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May 6, 2008 - 12:34 PM  First of all, I have had a wonderful time in BC with Kristi and the girls. It's been unusually sunny since my arrival. In fact, it's been sunny every day, a phenomenon that Kristi tells me is almost in the realms of legend. Mission forecasts are very much like Irish ones - If you can see the hills, it's going to rain. If you can't - it's raining. Saturday I arrived later in the day and we just had time to find a place to eat supper before getting home where it was several hours past the girls' bedtimes. Although Kristi and I talk on the phone for hours every day, there was no shortage of conversational topicry to cover in person, and this visit, like all those preceding it, has been full of fun discoveries and shared experiences revealing more and more wonderful things that make Kristi who she is. Those of you who've met her know what I'm talking about, and those of you who haven't - will find these things out when you do. I think it should come as no surprise to anyone to hear that I love that young woman.         Sunday morning proved lazier than most. With the kids' later-than-usual night preceding and the fact that her parents, pastors at her church, were away on an anniversary getaway, we slept in and ended up taking the girls to Harrison. It was unusually sunny and warm and we spent the day walking on the beaches there, playing in the parks (the girls loved the slide and must have spent at least an hour going down it repeatedly!) A sandcastle-building competition was under way and we were able to see several exhibits of extraordinary craftsmanship demonstrated by masters of this art. For lunch Kristi had made snacks and packed a picnic blanket, and we found a lush patch of green grass next some very tall bushes to give us shade and had a picnic in the park. A local school band had set themselves up by this time on the beach and began giving a performance to which we sauntered over. I have never seen such a thing - 50 or so children with instruments sitting on the sand, from the flute to the tuba, trumpets to tambourines, triangles to timpani drums. It was surprisingly entertaining!    Yesterday we decided we must make use of the sunshine while it lasts and so again took the girls out to the park up the street. While not as far as Harrison, this one had more for the kids to play on and we spent the day running around and pretending all kinds of wonderful and imaginative scenarios as we drove around the world in our stationery car, driven by a three-year-old. Park play was followed by a walk along the path that wound it's way through many trees of old and age as the girls darted to and fro picking the yellow heads of Dandelions. I am convinced the world would be rid of Dandelions were it not for little children finding the white ones and blowing on them with glee.    Today Kristi is at a meeting with her work so I stayed home and thought I would catch up on some emails I've been neglecting. Grace is at school right now and Isabel is with her mom who should be back in a couple of hours. It's hard to believe this weekend is nearing a close (I took Monday and Tuesday off work to take advantage of a WestJet seat sale. They sent me a notice offering $29 seats but only on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. By modifying my work week, I was able to fly out on Saturday to return on Tuesday for $140.00 all in. You can't even drive out here for that much! Not to mention the time it would take. Hurray for WestJet. They have become my favorite company.)           May 8, 2008 - 10:46 PM Heavy snowfall warning? You've got to be kidding me! I'm going to *try* to get to bed a bit earlier tonight and hopefully feel a tad more rested tomorrow... I don't think I've quite caught up from the weekend yet, and there was a brown fan at work today as news of another out of town training course next week reached the powers that be... It's really getting frustrating - do I work for Convergint or do I work for the Airport? Apparantly, the correct answer is both, and that seems to be causing a lot of confusion and chaos as my two 'bosses' try to manage my schedule... On a much happier, brighter, (and greener) note, here are the rest of the pictures from my weekend in BC. Notice how green it is out there? Quite a stark contrast from our brown (although I should point out that despite the snow / rain / mist / fog / whatever that was today, I did see a LOT of green coming out as I was driving home from work this afternoon. Good to see! Now if only we could shake this snow!!)             May 14, 2008 - 11:15 AM Greetings from Mahwah, New Jersey!  Ya ya, pictures and an explanation are coming... May 14, 2008 - 8:54 PM  Ok, so first things first. Last weekend (Saturday - to be specific) I attended Rob & Lee's wedding socicl fundraising event and had been invited to provide musical entertainment for the night. My van itself even served as noticeboard, directing people to the event. (Where did I park? Oh - right.) Yet another use for my $1.00 van. Good ol' Rusty... Much of the night was simply picking songs to play. At one point the dance floor was packed - nearly every body in the building was bustling and boincing thereon - until I slipped in a country song and I have to say - Red-Sea-parting-Moses would have been impressed at how quickly that croud was dispersed. And the funny thing was that I had several requests for country songs throughout the night. *sigh* Oh well, you can't please all the people all the time, and that's even more true of playing 'DJ'... But for the most part I think it went pretty good, and this event marked the very first time I have ever mixed music live! There was about a 20 minute segment there where I rolled song into song - and half decently at that if I might say so myself! (Anyone who was there may of course, correct me...) But I even saw Dan McHugh dancing to the rhythms resounding from out my rig. Wonders never cease, apparently.  