New GPS

I took my GPS back to Circuit City in Oakridge. Of course it worked for them, but there was no problem in switching it for a new one. Did a bit more shopping and then home by noon.

Worked on BCTLA stuff all day & night. Once I get on a roll there is no point in stopping. The spirit might not move me tomorrow!

Mineral Springs

Met Louise at Brown's "House of Mystery" on Hastings where she is selling books left from Women in Print. We went for lattes and then I bought a few books.

It was such a warm day (and I bought a book on Harrison) I decided to go on to Harrison Hot Springs for a swim (in the public pool). Had a patty melt (done the right way with lots of onions and dark rye bread) at Bobby Sox 50's Diner in Maple Ridge.

Tried to find a cache after my swim but the new GPS is broken. Hope I have better luck returning things to Circuit City than Patience! Went to Farm House Natural Cheeses and Limbert Mountain Farm before stopping at the Chilliwack Airport Coffee Shop for salad & pie.

Bought Jubilee sweet corn at Yellow Barn Country Produce and took 1/2 a dozen to Pru before going home.

Designed a blog for DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) tonight for teachers who want to take part but can't access the Facebook page at school.

The British Columbia Teacher-librarians’ Association has dropped the gauntlet. We are challenging the Premier, members of the legislature, and people across BC to “Drop Everything and Read” for 20 minutes on National School Library Day -- Monday, October 27.

Teacher-librarians strongly support Premier Campbell’s goal of making BC the most literate province in Canada and know the impact that good modeling has on children. Seeing our provincial leaders put aside business for a few minutes to let pleasure reading be their priority will send a powerful message to students and families.

Please join this group, invite your friends, organize your workplace to participate, contact your local media, and generally create a buzz about reading in BC. After the event, post your comments and pictures to this page.

WOTS

Picked Moira up at noon and we went to Word on the Street. I stared telling a woman at the Crime Writers of Canada table how wonderful a series of books was that was sitting on the table - she was the author, Lou Allin. Hope I made her day. I couldn't buy her books since I've read them all but bought a couple of others. Picked up a few good deals at other tables and stashed them in the car.

From 2 to 5 I sat at the BCTF table and handed out stuff and answered questions. A man who was not "well" tried to flog his book that solves all the problems of teaching math. Turned out it was rejected by the VSB 20 years ago. We didn't really want it and he just lost it. I finally told him to go home and take his pills. Then there was the flasher. I sent security after him. Should have whipped out my cell phone to take a photo - always think of it ages later.

Most people were much more normal. Saw several old friends. Moira hung around all afternoon, even standing in line at Starbucks to bring me a latte. We went to The Keg at Granville Island for a scrumptious steak covered with blue cheese.

Saturday Night Live

BCTLA Web

Spent the day analyzing the BCTLA Website and the new template that Al has created for us. I then made a chart of both with suggestions for what whould be on the new drop-down menus. I can't wait until we have the old info moved over to the new pages. It will be a lot easier to edit with Dreamweaver. Netscape Composer is so restriced in what it allows me to do.

Moira and I tried out the Taste of Thai menu at the White Spot. We had the Pad Thai (Our version of Thailand’s most popular dish. Prawns, onions, cashews, egg and rice noodles sautéed with our authentic spicy Thai sauce. Garnished with cilantro and lime). Very spicy and delicous.

Debate

Filled my empty fridge by shopping at Granville Island today.

Put some political links on the Retired Teachers' web site.

Watched the debate tonight. Clear win for Obama. McCain was so patronizing as he kept telling Obama he didn't know or understand things that it was sickening.

Funny that Biden gave an interview about it and Palin was no where to be found. She had been asked but said no. The reporters are all joking about her hiding. When reporters like Katie Couric and Jack Cafferty start attacking and everyone is laughing at her, the end is nigh.

The Women

Watched the original film of The Women (1939) this morning. It was quite funny. 139 women and not a single male role.

