I can never seem to get used to how quick the time goes these days. My last post was early September and here it is nearing the very end of December. Much has happened since that time ...

Our house is coming along nicely. All the walls are up and sided, shingles on, trim painted, inside is all drywalled and primed, the ceiling spackled, electrical, plumbing and ducts are all in. Furnace is on. The underlay for the lino is in now and soon we hope to be getting the paint up and the floors in. They are telling us that they will be done early February so we will see if they are able to do all the finishing by then. By the way things have been going so far it wouldn't surprise me if we are in by then.

We have moved into the basement of our friend's place and that has been going well. Our cat gets along with their cat okay ... with the occasional sway or chase of course. We play a lot of Wii so that is fun.

Work is going well. In October I only had two days off in the month (not even together) with weeks ranging from 65-70 hours, so that was busy. I was mainly working at the airport where they were paving concrete for a new apron. Here are some pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18468&l=6ae39&id=515844601

Things have slowed down a bit since then but I am still working 45-55 hours a week. I was sent out of town for a few weeks (but back on weekends) in November. I was in the Crowsnest Pass in Coleman, AB. I was doing some pile monitoring on a gas plant. Here are some pics from that: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25225&l=d9109&id=515844601

One more thing with work: starting in the new year I will be full time and getting benefits. That's very exciting! Makes me feel a bit more part of the company that I have put a lot of hours in. But it's good because I intend to stick around.

Carol's now working at the Children's Hospital and is loving it. The people she works with are amazing and the projects that she is a part of are very meaningful. She is applying to do her masters next summer so we will see how that goes.

I also went snowboarding at Sunshine - just outside of Banff. That was a lot of fun and it was a great day for it. It made me realize that I suck at snowboarding but I made it through the day alright I suppose. Here are some pics from that adventure: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24066&l=b6917&id=515844601

Christmas was okay I suppose. The actual day was great - we spent it in High River with Carol's parent's and brother and were joined by her sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and grandpa from Regina/ avonlea, SK. It was a very nice and relaxing day. The week or so leading up to that wasn't as happy though. We just had several sad news come our way at once that I won't get into but put a bit of a damper on the happy holiday.

Anyway ... I think that's all.

Hello everyone! I can't believe that it's September already. Time has been flying by ... and here's why:

My brother came to visit me the last week of July/ first week of August. I took some time off of work and we went to Jasper for the long weekend. It was nice to get away from work and to show Martin the mountains, outside of Banff and Lake Louise that he saw when he was out here for my wedding. We all had a great time camping and driving and it was a refreshing break from Calgary.

Some pictures from trip can be found on my facebook page, or by following the following link if you are not on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13186&l=e3b4e&id=515844601

I have also been working a lot since Martin has left (55-68 hour weeks). Partially because I was trying to make up for the time I took off, partially because I'm a work-a-holic, and partially just because it is busy. We had a stretch of about two weeks where it was close to or over 30 degrees with no rain. It got to the point where Carol and I bought a small window air conditioner for our apartment because even our cat wasn't moving because it was so hot! But things have cooled down now it we've since had a bit of rain which greened things up.

Carol and I have now finalized all of our options and features for our house and they will hopefully be breaking ground on it any day now. We are very excited to see how it will all come together but we love the colours and options that we chose so we can't wait! In a couple of weeks we will be moving out of our apartment and in with our friends who recently bought a house. So we are slowly packing things up and are very excited about that!

Yesterday Carol took me to the Calgary Tower for supper to celebrate my upcoming birthday and it was such a treat! The tower is 560 feet tall, 520 from the observation deck and restaurant and you spin while you eat. We had a private booth and great waitress, which made the evening lovely. :) Calgary is actually a lot more green than you would think seeing it up from that high so that was a bit encouraging. Once again, here are some pictures from that evening: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13183&l=98b8a&id=515844601

Let me know how the links work out. It's just easier posting pics on facebook than trying to resize them, post them on another site, and linking them to this site to show up in my entry. But it you can't see them or like it the other way just let me know and I will see what I can do.

Other than that ... there's really not much to report. We lost about half of the field staff at work due to school starting up again so this coming month should be interesting. Contractors realize in September just how far behind deadline they are so work crazy hours to make up for it. And with less staff now may mean more hours. We will see. Oh, I also had to get rid of my ford ranger. I got a truck that the company owns, a larger GMC Sierra - quad cab. I'll post a picture of it later but it's a 2002 and has some dents and duct tape on her so she definitely has more character. But I enjoy the bigger truck and find it has a nicer ride anyway so I'm okay with that. :) But I've put on about 14,000 kilometers in 5 months now so I get around.

Last Friday I left calgary at 4 in the morning, drove three hours to Medicine Hat, worked for 10 hours, and drove home. That was a long day! But I really enjoy my work and am always learning more things and getting more responsibility so that is good! No complaints there.

Anyway ... that's about it. I think I am going to go and get supper on the go while I bake some bread and banana chocolate chip muffins. Nummy! :)

So, are people still checking up on this thing and using theirs or did everyone run to facebook? Well, if you are reading this let me know and I will keep it going, otherwise I may just move to facebook as well ... or update both.

In short this is what has happened since last posting:
-still working long hours
-Carol and I bought an air conditioner for our apartment
-my brother is coming to visit next week
-Carol and I bought a house
-we won a game in slo-pitch
-lucy is shedding hair like crazy

That's about it!

some pics of me (well, my truck) working at the airport in close proximity to big planes, the snow birds flying in formation over Calgary to kick-off stampede week, and some cool clouds that produced huge lightning and thunder.

Wow, I can't believe that I missed May. It certainly was a busy month, with me working long hours each week (60, 68, 68, 45, and 62 hours). It's good overtime pay so it's not too bad but I get home late, eat and pretty much go right to bed. Anyway ... I thought that it was due time to update this so here I go!

Some weeks I was all over the place - downtown to the NE section of Calgary, up to Airdrie, sometimes up to Olds. Then other weeks I was on a site for 9 hours and only worked for a total of one hour. The rest of the time I was sitting on a loam pile in my truck catching up on paper work, napping, snacking on trail mix, cleaning my truck, calling people, etc. It was quite relaxing. Here are a couple of pictures from my cell phone while on the sites; a scraper that scrapes soil from one area and dumps it in another area - also pictured is a packer which packs the soil down (people standing for scale). The second picture is of a huge dozer (~5m tall) that helps push the scrapers when scraping. The third picture is of the water truck that was used to add moisture to the soil. It can hold 7,000 gallons of water and he went through at least 6 loads a day. With the big pump going it would only take 2 minutes to fill up! Crazy eh?



