Tofino Trip

一直都很想到Tofino一遊。可是一看價錢，總是令人卻步。

想不到在這個weekend終於有機會了。H 跟 BMW Club的友人一起plan了到Vancouver Island的road trip，亦會經過Tofino。這次終於可以感受BC省這個一望無際的沙灘。

因為我們住在Port Alberni的關係，酒店還不是很貴。＄140 一晚，相比在Tofino，一般都要＄300或以上。

第一天主要是road trip，經過Port Renfrew， Lake Cowichan, Duncan， 晚上住在Port Alberni。第二天就到達Tofino，逛了小鎮，正在尋找午餐的地方之際，H的朋友竟然碰上了熟人，真厲害！由他的介紹下，便到了其中一間比較upscale的餐廳。午餐之後，其實也沒有太多時間，但沒有理由來到Tofino卻沒有到過海灘！於是便想根據沿途的road sign來尋找海灘。終於到了Long Beach，正在躊躇應否步出沙灘之際（因我們沒帶涼鞋)，但不步出沙灘又不能拍到照片。我都不管了，換上拖鞋，大不了趕不上5：30的船便上7：30那班吧。因下一次都不知何年何日才再到此一遊。反正都付了＄4.9 的泊車費，便大踏步去了。果然是海天一色，水清沙幼；沙都是暖的，跟冰涼的海水成了強烈的對比。很多人在這裏滑浪，亦再一次遇到了H友人的朋友，也chit chat了一會。不過最後，我們都是趕不了5：30的ferry，差點 7：30的也來不及。不過，最後我們都趕上了7：30的ferry，都是最後 20 輛車了。所以推斷就算我沒有去沙灘拍照而花多了半個小時，都肯定趕不上 5：30那班ferry。回程時的渡輪比較新，有點像坐cruise ship的感覺，我們更在頂層欣賞日落呢。

回到家大約已是十時多了。

Port Renfrew:


Our lunch stop:



Lake Cowichan


Tofino




Lunch stop:


Interesting glass:





And finally...


James Bond shot?




Taking this olympic theme decorated ferry back to Vancouver...


Almost there:

Weekend - movie + whale skeleton exhibition

Saturday: visit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, featuring the blue whale skeleton. While we are leaving, we saw the open house sign so we just like to drop by. Not for house hunting, but I love to see nice interior design of the display suite. We just follow a group of mainland visitors to look at the display suite. 1500 sq ft for $1.4 million, $400 monthly fee. And there is a weird huge column/post in the middle of the living room. I feel like living in my own house more and more then.
Well, after the exhibition, we shopped along 4th Ave and there is meat shop, selling BBQ ribs for $5. Got attracted by the food sample. Since I haven't had lunch yet so I thought it's a good idea to try out the ribs. And don't know why and what happened, after a few minutes, my lip started to swollen, as if I was bitten by mosquito on the lip. I can feel my lip growing bigger and bigger and a bit itchy. So I just quickly ran inside the shopper drugs mart and ask the pharmacist for recommendation. Maybe some allergy pill or cream? He recommended an allergy pill to me and after taking that, the swollen part ease off quick. That was a bit scary as I have never been like that. The pharmacist does warn me that this drug is drowsy. I wasn't paying too much attention because I seem to be able to stay awake quite well even with drowsy drugs. But I guess he's so right this time, I almost fall asleep during the movie. Yeah, we watched The Knight and Day. It's a Tom Cruise film and I saw some positive critic/review but too bad it's not doing so well w/ the box office. I do sleep early as I was really sleepy...

Sunday: want to go Grouse Grind but too lazy...Want to watch A-Team but the show time on the newspaper was wrong, so we watched Inception instead. The plot/idea is pretty interesting; but a bit complicated. I got confused about the ending. But I do feel better than Matrix. There are some similarities between them.

Monday: finally I mop the floor...

十一年前今日

可能人大了，就喜歡緬懷過去。

十一年前今日，同是星期一，我第一天上班。

這是我第一份工作。還記得，第一天上班，心情有點顫顫驚驚。畢竟這是一個陌生的英語工作環境，而我的上司是地道的美國人，說話快而夾雜着美式俚語，早在見工的時候我已經聽不懂他的問題（他問我覺得自己是introvert還是extrovert），所以我都以為那次見工準會落空，沒想到最後還是聘用了我。上班後我還是有點擔心自己的英語能力。

不過第一天上班，都沒有實際的工作分派給我，只是叫我看Documentation，了解一下公司的產品。那份 200 頁的document，我到現在還記得很清楚，因為不止在第一天，我在往後的十四天，每天八小時都是看同一份文件，因為我的電腦在兩個星期後才到; 就算電話，亦是過了一星期才安裝好。

其間一位Analyst很耐心的跟我講解product information。由於她也是移民，英語也有些不同的口音，反而使我沒那麼緊張，至少我不是唯一一個說不純正英語的人。後來慢慢發現，這個department真的有點像聯合國，同事都來自五湖四海，所以每次的Friday lunch也很開心，大家分享一些不同國家的風俗。

