The Terrible Truth

So, the terrible truth is that I have become terribly uninteresting. I don't know if I can really say that, but clearly, given my lack of blognitude my life has taken a turn for the boring. I wouldn't call it boring, how could I?! but I would call it something like... mundane... or routine... or something like that.

My life, as always, is fascinating, but it seems right now that each day is just as fascinating as the last... and the next for that matter. I am in a regular routine of work, then go home, then do more work (either Excel related or making tsubas) and then go to sleep, and repeat steps one through five. Things should get shifted around a bit soon as I get to resume my martial arts training, and my disgusting swimming schedule. Still for the most part things will be routine. I need a trip...

I will be heading to Bella Vista this weekend so hopefully something amazing will happen then... come to think of it, since it is Canada Day something amazing might happen. If it does I will be there with my camera to capture it for eternity... or at least until Google's servers die and lost all record of my Blog posts...

Anyways. I will keep my eyes peeled for interesting stuff, but until then I will stick with the routine. Hmm... when I think of this routine I think about how insane my life really is. The amount I work (and want to work) seems a little nuts, but I have been doing it for years now so I guess that won't change much. Not to mention the complexity of my work. Some stuff is pretty basic (stitching tsubas (handguards for training swords)), but some stuff is very complicated... for example, trying to fix an oil well that doesn't seem to want to be fixed...

Either way... it is good times...

Vancouver

For anyone who hasn't seen the photos of the riots following the Vancouver Canucks losing to the Boston Bruins you should really check this out:

Photos

And just because this is an insane clip, please watch below if you want to see what happens when you are in the wrong place at the wrong time in the middle of a riot...

The Kitten Battery

I wish I had photos of this, but alas I did not have the foresight to bring a camera to my well review. Why would I? All it was was a group of dudes sitting around in a battery going over wells one by one. Did I really need a camera for that? Oh yeah, this might clear things up, we weren't sitting inside a Duracell; a battery is where the oil from multiple wells goes on its way to a facility.

So, well review, at the battery.

The battery has some random equipment around just doing its thing, and a fair sized doghouse where the operators can hang out and fill out their paper work. The operators are almost exclusively male, and you can imagine all of these big manly men in their coveralls and covered in grease driving their big trucks and heading into this battery.

With all of these big tough manly men one thing that you might not expect to see is a kitten. I say kitten, but it could just be a small cat. Either way, when I came in she was sleeping one of the well used office chairs. When all of the operators came in they chose unoccupied chairs to sit in, and that included leaving the kitten be on the chair she occupied. When there were a bunch of people around it got noisy so she got up. She went and had some dry cat food from a food dish on the floor, and then decided to go hunting.

How does a cat go hunting inside a battery? I watched in amazement to find the answer. The kitten walked from the food dish towards the rear door, which I had not noticed initially. Down at the very bottom of the rear door there was a tiny little square with a tiny little door.

It was a cat door.

I would not have imagined such a thing, but that cat was as much a worker as the rest of the operators. Sure, she didn't work (maybe she kept the battery clear of mice) but she was part of the crew. As we went about our business no one took notice of her as she walked around their legs, or climbed from box to box to the highest point in the room. There was an open box atop a bookshelf and underneath the air conditioner. I was told that she goes to sleep up there occasionally.

Heh. All these big tough men, and a little kitten. Not much of a story here, but if you can imagine half of what I saw you will experience an enormous contrast, and perhaps one of the cutest things you have ever seen...

A Weekend to Remember

This weekend was the best weekend that I have had in a long long time. Mind you the activities of my recent weekends include vehicular breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, and nose surgery, so really, it wasn't a hard act to beat. Still... best weekend in a long time.

It started Friday... um... yeah, as usually weekends do start... I left work, got the Jeep and was on my way. There was a slight issue of whether I would be able to get away or not because I was getting a special kind of rig in, but, the rig wasn't needed yet so I was on my way. I hit the road around 5 which would mean that I would end up at Bella Vista at around 10 pm.

