so I'll cash my cheques and place my bets and hope I'll always win
Man, I love photos like this. You get so used to seeing your family's own collection of photos that when you get your hands on someone else's snapshots, it's a fun new glimpse into your childhood. When Jamie was in Moncton recently, he got this one from my grandmother. It was Christmas 1977 so he was about one and a half years old here, and that makes froo and I almost four. Both of my brothers who saw this could tell instantly which one was which - I'm guessing Kris will know, too. But Devin got it wrong. Anyone else want to venture a guess? You can see a larger version by clicking the photo.

That's Mom, styling in her red dress, trying to lean out of the photo. And that's Dad's profile on the left, telling Jamie where to look. Jamie was speculating that he was trying to eat something off his chin or something. He was always a bit round as a kid (no more tho!).  | ¶ 11:40 p.m.

  I’m curious about you, you seem so innocent Interesting. I don't shop at Wal-mart, but this is a fun peak at the complexities of doing business internationally, and specifically, why Wal-mart failed in Germany.

The company initially installed American managers, who made some well-intentioned cultural gaffes, like offering to bag groceries for customers (Germans prefer to bag their own groceries) or instructing clerks to smile (Germans, used to brusque service, were put off).

~Note to self: don't smile at the Germans.  | ¶ 4:19 p.m.

  change only the name and this story is also about you I went for a massage a couple weeks ago to a place right across the street from my building. The girl I see is good and fun to chat with. Holly is probably in her early 20s and seems pretty articulate and reasonably well-read, so we enjoy our discussions about a variety of things. At my last visit, though, I had to change the subject because I didn't quite believe what she was saying. I mentioned that I'd seen Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, and told her what it was about.

She said, "I don't believe in global warming". And proceeded to tell me that she'd read Michael Crichton's book and heard that one of the world's glaciers was actually getting bigger. I haven't read the book, so I couldn't argue this point with her, but I've since confirmed that the book does indeed make that claim. I was surprised to stumble on this piece today in the New York Times, by the scientist who discovered that, strangely enough, there IS a cooling trend in the continental Antarctic region. It was also noticed at that time that one of the glaciers in that area was thickening slightly. It seems that the skeptics of global warming have taken these two bits of information and run with them.

Our results have been misused as "evidence" against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel "State of Fear" and by Ann Coulter in her latest book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Search my name on the Web, and you will find pages of links to everything from climate discussion groups to Senate policy committee documents — all citing my 2002 study as reason to doubt that the earth is warming. One recent Web column even put words in my mouth. I have never said that "the unexpected colder climate in Antarctica may possibly be signaling a lessening of the current global warming cycle." I have never thought such a thing either.

If you've seen Al's movie, you have probably absorbed the disturbing imagery of enormous chunks of ice falling into the water with tremendous splashing; it was enough to scare me. Okay, so ONE glacier isn't melting, Holly. What about the dozens (or hundreds? I don't know how many there are) that are rapidly decreasing in size...? I was on that glacier shown above a few years ago. It was a pretty nifty experience, driving out on to the ice in a specially designed "snow coach". Pretty soon we won't be able to do that, from the sounds of things.

Poor guy:

In the meantime, I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming. I know my coauthors would as well.

  | ¶ 5:34 p.m.

  we'll sit and watch the clouds roll by, and the tall grass wave in the wind Here is a snippet from the scene last Saturday when we went rafting. If you listen to the audio you hear me mention something about Devin giving the depth report. We kind of got a chuckle out of his repeated observations about the shallowness of the water. Yes, the Bow River is quite shallow and you can often see the rocks gliding by just under the surface. A couple times when we didn't quite navigate around the super-shallow sections, we would all lift our bums from the lower parts of the raft so we wouldn't bump them on the rocks.

  | ¶ 10:01 a.m.

  it just reminds us of the cost, oh of everything we've lost I read a blog post the other day that has me thinking a little bit. Tad wrote about "peaking early" in life.

