Author: Steve Cavers

I’ve been caught shoplifting… in reverse! On my way back from the drug store, I walked into Taiga Works at 8th and Yukon to check their prices on Gore-Tex jackets. As I passed through the entrance, their security alarm went off. The clerk eyed me suspiciously.

I was holding a very small London Drugs bag — obviously nothing from Taiga. Joking, I laughed and said, “Well I guess you caught me smuggling products into your store.”

Well that was a mistake, because the clerk had no sense of humour. Or any sense of reality. She immediately demanded that I give her the bag so that she could search it.

I looked at her in disbelief for a moment. Why? I asked her. What did she think I was doing — attempting to plant merchandise on her shelves? And besides, the bag was too small to hold any Taiga clothing.

I’d rather not, I told her, but she insisted on searching the bag. I should have just walked right out of the store then.

Fine, I said. Look. I opened the bag and showed her the memory card reader that I’d bought. No, she didn’t have a right to see it, but I just wanted to settle it. After all, she didn’t seem to be one with strong reasoning abilities, and I just wanted to look at prices. I turned to browse the racks.

Then she asked me, How did you leave London Drugs without setting off their alarm?

Pause.

Well, I guess your alarm is more sensitive than theirs. She frowned, unconvinced. I’m sure that, in her mind, I had obviously just ripped off a memory card reader (and the little bag too), and now I was going to make off with some camping supplies.

I browsed for about half a minute, but I wasn’t in the mood to shop — especially not under the watchful eye of Brainless behind the counter. I walked out, which triggered the alarm again. I half-expected her to tackle me on the sidewalk to check the bag again.

I think I’ll buy the jacket from Mountain Equipment Co-op. The MEC staff are friendly… and they don’t treat their customers like criminals.

Do you ever have a Monday morning where you feel like Darth Vader? Not the evil, heavy-breathing Vader, but the sickly humpty-dumpty Vader under the mask.

Yup. That’s me on the left.

Last night, Simon, Rebecca, and I headed out to try to catch Siwash Rock at Sunset. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Vancouver, Siwash Rock is a tall, standing rock that sits in the shallow water just off Stanley Park. It appears in billions of tourist brochures. It’s probably the most photographed chunk of rock in BC.

Well the first mistake we made was leaving about an hour too late. By the time we got to the park, it was already dark. We quickly got lost on the trail and decided to head back. For our efforts, I have one fuzzy, night-vision photo of Ev.

Rebecca and Simon, on the other hand, shared my ickle automatic digicam and took dozens of cool abstract photos of city lights. Which proves that you do not need a fancy professional camera to take interesting photos in difficult lighting conditions. It made me look pretty silly, walking around with a tripod and a man-purse camera bag.