Mich Mosh

It’s been five months since our road trip and I finally have the video completed. It took longer than I had planned. I decided to try iMovie to cut the whole thing together and ran into some complications when I upgraded to Snow Leopard before finishing the video. I thought I lost everything I’d done, but turned out I had to update all my thumbnails in iPhoto and iMovie. I think I’ll stick with Premiere from now on.

By the time I’ve published these videos, I’ve probably viewed them a few dozen times during the editing process that I’m so ready to post it and be done with it. I can’t watch it again until much much later when I’ve sort of forgotten parts of it that I can almost see it like the first time. These videos are an aid for my memory and though it doesn’t capture every single moment, at least it captures the essence of my experiences.

It’s fun putting them together and I still have a few more that I haven’t done yet. The hardest part is finding the music. Sometimes I think it would be so much easier to make your own music (if I only had the musical talent.)

Experiencing major soreness from the first full day of snowboarding of the season, Liz and I decided to take it easy and walk around Granville Island last Sunday. We ran into quite the celebrity couple spreading holiday cheer throughout the public market. The kids were especially ecstatic to see them.

It seems I’ve gone AWOL since my last entry was back in early October. I assure you this isn’t due to a scandal of the Tiger Woods nature or fleeing to Argentina to be with a mistress. No golf clubs were swung or trees hit. I’ve been busy and not been busy so that’s not really an excuse. There’s not much I wanted to say so I didn’t. Now that the end of the year is coming upon us (and since I can’t sleep), I thought I’d write something. Not that anyone cares, but this is more for myself to look back on.

Looking back on the year, it wasn’t as bad as what I thought it would be. Sure, the economy is not so great, but there seems to be signs of hope. The world isn’t in complete shambles and it’s not ending yet. At least not until 2012, so we have a couple more years left. So they say…

The year began with lots of snowboarding and new responsibilities at work with our project manager leaving. It has certainly been a year of learning and traveling. Work was busy for most of the year except towards the end. Doing mostly project management this year has been a learning experience with its ups and downs. I’m glad to have the experience, but know for sure that it’s not something I want to do full time. Two road trips within a month, four visits by friends and family, a dozen or so trips to the slopes and two grand in winnings to close off the year—I feel quite lucky to say the least.

Did I accomplish all the goals I set at the beginning of the year? No, but this gives me all the reason to try harder in 2010. Mainly working harder on the list of personal creative projects I’d like to do.

2009 went by in a blur, but I’m ready for 2010. Hopefully it will be a year of achievements, just as the winter olympics is set to take place in Vancouver. It should serve as good inspiration and motivation to reach for the “gold medal” in all the things I set out to do.

It took me a while to put this little video together of my road trip through the Canadian Rockies, but I’m finally done. Work has been busy, which has taken up a lot of my free time and when I do have some time to myself, I need time to decompress. Luckily I have a bit of a lull with work, but not for long. We have a long weekend here since Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada. Yay! Three day weekends should be the standard in my opinion.

The long days at work had me wishing that I could rewind back to the time this summer when I was exploring the Canadian Rockies. There are no words to describe the grand and humbling experience of this natural landscape that’s existed over millions of years. These mountains have existed way before humans set foot on this planet and will most likely still be around long after we’re gone. Just thinking about this helps me think of how all the stressful things in life are really so insignificant.

These bento box lunches are so cute that I want to make my own! It makes eating lunch so much more fun. Imagine if someone made these lunches for you everyday. They’d be like little surprises waiting to be eaten. That would just make my day. If you knew you had a surprise waiting for you inside your bento box, wouldn’t you be excited to have lunch?

View California Road Trip - San Diego to San Francisco in a larger map

Somehow we’ve branded our annual get-together trips with the Joy Luck Club moniker. It started with JLC 2, which took place last summer in Vancouver and Victoria. Although the numbering may throw you off, it’s actually the first JLC trip (our trips being the sequels.) This year we hit the road with JLC 3 on Highway 1 from San Diego to San Francisco. What better way to honor our Asian heritage than to revisit the cities that were built by our ancestors. Quite fitting, don’t you think?

