I’m not sure when the last time I went to the dentist but it had to be at least 2 to 3 years ago! I figured I should make use of my benefits and take advantage of the free check-up. The only issues I had in the past was having all four wisdom teeth pulled out about four years ago and some cavities when I was a kid. Ever since then I’ve basically had nearly perfect teeth. Today was no exception. I decided to go to the dentist office near my workplace in the first floor of the Bay Centre mall. Phebe had gone there about a week ago and received this huge goodie bag! When I was a kid, I always looked forward to receiving a free toothbrush to take home. It was my reward for an excruiting time at the dentist. Now, instead of receiving just a toothbrush, you receive some toothpaste, and two sets of floss! The whole package! I couldn’t wait to get my goodie bag!

When I arrived at reception, I had to fill out this huge form to check if I had any allergies, physical conditions, or if I’m on any medication, blah blah. I didn’t wait too long before I got called. When I was younger, I always remembered receiving treatment from a young, attractive dental hygienist. I must’ve gotten the short end of the stick today because I ended up with an old, baggy lady from the Ukraine. She had this heavy Ukrainian accent that was hard to follow (that wasn’t the only thing that was heavy;)). I asked her how long she had been working here and she said around six years but mostly on call. I’m normally not nervous when I go to the dentist but this time I was. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she was going to pull out her medieval tools out or use her modern dentist instruments. For the most part, she was using the basic sickel probe and began to pick away at my teeth. She did this for about a half an hour, just scrapping away at my teeth. Midway through, the actual dentist came to check up on my teeth. Usually the dentist would come after the hygienist would finish everything but not today. He took a quick look and said to keep what I was doing and that my teeth were fine. After this, the Ukranian hygienist continued to scrap away at my teeth with her medieval sickel. It was painful as it felt like she was filing my teeth. All I kept thinking was “When am I going to receive my goodie bag”? An hour later, after rinsing my mouth with fluoride and a light brush, I was finally done. It was time to get my goodie bag! I was all smiles!

Well, the hockey playoffs are under way and it’s getting really intense. I decided to opt out of the playoff hockey pool though and leave away with my winnings. No, I didn’t win the big jackpot this year but came in third place in the regular season pool. Minor injuries and my goalies not playing near the end of the season costed me from finishing either second or first. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the results.

For Easter weekend I had the opportunity to take some time off from work (5 days) and head off to Portland, OR to visit my friend Derrick. The last time we met was last summer when we did a camping/hiking trip to Olympic National Park. This time around we had no major plans other than the usual hiking, shopping, and eating! The bus ride down to Portland was about 9 hours and 40 minutes with a 1 hour 30 min. stopover in Seattle. I’ve taken quite a fair share of buses in my day so this was no problem. The only problem was the bus transfer in Seattle.

My time spent in Vancouver has now come to a close. After 13-15 or so weeks on the job, it was time to wrap it up and say our goodbyes. No more waking up 5am on Monday mornings, no more long ferry rides, and no more living out of a suitcase. What I am going to miss is the great group of people I had to work with, the daily interactions with the client, and the daily stirfry lunches at our client’s cafeteria. It was at this job that I got coined the nickname “Smooth”. I think it was during the first week on the job that it happened. I was busy running around gathering files for documentation into our system and was waiting for a few more from the payroll assistant. She kindly said that she would bring them over to the audit room later that day so I wouldn’t have to wait for her to gather them up at her desk. Anyways, she brought them over later that day and handed me the folder (with a great big smile of course). As soon as she left, everyone in the audit room dropped their jaws and were in awe. Most had been on this audit for a few years now and nobody had ever walked to the audit room to hand deliver any files within the first few days on the job….until that day. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not or if they were just joking, but I knew I would never live this one down. They wanted to know what my secret was and how I did it. There was no bribing or coercing that went on. Just plain old being friendly and putting on a smile. What can I say? I’m likable, I’m lovable, and I’m “Smooth”!!

