Things are feeling like...Christmas?

Seems like an odd title with Halloween coming up tomorrow but, there ya have it.

2 nights ago we got a foot of snow and then yesterday it snowed all day long. I mean all...day....long. So now today is bright and sunny and everything has the most pristine snow you've ever seen on it. Since the town is permanently decked out in Christmas lights and there is a Christmas-only store right across the street from work, things seem..well..Christmass-sy. Sorry, no camera.

Work has been going well. Still serving and making pretty good money, but I had my first dine-and-dash today. So annoying. Also, I'm fed up with people from cultures that don't tip that come here and don't tip. It's all fine to not do it at home, but there's a major problem with that here:

If I serve a table, and don't get a tip, I still have to tip-out for that table.

At the end of the night, I have to pay 4.5% of my total sales to the kitchen and bar. (i won't get into how big that number is in comparison to other places). So if a table orders $100 worth of food and drinks, and doesn't tip me at least $4.50, I lose that money. Considering that while serving, we all get paid a whopping $7/hour, that's an incredibly significant amount of money. Anyway, them's the breaks I suppose. It's made up for in tables, like the one yesterday, that tip more than the bill :D

Happy Halloween everybody.

Quick Update

Things are pretty dead around here; we are in the slowest three weeks of the year. On top of that, I'm working day shifts primarily, which means no lunch rush and no dinner rush (as pathetic as they are anyway). Of course, that translates into not too much money. Oh well.

At the same time, I am enjoying the shifts because there is no need for more than myself in the front and one cook in the back - a 2-man operation!

Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be my first managing shifts. I haven't been promoted, and still won't be for a little bit, but they're throwing me in as supervisor for little bit just to keep things moving. Let's hope the restuarant doesn't burn down.

Far-off friends

I actually have several friends that are doing similarly crazy things around the world. Since all of them have blogs about it too, I thought I would post those links here for anybody interested in seeing them. If you enjoy stories about people living in places that you aren't, you will probably enjoy these.

Vanessa in South Korea teach English
http://vanessainasia.blogspot.com/

Professor Brett in China
http://brettinchina.blogspot.com/

Bonnie in the Pacific Ocean
http://bajaorbust.blogspot.com

Yet more pictures!

As promised, I have some more pictures from Cory Pass, as well as Bow Falls, and a couple pictures of work! huzzah!

Ness made a comment on the last post about the lack of people. In truth, we were not completely alone, we just took pictures with no other people in them. There were 2 other couples doing the hike with us and we all passed and got passed by each other most of the way up. On the way down, Rowan and I were almost completely alone for about 5 or 6 of the 7km of the hike (the first km, at the bottom, is very popular. After that it seems people get turned off by the steepness of the trail)

I'm going to forego captions on most of these and let the pictures speak for themselves













That last one there is an attempt to show how steep the trail was in an average section. It got steeper, it (barely ever) got less steep.

Next up, the lounge at work. The restuarant is divided into 2 sections by the hotel lobby. The lounge, I think, is far nicer (not that the rest of the restuarant isn't very nice). Sorry the pictures are so dark, but I had to take them quickly before any customers came in. In any case, this is where I've been bartending. And yes, we do turn that fireplace on.




Next up is a few pictures from Bow Falls, which Josh and I went to on the last day he was here in Banff. As you can see, the weather wasn't nearly as nice as some of the other hiking shots, but I think it still had a certain beauty to it.

This one was taken from the very bottom. There are several different cataracts on the way.


The Bow Valley


More Bow Valley


The top falls




Yea..we were climbing along this. :p


That's the famous Banff Springs Hotel in the background there. Nice views from the rooms I'm sure


In other news, I got my piano power cord in the mail today, so I'll be able to play some more. Whoopee. Also I have another week of serving to go at work, my boss is very determined that I get this job down and become one of the best servers there before continuing. He seems generally happy with what I've done thus far though, and I'm certainly happy to keep making $50-$100 tax free per night.

Hooray! More Pictures!

Zomg! It has been a while. So let's see...

With Josh, the old palacemate moved out, i've somewhat moved in. I'm still being very slow about the moving process because I still intend to switch to a new, better palace (bigger harem space) at some point in the near future. But it's nice having a few more comforts around and available.

