Monday, May 24, 2004
That'll do, Donkey. That'll do!
Hey there everyone,
How are things? Just sitting here enjoying a Canadian long weekend - Victoria day today. Had a really enjoyable weekend. Firstly, got paid on Friday - woohoo! We went to see Shrek 2 in the IMAX with Erin and the two Ryans. The trailers did the movie no justice at all, and I think it's actually better if you don't see any trailers for it before going to see it. I don't think I have ever laughed the whole way through a movie like I have for that one..hilarious, and its definitely one that you would have to see a good few times to pick out all the little references to other movies etc. Absolutely hilarious!
Our planned trip to Bannf took place yesterday too, but not with the organised tour, Ryan and Erin offered to bring us out there - a lot cheaper and a lot more enjoyable. Trying to explain the views to my Mum and Dad on the phone did it no justice at all. I'll ask Ryan and Erin to email me some of the photos they took on digital cameras and I'll try to post them here. The scenery has to be seen to be believed. We stopped off along the way there to pick up our cheap entry ticket into Bannf National park. The weather wasn't great on the way there but the day really picked up as it went along. We stopped off to take photos of the elk on our way to Lake Minnewanka. Again, the photos from there should be great. There were scuba divers getting ready when we got there - and with the water below freezing point those guys must have been pretty psychotic to go anywhere near the water!!
We went on then to the Bannf hot springs. We were in heaven, sitting in +41 degree water, as the snow fell on our heads, a really unique feeling! We were starving after that and went for food at JOE BTFSPLKS - no its not a mis-spelling - thats the name of the place, but its pronounced as Joe Bit-tif-spliks, and then we went on our traditional chocolate and postcard shopping. A really enjoyable weekend and just chilling out now taking it easy for the day of the long weekend.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Take care
David
How are things? Just sitting here enjoying a Canadian long weekend - Victoria day today. Had a really enjoyable weekend. Firstly, got paid on Friday - woohoo! We went to see Shrek 2 in the IMAX with Erin and the two Ryans. The trailers did the movie no justice at all, and I think it's actually better if you don't see any trailers for it before going to see it. I don't think I have ever laughed the whole way through a movie like I have for that one..hilarious, and its definitely one that you would have to see a good few times to pick out all the little references to other movies etc. Absolutely hilarious!
Our planned trip to Bannf took place yesterday too, but not with the organised tour, Ryan and Erin offered to bring us out there - a lot cheaper and a lot more enjoyable. Trying to explain the views to my Mum and Dad on the phone did it no justice at all. I'll ask Ryan and Erin to email me some of the photos they took on digital cameras and I'll try to post them here. The scenery has to be seen to be believed. We stopped off along the way there to pick up our cheap entry ticket into Bannf National park. The weather wasn't great on the way there but the day really picked up as it went along. We stopped off to take photos of the elk on our way to Lake Minnewanka. Again, the photos from there should be great. There were scuba divers getting ready when we got there - and with the water below freezing point those guys must have been pretty psychotic to go anywhere near the water!!
We went on then to the Bannf hot springs. We were in heaven, sitting in +41 degree water, as the snow fell on our heads, a really unique feeling! We were starving after that and went for food at JOE BTFSPLKS - no its not a mis-spelling - thats the name of the place, but its pronounced as Joe Bit-tif-spliks, and then we went on our traditional chocolate and postcard shopping. A really enjoyable weekend and just chilling out now taking it easy for the day of the long weekend.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Take care
David
Saturday, May 15, 2004
The curse of Blog!
Hey there
Well, the curse of Blog has struck again! Writing about our proposed trip this weekend has put a curse on it. Sinead was told yesterday at the last minute that she was on-call for the weekend for work. After much argument and saying that she already had plans to go away, the lab manager told her "You don't have kids so you can come in this weekend!" She only has to be on call once a month at the weekends, but of course they put her first...typical! Sinead said the Indian lab manager is openly racist and especially dislikes the white men working in the lab, but thats a story for another day...or maybe not!! But Sinead likes all of the others in the lab so it balances itself out.
Work is busy with me too and I could have worked this weekend if I wanted to...but who wants that?!?!?!
So we're hoping to go back to Open Sesame for food tonight...Hopefully the Blog won't curse this one too!!'
Things are going well here. Hopefully next weekend will make up for it, if the curse of BLOG stays away just this once!!!
