tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-150570142024-03-26T05:37:09.850-03:00The West Coast LobstersUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1162179785471311022006-10-29T23:32:00.000-04:002006-10-29T23:43:05.483-04:00Overdue Long Range Traverse picturesSorry, these have been up for a few weeks now but I neglected to let anyone know!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/imgp4588-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/imgp4588-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here's our pictures from the Long Range Traverse, a ~40km wilderness hike (no trails!) through the back woods (bog!) of Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/Newfoundland06/LongRangeTraverse06/">My photos [smolyn.org]</a><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/taryn/aug2006/newfoundland/longrange/">Taryn's photos [smolyn.org]</a>grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1162179062888562932006-10-29T23:25:00.000-04:002006-10-29T23:31:02.896-04:00Presenting Audrey!This is Audrey, our new cute, fluffy and rather tiny dilute torbie or tabico or, well, just cat.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1024/PICT0015.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/400/PICT0015.jpg" alt="" style="display: block; text-align: center;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Thankfully Sunday shopping has just ended and I was able to go to Home Depot and procure the supplies necessary to build the contraption she's sitting on. Let's just hope she climbs it more often than she climbs the curtains. :)<br /><br />The Halifact: Until a few weeks ago, Sunday shopping was illegal in Nova Scotia. Well, sort of illegal. IIt's rather difficult to explain, so instead I'll let the CBC do it:<br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2006/10/04/ns-sunday-shopping.html">http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2006/10/04/ns-sunday-shopping.html</a> <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1157635783780787452006-09-07T10:24:00.000-03:002006-09-10T18:35:25.480-03:00Back to School!As we head back to school I realize we have been negligent in keeping you up to date. As a remedy, here is the rest of our summer in point form:<br /><ul><li>Hurricane Beryl nearly ruined our trip to Cape Breton for my birthday in late July. Instead of backpacking, we ended up car camping in the National Park, going for a few hikes and hitting Louisbourg decked out in rain pants.</li><li>I got paid to go hiking as part of a field course with work to get us certified as 'Leave No Trace' Wilderness Ethic trainers</li><li>At the beginning of August Greg and I headed to Newfoundland with some friends to do a 5 day off-trail hike. Highlights include amazing scenery, falling in mud holes, Greg getting chased by a moose and learning wilderness navigation the hard way in the pouring rain.</li><li>After getting out of the backcountry Greg and I headed out on our own across Newfoundland, hitting the major attractions and much more besides. We spent 2 weeks in Newfoundland altogether.</li><li>As soon as we got home we picked up Laurel from the airport (literally 2 hours after we got home). She was with us for fun times for a little over a week.</li><li>During her visit we moved to our fabulous new house closer to school. It is so much nicer and quieter than our old hole.</li><li>On Labour Day weekend we did something we have been wanting to do for 2 years: adopt a kitty from the SPCA. She hasn't come home yet because she is waiting to be spayed, but she is 2 years old, very pretty, and her (new) name is Audrey.</li><li>Greg and I went back to school last week. For Greg it was his first time back in a long time as he started his masters in computer science. He will also be working remotely on his old job. I headed into second year in law and will continue to work one day a week at MEC. We are also both volunteering more with CPAWS this year.</li></ul>So that's the update. Here's a picture of Greg visiting Audrey at the shelter - I'm sure this will be the first of the many photos of her that end up here!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0317.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0317.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1152153791149876612006-07-05T23:11:00.000-03:002006-07-05T23:43:11.196-03:00Can you believe summer is half over?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0003.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Emily and Bill were here for their visit last week. In 7 days we managed to drag them to every single known tourist site in southern Nova Scotia. We also managed to meet several of Emily's long-lost relatives who live in the area.<br /><br />The best part though, was that Emily (with the assistance of Tudor) rounded up the best in Asian snack foods that Vancouver has to offer and delivered them to me in a massive carry-on tote-bag. A picture of the full spread is at left but almost none of that is left now.<br /><br />Immediately after Em and Bill left Greg and I headed up to the Cobequid Hills (the part of Nova Scotia that is on the north side of the Bay of Fundy) for some Canada Day backpacking. We hiked an 18km wilderness standard loop trail on the Economy River.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0013.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> Economy is an Anglicization of Kenomee so the trail is called the Kenomee Canyon trail. What makes it a wilderness standard trail is little signage and few man-made structures such as bridges. That meant 5 creek crossings.<br /><br />Another reason for going hiking was to try out my new tent. That's right... after contemplating it for two months I've used my discount to buy the MSR Hubba Hubba (it's called that because it is a single pole design with two hubs.) <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0017.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0017.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I feel it is an investment... in the same way that a great business suit is an investment. I love my new tent THIS much! Summer (for me) is half over so I'll have to get as much sleeping in my new tent in as possible before I head back to being the Hunchback of Quingate Place (or the Hunchback of Edward Street - doesn't have the same ring to it does it?)