The fourth week in May it rained just about every day, and on May 24th it snowed 7 cms in Calgary! Here's a picture of it from our balcony ...



Then the thursday after that it was 26 degrees and blazing sun, with the mountains very clear from our balcony, similar to this picture taken earlier this summer ...



And then yesterday (tuesday) it rained 98.6 mm in a span of 18 hours! (compared to the average June rainfall of 79.8 mm. Crazy flash floods, cars up to the roofs in water under overpasses, and manholes that broke through asphalt and sidewalks that were wrecked with the force of the water! There was huge lightning less than a block away, some of the loudest thunder I've heard in a long time, and rain so hard that the tall building on the other side of Macleod trail was hazy.

Here is a picture of a lot service I did the other week as well. They were just taking out a water line into one of the lots because the owner of this house (2 million dollars) bought both lots next to his and is building a 5 million dollar home. He is also buying a 1 million dollar sports car this summer as well. Some people have too much money. Geeez.



Here is a picture I took a little while ago of the calgary skyline. This is from the Calgary Winter Curling Club, where Carol curled for the cure earlier this summer.



And one night last month we had some friends over and they brought a projector and their x-box and played video games. :) It brought back memories of university and was a lot of fun. They have since bought a Wii system and we have played that several times with them, which has been a blast! I can't wait to get the projector and the Wii hooked up and box a full sized Carol! :)



Anyway, I think that's about it for now. Things on this end are going quite well. I'm now working at the airport where they are rehabilitating some of the taxi ways and extending some aprons so I get to drive around with a yellow beacon on my truck so I feel all special. :) As long as the weather stays decent I will be getting in lots of hours with that site and hopefully have enuogh to save up and buy a home! Ahh ... someday. Well, that's all for now!

Well, it's been 4 weeks with my job, two since posting last. Not too much new to say. I'm enjoying it and am on my own now. I have a different truck now, a new 2007 ford ranger sport with extended quad cab. When I picked it up it only had 23.7 kilometers on it ... new car smell and everything! And I still drive it home every night so it's great. Some days I'm constantly driving around the city while other days when it's raining or snowing I'm in the lab all day working on things. But I'm learning a lot about soils, which is something my degree lacked in so I'm excited. Anyway, I won't ramble on and on. I just wanted to post some pictures that I have taken this week with my cell phone, so if the quality or hues aren't quite right it's because it's just with my phone. So here are some pics!

My new truck:


Compaction at the stampede casino they are building downtown. While standing on site I can see 14 different large cranes in the downtown core. That's a lot of cranes! Here's a couple of them with the casino site, backfilling along one of the walls that I test, and a hoe pack and hoe back-filling and compacting around a manhole downtown.


This is a 61m concrete pump truck. It's very long considering it's a uni-body vehicle. There's also a concrete truck unloading (this one holds 10 m^3). This pour was 230 m^3 so lots of trucks!


This is a picture of a site in the NE near the airport where they will be building a warehouse of sorts. Larger scale than what I was doing at the casino and they needed to be constantly watering the soil to get it to optimum moisture content. Also the view from the site. The downtown skyline and mountains (hard to see this small but didn't want to post a larger image of it on here) Anyway, neat!


And finally, I had to drive to Airdrie a couple of days for a concrete test where they are putting in pilings for an extension on the Walmart. Here is the drill and truck. Note all the snow that we had! Thursday and Friday we had snowfall warnings and a forecast for 25-35 cms!! We didn't get that but we did get enough to make it look like winter again.


So that's about all for now!

So I've been working now for 2 weeks. I started a week earlier than expected and have been out on site several times, often alone. I haven't taken my camera out with me yet so all the pictures I have posted here are taken from various websites. I will get some of my own one of these days but it probably won't be till a bit later.

Anyway, things have been going well. I did a lot of reading of safety manuals and various testing for construction safety and the transportation of dangerous goods and working with nuclear stuff. The nuke that I work with spits out very little radiation but I have the possibility of being exposed enough to become a Nuclear Energy Worker! That just sounds cool eh? But it's still way below harmful levels so I'm not running out to find myself a lead nut cup or anything. :) It has two different types of radioactive material inside: Cesium-137 and Americium-241/Beryllium. By using these two together we use it to test compaction and moisture content of the soils. Different soils have different optimum moisture contents and if it's too dry or too wet it will not achieve the 98% compaction that is required for backfilling for foundations or around services and what-not. I haven't really worked with these too much yet so I don't have too much to say about them but here are pictures of the nuke and also someone standing by one so you can get an idea of the size.



I've been doing a lot of concrete testing. For instance on Tuesday I was on site at the Stampede Casino (well, where it will be when it gets finished) at 5:45 am and didn't leave until 8:15 pm! That's 14.5 hours! Long day. They pumped over 600 cubic meters of concrete with a huge pump truck and I have to take a test every 75 meters or so. To take a test I need to do a slump test, to make sure the mix isn't too soupy or too stiff. I also have to do an air test to make sure they have the right amount of air in the mix, and I needed to make 4 test cylinders that will be broken back in the lab after 4, 7, and 28 days to determine the strength of the concrete. I can do a test and clean up in just over 30 minutes. Anyway ... it's not a bad test but I need to haul around buckets of concrete and I get dirty! But that's construction for ya I suppose. Here is a picture I pulled off the web of someone making some test cylinders. In the background you can see a cone shaped pile of concrete ... that's a slump test. When I was at the casino site they were pumping it through a large pump truck (like the one below) so they wanted the mix a bit soupier.



I also have my very own truck that I take home every night. It's a 2006 chevy colorado that looks a bit like the pic below. In a couple of weeks though I will need to give it up for a Ford Ranger, which I'm not looking forward too but what can I do. But it's nice to have all the time so I can just keep all my gear in the truck instead of keeping it in the lab and moving it around all the time.



