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May 2, 2006 - 7:22 AM  A couple of highlights from my life lately:
It has begun...  On something of a whim, Pat and I decided to take our personal watercraft out to Ghost Lake tonight for a spin. Blair accompanied me for the maiden voyage of 2006 and Pat's wife Susan came out with him, along with their little dog Suzy.  Launching was a bit of an adventure... The van got a bit stuck in the gravel as I launched the Seadoo, so after it was free and clear of the trailer we had a bit of a time getting the van up out of the water again. It was a short-lived problem however, as a bit of driving back and forth soon gave us the momentum we needed to clear the hole in which the left-right tire had become entrapped.  Since we did not arrive at the lake until about 8:30, there wasn't a whole lot of time left wherein the sun would guide our waterbound adventures by its' light, though we made the most of what sunlight there was. Now at Ghost lake there is a section near the boat launch where there are orange, numbered buoys that normally serve as anchors for about 50 or so sailboats. As of tonight, there were none anchored so these orange buoys provided a perfect area in which to practice my Seadoo-Slalom. Later on, in an area of more seclusion and therefore glass-calm waters, I started doing some quick turns, leans, and back end whips. In one such manouver, the front end of the Seadoo dug into a wave lifting a deluge of water up over the front of the watercraft and effectively onto my lap. The temperature of the water read 9 degrees celcius — the coldest recorded water I've ever Seadoo'd in. I was frozen through and through, and needless to say, urination became all but impossible for several hours!  Cold water aside, the night was a success and it was great to see Pat again, as usual. That's one thing I really miss about working at Sylvania was hanging out with him (And Al too). I'm really hoping that now that he has his own PWC, we'll get to do a lot more camping this summer. There was some talk about going to the warm lake next weekend. I might ride my bike out there tomorrow and check the place out, see if it's even open before we drag all our equipment out there only to have to turn around. Anyway, it's 1:20 AM now and I need to get to bed. Tomorrow's another big day! Goodnight!  Does that look cold? That's snow on the bank... The lake is glacier fed.  May 7, 2006 - 6:36 AM  One week has begun and another one has ended. Some highlights of this past week / weekend:  I'm not sure who's wearing the helmet but they sure look happy... May 10, 2006 12:34 AM 
I was driving the other day (as I frequently do) and I came across a pair of opposing one-way road signs. It made me stop
and think - how much of our lives are mirrored in that moment? Being stopped at a point of decision whereby a choice must
be made, but knowing that once the choice has been executed, you cannot go back and try the other road. Today is Luke's birthday, and as such Bo and I took him out for the evening. After a hearty supper at East Side Mario's, we walked over to the theatre and watched MI3. Lots of action, explosions, gun fights, and excitement but the gayest ending I've ever seen... That letdown aside, the rest was moderately entertaining, though for an action thriller I doubt it would make my top 10 list. Now the new Jack Black movie... That's on the list of movies to see! hahaha May 10, 2006 - 4:12 PM If you are flamable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit! ... Unless you're a table ... (Mitch Hedberg)  What a great day. I had pretty much the whole afternoon off, so I did a bit of shopping for the van. A couple of days ago I came across a pair of 15" subs in a pawn shop, with a box, for $69.95. The box was obviously home made and looks pretty crappy, but I figured for $35 / piece the speakers alone were worth it. So then I bought an amp at another pawn shop, and although I connected it all up, without proper power cabling to the amp, the sound was significantly lacking. SO, this afternoon when I had some free time, I popped into Soundsaround to check out their amp cabling. They had those kits, the ones that come with the cable, the fuse, and the connectors - everything you need to connect up the amp. For 4 gauge wire @ 18 feet, their price was $200. Bemused by this, I left and went into a less conventional store wherein I inquired about their stock of heavy gauge cabling. The sales clerk took me to the back room where he showed me their selection - cable from 10 gauge all the way to 5/0!! I ended up purchasing a 25' length of 2/0 cable for $75 with 8 crimp-on connectors which made me chuckle as I thought of those poor suckers buying those amp kits with 4 or 8 gauge wire for over twice the cost... Now of course, this was sick overkill for my application, but it does offer significant room to expand... hehehe Since I had a lot of time this afternoon, I thought I'd go have lunch with my puppy. I stopped at Esso and bought a slurpee and a Meat Pita. (Note to self, don't buy meat pita's from Esso!) When I got to the house, the puppy was sleeping so I tiptoed'd past