I think this is by far the longest amount of time that I have gone before posting to start a new year. Part of that is because i’ve been on a couple of work trips already that haven’t lent themselves well to any big posts. So I thought I would put together a bit of a composite of some of the things that have gone on early in 2018.
The biggest thing that is going on this year (well, really it started in December was that we’re finally getting the roof fixed! We’ve been under scaffolding since mid-December, and the contractors are getting very close to wrapping up the project. It’s very exciting that we’ll be getting our roof back again.
The outside of our place during the construction. If you’ve ever wondered what $50k in scaffolding looks like...
The King Tide
It happens a couple of times a year, but early January we had what the news was reporting as a “king tide”, where the tides were higher than normal. As one of the days was on the weekend, it meant we were able to go out and have a look at the peak. We missed the absolute height of it, but it was a bit crazy to see how high the water line got.
The tides got well up and over the sea wall.
This time of year there are also lots of cool ducks migrating through...
I’ve definitely never seen the docks at Granville Island level - normally the walk down is quite steep!
The successful completion of one of our Christmas gifts - the Burj Khalifa in Lego!
A Quick Visit with Matt and Stephanie
We got a message one day in early January from Matt, that he nd Stephanie were going to have a bit of a layover in Vancouver on their way back to Australia. We met up with them after work, and had a fun evening in Steveston. We had some dinner at Britannia Brewery, and wandered along the bordwalk for a bit. It was good to catch up.
San Antonio, TX
DistribuTECH 2018
Mid-January, I was off to San Antonio for a trade show. As with all these events, it was a long week, most of it spent on my feet and meeting with customers. So there’s not a lot to share. San Antonio is actually quite a nice city. They have this area called the Riverwalk, which follows the river through downtown (and far beyond...) that has lots of nice bars and restaurants and the like. We spent most evening in that area for dinner, and the convention center was quite close by as well.
A night-time view of the River Walk, on the first evening after I arrived.
On the second night, I was solo so I head out to a local brew-pub for some dinner. Beer was pretty good, but it was a quiet night.
Most mornings I managed to get out and go for at least a short run along the river, which was quite nice. Of course most days were spent in the trade show, with way too much time on my feet. It ended up being a good show - lots of customers and partners to interact with.
Along the river, from one of my morning runs. They have done a really nice job rehabilitating the river.
There really wasn't a lot to report on most days - trade show, out with customers or work people for dinner - the usual. The trade show wrapped up on Thursday, just after lunch. To reduce flight costs, I had booked my flight home on Friday morning. That gave me an afternoon and an evening to explore San Antonio. As there was much of the afternoon left, I decided to go for a walk and check out the sights.
A Google Earth view of my walk around San Antonio
After my walk, I went back to the hotel and did some work. I had one last evening to myself, and I was able to check out the Pearl Brewery District, which was very cool. This was the home of the original Pearl Brewery, dating back to the late 1800s. The brewery was bought a while back by PBR, and they moved the brewing to more modern facilities. The city was smart enough to encourage revitalization of the neighborhood around the brewery, and in addition to new condos and apartments, they reworked many of the original buildings into something new and cool - the main brewery was revived as a brew pub; the admin buildings into restaurants; the warehouse into a very cool hotel - it was certainly worth hanging out for the evening in this part of town.