I have a friend who says she peaked in middle school. She was popular, a basketball star and a star pupil. Now, she's a well-adjusted, successful adult, but she doesn't feel like a star anything.

I started to think about the various "peaks" in my life. I guess if I had to select a couple moments, or years, that were memorable for one reason or another (in a good way, of course), I would maybe also select a teenage year (as much as I don't look back on those years with much nostalgia) - my final year of high school. I was the point guard on the Moncton High School basketball team, shoooting really well (I was the 3-point shooter, don't you know), and feeling as strong and healthy as I'd ever felt at that stage of my life as I remember.

The next time I might select is one of my first years in Calgary, in 1997-98. I'd dropped out of Bishop's and was living with Mom & Dalt, which didn't start out so well. But I managed to find myself a good job with a start-up company, and it turned out to be a very exciting time. I started managing the company's stock option program, did some challenging work learning about securities filings and public company financings, working with a boss that I really clicked with... Back then I didn't truly appreciate how good I had things, but when I look back, I see myself living the life, making new friends, enjoying my own office, earning the respect of co-workers and family (so I thought, anyway).

Since then I haven't enjoyed quite that level of satisfaction, feeling like I was contributing terribly much to the world. Except in 2004, when I decided to go back to Bishop's and finish what I'd started - words can't really describe the level of exhiliration I felt working only for myself again. I really knew what I was there for this time, having earned a new perspective only through living "real life", those challenging transition years in the 20s...

I have to admit that embarking on this new journey doesn't feel the same to me. I have a lot of the same doubts, I suppose. Why am I doing it, and where is going to get me, and why do I have to cross the country to tackle the challenge yet again...? I don't know, you know. I can't answer it even for myself, let alone the people who ask... I guess I just trust that moving "forward" from a place that feels so far from my "peak" can only lead to new challenges, new accomplishments, and new life lessons. I hope that it means satisfaction and success.  | ¶ 12:58 a.m.

  so take this moment, Mary Jane, and be selfish Calgary baby tips the scales at 1 million

With all the stories in the local news about the abundance of jobs but the lack of affordable housing, well, I think it might be time for this girl to make her exit. Do you know that lots of people move here for the great job market, then end up living in campgrounds or homeless shelters? My decent-sized one-bedroom apartment near the university (out of downtown) was $630 per month when I moved in last August; I've already been notified that the rent is going up to $670 in October. My landlord will likely put that even higher when he finds out I'm leaving in September.

Since I haven't really shared the details of my exit plan in a while, and the plan has gradually been taking shape lately, here's the scoop. Devin and I moving together to Ottawa - he's not overly fond of Calgary and would like to head East again. By fortunate coincidence, a good friend of his from Bishop's is currently in Ottawa and also planning an exit. This friend is likely going to sublet his apartment to us, and is working on getting Devin a job where he works. We're still crossing our fingers that those two items come through.

froo and I are in talks to create a fair deal on the loan of her car to me to cross Canada with. Festiva Fred will be left behind (anyone need a great city car in Calgary?). I will hopefully rid myself of most large possessions (i.e. bed) in the next several weeks, and will load up the smaller stuff and my cat and drive East at the end of August. UPS will help me ship anything that doesn't fit in the car, which will probably be a significant amount of stuff. I'll give notice at my apartment on July 31 and resign my job on August 3 (planning to work up to August 25). Classes start September 7.  | ¶ 9:59 a.m.

  for tonight and every night, you're a superstar The Board meeting must have been good - I got an email from the President, personally thanking me.

Stacey

The Board meeting went very well; many, many thanks for all your hard work.

Great job
President

And because of last week's last-minute chaos helping to illustrate the lack of proximate resources for me, I now have a colour printer and a confidential shredding bin just outside my cube. You didn't know I was that important, did ya.  | ¶ 12:01 p.m.

  better look around now you know you're losing everything Recently I was attempting to purchase some gift certificates from an international hotel chain. It was a company purchase, to thank our Board member for hosting the BBQ bonanza last week. When I telephoned this hotel's customer service line, I was told that since our desired purchase amount was over $500, we would need to include a photocopy of the front and back of the credit card and driver's license of the person making the purchase. I told the woman I spoke with that we would likely not send the driver's license and she got a bit snooty with me - "this is our policy and you have to do what we say" or whatever.