This drive was amazing. I mean, usually the drive is pretty incredible as you go through the Kootenay Plains, the Icefield Parkway, and then Kootenay National Park. So the scenery is always amazing, but this time it was the wildlife that really did it. As I made my way passed Rocky Mountain House the first thing I came across was wild horses. First I saw three wild horses, and then a bit later I saw a herd of about eight. Then as I continued through the the Kootenay Plains I saw a few bighorn sheep, and a bunch of deer. Over the course of the entire drive I had to have seen at least one hundred deer, with underestimation if any estimation is to be had at all. The real kicker that made this trip incredible was that I saw six bears. To see one bear while driving to Invermere during the spring is not that unheard of, but six?! That is something.

A Bear in Search of a Snack

A Bear Eating Grass... A Lot of It...

I ended up getting to Bella Vista at 10:10 pm, which was actually 5 minutes before my predicted time. We had a late supper and then headed off to bed.

There was stuff that I was supposed to do this weekend, but somehow the stuff slipped away as fun things started happening...

We got up and had a fantastic supper and then I did a little work (emphasis on a little), then we took a trip to town and had super fantastic ice cream cones (as they usually are from Candyland). Then it was lunch. We had some guests and they started to arrive. We had lunch, farted around doing yard work, well... mom did yard work and I watched... What? I'm not allowed to lift over 15 pounds because of my surgery!

Remi and Robbi

Early afternoon my dear friend Chloe and her two dogs Remi and Robbie came over, and with the folks and the guests we headed on a long walk. Thus starts the nonstop adventures...

Purple Perception (So Real it Looks Fake)

The first stop on the walk was the abandoned barn down by our field. Naturally I brought the bow and arrows for good measure (no, not for self defence, but bowing and arrowing in the field is always a good time). I have been in this barn a few times and there are a few relics from its being not abandoned days, like rusty horseshoes, a rusty saw, you know... some rusty nails... and stuff. Mom thought that we should retrieve some of this stuff so that people didn't walk off with it. People walking off with the stuff might sound strange, but a surprisingly large number of people stop for photos or to investigate. Anyways, we headed to the door, but since one hinge was broken it was stuck in the mud. Usually I would manhandle the door open, but given my 15 pound lifting restriction I was unable to do so. With the front door being stuck we headed to the back. It was open a crack so a few of us snuck in. Naturally, as I snuck I managed to catch my shoulder on a rusty nail which then tore my shirt and the skin beneath (don't worry I had a tetanus shot in 2009, and yes I checked to confirm).

The inside of the barn was as sketchy as I remember, but much of the hay has sorta mushed down so it was walkable, but super sketch. There were concerns of the barn falling down, and it was some kind of rank smelling in there from the rotting hay, and right were we went in there was some kind of dead mystery animal. We don't know what it was, maybe a baby deer, but it was desiccated and yeah... All the cool stuff was on the other side of barn so we decided to abandon our quest until I could open the front door. That was a good call.

The Wonders of the Walk

Somewhere to Be

The View From the Hill

The grown-ups headed across the field whilst Chloe and I took a few shots with the bow and arrows. No targets, just for distance and shits and giggles. Having wasted enough time we headed after said grown-ups to enjoy the walk. The walk was... enjoyable. We walked around the lake and didn't manage to lose a single walk. On the way back us kids headed up a hill to take a detour back to the house. Evidently there are huge numbers of trails up there and we ran into six bikers. We looked around a bit, found some rusty car parts... like a door, and a tree that was struck by lightning. You can see the tree in a video later that I took later... later in this blog.

Lilac

Remi

Skywards

Walk done we needed to return the dogs. We took them back to Windermere (where they were living for the weekend), had some smashed potatoes (baby potatoes boiled, bashed with a pot, and fried in butter), and headed back. We had left the bow and arrows in the field so we left Chloe's car on the road and headed out.

As always, adventures ensued. Six arrows. Three each. We fired them off and then went to retrieve them. We got Chloe's and then headed onto mine. We found two right away and then had to look for the third... yep... it landed in the swamp. Eff.

Archery (my rolled up pants make me look like a hobbit... does that counteract the effects of my herculean body)

To Calgary

Awesome Archery Skills

Oh well. I rolled up my pants and headed in. Yeah. The water was surprisingly warm once my feet were numb...

