Colin Cooper remembered

Today, March 8th, is the anniversary of the passing of my good friend Colin Cooper, whom I came to know through my then-girlfriend, Deborah, up in Edmonton, Alberta. I don't think I have talked about Colin before, so today seems like the time!

Colin died in the evening, while watching hockey with father at his family home on March 8th of 2003. He was to be out with many of us, enjoying a celebration of a friend's birthday, but it was not to pass. Luckily, he went in his sleep, and his beloved Edmononton Oilers won their game that night.

The U of A Physical Education and Recreation Faculty established the Colin Cooper Award, an annual scholarship for students who overcome extraordinary adversity in achieving goals. Colin knew well enough about struggle, having survived cancer that took his leg at the age of 13, and in his late teen years, he contracted a rare disease that reduced his vision, hearing, robbed him of his voice, and forced him to walk with a cane much of the time.

Despite these disabilities, he truly was the example of ability. He rarely if ever complained about his lot in life, saying often that there was always someone worse off than he was. He was a competitive swimmer as long as his ailments allowed him to be, and he was as fast and faster than a lot of able-bodied swimmers. Colin's sense of humour was abundandt, and, despite a failing ability to see, there was light enough in his eyes when he laughed, to be sure. He could read people better than most with an uncanny empathy I have yet to find in another friend.

I had the chance to come to know him well when I first got to Edmonton. I was out looking for a job for many months upon my arrival, and for much of that time, Colin was in and out of the hospital or Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute. I visited him most everyday, often for a few hours or longer. Not a great place to get to know someone, but get to know him I did.

when Colin lost his voice after having received a tracheotomy, he didn't let that beat him either. He, along with several of us, took a sign langage class through the U of A to help us be able to talk once again. It was a thankful thing in tense moments when the point just wasn't coming across, and just one more way in which Colin proved day in and day out that he was bigger than illness.

Colin even had the chance to get his own apartment, and independence, for a while, living in the Bayswood apartments. There were several of us that would stop in regularly for lunch and make sure all was okay, and he would always have ice cold coke on hand in the fridge. Man, do I miss those Cokes. they don't taste quite the same anymore!

And, the one part of this that I haven't mentioned that showed the truly exceptional character that was Colin Cooper is this: Colin was Deb's boyfriend before me. Between the three of us, we could have just as easily said 'this is too hard to figure out', Colin especially, who had so much else to deal with. But we didn't, and he didn't. And out of that uncompromisingly accepting spirit came a great friendship that I miss dearly, and think about often--this day in particular above all the others.


Elbert Hubbard is quoted as saying "God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars." Combine that with a quote from George S. Patton--"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."-- and I think I have a picture of Colin that suits well enough. He lived almost half of his life in pain, but took from it the positives, and spread that positivity around to anyone he encountered, and I am so thankful to have known him.

He is missed.

to donate to the Colin Cooper Scholarship:
You can certainly give to the scholarship fund anytime you want. To my knowledge, anyone can give to any scholarship fund at any time. the Faculty contact number over at the Student Awards Office of the U of A is is 1-780-492-3221. contact Chuck Moser (our Faculty's Fund Development office) assuming he is still with the U of A...at 1-780-492-3917.

so I followed a drunk guy home last night...

After my closing shift at Earls yesterday, I was driving back along the Oak street bridge ( I had Kate's car, thankfully donated for the evening) when I came up behind a car that was swerving erratically, unable to keep it between the little white lines, and braking at random intervals.

I stayed behind him, and he took the same off-ramp that I was going on, leading onto South East Marine drive. He negotiated the off ramp pretty well. Oh, wait. No he didn't. He hit the retaining wall on the passenger side, scraped the car down the concrete for 10 or 20 feet, then pulled away from the wall and kept driving. He continued bobbling his way along SE Marine, and I eventually had to turn off of the road, so at my first opportunity I called the police, gave them the license plate and vehicle description, adding that the car is silver, except for the right side, which now probably has no paint on it.

I hope they caught up with the moron. Call at cab next time, you fool. God forbid you should injure someone else thanks to your drunken stupidity.

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"It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road" ---as seen on a bumper sticker

workin' hard for the money!

so for the last while, I have been a dish pig at earls restaurant, working a few weekend nights in order to pay the bills. the people I work with have been awesome, and soon enough I should be out of the greasy mess of other people's leftovers, and onto the regular kitchen staff. this will be a nice change from having eight or nine meals on my face at once. And the smell. It's not that pleasant aroma that wafts from the open kitchen and out over the salivating diners, but rather the smell of all those meals at once. that, and shit ;0(. talk about overpowering! I don't know what's worse, that the smell is so bad, or the fact that I've gotten used to it :) iT'S JUST GOOEY! but, to the credit of the dish position, all you have to do is put your head down and work away. there is a lot to be done, but it doesn't require much thought, so it's nice after a week of sitting in classes or doing school work and doing nothing but thinking! The other thing about working weekend nights is that it means I am making money on a friday night instead of spending it! what I need is for the bar staff to start feeding me drinks. then, not ONLY am I making money on a weekend night, I am getting paid to drink ;) GIDDYUP!

In any case, there are definitely jobs I would rather do, but for the time being, work is work, and a pay cheque! school will be out in a few months, and maybe then I can work on that whole 'career' thing. until then,


okay, that's 'nuff said. other than earls, it's all about the school work, yo! and I have to get back to it! the quote of the day ain't deep, but it's witty ;)

They say hard work never hurt anybody, but I figure why take the chance.
- Ronald Reagan

aahh, the wonders of the natural world. this is just randomly off a roadside, actually not more than 15 feet from the road. no good stories abotu me hiking anywhere for miles or anything.  

just randomness!

So over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Tsunami relief benefit concert at GM place in downtown Vancouver. It was a four hour long show with lots of great Canadian acts rockin' out for a great cause. Sum 41 was very high energy, as were the Barenaked Ladies that came out on stage after them. I have to admit though, my favorite thing was to see Sarah Mclachlan performing live! I have been waiting YEARS for that! I saw her do one song at the Juno awards in Edmonton last year, but that was it. And at this latest show, I was fourth row, just off the side of the stage! It was a great view!

In other news, school assignments continue to pile up. This semester is going to fly by, I am sure, but I have SO much work to do before the end of it. I'm frightened! I'd much rather just curl up into the fetal position for the next few months and suck my thumb, thank you very much. The school support staff being on rotating strike action only makes the situation worse, turning my school schedule into a game of russian roulette. will I have class today? are we locked out again? Admittedly, it is nice to have a day off now and again, but it's getting to be a pain in the ass. And now our reading break has been cancelled to make up for a few days lost so far. To make THAT matter worse, the school has also suspended the teaching staff's booked days off for professional development, or time away or whatever the case is, so that they will be here as many days as they can be while the strikes are going on. Well, you can imagine how enthused about that idea the teachers are! Not!

okay, that about does it... added another photo here, that was actually taken back at the start of september when i visited my friend on the island. I am aware that my website is bland, and needs some sprucing up. in the photo, note the dress shoes to go with my outdoorsy picture. oops. didn't know I was gonna end up in the woods :)

and last but not least, my quote for the day, relating to the current situation at school:

"Education is...One of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get." --William Lowe Bryan