I took off to Costco.  Precious and I had a nice drive out.  We checked up on some prices for lumber at Home Depot - about $10 per board and we need 10 Boards for the deck.

We had a good night at the gym and then came home to do some serious relaxing.  Gee there is not much to say for the day.

Eating was good.

And That's all folks.

Sept 17 Working with Dinosaurs

Up at 6:30 to get ready for a day at Walking With Dinosaurs.  It is a pretty nice day.  Today I am a carp - I didn't really want to do electrics so that I could revisit some of my skill sets.  Also, although I am a lot lighter I am still not up to climbing steel rope ladders up the the truss.  So I am keeping my feet on firm ground.  Tom was being head carp today but Anton was also there to check out things and make his face seen.  He is doing really good, up and walking about.

This is the European tour of Walking With Dinosaurs, so their truss and gear is not really made for our smaller arenas.  But they still have a pretty good show.  The crew is very international - I was working with an Irishman from County Cork (Michael) and a nice American from Arizona (Adam).  They were quite funny and very nice.  The oddest fellow of the crew was their head carp.  He was a Kiwi from New Zealand who spend a great deal of the day running around and shouting instructions in a boisterous voice that no one understood.

I spent most of the day working with Colin, Roger, Stephen, Helen, Richard (new guy with big earring), and Dave and Nicki from Cowichan.  We were a pretty good crew.  Our job was laying out the floor for the stage, building the three mountains, and setting out the ground row and plants around the dasher.  One of the most disconcerting things is to be standing and look up to see a full size T-Rex looking over your shoulder.  Here are a few pictures:





We were supposed to finish at 5pm, then it became 7pm, then 8 and we finally left at 9pm.  It was a very long day, but also a good one.  Everything was catered and I kind of wish I could eat like this everyday. There were great spreads of high protein servings. I ate my small plates of turkey, beef, beans with a little bit of avocado, sour cream and salsa. No bread carbs at all. then there is the exercise part - According to my fitbit I walked 23,800 steps or 10.94 miles, climbed 23 flights of stairs, and burned 4,400 Calories.

I got home and had a nice hot bath and relaxed for a while.  We shall see how I do tomorrow.



Tuesday, September 16, 2014

2014 Chalk Art Festival

Well I had a great day today with Marla.  We watched a perfectly horrible Roughrider TiCat football game.  Hamilton won 28 to 3.  Just to balance things our we have a new quarterback now that Darrian  Durrant is hurt for a few more weeks.

After the game Marla and I went downtown to check out the Chalk Art Festival on Government Street.








We had a really nice time.  Marla got off on some First Nations Music and we bought a CD.  Then we checked out the art work.  We walked down to the Steamship Grill in the old wax museum for lunch. I had seafood chowder and Marla had a salad.  Then we walked back to the car with a stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolate.  We came home and relaxed with Dr. Who and some old spy movies.  I went off on a nice walk with Precious (12kms) and then got comfy at home.



Story night and another wonderful day

I am so stiff.  Everything hurts from yesterday's 12km walk. I know it is supposed to make me feel better but.  Still it was a pretty good day.  Marla and I went downtown to check out an outfit for her but the store wasn't open so we went for a walk instead.  It was nice just to be a local tourist and check out some of the stuff we need for the house.  We are still on the search for the perfect travel bag for me.  I think it is the LL Bean  http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/60317?page=waxed-cotton-continental-field-bag but I am still shopping.

We went over to Hillside Mall and got Marla's glasses fixed.  Then we stopped for a snack/lunch at NY Fries.  They were good but messed with my system.  We shopped a bit more - Marla got a very cool fringe purse from Sears.  Boy, Sears was dead.  Very good service.  Marla tried on some high end shoes at Ingledews, again exceptionally good service. She was so impressed they had shoes that fit her.

In the evening we went to the Victoria Story Tellers Guild meeting.  It was fun.  Some nice old stories and not too many boring ones.  I told the story of Marla and my first meeting.  Eating was pretty good for the day and all is well in my world.

Except I am really stiff.


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Working on a children's show

I was going to walk to the theater this morning.  It is only 5kms away, about an hour walk, and it would be great exercise on a nice day.  So I grabbed my bag and took off.  I got about three blocks away and realized I forgot my black shirt.  Seeing I was missing my uniform of the day I walked back home and drove to work.

Work was good.  It was a nice bunch of guys to work with.  Of course the highlight of the day was that Brendan got a new job in Vancouver as head LX of the Orpheum.  Congrats, it is a very good move for him.

Mikal and I were up on the follow spots for Disney Jr.'s presentation of the Imagination Movers.  If you were six years old this would be an exciting concert.  The other really nice thing about working a children show is that we were done by 4pm.  So Marla and I got a night of watching football which was really nice.

Speaking of food, okay I wasn't but I should, Lunch was a burrito.  I haven't had one in ages and so I picked up a small one with beef and bean - and no it didn't start a fart festival. Actually, protein doesn't make me fart.  Carbs, like the stuff we had at Pag's the other day, are.  Of course I didn't finish.

So all in all, this was a pretty good day.




Friday, September 12, 2014

I haven't looked here in a year

Well silly me.  I haven't looked at my blog in a whole year.  So this will be a brief look at my last year and let's see if we can do a little better.

September 13, 2013
I was busy in school at UVic taking a course in Russian History of the Tsars.  It was a very good course and I enjoyed myself.  It was a big help for what we did in the spring of 2014.  I did a bunch of hockey games with the Victoria Royals.

October 2013
I ran the Goodlife 8km Road Race and had a great time doing it.  We went to Parksville and Tofino for our regular October holiday.

November 2013
A very quiet month.  We didn't do much but school and hockey.

December 2013
Finished up my UVic class and did well with it.  The usual.  Lots of shows at the Royal.  Wayne and Shirley were in town for Christmas.

January 2014
Went back to work at Camosun for 10 days in January.  It was fun.  I liked not having to wear all the feathers.

February 2014
Spent three weeks in Kailua-Kona this time.  It was awesome.  Booked for a whole month for next year.

March 2014
Back to hockey games and good times.  Stayed in Victoria and enjoyed ourselves.

April 2014
Hockey is over but it is really nice walking weather.

May 2014
Flew off to Copenhagen for our cruise.  Copenhagen was wonderful.  Just like the song.  then our ship, the MS Eurodam, took off for Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and back to Denmark.  Awesome trip.

June 2014
We went to Vancouver for  a great weekend at the Cher Concert and then spent a few days down at the Tulalip.

July 2014
Spent most of the month at UVic in an East Central European History class.  It was a good class and I bettered my usual mark.  So I was pleased.  Now I want to go visit Prague, Budapest and Vienna.

August 2014
We went down to Seattle to see Book of Mormon and catch a baseball game.  We had a great time.  My mom passed away in early August.  I hope she has a great time in the great beyond. Her spirit still stays with me.  We saw an awesome exhibit at the Pacific Science Center about Spies.

September 2014
Wow, caught up.  We are travelling at the end of the month and then another trip in October so I am not taking any classes.  I am doing a whole lot of theater work and enjoying it.  Lots of walking and much needed exercise.

Coming up - more about food, exercise and enjoying life.  I will put up some trip reports and some stories.  And not wait another year to update my blog.