Arrow in the Swamp

We then continued to practice our awesome archery skills by firing the arrows back at Chloe's car; since that was the direction we were headed and all. The car was most definitely out of range so it was not a big deal. I fired first as can be seen in the amazing footage below...

Arrows are Fast

Ok, so the moral of the story is... arrows are fast. I still had another shot, so I aimed for Chloe's car that was most certainly, definitely, far out of range... like... so far...

Armed and Dangerous

Right before the camera shut off (thank goodness it did for the cussing that ensued may be offensive to some viewers) you may have heart a "clink." That "clink" was my arrow landing head first and near terminal velocity straight into the road... about 30 feet from Chloe's car that was so so so out of range. I guess maybe it was only so so out of range.

Oops.

Found It!

The Road

Arrow 1, Road 0

It was a good night. Having our fill of almost hitting Chloe's car we headed back to the house. I had a quick supper (Chloe had eaten whenst we had smashed potatoes with her family), and then we headed outside for a fire. We didn't know if we were going to have a fire, but there were no mosquitoes, it was super calm, and it was wet. Most of the summer it is too dry or too windy to have a fire, and when it isn't windy the mosquitoes are too bad, so this was a rare opportunity. We tossed some wood in the firepit, and had a glorious bonfire.

Some of the others from the house joined us for a bit, but mostly it was just Chloe and I and the beautiful view... until it was too dark... then it was just us and the... um... dark.

It being late, and us having had our fill of fire we hosed everything off and called it a night.

What a day, almost got tetanus, almost shot Chloe's car, almost got shot by Chloe (being contingent on shooting Chloe's car)... overall a great Saturday.

The next day everyone was planning to leave pretty early. I got up EAF and headed back to that tree that had been struck by lightning. I was not satisfied with my lack of photos so I took some more and took this video that is barely coherent (due to the early hour) but still shows you how totally awesome this tree that was struck by lightning is.

The Devastation of Lightning

Beside the Blast

Lightning

After I returned, the remaining lot of us headed for another walk. This was a nice loop in land, and as we came back we noticed that on the shady side of the hill there was about a zillion yellow flowers, so as they walked back on the path, I walked up by the flowers and took about a zillion photos. We looped back to the house where everyone packed and began to depart.

In the Woods

Yellow Flowers

Escape

Flowers Everywhere

My trip back to Drayton Valley is about 5 hours, but this time I was preparing to take longer. I always see things that I want to investigate or take photos of but I never seem to have the time. This day I was making the time. And off I went...

A Bella Vista Bee

My first exciting sight was this sheep... asserting its dominance as it totally stole my right of way on the highway...

Ownership by Horns

I continued up the familiar leg of Highway 93 back towards Lake Louise. I did not stop anywhere here because I have seen it quite a bit, and because my goal was to see the rest of my drive. Also, there are so many people it is hard to get photos just at the side of the road, but there are other days for that.

I fueled up at Lake Louise and was off through the Icefields Parkway. It must not have been 5 minutes past the park gates and I saw a small black bear. This was a good start. It was just a glimpse and it wasn't a good spot to grab photos so I forged on. It couldn't have been 10 minutes later when I saw a bunch of cars pulled over on the other side of the road... I knew what that meant. The coast was clear so I drove the jeep across the road and to the far shoulder. I knew there had to be a bear, and I knew he had to be close because all of the people were taking photos, but I could not see him because he was over the bank. I pulled up to the shoulder and could not have been 10 feet from the bear. I started him because he jumped a bit but then he just sat there. With my window down I snapped a photo and got some up close and personal footage.

A Big Brown Bear (No Zoom Needed)

10 Feet from a Brown Bear (I am whispering so it might be quiet)

Spectacular.

After the bear returned to the trees I headed off down the highway. I stopped at a stream on the side of the road and did a bit of hiking. I took note of the snow in the shadows, and the little mossy things that closely resemble the ones we found in Labrador.

The Stream

Moss Like in Labrador!

Then I continued on my way and stopped at Bow Lake for some photos of the lake and the glaciers. Bow Lake, btdubs is still almost completely frozen. I guess it makes sense because not far above it are huge glaciers that mark the edge of the Ice Fields. In the photos the glacier doesn't look that huge, but those sheets of ice are 50 metres thick!

