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June 8, 2004 - 10:12 am  The Red Mile Allright, I suppose it's a little late posting this picture now after we lost... But on June 5 I brought the kids down to the Red Mile in what could have been (and should have been) our Stanley Cup victory. Had they only counted that goal the ref's didn't see, what a very different outcome for both teams! Still we had a good time and made some friends while we were at it. Some people from Saskatchewan came over to Calgary to see the Red Mile and decided to bring out a TV and watch the game right there on 17th Ave. By the end of the night there were two TV's set up, and probably a hundred, maybe 150 people watching one of two small (13" - 19") TV's. I took a couple of other pictures that night as well which can be seen in the Family section of the photo album. There are also the pictures there from our trip to the Zoo the previous weekend. There's also a few new chapters in My Life as well. Slowly but surely I have been adding to the photo album. Pretty soon I hope to begin work on the new one but time it seems is always against me. Oh well, whoever said that life was fair? Just ask the Flames June 13, 2004 - 6:50 am Sick as a dog This cold has finally overtaken me. I picked it up riding home from Millers' last weekend in the rain, held it at bay all week. But with the arrival of the weekend I was also met with the arrival of the cold. Actually it's been a bit of a blessing because it's forced me to sleep most of this weekend. I woke up at 4:30 saturday morning and tried to drink some milk to calm my screaming throat, but between the stuffed nose and raging nerves I could have been drinking unleaded petrolium and not known the difference (except maybe for the gas it would have given me...) Actually, speaking of gas, next time you see a can of cooking spray, (Like Pam, for example) take a look at the list of ingredients. The last two ingredients are isobutane and propane, and it will usually list them as propellants. No wonder eating that stuff gives you gas! huh huh. Now that's food for thought! Allright, if you're not already moaning, I will stop now. One of the other good things about being sick this weekend is that it has given me a chance to sit down with the music for my cousin's wedding next weekend. Boy did that ever come up fast! (Allright, there was a little procrastination on my part... But in my defence I have been really busy...) I've found a song that's shot itself into my top 10 favorites list... Pete Yorn - Undercover. It's on the Spiderman soundtrack but you can also get it here if you prefer. It's the kind of song I can picture myself lying in the back of the van listening to amidst the sound of heavy raindrops striking the metal roof and sliding down the windows. We are one inside these walls, undercover. I might just do that today, we're expecting thundershowers this afternoon and rain all day... We're almost half way through June already and it feels like I'm still waiting for summer to arrive. June 16, 2004 - 3:01 am Sleep has abandoned me... This cold is doing very strange things to my poor body. First I'm tired ALL day, like to the point of exhaustion where I can barely sit up in a chair and type on my computer. I figured I'd come home from work and go to bed. Right? Wrong! Here it is 3 in the morning and I am still wide awake. I do seem to get creative when I'm in this state though, and I have created a little musical ditty. I suppose I can't really say I created it because the music itself is a blatant rip off of Collective Soul's The World I Know, but I did play the guitar and if you've got a minute and would care to hear the kinds of things I do when I'm sick, click here to download the sound clip. (1MB - MP3 Format) I was bored, what can I say and I've always loved that song. The mixing and the 'effects' are all provided by my trusty Celeron 400 computer. I'd be very interested to hear what you thought of my little song. Just pop an entry in the guestbook or "Message Forum" as it has become in the last 6 months or so and tell me if you liked it, hated it, thought it was awesome, hope I get better real soon so I don't try to make music ever again, or whatever. Seeing as how it is now 3:06 am I am going to try to fall asleep and see what happens. Goodnight website visitor person. Thanks for stopping by. June 16, 2004 - 11:45 am Stayed Home Today... Not a huge surprise considering my late night. I ended up laying in bed for quite some time and I'd just about get to sleep and suddenly I'd start coughing again and it would wake me up again. This has been a very frustrating cold. I know I need to get more sleep but it really doesn't help when you are wide awake. I've got that song I composed last night playing and I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because of the memories associated with it. One night (I don't even remember when) Bo and I were down in Lethbridge and we were sitting in the music room jamming away. We eventually broke into The World I Know and it sounded awesome. Mike was there listening too and I remember him saying after we finished that song that he wished he had learned how to play the guitar when he was growing up. I really need to jam more. Some of my fondest memories of time spent with Bo are times we were playing music together. I'd like to put together a slide show of pictures and put that song to it, maybe I'll have to make it a little longer -- we'll see. I think now I am going to go have a bath and maybe even break out my toy Seadoo. You know it's half way through June already and I haven't even un-winterized the Seadoo yet!? How sad is that?? June 18, 2004 - 12:07 pm Julie's Wedding Day Today marks a very special day for my oldest cousin (on my Mom's side), and the first wedding in this generation of our family (again, on my Mom's side.) I was out suntanning this afternoon waiting