Why? Because I can.

I saw the picture (not the text) on www.cuteoverload.com. Check it out if you have nothing to do. I'm almost embarrassed to admit I was visiting the site yesterday.

Would you believe I was this close?

Today we came this close to getting four primo seats for the Calgary/Kings game. This close. And getting this close to tickets involved CBC and our wedding.

As many of you know, Daorcey and I are CBC fiends. When we were in Toronto, I was pretty happy to see CBC lockout graffiti still around and to watch a taping of the Rick Mercer Report. Today was CBC Calgary's Blitz Day to raise $500,000 for the Calgary Food Bank. All month they've been trying to raise money and I guess today everyone was shilling. CBC also promised station tours and snacks. Needless to say, we were excited to see where the magic happens.

Here's where our wedding came in. Many of our relatives, in lieu of gifts, decided to give us cash. We ended up with a fair bit of change and we wanted to donate some of it because it seemed like the right thing to do. Plus, it'll assauge my guilt when I buy some chic boots.

After work, we drove over to CBC and made our donation of $752.66. It included gifts to friends, family, the donation from the wedding money and the interest it earned. The food bank people looked pretty happy as they can stretch each dollar to four times its value. In return, we got a CBC tote bag, an XL fleece and a uber coffee mug. I was hoping we would get something cool as people who donated $100+ had been getting tickets or other things but nothing appeared. I wanted to say something but then I got all Canadian (Daorcey says: "or just plain appropriate").

While we waited for our tour to start, we munched on some Sunterra cookies which weren't very good. I had a feeling they were baked with lard and not love.

Our tour guide was with the communication department but he didn't know much about the building as it was his first time doing the tour. He showed us various rooms and what they did. No juicy gossip here. But there was some funny stuff. The radio department, which takes up the first floor, had a large metal festivus pole. I wonder, especially with the lockout, if there was much airing of grievances. We went to the makeup room where the stylist claimed the real magic happened and we ran into David Gray there. I know some people who, when they watch him on TV, get the feeling he's a bit of a jerk. But, we got to meet him in his natural habitat--the studio--and learned that that's not the case. To be fair, he was very accomodating to talk with us 15 minutes before he went to air nationally on Newsworld. He answered our questions about his computer, the teleprompters and the set. The TV studio is quite large and the set looks like they put in at least $200 more than the Rick Mercer set.

The last cool room was a green room which had autographs from the visitors over the years. I didn't really spot anyone super famous but I saw Liona Boyd's scrawl.

The tour came to a close and we were in the lobby when Jeff Collins approached me. He's the evening host for the drive home and they were doing the show in the lobby. I think I should preface the next part of the story by saying that Collins looks like a radio guy just by the clothes he wears--he looks too comfortable to be on TV. During a break, he came up to me and asked, "Were you here last year?" I said no and again he asked, "Are you sure?" to which I answered no. He mumbled something about A/V people not being very good with faces and scuttled away. I wasn't quite sure how to take it... was he hitting on me?

(Daorcey says: "good grief.")

Escaping as quickly as possible from horny radio hosts (maybe it was just me), we jump in the car and listen to the CBC. Collins mentions four tickets in the sixth row of the President's box for the game are only going for $500. We quickly run back inside with the hopes of applying our donation to the auction. But sadly, and not enough adverbs can describe how crushed our hopes were, the auction had closed at $600. As a consolation we got two t-shirts. I got the rainbow butterfly logo (CBC's second logo ever) and Daorcey got the exploding pizza on a tee-shirt.

But everything has an upside. That $600 that was bid on the tickets would not have been donated if we had used our donation as our own bid for the tickets--and we would have seen the Flames lose 5-2. And now I have a funny story about Jeff Collins.

I've been meaning to share these...

Hi everyone!

Just came back from the Wagner family Christmas party. Good times all around! I think I'll need to start a diet or something. Sadly the holidays equal eating non-stop. Well... "sadly" may not be the right term...

So we've had these photos on the digital camera for a while and wanted to share them with you.

How about this great example of Engrish we found in Chinatown the other weekend when mom and dad were down. It's a description for eating the grass jelly:

I agree... children always taste better with honey.

How about this next one? This came about because we were initially chatting with Nicole via MSN Messenger using our headphones and camera. Then I asked Natalie to move some photos from her laptop to my computer, so she had to move back to use the laptop, talk to Nicole and use the camera. Too many computers... we're hooked up.

And finally: you may have already heard me talking about our latest Christmas addition. I dream of Snoopy...

The Longevity of Blogging OR How Gary Got Billed for a Salad

Sometimes we don't give the internet enought credit; like when we suddenly decided to remove the capitalization from its name.

By nature, the internet--as an electronic medium--is rather similar to broadcast: information is there and then seems gone in a split second. It's "streaming" and designed to be something extremely quick and evolving. Often, we use it to discover information NOW and to find out what's NEW.

On a popular level, the internet is more about immediacy than documentation. I don't put something on the web with an expectation to come back years later to see it again. Likewise, I rarely go searching online to see what someone wrote a few years ago when they might still be writing today.

But what about blogs? Are they not journals? Don't we put our thoughts in them to document our days? I would argue "no." Rather, they are more like telephone conversations--brief daily or weekly updates on what's going on in our lives. I write to express something and you pop by to see the latest update. It's all about the update and not what I wrote in May. When was the last time you did a backward search on a blog?

Which brings me to the humour and surprise we all experience when something we did on the internet months or years ago is suddenly brought to our attention (and to our embarrassment).

Take, for example, the meeting I had a few months ago with a new client who likes to do their research. After a google image search for "Daorcey Le Bray" she finds this:

Classy.

In a similar story (and the point of this blog entry), our friend and favourite photographer Gary Milner published a blog entry on January 14, 2004 about a situation where he was doing an assignment for the Gauntlet (under Natalie's direction, I believe) ( Yup, I think I maybe told Beauchamp and Gary that there would be food there so I could entice them.) covering a presentation at the Palliser Hotel sponsored by the Canadian Club of Calgary. In short, he ended up stealing a salad. At this point, I recommend reading the actual entry.

So now, almost two years later, a member of the Canadian Club of Calgary and co-worker of mine stumbles across Gary's blog (through a google search?). And so the joke begins...

... the punchline came today with an "official" invoice to Mr. Milner from the Canadian Club of Calgary for the cost of the salad he stole: $5.34. It was attached to an "official" e-mail from the Vice-President of the Club:

Dear Mr. Milner,
One of our members recently read a copy of an article you wrote in which you bragged about stealing one of our salads.
Needless to say we are not amused and expect payment of the attached invoice forthwith.
Failure to address this matter in a reasonable timeframe will result in further action being taken.
Sincerely,

I guess it just makes me laugh. It's a small world, I guess. Made even smaller by the internet.

