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2026 January to April

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 02:02:26 +0000

Winter is finally turning to spring. Idris has been building lots of lego and doing lots of art. I have had some beer and tried out things in the snmoker. We had a lovely Valentine’s day, fun at Easter and had a nice outing at the zoo. See the photos:

2025 November to 2026 January

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:27:00 +0000

A few months since my last post. Things that have happened since then include my birthday, Idris’s birthday, Christmas, beer and I got a new smoker. See the photos:

2025 August to November

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:29:21 +0000

It has been awhile since my last post. Idris and I have done lots of Lego. We had a nice Saskatchewan trip and got to visit Regina, Vibank and Jennifer’s farm. We had a bumper crop of pears. So many pears and tried some recipes with them. Idris started kindergarten and is quite enjoying it. Lots of different art. Halloween at the zoo and normal Halloween were fun. Also the start of my birthday. See the photos:

2025 July

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 21:27:35 +0000

For July we went on a little vacation. We stopped in Calgary first to see family. We then drove to Vernon, BC and stayed at a place called Outback Lakeside. We had a good time there enjoying the pool, the science centre and an orchard. We then drove to Kamloops to visit Geoff and family. We did things like the zoo, beach and lake. We then headed back to Edmonton on a very rainy day. We had a nice anniversary and enjoyed the warm weather. Idris did more art. See the photos:

2025 May and June

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 21:25:19 +0000

It has been a nice start to the warm weather months. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. I had a lovely Father’s Day. I took some photos of Idris playing soccer and skating. Lots more art. See the photos:

2025 April and May

Fri, 16 May 2025 15:54:03 +0000

The weather started to warm up and we got away to Mexico for an all-inclusive. Idris loved to be in the water all the time. I almost finished my advent calendar beer and Afsheen had a birthday :). Idris continues to grow in so many ways. See the photos:

2025 January to March

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 16:53:53 +0000

Some photos from the start of the year. Lots of Idris art and beer. See the photos:

2024 Christmas Mini

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 19:03:02 +0000

Our Christmas photos and a family photo with Santa at my work kids Christmas party. Photos done by [Simply B Photos][1] See the photos:

2024 End of August to beginning of January

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:56:32 +0000

I haven’t uploaded pictures in a while. Here is the rest of the year. Lots of art from Idris. See the photos:

Idris Birthday Photos

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:53:16 +0000

Here is a gallery of birthday pictures from Idris. I selected one photo and we can see the changes! Updated yearly
See the photos below.

2024 July and August

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 21:54:57 +0000

The summer months flew by. We went to Calgary to see family, had our anniversary, Idris moved up a level in swimming, and surprised us by making his own person out of paper and stickers. See the photos:

2024 April to July

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 21:50:18 +0000

Some busy months of birthdays, father’s day, visits with family, beer and Idris art. See the photos:

2024 San Diego

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 21:42:15 +0000

For a vacation we wanted to try to go a little further from home. We decided San Diego would have lots to do for us. Nana and Nani came with us. We went to legoland, birch aquarium, the natural history museum, science center, SeaWorld, the zoo and Sesame Place. It was jam packed and we had lots fun. Here are the photos:

2024 January, February and March

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 16:50:54 +0000

Some photos from the past few months. Just random things here and there.

2023 Last half of the year

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 20:04:49 +0000

I’ve been a little slow in putting up photos. We got some apples and pears from our trees this year. We did trick or treating. Winter has been mild so far. We had some birthdays and Christmas. Idris is enjoying making food with us. I got another beer advent calendar that I am enjoying.

2023 Christmas mini

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 19:52:09 +0000

We had a fun time taking pictures with our matching PJs

2023 Vancouver trip

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 17:31:54 +0000

Idris got to take his first airplane flight. We went to Vancouver. We stayed in a nice airbnb and met up with friends and family. We went to the zoo, the beach, berry picking, aquarium, science world, many different play grounds, Capilano suspension bridge and Granville Island.

2023 June and first part of July

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:32:11 +0000

June and July have been nice and warm. We had Father’s day, Eid, and went to Calgary. In Calgary we saw friends, family and the zoo. We also got a new fence.

