The New Pad

Here are a few shots of my new place and what seems to go on in this new place. Huge pantry to the right of the fridge.

Kevin has the swiffer out cleaning the floors. It really didn't need it yet.

I'm going to buy a TV "this" big.

As you can see, that tv I have up there looks a little bit silly.

I can't seem to arrange the pics in the manner that I would like to, but you get the point. And anyone who is reading this also knows what a pig this site can be for posting pics.

Nice location right downtown where I have always thought I would like to live.

It is also nice to see Kev more often. Later that same evening he ended up climbing into the fridge.... because he could.

I had to go out and get tenants insurance. She asked if I had 20, 30, 40 thousand dollars worth of stuff. As you can see, I told her $20K. And that's being generous.

The job is going very well. I am somewhat surprised that I love it so much, but the weather is still incredible. Last week I went out in short sleeves one day. More from me later.

One October Post

Well, this was a dismal month for blogging, but I have been busy. Not that busy that I can't even go on the computer, but I am finally working full time hours. I got a letter in the mail saying I was given an automatic appointment to Full Time letter carrier. So I have two weeks under my belt as the freindly neighbourhood mailman.
It takes me a while to sort the mail, but the walk is fabulous. I plug in my mp3 player and go for a 3.5 to 4 hour walk every day. Now I know I have been lucky with the weather and I know it's almost November, but I think it is going to be awesome.
I am also just on my way out the door to pick up my car which is now sporting some brand new tires. I think the timing was right, and if the car will last another 100,000 KMS I will be laughing.
Thirdly, I will be moving into my new apartment next weekend so no more pile of stuff in my moms computer room, and her basement, and her two spare bedrooms. Everyone will be very much relieved that it is all finally falling into place. Things just happened to take about 3 months longer than I thought they would.

Street vendors

Now I just finished a book Sarah gave me by some dude from Calgary, Alberta (Marcello Di Cinto) called Harmattan. It's a guy who went a volunteered in Ghana I think and he travelled West Africa for ten or eleven months. It was interesting, but a little bit too much for me. I think it was a little bit pompous. I am not sure why, he is a fascinating writer who had some amazing experiences.
It got me thinking about things you can buy for a quick snack in any given place. I think it is different in every different city you go to, and certainly there are national links.
In the book, the guy said everywhere you turned you could buy oranges. They were green, and the vendor would grate the peel off, and you were to bite off the top, and suck the seeds and juice out of the orange. Squeezing it, and spitting out the seeds afterward. He said the ground was littered with the corpses of oranges. It made me laugh.
In Toronto normally people bought hot dogs from carts along the road. In Moonbeam, ON I got poutine. In Kenora, ON it was the chip truck for french fries soaked in vinegar. In Paris it was pain au chocolat (croissant with chocolate), and in London sausage rolls. Ottawa you think of beaver tails. In Prague I had some kind of pig-in-a-blanket thing and cheap thin crust pizzas. There was a sausage wrapped in some pastry type thing, but not like London's. I guess the fish and chip places in England were more common than the sausage rolls. I was just broke so I had to go for the cheapest thing.
In Germany I was getting kebabs, or Turkish type donairs. What do you get in Edmonton? Fat Frank's? I guess so, or late night pizza. Saskatoon was an ice cream town for me I would say. In Roma it was some pizza and Tetra-packs of wine. I wonder if anyone has anything else.....?
Totally random, but something I was pondering for a couple of days. I guess that's half the reason people travel.

Random goings on...

