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this is actually written May 31, 2001, but I wanted to cover
pre-leaving for Vancouver days
I got the mail that said I was got accepted for the DMP program.... I
was sitting in the campus lost and found office (cuz I work there) and
read my email... I got as far as "congratulations... you'll be working
with Dr. Anne Condon in the University of British Columbia..." and had
to stop to bounce around the room a bit... then I stopped
bouncing.. thought a bit, and thought... "geee... British
Columbia... that's not a state.... Ummm...what did I get into".. Well,
I DID say I had no preference in geographical location.. for some
reason though, I just kinda assumed I'd stay in the same country.
Anyhow, it looks like in addition to leaving for Vancouver this
summer, I'll also be moving into an appartment in Terre Haute for next
year. My roommate and I are renting starting after finals this spring
(she's staying in Terre Haute this summer).
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Well, three of my friends are graduating today, so I figured I'd go to
commencement. I have a flight out at 3:59 pm, so I'll be in a rush to
leave as soon as that's over.. I'm all packed.. have everything I need
crammed into a backpack, a computer case, and a huge duffel (Because
America West Airlines sucks and only lets me have 3 bags..grr).. I
figured this would be better than paying to ship more junk here or
shelling out the extra cash to take another bag..(I wish I'd taken
another bag now)... My ex-boyfriend and best friend, Chris has told me
he'll take me to the airport. So, yesterday we packed up everything,
and all we had to do after graduation is to throw my bags into the car
and leave.
So, commencement ends around 2, I spend about 15 mins mingling, before
running off to check out of my dorm, and get over to the
appartment. It normally takes less than a minute to get from Rose to
my appartment, but today it's like 15 mins, just due to all the
traffic... I get over there, grab my bags, lock my appartment keys
into the appartment (cuz someone else needs them for the
summer)... It'n now like 2:30. Chris drives up, looks at my bags, and
says, there's no way we can fit them in the carm it's crammed full of
his own stuff... We try to make them fit, but we end up leaving he
computer chair in an appartment next to mine, cuz I no longer have the
keys to either my appartment or the car I'm using.. (talk about dumb!!
if you ever need to leave somewhere for the summer and are
leaving keys for someone else, make sure that's the absolute
last thing you do. If I'd still had the keys to either the
appartment or the car, we would have been sooo much better
off.. Anyhow, we lost about 20 minutes for that...so we finally leave
for indy airport around 2:50, and it's about an hour drive, 40 minutes
if you speed, but tomorrow is the indianapolis 500, so speeding is
outta the question... We're both pretty sure I'm not gonna make
it.....We get there at 3:55 pm.. I sprint into the airport, and they
tell me I'm too late... I mean, the plane's still here, but the
door's shut, so I can't get on... the America West rep says he can't
get me on a flight tonight, but the united airlines person says they
can get me one... Turns out America West isn't supposedto use
United to rebook passengers left hanging.. Fortunately, United is MUCH
nicer than West, and I actually get a flight.... So, I hug goodby and
head off to the terminal... First adventure successfully completed...
But wait, there's more!!! I finally make it in to Vancouver around
10:00 or so at night, and call a taxi to take me to the appartment
I'll be staying at, my roommate is already there, so I should be able
to get in. The taxi man drops me off at the big obvious door, and I
see this huge locked gate...That's not supposed to be there!!! I tried
the intercom system to announce myself, no answer...so now I'm
starting to get worried... The taxi guy came up to the door with me,
and sees I've got a bit of a problem, so he offers to use his cell
phone to ccall... I don't think that'll work, cuz in my experience,
the intercoms are usually connected to the phone line.. but I try
anyway.. no response.. so I start wracking my brain, trying to
remember what my roommate said about putting a key under the mat, and
yeah, I can see through the gate at a door that says 102 on it..and
there's a mat there... but this big security gate is kinda keeping me
from it....So now it's almost midnight... 2:00 my time...I'm trying to
keep myself from breaking down right then and there... I don't know
anyone in this city in person, and I only have 2 names, my roommate
and my mentor, since my roommate isn't answering, I ask the cabbie
where I can get a phone book to call Dr. Condon, he heads off to ask
one of neighbors and returns with the phone book. I look her up, and
get a number, call it, and...ta-daaa... noone answers... so now I'm
all alone in the largest city I've ever been in and I can't get into
my appartment or know anyone I can stay with... so the cabbie takes me
to the house he borrowed the phone book from, and I end up sleeping on
a neighbor's couch.