Glacier

The Shores of Bow Lake

Having investigated all that I could without either skates or a bathing suit I continued on my journey. My next stop was a place called Mistaya Canyon. I had seen the pull off before so it sounded like fun. It was only a short walk to the canyon so I headed in. The canyon is not super deep, nor is it super wide, but it sure is something to see. The river rages through the rocks in a very convoluted fashion and over the ages it has worn its way down. There was a bridge over the canyon so we could look down, and there was a fence to stop you from jumping in... the fence only went so far on either side of the canyon so me, and a few other adventurous onlookers headed around the fence and towards the canyon.

Mistaya Canyon

Raging Rapids

A Better View

It was great.

I wanted to look down into the canyon, so at first I was trying to lean over to look but I couldn't get very far without feeling unsafe, so instead I laid down on my belly and stuck my head over the edge...

This is what I saw:

Mistaya Canyon

Ok, so... yeah... I had nose surgery just a little over a week before, and one of the things they said was that you should not bend over. If you bend over the blood rushes to your head and increases pressure on your nose and then you can have a... situation. So, my situation was that I was so excited that I forgot that I was not supposed to bend over... and... well... evidently hanging your head over the edge of a canyon counts as bending over.

Oops. This movie is an apt demonstration of me learning my lesson... be warned, if you watch there is a little blood...

Nose Surgery Woes (Warning: Some Blood)

Thankful that my nose had stopped bleeding and that I didn't need an Emergency Room that I didn't have I hopped back in the Jeep and headed on my way. I was almost at the Saskatchewan Crossing, and then I was turning onto Highway 11 and back onto the Kootenay Plains.

This has been an amazing weekend for bears, and it was only a few minutes before there were a few cars stopped on the side of the road. I joined them, cracked open the sun roof, and stood up. I was able to just sort of stand there and rest on the roof as I watched a small black bear lounging in the sun. He was eating grass, and then when he ran out of grass where he was he would sort of shift to a new location. Some may say he was being lazy, but in the interest of saving energy the bear would not stand and move, he would sort of... slither. That might not be the best word, but you can be the judge of that:

Black Bear!

Black Bear Eating Grass

The Kootenay Plains really are quite exceptional, and on the plains is the Bighorn dam and reservoir. At this point I was becoming aware of how long this drive was taking me so I didn't stay long, but I did manage a little hike that gave me an enormous view:

The Bighorn Reservoir

Aqua Waters

Reservoir

Underfed and starting to get tired I continued. I watched the gorgeous scenery pass me by with the reservoir and the Kootenay Plains and then I passed the reserve, and then Nordegg, and I was on the homestretch to Rocky Mountain House and then Drayton. It was this homestretch that I had seen the Wild Horses on the way to Bella Vista, and I am happy to report... I saw them again...

Wild in the Trees

Wild Horses Chillin'

Run Free

Wild Horses on the Run... Um... Away from me...

And Away...

It was getting late, so after watching the horses run off I kept going. I did stop for one more set of photos on my way to Drayton, what can I say... I couldn't resist.

Burning the Clouds

That 5 hour drive? Yeah, it took me 10 hours. It was so worth it. So. It has shown me some of the beauty of those drives we so take for granted, and it has given me ideas of what I need to revisit. Especially the Kootenay Plains (Siffleur Falls, the Wildlife Reserve, the Douglas Fir Natural Area), and definitely the Ice Fields.

This was my first test drive with the Jeep again. The Jeep works great. It looks like my automatic lights are broken (maybe there is a fuse for that) but having the alternator fixed seems to have increased my driving range by 150 kilometres!!! That is super fantastic.

This has been a long blog, but the best adventures are. This was a great weekend, and not one that I will forget anytime soon. You've seen a lot of photos here, but there are a bunch more in the albums (Columbia Valley, Icefields Parkway), so take a look if you are interested.

Its been almost a week since this adventure, but just writing it... just reliving it... I need a nap!

Until next time.

Adieu.

A New Nose

Ok, really, its the same old nose, but there is a little less of it. After surgery the doctor informed me that they pulled out a bbbiiiiigggg chunk of cartilage, so I should notice a big difference. I hope I do.

