More

Actually, here's one that is a whole series. If you just wanted a series that is slightly different but all quite similar.

For Melanie

New Eagles studio release

Didn't know this was coming until today, but I'm pretty excited about it, especially since my first concert experience was the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over tour on my 12th birthday.

Favourite TV Moments

This is totally random. I'm watching a TV show right now counting down the top 30 funniest moments in TV.

My favourite sit-com moments aren't necessarily the funniest of all time:

• Friends - In the episode where Joey and Chandler win Monica and Rachel's apartment, they make a grand entrance, riding their white dog statue into their new apartment, saluting the girls with their arrival. There's just something about that scene that cracks me up.


• The Office - After a successful prank on Dwight, Jim and Pam "air-five" from their desks. Priceless.


• That 70's Show - Leo giving Eric a tattoo. "Debbie's really gonna like this, man." A physics text book would even be funny if read aloud by Tommy Chong.


• Simpsons - After a successful bargaining session with Mr. Burns, Homer celebrates by spinning on the floor cheering "whooootwhootwhootwhoot." Another one that never loses its funny.

Accidental self-portrait

While shooting some panoramics of the High Level Bridge this evening, I happened to get an accidental self portrait as well. This was just one of my divider images between panoramic series, but the silhouette effect turned out pretty cool.

How's that for entertainment?

What's the most unique entertainment you've ever seen at a wedding reception? The shoe game? Hardly! How about a tractor trailer bursting into a blazing inferno? Now we're talking.

Today's Big Bike Fun

Today I took pictures as Jodie, Melanie and Deb rode the big bike for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. It was a lot of fun, and here is a couple photos I took.

Still looking for that portrait

I want to go for a walk

On the border

A neat feature of my new camera is the ability to shoot multiple exposures. I played with that feature a bit during a pit stop in Field.

Watching hockey

Teemo sat on the bed and cheered on the Tigers to a win over the Giants tonight. With his colours, he'd fit right in at the Medicine Hat Arena.

In bloom

Recycling photo shoots

Since I didn't take anything new today, here's another one of Oakley hanging out in a basket.

Playing in the rain

Since I missed yesterday, I'll be generous today.

Oakley and I tried the flower thing again today, and he was more interested this time.



And Teemo watched.



One more shot of the flowers in the rain.

A walk in the flowers

Bring flowers into the house and he won't stay away from them, but do you think I could get him to play with some flowers in the garden? Of course not. This was as good as he'd do for me today.

Wii would like to play

This is what I love about the Wii ... everybody has a good time playing it (and spouses can go a few rounds in the boxing ring)

Cats

Tamara's daily cat fix. The funny part of this is that Teemo would start cleaning himself, and Oakley would give him a whack.

Nothing better going on in Canada

Apparently there truly is nothing better to talk about than hockey in this country. The opposition parties in Canada's parliament felt that the choice of Team Canada's captain in the current World Championships warranted debate in the House of Commons during question period today.

Phoenix Coyotes' star Shane Doan was named captain of the national squad for this year's tournament in Moscow. So what's the big deal? Earlier in this season, Doan, an Albertan, was accused of making comments regarding French-Canadians during a tirade directed to a game official. Evidently, the opposition parties feel it is the government's place to select the captain of the hockey team, as they criticized the decision and targeted the Tory Secretary of State for Sport during question period.

Worth noting about this story:

• The NHL conducted an investigation about the alleged comments. It was never proven that Doan made such remarks, and he was never punished for doing so (despite receiving a game ejection for verbal abuse of an official)


• Doan has frequently represented Canada before and never indicated he has a disrespect for Francophones


• The captaincy of a sports team was being debated in our national government. I think that deserves mentioning again, just so that it sinks in

So, while we face things like long health care waits, shortages of doctors, serious climate change issues, homelessness, poverty, and countless other notable issues that our government should be focusing their efforts on, they are discussing the decisions of Andy Murray and Steve Yzerman in terms of personel decisions of a hockey team. My plea to all of our MP's: quit wasting our tax dollars; leave the hockey analysis and debate to the armchair GM's. If you care to join them, I'm sure there's a sports bar not far from Parliament Hill ... stop by after work to discuss it with some Sens fans while you watch the game and enjoy a pint. There are more pressing issues for our government to be dedicating their time towards.

Spring is here

Never mind that the flowers aren't real ... spring is here.

The impending break up

I know we haven't posted in quite sometime now. And I would like to say that life is dull, nothing happens, but in all honesty... there has been quite a few noteable events that have occured in the last month... (has it really been that long?) So here goes a few tidbits of our lives... just to tide you over for a bit.