<br /><br />Today's Halifact: The greater Halifax area has four Asian grocery stores (that I know of). They are all quite small and have the basics for Chinese cooking (except the one store that specializes in Korean and Japanese). Now, however, there is a new Asian grocery in town, bringing the total to five. The best part, though is that the new one is right down the street. I still can't buy coconut buns in this town though :(Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1150852714396127822006-06-20T21:46:00.000-03:002006-06-20T22:20:00.463-03:00New home (sweet home this time)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0008.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Last Friday Greg and I finalized the lease on our new apartment. We move in on August 1st! Our new place is much, much, much better than our current apartment. It is a suite on the main floor of a house (this is known as a 'flat' to Haligonians). We have a two bedroom again. It has a nice modern kitchen and bathroom, a bay window in the living room, a little deck, a parking spot, a storage closet and unlimited laundry in the basement. It is on a quiet street with lots of trees two blocks from school. As well we can have pets there so there is talk of a kitty. On the right is the view out our new backdoor. (I hope we get to keep the hammock!)<br /><br />Also last weekend Greg and I went hiking to Kejimkujik National Park in the interior of the southern part of Nova Scotia (locals call it Keji because its just so impossible to say the whole thing). <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0020.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0020.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The area is very popular with canoeists since it is a series of interconnected lakes but it was hiking we were after since we need to get prepped for our hiking trip to Newfoundland. We brought along Ritchie and Geniva who will also be hiking in Newfoundland with us, as well at Geniva's friend Yoko. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0011.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>We had a great time even if the hike was a little wet in places. The boardwalk in the picture is supposed to keep us out of the water! So far the scenery was some of the nicest we have seen in the backcountry out here (but we haven't been to Cape Breton or Newfoundland yet so we'll see).<br /><br />We are really looking forward to some visitors in a few days. Bill is coming, as is Emily thanks to an awesome seat sale from a new airline called Sunwing. I'm sure we'll have some adventures to post about from their visit.<br /><br />Today's Halifact: We just had a provincial election here in Nova Scotia. We previously had a Conservative minority government and now we have one again. Rodney McDonald is still premier. During the election one of the opposition parties ran "Rodney's Believe it or Not" attack ads that were quite humorous. The Green Party also ran a full slate of candidates and ended up with a few thousand votes. The low voter turn-out and lack of general interest meant it was a pretty uneventful election.<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1150418565304421752006-06-15T21:41:00.000-03:002006-06-15T21:42:45.326-03:00Today's WeatherFrom <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-alberto20060615.html?ref=rss">this article on the CBC</a>,<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"The Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission warned drivers of high-sided vehicles to be careful crossing the two bridges spanning Halifax harbour."</span><br /><br />That's just how windy it is. :)<br /><br />I feel sorry for the cyclists!grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1149732908493960302006-06-07T22:46:00.000-03:002006-06-08T00:38:46.636-03:00Summertime in the Muggy City<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/79000/79870.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.clubtread.com/forumPix/79000/79870.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>It is finally summertime here in Halifax! The <a href="http://www.smolyn.org/cam/">leaves are finally on the trees</a>, there are flowers in everyone's garden, the muggy weather has returned, and it is BUG season (as you can see by the photo at left).<br /><br />The warm weather comes a little later to Halifax than it does to Vancouver, and technically it is still more like spring here so the cooler weather and rain mean that we haven't been out hiking and backpacking as much as we would like. When it isn't busy raining and being cold it is very muggy here which takes a lot of getting used to for me.<br /><br />I've also been really busy at work in the past few weeks doing my 2 weeks of intensive product knowledge training. It was pretty cool to get paid to run around an orienteering course, set up multiple tents inside each other (Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1 inside MSR Hubba Hubba inside MEC Wanderer 4 inside MEC Funhouse 6), and taste test the various freeze-dried backpacking foods on a variety of stove models (I recommend the Black Bart Chili or the Kung Fu Chicken with Rice but definitely NOT the Cashew Curry Chicken with Rice).<br /><br />So far we have only been on one overnight backpacking trip. We took my friend Lori, a Newfoundlander from school, on her first backpacking trip to the Bluff trail, a wilderness trail only 15 minutes from our house. Greg wrote up a trip report for that outing and posted it on clubtread.com <a href="http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16362">here</a> if you want to check it out. I am really itching to get out backpacking again after that trip. (Although despite the headnet I was literally itching after that trip as well.)<br /><br />We are also planning one big trip for our summer vacation: we are going to Newfoundland! We plan to take the ferry to the western side and then drive up to <a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/index_e.asp">Gros Morne National Park</a> to do some backcountry hiking. Then we'll drive up to see the Viking site at <a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows/index_e.asp">L'Anse-aux-Meadows</a>, then we'll drive east across the Island to St. John's and take the ferry back to Nova Scotia from Argentia. Our whole trip will be two weeks long and we'll stop lots of other places as well. We're both very excited. I've even been learning the additional verses to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27se_The_Bye">"I's the B'y"</a>. (Did you know there is one about maggoty fish AND one about maggoty butter? Good stuff.) As well, they have actual mountains in Newfoundland... up to 815m worth of mountains!