2023 May

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 14:03:00 +0000

Lots happened in the last half of May: there was some more Mother’s day presents, Idris helped plant and water some flowers, Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and we went to the children’s festival. See the photos below

2023 Valentine’s Mini

Fri, 12 May 2023 19:29:24 +0000

Mini photo session from last Valentine’s

2022 Christmas mini

Fri, 12 May 2023 19:27:42 +0000

Mini photo session from last Christmas

2022 fall mini

Fri, 12 May 2023 19:24:45 +0000

Mini photo session from last fall

2022 Summer mini

Fri, 12 May 2023 19:23:29 +0000

Mini photo session from last summer

2023 March, April and first half of May

Fri, 12 May 2023 19:10:24 +0000

Work has been busy and Idris keeps us extra busy and I didn’t get to post these sooner. Idris likes to help us do things like build speaker stands. Idris had fun at Easter with his presents and his egg hunt. Afsheen had a nice birthday. We went to the zoo with a friend of Idris’s and went to a dinosaur event. I finally finished my beer advent calendar!

2023 January and February

Fri, 12 May 2023 19:05:22 +0000

January and February went fast. We got some art from Idris. I had more beer. We had a nice Valentine’s and Idris made some art for that too.

December and First Part of January 2023

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 20:02:14 +0000

Winter settled in. We had a birthday party for Idris and friends. Idris helped put up the Christmas tree. We made some good food and had a nice Christmas with Idris loving to open up presents.

2022 November and First Part Of December

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 15:47:57 +0000

The weather has become cold and dark a lot of the time but still some nicer days. We had my birthday and Idris’s birthday. It is hard to believe he is 2 already. We converted his crib into a toddler bed.

2022 September and October

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 20:44:16 +0000

September and October went buy in a blur. We did some things like Thanksgiving, a corn maze, Halloween and more. See the photos below.

2022 August

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 16:37:45 +0000

August wasn’t quite as crazy as July but lots of fun was had. We had a cake for our anniversary. We went to the fringe festival and Idris mostly played in a ball pit at the kids fringe section. We saw family and enjoyed the summer weather. See the photos below.

2022 July

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 14:46:32 +0000

July was a busy month spent outside a lot enjoying the summer. Idris is starting to get more comfortable with dogs. We went to Calgary, Revelstoke, Kelowna and Kamloops. Idris enjoyed all the new experiences but not the long drives. He got to meet his cousin and had a blast with her. We had our fifth wedding anniversary. Time flies. See the photos below

2022 May and June

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 21:39:06 +0000

Idris has loved being able to be outside more and doesn’t care if it is pouring out or sunny. He just wants to play outside. Highlights from the last couple of months include Star Wars Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, going to Fort Edmonton, getting art from Idris, pancake breakfast for Canada Day at the legislature and lots of silliness and Idris helping us cook and clean. See below for the photos.

2022 April

Sat, 07 May 2022 18:22:41 +0000

Idris still loves the outside and has started walking more on his own during our walks. He also enjoys playing in the playground. He enjoys climbing on things in the house and sitting on them. We celebrated Afsheen’s birthday and started Mother’s Day. Idris has a matching shirt with his mum (astrology) and dad (Flames). See the photos below.

2022 March

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:59:51 +0000

Spring is finally starting to come. The snow is starting to melt and the days are getting warmer. We still got some snow but it doesn’t stick around like it used to. Idris loves to be outside and has started exploring the great outdoors on his own two feet. I continue to drink the advent calendar beer. It is still tasty. We celebrated St. Patrick’s day. Idris loves to be silly and likes to help us do things like laundry and unload the dishwasher.
See the photos below.

2022 February

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 16:25:47 +0000

February was pretty cold again but had some nicer days. We have had quite a bit of snow. We dealt with some more sickness but recovered. We had enjoyable times as Idris continues to grow, walk, run, go up and down stairs and get into everything. We had a nice Valentine’s Day and I got spoiled. I have continued to enjoy the beer from my advent calendar
See the photos below.

2021 December and 2022 January

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 21:10:37 +0000

We managed to move in December. Not easy at all. Idris has been enjoying the new house. We had Christmas and he is almost 14 months now. It is hard to believe. Idris has walked a little all on his own. He started daycare and got a cold and gave it to us to spread the joy. I have been enjoying my beer advent calendar. The weather was really cold for a long time but has gotten a little better.
See the photos below.

