Duane & Bike vs. Car: No Declared Winner

Most of you should be able to deduce from the title what happened to me yesterday but if you can't, I was hit by a car while biking to work. It's an elaborate story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. For those of you who like visuals, I've included diagrams that should help you see the accident from my eyes.

I was biking down 4th St. NW yesterday morning coming up to 16th Ave. NW. There was a line of cars back to 17th Ave and I wanted to get around them so I hopped up on the sidewalk. I am very cautious when I do this and I always look for people's signals to make sure they're not going to turn in front of me at 16th Ave. I'm very adamant about having the flashing lights going on my bike to make myself more visible when I ride as well.As I approached the A&W parking lot on the corner of 4th St & 16th Ave a car suddenly made a right hand turn without signalling into the A&W parking lot. I had about a second to react before he got me. Luckily I was able to lock up my back tire and swing the back end of my bike around slightly so that when we did collide I didn't hit him straight on with my front tire but more first with the front tire and then sideways with my body. This prevented me from flying over the handlebars and probably saved major damage to my bike.I kept pretty calm after I was hit and was sitting in the driveway of the A&W parking lot as the car kept going. I am confident that he didn't realize he hit me and probably thought that he hopped the curb. He looked in his rear-view mirror and saw me sitting there and then parked his car and came over...not running, very cautious. I think he was shocked that he hit me and was very apologetic. He asked a couple times if he could call an ambulance for me and I declined. He also asked if he could do anything for me, go buy a coffee or something.During his questioning I got up and checked myself over. I didn't really hurt anywhere except my elbow, which I landed on as well as my bum-bum/back. I had my backpack on which I think took a good share of the hit when I landed. I probably looked ridiculous as I was testing my elbow, my back, my bum-bum to make sure I was ok. At this point he again asked me if he could do anything and I wanted to see what damage had been done to his car so I wheeled my bike over to it. He was saying "Don't worry about my car, I just want to make sure you're ok." Nice of him for sure. I left a little dent in his rear corner panel but other than that, nothing. At this point he again asked me if he could go in and get me a coffee or call 911 so I said to him, "No, I'm ok, but would you mind holding my bike for me while I fix it!" Threw him off a little to say the least.

I fixed my bike and all looked well and so I went on my way. As I gained some speed going down 4th Street toward the park I cut through I noticed that my front tire was warped. Dang. I also began to think about the fact that I landed on my back and I had my computer in my pack. Uh-oh. I got to work and the first thing I did was take my computer out and check it. Worked fine. I then changed out of my biking clothes into my work clothes and realized I didn't have my sunglasses. I remember putting them in the pocket of my pull-over and they must have fallen out somewhere in the commotion. URG! There goes $35 down the drain. I then proceeded to check myself out and found my elbow was a little bloody from the fall and the side of my bum-bum that I fell on was pretty tender. Meh. I cleaned myself up and worked the rest of the day.

Today I'm kinda sore still, my bum-bum being the most tender of all. I'm pretty sure it's just muscle bruising and it will go away in time. The downside to that is I have to fly to Georgia Monday morning and I'm thinking the flight could be a little uncomfortable!

What did I learn from this experience? A couple things actually:

1. I probably shouldn't hop up on the sidewalk there to pass cars again (or at any spot where someone might make a sudden turn into me).
2. I didn't know I had such good crash skills (but still no bow-hunting or computer-hacking skills...it's a good thing Karyn still digs me).
3. I think I need to find a way to protect my computer should such an instance happen again, car or no car.
4. I was long over-due for something like this. If you've ever biked (or driven) in Calgary you'll know what I mean.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed that I my crash wasn't as spectacular as it could have been. In hind-sight, it would have been kind of fun to go over the handlebars and maybe crunch his front windshield as long as my injuries wouldn't have been any worse. Maybe if it happens again I'll get my wish, though I'd prefer it never to happen again!

D

New Friends

God never ceases to amaze me!

Today at work, bright and early in the morning, I was sitting at my desk working when most people are not in the office and was greeted by two people, Paul and Andrea. I found out that my boss Tim had hired them yesterday or the day before to work at our company and then left to go to the Dominican Republic for a trade show.

My conversation with Paul and Andrea started around the classic "Oh, what are you going to be doing here" followed by "Oh, that sounds cool." As we got to talking I figured out that they were married! Userful has it's own husband and wife team. It's actually really cool because it seems that they really compliment each other. As our conversation continued I found out that they are from Toronto, nice and close to where I grew up with the folks. I also found out from our talk that they're on fire for God, something I have never had an experience with at Userful with other employees. I have to say that it's very exciting to be able to start working with people that share my beliefs and that I'm going to be able to have some deep conversations with.