<br /><br />Also, we are expecting a visitor at the end of the month! Bill, Greg's dad has the honour of being our second houseguest ever. We're looking forward to showing him around Halifax during the short 4 month window when it is green!<br /><br />Today's Halifact: The local franchise of the Simmons Mattress Gallery is owned by three crazy Brits who do their own low buget and cheesy commercials. During the winter they had some sort of tropical promotion going on where they were all wearing Hawaiian shirts in the ad. We just saw their new one today. For their 10 year anniversary (or something) they are having a Thank-You Nova Scotia Sale. To celebrate they all dressed up in fishermen's bright yellow rain slickers and promised that you get free lobster with your mattress purchase. That's right, FREE LOBSTER! They were each waving around a live one during the ad!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1146705806025953622006-05-03T22:05:00.000-03:002006-05-03T22:23:26.086-03:00Much More Hiking to Come.... Thanks to Taryn's New Job<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0036.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0036.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Last Sunday Greg and I headed out on yet another hike. This time we were aiming to hike a trail on the Salmon River in nearby Dartmouth that was made by fisherman hiking upstream. We had heard that there was still lots of blowdown from Hurricane Juan in 2003 and that the trail was in rough shape. Within the first 10m we found this to be very true. The trail detoured almost into the lake to get around the blowdown and the bridge had been hit hard. It had been pushed downstream a few meters and turned sideways. The piece of decking Greg is standing on is actually perpendicular to the stream flow. This made for one of the more challenging bridge crossings I've ever done!<br /><br />Once we made it over the bridge, however, we found that the trail was very clean, recently brushed out, and very well marked. Strange since the entrance seemed to be in such bad shape. We eventually ran into some trail builders who explained that we were on part of a new and expanded trail system that was not yet open and that the old trailhead was closed so they wouldn't be brushing it out.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/SharedUse/MapImages/hx122.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/SharedUse/MapImages/hx122.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>Instead of following the northern portion of the unmaintained Salmon River trail over a sketchy half underwater bridge we got to follow the beautiful new trail system over a ridge then down to West Lake. We think this will become our new favourite place to hike. And with a 30 minute driving time, it's somewhere we can go quite often. Next time we plan to start from the east trailhead (at the top right of the map) instead of the now closed Salmon River trailhead on River Road (bottom left of the map). That way we'll get to see the other half of the trail system that we haven't seen yet.<br /><br />We'll get to do lots of hiking because I have a new job for the summer in retail, which means flexible hours. My new job is also at my favourite outdoor store in the world, wait... make that my favourite store in the world, so my staff discount means I can afford some sweet new gear, even on my limited budget. I'm excited!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1146528902124329202006-05-01T20:58:00.000-03:002006-05-01T23:01:41.973-03:00Saturday April 29: Pennant PointWith Taryn finding out she does have a job at MEC starting on Tuesday, we decided the best way to celebrate would be to hike as much as possible this weekend. As well, it seems half of our building has decided that the end of April is the perfect time to move, so it's a zoo-- the kind you don't want to be anywhere near (think Big Al's Yak and Reptile Farm).<br /><br />Very close to Halifax is a lovely little park with a beach that, apparently, is also a zoo when the weather gets nice. Of course, it's still between 7-12 degrees here most of the time, so we had no concerns there. <br /><br />However, there really isn't much of a hike there, at least not according to our 8th edition of the Nova Scotia trails book. Fortunately when Calvin was out I managed to find a 7th edition at a used book store, and its trail is significantly longer (13km). <br /><br />Much of it follows crown land outside of the Provincial Park, but the trail is very obvious. Here it is:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/PennantPointMap.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/PennantPointMap.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Closer to the point we ran across some boulderers monkeying around on some of the granite rock that lies between the ocean and the forest. They had quite the little day camp set up, with a small fire and everything! I guess that's one reason why the trail is still so prominent. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP4120.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP4120.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />For part of the way back we went inland and took (what seems to be) ATV trails for a while, until we met up with the main trail. I am a big fan of loops, so this made me happy, but there was quite a lot of mud and marshy patches what definately made for slower going. Luckily this route had some interesting features: the rusting remains of an old Van and a former WW2 outpost/bunker. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP4149.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP4149.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It turned out to be a little shorter than promised (11km), but it was still a nice outing, and quite close to home too.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/PennantPoint/">My photos</a><br /><br />Waypoints:<br /> Van- N44.44346 W63.63848<br /> Bunker- N44.44979 W63.62845grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1146527096729950442006-05-01T20:34:00.000-03:002006-05-01T23:02:39.183-03:00Sunday April 23: Delaps Cove + Annapolis ValleyDelaps Cove is the site of a former black loyalist colony, way down the Annapolis Valley close to Annapolis Royal. There aren't many remnents of the former colony, but it's not surprising given the ruggedness. It must have been quite a slap in the face for the black loyalists to get such crappy land when just over the ridge to the south the whities got some of the richest farming land in all of Nova Scotia.