I guess I will start with the beginning of this story, because I find it somewhat interesting if not super interesting. Maybe like... medium to medium rare interesting.

So, I got up EAF. I was staying with my grandparents who graciously agreed to take me to the hospital. This was no doubt before they learned that they would have to drive me to the hospital at 6 in the morning. Despite the early time they made good on our arrangement, for which I am enormously grateful. So there I was, awake supa' early, without any food or drink since midnight the day before and on my way to the hospital.

This was just a minor procedure so I wasn't really nervous, but there was still going to be a man in a white mask sticking pointy things up my nose so maybe I was a little nervous. When we got to the hospital everything went as planned. I headed in to Day Surgery, got myself a dress, a nice little room to myself and I was ready to go. This was however still two hours before surgery.

Most of the wait was just that... a wait... but there were some interesting things. The nurses asked me all sorts of interesting questions about my medical history, everyone kept asking me who I was as if they had forgotten... or as if I had... I suppose it was good I had that handy little wrist band with my name on it... then came the less fun part of waiting for surgery... getting an IV.

Usually, a nurse comes up to you gives you an IV and is on his/her merry little way. This was a little different. A nurse came up to me, with all the necessary tools in tow, and we start up standard pre-surgery conversation like: "how's the weather?" Anyways in this pre-surgery conversation she merrily chirps out "this will make you my twentieth IV." Twentieth? I told her that she was supposed to tell me that I was her two hundredth IV... she said she didn't want to lie.

Fear not, twenty seemed like plenty and she seemed skilled enough. She grabbed my hand, looked for an appropriate vein, and without flinching or blinking or inging stuck the IV needle into my hand. Now, I don't have a lot of experience with IVs since my last one was put in while I was unconscious, but it seemed to me like this was hella painful. Still, I didn't want to be a wuss so I toughed it up and said everything was fine. Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch.

The needle was in. Thank God. My hand was stinging like crazy and the nurse was packing up and getting ready to go.

"So, can you feel that?" She asked me.

"Yeah, it hurts." Said I.

"No, can you feel the fluids." She clarified.

"Wha?" Said I, bewildered.

She looked at my hand, then at the little drippy thing on the IV, then back to my hand.

"Oh no." Said she.

When your hand is stinging like crazy because there is a little tubey thing protruding from it "oh no" is the last thing you want to hear. The fluid was not going into my arm... why? We missed the vein.

Gah.

Yeah... I'm not so good with needles. I can handle them, but... yeah. Not so good. My nurse, with many apologies went through the process of removing a bloody IV thingy from my super sore hand. I told her not to apologize, as she was learning and we all have to start somewhere, but she apologized nonetheless.

Now, throughout this saga it became quite interesting with the nurse checking out my veins. Apparently my veins have a tendency to move around when prodded and they are kinda weby. When my regular nurse came back I was glad to see that it was she who was going to take stab numero two at the IV. She looked at a vein in my wrist that was a little better and she went to it. The second attempt was painless. This could have been because my other hand hurt so much from the first one, but either way... painless.

My neighbour had laughed at my plight through our dividing curtain while this was all underway, and I can't really blame him, I was laughing too. It was pretty funny, though looking at my bruised hand maybe it wasn't that funny after all. I later had to yell through the curtain at my neighbour and the nurses as they told him that "he has nice veins."

Nice veins. Pffft.

Really, that was more exciting than any surgery could possibly. When they came the nurse introduced himself, asked me if I knew who I was and what I was doing there, and then he wheeled me into surgery. Last time I was gassed, but this time it was IV. I entered the room, with some presence I might add, introduced myself, and declared why I was there. I lay down on the little bed/table/thing and prepared myself. A little warm fan blew warm air up my dress as the anaesthesteissitis injected something into my IV.

I love how surgery goes...

"You should be feeling the drugs kicking in now." Said the anaesthesteissitis.

"Its all over." Said a nurse.

Instant surgery. Boo-yah! Recovery for me was not as traumatizing as last time. Last time I woke up screaming, and no amount of morphine could squelch my pain. This time, I woke up with a little ache in my nose and a lovely nurse asking if I needed more morphine... yes please!

Good times.

