A giant car-sized sinkhole opened up on one of the roads I take to work each day. The city has sworn up and down that it will be fixed within one week. Oddly enough, everybody laughed long and hard, knowing full well this city doesn't do anything fast. It will be a miracle if it was fixed in that time frame.
Consequently, I decided I will take the transit, more specifically the new LRT, to work everyday until it's fixed. Well, the LRT isn't new, but the station on my end of town is. It's been open for two months now. So hey, I thought I would give it a try. Is it easier/faster to drive to the station and take the LRT than it is to drive all the way downtown and park?
First I need to remind all my hoards of readers of something. Maybe you didn't know it, but I was an avid bus taker for years and years. I diligently took the bus from my house for a 50 minute ride all the way downtown and back after work. Yip. Froze my ass off in the winter and starved for oxygen on the hot days of summer. Frustrated at late buses, no seats (standing for almost an hour sucks), filthy seats smelling of puke and ketchup. Sick all the time from being exposed to everybody's coughs, colds, and germs. That was me. My stomach still turns when I remind myself of the anger and stress I felt every day.
I did my time and I was more than happy to switch my committment to driving. Anything was better. Traffic tie-ups, accidents, trains in the way....I happily sat in my car and sang along to the radio and reminded myself it could be worse, I could be on the bus. The drive can take 35 minutes in summer to the same 50 as taking the bus in the winter, or longer, so it wasn't really about making the trip faster. It was just...quieter, less stressful for me.
But the new LRT station intrigued me. There it was, right there, only 10 minutes away. Not a crowded, smelly, germ-infested bus, but a shiny new train, all air-conditioned and clean. Maybe the combination of driving a bit and taking the train a bit would lessen the stress I felt when taking the bus the whole way. So I thought, here is a perfect opportunity to try it. So I did, and have been for two whole days.
First, the parking lot is a gravel pit, and not even a particularly well groomed one. No way I could bring the bike and park it there. Second, and most surprisingly, it's no faster. It takes about 40 minutes to drive, park, get on the train and get downtown. Third, it took me longer to get home. Leaving the parking lot after work was a nightmare. It was like trying to get out of Northlands after a concert. Very slow. Why doesn't the parking lot have more than two exits? Don't ask me.
Those are my first impressions, and all are negative. Right now I would say that I am not going to switch. I'll see if that opinion changes by the time they get the sink hole fixed.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
bin laden hunter arrested
So an american has been arrested in Pakistan because he had a bunch of weapons and went there to hunt Bin Laden. He claimed God was on his side and he was going to collect the $25 million price that was on Bin Laden's head.
His passport showed he had traveled there no less than seven times to try to get the job done. This is the first time he was caught.
Why is this newsworthy to me? I guess I just thought it was funny. One guy trying to do what all the american army can not. Well, they can't because the government, theirs and Pakistan's, won't allow it....no doubt in my mind they know where Bin Laden is, but they choose to protect him for reasons unknown. If I was a real conspiracy theorist, I would be able to list many reasons why the two governments are hiding/protecting him, but I'm not, so...I'm not.
I do wonder though if this guy would have made eight trips over there if there was not a price to collect. People do strange things and when the prize gets as high as $25 million...sheesh!
His passport showed he had traveled there no less than seven times to try to get the job done. This is the first time he was caught.
Why is this newsworthy to me? I guess I just thought it was funny. One guy trying to do what all the american army can not. Well, they can't because the government, theirs and Pakistan's, won't allow it....no doubt in my mind they know where Bin Laden is, but they choose to protect him for reasons unknown. If I was a real conspiracy theorist, I would be able to list many reasons why the two governments are hiding/protecting him, but I'm not, so...I'm not.
I do wonder though if this guy would have made eight trips over there if there was not a price to collect. People do strange things and when the prize gets as high as $25 million...sheesh!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
It's all in the cards
What a most interesting experience I had last night!
