I was part of the Momentum Sea Quartz 30 May preorder which arrived a couple of weeks ago, along with the stainless steel bracelet. I've been anticipating this since January. For the preorder price of $195, I think it was a steal.
Even though though I'm not particularly into quartz watches anymore (I more prefer a nice automatic movement) here are a few things that drew me to the Sea Quartz 30. The Magnum PI association, the overall design, the lume, the sapphire crystal, etc. Having owned Momentum watches before, I knew I can expect a solid build quality.
A couple of years back, I owned a Stowa TO1. I loved everything about that watch, but in the end I found it to be too massive for my skinny wrist. That watch came with one of the best rubber straps. It was a fitted rubber strap, smelled like vanilla, and could withstand anything it was built so well.
I found out that you can get those exact straps from WATCHBANDCENTER (WBC). It's the My Sportivo lineup. I believe Stowa and WBC might be using the same manufacturer - both companies being out of Germany.
After I looked closer at the Sea Quartz 30's stainless bracelet I realized that the clasp might work with those My Sportivo straps from WBC.
I ordered the "Emden" Camouflage 20-18mm to try. The strap was waiting for me when I got home today. I resized it, threw it on the Sea Quartz and the result is... well, you be the judge.
If you're not into the camo print, there are lots of other options. Check out the rest of the lineup. The size you'll need for your Sea Quartz is the 20mm lug width (18mm at the buckle).
Update 2023-06-27: I ordered an orange one of these. See video below. I think that's the winning combination to date. These rubber straps are amazing.
Yesterday we had a crap ton of wood delivered from the Temiscaming Home Hardware for our dock rebuild and the delivery kid shared his life story with us while helping us unload it. He said he's a member of Long Point First Nation and moved to Temiscaming about 4 years ago. I learned through him that being native he is entitled to claim any crown land as his own as long as it doesn't belong to the government. He can live there for the rest of his life, pass it down generations, but cannot sell it.
Anyway I think we ended up hauling about 8 boat loads of wood in the pouring rain. It was a great day.
Going to the Canada's Got Talent Finale was unforgettable. John had a blast, my mom and sister did as well. I have to say it's much more entertaining to go to the live filming than it is to watch it on TV.
They start filming at 4:30PM. I learned this is to accommodate the set changes as they take longer than a live broadcast would allow. They do this until about 7PM. Then they ask the audience to take a 1 hour break. During the break they put the recording together. At this time we're free to roam the theatre. We can go up on stage (get in line!), check out the judges desk (but can't sit), etc.
At 8PM we all come back and they air "live" to Canada the recording they did earlier. Then at around 9:45PM the judges come back and they do an actual "live" broadcast of announcing the winner.
Not much (if anything) seems to get cut from what they record so the filming itself looks to be a "do or die" situation. It's pretty much like a live recording, just with a delayed broadcast I guess...
During commercials, for us in the live audience, there is an emcee who hypes up the crowd, finds talent in the audience to pass the time, etc. For example when we were there they found singers in the crowd, people that could do acrobatics, things like that.
They also have a small crowd of "seat-fillers" to fill empty seats or to act as "fans" to some of the contestants (eg: creating a [peaceful] "mosh-pit" like in this Season 2 Finale).
I also learned that the bristol board signs people hold up like "We love you Howie!" are provided by the production team. They're left on random seats throughout the audience beforehand.
The whole production is very well organized. It runs like a well-oiled machine. It's inspiring to watch how much work goes into it.
Dance act Conversion was the winner of Season 2. They were awesome.
I volunteer a lot at John's school. Parent council, school trips, popcorn days, you name it.
To show appreciation for all the efforts volunteers put forth the school organized a breakfast yesterday. There were about 20 of us in attendance. Some of the younger classes came down and sang to us... we had food, cake, coffee... It was awesome.
One of the volunteers stood up and said a student asked her why she volunteers and she said because it makes her feel good. I think that's as simple as it gets and it's totally accurate. Volunteering at a school makes you feel good. Making a difference in the kids' lives makes everyone feel good.
The closing statement from the principal was emotional, I will never forget it. I'm happy I could be part of it all.
We rode downtown and grabbed lunch at The Lock Pizza. Perfect day for a ride. We kept a good pace, around 15km/h on average.
Weather, work schedule and mood have put my lunch date with Junior on pause lately. Getting back into it now. He appreciates it just as much as I do.
The broken windows theory stems from an article written in 1982 by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. Their theory states that signs of disorder will lead to more disorder. A building with a broken window that has been left unrepaired will give the appearance that no one cares and no one is in charge. This will lead to vandals breaking the rest of the windows and adding graffiti, because in their minds nobody cares. (Source)
Yesterday I learned from John that the word HOMES has the first letter of the 5 Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).
This is becoming somewhat of a habit. We're heading up north again today! I'm excited.
But I'm working on my website.
We used to call Freddie "murder paws" - but slowly she's becoming less and less murderous.
This week I really took a liking to Greek salads. I made as many as I could, each better than the last I think. I'm almost there.
Went to Canoe Lake for sunset. Learned that the Portage Store at Canoe Lake is closing down permanently because they lost the contract. This is very sad because lunch at the Portage Store has become tradition when we take a day trip to Algonquin Park in August during our island week.
We saw another, bigger moose later in the day. She stuck around for about 2 hours! She has quite the crowd gathering around her and she didn't even care. Moose seem to love to come down to the ditch by the road this time of year to enjoy a nice drink from the spring melt -- and there is lots of that going on all around the park right now.