Anyway, that's all for now. All in all I enjoy the job. It's been pretty slow so I've been spending a lot of time in the lab making soil worms for plasticity tests on clays and silts and also grinding and sifting soils for proctor tests, as well as breaking concrete cylinders. It's nice to get an understanding of things in the lab as it will help me when I get out into the field full time. Things here are going to be starting full boar by the middle of the month I think so I will give you another update when I do more stuff!

Well, it's finalized. I officially have a job! It's the job that I mentioned in previous posts but here are the details again:

I'll be starting April 2nd working for Jacques Whitford - AXYS as a Geotechnical Materials Technician. I'll be carrying out field inspections in: concrete testing, compaction monitoring, asphalt inspection and construction quality control/quality insurance. On rainy days or slow days I will be working in the lab conducting tests for soils/concrete/asphalt collected in the field. It's mostly working on construction sites, possibly up to 60 hours over a 6 day week, depending on the contractor's schedule. The overtime is good though and the company is amazing in terms of their reputation, wages, and benefits. I have only read and heard wonderful things about them and have been interested in this company since hearing someone talk about it in my hydrology course back in my senior year at Acadia. So I'm pumped. :) It's not my ideal job, like I have said before but it's my ideal company so I hope this will be the start to working my way to my dream job ... whatever that may be. :)

If you wanted to check out the company websites they are:
http://www.jacqueswhitford.com/ and http://www.axys.net/

In a nut shell: Both AXYS and Jacques Whitford (JW) have been growing as environmental consulting companies ... one from the West (AXYS) and one from the East (JW). They merged just about 2 years ago so are now called Jacques Whitford - AXYS. The services they provide are numerous: indoor environment quality, Site assessment and remediation, geotechnical/materials engineering, air quality and management, environmental planning and permitting, water resources, Risk assessments and much more! They are in just about every sector you can imagine (transportation, commercial development, energy, government, etc.) and have offices all over the country.

Anyway ... I could ramble on about them for quite some time as I am very excited, but I will hold my tongue for now. I will let you all know how it goes and specifically what I am doing as the job progresses but I think the first week is just paper work and reading, then the next week is shadowing, and the third week I'm all on my own. So let's hope I catch on quick!

Thanks to everyone who was supportive these past few months ... sending job postings my way or encouraging me in one way or another. So thanks again!

Well, I am back from New Brunswick after an interesting 16 days. I only worked a total of 48 hours in the field over the course of 8 days. We didn't work more because it was rather too windy, too snowy, too rainy, or they basically didn't feel like it. They had been working in the same area for 2 months so were unmotivated and didn't really care. The client didn't seem to mind either so whatever. :) I still made a bit of money out there - especially since all my food and everything was covered; I spent less than $5.00. :)

The work that I did do wasn't even all that tiring. I snowshoed two and a half days ... the first two days were tough, sinking past my knee sometimes through heavy snow but the half day was on a snowmobile trail or on crusty snow so I barely sank at all. The other days surveying were done from a snowmobile and sleigh, where I stood on the back of the sleigh and the GPS man sat in the sled pushing a button. That was nice. And then there were days we just worked from a truck along a road. So all in all it was an easy job with not a lot of time and energy put into the surveying. Can't complain. :)

We stayed at a motel right on the ocean in Petit-Roche and worked in the Lorne area ... about 35 minutes north of the hotel. Depending on the day there would be large ice chunks in the bay or it would be clear and shimmering blue with Quebec visible across the water. Here are pictures of both.



Here is a picture of the sleigh that I rode on. It was quick and easy to survey with and was quite smooth! That's Laurie in the sleigh, I worked with him up in Red Earth on the last job. Also pictured is a gravity meter that I used ... g239. It has been "upgraded" which means it no longer has a cord running to a battery, but has that nice small and light battery on the side. It made it really nice to survey because the cord would always tangle on me. It also has nice bright LED lights on the leveling bubbles, and a digital display of the battery voltage and temperature. Anyway, it all means nothing to you but to me it is a great meter and I really liked the improvements on it.



The next four pictures are of the sunrise on my last day there. It was beautiful and a perfect way to start the day. Between the rocky shoreline, ice chunks in the bay, thin hexagonal ice chunks on the water and a lobster trap made for a few nice shots.

Well, I write from Petite-Rouche, New Brunswick. I have been out here 5 days now and have only worked 2. Right now the wind is just a howling and the windchill is somewhere around -30 below. I guess that's been the story of this job - they've been here for 45 days or so and have about 20 of those are due to weather. It's frustrating. I only get paid half my wage for weather days, which still isn't bad but I'd like more obviously. And sitting in this motel room day after day isn't the most fun either.

The work that we have done so far has been on snow shoes. Trudging through snow that half the time you since down to your knees - it's so tiring! The next time that we get out we are going to be using a snowmobile and sled. I will be standing on the sled tracks (it's like a sleigh ... I'll take a picture and post in the next day or so hopefully). It should be a lot better than walking through willows and deeps snow.

Well, that's about all that's been happening here. The town is all french, though most people speak some english. The internet is sketchy most of the time, my cell phone doesn't really work, I get about 50 channels though, and my own room, and my own computer ... so that's a plus. The food at the restaurant isn't all that bad, and everything is covered by the company so that's a plus too. But the environment is one that I won't miss when I get home. It will be nice being home every night. Oh soon enough I hope. Anyway, I'm done for now!

Wow, this has been one crazy week so far! Here's an update on my job situation:

The job interview I had a couple of weeks with O'Connor didn't work out. They have offered the position to someone else. The same day that I found this out (Monday) I got a call from Lunn to go work for him for a couple of weeks. If you will recall I did my last gravity gig with him up in northern Alberta. Good money, and much needed now. So I quickly packed up because I thought I was going to be leaving on Tuesday, however, I am now leaving on Thursday morning (tomorrow) at 7:15 and flying to Bathurst, New Brunswick. The town I will be working out of is called Jacquet River, NW of Bathurst right on the Ocean it looks like. Not exactly sure of the details but I think it's mostly work from snowmobiles and road-side stuff. I guess I will find out when I get there.

