A week in review...

While I guess I have failed at keeping this blog current, I have most definitely not failed when it comes to the purposes of keeping this at all. 

I have not posted anything since last weekend, but I will do what I can to get this up to date right now, I will re-group, and I will take yet another stab at posting daily. 

Anyhow, here goes...

Last Sunday's challenge was a quest to hunt down some items on Lou's list of things that are abundant and available at home in Australia, but near impossible to find here in Vancouver. Items to find: self raising flower, loose leaf black tea, milo (chocolate drink mix), ginger nut biscuits & mint slices (or the closest alternatives). I found them all - done and done.

The week was a bit of a blur, and I don't recall anything too interesting that is completely worth re-telling. I did however put my cooking skills to work more than once. Lou was impressed I think! I hired a new busser at work, and am quite pleased so far at here attitude and effort. Nothing is worse than a new hire who sucks shit...

Lou met me after work on Friday night and we went out for a bite to eat - I proceed to aid in making her an hour late for work on Saturday morning. Though, today will be her last day at Mantique, so it was not much of a worry for her. 

With Saturday came a good challenge. We laid the tiles in Shaun's kitchen. When I made it out there they were nearly half done. After a bit of a break and a trip to home depot for additional mortar mix, we finished the floor off. I was quite pleased with out handy work once again, seeing as none of us had really done such work before. Saturday night concluded with a BBQ at my place with Ashlee & Tony's friends - in anticipation for the wedding I suppose. Good times.

After seeing Lou off to work on Sunday, I took off down to bellingham for a few hours with Cody. We didn't find him an iPhone - but we had a good time none the less. I bought some Abba Zaba's so I am more than content.

I will conclude with Sunday night - easily the best night of my week/weekend. As of today, Lou and I have been together for 1 month. While I don't usually wish to make too big a deal out of this 'milestone', I did want to surprise here with something. Flowers and a Futurama game that I found in the states did he trick I would say. We had an awesome night together walking through kit's to Granville island. A nice meal at Bridges right on the dock. A walk along the beach on the way back. Back at Lou's I got my Vegemite fix and watched Juno.

Though I stayed a little late, not arriving home until nearly 5:30am - I would say my sleep deprived self today finds that the late night was well worth it.

I guess the week as a whole wasn't all that challenging, but within my endeavors laid those small and unique challenges that you often over look. In the end, I feel great about the last week, and am excited for what is to come!

I think though, in my tired state, my ideas may not be as coherent as I am hoping, so I am going to end this here.

Bike Ride #2

For the second Saturday in a row now, I have gone on a bike ride. Today, I got Cody out with me!

Today I rode from home, out to North Van to meet Cody, then we continued on through to West Van, across the bridge and through Stanley Park, to Kitsilano, then home. Much the same as the ride Robbie & I did last weekend, though I started from home rather than West Vancouver.  

I am tired. My legs are a little sore. I feel incredible.

In total the ride was about 31 miles, or 51 km's. Needless to say, I am pretty pleased with myself. Thats one step closer to doing a 100 km ride before the summer is done with. Below is the route I took - points A & I are home...

Robbie and I now have plans to ride out to Matt's cabin in Deroche, hopefully soon. That trip is around 80 km's. Though, judging by the way my legs feel currently, I think that I may need to do a little more training before we take it on.

Helping People...

So. Today is my birthday. Usually a fairly uneventful day for me. Today has been good though. A lot of birthday wishes have come my way, and its not even half over yet. Robbie even made me a card and taped it to the door of my work this morning along with a slew of balloons. That made my morning!

Something happened yesterday though, that really moved me, and that it what I want to share with you right now.

There is a fellow named Loni that frequents the plaza where I worked. I don't know for sure if he is homeless or not, but I would assume so. We have been helping him out for some months now, actually, perhaps years, as he used to come around when Norm owned the restaurant. Anyway, he pops in from time to time, and we have him what pop bottles and cans we have accumulated. I have always felt like there is something that sets Loni aside from most other homeless people you might come across. He is always extremely polite. He waits in the lobby until all the customers have been helped before letting us know he is there. He often brings in what change he has saved up to buy a drink or something to eat, when money is good of course. It's as if the hard times in which he lives his life have strengthened his moral values. He hasn't become cynical or jaded like most do, but has become more appreciative and thankful for everything people do for him.

