And this picture is a few seconds later.

Another local pilot just a second before he turned and burned.

One of the local pilots settling his wing. This is such a great sport.

A picture of the lads setting up at Baldy. We had a ball.

Harold pre-launch. Readying himself for his first launch using reverse inflation and at a anew site with no view of the LZ

Les getting ready to launch at Baldy at Vernon

It's been awhile since I got a posting up so here we go. A bunch of Kamloops Paragliders dropped into Vernon for a little flying and a a reserve repack clinic. When we arrived it looked lousy but we hiked to Baldy (Vernon launch site) and waited for a break. After about an 1/2 hour we where rewarded with some good conditions. Les launched first in his usual clean and tidy style. Harold was next and this was his first launch from a reverse and after a bit of adjusting he got off. I was last which is a first for me as usually I am the wind dummy. But we wanted Les to let us know the wind conditions. I was able to get away on my first try. Tat was a relief as I have only done a few reverse inflation to launch. The flight was very nice, quite bumpy but a good learning experience. I landed within 10 feet of my target on my feet. And this picture was taken a few seconds later.

Xman gathering his goodies

Ah a day at the pool. During my visit to Quesnel I had a chance to go to the pool with my daughter Jessi and family. We had a great time and all enjoyed the pool. I got a little vertical to get this shot of Xavier.

My pal Xavier

This is my grandson Xavier showing grandpa his groovy trike.

Harold earns his wings

Harold called me the other day. We got together for a little kiting. In between inflation's I snapped a couple shots of him practicing the fine art of the reverse inflation

Xavier's Hotrod

My grandson was showing grandpa how it's done in his neck of the woods.

More Quesnel

It would seem the Cat was un impressed

Hey have you seen my new laptop?

Had a chance to get up to Quesnel last week-end to see my girls and my grandson Xavier. I was showing off my new laptop and well the picture tells the story. XGL on Mandriva Linux kinda blew every ones gasket. But I think the most fun was had in Winblows using the web cam. It has all sorts of funny addons and virtualizations to have fun with. As you can see they did.

New Laptop

Well I sold the old laptop and my tower. I used the funds to purchase a new laptop. I bought an Acer Aspire 5630-6459. It came preloaded with Windows Vista Premium. I had a a look around the new OS for about a week and decided I was not willing to be a Microsoft Beta tester. I was amazed to find that MS's own messenger would not work. Each time I tried to start it I got a DEP error message. And several of the software programs I use would not work. So..... I did a reload with a clean re-install of Vista with all the stock software that came preloaded and burned a DVD image file of the setup. Then wiped the whole thing With Gparted and put a fresh install of XP did all the updates and loaded all the software I need for photography. Then I installed a copy of Mint Linux 2.2 "Bianca" in a dual boot setup. I must say this Bianca is a very nice distro. An off shoot from Ubuntu. Just full of Open Source goodness. I will re-install Vista at some time but not until the first service pack is released. Right now I am pretty happy with this setup. I am quite pleased with the performance of the Core 2 Duo chip. I have been a AMD guy for years but thought to try the new Intel chip. Time will tell. I am going to try setting this up as a complete tournament setup with a second monitor. I will keep you posted.

Oh Wind and Weather

Saturday has rolled around again. Derek and I took a drive to the "Dump" at Savona hoping to get a little ridge soaring. But alas we arrived to a strong 30+ wind coming in from the lake. So we turned around and came home. Ah para-waiting. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing those things that just can't be denied. You know dishes, laundry, that kinda stuff. While I can't say I like these jobs having them done gives a certain peace. Right now Jackie and I are watching an old 50's spy movie while Sammy sleeps on her lap. It's suppose to snow tomorrow but I hope not. I hope to do a little yard work.

Another Week Flies By

You ever have those times in your life when time seems to be accelerated. Every time you stop to rest you realise a week or more has gone by. For me it seems it's every winter. Christmas time passes and hockey season gears up (photography) and the week-ends just fly by. Add to that what seems to be an annual illness that lasts from Jan. to March and three months pass before I feel like I can breath. Figuratively and literally. So I look spring. I have been using the electric bike to get back and forth to work. It's a bit cold yet but not so bad. As long s it's above 0 I can live with it. Walking has been out since Dr. discovered the reason for my foot pain. It seems my right foot has a fracture that has never healed or re-broken and has been giving me fits trying to walk or hike any distance. I have been referred to a foot surgeon for repairs but as you know that takes months. I have been told 3-6 which is not so long these days. So I wait and just keep doing what I can to stay active. Job is going well, lots to do. Jackie is doing well busy with work and learning how to record the songs she has written using Garageband on her new MAC. I am still working with the open source community and the GNU/Linux operating system. I have purchased a new Laptop with Vista on it and took a look but stripped it off and did a dualboot with XP and PCLinuxOS and openSuse There are many great distro's out there but these two are the ones I am looking at lately. I have to say exploring Linux has been rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Some things that are not given a second thought in Windows can make you crazy trying to figure out in Linux. Command lines and the like. But the open source community and all the wonderful software they write is wonderful. Any way enough for now. Later Folks.

Just another view of the New Years Eve Launch. I'm slowly getting better at this.

Quiet Nights

It's Sunday night and the house is quiet. Jackie and I are just fiddling with our puters. I am patiently waiting for the stable release of PCLinuxOS I have played with the last two versions and the next one will feature Beryl and XGL These new desktops are very cool. 3-D with all the wow factor. I guess the difference with this and say Windows new areo effects is that it will run on older hardware. I have had it running on a Pentium 700 with 384 ram and an old Nvidia 5200 card with no problems. Not much else to do here in the Loops in winter. I am waiting for the weather to break so I can get a little flying in. It has been lousy for air time here but spring is coming and I think we are planning a quick trip to Mt. Woodside to see Jim Reich. I need to purchase a reserve chute and have it installed so perhaps in the next three or four weeks we will get down there. Other wise it's all quiet on the western front. Remember the three "L"s Livin, Lovin, Learnin. Buh Bye for now!

Friday's

My day began at 6:00am. I was standing at the bus stop by 7:15 and noticed the largest brightest moon I have seen in quite some time. I found myself staring at it for some time. Not even the -13c weather could break my gaze. One more day of work and then rest. I have been working for three week ends in a row and am feeling the crunch. The bus arrived as it most always does and away I went to work. My day has begun to unfold, full of promise, full of hope.

The death of the Sansa

Well I bragged the virtues of my Sansa Mp3 player only to have it die one month after purchasing it. I read mt receipt and realized that it must be returned that day. So off I go to Future Shop. They where out of the 6 gig so I tried a 4 gig Creative Ven Plus. I must say it works well the sound quality is better, the radio has better reception. It's smaller and does a better job with podcasts.