And if you want a moral to the story, I suspect it's that we shouldn't take the longevity of the internet for granted. Every time you and I write something, it's copied and stored and can be "somewhere" for a very long time. Fortunately for Gary, his story about the salad and the resulting invoice are all in good fun. The jury is still out on that picture of me with a gun.

Good grief.

Autostitch

The first iis this weird water mobile in the Pearson airport. It really was entrancing. The reason it had to be autostitched was that even standing with my back to the wall, I couldn't get the whole display in one shot.

The second is Bloor St. The big field in the middle is Varsity Field of U of T and right beside the Royal Ontario Museum. You can also see all the construction. The four of us were on our way to a tasty crepe breakfast.

Stealing a Da Vinci

Well, okay a poster of Da Vinci's City Hall. Daorcey has a weird thing for the CBC show so when he spotted this in Toronto he didn't want it. It was actually me who told him to rip it down. I guess I have a history for that kinda of stuff, witness me and a SARS poster. This time though, we weren't worried about getting chased down by a beat cop and thrown into a communist gulag for re-education..

Our new neighbour

Tony is moving on up, and more specifically, to our building. He'll be living on the fourth floor.

According to Nicole, he's pitching this like a sitcom. "Quirky longtime bachelor moves in next door to recently married couple. Hilarity Ensues!!!"

I live on the safest street in the world

Earlier, I'd written about the nice homeless person Daorcey met who then went on to say our street is in the "Heart of Crack Alley" and even he wouldn't venture there.

So today, I come home from work and I see that the 2nd street and 14 Ave. is barricaded by a police van and some yellow tape. Odd, but hey it's the Heart of Crack Alley. I go to the 4st street and it is then I get an idea that maybe this isn't so routine. There is a cop van, SUV and "Mobile Station," whatever that is. There are people clustered all around and police milling about. Even stranger, or perhaps worrisome, is there is a double barricade. First the one at the entrance onto my street and then a barricade in the middle, sectioning off these two buildings. If you've visited my street, you know there's a sketchy white house kitty korner to us. That's the house I think they're interested in. We'll find out on the news.

I grabbed a couple of shots but nothing too good. I don't want to anger the cops and get a two-star rating. Those are a bitch to get rid of.


This is at the 2nd street entrance


Taken in a mirror, but those guys are peeking around the corner. At what, who knows.


The double barricade. Too bad for the owner of the beige Taurus.

UPDATE
Turns out the sketchy white house was the site of a hostage situation. The police were originally called because of an assault but, according to CityTv, it turned into something else. It ended peacefully, luckily. My street is totally awesome.

Pixels of Toronto

Some of you (okay, just Nicole) have been clamouring for photos of our T.O. trip. Go to Flickr to find out what we did. It's to the right, if you're unsure. Here's a sample.

Back from T-dot

Hello!

We've just returned from a lightning tour of Toronto. I hope to have a more comprehensive update here soon (complete with stories and photos from the new camera). In the meantime, let me give you a brief list of what the trip included:

Bodyworlds 2
Rick Mercer taping (watch it Tuesday, November 15 to see us in the front row, just right of centre)
Shopping at H&M, Urban Outfitters and Honest Ed's
CBC Museum
Excellent crepes
Not-bad sushi
Dim Sum in China Town
Walking everywhere
An evening at Down One Lounge
A 21 gun salute in Queen's Park

And a few other things I can't remember right now. It was fun. We ate a lot and walked a lot. I'd do it again (hint: Lord of the Rings is coming!)

Rick Mercer

We get to see this man live on Fri., Nov. 11. Daorcey was surfing around cbc.ca and found out tickets, free tickets no less, were still available for taping. None of us have ever seen a taping so this should be good. Maybe you'll even see us on TV. Daorcey and I love this show so this is going to be awesome.

So besides Rick Mercer and plasticized dead bodies, we really haven't nailed anything else down for Toronto. Possibly dim sum in the Chinese ethnic enclave so that's about it. And shopping. Anna and I want to shop so the boys will have to entertain themselves. Perhaps with puppets.

Live from Nova Scotia

Just a quick post today. We wanted to share a bit of stuff from our talented friend James Keller. He's been living in sin in Halifax for a while now and there doesn't seem to be much sign of him coming back west any time soon. In the meantime, though, we have been exchanging postcards over the past while (by "exchanging" I mean we sent him one from France and he sends us 3 from Nova Scotia).

The first post card was of a lobster, which was pleasantly stereotypical. But the last card was a tad more interesting:


My first thought was "now that's interesting." Things were explained a bit more on the opposite side of the card. It seems talented James has taken to making his own postcards. We quite like this one, so we figured we'd share it with you.

On the opposite side, the description (in very formal type) says:

Tim Hortons invades Blue Beach along the Bay of Fundy. A government-funded study last year in Nova Scotia showed that Tim Hortons accounted for 22 per cent of the province's litter.

Good times.

In other news, we just bought a new digital camera. An Olympus C-5500. We need to play with it a bit more, but I think we're getting the hang of it. Now we can take some cool pictures in Toronto next week.

Hope everyone's having a good time :)

Happy Halloween!

My original plan was to dress as a Rebel Fighter Pilot again this year, but figured the orange jumpsuit might be a bit too much for the office. So, I opted for a black suite and tie with the new Darth Vader voice changer and Anakin Skywalker light saber.

Some people in my office were embarrassed. Some ran out of their offices with camera phones:

My boss sent this image via e-mail to everyone to try and demonstrate the abuse we inflict on him. I could see how it is slightly embarrassing...

"Did you just put that on in the elevator?"

"No, I got dressed in my condo."

"So... you didn't actually walk downtown like that...?"

"Yup. I even got a couple of waves and one 'USE THE FORCE!'"

"God..."

Happy Halloween everyone!

Level Up!

We were having a good laugh in the office the other day thinking about how life and role playing games (of the computer variety) intersect... um... sortof. From that discussion, I figure we should all play a game together:

What skill have you unlocked?

Seeing as marriage is a momentous occassion and how we're always learning from/with our spouse, the point of matrimony is a key time to unlock a skill.

I have learned that Ryan has had Boley Smash as one of his attributes for years. Since getting married in August, Karissa has now unlocked Boley Smash for herself. Of course, this skill requires a bit more development, but she has more time for level-building now that she doesn't play soccer any more on Monday nights.

Natalie enjoys a Kung-Foo attribute and has been lucky enough to have had that for all her life. When she received her engagement ring, it added a +2 to her Kung-Foo skills. I admit that I was excited to unlock Kung-Foo skills upon our marriage, but, unfortunately, my attributes are already under a White configuration and Kung-Foo just isn't compatable. I am, however, hoping to level-build my Craft Perogy ability.