Met Christine at 3:50 at Riverport to see the remake. I was late as I got caught in traffic but we only missed a couple of trailers. The ones we did see were pretty awful. The Women (2008) was just as corny as the original but it was fascinating comparing the two. Some of the scenes and lines were from the original, but the women of 2008 had careers! The lesbian didn't just wear wool suits, she had a girlfriend. A good B movie.

We had dinner at Browns Social House.

McCain is self-destructing. He obviously is trying to avoid the debate. The left side of his face is swollen. Something going on? Pallin just keeps looking stupider and stupider. Look at the stories in the DIGG box on the left side of this blog for more.

Bon Voyage

Started off at the BCTF this morning for a Retired Teachers' Association Executive meeting. Made lots of notes for additions to the website. Loved being online with my iPod Touch.

Took Patience & Chris to Canada Place board their cruise ship bound for the Mexican Riviera - considered stowing away!

Met Sophy at the Red Cross for our training session on working in the Call Centre. We had 9 students and it went well (6:30-9:30).

Finished working on a new blog for the Victoria conference next month http://missionliteracy.blogspot.com/. They asked me to take some photos and I can easily put them here.

New TV shows again!

Read the papers and then did a lot of housekeeping on the computer.

Cleaned up my trunk and back seat so I can take Patience & Chris to the airport tomorrow.

Quit the photo contest group, Photos from the B.C. Amateur Photography Contest on Facebook when a photo was posted with a racist caption. When a few of us objected there were actually arguments. I see now that all my comments have been erased. So much for democracy! It was supposed to be a BC group but many were from outside the province. The voting method was stupid and some photos looked professional. There must be better sites.



Lasted a long time after the big oil spill in Alaska.

Status of Women

Attended 1st Status of Women meeting of the year at VESTA today. Took minutes & just emailed them before leaving the office.

Came straight home and ate the last stew in the freezer. I'm trying to empty it before cooking anything new.

My ankles are swollen tonight and one is pretty sore for walking. Too many days of meetings? The last time this happened I had been sitting for a couple of days. I was hoping the swimming would help.

I've booked 3 nights at the Harbour Towers Hotel & Suites in Victoria for the BCTLA Conference weekend (October 23 - 26). It is close to Parliament and the price is right - $79/night. And it does have a pool.

My insurance policy renewal from VanCity came today. By switching to the BCTF Advantage at BCAA I saved $60 and my deductable went from $500 to $200 with 1 forgiven claim a year. Most of the details are better.

Lunch with Patience

Patience is staying with Chris until they leave on an 11-Day Mexican Riviera Cruise on Wednesday. A large group of family met for lunch at Chris's today. Patience and her 3 kids were very lucky to avoid greater damage from Hurricane Ike. Homes close to where she lives in Seabrook were destroyed. She lost her trees and garden, along with the freezer and everything inside the fridge. Her main problem right now is travelling without a passport or birth certificate - both are in a safety deposit box in a bank without power! There might be power when she returns home in a couple of weeks.

Watched the Emmy's tonight and thought it was one of the worst shows ever - the jokes were sexist or just plain flat. Only Rickles got laughs when he stopped reading the prompter. So many of the shows don't even show in Canada. Like my favourite, The Closer.

BCTLA Executive

Woke up at 7 and went for a swim with Angie. Stayed in the pool for almost an hour. Back for a shower and then there was a free breakfast.

The meeting room was quite nice. The table had plugs in the middle so we didn't trip over laptop wires. There was a projector near the ceiling and I just plugged my laptop into the wall (Al actually did all the work). I was quite impressed by the hotel (Holiday Inn Express at Riverport).

Some of us went to Brown's for lunch and finished the meeting by about 4. Productive! I was still there talking when one of the hotel staff came in to say Karen was phoning from the ferry to say she left her bag in the room. I took it to the ferry terminal and the supervisor let me put it on the bus that went near the Empress.

Met Moira & Philomena for dinner at the White Spot. Had a cake for Philomena's birthday.