So that was Monday. Then on Tuesday I went to an Oil, Gas, and Engineering Career Fair downtown. I handed out a few resumes and talked with a few companies but nothing that really stuck a fancy with me. We will see though, I will be looking more into those companies when I get back, as I don't have all that much time before I go. I get home from that and have an email waiting in my inbox from Jacques Whitford - AXYS for a position I applied for a couple of weeks ago. Jacques Whitford is a company that I have been interested in even before graduating from Acadia and would love to work for. the AXYS sector deals more with construction, so the job I applied for is field work, home every night, and about 60 hours a week! But after time there's the option to transfer into other sectors of JW and potentially be doing something that I really really want to do. So this would be a great foot in the door. I called him up yesterday just before the work day ended and set up an interview for today (wednesday) ... in 40 minutes from me writing this post. So hopefully that will go well and I will have a job waiting for me when I get back!

So that's all for me. Carol is also having some changes with her work (I won't say exactly what yet since I haven't asked her if I could post about it) but the winds of change are definitely changing around here. I love it. It feels refreshing!

Anyway, that's all words I have time for. So I will let you all know how things are going as the job search saga continues but hopefully the next post will be with really good news! It won't be until sometime after March 15th though, as I will be gone in New Brunswick until at least that date.

And there's snow here! Big fluffy flakes. :) And from what I hear tons of it out east. So yay! I bought good winter boots yesterday as well so I'm all geared up! Anyway, ta ta for now!

Alright ... so to balance the really long post without pictures, I'll post a short entry with lots of pictures! Seems fair eh?

The first set are from Johnstons Canyon/Falls just outside of Banff. I went with Michelle and Darren (Sister-in-law and Brother-in-law-in-law) when they were in town last friday (the 16th).
-Michelle and Darren at the lower falls
-Some small falls on the way to the upper falls
-Some of the upper falls (30m high)
-Ice climbers at the Upper Falls
-Close up of ice climber
-Catwalk common for most of the walk along the river/ falls
-A large Elk seen on the drive out



The next two pics are from today when I went to the airport to meet up with Justin, Jessica, and Oliver (almost 7 month old) Brown. They were here for a conference I I had the chance to see them off to Justin's parent's house in Oregon. It was a great visit and encouraging on several levels. Anyway ... I said this would be a short post with only pics. :)

So as I sit down to type it is approaching 1:00 am and I cannot sleep. So many thoughts are swirling in my head ... things like, did I get that job from the interview two weeks ago? How much longer can I go without work - not only for the money aspect but the sanity aspect? What direction do I want to take with my life? Where is that bible verse I've been searching for the past two days? How strong and active is my faith? What follows is me ranting and clearing my head. I write to get it all out and then I can sleep so this is perhaps more for me than you, the reader, but hopefully you will get something out of it as well.

First: the job situation. A couple of posts back I mentioned I had a job interview that I wasn't all that keen on taking. That has changed, partially out of necessity, but mostly out of more information about the company and the position itself. To put it all in a nutshell the company is smaller but has promotion capabilities, benefits, and RRSP matching along with a structure based more on initiative than years with the company. The position is initially all field based, but mostly around Calgary so I'd be home most nights or at least on the weekends. After a year or two I would gradually phase into the office, where it would then be my initiative to pursue other areas if I so choose. So great! Carol is excited about it as well, which is important of course. I did a follow up email, in which their reply was it was going to take a couple of days to get back to me. They still haven't so I intend to call on monday but I don't know what to take of the extended decision making process. I thought the interview went fairly well so we will see. I have decided that I will be searching for a part time job at RONA or some other retail store nearby to pass the time and make some much needed money. In retrospect I should have probably done this in the first place so money still could be saved but I didn't think that I would be unemployed this long. Anyway, this job would be the foot in the door to the environmental sector that I need to move up and eventually be doing my passion - dealing more with geological and hydrogeological stuff. :) I will let everyone know one way or the other when I find out the outcome of their decision.

As for my thoughts on my faith it all started a couple of days ago when I was reading the Bible and must have been flipping through and I caught a glimpse of a verse that caught my eye. Though my mind didn't think it caught my eye until about 20 minutes later, when of course I couldn't find the verse again. Always the way eh? The gist of the verse was that God does a lot of things that we don't see/grasp. That's it. Simple ... short. Kind of like that chain email that went out about the guy praying to have God reveal Himself if He was real. But the man didn't realize the butterfly that was flittering past him or the beautiful rainbow in the sky, or the blessing of a gift. Or whatever it was. Anyway, none of my searches or my trying to re-create my page flipping has helped find it so if you know of a verse like that send it my way please! I'm not even sure if it's in the New or the Old T.

Today I was online trying to search for the verse and good ole google popped up with some websites that caused some sidetracking. The site I came across had 50 "proofs" that God was imaginary. I got to proof 4 before finding it ludicrous. But the first couple were about prayer and even had a video "showing" that it's just an illusion. How God answers with a yes, no, or wait will always be true and that praying to a jug of milk will produce the same results. They kept saying that they assumed I was a smart, intelligent person so by hearing what they said I would realize the illusion of prayer. The website claimed that if the prayer was answered it was strictly coincidence and that scientific studies have proven that prayer doesn't work.

Now, I don't believe that for a second. I have personally experienced the power of prayer and seen first hand the faithfulness of God. However, in seeing this video (and several others that were linked to this site ... all posted on YouTube) it got me thinking that there are a lot of people out there that may be convinced by this due to it being "scientifically proven" or the narrator insisting that since I'm smart I'll figure it out to be false. And even talking to Carol about it last night with some questions and conversations she is having at work with nonchristians it's got on my mind that I need to be more sure of what I believe and remember those instances where things have happened to me that can only be explained by God.

