Sunday-a-Go-Go!!

Hello there!

It's been a while since I've posted anything here... Such is the life of a busy Bear!

I just had the most Amazing Day filled with all kinds of things stuffed bears like! (If you're curious, you can always refer to my handy guide to What Bears Like.)

Here's a little about it:

There are many days of the week. In fact, some would say there are as many as seven!

I don't really know how many days there actually are because bears aren't that good at math and counting, but I typically don't disagree with the "experts". I just know that on this particular day, let's call it Sunday, I had an Awesome Day!

Today's events were centered around a few things from that list.


Start with Coffee

Today was a BONUS SUPER SPECIAL DAY!  I was First in Line for coffee!  YAYS!  As you can see morning traffic can get pretty hairy around the coffee pot.  Here I am with the twins Russ and Russty, and Barry.

Barry is a bit of what we call a "free thinker" around here.  You will notice that he's holding a wine glass. 

It's best not to ask too many questions about him, but apparently he feels like many bears -- that coffee is like fine wine, and therefore should only be enjoyed using the appropriate stemware!  He was last in line because he took forever to find the right glass... I don't even remember if he got any coffee!

Once the coffee was looked after, we get down to business with....


Hunting for Chocolate

Chocolate is a bear's Prime Objective. Seriously! OMG we are finely tuned chocolate hunting machines. One sniff and we can tell you everything there is to know about any molecule of chocolate within a thousand kilometers!

Here we have a very grave situation indeed!  Very very grave.  tsk tsk tsk!  my handler has somehow neglected his care of me.  Just look at that container!

You can see the bottom of it!

EEEK!

Well, good thing it's grocery day!  I made sure that chocolate was on the shopping list, that's for sure!

What (little) chocolate was left in the container went into the coffee to make a bear's favourite beverage: the often imitated Top Secret mocha-choco-wacka-lacka-latte!  Essentially it's coffee flavoured chocolate fudge.

Oh dear, I've said too much!

Once the Coffee and the Chocolate situations were under control (barely), it was down to business, I decided to go through some paperwork and Hello, that`s this?!

S-C-O-R-E-!

That settles it, Road Trip!

Quickly Quickly now!


Fame and Fortune (and Cupcakes?)


I told my Handler to drop everything and get me to the cup-cakery! This was Important! (see I even had it underlined)

...except on the way there, my agent called.  He told me that they were making a movie near the cupcake place.  *sigh* So duty calls. I am doing this for my adoring public.

I mean look, it's not like I need the money.  Hello!! FREE CUPCAKE?

Still, work is work, and I need to keep my creative output up. I'll call this a "side project" and that way if it fails, no worries!

I show up on location, but it's pretty quiet - almost deserted:

*crickets chirping in background*

So obviously this is a waste of my time.  I call my agent... and start chewing them out. This is cutting into my cupcake time!

Please don't ever call me again!

etc. etc.

While I was making the call, somewhere along the line they called "Quiet on the Set!". I was pretty wrapped up complaining to my agent. If they really wanted it quiet on the set before they started the film rolling, they should have asked more loudly so that I could have heard what they were saying.

Well, as I was still yelling and screaming after they asked for quiet, my side project hopes looked pretty dim:

So I did what every celebrity does when things don't go well on a "side project":

I went for lunch.

Every lunch tells a story and here's mine:

• Salad - indicates: "austerity measures are in effect".
• Chicken on Salad - indicates: "although money is tight things aren't all that bad"
• Sunglasses - indicates "still on the A list for getting into night clubs"
• Fork in right Hand - indicates "not really into art films. Think action / adventure"
• Dressing on the side - indicates "I was passed over for the last action / adventure lead role because of weight issues but am working with a personal trainer."
• Herbal Tea - indicates "Anger management issues"

 After lunch, which I didn't really eat.. (it's really about being SEEN isn't it?)  I decided to check out the:


Free Cupcake!
  

When sussing out free cupcakes, it is vital (again with the underline) to scope out the source.

This place looked legit.

So I moved in for the Kill......

Here I am sauntering into the store like it's nobody's business!

They will not see me coming and "BAM"!

"Yo Lady, Make with the free cupcake and then I'll just be on my way..... yeah that's it.  No false movies and let's just get this over with."