One of my friends from work has moved into the palace next door by himself. He and I have been hanging out and enjoying our solo pads quite a bit lately. In fact, today we took a hike. A long hike. It was only 13km long but it was a vertical kilometer up over the course of the first 5k. Down was a little less grueling. Last night, he and I were drinking beer and perusing this nifty trail guide I found on sale and we found this hike which was described thusly by the authors:

"Caution: do not underestimate the physical exertion that this hike requires. The trail is also hazardous when the ground is frozen or there is snow and ice on sections of the route"

Naturally, with a disclaimer like that, we decided to do it. So with that in mind, we went to Cory Pass, up 8000feet. As you might imagine, it was cold, snowy, windy, and utterly exhausting. It was also very worth it.

Where we started. Can't see any mountains, to speak of. Nice forest though. The first KM of the trail climbed that hill in the background. We couldn't even see our destination until we crested the first bit.


Mount Norquay from the "back" side, at least as far as my reference points go. Ski slopes on the far side


Pretty...


Looking back towards Banff. The "cloud" was actually caused by a small forest fire, it's not a real cloud. We aren't that high yet. The small hill in between the trees in the bottom left is Tunnel Mountain, the easy, 25 minute hike right from downtown Banff. I scoff at that hike now. Mount Rundle, the big one on the right, is the one that always seems to catch clouds and send them streaming over like a sky river. I hope to climb that mountain (from the sloped side) sometime next summer.


Our first view of Mt. Edith. I was mostly dead by this point. About 1/3 of the way up


First view of our destination, the cory pass. It's up there in the upper right. Keep looking.


Another gratuitous mountain view with the Bow River Valley in the foreground.


This was our path. I promise, it's there. It was pretty awful at this point: muddy, thin, and wet. The avalanche slope went down at least 1,000ft on the left, we were almost at the top. On the right is a sheer rock face that we followed the entire way. It really makes you feel small. Also, that little wedge in the upper middle is the pass.


The side of Mount Cory. Getting cold. It always strikes me as funny when you look at mountain tops by facing ways other than straight up.


We reached the pass and were greeted with this...formidable...landscape. It's like another planet.


Down the back side of the pass. Mt Louis on the left.


Gargoyle Valley (just past the pass). What you can't see is that this valley is completely dominated by 3 sheer rock, mountain faces. Really incredible. Also note the path that you can see by small trail of snow.


One of those rock faces - Mt Cory in this case


I'm standing on one of the rock formations (gargolyes) that gives Gargoyle Valley its name. It's about 20feet up on the front side. Maybe 5 in back.


Rowan is from Sydney, Australia and even this much snow was exciting for him. The whole time we were up there he couldn't stop playing in it and then complaining about how cold his hands/feet were.


Looking out of Gargoyle Valley.


Looking back into the valley while I was navigating. Thanks for your sunglasses Bob - they work great! I really like this picture.

Mt Louis from the other side. We've come down quite a ways already. We actually each lost our footing at about the same time on the avalanche slope and slid for about 50-75ft at one point. Pretty crazy.


Gratuitous. I never get tired of looking at views like this and I hope you don't either because there are many more coming.


The last 3km of the hike was a relatively flat walk through this incredibly moss covered, "old forest." It was a nice end.


As you can see, the weather could not have been any better; we certainly lucked out. It would not have been nice to be up there with the weather turning sour. The entire hike took 6 hours and, let me tell you, victory beers have never tasted so good.

One last thought: in Gargoyle Valley it was completely, 100% quiet. So much so that a small rock slide caused probably by some kind of squirrel or chipmunk on the very far side caused me to jump. Maybe 4 or 5 small stones fell down the hill.

Tomorrow or Tuesday I'll have a few more pics from this hike, as well as pictures from Bow Falls.

The apocalypse cometh

So weather here is crazy. First off, as I mentioned before, you can't see it coming. One minute it's warm and sunny, the next it's raining and windy. Of course, were the mountains not in the way you could see the rain clouds hours in advance but...not in Banff.

Secondly, when weather does come, interesting things happen. The mountains here are high enough to impact the cloud movement. For example, this morning was a regular, dreary day. But, because of the mountains, the sky was not overcast in that grey, Detroit sort of way; instead, wehad sunny patches immediately behind the mountains and black, sky-rivers of death in between them.

Also interesting is when the clouds are completely blocked by the mountains so they build up vertically on the far side. Of course, this is the kind of thing that we can see happening and, let me tell you, when they finally break over it's armageddon.

Speaking of which, it's definitely going to snow tonight. It's cold, window, and I can see black clouds building up behind Mt Norquay (just west of here). well, i can't see them right now, but i could before. Right now i'm in this dungeon-like iCafe typing this post. It could be doing anything outside...hopefully snowing on the ski slopes only.

For God's sake man! It's a can of tuna!