This could not have come at a better time. With some of the other new people that have joined our company in the recent past, I was very concerned about the secularism that I was being immersed in. I can think of one individual in particular who certainly lives for this world and lives a life of what I would classify as sinful, VERY sinful. I have my concerns as it's tough to work with or for someone like that where their priorities in life are just so very different from my own and what I believe in. It's very easy to mask who you are to these people so they accept you and don't label you before they have developed a relationship with you. Thank you God for bringing back a positive balance to the workplace!

I've never used the blog for prayer requests but I would ask that our friends/family that read this please keep my work situation in mind, thanking God for the blessing he's given me and asking for strength to witness and resist the temptations of "fitting in" with the rest of my co-workers. Going beyond that, also keep Karyn in prayer as well as she's looking for new work and trying to find satisfaction in her jobs while being able to make some extra money.

D

I did it!

Guys, I survived today. Whew. Life goes on. I even have a job interview at the Calgary Board of Education at 4:30 tomorrow!
I didn't make it three (bad) days in a row. Nice.

~K~

Can I make it 3 bad days in a row??

I honestly thought Monday would be a bad day just because it was Monday. So why was Tuesday a bad day? Just because it was Tuesday? Nobody hates Tuesdays...well...I never did. Until yesterday. We're going two for two here, and there's only BEEN two days this week!! AHHH!! Can I get a third?? ARG.
Here's why Tuesday was a bad day...I'll sorta point form it so you don't have to read all of my "Lucas" details again.

Got to Cardinal and things were going well...we had one student off yesterday because her family was celebrating the end of Ramadhan...so that was a nice time-saver. After picking up all the students, we were heading to school (and we were even going to be nice and early!), when all of a sudden, Khang has a seizure. Ok, that's normal. Her seizure wasn't even very long, maybe a minute and a half. I keep an eye on her for a minute, and then something didn't sound right...so I went back to where she was. She was gurgling a lot(she's very congested all the time), and this usually means she's going to throw up. Great. At least I can identify when she's going to! I grabbed the spill kit, paper towel and latex gloves and went back to clean up her breakfast. Thank goodness it wasn't as bad as last time! I stayed back there with her, 'cause she didn't quite sound right. At this point, she has another seizure, this time being pretty tense, and she has never had a seizure like this before! Great. Make note and tell the teacher. She's also sweating bullets...not even joking, she had beads of sweat soaking her forehead and her face. Poor thing.
I wasn't prepared for what happened next.
She stopped breathing.
Right. Crap. What the heck do I do? "Jan! Khang's lips are blue!" (I didn't panic, 'cause I didn't want Jan to panic, though she's a nurse and probably wouldn't anyway) Jan pulled the bus over at a transit bus stop immediately. She looked back at us in her rear-view, and even from her vantage point, she could see how blue she was! It came fast.
Then her nasal area turned blue. YIKES! Meanwhile, Jan is trying to get out her door to come to the back of the bus, but on 14th street during morning rush hour, it proved a little difficult.
I think what happened is that she just had so much congestion and then having a seizure at the same time, causing her to lose her airway for a minute. While Jan was trying to get back to us, I wasn't sure if I should start breathing for her. She sounded like she was trying to, but just couldn't, so I rubbed circles around her back, and gently patted her back to try and loosen things up. While I know how to do rescue breathing and CPR and all that, I wasn't entirely sure how to do it to a kid in a wheelchair! If her chair had a tilt feature, I would've just done that, but she was sitting straight up with no option of tilting her.
Well, getting herself out the door into traffic was futile, so Jan never made it to the back of the bus before Khang started breathing again. All of this within a minute. While rubbing her back, she coughed, and then her lips turned pink and she started bawling. Good sign. That means she has an airway!
Jan got on her cell and called the school to let them know to send someone out to take Khang off the bus right when we get there.
During all this, Khang had popped most of the blood vessels in her face(which I didn't even notice until someone at the school pointed it out). She was so red-faced and sweaty that it was hard to notice that, but after we had everyone off the bus, the teacher came out and asked me if her seizure was different than normal 'cause all her blood vessels were popped! I was planning on telling the teacher, but she hadn't been out there initially.
Quite the morning. And it was only 9 o'clock.
Then HandiBus decided to add another student to my already packed route when they told me they wouldn't. Nice.
Quote of the day: "We sure haven't been very nice to you this week, eh?" ~ Allen Klaassen-HandiBus
And it's only Tuesday.