 I'll leave with my cupcake and you'll have that piece of paper you were silly enough to leave lying around with the words "Free Cupcake" written on.

Things didn't exactly go according to plan....

I mean LOOK AT THEM ALL!  they are so CUUUTE!  and numy and chocolate-y and cup-cakey and RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!  OMG !  AND YOU WANT ME CHOOSE JUST ONE?  JUST ONE? *SOB*

I later found out that the FREE CUPCAKE coupon I had was good for a Jumbo cupcake.

At this point I had already made plans for eating several of the mini-cupcakes, so I bought them too....

It looks like I'll be eating salad for a little while longer when I "do lunch".

Oh well, it was worth the added expense for the Free Cupcake that I got.

I couldn't wait to get home and sort and store them and look at them... soo pretty!  OMG!  Hurry Hurry!  I can still smell them.

Helllooooo!  Why isn't there a taxi when you need it? I am having a crisis.

Once again.... things didn't exactly go as planned:

I accidentally licked one... to see if it was going to be any good.

*cough* Things sort of lost control after that. At least I think so. the details are sort of sketchy in my mind..  just know that instinct took over and.... RAWR!

So much for saving them.....


Winding Down (or maybe a time out... Still unclear.)

After all the excitement of a Very Busy Day, a bear needs to unwind (and it takes time to burn off the sugar). So I did a couple of things.

I played some World of Bearcraft.  this is normally very relaxing, except today for some reason.

Today we had a daily eating quest assigned to us by some guy in the game town.who's asking us to do stuff, like, every day.

I was supposed to gather and eat 100 cupcakes!

OMG!  Did you see that?

DID YOU SEE THAT?

THAT MONSTER STOLE MY CUPCAKE!

Die monster Die die DIE DIE!!! (you knew that was going to be underlined)

Okay, so perhaps not the best choice for relaxation... my handler quickly shut down the video game and suggested another option:

Watching the laundry channel.

This is very soothing indeed... watching the clothes go round and round. Just sit with a friend and some snacks... and watch.. and sit and watch..

and sit...

hmmmm glad that's not me in there...

ZZzzzzzzzzzz!

Huh?  What's Bedtime already?

Okay... I'm sorta sleeeep......ZZZzZZZZZzzzzz!

heh well, my handler managed to get me upstairs and I got ready for bed.

*droool*

I pretended to have Rabies while I was brushing my teeth!  What do you think?  Convincing?  Hehehehehehe.

It was a pretty long day for me.  I got my handler to tuck me in and then it was time for sleep.

Hope you all had a good Sunday too!

G'night! 


*bear hug* Biff

Bear on Patrol - "Typical Day"?

In the Beginning....

*yawn* Good Morning!

OMG Would you look at the time?  I'm scared to.

What do you mean it's six in the morning?

SIX IN THE FREAKIN' MORNING?  - ON A WEEKEND??

Who gets up then?  ^SNORE^

Wha?  Huh?  Budidonwannagetupanouttabed.....no, tooearly.  Mustsleep. *mumble*

Okay, whosgonnamakecoffeeanitbetternotbeme! GRarrrrrr!  Grumpy Bear!  Outta my way!

Yeah, mornings are so not pretty.  Not where I live anyhow.  I never was much of a morning bear.  In fact, if you would kindly remove mornings from the day, I would be much happier.

After Coffee, Shower, Breakfast and a 20 minute drive

I am not even sure how I got here, but apparently I get to ski today.  My first day as a Bear on Patrol!  It's still morning, and the chairlift hasn't even started yet.  As my wrangler was one of the first in the door, it's up to him to make the coffee for everyone else!

Now I'm not faulting him for poor coffee skills, but some things are sacred and should never be trusted to amateurs.  I know, because while I was mostly asleep this morning, HE made the coffee.  I am still trying to figure out how something that is normally so good can taste like it was filtered through moldy socks! *shudder*

Note how I keep the chocolate nearby too. The mark of a true coffee artiste!  That's a tin of hot chocolate! OH BOY! I usually put a bit in my coffee to help mornings along! 

