New Years Approaching

Well it's been quite the week. Business is booming like you wouldn't believe and some troubles with the old resident in this apartment. But neither of those are particularly interesting.

I want to talk more about Christmas!

Had as good of a Christmas as can be expected given my situation with work here. I worked Christmas Eve from 6:00am until noon and not again until 5:00pm on Christmas Day, so there was over 24 hours off in there. I used it to go to Bonnie's family, who were wonderful and took me in for that small period of time. We had a pretty solid Christmas, and it was tough to go knowing that I was going to the zoo that was, and has been, work.

Anyway, some thank yous..

Mom - I haven't opened all your presents yet since I heard you're coming out. but for the ones I've opened, thanks! It was especially nice seeing my actual stocking in that one box :p I'll comment on the rest after opening them all :D

Dad and Jan - what a beautiful set! Bonnie and I are very excited to try it out. Also, we're 1/2 done with that season of "Rome" already, it's very good. Bonnie also loves her kazoo

Santa - I love getting tools (just ask my grandparents!). As well, I can't wait to go skiing wearing that balaklava and the gloves have already come in handy several times and have replaced my old gloves copmletely. Also, I've already almost got "Linus and Lucy" completley under my fingers. (whoops! Nathene gave that to me, how'd it get in here?!?) The biggest thanks go just for taking me in though

Everybody back in London - thank you again. That box was thoughtful and thoughtless at the same time. Still haven't tried the MSG....

Honey - ZOMG Swiss Army knife to the max! For those that don't know, she got me a 19 piece (17?) swiss army knife including altimeter and thermometer! What an invention!Also, we're going dog sledding together on wednesday. It should be great!

There are gifts I haven't yet opened from people back home as well in anticipation of my mom coming out, so probably more later.

So as the season draws to a close, Merry Christmas once more to everybody. And thank you again.

I was a good boy this year!

So what'd I get for Christmas?

I got a bottle of MSG, a broken package of fettucini, and a string!!! You guys are the best friends ever :p

For those of you that don't know what i'm talking about, my friends back in London got together and sent Bonnie and I a package full of swag that included those three wonderful things! I can't wait to do a blind taste-test with the MSG tomorrow with Bonnie :D

Other things in the box of swag included 2 toy guns, a cap gun with tons of caps, a police badge, holster, and extremely cheap handcuffs that Bonnie has already broken (but don't worry folks, SHeriff Noah is back in town!), targets for the guns (including one shaped like a person!) and the NEW MEATLOAF CD! ZOMG!!

The "real" presents in the package were pictures from the party that I paid for for them, a picture frame to hold some in, and cards from everyone. THat was our favorite part - VERY cool idea, and very meaningful. I have Christmas cards for all of you too! I just haven't written/mailed them yet. I will work doubly hard at getting them out as soon as possible and they will have to be generic January cards.

Thanks everybody. Merry Christmas all.

It's been a while!

Well it's been a while, but a lot has happened. Or at least one big thing...

I got a place! Long story short - buddy/coworker had to leave town quickly for a great oppurtunity in Ontario and he gave me his place to sublet. So now Rowan and I are living here, with Bonnie here part time. Not bad! Pictures as soon as it's not a disaster.

To make it better, he left so quickly (under 24 hours) that we get to keep all his stuff for at least a couple months. TVs, stereos, brand new couches...man..paradise! No more internet cafe for me!!

The only catch is it *may* be temporary (few months only) in case he comes back. I don't think he will however. If he doens't, we'll just keep subletting and he'll ship his stuff back to Ontario or wherever he goes. If he does, people leave town in droves in Spring, so finding a place should be pretty easy. Just another move (grrr).

IN other news, Christmas is coming up and this town is getting busier. Actually getting stuff to do at work! Amazing! Unfortunately, I'm working a lot of day shifts that interfere with skiing time, so I haven't been able to go until today (been about a week). Today was a beautiful, bluebird day (no clouds) and a great temperature with about a foot of newfallen snow. It doesn't get any better than that. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go to Sunshine or Lake Louise after work, and had to go to Norquay. Norquay is basically Ontario skiing in bigger mountains. Solid ice, especally today. It's an extremely steep mountain, so snow doesn't stick as well, and it's lower in elevation than the other ones. I pretty much had to bomb all the runs today. Was great fun at incredibly high speed, just not what I usually look for. Nice to get out though, it felt great.