Ok, so what am I doing in New Jersey? Well, at this point - getting ready to come home. But today and yesterday I was in a training course on Commend Intercoms. (www.commend.com) Although not much more than a whirlwind overview of the products, setup and (tiny bit of) use, no doubt I will now be hailed as an expert in such things back at home. Actually, I'd never even heard of them before this training, so most of what I learned today was brand new. Early to bed tonight, and then leave the hotel at 4:00 in the morning, drive back to Newark, NJ - turn in our rental car, hop on a plane to Minneapolis, then to Calgary. Should be home by about 1:00 Calgary time tomorrow.      I found out if you sit in row 5 on a NWA flight, you get TONNES of leg room! I couldn't even kick the seat in front of me! It was the best seat in the plane as far as I was concerned! I rode the entire way, legs stretched WAY out just to make the most use of my good fortune. Ironically - I was the ONLY PASSENGER in the entire row! On both sides of the plane! Apparently this must be a very well kept secret! Shhh...   This was Minneapolis as we were flying in.     When we arrived in Newark I notice that our car had been rented - not from the Newak airport but from JFK... In New York! When I phoned them to find out how far away they were from (where we were) the lady's response began with a long drawn out "Wow..." I was not encouraged. Then I was told that it would take 45 minutes to an hour to get there from Newark, and the only real way to do so would be to rent a car from where we were, or to take a cab. Since neither option seemed financially viable, I asked if we could just transfer the rental reservation to the Newak airport, and although it cost a bit more she was able to do it. After 20 minutes in line at the Avis counter, we were on our way in a sleek little Mitsubishi Eclipse, driving another hour or so to our hotel in Mahwah. It was nearing 1:00 am local time by the time I got to my room, and when I did so, well, the next picture says it all:   We actually had some pretty suite accomodations in Mahwah! I came here with another fellow from Convergint Calgary (The guy on the train above) named Chris Chambers. We each got our own suites with kitchen, living room, big honkin' double-bedroom. These would be very comfortable accomodations if you had to work in a place for weeks or months on end. It even had a full fridge with freezer! (And dishwasher & microwave too.) Very nice.   My room, 232, even got it's own designation on the hall sign!   Of course I took a picture of the underground sprinklers at the hotel. Are you kidding? This IS me we're talking about here, you know... (I love underground sprinklers in case you didn't know.) When I was a toddler my dad used to take me up to the park in McEwan Glen and I'd find the green boxes in the ground, and then with no shortage of glee, turn on each tap therein and watch the various sprinklers pop up and start watering things. Absolutely loved it.  The address for the training we were given turned out to be the old address of the Commend office. Fortunately there was a sign directing us to the new address, but even when we arrived at the new location there was nobody there to greet us. We waited for about half an hour until someone showed up - only to tell us that the training was not at their office but at a hotel instead! Fortunately that hotel wasn't far away and we were able to still make it on time. (Our itinery showed the class starting at 8:00 but in fact it had been revised and the class started at 9:00. What luck!)     For lunch both days, Commend treated the entire class to a meal at the local Steakhouse in the hotel. Both times I tried foods I've never had before and both times they were pretty good. Day one saw me trying the French Dip, and today I had a Hot Pastrami.  Ok - off to bed for me! It's already 9:22 local time! And I've got to get out of here by about 4:00. How crazy is that! Gotta love those early morning flights. Not having any idea how the traffic is going to be though, and given the fact that it took us nearly an hour to drive from the airport here at midnight, I'd rather air on the side of caution and wait at the airport instead of get stuck in traffic (or customs) and watch in horror as our plane leaves without us! Goodnight all, and I will see (some of you) soon! May 16, 2008 - 6:56 AM  Flew back yesterday, got home safely, Bob Loblaw... Ok. The real news: Bo bought a boat a few days ago and so we took it out last night for it's maiden voyage. The result? Check it out for yourself!    Maddy found a little hideout in the bow.          Somewhere during our drive we lost our drain plug, so needless to say we took on a LOT of water... Drained for over 15 minutes.    There are a few things that need some tender love and attention... (Like a new drain plug to start...) But it should be a great summer! The motor runs great - and still on last year's gas. We need to get a new prop for it, the one on it is a little dinged and there's at least one of the hydraulic hoses leaking... But it was a steal of a price and well worth the few dollars Bo paid! Gotta go to work! It's going to be a long day... May 21, 2008 - 9:26 PM  Ah, sprinkling in the evening. Is there a homeowner's delight more simple or satisfying than this?   The other day Bo and I mixed and poured the cement for the pad that will become the base of the stairs leading up to the hot tub on the roof of our garage. It turned out half decent, especially for my very first ever concrete work! The only trick was that we bought fast setting concrete and it was FAST! Plus the sun was baking down on it too which didn't forgive us much in the way of drying time...   