Nothing, nothing, nothing

Well i've been getting the ole' "OMG WHY AREN'T YOU POSTING?!?!" stuff again. To be honest, there hasn't been anything to report. Life has been pretty routine for the last month - which has been nice.

I'm just finishing up a 9 days in a row stint at work, because Tom wanted to go visit family in Vancouver. He's such a great boss for so many things that I, of course, don't mind. I also don't mind the paycheck at the end of it. Of course, it finally started snowing again this week - when I was working everyday. So that's 100% bogus. Snowed a whole helluva lot today too, too bad it's Saturday and I am FAR too snobby to go to the hill today. Should be able to get out Monday, however.

I haven't been out skiing nearly enough lately and it'll feel good to strap the old boys back on and get back to breaking the sound barrier. It's not exactly a winter wonderland out here but at least it's something. Getting late on anyway and can't expect too much anymore. Just get out enough times to go "ok...i'm cool with this season now" and move on to other sports.

You know - this is reall yquite tough. There just isn't a lot going down right now and, Bonnie and I don't have a camera, hence the lack of pictures. I think I'll go out and buy us one this month so we can get back to posting awesome pictures up here again.

Well - at least everybody knows I'm not dead, which most of you seem worried about far too much.

Summertime, and the living is easy....

Yep! It's summer out here. It's now been a solid month of temps between 5 and 10 degrees (Celsius) with barely any snow what-so-ever. Bogus. However, all the warmth has gotten me thinking about my trip this summer, so that's been fun.

(Aside: I feel scummy posting this after Bonnie's post about her fish. Make sure you read it. As far as fishes go, Snug was a good fish.)

Anyway, the warm weather has gotten me thinking about hiking and climbing and all that good stuff. Time to post the goals for you all. We'll start with my targeted mountains (click on the names for pictures, etc!):

Mt. Fairview

Castle Mountain

Mount Lady McDonald

Mount Bourgeau

Just a starting point, I'd hope to get more. However, given my 1-month trip in prime scrambling time, who knows.

So then, mountain Goal #2: Hike a Mountain, any mountain (though I'm thinking Mt. Rundle) and camp out for the night. Take in the mountain sunrise from 10,000 feet.

Then we come to mountain Goal #3: Lead a 5.10 climb. Any 5.10 will do. For the non-climbers:
Climbing routes are rated 5.X where a higher X means a more difficult climb. It goes from 5.5 to 5.15a (they start adding in letters). 5.10 is, really, the first rating that isn't "beginner" climbs. You've got to have some skill to be able to do them.
"Lead" means that I want to be the first one up the climb - the one who sets the route and places all the protection. It's harder because of the headspace required, since you don't have that reassuring tension coming from the rope above you. So anyway, that's goal #3.

Then finally, goal #4, and this one is in relation to my trip. In case your'e still out of the loop, Bonnie and I are coming out this summer. Bonnie for 2 weeks and me for about a month. Penciled in "on or around" dates right now are June 24 - July 21. That'll mean we're out there for Canada Day weekend, and Ryan's wedding, and me for a few weeks after that. In that time, I want to hike the Bruce Trail from Owen Sound to Tobermory.

I need a partner for this so, if you're interested, let me know. I expect the hike itself would take about 4 days.


So finally, no post like this would be complete without the necessary comment that I have updated my MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-Op: a Western Canada sporting goods store) wishlist with things for this summer. Should you be in the mood to drop some cash on Bonnie and I, check it out!! :p I know, I'm so subtle. Bonnie and I have labelled the various things with who has requested it.

the website is MEC. You can search for our wishlist from the upper right. Finally, you'll need a member number to buy stuff from them, you can go ahead and use mine. 27155571. There are no perks to membership other than the ability to buy stuff from them (since it's a co-op)

Cheers!

i'm taking over this blog!

hello again!

a few new pieces of news...

#1: i got the job! come april, i'll be a program coordinator/desktop publisher for leadership development. tomorrow, i'm sitting in on the interview for my replacement, which means that very soon, we won't be understaffed anymore. thank god.

#2: i upped my swimming again! i started only being able to 1 front crawl before i had to switch to back crawl for a rest... and today, i did 4 sets and 9 and 1. very exciting.

#3: it is with great sadness that i report the death of my long time fish companion, snug. he outlived his brother, titus, by about a year, and accomplished a lot in that time. snug lived a good, long life, and saw more sights than a lot of people i know. he accompanied me through 2 houses in london, and took the occasional vacation to sauble and grand bend. snug spent a summer in michigan, and then drove across the continent with noah, all the way to banff. snug was always frail, and i like to think that he's finally eating as much as he likes without choking, like he always did.

rest in peace, snuggles.
2004-2008


Titus, Snug, and I getting ready for Formal in 2006

Mom's Worst Birthday Present Ever (Titled in Hindsight)

First off: Happy Birthday Mom.