I dozed for a while with an ice pack sitting on my head, and it was not too long before I was free to go. A short nap later and I saw Grandma walking into Day Surgery pushing a four-wheeled chariot. I sat in the mighty throne, bid the fantastic nurses and doctors adieu, and rolled away.

Grandpa had the van ready, and I went from one ride to another as we headed home. Other than my nearly getting sick in the van, stupid pain killers, we made it home and my recovery was pretty uneventful. I rested with Grandma and Grandpa for a while and then a friend picked me up. We headed to 711 to acquire my favourite beverage and seemed to cause a stir at the counter.

"Did she hit you?" The cashier asked me.

I nodded solemnly.

After that we went to the house... to which I had no key. Evidently I was on some pretty strong drugs, and not only was I hilarious to watch, but I was a bit out of it. The key was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. So, we skipped our house and headed to Blockbuster and then to my sister's house.

Blockbuster was another interesting story. I don't recall all of it, but I remember sitting on the floor at some point, and then I remember being at the counter. Evidently you usually need ID to rent a movie, but in my current state the attendants seemed to forgo it. I wasn't sure what name the account was under, or what number, so I spouted out phone numbers and names until they got the right one. Everyone at the counter seemed interested in my since I was a bit... high, per se... and I was bleeding into the bandage under my nose.

I dutifully informed them that my friend had struck me in the face, to which she replied "well, next time I get to choose the movie."

Fun was had by all!

The days after that have been a blur. I remember lots of movies. Lots of different people babysitting me. I remember cleaning out my nose with water (bleaugh). I remember switching out my bandage. I remember percocet... sweet sweet percocet... and I remember being sick from drugs. I was supposed to be back in Drayton on Monday, but I was definitely suffering from severe nausea and it was not a good idea to drive. I took Monday off, so I could just rest Sunday night, watching more movies with my abusive friend, and then drive back to Drayton on Monday.

I have not been productive at all after surgery. It seems a lot harder to do anything then I remember, even driving back here took all day. It took like half the day to pack, half the day to unpack, and half the day to drive... not necessarily in that order.

Even now... I went to work today but I was not at my best. My nose hurts, it keeps leaking, and the drugs make me sleepy... Hopefully I heal quickly and then I will be super productive again.

Still, it has been an adventure. Oh yeah, so those IVs. When I woke up from surgery one would think that the pain in my hand would be the first thing I noticed. Nope. The first thing I noticed was the pain from my failed IV. Also, there is almost no bruise from the IV that worked, but from that first the back of my hand has turned a painful back and blue. I wish that poor nurse well, she did a hell of a better job than I would.

Anyways, I am off to enjoy trying to comprehend a movie whilst enjoying Tylenol 3.

I am excited for the swelling to go down... I can't wait to breathe!!!

Chaos sans Photos

I have not written in a while. At first it was because things were too boring and I had nothing to say, and then, it was because so much was happening I did not have time to say anything at all. I now have an unexpected pause in which I will regale you with the events of late.

Usually I am busy, but lately things have been a little bit crazy. I suppose my life is always a little bit crazy, so then lately things have been a little bit more than a little bit crazy. So much so, that I am writing you now in what was supposed to be the middle of the craziness, however, in the true nature of chaos my plans have shifted yet again. This has resulted in me sitting here on my couch, groggy from a lack of sleep and the inconvenience of time changes, writing you of the adventures that have happened and the ones that will not.

I guess it really isn't that exciting, just busy.

Work has been busy. I have been working on a project for a while now, and though it is not complete it was functional. We went into Calgary last week for a meeting. It seems strange, technically I live in Rocky Rapids, but I do not seem to spend a great deal of time here. Away for a weekend, back for a few days, and then to Calgary for a few days. The meetings we had were good, as good as meetings can be at least, and I did my best to dazzle my co-workers with a demonstration of my project. I would like to think that they were sufficiently dazzled by my exciting project, but, I think the project is really only exciting to me and maybe it wasn't that dazzling. Either way, it was a good trip to Calgary and a good team building event.

