This is how it works

So I had to renew my vehicle registration the other week. I get a notice in the mail and they say I can renew online. Perfect, I won't have to leave my place and stand in line at the dreaded registry.
This is weeks ago and I get confirmation and the new pink registration card and think nothing of it. But then I realize I need the stickers for my plates. Where the hell are those? And when are they going to mail me the new ones for '09?
Today my plates expired so I got on the horn and asked someone where the stickers are. The lady told me to pop into a registry. Ahhhhhhhhhh, but this defeats the whole purpose of renewing online. The Internet is supposed to make our lives easier.
I was not too happy, but in the end there is a registry in my parking lot and there was NO LINE! Amazing in itself. So I got it all taken care of in a matter of minutes, but why is nothing ever easy? I'll give one more example. I want to buy something online already. I needed a case for my mp3 player. It's not an ipod so you simply can't find anything in a store. So I go to the Creative website and find the case on sale for $10. By the time I got to the "check-out" they inform me it will cost $40 to ship it here. Yeah, right! So I went to Future Shop and found one on a discount table for ten bucks without the shipping!
Maybe things will get easier, but every time I try to do something on the computer it takes me an extra four or five tries before it works. I've often thought it's the operator and not the machine. Now I am not so sure.

Easy Week

I've said before that I have the best job ever. This week I was on a Part-Time walk and finished early every day. I even had time for a haircut. I love going to get a haircut, but I don't really think it should cost me $29. I go to a nice salon to see a nice girl who seems to cut my hair nicely. Same place as my mom goes, but I can't go every time. Maybe go to Supercuts once and then to Vaso once.
Anyway, she wasn't shy with the clippers. I told her my hair was left a little too long last time, so she made sure I wouldn't leave saying the same thing. Oh well. She soaks my hair, shampoo's and conditions. Gives me a crazy head massage while conditioning and then cuts. After she rinses again and then "styles". I never look as silly as I do when I leave the barber. But we'll just call it my summer 'do.
Perhaps I will go do something today that gives me reason to take a picture. Then I will have something to blog about.
I should also share with my loyal readers that grandma made a wonderful batch of soup and homemade bread. Lucky I made it in time for supper - Thanks gran!

Jury Duty

The whole seniority thing at work makes me wonder sometimes, but I can see it's advantages too. I had to pick my holidays in two rounds. Everyone picks their days based on seniority, but everyone still gets a fair crack. So I was only a few months in and I picked my holidays. A two-week block from May 25th to June 7th. Perfect. For the last five months or so me and Devyn have been stuffing money into a peanut butter jar. We've done quite well, and I think we could pay for much of our camping trip through the mountains and down to Seattle.
Anyway, Dev was summoned to jury duty on the 29th of May. Ahhhh. I am sure we can get it sorted out, but what if? I know they'll be reasonable about it, but it gives you a little scare. I guess it's safe never to get too comfortable.

It's because of my mom!

I was looking back at the previous post and think there's something wrong with the title. Taken off life support...... Sounds like I just watched Bob and Doug McKenzie in Strange Brew. *Take off eh?* (Which is a film I think is quite hilarious) Taken off of life support, perhaps? I'll tell you it drives Devyn nuts if I accidentally correct her grammar. It pisses people off, but how can I possibly be any different? As they say, I come by it honestly. Thanks mom.

But there must be a point to this right? NOPE! None at all. Just thought I should get on here again because I was laughing at myself a few minutes ago. I made supper tonight. I had an assortment of treats including, 2 scrambled eggs, two hot dogs, and a pile of cucumber and green pepper. And a beer. Delicious. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I shall go find something else to do.

Taken off life support

Another one is gone down the pipes. From the original 8 fish, one of the Cardinal Tetra's had his/her tail eaten off and was thus sent to a better place. He/she was trying to hide behind the Egyptian head I have in the tank and it was just too sad. The area where the tail had been chewed had this cloudy little jelly-like thing around it so I decided he had to be put out of his/her misery.
It's looking pretty good for the tank being empty by the time I leave for holidays in late May! I don't know if I want to arrange for Kevin to come over every couple of days to feed two little fish. Like I said before though, the first tetra I ever had lasted four years. Maybe one of these is a fighter. I think the life expectancy is more like four days.
It's my last weekday off today, and I don't really know where the time went. I had a delicious day yesterday going out for lunch and getting my grocery shopping done. Checked out a new camping store which was rather disappointing, but I wasn't working. This weekend should be very nice so I will try to ram as much fun into it as possible, and get back to work on Monday. Should be interesting to see how out-of-shape I can become in one week.