Any skills you've unlocked lately?

The Bill Brooks Prostate Cancer Project and "It's wicked!"

Background: My boss is the Chair of the Bill Brooks Prostate Cancer Benefit at the Calgary Health Trust. Our company, therefore, ends up doing a lot of volunteer work for the project, which is not bad because raising fund for prostate cancer education, research and treatment is a good thing. I've been doing a chunk of work for the Project by working with designers, doing some media relations, producing ads (which I should be doing right now) and working on events. The big event is the Annual Bill Brooks Prostate Cancer Benefit (aka The Bum Ball) on January 28, 2006.

So, this is how I ended up at The Core (Calgary downtown shopping centre) at a boxer short fashion show (blue and white boxers being the new symbol for the fight against prostate cancer) and speaking with the Calgary Sun about my favourite pair of boxers. I'm learning that I may not be the best media spokesperson for anyone... but let me get to that after this excerpt from Chris Gerritsen's article in today's Sun:

Out and About

The downtown lunch crowd was treated to a brief fashion show yesterday at the Calgary Eaton Centre. It was Brief Encounters, in support of the eighth annual Bill Brooks Prostate Cancer Benefit.

Mode Models walked the runway, showcasing a collection of boxer shorts turned into works of art created by 15 of Calgary's best designers and artists. The shorts will be put on display then auctioned off at the fundraiser in January. Page Six asked some of those who took in the show about the artful boxers they favoured...

[then the article quotes about 8 or so people. Fifth down is a familiar name...]

Daorcey Le Bray, 24: "I liked the chastity one the best. I think it's wicked. Moderately uncomfortable, but I like the metal look. Very cool. If I could wear metal shorts comfortably, I would."

Wow.

It's wicked?

Good god. One never really knows how umm... unique one sounds until one shows up in print. But, then again, I should have noticed that there is a pattern forming in my media experience:

Exhibit A: Star Wars Episode III. Asked by friend and CBC correspondent about what I thought of the movie. "It was amazing! Non-stop action! I thought it was great!"

Exhibit B: Alberta Beef Producers' Centennial BBQ. Last minute insert into CityTV Breakfast Television to cook burgers on air because my chef didn't show up. "People should come on out and enjoy a beef burger on the Alberta Beef Producers... I think this burger's good to eat... yeah, try this one [insert nervous pelvic thrusts toward interviewer]."

Exhibit C: Aforementioned love of shiny undergarments.

Part of my job is considering questions and answers for clients and how to make them sound great in the media. Most of the time, they're really happy with me. Maybe I could benefit from some media training of my own. I think I just need to curb my enthusiasm.

And, for the record, The Revenge of the Sith was a fun watch, but hardly amazing. It didn't make me choke up like Serenity did. Now that was a good time.

PS: if you happen to be in Calgary, buy a pair of boxer shorts at Harry Rosen, Thomas Jeffery or Urban downtown and some of that money will go toward fighting prostate cancer. Plus you'll get a sexy metal boxer short pin.

Click, click, click

I got a typewriter. Daorcey bought it off Ronaye, who was having a garage sale but that item never sold. So for a cool $11, he got it. Apparently, this typewriter is worth $75 on the Internet.

I haven't really figured out how to do type properly. Typing on computer keyboards wusses up the pinkies. You really have to pound the keys to make any impression.

I don't know what I'll use it for, quite yet. So far, I've just typed the grocery list.

Weekend in Edmonton

This weekend we went up to Edmonton. Normally, we wouldn't head to the "City of Champions" until Thanksgiving but as I'm not in school anymore, weekends are for fun and not procrastination. We had a few things to do like visit the ringmaker and financial planner. Boy, married life is more exciting than I ever hoped.

Barry, the ringmaker, finally contacted us with the cost of the rings and necklace. All in all, it was very cheap and makes me glad Daorcey knows such a cool guy. We arrive at Jostens and find note which reads "Back at 3." Meanwhile, more people are starting to arrive and they all look the same. Tall, athletic, male and dressed in shirt and ties. We have no idea why such a specific type would gather at Jostens on a Saturday. Then some cameraman and a tv face show up. This is strange. Finally Barry roars up and starts pulling out crudites, pop and beer.

Inside, we finally get an explanation. The U of A Golden Bears are here to get their championship rings which explains the tall, athletic, maleness and dress of the people. We had to wait for Barry and it felt like waiting in a room full of Barskis, and if you were at U of C for the 2003/04 SU election, you can tell how much fun I had waiting.

Barry finally settles down and invites us to his office. Last time we were there, we were blown away by the Oilers memorabilia. This time doesn't disappoint either. While cleaning, buffing and replating (white gold isn't white but gold plated to look white) he told us about some of the photos and being down in Phoenix in Gretzky's place. Apparently, the Great One likes cognac which isn't to Barry's taste. In another photo is Gretzky and Dana Murzyn (sp?) and at the very bottom of the photo you can see Dana's blue jeans. And Dana's suit is Gretzky and apparently he was quite loaded at the time.

I guess we looked bored or something but Barry pulls out four Stanley Cup rings and all of them have Gretzky ethced on the side. They're replicas but Barry is the only person to have them other than Wayne. And Barry is so casual with them. They're just in a regular ring box and he let the hockey team take a gander.

They are ostentacious as championship rings go but it was cool, for lack of other words, to hold them. Carved into the side of each ring was a carrot. When the Oilers lost to the Islanders for the Cup, Glen Sather pulled out a carrot and put it in the locker room where the Cup should have rested. So the four rings have a engraved carrot. When Barry dies, he says the rings are going to the Hockey Hall of Fame but only if they put his name near it. And then he'll finally be in the Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, the hockey guys have been coming in to get their rings resized. Apparently size 13 is too small for their massive caveman hands. It was funny to watch their reaction to Barry's office. They come in saying hey can I get this resized but stop midsentence as they look on the walls. Their mouths are open as they see Barry with one of their hockey idols and they snap back to reality only after Barry hands back the resized ring. I bet seeing Gretzky's rings and Barry's office made their championship rings that much more memorable.

On Sunday, we visited with Wayne, Daorcey's and now our financial planner. He explained financial stuff and he sounds reasonable. But I think I came off as a bit kooky. Wayne asked if there was anything that I wanted to do, like trips or big purchases. Anyone who knows me I like penguins, so of course I would want to travel to Antartica. That's where the big penguins live, duh. I guess Wayne has never even though of that and all he could say was "Oh." Later, I said I have some ethical concerns about where I put my money. Wayne says, "Things like child labour, armament, pollution, what?" And I reply that I don't want to invest in companies who do all those things. Wayne was hoping I'd object to one but not all of them. But what rational person could say I'm concerned about pollution but not child labour? He looked at me like I said I enjoy eating babies.

