At the start of this year, I set a goal to be more active on this here blog. I thought a realistic goal would be to post at least once a week, and so far, so good. I'm quite proud of the amount of content I have been able to produce despite all of my other commitments. I have enjoyed writing or typing and it is has been rare the times when I didn't feel like blogging, but did anyway. This is one of those times. I have had a busy week, and it all of the activity has been welcomed. Busy isn't always a good thing, but this week's busy was great. You see, it's the first week of May, and it feels like just yesterday that I was complaining about the latest snow storm here in Prince George. Well, old Ma Nature has decided it's high time for residents of the frozen North to get outside. Temperatures rose last week, and the last of our snow has been bidding a hasty retreat. No more jokes from my Pops about snow in June. This week, the mercury rose even more, to levels rarely seen in Prince George at this time. We hit the mid-20s the last 3 days, and if all goes accord to prediction we should have a handful more days like that to come. The weather has led to plenty of outside time, both at home and at work and I might have more colour now then I did at any point last summer. Asher is an sun lover and I can't be more pleased. Shall we babble for a bit about life?
My daughter Jasmine gave me reason to be proud this week. On Thursday, she participated in the Elementary School running relays with her fellow grade 4 girls from Malaspina. A few of her friends had asked her to join so that they could have a second team. She said yes, and after only a couple of practices she ran her little heart out in the wind and the rain. Her team got 2nd out of 5, but their time was just short of making the final race. I told her that she did her best, and that there was always next year. I suggested she try the Spruce Capital Track Meet later this spring, and Jasmine was quite excited. I looked into it, and on the second weekend in June she will be taking part. There are a few different sprinting events, as well as field events. Jasmine will probably try the 60 meter, 100 meter and 1000 meter runs as well as the long jump. My girl has a busy spring ahead, as she will be playing soccer twice a week, has the YMCA Kids Run on June 2nd, and now the Spruce Capital Track Meet on June 8th and 9th. It should be lots of fun to watch!
Friday was the first day of our heat wave, and coincidentally, Jasmine had the day off from school. Asher, Jasmine and I left the house at 10 am, set to walk a nice long loop out in the sun. We brought along the basketball and stopped off at Jasmine's school. Jasmine was happily playing on the monkey bars, while Asher and I "played basketball". He is pretty funny, because as you can imagine, with a full sized basketball it's pretty tough for the little guy. He dribbles the ball, slapping at it as it comes about 3 inches off of the ground each time. He knows he can't shoot high enough, even with Dad's help, so he is content to just pass it to Dad each time. After we played a little bit, some kids came over from their house, and before long I had a few more b-ball buddies. There was a little girl, she told me she was 4, and her and Asher made fast friends. Watching him run after her, laughing his head off, not realizing that he had almost no chance of catching up was one of the highlights of my week. He was struggling to run he was laughing so hard. The older kids took over the basketball, and Jasmine decided to play too. Asher and I played soccer with his new friend, then they went on the playground together. She seemed pretty fond of him, as she was pretty sad when I said that it was time to go. "Can he (Asher) go down the slide one more time? I didn't get a chance to go with him." This line came with a little frown that quickly faded when I said "of course he can." We went on our way after I assured the little one that we would be back at the school again really soon. We ended up walking the rest of our 5 km loop, and ended up back at the house at noon, having been out for 2 hours. It felt great to start the day that way.
I am more than happy with the amount of exercise I got in this week. From Sunday to Sunday, a total of 8 days, I ran 3 times for a total of 13 km, I biked 4 times for a total of 21.5 km, and I walked 3 times for a total of 7.5 km. I had 3 weight sessions, 2 trips to the pool, played an hour of basketball, and did 90 minutes of yard work. I have been timing my running and cycling, and have seen steady improvement over the last few weeks. My best 5 km run so far is 23:40, and yesterday I timed a 5 km bike ride at 12:05. I am now committed to playing soccer as well as summer hockey. Soccer starts in a couple weeks, while hockey runs for July and August. I shall be busy.
My mom came up for a nice relaxing visit on Wednesday last week. She spent the night, and Asher had her roped into playing hockey with him much of the evening. He loves his Grandma, but even she can't escape his hockey fisticuffs. He loves to "rumble", where he tries to shove his hockey gloves in your face, and looks at that as part of the game. In the morning Asher and I helped Grandma pick out some lighting for the house that she and my Dad are fixing up to sell. We stopped and had a late breakfast at Ricky's. Asher was very excited to be eating out, hollering excitedly while we waited for our food. He ate a pancake that Grandma gave him, wanted more, and I cut up a second one for him. He was quickly losing steam, and after a few bites, he wanted to sit on my lap. Before long he was sleeping and I ended up carrying him out to Grandma's car. I always get a kick out of how fast he can go from bouncing off the walls to exhausted, and Grandma thought it was cute too. It's always nice to get to chance to visit with my mom, I'm really glad she came up.
I found the time to play poker a couple of times this week, and I can happily report being hit in the face with the deck for the first time in forever. I made some huge hands on Thursday night, and it seemed that every time that happened, the opponent did the same. My hand was bigger on almost every occassion and I also managed to maximize my win in most spots. I played again Friday after work, and managed to do something I had never done before. I folded the first hand I was dealt, then proceeded to win the second hand by flopping a set, and getting the other guy all in on the turn when he was drawing dead. I rivered quads for fun. Then proceeded to win the next hand, and the next, and 4 more in a row. I can't recall winning more then 3 or 4 hands in a row, and most certainly I have never won 7 in a row before. The table was packed with super tight old guys, but I still managed to make about 280 bucks during my digusting run of luck. All told, in 7 hours of play over the 2 nights I managed to make $760. It was nice to see, and I am happy that I have a litle cushion to work with as far as poker goes.
My time is up for today, I need to get outside and soak up the sun while it lasts. I hope everyone has a great week!
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