Monday, August 29th, 2011

Got a lot done at work today, but still struggling with a few tasks that I can't understand.  I'm in the process of hunting down some answers.

It was a hot day again today - when I went out for a walk at lunch time, it was scorching.  It would've been a nice day to go floating on the Bow or Elbow.  After work, it was over 30 degrees when I got into my car.  I went home and did some re-organizing of my clothes.  I realize I need more hangers.  Have you ever heard of Jane's Addiction?  Well the picture below is actually my Jeans Addiction.  Yep... those are all my jeans (and there may be more in the laundry hamper, too)!  I realize I may have a problem.  Is there a support group for that, do you think?

I probably should've gone somewhere since it was so nice outside, but truly I'm exhausted.  I had a short nap (while a kid ran and stomped around upstairs), then talked to Lurline on the phone.  She and Dave just got back from a short staycation at Pigeon Lake.  Apparently she was very ill with some kind of bug.  That sucks when you're supposed to be enjoying a summer holiday!

I also sent another email to my landlord stating that I'm now going to give notice on September 1st - with a litany of reasons why he'd better accept it and give my damage deposit back and let me break my lease.  I'm awaiting his reply.

I'm watching "Friends With Benefits" online before I go to sleep.  Wow!  It's quite risque at times.

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

I got up early because Lurline, Dave and I agreed that we would go on a road trip out to Dinosaur National Park today.  It's near Brooks, a couple hours away, so we wanted to get on the road early.  They were supposed to meet me at 9am, but we actually left a little later than that because Dave forgot his wallet at home.  Tristan decided to join us for the day, too.

They hadn't eaten or had a coffee yet, so we stopped to pick up food, then had to get gas.  The morning was slipping away.  Anyway, we finally headed out around 10am.  It's not a very interesting drive.  Lots of fields and flatlands as far as the eye can see.  It was going to be a scorcher, too.  I think we got up to 32.5 degrees celsius!

When we got to Dinosaur National Park, we got out to take photos and I also took some video of the view from the top.  Then we drove down into the canyon and had a snack and a drink at the concession.  There's an actual campground there.  It was really, really hot outside in the sun, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.

There's a loop that you can drive right through the hoodoos and rock formations of the canyon.  Along the way they have some actual dinosaur "digs" that you can check out.  It was interesting and there were lots of fantastic photo opportunities.  It was hard to choose which one to use for today.

When I got home, I made BBQ pork skewers, corn on the cob and potato salad for dinner.  The potato salad was store bought, actually.  Then I put on some music and read a book.  I'm reading Water for Elephants.  I didn't want to see the movie until I've read the book.

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

I had some trouble this morning booking a moving truck.  I left messages and emails for various companies and nobody got back to me.  It's making me a little nervous.  It kind of put me in a bad mood.  I guess I wasn't very pleasant to deal with - according to the Raposos.  Oops!  I didn't mean to take it out on others.  I have to be more conscious of that, I guess.

Anyway, Tristan helped me move a load of stuff in my car.  He's been a great helper over the past two days.  Then we went back home to meet Lur and Dave - they were just finishing up doing marriage prep work.  I loaded up my car again, while they went to grab some lunch.  They said they'd put some big stuff in Dave's SUV and would meet me at the place.

As I was unloading my car, there was an incident with a guy (and his wife) who live in the building next door to me.  He was shooting a magpie with a beebee gun.  The bird was injured, but not dead.  The guy went back into his house when he saw me.  A few minutes later, he came back outside with his wife and a cat.  I confronted him about what he was doing, and he replied that he was killing a magpie.  We had some words about it, and I told him I didn't think he should be killing wildlife.  He didn't seem to care what I thought, and proceeded to tell his wife to let the cat finish the bird off the natural way.  Obviously the cat didn't manage to kill the bird, either, so he went back inside.  He came back out with a shovel and smashed the bird to death, then threw it into the dumpster.  What kind of psycho goes around killing magpies because they're a nuisance?  Is it even legal?  Should I be worried??  What's your opinion?  Anyway, I related the story to Lurline and Dave, and they were in agreement that the neighbours must be a little "off".  

Lurline helped me clean and put stuff away.  I scrubbed the bath tub for probably close to an hour to get it clean.  This place needs an overhaul, but I think it's definitely going to look nice once I've got it fixed up.  Dave, Tristan and I spent probably 30 minutes trying to figure out how to manoeuvre my sofa into the apartment.  It was interesting to say the least.  These old buildings don't really give you much room to bring in large items.  This is the celebration of our ingenuity, and trust me, it really took some brain power and calculations.  We're NEVER getting that sofa out of here again.