One experience is my week with Mono, right before Brazil. For those of you who don't know the story:
Wednesday: Wake up with a sore throat. No biggie I figure.
Thursday: Sore throat bad. Hurts to swallow and eat. One week before leaving for brazil. I can't get sick!
Friday: White spots appear on my very swollen throat. Go to doctor on campus. Thinks it's Mono, gives me Pennicillin for three days. Should start clearing up by the end of today. I have the Brazil team start to pray for me for the doctor recommends me not traveling if it is Mono.
Saturday: No change. Worse. Can barely eat or drink. If it wasn't for Carol I wouldn't be getting any packing done in my apartment. She encourages me with Bible verses and prayer.
Sunday: Church, prayer, stop by the hospital for blood work. White spots and swelling still at their peak. Go to Halifax for marriage counseling. Can barely speak it hurts so bad. Eating is near impossible due to the pain. Carol says the hole in the back of my throat is smaller than a penny. Disgusting!
Monday: Throat isn't getting better, but not worse either.
Tuesday: Wake up and I feel better! Swelling is going down and white spots shrinking. By the end of the day there are hardly any spots and I can eat and drink with only minor discomfort. Hospital calls and confirms that it's mono. I think I laughed when the nurse told me.
Wednesday: Continue to get better. Went to bed almost 100%.
Thursday: Got on the plane to Brazil completely healed!

Throughout that whole week I was never tired, even though I was luck to get 6 hours of sleep. This was a blessing in itself because that week was constant packing up my apartment, planning for Brazil, and preparing for graduation. I doubted several times because here the team was praying for me and I wasn't getting better. But yet Carol and others provided encouragement and verses that kept me believing that God has healing power - and He proved it! It was a great way to start off the mission trip, with a first hand experience of His promises and a great testimony to tell to the locals there. :)

Not everyone may have experienced something like that but I can guarantee that every person, Christian or not has stories that they may not quite be able to explain. Coincidences that seemed a bit too coincidental or events that hit a certain nerve deep within. It's those stories and memories that we must hold dear, that we must write down and read when we are feeling doubt or distant in our faith. We need that encouragement and remembrance.

I just received the annual Geology newsletter in which it was encouraging us learned folk to pipe up when we hear people talking about climate change and geological stuff that they think they know about but are greatly misunderstood. We have that knowledge so it's our place to pass it on and inform those who don't have it quite right. I think the same is true in the faith realm as well. When people are talking about those tough questions like does prayer work? and why doesn't God heal AIDS and Cancer? or just general spiritual discussion I think we have to obligation to speak our thoughts and experiences on it and not be afraid on exposing ourselves. To some people talking about their faith with coworkers or others that don't know them intimately is hard, because our faith is the core of who we are. It's opening the doors on our being to that person and leaving us vulnerable to obtain a reputation, or have stereotypes put on us, or whatever. But if we don't express who we are what's the point? My faith drives who I am in all the decisions I make. To the choices on drinking and drugs to holding doors open for people behind me. If I try to hide my faith or shrug off questions asked to me because I don't want to be exposed, how strong or how real is my faith?

Having said all of that I'm not intending to be some kind of in-your-face-know-it-all-Christian. I'm all about the friendships and conversations, not debates or I'm right, you're wrong. I know what I believe. I am not afraid to express that in a friendly manner. If you believe something different that's between you and God or who/whatever. But just because I choose not to be on the offensive, ie thumping people over the head with verses and you're going to hell speeches, I am not opposed to being open about my faith with those around me.

Anyway, I've rambled on now for just about an hour ... and I'm not even sure any of this is really coherent or relevant. But my eyelids are becoming a bit heavy so I will take that as a sign that my mind has been cleared enough to attempt sleep once again. I welcome your feedback on what I said, about being active and open with/in your faith, that verse I'm still looking for, or whatever else you may think about this post. Thanks for sticking it out and reading all the way to the end ... I think this is my longest post yet! With no pictures either! Thanks for listening.

I am going to recommend this book to all you young folks out there. :) I came across this book through Trevor and Caitlin and glad I did! It is just an excellent book that is super easy to read and understand (I read it in a long afternoon) and it gets you thinking about your money and what to do with it.

It's written by a young woman (23 years old) who has been on Opera and other shows because of her financial knowledge. The book is only $15 to buy but I'm sure you can pick it up in the library if you don't want to buy it.

Somethings that it suggests is for paying back your student loan make bi-weekly payments instead of monthly because the first payment goes toward the principle and you pay less interest in the end. It also has some sample spreadsheets for expenses vs income and managing your debts and things. I love Excel and making spreadsheets so have made them all. :) The earlier you start managing your finances and saving (or investing) the better. I know that being a university student you may think you have no extra money - and you may not! But even if you have $10 a month that you can put into savings or something it adds up over time. It's at least worth thinking about, it doesn't hurt!

One thing I have found useful is saving receipts. The book doesn't mention to do this but I try to keep every receipt I can and organize them into categories like eating out, groceries, entertainment/ gifts, household items, clothes, etc. It makes it easy then to go back and see how much you spent on a particular category for the month or year. It's great when making budgets or just seeing where your money is going. I found this especially useful when I was trying to save money in high school. I realized that I spent way to much money on eating out for instance, so I cut back and was able to buy school clothes. Or whatever. But it's something that I have found useful in managing and budgeting my money so maybe it will help you!

Anyway, that's all I have about that for now. I welcome your feedback if you have read the book or have found other useful tips in saving/ investing money or paying off student loans! I definitely need all the advice on that area! Well, just thought I would pass that book review along in case anyone will find it useful!

Our trip to Vancouver turned out splendidly! Here's how it went:

Friday: Left the apartment in Calgary at 5:00 am to catch our 7:00am flight. Turns out the plane couldn't start so we had to wait until 8:00. No biggie. Got to Vancouver and picked up our rental car. Another PT Cruiser (we had one in NS this past summer). Headed downtown to explore the big city. It was crazy ... traffic was pretty bad but just the size of buildings and the number of stores and restaurants everywhere you looked it was a bit overwhelming. Where do we start? Where do we go? Where do we eat? So many choices so just where do you start! Just as we were having this minor panic attack Kelsey (Carol's cousin) called and we met up with her for lunch. She took us around the city a bit and suggested some things. As we were walking around I passed Buddy Doyle, the owner of the company that I worked for in Credit Lake (250 kms NE of Yellowknife). Bizarre! Anyway, this is a picture of Kelsey and Carol on the beautiful day looking north from Canada Place.



After we parted with her we headed up to Simon Frasier University in hopes to get a good skyline picture. We couldn't get anyplace where we could stop and see the whole skyline so decided to drive to Stanley Park. You can drive everywhere in the park but most of the walking trails are still closed. We didn't really even get out of the car because we were so tired from lack of sleep, jet lag, and for walking around so much earlier in the day. Snapped these two pics, one of fallen trees and the other of West Vancouver.



