I've been slacking lately. SO here comes one of those mish-mash posts that has a little of everything in it. First off, here's a picture of Bonnie's dogs!



Cassie is on the pillow. Gus is on Cassie. She sure does love those dogs.

People have been asking about the condition of the house. I am sad to say that while the house is liveable, the work is not yet done. Hey! I found a theme for this post (you'll see).

Work finished drying the place and replacing the drywall about a week ago and we moved back into the place. The drywall still needed some sanding and the workmen chose to sand and re-mud the same places over the course of FIVE DAYS. They came in for about an hour each time. Fail. Then they finally painted it and said they were done and, guess what, that place they sanded for the last 5 days was completely rough. Not only that, but the paint job was terribly sloppy.

Some highlights of the job include:

-broken razors on the floor
-nails on the floor
-socket covers put on the wall even though they were broken
-drywall dust left everywhere instead of being vaccuumed
-paint on the baseboards
-paint not on the wall above the baseboards
-paint over top of unsanded mud (or the worst sanding job ever)

That about sums it up! Glad I'm not paying for those guys. So, I dutifully told the landlord and a few days later he had a friend come in and fix the sanding/mudding at least. So then we had a splotchy wall, but at least it was smooth. Then today the original guy came back and said he was going to finish the painting. So what did he do? He started sanding again. But hey, guess what? This time he took his shoes off and brought a shop vac with him. I haven't seen the finished product yet - i'm not optimistic

To continue with the epic saga (why does minor issue in my life turn into an epic saga?), the carpet people said that unless they wanted to work on Fridays or weekends (god forbid!) they wouldn't come in until October 4th. So we're living on concrete floor nails sticking up around the edges of the room! But have no fear! I have remedied the situation by putting bedsheets and towels down around the place so we have "Carpet" for now and the place is surprisingly livable. Took some pics of the height of the disaster:







It no longer looks like that. Don't worry :p I organized the whole place in exchange for the meals bonnie is cooking.

In other construction news, the "Banff Refreshing" is done!! It's the construction that they're doing on the main street that I've posted a few pictures of.

Wait.

It was supposed to be done. In fact, it's far from done. About 1/2 the sidewalk still needs doing, and the entire road surface, and the landscaping, and the detail work. Hrm....(see the theme now?) These workers are SSOOOOO great. There's been a couple mornings where it took serious acrobatics to get into the store (including one morning where i couldn't even figure out how to go about getting to the door in the first place). The other morning I couldn't even open the door because of the barricades in front of it. Here's a shot of one particularly accessible night



It's supposed to snow tonight. That'll speed up these guys. I've got a friend who says "In Toronto they would have laid and begun operating a subway in the time it's taken them to repave the road".

Finally, this weekend was the "last hurrah" for summer and tourists in this town until Thanksgiving (after which the town practically closes until Christmas). It was Melissa's (a restuarant/bar) Road Race!!!

WTF? How is that special?

I don't know!!

Anyway it's a HUGE event. 22km marathon (1/2 marathon?) around town and what not. I asked and this year there were 4,500 participants. HOly hell! What's the prize? NOTHING! What's the cause? NOTHING!

Ok. That's a lie. It's meant to be "the greatest road race in Canada" in that it's fun and open to everybody at no charge. It's just surprising that so many people show up for it. So some pictures of it that i took on my way to work








Finally a new Christmas wish in my ongoing effort to stave off the perpetual "What do you want for Christmas? You're SSSOOOO hard to buy for" comments that get thrown my way.

Get together out there and get Bonnie and I a nice high-definition TV. Nothing too big or fancy (we have a small place). We've got both Best Buy and Future Shop out here so we have full access to all the TVs you have access to.

Also, make your plans to come out for ski trips. Really! We want LOTS of ski trips this winter. I'd say "rooms are going fast" but...they aren't. UNless you mean the hotels in town. If you mean them, then they may in fact be, depending on when you'd want to come out.

What Happened To Summer?

It's definitely over. Been able to see my breath for most of the day the last few days out here. Pretty crazy. Also regularly waking up to snow on the mountains. It usually melts (but lately has gotten a little more stubborn), but everytime there is new snow, it's a little farther down the mountain. It's well past the treeline now. I remember coming out here last year and a few of the firs tmornings Bob and I were here (first week of October) we woke up to snow on the ground. Crazy. Definitely coming.

