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

I started something new to go along with this blog at the beginning of July. I have made it a habit to post a digital photo each and every day. At the bottom of my email messages, I even provide a link to my most current of the set with the words: "Experience My Day Through a Photo".

This daily record stays a bit more concrete than the text of blog entries. After all whether taken in the apartment or on a trip, the photograph shows something that I actually did or saw on that particular day. So, why don't you look over half of my 2005? Oh, I shall not forget to offer you the best wishes for the start of a new year.

You may wish to add this link to your favourites as it will always showcase the most recent photos first.

Labels: Flickr

This morning Lynne and Whit headed for home. I had given them my New Westminster visitor-parking permit. Our street has restricted parking and cars staying for more than a few hours must have a permit hanging from the rear-view mirror and visible through the windshield.



As we were out all of yesterday, we didn't even check the car. Today as they were leaving, we noticed two parking tickets on the vehicle. The infraction was for "parking within 1.5 metres of a driveway". What is this?

I've lived in the building for seven years and never witnessed this type of ticket. Care is always taken not to block the circular driveway, as handicapped people require close access to the doorway. Additionally, delivery men need to be able to pull in. For these reasons, we are very aware of vehicle placement. There are no lines on our side of the street which would indicate the apparently new restrictions. This 'extra' required space will cut down on the number of cars that fit in front of the building!

I have seen a cute little SmartCar owned by the New Westminster Engineering Department's Parking Services. It appears as if in order to pay for it, the Engineering Department is enforcing rules that are both silly and impractical. In fact to try to fit in the parallel spaces, drivers are going to be blocking the street for much more time while squeezing into the downsized area.

Lastly, if the $40 tickets aren't contested or paid within about five weeks then they're increased to $70! What type of business is allowed to function with such obvious bullying tactics? I dare say it'd be illegal. Shame on New Westminster's Parking Services.

Labels: Joel, New Westminster

Today was eventful. Whit was being dreadlocked from noon to 4 pm, while Lynne and I walked the length and breadth of downtown Vancouver. We did tapas for dinner and got back to New Westminster after nine.

Labels: Joel, New Westminster

I'm a little late in getting this posted. I did want to encode this television advertisement from Telus.

Telus is now the default local telephone company here. Great changes continue in the telecommunications industry. When we first applied for a phone line, we dealt with BC Tel. That company merged with Alberta Tel to create the newer company. Of course now there's tons of competition for local service, not to mention mobile, long-distance, and broadband Internet.

I didn't research to see who's doing the ads for Telus, but what a brilliant scheme! For a few years the company has been promoting itself with animals. Add out-of-date music with low residuals and they've got the perfect campaign. Animals are cheap, cute, and very memorable.

(Click the hippo, in order to load a 28-second Christmas spot that had everybody humming.)

Labels: Christmas, television

There's no better way to make one feel great about living in this part of British Columbia than a beautiful ferry ride over to Victoria. We had fair weather with the big storm not coming until we were sound asleep at the Dominion Hotel.

Going and coming completely by public transit proved easy and relaxing, not to mention cheaper. As hordes of people were finishing up their Christmas days off, there were tremendous crowds returning to the Mainland this afternoon. If we had driven, we would have been stuck in a three-ferry wait. Yet, there's always room for foot passengers! We got back a number of hours earlier by taking buses on either side of the 1.5-hour ferry run.

Labels: BC Ferries, British Columbia, Vancouver Island

In Canada, today is Boxing Day. It's the ultimate, post-Christmas, sales extravaganza. So successful in fact, it has changed people's gift-buying habits. Many Canadians hold off their purchases until the sales start.

However, due to the fact there's nothing that we really want that we haven't already purchased, we will not be waiting in queue for a store to open. Rather, we've decided to take a trip over to the Island.

We should be onboard the 10:00 Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay run. For a bit more adventure, we're not driving over this time. For the first time, we will discover if it's easy to connect up using public transit. If you happen by this blog before our departure time, you'll be able to see how many vehicles are waiting in this live webcam. (Just reload your screen to update.)

We'll stay for one night and should be back by Tuesday evening. Perhaps, I'll leave my notebook computer at home this time. I can write the entry for that day after we get back.

Labels: BC Ferries, Christmas, Vancouver Island, webcam

Labels: Christmas, New Hampshire