We did other things too like visit people and play with cats, but ultimately Wayne Gretzky's Stanley Cup rings trump those.

oh, my, chocolate

Yeah, the updates have been slow on DarNat. It's probably because I haven't had time before or after work to update. Normally, I get the urge to update during work, but then I stop myself just in case a coworker notices the timestamp. That, and I have a solid sense of business ethics. You have to if you work in PR. ;)

So last Thursday I run into Karissa's office...

--For those of you who may not know, Karissa is a friend from university. We've had similar experiences with co-op, etc. And when a job became available at work, I suggested she'd be good at it. Fortunately, she is, and now we have offices across the hallway from each other that allows us to either yell across at each other or run...--

... into Karissa's office and give her a giddy look and say "Do you and Ryan want to go to Death by Chocolate?!"

--Ryan is Karissa's new husband. He plays Guild Wars with Natalie and I. For the longest time I would ask Karissa if Ryan was free to play games that evening... now I just call his cell. He likes llamas.--

Not surprisingly, Karissa developed her own giddy look and said "Do I?!" and so we were set for a trip to the Palliser for all the chocolate one can eat.

For the uninitiated, this is not like an extended dessert. Rather, Death by Chocolate is the ultimate vice (at least when we're talking about vices that don't send you to hell). It's the type of "event" that involves preparation in the form of light lunch and breakfast and no snacking. It IS dinner. It's one of those things that I would suggest is just for adults.

To clarify: just for adults means there are no parental figures to stop us from doing it. Like eating chocolate cake or Coco Puffs for breakfast or cheating on your taxes.

So we dressed up pretty and met at the Palliser. I love walking into a place that has a door man. As Natalie and I walked up the stone stairs, the conscierge jogged up ahead of us so he could open the door. Classy.

The chocolate is amazing! We were hungry and went right at it. There was a chocolate fountain, chocolate cookies, bars, drinks... so much that we couldn't even try it all. It was wonderful.

We started at 5:30... we rolled out at 7:30.

As we were preparing to leave, we noticed a set of horn players in kilts walk out into the balcony over the Crystal Ballroom (where Will and Melissa got married) and start playing a fanfare. It was pretty cool. We found out it was for the Southern's (owners of Spruce Meadows and ATCO) annual swanky dinner for people involved in the Masters, which was happening that weekend. So, yes, horn fanfare=cool.

Next stop: Hop in Brew for nachos and drinks.

We weren't crazy, we just wanted to eat something with salt. Although we were totally stuffed full of chocolate, we were still hungry for something with a bit of a different taste.

Yeah, it was a good evening. While I didn't want chocolate the next day, I could do it again soon. That's probably not healthy.

mmmmm... chocolate.

Camping in Jasper

This Labour Day weekend we drove up to Jasper to camp with Matthew and Kim and Brad and Toni. The drive, as always is spectacular. Coming up from prairie to mountains is good and to Daorcey who didn't spend his life an hour from the mountains, the drive is always fun.

We bought a power cord for the iPod because sitting in the cold drains the battery and makes the drive back really boring. So we ended up listening to podcasts from locked-out CBCers. Our two favourites are the Ottawa podcast and Shelagh Rogers, the host of Sounds Like Canada. The Ottawa feed is produced by the morning and lunch hour folks so they have a smattering of news and weather or sports or traffic as they can only afford the one. Then there's lockout news and then some music from a local artist or some other CBC personality. A great one had the resident gardener which was actually interesting and then one of the Arrogant Worms who sang an ode to the gardener. Both of us depend on Newsworld for our news so the lack of coverage of Katrina and other news events is frustrating. Hopefully our CBC comes back.

The drive itself had been beautiful and sunny. When we got to the site it started raining and didn't stop until Monday when we left. We spend the day playing cards and eating and went to bed early which is unusual. Usually, there's a fire and we sit around eating and talking but the cold and lack of fire made us want to head to bed early.

The next morning we woke up at 9, which is late. We had breakfast and set off for Edith Cavell. There's a hike to some meadow and apparently is fantastic. We got out of the car, 4 of us in the back seat, and it's snowing. We bundle up, Toni puts on a plastic bag on her head and up the mountain we go. Matthew and Kim brought their dogs but they weren't allowed on the trail--they disturb the rutting elk--so we headed back to camp. We were planning to hike and then rest our aching muscles in the town's aquatic centre.

To the pool we go and find it's not open for another hour because there was too much chlorine in the pool. To kill time, we ate bad food. My cream of vegetable soup looked like it was thickened straight up with flour. Yuck.

We get to the pool and find the big pool is still closed but everything else is opened. Eventually, the hot tub and slide are clogged with people as there's nothing else to do. However the pool finally opens and we are one of the first to jump in.

Back to camp, we eat a way better meal than the restaurant and play poker. The rain let up a little so we can finally sit around the fire. Unfortunately, it's at someone else's site so we have to tone down the sound.

Next day we pack up and head to Edmonton. Daorcey's family was having a fish fry and he wanted to surprise them. We get to the grandparent's house and they are somewhat suprised to see us. We stuff ourselves with pickerel and 5-clove Ceasar salad. Arone's landlady has kitten so I make Daorcey drive there. I play with the kitty while Daorcey looks at an extra wedding gift from Arone. It's an X-Wing kite but one of the poles is broken so we have to call an R2 unit in.

Then we begin our long drive back to Calgary. We finally arrive at home tired at 11 and don't fall asleep until midnight.

Happy Birthday Albe--oooo...fireworks

'Tis the morning after celebrating the Alberta/Saskatchewan confederation centennial, and I could probably do a bit more sleeping. Oh well, I'll suck it up.

Now, I've seen some nice fireworks in my day and I have to say that that evil, culturally imperialistic corporation Disney has the best fireworks/laser/light/dance show ever. If you've ever seen their Fantasia fireworks program, you know what I mean.

Aside: Disneyland makes money from it's fireworks because of the silly people like me who pay to see them. And, given that the park is full of people every day, they can afford to buy a solid fireworks show for every evening. I imagine they also get a volume discount.

BUT, the fireworks show we saw last night at Elliston Park to celebrate the centennial were pretty amazing. They were an such a greater scale than they every have at Disneyland. The presentation was nice and long, moderately choreographed to music and just so BIG. I'm a big fan of the plain white/gold fireworks and there were points in the program when the sky was filled with them that the whole park was lit. There was a fireworks waterfall, which I had never seen before. And, at the end, it seemed as though they just let off every firework they had left. The effect was so bright and colourful that people had to turn away. It was very cool. So, now we have photos courtesy Anna Chan, who was at almost every fireworks display at Globalfest over the past week taking realllly cool photos.