First a little background. So here I am in Canmore on a writer's retreat. What can I say about it? It's been helpful in alot of ways, but a waste of time in someways too. The leader, Chrissy, is supposed to help us through are writing problems. On coming, I told her my problem was really just a lack of organization, I had lots and lots written. She told me I would be her first fiction writer client but she could help. And on Friday, the first day, she did help. We did a 'target audience' exercise that I can do myself for everything I write that is very focusing. We talked about what is stopping me from finishing anything and getting published, and I think I had a few epiphany-type moments. Mostly I sit in my room by myself and write (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
Then Saturday came. You see originally there was supposed to be five of us on this retreat, but one lady cancelled, another came for only the day, etc.. It seems like people have been coming and going all over the place. I guess Chrissy, who is young and just starting her business out, was feeling lonely or something, because on Saturday her friends started to show up. Saturday after lunch we were supposed to get together to talk about outlining. I phoned and phoned her room but there was no answer. Finally we got together, but it was a complete waste of time. She was focused on a blackberry chat she was having with someone and on facebook. She was not hearing what I was saying (I know what this looks like) and repeating questions she hadn't heard me answer because she had been distracted. I was frustrated and left her home; I was ready to leave for home. Didn't get much writing done, but I talked myself into sticking around. When we got together for supper, Chrissy and her friend had been into the wine already and Chrissy was sporting nice reddish tan lines she had not had Friday.
Yep. I was stuck in my room nursing a pity party and they were out sitting in the sun visiting. I was a little pissed. At supper myself and the other guest felt like third wheels. Chrissy and her friend dominated the conversation gossiping about their friends and speaking in code about this person or that event, followed by girly giggling. I resolved to leave after supper. Chrissy was obviously not mature enough to be running a company of this magnitude. She was too young. I would be happy to move on, taking with me the few excellent points and exercises I had gleaned from Chrissy the day before.
And then the supper conversation changed, revolved around Personal Best, Healing, self motivation, repatterning neural pathways, lots of stuff I have never believed in because I have never been exposed to it. All three of the people I was with were into it. Two were nurses who were in to alternative medicine and healing techniques, both had projects Chrissy was overseeing on the subject. I was the only one there who did not have a university degree. Why were these smart, intelligent (albeit young) women into this stuff? Curiosity got the better of me and I started to ask questions.
And here is where we get into the most interesting experience. Turns out Chrissy's friend reads tarot cards, and offered to do so for me. Well of course I went for it, always interested in a new experience.
And I was amazed. Floored. Shocked. Moved.
She told me to ask myself a question that I didn't have to tell her, and then she read the cards. I asked myself, 'Am I really going to die at 44 years old?' This has been a belief of mine for the past 4 years, since the scare that made me quit smoking and caffeine for good. So I asked it. And the cards that came up answered it. One of the main cards that came up was 'Your prayers are answered', which meant it was already taken care of. Already done. It's done. Stop worrying about it, I was told. Other cards told me to let go of fear. Take care of my inner child and stop mothering her, she's in a safe place. She's safe, stop worrying. Already taken care of. I could feel the weight lifting. Then, out of the two decks, I had three jumper cards. Basically when I was shuffling some cards boxed, and she said they were significant and pulled them out. Two of them were the same, which, she said, was unheard of. Two were the friendship card, the third was new love. In my case we took it as rebirth of friendship. A very significant message. I need to let go of old friends who no longer give me the support I need, and embrace the new ones that are coming into my life right now to support me now. The old friendships are stale and I need to let them go no matter how scary it is. There will be new people there. This message went straight to my heart.
What an interesting point to get when me and SO are starting to drift apart more and more. We are learning to do our own things and that has never happened before. I have been thinking more and more about how I would do things around the house on my own. I even went on this retreat thinking, this is a good opportunity for me to prove to myself I can eat well and exercise while on my own. And then I got this message, and I felt it. Felt it, go straight through me.
