Lei

Congradulations Patrick!

I can't think straight. I feel weak. My body aches all over. I'm sick. Friday night I played hockey. I also went with Ms. RazzleDazzle to a house gathering/party before and after the game. Nice people. Strange thing though. Apparently, all the guys there liked to sing karaoke while the women stood around talking about sex. kinda sounds backwards to me.

Saturday I went with some folks to Sun Sui Wah in richmond. There was no occasion. We just wanted to eat as we had the $438 set menu for ten people. The head waiter or 'captain' gave us his business card. Not sure why other than the fact that the brother of one in our group supplies chicken and other birds to this restaurant. However, the service was horrible. Plus we had to wait despite having reservations. During the dinner, we noticed that a third of the restaurant was partitioned off for what appeared to be a wedding group. You could hear some of the speeches over the wall on our side. I first caught a glimps of the groom. He was wearing one of those traditional chinese jackets in shiny red. The bride was wearing a matching form fitting full length chinese dress. Only thing was that the groom was white. As he looked to the side I recognized him. Patrick!

I had the waiter serve a double shot of Henessy and relay the message saying that it was from Lei. At this point he didn't know that I was in the restaurant. Soon after, he came over and he was pleasantly surprised. He brought me back to his group and introduced me to his wife plus to say hi to some of his friends which I have met before. Small world again as one of my sister's friends was in the wedding dinner.

Now back to me being sick. No volleyball for me. Tonight its monday night tv. The bachelor finale!

Friday Night Hockey At Trout Lake

LPP 2006 - Friday night hockey was alive and kicking down at Trout Late Arena. The current series between Team SixtytSix and Team NinetyNine was deadlocked at three games a piece heading into tonights game. Team NinetyNine jumped out to an early seven to one lead before things started to go wrong. With star player Sean O in the line up, Team SixtySix capitalized on a number of odd man rushes as Team NinetyNine's defense got caught flat footed and horribly out of position.

"I was really tired from work today and it showed. It was tough for us to watch those guys keep putting them in our net from the bench" commented assistant captain Derek L of Team NinetyNine.

Captain Anthony C tried hard to get his team back on top by juggling up the lines. He managed to keep things even until the end when Team SixtySix was just that much better this evening.

Team NinetyNine had numerous chances in the dying minutes but just couldn't get it past the goalie to even things. With a total of seven subs tonight and one center missing, some wonder if the players were still busy adjusting to the new extended game times.

When asked about the game, substitute defenseman Lei responded with "yeah, I didn't know the league had increased the length of the games for the current and past series. In the last thirty minutes, I saw the clock and wondered how we would pull this one out. Some of our weaker forwards were looking pretty slow out there but the captain showed why he's the captain. I'm just happy to get back on the ice and get the blood pumping again. My one goal almost - helped."

Next week the series resumes with more at stake. Team NinetyNine needs to pull up even otherwise Team SixtySix may just walk away with the current ten game series.

These Are The Days' of Lei's Life

*revised Feb. 18th, 2005*

Due to a request by a blog reader for more personal heart wrenching content, I now bring you the annual blog entry of..."The Days of Lei's Life"

Looking at the picture, he could not keep the tears back. One by one they slid down his face and onto the floor spreading perfectly in every direction.

A week earlier she stood in front of him. Shirt open, pressing herself against him. He slid his hand down against her chest. This would be the last time and he knew it. She wanted more but he wouldn't give in.
"You're with another now. Our time is over." They held each other for one last kiss before he left that day.

The picture was returned. Just a normal picture. Held up against the light on a piece of slide film, you could see the image of her face. All those years gone by but nowhere to go but forwards.

Thursday I met up with the blind date just for drinks. Running late as always, I stopped at a Zellers nearby to find some sort of gift. In the toy department I frantically went through everything they had not being able to decide what to get. Girls like stuffed cute animals right? After a couple of minutes of searching and making a small mess, I found what I thought was suitable and quickly left the scene.