him so that I could go wash my hands with the hose. While I was washing, he awoke from his sleep and began sniffing the ground where I'd walked. In fact, he literally retraced my steps, getting more and more excited as the scent got stronger and stronger until, now only a few feet away, he looked up and very excitedly discovered that I was in fact standing right there. We sat down and had lunch, which was pretty much me eating and him begging. And of course, because I was sitting on his bed my face, hands, and food were all within easy puppy reach - which made his begging all the more intense. The package came with two pita's in it, and while I was eating the one, I failed to notice that the puppy had bitten the other one and was trying to get it out of the package. His jaw set, I was only able to retrieve the latter half of the pita. There was no hope for the first half as it was quickly gobbled up. Then, I tried to get him to tear off pieces of the remaining piece, but he was determined to get the whole thing in one go. Such a silly, greedy, old puppy. I love my puppy. Then he was sooooo sad when I left. He looked SO forlorn-ed. The poor puppy. After lunch, I ran that 0/2 cable to the battery and connected up the amp. Ooooh what a difference! It's unreal, but it just goes to show you what can happen when you have the power! haha Anyway, it's just about time to get back out on the road and finish up my calls for the night - so have yourself a great day! Get out there and enjoy it! It's absolutely gorgeous outside!! May 12, 2006 - 2:44 AM A sign of things to come?  So much to do this weekend, so little time! I am so busy, yet still I rhyme Places to be going, things to be doing Perhaps even some broken things - that I should be glueing. It's going to be fun, it's going to be grand And I'm pretty sure I may even see sand! Rhymes can get silly, at three in the morning... But tonight 'twill be my bed that I am adorning. So fare thee well, and may you get rest... As now to prepare for bed I must get undressed. May 13, 2006 - 10:46 PM  As I prepare to go on my journey, a couple of thoughts have been stirring themselves within my mind - not the least of which being What if I don't come back? I've heard the statistics that claim you're much more likely to be in an automobile accident than a plane crash, and certainly I have never been one to quake in fear at the thought of dying. Indeed - I have been affronted with death on numerous occasions and never batted an eye. Yet still as I sit here tonight, it seems that there are so many things that are yet unfinished, even things I have not yet said to people. Consequently, I will be writing a little blurb that, unless I return home safely to disable it, shall appear on the web site within the next couple of weeks wherein I shall speak my mind, openly and frankly on a variety of matters under the assumption that I will no longer be around to bear the consequences of such information. In all liklihood, I will return home safely and you will never read it - but these kinds of things are fun to write none the less.     Oh ya, and I played with the sprinkler quite a bit today.  May 16, 2006 - 6:43 AM By this time Thursday, I will be aboard an airplane...  But there is still SO much to do! Plus I think the transmission in my work van died last night... On my way home from my last job it seemed to get stuck in second gear along Memorial, and after I had stopped at the lights it would not venture past first... Fortunately I was only travelling through 50 km/hr zones and eventually a playground zone so it wasn't devastating, but I will not be able to work today if I can't have the full use of all my gears... Just what I need 48 hours before my flight to Florida leaves, huh. Two days ago I dropped my birds off at Tanya's house where they were warmly welcomed by all. The first thing Kaitlyn did was draw me a picture of one of my birds which I took with me and placed on the now empty stand where my cage usually sits. It feels so quiet in my house without them! I surprised myself by how many times I caught myself talking to the thin air, expecting a chirpy response. I am already missing the birds, but I know they're in good hands and it won't be too long until I'm back and they can return home. Their initial meeting with Tanya's pair of budgies was quite funny. The blue one almost immediately flew over to their cage and hung out on the outside, making bird-eyes with the only female of the bunch. The wings on my green one hadn't quite grown back enough for him to make it up to their cage - which hangs from the ceiling - so he had to watch the flirting from afar. I talked to Tanya yesterday though, and apparantly all three males had spent about four hours hanging out on top of my cage that morning, chirping up a storm. It sounds like they're pretty happy all together. They're such funny creatures! Bo and I went to the Keg last night for supper. Wonderful meal! Gotta eat there more often. And we found out why we haven't been receiving gas or electrical bills for the past couple of months - they've been mailing them to the wrong address! Somehow our billing address got