ESRI Users Conference in San Diego

This past week I had the opportunity to attend a conference in San Diego for work. I've been to a few conferences in San Diego and have done most of the tourist relate activities so I only came down the day before. For reasons to be explained later I was also not in the same hotel for the full week. My first hotel was close to the airport. The bad part was that they hadn't paid their cable bill and the rest of the experience was on par with that. The good part was that it was near Old Town San Diego, an area I've never been to. It's kind of like Barkerville in BC with older buildings but there were also modern shops.

After my adventure in the less then desirable hotel on the first night I moved to my second hotel and got ready for the opening day of the conference. They call this part the Plenary and it's a mix of inspirational messages and product sales. ESRI is a bit unusual compare to other conferences I've been to because they do the Plenary for a full day. They kept things exciting though as they had Jane Goodall and E.O. Wilson attend. Being a science based application the ESRI conference is very left leaning on the political spectrum. It was fun learning about the charities these two have started. Goodall is 85 and Wilson is 91 and still contributing to the good of the world.

The next three days were a whirlwind of talks and wandering the hall floor. The conference is at the San Diego convention centre and had 20,000 attendees. This is the same convention centre as Comicon which starts next week and despite it's size we only filled a portion of the halls. I think one end of the hall to the other was close to a half kilometer. I was walking with a colleague who had an Apple watch and I think we walked 12k on one day. I should be well conditioned for Disneyland next week.

On the last day of the conference ESRI hosts a party at Balboa Park. They shut down an area that includes the Natural History Museum, the Art Museum and several other halls. The party includes music on multiple stages with DJ's and live  bands, acrobats and plenty of food. It was another long day of walking. Last year I left on Thursday evening and I'm glad I stayed the extra day this year. A great event.  I'm actually staying to Saturday because I'm flying to San Francisco to meet the family for a day before heading to Anaheim. A long road trip for me this year.

Saying Goodbye to GG

My Grandmother passed away in November and rather than a funeral the family decided to have a celebration of life later in the summer. This ensured that all the key family members could plan to get together. Everyone directly descended from GG was able to attend. This included 2 children, 5 grand children and 7 great grand children plus spouses. GG certainly knew all her grand kids and great grand kids but when it came to getting their names out in the moment there was often mistakes made. It didn't help that there were multiple Kerry's and at least 6 kids that ended with the sound en/an/on.

The celebration of life was an all day event and we started with a trip to the cutbanks. GG had many fond memories of this area as her family had a farm on the river right in front of them. She told many stories of making her way across the river to school. Walking, boating and crossing the ice were all valid ways of getting to school in her day. The family walked to an area where we could see where her farm was and we spread some of her ashes over the embankment. She will have fun walking back up.

The next quintessential GG location was West Lake. Our family has owned property there for many generations and we're left with 2 1/2 acres of the best beach. I have many memories of GG sitting on the beach by her tree. She didn't sit for long of course because there was always work to do, whether it be pushing rocks back up the beach, making the fire or cutting brush. She was always busy. Mom built a small garden for her ashes. GG always had a garden at the lake and the original is now too close to shore. This new spot should last a long time.

The Monday after the celebration of life was Canada Day and the family took our regular trip to what was previously known as Fort George Park. I would list the new name but it's native and hard to remember. I have no issue with the renaming. The park was built on top of an Indian Burial Ground. Good karma to recognize it with a name that doesn't represent colonization. The steam engine was working and we had some great food. The weather wasn't great but the rain stopped long enough to enjoy.

This was our first trip up since my nephew Lucas was born. I think he's about 10 months old. He's a funny little character. Quiet most of the time and he's got some baby chubbiness to him. He doesn't smile too much but by the time we left we had a few techniques including blowing on his feet and squishing his cheeks together. He was starting to crawl so he should be a handful for his parents shortly. He's quite alert so I think he should be as bright as his big brother Jackson.