~K~

Oh the fun you can have with a Mac...

We were at Steve and Karen's place a few weeks ago when he got his new Mac notebook. One of its greatest selling features is the fact that it has a built in web-cam (which can double as a digital camera). Installed as part of the Mac suite of software is something called Photo Booth. We had about a half hour of solid laughs thanks to this program. I've posted some of the pictures that I was in exclusively (with one of Karyn and I). There will be more to follow once we have had a chance to go through all of them together!

I really don't know why I like to embarrass myself all the time!

D

Photo Sketching

Thanks to Kevan for passing along the info on how to do this sketching in PhotoShop. It's a really neat effect that adds a cool dimension to some of the pictures I've taken. I find it works best when there is a solid backgound or a subject that does not have a lot of detail in it. Enjoy the shots below!

D

Here's a shot of a tree on a sea stack on the West Coast TrailHere's a shot of an old shed out on a farm near Whitewood, SK

Here's a shot of Karyn walking the beach on the West Coast TrailHere's a good example of a picture that's almost too busy for the sketch effect

A Tricky Situation

Tonight Karyn and I went shopping and I had to return some pants I bought at Marks Work Warehouse a few weeks ago. I found the ones I wanted and also picked up a belt as I received a $25 gift card with the pants I bought originally. When we got to the counter the sales girl swiped the card and found out that when I received it the other associate did not activate it. This turned into a long ordeal where she was trying to figure out how she was going to activate it and put my purchase on it right away.

Well, 10 minutes later we were still standing there and she proceeded to tell us that she was glad tonight was her last night. She was working a full time and part time job and didn't need the stress or the time away from her daughter. I think she had enough of the card (she was able to activate it, just not put my purchase on it) and finally just handed me the card, put the pants and the belt in the bag, and told us that she was "bending the rules" tonight. She said "have a good evening"

We were caught up in the moment while in the store and empathized with the sales girl and the trouble she was having. As we walked out and thought about the situation more Karyn and I realized that we had just been given a belt for free PLUS the activated $25 card. Another way to look at this situation is that we were in possession of stolen goods. I did not feel comfortable with what had happened and wanted to go back into the store. As we discussed the situation and what would happen we realized that the sales girl neither knew how to properly ring through my purchase nor did she care that she just ripped Mark's Work Warehouse off of about $20.

We went to get my ring re sized while we discussed this (it was about 8:45 at this point) and decided to bring the belt back on Wednesday evening when I get my ring back. It makes more sense since that sales girl will no longer be there so it won't be awkward for her and her manager. I also have a backup plan which I could do as well...since I have the $25 gift card we could just cut that up and call it even (Marks Work Warehouse comes out $5 ahead if we do that) but somehow that just doesn't seem right. I'm open to suggestions from our avid blog readers on what you think we should do.

D

So now I'm in a situation

Miscommunication=I HATE MONDAYS!!!