<br /><br />The day was a little bleak when we started out, but it turned out quite nice by the time we reached the start of our hike (about 2 hours drive). The route was well marked and quite pleasant, although overall the hike was a little short for our tastes (8km and very little elevation gain).<br /><br />Here's our route:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/DelapsMap.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/DelapsMap.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Here's some photos:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP4069.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP4069.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/DelapsCoveSeaPano.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/DelapsCoveSeaPano.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And you can get more here: <br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/DelapsCove/">My photos</a><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/DelapsCove/">Taryn's photos</a><br /><br />We also took a quick walk through Annapolis Royal and Fort Anne, and then meandered back a ways towards home on the old #1 highway, before getting a little tired near Kentville and hopping back on the 101.grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1145907702308305852006-04-24T16:19:00.000-03:002006-04-24T22:08:45.043-03:00Saturday: BLT and EggsOkay, here's the weekend update. Taryn just finished exams and finally we had a weekend together, rather than a weekend of me serving tea to the Hunchback of Quingate Place. <br /><br />Our mountain bikes arrived from Vancouver a little over a month ago, and Calvin and I assembled them <a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/CalvinVisits/">while he was visiting</a>. The weather was forecast to be sunny and possibly even <i>warm</i>, so we decided we'd give them their maiden voyage this season. Our route? The <a href="http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/SharedUse/hx108b.html">Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea trail</a>, formerly a railway. Nice and flat, and should give us at least a 30km round trip.<br /><br />Here's our path:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/blt-map.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/blt-map.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Of course, you can't ride on the BLT trail and NOT eat BLTs!! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP4008.0.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP4008.0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP4011.0.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP4011.0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Later in the day, we went to Ritchie's place and helped him in his <a href="http://bakinginbinary.blogspot.com/2006/04/egg-tart-experiment-1.html">attempts to concoct egg tarts</a>, which has caused me to spin off a new blog solely devoted to food, <a href="http://bakinginbinary.blogspot.com">Baking in Binary</a>.grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1145213137943819512006-04-16T15:24:00.000-03:002006-04-16T16:02:51.570-03:00What happens in Spring...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP3968.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP3968.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Is that apparently you get friends to come and visit! Or at least, friend. :)<br /><br />The week before last, Calvin (our friend from Victoria/Nanaimo, which really should be called Vicmo, Nanaimoria, or prehaps just "The Island") came out to visit us. Of course he and I got up to all sorts of shenanigans while Taryn was forced to sit huddled in her little room studying hard for her exams. Ah the life of a student.<br /><br />Anyways, Calvin and I did a bit of exploring, hiking (even a bike & hike multi-modal expedition), and chowing down at Pete's Frootique.<br /><br />Finally on Taryn's day off, the three of us and Ritchie took part in what is a very eastern (but not necessarily East Coast) activity: visiting a <a href="http://www.novascotiafishing.com/clients/perrymunro/maple.html">Maple sugar camp</a>.<br /><div style="clear:both;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP3999.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; float: left;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP3999.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Our experience starts at the cabin, where we were sat down and fed a glorious meal of sausage, maple baked beans, maple brown bread, and all-you-can-eat pancakes smothered in, of course, maple syrup. Someone at McDonalds must've been to this place when concocting the maple-baked-in-flapjack-sandwich-artery-clogger called the "McGriddle".<br /></div><br /><div style="clear:both;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP3989.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; float: right;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP3989.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I must say that the food was fantabulous, simultaneously slowing me down with fat and pepping me up with sugar. My poor body had no idea what hit it.<br /></div><br /><div style="clear:both;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP3990.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; float: left;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP3990.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Once we were able to drag ourselves back outside, we did a bit of exploring of the premises (unfortunately they weren't boiling the sap that day) and helped ourselves to some maple taffy we poured in snow.<br /></div><br /><div style="clear:both;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP3994.jpg"><br /><img style="cursor: pointer; float: right;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP3994.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We even got the chance to play with the farm's cute little springer spaniels, which apparently enjoyed picking large rocks up with their teeth and wandering around. Sure, why not?<br /></div><br /><div style="clear:both;"><br />Finally, today's <b>Halifact:</b> The Maritime Museum has recently acquired a live cockatoo which it has on display. When it's not squawking at teenagers that taunt it, you can usually coax it into saying its name. We couldn't, however, get it to say "Polly want a cracker". Arrrr!<br /></div>grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1143650134247311512006-03-29T12:23:00.002-04:002006-03-29T14:25:06.370-04:00Roughin' it Halifax style<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0042.