Watched the Lions take care of Saskatchewan - not impressed with those fans who threw bottles. Fell asleep just as the bad guy was caught in the next show. Found out in the Globe & Mail that Ancestry.ca (that I subscribe to) has just entered a lot of new records and got hooked. Must stop now!!!!

BCTLA

Watched The View this morning - love the rumour that Elizabeth is moving to Fox New. What an idiot. Go on Survivor and become a pundit?

Did some shopping in Richmond. Bought a nice small bag for my laptop so I don't have so much to carry when I'm in a hotel. Had lunch at Boston Pizza - good lunch deal.

Checked into the Holiday Inn Express and immediately went for a swim and sat in the hot tub. Waited in the lobby until the rest of the BCTLA Executive arrived. Moira brought Japanese food from Applause.

We ate in one of the suites and are now meeting in the breakfast room. The last 2 are still on the way from Kelowna and Sylvia is sick. Almost time for wine!

BCRTA AGM

Back to Richmond at 8 this morning for the Retired Teachers' AGM. Sheila was elected provincial president. Was impressed by the charitable arm - the RR Smith Memorial Fund Foundation. Stayed for lunch and then off to do some shopping.

Found Geocaching for Dummies on sale at Chapters. Picked up a cordless mouse for my laptop at Staples. Always try to use up the rebate coupon I get for using my education card there.

Met Moira at Applause for dinner. She organized dinner for tomorrow night's meeting.

My iPod Touch choked last night and the music was replaced by "Other". Everything else on it worked. Asked at Best Buy and the clerk suggested resetting it. That worked except I did loose data. At least the addresses & calendar entries were safe.

RTA Delegates Day

Today I was a delegate at the RTA "Delegates Day" for the the Vancouver Branch. I arrived in time for breakfast at 8 and the day went pretty quickly. Irritating that the Vancouver Airport Hilton had free WiFi in the lobby but not in the meeting room. I put my laptop back in the trunk unused! Cheaper motels often offer better services that big hotels.

The afternoon dragged a bit but we finished at 3. I didn't realize there was a dinner so went home to have a rest and change.

Back at 5 for drinks and then dinner. Then they set up a casino and we were given a $1000 chip. The dealers were professionals and very patiently taught us how to play if we were new at it. I liked Roulette & Blackjack.

At the end you got a chit for your chips and used that to bid on a silent auction. This is where things fell apart. I was really sorry I stuck it out until 10. I should have left much earlier as I was tired and sore. Several people crowded into the one table with items and wouldn't let the rest of us in. One man managed to collect so much money he outbid everyone on several items. His greediness spoiled it for the rest of us. I certainly won't waste my time on this in the future.

Cleaning Day

Mel came by herself to clean today. Her shedule makes it hard to come on the weekends with her kids.

Took Mae to the Charthouse Restaurant in Steveston Harbour for her birthday. Sat in the window and watched an amazing red sunset. On the drive home I went along Westminster Hwy, right into the huge full moon.

Perfect Day

Starting to have some trouble with acid reflux so stopped at London Drugs to buy an over-the-counter pill, Ranitidine, that my GP recommended now that I am off the prescription pills. Hopefully this will be all I need.

Ate fish & chips at Spanish Banks today. Spent the afternoon on the grassy treed area reading and enjoying the picture postcard views everywhere I looked.

The dentist want to put a tooth in where one was pulled several years ago, so I stopped at a lab to have the colour matched. Parked in the BCAA lot and then went to check out their home insurance. I joined BCTF Advantage last year & a rep suggested I compare insurance. Was pleased at the treatment I got. Being a 34 year member actually meant something. Walked out with a new policy that gives much better coverage and a free fire extinguisher. Will also save on ICBC when it comes due.

Next to Kintec Footlabs to cure the squeak in my orthotics. Just took some grinding and I am silent again! Bought a pair of Bite sandals that were 25% off.

Met Louise for our monthly dinner at the Cactus Club & then grabbed lattes before going to our group at the Cancer Agency. No one showed up except one new person, so we had our own group out on the sun porch. The rising full moon was amazing to watch.

