Florida Part 2

Dad, Mum, and I day tripped out to the Kennedy Space Center. I have a thing for space -- not so much the rockets but the planets and exploration.

This is Dad looking thoughtfully at a rocket. Maybe he's dreaming of his home planet?

I think I discovered what's wrong with the space program...

The walkway that sent Neil and crew to the moon!

We hopped on a bus that took us out to the launch control centre. Along the way we spotted an astronaut relaxing in the NASA pool.

The launch control centre! Or at least the big building where they build rockets 'n stuff.

These are the biggest doors in the world.

Launch pad thingy. (excuse the technical jargon)

The crawler tracks -- made of special Arizona river bed stones piled deep because carrying big rockets is a heavy job.

One of my favourite parts was when we sat through a launch simulation. The control panels below are the real ones used during the Apollo 7 program and they lit up, black and white videos flashed on the screens, and we heard the real voice recordings from the launch. Our seats shook when the rocket launched! AMAZING. 

A piece of the MOON! It didn't smell cheesy.

Apollo 11 re-entry module. 

I wish they had an exhibit on the Mars rovers. I'm fascinated by them!

We also listened to a fascinating talk by astronaut Jack Lousma, who was a crew member on a Skylab mission and commander of a shuttle mission. He described in detail what it felt like to take off in a rocket and on the space shuttle! Dad even got to ask him a question: "Do you always launch from Earth in the same direction?"

Florida - Part 1

Florida oranges and the show Dexter are the only things that came to mind when my sister asked if I wanted to vacation in Florida. Also alligators and old men wearing gum boots carrying rifles in the swamp...

Our parents also joined us for the vacation, which began with five days in Daytona Beach, followed by three days in Orlando.

Daytona is renowned for its big wide beach that's open to vehicles during the day. The hard packed sand is perfect for running!

Our hotel was right on the beach!

We had a partial beach and partial city view:

There was of course a purpose to this vacation. One being the Daytona 500, which according to Wikipedia "is regarded as the most important and prestigious race in the NASCAR calendar, carrying by far the largest purse."

In the days before the BIG RACE, you could do a track tour with a guide! 

They loaded us onto a trolley and we rode around the outside of the MASSIVE grand stands.

The view out the back of the trolley as we headed under the track:

We emerged in the middle of the track amidst a sea of RVs -- although there were still a few spots waiting for their owners to arrive.

Are they fixing the fence? Little did they know that a car would smash through it just a few days later...

We peeked inside the drivers' garages...

... but nobody was home except for the cars!

And of course we got to be winners on the podium for a moment.

Next we headed up to the private booths in the grand stands to a spectacular view of the track.

I'm not gonna lie; after our tour I may have gone back to the hotel room and watched the opening scenes of Days of Thunder. 

Running Shoes & Mountain Bikes

Just in time to break in for Florida (less than two weeks away!!!).

What's on the plate this weekend? Well, filming for me. Cam's welding. What else is new?! 

Also, a couple of my pals are in town and we're doing a big dinner at Fifth Street restaurant tonight. I love the tasty foodstuffs there! A bit of usual pub fare mixed in with some non-traditional. 

Tomorrow I hope to get out for a romp on my custom-built Maysmith mountain bike. I like the look of the unpainted tubing. Check out those gold welds!

The plan is to get it powder coated purple. Then I'll hand paint geometric designs overtop. Oh, and get a MAYSMITH decal on there! Advertising!

Beach Running

From my run on the beach this morning! It was a foggy one.

Weekenders

The thing about starting your own business is that when family or friends ask you what you did on the weekend, your only answer will be "work!" Pretty boring, eh? 

My home office space. Complete with filing cabinet and plants. 

Cam's office space. Where he lived all weekend. He should have a mini-fridge and toilet out there! 

He has finished a mountain bike for me (yay!) and is currently most of the way through a road bike. Wow! We have a ridiculous amount of bikes in the house. I feel like every bike is multiplying, like in Harry Potter.

And this is where Jersey lived all weekend: in the bathroom. Begging for water from the tap. The kid's got an addiction, and we're working on it.

(he looks like a fatty in the photo but he's now 9 lbs! Would ya believe it??)

Speaking of working weekends, I'm really looking forward to 10 days in Florida with my family at the end of Feb! Sun? Warmth? What is that, a myth? (probably true for my parents, who just had another -34 cold spell)

And I'm thinking in March Cam and I might venture up island to Mt. Washington for his birthday (shhh -- I can reveal his bday present because I know he doesn't read this blog). Mt. Washington has the deepest base in North America -- usually it's around 400cm (4 metres!!!). Right now it's just over 300cm. I'll take it.

Hmm. I'm liking the contrast of the vacation photos. Gotta have some hot with some cold!

aaaannnddd I'm back.

I feel like I’m blowing the dust off an old book that I abandoned in the summer. Oh little blog, how I’ve abandoned you.

I credit my sister as inspiration to post more regularly. And also my mother, who is probably the only person who still checks this blog every week!
Well, if I had to sum up the last six months in one word it would be: CAREER. Because that’s what I feel is happening for both of us. Cam took the step to move to part time work, and as of next Wednesday, I too will be part time.

You guys, do you realize I’ve waited FIVE YEARS to kiss admin work buh-bye?? No more scheduling and “yes, right away!” Not to put down admin work – it’s great if you love to do it, but it’s not my thing.

Cam is building his skills steadily with each bike frame he welds. He’s currently on bike frame #4 (a mountain bike for me!!). The Hand-Built Bike Show is in Denver this year and he’s hoping to attend and network with other independent bike builders. I admire that he’s started from scratch and taught himself how to weld. It used to take him a month to weld a frame and now he can do it within 7-10 days (probably less!).

I’ve been steadily gaining clients with each job that I do. There’s quite a demand right now for hand drawn videos – I’m currently working on videos for four major clients. But not all my eggs are in that basket – I’m also doing custom graphics for a few different clients and there are a couple graphic recording gigs coming up in the spring. Variety is the spice of life!

Rather than rehash the last six months, here’s a few iPhone snapshots. Think of it as a visual collage.

My new portable wall for graphic recording!

Royals hockey game!

graphic recording in Vancouver

Thanksgiving at the 'rents.

New boots!

 Kylie & Paisley!

Paisley playing with her brother in Whitehorse.