From my limited exposure to the subject area, I've become aware that in Canada (and in the provinces individually) we have some reasonably solid privacy laws in place. It just so happens that my boss, in addition to having his LLB, recently completed his Masters of Laws (LLM), and his study area was the privacy act. I know that he typically resists sending a copy of his driver's licence, and so we drafted a letter with the following text:

"...I further understand that you have also requested a copy of my driver’s license in order to complete my transaction, but I question the reasonableness of this policy and believe that it violates privacy legislation in Alberta. Specifically, Section 7(2) of the Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta) clearly states that "an organization shall not, as a condition of supplying a product or service, require an individual to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information beyond what is necessary to provide the product or service"."

We received the gift certificates with no questions asked after that letter. I thought I would share this with all of you for your own interest and so you know that you can legitimately resist a request such as this, even when it comes from a large corporation, and even if they think they have a right to do this because they've successfully done it thus far. Bob told me that Canadian Tire recently got in a bit of trouble for some of their practices. Companies gotta watch out for this. At my company we're all about compliance with privacy laws - at least, we're getting there. It's a complicated area.  | ¶ 4:54 p.m.

  you don't really want to mess with me tonight It was a bit of a hot weekend here in Calgary. Our rafting adventure yesterday was good - we finally did a full course, from Bowness Park all the way down to Inglewood.

Things got off to a bit of a shaky start when we discovered a leak in the main raft. froo and Devin drove off in search of duct tape or a patch kit, and Persuade ended scoring some interim duct tape from some passers-by. The patch held for most of the ride, and we typically carry an on-board air pump for such situations, so we resorted to an emergency in-flight re-pump near the end of our journey, under the Centre Street bridge, just to keep Chamber #3 solidly inflated. Other than a near-tipping of the Club 100 (Persuade's 1-man vessel) just after launch, things went smoothly. That was an odd situation, where we actually collided with a bridge support - oops! We're pretty vigilant navigators most of the time, so I'll attribute that mishap to the miscommunication between team-members. Sometimes when you're towing a smaller craft behind you it changes the way you navigate the mother ship.

We even engaged in some bartering during the float. The river was pretty congested with boats, so occasionally we found ourselves bumping up against some new neighbours. In one case, the folks were admiring our craft, the Pacesetter 400, and we were lamenting our tendency towards over-loading her with chips and beer (we travelled with a beer cooler and everything yesterday). The girl in the other boat complained that she wished she had some chips, so I decided to offer some of ours (we had too many). In exchange for a bag of zesty cheese Doritos she offered up a Vex cooler for Persuade, who wasn't so interested in the beer. A fair trade, I declare.

We concluded our day with the first grilling on froo's new BBQ. An M&M feast of stuffed potatoes, steakhouse burgers and garlic shrimp was enjoyed by the boat crew and Mom & Dalt. Yum. Photos are here.  | ¶ 1:38 a.m.

  maybe it was Memphis, maybe it was southern summer nights We're in for a scorcher of a weekend (catching up on that heat you people in the East have been experiencing), so we're off to do some rafting down the Bow River today. Check back later for pics.

Here's another video from last weekend, this one from the family BBQ on Saturday.

  | ¶ 12:24 p.m.

  just got in from way up North, I'm aching tired now and I could use a friend Our board meeting this week did not go as smoothly as we would have liked. Sometimes the president decides to have something a little more "fancy" than just a meeting, so for this summer meeting, he decided the board would travel to Red Deer (about an hour north of Calgary) and then trek over to one Director's ranch for a steak barbecue afterwards. It was a bit of a logistical challenge (God forbid we have a director hungry or thirsty for even a minute..!), and things kinda blew up at the last-minute.