So Aaron and Diana have gone back to Michigan, the house has been cleaned up, the beer is out of my system, and things are returning to as close as things can get to normal in this everyday fantasy camp.

It was nice to do all the "tourist" stuff again. Went up to Lake Louise, Johnston Canyon, Bow Falls, etc etc. All that stuff that Bonnie and I never do for the same reason that people living in Orlando never go to Disneyworld. All were, of course, spectacular. We also dined out way too many times, at some restuarants that were just too fancy for us. Good times all around, however. You too, can enjoy the mountains, teh fantastic weather, the good food, and the great company. *nudge nudge*

I also managed to drive my car into a ditch and decimate one of my skis. Let's talk briefly about these.

The car thing was my fault. Aaron was trying to take a picture on the way home from Sunshine so i tried to stop the car for him and drove onto what appeared to be the shoulder but was just snow. My car sank in to it and that was that. Luckily, we had a 6-pack of beer in the trunk. We looked pretty awesome standing on the side of the road next to my car that was probably at a 45degree angle or better drinking beer and looking unconcerned. Why unconcerned? Because we were using Onstar to call for a tow. Worked great!! By the time I got off hold with them, a guy who worked at Sunshine had already been called by a passing bus driver and came by with his truck to pull us out. Then I couldn't get off hold with the girl who was still trying to get me a tow, so I called up Onstar on my cell phone to tell them I was on hold with somebody else. And that girl put me on hold. Solid.

Then the skis. I don't think ths was my fault - entirely. Of course, I was "driving" them but my doom could not have been forseen. I was going down some double-blacks and ducking the "ski area boundary" fence (oooooo rebel), as I had been all day. Great snow, miles of powder, lots of small cliffs to huck off (that means drop). Good times all around. Lots of rocks too. Rocks tend to come in a few varieties on these runs:

1 - the kind that just stick out of the snow
2 - the kind that cause the snow to form a lump above them
3 - the kind that hides underneath the snow with no visible markings, except that they are near other rocks that fall in to one of my previous categories.

I hit kind 4: the kind that hides underneath the snow with no visible markings, including other rocks nearby.

So I flew through the air and rolled down the hill and rolled so more and noticed a fast-approaching rock getting missile lock on my kidney and pushed myself to the side and eventually came to a stop a good distance away from where I had started.

First shocker: I still had 1 ski on. Cool! Less hiking!
Second shocker: My 2nd ski had come to a stop only a couple feet from where I was sitting. No hike necessary!
3rd shocker: my ski binding was in several pieces and scattered around the "Crash site"

Well now...THAT is interesting.

Since I was out-of-bounds at the time, I thought I would just do the full inspection when I got back but...how to get back? I had 1 ski and was easily 2 miles from teh nearest station. Crap. Well there was no way I was going to miss out on the powder stash that cost me, at the very least, a binding. So I tucked my busted ski under my arm, put my binding fragments in the backpack I was thankfully wearing, and rode down that powder stash on one ski. Smooth.

I then proceeded to go down a length, black-rated creekbed on one ski.

Confident now, I started doing tricks down the cat track back to the station. I fell, all in all, probably about 4-5 times, including rest breaks for my screaming right leg. Of course, there was bid motivation to not fall. Usually, when I fell, I droppde my broken ski that no longer had a binding and thus also had no breaks. That thing sailed down the run until it hit a tree everytime I dropped it. Sometimes quite far.

Back at the station, I had time to assess the damage. Aside from the previously mentioned broken binding (which literally exploded on the underside), I had:

-a 170cm long "core shot" down the underside of my 175cm ski
-a quarter-sized hole in the tail of my ski

Aw crap.

Took the poor thing around town, made a few people look like they wanted to cry (i have nice skis. very nice skis), found a binding replacement for 1/6th of the purchase price for an employee not worried about the karma from ripping off his store for a little cash in his pocket, and ultimately gave it to the ski tech in town who used to tune the skis for the Canadian National Ski Team (I don't fool around). He grimaced and said "3 days".

For ski tunes that usually are done overnight, that's a long time.

I am, however, pleased to report that not only are my babies fixed, but they were "suped-up" by this guy as well and that I, miraculously (despite a binding exploding under my foot and hitting a rock hard enough to puncture my ski), escaped completely unscathed. My only regret is that I didn't take a picture of the carnage.

So there's my 2 stories of me breaking things. Sorry for that 2nd one, mum :p

In other news, the boss OK'd my trip home in the summer. So Bonnie and I are fully confirmed for July. me for a month, Bonnie for 2 weeks. Looking forward to it!