Well, there were up to seven adults at some point last evening, but that’s not quite as interesting to the camera.

In no particular order, the kids and kidlets:

Continue reading ‘Six Kids, Three Aunties, One Dog, and Kermit’

Some of my favourite photos from this morning’s rendez-vous with the Sunshine Coast gang. There are more, of course, but too many to process while I’m here. The kids are so big now, the girls will outgrow me in a year or two! I remember when they were still babies…

The title refers to the herding task of getting everyone (read: kids) out the door at Starbucks, even with an equal kid:adult ratio.

Actually, Fancy and Thai don’t go so well together, but at least we tried…

I gave Fancy and Rod the shortest notice possible (I kid), but they were game to come and meet us downtown, and I finally got to satisfy my craving for Thai food. There are several Thai places in my neighbourhood, but for some reason it’s been ages since I’d eaten at any. (Must be all that sushi I’ve been eating.)

In fact, I was so famished I’d forgotten to take a photo of Fancy and Rod, who are now engaged, while we were in the restaurant. I’ll be taking their wedding photos next year! How exciting!

Anyway, I flubbed up and took a photo outside on Burrard Street without stooping a little to block out that light over Rod’s head, but it makes him look like he’s got a bright idea

And finally we have a big ol’ smooch, in Rod smooch fashion:

It’s been a while since Ebi and Tako had face-time on this site. So, without further ado:

Ebi, Mr. I Don’t Get Out Of Bed For Less Than $10,000 A Day

Tako, Mr. Crazy

He’s either been rolling around underneath the bed looking for dust bunnies, or in need of some Head & Shoulders.

Not much will get me up at 4am, except for a flight.

Flying during the holidays is usually best avoided, for reasons such as this morning: I arrived at the terminal and found — to my horror — queues at the baggage drop-off that were so long they snaked nearly out the front doors! The first thing I thought was, ‘I’m toast, I’ll never get through this in time.’ I checked in online my usual 24 hours in advance on Friday morning and printed off my boarding pass, but I still had two bags to drop off.

I had no idea why the queues were so long, but I asked four different Air Canada staff where I should be standing for a flight that is due to leave at 8:30 and got two different answers. My flight, AC 1137, was bound for Osaka so people were instructed to drop off their bags at Counter C. Meanwhile, Counter B was for all domestic flights and one agent told me to stand there. I was hoping to get fast-tracked, and I overheard an agent call out for flights leaving at 8:00 or 8:30, so I joined the fray near the front when someone said the computers started working again (!).

Continue reading ‘Holiday Flying Is For The Birds’

Remember the green hatted gourd guy from Thanksgiving?

His pumpkin was starting to go off so I threw it away, I blue-tacked him to a fixture and made him a beard out of cotton batting. I found him something something resembling a hat, with bells on.

Recycling at its finest.

Alex putting the finishing touches on the Boston Roll at Vincent Sushi. He just blowtorched the tuna and cream cheese for texture. This ended up being my dinner, YUM YUM. (Man, this gig is going to make me FAT-ter.) The combination of torched tuna and cream cheese tasted amazing, believe it or not.

Alex is an artist, I love watching him work.

Their new menu came out today; I went over to pick it up and add the info to the website.

And here it is, ta-da… the lovely Boston Roll, featuring avocado, cucumber, salmon, shrimp, and tobiko:

I’m beginning to see a pattern here. When I’m feeling badly, I build a website. This domain (gailatlarge.com) is now two years old, and I’ve just built another website.

I dunno, there’s something about wrestling with code that takes me out of myself. While everyone’s conversations sound like the parents in a Peanuts cartoon (wah wah wah), I’m trying to figure out how to modify lines of code.

As usual, I’ve been hacking up templates. It’s a work in progress, but this is how it looks right now:

http://vincentsushi.com/

Yes, I have some major tweaking to do.

Today’s nearly over, and I’m glad.

Continue reading ‘December 18′

A video comprised of photos from my memorable flight at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome on October 14.

104 years ago today was the first official flight.

“My aging body transmits an ageless life stream. Molecular and atomic replacement change life’s composition. Molecules take part in structure and in training, countless millions of them. After my death, the molecules of my being will return to the earth and the sky. They came from the stars. I am of the stars.”

Charles A. Lindbergh, Autobiography of Values (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), p.402.