I had done some research and found a great bus to transport the Directors and management from Calgary up north. Someone in Red Deer recommended a great catering company that did nothing but accommodate our every demand (when you say "money is not a concern" - I think they like that). We had the "Birds of Prey" organized to set up a demonstration, and we arranged to have our company tent (a massive thing requiring transport and set-up by an external company). I had to arrange for catering on the bus, more refreshments in Red Deer in the morning, then lunch, then this massive on-site barbecue. Luckily, in Alberta, caterers are accustomed to doing "spring break-up" barbecues for oil companies, so they already had a menu for this type of event.

Everything seemed to be coming together nicely. In addition to my role as "event planner", we pulled together Board binders reasonably smoothly, but as sometimes happens, the financial statements were not finalized when we mailed. So that means posting them on a website for the Board to access. This all went according to plan. But then the day before the meeting (Monday) hit and things kinda fell apart. We decided to print all the web-accessible documents so the gentlemen would have "nice" copies of the stuff to insert in their binders. Well, that was the day our super-reliable print shop girl was out with a migraine. And her replacement, well, he wasn't so efficient with getting stuff done. At the end of the day, three of us were here until 9:00 p.m. printing and assembling documents. Eep.

So Tuesday morning rolls around, and I get to work before 7:00, which is super-early for me. I wanted to be there to greet the bus and the caterer and make sure everything got loaded on the bus alright. I see the bus driver circling the block, probably unsure where to park, so I stand outside the building ready to greet him. He's a cute older gentleman, and he invites me in to inspect the bus. The first thing I noticed was the smoky smell. I'd been told that April Wine had just returned this bus, so maybe it was used for some serious partying...? Well, it turns out that they sent the wrong bus. You see, we ordered THIS bus:

Executive Coach: This beautiful unit is a mobile boardroom with plasma screens in front and back. It is set up to seat comfortably 24 people. There are 6 adjustable sleeping berths on board that can be converted to 2 couches to seat an addition 6 people. It is also equipped with a full galley, washroom and shower. This coach is ideal for a wedding party, executive trips to a retreat, overnight golf trips or ski trips or just a quiet rip to the Okanogan for a wine tasting tour.

And they sent us THIS bus:

Entertainer Coach: which is equipped with 2 flat screen TVs servicing the front and back lounge areas. It has seating for 20 people and is equipped with a full galley bar and restroom. It has 12 sleeping berths and has just gone thru an extensive remodeling. This coach is the perfect coach for band tours or larger groups that want to go on a lengthy tour and have sleeping accommodations on board.

And despite the fact that they say the bus can easily seat twenty people, it was tight in there, with "comfortable" seating for maybe fifteen people. We had a group of seventeen, and had no use for TWELVE sleeping berths. One of our vice-presidents decided to drive her own vehicle and took two others with her, so that the Board proper could have enough room to be truly comfortable. It was a little embarrassing for all of us, given the high priority given to the Board of Directors.

Anyway, this story is getting long so I'll wrap it up. We hear that our catering company did an excellent job in Red Deer and with the barbecue at the ranch, so at least that went well. We are presently pursuing the bus company for an explanation, an apology, and financial compensation. Yesterday they seemed completely unremorseful and unapologetic for sending us the wrong bus - I guess they think they're better able to determine the needs of our company than we are. Yeesh!  | ¶ 4:58 p.m.

  Calgary Stampede Report: Day 10 I did yoga this day. Then I drove over to the compound with Devin so he could join the group going rodeo-ing. While we there, the following scene was seen:



Later in the day when I went back to pick up Devin after the rodeo-ing, the following scene was seen:

  | ¶ 8:04 p.m.

  you either want to be with me, or be me There's a new way to keep cool over at the compound - a lovely inflatable pool for the kids. I sort of suspect some of the adults might just be taking advantage of the new facilities one of these days as well. I know I'll be tempted...