Our last GG related event was a trip to the Prince George cemetary. It's becoming more common to cremate but GG wanted some of her ashes spread on Grandpa's grave. I never knew him as he died when my mom was 17 but we found him in the veterans area of the cemetary. Mom couldn't remember where he was but GG had taken us there often so I recognized the  group of trees where he was buried. Apparently GG brought some trees from the lake when he was buried. Not allowed anymore but fun to know the big trees were planted by our family. Bye GG. We love you.

Tying Fish

If you're wondering how much 600 fish cost the answer is $10k. That's the going rate to have six people show up to your school during a series of workshops, help kids paint pre-cut fish and then come back to help you attach them to chain link fences at your school. This trend has been happening in the lower mainland for quite a few years. Some schools fish are so old that they have started to fall off. Hopefully the fish at Frost Road last to the point of fading. I couldn't quite tell what kind of plywood they used but the paint they used looked good and they put a coat of clear coat over the fish after they were installed.

The fish had been painted during the month or so before fish tying day. Our role as parents was to help permanently attach the fish to the fence. It was a 'Bring Your Own Pliers' event and it was tougher than I was expecting. The organizers were responsible for placing the fish which was good. You could tell they were experts because they knew what shapes and colours went together best and really helped put together a fun layout. The wire was very thick which meant they were pretty tough to twist. I was on shift one of two and I think we were about 1/3 through. I'm guessing the organizers finished up. End result was a fun project for the kids and it looks great.

Callie's Dance Recital - Welcome to the Gallery

After 9 months of work it was time for Callie's annual dance recital. This has become an event we look forward to every year and I only partially mind that they've split it into 4 different shows and your kid could be in anything from 1 to 4 of those shows. At $24 a show it gets a bit pricy. This year Callie was only in two so it wasn't too bad. She started both days in the same costume that she has indicated is not exactly her favourite. When it's just her she looks like a ballerina died orange but when it was on stage and with the other girls it looked quite nice.

Day one consisted of Ballet and Point. Ballet is the more advanced form of point where the girls spend a lot of their time on their tippy toes. Being the first year they want to make sure they have had time to train before making them do too much so only a few moves are done that way. Both dances were quite beautiful and Callie did great. Every once in a while I will see her do a swooping movement with her hands. I now know what this is all about. There is a lot of hand swooping in these two dances.

The theme this year was art. Every dance matched the costume, art piece in the background and the song. The picture for Jazz seemed a bit basic and was obviously computer generated. Callie was not overly impressed by the costume either. It was a crazy sparkly skin tight material. The dance on the other hand was amazing. This was definitely where she had to do the most advanced moves. Lots of quick arm and body movements. I can see why she enjoyed the dance but not the costume.

My favourite dance style is lyrical. Lot's of running and looking. The costumes are typically very flowey and I usually enjoy these songs the best. This is where I found Ed Sheehan about 6 years ago. (Long before he was famous. :)) Callie ended up being in a class where she was in the top end of the class. This meant she got to do a 3 person solo but it also meant not all of the moves were super advanced. She's looking forward to going up a level next year.

We got a bonus scene this year. Callie has been volunteering all year as a student teacher. This is about 90 minutes of time every Friday where she helps the teacher guide one of the smaller classes. For the recital it meant she was on stage during their dance making sure they were in the right position and doing the right moves at the same time. She was right when she said they didn't need a lot of guidance which must have meant they had great teachers. Another great year. Very proud of Callie.

Carter's Field Trip to Victoria

When Kerry taught grade five at Frost Road she started an annual trip to Victoria. When she moved to grade seven they stopped doing it so Callie didn't get to go. Carter's teacher however have reinstated the trip and I'm glad they did. It's a lot of work to plan and a lot of work to execute and it makes for a very long day leaving at 5:30a and coming back at 7:30p but I think it will be something Carter will remember for a long time. My favourite part of the trip over was the Wasabi challenge which was initiated by my group. One girl had ordered sushi and dared one of the other group members to eat the Wasabi. Great fun!