Take care
Dave
Well, the curse of Blog has struck again! Writing about our proposed trip this weekend has put a curse on it. Sinead was told yesterday at the last minute that she was on-call for the weekend for work. After much argument and saying that she already had plans to go away, the lab manager told her "You don't have kids so you can come in this weekend!" She only has to be on call once a month at the weekends, but of course they put her first...typical! Sinead said the Indian lab manager is openly racist and especially dislikes the white men working in the lab, but thats a story for another day...or maybe not!! But Sinead likes all of the others in the lab so it balances itself out.
Work is busy with me too and I could have worked this weekend if I wanted to...but who wants that?!?!?!
So we're hoping to go back to Open Sesame for food tonight...Hopefully the Blog won't curse this one too!!'
Things are going well here. Hopefully next weekend will make up for it, if the curse of BLOG stays away just this once!!!
Take care
Dave
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Catch 22
Hey there.
I tried to post a picture on the blog, on my last post, and then I deleted it, but the link still seems to exist. I don't know what's happening to it!
Work is busy but I'm online trying to find another job, and it's getting harder to find the time to go looking for another job, when the job I'm working at want me to work longer hours and even weekends!! The overtime pay is good though, so caught in a tricky spot!
So today I rang and tried to book one of those organised tours to Banff. They need a minimum of 4 people to tke the tour out,and at the moment we are the only two booked for it. It's just a day tour though and he said he would ring to let us know on Saturday night if it's going ahead. We were planning to do it Sunday. Here are the details of it:
Enjoy a scenic informative drive through the Beautiful Alberta Foothills and Magnificent Canadian Rockies. A stop at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the birthplace of Canada's National Park system.
Adventure drive on Cable car excursion (Gondola) on Sulphur Mountain. (Admission not included) 2 hour in Banff downtown– for the Shopping, Lunch, free activities.
Surprise Corner, Bow Falls Viewpoint trail along the Bow River to the geological wonders of the Hoodoo’s with 20 min. hiking and great views.
Visiting Lake Minnewanka for another great view. Lake Minnewanka is the Park's largest lake and the only one where power boats are permitted..
Return to Calgary at approx. 5:30 p.m.
Sounds nice, hopefully it will all go to plan.
The guys in work are really staring to pick up on the Irish accent and one of the new guys that started keeps asking me if I'm going for a few scoops after work!! It sure adds a bit of enjoyment to the day!
I think Sinead is trying to organise a MSN "meet and greet" with Eilish and Margaret Ann for Saturday night, so Lorna, if you're reading this, this is your chance to get an MSN account and join in!!
Nothing much else happening, besides the snow! Sinead is working away too, enjoying the job. The Flames seem invincible at the moment in the Playoffs so the city is still on a high. I can't imagine what it would be like if they won the Stanley Cup!
Unfortunately at this point the Canadian Grand Prix looks a bit pricy. The actual entry for the race is reasonable but the cost of the flight there, even the bus, could almost get us home to Ireland for the weekend. Must try the Canadian lottery this weekend!
Well, that's it from me for now.
Take it easy
Dave
I tried to post a picture on the blog, on my last post, and then I deleted it, but the link still seems to exist. I don't know what's happening to it!
Work is busy but I'm online trying to find another job, and it's getting harder to find the time to go looking for another job, when the job I'm working at want me to work longer hours and even weekends!! The overtime pay is good though, so caught in a tricky spot!
So today I rang and tried to book one of those organised tours to Banff. They need a minimum of 4 people to tke the tour out,and at the moment we are the only two booked for it. It's just a day tour though and he said he would ring to let us know on Saturday night if it's going ahead. We were planning to do it Sunday. Here are the details of it:
Enjoy a scenic informative drive through the Beautiful Alberta Foothills and Magnificent Canadian Rockies. A stop at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the birthplace of Canada's National Park system.
Adventure drive on Cable car excursion (Gondola) on Sulphur Mountain. (Admission not included) 2 hour in Banff downtown– for the Shopping, Lunch, free activities.
Surprise Corner, Bow Falls Viewpoint trail along the Bow River to the geological wonders of the Hoodoo’s with 20 min. hiking and great views.
Visiting Lake Minnewanka for another great view. Lake Minnewanka is the Park's largest lake and the only one where power boats are permitted..
Return to Calgary at approx. 5:30 p.m.
Sounds nice, hopefully it will all go to plan.
The guys in work are really staring to pick up on the Irish accent and one of the new guys that started keeps asking me if I'm going for a few scoops after work!! It sure adds a bit of enjoyment to the day!
I think Sinead is trying to organise a MSN "meet and greet" with Eilish and Margaret Ann for Saturday night, so Lorna, if you're reading this, this is your chance to get an MSN account and join in!!