changed - for no apparant reason - and Enmax has been sending our bill who knows where each month. So now we've got a two month, gas AND electrical bill coming... That will be a fun one. Oh well - the money's there. I knew it was too good to be true! hahaha I'm off to work! Have a great day! Counting down the hours now... May 16, 2006 - 11:05 PM  Well, sure enough - I took off for work this morning, in first gear. The van would manually shift into 2nd if I put it in L2, and if I revved it up high enough in L2 and switched it back to drive, it would go into 3rd, but each time it would slam from gear to gear and jolt / lunge. Not at all healthy. I ended up bringing it to a transmission shop and driving a blue Shaw van for the rest of the day. Yes, that was me Lee, and that was an awesome double-take! hahaha I'll tell you a funny story sometime - just remind me. Codewords: Slurpees and Cookies (378) So tomorrow is my last day of work, I have my run for the day and it's going to be a busy one... Which figures too. I've still got to stop by a bank and get some American currency and some traveller's cheques, I'd like to pop in somewhere and pick up a few more pairs of shorts, plus now I've got all the hassle of worrying about vans. AND because I leave at a ridiculously early time Thursday morning, I've got to have all my work done, sorted, and handed in by tomorrow night! I'm seriously thinking of just staying up all night tomorrow, because really - I can sleep on the plane and there is still a LOT to do. In case you haven't heard or figured it out by now, I'm going to Disneyworld on Thursday morning to meet up with Barb and Ed and their three kids. The catch is that the kids do not know I'm coming! So it's going to be a surprise when I show up in Florida. When last I talked to them, the tentative plan was for Ed to come pick me up from the airport and then rejoin the group. Oh man, I'm getting goosebumps already! haha I love surprises. Especially when I am the surprise-er. I've got to buy deoderant too, I've been scraping the pits these last couple of mornings. I'd like to buy another battery for
my camera so I can rotate three out of the charger. You'd better believe I'm taking lots of pictures! hahaha By now is anyone surprised? The surprise-er
has failed on this occasion. Plus I've still got several e-mails to write, my house to clean, things to pack and sort, it's going to be crazy! The more I
think about it, the more the idea of staying up all night tomorrow and sleeping on the plane sounds like a good idea. But in the mean time, if I keep this
up I'll end up staying up all night tonight and that is NOT a good idea! So goodnight! My only regret thus far is not being here for what looks like it will be the nicest May Long Weekend in rememberable history. Whoever said that life was fair though... May 18, 2006 3:55 AM Hoping I don't forget anything... I've got most of my bags packed, laundry done and ready to go, toys, chargers, camera, batteries, phone, wallet, deoderant, shaving cream and razor, cal-og-nay, hats, socks, underwear, shorts, t-shirts, (yes, even a sweater), underwater case for camera, sandals, shoes, itinery, passport, birth certificate... Pretty much everything I can think I might possibly need at this point. So here's hoping I don't realize as the plane is taxiing down the runway that I've left my suitcase at home. I ended up staying up all night after all, and it was a good thing too because it took all night to get everything done that needed to be done. And I still didn't get to clean my pad! I'm going to be coming home to a messy suite. sigh But I'll be coming home from Florida so... hehehe There really has been a lot more stress to this vacation than I had initially anticipated, but it's just about
done now. In another few hours I can fall asleep on the plane and by this evening, I'll be in Orlando.A couple of things to say for the record - Bo - You're a great friend and I don't know what I'd do without you. There are very few people in this world into whose hands I would place my life, but yours are among those I trust. Luke - Watching those Ali G DVD's tonight made me realize how much I miss hanging out with you like we used to do when we lived together. How did we get so busy? It's not right and we should do something to change that. (Yes I know you're moving to Montreal in a few weeks, but we'll work around that.) Blair - It may sound moot to say that you are the best brother I've ever had because you are the only brother I've ever had, but none the less, I couldn't ask for a better brother. I've been so proud of the way you've ventured out into the working world and left behind a reputation that mere mortals envy. I love you, my little big brother. I could write for hours but time (and airline schedules) do not allow such things so I will pause there. Still have much to do to get ready. I remember when staying up all night was a piece of cake (or a bottle of Pepsi) but I must be getting older because it seemed quite the task tonight! Good thing I can sleep anywhere. Take care everyone, and if I can get a hot spot I will update the site with some pictures as WIFI permits.
