Bike Ride to Vancouver

I've done this trip in the past but it was a few years ago and I really should do it more often. The goal was to bike to the Skytrain, take the train to Broadway station, bike to UBC and then follow the seawall all the way around Stanley park. I decided the National day of Truth and Reconciliation was a good opportunity since it was a Wednesday and don't really have.a tradition for this day yet. In hindsight, next time maybe I will bike to locations that have historic significance to first nations. This year though I started at the Brekka bakery. It is not healthy, but it is very good. It's at the King George station so it was a n easy place to stop on my way downtown.

One of my. goals was to wander around UBC a bit so I can get a better sense of where everything is. Although I played ultimate here periodically after university someone else always drove so I don't really know my way around. I considered stopping by to see Carter but it was 9:30a and I figured he would be taking advantage of the day off. He said he didn't get up until about noon that day. I did a quick tour and now know how to get to Carter's place easily but I think I'll come again later in the fall and spend more time. It's a big campus. 

After UBC,  it was off to Granville Island. I missed the turnoff to the seawall near UBC so took a more direct route but I had 60k planned this day so it was probably for the best. I went to the market and stopped in at my favourite Fish and Chip place. 10:30a was a bit early but they were still open. They didn't have cod anymore and I've now decided I do not like haddock for Fish and Chips. It was a bit too fishy. The weather was excellent so I ate outside with the seagulls. I generally like to bike without much gear but I think next time I'll bring a backpack so I can bring some things back. The family was disappointed I didn't bring back bagels.

On the way to Science World I biked onto the island they put in during the Olympics. I guess they needed to take away some shoreline when they put in the Olympic Village so they installed the island to make up for fish and wildlife habitat lost. It's more like a peninsula since I think you can get to it even at high tide but it would have been hard to bike on as the causeway is just a bunch of boulders. This was the first time I had ever been on the island. It has a tiny ring trail and a few rocks to sit. The view of downtown was very nice.

I made it to Stanley Park and as I started to make my way around I realized I don't think I've actually gone all the way around the seawall since I first moved down and rollerbladed around. It was funny how many old roller blading restriction signs there were. It was quite chaotic when that was popular in the early 2000's but today I didn't see anyone roller blading. The bike path is one way and there are a few parts where you can't really pass. The bikers near downtown were mostly tourists and had very poor bike etiquette but it wasn't bad once we got away from the city. I will definitely have to do this trip again.

 

Curling for Team Building

The project I'm on at work right now is quite big with a large team and it's in the home stretch so a team building event was arranged. I'm not sure whose idea it was but they decided on curling. It's not a bad idea since most people are on the same playing level but it's definitely not the safest. Our sheet managed to stay upright but the sheet next to us had one person fall four times. Hard. I've curled before but only ever for a single game in a season so I have no skill. We had one player on our sheet who had played a season so she could at least throw the rocks close to correct. We took turns skipping and played three ends. They stole one on us for two ends and then I skipped the third end and threw the tying rock to the 8 foot. Would have been to the button if I had better sweepers. It was the only rock I threw that I knew in advance I had to get right and the fact that it was to tie the game on our last end made it even more exciting. Still not planning on taking up curling though. 

Moving Carter to UBC

Carter was accepted to UBC this year and since the commute from our house is 1 hour 40 minutes each way the plan has always been to have him live on campus. Preparation started months ago and started with the selection of his room type. He originally asked for a single room with shared bathroom but he ended up getting an apartment style with four rooms, kitchen, living room and two bathrooms. More roommates but more room to move around. It shifted slightly the types of things we packed for him including adding dishes, our old vacuum and more food and drink since he'll have a full fridge.

The move in was well orchestrated. He had a 15 minute time slot and we had to park away from his place to check in and then followed the signs to get to his dorm. We had two vehicles so we were expecting to need his roommates to help us but it turns out this isn't the first time UBC has done this and they had armies of other students ready to help. They had red bins and set parking locations where we were able to unload. I think the actual moving of stuff from vehicles to room was less than 15 minutes. I am a little worried about moving out though. He's going to accumulate things and packing the car did not take 15 minutes when we left our house.

The one unapproved by me item was the giant capybara that he bought at Costco. I'm sure they will have fun with him around campus but he takes up an entire seat on the drive there. The common area of the room is spacious with newer furniture but they have to supply their own TV you can't really hang anything on the walls so eve when fully moved in it felt a bit sparse. So far he says he doesn't spend too much time in his dorm room. He's about a 10 minute walk away and his classes go the full day and he stops off at the cafeteria and gym on his way home. I think he's got at least one roommate that he barely sees.

His personal room is just big enough for a bed, dresser and desk. He brought his own chair and he's got a locker just outside the room where he can store bigger items like golf clubs though with his busy schedule and no part time job I don't think he'll be doing much golfing. The kitchen is galley style and has a dishwasher but it leaked the first time we tried using it so they will probably just hand wash. Most of the rooms force you to get the meal plan and so we had already planned that. So far the cafeteria sounds very good with lots of health options. Hopefully he gets a room again next year though it's not guaranteed. 

 

Sheila's Garden

September 1st was a sad day for the farm. One of the volunteers, Sheila, passed away. She was 84 and it was expected but still sad. I've been volunteering at the farm for 10 years and Sheila was the last of the original volunteers that had started the volunteer gardening team. She was the heart of the farm and will be dearly missed. I had my own issues preventing me from getting to the farm much this year but I think I had last seen her in the spring. She wasn't able to make it out much this year and the garden in the corner known as Sheila's garden needs a bit of care. I plan on dedicating some of my volunteering time to get it back into shape for next season.