What a day. Probably the worst Monday in...well...ever. Did I mention that I hate Mondays? And to top it all off, I just was feeling crappy from the get-go.
The morning started ok...aside from the feeling crappy part. The run went smoothly enough...even got to school early on my morning run. It was after that that everything went downhill. No, I didn't get thrown up on(though that might've been the least of my worries with the way the rest of the day went!). I got home for my morning break, which also went relatively smoothly. Nice to come home to coffee and have the chance to collect myself and wake up for the rest of the day...thanks Doodle for making the coffee!
My problems started as soon as I went to check in for HandiBus. The first thing the dispatcher tells me at the office window is that my driver hasn't showed up. Great. I told him I saw the bus sitting out there running already, and he said that's 'cause there was a slight mix-up with another driver before I got there...he thought he was using that bus, but wasn't supposed to be, so he just left it running for me. I figured my back-up driver would arrive soon, as I had been told that she was already called to cover my run. So I went to the bus to attach all the carseats(I switched busses again)while I waited for the driver to show. I finished that quickly, and went inside. The driver still wasn't there. No biggy, I'm only about 10 minutes late leaving the yard. I knew we could catch up on that time, so it wasn't a problem. So now it's about 11 o'clock. The school lets out at 11:15, and it takes about 20 minutes to drive there from the bus yard. I stood inside waiting for the driver to show....still no sign of her. Another 20 minutes goes by. At this point, I went and talked to the second dispatcher in the office(the first one went on lunch). She said she still hadn't heard from the driver, but she would call the school for me to let them know I'd be in late. I started pacing...I had finished my mug of coffee and it was starting to make me antsy. And I was antsy because of the fact that I was running SUPER late! During this time, the dispatcher started calling all the parents to let them know their children would be about half an hour late getting home. I continued to pace...outside watching for her car. I think I should've sat down in the driver's room and read my book, but I was much too antsy for that! It felt like an eternity of pacing. I was inside and outside, a mix of watching for the driver and asking the dispatcher if she'd heard from any of the parents as to whether they'd just go pick up their children themselves and save me time. No luck. I was super frstrated by this time, and I'm sure I left marks in the carpet from pacing infront of the window for so long! This eternity kept dragging by...I'm over half an hour late by now, and the driver still hadn't showed. I went back inside and asked the dispatcher to call her at home. She got ahold of her, and was told that she was just heading out the door. I knew this driver didn't live more than 5 minutes away, so I couldn't figure out why(after she'd been called the first time at 10:30) she didn't show up right away! I was outside waiting when she got there, and as soon as she saw me she asked, "am I doing a pre-school run?!" I confirmed that she was, and she just went off and panicked. She said that when she was called at 10:30 the guy didn't tell her what she was doing, just that she should come in for noon, or as soon as she could. Well, that's super vague, and she thought it sounded like there was no hurry, so she wanted to wait until her uniform was out of the dryer. She ran inside and punched out, and we took off for the school. It was over an hour later by this time. That SUCKS! She just kept telling me, as we were on our way to school, that if she was told she was doing a school run, she would've turned off her soup and wouldn't have worried about her uniform, 'cause she knows they run at about 11 o'clock. But because she wasn't told, she figured it was ok to wait for her uniform! In the end, after she got the second phone call just before noon, she didn't have her uniform on anyway 'cause it wasn't dry, and she knew she had to be there for at least 12. Anyway, we got to the school about 12:30(when pick up is at 11:15), and herded my 9 children onto the bus and into their seats. We were over an hour late to each stop, and I was asked multiple times what had happened. The parents and daycare workers were all very understanding, but were all curious as well. I told the story way too many times today. The jist of it was that the original driver didn't show, and the back-up showed an hour late because she didn't know she was doing a lunch pre-school run!
During my time waiting for her at HandiBus, I realized I wasn't going to make it to Cardinal for 2 o'clock because my last student gets dropped at 1 o'clock, and being an hour late, she wouldn't get dropped until 2. This posed a problem when I am supposed to get picked up at Cardinal at ten to 2! So I phoned the office and let them know I couldn't make it in time, and asked if they could get someone to be the attendant for the afternoon. I was told there was nobody to cover and that I had to be there. That REALLY sucked! I told her I was over an hour late already and I couldn't guarantee I'd be back by 2. Apparently it didn't matter to her, 'cause she said I had no options. She said she could get the Cardinal driver to meet me at HandiBus at 2. I told her I'd be there when I get there, but I said I'd call her if anything changed and if I wouldn't be there. I called her again from the deep south at 1:30, before I had my last student picked up, and told her that I still had one student to pick up and drop off, and I didn't think I could make it. She told me again that I still had to do the run. I said "fine", and asked her to get the driver to meet me at HandiBus. Well, as I figured, I got the student to school shortly after 2, and was back at the bus yard by ten after 2. At this point I was so frustrated, I had to pee, and the Cardinal driver wasn't even there!! AHHHHH! I ran around the building to see if maybe she was out front instead of in the back, but she wasn't. MAN, was I tired of people not showing up! I ran inside and called Cardinal...AGAIN!...and told them that the driver wasn't there. The guy on the phone talked to the dispatcher, who talked to the driver, and then came back to me that she was still at the Cardinal yard waiting for me!! AHHHHH!!! I could probably have strangled a few people today. I asked whether she could come meet me, gave the guy the address, and then the dispatcher came back with, "please meet her on southbound Edmonton Trail". DANG! That meant running(with a full bladder), down a hill 4 blocks...thank goodness it was downhill. I got on the bus, quite out of breath and quite sore, and asked her whether she had gotten the message that she was supposed to come up to HandiBus. Negative. The office lady I had talked to didn't communicate with the driver to even let her know that! Some people. So now, after running late the whole way through my HandiBus run, I was now running late on my afternoon Cardinal run as well...and causing this driver to be late to the school, therefore making her route run late too!
Boy, do I hate causing such pandemonium!
Luckily, by the time my afternoon run got going, we weren't TOO far behind, and I got home in one(sore)piece. All this after still having to walk to get the car as I had to leave it behind at HandiBus instead of getting it to Cardinal.
What a dumb day.
Sorry for the rant.

