I hope you had a wonderful Christmas this year. I did!
Now you can download the movie in a format suitable for playing in Windows Media Player by right clicking below:
2008_Christophs_Christmas_Eve.wmv (192 MB)
If you are using Internet Explorer (dad, that’s the one you call “the blue e”) as your web browser — after right clicking with your mouse on the above link, select “Save Target As…” from the menu. Then choose a location on your computer — for example, your Desktop — and Save it there. On the other hand if you’re using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, select “Save Link As…” from the menu.
And here are the photos:
Click Montage to See This Album
Victoria has snow.
We’re right by the ocean and this is rare.
So I went for a walk and took 20 photos. Click the image below to see them:
There’s also video in .WMV format for playback on Windows Media Player. To watch it right click the link below and ‘Save Link As’ in Firefox (‘Save Target As’ in Internet Explorer), then save it to your desktop:
“World’s Worst Winter Video Production Values!”
Enjoy.
Oh, and I see here by the calendar it’s also someone’s birthday in Australia. Happy Birthday, honey.
I went down to pay my respects to Canada’s military and law enforcement veterans including serving members who are engaged in combat and reconstruction operations in Afghanistan today.
My mom came with me. We went to the cenotaph by Victoria, BC’s legislature building where my mom used to work.
On the walk there, we met some sailors from Australia!
Aussie sailors, Victoria’s legislature, and the cenotaph (top right)Plus this is the Adelaide class guided missile frigate the sailors crew:
H.M.A.S. Sydney at its namesake
I’ve been looking for a place for a while and finally found a good one… I’m very happy.
When I started, I told myself I would not settle for anyplace as I’ve made the mistake of doing before. It had to be:
- Walking distance to work downtown
- Near the ocean
- 1-bedroom so I can use the bedroom as a home office
- ≤ $800/month including heat, hot water, and electricity
What’s more, the landlord (whose name and address I will withhold as per LJ’s Privacy Policy) struck me as fair.
We used the standard government-recommended tenancy form designed to protect both landlord and tenant’s rights. Her other tenant seemed to think the world of her and she left a great impression. She was so kind that she navigated from my business website and read this one… even, unlike most people, figuring out that the flashing red light on the right, which says:
… really is the best place to start.
We agreed on terms for each of our protection and it was NOT one-sided as so many landlords, in my opinion, unfairly request.
Now the good companies like Brown Bros., where I recently rented for 13-months before going to Perth, Australia on vacation, aren’t like this. Their tenancy agreement is fair, balanced, and substantially the same as the government recommends.
Now I can turn my attention to back to health, fitness, generating a second source of business income in addition to my day job, as well as starting a modest investment program.
At least these are fun things to think about!
So I left right after work at 4:00 PM, grabbed my stuff, and headed for a city bus ride then a 1 hour 40 minute ferry ride from Swartz Bay on southern Vancouver Island to Tswassen on the mainland south of Vancouver:
then a series of buses to a very cool hostel in a great neighborhood… 
just stored my bags and enjoying one of the many Internet cafes within a 3-minute walk. If I wanted to buy something at 4 A.M. tonight, there’s tons of stores and restaurants to choose from (it’s a great downtown Vancouver neigbourhood), but I’d rather sleep.
Tomorrow it’s the Vancouver International Airport (really in the city of Richmond), then a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, and last but not least, to gorgeous Perth, Australia to see a very special young lady.
Kisses, you.
… by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne:
Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we’ve no place to go
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
It doesn’t show signs of stopping
And I brought some corn for popping
The lights are turned way down low
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
When we finally say good night
How I’ll hate going out in the storm!
But if you really hold me tight
All the way home I’ll be warm
The fire is slowly dying
And, my dear, we’re still good-bye-ing
But as long as you love me so
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
My city is on the west coast and unlike the stereotype of Canada, it snows very rarely here.
The last big snow we had was in 1996. It snowed snow much they called out the military to check on people, especially elderly people, trapped in their homes here in Victoria.
I was snowed in a small cabin outside of Port Alberni for a week with my cute girlfriend. It was rough.
That was then and this is now.
 |
| Click photo to see pictures from Victoria, BC’s recent rare snowstorm. |
… and now I’ve discovered the most astounding woman, sometimes in a good sense, that I’ve ever met in my life and she’s from Perth, Australia.
At the risk of a bit of hero worship, this was a man.
Here is a brief history of his three famous voyages.
Today is the one “holiday” I take seriously. The others I usually have to be reminded exist, sometimes (like Thanksgiving) on the day they occur.
Canada and much of the world is in a shooting war right now. As usual, my country is on the side of people struggling to be free. Also, as in Afghanistan, we are working to improve world security after at least 24-Canadians lost their lives on September 11, 2001. They were among almost 3,000 people to perish in New York City, Washinghton, D.C., and Pennsylvania when they went to work or travelled. This attack was planned and launched by al-Qaeda terrorist cells trained in Afghanistan.
Since then, at least two soldiers from my city, Victoria, BC, have given their lives.
My girlfriend, Jacqui, couldn’t be here with me today so she asked me to take a video of our ceremony.
In Flanders Fields
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, M.D. (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
I thought I deleted all the photos at lovingjacqui.net/photos… but no, it was a script that I installed for another purpose that just blocked access.
I removed one line of code and, voila: Photos are restored!
Hey babe, met with a couple travel agents. Will know more on Wednesday night.
Which is cool, because I am preocupied with following the big news in the U.S.A. tomorrow — their 2006 midterm election.
And if I was going to spend a 24-hour period (when not working) following the election, I couldn’t get a better time than this. From DRUDGE REPORT, the largest news aggregator site in America, my home, BC, made the news:
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