I needed some more lunch supplies for work today, so I headed down to Fairway. One of the things I needed was more mayonnaise. When I went to grab a jar of Hellman's I noticed their super-duper wicked awesome promotion.

Buy a jar of Hellman's, and get a free pair of gardening gloves.

I'm still trying to figure out the link between condiment and gardening.

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Ulti playoffs started tonight, and our game was at 6. The warm up was ... warm. The weather here was heating up over the past couple days, and tonight was the culmination of that. The wind was non existant though, so that made for some excellent playing conditions.

We were raring to go, but the other team failed to show. Only one of their players showed up on time. We were told that we would get a point every 2 minutes that they couldn't field a team.

By about 6:15 or 6:20 we could finally play 6 a side ulti.

My game was horrible. My legs felt dead and I just couldn't get up to speed. Maybe I was over heating, but even wetting my hair didn't help. I couldn't keep up to my check, and I couldn't cut, nor get out of the way of plays. I felt like I was taking up space on the field. Fortunately I was throwing pretty good, and I was able to make a few catches.

We were up 6-3 (not counting the points gained from no team) and we were feeling pretty good for ourselves. Then we relaxed or something. They clawed back, and when time was called it was 6-6. They scored the final point.

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Thursday morning before workI took Yoshi for a walk at Macaulay Point. As we rounded a corner, I could see two other people walking dogs, one coming toward me, the other away.

The one walking away had a rather rotund mix breed that seemed interested in the other dogs. The owner was screaming at his dog to come (it was about 4 feet away). The lady walking toward me muttered something about maybe the dog would follow if it weren't so overweight.

As I got passed the lady, the man was still yelling at his dog. I couldn't help but think that if I was the dog I wouldn't want to come to him either. The man backtracked and put the leash on the dog. As Yoshi and I got close the dog put on the brakes wanting to see Yoshi. The man tried to keep walking, clearly exasperated at his dog. As he tried to drag his dog, the collar popped over the dogs head.

I stopped and waited for the man to retrieve his dog. I actually crouched down and the dog came up to say hi. The owner never said a word to me even when I said Hi to him. With the dog on leash, Yoshi and I continued on our way, happy to be past that miserable man.

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I bought a Western Digital My Book from Costco a while ago. We originally bought the 500 GB version, but before opening it, I returned it and upgraded to the 1TB version.

Today I finally got around to unboxing it. The packaging was very easy to open and everything inside was neat and tidy. I plugged in the drive, and when it powered up, it asked if I wanted to install the software. I said yes, after unchecking the crapware that it would have installed by default.

The backup software installed without a hitch.

The first hitch occurred when I ran the backup software. It was trial ware, and I could buy it now, or try it out for 30 days. Uh, 30 days? That seems like an odd trial period for back up software. I plan to backup once a month. That means I get to try their software once, maybe twice, before it expires.

I've been looking at open source versions of backup software, so I think I will try them out next time.

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10 Digit local dialing has finally been introduced into the rest of BC. The lower mainland has been 10 digit for a while now.

As dial10.ca points out, the explosion of cell phones and people in BC means we were running out of numbers. CBC and other news organizations reported on this a while ago.

This plan has been in the works for a long time. It isn't something that is cooked up and implemented in a couple months. I know a little bit about this technology since I worked in telecommunications for close to 10 years.

My question is this: why does our phone book only have 7 digits? Why does the 2008-2009 Telus branded Yellow pages not have an information page about the upcoming change?

Someone wasn't thinking, or perhaps the right hand and left hand weren't communicating very well.

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Time for some geek shirts I have spotted on the intarwebs. If I had all the money in the world ...

CFL lightbulbs win!
via Gizmodo

A nice statement on computer technology.
via Gizmodo

True geeks understand this one.
via BoingBoing

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Last night was our second double header ulti night. I was pretty pumped to do better than last week. This week we were at Central, and wow, the grass was lush and green meaning the ground was the perfect softness for some hard cutting action. I learned pre-game that a player from last weeks first game asked to be transfered to our team. We had ourselves a real speedy guy who can handle. Woohoo.

Then, a few minutes before the game the team was passing the disk and I was goofing around and tried to intercept it. The high speed pass hit the end of my thumb, jamming it pretty bad. It went numb for a few minutes, then just ached the rest of the night. Even today it is still sore, and I wonder if I sprained it a little.

