TERRY FOX!! this year marks the 25th anniversary of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope, and I think it's totally important that on sunday, September 18th, people find a way to show their support! either get out there and run, or donate some cash to the cause. Cancer is something that has an effect on us all, and it's so great that something like the Terry Fox run has continuosly been able to give so much money to so much different research.
Do you know that the type of cancer Terry had was osteogenic sarcoma(bone cancer)? When Terry was diagnosed, patients only had a 20% chance of survival. Nowadays, thanks to research, an osteogenic sarcoma patient has an 80% chance of survival. Pretty amazing! So get out your piggy banks!
I am particularly inspired to donate this year and do something about raising money for cancer research as my dad has had to take on fighting cancer himself, and lord knows that if I can do something to help other people's dads not have to go through what our family is just starting to go through, then it's totally worth it to just ask. Terry wanted all Canadians to donate just one dollar each to cancer research during his marathon of Hope. Maybe this year, you can do the same, and maybe more!
Go to https://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/donations/donate/default.asp?s=1 to do a donation using a credit card. It's easy, and it's worth it. I already did in honour of my dad, and for everyone else out there dealing with that nasty cancer bug!
"I'm not a dreamer, and I'm not saying this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to.” --Terry Fox
And now, ON to lighter things!!!
It's been a few weeks since I wrote anything on this website, and as pretty much everyone in the free world is now aware, I got engaged to Kate during that time frame! I'm not sure that many people know how I proposed, but there have been requests to know, so here are "the deets"...
Kate was up at Whistler for the last week of August, and on Thursday aug 31st, I headed up after my work shift, as I had the next day off. Now, the standard practice while at Whistler is to get up in the morning at a comfortable hour ( 8,9,10, 11 am... whatever it may be for the day), and pile into Kate's mum's room to have morning tea, everyone piled on to the bed. Or as many as will fit comfortably.
I didn't bring a cup of tea in to the bedroom, but rather Kate's laptop, on which I had saved a powerpoint slideshow that I had been chipping away at for weeks. It was a whole 'the story of stu and kate' sort of thing, ever since we met as teenagers. At the end of it, it asked her to marry me (all set to music for that extra dramatic effect...). when it was over, I cracked out the ring--a band of white gold, with a tension-set amethyst, with one wee diamond on either side of the stone. I had been getting it made by a jeweller on granville island for a few weeks prior. And Kate likes it, thank goodness! (sorry, there are no photos of the ring yet, but maybe sometime!). If yu really want to see the slideshow, I can maybe email it. It's a big file though, and you won't get the music!)
so that's basically that! we're going to have the ceremony and partay on December 30th here in Vancouver!
------------------------------------------------
school is back in session, and I am now into the final year of my journalism degree, minoring in PR. there was some initial worry that I wouldn't be able to pick up some of the course until fall 2006 / spring 2007, but I did enough begging and yelling to get that sorted out, so this will be my final year!! hurray! Some of the classes seem like snoozers--take 'Advanced Editing', for example. Gah? does this seem like an exciting topic to ANYONE? oh well, it must be done... thankfully, I have Friday's off as well as much of thursday, so it's a relatively short week. It's also a relatively shrot semester for many course I am in, as a work term occupies the better part of November, and a week of December. I have credit for the work I did this sumer though, so I just get five weeks off of class! Giddyup!!!! the PR will still have to be done, as well as the english course I am taking, but that's it. Suh-weet, I say!
September 15, 2005
August 22, 2005
the good news, and the bad news...
so, since I haven't done a blog udpate in... oh, say... over a month now, I won't bother you all with an epic tale, so I'll try to keep it to the basics. some of the past month has been good, some of it bad, so we'lll just stick to that theme, shall we??
here goes!
The good news is, I has some time off attached to the august long weekend--along with Kate--to go visit her family at their cabin on Lac Anne in the Laurentians in Quebec. It was four days of fun in the sun. Swimming, water skiing, eating, lounging, etc.