I recommend going to the fireworks at the next centennial.

Note by Nat: The last photo I think is of the finale. Even tho these are awesome photos, it can't do the fireworks justice.

Poem for a buck

In lieu of real content (ie about weddings and such) here's a poem some guy wrote for me for spare change. I only gave him $1. He looked kinda sad when I gave it to him but I can't see why. He just asked me to make up a title. At the time I was reading Dose. And normally I don't read Dose but they had a fairly informative article on why Mark Emery may or may not be extradited to US. I guess I had pot on the brain. And I like penguins. Hence, Stoned Penguin. But there are no penguins smoking up in this poem. Alas.

So here it is. Poem copyright Shone (last name illegible)

The Stoned Penguin
The Stoned penguin that thought it could
fly flew not but brought itself to
the edge of an ice shelf having first
burst forth his exclamation stationed
to all the other brother penguins...
that he would show them how to
use their fins or wings wung-it...
so that they all watched sitting this
scene...
only that fat stoned penguin
failed, and flailed into the water dropped,
plopped the stoned penguin...

Brad, Toni, Will, Melissa (or How the Summer of the Wedding Came to a Close)

First, apologies. I've neglected to post for some time now. It's not that I've been too busy... it's more like too lazy. Once I realized that Tony had posted recently (and he never posts), I figured I'd better pick up the keyboard and do an update. I've been meaning to for a while, honest.

So our story begins with the marriage of Brad and Toni (wedding 3 or 4 for 2005). To summarize: beautiful wedding, lots of bees, still honoured to have been Best Man/Emcee, lost shoes, lost bag, good times.

It was a stressful weekend in general for a number of reasons. I had been working non-stop for the week prior as I geared up for a couple of big BBQs I was helping to organize for a client of mine (funny story in that, but you have to ask me for an update in person). The Friday morning began with a 4:45am wake-up to be with my client on a morning show cooking demo in north east Calgary. Then I work like mad to have everything in place by noon for when Natalie picks me up to head up to Edmonton. For the first time ever, I need to be attached to a cell phone for the weekend because media/client could call (I got two calls, both on Friday before 7pm).

So, I was stressed about work. These were big events coming up and I needed to be on top of a lot of details.

But, more importantly, I was stressed about the wedding. Theoretically, I shouldn't be because it's not like it's my wedding, right? But, as it was someone else's wedding, I was getting stressed because I didn't want to screw up and ruin anything (Rule: you can ruin your wedding, but ruining your friend's is unforgivable). So, tucked in with my work binder and my cell was a detailed emcee's agenda and a Best Man's speech. The latter I practiced to myself a few times in the Devonian Garden parking lot (after a while you get use to talking to yourself in public).

At this time, I, Nat, was driving Jeff to Mary's place. Jeff was also going to Edmonton to cover the Fringe Festival for FFWD and was getting mileage. So out of our love for someone paying for our gas money, we drove Jeff, not because we like Jeff. We end up getting lost. Daorcey drew a route but we missed the turnoff. We eventually make it to Mary's and now I have to return the same way. Daorcey said to follow the same route, but on the map it twists and turns and is confusing. Mary, a non-driver, says to take another route which in the end was much better. I pick up Chris and Daorcey and to the dinner we go.

Did the rehearsal at 4pm Friday and promptly lost my work bag with all my stuff in it. Of course, I didn't notice right away... I had to go home first. Don't worry, I got it back, but I still had to leave the rehearsal dinner early. Speaking of rehearsal dinner, I'll have to let Natalie tell you how she feels about broccoli and bacon.

Best salad ever!

Wedding day was wonderful with good sun and not too much heat. Happy times all around. Hopefully there might be a couple of digital/scanned photos of the wedding floating around that we can upload some time.

Photos, standing around, more photos. It was a typical after wedding event. Then we piled into the limo. Although generously donated, it was a tad tight. Chris and I should have opted to sit in the front, but we didn't want to miss out, so we crammed into the back with the rest of the party. Sitting on the floor with a number of shoes poking into us, we poured champaign and toasted to good times and the such. There was a bit of smell and my legs went numb, but good times nonetheless.

Meanwhile, I walked around the gardens with Daorcey's parents. As it is a Saturday in the summer, there are wedding parties everywhere. We stopped for some ice cream as it was hot and just people watched. I think I saw the most hideous bridesmaids dresses. I saw one and thought it was just an old grad dress someone was wearing to a wedding. But then the whole party showed up and... well Daorcey says Direct Energy must have sponsored their wedding. From the front it was this electric blue, ugly but not too bad. But the back had BRIGHT ORANGE STRIPES. Not just little stripes but huge stripes. Even the flowers and limo were decorated with these hideous colours.

OK... I'm getting into details here that may not be too exciting for the general public. Don't get me wrong, there are stories to tell and each wedding is different, but not everyone likes them so I'll keep all my excitement to myself. Maybe we should get back to the summary: reception was fun, food was tasty, being emcee with Becca was all good and my Toast to the Groom didn't suck. There was dancing and more food, PG-13 jokes shared between new friends and karaoke.

Daorcey misses out on fun details like the native friendship dance we did. Turns out Toni is part Metis and everyone joined hands in a huge circle and danced to this song. Well tried to. Toni said you could tell who was native because they were dancin' it up. Us non-natives sorta stumbled around. But it was cool.

Also, my table was pretty cool. I met a guy whose second sentence to me was he was divorced. I met another guy who was Chinese, looked like Eric Fung, but was a CBC just like me. And he was hilarious. We got to making jokes in the cake room other people would consider racist but we're laughing it up. I think we got some strange looks. Even Daorcey's parents had fun. They thought they would leave early as they didn't know anyone but their table was pretty cool. The DJ, Toni's uncle, played the Metis national anthem and Colin, being a social studies teacher, had to dance, so that was neat as well.

We had a good time and stayed until the hotel made us leave.

Oh, speaking of the hotel, they lost our reservation again! Lame. This is the second time this has happened this year. Fortunately, there were some rooms left so we were able to snag something. It could've gotten ugly.

So we slept in and were ready to make our way to breakfast when I noticed my shoes were missing. I had been wearing tux rental shoes all day prior, so I didn't pay attention to where my actual (work) shoes were. Only minorly concerned (they had to be somewhere!), we checked out and prepared for breakfast.

I admit that it must have been hard to notice that I wasn't wearing any shoes in the hotel lobby, but as all of Brad and Toni's relatives noticed it only helped to reinforce my image as a klutzy, slightly dense, absent-minded fool (stories about poo ponds, tree forts and rides tied behind a skidoo originally planted that image for people). I don't really mind the image (there are worse things to be seen as), but every now and then, it's nice to be thought of as a successful, moderately intelligent, interesting person. Oh well, it's important to throw one's ego out the window now and then.