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0042.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm in the middle of the exam time crunch, Greg has gone to Vancouver for a week for work, and the power went out for a bit last night. Resourceful girl that I am, I studied by headlamp and candle lantern and hoped I had enough battery power on my laptop to go the distance. The things I do for school.<br /><br />All my exams will be done in about 3 weeks and I am really looking forward to the summer. So far I don't have any employment lined up, but I have some leads, so fingers crossed. I also was just elected secretary/treasurer to the Dalhousie Environmentall Law Students Society. That means I have access to the society bank account. Anyone want to go shopping? Just kidding!<br /><br />Apparently as soon as Greg left for Vancouver, spring arrived here in Halifax. It's a balmy 12 degrees out now and apparently getting hotter. I feel strange outside without my toque, but I'll adjust.<br /><br /><shameless><shameless> I'd also like to let you know that I've got a secondary blog now. I've been doing reviews of everything I read over on <a href="http://i-read-too-much.blogspot.com">I Read Too Much</a>. Check it out if you are interested. </shameless></shameless><br /><br />Today's Halifact: Halifax has the world's second largest natural harbour (sorry, I don't know who is first). We like to celebrate that here in Halifax by dumping raw sewage into it. Yummy. However, there is a major engineering project going on right now to build a treatment plant and piping to it. Of course the treatment plant is going in the poorest neighbourhood in town. I guess you can never win.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1142911875867163352006-03-20T23:07:00.000-04:002006-03-20T23:31:15.976-04:00Still chilly...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/IMGP3804.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/IMGP3804.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Yup, it's the first day of spring but the Shubenacadie canal, as you can see, remains solid. Fortunately for the cold ducks, there were plenty of people to feed them.<br /><br />Taryn and I took a walk there yesterday after she finished her first (and lets hope, only!) weekend take home exam. Ugh. I am very glad to not be a lawyer in training!<br /><br />However, it sounds like I am soon to be once again a nerd-in-training, as I was just accepted into Dalhousie for a MSC in Computer Science! I start in September and already I'm being preened to be the lab AV geek by Ritchie, the current lab AV geek in residence.<br /><br />Anyways, I have started into a baking + cooking frenzy, and I think I will start blogging about my creations over on my <a href="http://whatireallyhate.blogspot.com/">oft-forgotten (by me!) blog</a>. Hey, when you work at home it's no big deal to watch over some dough rising for an hour or three.<br /><br />And speaking of culinary creativity, Ritchie has started a new blog where he and I scour Halifax for <span style="font-style: italic;">the best fish and chips in town</span>. That's right. <span style="font-weight: bold;">THE BEST.</span> So far, we're far from our goal, but you never know what we might find. You can <a href="http://bish-n-batter.blogspot.com/">read about it every friday on bish-n-batter</a>.<br /><br />And thats it for now! For more frozen water craziness (from a few weeks ago), check this out: <a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/DollarLake2006/">http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/DollarLake2006/</a>grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1141928819131216482006-03-09T14:15:00.000-04:002006-03-09T14:26:59.143-04:00Back from London<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/buckhouse.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/buckhouse.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>We have been back from London for over a week now and things are back to normal. We had a great time and enjoyed our break from Halifax and its weather. (It was spring in London, but its still winter here for the most part.) All of our pictures can be found in the our online gallery (see the link on the right hand side of the page).<br /><br />Right after we got back from London I had my first moot court (fake court). It was kind of neat since we got to dress up and call our prof "my lord" as if he was the judge and call our fellow students "my learned friend". It was the first time in my life I was ever addressed as "counsel". The best part was that the name of the fake company I was representing in a contract dispute was "Fools R'Us". Great, my first client is Fools R'Us!<br /><br />There's not much else going on here except the same old same old.<br /><br />Today's Halifact: You may not be aware but the military presence in Atlantic Canada is huge. In the Halifax area alone we have the base for the East Coast Navy, which is much, much larger than the piddly little West Coast Navy in Esquimalt. There is also a major military airport in Dartmouth across the harbour (CFB Shearwater) along with lots of other smaller pockets of military land around. The CFB Gagetown, which I believe is the largest base in the country in is New Brunswick, outside of Fredericton. We drove through it this summer and it took a good 45 min to get across it. Seeing military personnel on the streets in Halifax is very common and there is even a guy in first year at law school who I assume is doing the program part time because he sometimes comes to school in uniform (full on fatigues!). Local real estate companies and airlines even have military personnel special rates.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1139194520374917682006-02-05T22:37:00.000-04:002006-02-05T22:56:10.253-04:00Happy Birthday Greg<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0026.0.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0026.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/PICT0028.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/PICT0028.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Jan 31st was Greg's 29th Birthday. We celebrated by going out to the Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival Screening at Dalhousie. We had a few people back to our house afterwards for cake and tea. From left to right that's Daphne, Ritchie, Lori, Greg and I. Natalia is taking the photo. The girls are law student friends and Ritchie is a comp sci masters student friend.<br /><br />I made the cake from scratch - the one occaision every year for which I bake for real. It was carrot cake with brazil nuts and cream cheese icing. Mmmmm.