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Rowan has a couple friends in town and yesterday he decided that we should take them up Tunnel Mountain. Tunnel is a short hike on a small mountain right in town. In good conditions, I can do it in 25-35 minutes depending on where i start and how fast i want to go. Pretty simple. In all that snow it took significantly longer, but we did get some great pictures of Banff and the Bow Valley. Was another beautiful day yesterday as well, as you can see.

Thanks for your camera Bonnie!

Huzzah! More pictures for you folks back home. Bonnie allowed me to carry her camera around the ski hill yesterday - a VERY risky proposal. You'll be happy to know the camera even survived!

In any case, I took a bunch of pictures. The weather wasn't so great (surprise, surprise for sunshine), but some of these are nice anyway. Let's get started!

This is my "Everest". I hate this run, yet i go down it all the time. I usually end up in a heap somewhere near the bottom and have to walk back up. Grrr...one day "Headwall"..1 day. In other news, there's a lot of snow in this picture!


This from about 1/2way down the "noob lift". That's the ski base down there, and the gondola going off in the distance. Banff is nowhere to be seen.


Goat's Eye Mountain - the tallest area of the ski hill. 9200ft lift station.


Lookout Mountain. This is the one with the cross-border ski lift. IN fact, you can see it faintly on the right


From the top of a 3rd mountain, Mt Standish. Weather looking....not so good. This is also looking in to British Columbia.


Well Mom, you asked what "Delirium Dive" is...it's in this photo. It's the bowl-like area on the right that is somewhat obscured by the clouds. I wont' tell you when i start doing it :p


I just think this is pretty. Sometimes it's tough to focus on skiing when your scenery looks like this.


So, when can I expect everyone for a ski trip?

Finally managed to get up to Lake Louise for some skiing today with Anthony. What a great mountain! I am so sore. 6 hours in today, and falls like you wouldn't believe.

Also, I took another step towards becoming a "True" Banff local today and picked up hitchiker at Lake Louise who wanted to come back to Banff. It's bizzare - it's really a socially acceptable, perfectly normal method of transportation around here.

Going to go skiing on Friday with Bonnie and Anothy again - he's going to give her a lesson and hopefully we'll all be going down the double-blacks at the end of the day. Er......

That's about it for now i think. Oh! I found my hat. Wootness.

Don't put Comet on your pastries. It never works.

Spent the day in "ServSafe" training with the other full-time managers from work today. Expected it to be hellish but it wasn't as bad because the 4 of us were acting like rowdy high school children. There were also plenty of doughnuts and other tasty snacks. None of them had Comet on them. 1 more day and the big test tomorrow then I'll be certified in food safety. Shazam!

In other news, I'm doing a lot of skiing (as usual), and working (as usual). In fact, as Dad pointed out, it's something of a damn ordinary life in terms of scheduling, if not location and activities. Going to go up to Lake Louise with a whole bunch of people on Wednesday, and then it looks like off to Sunshine on Friday with Bonnie.

Good news! The Sushi train is still open! Huzzah! Was sad to see them in trouble. They don't even put any Comet on their food.

In other news, for whatever reason (the divine hand of God?), Rowan didn't end up moving into my palace. We both still have rooms of our own. I don't know what happened, and I don't want to ask in case it's a mistake.

SO you're probably wondering about the continued references to the household cleaner, Comet. Well, we heard a lot of "stupid kitchen anecdotes" today. One involved a bakery that stored their icing sugar and Comet in identical containers. You can imagine what happened.

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What follows is a very subtle public service announcement:

There are some of you (dad) who have said "I'll be coming out in the summer" and still haven't given me dates to book your hotel room. Dad. For those of you coming out in the summertime, it's very busy around here and hotels are already booking up full. Dad.

This is the end of the broadcast.