Canada 2003
Thursday, May 29, 2003
I didn't feel like updating this thingy, so I just didn't. ;-)
Anyways, here is a quick recap of the last week: we had a BBQ without the BBQ on Friday. Well, it was planned as a BBQ, but since the weather was a bit rainy, we canceled the BBQ-part and just had an indoor party at Tamara's place. As it was Melanie's and Sabine's birthday a while ago, they provided the food and everybody brought the drinks. It was cool. I meet Jayant again and also Dan for the first time. Dan is Michael T. Smith's brother (the second person ever sending me an email - back in 1996) and Dan helped me a little when I prepared this trip to Vancouver. The party was fun: about 17 girls and 3 guys. LOL :-)
On Saturday, I didn't move.
Sunday was museum day. I went to the Maritime Museum, the Space Centre *and* the Museum of Vancouver. They are all next to each other and Joanne had free tickets. Was okayish. I mean I was glad that I didn't have to pay for these... ;-)
Oh, later on Sunday we had a real BBQ.
In two weeks I am going on a camping trip to the wildernis... Let's see how that is going to turn out. It is kinda alternative: 'zero impact camping' - you bring everything and you take everything back home. We camp with Indians about 150 kms north of Vancouver.
Anyways, I did other stuff during the week, but well... whatever. ;-)
posted at 21:40
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Friday: we went for drinks to the Cactus Club. Nice. Guess that's it. Everybody left early.
Saturday: got up at *05.30* in the morning and caught the bus to Tsawwassen with Joanne. We took the ferry to Victoria. I don't know what I could write about Victoria. It was a nice and clean little city. Seems so strange to say that a 330,000 city felt *so small*. It really was more like a 33,000 city... Many tourist shops and no real shops at all. Some nice places, but well, maybe I will go there again and take a second look. Afterall the trip costs just about $30 return. (But takes ages.)
Sunday: I met Sabine and Doris at 08.00 in the city and we went to Horseshoe Bay. Again I found myself sitting on a ferry (but only for a mere 20 mins). We went to Bowen Island. Basically we didn't do anything there. Well, we hiked to the Dorman Lookout, but that's it. :-) Spend a couple of hours in the sun. It was very nice up there. I really liked it.
One funny thing that I need to mention about the day: Doris went to the washroom while we were at the ferry terminal. When she came back she said 'You know, I guess I just went to the men's washroom...' and later she realized that she was missing her ticket. So I had to go to men's washroom for her and catch it. :-)
Damn, I know that there was one situation when Sabine did something really stupid, too... Can't remember it at the moment, but well, as soon as I remember it, I will embarrass her, too. ;-)
I just watched a very cool one hour Simpsons season finale and as tomorrow off, I guess I will make up for the lack of sleep that I had lately...
posted at 22:22
Friday, May 16, 2003
So this is my first day working from home. I like it and since we use Linux servers and OpenBSD boxes it is just not difference if I log in from the office or if I log in from home. I still get the stuff done.
Yesterday I got myself the new cold cd. It was released on Tuesday and kinda rocks. I am not sure if I want them to rock though... ;-)
Well, the long weekend lies ahead. Monday is Victoria Day and therefore finally a public holiday over here.
posted at 11:09
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Movie and TV:
I saw some nice new Simpsons episodes the other day and also: Beverly Hills 90210: The Reunion. Yay! ;-)
On Thursday Matrix: Reloaded starts on some few thousand screens. It's going to be big... I am actually quite excited about that one. There are just a few 'mainstream' movies that I get so excited about. This is one of them. We will see.
posted at 21:10
Monday, May 12, 2003
Today I've done this and that (laundry, for example) before I left to do the Grouse Grind. I didn't know what to expect, but since I always wanted to climb the Grouse Mountain and as the weather was nice I just went there.
Well, it was steep. Very very steep...
The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km long track that gains 860m in elevation! It consists of 'steps' - sometimes 20cm high, sometimes no less than 60cm high. The beginning is rather easy, but in the end you have to climb above rocks and even crawl on your hand and feet... As I am such a professional hiker, I didn't even bring water. :P
However, after 70 mins - which is a really good time for a first try - I reached the top at 1100m above sea-level and everything was forgotten.
Yesterday, I went to the beach in shorts and today I was standing on top of Grouse Mountain in the snow... Nice. :-)
The view was really cool and the sun just great. I wandered a bit around at the top. Took a look at the bear habitat and the various ski lifts.
On the way down, I took the SkyRide gondola. Couldn't be bothered to do that grind again... :P
As always, you can find the new photos in the latest gallery. I am off to bed now. Tired.
posted at 00:08
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Again, took me sometime to update my blog, but I wasn't really in the mood to write about everything that happend.
However, last week was a great week - as every week is. ;) (Malcolm's quote)
I've done some installs with James and my first one alone. Played around with our new testserver and did this and that.
Also decided on my graduation thesis topic: IPsec. Let's see what happens...
Last night we (8 girls and me) met at Ute and Melanie's place. Later we went to the Picadilly. A nice pub / club that featured some cool bands. The first one was really great! Means to an end - already bought their first EP. :)
Tonight everybody was still rather tired or has to get up at 5 / 6 tomorrow morning, so we just had a nice picnic at the beach. Check out the new photos. I took plenty of sunset photos. :)
Oh, the Canucks lost their last games and are no longer in the playoffs. Bugger. :P
posted at 23:18
Monday, May 05, 2003
It is Monday and I have to cover for Malcolm at the store front today. It is alright. Rather quiet so far.
I just see that I have to write an update about a couple of days. Mmmh.. As you can see, I have been to Salt Spring Island on Thursday. We had to do an install there. The weather was just great: sunny and warm. So it wasn't too bad to spend four hours on the ferries and another three hours waiting for the various ferries.
Beside that I had a nice and rather quiet weekend. Saw the hockey game on Friday (Canucks won again, it is 3:1 in the second series at the moment), went to Metrotown on Saturday and later to the cinema with Chiemi. We saw Flower & Garnet a film shot here in BC. I liked it.
Yesterday, I saw the mighty Bad Religion live at the Commodore. Yeah, my personal heros. :) Their concert was really cool. They played plenty old songs which was great. It was the second time that I saw them. However, this time was way better than back in 1998 in Bielefeld.
Mmmh... coming up: another Canucks game tonight. If they win this game, they win this series - would be cool. Beside that I figured out what I want to write my graduation thesis about and will start looking into that.
posted at 11:55