Trial for the Trail

On Friday, Tom, Andrew, Ashley and I will be starting our road trip out to Vancouver. We'll be working Friday morning, so we'll likely only make it as far as Revelstoke or Golden on Friday night.

The plan is to spend the remainder of Saturday (which we don't spend driving) and Sunday in Vancouver with Tom's relatives. After that, we'll be starting our four-day hike on the Juan de Fuca Marine trail on Vancouver island.

This weekend we had been planning to do a test hike to try out our gear. Unfortunately, after the car got busted up and I ended up with a hairline fracture, we opted to cancel the test hike so I could have some more time to heal. However, we still wanted to test out our stuff before we were actually on the trail.

So, we did some back yard prepping.

First, Tom broke out the water filter. When we hiked the Grand Canyon last September, there was potable drinking water at each of the campsites. They actually had pretty good plumbing in the canyon! Unfortunately, that's not the case with the West Coast. Any water we drink will be out of streams, so it's important to have something portable to get rid of sediment and bacteria. This is where the MSR Miniworks EX Microfilter comes in. It did a really good job when we tested in on tap water... Heh heh, totally drinkable!

Tom and the MSR Microfilter.

Next, Andrew and Ashley tested out the portable burner. Coincidentally, it is also an MSR product, the MSR Firefly! Once Andrew got a gigantic flame going, we boiled a pot of water with their new camping pots. It didn't take too long, and it didn't seem to use too much gas either. That's good-- because the gas canister is pretty big to bring along on the trail with us.

Andrew and Ashley with the MSR Firefly.

And finally, we pitched the tent. It's a... You guessed it! MSR tent! Because we're secretly spokespeople for MSR equipment. To bad they don't pay us anything...

Do you remember the tents of your childhood before collapsible poles had been invented? I have this memory of my parents' red two man tent. It was a huge production to set it up. When I was little, they would set it up in the backyard for us, and there were strings tied to trees and ropes anchoring the tent to the deck to get it to stand up. Then if you had to get up at night (say, to use the washroom), it was a veritable minefield of trip-wires getting around the tent!

Thankfully, tents these days are much improved. It took us less than 10 minutes to get the tent in standing order. The MSR Hubba Hubba is pretty awesome. We've heard and read a lot of good reviews about this particular tent, and we got an awesome deal on it at Atmosphere (formerly Coast Mountain Sport). It is lightweight, sturdy, and has good head-room!

Tom and I celebrate tent-pitching success!

So now we know that the water filter, burner and tent will work. The only question that remains is: Will my FOOT work by next week? I think it's probably at about 70-75% recovery, and I have 7 days before we start the actual hike. So I hope that will be enough time to heal up properly.

If I still can't hike properly come next Monday, Tom and I will probably do some camping from the car. The Juan de Fuca trail has multiple trailheads, so it would be possible for Ashley and Andrew to continue hiking, and for us to meet them along the way. Hopefully it won't come to that-- but at least we have the option.

Please think positively for me!

Shauna, It's Your Birthday!

Shauna, aka S-Dizzle, aka Shaunanana

Here's to S-Dizzle,
As she turns twenty-three,

Living the life of a grad student,
As happy as can be.

I miss her lots,
Back in her hometown.

But I spam her daily,
It doesn't get me down.

S-Dizzle is great,
She can rock the drums.

And she has no problem
Telling off bums.*

She's also rather accomplished,
At keeping Jeff in line.

Jeff misses her too!
He does his best not to pine.

I hope today of all days,
You're getting spoiled silly.

If you're not... What's wrong with people?
I BLAME BILLY!

And now are you thinking,
"That last verse didn't make sense!"

That's not my problem,
You must be dense.

Keep warm in Edmonton,
I hope you're not cold.

And I hope you're accepting that,
Gad, you're getting old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAUNA!!!!!

CLARIFICATION:
*By "telling off bums," I don't mean that Shauna tells off homeless people. I mean she has no problem tell off people when they're being buttheads.

KA-BLAM-O!

This week has gotten off to a rocky start.