When I arrived at the compound yesterday to pick up Devin (he'd been at the rodeo, don't you know), Keri was just nearing completion of pumping up the pool with this dinky little hand-pump. He asked if froo had a better pump, and by coincidence I happened to have the raft pumps in my car, so I quickly went and got them. After taking nearly an hour to inflate the pool, the last bit took merely seconds. If only I'd arrived sooner..!

We had a family barbecue on Saturday. Dalt's son and three of his friends were in town from BC, as was my cousin Ryan from NB. Dalt's nephew brought his family, I brought Persuade, and we had quite the large group gathered in the backyard for some of Dalt's famously scrumptious burgers.

Ella had a Dora napkin that she kept insisting we make into a hat. When I showed her this picture on the viewscreen of my camera, she said "that's NOT what it looks like!" - as though the camera was lying to her. Funny.

Since Persuade and I were abiding under a self-imposed de-tox, we headed into the kitchen for coffee after dinner, and when somebody ran inside for tequila and limes, we sensed that might be our cue to leave. I'm not sure how long that craziness went on...

And now we're back to real life and real work.

Pics from the weekend are here.  | ¶ 1:12 p.m.

  now you'll have to run and not get caught I may have waited just a tad too long to complete my course registration at Carleton. My alloted registration window began Thursday evening, but the next group of students don't register until tomorrow, so I thought I'd be safe waiting until the weekend to tackle it. Given the Stampede gongshow of the past few days, I wasn't in a frame of mind to figure it all out anyway. But today froo came over to "talk me through it" - sometimes an outside perspective helps - and after I selected some classes, checked whether they worked scheduling-wise, and signed in to the website to register, two of them were already full. Eep.

What I did learn today was that many of the courses I'll need or want to take have a couple of the same pre-requisites. And those were the classes that I couldn't get into mostly. Luckily they're offered again next semester. I was avoiding evening classes (not fond of those) and Carleton offers a video service (will even deliver the DVDs of the lectures...?) but I'm not sure I need to go THAT route. I like to attend school.

I found four political science classes that I'm reasonably pleased with and now at least I know that I need to get in earlier next semester. I'm still going to pick up an elective - just didn't find one I wanted yet. These are the courses I'm taking:

1. Intro to Research Methods in Political Science
2. Public Affairs Analysis
3. International Relations: Global Political Economy
4. Comparative Political Thought

It's been a beautiful final weekend of the Calgary Stampede, but low-key for me. Self-imposed de-tox has been in effect since yesterday. But somebody is pressuring me tonight to give up the de-tox for tonight, the final night of shenanigans... Might be nice to actually catch the fireworks once, I think.  | ¶ 10:38 p.m.

  Calgary Stampede Report: Day 7 Okay, this is all getting a little bit silly. Cowgirls need their sleep, too, you know!

What happened is this: I went to the rodeo with some people from my company. I was dragging my ass a bit from the previous night, so I sipped coffee quietly while watching the cowboys strut their stuff. Once again, I averted my eyes during the calf-roping. I find it interesting that a lot of people do the same - makes you wonder if they might eventually stop including that event, because, as one woman said, "it's upsetting to watch". Seriously.

The rodeo IS a great show. It's a really slick production with emcees and music cued up to reflect the performance of the cowboys ("...you're simply the best...") I enjoy the entertainment.

Anyway, I'm not exactly chummy with my current co-workers, so I was mostly keeping to myself. We were sitting in the "clubhouse" section of the grandstand, sheltered from the elements behind huge windows. But as I looked below me in the outdoor section of the seating area, I could see my ex-co-workers from BW almost directly in front of me. As the rodeo was wrapping up, I made a break for it and went down to say hello. Turned out it was perfect timing on my part, because they were rounding everybody up to head to Coyote's so I ditched my group and tagged along - shh!