<br /><br />During the day I organized a surpise party for Greg - a phone party. He had at least a dozen phone calls that day, probably more. Thanks to everyone who called - it made his day.<br /><br />Greg also got a big birthday present from Mother Nature. On the evening of the 31st, continuing into the morning of the 1st we got over a foot of snow, lots of wind, and some big huge snow drifts. We ended up walking home from the movie in the driving snow! Quite an authentic Maritime experience. On the 1st, school was actually closed for me and lots of stores, offices, etc. were shut for the day.<br /><br />Today's Halifact: Halifax has a weekly farmer's market in the old Alexander Keith's brewery buildings downtown. It happens every Sunday year round. Local farmers from around the province drive in to sell their produce, meats, bread, cheese, plants, crafts, etc. We made a special trip down there yesterday so Greg could get some fantastic Pineapple Rooibus from the Tea Brewery, a tea shop in Mahone Bay that has a stall at the market. We've also had some pretty awesome pork chops from Sweet Williams' butcher stall, and I bought Lucky Bamboo Verson 2.0 there as well back in September.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1138215657667351472006-01-25T14:54:00.000-04:002006-01-25T15:00:57.693-04:00London CallingSo Greg and I have decided to go to London for my reading break in February. We leave on Feb 16 and come back on the 27th. It's a lot cheaper to fly to London from here - it's so cheap that it's even cheaper than coming back to Vancouver. We'll be staying with Ian and Melinda, who moved to London in September, and we'll also get to visit with lots of Greg's friends from when he lived in Norwich and went to UEA. I'm quite excited about getting a break from school and getting to go travelling again.<br /><br />We've been hiking a few times since we've been back from Vancouver since there isn't really any snow here yet. However, it looks like the no-snow situation is going to change tonight and we can bust out the snowshoes soon - the forecast for this evening is 20-40cm of snow overnight. I have been getting emails from school warning that I should be prepared for the possibility that school might close tomorrow. I feel like a little kid wishing for a snow-day!<br /><br />Today's Halifact: We went to our first Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society meeting last night and learned more about the mainland moose. There are two kinds of moose in Nova Scotia: the Cape Breton Moose which is not endangered and is apparently descended from a handful of imported Albertan moose, and the mainland moose, which is native to Nova Scotia and is endangered. Apparently there is a population of about 13 moose living in a wilderness area about 20min from the city. I want to go find them. I love mooses, although I've never seen one :) .Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1137364837671934002006-01-15T18:29:00.000-04:002006-01-15T18:41:20.000-04:00Happy New Year<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/1600/tuffy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1971/1387/320/tuffy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Happy New Year (and Merry Christmas too!). We are back in Halifax and back to the same old, same old. I am back in school, Greg is back... in the living room at his computer.<br /><br />We had a great time in Vancouver over the holidays - despite all the rain and lack of snow in the mountains. We were pretty busy and tried to see a lot of people, but we can't please everyone! We did manage to get out on an overnight trip to Marriot Meadows (north of Pemberton on the Duffey Lake Road) which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately we went light and fast (okay, just light) on that trip and didn't bring a camera, so there aren't any photos.<br /><br />Over the holidays a few people we know hit a major milestone in their lives. Congrats to Nick and Amanda, Patrick and Annavie, and Daphne and Vivek for finding the holiday season so warm and fuzzy that they decided to get engaged. As Greg said "Wow, they're dropping like flies".<br /><br />Nothing much to report here in Halifax - Well, except that last night we had a make-your-own-sushi party here at the house. We also cooked up some Japanese treats such as yakisoba, gyoza, teriyaki chicken, edamame, sunomono salad, and okonomiyaki. The magic of Vancouver dining came to Halifax for one awesome night in our kitchen.<br /><br />Today's Halifact: Dairy and milk products are really popular in the Maritimes. People really love their milk. They love it so much that people we know drink the stuff with lunch instead of pop or juice. There is even an awesome Dairy Board TV commercial. The scene: kids playing a basketball game. Cut to a kid crashing down on the bench with exhaustion, then picking up a big carton of milk and chugging it back. The caption?... "Milk for hydration." Goodness. As a girl from the land of soy, it's a bit weird to see.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1134417128653890822005-12-12T15:51:00.000-04:002005-12-12T15:52:08.660-04:00Snow!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1024/pano.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/400/pano.jpg" border="0" /></a> <br />Here was the view from our window on Saturday afternoon! <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1134073834294336782005-12-08T16:10:00.000-04:002005-12-15T22:41:16.886-04:00Merry Christmas a little earlyIn an act of severe procrastination, yesterday I put up our Christmas lights in our little apartment window. We are both really excited to be going home for Christmas. It's been an interesting time being here in Halifax, but we really miss Vancouver, our families, our friends, and in my case, sushi. Oh I miss good cheap sushi so bad.<br /><br />If you will be in Vancouver during the Christmas break, we would like to see you. So far, besides the usual Christmas Eve/Day/Boxing Day family stuff, our schedules are pretty free (well mine is, I think Greg is going to work a little bit).<br /><br />Greg flys in on the 13th and I'll be in town on the 17th. Both fly out in Jan 2.