New Year's Tea in Fort Langley
Planning started back in November: what were we going to do for our annual New Year’s Tea? The problems were two-fold. First is the usual catch with Alex’s wheat allergy – not everywhere does a …
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Christmas in Ruskin
Merry Ho Ho, one and all! Late last night, I tried to catch a picture of a CN freight train heading west. I tell you this because I was trying to kill some time before picking up Alex. Her flight arrived just before …
Christmas in Ruskin - The Fraser Canyon
I didn’t know before today that Moxie’s does breakfast. At least, the one attached to the hotel. And it was pretty decent, even if it was $85 for three people. Hitting our usual gas station on Columbia St …
Christmas in Ruskin - The Drive to Kamloops
It’s been seven years since we’ve done Christmas in Ruskin. The reason we don’t go is because of Alex’s work schedule, which has been extremely unhelpful in getting us enough time to be there. …
Chasing the Holiday Train
I follow trains, not sure if you knew that… Every year, through November and into December, CPKC (formerly Canadian Pacific) runs the Holiday Train, a short set of cars decorated with lights that get a little more …
A trip to Mossleigh
Alex is getting annoyed with me. I’m going on excursions into the countryside without her. I am admittedly being very selfish with these, I want – I need time to myself. To do things I want to do, without …
Drumheller in the winter
I had to take a week and a half off of work. Our Glorious Department of People has a hard-and-fast rule that Thou Shalt Not Carry Over Vacation, Even If You’ve Worked 65+ Hour Weeks For Months Because We’re …
Roaming the Foothills
Choo Choo is at the Acreage again this weekend for some tests. Unlike usual visits, these are hours each, which is mildly inconvenient for anyone taking her out there, which in this case, is me. Yesterday, it was 3 …
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Banff Christmas Market with Cathy and Nat
As Stuart McLean once said (heavily paraphrased): In most major cities across Canada, people are drawn to the expansive showcase windows of the largest retailers, such as the Eaton’s, Simpson’s, and The …
Collective Soul at the Grey Eagle
Two concerts in (barely over) a week. This time, it’s Collective Soul. I had a thing for Collective Soul around 1995, largely as a result of my friend (and roommate) Duncan. We both played it, a lot. And it …
Arkells at the Saddledome
A couple of years ago, I was given tickets to see the Arkells at the Saddledome from my family. Delays brought on by COVID led to a months delay before the show finally took place, and it was awesome. The only downside …
A Last Halloween
Tonight, Monkey, you had your last Halloween. I don’t mean you last last, just the last one being at home as a … well, as my child. I, by and large, avoided being around because you had your friends over and …
A Quick Visit to Oakville
I’ve worked too much. I need a break. It’s only a few days, but I need to get my mind off of work before I burn out. Again. So I’m hopping plane to go see Cathy. I’m flying Flair, which is a bit …
Aurora over the house
I’ve been working hard a lot, long hours, trying to stay ahead of things. Actually, more like just not get drowned by them. So I’m at my desk in the basement (my “office”) when Choo Choo comes …
Aurora over Springbank
The solar storm that hit a couple of days ago had a followup. And tonight, I didn’t just stay in the backyard. What I wanted to do was truck out to the north, or maybe even out to Mossleigh, and get some really …
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Enter the Kitten
I took Mom out to Banff today to see the fall colours. Well, at least the colours that are there, already. It’s hard judging when Banff will be in autumn glory, as what we see in Calgary isn’t necessarily …
Marcus King at the Grey Eagle
Every now and then, Jeremy tells me I need to see someone in concert. I trusted him with Styx, which was fantastic, and Big Wreck (despite knowing nearly no songs) was amazing. I sucked it up for The Tea Party, which had …
A visit to the Canmore Highland Games
Another weekend, another whim. And without any specific plan, Alex and I went to the Canmore Highland Games. It feels like something we should do, though I’m not sure why. I’m the one with Scottish heritage …
The Last First Day of School
And suddenly, it’s the first day of school. But it’s a landmark “first” – it’s Monkey’s last first day of school, today she enters Grade 12. I don’t really remember my …
A Top Gun Anniversary
Alex has a thing for 80s movies. I mean, I do, too – some of my favourites are from the 80s – but she has a particular love for Top Gun. When its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick came out, we saw it in the theatre. …
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Happy Birthday, Monkey!
I find the end of August creeps up on us far too quickly and suddenly, it’s your birthday and I’m not even sure what happened to summer. Such as it is this year, and we’re in Banff. It wasn’t even …
Hiking in Radium for the Day
Somewhat out of the blue, Alex decided we should go for a hike. Now, to be fair, we’d been saying things like this for years, including some planning to go out into the Kananaskis and try some of the trails. I …
Blue Rodeo live ... finally!