Saturday Night Live

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

Did the Republicans choose Palin so the focus would be diverted from the McCain = Bush factor?

Stayed in today and did piles of paperwork. Busy week coming up.

Glad to hear from Michael that everyone got through Ike safely. Only a few trees, a fence & a roof to be replaced - not lives.

Ike

Woke up to the destruction of Ike. Started watching KHOU TV in Houston for really detailed coverage. Saw the area that Patience lives in and there was a lot of water. Finally heard from Mike and he had taken Patience with his family to stay with a friend. They might try going back on Monday. Depends on the power.

Found another cache near the new transit depot in Marpole. I knew my car GPS was wrong when it wanted me to take the Arthur Lang Bridge. I went anyway to see what it would say. When the voice announced I had arrived, I was on the bridge over the site - oops! It took a while to find the entrance in the fence to this new park but it was worth it. A trail along the shoreline and a new little outcropping with benches. The cache was right where it was supposed to be (#15).

A bit of grocery shopping and the library, then home for the weekend.

New Specs

Picked up my new glasses today. They are trifocal like the last ones and I am doing pretty good at getting used to the changes made.

Picked up Matt at Oakridge and we had lunch at Browns Social House in Ironwood Plaza in Richmond.

We then saw Burn After Reading - we laughed all the way through. A very enjoyable Cohen Brothers movie. After dropping Matt at home I just came home myself. It's been a busy week.

Spent the night with Ike.

Barbecue

Perfect day today. Armed with a latte from Starbucks, I set out for Delta. Found my 14th cache, Rubber 'WHAT'? It didn't take too long and I took a photo to add to the page.


The parking lot at Deas Island Park was almost full and two men were sitting on my favourite table so I sat on a bench until they left. I almost lost it to someone else but they didn't really need the table and gave it to me. The parking lot eventually emptied and I was able to move closer.


Sat all afternoon and read. Had my iPod Touch plugged into a radio speaker so didn't need earphones. Finally fired up my little barbecue - disposable from Capers. Had a marinated steak from Price Savers ($3.45 for a big steak) and made a foil package with a potato, onion, several cloves of garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper. Perfect!

Bothered by a dog running off leash. Charged into my chair and messed up my stuff. Owner was an idiot.

Check Up

Started my day at 8:00 at the Cancer Agency for a checkup with Dr. Gelman. I've been having some problems with memory so I had a bunch of blood tests I haven't had before (thyroid, diabetes...) and a head scan has been added to next month's CT Scan. I'm also going to see a neurologist. The problem is probably my age, the Arminidex I take every day, stress (just a little in the last year) or ??? It is the latter that needs to be ruled out. My short checkup stretched into a couple of hours. The nurse couldn't find a vein in the usual place so stuck me halfway down the lower arm and it was really easy and painless. I think she saw me shudder when she looked at the back of the hand. My worst was the top of the foot!

Went to Mae's in time to watch The View & dropped her off at Granville Island. ABC must fire Elizabeth Hasselbeck for her cracks about Michelle Obama!

Met Rum & Nancy for Japanese lunch. Excellent. Spent time visiting at school before taking another crack at the cache across the street. Still can't find it and ended up covered with grass seeds. Had to buy a lint roller to get them off!

Took the binder I had editted back to the Red Cross in Burnaby and went over it with Emma. Visited with Mike & Cydney.

My GPS took me on a fascinating route to the Big Bend Crossing at Byrne & Marine Way. The clerk had trouble with the till when I shopped at Save-On in July and I was double billed on my VISA bill. Luckily I am anal enough to keep every bill and they gave me the money back.

Very tired when I finally reached home.

Homework

I was trying to think of what I did today. It was cloudy this morning so I started in on inside tasks. Read the papers, blogged, Facebooked and paid bills.


Read through a Supervisor's binder from the Red Cross and offered several suggestions for updating. I'll try to deliver it tomorrow. It was much easier when the Red Cross was on Oak. It's now a 40 km round trip.