(l-r) Larry, Eva, Paul, Robert, Spencer, Kevin (aka Smooth), Chris

What better way to celebrate Chinese New Year than with a big, massive 12-course meal! Ok, I know, Chinese New Year was a few weeks ago but did you know that they celebrate this holiday for about a month in China? Besides, it wasn’t only for Chinese New Year but the dinner was also for my grandma’s birthday celebration. I don’t want to give her age away but let’s just say that she is still hip and young at heart. We had the big dinner Saturday night at around 6pm - “Chinese time”. When I say “Chinese time”, I really mean “Chinese time”. Flashback several years ago when my cousin Robert got married. There were over 600 people at the reception and we didn’t start eating until a couple hours later when everyone arrived! So I figured that since this wasn’t a Chinese wedding that it would start earlier. I was wrong. When we got to the restaurant, I was flabbergasted! There was exactly 80 tables in the restaurant. With 10 per table, that meant there was going to be about 800 people for tonight’s dinner! There was also going to be prize drawing, music and performance, and speeches before the dinner! So my guess for starting a half hour later was completely thrown out the window. My sister and I were later taking bets to see when the food would actually show up on our tables.
We had quite the interesting prize draw. Each table had the exact  same prizes (10 in total) with each person winning a prize. Some of the items on the table included a dead chicken, some spam, container of oil, egg roll cookies, and a package of noodles. Don’t even ask me why they would give away a dead chicken. Maybe it’s Chinese tradition or good luck. Anways, my mom ended up winning the dead chicken and my sister winning the container of oil but she gave it to my mom instead.
The dinner ended up starting at around 8pm. Neither my sister nor I won the bet. My grandma guessed it would start right at 8pm. I told you she was cool and hip afterall! The dinner itself was really good. It was good to just stuff my face silly with all that good Chinese food. One of the most interesting dishes was crispy duck covered in taro. Never had that before I don’t think.

It’s pretty scary to have a dead chicken stare at you at dinner!

Holding the dead chicken

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!!

Wishing you good forturne, good times, and most importantly, GOOD FOOD!

It was the night we had all been waiting for - the 1st Annual Office Poker Tournament! We were all invited to Dawn’s house (co-worker and fellow casb student) who lives out in Colwood. Since I didn’t have a car, I had Jon (also another casb student) pick me up. Actually it was his girlfriend that drove me but you get the idea. We were the first ones to arrive and also the last to leave. That’s because Jon and I went head to head near the end of the tournament! I was short stacked for the most part of the game but I eventually came through because of my aggresive plays. By the end of the night, I was glad I took the risks I needed to make and also glad I invested all that time watching poker on TV. It really helps you strategize and see the possible combinations you can play. Now that I’m $100 richer, I can go and buy myself a new pair of shoes and brag about this win until the next tournament (which I’m going to win of course).

That’s me stealing everybody’s chips!

Friends from work (l-r): Maggie, Maria, Dawn

The marks for CASB module 1 came in today…I passed! This was one of the longest waits I’ve had for an exam. I wrote it on Dec 15/07 and got the marks on Jan 11/08. Oh, the torture. To celebrate, Phebe and I went to the Keg for dinner. We had one of the biggest (and best) meals ever. I had the sirloin classic with a baked potato, veggies, and salad. Phebe had the grilled top sirloin served with a twice baked potato. For starters we had a crab, paramsan and spinich dip with some crispy chips. Man, my mouth is watering just thinking of it and I’m already full! Yes, we did splurge on the meal but we have to celebrate the good times right? The server we had was very nice and one of the best we had in awhile. She knew when to come to our table to check up on us. She filled our drinks regularly, and made sure we had the best meal experience. We knew this was a girl that enjoyed her job.

 My next module will come in May so I will enjoy my time off of not doing anything! The bad news is that I will only have a 2 week break in between modules until Jan 2009 so it will be a long haul until I am done everything and get my CA.

