Back to the grind

I realize that I haven't updated this blog in quite some time. If I had paying readers I might just make an effort. But I don't. You get what you pay for.

First the boring news and then stuff about me. Veronica started a new job at MCS (www.metis.ca). She luvs it, b'y. Since she left her old job at ARC on a Thursday, Friday was her first vacation in about a year. That's right, I said Friday. The powers of applied mathematics reveal a three day weekend, which we decided to spend at Quadra.

Saturday we went salmon fishing. (We interrupt this story to remind everyone that Nick did NOT catch salmon during his fishing expeditions while vacationing on Quadra.) Salmon fishing on Quadra involves a downrigger. This device is similar to a fishing rod but much more compact. The downrigger's fishing line is actually super-strength wire from which you attach a heavy weight. Buttons on the downrigger allow its wire-line to descend to a specific depth. Once the fishing line is attached to the downrigger, the downrigger brings the fishing line, lure and hook to the salmon.

We set our first line with a Pink Hootchie - a small bright-pink rubber squid. (Fish do not like Pink Hootchies.) We started setting our second line using a small "camo" rubber squid (the preferred lure of most salmon). Veronica picked up the downrigger's weight, almost falling out of the boat in the process, and handed it to Doug (my uncle). He promptly clipped it onto the downrigger's line and we watched it sway, like a wrecking ball, dangerously close to the boat. Doug pressed down to gain several feet of wire-line onto which he would attach the fishing line. The downrigger read 1 foot, 2 feet, 5 feet, 10 feet. Stop. Up. Off. Off. Whir, the downrigger's weight continued to descend. Up. Off. Auto-Up. Off. Panic! Plunk, the downrigger's weight hit the bottom. Shit!

As the boat moved forward with the tidal currents, the downrigger continued to release wire-line. 40 feet. 50 feet. 60 feet. 70 feet. Fuck! Doug dropped to his knees, ripped off a boat panel and unplugged the downrigger; one dead down rigger. Now what? It was time to use the manual up - my hands. Twenty minutes later the weight could be seen through the depths. Once the downrigger's weight was on board, we realized that one of the downrigger's knobs needed to be tightened. Doug's response after my intense manual labour and our discovery that a downrigger knob required adjustment, "I should have checked that."

By the end of the day, one had "gotten away", one six pound salmon was caught and one really ugly rock-cod was released back to the ocean to be with other really ugly rock-cod. And to recap, I caught two more fish than my brother (not that we're competitive, we're just brothers).

In other news, I've officially registered at UVic and I'm starting my PhD this September. This implies that Veronica can call me Master (thanks Stu, for this one).