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When I woke up, my neighbor welcomes me to the house, introduces
herself, turns out she's a professor at a different college in
Vancouver.... her names Evelyn.. tells me I should take a shower, get
changed, then offers me some breakfast, the use of her phone to get in
contact with my roommate and my mentor, and we talk a bit.. she's
teaches classes about environmental stuff, and she's been to indiana
several times for conference related to her subject, so we talk a
bit... Then I try to get back my appartment... this time Danielle (my
roommate) answers the intercom system, and comes to let me in...
Turns out there's another enterance around the corner, and
this one not only has a mat under which to put a key, but
doesn't have a security gate... So now I feel kinda
dumb...Anyhow, I spent the day exploring the area around the
appartment, bought a used bike to ride, and discovering just how much
stuff I shoud have brought but didn't..sigh I'm starting to
really dispise America West airlines...
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I am an idiot.. Okay, I just needed to say that. I don't particularly
explaining why I'm an idiot, but I just am. But anyhow,
since I'm an idiot, I'm sitting here in the beta lab working on my
website and research stuff instead of doing something in Vancouver.
Was feeling a bit at loose ends, so I figured I'd come here and make
myself useful. I get here, figuring my passcard would let me in, but
that's not the case. You're supposed to punch in a password, okay, I
remember being told the password, I remember writing it down, but did
I bring it with me, NO I didn't... So then I figure I'll call Danielle
at the appartment, she should know it, so I look through my wallet for
the card I wrote my local info on. Do I find it? No. So then I go in
search of a phone book, do I find the number in a phone book? No. So I
head back to the CS building and lo and behold, I get to the door just
as a grad student is opening it, so I get to go in. I head to the
lab, pass my card in front of the mechanism. Does it work? No. I get
let in by another grad student at work in the lab. sigh I
miss my small school, where I can just call security to come let me in
somewhere I need to be. Anyhow, when Doug came by he dropped off a
carton of chocolate covered espresso beans, so I've been munching on
them... they're actually pretty good!! and I don't even LIKE
coffee...Anyhow though.. I'm still an idiot, and the best proof of
that is that I'm here working on my website and research instead of
doing something I think I'd much prefer to do on a sunday
evening...
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Figured I'd write a bit here... I went hiking last weekend!! The
community center people organized it, and we went up to Garibaldi Park
just south of Whistler. I never really noticed the elevation before,
but my ears popped while we were driving there. Anyhow, just before we
pulled into the parking lot at the trail head, we way a small black
bear right by the side of the road! I swear, he was so close I could
have jumped out and kissed it! I got some pictures, and talked to
some of the other hikers. Anyhoo, Saturday evening, Danielle and I
went out to grab a late dinner (I never realized just how
early the restaurants around here close) While we were
heading back, we saw two coyotes about 3 blocks from the appartment.
So, i thought that was kinda kewl. In other news, apparently
Canine 3 was being filmed right by our house as well, so
if you ever want to see it, my roommate has a walk on part in it
somewhere. Apparently that's a common thing here. The week before I
got here, they had the CS building done up like a maternity ward!
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Well, It's technically June 14th... Was feeling kinda antsy, so I went
out and tried to find a Coffee shop type thingy that was open late
night. Probably not exactly the brightest thing I've ever done, but
hey, I found a place! Got myself some hot chocolate and dessert.
Lemmie tell ya, this all natural thing is kinda creepy.. They use real
cream in the chocolate, and make it with real I don't know what, but I
kinda miss the instant hot chocolate that just uses hot water and
powder and cool whip. I can't get used to the flavor of the all
natural stuff. But I did enjoy the coffee shop. The place was pretty
lively with college students and intellectual type people, good music,
not too loud, and I got some reading done. I think I'll see what
other interesting things I can find around here at night. Just got
back and sat down to type up some stuff, ftp some files, and have a
drink of some raspberry cider I just picked up. It really tastes like
raspberries!! Quite good! Ah well... G'night from Vancouver.
Top
So, here I am again, I'm actually writing this at work, I've been
tracing code for the past 2 days or so, I guess I can go more into all
that jazz on the research journal, so look for that sometime soon,
depending on when I feel like updating it. In other news, the big bit
is that I'm back together with my ex-boyfriend, and he's visiting next
week! Anyhow, Danielle and I'll be babysitting Anne's kids tonight,
so she and her husband and a visiting professor can go out to eat for
the evening. Not much else to say for the moment. Just kinda
bored...