We checked into our hotel, the Howard Johnson on Granville right downtown and took a little nap. For supper we walked just down the street to Caileys - an Irish Pub owned by the same people that own the Caileys (and Tantra, Cowboys, etc.) here in Calgary. They just opened earlier this week but the food and atmosphere were wonderful! The fish and chips that Carol had were top 3 that she's ever had, and if I had eaten more of them I would probably say the same! I had a wonderful Guinness Beef Stew served in a bread bowl. It was wonderful! That was the end on day 1.

Saturday: Got up bright and early and took the 9:00 ferry over to Vancouver Island. Here's a picture of a small lighthouse on one of the points. It was starting to rain so the mountains in the distance were hard to see but it was still a great trip over. One of Carol's weekend highlights.



We didn't take our car so got picked up by Carol's Aunt and her Grandpa who was visiting. We had lunch, then got taken around Victoria on a lovely tour. It was raining all day but it was still nice to get around and see things. Carol's Uncle is the Anglican Bishop of BC and this is his church ... Christ Church Cathedral. It was gorgeous and huge!



They treated us to supper then we caught the last ferry back to the mainland. Got back around 11:00, stopping to grab a slice of pizza. Within two blocks of our hotel there were at least 7 pizza places. No joke. It puts Wolfville to shame! :-)

Sunday: Slept in a bit, then headed to MEC to get Carol a raincoat. I had gotten one from MEC in Halifax when we went east so Carol had to get one when we headed west. Only fair don't you think? We also stopped at this small cafe called Euro cafe or something. You walk in an there's canvas coffee bags hanging from the wall and flags all over the place. Really nice. I had a Florentine Breakfast Bagel: 2 eggs on a fresh baked Cheese and Herb bagel with feta and spinach, lettuce and tomato. It was incredible! We also had some blueberry strudels for dessert and they were fabulous. It was on Commercial Street if anyone wants to go there. :)

We drove around Granville Island, stopped for Gelato, then headed to Stanley Park again, this time hoping to walk around. Since it was raining we didn't really go to far but stopped in several places to see the damage and to snap some pictures. Here are a couple more:



We had lunch in the park at the Fishhouse. We thought that since it was in a park that all walks of life go to it would be a casual type restaurant but it turns out we felt VERY underdressed in our jeans and sneakers. Carol had some wonderful clam chowder and I ordered fish and chips trying to get nice seafood but it was junk. Thick batter with soggy fish on the inside served with frozen french fries. yuck. I should have gone with the flaming prawns. It just sounds so much cooler too! Before leaving the park I snapped a few pictures of the skyline and here's how it turned out:



After lunch we headed up the Marine Drive, stopping in Ambleside (west vancouver) in hopes to walk the sea wall. But it was raining and a bit chilly so we passed - vowing to come back again in the summer sometime. We continued north and drove to Lighthouse Park, but once again didn't feel like walking the almost kilometer to the point to see nothing in the fog. So we continued on to Horseshoe Bay and then headed back to the city. We saw a police car blocking traffic past the ferry, and head later it was because just a couple hours before there had been a large rockslide blocking the road, causing over 1,000 people to be held up for 5 hours or so. But no one was hurt so that was good.

We went back to our hotel room and watched about 20 minutes of the superbowl before heading out to the Center of Performing Arts to watch Jesus Christ Superstar. We got there an hour early so took some pictures of the library across the street. It's crazy ... it's round with a wall around it ... I won't post a picture of it but check it out on Google earth, it's the coolest library i've seen. When we went inside to our seats they were perfect. First balcony, third row back (so we didn't have the banister blocking our view) and right in the center. We could see everything! The show was great too ... Ted Neeley (Jesus) was incredible and still had a wonderful and unique voice. The music was great and the rest of the actors did splendidly. I will have to see the movie now and see how it compares but from what I saw it was done very well.

After the show I had a hankerin' for Donairs so we found a store selling "Halifax Donairs" so of course we had to stop. It was a wonderful Donair but we went to sleep like, 20 minutes after eating it so our stomachs weren't in the best of shape the next morning!

Monday: Arrived in Calgary just after 9:00 and drove Carol straight to work. I came home and crashed for about 3 hours. It was a great trip and I'm definitely glad Carol and I had the chance to do it. Reflecting on Vancouver though I found the city to be a bit to crazy for me. :-) Everywhere you look you see Mercedes and Lexus and the other high priced cars. You see signs for 710 sq ft condos for $650,000. But yet you see plenty of bike lanes, organic food markets, and other environmentally hippie-type things. It just seemed a bit contradictory. Also, coming back to Calgary Carol put it best. It's not so claustrophobic here. The buildings aren't towering around you everywhere. Where Calgary has been able to build out, Vancouver has needed to build up and that makes for a very tall city. So driving around yesterday in Calgary it just feels a lot more like home.

Anyway ... that's about it for our trip. Now it's back to work, or searching for work I should say. I have a job interview on Thursday with a job I don't particularly want but we will see how it will go. Other than that though there's not much new news!

It all started on Saturday night ... a cold, windy night. I went a walkin' and found myself standing in front of Wendy's with a rumbling in my stomach. I decided to go in and order a Junior Bacon Cheesburger meal (with a side salad instead of fries) and a Crispy Chicken Sandwich. After paying for the meal I got to thinking and realized I had done it all wrong. You see, the Junior Bacon Cheeseburger alone is $1.39 but the Chicken is $1.99, yet they are both $3.99 for the combo. I could have saved 60 cents. Oh how I wish I could have those 60 cents back.

I can imagine you reading this and questioning why on earth 60 cents seem so important to me. Well, that is how much Carol and my plane tickets to Vancouver cost! Yuppers ... we are flying to Vancouver the first weekend in February to see Jesus Christ Superstar. It's their farewell tour and that's the closest they are coming to Calgary so we bought some tickets (3rd row, first balcony, center) and will be watching it Sunday night, the last performance in Vancouver. I have never seen the play or movie so it's going to be an interesting experience for me ... not to mention the time in Vancouver! And the reason why our flights less than a buck were because of flight credits given to us when a Calgary hail storm delayed us a day coming back from Mitch and Anastasia's wedding this past summer. I love West Jet!