First off I'd like to proclaim that I have been a Rider's fan since before '89. Whenever I was old enough to be influenced by my parents and realize I had a small interest in football. So I am not sure when that was, but it's been a long time. Being a Rider fan in Edmonton is pretty cool though. Although the Riders can never escape with a win in Edmonton. They say the last time was 1999 or something silly. I can say I went to the game in July when my Uncle Emil was in town and the Rider's were up 20-1 at half and lost 21-20. Fitting, really. And to make matter worse (better) is they have gone on to win 5 straight. They haven't lost a game since they blew that one here.
Otherwise, I am back to work this evening after my first long weekend as an employee at Canada Post. I imagine it will be busy tonight, but I just hope things go smoothly. I had an earlier post about my first little "incident" on the first day, but a girl who started with me got into a real accident on Friday. I hope everything is okay with her, I feel sorry for her, and the fact that everyone will be talking. It's going to be hard for her to show up this evening.
And finally yesterday I was able to get out to the lake with my pops to do some fishing. I proudly proclaim that I caught three to my dad's one. So we will leave it to you to imagine that mine were also wayyyyy bigger. It was just brilliant to be out there though, and get a line in the water for the first time in at least a month. Here's hoping we have some nice days yet this fall so we can go molest some more walleye's.
For now though, time to go stand around and earn some money.

What a first shift!

Well, I finally had my first shift at the Post Office and it was quite a time. I walked in an saw a familiar face right off the bat. That was nice, and then some of the guys I trained with were also starting that same time. There were four of us in all. The bosses were great, told us where we needed to go, what we needed to do and showed us the routine we will follow every evening.
I get out to my truck and do the pre-trip inspection. Going through the thing from top to bottom. But we have to sign our names to it, so I might as well do it right? There is apparently 28 minutes written into our agreement for that inspection alone.
So I wait around for about 1.5 hours before my turn to load up. I show grace and elegance as I back into dock #2 and jump out of my truck and into the warehouse. A lady drives 5 cages onto my truck and off I go to St. Albert.
I had no trouble getting there, and only a little bit of trouble backing it into a tight dock there. I will say at least it was NOT graceful and elegant.
I made it though, and turned around and went back to the plant. Things are quite busy there at about 11:15 in the evening. So there's some more waiting.
When it my turn to back in there is a big semi truck with a 53' trailer in Dock #2. So I attempt to squeeze in to dock #1. Well, you can now imagine where this story is going....
I nudged his mirror. Honestly, it was nothing more than a nudge, but we have to fill an incident report. The new guy crashes his truck on the first day. This is just great.
Anyway, the familiar face a recognize at the start of my shift is the guy who comes to deal with this, and he makes me feel fine. Tells me safety is first, and no matter how much is going on around me, if I am unsure to just stop and look. Be sure.
I know I will get used to the big truck, but I thought this was a funny little story after the first day.
So I finished that, loaded two more cages and hit the road to finish my job. An uneventful trip anyway.
I will only point out there was a crazy full moon as we walked out to our trucks for the first time. And I noticed a dead crow on the side the grass where I parked my car. Omens, perhaps.
We'll see how tonight goes.

Sarah's Gone

Well, that was officially the quickest three weeks of my life. But what an amazing visit. I think we did pretty well to fit as much as we did into the visit. Sarah's beau is wonderful, we got to see all of Sarah's friends, and had a trip to the mountains. We had four days at Folk Fest and even got a day in at the lake.

The worst thing about it was they had to leave.

There's Alvin as we arrive in Jasper. It was Carly's birthday, and Marty was off that week so we got to bring them along with us.

And we got in a couple of scenic little walks in to pass the time before we were on the road back to Edmonton. Maligne Canyon and Mount Edith Cavel.

There are no pics of the folk festival because I wasn't going to bother lugging my camera around. I will have to get those on the other computer. But as always it was a wonderful visit with a bunch of people I don't get to see very often. Uncle Wally and Hal were there again tempting me to take a trip to Seattle. Maybe this year it will actually happen.

Sarah and Alvin were here for his first visit in Canada and then there are friends from Vancouver, and all over who come to enjoy some cold beer and good music.

Otherwise, I will have one more week off work before they finally cut me loose on Monday Aug 27th. What a stretch of idleness.... but things are going to change pretty soon. I think I will take off to Saskatoon tomorrow for a round of golf with my cousin. Grandma says she'll pay for gas. For now though, I must have something else to do.

Sarah's Home!!!

