08/31/09, 8 PM. At 8 we were sitting in the Philadelphia airport having
dinner, waiting for the third and final (and shortest) leg home. Long day
of travel, kids mostly slept on the first two flights, so by now they were
all awake and wound up. Whee! But we made it, and I walked into my stuffy
house by @ 11:30 pm.
08/30/09, 8 PM. As the sun sets, one last look at Lake Louise in Banff
National Park (out there for a 3rd day, because that park is HUGE and
awesome), and Victoria Glacier above it. Louise is a bit further than the
town of Banff, about a 2 ½ hour drive from Calgary. We never made it to the
ice fields that would have been another 2 hours north. But thats ok.
The drive for this view alone was totally worth it. We got there, hiked
around for a bit, rowed canoes on this lake for an hour, then had tea (and
by tea I mean an excellent plate of local cheeses and cocktails for the
adults, ice cream for the kids), at the one resort hotel there out on the
patio with the lake view before just grabbing fast food for the long drive
back to finish packing and try to sleep for the 4 am wakeup the next morning
for the flight out.
08/29/09, 8 PM. One last look at the crowds at Globalfest, the most crowded
night yet, before settling in to hear the winner for the international
contest, and watch the Finale fireworks. Poor Asher and Dorney had to miss
this night, as Asher got sick and after a puke in the van it was better for
him to just go back to the hotel and rest. Earlier today was just a small
trip to the Bow Valley Museum, an art museum downtown.
Oh, and Canada won. Mexico should have. And the finale fireworks were the
best of all. I think they had the biggest budget though - a half million $$
for a 23 minute show.
08/28/09, 8 PM Another trip out to Banff, this time to ride the Gondola to
the top of Sulpher Mountain, hike around, then in the early evening we
recovered from the hike in one of the hot springs pools there, with an
amazing view. If that wasn't decadent enough, we had a late dinner at a
steak house that has "blue rare" as a choice, which is a step below rare. A
top grade 6 oz filet later with just a touch of blue cheese, and I was in a
meat coma.
08/27/09, 8 PM. So tonight, as one of my multicultural activities for
Globalfest, I decided to play the Refugee Camp LARP. My character sheet
said I was Zlatka, a doctor who stayed to work in the hospital of my civil
war torn country, although I had sent my husband and children to Canada to
be safe. But the hospital was bombed, so I left to try to join them, and
ended up in a refugee camp. I was lucky - I knew at least my family was
safe, and didn't have malaria or cholera, as some of the refugees did.
I was actually hoping for a role playing experience, but I guess the
characters were just for flavor. The woman who played our guide was making
an effort to play the role, and of course I was the only nerd in the group
that started speaking with an accent and offering to help in the first aid
tent, etc. Mostly we were "processed", and led around to different stations
and told many depressing facts. But it was still interesting, and I learned
how to check for land mines with a pencil.
08/26/09, 8 PM. A day at Fort Calgary (nice museum, very kid friendly),
followed by dinner downtown at Buzzard's, a restaurant that claimed to have
authentic Alberta beef. I admit I wussed out on the bison and elk, and just
had cow steak, but it was darn tasty. This hockey cowboy was just outside
the restaurant, I guess advertising Canadian culture.
08/25/09, 8 PM. While waiting for Spain's fireworks to start, Chloe made
her own entertainment. What appears to be a strange dance is her throwing
rocks into the lake. Kid's got a good arm on her, and of course this had to
turn into a competition with her brothers. And then she was wondering why
her right shoulder was hurting the next day.
08/24/09, 8 PM. This is a skeleton of a Dire Wolf, which made me jones for
LOTRO (those who play would understand :o) ). We drove out to Drumheller
and the Badlands, and spent the day at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a large
museum dedicated to dinosaurs, many found in this area or just west towards
the Rockies. Museum was open until 9 PM, so we stayed a bit late, pausing
in the middle of the day for the kids to go to a fossil replica making
workshop, and then we got to spend some time hiking trails through the
Badlands right by the museum (or rather, the museum was situated within the
Badlands). It was absolutely gorgeous.