<br /><br />Our list of things to do includes the following (come join us won't you?):<br /><ul><li>snowshoeing (overnight, North Shore, elsewhere, whatever, we're going through the hassle of bringing out gear on the plane so we better use it)</li><li>eating good, cheap non-boring-white-person food. This includes, but is not limited to: Shabusen, the Clubhouse, Lhy Thai, Curry Point, dim sum somewhere, Sha-Lin noodle house, a visit to Fuji-Ya, Belgian Fries, Memphis Blues (Greg only!), East is East, Flags maybe, other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting</li><li>boxing day shopping and other shopping at real malls with real stores (Metrotown and Robson street in particular (Taryn only)</li><li>hitting the Broadway strip to do MEC et al. (we have a little MEC and one other outdoor store here)</li><li>Bibliophile for the best used books ever</li></ul>Of course there are other things to do too, I just can't think of them. I for one will be lying on the floor in front of my parents gas fireplace reading a book and not thinking about school. Maybe Greg can help add to this list? Or if you have suggestions, you can add a comment!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Today's Halifact: </span>The majority of people here sometimes seem overly sensitive. This may sound like an over-reaction, but consider this: every day for the past three weeks or so, there has been some uproar in the local media about the fact that the people of Boston, to whom the Haligonians donate a tree each year, have decided to call it a <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-tree-boston20051123.html">"Holiday Tree", not a "Christmas Tree"</a>. Sheesh, it's no big deal people!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1132015428386831852005-11-14T20:28:00.000-04:002005-11-14T20:43:48.393-04:00Remembrance Day WalkaboutOn Remembrance Day, I was feeling a little antsy, so I dragged Taryn out of bed and we walked to the far north of town to an area called Hydrostone. There was a cute little market here, and although it was rather cold (probably around 0), it was somewhat pleasant.<br /><br />Some around town photos can be seen here: <a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/RemebranceDay05/">http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/RemebranceDay05/</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/RemebranceDay05/"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/400/IMGP3307.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The Halifact: Hydrostone is an area of town where all the buildings have been built of concrete blocks, shortly after the explosion in 1917 (which levelled pretty much that whole area of town). The design of the area is also unique, for example it remains the only place in Halifax that has alleys! <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1132018778281984482005-11-14T20:00:00.000-04:002005-11-14T21:39:38.286-04:00Bluff Wilderness Hiking TrailLast weekend, Taryn and I went for a hike nearby with my friend Clay who I worked with at XWave. As you can see, the weather wasn't stellar, but at least it didn't rain, and if you check out the other photos you'll note the colours are fairly spectacular.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/BluffTrail05/">http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/BluffTrail05/</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.smolyn.org/gallery2/v/grisha/LifeInTheMaritimes/BluffTrail05/"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/400/IMGP3279.jpg" border="0" /></a> <br /><br />Todays Halifact: On our walk downtown, we go past a small horse jumping facility. Where ocassionally one may even catch a glimpse of<em> ponies</em>. Scary! The building across the street proclaims this as the home of the <a href="http://www.bengallancers.ca/">Halifax Junior Bengal Lancers</a>. I think I want to join just for the name! <a href='http://picasa.google.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1131591913197070292005-11-09T22:55:00.000-04:002005-11-09T23:14:31.226-04:00I haven't failed yetI though I'd give everyone the update on how school is going since everyone seems to wonder what it is like, and really no one seems to have a clue what it might be like. I had no idea what it would be like either, so I don't blame you.<br /><br />Anyway, I had my first ever law school exam at the end of October. It was for my Orientation to Law course, so I suppose I am oriented now. It was an unusual exam because it was oral, which means each of us had a 20 minute appointment with a professor who examined us by asking us questions off of a sheet. The topics covered were really varied because our course consisted of 6 weeks of guest lectures on a whole bunch of topics related to law from law societies, to ethics, to legal theory, to racism in the law.<br /><br />When I went in for my exam, the professor spent a minute getting to know me and asked what my undergraduate degree had been in. I answered that I had done a degree in geography. He then proceeded to ask me a whole bunch of very abstract humanities and social science type questions about race and gender theory. I think he thought that since I had done geography I was a science person so he gave me those questions thinking they would be hard for me. Well he got me wrong! I could talk about critical race theory until... the cows come home? (I don't even know when cows come home... I assume they need to be milked so that actually wouldn't be that long... anyway, tangent).<br /><br />Needless to say I passed. Law school is such a competitive place that when I was asked how I did immediately after the exam I said to a group of worried fellow students: "If that was a job interview, I just got the job". Oh how insensitive and competitive this place makes us. And how falsely cocky. Not that I wasn't that way already :)<br /><br />I'm back in Vancouver in 36 days! Yay. I'll tell you all about it then I guess.<br /><br />Today's Halifact: There is a fierce debate about ATV regulation and licensing raging here. The doctors from the local childrens hospital urged the province to amend their ATV regulations to make it more strict on young drivers. The province didn't really listen. Then two teenage girls died in an ATV accident and two days later a teenage boy spent the night out in the bush in a t-shirt after getting his ATV stuck in the mud. The province turned around and slightly amended their regulations, but in my opinion, they are still too soft. It has really polarized the city vs. the country folk here (and even most of the city folk agree with the country folk). ATVs are very important to most people here and most people have them. As soon as you get 10 minutes outside the city there are designated ATV trails along the sides of highways with their own little stop and yield signs and everything. It's crazy. If you know me, you probably know my stance on ATVs, so you can imagine how I'm reacting to all of this. What surprises me most is what is left out of the debate here. At home, the media would have brought up the environmental issues, such as the fact that ATVs pollute, that we are in a fossil fuel crisis, and the fact that ATVs are very capable of destroying wilderness habitats and ecosystems, and that they are noisy and smelly and hikers hate them. I haven't seen that in the newspaper or on the TV news once in the 3 week barrage of news stories we've endured. It's really a different mindset out here. If you want more info, here is a story from the CBC about a little bit of what is going on: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-atv-hamm20051025.html">ATV article</a>. Gah. Rant over.