We proceeded to put in a solid session at Coyote's. Check out my pics here - you gotta SEE what the servers are wearing these days. May as well just show up in your underwear...! I had a really fun night. The BW people are a cool bunch.  | ¶ 10:43 a.m.

  who is the girl wearing nothing but a smile Wowza. We kicked off our party stretch in style tonight at Fort Calgary. That place is a fabulous venue - great food, music, lounging area, and did I mention music..? The surprise guest was pretty cool - the lead singer from Supertramp. I have to admit that I didn't catch his name, but he performed a bunch of Supertramp songs (including the Logical Song) and was quite awesome to hear live. Fun times, man. And Blue Rodeo kicked ass. I wasn't anywhere near the stage but I was belting out the songs along with them. Love, love that band. Fun. Tonight's pics are here.  | ¶ 4:02 a.m.

  Calgary Stampede Report: Day 6 Woo hoo! It's Stampede time! Now that it's Wednesday, I think the partying kinda ramps up in this town. For me it does anyway, because I hadn't intended to do anything but get rested up so I could tackle my Stampede partying full-force. Today I'm headed to the "Stampede Roundup" at Fort Calgary.

I'm pretty excited for the party today - it should be a massive gongshow, and BLUE RODEO IS PLAYING!! That is very cool to me. Sadly, both Persuade and Devin, who are attending too, are not terribly familiar with or fond of one of Canada's best bands. Sheesh! I've never seen Blue Rodeo play before, so that makes it even cooler for me. Yahoo!

The next few days might be a bit of a blur for me - we're nearing the board meeting on Tuesday so most of the details are coming together (bus, tent, Birds, catering on and off the bus, barbecue set-up, etcetera, etcetera...). So I'll be letting loose a little. I'm off to the rodeo tomorrow, and have another party on Friday after work. Yee-haw!

Check out the newly-converted cowboy! Devin's new hat looks good, don't you think?  | ¶ 4:23 p.m.

  I don't know why I think you're gonna save me I have been getting a little stressed lately about some school stuff. The Carleton people assigned me a registration date, so I have to log in and register for courses this week. Fortunately, upon re-examining the paperwork, I realize that I have a couple more days than I thought. Still, though, I haven't devoted a ton of time to figuring out which courses I need. I was spoiled at Bishop's by a very straightforward you-need-this-you-need-that type of academic calendar. The Carleton thing doesn't seem so simple to understand. The academic calendar is over four hundred pages...! I'm barely making sense of the "course audit" they sent me as an explanation of which course they're giving me credit for, let alone inspecting course descriptions to see which I'll opt to take.

Anyway, I've got a few more days to get it sorted out. I mentioned it earlier, but to confirm (if you were wondering), I heard back from the Alberta Student Loan people and they awarded me the full amount that I asked for ($11K-ish). The sweet part of seeing the details is where they indicate "Canada Millennium Bursary = $3,000". Gotta love the "free" money, eh.

For more on the wacky Calgary weather, below is another hailstorm video I shot last week while driving. Don't worry, I can easily hold my camera on the steering wheel, so it wasn't hazardous. Make sure you turn on the sound so you can hear the racket. Poor, poor Fred doesn't like having his roof so beat upon!

  | ¶ 12:23 a.m.

  there's a boat, I could sail away
there's the sky, I could catch a plane Alright, then. What a weekend. Sorry for the delayed update - it's quarter-end and hence board meeting time at work, so I'm busy again these days. We got home from BC pretty late last night.

When we got to Sick-Moose, it turned out the Moose was dead - no campsites to be found. Uh-oh! After a six-hour-congested-and-roadwork-delayed drive (busy tourist season on the Trans-Canada through the Canadian Rockies right now), those were not pleasant words to hear. But froo was coming towards us from the other side and managed to snag a good little spot just outside Salmon Arm.

It was positively lovely in BC, again. Hot, hot, hot. Our campsite was right on the Shuswap, and had a decent beach, so we pumped up the raft and headed out on the water. It was kinda nice to have the boat on water that was actually not ice-cold, like our wonderful Bow River in Calgary. We even went for a swim!