2021 November and First Part Of December

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 15:53:23 +0000

What a month it has been. Happy First Birthday to Idris. It is hard to believe he is a fully year old now. He has grown so much since then. He is cruising around our furniture and walls and I am sure will be walking on his own in no time. He loved opening his presents and ripping the wrapping paper. The weather has definitely changed to winter. We have been in the process of buying and selling our house. I had a wonderful birthday. It has been pretty crazy.
See the photos below.

2021 October and first part of November

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 20:37:46 +0000

Happy 11 months to Idris! He is moving around all the time improving his skills. He had his first Halloween and is as goofy as ever. The fall weather has been pretty nice so far.
See the photos below.

2021 September and first part of October

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 20:55:11 +0000

Idris is now 10 months old and trying to stand up on objects. He also has 4 teeth on the top and two on the bottom. I got some tomatoes from my plant and the season has changed from summer to fall.
See the photos below.

2021 August and first part of September

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 17:43:43 +0000

Idris is now 9 months old and crawling all over the place. He got to meet his Aunt Jaclyn and Uncle Pedro.
See the photos below.

2021 July and First Part of August

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:20:39 +0000

We have had a nice summer so far with Idris. He is up to 3 meals a day with real food! Afsheen put together our puzzle from our wedding and glued it together. We had our 4th wedding anniversary. We went to the zoo again this time with my parents. It was another success. My parents were here for a long weekend and got to see lots of Idris. Idris is rolling all over the place. He had his first swimming lesson and is now 8 months old!
See the photos below.

First Trip to the Zoo with Idris

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 19:57:18 +0000

Last weekend when it wasn’t too hot outside we decided to go the zoo. It was the first time there for Idris. He seemed to have a good time and was well behaved.
See the photos below.

Mommy and Me Photoshoot

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 20:45:53 +0000

As part of Afsheen’s mommy and me group they did a photoshoot.
The photos were done by https://www.facebook.com/teaganphotography
See the photos below.

2021 June, Father’s Day and First Part of July

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 17:51:52 +0000

It was a busy time for us. Idris had his 6 month birthday, we started giving him food, my first Father’s day, took Idris to the playground for the first time, met my parents in Red Deer, had a little Canada Day celebration and his 7 month birthday. He is rolling a lot and sitting up on his own.
See the photos below.

Idris Birthday Photos

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 19:15:04 +0000

Here is a gallery of birthday pictures from Idris. I selected one photo and we can see the changes!
See the photos below.

2021 May and Mother’s Day

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 21:59:26 +0000

Idris turned 5 months in May and had his first Mother’s Day. We made some tasty food in the instant pot: Salmon and garlic potatoes with spinach, Beef ribs was another night. I planted some tomatoes which aren’t doing so well any more.
See the photos below.

2021 Afsheen’s Birthday

Tue, 04 May 2021 17:56:05 +0000

Afsheen had her birthday and I tried to make it as special as we could given the circumstances. I took the day off and attempted to spoil her as much as possible. On the weekend her family came over to our backyard.
See the photos below.

2021 April Bayat and Quilt

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:03:53 +0000

Here are some photos of Idris from April. He had his bayat (baptism). He behaved wonderfully, had nice weather and met my parents in person for the first time. He got a lovely quilt made by his great-grandaunt (I think that is how it is)
See them below.

2021 March and First Half of April

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:31:41 +0000

Here are some photos of Idris from March and the first half of April. He had his four month birthday, first St. Patrick’s Day and first Easter.
See them below.

February and early March Photos

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 21:19:24 +0000

Here are some photos of Idris from February and early March. He had his two month and three month birthday.
See them below.

January 2021 Photos

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 15:23:24 +0000

Here are some photos of Idris from January. I also took some moon photos.
See them below.

Newborn photos

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:56:24 +0000

On December 19th we went to simply b photos to get photos of Idris. We got them back and they turned out wonderful
See them below.

Idris Part 2

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 01:26:09 +0000

Here are the second photos of Idris from my camera. More food, Christmas and we went on our first walk.

Idris

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 00:01:09 +0000

Here are the first photos of Idris from camera. I also got a new zoom lens for it. I took some photos with it. They are mostly ducks. See photos below.