No news is good news... Kind of a fatalistic saying, isn't it? Bo and I had one of the best games of Badminton this evening I think we've ever had tonight, with rallies which - for us - surpassed all previous rallies to date. I am tired. I will be sore tomorrow. I have a working fridge in my kitchen now! Thanks to Ed who donated it to me and helped move it over here this evening. (Well actually, he donated it and moved it and I helped.) It was a little tricky at the bottom of the stairs but we managed. Now I'm going to have to go shopping for perishables again! So exciting. Try living without a fridge for a month or two and you'll really come to appreciate one of the most overlooked appliances in the house!  I went back to the Calgary Courts Center this morning. As the installation phase is nearing completion, the site is being turned over to the service department for ongoing maintenance and trouble calls, so today was to serve as a kind of orientation for those of (us) service technicians who had never been to the site or had never been properly introduced. A lot has changed since I was there last. I think it was November when I was pulled out of there and moved to the Airport. Much is still the same though.  I think I got some battery acid on the side of my nose right by my right eye, and it stings like crazy. Not because of the acid, I don't think it actually did any harm. But what's causing the irritation is me constantly rubbing it! Swine.  I won a new throttle / gear shift for Bo's boat on eBay the other day, so we're hoping it arrives soon. The one on his new boat broke last Saturday just before I arrived on the scene with my Seadoo. I got there just in time to pull him back to shore. We still did some boating though, and the Seadoo is running as good this year as it ever has. Pulled the cover off, dropped the battery in, and away she went. Such a fun machine. I can't wait to start camping again. Last week with all the warm weather really awoke the camping spirit in me. Even this week's cooler weather and rain hasn't hampered my desire to be out of doors. It's all part of the adventure. Actually, there is nothing quite as soothing as lying in a tent, warm and dry and snug in your sleeping bag, listening to the rain pelt against the waterproof walls of your tent. Or even better, lying in the back of a big orange van, warm and snug and dry in your sleeping bag, listening to the rain pelt angrily on the roof and sides of the van! THAT is a memory in and of itself, nestled within the soils of my youth into which my roots are planted deep and the branches of who I am today extend outward from.  I'm going to call Kristi earlier tonight. Last night we talked till 1:00 and I was downtown this morning by 7:00. That poor candle is soon going to be a two-flamed wick! (Reference to burning the candle at both ends) Small world event of the day: I ran into Jodi Foster today at Swiss Chalet. Didn't really have time to say hi, just brushed shoulders as we passed each other in the hall but I said "Hi, Jodi" as I walked by and she turned around, stunned. I don't think she knew who I was. Always love doing that, it leaves the other person pondering. Have a great day everyone!  May 24, 2008 - 7:19 AM First Aid Training Today Along with a plethora of technical training Convergint has been pumping into me, today they are providing me with Emergency First Aid training. Are they a great company to work for or what?! I've got my next flight booked already too, with this next batch of training taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. May 25, 2008 - 11:42 AM And now, some pictures (and even video clips!) from our St. John's Ambulance First Aid training class yesterday. It was a very informative, very interactive, very interesting course, and while the thought of saving a life at this point is still a bit overwhelming to me, I feel I have the tools to cover the basics until Medical Help can arrive. The video clip is here        Last night my dad, brother and I took Rusty to Home Depot so we could pick up some plywood. My parents have removed the carpet from their living room / hallway and are replacing it with laminant.     Ok, now it's my turn to start getting stuff done here! :P The goal today: Get all the electrical / data wiring done in the basement so I can start insulating and drywalling (after a bit of plumbing.) May 29, 2008 - 9:14 PM I am SICK! This nagging cough that's been annoying me for the past two weeks or so has finally reared it's ugly beast-like head and with razor-sharp talons, torn my poor laboured lungs and throat to shreds. I woke up coughing last night about 3:45 or so and could not get back to sleep before my alarm started alarming me. And this after having come straight home from work the day before, crawled into bed straight- away and slept for nearly 12 hours! All in all, I was in bed almost a full 24 before getting up this evening and running out to the Airport to grab my laptop so I could do up my time sheet for tomorrow morning. Even as I type this now I feel utterly wiped. Nose running, head pounding, cheeks poofing, teeth hurting, throat throbbing, chest cringing. I sure hope this is over soon. I don't need this right now! Why can't you get sick like this in the dead of winter when missing a day or two of work is actually favorable?! Swine cold...  On a lighter note, I noticed an EMS bicycle parked in the hallway by the pass office and, having a piece of paper in hand, decided to write up a quick Parking Ticket and affix it to the handlebars of the vehicle. Not quite sure how much of a sense of humor the paramedic would have, I didn't sign it.  I did manage to mow the lawn this evening, and as I put the sprinkler on afterwards, I couldn't help but take the photographic opportunity that presented itself. So without further ado, I give you some pleasant, happy pictures of my evening lawn-watering experience. Enjoy!      BACK to Journal Index |