Camping really is a lot of fun. Making do with various not-quite-right tools, cooking utensils, and a one-burner campstove - it makes you feel very satisfied when you successfully pull together a meal, or get that clothesline UP. Just being in the good old outdoors - it's so very refreshing. We set up the tent, pumped up the air mattress, strung up that clothesline, started a fire, set up a makeshift "kitchen" at the end of the picnic table, and relaxed with some camp stew and beers. Later we gathered around the fire and made s'mores. Yum.

Since we only had the one night there, we had to make the best of our quick visit. After a night in the tent (and Persuade on the backseat of my rented Rio), we strolled groggily to the lake with our rafts and went for an early-morning boat ride. Then it was back to camp to make a breakfast feast. Devin and I had stocked up on great ingredients, so we had a complete meal of instant coffee, maple-smoked bacon, pan fries, fried eggs and toast. It was a bit piecemeal, due to the one-burner situation, but it was a great meal nonetheless. After the time required to cook only one part of the meal at a time, then slowly cleaning up after cooking, breakfast was a lengthy process indeed, taking nearly two hours. Fortunately, our campsite was a peaceful spot to hang out and relax in the sun (or shade) while everything simmered.

All too soon we had to pack up and tackle the six-hour drive back. With only a short break en route to see some huge old trees, we made it home just after 10 PM. I have some great memories from our visit to Salmon Arm, and some great pics here.

p.s. if you think the skoonies are bad in Calgary, don't visit the dead Moose / Sick-Moose area. They hover around looking for that one patch of flesh where you didn't put sufficient bug juice... Buggers!  | ¶ 9:44 p.m.

  will you be the same when we see you again Roadtrip, part II. We're off to Sick-moose (Sicamous) tomorrow to meet up with froo, on her way home from Van-groove-ey. We'll camp one night before coming home on Sunday. I've been reminded tonight how much prep goes into camping...! froo has a lot of the gear, so we trekked over to her place to get a tent, various eating tools, and the boating paraphenalia. Then a trip to the grocery store. Then washing all froo's camp dishes, because they've been sitting for a while. Etcetera.

But we're pretty much set. Devin and I will pick up Persuade in the morning, pick up the rental car (poor Fred isn't suited to these mountain drives), pack the vehicle and hit the road. The weather forecast looks good, too. We'll avoid the first crazy weekend of stampeding in Calgary, but that's okay with us.  | ¶ 1:11 a.m.

  I've been a long time gone now It's parade day! I'm ready for the cowboy party:
  | ¶ 9:07 a.m.

  fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue   | ¶ 4:10 p.m.

  Calgary Stampede Report: Day -1 Today is "sneak-a-peek" day. So it's not quite the beginning of Stampede, but there is already an increase in cowboy hats, jeans, and bad cowboy clothing. Many of the bars in town have put up enormous tents in their parking lots, and all the fake-unfinished-wood decorating has been completed and hay bales strategically placed. We're having this strange hazy weather - it's scorching hot at times, but there is a lingering risk of thunderstorms. Tonight we'll watch the first night of fireworks.

Yesterday at lunch I strolled along Stephen Avenue taking in the hustle and bustle of this busy tourist season. I'm a little tired of my old cowboy hat so I tried on a few hats, but didn't find one that I loved. Gotta keep the costume up-to-date..!

Last night Persuade, Devin and I decided to kick off Stampede early with some drinks at la Tavola and Ceili's. We had to leave la Tavola due to the horrible service - the woman working the bar was lovely and sweet, and told us it was her first night on the job, but she was pretty hopeless as a server. She couldn't ring in drink orders, she couldn't open wine bottles or beer bottles, our drinks took forever to arrive, and she kept forgetting to bring the water we asked for several times. I was a little less-than-generous with her tip. We went down the road to Ceili's instead. Much better service there. We are all a little tired today.  | ¶ 3:52 p.m.

  oh you look so beautiful tonight Interesting perspective. BBC story.

