hexstatik

after 7 weeks of training at the deep cove rowing club, my corporate rowing team participated in the 11th annual vancouver community corporate rowing challenge at the UBC john lecky boathouse.

after finishing 1st in our first heat, we were ranked 6th overall after the first race, which put us in the worst lane for our next race in the semi finals. in our semi final race, we got off to a good start, but not as clean as the boat next to us in the faster lane 2. in order to win, we would need to work hard and have a clean race. we managed to fight hard and were making a come back, but ran out of room and finished just shy of first. luckily for us, close competition allowed us to clock the 4th fastest time for the semis, and was good enough to make it into the 4 boat final.

again, we ended up in the dreaded lane 1, right next to the team that had just edged out. our start was better this time and we managed to get in front of our competition, who ended up having to make a small course correction. again, we were in a very close race and both teams were rowing as hard as they could. as we got close to the finish, our cox was yelling hard, both teams were digging down to give it one final push, but as i looked over, i could see that we had the edge and were keeping it. we ended up crossing the finish line in 3rd, just barely out of second place.

still, it was a great day of racing, and placing 3rd out of 10 in the ‘defenders’ category was definitely rewarding.

today was our 4th delivery from green earth organics since signing up for their service at the end of last month.

so far, everything has been great. the quality of the produce is fantastic and there definitely isn’t a shortage of fruits and veggies around our place. in fact, it seems that crystal and i aren’t keeping up at all, mostly i supposed because neither crystal nor i were really around very much last weekend. we’re drowning! i have a feeling we’re going to be eating a lot of salads and stir-frys for the next week.

I’ve also met “steve” our delivery guy, twice now. last week, steve went to great lengths to contact me after i missed a few of his calls because i was riding my bike home and didn’t feel or hear my phone in my pocket. he was standing at the gate of our building on the phone with crystal when i arrived to finally let him upstairs, and today, we arrived at the building at the very same moment, exchanging smiles over the coincidental timing of our arrivals. he even remembered my name.

i can’t say enough good things about the service, and highly recommend it if you live in either vancouver or toronto.

this morning, crystal and i got up early (7:45am) to go the annual vancouver police auction held by able auctions in coquitlam. it’s a two day event, with the first day dedicated to auctioning over 600 bikes, and the second day for everything else.

we arrived before 9:30am with just enough time to register and do a complete once over of the catalogue before the 10am start. the auction room was filling up fast and the action got off to a quick start.

the 2^nd lot was for a huge downhill bike that sold eventually for $1750. i missed the showing of 3^rd lot because i was explaining to the nice people behind me that it was indeed $1750, and not $17.50. i finished in time to turn back around and see the gentleman standing right in front of me win the bidding for the 3^rd lot with a bid $250. as he left, i stepped up into his position and took a look at the 4^th lot of the day.

i was prepared to spend up to $300, and the bike that was lot 4 was a decent looking bike made by brodie, a local company i knew and recognized. bidding started at $200; i raised my paddle. at this point, i’m guessing that the auctioneer didn’t see or hear the ring man call out my bid, because he then proceeded to start dropping the price.

“175, 175, 75, 75, do i hear 175.” he called out at light speed.

no takers.

“150, 150, 150, 50, 50…” he continued. “150 over here!, 175, 175…”

i raised my paddle again, this time making sure to make clear eye contact with my ring man.

“over here, 175. 200, 200, do i hear 200?”

again, no taker at $200.

“sold for 175!”

i had just bought a new bike.

after taxes and a 15% auction fee, the total came up to $211. i paid for my purchase and went to pick it up outside. it had two flat tires and needed some work on the brakes, but nothing that a simple tune up wouldn’t be able to fix.

on our way home, we picked up crystal’s bike and took them both to the bike doctor for a tune up and have mine “ghetto-ized” (lose the quick release skewers in favour of a secure type and buy a new kryptonite lock) and “urban-ized” (adding some fenders, a riser handle bar and a carrier).

can’t wait to pick it up on wednesday. :)

we have been avoiding trips to the grocery store for weeks now, which has resulted in far too many trips to local restaurants and lackluster lunches at work. so, after a recommendation from a friend, crystal and i decided to sign up for home delivery of organic fruits, veggies and other organic foods from green earth organics.  every week, they create a basket of fruits and vegetables, choosing local produce whenever possible. clients then have a chance to customize their box (individual, regular or family) by substituting up to 4 items before their order is delivered on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

we received our first order last night and so far have been extremely impressed. the delivery was on time, without hassle and the quality of the produce has been excellent. i also really enjoy the fact that we don’t pick what goes into our box and that the resulting variety can bring a new surprise and challenge every week.

with our continued commitment to reducing our impact on the environment, eating organic, having a delivery service come to us (and others on the route), and not a single shred of plastic in our order is a great way to do this. it also means that we have more free time to hit up the local stores by foot for the rest of our grocery order, which is great for local merchants and stimulates the economy in our neighbourhood.

so, apparently i was justified in calling skycops ‘trigger-happy-taser-toting’ shmucks. through access to information laws, the CBC has learned that skycops have fired their tasers 10 times since January of last year, for as little as fare evasion. fare evasion folks. $2.50 gets you fucking tasered? i’d sue the bastards if i got tasered for under $3.

according to translink policy, skyshmucks (my new word for skycops) are only supposed to deploy their tasers when

the situation demands control over a non-compliant, suicidal, potentially violent, or violent individual and lower force options were ineffective

then again, we all know how “fantastic” translink policies are.

Update: corrected “January this year” to “January last year”.