Jeff Chan

Vancouver living.
Monday night: Snowboard in dumping snow with plenty of “moments of float” and a surprising number of untracked turns.
Tuesday afternoon: Rainforest trail run under blue skies with yesterday’s snow cranking up the creekflow.

Nice place we got here.

Greenery and gradients on Pender Island.

The gorgonopsids and dimetrodon disappeared by the Permian extinction event, when most life died off, clearing the way for the dinosaurs to arrive and take over.

Dimetrodon. Often lumped in with dinosaurs but predated them, living from 295-272 million years ago in the early Permian. When the quadruped tree branched, these characters appeared on the synapsid branch that led to mammals. Reptiles came from the diapsid branch next door.

On NYE I met two of my favourite proto-mammals from the Permian (pre-dinosaur) period: Inostrancevia and Dimetrodon.

Inostrancevia (gorgonopsid family), one of the earliest sabre-tooth predators. Lived 259-252 million years ago in the late Permian.

Back in use after 25 years as a space filler. SWR SM-400s, Peavey 210 TX, SansAmp Bass Driver DI.

This rig saw regular action in practice spaces and on stages during my Toronto years but has rarely been turned on in Vancouver.

DeoxIT got the scratchies out and it sounds as good as I remember

Brachiosaurus enjoying some scenery in the Seychelles.

A digital SLR was not in the budget for our Africa trip, but scoring a used Nikkor 70-210 lens for $89 gave me a way to pull the Masai Mara wildlife into range with my Nikon F80.

“Pick up Velvia from the lab” day is one of the best days. Now it’s time to fire up the Nikon Coolscan.

First skate session after three weeks in Africa. Spent the tail end of golden hour on old standards, then got into new material. Frontside noseslides are new trick #2 since joining Team 50+.
Fingus the Gutter Rat needs to work on his framing.

Awesome, thanks. I’m new to Monsieur Dutronc’s music and really digging it.

Thus, I ended up with a $100 (annoying to use) and a sheaf of $1’s and $5’s (too raggedy to use). But I could put that Benjamin on the outside and feel like the cock of the walk.

Please note: Carrying a Kansas roll in Nairobi is a terrible idea.

Anatomy of a “Kansas Roll” (as defined in Miles Davis’s autobiography).

Things one learns quickly in Nairobi:
- USD is commonly used
- ATMs default to dispensing $100 bills
- Most places reject bills that are wrinkled or 10+ years old and will unload these on unsuspecting dupes at any opportunity

YouTube video by Jacques Dutronc - Topic Et moi, et moi, et moi

Discovered this ‘60s garage gem while watching “Roadrunner: A film about Anthony Bourdain” on a flight from Nairobi.
Et moi, et moi, et moi. By Jacques Dutronc.
Catchy simplicity at its best with great lyrics (I had to dig back into my high school French).

youtu.be/mTj8rizW9Bg?...

If you’ve read @waub.bsky.social’s Moon of the Turning Leaves, you’ll get the coincidence of finding this old Nat Geo beside the TV at one of our vacation stops.

I recommend it if you’re interested in a different angle on post-apocalyptic storytelling (read Moon of the Crusted Snow first).

A day in the life of a lion pride: The lionesses take down a water buffalo and get to snacking. The male(s) ambles up to take advantage of the ladies’ hard work. Then everyone lays down in the shade for a serious nap.

Masai Mara National Park in Kenya with Wildebeest Safaris.

That female crossed right in front of us - presumably to hang with the male and female off in the distance. They’re in there, I promise.

Masai Mara National Park in Kenya with Wildebeest Safaris.

Birdwatching feels different when the birds can kick your ass. I like ostriches because these weirdos are the closest I’ll get to seeing an ornithomimosaur.

These two giraffe bulls went from sunrise posing to full-contact sparring. They’d swing their heads into the other’s body and it sounded like dropping a king-size futon off of a four-story balcony.
Masai Mara National Park with Wildebeest Safaris.

I was never much for noseslides, but my baseplate recently got into the action and now I think they sound pretty nice. Not as nice as a 50-50, of course, but you can decide for yourself…

A few of the books that helped me get through it all. Notably absent and the most important of the lot: “The Back Mechanic” by Stuart McGill (currently on loan to someone who needs it).

- 9 skate sessions. Countless ollies, FS/BS 50-50s, slappies, and BS noseslides. FS noseslides added to the repertoire.

- 8 trail runs. Totals: 77.6km and 2140m elevation gain.

- Misc. hiking/walking/kayaking (not noted), plus body maintenance exercises.

Since May 22:

- 1x Jiu-jitsu. Thanks @gapcsu for letting me and my nephew drop in. My first rolls in a long time were beyond satisfying (even if it took my body two weeks to bounce back).

Final three pages of log entries before starting book 4.
In 2016 I started tracking my recovery from a bulged disc / pinched femoral nerve and my notes turned into a long-term habit. I was walking with a cane and taking 3 kinds of drugs to get out of bed back then, so I’m calling this progress…

The Dawn Patrol Trailrunning Club is small and our judgement is questionable. 18km and home by 9:50 on the longest day of the year.

The trail didn’t live up to its name, but there was a surprising quantity of bear doodie.

This is a great one with tons of backstory potential. Did a fourth grader write that? A teacher? Parent? Sixth grader?