for some clothes to dry. Apparantly there is another function using the venue of Julie's reception until 1:00 or 1:30 so I can't even go down to the Zoo until then. The rest has proved nice as once again this morning I woke up feeling quite stuffy. I've got a pretty good idea of what songs to play and I'm bringing my entire music library with me to help cover the unknown's and requests... I'm hoping all goes well. I was over at my parents' house last night to mow their lawn but here if the lawnmower would not start. Now one thing that will always be a signature of my parents' home is this simple practice: If something doesn't work, just go get a different one. Whether it's a gas lawnmower, a vaccuum cleaner or a Ford Econoline Van, we've got at least one spare of pretty much everything.My dad and I opened one of the sheds and pulled out a few other lawnmowers, I found one that looked like it had promise so we did some minor work on it and before long, it was tossing out the grass. So I was off and running, mowing the lawn when a short time later I looked around and saw my dad coming up behind me with another lawnmower he'd got working. The two of us mowed the whole lawn, which after all the rain we've been having certainly needed it! I love my dad. I also did something at my parents' house last night that I've wanted to do my whole life: I took a drink from the hose! See we have a well at that house and it hasn't been until quite recently that we've had city water hooked up! So consequently we never watered our lawn or the well might run out of water, leaving us dry for several hours. But I finally was able to drink from a hose at my parent's house last night and it was awesome. I think that's probably one of the first summer-signs; when you can do that. There are all sorts of signs of spring, trees budding, flowers blooming, (in the case of Calgary -- having less snow on the ground than in February is almost a sure sign that spring is here...) June 23, 2004 - 11:22 AM Congratulations, Jon & Julie  Allright, I know it's late but better late than never. My cousin Julie got married on Friday and there begins their Happily Ever After. I didn't go to the actual wedding because I was under the impression my roll was to go to the Zoo and set up for the reception. I'm sure it was a nice wedding though, and I don't think the reception could have gone any better. As the 'DJ' for the reception and dance that followed, I was a little nervous considering the diversity in the two families. But I'm sure we had everybody that stayed for the dance up on that floor at least once, from the two ring bearers right up to the grandmas and grandpas. I even threw in the "Farewell to John Denver" for Jacquie, a short Monty Python sketch that probably only her and I found funny but it was in there none the less. It was good. I ended up hanging out with the catering staff following the cleanup and didn't get out of there till about 1:30, even though the dance was pretty much done when Jon and Julie left at 11:30... But I think I can speak for everyone and say that a good time was had by all. My cold is finally on the mend now and I think aside from the odd bit of grogginess in the morning now and then, it is all but done. I came home last night just exhausted and was in bed by 8:00, allowing me a full 12 hours of sleep last night which has to be a record... Today I feel awesome. Becky called last night and we talked for about half an hour. It was really good to hear from her, she's in Quebec now staying in a French-speaking-only town with only 55 days left till she gets home. Hard to believe the time has gone so fast, the counter was over 200 days when I first put it up there... 55 days almost seems like nothing. Bo and I are going camping this weekend, possibly the first 'real' camping trip of this year... Our trip to Mount Romulus was foiled by the fact that although the Kananaskis officials sold us a permit for Mt. Romulus, the roads that bring you to the base of the path you have to take to GET there were still closed for 2 more weeks. And a refund? Not a chance. So apparantly they can sell you permits to camp in places you can't even get to. Swine Kananaskis... I think the name of the place we're going this weekend is called Ribbon Lake. Bo was there last summer and said it was phenominal. It's a 13 mile hike to get to the campground (which of course, we'll be doing in the dark...) and there's a lake up there which is clear as a bell and perfect for diving. The firewood is brought in by helicopter but there are only two large fire pits so everyone shares the warmth and cooking space. Now you'd think that such a place might be pretty quiet and vacant, but Bo said that when he and Mike went there last year he said it was pretty packed and when we were getting our permits for this weekend they said it was just about full too. Needless to say I'm bringing my camera so hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to show sometime next week. But anyways, time to get back to work... Or back to lunch. hahaha Have a great day! June 28, 2004 - 2:57 PM  Finally Made It To Romulus! After several years of trying unsuccessfully to reach Romulus, this weekend we finally made it. I used to camp there when I was younger, usually with some of the youth from Harvest Hills Alliance Church and I never cease to marvel as I return to places I visited and remember as a child at how I always tend to remember things much larger than they really are. This particular campground I've stayed at three different years, each with some sort of adventure every time, and this year was no exception. Hopefully tonight I can get the pictures up on the web site (they're actually uploading right now but it might take a while.) I must say though, it was a good weekend and I will write much more about it when I have some time in the journal. 
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