~K~

Ribbon Creek...The Hike that Never Ends!

Last weekend Kevan and I decided to go for a hike in Kananaskis Country as we were thinking it was going to be the last nice weekend of the season. He arrived at our place without a definite hike in mind so we stopped at the Barrier Lake Info Centre to choose a mountain. While we were in there we decided not to hike a mountain but instead to do the Ribbon Creek Trail. We were both OK with that as the idea of huge elevation gain was not too exciting!

We arrived at Ribbon Creek Trail about 10:30 and began our hike. We were planning on doing the entire loop at first but then realized it was about 30km or more and we didn't start early enough in the day for that. Naturally, as Kevan and I started to hike, we began to take pictures and it was even more evident that we'd never be able to complete the loop since it took us about 2 hours just to go 6km!

Our first real stop was at a pool with leaves floating in it. Made for some beautiful shots. I ended up playing around with this one in Photoshop in case you couldn't tell!I had an idea at that point that Kevan and I should focus (no pun intended) on macro photography that day and he was in full agreeance. It was neat to explore this side of photography, especially since I finally have a lens that's capable of capturing these types of shots.

While we were walking down the trail Kevan passed under a branch that had some water droplets on it. They were very cool and it was possible to capture the mountains in them (though upside down).We also found an area that had not been hit by the sun yet and there was some hoar frost (I apologize if the spelling is off but I wasn't going to try it the other way I know how to spell that word!) on the rocks. For some reason I love B&W shots when it's rocks. It captures the contrast so much better.We stopped for lunch at a waterfall that we had heard from the trail. It was a little cool there but the quality of shots was pretty good. I had brought a rope this time hiking as I didn't know what kind of conditions we were going to face on whatever trail we happened to tackle so we used it to climb down to the water. After crossing around a rock face where there was only water below us we found we could have just climbed down on the other side without the need for a rope. Oh well, where's the adventure there!I decided to play with Photoshop with this picture as it was only mediocre. I really like how it turned out!

Kevan and I really wanted to get a shot of the waterfall but couldn't do it from the side of the stream we were on. We decided to cross over and Kevan went first. I was ready to go but we wanted to get pictures of this because, well, who would have believed we did such a stupid thing! Kevan nearly biffed it going across and as you can see below, I don't think it felt very good on his feet either! I was ready to cross only because I told him I would if he went but he said I didn't need to endure the pain he experienced. I have to tell you, I'm glad I didn't have to go!After getting Kevan back across the stream we finally sat down to eat lunch (we were starving as it was about 1pm). Kevan's sub that he got at the 7-11 was the highlight of that meal as he managed to get almost twice his daily fat intake and sodium intake off one sandwich. We had a good chuckle. Our walk on the trail was filled with more pictures until we ended up at Ribbon Falls. It was a pretty impressive waterfall but when taking pictures of it you really needed something there to give you an idea of the size of it. I decided to use Kevan (actually he started to climb up there and I was about to tell him to do the climb).After taking our pictures at the waterfall we decided to keep hiking up to the lake that was feeding it. The hike was only an additional 2km and there was a portion of the trail where they bolted a chain into the rock face as a lot of inexperienced people hike the trail and it would be a little dodgy for them. When we arrived at the chain I ended up going first so Kevan could get some shots and I decided that the chain really was unnecessary. We both ended up free-climbing the rock face, not only to where the chain went, but probably about 100 feet up. Not difficult at all since it was not a vertical face. Lots of fun going up!We ended up at the lake and stopped long enough for half a chocolate bar each. When we were ready to leave a group of university kids were going down as well. They did not look like experienced hikers and were kind of annoying (certainly the laugh of the guy at the back of the pack). We got stuck behind them at the chain again so instead of using the chain and getting stuck behind them we ended up free-climbing (or descending as the case was). Unfortunately Kevan got down before the group started moving but I wasn't quite down and had to stop until they cleared the area below me so I wouldn't risk dropping rocks on their heads. We ended up passing them at the falls and were looking forward to a peaceful hike out.

We underestimated their walking abilities. I should have pointed out at the beginning that the trail itself was little more than a granny hike so making good time wasn't too difficult if you weren't experienced. We pushed pretty hard the entire way back and about 4km from the end of the trail they had to stop and take a break. Thank goodness! We were both dying (our feet hurt the most!) but couldn't stop and let ourselves be passed by these...these...amatures!