On Monday morning I hopped in the car at 7:20am to make my way to the bus stop.

And then...

KA-BLAM-O!

At 7:25am I had a busted up car, and a hairline fracture in my right foot.

Essentially, someone making a left hand turn on a yield on solid green light didn't bother to yield (to ME!). Instead, they smashed the front drivers side of the Versa. The Versa isn't even a year old yet! The poor girl isn't looking so good right now. She's at the autobody shop waiting to be assessed. The SUV that hit me didn't even look like it had a dent in it!

The lady that was behind me in traffic stuck around to be a witness to the accident. So insurance will definitely cover everything for us. The other driver was at fault!

And after I went to a walk-in clinic and got some x-rays, the doctor told me that the fracture in my foot is fairly minor. It's not all the way through the bone, and nothing is out of alignment. So I could be back to normal in as little as 7-10 days. I hope so! Hobbling around is really putting a cramp in my style! Other than some stiffness and soreness in my neck from the impact, I got off pretty lucky.

This is definitely an experience I have no desire to repeat.

Let's hope the rest of the week gets better.

Are You Blue, Yellow, Green or Red?

A couple years ago a took a course with my team at work. The course was for, "Insights into Team & Personal Effectiveness," which essentially means, understanding personalities and how to interact with them. The results of the course were a bit like a Myers-Briggs test. By the end, you had a better understanding of your key strengths and weaknesses, your natural tendencies, and how others with different personalities may percieve you.

( From Insights Discovery)

http://www.insights.com/LearningSolutions/LearningSystems/Discovery.aspx

Personalities are broken down into four major categories. Blue, yellow, green and red.

Blue

Someone displaying "blue" traits is likely to be introverted, questioning and analytical. They like to think tehir actions through and have all the facts before they make a decision. They are thorough and systematic. They are likely a planner or organizer, and may prefer written communication in order to ensure precision when giving directions or making suggestions. Sometimes people that lean towards a "blue" personality will be seen as cold or reserved. They are also more likely to avoid confrontation, or keep an opinion to themselves.

Yellow

Someone displaying "yellow" traits is likely to be extraverted, sociable and enthusiastic. They enjoy the company of others and like to have fun. They are always active, and thrive on the possibilities of tomorrow. Sometimes people that lean towards a "yellow" personality will be seen as excitable or indiscreet. They are also more likely to be seen as impractical or unrealistic during times of difficulty.

Green

Someone displaying "green" traits is likely to be introverted, encouraging and caring. They value relationships and enjoy being thought of as reliable. They prefer democratic decisions and are sensitive to moods in social situations. Sometimes people that lean towards a "green" personality will be seen as docile or stubborn. They are also more likely to avoid making a descision that could go against their value system.

Red

Someone displaying "red" traits is likely to be extraverted, determined and strong-willed. They are efficient and focused. They have little difficulty expressing what they want, and act quickly and assertively to achieve their goals. Sometimes people that lean towards a "red" personality will be seen as aggressive or overbearing. They are more likely to show little or no concern for personal relationships.

At the beginning of the course, I thought I was mostly blue. But it quickly became apparent that I'm also dominated by green. And at the end of the course, they give you this personalized profile based off of some multiple choice questions that you answered weeks before the course. I was blown away by how bang-on the profile was!

Something of interest is that people tend to find individuals with opposite colours to their own to be the most difficult to interact and relate with. Blue and yellow are opposites, as well as red and green. This is something that I think about all the time now when I meet new people or work with someone new. It's surprisingly easy to get a "colour read" of someone. On my old team, I worked with a lot of women, so there was a lot of green and blue personalities. On this new team, there's a bunch of men. In fact, as of now, I will be the only woman on my team. There is a lot of blue in the group (engineers tend to be analytical), but there is also a hellalotta red! So it's been a bit of an adjustment to figure out how to interact with everyone. It's something I'm definitely more observant of. I think it's a pretty good tool!

So...

Most likely you'll be dominated by one or two colours over the other.

What colours do you think you are?