We are loving the area, loving the swimming pool, and loving the hot tub! Not sure if this manhole cover is typical for Vancouver or not, or whether this a River District thing, but look closely and you’ll see frogs in a kind of Native Indian style.
The river is quite a fascinating thing for us – we’ve seen amazing stuff, from HUGE containers coming up the river, to tiny little boats doing I have no idea what. The views of Mt Baker continue to impress us.
Every day something new and exciting is happening. The so-called king tides didn’t come up as high as I expected, but the low tides were really low.
Lots of lovely parks – including three off leash parks – within walking distance too. We used to gas up the car once a week, but now it’s more like once every three weeks.
On the the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, at eleven hundred hours, the guns will go silent….
November 11 is meant as a day to pay tribute to our soldiers who fought, and died to keep our country safe and free. I hope you will take two minutes to remember those who gave their lives, so that ours would be better.
I offer this video, as a reminder of how simple it is. On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.
Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s “two minutes of silence” initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.
When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the “two minutes of silence” to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.
Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was later channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, “A Pittance of Time”. Terry later recorded “A Pittance of Time” and included it on his full-length music CD, “The Power of the Dream”.
In the last little while, the card game of bridge has been hit by cheating scandal after cheating scandal featuring top players illegally signalling to their partners via hand and card placement signals. All bridge organizations have as their strictest taboo the idea that partners would cheat to give count or strength signals.
Well, after the recent Spingold tournament, a tournament played at what is called the North American Bridge Championships (NABC) a high ranking player who lost, Boye Brogeland, claimed that the victors, the Jimmy Cayne team, had employed a cheating pair, and he was going to publish proof!
He admitted that he had only done so because he lost, and had he won, he probably would not have said anything. However, he lost and here we are.
This first video is a clear showing of how the cheating pair, who turned out to be the Israeli pair of Lotan Fischer (a player reprimanded by the Israeli NBO for cheating, previously) and Ron Schwartz, signal strength and lead preferences to their partner.
It is a breathtakingly simple scheme. The videos are from the recent Euro bridge championships to decide entry into the World Championships (the so-called Bermuda Bowl.) An intrepid Dutch scientist watched the final and discovered the the other pair in the finals was also exchanging signals!
Again, devastatingly simple. The shocking feature of the “other pair” is that it is not just some other pair. Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes are the number one pair in the world – and the number one pair in the world for quite some time! How long have these guys been at it!?
Suddenly, a top German pair, Alex Smirnov and Josef Piekarek announce that in the recently completed trials in which their team qualified for entry into the World Championships, they had committed “unethical behaviour” which meant that they would be forced to withdraw from the championships.
In the spirit of cleaning the game, and removing the stench of cheats, the national organizations of Germany, Israel, and Monaco withdrew their teams from the world championships.
Devastating. But not over.
During the lead into the World Championships, the WBF withdrew the sanctioning for a top pair from Poland. The WBF, operating in a Star Chamber-like dimension refused to say why the sanctioning had been withdrawn, but did not deny it could be for cheating.
With a win at all cost attitude, the Polish team refused to withdraw. They obviously did not see things the way Germany, Israel and Monaco did. To the shame of all bridge organizations world wide, and as an insult to every player who ever paid dues to a national bridge organization, the Poles were allowed to compete and to win this tourney.
Now, video evidence of the Polish pair shows without a doubt they used signals to get to the Bermuda Bowl, and the Poles should not have been allowed to play.
As an average player, someone who would never have the chance to represent their country at any level, suddenly the players we seek to emulate, are out and out cheaters. They aren’t playing fair. It’s the bridge world’s equivalent of the steroid scandal in the major sports. Everybody is doing it, right? If Fisher-Schwartz claimed they had to cheat because others are, well, they wouldn’t be wrong would they?
So where do we go from here? The WBF seems to be a parody of a world wide organization and the NBOs seem unable or unwilling to clean up their games. Even sponsors have to accept some of the blame since they hire these dirty pros.
Well it’s Thanksgiving once again and I hope you all had a great time with family and turkey and hams and pumpkin pie! It was a rainy day here today and Bailey and I took a walk up toward Mitchell Island.
Along the way there are several tug businesses, and Bailey was quite fascinated by the whole experience. There are lots of places where you can peek out on the river and inevitably something fun is happening.
There is a seawall that runs quite a ways along side the river, and we made it to where the river splits around Mitchell Island. I can see that the seawall carries on for quite a ways, so another day we’ll try to go further.
Bailey is quite funny about the camera. She does not like to have her picture taken. As soon as I turn the camera on her, she turns away. I take the camera away, she looks back. So getting a shot of her, is often times very tricky. Here we are at the base of Jellicoe street, and you can see the Knight Street bridge in the left background.
Bailey has made a lot of new friends in the neighbourhood. There are tons of dogs, and most are pretty friendly.
Lots of people are using this park as an off leash area, although I’m not sure it is an off leash area. But, no one seems to complain, and all the dogs are well behaved.
Here is a video of Bailey chasing one of her new friends. I forgot I had my phone with me, but they had been chasing each other for quite some time.
Pretty funny stuff… she’s been having fun that’s for sure!
Wednesday the final pod arrives and once it is unpacked, we will be officially moved in! The first picture is of our new building, named the Phoenix, as viewed from the park by the Fraser river where we often take Bailey for her daily stroll.
The River District is part of a planned community with many amenities a couple of years away. However, there is a distinct feel to the neighbourhood. We’ve been welcomed to this area by so many people, it’s hard to believe. Even Bailey feels welcome – check out the free parking and free water for the dogs!
It’s a working river, for sure, with lots of tugs towing various vessels and big log booms up and down the channel. Here a big heron gets a look at the area from atop a big piling.
Bailey never gets tired of checking out the river. If I let her get close enough, she jumps right in. There are other parks, but we haven’t ventured far yet.
We are loving the area, loving the swimming pool, and loving the hot tub! Not sure if this manhole cover is typical for Vancouver or not, or whether this a River District thing, but look closely and you’ll see frogs in a kind of Native Indian style.
The river is quite a fascinating thing for us – we’ve seen amazing stuff, from HUGE containers coming up the river, to tiny little boats doing I have no idea what. The views of Mt Baker continue to impress us.
There is a seawall that runs quite a ways along side the river, and we made it to where the river splits around Mitchell Island. I can see that the seawall carries on for quite a ways, so another day we’ll try to go further.