May 18, 2006 4:26 PM Day one: I arrived in Florida. At the moment, I'm waiting for Barb and Ed to arrive here and pick me up. The flights were largely uneventful, nice views, clouds, all that good stuff. I'm not sure if I am tired. Reason and rational thinking says I am. I know I didn't sleep very much on the planes. I love all the palm trees down here. It makes it look so tropical. I could stand to live down here. I'll sure sleep good tonight! FLORIDA — Day 1 — 8:28 AM  I woke up this morning in what would be my first full day in Orlando. After eating breakfast and preparing for the day, we drove to the first of the Disney parks - Animal Kingdom. The park was a lot like a big zoo, with many features and exhibitions directly involving live animals. They had this bird show where all kinds of birds performed amazing and funny tricks for treats. This one lady in the croud held up a $1 bill and a bird flew over and grabbed it from her. Then later on, the bird flew back and placed the dollar bill back into her hand. This one cockatiel was VERY funny, playing games with the narrator. They had owls and peacocks and vultures and parrots. It was a great show. We looped our way through the park so as to hit most of the attractions. It's a huge place though, and I saw the map at the end of the day and realized there were a couple of areas we didn't even get to. One of the shows we went to was called It's tough to be a bug. They hand out 'bug eyes' at the entrance to the show which make the movie appear 3D. The show was filled with interactive goodies, everyone got sprayed with acid from one bug and we all got to enjoy the aroma of a stink bug. It wouldn't be a bug show without getting stung by hornets too! hehehe  We hit a couple of the rides throughout the park and they were awesome. There was this one oversized teacup time travel ride that was a lot of fun, 
and we even got Barb on the Everest Expedition rollercoaster! Of course, with
the amount of people passing through the park, the lineups on many of the
rides can be quite long. However, instead of simply standing in cattle-stall
style lineup girders, they've erected all kinds of themed rooms through
which you pass while making your way towards the start of the ride. They are
intricate, incredibly detailed and very interesting. Since many of the rides
have some sort of theme to them, the rooms you pass through leading up to them
all play a part of that theme. 
After the rides closed at 6, we poked through several souvenier shops before
going out for supper at a Ponderosa steak house. I was so excited! I
haven't had Ponderosa for over 10 years I'm sure! AND, they had softserve ice
cream! It was awesome. After supper we went back to the hotel and I crashed. I
think the kids went swimming and played in the arcade, but I was out cold on
the couch, with my swimming trunks lying on top of me. A couple of things I've noticed on my first full day in Florida, it wasn't as hot as I thought it would be. Even with the temperature hitting 33 degrees in the day, I figured it would seem hotter. There are a lot more black people down here, and judging by radio content, Floridans' sure do a lot of gay-bashing. There is also a lot of toll roads. 
 FLORIDA — Day 2 — 11:27 PM  Today we visited the Kennedy Space Center. I grew up with Star Trek, and then The Next Generation, so space and space travel have always been something of a closet interest for me. I honestly never thought I would get to see one of the 
space shuttles or a launch pad or a rock from the moon - but today all these
unrealized dreams not only saw the light of day but were all realized at the
same time. It's hard to visit the Kennedy Space Center and not get excited
about space. I had no idea America had such a long term plan for travel beyond
our world. As part of our Maximum Access passes, we boarded a tour bus that
drove us to within a few miles of the two launch pads used throughout the
space program to launch 114 rocket-powered vehicles into space. Perhaps the
most unexpected but exciting part of the trip was getting to see the Discovery
space shuttle out on the launch pad! They just brought it out of the building
yesterday on one of their crawlers. According to the tour guide, with the
shuttle on top of it, the crawler and it's cargo weighed a combined 18,000,000
pounds! Pretty much everyone has seen video shots of the rockets launch, and
the infamous image of the rocket standing beside it's umbellical tower can
be seen on everything from postcards to screensavers - but you simply cannot
fathom just how big it really is until you see it up close. At the second stop
in the tour, we entered a warehouse-style of building that houses an actual
rocket, suspended above the floorspace where the tourists wander. It was
awe-inspiring standing there beneath it's engines, staring up at an actual
vessel that has left this earth and returned to it numerous times. Here we
stopped for some lunch and pictures before passing through, and taking with us,
much of the gift shop. I know Blair would have loved to have been there, and I
tried to buy things he'd enjoy having. They had this one object, a meteorite,
for sale for $10,000!!! Ten Thousand Dollars for a hunk of iron about the
size of a football! It sure was heavy, and lead to the obvious question several
people voiced in it's presense: Imagine if that landed on your car!
The last part of the tour found us at the Astronaut Hall of Fame. We did not arrive there in time to ride the 3G Simulator, but we did get to ride in a Mars simulator that was pretty fun. Not as good as the Star Trek simulator in Vegas, but still a decent thrill. I bought some freeze-dried ice cream and was very surprised to find that it does in fact taste like ice cream! Now we're driving around trying to find a beach, and although we couldn't find Cocoa Beach, we've pulled into a parking lot next to some public beach and are going to try to catch the last hours of sun in the Atlantic ocean. 
