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.

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.

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.

school history and horses

So I am back in school and it is feeling better. the course this year is Hist374 - Russian History of the Tsars.  Serhy is my instructor and he is pretty cool.  He is from the Ukraine and definately has some opinions.  There is lots of reading and it really tries my comprehension to understand all the Eastern European names.  But it is early and I am prepared to try hard.

Our other course is that Marla and I are taking horseback riding courses from Connect and Ride.  Carmen had to cancel today's ride which was a bit of a bummer but all in all it wasn't a bad thing because today was terribly hot. We actually set records today for Victoria being the hottest day since 1975.  I think it may have been too hot for the horses to hump us about.

Yeechy things happening in the house.  Our fridge sucks, it has since we bought it but seeing as the dishwasher decided to do its impression of a waterfall and we have to get the service rep out for that we might as well get the fridge looked at too.

On the good side, Trev from Arbour Renovations came over and fixed the back door.  He does a good job.  So I am going to get him to fix the back deck or build us a new one.

Yeehaw

Well just a little bit of a yee haw.  Marla and I started our horse riding course on Wednesday.  We went out to Connect and Ride to get started.  Last time Carmen said to come a little later - the week before we were really early.  This time she said we were a half hour late.  So next week we are going to get there 40 minutes early and see how that works.

We got out to the stable and the first thing we did was to go out to the paddock and get our horses.  I got a brownish gold mare named Sam and Marla was to ride a little gypsy horse named Vixen.  We put the halters and leads on them and brought them down to the stable.  Once we 'tied' them up to the fence we gave each of them a good brushing.  Then we scraped down their hooves.  We put on their saddle blankets, saddle pads, and got the saddle up.  Sam stands about 6ft high and it is a tall lift to get the saddle up on her.  We don't use a halter with a bit in it - the kind we use is called a hackamore.

We went out to the riding ring.  I was able to stretch up my stirrup and get my left foot in, I work my steeltoed boots rather than cowboy boots but they were just a little too wide.  Sam goes forward with a little click of the heels and a 'che che' sound.   "whoa" stops and sometimes goes into reverse.  To go left hold the reigns a little high and to the left, right goes the same way.  Actually the hard part was dropping down out of the saddle.  Rather than staying in the stirrup I take both feet out and slipped down to the ground.

The horses get another brush down and clean hooves.  I felt a little bad for Sam because I am so big but felt totally awesome that I am small enough to be able to ride.  Even if it was just circles in a ring, it felt great.

Bleh

I was so sore.  I woke up feeling really stiff, sore and generally yeechy.  Not only that, I was waking up at 6am on a day when I could be sleeping in.  But first lets go back to the out of Stomp.  It was a really good out.  The show started at 7:30pm and we were ready to take down the show at 9:30pm.  Our guys were expecting a three hour out, instead we had them out the door with the truck doors closed by 11:30.  We give good out.

Colin and I were doing a whole bunch of cleaning up.  There was a ton of sand and dust left from the show.  But we did our best and left the theatre cleaner than when we found it.  So I wasn't that hard worked from the night before.  And I happily went to bed before 1am.  So what I am doing up at six.  Well I am feeling really bad.

On the sideboard by my bed is my bookcase, alarm clock, a glass of water and two tylenol t-3s.  They are a pretty heavy duty pill that I have used in the past to help recover from surgery, cramps, and other bad stuff.  So I took them.  Within a few minutes I was rolled up in a ball on the floor.  I totally hurt.  I had not experienced pain like this since my surgery.

I was trying to decide if I should let it pass or go to emergency.  Emergency would mean waiting a couple of hours to see what is going on and I could do that or wait and see.  I elected to wait and see.  I felt terrible for two hours and it passed.  I guess the issue really lies with taking the NSAID.  The T-3 may have been too much.  So I think I will stay away from them.

As the day progressed I got better and was happy to spend quality time with Marla.  We watched the Labour Day Classic game between Saskatchewan and Winnipeg (why isn't it Manitoba?).  The Roughies won and the day is good again.