The meetings were not really the team building part, it was what happened after the meetings. The entire thing was a big secret, and we had been guessing at what kind of event you can do with 30 people with varying interests and tastes. They chose an excellent event. We headed off to a small cooking school where we were split into teams and expected to cook a meal that we were then expected to eat. Unreasonable? I know. But we gave it a go anyways. This reminded me of when I started my MBA in New Brunswick. In our first week of orientation we did a similar, if not identical event (save for the menu). It was a great event then, except that one of our teams did not execute their portion of the meal quite correctly, resulting in us not being able to eat that portion. Correction, people could eat it if they wanted to... could.

I had some fears of that this time, but we went on full bore ahead anyways. My team was given the task of preparing salad and vegetables. Those who know me might find this ironic as I generally avoid vegetables, especially salad, like the plague. Oh well, I had to prepare them, but nowhere was it writ that I had to eat them. So prepare them we did. We thought we had the easiest job, but when we looked around the kitchen it was us who finished our preparations last.

The meal was served, and all courses were prepared to at the minimal with an edible amount of expertise. This was already better than my MBA meal. We ate, and it was good. I did try out vegetables, I figured that red peppers and carrots were a safe bet. They were... ok... In the end the different courses were judged and by some freak accident, and by freak accident I mean incredible culinary expertise and flawless teamwork, our team won. We took our bows, and I added to my collection of PennWest propaganda a rather nice backpack. Everyone was given a PennWest apron, and good times were had by all.

After that we headed to Melrose on 17th, which brought back a great deal of memories from High School, since Melrose is across the street, and then I headed off to meet a friend while the rest of the crew moved on to the next location. When I left my friend so that she might get some sleep before work the next day I headed back to the hotel. On the way (since I was on foot) I saw some of our guys outside smoking in front of another bar and I rejoined the PennWest engineering pack. It was a good night, and at 2:30 amish, I called it a night.

The next morning me and some of the less hungover guys headed to the Palliser for breakfast and then hit the road.

We were back in Drayton for the afternoon, where I was able to get some work done, and then home, sleep, awake, work, sleep, and time to pack for the long weekend. The packing was not a big issue. The big issue was when it was time to go, and I headed outside, loaded my loaner truck and started it up. By started it up I mean turned the key to hear... nothing. The truck was dead. I was able to boost the truck but now I was a bit concerned. I was heading to Edmonton to fly to Toronto for the weekend, and when I returned I was to be in Edmonton for work meetings. This seemed like valid reason to use my work truck, so I called my boss to get his permission and I was on the road.

Getting to Toronto was uneventful. I didn't get hassled too much for carrying around a sword, and I got on the shuttle to Guelph and checked in all before 11 pm. One of my long time friends was already there and waiting and we had a chance to catch up a bit before heading to bed.

The following two days were filled with enormous amounts of martial arts training. It is always good to see the different martial artists. We are a relatively small group so it is nice to catch up once in a while. Also, you have to think that if you usually do 2-4 hours of practice a week, and then suddenly you do two 8 hour days, in those two days you just did 1-2 months of training. That sounds tiring, and let me tell you... it was. It was also amazing. I feel this this was the best seminar I had yet been to, and I feel that I learned a great deal.

This was to be a good seminar either way, because I graded last December I didn't have to test this time. Well, that was how I thought it went. Evidently there is a little loophole in the system that worked in my favour. It turns out that I live a long way away from Guelph, and that means there is a little flexibility on my grading. I was informed that if I wanted I could do the test this weekend so that I did not have to return in December. I would not be awarded the grade until December, but it would save me a trip. I jumped at this idea because it could easily save me $800. This was then very interesting because where you would usually get months to prepare for a grading I had two days. Two days was enough. I keep up on my practice and I was relatively confident. I met up with my partner for the last test and the two of us practiced hard to get used to each other's technique. When it came to the test yesterday I did my best and felt like I had an excellent run. Everyone grading for the second dan in Jodo passed... including me!

It was a great weekend. I passed my test, my friend passed his test, we checked out of the hostel, and headed into the arboretum. Guelph has an amazing arboretum, if you want to see just go check out my photo album.

We headed back to Toronto where he headed back to Saskatoon and I headed to a U of T Hostel for the night. This morning I caught my plan EAF and somehow made it back to Edmonton. As I said, I was supposed to be in meeting in Edmonton tonight, and tomorrow, but things seem to change around a bit. The meetings were cancelled. I arrived in Edmonton without issue (including getting through Toronto airport with my sword without issue... which is a rare thing... they are soooo picky at TO) and then I headed back to Drayton.