Maureen reminded me to enter this week's B.C. Amateur Photography Contest. I was within 2 votes of the winner last week. This week there is no theme so I sent this one:

Michael had surgery today. I hope everything went well.

1st Solo Find

Started out with the new handheld GPS. Still couldn't find the one in Maple Grove Park. Did find first cache on my own on the old Arbutus rail tracks. Left an Olympic Lucky Loonie. Failed at the next one. Practice will make perfect.

Went to several stores in Richmond, ending with the farm at Steveston & the highway for fresh produce. Back to Oakridge and was able to buy an adapter cable to plug the serial plug that came with the GPS into a USB port. Took a bit of fiddling but can now download Waypoints into both devices (the one in the car tells me where to drive & the handheld where to walk).

Did a couple of loads of laundry. It's been a while since my cleaner has been here.

Family relationships can be a royal pain - 2 seem to be angry with me and not talking to me. Seems I forgot something. DUH - old age, cancer, medication.....

Weekend to End Breast Cancer

Woke up to an interview on CBC of 90-year-old Joseph Plaskett. When I was visiting Jan in Paris we had dinner at his house. He was famous for his dinners. The house was built around a a tree and the banister was carved around it. Jan & Joe played 4-handed piano for us. Probably the first time I ever heard her play.

Erik Nielsen, the Yukon MP, died this week. He was the brother of the actor, Leslie, and Gordon, who taught me how to bowl in Richmond. My Uncle Alun served in the RCMP with their father.

Stopped at Starbucks for Pumpkin Latte and then off to Maple Grove Park to try to find a cache. I was close, but couldn't find it. Walked across the park to visit Nancy. She was in charge of the rest stop for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk. I wasn't walking but did sponser Nancy.

Picasa Web Albums - Val - End Breast Cancer

Back to try to find the cache and failed. My GPS unit is for cars and doesn't really work well for this fine a search.

Went to Three Vets but they don't sell GPSs. Did buy a fanny pack to use for this venture - $8.92. On to COSTCO but they are waiting for a new shipment. Moira met me and we shopped for a while (bought 2 Christmas presents) and drove next door to Tim Horton's for lunch.

Researched GPS units online and found the model to buy at the Garmin site. Then asked where it was sold and found it at The Source at Oakridge. Went to buy it, taking along the page with the online sale price of $70 off and they were selling it for that much. The funny thing was when I called Lori to consult, she had ordered one like mine for driving. So the 2 types are different.

Lions Win!

Had a quiet day, catching up on newspapers and stuff. Did a bit of shopping but only bought a few things for geocaching.

Enjoyed watching the Lions win again this afternoon. I was only a bit worried.

BBQ

Slow getting started this morning. I was up late entering contacts into my new cell phone (until the battery died). Finally ended up at the Red Cross at 12:30 to pick up a binder I am editing.

Decided since I was already so far from home, I would drive to Fort Langley, via the Albion Ferry, to find Tracycakes Bakery Cafe after reading about it in the paper yesterday. Had some excellent split pea soup and a cupcake for lunch (3:00!) and a pot of vanilla tea. I wanted a cupcake and a box of minis to take for dinner tonight and finally realized if I didn't jump up and ask, they were going to be all gone by the time I finished my soup. Definitely a place to revisit!

I then visited the Fort Wine Co. and tasted a few wines, buying a Mighty Fraser Red Cranberry and a really good Keremeos Apple Pear. I then tried some Wild West Blackberry Port and Iced Apple Dessert Wine. The woman teaching us said she is experimenting with putting a slice of orange into the glass first and was going to try adding some lemon as well, making a kind of cocktail. It was a good taste and I bought a bottle of the Apple. It will keep open for about a month. I don't like sweet wines but these are really good.

Totally loosing track of time and task, I was late getting home. Moira called while I was in Cloverdale to offer me a ride to the VTLA Executive bbq at Mary's. I finally arrived home around 5:30 and we weren't the last to arrive. Mary's husband took care of all bbqing for us and Mary finally nudged us out at 11:00 as she was going away in the morning.

