k-days etc

well, I am in Kamloops today--for the second time in three weekends... I am here to visit with my sister, Kari, who is back in our neck of the woods for a few weeks after a year of teaching in England. I am only in town until Monday, so this time around the trip was made via flying metallic bird. suz kindly drove me to the airport this morning, and Kari met me at the Kelowna "international" airport, and we drove back to the 'Loops. Now I say 'international' airport mockingly, becuase any airport with like, only four gates is not international. Any airport that you have to get out of the plane and cross the tarmac before going in the building is not international. Any airport where half the planes that land are crop dusters, is not international.

Aaannnway, I'm back in kamloops now. yesterday, I spent the better part of the day at Klondike days. Ricky, Nicky, Stoo and Suz took to the fair. Unfortunately, the fair didn't take to Suz, and within 3 rides, she was feeling ill. She claims to have been a real trooper in years gone by, but now I just think she's all talk ;) ... after some downtime, eating, sitting in the shade, and wasting our money at the casino, she was feeling better, and we hit the ride circuit again. One one occasion, we waited in line for the better part of an hour, only to have the operators announce the ride was closed beofre we had the chance to get on. d'oh! not to worry, I soon drowned my sorrows in a lime flavoured sno-cone.

While at the fair, we also had the chance to see some cirque du soleil for free---they were putting on a few shows a day, a portion of their current piece, 'Charme'.

The rest of the day was filled with people watching (pre-teens wearing too much makeup and not enough clothing being the majority of our observations. This just in: you're 12. you needn't grow up so fast. And you need NEVER dress like that! ), eating corn dogs and ice cream, and refilling the water bottle a few dozen times in order to stay ahead of the heat. Good times had by all!

So that's about all I have to say for now! I'll be here in Kamloops for a few days yet, as mentioned. I already started making some apricot fruit leather, the fruit thanks to our overproductive trees here at home. I plan to pick a few more pounds beofre I leave on Monday as well.

Oh wait, I'm supposed to be at work on Monday. and I was yesterday, too. I mean... cough, cough... I don't feel so good...

this and that

Ever been kicked in the junk before?

Okay, now that I have your attention, I’ll explain. A bunch of us were taking advantage of a fine summer Sunday in the park. All the usual suspects were there. Football, Frisbee, volleyball. And Suzanne, jumping on my back.
"Don’t spin me around!" she said

So naturally, I spun.

And lost my own balance, let alone making her dizzy. Down we go.
The trip down would have been uneventful, were it not for Suzanne’s knee sticking up at in opportune angles, which connected with my jewels with alarming force. I writhed around on the ground for a few minutes… fast forward to five days later, it still hurts. I went to the clinic yesterday (always a good place to go when something isn’t right with your bits). He figures a bit of bruising in there, and give ita few more days and I should be right as rain. Until then, I grin and bear it.

I should not have spun Suz.

What else is new… lets see…. Won some Klondike days all day ride passes off the radio the other day, I expect to be putting those to good use! Klondike days, for those of you not in the know, is an archaic excuse to bring the fair to town on an annual basis. There isn’t much left to it nowadays that is ‘Klondikey’, from what I’m told, but hey, any excuse to be tossed around and around and upside down on the rides and stuff myself with mini donuts to the point of barfing.

My landlord moved out of the house last weekend, movin’ on up to a place on the 10th green of the Millwoods golf course. I volunteered to help.
Hindsight is 20/20.
How so much stuff could be crammed into one house and garage, I will never know.
A full, full-sized moving truck. A rented U-haul, filled twice over. Two pick-up trucks, one filled once, one filled twice. We started at 10 am or so, 7 of us. The drop-outs started around 1:00 pm. By the end of it, 5 still remained, though all moving considerably slower than in the morning. Throw 30 degrees and humidity into the mix, and you had one sweaty, tired bunch. Total disarray, not like we actually organized anything that was moved, it was just from point A to B, that was it. But Ruth, my landlord, very generously paid for the services, something not normally expected when one volunteers, so that made it worth while!

Other than that, I’ve just been working away, mooching food and movies off of Suzanne, now that my house is void of TV and internet, and is in a general shambles as I and my roommate prepare ourselves for our own move-outs in a few weeks.

