Guess who?

Guess who is turning 13 this weekend?

There's gold in them there hills

There's a chill in the air today and memories of summer are fading fast. We had a lovely visit from my brother and his family in August. We went to Barkerville for a day, a restored gold rush town now living museum. The cousins panned for gold (with success!) and I bought my own pan from the general store. Now I can sneak out by myself and secretly pan for gold at the local river. Gold fever has struck!

Fishing Stuart Lake

While we were in Fort St James, some friends came over from PG and our hosts took us out for a days fishing. We beached up for a picnic lunch on one of the deserted islands. My fishing buddy M had a ball as he caught more fish than anyone else by far. A nice day was had by all and a nice distraction from the sailing.

Sailing camp

What a great summer it's been here in BC. The first week in August, the family headed up to Fort St James and Stuart Lake for sailing camp. The kids enjoyed a week of sailing Optomists, I had fun in my Laser, the weather was good and there was plenty of wind (most days). Win!

Mighty Haleakala

On our last day we visited the Haleakala National Park and drove up to the crater of  the now dormant volcano. We were fortunate enough to experience a clear day at the 10,000ft summit and the views were amazing. Haleakala and Maui were formed by the active hotspot/volcano that produced the Hawaiian island chain as the Pacific tectonic plate slowly drifted westwards over 28 million years. This hotspot is still active under the ocean 35 miles east of the Big Island and will eventually form a new Hawaiian island many years into the future.

Big Cat Adventure

We took a trip on a large catamaran which took us to a secluded bay and marine reserve. There we snorkeled over the reef with tropical fish, moray eels and (did I already say?) sea turtles. They gave us a delicious lunch and we enjoyed a great days sailing on the tramp.

Aloha Maui

Just got back from a fab week on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. I was on a conference in the mornings and the family came for a holiday. We have never been to Hawaii before and it was great. Lovely beaches, sunshine every day (it was hot though) and lots to do. We went snorkeling over the coral reef and swam with wild green sea turtles. We went sailing on a catamaran, went body boarding in the surf (I failed at this miserably) and visited the crater of Haleakala, the largest dormant volcano in the world. We went to a Luau and of course spent lots of time at the beach and round the pool. Oh and yes,  the conference was very informative too.

Maiden Voyage

Woo hoo! Took D and my new Laser out for the first time on Tuesday at West Lake. The wind wasn't up to much (probably a good thing for a maiden voyage) but when we got going we had a blast!

New Laser visits Mount Robson

 Last week I drove my trailer over to Edmonton to finally pick up my shiny new Laser. The distance there and back was about 1500 km and the journey took 8 hours each way. It's a beautiful trip though, especially driving through Jasper and the Rocky mountains. It's always nice to stop at Mount Robson for a break as they have a nice cafe there and if you are lucky (I wasn't this time) you might just see the beautiful mountain top peeking through the clouds.

PGYO tours McBride and Valemount

Last weekend I spent a lovely couple of days on tour with the PG Youth Orchestra. In McBride (300km east of Prince George), the kids joined with local fiddlers and played some open air concerts (here outside the Feed Store) and a formal evening concert. We spent a lovely Sunday morning in the tiny hamlet of Dunster (popl. 400) before heading to Valemount for another formal concert. the whole weekend was excellent fun and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves too. McBride and Valemount are two beautiful small towns nestled in the mountains. In the late 60s and early 70s many US based "hippies" dodged the Vietnam war draft by hiding out here. Many never left and to this day, their colourful cultural legacy persists.

PG BTWW Part 2

Got a free T-shirt. Yay!

PG BTWW

It's British Columbia Bike to Work Week and our team "PG Roentgen Riders" have clocked 85.5km this week so far riding to and from the hospital. It's fun seeing so many people riding in the fine weather we've been having although it may have more to do with the free breakfasts offered at the various "Celebration Stations" around the city each morning.

Midlife Crisis

Help! I've done the unthinkable and bought myself....a longboard. What was I thinking? A recent birthday saw me crash (not slide, crash) into my mid forties and aaargh "middle age". There is no escaping the fact that unless I see myself living to 100 years, I'm no longer in my youth and must be reaching the approximate half way point of my life. Despite the longevity of my grandparents and my complete faith in medical science (not) I really can't see myself receiving that all elusive telegram from Her Majesty. My addled middle aged brain, in a moment of impulse, and at the sight of the aforementioned longboard on screen, clicked "Buy Now" and 5 days later I became the proud owner of the above. Of course it could have been worse (or better depending on how you look at it) because I could have been looking at the picture of a new Porsche Boxster at the time. So how did I do? Hmmm let me see:

Porsche Boxster - 2.7L Horizontal 6cyl, 6 speed gearbox, 265 bHp, 206 lbs ft torque, 17" alloy wheels, 9.1-9.8 L/100km premium fuel consumption - a snip at $56,800.

Globe Longboard - 38" 9 ply maple deck, 180mm slant magnesium alloy trucks, ABEC 7 bearings, 65mm 83A high-polymer wheels. 1 gear, 0 L/100km fuel. $199.