My foot isn't as sore as yesterday and I didn't do much walking today. I'll try to stay in and pamper it this weekend. I have so much to do. Thank goodness going to work isn't part of it!

It's Only Money

Started out at Archer Bissonnette Rea Optical by Broadway & Granville. Dr. Archer said my eyes were healthy. A new machine took a colour photo of inside of the whole eye. He says that they'll soon be able to email it to me if I want. My 3 lenses all needed correction. My glasses are quite old so I bought new frames - EasyTwist N Clip CT 154 (with clip-on sunglasses). I should have them by the end of next week. Then I'll be able to put the magnifying glass away.

Spent some time in the Point Grey Library, checking my iTouch (all VPL branches have free wireless) and reading. Next was my GP, Dr. Brough, to talk about the pill I was taking for my hernia. We decided not to refill the prescription and try going without. The last ones were half the strength of what I had been taking and I felt fine. He checked my sore foot and said I've just sprained it (see yesterday). No big walks for a few weeks.

TELUS called to ask me to renew my mobile contract. I bypassed the free phones and paid $49 for a Samsung SPH-a523 Mysto (Hello). I chose it because the camera was much better than the cheaper ones. It is 3.0 and most of those were much more expensive.

I stayed with the Super Talk 20 plan, now called Talk A Lot 20. I get to keep my 50 bonus minutes from the previous plan and the TELUS to TELUS Promotion (free calls to other TELUS users). For the next 3 months I can call as much as I want locally. A way to entice me to up my usage so I'll want a bigger plan - it won't work!

Didn't think much of tonight's speeches. So repetitive!

Geocaching

Met Lori at 10:00 to plan our day of geocaching in Tsawwassen/Ladner. My first find was Peace & Harmony which led us to a remarkable little park hidden in between houses. My total by the end of the day was 12 - Lori (henderbugs) has 78 since April in several countries!



I only fell once. It's been a long time since I could climb down into a ditch with my arthritis. I still walked for some time. We stopped at the White Spot for lunch and then carried on. We finally went back to Lori's to log my finds. It was 17:00 when I left - 7 hours.

Stopped at Thrifty's for groceries and then home. Very little traffic at the tunnel.

My right foot is not happy with how I treated it today and I have a couple of little scrapes/bruises. Not a bad day's work.

TGIF

The started well with my letter in both the Sun & Province (maybe the Courier Wednesday?):

During the first few days of school, ask your child's principal how many hours a week the school library is open and if the teacher-librarian is trained. In a province that brags about its plans for literacy, it's embarrassing how many students don't have this basic service available to them daily.

Tried taking counterfeit $5 to the police but the receptionist turned me away and said she didn't know what I should do with it but they wouldn't be interested. The bank told me on the phone to take it to the police. Since it is illegal to possess, what is one to do? I will take it in to my own branch of VanCity this week and try again.

The Vancouver Branch of the Retired Teachers Association had their Thank God I'm Free lunch at the Vancouver Yacht Club today. Mall, Lynn and Pat were there from Weir. Lots of food - bowls of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries & blackberries.

Met Mae & Connie at Capers. Didn't need anything to eat or drink so just sat with them as they did. Did some shopping at Granville Island. Found a water bottle I knew Matt wanted so took it to him. He is feeling a bit better. Met a friend on the sidewalk who lives in the same building and is friends with him - six degrees of separation!

Labour Day

Watched Gustav as it crept past New Orleans. The evacuations seem to have worked rather well. Maybe it wasn't really needed this time but it showed that it can be done.

Love the scandals around Sarah Palin! She is for no sex education except abstinence in schools - poor daughter! I guess she also got no education of the dangers of AIDS. Oops, only homosexuals get that! What a hypocrite! One heartbeat away from the presidency.

Met Moira at Starbucks for coffee and then to Richmond to shop.

Tried to digitize my last cassettes and couldn't find a cassette player that worked/had power cord. Will try to borrow a ghetto blaster.