And I don't know what else to say about it. I am talking about a life change that will shake up alot of lives to the core. Will I do it? At this point I don't know, but again, I can feel change coming. Big time. And now, for the first time, I am looking forward to it.
First a little background. So here I am in Canmore on a writer's retreat. What can I say about it? It's been helpful in alot of ways, but a waste of time in someways too. The leader, Chrissy, is supposed to help us through are writing problems. On coming, I told her my problem was really just a lack of organization, I had lots and lots written. She told me I would be her first fiction writer client but she could help. And on Friday, the first day, she did help. We did a 'target audience' exercise that I can do myself for everything I write that is very focusing. We talked about what is stopping me from finishing anything and getting published, and I think I had a few epiphany-type moments. Mostly I sit in my room by myself and write (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
Then Saturday came. You see originally there was supposed to be five of us on this retreat, but one lady cancelled, another came for only the day, etc.. It seems like people have been coming and going all over the place. I guess Chrissy, who is young and just starting her business out, was feeling lonely or something, because on Saturday her friends started to show up. Saturday after lunch we were supposed to get together to talk about outlining. I phoned and phoned her room but there was no answer. Finally we got together, but it was a complete waste of time. She was focused on a blackberry chat she was having with someone and on facebook. She was not hearing what I was saying (I know what this looks like) and repeating questions she hadn't heard me answer because she had been distracted. I was frustrated and left her home; I was ready to leave for home. Didn't get much writing done, but I talked myself into sticking around. When we got together for supper, Chrissy and her friend had been into the wine already and Chrissy was sporting nice reddish tan lines she had not had Friday.
Yep. I was stuck in my room nursing a pity party and they were out sitting in the sun visiting. I was a little pissed. At supper myself and the other guest felt like third wheels. Chrissy and her friend dominated the conversation gossiping about their friends and speaking in code about this person or that event, followed by girly giggling. I resolved to leave after supper. Chrissy was obviously not mature enough to be running a company of this magnitude. She was too young. I would be happy to move on, taking with me the few excellent points and exercises I had gleaned from Chrissy the day before.
And then the supper conversation changed, revolved around Personal Best, Healing, self motivation, repatterning neural pathways, lots of stuff I have never believed in because I have never been exposed to it. All three of the people I was with were into it. Two were nurses who were in to alternative medicine and healing techniques, both had projects Chrissy was overseeing on the subject. I was the only one there who did not have a university degree. Why were these smart, intelligent (albeit young) women into this stuff? Curiosity got the better of me and I started to ask questions.
And here is where we get into the most interesting experience. Turns out Chrissy's friend reads tarot cards, and offered to do so for me. Well of course I went for it, always interested in a new experience.
And I was amazed. Floored. Shocked. Moved.
She told me to ask myself a question that I didn't have to tell her, and then she read the cards. I asked myself, 'Am I really going to die at 44 years old?' This has been a belief of mine for the past 4 years, since the scare that made me quit smoking and caffeine for good. So I asked it. And the cards that came up answered it. One of the main cards that came up was 'Your prayers are answered', which meant it was already taken care of. Already done. It's done. Stop worrying about it, I was told. Other cards told me to let go of fear. Take care of my inner child and stop mothering her, she's in a safe place. She's safe, stop worrying. Already taken care of. I could feel the weight lifting. Then, out of the two decks, I had three jumper cards. Basically when I was shuffling some cards boxed, and she said they were significant and pulled them out. Two of them were the same, which, she said, was unheard of. Two were the friendship card, the third was new love. In my case we took it as rebirth of friendship. A very significant message. I need to let go of old friends who no longer give me the support I need, and embrace the new ones that are coming into my life right now to support me now. The old friendships are stale and I need to let them go no matter how scary it is. There will be new people there. This message went straight to my heart.
What an interesting point to get when me and SO are starting to drift apart more and more. We are learning to do our own things and that has never happened before. I have been thinking more and more about how I would do things around the house on my own. I even went on this retreat thinking, this is a good opportunity for me to prove to myself I can eat well and exercise while on my own. And then I got this message, and I felt it. Felt it, go straight through me.