Nothing much else happening, besides the snow! Sinead is working away too, enjoying the job. The Flames seem invincible at the moment in the Playoffs so the city is still on a high. I can't imagine what it would be like if they won the Stanley Cup!
Unfortunately at this point the Canadian Grand Prix looks a bit pricy. The actual entry for the race is reasonable but the cost of the flight there, even the bus, could almost get us home to Ireland for the weekend. Must try the Canadian lottery this weekend!
Well, that's it from me for now.
Take it easy
Dave
Thursday, May 06, 2004
"Is this the band then? Betcha U2 are shittin' themselves!"
Hi there,
Ok, so it only took 12 hours to go from +18 degrees to about +18 inches of snow! (Slight over-exaggeration!) Bienvenue a Calgary!
The Flames are in the Western Conference Final of the Play-Offs - the only Canadian team left in the Play-offs. Francis and Sherry called over to our place to watch the match. It was good fun. Francis has been playing a bit of gaelic football/aussie rules, so must try and check that out at the weekend.
Tired from work, and must go searching for plans for the weekend. Sorry, not much news at the moment - the snow and cold is a bit depressing after a few days of scorching sun - God-damn country! (Just joking, I love you Canada!)
It's so funny, some of our Irish-isms are catching on here - even Erin has got the girls in work saying "Slapper" - And with "The Commitments" film being shown last weekend here on TV, the questions in work have been hilarious. It's amazing what they will believe!!!
"The Irish are the blacks of Europe. Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. The Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. Say it once and say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud!"
Later!
Dave
Ok, so it only took 12 hours to go from +18 degrees to about +18 inches of snow! (Slight over-exaggeration!) Bienvenue a Calgary!
The Flames are in the Western Conference Final of the Play-Offs - the only Canadian team left in the Play-offs. Francis and Sherry called over to our place to watch the match. It was good fun. Francis has been playing a bit of gaelic football/aussie rules, so must try and check that out at the weekend.
Tired from work, and must go searching for plans for the weekend. Sorry, not much news at the moment - the snow and cold is a bit depressing after a few days of scorching sun - God-damn country! (Just joking, I love you Canada!)
It's so funny, some of our Irish-isms are catching on here - even Erin has got the girls in work saying "Slapper" - And with "The Commitments" film being shown last weekend here on TV, the questions in work have been hilarious. It's amazing what they will believe!!!
"The Irish are the blacks of Europe. Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. The Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. Say it once and say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud!"
Later!
Dave
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Hard Core!
Hey there,
Well, it's Saturday the 1st of May. MAY??!?! We have been in Canada for 6 months. Crazy, how time flies. Well, I just spent my life savings (not really!) on a bus pass and international stamps and phone cards etc. The phone cards are really worth it though. I gave my Nana a call. It's great hearing her. She is so good with all the news too. She was just waiting for my Mum and Jennifer to collect her to bring her to Mass. And they walked in as I was talking to her, so it was a two-for-the-price-of-one deal! I'm going to ring them at home later on again though.
Well, I thought I had avoided the Search loop, but instead I'm working 40 hours a week with Core!!! OK, so it's oil core. I'm working in an oil lab, as a sampler where the samples are then analysed for oil content. It's dirty, messy work, but it pays the bills. Sinéad is working for another lab, for which she is qualified so it's good experience too.
The weather is getting really good too. It's lovely out, +14, and expecting to reach the mid 20's tomorrow, so it's looking good.
Not much else to report really. Looking for ideas for a destination for next weekend.
Well, until later,
Tóg go bog é! (That's "Take it easy" for all Canadians!)
Dave
Well, it's Saturday the 1st of May. MAY??!?! We have been in Canada for 6 months. Crazy, how time flies. Well, I just spent my life savings (not really!) on a bus pass and international stamps and phone cards etc. The phone cards are really worth it though. I gave my Nana a call. It's great hearing her. She is so good with all the news too. She was just waiting for my Mum and Jennifer to collect her to bring her to Mass. And they walked in as I was talking to her, so it was a two-for-the-price-of-one deal! I'm going to ring them at home later on again though.
Well, I thought I had avoided the Search loop, but instead I'm working 40 hours a week with Core!!! OK, so it's oil core. I'm working in an oil lab, as a sampler where the samples are then analysed for oil content. It's dirty, messy work, but it pays the bills. Sinéad is working for another lab, for which she is qualified so it's good experience too.
The weather is getting really good too. It's lovely out, +14, and expecting to reach the mid 20's tomorrow, so it's looking good.
Not much else to report really. Looking for ideas for a destination for next weekend.
Well, until later,
Tóg go bog é! (That's "Take it easy" for all Canadians!)
Dave