When we finished the hike we looked at the distance we had gone and it was a total of 31.8km! That's crazy! We ended up walking almost half of the total distance of the West Coast Trail in an afternoon. We also calculated our average speed coming down and it was just shy of 8km an hour (we descended in 2 hours exactly)! That's pretty fast considering the average person walks between 4km - 5km an hour!

We decided on the way down that we were going to head quickly to the Kananaskis Village (Delta Hotel) to get a coffee and call Karyn and Leah to see if they wanted to do dinner together. Well, I'll tell you that the coffee was the most expensive I have ever paid (and would pay) in my life! I asked the server for 2 coffees to go and the total was $3.18. When he gave me the cup I asked where the other one was and he said "oh, you wanted 2 coffees?" I nearly had a heart attack when I realized how much they were charging! Highway robbery thanks to stupid rich people that go there and pay for such expensive coffee! UGH!!! That said, the coffee was OK, but certainly not worth $3.18 each!

The day ended in a dinner of pizza and a bottle of beer at Kevan and Leah's place. We tried to watch the Edmonton - Colorado hockey game and made it through 2 periods before I needed to call it a night. Partially for exhaustion, partially because I started coming down with a sinus cold that was making me all congested. Not a good end to the day and certainly not my idea of a good time for the rest of the weekend!

D

Sad....

So yesterday I had a child throw up on the bus...again...projectile style. Today I had a kid tell me I ruined his day(he's 4, how bad could it be??), and when we arrived at his house he proceeded to throw a snowball at my face...in front of his mother! What a wonderful child. Normally he is pretty wonderful, smiley, and happy. However, he was having a bad day to start with (according to his teacher), and when I didn't put him in his regular seat on the bus, he decided he didn't like me so much. In fact, he probably hated me. I told him that to lift him over the other little girl to get to his seat wasn't very easy, and that he could sit in a new spot today. It didn't go over well. I might need to pull out the name tag game. Meaning, I make up fun and colorful signs with each child's name on it, and when they get on the bus, they have to find the seat with their name on it and sit in that seat. It doesn't always work, but a good percentage of the time it does!
I imagine he'll love me again tomorrow. He'll get over it. He's 4. And like I said before, how bad could it be??

PS...Carene, when are you going to update? I miss reading about you guys!

~K~

Thanksgiving-Christmas..a new tradition?