Birthday 2020

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 22:32:29 +0000

For my covid birthday weekend I had a lovely time. I got a black forest cake on the Friday. On the Saturday I got a fancy beer (very tasty), a Nintendo switch ( very fun) and a chocolate advent calendar. I had nice video chats on the weekend with all my family and Afsheen’s family too. On Saturday we took out a fancy meal that was quite tasty. I had elk osso buco and korean fried cauliflower. Afsheen has crab cakes and Pesto Elicoidali. We quite enjoyed it. From Afsheen’s sister I got a punny yeti card and a neat light kit. Afsheen’s parents gave me nice card and gift. From my parent’s I got a star wars card and some scotch glasses. The weather was as good as it gets in November. I didn’t have to shovel. All in all it was a lovely weekend. See photos below.

Red Deer Lunch

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 01:40:43 +0000

This past weekend on Saturday we drove down to Red Deer to meet my parents for lunch. We had a nice visit. The weather was good. We had a nice spot in the park next to the Alberta sports hall of fame. We brought our own food and stayed a safe social distance away. We hadn’t seen them since last fall. See pictures below

May Long Weekend 2020

Mon, 18 May 2020 17:57:19 +0000

This Sunday on the May long weekend I decided to bbq some beef ribs. I took some photos of the process. I basically followed the directions from here: https://leitesculinaria.com/44707/recipes-barbecued-beef-back-ribs.html
For ingredients I just put a rub on that we had instead of the one provided. I also used hickory wood chips and smoked it some as it was cooking.
See pictures below

Disneyland 2020

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 22:40:30 +0000

On January 6th we left a cold Edmonton and took a flight to Los Angeles. After we arrived we explored Downtown Disney. We spent the days of Jan. 7, 8 and 9 in Disneyland and California Adventures. On Jan. 10th we had a princess breakfast relaxed and then headed back to an even colder Edmonton late at night. See below for my photos

Zoominescence 2019

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 19:08:44 +0000

Yesterday evening Afsheen and I went to the zoo to see the lights at Zoominescence. The weather wasn’t too bad and we had a good time. I got to try my new camera out and saw how different it is at night. See below for my photos

Christmas 2019

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 22:52:32 +0000

For Christmas it was just Afsheen and I and we had a nice relaxing time. On Christmas Eve day I made a beef brisket. It took all day so we didn’t get to eat it for supper but had it afterwards. It was quite tasty. On Christmas Day we saw the new Jumangi with Afsheen’s parents. It was quite fun. It was the second time I had watched it! The theatre was quite busy. Lots of people out watching movies. For boxing day we went to the mall fairly early and got some good deals on things. See below for some photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

New Camera

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:11:12 +0000

After saving up some gift money and a Black Friday sale I was able to buy a new camera body. I got a Nikon D7500. I took some random photos with it. Some of the photos include pictures of Afsheen, pictures of the guys, backyard pictures, pictures of my Star Wars wreath I got as a gift from Afsheen and Scotch that I bought with a gift card I had from my bachelor part!y

Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes

Sun, 27 Oct 2019 22:02:47 +0000

Some friends were in town and everyone wanted to go the science centre to see the new Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes exhibit. It was lots of fun they had lots of interesting things to see and read. Click to see the photos below.

University of Alberta Botanic Garden

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 15:33:11 +0000

This weekend my parents came to visit us. One of the things we did was go to botanical gardens. We saw the Aga Khan garden, the butterflies and the Japanese garden. It was a fun trip. Click to see the photos below.

2019 Italy

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 04:11:13 +0000

Afsheen and I had a nice spring break and we went to Italy!
We went to Rome, Genoa and Florence. We had a lot of fun, met up with Geoff and Abril and ate very well. I took a few pictures. Click to see below.

2019 Body Worlds

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 03:45:57 +0000

With some friends Afsheen and I went to Body Worlds at the Telus World of Science. It was animals. It was quite interesting and informative. It was a fun thing to do on a cold winter day. Click to see the photos below.

2019 Las Vegas

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:23:21 +0000

After Christmas for a break Afsheen and I went to Las Vegas. For shows we saw Penn and Teller and a Cirque Du Soleil show called Ka. We quite enjoyed both shows. We ate well and tried a variety of restaurants. We gambled a little bit and made a little money! We did some outlet shopping. We went to the Mob museum and did some CSI work. I took some pictures, mostly of the city. We walked quite a bit sometimes much more than intended. Click to see below.

