Some bad news arrived in the evening from my friends back home.
A good buddy from the cooking days passed away from Heart Failure. I haven't heard many details and a search on the web suggests that he actually passed away on December 14th of last year. We had regrettably fallen out of contact with Stewie, so it makes sense that it probably took a while for the word to get through to us, though I am not positive that I found the right obituary. I also truly regret that the old days predated any of us owning a digital camera so I don't have easy access to a pic of Stewie, but when I find one I will edit it into this picture!
Stewart was a guy with a warm and honest laugh and smile and was always a pleasure to chat with especially after work over a cold beer. He was the kind of guy that never had anything bad to say about another person and I never saw him lose his temper. We had far too many laughs together to start listing the times here. I had often thought about him and wondered how he was doing and it is sad that this is the first news I have heard from him in a long time. I will always think of him in a positive vein and he was always stick with me and be remembered. Rest in Peace old buddy!
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Bits and Pieces 2
Nothing special has really happened so far this week, so a few short topics;
1. Bike Ride
I didn't really get my required exercise in through the weekend, so I took my bike out for a bit of a ride. I went to Cainz Home which is a home center- like Home Depot or Rona back in Vancouver. The ride is about 6 kms and includes a killer hill that should help condition me a little bit for the Forest Park mission. I did alright on the hill but about 2/3 of the way up I had to get off and push the bike. On the ride, there used to be a couple of farms with a bunch of trees with funny things hanging from the branches like mirrors and CD's. While they were probably there to scare away birds- I was hoping to use them for comedy in my blog. Tragically they were taken down from the trees.
Cainz is a great place to shop, anything you need for around the house. Furniture, landscaping, lumber, even pets- yes it was at this Cainz home that we found the irreplaceable Santa;
2. Pickton. Back home in Vancouver there has been an interesting trial of a pig farmer that had allegedly murdered a large number of hookers. The details can be pretty gross, but it amazes me that this sort of sick person can walk the same earth as we do. Well if you want to read about the Pickton trials just click here.
3. Hockey All Star Game. Okay I have only watched the Super skills competition so far, but Vancouver's only representative Luongo looked good so far, good job! I think it is a travesty that the Sedins are left out of the game though!
4. What it takes. I was thinking during my bike ride yesterday about what it takes to live in a foreign country. It boils down to Patience, Hard Work and a Positive Mentality. You need to be patient with learning the language and becoming more functional and a part of the environment (it is easy to have the illusion that you don't need to learn Japanese when you teach English but it isn't entirely accurate). You also need to be patient with meeting people, networking and making friends. All our best friendships take time to develop and basically will always take time. The Hard Work comes into play with establishing yourself with a job and learning the language. The positive attitude helps you get by day to day. Sometimes it is easy to question your decision to live somewhere else, but it is more healthy to accept that you made the decision and not to waste time asking 'what if...'. You made the decision stick with it! If you aren't happy with the way things are at the moment, then work to make it a better situation, or move again.
That is all for today, have a great one!
1. Bike Ride
I didn't really get my required exercise in through the weekend, so I took my bike out for a bit of a ride. I went to Cainz Home which is a home center- like Home Depot or Rona back in Vancouver. The ride is about 6 kms and includes a killer hill that should help condition me a little bit for the Forest Park mission. I did alright on the hill but about 2/3 of the way up I had to get off and push the bike. On the ride, there used to be a couple of farms with a bunch of trees with funny things hanging from the branches like mirrors and CD's. While they were probably there to scare away birds- I was hoping to use them for comedy in my blog. Tragically they were taken down from the trees.
Cainz is a great place to shop, anything you need for around the house. Furniture, landscaping, lumber, even pets- yes it was at this Cainz home that we found the irreplaceable Santa;
2. Pickton. Back home in Vancouver there has been an interesting trial of a pig farmer that had allegedly murdered a large number of hookers. The details can be pretty gross, but it amazes me that this sort of sick person can walk the same earth as we do. Well if you want to read about the Pickton trials just click here.3. Hockey All Star Game. Okay I have only watched the Super skills competition so far, but Vancouver's only representative Luongo looked good so far, good job! I think it is a travesty that the Sedins are left out of the game though!
4. What it takes. I was thinking during my bike ride yesterday about what it takes to live in a foreign country. It boils down to Patience, Hard Work and a Positive Mentality. You need to be patient with learning the language and becoming more functional and a part of the environment (it is easy to have the illusion that you don't need to learn Japanese when you teach English but it isn't entirely accurate). You also need to be patient with meeting people, networking and making friends. All our best friendships take time to develop and basically will always take time. The Hard Work comes into play with establishing yourself with a job and learning the language. The positive attitude helps you get by day to day. Sometimes it is easy to question your decision to live somewhere else, but it is more healthy to accept that you made the decision and not to waste time asking 'what if...'. You made the decision stick with it! If you aren't happy with the way things are at the moment, then work to make it a better situation, or move again.
That is all for today, have a great one!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
A quick one
A view of the Lions Gate Bridge from Stanley Park in Vancouver.Warren sent me this link to some beautiful pictures. This winter, it sounds like Vancouver is having some of the worst weather I can ever remember it having. Back in December there was a severe windstorm that devastated Stanley Park, one of the great destinations for people. Thousands of tress were blown down, and this Flickr slide show really captures some of this devastation. I heard during this windstorm my mother was without electricity for a day and a half!
Another thing that happened this winter is BC Place stadium, which usually looks like this, couldn`t seem to handle the extreme weather conditions and the roof ripped. Very tough year back home.
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