Ahhhh, that's better! Nothing like a cup of coffee while you put your jammies back on an relax to enjoy the morni..... WHAT? There's more to do? You're killing me! I just made coffee. What do you mean I have to share the coffee with everyone? Good Grief!

And now I have to go where? OUTSIDE? But it's cold out there! They are making snow! It's so cold.... I don't want to go outside! I'm going to radio for help if you keep threatening me!

*sigh*  Well, next thing you know I'm riding the chairlift up to the top of the mountain.  I was right, it was freezing up there!  January and it's sooo cold.  When it's this cold, they can spray water into the air and it falls down frozen, sort of like snow.  My friends around the world laugh because they think it's silly that we have to make snow in Canada.  I laugh back at them and say we have to make so much snow because all of their hot air keeps melting it.



The only problem with making snow this way is that sometimes it makes it really really really foggy!  So foggy that I get lost at the top of the hill, and being a small bear, that can be a big problem.

After a few minutes of shouting as my wrangler left me up there lost and alone while he took a run down the mountain and left me behind  (Me?  Complain? Hardly.), I was picked up and put back into my portable cave where I pretty much stayed until it was coffee break time.  I had the portable cave heater turned up to Full-Blast and it was still pretty chilly (except for my bum which was toasty)!

At coffee break time I got to meet a very nice, tall man who sort of looks like a skinny Santa Claus, which is funny because his name is Nick!  Nick is the Patrol Leader.  I think he got that job because he is so tall, that people can always see where he's leading.

He put me on his head and I almost hit the ceiling!



Nick told me it was time to start toboggan training.  I know --you would figure that since I went to the hill and did some skiing that I would know everything (which I do - just no one believes me).  Apparently not.

Down to Business

First, there is no pretending here. Tobogan training is really hard for a small bear. The toboggan weighs about 100 lbs. That's well.... that's like well, 170 times more than I weigh!  If I got run over by that it would HURT!

The instructors would have none of that, so they strapped me into the handlebars of the big blue toboggan and told me to bring it down the hill. Only there was a small problem, well more like a big problem!



So I asked if there was something I could do that was less tricky and more suited to someone my size. They quickly came up with something much better. They said I could be an injured skier (I only had to pretend I was hurt --which I am really good at from all of the training I took in the Fall). What better thing for me than an acting job!

Because I am so small though, I needed an actual person holding me. "Extra weight" they called him. I was brilliant though. I was all groaning and acting sore all over, and "don't touch me that hurts"... I was especially convincing when I was acting scared because the hill was so steep and scary. Here are the highlights of my performance:





...and I didn't even need to call in the stunt double!

Toboggan training went so well that I passed no problem.  In fact I was told that I had a unique acting talent that the world wasn't really ready for.  Unique talent!  Imagine that!



And so we come to this....

Well, it was now 4:30 p.m., and time to hand over everything to the night crew.  So we all headed back over to the Ski Patrol room after we made sure that no one who was really hurt was left stuck on the hill.  They call this part Evening Sweep although I didn't see any brooms and we left the snow sort of messy.

The end of the day also means handing in your radio.  Here I am at the sign-in book handing back my radio.

I loved having a radio.  It was pretty much the saddest part of my day to have to hand in that radio.  Oh the conversations we had and the secrets we shared!  I did find it a little strange that the Patrol Leader Nick and pretty much everyone else looked relieved when I handed in my radio.  Maybe they didn't like all of the times I used my radio to ask if the coffee in the Patrol room was fresh?  One day I'll ask them.

Now for the last order of business, we have a sign to remind people that they should be skiing - all day which is a lot, and that they should have a lunch too (although I didn't need reminding about lunch),  like so:



I didn't have the heart to tell them that it looks like a traffic light.

After a long day of skiing, we all wait in the Ski Patrol room while we make sure everyone that signed in is back safe and sound.  Then a few quick announcements, and then the moment we are all waiting for.  You see, as Ski Patrollers we spend all day in out ski boots, even at lunch.  We do this so that if there is an accident on the hill that needs lots of people to help we can get there fast!  I got a ski boot exemption because my wrangler pretty much carries me, and a bear in ski boots would be silly! Everyone else is waiting to see this:



and then we tell stories about how great we were while drinking sodas, and then go home and eat pizza!