2018 Christmas

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 16:17:56 +0000

We went down to Calgary for a few days for Christmas. We made some dampfnudel. I took pictures of the process of making them. There are also some Christmas pictures. Click to see below.

2018 Anniversary

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 02:42:30 +0000

Over a weekend in July, Afsheen and I went on a trip for our 1 year anniversary to Victoria. We stayed in a nice hotel that was walking distance to most things we did.
Some things that we did included Butchart gardens, saw the “x-men” castle, the Royal BC museum, saw some friends and a carriage ride.

Click to see the pictures from camera

Edmonton Valley Zoo

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 20:15:12 +0000

This past Thursday, Silvacom held a family BBQ at the Edmonton Valley zoo. We had the place to ourselves. We had some good food and then walked around the zoo some. It was quite hot out!
The zoo gave us an animal talk about their wolves. For the talk they took the wolf on a leash to some water for it to play in and talk about her. While the talk was going on the other wolf in its enclosure quite far away was howling most of the time. It was a fun time.

Click to see the pictures

Tucson 2018

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 02:23:53 +0000

This past week Afsheen and I went to Tucson to visit my parents. We had a good trip. The weather was nice and warm almost too warm!
We did a lot of things. We went to a botanical gardens, to the desert museum, to the air and space museum, to the miniature musuem, to a Franklin car museum and more.
We also enjoyed a lot of good food.

Click to see the pictures

Ice Castle 2018

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 00:09:51 +0000

This past weekend Lindsay and Derek were in town. Along with Sabin and Sarah and their kids we went to the ice castle.
It was quite a bit different than last time. There were 3 different ice slides and lots of neat structures.

Click to see the pictures

2017 Christmas 2.0

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 23:20:07 +0000

For Christmas 2.0 we went down to my parents for some tasty food and good company!

Click to see the pictures

The Science Behind Pixar

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:38:18 +0000

In August we went to the Telus World of Science to see the Pixar exhibition. It was quite fun. Afsheen got to see a life size WALL-E!
Click to see the pictures

Melissa and Julio’s Wedding

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:33:46 +0000

Photo’s taken on my camera at Melissa and Julio’s wedding on 2017-08-12
Click to see the pictures

Abril and Geoff’s Wedding

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:31:39 +0000

Photo’s taken on my camera at Geoff and Abril’s wedding on 2017-08-19
Click to see the pictures

2017 Christmas 1.0

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 22:23:13 +0000

Some photos from a cold Christmas in Edmonton.
Click to see the pictures

Wedding photos

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:45:21 +0000

We have the wedding photos.

The pictures were done by Lyndsay at Minted Photography
http://minted-photography.com/

Click on them to see them all

Photobooth photos

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:43:30 +0000

Here are the photobooth photos.

The photobooth was done by Equinox Sound & Entertainment Inc

Click on them to see them all

Photos by Salim

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:41:57 +0000

Here are a whole bunch of photos of our wedding that Salim took.

Click on them to see them all

Kayaking in Hawaii

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 04:16:20 +0000

Here are the photos of us kayaking in Maui! We saw turtles and swam with them. We also got to see an octopus and hold it!
It was a lot of fun.

Photos taken by John Shappel of Shappell Photography
https://www.flickr.com/shappell

Click on them to see them all

Hawaii Honeymoon

Sat, 12 Aug 2017 16:21:07 +0000

After our wedding (pictures to come), we went to Maui for our honeymoon. We had a wonderful time. The weather was awesome, we relaxed, by the pool and beach, ate and did things!
Here is one set of pictures from the honeymoon.
Click to see the pictures

Wedding Engagement Photoshoot

Thu, 25 May 2017 04:10:31 +0000

We were waiting for the flowers to come out on the trees for our engagement pictures.
They finally came out on the May Long weekend and Monday evening we got our photos taken on a wonderful warm day.
The mosquitoes also came out but we still had fun.