We are going to be gone Friday early morning, and returning early Monday so Carol can go straight to work. We are going to roam around Vancouver, possibly take the ferry over to Victoria to visit some family ... we will see. Does anyone have any MUST SEEs while we are there? I'd love to have some ideas as right now we are just going there with no game-plan.

Besides that though there isn't really any other news for me. I'm still job searching. yeeeeup. I'm all interesting-newzed-out. But let me know of anything that Carol and I must do while out west!

So I got a new pet today. Well, not really I suppose. One some websites it's referred to as a pet so that's what I'm gonna call it. What is it you ask? Sourdough starter! hehe ... that's right, I'm making my very own sourdough starter. (Has anybody read the story on how Dave and Morley need to take care of their neighbor's sourdough starter and they kill it? One of the many great stories by Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe). Anyway, to make this starter you basically you just mix flour and water and leave it in room temperature for a week, "feeding" it every day until it has a pleasant sour smell to it. hehe. I can't wait. The reason I started this new pet was (a) something to do while sitting at home, and (b) I got a breadmaker for Christmas so I am experimenting with all sorts of bread. I love this thing so far ... you dirty barely any dishes! You just throw everything in, press a couple of buttons and presto! It's mixed, raised, kneaded, and baked. Currently I have a Cottage Dill Bread baking ... it should be interested but we needed to use up some cottage cheese and I found this recipe so there!

Sadly, this is about the most exciting thing that is currently happening to me. :) I'm still on the job hunt so just chill at home. Today I got new brakes on my car, gave blood, AND went grocery shopping. Later we are going to one of Carol's friend's house. Busy day! Since my last post not much has happened. We had a relaxing holiday season here. On Christmas Eve we rented the last two DVDs of Grey's Anatomy Season 2 and watched them while eating ordered pizza. It took 4 calls to find a pizza place that was open ... even then I had to get it myself. Life is rough here in Calgary ... geez!

Christmas day we had Carol's parents and brother up here for gifts and supper. Besides the breadmaker I got the entire collection of the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean so I have been reading those each day and am just about done with the four books. On Boxing day Carol had a bonspiel in Cremona ... a small town north of Cochrane (NW of Calgary). It was a nice small 2 sheet rink with great food and even cameras above the bulls-eye thingy on the far side of the ice for us spectators to watch what was going on! It was wonderful! Everyone was quite tired though so everyone on the team had a nap. :) We left Calgary at 8:30 am and didn't get back until just after 1:00 in the morning! 4 games later they had won the bonspiel! So that was good news. Here's a couple of pictures of the rink and the sleeping team.



For New Year's I went to the Pastor's house for a potluck breakfast and then met up with my first year Chipman roommate Rob, who is from Calgary but is working in Halifax. So we updated one another on all the important matters over some starbucks. Then that night Carol and I just relaxed, played some Settlers of Catan and watched Movies. Uneventful but very relaxed so that's all you can ask for I suppose.

Oh I saw this dog while I was in a parking lot. He was crazy! He first seemed to be trying to dig his way through the window ... except it looked more like he was running in place. Then he proceeded to open his mouth as far as he could and lick and blow on the window. I just kept getting the picture in my mind of a kid putting his mouth to a window and puffing up his cheeks while slobbering all over the window. Anyway, it was hilarious so I took a picture of it with my phone.



Let's see ... what else have I done? I organized all my receipts for the past year into about 6 different categories, seperated them all and filed them in envelopes. I also sorted all our plastic bags that we have aquired shopping into 4 different sizes. Yup. I know you're thinking it ... I need to get out more. :)

dum de dum dum ... well, this post isn't very interesting. I've been trying to think of something that would involve some discussion but I haven't really been doing much thinking lately. haha. Honestly though ... sigh. I need a job. I'm working on it though ... I've got some leads and contacts that I'm working on so hopefully something will come of that.

Anyway, sorry that this post isn't very stimulating. I've been waiting to post with something that is but since that really hasn't happened I've been delaying. But I thought I should touch base and give y'all an update. So there ya go!

How where all of your guy's holiday/ Christmas break? It doesn't seem like anyone has been posting lately so I thought I would ask!

Well, I'm finally back. The job I was on turned out to be a 3 and a half week stint, and I actually ended up leaving a few days earlier than the other crew. It was an okay project ... things went fairly smooth and uneventful, which I suppose is good but it has confirmed that I am done with that type of work. Maybe it was the cold weather (one morning -33) or the crew I was working with. Maybe it was being away longer than expected. It certainly wasn't the wage I was making because that was the best part about it! But each night I went to bed craving my wife and wishing I were home, preparing for the holidays. Anyway, I'm not really in a type-able mood right now, but I will leave you with some pictures. They include me trying to climb a big tree (and failing), a large fire I help make that reached 20 feet at times, some frost crystals that looked like leaves, me reading the gravity meter, and the helicopter thermometer on the coldest of mornings. I will post within the week on something else but right now I don't really have much to say. :)

Last night Carol's work had a social at a pub/bar called Aussie's Rules. I didn't know what to expect as the entertainment for the evening was dualing pianos. The only experience I have had with dualing pianos are in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit where they end up blowing each other up with canon balls. :) Oh such a great movie. Anyway, we get there and the place is pretty much full to begin with, but at some points during the night it must have been over code. There wasn't a seat in the place open and hardly any room to stand there were so many people around. Everyone was standing on their chairs dancing or chanting or doing some kind of contest the piano players had the crowd doing. It was great! Throughout the night people would write a request and one of the two piano players would play the song, sometimes with the other pianist accompanying him, or singing, or dancing. People were going on stage to do their best Russian dance, or Albertan two-step, Or I'm Too Sexy dance. The atmosphere was great and something simialar to the Coyote's Ugly movie in some regards ... except a bit more wholesome and clothed. :) It was a great time and I was able to meet some of Carol's Co-workers (this is hard as guys aren't allowed into the gym).

In other news, just before heading out the door to church this morning I got a call offering me to read gravity for 2 weeks. Normally I wouldn't accept because I'm trying to get a job with little to no travel but as my job search is going a bit slower than normal I thought I could use the money, not to mention the exercise to burn off all the discount halloween candy we have in the house. :) So I am leaving tomorrow morning (Monday) and headed to Red Earth, staying in a trailer with excellent food with my ride (a helicopter) parked right out in front. :) Oh the life of a geologist.

