A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Yesterday, I blogged some waypoints and this act prompted me to blow the dust off my GPS unit. Moreover, my teaching was curtailed again due to the support workers strike at BCIT. Finally, the sun was so warm I found myself running around outside in a short-sleeved t-shirt (and pants).

Those factors prompted me to go searching for GCM5B0 - Delusions of Grandeur on Friday. Had it not been to find the geocache, I would have never stepped into the cute little neighbourhood park.


It was 1:30 pm and completely deserted except for a squirrel.

Labels: GPS

Some Sri Lankans must still be sorting out their lives after the tsunami. None of Jay's relatives were affected by the devastation. All that news coverage has made our trip there seem like an eternity ago.

I carried my trusty Garmin eTrex Legend when travelling around Sri Lanka last autumn. Blog entries and large-format photos are available in my eJournal and images from September and October of 2004.

VIEW BLOGGED TRIP TEXT & PICS: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09.

Having a GPS was a fantastic way to measure distances when going by tuk-tuk and it provided access to interesting facts such as a trip's average speed. Furthermore, having the device during a walk meant we'd always be able to find our way back to our hotel.

I had been meaning to post some waypoints of Sri Lankan landmarks and towns. After all, it is data that others could find useful. If only the town's name is listed then the location is generally within sight of the municipal clock tower.

GPS WGS-84 Degree Decimals

ANARADHAPURA ISURUMUNIYA
N8.334644 - E80.390191

ANARADHAPURA MILANO REST
N8.325069 - E80.416882

ANARADHAPURA MIRISAWETIYA
N8.344647 - E80.389109

ANARADHAPURA OLD BUS STAND
N8.322793 - E80.402801

ANARADHAPURA SACRED BO TREE
N8.344879 - E80.397189

ARUGAM BAY ALOHA CABANAS
N6.845226 - E81.831648

BATTICALOA
N7.714217 - E81.697649

CHILAW
N7.578397 - E79.794457

COLOMBO CLOCKTOWER
N6.936882 - E79.849199

COLOMBO FORT
N6.933611 - E79.850277

COLOMBO PETTA BUS
N6.937658 - E79.855347

DAMBULLA
N7.874215 - E80.651047

DAMBULLA ROCK TEMPLE
N7.856444 - E80.648583

HABARANA JUNCTION
N8.039939 - E80.755352

JA ELA
N7.081045 - E79.890935

JAFFNA BUS STAND
N9.666846 - E80.011721

JAFFNA KOVIL
N9.674477 - E80.029744

JAFFNA NAGADEEPA
N9.612507 - E79.774415

JAFFNA TELLIPPALAI
N9.775081 - E80.030137

JAFFNA YARRA CITY VILLAS
N9.665941 - E80.010728

KADURUWELA
N7.932015 - E81.031836

KANDY TEMPLE OF TOOTH (BY LAKE)
N7.292992 - E80.641127

MAHIYANGANA
N7.339841 - E80.992902

MAHIYANGANA SORABORAWEVA VILLAGE INN
N7.346142 - E80.996470

MAHIYANGANA VEDDHA VILLAGE
N7.417270 - E81.104253

MANNAR
N8.977004 - E79.913796

MEDIRGIRYA
N8.156171 - E80.996157

MIHINTALE
N8.351206 - E80.517786

MINUWANGODA
N7.168577 - E79.947159

MINUWANGODA JAY'S HOUSE
N7.179281 - E79.936866

MINUWANGODA YATIYANA JUNCTION
N7.172511 - E79.936551

MONARAGALA
N6.872113 - E81.352144

MONARAGALA VICTORY INN
N6.868328 - E81.347858

NEGOMBO
N7.208611 - E79.835833

NITTAMBUWA
N7.142252 - E80.096333

NUGEGODA
N6.873509 - E79.891061

NUGEGODA LAL'S HOME
N6.872903 - E79.901716

POLONNRUWA
N7.940648 - E80.998765

PUTTALAM
N8.028525 - E79.833726

RATNAPURA
N6.682679 - E80.402363

RATNAPURA OLD REST HOUSE
N6.682878 - E80.404378

RITIGALA
N8.118091 - E80.660367

RUWANVALI
N8.350087 - E80.396894

SIGIRIYA (ON TOP OF THE ROCK)
N7.957361 - E80.760218

SIGIRIYA LION'S PAW
N7.957883 - E80.760130

TANTIRMLAI
N8.572301 - E80.255381

TRINCOMALEE
N8.577417 - E81.234517

TRINCOMALEE FRENCH BEACH REST
N8.610594 - E81.219089

TRINCOMALEE HOT WATER SPRINGS
N8.604507 - E81.171240

TRINCOMALEE SWAMI ROCK
N8.582705 - E81.245586

VAVUNIYA
N8.753517 - E80.498074

VAVUNIYA VANNI INN
N8.751021 - E80.498543

VEYANGODA
N7.154103 - E80.057723

If you are interested in receiving a .gpx or .loc file of this data, please request by email.

Labels: GPS, Sri Lanka 2004, temple

The winter is not as grey as I often tend to imagine. Yesterday afternoon, I felt the need to go out for a walk beneath the cloudless, February skies.

This little image can only give you a vague notion of the scene. So, I encourage you to click on the tiny one to the left. If you do, a larger version will appear in another window.