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Chris is coming in today, but for the day, Danielle and I
went out hiking with Anne and parents, who were visiting from Ireland.
We went to see Shannon Falls and to hike a trail up past Squamish.
Shannon falls was quite pretty. As we were driving up the logging
road to get there, Anne's just talking away about how bad it sometimes
gets on them when logging trucks come down. Anyhow though, we got to
the trail head without incident, and headed up the trails a bit...I
got the really great photo of the town of Squamish that's on my main
page along the trail then. And... we ran into snow! Snow!! At the
end of June, that was pretty neato! Danielle and I got a kick outta
that, you can see to the right that Danielle's playing in the snow in
the ditch next to the trail. Danielle, Anne's father, and I wandered
a little bit past the snowline, saw a pretty cool waterfall of
snowmelt, but then headed back. Anne and her mother were wearing
sandal type shoes, so we didn't go farther than the snowline.
On the way back, Anne dropped me off at the airport to meet Chris.
Top
Whoa, I didn't realize I've been neglecting this as long as I have.
Anyhow, I guess I got some catching up to do here. I guess I'll just
start with the random stuff that comes to me... The slugs here are
huge. I just noticed that as in the past week I started
getting a morning run it. I do about 30 minutes of running on the
trails by the appartment, and every now and then I see a slug coming
across the trail. I swear, they're big enough to take on a coyote!!
Anyhow, due to my new running routine, I've finally gotten my first
blister of the summer. Whee... I followed that up by buying the
absolute best socks I've ever worn!! They're great!! If I
remembered the actual brand name, I'd tell ya, but I don't. The socks
though are made from the "Stay Cool" fabric that removes moisture, and
have two layers, so instead of having sock rubbing agains skin or sole
of shoe, they rub against eachother... I really like them.
Lessee... what else, I'm starting to realize just how much I'm going
to miss this place.
As far as anything else goes, I did a weekend kayak trip a few
weekends ago, the trip left from an island off of Vancouver Island, so
it first looked like we were going to have to take a taxi, to a bus,
to a ferry, to a taxi, to a ferry, to a van, to a kayak. Then we were
going to paddle to an island to stay the night, and go back the way we
came... However, Danielle and I were able to carpool with one of the
other people who went on the trip, so we were able to cut out the
first taxi and bus. Yay. The most stressfull bit of the trip was
trying to make the connection between the ferries. It's about a ten
minute commute from dock to dock, and about a ten minute layover. So
we missed it. Anyhow, we were a fairly eclectic group of travelers,
Danielle and I were in college and new to campin, there were two women
in their thirties who spent several months on safari in Africa, there
were two other women who were big into alternative medicine and stuff
like that, a british guy who spent his time teasing one of the safari
people (funny, I always thought guys grew out of the stage of teasing
girls they liked after middle school, I guess I was wrong though), an
older man with a daughter about Danielle and I's age (the daughter
didn't come) and two guides. The guides were pretty cool, they had
the neatest camping tools. One of them gave a relatively long
discouse on the benefits of self propelled modes of travel vs motor
sports, followed by a derisive comment of "pavement" sports like
roller blading. She'd spent a lot of time outside the city.
Anyhow, we stopped for lunch the first day on a flat where a bunch of
fishermen were digging for oysters and clams. While we were finishing
up lunch, they offered us some "oyster shooters" 
, they'd come prepared with a bottle of hot sauce and
vodka. About half the kayakers took them up on the offer, everyone
else just gathered around watching and pressuring everyone else to
take one. So I admit it, I fell to peer pressure. See, I figure that
while I was out there doing something I've never done before, and
maybe not be able to do again, I ought to add to it another new
experience that I'd probably never otherwise do if I wasn't already
having an adventure. When we left the fishermen gave us some fresh
steamed crab legs they'd caught the day before so in addition to a
dinner of salmon, we feasted on crab legs. Anyhow, we saw some eagles
and seals and other wildlife, stayed on a deserted island for the
night (indian ground, no one's allowed on it without permission from
the tribe), and learned a bit about no impact camping. There's a lot
of rules on no impact camping. They basically come down to "if you
see a spot someone's already used, use that instead of trampling
another spot, make all fires below the high tide mark, only burn wood
that will be completely gone by the time you're ready to stop, no
official fire pit (it scars the rocks), and unfortunately, going to
the bathroom gets a bit trickier as well...The tides were also
interesting, they'd like go out something crazy, we landed the boats
with like over 200 yards between us and the drifwood, had to lug the
boats onto the logs, as the tide slowly crept up around our feet,
across the sandstone, and past the driftwood. I mean, I've lived near
the gulf for years, and I've never actually seen the tide
come up. Anyhow, it was great, I enjoyed the trip, I wish I could go
on some longer ones, it's quite a free feeling being out in the
boat. 
