(for Kiddo)
This weekend, Kiddo got to take a taekwando lesson (at a birthday party), go Go-carting and jump around in a kid-size Habitrail (in Nanaimo), drive her own bumper car, and ride two other new rides -- the Sizzler and the ferris wheel -- at the Oak Bay Tea Party.
Pretty exciting weekend for a seven year old... apparently too exciting.
She couldn't sleep last night; she kept having nightmares about the ferris wheel flying off into space (and crashing on the moon) or one of the other midway rides coming loose from its rigging and smashing into the ride she was on. Hmmm.
Thing is, she didn't seem scared at all while we were there so I am not sure if her brain just started working overtime or what's up, but it made for a rough night.
09 June 2008
07 June 2008
Comment Contest!
My Unofficial Guide to Victoria has been through several facelifts in the eleven years (!) that it has been online, and it's time for another. This time though, I am thinking more along the lines of liposuction (to remove the bulk) and a whole new wardrobe.
This is where you come in.... I have my own thoughts about what needs to be trimmed and what needs to be highlighted, but I want to know what you think.
Have a look around the site -- start with the site map if you prefer -- and then let me know: What are the strengths and the weaknesses? What's missing? What's your favourite page? Least favourite? What would you change about the layout? The colours? Nothing is off limits, have at it in the comments!
To encourage your comments, I am holding a contest! I will do a random draw for a prize -- to enter, leave a constructive comment about Cheryl's Unofficial Guide to Victoria by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) Sunday June 15th. The winner will get a 5x7 print of a Victoria landmark(winner's choice from my photos) suitable for framing.
Comments may be left on this post, or on my Flickr account, on the logo photo, linked below:
This is where you come in.... I have my own thoughts about what needs to be trimmed and what needs to be highlighted, but I want to know what you think.
Have a look around the site -- start with the site map if you prefer -- and then let me know: What are the strengths and the weaknesses? What's missing? What's your favourite page? Least favourite? What would you change about the layout? The colours? Nothing is off limits, have at it in the comments!
To encourage your comments, I am holding a contest! I will do a random draw for a prize -- to enter, leave a constructive comment about Cheryl's Unofficial Guide to Victoria by 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) Sunday June 15th. The winner will get a 5x7 print of a Victoria landmark(winner's choice from my photos) suitable for framing.
Comments may be left on this post, or on my Flickr account, on the logo photo, linked below:
02 June 2008
What happens when you take the Channel out of A-Channel?
Apparently you get something that looks like FOX:
On the right is the new logo for "A" which is Global's rebranding of both A-Channel (on the West Coast) and ASN (on the East Coast); on the right is FOX television's logo. You tell me if FOX should call their lawyers.
On the right is the new logo for "A" which is Global's rebranding of both A-Channel (on the West Coast) and ASN (on the East Coast); on the right is FOX television's logo. You tell me if FOX should call their lawyers.
01 June 2008
How much? For this? Really?
After a quiet morning, we went out looking for open houses to peruse this afternoon. We saw a little bit of everything -- ranging from a low of $409,900 for a ridiculously tiny (786 sq.ft.) 1949 rancher to a high of $1,450,000 (3400 sq.ft.) 1956 home on a third of an acre in Oak Bay.
In fact, when we walked into that house, the first words out of the realtor's mouth were not "hello" or "thanks for stopping in" but instead, "The asking price on this home is one point four five million; if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them." The place was clearly professionally staged -- right down to freaking croquet on the back lawn -- but even without the staging, the place felt insincere. I had a good laugh that (a) for all that cash, parts of the basement were still unfinished, (b) the only bookshelf I saw was filled almost entirely with home decorating magazines, and (c) the back yard was pretty much un-landscaped and empty.
Just up the street was a slightly larger home, (4644 sq.ft.) selling for $1,395,000. Thing is, it had been renovated maybe 20 years ago, but it had a much better use of space (despite some headache-inducing wallpaper in the front room), trees in the yard, and it actually looked like a home someone lived in. Oh, and the realtor(s) didn't try to freak us out with the pricetag.
We also looked at one that was waaay up a steep drive and built into the rock (no yard for Kiddo) that was selling for $849,00 (reduced from $929,000) -- you could actually see some of the buildings on campus from the deck.
In amongst the craziness were two that almost appealed to us and one that really appealed to us:
** almost #1: nice little house on too busy a corner $445,900 (reduced from $459,000).
** almost #2: small house with an "unfinished studio" in the back yard, $439,000
** really: (kitty-corner to almost#2), large-ish 1914 house with a separate garage and unfinished basement $479,900 (reduced from $495,000)
Of course, even the appealing ones are more than we would like to mortgage... but the really encouraging thing is that several of the ones we saw today had been reduced. Ahhhh.
In fact, when we walked into that house, the first words out of the realtor's mouth were not "hello" or "thanks for stopping in" but instead, "The asking price on this home is one point four five million; if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them." The place was clearly professionally staged -- right down to freaking croquet on the back lawn -- but even without the staging, the place felt insincere. I had a good laugh that (a) for all that cash, parts of the basement were still unfinished, (b) the only bookshelf I saw was filled almost entirely with home decorating magazines, and (c) the back yard was pretty much un-landscaped and empty.
Just up the street was a slightly larger home, (4644 sq.ft.) selling for $1,395,000. Thing is, it had been renovated maybe 20 years ago, but it had a much better use of space (despite some headache-inducing wallpaper in the front room), trees in the yard, and it actually looked like a home someone lived in. Oh, and the realtor(s) didn't try to freak us out with the pricetag.
We also looked at one that was waaay up a steep drive and built into the rock (no yard for Kiddo) that was selling for $849,00 (reduced from $929,000) -- you could actually see some of the buildings on campus from the deck.
In amongst the craziness were two that almost appealed to us and one that really appealed to us:
** almost #1: nice little house on too busy a corner $445,900 (reduced from $459,000).
** almost #2: small house with an "unfinished studio" in the back yard, $439,000
** really: (kitty-corner to almost#2), large-ish 1914 house with a separate garage and unfinished basement $479,900 (reduced from $495,000)
Of course, even the appealing ones are more than we would like to mortgage... but the really encouraging thing is that several of the ones we saw today had been reduced. Ahhhh.
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