Game 1
Our team played great and actually won the game on points, but defaulted due to not enough women. Bummer. The other team loaned us a couple women so we could play a real game.

They had lots of great plays, tried the zone, but mostly stuck to man coverage. I am not sure why, but they struck me as an experienced team and I was sure they were going to cream us.

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There is this guy that lives in our neighborhood that I've seen a few times. He likes to do push ups. In the middle of the sidewalk, blocking the entire sidewalk. The first time I saw him he was at a bus stop, but tonight I saw him again. This time he was just down on the ground, feet should width apart, pumping out the push ups. Then he was done, popped up and walked away like nothing happened.

Yes, we saw another parade. This one was the Oak Bay Tea Party parade. We watched with some friends that live next to the parade route. This parade, and the Esquimalt Buccaneer Days parade are perfect for younger kids because they are less than an hour long. Victoria Day Parade is way too long.

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During May we also made a trip to the BC Forestry Museum in Duncan. We thought Sprout would love the train ride. He didn't love it as much as we thought, but he certainly did enjoy it. As usual, put me in a place with old stuff, and I could spend hours there. I managed to shoot off a few pictures in between chasing the boy, riding the train, eating popcorn, and exploring trails.

This little lady bug tried to hitch a ride with me. It might have worked if it wasn't so tickly for me.

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I think these next two pictures from from another Yoshi walk, perhaps at Thetis Lake.

I took Sprout to the Kinsmen Gorge playground for some play time. We had a blast, and I think the highlight for Sprout was watching the kayakers launch and paddle away. We also had some snacks while resting.

You can't see Beet in these pictures, but I assure you she was around. The last few pics here are from some visiting relatives. Sprout loves the beach, and this trip was no exception. We hadn't brought the most appropriate clothes, but that didn't stop him.

Mmmm, family lunch at Pluto's. Yummy!

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I walked Yoshi many times during May, and this walk was at Colquitz Park. I am beginning to like that park more and more. Perhaps because it is still new compared to Macaulay.

We planted a Clematis late last year and this year it bloomed some gorgeous flowers.

We met with some friends at a playground in Langford. It was so, so cold that morning. None of the adults really dressed properly. It seemed warm at our house when we left, but the temp dropped a couple degrees by the time we got there. We went to a coffee shop afterwards to warm up and get some snacks in the boys.

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I am getting caught up on some pictures from my May time off. These were from the Victoria Day Parade right before the accident. Sprout loves to check out the floats, but particularly loves the firetrucks.

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Sox and I got out to see the Dark Knight. We enjoyed it, but both felt it was too long. I thought there was a great place to end the movie, before Harvey Dent became Two Face. The effects were good, but some of the gadgets a little too over the top.

One of the reasons I liked the Batman Begins was that the gadgets weren't too over the top, and they were generally introduced well. This time they were glitzy gadgets made to fit the plot.

Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker. He made the movie. Without that character he created it would have been pretty dull.

This was also a fun time out for Sox and I, and it would have been better if the family behind us hadn't brought their kids (ages approx 4 and 6). The 8pm showing of this movie is not for kids. They were tired and at one point the daughter said "I want to go home". They stayed and the parents seemed mad at the kids. This made me angry. The kids were taken out to the lobby and the parents took turns watching the movie. Not the right move if you ask me.

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I was out at Western Speedway's Eve of Destruction this past Saturday night. The event writeup read like this:
DEMO CARS “EVE OF DESTRUCTION”, CRAZY CANUCK CAR JUMP, DEMO TRUCKS, MINI FIGURE 8’s, MINI VANS, BUS JUMP, TOTAL DESTRUCTION DERBY and FIREWORKS

Basically a hit to pass night on steroids. Man was it a hoot! The demo cars and trucks were awesome and loud! Lots of tight racing action and lots of good spinouts. The mini figure 8 drivers are still crazy, but intensely entertaining. The minivan class is just getting going and they really need more vans out there. The small group they had were good though. Hit to pass, with a ridiculously bad turning radius meant the drivers were trying everything to get their vehicles sideways around the corner. So many times the vans were up on three wheels.

They played a trick on the crowd and made us believe this van was owned by someone. They picked it up, drove it down the front stretch, lifted it up high in the air and dropped it!

