The Grouse Grind

It hurt. A lot. It took us 1 hour 25 mins.

Grouse Grind stats as follows:-

Length of Grouse Grind: 2.9 km (1.8 miles)
Grouse Grind elevation gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet)
Average completion time: 1.5 hours.
Fastest completion time for men: 26:26 held be Michael Simpson, set at the 2005 Grouse Grind Mountain Run.
Fastest completion time for women: 32:54 held by Kelly Matoul, set at the 2002 Grouse Grind Mountain Run.
Number of Grinders each year: over 100,000

I love endorphins, they rock.

Kittens!

This is probably the only time in my life this will happen, so I thought I'd write about it. Yesterday at work I was told by my supervisor to go and look at kittens. The exact words used were "hey, just kick back and relax - go and look at some kitten sites or something." She then emailed me a link to a kitten site, this one to be precise:-

Because there's no such thing as too many kittens

http://www.flickr.com/groups/babycats/pool/

And so I did. Bear in mind that I have not exactly been over-worked in this job, so to kick back and relax any more would probably involve lying on the floor and sleeping! Ace.

Working 9 to 5 . . .

Emma again, this time typing from her very own office (!) up at the University of British Columbia. And yes, as you can probably tell by the fact that I'm writing this blog, rather than working, I'm a tad bored ;-) So what's been happening in the world of Emma and Jan lately? Well, Jan is still building things on Bowen Island - Emma had to stop as the cement was making her poor hands disintegrate. Jan played golf last week so isn't having a too horrendous time, although it does mean that Emma and Jan are currently living on two separate land-masses :-( Still, Jan's back tonight, hooray!, and we're looking forward to a (hopefully) dry weekend - Saturday is the Dragon Boat Race in False Creek, and Sunday is the Commercial Drive Car-Free Day, and then a BBQ on Jericho Beach. Nice.


So what's Emma up to? Well, all those years ago when she first went to work in London after unniversity, she worked as a temp for a month in the Maths Dept of Imperial College. Now, 7 years later, she's back in a Maths Dept, this time the Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences at UBC, trying to get some invitations printed for a conference. Maybe it's a cyclical thing, in which I wonder which Maths Dept in which country it's going to be in 2014.

At lunch, she's probably going to sit in the Rose Garden, looking at Bowen Island, where Jan is working (see picture), although it's a bit damp outside so she might not . . . S'not a bad view all the same - in fact, it's rather stunning what with the snow-capped glaciers in the background. She's also just found out that she's getting a free lunch next Friday, hooray! - gotta love these Canadian Staff Appreciation days ;-)

Anyways, the reason we're both slogging away on different land-masses is because we're off for the summer, to the Rockies! We're off to a little place called Fernie, and then we might be off to work at the Caravan Farm Theatre, fingers crossed. Just to make you jealous, here's a picture of Fernie:-



We'll keep you posted when we have more news . . . (And photos of us rather than ones nicked from t'interweb).