Travelling With A Kite

I'm off to Edmonton this weekend. The next 3 long weekends will be spent visiting Emily and her family there. Now that I've rediscovered kites, I figured it would be good to bring my new kite there. They have nice winds this weekend...

Unfortunately, the kite is around 90cm long when packed. That's too large for all of my suitcases. At the same time, the kite can't travel alone as checked baggage - it's too fragile for that.

So, time to disassemble part of my desk, and use the metal beams as strengthening struts of my kite bag. I pity the luggage that tries to wrestle with my kite now, protected by rigid metal poles... and a few pair of socks. :)

My Fellow Kite Fliers

Last weekend I went down to Vanier Park to fly my kite. It's a popular kite-flying site, getting great westerly winds off the ocean. Looking around I was suffering a bit of kite-envy, and so asked around for recommendations on a new kite. Eventually, I went and bought myself a brand new Prism Quantum stunt kite identical to that shown below.

It's an amazing kite to fly - incredibly stable, smooth and responsive. I can land it on the ground like the lunar module on the Moon. It has a wider turning circle than I'm used to, but that can be adjusted. It can fly in low wind or high wind depending on various bridle settings. It's a real step up from what I had.

But what I'm really enjoying is being able to get out and meet other people. There's a wide variety of people at Vanier Park who fly kites:

• Alex. About 10-15 years old. Flies a blue dual-string Prism Nexus. New to the sport and is starting off well. Determined to learn how to do everything properly. Comes down with his mother Jane. I enjoyed helping him get his kite up and hope to see them around again.
• Darcy. About 20-30 years old. Flies a green dual-string Prism Nexus. New to the sport. Just met him today.
• Jason and his dog Sidney. About 25-30 years old. Flies a red and black quad-string Revolution, amongst others. Started flying this summer, and has really gotten into the sport. Full of tips. Sidney is very friendly, loves to bark, and wanders all over the park. :)
• Sue. About 40-50 years old. Flies a unique red/black dual-string kite with a curvy yellow motif, and a blue dual-string 'ultralight' kite. Has been flying kites for 12 years and even flies through the winter. Every other kite can be down for lack of wind, but she manages to keep hers up there somehow. I have a lot to learn from her. Always listening to her CDs when she flies. :)
• Gerald. About 40-60 years old. Normally flies at another beach down near Richmond. Has kites large enough to pull him across the sand, and runs a business renting kites.

Then there's the couples, all around my age and trying out their first stunt kite. And even more people walking past who are interested in your kite. I love giving them a go of my kite.

In the end, any time there's wind, there's a bunch of people turning up on bicycles to fly their kites. They're a great group of individuals, and I'm enjoying just make contact with them. I'm hoping to spend more time down there after work. I just have to keep watching the Jericho Wind page... :)

More Eclipse Photos

Not long after showing the photos I took of the eclipse, I received more photos from people in Australia. Both sets of photos put me to shame. The first set was sent by a special friend of mine in Australia, whose brother and sister took photos from her balcony. The time lapse sequence in particular looked awesome. They're the kind of photos to make you howl at the moon.

The second set of photos was from my Dad. One of his photos was taken after he "pointed his camera in the general direction of the moon", and was much better than anything I took. Show-off. :P :) But yeah, this is the best single photo of the eclipse I've seen.

Lunar Eclipse

Yep, I got up at 2am and walked down to English Bay to see the red moon. I was actually surprised at how few other people were out to see it. I guess a lot of people in the city could actually see it from their balconies. Or were just too warm and cosy in bed. :) In any case, I got to see it clearly from the beach, and snapped some photos as it happened.

Shooting a lunar eclipse gives you plenty of practise in low-light photography. The middle one is a 4 second exposure, maximum zoom, f8.0 aperture, ISO50 film. Those settings were chosen to maximise image quality (the moon was a tiny little blurred speck even when at maximum zoom).

Fire

This is my 250th blog, and I'll commemorate this with a story about that greatest human achievement: fire.

As I mentioned, Emily and I went camping recently. We arrived at the campsite around 10pm, not long after it had rained. With a firepit in our campsite, it seemed only logical that we light a campfire. Since we're not made of very stern stuff, we opted to buy firewood from the campground manager for $5.

Having the firewood was not enough though. You have two Computer Science students, in a damp campsite, trying to light a fire. I mean, we're both perfectly capable of setting off fire alarms just by trying to cook. But intentionally starting a controlled fire?

First, we realise that we need paper. Let's hear three cheers for tourist brochures and magazines! They burn a little funny, perhaps because they're glossy paper, but otherwise they work just fine.

Next, we need the optimal fire structure. Something that will protect the fire, focus the heat, etc. A pyramid or tee-pee structure perhaps? We tried, and tried, and failed. In the end, just throwing the logs one over the other, with tinder underneath and paper jammed between was our solution. This "lazy" approach seemed suitably Australian to me. :)

We got to watch that fire burn itself out as we lay in the tent. In the morning, Emily arose first (surprise!), and got the fire going again. She was very proud of her handiwork, as you can see in this picture.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. Emily's fire was actually burning more fiercely than the previous night's, and we needed to put it out quickly. Plastic shopping bags filled with water served in place of the usual buckets. We managed to fill the air with smoke and steam before we drove out. Very nice. :)

I Could Be A Courier

In Australia, I used to frequently carry things on the back of my bicycle. Carrying 36 cans of soft drink was common, as we needed to restock the fridge in our lab at university. I haven't carried large amounts of stuff on my bike here before.

