All posts by Maurice

Holidays

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

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St. Patrick's DayHope you all had a great St. Patty’s day, cuz I sure did! Here is a picture of Max and I posing for a green photo before heading off to work.

Nice hat!Pam found some swell four leaf clover lights – like a string of Christmas lights, but with lucky clover leaf. I took them into work and strung ’em around the desk.

And it worked! The Canucks won last night, setting a team record in the process. (A good team record too, ten victories in a row. Much better than the 9 losses in a row that preceded this record!)

Anyway – hope you all had a Lucky day!

Something About Us

The Time to buy is NOW!

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Well we did it. We replaced the old Pontiac. It was a relic, but man, she was a good ole boat. Did her job day after day, with little cleaning, little love, and lotsa cursing! haha

The new carWe bought a beater 1991 Grand Prix for our first car – I’d been a motorcyclist for 28 years, so it was all quite new in a car. We figured we’d get a beater in case I wrecked it! We’d only anticipated getting three years out of it, but it last seven, so we got our money’s worth out of it.

The new boat is a 2004 Chevy Impala. Much bigger in the interior than the Pontiac, but not much longer, if at all, on the exterior. It is taller, but no wider. Lots of pickup. Power this and that. And a  HUGE  trunk! Wow – we’re going to rent it out for the Olympics!

Kinda fun having a “new” car! Really nice ride. And hey – it’s built in North America!

Now the picture shows the color! LOL – if you can see it under the SNOW we got this morning! DO YOU BELIEVE IT!? SNOW!? AGAIN!?

Sigh!

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Bait and Switch Best Buy

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In my job, I’m required to purchase/source a lot of computer gear for a number of clients, not to mention friends and relatives.

I needed a bluetooth adapter, so I can quickly get the pics off of my cell phone. I usually go to Generic Computers to buy all my stuff, but since we’ve moved to Surrey, they are a 90 minute round trip. A Bluetooth adapter should run anywhere from 15 bucks to 30 bucks, hardly worth a 90 minute trip.

Bad BusinessSo I head to the local Best Buy – they have two bluetooth adapters – one is $39.95 and the other is $14.95. The $14.95 one looks a bit cheap, and has no cap, but what the heck, I’m only grabbing pics off a phone – it’s perfect. Grab one and off to the checkout.

She rings it in and takes my card and swipes it, I do the punching in crap and then I notice she’s charged me over 40 bucks… Whoa I say – it’s $14.95. I must have grabbed the wrong one – so I run back and grab the other style. Nope – it too is $39.95. So I say, I’m not paying that much for that product. Give me my money back.

I can’t do that she says, you’ll have to go stand in line for a refund. So I do. When I explain to the guy what is going on, he says, well if it’s labelled $14.95 you should get it at that price. I said, that’s what I thought. He says, show me where you got it. I do. The sign is missing. Some young guy comes over and says, yes it was a mistake, I said mistake? There are two styles here, one at one price, one at the other, there are 6 adapters in one style on this rack, and 4 DIFFERENT adapters on the other rack. What gives?

Long story short – too late I know – they will not give me the adapter at the price displayed in their store. Last year I spent over $5000 dollars in Best Buy. Guess how much I will be spending in Best Buy in the future?! Can you say ZERO DOLLARS??

Also, I’m urging YOU not to purchase anything from Best Buy.

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Back to the Watershed

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March 01 2009 in the Watershed Well today Max and I went back to the Watershed Park in south Surrey.

It’s a great park. I’ve done some running around the Lower Mainland, and I really like this park. The trails are not paved, so it’s easier on the knees and ankles. We spent nearly two hours here today, switching from the upper to lower trails.

Watershed parkIt’s a wonderful experience. Old growth forest, so peaceful…. walk about 30 seconds into the park and the traffic noise fades away and you’re alone in the forest.

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed running as much as I have through this park. It’s really a lot of fun. Even better than Stanley Park – the grounds here are more natural. The park is so large. It seems like you are alone in the park.

March 01 2009. Watershed Park.We’re going to take in a different park each week, so stay tuned for more!

The watershed is part of Surrey’s park system, which is the best and largest in Canada. We have more park space than any city in Canada. And Max and I are going to explore every one of them! hah

All About Max, Surrey Parks

Watershed wilderness walking

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Max at the watershedMax and I took off for the watershed park this morning. Pam is working a string of nights (sleeping days) so it’s up to us guys to keep ourselves amused.

The watershed park is quite a cool area of South Surrey. Lots of people walking their dogs, riding bikes, jogging, whatever people do in parks! I can let Max off the lead, so it’s nice that way as well.

You can feel quite isolated sometimes, but you are really not far from everything. I spent most of the walk alone, only occasionally running into people.

Max at the watershedThe forest around is peaceful and cool, with natural walking paths, instead of pavement. It’s well signed, with lots of complex paths, so you can have a unique route through the park each time. Max just scooted around, taking 37 paths to my one! He couldn’t get enough of the soft earth to run on!

The pics are terrible – I only had my cell with me. What a putz I am! Tomorrow, tho, we’ll head back and I’ll take a nice camera and get some nicer shots of the place.

All About Max, Something About Us

Weather wins again!

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Eye of MaxOnce again Mother Nature whacks the West Coast. Who knew there was still snow around? Well, trust me, we got more snow – Max in the snowCheck out Max’s reaction to the annoying turn of events! Guess I’ll have to use a colored ball on the golf course tomorrow!

Max and I have been getting out a little more regularly for longer walks lately. I think he knows with his shedding, that spring is here too, because he’s quite a bit friskier. He’s enjoying the outdoors after all that snow, which he did NOT enjoy.

Something About Us

Blooming good times…

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Icelandic IrisesAh spring! Tomorrow brings the first round of golf of the year. At long last!

Yesterday while loading the car to drive to work, I spotted an Icelandic Iris blooming (I like to call it an Alaskan Iris, but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong.)

When I got home, there were two! But the light was just terrible. I’m going to try and get up early tomorrow and see what the light’s like for a better picture, but check out the little beauties!
CrocusThe crocus are getting more plentiful – usually the yellow ones come out first, but this year, they are just getting ready to open in the box by the front door. These ones are out in the front garden under a rose bush. That’s a “hens and chicks” to the left.

Tomorrow we’re going to win that Lotto 6/49 which figures to be a cool 48 million bucks. Might buy a new car if we did.

Max has been shedding his coat for the last couple of weeks, and for a little guy, he’s got a ton of hair! LOL It’s quite funny to see little tufts of hair sticking out of him! But not so funny is all the vacuuming. hah The more we brush, the more hair that seems to come out! I was thinking that maybe we’ll just have to vacuum him! (JUST KIDDING – well maybe one of those little dust busters! lol)

He is so much fun to play catch with… when he brings it back he sort of plows right into you with it, as if to say, ok, I’ve brought it back, now pitch it out there again…. Quick!