Breezy

Things have been so laid back here in Calgary, it’s nice. We had a great time in Banff, despite the intermittent rain. We first headed to Bow Falls, which I had never seen before. We got some great pictures (still have to wait to see pics until I get home), and then we headed to Melissa’s for lunch. It had been over 25 years since the Armstrongs had been, and probably close to 20 since I had been. The food was yummy, and the restaurant was just as I remembered it. Following lunch, we walked around and window shopped.

Tuesday we drove downtown, and window shopped some more in the rain. I would have bought something had I found something I liked. We had lunch at Sunterra, and then headed home. That night we drove in the rain over to Meghan & Mike’s new pile o’ bricks. It’s a cute apartment, lots of space. We ordered in Moxies and just let them bond with Elijah. We treated ourselves to dessert at Marble Slab. Geoff and I shared a Willy Wonka (double dark chocolate, chocolate chips, and hot fudge). Mmmmmm.

Today was very low key, just walked up to the shopping plaza near Glen & Diane’s, fought off the mosquitos, and hit Safeway, Rona, Chapters, Crowchild Liquor, and then Timothy’s. We’re having steak for dinner, and a big bbq tomorrow night for Glen’s lab. I’m treating myself to a pedicure tomorrow afternoon, it’s been over a year since I had one, and my feet are all callousy.

I was reading Paul Bellows blog and he mentioned his albums were now available on iTunes. I figured it was only going to be on the Canadian version, but it’s on the Yankee version too! I’m super stoked, and I think I’ll be buying one of the albums on Saturday. Cause I’ll be settled back in my routine by then. If you haven’t heard any of his music, I would strongly recommend it.

Well dinner is nearly ready, so I’ll sign off with a quote from Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Jack Sparrow: No. Not good. Stop. Not good. What are you doing? You’ve burned all the food, the shade, the RUM.
Elizabeth: Yes, the rum is gone.
Jack Sparrow: Why is the rum gone?
Elizabeth: One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal navy is out looking for me; do you really think that there is EVEN the slightest chance that they won’t see it?
Jack Sparrow: But why is the rum gone?

Book Book


You’re The Great Gatsby!

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Having grown up in immense wealth and privilege, the world is truly at
your doorstep. Instead of reveling in this life of luxury, however, you spend most of
your time mooning over a failed romance. The object of your affection is all but
worthless–a frivolous liar–but it matters not to you. You can paint any image of the
past you want and make it seem real. If you were a color of fishing boat light, you
would be green.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I’m happy with that, I love The Great Gatsby.

Sigh

Well, I’m back in Calgary after a whirlwind visit in Edmonton. Elijah has been an amazing little boy this trip, he’s been so well behaved.

We got into Edmonton on Tuesday, and just sort of spent time getting settled. Wednesday, dinner at Uncle Kim’s and Auntie Joanne’s. Every visit with them, I enjoy their company more. I think it’s also the most I’ve talked to my cousin Josh. He’s graduating high school this year, he has his grad on Tuesday night. He’s going to wear a white tux with tails and a monocle. 🙂

Thursday was lunch with Wendy at the Wonderful Garden (it was tasty) and then I made a spaghetti dinner for us at my mom’s. Friday was Lisa’s party, which was the best time ever! Lisa you rock, and thanks to all our friends who were there. I can’t remember the last time I had such a good time. That is what’s missing in Denver, our friends.

Saturday we went out to the farm, and Elijah met his great-grandparents. They adored him, and as always, Grandma put on quite the spread. We then went to Colin & Dawn’s for the night, and when Dawn fell asleep, the 3 of us played some poker. Colin won, but I want a rematch!

Tomorrow we’ll go to Banff, and Tuesday we see Mike & Meg’s place. I may try to get Geoff to post some pictures, as I’m not near my server. Athena & Lisa also took pictures, so check their blogs in a few days.

I’ll close with a quote from School Of Rock.

Dewey Finn: Sell my guitars? Would you tell Piccasso to sell his guitars?

We’re Heeerrrreee!


We arrived in Calgary, safe and sound. Elijah slept through the whole flight. He seems a little out of sorts, but I’m sure he’ll adjust after a few days. I can’t complain about the trip, well I could, but I won’t. I sure enjoyed having Harvey’s once I landed. Tomorrow we drive up to Edmonton. We got a really cool rental car, it’s pimpin’. 🙂 A big Impala.

There’s nothing else going on. It’s only appropriate to close with a quote from Airplane!

Hanging Lady: Nervous?
Ted Striker: Yes.
Hanging Lady: First time?
Ted Striker: No, I’ve been nervous lots of times.

The Law Offices Of…

We went to a law office this morning, after failing to get our letter notarized at the bank. The bank couldn’t do it because we had the wrong verbage. Luckily there is a law office behind the liquor store, beside the King Soopers. They were very nice, edited our letter and notarized it for free. If I ever need a lawyer, I’ll be going there.

Because the liquor store had a sign out front advertising a sale on Geoff’s favorite beer, Flying Dog, we stopped in and bought a 12 pack. It felt weird buying beer at 9am. I guess it will be nice for him to have here once we get back. It’s not like he won’t be having beer in Canada, I mean who are we kidding?

So now all that’s left for the trip is laundry, packing and going. Excited? Not really. Stressed? Not as much as I was a few days ago. I don’t know how much blogging will get done in Edmonton. We’ll have the laptop, but we need to find out where there is wi-fi, and if it’s free all the better. I’ll try looking online, but Chris, if you know a place, let me know. I figure of all the Edmontonians who read this, Chris would be the one who would know.

A few of my friends (Chris, Ashley, and Roland) posted a theology quiz on their blogs, and my result was 71% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. I’m not sure what it means, so I may look into that. Some of the questions weren’t understandable to me, so I’d choose the middle. It was interesting though, and made me think about what I would answer.