Hey, that's good!
On the way home, we were flying WestJet from Montreal to T.O., then on to Vancouver. Unfortunately, we got stuck in Toronto for an extra couple of hours, and we were already on a bit of a late flight.
Hey, that's bad.
To make up for that, Westjet gave us $10.00 meal vouchers at the airport that night, so we got to eat while we waited.
Hey, that's good!
In the end, though, all that was open was Tim Hortons, and they were out of... well, pretty much everything. We didn't get home to Vancouver until 2:00 am, and then Kate and I had to get up at 6:30 and go to work :0(
Hey, that's bad.
But not to worry, it was only a four day work week, and then we flew off to Calgary early early saturday morning (August 6th) to visit some of Kate's family on her Dad's side, as well as tour in the Rockies a little bit, a la Banff and Lake Louise.
Hey, that's good!
Due to some mix-ups, general delays, and lack of ability in coordinating family affairs, there was really no visit with the bulk of the family until later in the day on Sunday, and Kate and I had to fly out of Calgary early early on Monday morning so we could go to work that day, so the party ended early.
Hey that's bad.
The next week seemed to go pretty quickly, though.Kate's sister georgia had come back with us to Vancouver to spend some time at our house, so that was fun. During the same period, Westjet sent both Kate and I $264.00 each in credit, for the 2-hour delay we "endured" in Toronto
Hey, that's good!
But during the same week, my dad had to have surgery to remove a section of his colon in which it was discovered a cancerous tumour was growing. Back at our house, George the cat had AGAIN gone off missing ( see blog entries frmo june / July)
Hey, that's really bad. (the cancer part, that is. the cat was just disappointing)
Luckily, as reported through my mother, the surgery went well, and dad was already on speedy recovery.
Hey, that's really good!
Unfortunately, by Saturday morning Kate, Georgia and I were on the road headed for Kamloops, as word was given to my dad and mum that in fact dad's cancer was not dealt with, and it was also found in his liver, as well as in other places.
That, also, is really bad.
Kate and I dropped off Georgia in Merritt, and she took the Greyhound from there back to her parent's house in Kelowna. Being in Kamloops was a good surprise to dad, who didn't expect us, and it was important to be around my family just then.
Hey, that's good!
it would seem putting georgia on a bus wasn't our best plan, though, as her bus crashed in Kelowna.
Hey, that's bad.
Nothing serious, luckily, just a fender bender, but until we got all the details, a bit disconcerting. Meanwhile, My sister and her Boyfriend flew in from England, also to be back with the family. Those Westjet flight credits helped out in getting Kari home, too.
Hey, that's great!
as the week continued up in Kamloops, we called back to our Vancouver house to see if our roommate, Robbie, had seen anything of Goerge the cat. No dice. And to add to the pot, our garage got broken into and robbed of some items.
Hey, that bites.
thankfully, while we were at home, dad got out of the hospital and is recovering well from his initial surgery. He's pretty thin at the moment, but spirits and appetite are doing well.
that pretty much brings me up to right now. Work for the rest of the summmer consists of 12 hours shifts instead of the usual eight hours, but that's okay, there's a day off here and there. there is another trip back to Kamloops this weekend coming to attend a wedding, and of course to see how dad is doing (as well as mum...). I've signed up for my courses this Fall, and school is back underway in two weeks. who knows where the summer has gone!
Oh, and in case the pics abouve aren't self-explanatory enough, they're from the calgary weekend, with exception of the dog's ass, which belongs to a very cute puppy named lucy that my parents are now the proud owners of!
ta for now! I leave you today with a quote from one of my faves! just sort of speaks to today's theme, as despite the number and weight of some of the "hey, that's bad" comments above, I'm still smilin! :)
"Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
here goes!