It's a bit like biking really, except backwards, because
you don't use your legs at all, except to move the rudder, you just
paddle with your upper body. The boat is slim and cuts across the
water like a knife, and you can even hold a lot in the boats, much
more than I expected was possible. On the way back, we had to cut
across a channel during the flood of the tide, fighting a current of
around six knots. It was darn strong, and I had to really go at it to
keep my boat from getting swept off with it. When we got to shore,
one of the guides complimented me on my boating through the
channel. Which means I'd done something wrong in the first place, cuz
it means I had to do something worthy of a compliment to get through.
Sorta like an airplane pilot being complimented for getting out of a
stall that he managed to get into in the first place. I loved every
minute of it! I gotta do that again sometime... Maybe not the "almost
swept away" part, but definitely the kayaking part.
I've done some other shopping and stuff, and I'm still looking forward
to the book signing that's this Tuesday. But for now, I ought to get
back to working on other stuff. In the next couple of days, I"ll be
updating this place with some more photos and junk.
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Wow, I was just writing up a quick thing on my research when I
realized it's a month until my birthday!! Whee... Unfortunatel, as the
days go by, I'm starting to get homesick for Vancouver, and I haven't
even left yet!! groan I can just see my mom's face when I
step off the plane and tell her that I'm homesick for someplace about
1500 miles from my home. Ah well, it's inevitable that the coolest
summer of my life would have to end sometime. Maybe I will come back
here in a few years to settle down. I think I'd like that.
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Random thoughts of the day: Well, over the weekend I decided to visit
the gardens around UBC, and got locked into the japanese garden!!
Whee!.. fortunately for me, part of the back fence was high enough for
me to slip under. Whew, boy am I skinny... It was a really pretty
garden though. And I discovered from riding around the city that it's
not really that far to bike to downtown from the appartment: about 45
mins, some hills, but you can generally get enough speed that only a
few of them require a lot of exertion. Either that or I'm becoming
much stronger than I used to be. I got a copy of Gaiman's
new book, one more day till the signing....mmmmm.... and I also
discovered that raccoons can hiss!! I didn't know that, but they do!!
huh, learn something new every day! Ah well, I'm off to the park now
to "practice my talk"... yeah, whatever, or something like that.... In
case you can't tell, I'm hyper on 2 pepsis, 1 Sprite, a chocolate chip
muffin and about 10 mint cookies...
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Yesterday ended one of the coolest days of the summer for me!!! I
talked to Anne around noon about the talk I did today, and then came
back home to prepare for my "date" at the Neil Gaiman book signing. I
ended up walking downtown, got there about 3.5 hours early, so I
wandered down to Stanley park. I remembered reading somewhere that
one of the playground areas in the park has a row of old tombstones as
a divider between the picnic area and the play area. I found the
playground, but not the tombstones. Wandered back to the Virgin
Megastore for the signing about 1.5 hours early. I was the eleventh
person in line. So, I killed time while there by sewing some patches
on my bookbag, reading American Gods, and looking over my
talk. Found out that while I was waiting in line, Gaiman was doing an
interview about a block away at a sushi restaurant. No... I didn't go
see if I could find out where, first of all, I don't like sushi, and
second of all, that's just a bit too much of stalker behavior to be
sane. So, anyway, as time got closer to seven, I started looking
around the street, and sure enough, I see this skinny guy in black
with a leather jacket walking across the street and into the store
with some woman. The two thoughts that crossed my mind were: "Is that
him?" and "huh, seems a bit short". He looked up and waved, either at
the line or someone in the line. "Doesn't mean anything" it's after
all reasonable and stereotypical that a guy in black leather would
perhaps have a friend who would be into Gaiman's stuff... it does
attract people like that. Anyhow. When I got in, I snagged a seat by
the aisle on the 4th row, so I had a really good spot. While I waited
for everyone to get in, I pulled out the book again and started to
read some more. I looked up when I suddenly realized that the
audience had gone quiet. Sure enough, the leather jacket guy was just
passing by me. There was a problem with the microphone system, and
while he was trying to work that out, I had the second shock of the
day: he spoke with a british accent! On retrospect, I shouldn't have
been shocked at all, but for some reason I was anyhow. How dumb of me
huh. He finally gave up on the mike and called everyone in the back
forward so that he wouldn't have to shout. It had this feeling of
being at a story carpet in kindergarden. Anyhow, I jotted down some
amusing quotes and interesting information he mentioned before and
after the reading. ( He presents the reading well, I enjoyed it)
anyhow, here's some of what he said:
"We had planned most of it out, or at least most of the
covers"
of a graphic novel/series with Dave McKean.. I forget
which one.