When I can, I try to hook him up with lunch, if I've got food to spare. I did so yesterday when he came by for the bottles. He did his usual tip of the hat, while he touched his chest, showing me his gratitude, and he was off. Only yesterday, he returned a few minutes later, and handed me a note. I've posted it below.

It's nothing too profound, but the simple fact that he took the time to write that and bring it to me meant a hell of a lot. There, on that paper, is solid proof that going out of your way for another person really can have an effect on their life. That display of gratitude was that best (early) birthday present I could have asked for. 

BIKE RIDE!

So. In place of our postponed hike in Chilliwack - Robbie and I decided we should go for a bike ride. Our first choice would have been to head out on road bikes, but due to some needed repairs, we opted to trek out on our BMX's. We started in West Van after taking my mom the truck so she could get home after shopping. We went from Park Royal, over the Lions Gate, around the Sea Wall, through English Bay, over to Kits - down to Jericho Beach... after a quick stop to see Lou at work, we made our way home. All in all, a GREAT ride. A little tough on BMX's, but thats alright! Close to 36km's in total! And our ride home from Kits only took an hour and a half, including a stop for a burrito at budgies. Good times! A challenge though for sure! Next ride, we want to hit 50 clicks... and by the end of the summer, we're hoping to have tackled a 100km ride!

In other news, our rental car is booked for our trip to California in July. Matt, Robbie, Taylor and I - 10 day road trip - can't wait! Now we've just got to plan out what we want to see and accomplish on the trip! I've seen my fair share of California, but not really had a chance to see it with those guys, and also not been there off tour in a while. July is going to be an incredible month! And Lou is going to come with me to Ashlee's wedding earlier in July, which is pretty awesome as well. Robbie and Matt will be there for the wedding too even.

I'm feeling like I should paint something. Strange because I've never painted anything before. Cody has some paints and some canvases laying around at his place. We're going to paint some stuff soon. It's going to be rad!

Also - Cody finished the Broadway Calls kit. It looks incredible! Go peep that shit!

CAMPING!

So this weekend we went camping for Tony's stag. Good times. Not the best weather, but it didn't rain too much, so that was something to be thankful for I suppose. We spent our time doing man things. Throwing knives. Shooting guns. That sort of thing. I made a deal with Christian - he had to light one of his farts on fire. He succeeded...therefor, I went swimming in the river. It was cold.

I came to a realization on this trip. Actually, that is a lie. This is something I have known and been confident in for some time now. I am referring to the importance of balance. Balance in every sense of the word, and balance applied to everything in our lives. I cannot and will not say that I know the point to this life we are living. I will say however, that the key to living well and being happy is balance. A balance between fun and responsibilities. A balanced diet. A balance between giving your time to others, and saving your time for yourself. Balance is the key to everything in life - or at least that is how I like to think of it. Try it! Focus on keeping things balanced. Budget your time, and leave yourself with the ability to control you time a little more. Make an effort to create a balanced lifestyle, avoiding doing anything in excess for it may cause the scales to tip and create unwanted stress.

I am not exactly certain what about this past camping trip brought me to this conclusion, but something about taking myself away from the usual things that take up my time - work, friends, family, technology - it just shifted my focus if only for a moment. It was enough to bring this idea back to the forefront of my mind - and I think I want to push a little more towards balance when I can.

Anyway - the hike this weekend might be pushed back a little. Too much snow still. Its June! Whats with the snow! Geeze!

Here are some are a couple pictures of the weekend. The fire made for some good fun with pictures and slow shutter speeds!

Word.

Meet The Parents...

Well. Just one of them actually...