Kim Jong-il relies on China for everything from food to power to rental videos. He is unlikely to have launched several missiles without its consent.

North Korea is the aggressive wolf child, twisted by years in the wilderness. It clearly needs a hug but is afraid to ask for one.

  | ¶ 5:32 p.m.

  so afraid of what people might say, but that's okay 'cause you're only human We made it home from our whirlwind adventure in van-Groove-ey yesterday afternoon (pics here). A recap:

We left bright and early Saturday morning, aiming to beat the rush of traffic out of the city. It was pretty crowded on the Trans-Canada for most of the drive out of Alberta, but things thinned out as we got farther into BC. Devin was a champ and did the driving for almost all of the twelve-hour journey. froo relinquished driving responsibility at Lake Louise and he took over from there. With quick stops in Golden, Revelstoke, and Chase, we kept ourselves hydrated through the intense heat of the BC interior (over 30 degrees). I said this the last time I spent time in that area, but I really need to do some camping and boating near the Shuswap Lake. It's a huge lake and a gorgeous area - positively breathtaking. Alas, we didn't have time to stop...

I was surprised to see that the Kamloops area wasn't that pretty. I guess it's pretty dry around there, so there's a lot of brown-ness. Kinda reminded us of good old brown Calgary...(!)

So we rolled into Vancouver around 7:30 pm local time. We stayed at my brother and his girlfriend's place, but they had actually left town earlier that morning, so we had to get the key from one of Kris's friends. Kris and Tannis have a lovely and spacious apartment right at the intersection of Broadway and Granville (fabulous location), so we crashed there with our host Sabby the cat. Since I left Salsa home alone for three days (!), it was nice to have a feline host, but it was kind of a bummer that we didn't get to visit with Sabby's people..!

Our first night in town we headed down the block to the Cactus Club - we just love the food there. Petter came over from UBC to have some drinks with us, too, so it was nice to visit with him - I hadn't seen him since leaving Bishop's last year. We caught a bus downtown to enjoy some beers at an Irish pub (although they called themselves an "Irish Snug", whatever that is). After our marathon drive that day, though, we were pretty tired and didn't last long in those comfy leather booth seats, so it wasn't a wild and crazy night.

The weather on Sunday was spectacular and hot. We started our day with a visit to another favourite place - Paul's Omelettetry - for a scrumptious egg breakfast. Then it was off to the beach. We settled in for some sun but it got super-scorching super-fast. We were positively baking out there, and I'm not really designed for that much sun. Big OOPS on the sunscreen application, too - I clearly missed the belly button zone - see my pics to see the amusing burn pattern. Eep.

We visited Stanley Park after the beach. It was maybe a mistake to drive there on a long weekend on such a hot day - it was jam-packed with folks, finding parking took forever, and we didn't even manage to get close to the beach spot we wanted. Ah well, we sat down on the seawall, made some sandwiches and watched seaplanes take off. It's so nice to see the ocean and just breathe in that ocean smell. Gorgeous.

After a lovely afternoon nap we headed down to Granville Island for dinner and drinks. Petter joined us again and even recommended a nice waterfront pub to us. We managed to get a great table on the patio overlooking the water and we relaxed over pitchers of beer and more great food.

Yesterday morning we had a quick breakfast at Club McDo and some coffee at Starbucks, then Devin and I hopped a bus for the airport. We were a little sad to leave the beautiful ocean paradise that is the city of Van-groove-ey, but we left froo there to enjoy it for the week. Back to real life today. Work. And ramping up for the Stampede. YA-HOO!  | ¶ 12:00 p.m.

  I did what I did before love came to town ...safe and sound in Van-groovey. We made good time, despite massive traffic just outside Calgary. It was super-hot in the BC interior today - thank goodness froo's car has air conditioning. It's nice to see Vancouver in the summer; it's gorgeous in these parts. More updates later!  | ¶ 10:38 p.m.