And I don't know what else to say about it. I am talking about a life change that will shake up alot of lives to the core. Will I do it? At this point I don't know, but again, I can feel change coming. Big time. And now, for the first time, I am looking forward to it.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Nickelback concert in review
I really don't understand how these guys got on all the haters' lists. They have great foot stomping tunes and they have an awesome live show, although it wasn't what I expected at all.
The show was surprisingly not really about their music. They played their hits of course, but they also played snippets of other tunes just to get the crowd singing - songs that everyone knew. They interacted with the audience ALOT. The stage show visual was amazing. There was more pyrotechnics and fireworks than any other show I have ever seen, and let's face it, I've seen alot of shows.
I have read reviews of concerts where the journalist has said things like, "...and the lead singer was able to achieve an intimacy with the crowd that gave the show that small barroom feel...", but last night was the first time I ever felt it. Kroeger laughed, joked, told stories, drank with us, made us sing and jump. By the end of it I felt I knew him, and not just him, the whole band. He was so personable and just so....casual. That is a truly unbiased opinion because, unlike other lead singers that strut their manly charisma and have the girls swooning, he's not that good looking and really doesn't have a huge stage presence, so I don't have concert lust to mar my opinion. Half of me is convinced he's gay, because of the way he moved and talked. Which is neither here nor there or course, but I was pretty shocked at first. So even though his rock star charisma is the lowest I have ever seen, he was still able to manipulate the entire audience into falling for him. By the end, if he had told us all to jump off the High Level, there would have been 15,000 bodies in the river in the morning.
So how did he do it? I don't know exactly, I'm still in shock. The whole thing was an entertaining show, not just a rock concert. The music was almost secondary to his little stage performance. It was just so different from anything out there right now in the rock concert scene. It reminded me a bit of the old Grand Ole Opry shows my parents used to take me to. Guy tells a joke, plays a tune, gets the crowd to sing along....night passes quickly and you feel like you've been entertained for two hours.
I couple of days ago, I read an article about a 43year old lady, married with two kids, who saw the band in 2005 and has been concert-chasing them ever since. In that time she has seen over 40 of their concerts, leaving her family behind and following them all over north america and now Canada. She says she does it because the show blew her away so much. As you may know I have done a bit of concert chasing for certain bands in my day. If a band I like is on a Canadian tour I might see them here, then Calgary, Grand Prairie, maybe Red Deer, all pretty close locations. But I have also flown to Toronto, Detroit, Vancouver, Chicago all in the name of music. But Australia? That is a whole different level of commitment. Financially I just would not do it. So when I heard about this lady, I wondered what in the heck the big deal was. And now I know.
This band's live show is....undescribably awesome, and I congratulate the band for doing something different and original.
Of course, SO hated it because it wasn't your standard traditional concert, which brings me back to the first sentence of this blog. WHYYYYYY do people love to hate this band? Someone said haters are haters so they are going to hate, but this hater movement seems to have really built. Everyone is quick to say they hate them, because eveyone else does, yet this band is the most successful north american band since 2000. All their shows are old out. Their records have sold 27 million copies. They were second in gross profit in the 2000-2010 decade only to, if you can believe it, the beatles.....uh, maybe that's it. Maybe the US crowd just isn't ready for a change this drastic if they have not let go of the beatles yet.
I have no explanation that makes sense. All I know is, I'll be there when they come back to town. Without SO - anyone want to see a concert with me? Obviously I'll have to find a new partner for this one.
The show was surprisingly not really about their music. They played their hits of course, but they also played snippets of other tunes just to get the crowd singing - songs that everyone knew. They interacted with the audience ALOT. The stage show visual was amazing. There was more pyrotechnics and fireworks than any other show I have ever seen, and let's face it, I've seen alot of shows.