The major downside to this is I was planning on following up on some job interviews/ resumes and hand a few more out this week but at this point I can make enough money in these next two weeks to sustain me for another month or two so unfortunately the job search will have to be put on pause for the time being.

Well, that's the latest with me!

Well, I've been waiting to post until something worth writing about happened but since it hasn't ... I'll post anyway and tell you about my fairly boring past couple of weeks. It's been a month now since I started looking for work and no job offers yet. I've had one interview and will hear back hopefully this week to see if I get a second interview. I have several resumes out there, many of which I believe are still active and a possibility. I'm not stressing out or getting worried yet. I've got money in the bank yet and haven't started pulling my hair out with cabin fever yet but I am anxious to get back working and get into a routine again.

Since my last post I haven't done too much. I think the highlight of the week was daring to experience the calgary transit system. Now, I've taken the c-train plenty of times downtown but I've never ventured onto the buses. Carol had a curling game last Wednesday and couldn't come pick me up so I decided I would meet her after catching a bus. I got the routes all figured out, no problem I thought. Just grab the 201 at Southland Station, then hop on the 2 downtown and I'm there. Well, I get to Southland Station and there's no sign for the 201 bus. There's about 8 other signs for various other bus routes but not the one I want. So instead of waiting I figure I would just hop on the C-train, go downtown and grab the 2, skipping the 201. That worked out okay, except the C-train is slower than the bus, which surprised me. Anyway, I finally got on the 2 but ended up being 20 minutes later than I had thought.

Wow that was a really dull story. My life is pathetic. :) haha.

Anyway, Carol's team was down 4 in the second end but after that the whole team never missed a shot and came back and won 8-4. They stole pretty much all of those points! Carol was skipping so she was very excited. :) Here is a picture of her throwing a rock. She was playing 3rd this game, and has since gotten fancy curling pants so she looks a lot more professional. She's going to the olympics someday you know. ;)



Anyway, beyond that not much has happened. Sad, I know. I basically just sleep in with the cat every morning, job search/ play spider solitaire. I try to watch The Young And The Restless at 4:00 on Global. The plot is getting thick I tell ya! haha ... I've watched the first season of Grey's Anatomy as well. Man ... I need a life. Sigh ... anyway, that's all. Sorry this post is so dull ... hopefully I will have more interesting things to talk about in the near future.

Here are some pictures of Lucy, our kitty. :) When I'm sitting in the office on the computer she rather curls up in my lap or in my inbox. The other pictures are ones I took just cuz it was something to do. :)

Well, you would think after being unemployed for over a week now I would have updated this early but you'd be surprised at how busy I've been! I mean, I have played countless games of spider solitaire and have had hour long staring contests with the cat ... not to mention the sleep-a-thon I had with kitty for the past few days. It was close but I think I won! Okay, so I haven't been that bored to go to those measures with the cat, but I will admit to the spider solitaire. My name is Lincoln, and I have a problem.

So I drove out of Tumbler Ridge, BC on October 4th in a truck that had no Drive and no Reverse to Dawson Creek. It still had 1 2 and 3 so I could still move forward, just not as fast. I dropped off the truck on the 5th and caught a bus that 12 hours later delivered me to Calgary, where my lovely bride was there to pick me up. On the 6th I went in to work to do some paperwork and expense sheets, then dropped off Lucy to the in-laws. We just happened to be in High River when Dan Ingram (a dear friend back in Nova Scotia that helped marry us) called my in-law's house to wish us a happy anniversary. It was a wonderful surprise! We then had to rush back to Calgary to meet some friends at the Sushi Boat in NW Calgary. It's a sushi bar where you just grab a small plate from these boats that are floating past your table. At the end of the meal you just bring up your plates and they bill you that way! It was neat and an experience, seeing as Carol isn't all that fond of raw fish, but I will admit, she was quite handy with her chopsticks!

Then on Satuday (7th) we drove to Jasper to begin our one year wedding anniversary weekend get-away. All weekend long we had gorgeous weather! We fell in love with the town because people actually live there and go to school there. It's a normal town with only one strip of touristy stuff ... very unlike Banff. I recommend going there to anyone! The food we ate was wonderful, the sites around Jasper were breathtaking, and the cabins we stayed at were perfect. :)

About 6 paces from our cabin was this view of Patricia Lake with Pyramid mountain in the background.


One day we went up the Tram in Jasper and got a great view of the town. I don't know if you will be able to see it in the small version of this picture but in the upper right hand picture there is a dark coloured area in the mountain. Can you see the face that is lying on it's side, looking up and to the right? :) Also, here's a picture of Carol and I with Mount Robson in the background (the peak with all the snow on it). It's the highest point in the Canadian Rockies and supposedly can only be seen from this spot 60 days of the year because it needs to be really good visability. So there it is!


Later that day we also went to Mount Edith Cavell. You need to drive 14 kilometres off the main road with several tight switchbacks to get back here, then hike .6 kms to here ... where you can go right up to a glacier. :) As a geologist I found this to be especially exciting so I got right up there and inside, hoping to find some streams or something and witness the making of eskers and morainnes. But, I couldn't go that far into it. I did however manage to see some rocks still frozen in the ice, not to mention what I am calling mammoth pee. :) I found some amber coloured discolorations in part of the ice so that's what I'm deeming it to be. :) Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the glacier, the first one taken from afar, and the second one with me in the cave that is pictured lower left on the first pic.


One the way home on Tuesday (10th) we stopped at Peyto Lake ... an incredibly gorgeous lake that Carol thinks looks like a fox. I agree actually. I snapped several pics of this and made it into a panoramic for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!


So that is where my unemployed life stops being interesting. Since then I have pretty much sat at home, spending a lot of time on the computer looking at jobs and applying for several positions, most of which I am not really all that qualified for. But hey ... gotta start somewhere. :) But I'm not all that worried yet ... I don't tend to stress out about these things for a while so we will see how the following week goes, to see if I start getting interviews or not. Trying to put a face to my resumes I'm starting to attach a recent picture of myself. Maybe I should have gotten a second opinion on this idea before I did it but I will ask all of you now ... think this pic will help my chances?