Oh, by the way, if anyone else wants to volunteer to feed me, I wouldn’t say no :)

bank on the ranch

Back in Edmonton and back to work after a nice 10 day break.

The drive from Kamloops to Edmonton, was—shockingly enough—completely event free! Many thanks go to my truck, The Gipper, who pulled through with flying colours. The weather was warm and sunny basically the whole drive back, with exception of some cloud cover from Valemount to Jasper. I didn’t hit any birds this time, either! There was a black bear that darted across my path on the east side of Jasper National, but he fared much better than the bird, loping across the highway without incident. I am sure my truck would’ve ended up the worse for wear should we have connected anyway, so it was all for the best!


So other than that, my windshield was an insect graveyard, and that was that. The nasty part about bugs is I like to drive with the window down, and if one of them splatters close enough to the edge of the driver side of the windshield, I get some bug juice flying back inside as the shrapnel gets caught in the wind and drawn inside. Yech!


You ever wonder if bugs commit suicide? I realize they have tiny ganglion and their synaptic firings—if there are any—probably don’t work fast enough to make them realize their about to slam into a windshield… but what if?! Can’t you just see it? Some fed up worker bee, hanging out in the nest ? “Dang it, I can’t take it anymore! It’s the same thing, day in, day out. Collecting pollen. Bah! I was made for more in this world, I just can’t seem to get ahead. I feel like such a drone here! And my wife left me for a king bee…There’s no such thing, that two timing hussy! I’m gonna end it all! Where’s the highway?!”

Anyway, I digress. More to discuss about the trip! Previous to my departure in Kamloops, I got an email from my supposed former new roommate in Vancouver. I say former, because as it turns out, I was at their house dropping off a rent cheque with one roomie, while the other was out closing the rental deal with a friend of theirs… who apparently got priority. So, I’m still homeless! I suppose it just means that something better is supposed to come along, right? right!


Speaking of which, I had better find some more rental ads…
24 more working days until I leave!

travel diaries part two:

Travel diary... kamloops to vancouver and back again...

Headed to Vancouver back on Sunday July 4th in search of a place to live come August, and to meet up with my faculty at my new school in Richmond. Of course, enjoy the sights and sounds of the coast as well!

Drive down on the fourth was marred by holdups. Four stops for construction, a big slow down for holiday traffic trying to squeeze through the Coquihala toll booth, and two accidents. It should be explained to you all that my curse in life is line ups and long waits. For my sister, it's extreme clumsiness. For my brother, one might argue that it's car issues. For me, it's long line ups. Grocery store, movies, in the car, where ever. Pretty minor on the grand scale of things, and luckily, I'm laid back enough to accept my fate and wait in line.

So, sunday evening I rolled into town. First stop, Simon Fraser University. Stayed with Doug. We had the chance to do some catching up, have some barbecue, watch a movie--Super Troopers, a fantastic show for all those interested! Monday morning we went to the gym, had a bit of a run workout on the Terry Fox field up at SFU. I pretend to be a real university student for a few minutes. We all know I'm too dumb to actually make it into one of those schools, But hey, I can fake it for a while...

anyway, house hunting started on monday. And kept going, and going, and going... Turns out not much available to meet my needs! Closer to my school is good, and cheap rent is even better! By the end of the week, after looking through the multitudes of crappy apartments / basements suites / shared accommodations that are currently available for under $600.00 / month, I settled on a place at Main and 12th.

I'll be living in a two story character house, on the second floor. Nice view out my window across the city to the mountains, nice paint job, a couple of decent roomies. Old but charming, shall we say?

As for the rest of the week, I did this and that. Had a chance to catch up with friend Erica. We donated blood, then foolishly went to play soccer for a few hours in a pick-up game with some of her friends. That got whatever blood was left in my body a-pumpin! I spent some time at the beach, and visiting with an old roommate of mine, Sam.

