Busy Sunday

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Talk about a day that was full. Too full. Now we have to go back to work!

The most important thing happened early: Tammy found out how to get access to our immunization cards from the AHS. All of our cards, including Ian! That is the best news, because we didn’t know if/how we would get his. Miranda has a learner’s license and so has a verified My Alberta Digital ID like Tammy and I do, but Ian doesn’t. But when Tammy showed me her phone triumphantly this morning showing Ian’s card, I yelled “Print it! Print it!” 😁

The next step was ordering a laminating machine, of course. And thanks to our modern world, it arrived just after dinner. Now I have Ian’s card and my card in my wallet, all ready for our trip to BC.

Tammy laminating our set of cards

Paling beside that is the fact that I had a great club ride this morning. The only complication there was that it was the Calgary Marathon today, and the route went through Bowness, right in front of Bow Cycle. It made it a little tricky for our groups to get in and out, but we managed.

Me with my “biker” buddies: Ignacio, Phil, Liz, me, Todd, Hannah and Lee. Wing took the picture.

And lastly, another Amazon package arrived tonight: a set of wireless microphones. Yes, we have reached the “karaoke” point of the pandemic, folks. It’s a sad state of affairs. 😂

New wireless mics, plugged into my Roland keyboard amp and fed by the Apple TV

Tammy, Ian and I had some fun with that this evening. Well, Tammy and I had more fun, I think. Ian’s voice kept breaking. It was funny.

Alongside all of that,

  • Tammy went grocery shopping
  • Tammy did some preparation for a talk she will be giving next month for ATESL
  • I did some programming on my “BookFramer” app (more on that later).
  • And Miranda’s at work. That’s why she missed out on karaoke.

Ride with Ian

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We’re only two weeks away from the Tour de Victoria (assuming all goes well with COVID) and Ian’s been good about ramping up his riding. He’s been riding with me and also on Zwift once or twice per week.

Today was a test: he and I rode to downtown and back: 43 km. He did great, so he should be fine for the 45 km Tour de Victoria distance. We took time to go and look up at the Suncor and Bow buildings.

  • Suncor Tower

Not Sure What to Think

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Most of today, I’ve been trying to make heads or tails of yesterday’s declaration of a state of emergency in Alberta due to COVID. The government has gone from “no restrictions” to “state of emergency”. No pumping the brakes along the way, just full gas to pulling on the e-brake. Part of me wants to yell “I told you so!” really loud at the UCP and anti-vaxxers (I have to get in line behind basically all the doctors, nurses and business owners), but that’s like one passenger yelling at others on the Titanic. The fact remains that despite the measures, the long lead times of COVID mean that the health care system here is about 10 days away from failure. The expert on the radio this morning gave the advice: “Don’t get sick or in a traffic accident or hurt yourself in the next couple of days, because you might not be able to get help.”

The bright spot is that we will finally have vaccination status cards. The downside is that we don’t know yet if we can get one for Ian. I guess we’ll learn more as time goes on.

The new rules are inscrutable, but then we haven’t exactly been whooping it up as part of the best summer ever. Might be why we’re still all healthy.

Ian’s Braces

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This morning, Ian got braces at the orthodontist for the second time. He has had an expander in since last month, and now has full braces, top and bottom. This should be the last round of this for him. I took him to the orthodontist this morning for a 7:20 am appointment. That was pretty early for Ian: he had to get up by 6 am.

  • Before
  • After

As we drove to school, I warned him that his mouth might be sore today and he said no, but later when he came home he told me that only minutes after getting dropped off, his teeth started to ache.

A little Advil never hurt anyone.

Belated Anniversary Gift?

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Yet another computer. I’m beginning to think we have a problem. 🤣

I’d been humming and hawing about getting an M1 Mac for a while. When they came out, we ordered a MacBook Air for Tammy right away (she was long overdue for a replacement) and then a Mac Mini to replace the seven-year old family computer. My work computer is a 2017 MacBook Pro, which isn’t too shabby, but compared to Tammy’s Air it was not up to par. I chewed on the possibilities of stealing the Mini and using it day-to-day, but I couldn’t justify pressing the 2013 Mini back into service. Realistically, I should be getting a new computer from work this year or next but I don’t want to prod my boss about it, because M1 (or M2 or M1X) MacBook Pros aren’t out yet.

MacBook Air in Silver. 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD

When Apple released the new iMacs this summer, I nearly pulled the trigger on a yellow one. But it wasn’t quite the right machine. The next generation of pro-level iMacs and MacBooks should be around the corner. So the “right ones” are out in the future. So why this MacBook Air and not the iMac? It came down to the what might might be next. When I get a new 27″ iMac or MacBook Pro, and this computer will need a new home. And Ian could use this for his movie making. So I might only be a temporary “owner” of it, but it will be fun. When this arrived, I told Ian to start making a business case for why he should inherit it. 😄

Today, I used it for work for the first time. Everything was snappy. This evening I was using Xcode and the battery was still at 91% and it wasn’t getting warm. This machine is amazing. I’ve lost 2″ on my second monitor (the MacBook screen) but gained a fast-forward in performance.

Thank you, Tammy. Even if it was just a kick to stop me from humming and hawing.

Last Ice Cream Ride of the Season

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And it was a special one: Miranda was at the ice cream shop.

I led out the “Spicy B” group and warned them there would be lots of hills. 😈 I had ridden parts of the route before, but never the whole thing so it was new to me too.

Yours truly and my group: Mark, Ron, Lee, Brenda, Rick, Richard, Phil and Jarek

We got to Abbey’s just before 8. We were the first group to arrive. I was surprised that Miranda was the only one behind the counter, but another girl (Sienna?) showed up. She was on break. As more and more groups of cyclists showed up, the line grew out the door. Eventually Abbey herself and another fellow showed up so that there were four working and then the line moved well.

Miranda holding the fort

We ended up being quite a crowd.

And earlier in the evening, Tammy and Ian went to Abbey’s and got some milkshakes. Tammy took this picture as Miranda made their shakes.

24th Anniversary

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Today it’s twenty-four years since that day long ago when Tammy and I said “I do”. It was a quiet day, mostly spent at home except for taking Miranda to her first shift at the ice cream parlour. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but they called this morning and asked if she could start at 4 today.

Tammy made me a card with a big assist from Miranda, and I gave Tammy a pair of blue opal earrings and a chocolate apple from Purdy’s. Opal and tanzanite are the gemstones associated with a 24th anniversary.

There was an e-card from Colin and Carol and a card from Dad. Thank you! It’s nice that you thought of us.

We elected to have takeout from Zaika. We had it at lunch: on one hand, Miranda was around and on the other hand it gave more time to digest it. 😁 Tammy made mango lassi drinks and a poppyseed pie which was delicious. It was a great lunch and we watched the latest Ted Lasso episode too.

Nom nom nom

Happy Anniversary, Tammy! 😘 Next year is silver.