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1130208780931036732005-10-24T23:28:00.000-03:002005-10-24T23:53:00.936-03:00Friends and Weather<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/data/satellite/goes_ecan_1070_100.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/data/satellite/goes_ecan_1070_100.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Last weekend Greg and I had a few girls from school over for a potluck dinner. Greg made a roast. It was nice to finally have some social interaction! Actually, on Thanksgiving, we had another couple (a girl from Vancouver and her visiting boyfriend) over for dinner as well. We certainly have been eating well. As busy as I am, I am trying to organize social things that don't involve the bar because we are starved for friends. Next week, we are going to a Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL) game with 31 of our closest friends from my section in first year law. And by closest friends, I mean people I usually remember the names of. Oh well.<br /><br />Today's Halifact: In the fall of 2003 Halifax was hit by Hurricane Juan. Point Pleasant Park, at the south end of the Halifax peninsula was the first place that it made landfall. It caused a ton of damage, shut down the whole city for a number of days and the high winds actually shattered large stone blocks in a historic military tower. I saw the blocks. They look like they were blown apart by explosives, but no. Then in Feb 2004 Halifax was hit with a snowstorm they nicknamed "White Juan". This storm dumped over a meter of snow on the city overnight and again, shut everything down for a few days. So apparently we have moved to the land of extreme weahter. Tomorrow we are due to get hit by the tail end of Hurricane Wilma, perhaps the most powerful storm ever recorded (now no longer even classified as a hurricane). We have been issued a heavy rainfall warning and a wind warning. We are promised gusts of up to 100km tomorrow afternoon along with up to 50mm of rain. No one here seems too concerned. Apparently it is just another normal fall occurance. Yikes. I'll be wearing my rain jacket, and watching for falling trees, that's for sure.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15057014.post-1129493922866444022005-10-16T16:58:00.000-03:002005-10-16T17:18:42.873-03:00Time Delay continued: Last Week's Failed HikingAs many of you may had already heard, Taryn and I had decided to attempt a hike around <a href="http://www.capechignecto.net/main.htm">Cape Chignecto</a> for Thanksgiving weekend. Our plan was simple: cram 60km of hiking into the 3-day weekend. It was an excellent plan, were it not for forces against our control. But alas, I get ahead of myself.<br /><br />Here's the quick plan rundown.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Friday:</span> <a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2060+quingate+pl,+halifax,+ns+to+advocate+harbour,+ns&hl=en">drive to Cape Chignecto</a>, camp at a walk-in campsite.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saturday:</span> Get up at crack of dawn, meet rangers for orientation, hike to Refugee Cove, camp<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunday:</span> hike to Seal Cove, camp<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monday:</span> hike back to trailhead + visitor centre. Hunt down nearest snack food store.<br /><br />Here's what actually happened:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Friday:</span> drove to Cape Chignecto, camped at walk-in campsite. Cursed the dark and dreary skies.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saturday:</span> got up at crack of 9, met rangers for orientation. Began hiking towards Refugee Cove, discovered that source of torrential downpour was unending. Watched as trail slowly but surely turned into creek. Realized we weren't too excited at the prospect of 3 days of this. Turned around. Went to Superstore and bought turkey + turkey accoutrements.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunday:</span> still pruny from hiking. Stood in front of fan for awhile. Read paper: found out it rained over 200mm in 24 hours where we were hiking.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monday:</span> made turkey + gourged ourselves on stuffing.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/CapeChignectoMap.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/CapeChignectoMap.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Above is our path. The Cape is an absolutely beautiful place and I'm really excited to go back when the weather is better. The trail from the visitor centre to Refugee Cove (just off the map on the left) is apparently one of the harder sections... and although it may not be quite as hard as the west coast trail, it certainly has a lot of elevation changes that make it approach the difficulty. Here's the profile:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/1600/CapeChignectoProfile.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1561/1387/320/CapeChignectoProfile.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />You can see that we decided to turn around somewhere at the 6.5km mark... just after having gone back <span style="font-weight: bold;">UP</span> the huge 200m ravine. Ok, so obviously we aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, but we probably needed the exercise. As well, you can see a hump at the 12-13.5 km mark that doesn't correspond to the start. Because the tide was up, we couldn't walk the beach as we did on the way out, so we had to go up and over a largish hill, getting prunier every step of the way.<br /><br />Anyways, we had fun even if only for a day, and we're already planning going back (perhaps even on snowshoes!)grishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14966904454997642349noreply@blogger.com0