Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Random thoughts March 25, 2014

Well to start off it's only nine months to Christmas.

Second, spring has arrived but it isn't showing up that much yet here on the west coast - rainy and cool today.

Had a great short mini-vacation over on Vancouver Island last week - headed up Island to Campbell River to visit my niece and 3 great nieces and sister-in-law - enjoyed their company and had a nice turkey dinner as well.

Then it was down Island and a stop in Duncan for lunch with my friend Sharon - we met through our long involvement  in the Friends of Yellowpoint Society and while the group has formally disbanded many of us still keep in contact.

Sharon shares many of the likes as me - outdoor activities - she is a marathon runner and loves to bike ride - she retired from full time work last year and so we try to meet up whenever we are in each others neck of the woods.

She will be dog sitting here in Vancouver early April so will get together for lunch with her and one other FOYPS.

After lunch it was onto to Victoria where I stayed for one night before working my way to the ferry and the trip through Active Pass and into Tswassen and home.

It was a much needed break as I am still dealing with my best friend being in hospital - while he is much recovered he still isn't walking on his own but there is progress and if he continues to improve he could be moved to a rehab facility in a week to ten days. 

He will have been in hospital for 5 months as of tomorrow.

Tonight I am attending the wind up party for the Celtic Fest volunteers - a free drink and some food is on tap. While the weather wasn't the greatest, the volunteer coordinator did a great job and overall the management gets high marks from me.

Tomorrow night I will be attending the first planning meeting for this year's team of Vancouver Marathon bike marshalls - slightly different format for the team this year - rather than have every one ride the whole course you will only need to ride the course you will be working on Marathon day.

Just got the bike tuned up and new brake pads installed - riding a lot better.

Also finally heard back from the Special Olympics about volunteering for them. Things will start to kick into gear in late April at which time we will get our roles assigned. They will have about 1000 volunteers to assist with the event.

My next up major travel is two B2B cruises in May - a short 3 dayer down the coast to San Francisco - an overnight stay there and taking in a SF Giants/Atlanta Braves baseball game and then back on a different cruise ship and sail back to Vancouver.

Well I think that is enough for today.

Cheers!