.....Next time I'll talk about "The Race"....

Back from the Holidays!

 I'm Very Very Busy!  

We've all been there, that Very Very Busy Time leading up to the Holidays.  Those 10 minutes you've left yourself to organize everything, buy all your gifts online and get everything ready for the Perfect Holiday?

Did last year's solidly determined "This will NEVER happen again.  This year I'm going to be WAYS more organized and get everything done in August" elude you too?

How to Be "Busy" at Work Right Before the Holidays in 5 easy Steps:

1. This one is EASY!  DO NOTHING!  STOP IT!  You're doing Stuff, I can tell!  Stop right now, just sit back and relax, and do nothing.  Just sit there and read, or Facebook, just hang out, make and drink lots of coffee.  That's it!  Make and drink lots of coffee!  Isn't this Easy?
2. Tell everyone that you are very very busy! 
   
   
   This one sounds funny but bear with me.  People tend to believe everything they hear.  What better way to have them believe that you are very very busy than to just tell them that!  Here, with the benefit of modern office technology, I can tell thousands of people that I am very very busy in a single day! 
3. Write your Holiday Gift List.  This is especially well-suited to using up a day at the office!  Here you can get very very busy indeed!  I asked for pretty much everything in the Toy Section of the Sears Catalog.  This had to be typed, and then printed.  For this job I found the biggest, fastest, laser printer in the building and then told everyone that I needed it because I had a "Special Report" to do.  Make sure to send a copy to that gift-giving guy Santa, and send it Priority Post because there isn't much time!
   
4. Sign up for "Various Other Duties" that you think will be a good chance to show off your people, organizational, or management skills. 
   
   Make sure once you have signed up for the "Various Other Duty" that you form a committee, and have many coffee meetings!    In my case I signed up for the Fridge Cleaning for the week.  We had a great committee meeting, and then it was time to clean the fridge! 
   
   What a wonderful job!  All that food in there.  So much food, and all kinds of different food.  There was something for everyone!  I did get a tummy ache in the afternoon though.  Who knew Yogurt could go bad? 
   
5. Wait around for that "Very Important Report" that Someone else is working on that is mission-critical for you to move forward with your own show-stopping project.  In this case, it was waiting for Santa to reply to my 300 page letter! 
   

British Columbia - Coffee!

Hey everyone,

I was sipping a coffee, and my mind wandered again!  This time to about a year ago when I took a trip to British Columbia  I got to visit there in August 2008!  There was a wedding and lots of other commotion, I remember that, but I also remember lots of other things too.

Mainly I remember the coffee and the coffee shops, yes, there were lots of those, and berries!  August is berry time.

Coffee

Coffee in British Columbia is wonderful, and there is lots of it! There are coffee shops everywhere, and I mean everywhere! Better yet, not everyone there drinks Big Coffee either! There are lots of small, independent coffee places to get a good cuppa! Here are 3 of my faves:

Bojangles - local chain of 4 cafes.  People watching was pretty good at this one: 785 Denman Street, Vancouver, BC V6G 2L6.  In fact, this is where my Blog Header photo was taken, on their outdoor patio! Like any good coffee shop they also have a variety of good baked things that are great for nibbling or dunking with coffee.


Grouse Grind Coffee Bar - After a long climb (or cablecar ride) up Grouse Mountain, you need coffee! This place place has coffee and an awesome-tacular view of Vancouver and region from the mountaintop. How cool is that? Not only that but you can watch everyone arrive at the top of the mountain either sweaty (hiking) or smug (cable car riders like me!) I promise next time I'll make the climb (paws crossed)


Bamfield Boardwalk Cafe - Lattes in the town of Bamfield - accessible only really by boat! Who knew? Yet there I was having a latte with a bunch of other tourists and locals.  West Coast Cool! As it is at the end of the Coast Trail, anyone looking for a sign of civilization will appreciate a latte / cappuccino bar at the end of the hike!

Okay, so I was holding out, there's a fourth place, a really good place, with cool staff and well, really good coffee! Dancing Bean Cafe - Box 905 - 9752 Willow Street, Chemainus BC V0R 1K0 - they roast their own coffee too, and it's a really cool place to hang and check out the local arts scene.  Staff were really cool, and have to say one of the best lattes this bear has ever had! As a special mention, they also had the coolest sign posted in their cafe which was:

That's just a quick tour of BC coffee shops! There are plenty more to explore! Do you have a favourite Coffee place?