The pictures were done by Lyndsay at Minted Photography
http://minted-photography.com/

Click to see the pictures

2016 Christmas

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 23:00:52 +0000

Over Christmas we went down to Calgary for a bit. The roads were very bad on the way there. We saw many cars in the ditch but we went slow and made it safely. A few pictures from Christmas and Skully and some beers Afsheen got me for Christmas. They were all very tasty. There are also pictures from Edmonton Christmas as well. Click to see the pictures

2016 London and Spain

Wed, 31 Aug 2016 21:11:54 +0000

Afsheen and I had a great time on our summer vacation. We first went to London and I got to meet some her family and see Stonehenge!
We then flew to Barcelona, took a high speed train to Madrid. A bus to Granada to see Alhambra. We then made our way back to London where we did the studio tour of the Harry Potter sets and back to Canada.
See the pictures below

Beer Advent Calendar

Fri, 25 Mar 2016 21:08:31 +0000

For my birthday Afsheen got me a lovely beer Advent calendar. It took me awhile to finish but all the beer were good and none were bad. Some were betters than others though.
Here are pictures of all the beers.

Skully and Maverick Pictures

Sun, 07 Jun 2015 00:13:18 +0000

On the May long weekend, Afsheen, Geoff, Abril, Maverick and I went down to Calgary to see my parents. Maverick did pretty well in the car. He had a spray in his carrier that helped calm him down and he slept most of the time. We saw Afsheen’s friend at Chinook Mall and had a good time with my parents. I took a few pictures of Skully and Maverick. They mostly avoided each other or hissed and growled if they were close.

Maverick pictures

Sun, 05 Apr 2015 21:28:30 +0000

Maverick came over for a visit to my place so he could get practice travelling and visiting other places. He did quite well besides throwing his litter all over the place. See pictures of his visit below.

Indiana Jones

Sun, 05 Apr 2015 21:21:37 +0000

Over the Christmas break Afsheen and I went to the science center to see the Indiana Jones event. It was quite fascinating and lots of information about the movies and archeology as well. See the pictures below.

My Birthday

Sun, 05 Apr 2015 21:17:57 +0000

A little late putting the pictures up but better late than never.
I had a nice birthday meal with Geoff and Abril.

Christmas 2014

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:58:36 +0000

I had a nice relaxing Christmas this year. I went down to Calgary to visit Jaclyn and Pedro. We made sure Skully got her required attention. Played games and relaxed.
We went to visit Stuart and Stacey at Dead Man’s Flats then did a hoodoo walk with their dogs in Banff. We also did a walk around my parents’ neighbourhood.

See below for my photos.

Bread

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 02:35:39 +0000

Last Sunday I made myself a loaf of bread.

I found this recipe:
http://www.thekitchn.com/noknead-bread-i-35556

It sounded pretty good so I gave it a try and it turned out well.

See pictures of it below.

The Lights at the Legislature 2014

Sun, 14 Dec 2014 23:36:29 +0000

Due to the nice (relative) weather Afsheen and I thought it would be good to go see the Christmas lights at the legislature. It was a nice evening for it.

I got some good practice taking pictures of lights at night. I still need more practice!

See below for my photos.

Grand Canyon!

Fri, 21 Nov 2014 02:52:10 +0000

I just got back from the Grand Canyon for a 6 day backpacking trip.
I went with a company called Wildland Trekking. There was 4 of us plus 1 guide and 1 guide in training.

You can see more details of it here:
http://www.wildlandtrekking.com/grand-canyon/backpacking-trips/rim-to-rim-to-rim.html

We went Down the South Kaibab Trail (rim 1) then up and down the the North Kaibab Trail (rim 2) and then up the Bright Angel Trail (rim 3).
It is pretty spectacular and amazing how quickly the vegetation and rocks change all the time.
We had pretty much perfect backpacking weather. I wore a t-shirt most of the time. The last night was a little chilly but manageable.

After my trip my parents picked me up and I got to see their new place in Tucson and relax for a couple days before coming back to winter in Edmonton.

See below for my photos

Camping again

Mon, 18 Aug 2014 03:41:16 +0000

Geoff, Abril and I decided to go camping again.
We tested out my new tent which was snug but fit us pretty well. It seemed to work well but there was no rain so tough to know that part!

On the way to the camp site there were bison on/near the road that we got some good pictures of.

We went on a long 17 km hike on Saturday. It was fun but not easy. It was pretty hot out and there were tonnes of mosquitoes and maybe no-see-ums. When you moved yours arms well walking you could feel the bugs hit your arm. We drenched our self often in mosquito repellant to help. We found one nice place for a lunch that was relatively bug free and we could sit on a log. We didn’t see any bison on the trail but lots of their poop! We did see a couple of rabbits.

