Lac La Biche County

The internet is full of gems this morning. Did you know there is a county in Northern Alberta by the name of Lac La Biche? I didn't even know that Western Canada had counties...

FYI: Bitch lake County is hiring a planning assistant.

One of these interns is not like the other...

I was looking at internships offered by the International Institute for Sustainable Development when I came across this photo.

Whether it is the thyroid meds or not, I'd say Gmax has come a long way in his predisposition toward biz-caj.

Background: Graeme had a thyroid condition that had him cycling around Vancouver in the winter wearing shorts and a t-shirt. For years, this was Graeme's sole attire. He was that hot. Since having his thyroid nuked he has become a lot more fashionable.

A Birthday Feast!

I can't write this post with my regular tone of cynicism; my friends are just too awesome. On Saturday Robin, Rachel and Leigh cooked me a feast to beat all feasts, bar none. The spread was absolutely incredible and included fig and goat cheese pizza, apple and potato latkas, beet and red cabbage coleslaw, and a 25lb pig belly cooked on a bed of apple and onion they affectionately referred to as the meat carpet. It was truly awesome.

The only downside to this feast was that all my friends cleared out to go home and digest by 11 o'clock! I know we are getting older, but it was pathetic! If we have moved on to the dinner party stage of life, that is fair enough, but even my parents stay out later than 11pm... sometimes.

OK, back to how awesome the dinner was. Here are some photos:

Observe the meat carpet.

Observe how cute Mike and Robin are. See earlier postings re: J's face.

Observe Arlen's disgusting moustache.

Observe me cutting into my cake. It's a rooster, a cockerel if you will...

Quote: J Havelaar

"Robin lived on Nanaimo St. with what's her name... oh yeah, Enid." (Referring to his sisters Robin and Enid)

Anteater Pinata for Leigh's 26th

On January 3rd we celebrated Leigh's 26th birthday. That's right, 26! Leigh is almost thirty, which means she is almost dead. So, in order to liven up what could have been a very somber event, Grachel (that is Graeme + Rachel) and I decided to make her a pinata in the shape of an anteater!

Now, anyone who has made a pinata before knows that you usually paper mache a balloon, add appendages, let it dry and paint/decorate before you cut into the hardened sphere to add the goods, usually candy. You then have to cover up any evidence of the operation. It is a bit of a process, but we were determined.

Things started out pretty rough. The first balloon we blew up popped when we tried to relocate a leg. The second ended in disaster when we tried to speed up the drying time. In retrospect we should have known it wasn't a good idea to bake the paper mache balloon in the oven. Graeme especially should have known; he has a B.Sc. whereas I have a BA and thus, can be excused. It remains a mystery whether the balloon popped because it got too close to the element or because of the expanding air inside.

Whatever the mechanism of injury was, it was clear we were going to have to be creative. For this, Rachel has to be given all the credit. Graeme and I were quite ready to give up, buy Leigh a gift card and call it a day, but Resourceful Rachel kept us on task. In the end we built the anteater's body out of a cut up pizza box and used the original paper mache tail and nose.

We think it turned out pretty awesome, if somewhat indestructible.

From this point forward the photos get a little blurry... This is Leigh having a second try at smashing the anteater after we berated her for her weak first swing. It turns out that nobody could do much damage to this tank of a pinata, not even Adrian, though he did bend the broom stick and put a serious dent in Larlen's wall. (NB: Larlen = Leigh+Arlen)

In the end we decided to play a somewhat morbid version of the popular holiday present game, where by you tear the package open using a fork and knife whilst wearing oven mitts. I swear, it's a thing.


I think our pinata really cheered Leigh up on the eve of her 26th.

Christmas 2008

After two days back at work, I am so entirely bored of talking about the logistics and happenings of my Christmas break that I am going to assume that you don't really care about them either. Just know that I didn't cry, which marks a successful Holiday Season in my books. Graeme also pointed out that I didn't ruin Christmas this year, so I guess the feeling of accomplishment is somewhat universal. This is actually quite surprising because of all the years to cry/ruin Christmas, this would have been the one for which I might have been excused. I spent four nights and five days in a two bedroom condo on Mt. Washington with two parents, two brothers, their two girlfriends and Mike Brown's perpetually bad dog. The only one of us who doesn't snore is Robin so, a good night's sleep was not an option. It's a Christmas miracle really that nobody was disowned come Boxing Day.

Other than that there was not much that was blogable about my Christmas break. We skied, we ate and generally got along. Weird.

Winter Makes Rare Appearance in Vancouver

It is absolutely freezing in my apartment and minus ten degrees outside. Canadians from anywhere but the west coast will scoff at that temperature, but we are unpractised at the art of winter out here and very sensitive to the cold. It is hard to argue that it is not beautiful though!