So...I went to the grocery store today. Let me fill you in on some of the prices...

1 can of Clover Leaf tuna in water - $3.98
1 small size bottle of Kraft Sun Dried Tomato and Oregano Salad Dressing - $3.59
1 Box of regular, Kleenex Tissue - $3.29
Green Peppers - $4.39/kg ($1.99/lb for you Imperial types)
Tomatoes - $5.49/kg (2.49/lb)

And my personal favorite...

3 "Mach 3" razor blades *drum roll* $23.99!!!!!!

So...long story short (or short story shorter, as it were), I'll be making weekly trips to Cochrane (almost to Calgary) for groceries, etc. What's Cochrane? Well, Cochrane is where Bonnie's parents live. I've been offered laundry facilities, home-cooked meals, etc there whenever I like and since I never intend to shop for...anything...in Banff again, I will do all my shopping there too. Sounds like a good deal! Once a week, 2 hours round-trip driving. Not too bad.

Skipped bartending entirely tonight because there wasn't enough business to even require a single bartender, let alone 2. Instead, I shadowed a server for 1/2 the night and served 3 tables for the 2nd half. It went pretty well.

Also, my palacemate is officially moved out and I have the entire place to myself now and will continue to have it that way until i move out. Again, I intend to move out because the rules say Bonnie can't stay over . Sure, she's already stayed over twice, but that's another story. He even cleaned it all before he left!

Tomorrow and Thursday I have off and I intend to go hiking on at least one, if not both days. It's always hard to plan ahead here because the weather is so fickle.

Christmas Wishes....ok just 1 wish.

I need a camera. What's in it for you, you ask? More pictures on my blog. I should start some kind of charity

Mountains were beautiful this morning. Very low hanging clouds were swirling around all of them. It was just stunning.

In other news, I've completed the exediting phase of training and tomorrow start training to be a bartender...woot! I love alcohol! I should be great at this job! Now i have to go home and do laundry. Things are getting....pretty bad.

Lifestyle change much?

Dad tells me that a lot of you are looking at these pictures and making travel arrangements...good! Come on out here and we'll do all the touristy stuff. For free! Let me know enough time in advance to get a least a couple of the days off too.

I thought I'd write a little bit about my lifestyle out here, because it's a pretty drastic change. First of all, many of you scoffed when I mentioned that I planned on cutting down on red meats, especially you, Jan. Well, since I got here, I've had about a 6 strips of bacon and 1 breakfast sausage. That's it. No joke. I realized this last night when I was laying down for bed (at 11:15....yikes) and then realized that it was something that I haven't even consciously been doing. My diet has consisted almost entirely of fish, fruit, vegetables, and carbs.

As for what I'm doing, I'm working. A lot. But when I'm not, I'm hiking, sitting here on the computer, going to the tourist traps, wandering around town, etc. In other words, I'm in pretty good shape and am actually waking and sleeping "normal" hours. Insanity! I feel a lot healthier too and am looking forward to coming home and drinking you all under the table while running circles around you. Mountain living....

Roll call

So I'm curious...who are you out there? Who is reading this endless rant of mine? Especially family members, post a comment and say "hello!" I'd love to hear from all of you.

Finally! It's still not over!

Got my car back yesterday on an 11-hour round trip drive to beautiful Sweet Grass, MT. Unfortunately, we were so overcome with the grandeur that we forgot to take pictures. Suffice it to say, that although my car is here, the entire escapade is still not over and I don't really feel like telling the rest of the story. So frustrating.

In other news, my palacemate is moving on and so I now have the entire palace to myself. I'd stay if it weren't for the no opposite sex guests policy. Losers.....

At work I continue to be an expeditor. For those that don't know, I'll describe the position briefly.

Cooks in busy restuarants only cook about 80% of the food, and the food they do cook, they don't put together. It is the expeditor's job to arrange the food on the plate properly, check for order quality and completeness, add garnishes and sauces, see to any special requests, and announce when the order is finished so that a server can run it to the table. Also, we make the salads, soups, and occasionally the desserts. As you can imagine, it's a vital part of the chain in a restuarant and my boss has me spending a great deal of time here to gain product recognition and a sense of how the restuarant works (no other position is as mobile and connected to all parts of the restuarant. The servers tend to stay out front, the cooks by the ovens, etc).

Still ahead of schedule i think. Good stuff!

Mostly Pictures

As promised, I have many pictures for you. First, though, I guess a little about the job is in order.