Sarah and Alvin arrived in Canada a week ago today. I have had no time at all it seems to make any posts.
Summer is flying by, and I have been taking lots of pictures to put up here. The thing is, I don't have my camera with me at the moment. Thus. I find two minutes to post, and I don't have all the tools to do what I want to do.
This weekend we went to Jasper and showed Alvin the mountains. We seem to have been ripped off in the wild life department. Only one group of mountain goats, a few squirrels, and a deer on the outskirts of Edmonton. But there was lots of beer, lots of food, and lots of great company.
Otherwise, I have finished my air brakes training and I am off for the driving test tomorrow. Soon I will be working...... 9 full days of training under my belt and a few more to go.
On the apartment front, I am going to look at two places tomorrow and likely will be able to come up with a decision.
Folk festival tomorrow and things will be just as crazy for a few more days.

More to come

I have been getting some grief from a few of my loyal fans for a lack of ANYTHING on here. So I am going to post a quick one, and try to get back on later with some of my pics. On Tuesday I took my driving test for my new job as a letter carrier at Canada Post. Yay!!!! Finally after a long long long haul, I am almost there. On Monday I start getting paid!!! I am not sure why the driving test, but I got a pass rather than a fail although my reversing could certainly use some work.
Tomorrow morning back there for some other certification, and I am starting the paid training on Monday.
So a long stretch of 5 months to the day, I will be back on some one's payroll. I tell you, it can't come soon enough.
I took this ten-foot-tall truck out to make a couple of fake deliveries and rolled through the downtown in the truck and had a pretty good visit with the guy. I don't envy his job, but he was totally relaxed.
I will tell you all later how the return to the work world is treating me, but right now my laundry is finished.
I will try to go through the pictures of my recent trip to the Pembina Folk Music Festival where my friend Jeff Stuart played a stellar set for a bunch of his friends, and Fred Eaglesmith did next-to-nothing to woo his fans over. I enjoyed it thouroughly and especially dipping in the river as the temps soared to the mid-30's. That's hot for us here in Canada.

1408

Last night I went to see 1408, the movie based on a Stephen King book if my info is correct. It was great. One of those thriller movies I guess. I wouldn't call it a horror flick, mainly because it wasn't gruesome at all. Just full of tricks to make you trip yourself out.
The music would get really loud, and you would get tense and expect something to jump out and scare the hell out of you, but instead nothing happens. Or music will start playing with a sweet lady's voice singing something like, "It's only just the beginning".
I hope you know what I mean.
I think the most annoying part was the way it was filmed. The camera seemed to be spinning around, taking some shots from above, and some of the views were upside-down. Made you kind of dizzy at time.
But the movie had the digital clock coming on while unplugged, or the numbers changing on their own.... all the really frightening stuff from things I would watch as a kid.
I will always think of the Unsolved Mysteries I watched as a kid where the aliens were changing the kids bedside alarm clock/radio. It had to be the same model I happened to have, and always frightened me.
Cool movie though, next will Live Free or Die hard. I wonder if people in New Hampshire like that movie more than anyone else? The motto on their licence plate says "Live Free or Die" - typically American if you ask me.

Almost a month

Damn, it's been almost one month since my last post, but I am glad to see Sarah's is about that long too. The time is just getting away from me. I have no idea where the month of June went.
The job front is moving along nicely. I don't know why things are so slow, but I was told to go down to Canada Post on Monday morning two weeks ago. Then on Thursday I was called to come in and do a General Abilities Test the following Monday. Good start. I think I am generally able.
Then the Tuesday I was invited for an interview, and on Wednesday they called my references. If my security check would hurry up and go through, I think I should be getting a call.
What a difference this would make, and I hope I don't jinx it or anything by updating before I actually get the call I am waiting for.
I am using this as some weird kind of superstition or something to try and will them to call me back tomorrow.
I can't imagine what I will feel like if this weight is lifted off my shoulders. One thing, I can tell you 4 months of being out of work isn't as much fun as one might think.
I'll post again as soon as I know more.