So here's a list of things I did without shoes: breakfast with the bride and groom, packing the car, driving, shopping for cheap replacement shoes, not finding cheap replacement shoes, purchasing a new pair of shorts instead, driving to the the gift opening, attending the gift opening, leaving the gift opening early to find my shoes, getting laughed at by Moores' employees when I walk in without shoes, finding no shoes at Moores, finding my shoes where I left them: at Nelson's place.

Thanks, again, Nelson, for leaving the party early to help me clothe my feet. I probably owe you.

I don't know why Daorcey felt it was important to buy shorts. But he came out of the dressing room to show me and the door closed behind him. Instead of asking an employee to unlock it, Daorcey slithers under it. Eww.

More importantly, thank you, Brad and Toni, for asking me to be involved in your wedding. It was a great experience! Lots o' fun!

Fast forward one week and Natalie and I are going to wedding 4 of 4 for 2005--Will and Melissa. And, more importantly, we're going to the first wedding of the season where neither of us has any responsibilities as part of the wedding party! Hip, hip, hooray!

Yes, it was kinda nice to just be able to sleep in, get gussied up and show up at the wedding. For the first time ever, we were also able to change and run errands between ceremony and reception. This was also the first wedding of the season in a church. I like churches (probably because I've been to so few in my life) so I found the whole ceremony really nice. Sacred Heart Church in Calgary is a very pretty place (way to go Will and Melissa!).

Summary of this wedding: posh and surprising. It was easy to see that a lot of work had gone into this one (two years in the making). Everyone looked great and the reception was held in the classic Crystal Ballroom of the Palliser Hotel.

Jeez, describe the dress. Melissa is very petite so they had to look everywhere for a dress. But she had this beautiful gold dress, with a sweetheart neckline and off the shoulders straps. The train was huge as was the veil but it fit the church setting. The bridesmaids had brown sheath dresses with a strap going diagonally across a shoulder. The boys were in tuxes as well and looked good.



Surprise #1: Getting thanked in the Bride and Groom's speech. Background: Natalie had volunteered to help design and layout the programs for the reception. As she's said before, it was totally no problem and she was happy to help. We gather there were more people on that thank you list that did more work than we did... still, it was a pleasant surprise. We're happy we played a small part in your wedding, guys.

Surprise #2: OK, so we knew Will and Melissa did traditional Filipino dance and all that jazz, but we were blown away when, instead of a typical first dance, they came out in traditional garb and did the Filipino national dance (what's it called again, Will?). Now that little dance ain't no sissy square dance or anything like that. It involves something that might be described as two-person jumprope using two hulking bamboo (?) sticks that are smacked back and forth by two handlers while the jumpers dance/jump in and out of them. We sat beside the two handlers during dinner and one of them, Connie, said those sticks can do major damage to your ankle if it hits you.

That dance pretty much kicked up the energy of the wedding a touch and everyone seemed ready to dance. It set the scene for quite a party. We stayed for a bit after that for some photos and cake, but being non-dancers, we opted to leave a little early and hit the sack... and slept until 11am the next morning (something I haven't been able to do for a few weeks). That was nice.

Daorcey also neglected to mention the wonderful Toast to the Groom. This one had a powerpoint presentation. They explained the phases of Will, including hairstyle and dress, with photos. To further the hilarity, the best man and one of the groomsmen dressed up like that Will. The best costume was the Will's phase where he had bright bleached hair and wore blue sparkly shirts. It was a shirt you would wear to the club but I've seen Will wear it at school. So the groomsmen puts on a blond wig and the infamous blue shirt. Hilarity ensues.

The blue shirt made another appearance as well. At the garter toss, Will starts stripping and I don't understand why. He gets down to the shirt and starts unbuttoning. Melissa starts laughing like crazy and from my angle I can't see why. He rips off the shirt and there's the blue sparkly shirt. He wore it for the rest of the evening complete with the white tie from his tux.

Wow... this has been a lot of writing. It took me three lunch hours to complete. Once I have some photos, I'll add them in. Speaking of photos: Toni/Brad and Melissa/Will if you happen to have some digital photos of your weddings handy, I'd love to put up a couple.

And that's how the Summer of the Wedding came to an end. Four weddings later I'm married and so are three sets of my best friends. Now that's a productive summer! Let's do it again sometime.

Even more wedding photos

Anna has finally processed her photos and presumably gone to the Gauntlet to steal their internet. So click here for more wedding action plus some caption action.

In other news, Daorcey and I got haircuts, one more expensive than the other. Photos to come soon. My hair is much, much shorter now. You can see in some of the Moose Jaw photos how long it was. Now it's just below my ears. I can not use enough superlatives to describe how awesome it is to have shorter hair.

Daorcey opted to ask his boss for haircut advice. But I will leave it to Daorcey to tell why he spent three figures on a haircut.

Panoramic

Gary has a fascination for Autostitch. This program allows you to blend together photos that normally you couldn't. What you get are panoramas, either vertical or horizontal. They look pretty cool.

Here's ours from Saskatchewan. It's on the way from Moose Jaw to Regina, at about 7 in the evening, hence the yellowish colour. I would suggest clicking on it to see the bigger size.



If you want to see more, click here for Flickr's tagged collection.

And if you want to do your own, here's the link to the site, done by two students at UBC.

More photos from the wedding

To make my "not Uncle" Johnny, happy here are some photos he took at the wedding. Are you happy now, Johnny?


Ah, nothing says wedding and love like Mulder and Scully.



Here my other uncle, who still lets me call him uncle, is dancing up a storm. He competes in professional meets with his wife. Here he's trying to teach us a samba or mambo line dance.



We took family photos but without my sister. I guess she was too busy posing for. Tut tut.



And of course, since its our blog, a photo of us.

Moose Jaw 2005

I don't know why we went to Moose Jaw. You'd have to ask Daorcey. I think we went because we would stay in a swanky hotel with a swanky spa pool, get free tickets to some tunnel tours and gambling money. Wouldn't you go to Moose Jaw for those reasons?

We left early and started our long drive to Moose Jaw. It takes 6-7 hours to get there. We passed through Brooks and Medicine Hat. On the way I took photos of trains. They were honking their horns and I thought it was because I was waving at them. Daorcey spoiled that thought when he pointed to the upcoming train intersection. Stupid safety measures.