"He's just been offered a job, in the men's room. The job
isn't in the men's room"
from "the story up till now" before
starting the reading
"They say it's going to be out by Christmas, and I'm thinking
"It can't be, I haven't written it yet""
of DC comics plans
for a collection of stories on the Endless
"Questions and Answers. You do the questions"
"If I'd come up to Vancouver to write the book, I would have
taken walks and though "oh look, a tree!".."
"I called the front desk and said "Excuse me, my bible is
defective". When they brought it up, I was met by the hotel manager,
the floor manager, and a housekeeper who just wanted to see the first
person who actually asked for a bible."
of trying to find a
King James Bible to check the Song of Solomon.
"I don't want your money, you're icky"
of trouble with
Todd McFarlane.
Now, of stuff coming up, mostly movie related, Good Omens
movie is now in preproduction. Terry Gilliam is working on it,
neither Terry Brooks nor Neil Gaiman are that involved. The only
plans they have for it are to eat popcorn at the premier. Books
of Magic movie, "for reasons that should quickly become
apparent, Tim Hunter is no longer a twelve year old british kid with
dark hair and glasses and a pet owl". Neverwhere is
looking for a director. Death the High Cost of
Living is in a second draft, where Gaiman has to answer
questions such as "What is Mad Hettie's motivation?". And hopefully,
The Sandman movie has died a quiet death, as the last
script Gaiman saw was absolutely hideous.
So, what do I have to show for the day? Sore feet, a memory that'll
last a lifetime, a uniquely Vancouver souvenier for Chris, a book for
another friend, who will pay me back, a signed copy of the last issue
of the Sandman for myself, some photos (one of those photos should
appear here eventually, but not until the rest of the roll is done),
and probably a bit of an issue with my parents: my dad's b-day was
yesterday, and I was at Virgin during the calling
hours..sigh. Definitely worth the sore feet and a cab ride
back to the appt, and probably the parent thing. I suspect I won't
forget when his b-day is again. So, anyway, other random thoughts, I
picked up a copy of the Lifehouse CD at Virgin.. did the currency
conversion, and discovered, low and behold, I paid about four dollars
less than I would have had to pay in the US. Hmmm... may have to pick
up other CDs while here. Other things I need to pick up: found a
book my mom may be interested in, jam to bring home (mmm...), maybe
some real maple syrup, and more of those wonderful socks! Danielle
did a quick estimate of just how much mileage we were putting on our
shoes a week, and it comes out to be something like 30 to 40 miles a
week! When she mentioned this while shoe shopping, the sales guy
asked her if she was training for a marathon. "No, there's just no
busses!".
Top
Well, I got a few things to say, so I guess I'll actually divide this
into sections.
Festival of Light
Okay, so the festival of light is a yearly, two week celebration where
four countries compete to see who can put on the best firework
display. It started off yesterday (Saturday) with South Africa's
exhibition. On Wednesday, China does one, then after that I don't
know, as I won't be around to see that one. Anyhoo... The show is at
least as good as something a big US city will put on for the 4th, and
only about 500,000 people show. In comparison to what I remember from
the Chicago fireworks from the past two years, I think the South
Africa display was better, and the crowds were definitely
more manageable. Downtown was rather packed from the sidewalk to the
beach, but the only place that was really nasty was between the
sidewalk and the sandy beach. Up front, people weren't crammed
together like they are at the seawall of Lake Michigan. Although as
the tide came up, we did have to retreat a bit... Leaving, I
have the shuffle through a crowd to get to my bike, but even on the
main thoroughfares, I had more than enough room to walk my bike up the
road, and once off the main road, I was easily able to ride with only
about the same amount of difficulty that I have getting through
regular traffic. Overall, it was an excellent display, and moving
through it didn't leave me with a calaustrophobic feeling and an urge
to scream whenever someone started to come up close behind me.