Easter weekend, my parents came out and visited from Revelstoke. My brother and his girlfriend, Anh also came. It was a great time. I really enjoy hosting, and my family is my favorite people to host! :) I even made waffles and crepes (on seperate mornings). BUt we had a great visit, I got to finally break out the good china and silverware!

The Thursday following, Josh and I decided we wanted to trade in our x-box on a Wii (while we can still get a good chunk for the x-box). I brought it down, and everything we had added up to over $300, so that paid for the Wii and part of Wii play. They didn't have any Wii's in at the time, so I left, but when I got home, thye had called saying my Wii was in! So we got a Wii! We've been having lots of fun with it, and a lot of sore muscles! It's kinda crazy, everyone is having a hard time finding Wii's, and we go in and the same day we have one... no lines, or any hassles... and it was free (well not technically... but we didn't have to put out any money). I like the cow racing, boxing and fishing games, while josh picked up a football game. COME PLAY WII WITH US!!

Josh celebrated his 24th birthday on April 2nd.

We have a very strange cat. Our youngest cat (Oakley) is very very strange. He loves water.... you turn on a tap anywhere in the house he comes running. His favorite place is to lay in the sink. Even stranger... he'll be laying in the sink, and you need to wash your hands, so you turn on the tap and he just sits there. On several occaisions the sink gets completely filled and he just sits in it like its a bath. Strange kitty. I have some cute pictures that I will post as soon as I get josh to load them on my computer. Oakley also has learned how easy it is to sneak out when guests are here. So whenever we have company, as soon as they're in the front hall, he's waiting. Our other cat Teemo is one of the cuddliest cats now. :) He doesn't run away as often anymore at all. Definately need to load some cat pictures.

I have one more assignment to complete (for tomorrow), and one more final (Evolutionary Biology) next week.

I got a job out in Revelstoke for the summer!! I'm going to be the GIS student for the city. It'll be a great opportunity. So I can't wait. I start April 30th. Sadly Josh won't be able to spend the whole summer out there. His job has allowed him some time out there working from home and some time working here. So we have worked out a schedule for the summer. I'm sad he won't be out there with me, but he loves his job and doesn't want to give it up. But I think our time share plan should work out alright. I think there's no gaps longer than 3 weeks without seeing each other.... so this means there will either be double the posts (because we'll both have different things to post about), or even less. But we'll try to keep everyone posted on our lives.

So if you're in the Lethbridge or revelstoke area, come for a visit! We like company!

Anyways, that is all I can think of right now. I'll try to get some pictures up this week!

Looks like Josh is getting a new camera as well. Someone just offered to buy his current camera, plus with his birthday money, and the money from a website job, he has enough to buy the camera he's been wanting for quite some time. So that's exciting! :)

Currently listening to ...

Wow, an entire month since our last post. You'd think we both have other blogs that we're posting all of our wit and wisdom to. The truth is that we have no wit, nor any wisdom, so our other blogs get ignored as much as this one. Given that 1/12 of a year has passed since anything's been posted here, I figured I should come up with an excuse for a new post.

So with that, I give you what will be my standard filler when we need some content: I'm listening to ...

Our first edition features the new Relient K album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago. A nice progression of their prior work that characterizes the gradual maturation of the band. There is more reliance on vocals with the album, and some nice harmonics that carry some of the songs. Of course, the typical clever and catchy songs that have made Relient K so popular with their last few albums. Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care exemplifies this one for me. Catchiest tunes would be Come Right Out And Say It, Must Have Done Something Right, and Up And Up.

A solid recent release that is sure to please fans of Relient K, and likely attract many more.

No Deal, Howie!

I had a fun first experience this evening. I've always heard about these door-to-door vacuum salesmen, but I've never experienced the sales pitch first hand. Well, we had the pleasure of taking part in one such demonstration this evening. In all truthfulness, the vacuum cleaner that this gentleman demonstrated for us was very impressive. I have to say that I actually enjoyed watching what this little machine could do. But then came the real sales talk. I knew I wasn't going to like this part.

Of course, we got to see the price, the comparisions to other products, and the financing plans available to make the terrific device available for us. And then, somehow, the whole evening morphed into an episode of 'Deal or No Deal'. The salesman asked to use our phone to call his supervisor, at which point he went through some rehearsed dialogue to see what sort of a deal he could offer us. After we effectively told him "NO DEAL, HOWIE!", he made two more calls to 'the banker' to see if the deal would get better.

Well, we didn't win the million, but it was fun being a participant nonetheless. And we got a set of three Ginsu knives as a gift for our time ... just in case we feel like chopping up some pop cans or old sneakers.