Friends stop by because I barrage them with spam reminding 'em of the blog. Unexpected visitors stop by when they're searching for something. Here are the last 30 reasons why this second group have recently been hanging around:

Google: picture of old 80's camcorder
Google: photographs hinckfuss
Google: sri-lanka form birthday cake
Google: Hyack Square New Westminster
Google: dubai rent an apartment bayan
Google: "zip.ca"
Google: urban planning west end vancouver
Google: "cold creek manor" location canada
Google: "have it your way at burger king" jingle
Google: bell expressvu pvr file format
Google: gung ho fat choy
Google: pilgrams
Google: replacing garbage disposal badger
MSN : "high school in Sunapee"
Google: bbs Ansi images river
Google: NASA's impact on science fiction in 1950's
Google: little flying toasters with wings windows
Google: mcdonalds toasted deli sandwiches new york reuben
Google: frontpage 2003 phone activation code
Google: maureen szulczewski
Technorati: Kent, WA
Google: garburator review
Google: "chinese guest house" polonnaruwa
Google: concentric ring theory
Google: vancouver west end images of the 1960's
Google: kim carnes up to date
Google: geocaching alberta
Google: "vancouver to st. john's" AND trip
Google: maureen fernandes & emirates
Google: "dammit janet" mpeg

Labels: Google, lists

I bet I'm going to have a few tired students today as they probably stayed up to see in the Chinese New Year.

Labels: temple

Yesterday's entry prompted me to return to my photo suitcase. This is the only way I'll ever be able to write an autobiography; apparently, one disorganized blog entry at a time!

The photo to the right was from the actual Thanksgiving weekend mentioned in the letter below. The father, Joel, is older and undoubtedly wiser; while the daughter is now attending university in Washington, DC.

I was able to find images that matched yesterday's entry. I guess I'm more organized than I thought. Imagine how many places these pictures have been in the intervening years! Moreover, imagine what a horrible pack rat I'd be if I had settled into an actual house with copious closet and storage space!

The picture below was also taken in 1987 at my apartment near the SeaTac airport.

Since the scanner was set up, I just had to capture one other image from earlier that fall. It is a larger photograph showing the car in which my dad and I travelled from New Hampshire. It was in a parking lot when we visited Mt. Rainier National Park.



If I keep adding images at such a harried pace, I'll have to upgrade my server space before the summer!

Labels: Bret, Joel

Nowadays, my sister and I don't email often enough. I did, however, find this letter on my backup CD. It is proof that I used to write, back when the postal service was the only option. I'll include it here as it was at an interesting time of change in my life and in my sister's too.

I had quit working in Taif, Saudi Arabia about 6 months prior to this letter. I had immediately flown to Sri Lanka via Athens. After finding that a student visa wasn't going to work out for Jay, I reluctantly landed in Boston. My dad in New Hampshire had readied a Plymouth station wagon and we drove out west.

The destination was my friends, the Thomases who were living in Kent, Washington at the time. My father flew home. I stayed in Kent and searched for an apartment and lived for about three months practically on a runway at SeaTac. In this letter I was making arrangements to return to the other coast of Saudi Arabia and teach young Saudis in the Navy there.

---

Carriage House Apt# C1
3606 South 180th Street
Seattle, WA 98188
Telephone: (206) 241-7274

December 1, 1987


Dear Laurie,

I've never written a letter to Iowa before although I know that sounds rather ‘corny’. Aren't I just so funny?

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. And I'm sure you had a safe trip driving out there. How is everything?

For Thanksgiving I went with the gang down to Ocean Shores, WA. Did I tell you about it before? Joel, Lynne, their baby, Bret and his girlfriend spent the four-day weekend in a rented beach house. It was great. The weather was traditional Pacific Northwest. That means it was rather gray and it rained once. We all enjoyed ourselves. I think I ate and drank a little too much though.

I sent in my passport and other materials for the job in Saudi Arabia. I have been wondering if I'm making the right choice. But I'm not getting any younger and I'll have to get this traveling out of my system soon. This job sounds interesting because it is in a different part of the country. The city of Dammam is on the east coast, and not too far from Kuwait. Don't you think it might be fun watching all the boats going up and down the Persian Gulf? (Everyone I've told thinks I'm nuts.) But why not? I have had almost four months out here as vacation.

It will be a week's time before I hear anything about the job. It takes at least that long before the paperwork can be processed at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC. I'll be sure to keep you informed as soon as anything becomes definite. (And I have your phone number to call before I leave.)

You have got to sit down and write a letter to me and explain everything that is happening. (Neither of us can afford the telephone at this time!)

Dad sent a letter and told me how happy he was that you are getting this chance to go to Iowa. Isn't it funny, you never know how people are going to act. Even his life sounds as crazy as the rest of us. I think it will be good if he gets a chance to visit someplace far away. He has always had the right answers for everything. Maybe this will make him more open to new ideas.

I just wanted to send my greetings and remind you that I can write to you.

Your bro,

Labels: Bret, file archives, Joel, Laurie

Many times, I've tried to tell far-away friends about where I live. Yet even now, some hear the name Ca-na-da and think icebergs!

I have explained the GVRD (Greater Vancouver Regional District) in British Columbia is affected by weather systems off the Pacific Ocean. There's always winter snow in the mountains because of the decrease in temperature due to elevation. Yet as I've said before, during most winters, there's seldom snow that sticks for long near sea level.

Perhaps this time, one picture will be worth a thousands words. This was taken uptown in Moody Park yesterday afternoon.

Labels: New Westminster