What was originally going to be a quick introduction to get to know each other turned into a three hour gab fest. Partway through my blind date started telling me about her grandmother.
"She's sick."
"From what?" I asked.
"I don't know but she's really old." My blind date became distraught over this having very strong family ties.
"How old is she?" I asked.
"Ninety eight."
"Is she very weak and frail? Will she make it?"
"I don't know, but I don't want to think about the what if. When I was living with my sister in Toronto, we used to go for a walk in the cemetary nearby. It was the only park by our apartment. People would jog there, take there dogs for walks there. Everyone would be there. Now it would feel so horrible if I knew that she was there lying in the ground." Not that exact cemetary but it was one nonetheless.
"Don't worry, the doctors will take care of her. Your sister is a nurse so she can also help out too."
Through the window of the coffee shop, she saw an old woman pushing a cart up the sidewalk. Her skin was dry and wrinkled. Her hair was a mess all grey and curled every which way. She couldn't stand up straight but kept trudging along up the street. My date ran out the door to the old woman. She couldn't handle the site of an old woman like her own grandmother.
"Don't leave me!" she cried out towards the old woman on the street.
I ran out after her and just as I did, I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
"Oh god. This isn't good." Lei grabs his chest and falls to the ground. My blind date turned around and came back towards me.
"Whats wrong? Is something wrong?"
"I don't think I'm going to make it."
"Oh my god, we have to get you to the hospital!" said the blind date.
"Forget the hospital! I have a hockey game tonight." Slowly he stretches out his left arm and opens his hand. "Here, take the keys. You have to go. My team needs you."
"But I don't know how to skate?"
'It's alright. Half the guys can only skate forwards so no one will notice. Use my gear. It doesn't stink like most others. Especially since I hardly use it anymore."
With that, she grabbed the keys to his car and left.

Stay tuned next year when we visit the hospital to find out what happens to Lei, the blind dates grandmother and the shocking secret of the blind dates sister.

Note:Certain parts of this entry have been embellished and/or created for your reading pleasure.

Replacing a Switch on the Fuse Panel

In this installment of 'How Do They Do That?' we look at replacing a switch in the fuse panel. Like everything else in my life, things seem to occur in multiples. If something goes wrong in my house, something similar will go wrong at the rental house or even the nursing home as well. At this moment, the fuse to the outlet which is always used for the thirty cup coffee urn has given up at the nursing home. Closer to home is a fuse which supplies power to an electrical outlet just outside the front door. The fuse no longer works reliably so today we are going to replace it.

First off, every house has a fuse panel which controls all the power in the house. If your electrician was thoughtful, he/she would have gone through the painstaking task of labelling each switch to show what they do. If not, well you'll just have to flick each one off and on and see what does and doesn't work in your house. The Stove? The appliances? The outlet in the bedroom? Livingroom? Luckily, we had a nice electrician when the house was built which has made life much easier and can proceed as follows.

To begin, we remove the four screws so that we can take off the upper panel.

Once inside, we have access to the wiring and everything else. Notice that I have not bothered to remove or do anything to the lower panel and switch. No power will go to anything if that large switch is turned off. Normally, one should turn off the main power before doing anything but being the rebel that I am, what could possibly haa....gzzzzzzzz....*thump*

Lying on the floor with a slightly charred screwdriver in one hand and the whole house in utter darkness for the past three hours, Lei regains consciousness. Outside there are people standing on the streets as a Hydro crew arrives to check out the neighborhood power box. A former non-white cat is found lying on the ground in the bushes beneathe the power pole. Its four legs are straight and the muscles have tightened. The shocked look in the cats eyes remain frozen.

"uhhhh...my head hurts....wha...huh...oh...uh.... welcome back folks. Now where was I. Ah yes..."

After loosening the screws which hold the two wires, we can begin to remove the faulty switch. The switch is held in by friction towards the center backbone of the fusepanel. The outside is held in by a tiny hooked feet built into the plastic switch body. Therefore, to remove it, we only need to pull outwards from the center of the panel. I used a pair of insulated pliers to pull on the individual on/off lever. This particular switch can control two separate lines. Notice the two free wires dangling in the air on the right. Also notice the switch directly above and how two wires are connected to it. Take care not to touch them on any of the other exposed wires or metal parts. There's between 115 VAC and 220 VAC which we don't want to play with.

Just for confirmation, we test the fuse with a digital multimeter. I have mine set to test for continuity. When the blue switch is in the on position, power should be able to flow through and the digital display should read roughly '001'. Anything else means that we don't have a proper connection.