I have read reviews of concerts where the journalist has said things like, "...and the lead singer was able to achieve an intimacy with the crowd that gave the show that small barroom feel...", but last night was the first time I ever felt it. Kroeger laughed, joked, told stories, drank with us, made us sing and jump. By the end of it I felt I knew him, and not just him, the whole band. He was so personable and just so....casual. That is a truly unbiased opinion because, unlike other lead singers that strut their manly charisma and have the girls swooning, he's not that good looking and really doesn't have a huge stage presence, so I don't have concert lust to mar my opinion. Half of me is convinced he's gay, because of the way he moved and talked. Which is neither here nor there or course, but I was pretty shocked at first. So even though his rock star charisma is the lowest I have ever seen, he was still able to manipulate the entire audience into falling for him. By the end, if he had told us all to jump off the High Level, there would have been 15,000 bodies in the river in the morning.
So how did he do it? I don't know exactly, I'm still in shock. The whole thing was an entertaining show, not just a rock concert. The music was almost secondary to his little stage performance. It was just so different from anything out there right now in the rock concert scene. It reminded me a bit of the old Grand Ole Opry shows my parents used to take me to. Guy tells a joke, plays a tune, gets the crowd to sing along....night passes quickly and you feel like you've been entertained for two hours.
I couple of days ago, I read an article about a 43year old lady, married with two kids, who saw the band in 2005 and has been concert-chasing them ever since. In that time she has seen over 40 of their concerts, leaving her family behind and following them all over north america and now Canada. She says she does it because the show blew her away so much. As you may know I have done a bit of concert chasing for certain bands in my day. If a band I like is on a Canadian tour I might see them here, then Calgary, Grand Prairie, maybe Red Deer, all pretty close locations. But I have also flown to Toronto, Detroit, Vancouver, Chicago all in the name of music. But Australia? That is a whole different level of commitment. Financially I just would not do it. So when I heard about this lady, I wondered what in the heck the big deal was. And now I know.
This band's live show is....undescribably awesome, and I congratulate the band for doing something different and original.
Of course, SO hated it because it wasn't your standard traditional concert, which brings me back to the first sentence of this blog. WHYYYYYY do people love to hate this band? Someone said haters are haters so they are going to hate, but this hater movement seems to have really built. Everyone is quick to say they hate them, because eveyone else does, yet this band is the most successful north american band since 2000. All their shows are old out. Their records have sold 27 million copies. They were second in gross profit in the 2000-2010 decade only to, if you can believe it, the beatles.....uh, maybe that's it. Maybe the US crowd just isn't ready for a change this drastic if they have not let go of the beatles yet.
I have no explanation that makes sense. All I know is, I'll be there when they come back to town. Without SO - anyone want to see a concert with me? Obviously I'll have to find a new partner for this one.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Agility class
Well I said I would volunteer for the Regional Dog agility championships in June, so to train me for that I was asked to volunteer for two other events, one in the middle of May and one on the past weekend.
Thank the stars I was smart enough to only volunteer for the one day. That one day looked like this:
Yes folks, that's your typical Alberta May snowstorm. Normally they happen at the beginning of May, and very rarely appear after the long weekend. But this guy snuck in the very last days in May, just to prove the unpredictability of Mother Nature, or to make me freeze my ass off, I'm not entirely sure which. But wow, was it a cold day. Only about plus three all day.
I felt really bad for the poor dogs standing on the line shivering their fur off while their master walked around in winter boots, gloves, toques, and a snow jacket. It really wasn't fair to them. Dogs were slipping on wet icy gear, getting hurt, and owners who were running around were slipping on muddy patches and hurting themselves. Did they call the event off? No way.
I promised myself right then I would never run Wizard in those conditions. I don't know how anyone would consider otherwise. But people are strange - the eight bucks it cost to enter their dog was suddenly a fortune they weren't going to lose.
Here is a pic SO snapped of us last night at training class. Nice and warm and dry inside. As far as I am concerned all events should be inside...especially in Alberta.
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