Anyways, I’m going to close now with a quote from I.Q.

Albert Einstein: Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Ed Walters: Well what would be the odds of that happening?

Wish I Was There

I’ve been exchanging emails with Athena a lot in the last few days. One of the things we were talking about was traveling, and it has renewed the hunger in me to go back to Scotland. I miss it, I miss the freedom of having my days wide open to do what I please. I miss exploring a new town. Athena wants badly to return to Greece, understandably.

If I’m away from Edmonton too long, I miss it and want to go back to visit. But then as the trip looms closer, or once I’m there, I wonder why I wanted to go. I love my family, but these trips always bring stress. Mind you the Scotland trip had it’s own stress. I guess I’d rather just have family meet us somewhere. I doubt seriously that would ever happen, and I don’t think that would solve all the problems.

I have to remind myself that I only visit Alberta like once a year, so this may be the only chance some people get to see Elijah in person. But if we hadn’t had Elijah we wouldn’t be taking this trip. So I guess I should just suck up whatever bothers me.

Wow, this is pretty negative. I didn’t really expect it to be so down.

Nothing else is going on here. Geoff is nearly ready for his trip. We need to get the letter notarized, but then that’s it for us I think.

Father’s Day is Sunday, and Geoff is happy he gets the best of both worlds, the morning with us, the evening with his Dad. We’ll be playing hooky from church and treating him to breakfast at The Original Pancake House. I wonder if Geoff will order the Dutch Baby, it looks like this:

This will be the 2nd Father’s Day without my Dad. It’s a lonely feeling to not have your Dad, as Lisa and Kelly can attest to. i know it’s really hard on Colin. I’m very much looking forward to seeing him.

I guess I’ll sign off. Since I don’t have to wait around today for Fed-ex, I’m going to go for a walk. I’ll close with a quote from Family Guy.

Brian Griffin: Peter, only one gift was for charity. The rest were for the family.
Peter Griffin: No, the rest were FROM the family… weren’t they? Aw crap, since when did they change the meaning of “for” to “from”?
Brian Griffin: I think they had a meeting about it last night.
Peter Griffin: Why wasn’t I told?
Brian Griffin: They sent you a card, but it said ‘For Peter’ on it, so you must have thought it was FROM you, so you didn’t uh… You know, it’s just easier to call you stupid.

How Much?

Just wanted to give y’all an idea of what music I’m listening to the most. I’m sure people out there are cringing. 🙂

The 15 Most Listened To Songs On My iPod (Pearl)

1. Trust Yourself – Blue Rodeo (15x)
2. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head – Kylie Minogue (15x)
3. The Rockafeller Skank – Fatboy Slim (13x)
4. Cuban Pete – Jim Carrey (12x)
5. Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing – Chris Isaak (12x)
6. Waiting For That Day – George Michael (12x)
7. (Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection – Nelson (12x)
8. The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead – Crash Test Dummies (11x)
9. Walking On Broken Glass – Annie Lennox (11x)
10. Laika – Moxy Fruvous (11x)
11. All For You – Sister Hazel (11x)
12. Some Fantastic – Barenaked Ladies (10x)
13. Everlong – Foo Fighters (10x)
14. Sympathy- Goo Goo Dolls (10x)
15. Ooh It’s Kinda Crazy – SoulDecision (10x)

The 15 Most Listened To Songs On My Computer (Plankton)

1. Stacy’s Mom – Fountains Of Wayne (10x)
2. Soul To Squeeze – Red Hot Chili Peppers (10x)
3. Change Your Mind – Sister Hazel (9x)
4. Does Your Mother Know – ABBA (9x)
5. The Real Sin Savior – Apologetix (9x)
6. To Last A Lifetime – Del Amitri (9x)
7. Parents Just Don’t Understand – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (9x)
8. She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5 (9x)
9. Banditos – The Refreshments (9x)
10. Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space – Spiritualized (9x)
11. Just Between You & Me – Lou Gramm (8x)
12. Don’t Do Me Like That – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (8x)
13. Ebay – Weird Al Yankovic (8x)
14. Do I Have To Say The Words – Bryan Adams (7x)
15. Ode To Calgary (Dance Mix) – The Unknown Poets (7x)

I have to say that the new feature I love the most about iChat is being able to display what I’m listening to. I wish I could see what everyone I’m chatting with is also listening to. But not everyone I chat with has iChat. 🙁

Conspiracy Theories And Other Annoying Things

Okay, seriously? Michael Jackson is not guilty? I will admit the defense gave me reasonable doubt, but he certainly is guilty of behaving inappropriately with children. Sleeping in the same bed as a child? I would never share my bed with a child, except maybe my son. Not even my nephew. I’m very disappointed. I thought for certain he would be found guilty.

There is a bird that I see in the Cherry Creek when I walk to the mall. The last 4 times I’ve gone with my camera, he’s not there. Today, no camera, he’s there! I think it’s a long-billed curlew (except with a shorter bill), or at least that’s the closet I can find. If only he’d let me capture his picture! I’m telling you he’s conspiring against me.

We watched the movie Dodgeball this weekend. It was pretty funny, but the downside is having that annoying Milkshake song stuck in your head.

The only thing more annoying than the Milkshake song, is not being able to escape Tom Cruise on every channel. I kind of wanted to see War Of The Worlds (since I liked the book), but now I don’t think I could take 2 hours of Tom. Just please stop waving your arms, jumping on couches, and stop trying to convert everyone to Scientology.

I guess I’ll sign off. I’d love to sneak in a nap, but I doubt Elijah would go for that. In any case, I’ll sign off with a quote from Dodgeball.

Cotton McKnight: It’s time to separate the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys, the awkwardly feminine from the possibly Canadian.