First we test one of the wire connectors.

Then the other.

The second one is the faulty fuse. We replace the whole unit regardless with one purchased at the Home Depot nearby. Yet another trip to the big orange box...

Here we have a different view of the old fuse switch with the blue levers.

To finish, we just put the new switch in and follow everything in reverse order. As a test, we go out to the electrical outlet which was not working and plug in some device. And looking back at the first picture, you'll see the reassembled fuse panel with the new black switch in the lower right hand corner.

Note: Some events and a character may or may not be real. One person was harmed in the creation of this blog entry.

Did You Enjoy The Weather This Weekend

On the first day, the water came down. The sky was closed and all that could be seen was darkness. Like her hair which is as long as the clouds are from the ground that I stand on. From her head down her back. That evening the air was cold outside. She would not face me until the next day. That's when she turned to look back at me and smiled over her bare shoulders. That's when the sun finally came out in the morning and all its rays came out from the edge of the land. The warmth of the light could be felt near, but it was still very far away.

Did you enjoy the weather this weekend?

The Weekend Edition

I am not a regular watcher of this game known as football. But this weekend, I went to a small superbowl party at a friends place and so my thoughts are as follows.

"F**k! How could they make those calls!?!?!? What were they thinking?!?!? The whole game was decided in backroom dealings to support East coast america. Just like in Canada, the west coast always gets shafted! F**k! F**k! F**k! F**k! F**k! Where are those Texas cowboys when you need them the most to go stick up for the west with their guns ablazing?"

Phew. Enough of that. During the game we made turkey. Apparently some kind of tradition with this group. With a professional chef at the helm plus a back up, the food turned out great. Three hours or so plus all the sides. Mmmmmm... I just carved the turkey and peeled the potatoes. I am Mr. Henckel.

Juicing up the bird.

I was tired though having basically spent all weekend downtown in peoples condos. Saturday a bunch of us helped a friend move into his new yaletown condo way up on the 37th floor. What a bargain! The view and an almost penthouse like location.

One block west of the future site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Everything but the size. 660 sq. ft. That evening we went to Yaletown Breweries for dinner before settling on the Plaza for some drinks and to hang out a bit. It was one of the few places without a long lineup by the time we got around there. I became the first person to crash at the new condo unit. Everyone else already lived downtown. One beer and three gin and tonics. All against the doctors orders. I don't feel so good.

A brief Introduction

The mountain is my retreat. Where I can be at peace and alone. There are no sounds of civilization and technology. Just the cold wind against my face. My eyes shielded with a lense. I can not begin to describe what it is like to feel weightless for that second or two. Floating through the air and nothing but a whisper. Pure in all its form it is unbelievable amidst all those tiny crystals everywhere. Each one perfectly preserved before melting from the heat eminating from my body. My mind is free. This is the way it should be.

----------------------------------------

Today I received an email from my friend with a photo of the blind date. There was a small write up about herself and I was asked to do the same like some sort of application form. To be more precise, I was forced to write something or else my two friends said that they would write one for me. Who knows how that would turn out.

As is the case, all info is being passed through at least two, sometimes three other people between the blind date and myself and goes as follows in reverse chronological order.

Note, all names have been concealed to embarass and humiliate only myself and no other.

--- Lei wrote:

Ok. Why do I feel like I'm on one of those life network dating shows.

Anyways, hmmm yeah I guess I am kinda geeky. I think some comics are kinda cool but don't read them anymore on the door steps of strangers homes after I stopped delivering the Vancouver Sun. Ugh, hated lugging around those weekend editions or when Sears came out with the new catalogues.

I think you'll be pleased to know that my Playstation II console is dead and I only have five or so games. Been meaning to get back into a newer game console but haven't been able to muster enough enthusiasm to spend 10+hrs a day playing games like I used to. The console was used more for watching dvd's.

I played many instruments in the past but would be rather rusty these days having been out of practice for so long (old and decrepit fingers). Yes, maybe we can play a duet or you can accompany me on my violin. Sarasate's Carmen's Fantasy or Zigeunerweisen? Paginni? Chopin? Lost the choir boy voice after hitting puberty. Sorry. All of the above might be cruel punishment for any one willing to listen.

