Thursday Morning Run

Early morning always used to be my favourite time to run, but the past while I’ve been having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. This morning though I forced myself to get up and out the door. It made me happy, there are less people around, it’s cooler and I get to see views like that sunrise in the picture here.

This was the best run I’ve had in a while. Still a lot slower than I want to be but I only stopped to walk once for about 30 seconds, and just long enough to snap that picture. So far I’ve done 20k this week and my legs are feeling stronger. The weight is starting to come back off as well thanks to this and much improved eating again.

Wee Library and a Walk in the Rain

Last night Noah and I went out for a walk around Miners Marsh in Kentville while Jen took Ella to dance. It was overcast on the way down but dry. We weren’t very far into the walk before the rain started. Noah wasn’t thrilled about it, but we had a good time anyway.

When we happened across the family of Canadian Geese who we have been watching grow all year he was happy again. The stood in the path and didn’t seem to care that we were there. That is until we got too close and one of the parents started hissing at us. We had tried to give them space and make some noise to have them move off the path, but they were fine until we were basically right beside them.

The most exciting thing though was right at the entrance of the marsh a new Wee Library has been setup. Thanks to our great community and mostly Laura from Valley Family Fun for taking this on and getting it in place. I really need to get her on WordPress. I had seen pictures of these little libraries before and thought they were a great idea, but never even thought to try and get one setup. Thanks Laura!

Today I went back down and made my first contribution to the library. I had ended up with two copies of The Year Without Pants, so I thought I would bring a copy down for others to enjoy. Maybe someone local will pick it up, apply, and I’ll have a local coworker again!

New Frame Hung

The other day when I added the Automattic Creed to my wall I found another frame that wasn’t being used. There was also a spot on my office wall that it would go but I wasn’t sure what to put in it.

Last night I was I thought of something that I thought would look fairly neat. So I printed out a few logos and put them in the frame. My printer isn’t the best so it doesn’t do a great job but I think it looks pretty good.

Photo 2015-07-28, 12 01 43 PM

‘That’s cool:’ Argyle Street launches weekend closures with Halifax block party

This is very cool project. I’m looking forward to getting in and seeing what they’ve done on Argyle St.

Throwback Pictures

Recently I installed Timehop on my phone and it’s been showing me some awesome old photos. It got me thinking and I ended up going through some old pictures tonight. I found some really cute old ones of the kids and thought I’d share some.

Alexandria
Caile
Caile and Ella
Ella
Jen, Alexandria, Caile, Ella
Noah

Shaun the Sheep Movie

This morning we went into the city to see an advanced screening of Shaun the Sheep Movie. It is done by the same people that made Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit. I’d heard of these movies but never seen them so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I had also never heard of Shaun the Sheep so it wasn’t really excited about going to watch it.

Jen had received some tickets to go see it before it actually hits theatres though and the kids thought it looked funny so we went off. It turned out to be a really well done movie and quite funny too. I laughed a number of  times. There is no real speaking which seemed odd to me at first, but it didn’t need it.

As part of the event they had a bunch of swag to give away so the kids all received Shaun the Sheep masks which they loved. My nephew left his on the entire movie. The also brought home stickers and temporary tattoos.

It felt like a lot of movies though because Jen and I went to the theatre last night for a date and watched Paper Towns. I almost gave in and grabbed snacks last night but stayed strong and didn’t.

Pretty sure I’m going to have to watch the other two movies now too.

Trip to the Park, Sort of

Plans don’t always work out the way you intend. The rest of my family had plans to go to Hennigars Farm Market today. They were going to have a little treasure hunt for the kids and feed the animals they have.

Last minute I realized they were getting ready to leave just shortly before I was going to finish off work anyway, so I snuck away a bit early and went with them. We made it there just shortly before my sister and her family so we went into the farm market to pick up a bit of fresh vegetables first.

While we were at the cash my sister came in with a horrible scowl on her face. While she was getting the kids out one of them slammed the door. The doors were locked and her purse was on the floor inside. Yup locked out.

When we were running though options she decided that either both sets of keys were in her purse or there was one at her house on the kitchen counter. I ran back to her house to check, but they weren’t there. She ended up having to call a tow company who sent someone out to get her in.

So I missed most of the time at the park but I did get back in time to watch the kids feed the fish and the guy get her back into the van. It’s pretty amusing because she has had to call someone to get her into her vehicle more times than anyone else I know. Why would you carry around both sets of keys for a vehicle?


Hodge Podge

Last night for supper Jen made hodge podge. This has to be one of my all time favourite things to eat. It’s a local dish could convince me to become a vegetarian.

Usually a fall tradition when the vegetable harvest comes in but really the main thing is having fresh baby vegetables. We were able to pick up everything we needed. There are a few variations but our hodge podge usually consists of new potatoes, baby carrots, peas, and beans. You boil all the vegetables together and then drain them off and cover them with a cream and butter sauce.

Most of the peas for this came from our garden but everything else came from a local farmers market. I can’t wait until our beans and carrots are ready and we can have almost everything come out of our garden for it. Next year we are greatly expanding our garden and we’ll have to grow some potatoes so we can have the full supply.

The Wikipedia article for hodge podge even directly mentions the Nova Scotia version. This is the closest recipe that I could find to how we made it.

It makes me very happy that I had enough restraint last night not to eat it all so there was some left over for me to be eating for lunch right now. It looked better yesterday, but still tastes just as good today.

Photo 2015-07-23, 11 45 29 AM

Morning Run Picture

Photo 2015-07-23, 6 19 13 AM

It was a beautiful morning, perfect for running. I pushed it and managed a 5K with only one short walking break and long enough to snap this picture. Did it with a pace of 6:48 min/km.

The Automattic Creed

Right in the offer letter when you accept a position at Automattic you are presented with the creed right above where you sign to accept. I love this. It really describes how things are here. You can read more about the creed in Matt’s post Why Your Company Should Have a Creed. You can read the creed below.

I will never stop learning. I won’t just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there’s no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I’ll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible, because it’s the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that’s insurmountable.

A little while ago a co-worker, Nick Hamze, commissioned a design for a t-shirt around the creed. He also did one on canvas. The things Nick creates or has created is awesome. I love his creativity. I printed one out and just put it in a frame and on the wall today. I might try shrinking it down a bit more to have it fit in the frame a bit better, but I love the look of it hanging in my office.

Edit: I did re-print it so it is smaller and fits in the frame better. I replaced the old picture with a new one.

Photo 2015-07-22, 9 50 54 PM