Sunday, June 25, 2006

Nice week

Can't say I did very much this week. I was very lazy. I'm slowly crossing things off my to-do list, but it is a very very slow process. Mostly I just went for walks and took naps. Can't complain though, it's been lovely!

Had a great time last night. I had both a friend's birthday and a friend's stagette to go to. Luckily, they choose bars that were only 9 blocks apart. I went to Steve's birthday for 8, hung out with him for an hour and then walked down to the Iron Horse to meet up with Sarah and her friends. That was a lot of fun for me, mostly because of the ego boost. Several of the people I knew there hadn't seen me since 2003 and even the ones I currently work with hadn't seen me in street clothes in a very long time. I got many many compliments :) I stayed there for about an hour and a half, and then walked back up to Steve's party. By this time, pretty much the entire crowd was there, so we spent the night chatting away. I had my usual difficulties in calling a cab, so just about everyone walked me to Whyte to flag one down and we actually got one very quickly. Posted some pics already.

I went for a walk with Erin today and I met her new baby hamster, Giselle. She's a sweetie. I held her and I even liked it! (I'm not a hamster person, previously the hamsters always made me a bit nervous.) She's very tiny and quite cute.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Thanks for all the fish

Well, it's the morning after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. I'm a bit sad, but mostly I'm just impressed. Really, no matter how diehard a fan you are, who would have predicted we would have made it so far? The Edmonton Oilers were the eighth seed team in the Western Conference. I remember the talk about whether or not they'd even make the playoffs. Then that eighth seed spot meant we were facing the Detroit Red Wings, their 124 points to our 95. But somehow they pulled it together and pulled it off, making the Oilers the only eighth place team to get so far. To all the players, especially Fernando Pisani, Chris Pronger, Ryan Smyth, Dwayne Roloson, and Jussi Markkanen, thank you for giving us a ride to remember.

As for Fernando - I had to work both game 6 and 7. But it turned out to be quite fun as my coworkers keep singing a version of Abba's Fernando but keep using Pisani instead of Fernando. Then yesterday I heard the Bear's (a local radio station) version, which amused me greatly. The lyrics had been changed to reflect hockey and the playoffs. Just tried to find a version online, but couldn't.

Congratulations also go to Cam Ward - the 22 year old rookie goalie from Sherwood Park, Alberta who won the Conn Smythe MVP trophy. He's only the fourth rookie to win it and the second youngest after Patrick Roy.

In other odd news - Jenny Craig's just been bought by Nestle. Maybe they will provide more chocolate treats!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Thank you hockey gods

Had a nice weekend. Watched the hockey game with a friend (go boys go!!) and then we went to see Prairie Home Companion. A cute but odd Robert Altman movie. Some weird, out of left field twists. The Bad Joke song with Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly was very very funny. I only gave it 3.5 stars out of 5, but mostly because it left me wanting more. I just felt there was more story that could have been told, a little bit more detail needed.

I'm really proud of how I did this week, sticking to my diet/exercise routine. I actually worked out every day for the last 6 days! I can't believe how hard running is again, after a 3 week hiatus. It's just brutal. I'm hoping the improvement will come quickly since my body should know what to do. My endurance just lacks this week though. I still got in good workouts though, just not continuous running.

I finished an interesting book this week. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. It talks about the effect fast food chains have had on America's culture, economy, diet, and landscape. The sections on meatpacking were very detailed and disturbing, although I mostly knew that already. I very rarely eat fast food, and I won't eat it any less than I currently do, but I admit that I was very grateful that I was already planning to eat vegetarian that day. It was a really great read and I recommend it.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

06/06/06

I listen to a late night talk show called Coast to Coast AM. The show's themes are conspiracy theories, alien abductions, paranormal subjects, etc. I love it. Sometimes I take it seriously, sometimes I find it very funny. So after several years of listening to this show, I was eagerly awaiting today's date - just in case. June 6, 2006. 6/6/6. Well, the whole world didn't end, but my little world took a major beating. I woke up this morning to discover that Dwayne Roloson, the Edmonton Oilers' star goalie, is out of the rest of the Stanley Cup Final series with a sprained knee. That sound you heard was an entire town screaming. Losing Roli is our worst nightmare! Our backup goalies haven't played since March. I still have faith, but it's shaken. There's going to be some serious on the edge of my seat watching over the next little while.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Phew!

Wow - talk about a couple of crazy busy weeks!

First, my sister came for a visit and we had a blast. I attempted to budget for the weekend, but completely blew it as we moved into the malls. We went to West Ed on Friday, Southgate on Saturday and City Centre on Sunday. We also saw two movies (Over the Hedge and Kinky Boots). Saturday night, we had a little pub crawl down Whyte. It was an odd night on Whyte as there was a game the night before and the night after and it seemed like people were home resting up. Add in some rain and Whyte was just dead. Nice for us though - we ended up going to 6 bars as there were no lines! BP's, Thirsty Turtle, Funky Buddha, Hudson's, Wooly Bully's and Pub 1905. We had a lot of fun and got along great - not having to share a bathroom probably helped a lot :)

Shortly after my sister left, my dad showed up for some serious work around the place. It's too bad the work required me to pack up my computer because I had some great blog thoughts while I was working. I learned some valuable lessons like when someone asks if you need a shower, never answer "later". When "later" arrives, one bathtub will be full of packing boxes and the other will be blocked by large furniture items. Also, five minutes after both toilets are removed, you will need to use them! We (and by that, I mean mostly my dad) accomplished a lot. New carpets, new vinyl, new doors, new casings, new baseboards, painted ceilings, painted walls, plus a million fix it jobs. I think my place looks amazing!

Everything is back where it belongs finally, although I still have a few touch-ups to do. I intend to do them today, I really do. If you are interested, I posted pics of the place and of my sister's visit on my home page.