But now, the local chain grocery store has closed down. The next nearest (cheap) grocery is a few blocks away, so I ride there now to do my shopping. As a bonus, the ride takes me close to other shops, like London Drugs (which is like a miniature Big W).

Of course, this leads me into temptation. Today I bought two large archival boxes, and two cushions. All were on special at London Drugs. Getting them home was the tricky part (see photo). I'm lucky I always have straps on hand when cycling, though sitting on the bicycle was difficult after this. And I did manage to put a indentation and lose some skin from my thumb when one of the straps released prematurely.

Camping in Canada

At the end of our vacation, Emily and I went camping for one night in Elk Falls. I've uploaded photos already, but I need to describe just how different it is from Australian camping.

In Australia, the average campground is:

• large grassy area
• perhaps lines and roads marking each numbered campsite
• a communal barbeque and eating area
• trees far from tents in case they break/collapse in the wind
• concrete or brick toilet blocks
• limited campfires, if any are permitted at all
• close to the beach, and likely to have a pool

The campground we went to in Canada was:

• a thick forest of tall pine trees
• campsites are private cul-de-sacs surrounded by trees
• benches/tables right next to your tent
• log cabin washrooms
• campfires in each campsite

As an Australian, you only see these kinds of campsites in Disney movies! I know that I've always thought to myself "haha! fiction! noone would have a campground like that!". Where would you find sufficient logs to make a toilet out of in Australia? And Australian trees are simultaneously friends (for shade) and enemies (tend to fall in the wind, catch fire easily, and host birds that crap on your tent during the night).

I do miss the beaches and heat of Australia. That's why I'm coming home in December. But if you want a cool, relaxing camping experience, Canada has it.

Cow Takes Flag

I was playing Unreal Tournament last night, using the "Capture the Flag" rules. In this game, the players are split into two teams. The teams start on opposing sides of the field as in any regular sport - though to gamers it is called the "map" and players are said to "spawn" on opposing sides. From their starting positions, each team must try to steal a coloured "flag" located somewhere on the other team's side. It is a game of simultaneous attacking and defending, as you try to find the other team's flag, but prevent them from finding your own.

The human players were myself, Emily, and Jordan (a friend of hers from work), with five computer players added to fill up the teams. Emily and I were both on Blue team, while Jordan chose to be on Red team, opposing us.

Halfway through the game, I managed to find the Red flag. However, in front of it was Jordan (who is a very skilled player). I had to defeat Jordan before I could safely steal their flag.

Now, unknown to me, Emily had followed me throughout my attack and was preparing to steal the flag herself! While I fought with Jordan, I was treated to the amazing sight of a waddling two-legged cow flanking him to steal their flag! It was a brilliant and sneaky play, made absurd by her squat and furry choice of character. It was, for me, truly a sight to behold.

Unfortunately, I then lost the duel with Jordan, and Emily was shot in the rump as she tried to waddle away with the flag. Still, that sight of Emily, as a two-legged cow, flanking the defense and stealing the flag was the highlight of the game. :)

Disneyland

Wow! I just got back from a great Disneyland holiday with Emily. I forgot to mention it before we left. We had basically no net access, so I couldn't update this blog. Oops. :)

I have to say, it was an awesome way to spend a week. It's two whole parks really, Disneyland and California Adventure, sitting right next to each other. There's no 'extreme' rides - the biggest rollercoaster does just one loop - but there's a lot of very fun rides, parades, stageshows, water rides, a nightly fireworks show, Disney characters walking about...

They also have a cool "fastpass" system that allows you to bypass long queues that normally plague these places. You insert your park entrance ticket into a machine near one of the popular rides, and you'll be allocated a time. If you come back to the ride at that time, then you get to use an express "fastpass" line! This lets you run off and try less popular rides (like the Winnie the Pooh ride) rather than waiting in line. Sweet!

I mention the Winnie the Pooh ride because it was the key to our second day at Disneyland. In the morning, just after riding Splash Mountain, we needed a warm place to be. Winnie the Pooh is one of those cute little indoor story-telling rides that kids would love. But mainly, it was warm. On exiting the ride, we're approached by two staff members saying "Congratulations! You're winners as part of our Year of a Million Dreams!" and gives both of us "Dream Fastpass" tickets! These let us use all of the express lines for each of the rides, just once, at any time we choose during the day. A Dream Fastpass overcomes the main limitation of regular fastpasses (that you can only hold one fastpass ticket at any one time). On that day, we did every major ride in every park. :)

I've uploaded a bunch of photos from both of our cameras:

• Parades and Fireworks
• Characters and Scenery

We also have this awesome photo of us in the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters ride. We both have such incredibly serious faces as we shoot the little aliens stuck on the walls. You can see why we play Unreal Tournament together. :)