 FLORIDA — Day 3 — 9:07 AM This morning we were allowed to sleep in a bit longer than usual and are now en route to Typhoon Lagoon, one of the Disney World resorts. At the hotel this morning while we were greasing each other up, Barb read out descriptions of some of the slides and rides we're going to experience today, accompanied by much glee and excited exclamations. One thing we have seen a LOT of down here has been alligators. Many times during the various bus rides the narrator has paused his usual depictions of the sights surrounding the vehicle to announce, "Croc on the right side!" I think more people got up to take pictures of the crocadiles than for most of the landmarks and scenery. They really are something to see, particularly when they run. It's really more of a waddle as they get those stubby legs underneath them, it's almost as if they don't have elbows or knees. We are now pulling into Typhoon Lagoon. Hints of waterslides can be seen through the densest set of trees I've seen so far at any of the resorts or attractions we've visited, and as we search for a place to park, families just arriving can be seen applying sunscreen and checking their passes outside their vehicles. Without further adu, here we go! FLORIDA — Day 3 — 3:15 PM  Wow. That was awesome! Disney's Typhoon Lagoon makes every other water park I've ever been to seem like a kiddie pool - and those waves make even the Leisure Center's seem like pond ripples! If you caught the wave just right, you could be swept a good 50 feet!  
When we first got in the water, there were normal sized waves splashing the water about, but then all became calm and you could hear the questions of patrons around you arising. If you looked back towards the shore, you could see hundreds of heads and torsoes poking out of the crystal blue water, staring at the deep end in anticipation. Suddenly the smoke stack of the capsized boat perched precariously atop a rock sticking out of the mountain behind the pool erupted with a stream of water rising at least 10 or 15 feet above it. A two toned fog horn sounded in the distance somewhere and one of the lifeguards bellowed out over the water using his megaphone "What do you want?" The hundreds of patrons in the water replied in unison, "We want waves! We want waves!" Moments later, bubbles began to boil out of the water at the very deep end of the pool. The heightened level of anticipation could be sense d everywhere. More time passed. Nothing. I started looking around to see if anyone else was wondering like I was whether or not there were going to be any big waves. Suddenly, I heard that sound for the first time. It's a distinct sound. Unmistakable. Kind of a poof combined with a whoomp In an instant, the back end of the pool rose up ten feet and began to roll outward towards the shallow end. As it got closer, the wall of water seemed to get bigger. Before you could say Kowabunga you were being tossed by an unstoppable force. If you jumped or paddled away from it and leaped at the precise moment, it would carry you a great distance before setting you down fairly gently. If you missed or didn't jump, it would simply blast over you, tossing you like a doll in every direction. 
 After waving goodbye to the tidal wave pool, we set off in search of all the various waterslides and other attractions. We first hit this one waterslide where you ride in groups on tubes through this tube that not only carries you down - but also UP in places! The jets of water are so strong that they literally push your tube upwards! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! We all tried each of these various rides, even having to wait about 10 minutes on the loading ramp for one of them because the water mysteriously stopped  flowing below. In the end it was worth it though, and we had a blast. The entire stairway structure was lined with fans to keep you cool, and despite temperatures OVER 100 degrees today, the lineups were usually between 5 and 10 minutes - some of the shortest ones we've seen since being down here!  By the end of the day, I think we'd gone on every ride and slide in the park. It was an awesome day and terriffic weather for it. The only drawback was that some parts of the path were so hot it was painful to walk along them. But, the park had mist sprayers over many parts of them to keep the little footsies from blistering. Several of the lineups also had mist jets overhead to moisten the croud.  One little doohicky I wanted to toss in here was a story about the Subway we visited after our trip to Typhoon Lagoon. When we got into the Subway, there were three staff working and a few people ahead of us. As we went through the line, it didn't take long for us to have the entire staff laughing and chuckling at our antics and comments. This one fellow paused and said, I'm glad you [guys] came in today. I was having a bad day and now look at me - I'm laughing! It felt really good to have a stranger say they were glad you came. Something to write home about, as it were. We are now driving through Daytona Beach, and let me just say that it's not just a bunch of sand! It seems to be a whole region! We passed the Daytona International Speedway and there are tonnes of stores, hotels, and billboards advertising everything from marinas to pharmacies. The temperature out here has dropped to 88 degrees and some clouds have formed in the sky. One other thing I've noticed that I'll toss in here as a bike rides beside us, it is apparantly legal to drive a motorcycle without a helmet in Florida. I HAVE been surprised by how few crotch rockets I've seen down here, but there are no shortage of cruisers to make up for it. We are now entering Daytona Beach - the actual beach part apparantly so I will sign off and go play!  