NYT on Culver City

Interesting to see the New York Times' take on the area around the California office I've been supercommuting to this winter: In Culver City, Calif., Art and Food Turn a Nowhere Into a Somewhere.

Monterey

So, I'm in Monterey, California this week for a conference and work. It's gorgeous and I felt fully guilty wading in the ocean in the sunshine today while my loved ones try to keep snow from blowing into the house. I put up a set of photos tonight, and may add a few more before I leave.

Update: Great trip, overall -- such an amazing spot, the hotel and food were fantastic, and I learned a lot. I added a bunch more photos to the same set.

Injured Reserve

I've been playing hockey again in the last couple of weeks. Last year I didn't play much because the mountain biking season went pretty much right through the winter, but this year I haven't been able to ride off-road since the end of November -- that's never happened since I've been here. It's dumping snow again today, too. Anyway, getting back into hockey has been super fun, but the other night I flew into the boards backwards at speed, taking most of the impact on my right shoulder, neck and noggin. Still pretty sore two days later.

Vancouver Weekend

We drove down to Vancouver on fairly short notice this weekend. Got a "deal" on a fancy shmancy hotel downtown with a year-round outdoor pool -- the hotel ended up being a bit of a disappointment, but maybe our expectations were too high. Anyway, the roads were ok and the kids travelled reasonably well. I took a very small set of mostly bad photos, but I thought I'd keep a few notes of the highlights as well:

• Always great to see Mark and Joel, even if it is a short visit
  
• Great swim with the girls for most of Saturday morning, then off to Bill's place for lunch
  
• The Vancouver Aquarium is truly awesome. The girls were in heaven.
  
• Sam's birthday party was total chaos, but in a good way. It was excellent to connect with Rose again and we stayed late because it was hard to leave.
  
• Coffee at Re-Entry with Bill and Sam, and checked out the organic grocery where Rose works in the nifty South Main
  neighbourhood where she lives.
  
• Angelo and Esther picked out (and met us at) Cafe Deux Soleils for a fabulous brunch -- too short a visit with dear friends, as always.
  
• And then home we went, stopping only for gas and ice cream in chilly Princeton.

Kristi Richards

Local hero Kristi Richards just won her first World Cup victory in dual moguls. I remember being so stoked watching her on TV with Ivy at the last Olympics and then seeing her at the Summerland Fair parade in spring, handing out candy to kids -- she seems like a fantastic role model. Skiing moguls is incredibly difficult and she's amazing at it. I enjoyed her journal entry about the victory (with some great photos -- check out what they ski down at mach speed) and also hearing about how she overcame the post-Olympics blues in a another journal.

Today's Quote

Ella: Mom, I'm having really hard trouble here.

Santa's Helper

Ivy amazes us all the time lately as she transforms from a little kid into a big kid. That distinction may sound arbitrary, but it isn't. Although it means that her interactions with the world are becoming more complex and difficult at times, it also means that she is entering a period of intense curiousity and questioning. I love her spirit and warmth and intensity. A couple more photos of our dear IJ:

• Getting silly with her sister
  
• Close up, with her face and eyes seemingly so open to experiencing life

Winterbeach

On Saturday morning, we spent a glorious hour wandering around Sunoka in the sunshine. Collected rocks, pretended to fish, watched the birds...I took a set of photos that turned out pretty well, too.

We've had more real winter here this year than any one that I can remember in the past 11 years. Usually we get some snow that sticks around for a week or two, then melts away -- this year it came in November and stayed. I think we've also had more sunshine, which isn't the worst trade-off, but I miss my intermittent winter mountain biking season.

LA3

Sitting in my hotel room on the last night of my latest LA excursion, listening to indie 103.1 fm, which reminds me how awful Okanagan radio is. Seriously, these guys play so many ridiculously good tunes, old and new. The last time I was here, the perfect Foo Fighters song came on while I was reading a comment from Esther (old school Foo Fan that she is). Yesterday I had just started an e-mail to Tannis when Soundgarden's Outshined kicked in (our shared old heavy fave). Tonight when I fired it up on this shitty clock radio, it was on Weezer's classic My Name is Jonas, then through my favourite Silversun Pickups song (Lazy Eye), Nowhere Again by Secret Machines and now some Nine Inch Nails. All good.

Work, work, work this week, with no fun bike rides to the beach or Hollywood or anywhere else. The work has been interesting, thankfully, and we've gone out for excellent meals every night, which is a treat. I order fancy seafood in some form for every meal, because I love it and never bother to make it at home. Fish tacos the first night, thick ahi tuna burgers for lunch, seafood linguini tonight at a local Italian cafe, and an amazing Chinese shrimp dish with the best title -- "Crispy Prawns with Intriguing Flavours". Lots of interesting beers, too, especially a couple of tasty La Rossas from Italy tonight.

Update: I did manage to squeeze in a quick ride down to the beach before work on Friday. Tons of herons and pelicans along the "creek" and a howling wind from the north that had the sand drifting like blowing snow. Looking southeast through the haze into the just-risen sun, with waves crashing in violently to my right, open beach for miles ahead...good for the soul. Sadly, I didn't bring the camera this time, but still...not a bad way to start a long day that ended with devoted-friend Myron picking me up in Penticton well after midnight, with the same howling wind a thousand miles away.

Amazing

One of those photos I would not have believed could exist 10 years ago.