Yes, that's right...Thanksgiving-Christmas. Complete with the Christmas Story read by our own Pastor Joseph Steeves. And there was most definitely turkey...and German Overnight cookies(made this year by Sherri 'cause mom was too busy!) YUM!
Though there was no snow, no Christmas carolers, and no candlelight Christmas Eve service, we still celebrated Christmas! It CAN be done, people! My family may be weird, but now I can say that half of my Christmas shopping is done before Halloween for the very first time ever! What an accomplishment. For me. And I didn't have to do shopping while the mall was filled with over-eager, bustling, annoying shoppers out to get the best Christmas deals. Or with the over-played Christmas carols that are played WAY too soon in our malls! What a relief! Duane hates the malls in the first place, so this could have very well saved our sanity! What a concept, Christmas shopping BEFORE the rush...hmmm.
This wonderfully odd weekend started with a nice one-hour trip...just to get OUT of the flippin' city! Darned construction on long weekends! I'm glad I was driving 'cause Duane was frustrated enough just being a passenger! Once we made our way out of town, the trip went relatively smoothly. I figured I'd probably only last until about Banff...or maybe Lake Louise, but amazingly I made it all the way to Revelstoke!! Stacey can attest to this from our past road-trip experience...I like to get sleepy when driving much longer than an hour. I think I might have even been able to drive all the way to Salmon Arm, but I could tell Duane was getting bored, and I offered him the wheel a little early. I have a feeling I made it as far as I did simply because I STARTED the drive...and it was in the middle of the day when I was fully awake anyway. I am quite proud of myself for this seemingly small accomplishment. Once stopped in Revelstoke, we did our quick switch, and then continued on to Salmon Arm(by this time we were behind schedule because of weather and the fact that I haven't driven the highway, in rain, in a LONG time!). Once in Salmon Arm(shortly after 7pm), we stopped by Carene and Dave's, as per norm., and asked them to join us for dinner. They had just eaten, and were about to head out to a party for Dave's boss, so we just chatted for a bit and went our separate ways. Soon, it will not have to be such quick visits on the way through town 'cause we'll be LIVING THERE!! WOOHOO!! Anyway.
Dinner was uneventful and kinda gross. Wendy's will not be receiving our patronage for awhile, I think. Old crispy chicken burgers made us feel icky. We had to make an emergency pit-stop on the side of the highway outside of Merritt(which almost resulted in an accident) so I could hurl out the door. I didn't actually hurl, but I sure thought I was going to, and I wanted to make sure I didn't do so IN the car. 'Cause that woulda been gross.
The rest of the trip(after I had driven all the "fun stuff" in the rain)was uneventful, and poor Duane had to drive the "boring stuff". We pulled into my parent's driveway at 12:45AM, and quickly made for the house, as we felt we were asleep on our feet. Thank goodness the bed was made! My dear sister even welcomed us...why the heck was she up so late? Whatever.
That night I probably had the worst sleep ever. My mom had done all she could think of to satisfy my picky mattress habits by putting another mattress on the one already there, to take away some of the hardness. It just so happened that the mattress she put on, while softer, was extremely "springy"...meaning the springs could be felt with every inch of my body. Duane didn't notice. I think he got the good side of the bed. I tried and tried to fall asleep, but alas, it did not come. Eventually it did, but for a very short stint. Every time I moved, I felt another spring. My poor mother felt so bad. Kudos for trying, mom. The next night I added a big blanket folded underneath me to get rid of the springs. Was much better. Then I had pillow issues. I brought my own, but on a hard bed, there wasn't enough support on my neck. I had to choose from the few other pillows in the house, and eventually found one that did the job. See, our bed here in Calgary is super soft...almost TOO soft...so I don't have a very puffy pillow, 'cause then there's just too much pillow. But on a hard bed, my neck needs more support, and my own pillow just didn't do the job. Enough with the bunny trail/rant.
Saturday was spent shopping with Jody, visiting Karen & Graham & Ava(thanks guys, we had a great time!)and hanging out with the family in the evening(meeting Jody's new 6'2" boyfriend). We played games and such and just hung out. Good times. We had plans to make cinnamon rolls that night, but it didn't really happen. Bummer.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early for church. Dad had taken a Sunday off at his church to come to church with Duane and I...so that was nice. Mom went to early Sunday School, 'cause she had to work and couldn't go to church. After church Duane and I had lunch at Red Robin's with Stacey. It was great to hang out with her again and catch up, even if it was just for a short time. At least I was there the whole summer to hang out with her when Heidi wasn't available. Glad she had Heidi, too, this time :) Lunch was delicious and filling! I even saw people I knew...what a surprise, eh Stace?
Sunday afternoon was spent kind of just lazing around...I think I slept while Duane watched a movie. When mom came home from work we got busy with dinner...blueberry pancakes! Jody and her boyfriend came home for dinner as well. Since we didn't get around to making the cinnamon rolls on Saturday, we spent the next while messing up, I mean, MAKING up the rolls. *wink wink* Let's just say we had to start over part way through the process because of a communication error and there was a lot of wasted flour, cinnamon, sugar and other such dry ingredients! In the end, though they weren't quite "right", we had yummy cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven to eat just before we went to pick up Sherri and Joe at the airport.
They arrived at quarter to eleven Sunday night, and we were all pretty tired. It was a late "Christmas Eve" for everyone, 'cause once we all got home we stood around chatting for awhile, and then Sherri, Joe, and mom had to wrap presents. We all knew that we'd be sleeping in the next morning for sure!
"Christmas morning" was a bit slow-going. Duane and I took forever to decide to get out of bed, therefore convincing my mom to start getting the Thanksgiving turkey ready for later. We were going to all help her later, after doing presents, but she started on her own, and then we all finally rolled out of bed and helped with that stuff first. It took awhile, but then we all piled into the living room, complete with a Christmas tree(fake), mom's little porcealin village, and our manger scene. I know, odd. We had a great time with gifts...a few surprises along the way...and LOTS of laughing! That's the fun part. Sherri, mom, and dad were all in stitches at one point, with tears streaming down their faces. I can't even remember why Sherri started laughing about one of the gifts I gave her...though I don't think she was laughing AT the gift. Dad was laughing at a huge gift he got...along with a decoy during the unwrapping process(which was just a cassette tape Sherri found sitting by the tape player! *LOL)...that turned out to be a small package of Fig Newtons...his absolute favorite! Mom was immediately laughing when reading the card from all us kids...and the front of the card only said "Merry Christmas" in large letters, and at the bottom in small print said "Happy Thanksgiving". Something set mom and dad off from that, but none of us kids could quite figure it out...then they went on and on and on about it!! We were all laughing at that point, not sure what we were laughing at other than the laughter itself!!
Once gifts were done, we got back to helping with turkey, waited for Nigel(Jody's bfriend) to arrive, and we all went for a walk for some family photos. It was quite sunny and warm out, so the lighting wasn't the greatest, and Duane didn't really like any of the backdrops in the park, but we ended up with a few pictures in the end, since it was the last day we were all together and had to have something.
It was a full house for turkey dinner that night, and it was SO GOOD!!! I was so full after my first helping, I couldn't even eat any more! And there was still pumpkin pie on the menu. Everyone decided it'd be a good idea to go for a walk to the park to wear off the turkey, then come back for pie afterwards. The walk was a lot longer than intended, and we ended up at another park playing on the playground!! It was a LOT of fun!! Once it got dark, we headed for home...and pie!
We all got to bed at a fairly decent time, and Duane and I were up the next morning at 6:30 and out of the house by 7:30. Too early!
We had a great time in Abby spending time with family and friends that we're both very thankful for!!
Our trip home was quick(Duane drove the whole way, and we had good weather), even after a 1 hour stop in Salmon Arm to look at a house we're interested in. Aside from a bit of construction delays, it was easy going and we arrived home around 7pm in time for dinner!
Thanks everyone for a great weekend!!