Anyhoo, I got some photos, and if they turn out, I"ll post one of 'em
here. Unfortunately, I did leave with one dissapointment: High
school girls are just as obnoxious and juvenile as I remember them
being in the US. At some points I was going to turn around and tell
the stupid idiots behind me to lay off screaming their dirty comments
about the fireworks. You know, I really don't remember being that
obnoxious in high school...
Camosun Bog
Well, earlier yesterday, I got up and turned my hand at some community
service. My morning running route 's been taking me through a place
called "Camosun Bog", and I noticed last week, that they've got a sign
up saying that volunteer come help restore it Saturday mornings. So,
I figured I'd spend my last Saturday doing that. I met some pretty
cool people and spent the morning learning about the bog (Did you know
they have arctic plants here from way back when the last ice age was?
And they've adapted to live in the bog environment?) and weeding the
great outdoors. See, the bog is surrounded by housing, so they have
drainage ditches around the area, and that's causing the bog to slowly
not become a bog. What the volunteers do is lower the ground level,
clean out the not bog plants, and restore the natural plants. I got a
chance to identify some of the bog plants, but mostly I weeded, and
talked to Lawrence, who was working in the same area as me. He knows
lots about the bog, and I could tell ya all kinds of things, but it's
prolly simpler to tell you to look at the Bog Restoration
Home Page. So anyway, that was quite a bit of fun, I'm kinda
sorry I didn't start doing it earlier, I would'a enjoyed that for a
Saturday morning activity...oh well.
The Grind
Ok, so Friday, before Danielle left, I convinced (tricked?) her into
going to climb a mountain with me. See, there's this resort place
juuuust north of Vancouver that's pretty popular for summer stuff as
well as winter stuff. They have a big sky bucket to bring you to the
top, but if you don't feel like riding it up, there's also this little
hiking trail that's just over one mile long you can use to get up
there.
It's called the "Grouse Grind", and it's called that, because
despite the short distance, it goes up about 725 meters. It's rather
impressive, if you ask me. The fastest time for someone getting up it
is like 31 minutes. Me, I took about 1 hour 25 mins. So, Danielle
and I start to climbing, for the first quarter, we're joking back and
forth about how much appreciation this gives you for flat land, how
insane we are, and how I'm going to have to lock the bedroom door that
night so she won't kill me for getting her onto the trail.
Then after a while, we're just looking at eachother saying. "It's just dirt and
rock. Nothing to it." And then after that, I'm humming an old Toad
the Wet Sprocket song, and the only line I can remember is "I am
feeling really stupid now."... And it just settles down to keeping
moving... and I'm thinking, "at least it's not the backbreaker".. I
can stand up here. When you're crawling through Sullivan Cave, the
hardest part is a tunnel about three football fields in length which
had a height of about up to my shoulders, it's a real pain to get
through. At least here, I can stand up straight. So anyhow, we get
to the top, and there's this wonderful feeling of just laziness, of
knowing I'm at the top now, and I don't need to climb anymore. So
anyhow, turns out sometime a few years ago, someone tried to go up the
Grind in winter and got trapped in an avalanche, so I've now
officially climbed a mountain someone died trying to climb to the top
of. Anyhoo... up top, Danielle and I watched a logger show, and no,
Danielle didn't actually ask one of the lumberjacks for his flannel
like she threatened to, but she was dragged out to participate in the
show. So, that was amusing to watch
other stuff
So those two things are pretty much what I've been doing. In other
news, Danielle left yesterday morning, before I went to work at the
bog. So, now I'm here all alone. It's definitely more lively around
here with two people, and I think I'm really starting to look forward
to going home now, even though I'll still miss this place, a lot. I
hauled out some of my stuff, moving it into the main room, to make
sure I don't lose it, and I'm starting to throw the big stuff into the
bookbag and duffel. I want to make sure I don't run into a huge
problem when packing. Right now spread out is most of my clothes, and
the small stuff I'll need in the next week. I'm going through the
kitchen now, trying to figure out how to turn the scatterings of food
I have into a weeks worth of meals without getting too much more from
the store. I've got to get rid of my bike this week as well. Hoping
to sell it either to Anne or to one of the girls Danielle hooked me up
with who needs a bike. Tuesday I'm looking forward to going white
water rafting, and Wednesday I've gotta go down to the comic store and
cancel my reserve box, and pick up any last books they have for me.
Other than that, I'm just wrapping up my work here. Later today I"ll
probably work on the final paper, there's some stuff I need to add.