Our first destination was the Royal BC Museum. With Victoria being BC's capital, much of the funding for this sort of thing ends up in Victoria and they make good use of it. The exhibits are top notch and well maintained and it's right near in the harbour near the parliament buildings. We wandered the 'Making BC' exhibits and stopped in the theatre to watch a movie about some guy breaking into a cabin. The kids loved it. I had six in my group so being able to sit in a theatre for 5 or 10 minutes was a welcome break.

Our trip to the museum ended quickly as it was time to go for lunch at the Spaghetti Factory. They have a menu dedicated to kids groups that really just involves spaghetti and 6 different options for things that go on top of spaghetti including different sauces and different cheeses. We didn't have a lot of time so it was for the best that serving 100 or so kids and parents was as efficient as possible. I had some sort of salty goat cheese which was good but I had to steal the water jug. Highlight was when they brought out dozens of loafs of bread with knives. Parents got involved quickly.

The highlight of the day was our trip to the Legislative Assembly. I had been before but the timing of our visit this time was better. It was the last day of the spring session and our group got to go into the main chamber while the Premier was speaking. We dropped off all our electronic devices and anything that could be used to record and we got to sit in the balcony and listen to committee as they debated what to do about the caribou issue up north. Fun to see our government at work.

We had a bit of free time left after our time with the MLA's and there is a well placed English Candy store. The owner must be used to large groups of kids because I can't say the groups that were there were very well behaved. They were noisy and I had to pick up more than one display that was knocked over. I made sure to buy some mints and chocolate since many of the kids had run out of money by this time.

We got back to the school around 7:30p. A long day but a fun one.

Hike at Minnekhada Regional Park

This hike location was chosen for a slightly less than healthy reason. Kerry wanted to go for a hike. Carter and I have wanted to try out Popeyes for a while because one of the shows we watch has lots of commercials and the lower mainland got its first Popeyes just recently. The issue has been that's about 25 minutes from our house and we weren't about to go that for just for fast food. I didn't see why we could do both so I found the Popeyes and then I randomly choose a hike location in the vicinity which turned out to be Minnekhada Regional Park.

I continue to be amazed at the caliber of hiking trails we have so close to our house. This place was less than a half hour away and when you get there you can't see any signs of civilization. The hike is focused around a large marsh area that has multiple beaver dams. As we walked around we saw turtles, frogs, fish and ducks. There are many hikes of different distances and the trails were well maintained. There is also some sort of lodge that apparently is open just a few times per here. Looks interesting enough that I might time a future hike on a day when it's open.

Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad

From the first time I visited Oliver, I've wanted to go the Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad. It's in a nondescript warehorse building and you see it as you are coming down the hill into Osoyoos. It's clearly marked and the hours are frequent enough that it should not have taken 11 years to go. I think the issue is that it's about a 20 minute drive to Osoyoos and we never want to stop on our way through so it has to be a trip on it's own and our typical trip to Osoyoos involves mini-golf. This past Easter however we had nothing planned so I asked the family who wanted to go. There was reluctance but Carter decided he would come.

I will admit I had rather low expectations. I've been to places like this in the past and they are often dusty and old smelling. This place was a lot different. The lower portion of the warehouse seems to be the hobby space for the 4+ individuals who created and maintain the models. The upper floor was partially dedicated to the models and rather than dust we were met with a meticulously clean and surprisingly interactive set of scenes. The room is about 1000 square feet and is absolutely full. Everything is behind glass and it takes at least a half hour to see everything in detail.

The most amazing part was that every so often the conductor, he even has a booth and a hat, will turn off the lights and the whole room turns into night mode. The ski-hill is lit, the houses have lights and there was a concert going on with  music and stage lights. Once the lights came on we found a feature we hadn't seen before. There are buttons that will activate a portion of the model. We made sure to press every button and we pressed the button of the man peeing in the bushes after a night of drinking more than once. The place was packed with people when we were there and I definitely recommend it if you are in the area.