Lots of fun

Had such a good time. I drove out on Monday and stayed two nights. Rode on Tuesday. There was NO ONE in Jasper. I had the whole hill to myself. When we walked around town we could've blown a cannon down main street and not hit anyone. What a treat compared to going in peak season. I just love days off in the middle of the week! And that pool was nice too!





Devyn sitting by the giant totem pole in the lobby. Swanky treatment at that place.

















Here are the grain theives caught in the act. The car must've been full of grain and there were about twenty elk sniffing around.

Jasper Trip

Here's the bear in Hinton I think. Can never remember whether I'm in Hinton or Edson. It's welcoming us to the mountains.

Found a good deal at the Jasper Park Lodge which was beautiful. Our room was 100 years old I am sure, but the grounds and pool were nice. The room was pretty tiny and simple. You're never really at the hotel for very long though. There's the outdoor heated pool.

This is the tiny patio. The whole thing was quite hilarious. When I tried to check in, the hotel staff threw down their jackets for me to walk on so I wouldn't get my shoes dirty. I needed ice and they brought it right over with a smile "Mr. Dukovac" And, "would we like a ride on a golf cart to the swimming pool?" made me a little uncomfortable.
Getting out on the hill for the first time in two full winters. It felt amazing. Certainly rusty, but it doesn't take long for the body to remember what it's supposed to be doing. I ran out of steam pretty quickly, but had a beautiful time ripping down the hill.


We saw a million elk and a few goats, but once again I seem to have a lot of trouble seeing any "cool" animals like Grizzlies or big sheep. It's neat to see these things walking around two feet from you though.

Another one bites the dust

Well my loyal readers are now subject to trivial updates on the state of my fish tank. And it's not looking good. Two more died overnight. And one got sucked into the filter and I can't find him. So we are down to three cardinal tetras and zero neon tetra's.
I'm glad three or four of you got to meet them over the short time they were with me.
Did I mention again how much I hate adding pictures to this stupid site? I've had tips from a few of you to make it easier but every time I add something or click anything the damn things get deleted and then I have to add them and reposition the photos. I'll have to figure it out by the time I return from my little jaunt to the mountains.
Look at the pathetic post from yesterday. It started with three pictures and all the writing was nice, now the words are cut off half way through and it just makes me furious. I'll leave it and play with the html code when I have stuff to add from my trip.
This free week off is going to be so nice. I got a free lift ticket, and a really sweet deal at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge so it will be nice. There are benefits to having days off during the week!
Who knows if I'll have any fish left once I return.

And then there were ......

Three of my neon tetra's have been flushed already. It's heartbreaking. The bigger Cardinal Tetra's seem to be feasting on the little one's tails. So I find them twitching in the filter intake unable to swim because they have no bums.

They're a little hard to see, but the tank is cool. I am glad it's up and running again. The fish really are kind of pointless, and I didn't even have a chance to name them, but it's nice to have them.

Otherwise my place has become the occasional venue for poker nights. It's fun, but I make far too many mistakes. It really is a fun game to get into, but don't worry, I haven't taken to watching it on tv.

Here's my best impersonation of Phil Ivey ...

But alas, it's usually Devyn chomping away on her winnings.

Tomorrow I am off to Jasper for my first day of snowboarding in two winters. Just in time as the hill will be closing in a couple of weeks. I have the surprise week of holidays and decided I better go while I have the time off. Even going to stay at the Jasper Park Lodge. High-rollin! I'll have more exciting things to post in a couple of days. Stay tuned.

Where does the time go?

It's now been another month since I've been on here. The thing is, I am finding so many things to do that sometimes I feel I don't have the time to sit down at the computer.
What's the news? Well, I am officially under the 200 lb milestone. After hitting an absurd 229 the week before I started walking for a living. Now I am down to 197 or something. Pretty amazing that I get paid to do it too. I think I have the best job in the world. Seriously, now the snow is gone and it's warmer. Should be a fun summer.
Now that the vanities are out of the way, I can talk about the new additions to my place. I finally bought fish for the tank I've had running for about a month now. I bought 5 neon tetra's and 3 cardinal tetras. They're three days old now. They are supposed to be the most durable ones. Last time I did this when Sarah first bought me the tank the very first tetra lasted 4 years. Should be interesting to move the tank when I decide I have to live somewhere else.... (I just finished hanging my first picture up in this place though) Seems to me the blog is in need of some pictures. I have a week off next week, so that should make lots of time available. I will make it one of my "projects".
And the final order of business is the Oilers. Final game of the year tonight, and what a great year it was. I know they missed the playoffs and all that, but it really was a lot of fun. Certainly a better finish than last year. The best part is I must've been to ten games this year. I am looking forward to next year. I'll have to watch the playoffs until June to keep my fix filled.