Pot luck更是令人期待，因為可以嘗到不同國家的食物。

說回我的supervisor，他真的教曉我很多，很可惜他工作了三年就令謀高就。可能我真的很幸運吧，我的另一位supervisor也是很nice的。

沒想到，轉眼間，我就在這裏工作了十一個年頭。有說，塞翁失馬，焉知非福。我心目中以為自己能在Web CT工作，因為某些原因影響了我那天的interview表現。當然，就算我沒有被影響，也不一定能被聘用，只是覺得自己未盡全力，在那時的確有點耿耿於懷，甚至有點討厭自己。但今天看來，Web CT已幾經易手，更有可能重整裁員，反不及在這裏工作平穩，遇到好的上司同事，人工亦每年都有些微調整，更就連我想也沒有想過拿的年度最佳員工獎，我也拿到了，亦升了職。

所以，有時候得與失，都很難判斷，only time can tell。至少我現在都會說，我在這裏工作還是得的多。

今天的人，今天的事，到頭來，都付笑談中。

正所謂：
滾滾長江東逝水，浪花淘盡英雄。 是非成敗轉頭空。
青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。
白髮漁樵江渚上，慣看秋月春風。 一壺濁酒喜相逢。
古今多少事，都付笑談中。
--楊慎 《臨江仙》

I feel blessed。

This weekend - World Cup Final

Saturday: had lunch with friend. We talked about card making and stuff. Too bad I missed the World Cup final game - German Vs Uruguay. Seems to be an exciting game with lots of goal: 3-2. Went to US in the afternoon, had dinner there as well.

Sunday: went to friend's place to watch the final game: Netherlands vs Spain.
This year, the world cup result seems a bit usual. All the "famous team" are out in the early stage - France, Brazil, England, Italy etc. There are only 2 games that I get up early to watch on the weekend. But both teams that I cheered for, lost. Brazil and England both lost. And German seems to play pretty well so I was hoping it will be the finalist but too bad, it lost to Spain. And the result seems to be predicted precisely by Mr Paul the Octopus. So in the final game, I don't really know who to cheer for. I'm leaning towards Netherlands because I had support them in the past. But "Paul" seems to predict otherwise. And Paul is right, Spain won the World Cup this year, with 1-0 as the final score. Basically it's a pretty boring game, not much goal, and it's kinda slow paced. I was about to fall asleep in the middle. After the game, my friend did some BBQ so I had a "great lunch". After lunch I played MJ with them and again, I lost miserably. They are really experts and played way too fast. Or is my brain too slow for this now?? Had dinner there as well, when I got home it's around 10pm.

Trade off

This is a very productive week in terms of card making.

I have completed 4 cards this week...during 2 WEEKDAY nights...

But, I am trading off my sleep time for that.

You can see those cards here and there.

Overall, I'm happy. And I don't feel seriously sleepy though. I guess the heavy dose of coffee works (even though decaf).

Had dinner in friend's place tonight. Haven't been there for more than a month. This time, I'm brave enough to step on the scale.

Movie weekend

Watched two movies this weekend - Toy Story 3 and Shrek 3. Yeah, both are animation type.

Both are good but for a good laugh, I would pick Toy Story. Love the Barbie and Ken scene. :P

Also visited Urban Tea Merchant in West Van. The afternoon tea price tag is quite surprising. It's like $40-ish for a full set and $25 for a mini set. The mini-set is really "mini" as I can see from the other table. Maybe one day I got the Lotto 649 I will splurge on it.

Afternoon Tea @ Meloty Fine Tea

話說last weekend突然craving想去食high tea。諗住去Hotel Vancouver，話full；去Secret Garden，又話要等一個鐘，咁邊個叫自己無訂位咩。咁就去咗好耐都無去過嘅Meloty Fine Tea，知佢最近開番，不過都無去過。咁算啦，諗住試吓。點知，都幾有驚喜喎。

佢有幾種afternoon tea menu，不過我都係被all u can eat吸引咗，反正價錢唔係爭好遠。＄25 all you can eat vs ＄16 （two type of food and drink）。

首先鹹點。 (picture taken by cell phone, 所以quality麻麻)

上面係tuna sandwish and mushroom pie，個mushroom pie真係啱啱焗起，好熱同鬆化。
中間係Waffle(有bacon bit and cheese喺上面)。
下面就有scones 同埋ham/cheese croissant。

食到咁上下個server就問我哋要唔要second round，原來all you can eat嘅意思就係可以點多幾round。


我想一提我點嗰種茶（好似叫藍色花園）好好飲。
如圖所見，中間嗰碟jam係for scones嘅。不過無啲cream跟就覺得唔夠authentic，有啲美中不足。其實個scones都唔錯，不過就無secret garden個咁好。

甜品先上almond tuile 杏仁瓦片跟杏仁酥，我覺得一般。

跟住就拎一盤甜品俾我揀。結果。。。出事。。。我係甜品怪嚟架嘛，真係款款都想試。


有vanilla cream brulee，係用vanilla seed整嘅，唔係vanilla oil，真係唔錯。仲有pannaa cotta，chocolate mousse，jello，mango pudding。

跟住先上cake。
我揀咗個mango cheese，banana creme tart and fruit tart。


莫講話second round，真係連個blueberry cheesecake都食唔落啦。

(ok...以上係兩個人嘅份量）

總括嚟講，我覺得以呢個價錢，食到咁多唔同款嘅鹹甜點，quality都真係幾好，環境又舒適，service都好attentive，都值得再去。好似話網上訂位有 5％ off。