08/23/09, 8 PM. Ukrainian dancers. Before the fireworks tonight we grabbed
food at the international pavilions (Brazilian meatstick and Polish perogies
for me-mmmm), and watched some of the shows at Gobalfest. Tonight's
fireworks were from Mexico, and I have to say I liked them better than
Canada - much more artistic, and in synch with the music - more like a
ballet than just explosions.
08/22/09, 8 PM After disembarking from an hour evening boat tour on Lake
Minnewanka in Banff National Park in Alberta, we saw 2 adolescent male and 2
very young female bighorn sheep, who were really not shy around humans. I
mocked their lack of big horns, but they rightfully ignored me. I really
wanted to see the big fuzzy mountain goats, but they tend to hang out in
much higher elevations on rocky terrain. But who knows; we'll be heading
back towards the Rockies for another day trip, or perhaps a glacier park.
cid:image001.png@01CA22D0.FD6F1D20
08/21/09, 8 PM. Well more like 10, but you'd rather see fireworks than
tents over a lake, right? Tonight was Canada's entry in the Globalfest
fireworks festival, and it was pretty freaking AWESOME. All fireworks
entries are a ballet in a way, set to music, 25% of which needs to originate
from the country presenting. Canada threw in a bit with a French song, but
ended with AC/DC. Rock. On. And I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the
"fireworks" setting on my camera. I also took about a 3 minute video of the
show at one point, and would love to share it, but am unsure where I can
upload a 150MB file.
08/20/09, 8 PM. Long, long day of travel, and finally reached hotel and
made up fold out couch for me. It was only a bit after 8 local time, but of
course felt like after 10, and I had been up since 4. Zonk.
08/18/09, 8 PM. I trucked Bela and kitty paraphernalia up to Htown so that
this cool dude could watch her for me while I am in Calgary. Of course he
has ulterior motives, as he has some mice issues in his 200 year old house
he hopes she'll help with. I'm not sure that cat would know what to do with
a mouse, but who knows.
08/17/09, 8 PM Am digging through my house for props, looking for
inspiration. This is the side of an urn I have (when I looked in, it's
still filled with snakeskins). What story does it tell you?
08/16/09, 8 PM The project is back, and this is why. Not the greatest
camera, but not bad. 12 mp, 7x optical zoom. And it's small. Fractalgeek
has recommended to me the Panasonic Lumix FMC-FZ28 as a decent mid-size
camera - I did look at that, and it looked nice, but just a bit beyond my
budget, plus physically more camera than I really want. I really loved my
Casio for the ability to fit it in my pocket. This Nikon isn't as handy as
that as it didn't come with a tiny case the other had, and the best shot
features not as nice either, but I like the additional zoom it has. And I
bought a cool red case. I just need to keep the receipts I have so I can
take Ritz up on their offer of a free album.
07/17/09, 8 PM. Had this in a FedEx envelope waiting by my door when I got home tonight. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
07/16/09, 8 PM (ish). So, the other day I was sitting at work, joking that since we in IT were sitting by the loading dock door, it should be our patio, and we could totally grill and stuff. Bossman got out a small bucket, wrote "grill fund" on it in Sharpie, and by the end of the day had a fair amount of cash in it. And then he went shopping. Had to be a gas grill, as charcoal takes too long to repeatedly use during lunch hours. I was thinking a small portable one, but no, he had to go buy a Boy Grill. So today we had hamburgers and hotdogs, almost all in the office partook in our little picnic, and threw in a few more bucks for the food. Monday is the next grilling day; I'm thinking about making shrimp kebobs.
07/15/09, 8 PM This was way tastier than it looks in this crappy photo. Turkey sausage, marinara, and leftover veggies from July 4 party made for a relatively healthy and low fat and tasty dinner. I popped open my last bottle of Chianti to go with, probably taking away from the health factor, but making for a better rounded meal. :o)
07/14/09, 8 PM. I was over at larp_tech's, and decided to try to play a little LOTRO on his PC while I waited for him to get home. This thing was my nemesis this evening, but I think that's because I kept clicking on the wrong version (but then I deleted it - ha!). Though hon, if I upgrade before you, I'll bequeath you my box.
07/13/09, 8 PM. Though still sore from game, I forced myself out for a walk to get groceries, as it was just too nice outside. I walk down this street and wonder, how many beavers had to die for it to be named this?
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