FLORIDA — Day 3 — 8:59 PM  I mentioned earlier that this week I was having the opportunity to do many things I never dreamed I'd ever have a chance to do. This evening another such event took place - walking along Daytona Beach. It was awesome! The wind had picked up off the ocean and kept the temperature quite comfortable - even a tad hilly at times if that word can be used in Florida! The sand on the beach was different than any other beach I've been to. When dry, it was white and packed very tightly together - almost like flour. When you walked in from the water and got your feet covered with it, it really looked like they'd just been dunked in a bowl of white baking flour! Sean, Kevin, and I all had our turns being burried in the shape of various sea creatures (and a coffin in my case.) Somebody found a surf board and cleverly turned it into a headstone for me. Very creative. Ed, Sean, and I spent a good hour in the ocean riding waves into shore while Kevin, Kristin,
and Barb suntanned on the white sand beach. Now maybe I'm just wierd, but I've always loved the taste of sea salt. So
for me, playing in the ocean, it was VERY hard for me not to drink the water! Every time a mouthful passed by the tastebuds
of my tongue I smiled to myself at the momentary pleasure of the experience before spitting the water out with a hint of
sadness. I know it's bad for you but it tastes so good! haha How much of life can be summed up by that same statement?
   After our bout at the Beach, we stopped into a beach store and did a bit of shopping. As my shorts were practically (and I do mean that) falling right off me, I decided I needed to buy one of two things at this store: A new pair of shorts or a belt. As I walked around the surf shop, I noticed that their prices were actually quite attractive and their wares were even moreso, and as it turned out I made two trips out of there, shopping bags in hand. About half the things I purchased were gifts for myself and the other half were gifts for friends. I don't do a lot of shopping so this was quite fun and very rewarding. I'm just not sure how I'm going to get all this stuff back home with me as I only brought one suitcase that was moderately full when I left with virtually no expendables. Oh well, I've still got a couple of days to figure that out. It's hard to believe there's still almost a week to go of this vacation! Each day feels like it is quite packed with fun and adventure, not to mention beautiful weather, sunny skies and even a hint of a suntan... I have travelled to many places in different parts of North America, and seen some very picturesque scenery, but every time I've always been thankful to return home to Calgary. But to be perfectly honest, I am thinking more and more about the possibility of moving to Florida. This weather is awesome, you can ride a bike all year round, there's water EVERYWHERE, their roads are well maintained, I could see myself living quite a comfortable life down here! The thought of never seeing snow again doesn't hurt the prospect either... We are back at the hotel now and I need to shower after my day in the sand and sun. Definitely a good one. Among the reported favorite parts of the day were the park waterslides, spending time as a family together, and the tidal waves in the water park. Goodnight everyone! Well, just about ready to get ready to go to work. Strangely enough, I feel quite energetic but I don't know if it's just adrenaline left over from all those rides or my second wind from being up so much last night! I had a pretty good flight home despite the change of routes - the sunset seen outside the plane's window lasted TWO HOURS! We were just riding the tail end of it all the way from Denver to Calgary. I have no idea what's in my truck or even where all my tools are this morning, I hope I've got everything I'll need. I woke up this morning and prayed for an easy run today. My dad did a phenominal job on the white van cleaning it up and making yet even more racks and things to better organize the space inside. He made a wire reel for my rolls of cable and spaces for the various boxes so that one can get at and pull any kind of cable needed through the back doors. I know it's going to be hard to keep it clean with the GO! GO! GO! pace of the job but it sure looks good now. Blair took care of the transmission details while I was away and it seems to be running as nicely as it ever has. I think my dad even patched up the holes in the exhaust system because it sounded a lot quieter last night when I drove it home! It feels cold everywhere I go. Even my basement which I always thought to be on the warm side is chilly. Last night Maddison called me to ask when I was going to be home and had a million stories (and a wet willy or two) waiting for me when I arrived. I haven't even unzipped my suitcase yet but I hope her present (and everyone else's) survived. There are some days' worth of stories in the journal already though I haven't begun to sort out the 3,500+ pictures we took yet. That will probably take a week or so, depending on my workdays. In the mean time, read up and enjoy! John BACK to Journal Index |