Either way I'll look like a pratt. At least my bank manager is happy.

Trailer fun

Before...

and after...

My new Kitty Hawk Laser trailer arrived last week... in pieces. The Ikea-esque instructions left a little to be desired in the comprehension department so I enlisted the help of my friend M. Three hours of soul searching on the floor of the garage later and Voila! I thought we'd going wrong with the wiring when during testing, the trailer lights seemed to be permanently on. It transpired that K had left the car headlights on!

Beyblades

 Check out D's latest video production.

PGYO and Out of Alba

Check out the girl with pigtails in pink on the violin. Look familiar?

Not a lot to report

Not a lot to report from PG of late. I'm still waiting for my boat trailer to arrive so I can go pick up my new Laser. The weather here has been wet of late and I've been busy at work with no time off for fishing. I have however, signed my two kids up for sailing camp this summer. BC Sailing operates a mobile optimist sailing school which travels around the province holding camps at various sailing clubs. This sounds like fun and I should be able to get out sailing myself while they are learning the basics.

The dream ends for the Canucks

The Canucks crashed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs yesterday losing 2-1 in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings and 4-1 in the series. It was always going to be a tall order to come back from 3-0 down in the series despite the return from injury of their star goal scorer Daniel*Sedin but despite their best shot, the odds prevailed. Big questions are already being asked about potential structural changes to the team roster in preparation for next season, primarily regarding the future of goaltender Roberto Luongo.

New boat

Big news this week, I've ordered a new boat! It's a small single handed sailboat called a Laser and it should be ready for me to pick up in about a months time. It's small enough to trailer behind my small car once I get a tow hitch fitted. Look out for exciting new boat photos later this summer!

Here we go again

So it's NHL Playoffs time again. The Canucks have once again proven themselves the best team in the league winning the President's Cup for the second year running. Will this be their year to lift the Stanley Cup? Go Canucks Go!

Last Shout of Winter

The local ski club season has come to an end with the last meeting and BBQ. The spring skiing conditions were great and I even got to operate the speed trap this year. Summer feels just around the corner - time to dust off the bicycle and canoe!

We Win - I never win anything

Our 10 pin bowling team "Split Happens" clinched the Prince George Wednesday night league title last night. This of course has nothing to do with my not bowling for 9 weeks due to injury. This is also quite probably my first "sporting" success since 1983 when I last won a judo competition (I gave up Judo shortly afterwards as things were becoming too serious and I had to start strangling people or be strangled). Anyway, there will be no doubt some celebration and the pressure will be off for the last two matches now the title is in the bag. I shall miss my team-mates when it's all over:

BH "I never high 5 with my bowling hand"
GT "It's all in your head, just think of nothing"
RM "The_____* put me off"
and TB "I've just got to pop out during the last game, I'LL BE BACK IN 20 MINUTES"

Cheers guys, it's been a blast.


*insert name of body part, usually female

Birthday Boy

D turned 9 while last week. Amongst other things he received a hockey jersey emblazoned with the name of his favourite player Daniel*Sedin. His birthday tea was at Vancouver's famous chocolate buffet at the Sutton Place Hotel where he also received a surprise birthday cake. After overdosing on chocolate desserts in too many styles to mention, we won't feel the need to return to the buffet for quite some time.

Cafe Culture

Last week was school Spring Break so the we all flew down to Vancouver for a city break. There was lots of shopping and fine dining and a trip to the science museum. Purely by coincidence it was "Macaron Week" in Vancouver. I wonder who decides these things. The City Chamber of Commerce? The Mayor? or perhaps the Local Guild of Patissiers? (Is there even such a thing?).

Welcome back - I think

I'm back at work, and people are being very nice to me. Someone even baked me a cake to say "Welcome Back" or "Has Balls" or something like that. Still the sentiment was there and it tasted good so who am I to complain?

A Small Glitch

What I was aiming for...

The Art of Skiing from Extreme sports - HD videos on Vimeo.

What I ended up with...

If you've been reading K's blog you may have come across odd rumours pertaining to myself on the subjects of "skiing accident", "spinal fracture" and "surgery" all of which are unfortunately true. I'm glad to say that I've now recovered after 7 weeks off and am now back at work and doing most things again. Recovery takes time and I shan't be skiing again this season but hope to next. Now I'm back at work, I shall be posting more regularly.

Driving on square tyres

It's so cold. The thermometer is reading -26 deg C but the extra tinest bit of wind makes it feels like -40 on your face. Everyone has plugged their cars in at work today (every space has a socket for your engine block warmer). Anyone who has forgotten to do this won't be driving home tonight because their car won't start. And when you do start driving home you can feel the frozen tyres with their flat spots going bump bump underneath you.

A life-enhancing taste of home

One of the great things about having ex-pat friends is that you can share useful information regarding the availability of desired foodstuffs. Our friend S recently informed us that imported UK teabags were now available at one of the downtown pharmacies resulting in this life-enhancing purchase above. Despite most things being available here in PG, we have struggled with finding teabags we like and a discovery like this never fails to please.