Folk Festival

Man, my wonderful mom went to pick up folk fest tickets for another year, and although the line-up is the same old shit, it's going to be great. Nothing really compares to Folk Fest weekend. All the friends we see only at this time of year. It's my 12th year running I think, and over those years there are lots of us who travel into Edmonton for the music and the beer. This year I won't be travelling in which is good, and we are already talking about taking a fishing trip around that time too.
The best news of the whole lot is that my sister and her boy toy will be in town from Zambia. I wonder if Alvin will be glad to hear "The African Guitar Summit" who are playing this year.
In addition, Blue Rodeo will be back again, Harry Manx will be back again, Eric Bibb will be back again.
Just thinking it might be time for Terry Wickham to start bringing in acts that might appeal to someone other than the 60 year-olds who have been coming every year since the festival started. Mom, you aren't 60 yet!
Thinking back to last year, like him or not, Hawksley Workman was there all weekend and his sessions were packed. The younger kids have to have someone to go see right?
I hope the organizers figure it out in the next couple years. I would die of shock of the long-rumoured Elvis Costello, Neil Young, or Van Morrisson gigs ever came to the EFMF. We can always dream, but Buffy St. Marie winding up the whole festival??? Seriously.

Nothing new!

There's a way to get people to read what I am going to write...... nothing new. My grandma had her surgery yesterday to have her reversal done for something that she had done several months earlier. Not that anyone reading this would really be too excited to hear the details. It's gross stuff that my mom is much better at dealing with and explaining than I am.
I am now home three months, and I am still biding my time and waiting for that right job to come along. This is where everyone interjects and gives their suggestions. Don't worry, I am not waiting around for something to come to me. I have always been the luckiest guy in town, and I even told the dealer at the casino that once. But I know for this to fall into place is going to take more diligence and hard work from me. I have been at it all along.
The thing I am trying to get at is, that my folks have been behind me the entire time, and they haven't pushed at all. They somehow strike a perfect balance between encouraging and reminding. It's the people who don't really know what's going on that piss me off although they're just trying to help.
If I don't know you, and I don't talk to you about it, then leave me alone. Otherwise, there are friends who are looking for job postings, and keeping their eyes peeled. That's the support I need and look forward to getting from those around me. Otherwise, I am having a blast, and I am going to have good news any day now. I can feel it. Let's hope so anyway, the cupboards are getting a little bare.

Hockey Pools

Fascinating.... I am three points out now that Teemu Selanne finally shook out of his rut. The best part about the Oilers not being in the playoffs this year is that I was able to use my brain rather than my heart when picking my fantasy hockey team.
And I am starting to see some movement now that some of my players started to finally score. I am the reigning two-time champion of our regular season pool on sportsnet.ca, but I haven't been able to crack it in the playoffs.
Who would've thought I would be cheering for the Detroit Red Wings? Easy, seeing as I picked Datsyuk, Lidstrom, and Zetterberg. Shouldn't be a surprise though seeing as I hate Chris Pronger and wish he would've been suspended for 8 years.
I am keeping faithful to Canada on the Eastern front. I like the Sabres, enjoyed watching them all year, but I just like the way Ottawa has been playing.
So I am three points back, and there's lots of time to come back.

How much can things change in ten days?

The facebook phenomenon is dead I think. In my world anyway. I thought it was so handy, but I will stick to the old yahoo email address and blogging.
I just can't bear to rekindle relationships that took place 10 years ago, and I am not really a big fan of small talk anyway.
I am not trying to poo poo everything here, as I think there are advantages, and I admit I am a curious person, but with me there are things that are only cool for a short time and then I lose interest.
Kind of like the movie Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Is she not the world's shittiest actor? I honestly couldn't bear the hokey lines, and the scenes where Denzel is conducting the police investigation from his hospital bed. It was RIDICULOUS! And perhaps the biggest waste of time yet.
I kept thinking of the dude on CSI who always has the cheesy lines and he's forever lifting his sunglasses up and down on his head.
And to think there are people who really like this BS. Oh well, I'd rather be outside myself.