We almost ran out of gas. The gas light started flashing and we started looking for a town. We pull into Mortlach. I told Daorcey that I didn't think they had gas because the road sign didn't have the gasoline icon--it only had an Internet icon--but Daorcey still pulls in. Strangely, we see no gas station. Daorcey pokes his head into a restaurant and finds out we need to head 10 minutes east to find a gas station. Turns out, I was right. So don't stop in Mortlach unless you need the Internet.

The gas light is worrying me and I ask Daorcey what the name of the town with the gas is. He paid such good attention all he can recall is that it starts with the letter "E." When we do find a Petro-Canada, the name of the place is Caronport. Good job.

We finally arrive in Moose Jaw and find the Temple Garden Mineral Spa and Hotel. The room isn't ready due to some sprinkler problem. I later found out a girl was getting married and she put her wedding dress on the sprinkler. I guess the dress had a train and she didn't want to get it dirty. Instead she got it wet when she hung it on a sprinkler and triggered it. To make it so much better, it was just before her wedding. And, judging by our walk around town, there aren't many places to get a new dress.

In our room, was a oil painting of the hotel's namesake, a dance hall (Temple Garden Dance Hall). It's a nice touch and a reminder of Moose Jaw's past.

To kill some time, we walk around the hotel, checking out the pool and other places. The hotel was the site of Peter Gzowski's last Morningside broadcast, so a little corner is dedicated to him and his show. Moose Jaw is proud that Gzowski called Moose Jaw "the most Canadian of towns."

Here's Daorcey fondling Gzwoski's mic.



We finally get our room and take a much needed shower. No air conditioning in the car means much sweatiness. I turn on the weather report and it turns out Sunday and Monday it will be 33 and 34, respectively. And, boy was it hot those two days.

Daorcey always reminisces about Bonanza, a place with an amazing salad buffet. It was a big part of his childhood and when I pointed out the restautrant still survived in Moose Jaw, he seemed less enthused. But I made him pose in front of it.



After dinner, we headed to the casino. We were hoping we couild just get our cash and leave and luckily we could. But we decided to put in $10 each and gamble. It was not enjoyable. It was just sitting in front of a computer screen pushing buttons, which I can do in Calgary. Plus many of the patrons were old and white, making us feel out of place. So we took our losses and left with only $10.50.

The next day we did the two tunnel tours: the Al Capone and Chinese one. I really hope Moose Jaw isn't betting on these tunnels to boost their economy. They are at best midly entertaining and at their worse completely false. We did the Chinese one first. This made me feel awkward as my parents are immigrants. An added bonus, the tourguide called us coolies, a racist term meaning poor labourer. So I paid someone to shout racial slurs at me. Fun.

We watched this absolutely horrible video of an Asian actress gushing about the hardships her great grandfather had to endure. To make it worse, they put a stethascope around her neck to connoate her position as a doctor. Yes, because all Asians are doctors. Then we were lead through the laundry areas, the living areas and other rooms. The living area was especially laughable. There was a large table where the men would eat their meals. Carved into this table were names and lillies. However, the names were in English and I highly doubt many men knew enough English to translate their names.

The Al Capone tour was more entertaining but just as false. There is no actual evidence that Capone ever visited Moose Jaw but the tour insists he spent much time there. But the acting was fun and it was very Disneylnad what with doors cutting of our escape and false gunshots.

Reading Will Ferguson's book Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, I learned that no Chinese ever lived in those tunnels. The Chinese community was appalled that this was being presented as truth. In fact, Moose Jaw was very accepting of the Chinese and these lies smear Moose Jaw's accepting nature. Also, the tunnels people walk through are quite roomy. They can accomodate wheelchairs. But next to the box office building, you can see remnants of the tunnels and those give you a sense of how large the tunnels really were. A few years ago, some priceless heritage buildings burnt down and revealed some old tunnels. And these real tunnels could barely accomodate a child on his hands and knees. I think we were spoiled by Vimy Ridge which had real tunnels and real stories.

To kill some time before our massages, we walked around Moose Jaw. The downtown isn't much to look at but it is better than it was a few years ago. The downtown revitalization was fueled by private money and the old buildings were turned into businesses. There's a few signs documenting a building's old past but not enough of them. What I found interesting in Moose Jaw was the 1950s feel to it like a police sign and the newspaper's outdoor sign. But there is a definite split between downtown and the newer parts filled with big box stores.

Here are the retro signs:




To kill a little more time, we ducked into the casino which also had air conditioning. We put in $5 and walked away with $10. So take that Casino of Moose Jaw! The massages were pretty good and made us feel like yuppies. We took a quick dip in the spa pool and then headed to Regina for dinner.

Again someone would wonder why we would go to Regina. We both have a thing for provincial legislatures. We'd like to see all of them eventually, and Regina was only 45 minutes away. Why, that's a nothing drive! Prior to leaving we made a reservation at an Indian restautrant. We called Tourism Saskatchewan and had to clarify "East" Indian which I found funny. We stopped at this road to take a photo because it seems so Saskatchewan (although I'm sure their tourism offices would hate to hear that).



For some reason, 45 minutes seems like a long time but 30 minutes from the city, we can see it. That's how flat it was. It blew Daorcey away. We had a nice dinner and then tried to find the legislature. The legislature is situated in the middle of a nice park. At this time it was dark but not too dark for some people to go for a walk or play some football.



We walk up the stairs to the entrance and see a couple of people walk out. We started to open the door when those two told us it wasn't open. We stammered we weren't trying to break in but wanted to see it. Luckily, one of the fellows is a tourism guy and gives us lot of advice which doesn't do us much good as were leaving the next day. But we find out the legislature is open at 8 a.m. and is giving tours in honour of Saskatchewan Day. Good enough for us. We also learn a lesson in how the rest of the country sees us.

The tourism dude asks us where we're from and we reply. He laughs and says he can see our money flying out of our pockets. We talk some more and he comments that he's glad to have our Albertan tourism dollars. That was a little weird. It's not like we have a lot of money. We're comfortable but not rich by any means. Daorcey felt really uncomfortable. He feels that everyone else sees Alberta as arrogant and unwilling to share its riches with the rest of the country. Thanks a lot, Ralph Klein.

Our last day in Moose Jaw we have to take a couple of photos. One is the McDonald's that looks like a farm. The silo is the play area and the eating area is the barn. Oh, the irony! It's where the fat kids grow. The second is the giant moose, Mac. He's so huge, Daorcey can barely fit me into the photo.




We take the legislature tour which was pretty cool. The coolest part is the reading room in the library. They have the table where Sir John A. and others discussed confederation. It's missing 6 feet because it had to be cut down to fit into its previous resting spot, which somewhat reduces its majesty. But it's not behind glass so you can touch it. You can feel the scratches and marks. You want to imagine the founding fathers getting drunk on champagne, dreaming of Canada.