Cheers!

~Biff~

Camping Bear Style - part 2

Camping Eating - Bear Style 
(Well, you already knew this series was about camping - didn't you?)

So I had the tent all set up and ready to go, I stuck myself nearby in a corner to make sure I wasn't spotted immediately, and then waited.... and waited... and waited.  Wow, come to think about it, there was a lot of waiting.  It felt like forever!

I kept myself distracted by watching the wacky squirrels running all over the park.  Wacky squirrels, yes sir, they were funny running all around everywhere and everything and what with the throwing of pine cones on my head!  Owie!  Okay, so I don't like squirrels much anymore.


The Buffet Arrives (Sort of)

And then I saw a blue car pull into the campsite!  YAY blue car.  SCORE!  Score one for the bear!  Yes (insert victory dance here!).  I held my breath, and the car door opened and.... AW NUTS!  It was my wrangler and some of his friends!  Stupid GPS chip in my paw.

Wait a minute, they are unloading food!  Lots and lots of yummy food!  Oh Goodie!

Where to begin....

Well after all that screaming and yelling at squirrels, I was pretty thirsty.  Now those of you that have been following along or who know me understand that this bear's favourite indulgence is coffee of the latte variety.  Now my particular bear wrangler knows that the situation would be simply unacceptable without a coffee-making thingy packed for the trip.  

Here I am with a Mocha Pot.  Now it looks like I was cooking my bum but I wasn't!  Nope, that side of the stove was turned off!  The pot on the right was full of milk in order to go with the espresso coffee.  I don't much like espresso on its own, milk makes it yummier.  As we didn't have a milk steamy thingy, my plan was to blow bubbles into the how milk through a straw.  My wrangler told me the straw would melt, so no bubbles in the the milk 8-(

Dude, where's my Lunch?

Since my wrangler was here I thought I would be well fed.  Was I ever wrong about that!  I was told politely but firmly that we were each on our own for making lunch!  How terrible!  I complained bitterly only to be handed a stuffed-bear sized BBQ and some tongs and told to "Get on with it!" or something like that.

So, I did the only reasonable thing: lit the stupid BBQ and started cooking. I think I burnt a paw, but at least the burgers were yummy if I do say so myself!


Dude, Where's my Dinner?

Just as soon as I was done cooking and eating my lunch I was starting to get hungry for dinner!  I knew watching the squirrels was out.  What to do, what to do?

I know!  I'll sneak another coffee! 

In this case the stove lid provided perfect cover.  They never knew who kept drinking all their coffee!


FINALLY it was dinner time!  and what a dinner it was.  There was Steak,  yummy, yummy steak.  Oh sooo good and tender and cooked on the BBQ just the way I like it, and (droooooooool) was it ever good!  Such good steak.  Oh, and broccoli, but I'd rather not talk about that.  

You Promised me Dessert!

Being the end of Summer, it got dark pretty early. To keep warm and let other bears know this spot was spoken for I had my wrangler and his friends set up a campfire. This was immensely clever of me because it allowed them to make me s'mores! I demanded that they put two marshmallows in my s'more instead of one. Made it gooey on the paws!

The "Morning After Breakfast"

After eating all that chocolate and marshmallow the night before, I was feeling "queasy". Good thing there was coffee!

Well, shortly after that I "perked up" and breakfast was well underway.

Nothing tastes quite like oatmeal, partly because oatmeal doesn't really taste like anything!  My wrangler suggested that I try just plain boring oatmeal without anything on it to try to settle my tummy. I went off to find some, 'cause I wasn't gonna cook it myself!

I found some!  Score again!  Just as I was digging in, who should slow up by Goldilocks.  Party Pooper.  She threw a hissy fit and demanded that I stop eating her oatmeal. *sigh*

Back at the camp, I found some scrambled eggs to eat instead. I like mine with lots of pepper. Again done myself as good waiters are difficult to come by while camping.

Well, that was pretty much how the weekend went.

It was pretty good eats!

~END PART 2~