Then tomorrow, I have a meeting with Anne about what I can actually
get accomplished in the next week, I'll prolly also be meeting with
the undergrad who's going to take over the research, see if I can get
her up to speed on what Danielle and I have done. Ah well. Guess
I'll head off now, going to wander Vancouver some, then come back here
to work...
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Only a little bit of news here. Took Tuesday off work to go white water rafting down a river near here called the Thompson. It's a pretty cool river, lots of water, lots of rapids, but it's also quite a safe river. One of the guides was explaining a bit about it, and it's like if you fall out or something, you're not likely to injure yourself on a rock, because all the water flowing around it tends to cushion it. But that's not to say it's unexicting at all. Raft flips can be rather common, and the rapids are excellent. Lots of what the guides call "hydraulics" (sp?). The river is actually rather warm, and there's one spot on it called the "swimming rapids" where the guide said anyone who wanted to go for a dip could, provided we all hung on to the side of the boat. So, all six of us on the raft hopped over the edge and floated through the swells. Hey, I figured since I'm going to get drenched anyhow, I may as well enjoy the dip. The water was a bit colder than Florida, but still warm enough to not mind the swim, although I've never been so appreciative of my quick dry pants and shirt. Not that it was too much of a help, as afterwards we hit a few good swells and got drenched again. Anyhow, the Thompson river is about three hours from Vancouver, along the gold rush trail. Apparently more than a few places along the rivers up there yielded up some gold to panners. It's also located along the BC desert, so the scenery is much different from the area around Vancouver. We took the boats outta the water just past the point where the Thompson meets up with the Frasier river. The guide mentioned that if we missed out take out site, we'd be going through "Hells Gate" on the Frasier. Now that would have been an adventure! Where adventure is defined as a near death experience. See, on the way up, I took a shuttle from downtown with three other vacationers and the guide had to stop to drop off some brochures at a little tourist place for Hell's gate, and the people at the Gate gave the five of us a free trip on the aircar from the highway down to the rapids. It was really impressive. The water slams off the side of the canyon, forms whirlpools, and boils up again, regularly as high as six feet. The water is so ferocious that even the salmon can't make it up the area. The conservation dept has put in some concrete fishways along the side so that they can make it up the river. (It used to be passable by fish, but then there was a rockslide caused by blasting a tunnel) The guide mentioned that he heard of some guy who either swam or boogie boarded through the Gate and blew out an eardrum. One of the other guide spoke about another time when a group of people decided to go through the gate on a boat or raft or whatever when they didn't have enough life jackets for everyone on board. People went overboard, and two people died. One man made it through by holding onto the stern line for his life, he was pulled under and popped back up like thirty times. They finally get him to shore, and they asked him to come back out to help rescue others. He got in boat, they started heading out, and he said "No, I can't do this again", so they dropped him back off at the shore. Apparently the current there is also strong enough to rip out the bottom of a canoe. Apparently most white water kayakers don't even try, they say, why bother, if a surge comes, you're just screwed, you're not gonna stay upright, nothing else to it. So, that was a nice change of pace. And as a really cool side note, apparently last year or something, MacGuyver went on a rafting trip with the company I did it through.
In other news, I got a call Monday from UPS saying they had a package they couldn't deliver to my appartment, so I got to have a nice conversation about how in the heck I could actually manage to get it when they can't drop it at my app't, can't make an appointment, I don't know my work address or someone I could get to take it for me, the office it too far to bike to, and I'm leaving on Saturday. I think I've got it worked out now, so with luck, it'll appear before I disappear. Wednesday I met up with Monica again, from the kayak trip. She wanted to see the photos I took, as she hadn't had her camera on the trip. We met up at a bagel/coffee shop on campus, and I gave her any doubles she wanted of the trip. I've not really been too impressed with the photos myself, but Monica liked them, and when as she was talking abou them, I could kinda see what she meant about how some really do convey the trip or how the light and shadowing is actually pretty good. Hmm.. last bit of news. Missed the fireworks on Wednesday. I could hear them rolling across the sky and echoing back from the mountains though, even at my appartment. That was really impressive. All I could see from outside was the glow of green or red. Considering I "am" about a 45 minute bike from downtown, that was awesome. Nuthin' much else to write. Things are starting to wind up here. Expect only one or two more entries, and of course, photos to come, as soon as I finish the roll and get it developed.
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Rain, rain, go away.
Rain rain, go away.