The good news is, I has some time off attached to the august long weekend--along with Kate--to go visit her family at their cabin on Lac Anne in the Laurentians in Quebec. It was four days of fun in the sun. Swimming, water skiing, eating, lounging, etc.
Hey, that's good!
On the way home, we were flying WestJet from Montreal to T.O., then on to Vancouver. Unfortunately, we got stuck in Toronto for an extra couple of hours, and we were already on a bit of a late flight.
Hey, that's bad.
To make up for that, Westjet gave us $10.00 meal vouchers at the airport that night, so we got to eat while we waited.
Hey, that's good!
In the end, though, all that was open was Tim Hortons, and they were out of... well, pretty much everything. We didn't get home to Vancouver until 2:00 am, and then Kate and I had to get up at 6:30 and go to work :0(
Hey, that's bad.
But not to worry, it was only a four day work week, and then we flew off to Calgary early early saturday morning (August 6th) to visit some of Kate's family on her Dad's side, as well as tour in the Rockies a little bit, a la Banff and Lake Louise.
Hey, that's good!
Due to some mix-ups, general delays, and lack of ability in coordinating family affairs, there was really no visit with the bulk of the family until later in the day on Sunday, and Kate and I had to fly out of Calgary early early on Monday morning so we could go to work that day, so the party ended early.
Hey that's bad.
The next week seemed to go pretty quickly, though.Kate's sister georgia had come back with us to Vancouver to spend some time at our house, so that was fun. During the same period, Westjet sent both Kate and I $264.00 each in credit, for the 2-hour delay we "endured" in Toronto
Hey, that's good!
But during the same week, my dad had to have surgery to remove a section of his colon in which it was discovered a cancerous tumour was growing. Back at our house, George the cat had AGAIN gone off missing ( see blog entries frmo june / July)
Hey, that's really bad. (the cancer part, that is. the cat was just disappointing)
Luckily, as reported through my mother, the surgery went well, and dad was already on speedy recovery.
Hey, that's really good!
Unfortunately, by Saturday morning Kate, Georgia and I were on the road headed for Kamloops, as word was given to my dad and mum that in fact dad's cancer was not dealt with, and it was also found in his liver, as well as in other places.
That, also, is really bad.
Kate and I dropped off Georgia in Merritt, and she took the Greyhound from there back to her parent's house in Kelowna. Being in Kamloops was a good surprise to dad, who didn't expect us, and it was important to be around my family just then.
Hey, that's good!
it would seem putting georgia on a bus wasn't our best plan, though, as her bus crashed in Kelowna.
Hey, that's bad.
Nothing serious, luckily, just a fender bender, but until we got all the details, a bit disconcerting. Meanwhile, My sister and her Boyfriend flew in from England, also to be back with the family. Those Westjet flight credits helped out in getting Kari home, too.
Hey, that's great!
as the week continued up in Kamloops, we called back to our Vancouver house to see if our roommate, Robbie, had seen anything of Goerge the cat. No dice. And to add to the pot, our garage got broken into and robbed of some items.
Hey, that bites.
thankfully, while we were at home, dad got out of the hospital and is recovering well from his initial surgery. He's pretty thin at the moment, but spirits and appetite are doing well.
that pretty much brings me up to right now. Work for the rest of the summmer consists of 12 hours shifts instead of the usual eight hours, but that's okay, there's a day off here and there. there is another trip back to Kamloops this weekend coming to attend a wedding, and of course to see how dad is doing (as well as mum...). I've signed up for my courses this Fall, and school is back underway in two weeks. who knows where the summer has gone!
Oh, and in case the pics abouve aren't self-explanatory enough, they're from the calgary weekend, with exception of the dog's ass, which belongs to a very cute puppy named lucy that my parents are now the proud owners of!
ta for now! I leave you today with a quote from one of my faves! just sort of speaks to today's theme, as despite the number and weight of some of the "hey, that's bad" comments above, I'm still smilin! :)
"Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
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