I couldn’t resist the temptation of the sales on Boxing Day so I bought myself a new snowboard! It set me back a bit but I was so happy to finally get one. I had the chance to test it out this past weekend up on Mt. Washington. I went with my friend Chris again with his computer science buddies (13 in total). This time we went for 2 days staying in a motel in Courtenay. Day 1 was fantastic. Clear skies and the best powder you can ride on. I was really pleased with the performance of my board as I have never ridden with sharp edges before…it really makes a difference! I ended up meeting my other friend Tim from Nanaimo as we hung out for the day. He’s a bit more experienced that I am but it was good to learn from somebody better than you. He didn’t expect me to follow him through the trees but I did. Bad mistake. I have boarded through trees before but this time it was a bit narrower and more bumpy. Halfway through I got struck and  almost crawl my way through. I eventually got up again and gained some momentum when suddently I slipped and bumped my head on a tree! It hurt for a few seconds but I was ok. When I got back to the lodge around noon time, I took my toque off and Tim noticed I had a bloody scar on my forehead! It was a little bump on my head but everyone took notice of it and asked if I was ok. Other than that, the rest of the day was good.

After a great night sleep at the motel it was time to hit the slopes again. The weather on Day 2 was terrible. Poor visibility, wind chill, and icy snow was the story of the day. On top of all that, the bottom of my board was a bit scratched up from the icy surface and the few rocks I didn’t notice because of the poor visibility. This time I didn’t go through any trees but I did bail a few times. After a long day of boarding I was looking forward to a nice drink and some snacks to re-fuel. I had a small apple juice box in my jacket pocket and was so ready to gulp it down but when I took it out the bottom of the carton was ripped open! I guess when I bailed it popped my juice box! It was really funny to see. Don’t worry, I did managed to wash my jacket so it doesn’t smell like apple juice.

 
My K2 Fuse board and binding (it doesn’t really look exactly like the picture but it’s close enough)

Group shot at Mt. Washington…we all survived!

Resting after a long day of skiing and boarding

Me and Amanda waiting for the lift (Chris’s girlfriend)

Me and my new snowboard!

I have to seize every moment I can to get out and have some fun before I begin my online courses again. If I passed my first exam, I hope to start the second leg of the modules in May. That means I will have a four month break! On the weekend I had the chance to go up Mt. Washington to do some snowboarding. It was my first time going up this year. I had to wake up around 4am since I was taking the shuttle bus from Victoria Mayfair Mall to Mt. Washington at 5am. I went with my friend Chris and his computer science buddies as we were jammed packed on a full bus. Yes, it was difficult waking up that early in the morning but what can you do? We managed to stop by the McDonalds in Nanaimo (about 1.5 hours from Victoria) to fuel up on a nice, hot breakfast. It’s not the ideal choice for breakfast but there were no other choices and it was a mandatory stop. We arrived late to the base of the mountain since the road conditions were horrendous because of the snow fall that day. I was thinking to myself, if it looks bad now, what will it be like on the mountain?

We arrived at the mountain around 10:30am, about 2 hours late. By the time we got everyone together and had all our gear set up, it was about 11am! After a quick warm up on the easy runs, we all went to the more difficult stuff. When I say “we”, I mean around 8-10 people. It was really difficult always staying with the group as everyone was at a different level. I told my friend Chris that I would meet up with him later and decided to do a few runs myself. Two hours went by fast. Next thing I know it was 1pm and time for our buffet lunch. It wasn’t my idea to have a buffet lunch but Chris already made reservations. I must admit, I was pretty hungry but the feeling after gorging yourself with an all-you-eat lunch when you are snowboarding didn’t really sit well. Other than that, the food was really good.

The rest of the afternoon was fine though. I didn’t let all that food I consumed get the worse of me. The day was perfect. Clear sky, powdery snow, and no group to wait for. I managed to break away from the group and ended boarding with one of Chris’s friends for the rest of the afternoon. We had a few good runs in but it was cut short due to the bus leaving at a certain time. I had to go early back to the lodge anyways as I had lost my key to my locker! I thought I had to pay an extra $10 but when I went back the manager said someone had returned a lost key to the lost and found! I was so relieved I managed to get all my stuff!

The bus ride back was a bit brutal. We were welcomed with the smell of pot right when we took off. It took awhile for the bus driver to notice as he gave a strict warning afterwards to everyone on the bus. Then halfway through the trip the bus broke down and we had to change buses. That took awhile. So, not only did the bus arrive late to the mountain, it was about 1.5 hours late coming back home! At least it was a decent day to go snowboarding!

 
The view from the top of Mt. Washington

That’s me getting ready! (taken from my cell phone camera)