Come again another day
Little Laura wants to play
Well, this looks like the last entry written from 'couver. I'll prolly add one more entry after I get home, just to letcha know if I have any more "adventures" at the airport. In case you can't tell, the weather here's been kinda drizzly. It's not that bad though. The rain isn't coming down hard and it's still on the warm side. So anyways, all that's left at the appartment to pack is some papers and stuff spread over the top of a desk and a little bit on the floor. I should be able to fit everthing okay. So far as food goes at the appartment, all that's left for me to make lunch, dinner and breakfast with is:
- peanuts
- a powerbar
- brown sugar
- honey
- oatmeal
- crackers
- powerade
- peanut butter
- vegetable oil
- bread
- milk
- jam
- half a green pepper
- banana chocolate muffins
So, I guess I'll be making a meal of oatmeal, toast, and peanut butter
and honey sandwitches. (hi mom!! aren't my eating habits
reassuring!!??) Anyhoo. I'll be sending old Trusty Rusty (my bike,
recently named) back to the used bike store today after I leave the
lab. Then I also have some housecleaning to do. I did have a chance
to compliment the bakery person on her great bread the last time I
stopped in and to thank the comic store owner for holding the books
for me while I was around, and I'm hoping to leave a letter of thanks
to the neighbor who gave me a place to stay that first night.
Everythings just about wrapping up here. I'm starting to shift my
focus from having a great time in Vancouver and my research to
planning APO stuff for the start of the school year. I've called a
few friends from P'cola to see if I can start making plans for hanging
out down there. So far not that much luck, but I don't have my
address book with me up here, so I don't really have many numbers to
call. I guess that'll all take care of itself when I'm down there. I
guess in retrospect, I didn't do that bad as far as packing goes. I
was a bit cold the first few weeks, as I would have liked more jeans,
but after that, the weather settled down to shorts weather, especially
considering I'm biking everywhere. I'm a bit dissapointed I didn't
bring some of my APO stuff with me to at least look over, but I think
that's mostly because now I won't have it in florida either. Besides
that, I only picked up a few more things to bring back with me, and it
should all fit easily into my duffel, old backpack, and new backpack.
I have one more photo left on my roll, so I think I'll take a picture
of the Camosun bog, since that's one of the things I didn't get a
photo of. All I have left as far as canadian money goes is enough for
a taxi fare and a bit of snack food for the airtrip. Well, I guess
all that's left to say is "so long from paradise". Expect that last
post travel entry, and of course the photos to come up in the next
week or so.
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Well, I'm sitting here contemplating "the hurricane that never was"
... well, anyhoo, here's the last enry of the summer. As I was packing up Friday, Chris called
to wish me a safe trip, and mentioned that there was a storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. Why
he keeps track of these things in Chicago, I don't know. I mean, you can't get away from
knowing about a hurricane here in Florida, but when I'm outta the state, I don't bother trying
to find out... Anyhow, so I got up too darn early on Friday to head out, packed up the last bit
of my stuff (and it all fit!) and got to the airport for my 8 am flight out. And, well, there's
really not that much to say about the trip itself. No problems, and the only minor irritation
was the Houston airport setup. Turns out I needed that four hour layover to figure out how the
heck it was setup and get where I needed to go. (Well, maybe not the entire 4 hours, but I killed
over an hour doing that I think.) So, I moved from progressively smaller airplanes (2 layovers)
and finally made it to Pensacola at 10:00 local time. So, altogether, that's about 12 hours
traveling, 14 if you count the time I had to spend in the Vancouver airport. Which reminds me,
there was a big shock for me as I was leaving. There's a 10.00 (can) charge for flying
out of the Vancouver airport. Noone told me about that. So, that's one thing I'll have to
mention to the travel agent who booked my ticket. But now I can say I was so eager to leave
Canada, I paid to get out. HaHa... So, I got home, unpacked, and started to
set up my dad's computer with everything I'd like on it to make my use easier. I'm actually
very spoiled I think, the computers I've been using are set up with all kinds of programs and
settings that do wonderful things for me, so I don't have to worry about Word or Internet
Explorer or other stuff like that. So now the computers about set up with the minimal things
necessary to keep me from throwing it through the window. Also spent part of Sunday trying to
get in touch with my friends here and preparing for the tropical storm that was expected to hit
east of Pensacola early this morning. However, when I got up today, the storm had appearently
just crawled eastward along the coastline and moved north far enough east that I'm not sure
if we got even an inch of rain at my house. So, now I'm done with the news here. I sent my last
roll to the developer, and I'll add those when I get them back, but no new entries.
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