Thinking its time for a new post

Last weekend we went up to Edmonton for a couple of Hockey games (which the Horns won). It actually was good games. I even watched the hockey games. I don't know if it was because the games were being well played, or maybe it was the simple fact that there were no little kids running around being cute in front of us! The Horns swept the Bears at home. Unbelievable.... but it happened. It was really nice being back on the U of A campus. So many great memories. I really liked that campus, and it was fun to see all the places I had spent so much time, plus all the new additions ( and removals... they took away the v-wing). Saturday we spent the day at West Edmonton Mall. Josh played in a table hockey tournament... while I shopped. In the morning I bought not one... but 2 winter jackets. They were such a good deal... and I couldn't decide between the two of them. :) I also found the snowboard I want.... but that will have to wait for another year. In the afternoon, I met up with one of my rowing and class buddies. Steph came and spent the afternoon at the mall with me, despite her busy schedule! It was fun to catch up with her. On Sunday we planned to hit the Outlet stores... but sadly, they didn't open til noon. So we drove to Red Deer and went shopping there ( although we didn't buy much.. more looked). I spent the whole weekend looking for a winter jacket (wihch was easily found) and some nice knee high boots (which I still haven't found - I either don't like them... or they don't sip up over the calf). It was a good weekend away though... and was just nice to get out of town!

This weekend is a soccer tournament here in town. Josh and his friends have formed a team, and most of them are from the calgary area, so we have A LOT of people crashing at our house. At first it was going to be about 12 people.... it sounds like we're down to 8 people... so we get to keep our room now. YAY! It'll be a crazy weekend around here. I still haven't decided if I want to play or not yet, but will make that decision by game time Saturday. :) I have a paper to write this weekend.. plus I work a graveyard, so it may be better if I don't.

I really don't have much to say, but I figured it was time for an update. OOO I did get to see the class schedule for the fall. There's lots of good courses offered, and since I'm doing on my concentration in GIS now, there are some more require courses to take. Due to the offereings, and lack of offerings during the summer, I will not graduate til April 2008 now. I think it will be getting better, at least there won't be any more biology courses after this semester.

Blue Man Group on Global Warming

I love the Blue Man Group. Came across this as well!

Toast the Earth with Exxon Mobil

:) This video made me laugh. IT was posted as required viewing for my climate change class. So funny.

The Dean is Hip

For the first time in a half-a-dozen years, the Tragically Hip made an appearance in Lethbridge tonight. I’ve seen them play in Calgary and in Edmonton, so this show completed my Hip hat-trick. Having seen these guys twice before, I had some established expectations about the show.

Several of these expectations were fulfilled:

• Gord Downie’s crazy antics on stage. Perhaps crazier than ever. From his using the mic stand to act out the sweetest of dekes during Lonely End of the Rink, to hip-checking the mic stand and dancing like a gorilla on top of the monitors, Gord’s performance was typical in both uniqueness and oddity. You either love or hate this aspect of the Hip; I love it.


• An entertaining opening act. With a prior record of openers like the Rheostatics and Sam Roberts, one expects an opening act worth showing up early for. The Sadies certainly satisfied with their upbeat, quick-picking, country flavoured tunes. I typically show up early in order to get a good parking spot, and doze through the opening act, but these guys actually kept my attention through the entire set. It was even better that Travis Good of the Sadies returned to the stage to play fiddle with the Hip during their encore cover of Four Strong Winds.


• A good cross-section of Hip music. As much as I enjoy World Container, I want to hear the classics as well. By playing some of the favourite classics (like New Orleans is Sinking, Bobcaygeon, and Wheat Kings) and some ‘deep tracks’ (like Escape is at Hand for the Travelling Man) they keep both the casual and the lifelong fan entertained.

Sometimes, you just get that little extra experience that makes the show truly memorable. That happened for me when my wife noted that, though she was enjoying the show, the dancing of a man near our section was nearly as entertaining. I glanced in that direction to watch the dancing for myself. It only took me a brief moment to realize that the man who had caught our attention was none other than the U of L’s Dean of Management, Murray Lindsay. Certainly the highlight of the night for me, was watching the esteemed dean air guitar to the Tragically Hip with a beer in one hand. And when that beer was empty, some of my Faculty of Management colleagues made sure to promptly supply him with another. We all had a good laugh.

So while the performance by The Tragically Hip and The Sadies was enjoyable, it was the performance by Murray Lindsay that really made the night’s entertainment complete. Rock on, Murray!

Image credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/myk4bz/317759554/
(reposted from www.joshuaschroeder.com)