The weather gods seemed to be on our side. We had the good fortune of experiencing the lovely California sun most of the time on our road trip except the last couple of days in San Francisco. I’d like to think of it as the weather gods helping us transition back to reality. The nice sunny California weather got us quite tan. So tan in fact that I was mistaken for being Filipino—twice. Now that’s a first!

Ang and I got up before the birds to catch an early flight out of Seattle to meet up with Merles and Sclee in San Diego. When we met up with them in SD, they were way too peppy for the little sleep they claimed they had to catch an early flight. That didn’t stop Sclee from waking up at 4am the next morning all showered and ready to go hit the streets of San Diego. Unfortunately she realized too late that she woke up at the right time, but in the wrong time zone.

We saw all of what we wanted to see in San Diego in two days. It’s not as nice as I imagined it to be, but about an hour drive north to La Jolla and it’s just perfect. The beaches, the view, the little shops, the weather… everything. Santa Barbara is also another beautiful place where worries don’t exist. If I were homeless, I’d live here on the beach and be the happiest person on earth.

We “camped” in the wilderness for a night in Santa Barbara at the lovely el Capitan Canyon resort. Ang found her “Mr. Rugged”, who escorted us to our furnished tent, and fantasized about working and living at the resort.

It’s a fact that anyone who lives in Laguna Beach is just spoiled by the good weather, sand and incredible views of the ocean. They really have no reason to leave or to complain. Maybe just some of the really steep hills can be a bit scary, but how else are those nice houses going to get such a lovely view from high up? I guess the same goes for houses in Big Sur. Residents there have a way of living on the edge, quite literally. The guidebook informed us that there was no need to do anything in Big Sur except to enjoy the “weepingly beautiful” vistas. We did just that and shed a few tears along the way.

By the time we reached San Francisco, we had logged a little under 900 miles by car. Besides spending a day outside the city in Napa to tour the Domaine Carneros Chateau, we spent most of our time on foot throughout the City by the Bay. I revisited many of the sites I’d been to five years ago like the Golden Gate Bridge, but this time in better weather and less foggy conditions. Also, I had more time to stroll through the special exhibits of Georgia O’Keefe, Ansel Adams and Richard Avedon at the SFMOMA—one of the best museums for modern art on this side of the coast.

What a trip! We had ten fabulous days exploring the coast of California together. I can’t think of any better way to end the summer. The JLC tradition will live on. More photos are linked here and a video will come later.

View Road trip to Jasper and Banff in a larger map

Nine days. How much can you do in nine days? Well, surprisingly a lot despite my doubts prior to this road trip that we'd be able to hit all the sites we wanted to along the way, but we did everything and more. Just makes me wonder how much more of the world I can be seeing outside of the day-to-day routine at the office.

While experiencing the grand beauty of the Canadian Rockies, I couldn't help feel like an ant next to these incredibly enormous mountains. I was told they were formed over 60 million years ago over a long period of time. Imagine all the events these mountains have lived through. Putting it in that perspective, I don't feel so old anymore.

I'm glad I went on this trip. Sure it was a spontaneous decision and only two weeks apart from the California road trip, but you only live once (unless your Buddhist.)

If a wildfire breaks out in the woods near your cabin, don't panic 'cause the local firemen think it's "awesome" and will return the next morning to take care of it. They did and we were fine.

Maybe I need to get my ears cleaned, but I really did think our tour guide said we might be able to see some "big orange sheep." When I asked if they really were orange, he gestured horns over his head and repeated "big horn sheep." I asked near the end of the day after he mentioned it several times before. The entire time I really was curious to see these big orange sheep. How come I've never heard of them before? What makes them orange? After I found out, I think I was a bit disappointed they weren't orange. I think he's French Canadian and his accent threw me off a little.

Anyone who plans to do this road trip in the future, should definitely stay at Mount Robson Ranch. We had the most gracious hosts who took really good care of us. Even though our water smelled like sulphur the first day, kind of like a hot springs, one of the hosts took the time to explain to Mel in detail what caused the smell and she didn't just ask once. And before we left, they made us a huge stack of pancakes for breakfast. It's the perfect retreat outside urban life. 






















Medicine Lake in Jasper National Park