Lou's mum is in town for 2 weeks, visiting Vancouver for her first time. Tonight, I will meet her. I am excited, but a little nervous too. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Lou has made a fairly overwhelming impression on my family. They really like her. Not only do I need to impress Lou's mom, she will be my only link back to the rest of the family. Her impression of me will directly reflect that feelings that her dad and two brothers will develop - and being that her brothers are, well, my age, a little caution in accepting their sister's new boyfriend is inevitable. 

Tonight, I will take them to Sweet Revenge for desert and tea. Lou liked that place a lot, and figures her mum will enjoy it equally.

Anyway!

With a lot of my time being spent out and about lately, I am finding it hard to keep up with this blogging business (as I touched on previously). I figure it better though to slip on the blogging, and really enjoy my free time. It's a fair trade I would say. The challenges I am presenting to myself sometimes get masked in my day's activities, to the point where I am spending the last few minutes of my day in reflection, trying to recognize those things that were a challenge, and to extract what positive lessons I can from them.

Saturday - I finally got my shit together and began (once again) working towards getting the VW tuned up and road worthy. I got it started at least, so I know it runs. Though, I am still working through some electrical issues... My bigger challenge for the day went as follows: I realized, with Lou's help, that I rarely try new things when it comes to dining out. I frequent the same restaurant's and order the same dish quite often. I stick with what I like. So Saturday night, Lou and I tried something new. 'The Reef' - a Caribbean style place on commercial drive. Not bad. I'm not in a hurry to go back per se, but I'm sure I will make a return at some point. Lou's challenge for the day - try to deal with the spiciness of Caribbean style food. She did pretty good! We are now on a mission to discover a new restaurant to take everyone out to. Matt and Lindsay tend to make most of the discoveries. It's our turn bitches!

Sunday - I accompanied Lou to work on the bus. Though our timing was a little off, and I resorted to calling a cab for part of the trip, we got her there on time... early even! While Lou got started, I made it my mission to get her breakfast. I realized something in doing this. Life has become so fast paced, that we as a society gravitate way too much towards things that are convenient. Things that are quick and 'easy'. I hate this. It's unsettling that there are intersections in Vancouver where 2 out of the 4 street corners are home to a Starbucks. In my hunt for breakfast, I refused to walk the 15 steps to Walmart for a muffin, some green tea, and a banana. Instead, I purchased the fruit and tea from a small asian produce market, clearly family run - the muffin from a small bakery further down the road, and made a stop in search of Vegemite at an Iranian grocery store. The man there was very nice, and told me they did have Vegemite. He was confused. They did not. Bummer. My last stop...Starbucks. I had the girl give me a cup and some hot water, for free, which I then brewed my own tea in, while she watched. Stickin' it to the man! 

Monday - during a day of work, it is far too easy to become lost in routine. While my day was productive, it really didn't find me any any new or interesting situations. My challenge, however, was to confront my boss on his shoddy clean up the night before. I let things slide a lot. I prefer to put in the extra work myself, and avoid the confrontation. Today, I let him know that I need it to be more organized and tidy in the morning, or doing my job well becomes much more taxing. He appreciated my honesty, and will do better. Silly Dan Turner.

Tuesday - work, again, was the same. Productive, yet uneventful. Though, I must find a new way to deal with Marco. A good worker, who makes a good effort, but falls a little short. I don't believe that he isn't trying, he just needs more focus. My goal for the week, figure out a new way to energize the guy. I'm growing frustrated of working with him, and it shows in me being a bit of an asshole. I don't like being an asshole, so to the drawing board I go. Also - the post work bike rides have begun again. I took some time  off to nurse my quads back to health after running down the chief. 

That about brings things back up to speed. This weekend, camping for Tony's stag, and dinner with Lou and her mom. The goals: Build a sweet shelter while camping, and find a great italian place for dinner on sunday. I'll keep you posted on my progress, also, expect pictures. Oh, and the next hike: June 14th, Mt. Cheam. Peak = 2112 meters. 9.5km round trip. STOKED!