I like to try various things, food and travel included. Maybe family orientated mostly around the holidays. Never thought about that too seriously to be honest. Listen to all types of music. Heavy metal included whenever I get an inkling for distortion. Don't worry, it only happens once every few years. And loud too! Metallica is good yes?

Like watching many kinds of movies. What would be an example of the weird ones?

Please find attached a photo of myself. And for clarification purposes only, that's me on the right.

Lei

(Note: Some of you may remember this picture from an old blog entry back on Oct. 2004)

--- Roni wrote:

> I'm so excited!!!! lets set this up.
>
> Lei she's very cute. see attached.
>
> Ro - this could work.. they could play music
> together!!
>
> Lei - give me a summary of yourself.. don't make me
> and Ro have to write one for you! oh. and a photo!
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Blind date
> Sent: February 3, 2006 12:57 PM
> To: Roni's friend and friend of blind date
> Subject: RE: Lei
>
> Hey 'Roni's friend',
>
> OH jeez... a summary of myself. Ok...
>
> Interests - I like to try new things (food or
> activities), I can play the piano (although not as
> good now that I haven't practiced in a while) and
> love singing, I am quite family-oriented and spend
> time with them, I like to watch movies (any types
> and especially the "weird" ones that girls probably
> don't watch, haha), I listen to all types of music
> but no heavy-metal, I like to travel and wish I
> could do more of that, will be going to NYC in
> April! How is that?
>
> So now do I get a summary of Lei too? Hee hee :)
> Thanks, 'Roni's friend'
>
> PS. Is Lei a "geeky" (well, smart but has a love
> for comics and video-games) guy? I seem to attract
> those!
>
> _____________________________________________
> From: Roni's Friend
> Sent: February 3, 2006 11:09 AM
> To: Blind Date
> Subject: Lei
>
> My friend Roni wants more information about you
> to relay to her friend Lei. Give me a quick summary
> (interests). Thanks.

Multiple Leaps of Faith

And practicing over and over again. Strange how things happen. No sooner did I repel a second attempt by a former ex-gf to come back and take my life has a whole bunch of opportunities appeared. On one trip last week, Roni invited one of her friends to come with us. There was five of us in total. When we got to the top of one chairlift, she bolted saying that she wanted to board alone on a run which none of us wanted to go on. So Roni being the good friend, left us to board with her friend in the beginning while we roamed the rest of the mountain. We agreed to meet for lunch later which is when we found out that Roni's friend still ditched her on the mountain. The previous week Roni's friend was going to head up with us. She showed up bright and early at the meeting place only to say that she wasn't going to make it. Apparently, her roommate decided to have a small party so she stayed up late the night before.

Despite this, it appears Roni's friend is interested in seeing me as well as one of her other friends. I decided to go for the blind date for once. This to satisfy my curiosity as well as peer pressure from friends. I must be asking for it I think. Trouble that is.

Then there's good ol Calvin in my badminton group. He's forever introducing me to girls. Unfortunately, I'm one of those in the camp that doesn't believe in friends setting them up on dates. I met one of them last week in a group outing for chinese new years. After dinner with the family, a small bunch of us went to the PNE for the lunar new year festivities. We had chatted for a bit the previous evening before Calvin sureptitiously set us up. It went alright. Not sure what will happen now but I don't see anything happening.

Meanwhile, I've been exchanging messages with some woman who found me online. It's been some fun bantering going back and forth. To be continued...

For now, I'm content with my whistler pass having been up there three times in the past few weeks. I'm making progress in the terrain park on the big jumps. Gotta work on the fear thing. Gotta just carry that speed into the jump and go for it. I've found that slowing down and trying to be cautious on the medium sized table tops and large matter horn shaped jumps is not the way to go. This is all I did yesterday up at whistler alone just trying all the jumps in the Nintendo terrain park and skipping all the other runs. The half pipe was closed unfortunately. They were rebuilding it in preparation for the ski/snowboard festival coming up.

At the same time, I met a real estate agent on the chairlift that also tried to set me up with the president of some company. He was meeting the agent to talk about a property and the agent, knowing that I had left my day job tried to help me out with a bit of networking.