~K~

Signs of True Friendships

This past weekend we had the chance to go to Lethbridge to celebrate Sean and Chris Gonzo's birthday at a black-tie poker party. We drove to the bridge city with Kevan and Leah, as per norm, and arrived in town a few hours early so Karyn and Leah could go shopping for new outfits for the evening. Kevan and I followed them through the mall until at one point we decided to take a look at a Nissan Frontier truck that was parked in the mall and they walked right by us (we didn't see them but they saw us) and we were separated. A little background, Kevan and I hate malls...We ended up lapping that mall 3 times trying to find our wives and after the final try we decided to go wait in the car. We were sitting in the car with the seats reclined and the sunroof open and it was boring. Not the fact that Kevan and I don't have anything to talk about, it was just boring. I made a comment about how I wish we had sporting equipment that was not hindered by the wind (we were in Lethbridge, you expect it to be windy all the time and when it's not you get excited). Good thing Kevan had a couple of baseball gloves in the trunk and we ended up tossing the ball in the parking lot for about 20 minutes.

We went out for dinner at Montana's and had the worst service ever. First, we showed up and were seated right away and did not have anyone come over for 10 minutes to take a drink order or anything. Kevan went up to talk to the manager and a few minutes later a waitress came over. She didn't apologize for the wait and took our orders. Kevan and I ordered a chocolate shake, Leah ordered a slush drink (I can't remember if it was a margarita or a daiquiri), and Karyn got a water to go along with our meals. About 5 minutes later the waitress brings Kevan and I our shakes and they were, not a lie, about 90% milk, 10% chocolate ice cream, and 100% gross. At that point we decided to leave so I went up and talked to the manager once again and told her we were out of there.

Boston Pizza's where we ended up and had a good meal. After Kevan and I went out and again tossed the ball around while the girls went to get changed. After about 10 minutes of baseball we decided it was about time we changed too so we did so right on the side of Mayor Magrath drive in Lethbridge (it's a pretty major road there!). Kevan and I have no shame. I think the worst part about it was Kevan was having trouble getting his top button done up on his shirt and I ended up having to do it up for him...there were a few strange looks given!

We arrived at the party fashionably late. We thought it started at 7pm so we were there at about 7:20pm. Apparently it started at 6:30pm. Oops. Kevan got right to the tables as it was a poker party and we just mingled. Good to see a lot of friends that we haven't seen for months like Uncle Christoph & Lisa G., Lisa M, Mike & Amy, and others. I think we were at the party for about an hour and a half and all of a sudden there's Pete coming out of one of the rooms! I haven't been able to connect with him for months! After he got out at the tables we ended up having a good chat to catch up on life. It's friends like these where we don't see them for months and we can just pick up right where we left off, as if time stood still since our last meeting.

The night ended with Kevan getting out on the tables, finishing 3rd. We wanted to go back to Calgary that evening and it was about midnight when we finally left. Kevan decided to drive back to Calgary with Sugar and I ended up driving their car with Karyn and Leah as my passengers. I'll tell you, it was a little odd to be driving the Majestic Golden Eagle with Karyn in the passenger seat and Leah in the back seat. Meh. We got home at 2:30am, completely beat.

Sunday and this morning I feel the exhaustion coupled with what might be the beginnings of a cold. We slept in on Sunday until about 10:30am (so we got about 7 hours sleep) and last night went to bed at 10:30pm but it doesn't seem to be helping. Hope it goes away soon because I sure don't feel well.

D