I'm hopping from one job to the next in an attempt to learn all jobs as quickly as possible so that I can move into a supervisory position, and then a management position without too much delay. Right now I'm working in the back of house finishing plates, oganizing orders, running food, making salads and soups, etc. On top of that, I am training for serving and learning some manager-related tasks. So, it's a lot of work but will pay off I'm sure.

My roomate and I took a hike this morning up Mt Norquay, which is just behind my palace. The hike was about 4 hours and we made it about 1/2way up the mountain.

A neighboring mountain


The townsite in the morning


This valley continues as far as we could see, but the sun unfotunately is keeping that detail from the picture


As high as we made it..


And down the mountain again


Opening out to a sheer cliff face


Main street Banff, from outside my restuarant looking towards my palace and Cascade Mountain


My restuarant on the right and Rundle Mountain with the sun cresting the top



And now 3 pics from my palace-mate. The first is also of Cascade Mountain


A roadside lake coming into Canmore (just outside of Banff) that I don't know the name of yet


And I will end with another winter-related picture...yikes

Anecdotes away!!!

I apologize in advance for the randomness that ensues...

----High-altitude lessons---

#1: Remember back to grade 9 health class and the drugs and alochol unit. Do you recall that list of items that effect how drunk one becomes? Well...altitude was on that list. I forgot because, let' face it, at the time I was in Detroit and a whopping 500feet above sea level and it seemed completely irrelevant. Well, let me tell you: it's not. 5 beers last night and I was falling-down drunk. London people and Tinker, I know it's hard to believe. At least my alcohol costs should go down as a result. Everybody gets to be a lightweight!

#2: My boss suggested a nice warm-up hike for Bob and I to take up the Tunnel Mountain trail. It goes up to 5500 feet (quite low around here) and my boss said he completes it in 25 minutes. 25 seconds into the hike Bob and I were doubled-over and gasping. At least the bloodthirsty herds of elk didn't get us, though it was close. Inside joke...

-----Insane Weather----

3 changes of clothes per day. No joke. More often than not, I've woken up to snow, even brushed some off the car one morning. Soon enough, it goes from -5 or -10 to 10 or 15 through the afternoon and then back down to below zero at night. As well, it seems to be pretty normal for it to suddenly start raining and clear up again 1/2way through the day.

Overall, it's been amazing here. Sunny and calm most of the days so far, which apparently are rare. The air is the freshest I've breathed in a long time and I have yet to sneeze, cough, sniffle, or anything else. This place seems to do a body good. Like milk.

-----Last vestiges of the move----

My car is still in Montana. Bonnie's parents car is still dented and won't be able to get it fixed without them knowing. Nuff said.

-----Annoying internet cafe people-----

There are probably about 50 seats in this internet cafe. I was alone here. Guess where the guy who just came in sat down? Yea...across from me

-----Chinese Restuarant---

Went for Chinese lunch with Bob yesterday. Despite there being several set tables for 2 easily available, the host chose to set up a new table in the corner with a 1-table buffer zone between us and the Asian patrons. We had different chairs, different plates, different place settings, no tea pot. Interesting...

------Foreign Visitors----

There are so many British tourists here that I've been slipping into a bad British accent from time to time on accident. Yes, most have bad teeth...WHY!?!? But here's my odering of nationalities:

1 - United Kingdom
2 - Japan
3 - Australia

There seem to be VERY few people not from one of these 3 places around here. Definitely odd.

-----Bonnie----

Visited Bonnie down south today and she looks great. I haven't seen her that happy in a while. This job and location seem to be doing well for her. Since I will be seeing her again Wednesday or Thursday, I pilfered her camera and will be posting as many pictures as possible. Hopefully one of the next couple days will be nice weather and I'll get the chance to hike Tunnel Mountain again and post those pictures.

-----Living Arrangements----

Still in my "palace" but hope remains in the near future for a move. I will have the incredible privelege of even having my own room! Wow!!! And being able to have girls stay over (where have the good Catholic roots gone? This place is a den of sin!!) . In the meantime, it looks like my primary internet will come from this iCafe and, as such, I'll only be signing on every couple days. Too expensive otherwise.

----The Pictures-----

We'll start with the palace. Wow! Sorry about the mess.....and yes, this is the whole thing...sadly. Can't wait to get into the other place.





Aren't you proud of me?

The next pictures are of my drive through Kananaskis country. A 3-hour drive from Bonnie's work to Banff. The road i took was spectacular and I took as many pictures as I could. Unforutnately, because I was also driving, the quality of some is kind of low. Ah well.





And yea....winter is coming......



Hopefully pictures of Banff tomorrow or the next day. Cheers!