It's been a few years since I've had a good look around vancouver! For example. I had some film to develop. I parked down on Broadway next to the McDonalds, which is now a hole in the ground, making way for some new condos. I took my film to First Foto, which is now down the block form where it was, then while I waited the half hour for my film (it's fast and cheap! And you get a free 6 x 9 enlargement! I recommend it!...product plug ending in 3...2...1), I headed down to Tokyo Joe's for some sushi, which isn't Tokyo Joe's anymore. Luckily, the Miso soup still kicks ass :)

For the nights I wasn't staying at Doug's, I crashed at UBC in my sister in law's--Dina--campus townhouse. ( moving from one school to the other with such callous disregard for tradition would surely make any self respecting UBC thunderbird cringe, and inversely make and SFU Clan fan want to spit on my grave, but whatever...) We had the chance to hang around, go for Mario's Gelati here, grab a bit to eat there, go for a walk, etc. Good times. I also had the chance to get to my campus and find out more about my program, and meet my director. Seems like it'll be a challenging few years, but good ones none the less! The campus is a bit of a high school, but oh well, function over style I guess!

Anywho, I am back in Kamloops now, Dina and I having both come up in my truck. The curse struck us before we left town--an eight car pile-up on the port mann held us in line for a while, but from there it was smooth sailing. So, I have a new place to live, waiting for me in August when I get out of edmonton, and I had the chance to reacquaint myself with an old flame called Vancouver :)

Two more days in Kamloops, then it's back to edmonton! Ta for now!

Travel diary: day one-- Edmonton to Kamloops.

Star date, july 2nd, 2004

12:25: depart Edmonton with load of my stuff getting dropped off with my Parents in Kamloops.

1:16: call to Kamloops on my cell with the obligatory 'All systems go, on the road' message.

1:20: crack into first of road munchies-- chips, sour patch kids candies, bottle of coke... you know, the really healthy stuff. Sun is shining, music is loud. Mood, good.

2:05: pass by one of those buffalo pastures. Marvel at the wonder of their size, resilience in face of human conquest. Nice work mother nature.

3:05: severe thunder storm. Tarp covering my bed boxspring on the roof of my truck comes loose. Ropes snap. Tarp turns into a parachute. Wind resistance becomes too much to bear. Pull over.

3:10-3:35: re-tying of tarp with remaining rope. Rain and wind continue to pound me. Semi-trucks whizz by, snapping gusts of water against me and my cargo.

3:36: Not very impressed with mother nature or truck drivers.

4:10: pull into Jasper for some gas, and to beg for extra rope. Thanks be to guy at Esso station.

4:20 still a little peeved. Though the splendor of the mountains and all the creatures that roam in it's ranges awe me, I order fries and Buffalo meat burger to go, just out of spite. Stoo, 1. Mother nature, zero.

From here, things go rather smoothly. Granted, the wind and rain persist, and I get stuck behind my fair share of big trucks, but other than that, the CD player keeps me company, and my truck, which previously has failed to make this drive successfully without SOMETHING breaking down, is doing well. But then...

5:45: Look in rearview mirror just in time to see the bedraggled boxspring break free of its bonds and go flying. All slow motion-like, a John Woo movie action sequence or something. don't really know how it happened, tarp still completely tied down.

5:50-6:15: reattach boxspring, this time for good, come Hell or high water. Rain ceases long enough to allow me to do re-tie. Thanks mother nature!

6:45: stop in blue river for gas instead of Valemount on suggestion of mother; it may be cheaper there. Valemount: 84.5 cents/ liter. Blue River: 92.9 cents/liter. D'oh!

7:20: time for a math problem. If stoo is traveling south bound on the #5 hwy. at 112 km/ hr, and a robin leaves its curb-side perch just in time to align itself with the front grill on my truck, how many bones of that bird are broken upon impact? Sorry about that, mother nature...

8:30: after driving through burned out mountains; forests left see-through by the fires that stripped the trees the previous summer, I have conversation with my dash-board bobblehead hula girl about the grandeur yet general fragility of the natural world. Hula girl nods in agreement.

And from there, the rest of the drive is pretty uneventful. The road wound it's way along the Thompson River, the sun finally appeared round about Heffley creek, though by then it was sinking behind the hills anyway. Leaving rainbows in my rearview mirror, I trundled on to the homestead, where mum had a plate of food waiting for me. So here I am in Kamloops for a day or two, and then it's off to vancouver for the week. Talk to you later!