The Crazy Canuck did his car jump, and I was too busy watching to get a good movie. I forgot to start recording! Doh! I got something though.

Then it was time for the bus jump. They drove a bus off a jump into the cars. The first attempt (got a good movie this time), was hilariously unimpressive. He tried to drive it away and got it really stuck. They brought in the big loader, pulled him off, and he drove the bus back for another shot. The second jump was much more impressive and had the crowd on their feet cheering for a long time. Same problem where I forgot to start recording.

The final race of the night was the boat race. All the cars, trucks and vans had a boat chained to their vehicle. When the light went green they took off. At the end of a predetermined time, the driver with the most boat left attached won. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. There was so much chaos and destruction. Before the first turn several boats had been ripped from their chains. Next time around they gunned for the boats.

One driver ended up with his chain wrapped around his wheel. As he drove the chain shortened until he stripped his own boat off. McFly 33 below was the winner by a long shot. He dragged the shell around for a long time and kept slowing down so people could hit the boat. One car got lodged in the boat and dragged a little ways. Another truck took a good run at the boat and ended up launching into the air.

The fireworks show ended the night. I was prepared for something a little lame, but they put on an excellent show that was quite impressive.

All in all a most entertaining evening, and all for $18. Can't beat that.

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The first double header is over and I survived pretty well I think.

The first game was a lot of fun. The other team played very well and there were a lot of very long points. I was handling very well. Throws were crisp and precise and very few didn't end up at their intended location. My energy level felt awesome and I kept up a very good activity level. There was only 1 sub so I didn't sit off very many points. In the end we lost 13-2. Still, I really enjoyed playing with the other team.

Since the game was over quickly we had a big break.

A big break that allowed us to cool down.

And we lost our sub due to an injury.

Second game started and the other team was immediately over powering us. We seemed lethargic and couldn't get our act together. Throws were nowhere near their mark, and they zoned us pretty effectively. It was frustrating, and not at all enjoyable. Eventually they stopped zoning us, perhaps out of pity. It didn't help and our playing never got better. We lost that game 13-0

It was pointed out after the game that just have a big problem finishing points.

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After posting about last nights game I headed off to bed. While brushing my teeth I noticed a bruise forming right on the bone.

I seem to remember the disk hitting me on that spot during the game, but today it has been quite sore. At work I am a converted left hand mouser, but I had to switch back to my right because the rubbing caused by mousing was starting to hurt a lot.

I forgot to mention that while riding to work yesterday I saw something I have never witnessed first hand. I saw the price of gas drop! I actually saw the sign changing. Probably the only time I will ever see that too.

I was really dragging my butt this morning. I was feeling tired and groggy and my plan to ride to work was on my mind. Sox asked me if I was going to ride and I really was about to bail on riding, but then during my shower I decided to go for it anyway.

My ride this morning was actually quite nice. I was feeling tired, but my legs felt strong and overall I felt quick.

My ride to the field tonight was short and steep: I went straight up Foul Bay hill. Again I felt strong and was really looking forward to the game.

Warmup went really well. I got my throwing in and was feeling pretty good. We only had 2 subs tonight, so I knew there was going to be a lot of running. When the game began the other team took advantage of the wind and did a pretty consistent zone.

The Green team may have had a similar record as us, but I felt they played a lot better. Our team wasn't doing very good cuts. This made advancing on the zone difficult. Lots of swing passes to keep the cup moving lead to a slow march up the field. Once close to the endzone inevitably we threw away the disc.

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I realize that I am almost a week late with my Ulti post, but here it is anyway.

Last Wednesdays game was an odd one for me. The game started at 6, but for some reason I had it in my head that it started at 6:30. I arrived to the game late, got my cleats on, and jumped in without any warmup at all. I tried to take it easy the first couple points to get my hands warmed up but I really felt slow and uncomfortable. It took me a long time to get into the game.

Of course it was windy so the other team was zoning us. I am usually a pretty good handler, so when calling the play, I was put in as a handler. I felt like I played pretty bad, and when I could finally feel a sweat being worked up, I was getting into the game.

Still, I was having problems with my forehand throwing, and couldn't get them to arc nicely, nor be speedy and accurate. I was constantly worried about a bad throw causing a turnover. On one play I made the rookie mistake of not watching the disc to my hands. The throw was near and I looked away to make a connecting play.

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