In other news, ski season starts exactly 2 months from yesterday. Huzzah! Book your ski vacations now :D With Bonnie's new job we can put people up at the Banff Centre for not very much money, but you'll have to get the details from her.

Still living out of the hotel and the work continues to progress on the place. We should be back in shortly. The timing wasn't great (the day before Labour Day weekend) and the landlord is really making sure to do the job right, so it's taking a little longer to get finished. We're really looking forward to moving out of the hotel though - it's getting kind of old.

Dave and I went up Sulphur mountain the other day on the Gondola. I'd hiked the trail up the mountain last winter (the one where i was fortunate enough to find that artist on top to draw a picture of me) and I was pretty unimpressed with the hike itself. It constnatly crossed under the gondola line and was thickly treed the entire way. Just drudgery with no reward.

We had a different kind of plan though. WE took the gondola up and then walked along the ridge to the far end of the mountain (a few k on the ridge at least). Even though the top of the mountain is something of a tourist destination, they all tend to stay in teh actual tourist areas leaving us alone to scramble from peak to peak.

This was one of the better hikes/scrambles I've done. ALl reward, no drudgery, some fun trickier bits to climb and get over. The ridge was frequently quite thin and sharp, but also frequently treed with what looked a lot like the trees of the Bruce Penninsula. THe view was also pretty good the whole time, even though Sulphur Mountain is a pretty small mountain around here (barely above the treeline usually)




Was also pretty cold, and when on the windy side it was fairly rough in general. We even got caught in somethign of a snowstorm - pretty weak one, but snow none-the-less. It snowed fairly constantly while we were up there but usually not enough to really notice and it didn't stay long on the ground.


Definitely the highlight of the trip was on a break we took on one of the peaks. We were sitting there having some water and a couple mountain goats passed by within 10 feet and hung out for a while. Definitely cool. Seen a lot of them around town and on the roads and what not, but this was the definitely the closest I'd ever been, for the longest time, and not in a vehicle of some time. It was also the first time Dave had seen any at all (talk about bum luck)





Finally, a couple shots from the actual summit of the mountain. not bad!
These are actually taken along the ridge, so you can see what we were walking on the whole time. fun stuff!







(not as good as others, I know. too bad. wimpy mountain)

Greetings from... Bonnie!

Yes, it is I. Noah tells me that I haven't been too great at letting people from our Eastern Time Zone homes know what I'm up to... so here I am!

As most of you know, I have worked for Forest Protection with the Albertan Government for a very, very long time. Over the 5 years of time I spent there, I have worked under a plethora of titles (ok, 4) in 3 districts (5 towns!). They are really the only employers I've ever had. However, things just weren't going well anymore... I wasn't as satisified with the job, or as self-motivated with my work. Plus, Noah and I were only an hour apart, but working through a long distance relationship...

So, 4 weeks ago tomorrow, I gave my notice with Forest Protection. I didn't have a job lined up yet, but I knew that it was something that I had to do for my own happiness. It was hard, and nerve-wracking, to leave the only employment I really know. Upon walking out of my boss' office, I felt at peace.

I applied to a series of jobs in a variety of fields in Banff. I got 3 of them! I was hired at Lush Cosmetics, Silver City Mercantile (shiny things!), and the Banff Court Libraries. In the meantime, I was interviewing with another job at the Banff Centre. This was a job that Noah found a want-ad for in the paper, as a Program Coordinator for Leadership Development at the Banff Centre. I almost didn't apply, but heard such great things about the Banff Centre as employers that I decided... sure. Why not. I was applying everywhere else in Banff, why not there?

I was invited to an interview, stage one, over the phone. Since it was a phone interview, and I was going to be using my cell phone, I had a little bit of liberty deciding where I wanted to be... so here's a picture of me, a minute before the interview began:



It was definitely one of the most relaxing locations I've ever been in for a job interview (although visiting Nana in Arizona is a close 2nd)! I was reading over the information they provided about the position, and suddenly realized... that I was made for this job. Every job or volunteer position I have worked in the last decade provided me with a great background for it. I felt it. I was perfect. And I told them so. I think that they liked that.

I got a 2nd interview, this time in person. The interviewers were 3 fantastic women, truly passionate about their work and happy with their jobs. It went great... and without really knowing what the job was, but knowing that I would be great at it... I got the job.