I got back early, but I had some late nights, early mornings, and with the time change my internal clock is all messed up. I boosted my loaner truck and took it for a ride to give the battery a charge and then I went inside to waste away the day. And that is what I have done. I showered. Had a nap. Ate lunch and watched a movie. Had another nap... and now I am here, checking e-mail and writing to you. I am contemplating another nap, but I need to stay up to a decent hour to try and reset my internal clock.

Tomorrow I will check the truck again, as on Thursday my life continues with its usual chaos. I will be driving back to Calgary so that on Friday I can have a nose job. Nose job?! Yes yes, I always thought there was a little too much on the top... just kidding... I am having nose surgery though. I am having my deviated septum... undeviated? Well, we will see how it goes. I hope like hell that truck can get me there or else I am going to have to come up with another plan very quickly.

So. Tomorrow I work. The next day I work. And then surgery. Fun. Fun. Fun.

I will let you know how it goes.

Oh yeah, and next time you see me, let me know how it looks!

Free Food... With a Catch

So, Mom wanted to clean out the upstairs freezer (you know, one of those half of the fridge type freezers), and it so happened that I was going to be in Calgary for a few days while I took a course through work. We made plans to clean the freezer, as we always do, and then in the few days when we were both in Calgary at the same time we failed, as we always do, to execute the project.

In order to remedy this and to defeat the freezer once and for all we decided some kind of division of labour. Mom was going to Mexico so she clearly couldn't take the first move, so it was up to me. She said to go through the freezer, take what I wanted, if anything, and leave the rest for her to go through. In this process I did take the liberty of throwing out those things which were completely unidentifiable, or the things that we were able to identify but wished we weren't.

So that is how it went. A friend and I dove into the freezer to tackle this seemingly gargantuan job. Why she helped me I do not know, but I am glad someone was there to grab me by the heel to pull me back out again.

Shelf by shelf we went through everything in the freezer. It was kind of amazing what we found. There were what looked like well packaged and hopefully well preserved foods, and then there were some half opened but potentially well preserved foods, and then there were the foods that scarcely resembled foods.

In this process I found some stuff that was mine, and some other stuff that looked ok. I tossed it in a cooler to take home. When we threw out the really bad stuff there was still quite a bit of good food for Mom and Dad.

This was a good situation, I grabbed a little extra food, and now Mom only had to go through the remaining stuff to see what she wanted and what not. We even took the time to sort everything so that they might find stuff instead of just giving up and leaving it in the back (which seems to be our usual system).

Anyways, I took my food and I headed back to Rocky Rapids.

That was food, and here comes the catch.

The next night I thawed out a steak of some sort for supper. It was not packaged that well, but the saran seemed to keep out most of the frost bite. I cracked open a garlic sausage that was almost completely unwrapped, and then the dregs of a pack of bacon that was sort of in a bag.

The steak, it turns out was almost untouched by its lengthy stay in the freezer. The garlic sausage had definitively dry ends, but was perfectly edible. The backon on the other hand... I got one of my five slices down and was done. I supposed the smell of it should have turned me off, but it was bacon! I only ate the one slice... well, the once slice and one bite of another slice to confirm... and then I tossed it.

Overall, I am expecting a sort of 50/50 on this food as some seems ok, and some... not so much.

So it has been an adventure, but the real adventure happened the morning after the bacon. Have you ever had a bathroom emergency? Sure you have, we all have them from time to time. Now, imagine having a bathroom emergency while you are in a pool.

Oh yeah. How do you manage to swim across the pool as fast as you can (while holding in your business), and then get up on the deck (while still holding in your business), and then sprinting to the change room (nonchalantly of course), and then, and only then execute said emergency. Let me tell you, it is tricky, and I never did finish my swim that day. Maybe it is because I could not handle the walk of shame back across the deck and into the pool, or maybe its just because I know these things come in pairs... or triples if its a bad day...

Anyways. The moral of the story is, even if your Mom says you can take what food you want, it might not always be a good idea...

Yeah... watch out.

Gahhhh.