I did see A History of Violence, which was pretty entertaining. And 16 Blocks with Mos Def and Bruce Willis I think. That was pretty good. Just a decent way to pass a couple of hours really. The new Bond was worth my time. Except for the scene at the end where the building is collapsing in Venice and no one really seems to be in any hurry to get out. The force of gravity must be weaker in Venice than it is in the rest of the world because it took an awfully long time for that building to fall.

I am interested in movies, and like to watch them, but I think I am one of those picky viewers who just doesn't like to watch something that is too silly. Like the movie with Tom Cruise - I think War of the Worlds when the son returns at the very end of the movie and answers the door. Are we really supposed to believe he survives that war scene? Absolute crap!
Next time I will think of something more interesting to talk about.

Ahhh what to say?!!!

I was playing around on the computer for about half an hour now, and I have come across several interesting things. My uncle's blog is great, I've linked to it on the side, so go check it out. Sounds like things are a little sketchy in New Orleans still.
I read an article by a Canadian guy in Maclean's one time just after Katrina and I don't think I will ever forget the pictures he had, and the stories he told. Trouble is I forgot his name. He was a professor at a university down there if I recall correctly. Anyway, it was fascinating, and it looks like there is lots to see and do there.

I am also going to admit to spending a little too much time on Facebook. I sit down and check it like my email, but I try to get off there asap - so nobody can cyber-snoop and check out what I'm doing. How could Tom be on the internet on Friday night? Or whatever. But this site is incredible. I've written about it before, but one buddy has pics of him flying a plane - I had forgotten he is a pilot - another has a little baby. Shit, that's the girl I dated in high school. I asked her not to hold my hand down the halls because all the teachers would ask seeing as my dad was the principal....... Years later I found out she was a sunshine girl, and now I see she's into hunting and having babies.

How do you reject someone on there? Will they find out if I click reject? I have 10 pending friend requests now, and I don't want to offend someone I haven't seen in ten years???? What's the deal with that? I think it's all getting out of hand. I am going to take my camera out and take some pictures. They make for better blogging.

Facebook rules, New Orleans does too. Maybe I'll go one day.

Grieving Online

From the last post you'll see I went off on another direction, but the main thing I have been thinking about as a result of the campus killings in the US is the role these social networking sites play today.
Sites like Facebook, and Myspace among others (those are the only two to which I belong) are often viewed as a place for pedophiles to troll for little girls. I know there is a lot of that, and I know there are a lot of young girls talking about things they likely should not talk about on the internet where everyone can see, but there is a role for these sites. And the killings showed that first hand.
Every news story I read had clearly gone onto these sites to see moving tributes. One of the guys killed apparently had 1000 + friends on Facebook and while the whole situation was unfolding, people were posting thoughtful messages, and meeting on his site to talk about what was taking place.
Within a few hours, and even days, thousands of "groups" were formed for people to leave their thoughts. I think it helps people deal with this stuff. After all, if this is where everyone goes when they turn on their computer, why not meet there and "talk" it out?
From legitimate heart-wrenching notes, to ones that attacked all Asians, or all Koreans came up within hours of the shootings.
It really is a powerful tool, and one that people need to accept. These social networking sites aren't going away, so it's time people realize it's more than just a place to go look at really young people without many clothes on.