Twenty years ago, when Alex and I were dating, I’d bought tickets for us to go see Blue Rodeo, a band I knew that she liked – and I liked quite a lot, too – thinking it would be an excellent date night …
Happy Birthday to Me
I hate my birthdays, sometimes. Because I end up planning them. A surprise would be nice. (My 50th had surprises, which I loved.) Today, I turned 52. And it was left to me to decide what we were doing. I chose to go Fort …
A Trip into Vancouver
Today, we went into Vancouver. Last year, I went in my own to visit with Scott (and ride in his time machine). This year, it was all of us to hang out with Jen. I wasn’t too keen on trying to drive into Vancouver. …
SUP, Take Two
In theory, I should be working. I say this because there are things that need to be done to keep the team moving at work while I’m away. I say “in theory” because when I checked the Jira board today, I …
Pretending to be a Tree Monkey
Today was my first real day of vacation in … I’m not going to count, it’s been too long. And I’ll be honest, I feel a bit guilty about it. That maybe why I agreed to go to WildPlay. WildPlay, if …
My First Time on a Standup Paddleboard
Alex is the Queen of Kijiji. If she’s not selling something there, she’s finding something. And she found paddleboards. For the record, until now, I thought of paddleboards as a fad. It seemed like someone …
The Long Drive to Ruskin
I’ve lost count on the number of times I’ve driven to Ruskin. It’s definitely into the double digits. I tried not to drink too much last night. I blame Jared for the “one beer too many” …
Short Weeks are the Worst
The company is giving us Friday off. And Monday is the Canada Day Stat. Two short weeks in a row. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned after all these years, it’s that short weeks are hard … two …
Enter the Kitty
It’s been over a year since we put Asia down. (I won’t say “died” because it wasn’t a natural end, it was just necessary given her health.) And we’ve been kitty-less since. Most of …
Alex's First (Paid) MRI Shift
Alex works in “Diagnostic Imaging”, which is how the medical community (at least in Alberta) lumps together X-Ray, Ultrasound, Computer Tomography (CT, aka “cat scan”), and Magnetic Resonance …
Realizing the truth of past surgery
You might recall in an earlier post that I said that my recent hernia surgery was my first incision, that the previous two had been laparoscopy. Turns out I’m wrong. The steristrips came off today, which was a bit …
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Surgical Recovery is Such Sweet Sorrow
In case you missed it, I recently had surgery for my second hernia. I’m now on Day 5 and it’s better … ish. Three days ago, it felt like someone had kicked me, hard, in the right testicle. …
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Another day, another hernia surgery
About eight months ago, I concluded that the lump forming on the right side of my groin was a) not cancer, b) not fat, and c) an awful lot like the lump that formed on the left side of my groin back in 2010. Dr. Emma …
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Early Retirement is a Myth for Most
My dad was about my age when the company he’d worked for most of my life until that point decided to screw him over, effectively forcing him out. I wasn’t there when he got home, I was at my after-school job …
Chasing CP 2816 on the Final Spike Steam Tour
I admit, I have a couple of non-standard hobbies. The one that gets the highest eyebrow raise, is, of course, chasing trains. But I’m not a generalist, I tend not to chase any train, there has to be something …
Lawyers have Ruined Everything
I had a thought as I was walking home from work today. We’ve been having conversations about “corporate values”, a term I moderately loathe, as while employees are expected to be exemplary examples, the …
Bursitis
On a curiously warm and otherwise lovely 11 November afternoon, the kids and I stopped into the local Rexall to get a COVID booster. Choo Choo had (finally) caught the bug and I wasn’t too keen on any of us dealing …
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Software Patents are Pointless
You’ve heard me rant about software patents before. Today’s stupid thing comes from a news release that Nikon is buying RED, which has been making excellent digital film cameras for years, now. The news …
Why AI is a Long Way from Human
For over a year, now, I’ve been watching the hype-panic that AI was “going to take over my job” die down to “this can barely produce a believable image” only to reemerge as …
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
In a rare moment, I was talking with Duane face-to-face. We chat all the time over Signal, but actual person-to-person conversation is just so much better, when you can arrange it. Anyway, we were doing what we normally …
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A Sleigh Ride in Banff
Just prior to Christmas, Jean (Alex’s stepmom and Granny to the kids) declared that she wanted to do an old-fashioned sleigh ride with the girls in Banff sometime in the new year, and could she make those …
2023, a Year in Review
I think we’re all still recovering from COVID, or more specifically, the time warp that the lockdown imposed upon us. It’s been (almost) two years of (mostly) freedom, but I suspect our start to the 2020s …
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New Year's Tea
I’ll just come out and say it: I didn’t want to do New Year’s Tea this year. Yes, it’s our tradition, yes we try to do it even under strange circumstances (heck, we made our own during COVID). I …