After that we hopped into the car and made the long journey back home. Now, I've done long drives in hot weather (Salt Lake City to Calgary) but it was nothing like this. The whole weekend had been hot. We would eventually discover the water we left in the car was scalding. But it was searing, the drive home. The water in our Nalgene bottles was not cool enough to cool us down. The carrots we brought had cooked in the heat and were too mushy to eat. We stopped at the Alberta tourist centre just after the Alberta/Sask border and Daorcey's shirt had white salt stains from the sweat. Gross but indicative of the heat. During the drive, we had seen rain clouds in the distance and even had a spattering of rain but it never cooled it down. Not until two hours from Calgary did the sun start to set and it cooled off.

And that was the end of our trip. Overall, it was fun. Now I can say I've been to Moose Jaw. I wish we had structured our second day better so we could have gone to the Mountie academy/museum in Regina. Regina was way more interesting than some fake tunnels.

For more photos hit up Flickr to see more.

Nordegg coal mine

On May long weekend, we went camping at Rocky Mountain House. Nearby is the small hamlet (village?) of Nordegg, home to a golf course and abandoned coal mine. The previous year we had seen the signs for the coal mine but had no idea how to get in. This year we figured out there was a tour and took it. This coal mine was a big deal for Nordegg, and when it closed town, it took most of the economy with it. The most interesting thing is that when they closed the mine down for lack of profit, they left everything there. There's still coal in the hoppers and such. So now it's a national heritage site. It's pretty cool and I would recommened it if you're every down that way. Go to my photo site to see more photos.

I want David Suzuki's face

I think I have a weird CBC fetish.

I blame Daorcey. I guess growing up in the hinterlands of Edmonton would do that to a person. No cable and only Peter Mansbridge to keep him company. Poor kid. So naturally, when he moved to Calgary he kept up the habit. And it's rubbed off on me. I find myself watching more Newsworld in the morning and CBC documentaries at dinner. At least I'm getting my money's worth.

Then at the folk fest, we saw these retro CBC shirts at the CBC booth. We both coveted those shirts and found out the good ol' Mother Corp had a shop.

On another note, the Moose Jaw post is coming as soon as the photos are processed. So tell Anna to hurry up.

Goodbye social life

We have no kitchen table.

Ok, we do have a kitchen table, it's just occupied right now... with a computer. Thanks to Ben (thanks, Ben, it is wicked!) we now have a second computer.

"What," you may ask, "would you want a second computer for? Some people don't even have one computer (i.e.: Matthew, until recently)."

Yeah, well, those people don't play Guild Wars with their significant other, do they? I didn't want to admit it, but all the stories at the wedding about Natalie and I being supergeeks were true. We now have two computers less than a room apart connected by an ethernet cable... and we play games on them. Some couples go out for dinners, see movies, have special vacation getaways... but not us. We spend our money on computers. Part of me is embarrassed.

Ok, so I lied... we do have special vacation getaways: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan - August long weekend 2005. Stay tuned...

Convocation photos

In addition to getting married, I also graduated. Parties and photos ensued. Here's a taste. To see lots more, go here to Anna's photo site.






I think I need to explain this photo. We were just standing around, a bunch of us, when I realized, wow five generations of Gauntlet News Editors, minus Rob South/Neal "Dog Crotch" Ozano. Cool, so we thought it would be funny to take a photo of us confused. Ha ha.

Will edit for money

So I've figured getting a job might be the next thing to do. While sitting around reading and playing video games is a good idea, it might not be the best idea.

Your job, faithful reader (which is probably just Nicole, Emily and Will) is to help me find a job. So far, I've seen a couple from Will that sound interesting. Bow Valley College has this great line: "If you know the difference between an en-dash and an em-dash..." Ha ha ha. Sorta makes me want to work for them.

In a perfect world, here's what I would like:
*Pays decent
*Is downtown
*Writing and/or editing based
*Not an evil multinational

In other news, I remembered something Daorcey said after the London bombings. To make the coverage relevant to Canada, CBC interviewed Canadian security experts who listed places which were vulnerable. So obviously, subway systems, Ottawa, Toronto, etc. And then the energy sector. Is that Calgary? Or Fort McMurray? I asked Daorcey about Fort Mac's chances and he exclaimed, "What? They're going to replace a hole in the ground with another hole in the ground?" Ah, so witty.

Bachelorette photos

I figured I'd post a couple here just cause.

An update

It's been just over a week since we were married and so far these following things have happened.

* We successfully assembled an Ikea bookcase, two dressers and a bedside table without much yelling. So now my clothes and books have a home and I can stop living out of a garbage bag.

* Because we have places to put things, the apartment is less messy but we have a homeless dresser and beside table. We're hoping for Jeff to get a job and take them off our hands. Otherwise, anybody want a dresser?

* My face is less ugly. I no longer look like that guy from Mask. No, not the Jim Carrey movie (that wouldn't have been much cooler) but the one with Cher. Now I'm just a touch blotchy but much, much improved than a few days ago.

* Nicole has an account of the wedding up on her blog and photos. She says some very nice things about me. Whoop, whoop. Click here for the blog. And here for photos.

* I've posted photos at Flickr of the bachelorette party. Toilet paper dresses are the height of fashion. And yes, that chocolate fountain was awesome. We got the fountain on a deal from Anna's friend and ate most of the chocolate. It was too good of a deal so Anna's friend won't give it again. Oh well. Visit my photo site to behold the fun. Behold it!

* Anna has photos of birthdays, Canada Day and other parties at her site. She has way more photos on the construction of the toilet paper dress. Go here.

* Daorcey met a delightful homeless man behind the Safeay. He asked where Daorcey lived and Daorcey replied. The homeless man (I know he has a name but I can't remember) makes a face and says, "Ooo, the heart of crack alley." So we live in an area even homeless people avoid. Apparently, there's quite the rivalry between the homeless people and crack heads. The homeless don't like crack heads because they often beg, encroaching on the homeless people's turf and give homeless people a bad name. But he was such an affable chap Daorcey gave him our bottles so the guy could get some money.

* Stampede still sucks and we can hear the fireworks and the whoops that follow. The Stampede has forced such delightful bars such as the Hop and Ship and Anchor to tack on tacky wood fencing. As Jeff says, Calgarians delight in celebrating the signifiers and not the signified.

* Two friends have returned from afar, both only for a visit. James and his girlfriend Jen dropped by (can you drop by from Halifax) for dim sum and fun. Jen is nice so I'm glad James has found such a cool girl. Peter has returned from trip from the Far East bearing stories of red light districts and cheap meals of pizza sauce and rice.

That's sorta it.

Photos

Here are some more photos. Whoop, whoop. They turned out pretty good. Gary's good and so is Tracie as his assistant. Here's the link: click me.