How strange

I have had all sorts of thoughts about the online world over the last couple of days. I wanted to write it all down in separate ideas, and I still may do that, but I have to give my sister a shot first. I went to her blog, and out of curiosity I tried to click the link on her page that would take me my own blog. Well it turns out that we have to go read about some dude named Luke whose blog is attached to both links. Oh well, I think he's a DJ or something, so he must be fun.
So fix it so people can read your fascinating blog, and if they get bored they can come over and see how life in St. Albert is. Although many of them (myself included) are likely more interested in eating fried caterpillars than looking at my terrible moustache.
Anyway, I have been thinking about Facebook, Myspace and the internet in general. I have a video camera on my cell phone so if I happened to be near a crazed gunman, or a big fire I could yank the phone out, and with a few clicks of a mouse I could have my video playing on the evening news.
All the major networks had as the Virginia Tech story was breaking, was this grainy footage from people who were filming with their cell phones. So that's what the CNN's and CBC's have to do to keep up with the internet. I may biased a little, but the fact of the matter is, radio is the only other medium that can deliver the goods immediately. And I am guessing most people ran straight to their computer. It is easier than running to your radio and trying to figure out how to switch it back to the AM function and find newstalk radio.
Frankly though, I don't need to feel like I am watching the Blair Witch Project when I am watching the news. None, I mean absolutely NONE of the cell phone video captured my attention or showed me anything particularily interesting.
Now, I must admit that I went straight to the 24 hour news staions like CNN and CBC Newsworld to find out. First I saw 2 killed, including gunman: AP Report - then I switched back and saw 31 dead etc. It was a time when the journalist in me woke up and I wanted to reach for a phone and dial until I had someone on the phone who could give me the deal.
There was one time in Saskatchewan when there was a dozen miners or so trapped in an Esterhazy, SK mine and it was a Sunday afternoon. I was one of the only ones working, and we were just getting the story in bits and pieces. One of the guys in the newsroom was from Esterhazy and he started calling, and I helped and we eventually got the Regina reporters on the way there and spent two days covering the story non-stop. It was fascinating stuff really.
Earlier this week was one of those exciting times to be working in the news biz. I know while I was at the gym running on the treadmilll watching the news, most of the Lulu Lemon wearing moms in the joint were tuned into those same news channels.

Facebook

I went on this site called Facebook after reading about it in Maclean's magazine. Someone invited me, I clicked a few buttons and all of a sudden dozens of emails started flooding into my email from all over the place. People from Sheridan during j-school, and people who've moved away and I haven't thought of in years. The name of my junior high school even popped up. Remarkable, but kind of creep at the same time.
I guess it's hard to get away and hide nowadays. I feel like an old man as I try to catch up with what the kids are doing these days. Ahhh, the things a person can do on here.
But the blog is my favourite by far. I might have to post the link to this blog on my facebook thing and see if anyone actually reads it. Then again, it would be better to read if it were more interesting.
And that means getting away from the computer. What a vicious circle. What am I ever going to do?

Still going strong!

Man, the gym is so so so much fun. I think about it all the time.... when can I go next? What am I going to do today? How long will I be able to last?
I love it. There was badminton nets up yesterday so I kicked Dev's ass there. Twice. And tonight I am going to aquasize.
The only reason I want to do that is so that I can go into the steam room and hot tub afterwards. I was honestly quite sore after we went last week too. I laugh because, as a man, I am certainly in the minority and most of the ladies are 20 years older than me. I am sure they are cheating by putting their feet on the ground. Yup!
I have been pretty good only missing one day at the gym since I got the pass, and I don't see any reason to stop going. I take a couple hours out of my day and go burn off some energy. Beats the hell out of sitting in the pub.
I am going to resume the job hunt, just thought I should write something on here. Mainly because I have a minute, not because I have anything much to say.
Later.

Tom's going to the gym!

hahaha, Yeah I know.....
But it's true. There is this crazy new leisure centre in St. Albert and I went to have a look yesterday and it is amazing! There is a huge pool (mainly for kids I think) and two hockey rinks, a huge gym, and we also get access to the other pools and arenas in town.
For $40/month, I know I could do something else, but I signed up, and think it's not all that bad. Those of you reading this elsewhere, where things aren't the same (Sarah) might think it's dumb, but this place is lots of fun.
I could go outside and walk or run, and I could likely lift weights somewhere else, but this is what I did, and only have one day under my belt, but it was sure fun. I am going to bring swim trunks today and go into the steam room. Ahhhh that will be nice because it is snowing today!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up.
So I started out with one month, and I will give it a go and see how it works.
The two people I know are likely to see this blog, will hopefully see a change come folk fest in August so I can drink extra beer and not worry about the belly. But that is a long ways away. We'll wait and see. Either way I will be drinking beer with you guys.