I have since found out that the Banff Centre Leadership Development program is a pretty elite organization. They primarily cater to the upper management of different companies or from the community, and have some pretty amazing programs. I'm not talking about your typical "motivate your workers" weeklong-getaways... every program has an artistic aspect ranging from molding clay to improv to dance, as well as an outdoors experience ranging from rock climbing to hiking to cross country skiing. There are 20 people in the department spread out over 5 modules, and I will be working in Custom Programs... we have 12 corporate clients ranging from Oil and Gas Industrial Giants to Financial Institutions, and even a Non-Profit Organization... our clients are based primarily in Western Canada, although one or two are from some Western States. Each of these clients has worked with our Organization to create a unique program for their employees based not only on their vision and corporate ideologies, but with specific goals in mind that change annually, even monthly.

My place in all that: as a program coordinator, I will help to develop what goes into each unique program, and from there, ensure that the logistics of each program is established so that the clients have as smooth and pleasant experience as possible. Parts of the job are heavily administrative, parts are "being a pleasant hostess"... it's very fluid and versatile, yet clearly definied, which I really appreciate.

I've only worked with the Banff Centre for 1 day, but I'm excited. I'm excited for the next couple of weeks of training, and the next few months of watching our programs get off the ground and into the conference rooms. I'm excited that I get to wear business clothes again, and high heels. I'm excited that I have my very own office! and that when I first looked out my window, there were 2 young deer grazing on the lawn. This is a fantastic opportunity, and I'm pretty grateful for it.

In regards to the rest of life, how things are going... Noah and I are still staying at a hotel waiting for the flood damage to be cleared out from the apartment. That does mean that yes, we will both be living in our tiny little rental... what was previously cozy just might be pretty cramped. We'll see what happens once we settle into our routines :-)

Anyway, that's a pretty long post for my first. I hope that all is well 2 hours ahead of me, and look forward to seeing you all soon... whenever that may be.

Much love,
Bonnie

p.s-- thanks for the pen, Marvin!

Mystery Solved

So the house-flood saga continues.

I spent Thursday morning moving all the furniture in the place onto the (very) limited non-carpeted floorspace. Big piles of stuff!!! Then after work yesterday I went home to help my landlord rip the carpet out. The water had been sitting in that place for upwards of 4-5 days most likely, based on their reports of smelling that lovely musty smell in their basement and not being able to locate it. So yea, that carpet was trashed. Ooo, here's a tangent for you:

The place has heating in the floor so, as I was leaving for work yesterday morning, I thought hell, why not turn the heat on and see if that dries out the floor any. Interestingly enough, he had the same idea and went down shortly after I left and turned the heat up (now to like, 30 degrees)

Got home and the place felt like I was down in the bayou. All that extra moisture stuck in the floor and 30 degrees of heat....oooooo boy. So pleasant!

Back on track now.

We ripped up the carpet, which was lovely, and then set to finding the leak. The situation was very odd in terms of what was wet and what wasn't and there was no obvious source or even a spot that was "more damage" than others. About the only thing we could really agree on was that the source was somewhere in the bedroom. WE move outside and started inspecting the outside wall as best we could, but that didn't make much sense because the fall-line goes very drastically away from the house. On a whim, we turned on a tap back there.

Woosh! Waterfall in my room. Hard to believe any water made it outside. Further inspection: pipe froze and cracked in the winter. fun stuff! What's interesting is that they never use that particular tap (it's really in a useless place) which means that somebody not only used their water, but flooded their (my) place in the process. The landlords are not at all happy about that particular bit.

I should also say that they have been incredible. I gave him permission to go in anytime he needed to work on this stuff, and he has been down there pratically non-stop working on it. He's also determined to not just fix it, but improve it too and isn't cutting any corners. Over the next couple weeks the place is getting:

New plumbing
New drywall (2 full walls)
New carpet (the whole place, not just the bedroom, which he could have gotten away with easily)

As well, while all the work is going on, he's putting me up in his hotel whenever he can (not tonight, for example, being Saturday of the long weekend).

So it's a hassle and I don't really have a "home", but i do have a roof at least. Bad timing too with the long weekend, no work can even get started and estimated until Tuesday and then there's 4 or 5 guys that have to go through and work so...yea...going to be weird for a bit out here.

As for the Wolverines, going to be weird for a bit in Ann Arbor too. Oh my...