We were exhausted after our trip and relaxed in the evening. We saw this weird thing moving at the campsite next to us. A squirrel had a furry blanket or something and was underneath and moving it.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed home.

See the pictures below

Cariwest Parade

Tue, 12 Aug 2014 04:04:34 +0000

On Saturday Geoff, Abril and I randomly decided to go to the Cariwest parade.
It was nice weather for it. It started about 30 minutes late, had a weird break in it that we almost left but was good weather and we had fun.

See the pictures below

Camping and Hiking in Elk Island

Sun, 03 Aug 2014 22:48:41 +0000

From July 18th to July 20th I went camping with Geoff, Abril and Geoff’s friend Hui.
We had a good time. The weather was pretty good. One night/morning it rained pretty good and the tent leaked a little but after that it was all good.
We did lots of hour or so long hikes. We even got to go in a voyageur canoe with a bunch of other people and went around part of the lake. It was free and they had other events going on as well at the park.
See the pictures below

2014 Canada Day

Sat, 05 Jul 2014 20:01:02 +0000

This Canada Day, I decided I wanted to practice with my camera and learn how to do fireworks pictures.
In the afternoon I took a walk around the Legislature and area to get an idea of where I wanted to be and where others were.
Ultimately I decided I would try from my brother’s balcony.
I went back to my place, got my tripod and remote shutter and went back to his place.

At 11pm the bridge lit up for the first time and there were some other fireworks at other locations going on in the background.
About 5 minutes later the fireworks started. Unfortunately about half the fireworks were behind a building but I still got some nice shots and learned some things that I needed to figure out.
See the pictures below:

Spring walk

Tue, 20 May 2014 01:06:22 +0000

For the monday of the weekend, it looked like a nice day so I decided to go for a walk around the river and take some pictures. The legislature building is no longer covered and there is lots of construction around the new bridge.
See the pictures below

Back in Toronto

Thu, 08 May 2014 02:01:32 +0000

A little late with this post but better late than never.

I had a great trip to Toronto. As per usual the weather made it hard for me to get there. There was snow while I was driving to the airport and when I returned.
I got to see Erin’s new place in the Danforth. After Erin taught school we went for lunch at a Greek place near by. I had a pork souvlaki pita that had french fries in it with an iced tea. Erin had a vegetarian pita one with a ginger ale
For supper we went downtown to Bellwood’s Brewery. We shared a meat plate and fries. It was interesting meat but tasty. I had a Grizzly Beer and Catherine Wheel. Erin had a Stay Classy and a Phantom Limb. The beer was really good.
We took the long trip to the zoo though slightly shorter than from her old place. It was great to see the pandas! It was a little cool but in the sun and out of the breeze it was pleasant. We had supper at Matt’s place. It was neat to see where he works.
We had some other walks around her area and managed to finish watching Twin Peaks. It was quite a good show. We didn’t like the last episode though. I was hoping for warmer weather but we had fun.

Even more snow greeted me on the way back but I managed to make it back ok.

See pictures below

2013 New Year’s Eve Fireworks

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 21:57:49 +0000

On New Year’s Eve we invited Erin’s parents over for supper.
We made lobster. We had two lobsters for the 4 of us and they turned out really good.
After the lobster we had a bean salad from the cookbook I gave Erin for Christmas, steamed asparagus, a shrimp ring, Caesar salad and roasted potatoes.
For dessert we had pumpkin pie that Erin’s mum had made. It was all scrumptious.
We played some Dominion after supper and dishes. As it got closer to midnight we had Champagne that Erin’s parents had brought. We put on our snow clothes and headed to Churchill Square to see the fireworks. It was cold out but not too bad as we were dressed warm, got their as the fireworks just started and then walked back to my place.
Click below to see the firework’s photos!

Christmas 2013

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:50:34 +0000

Erin and I had a nice trip down to Calgary to visit my parents and Jaclyn and Pedro for Christmas.
I took a few pictures. The first ones are of our “Christmas” tree in Edmonton that continues to live.
The next ones are in Calgary. The weather was pretty good for Christmas. Not too cold and snow was there so it wasn’t brown. Click to see the pictures below.

September weekend in Calgary

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 02:52:35 +0000

Geoff and I went down to Calgary for a nice weekend to see the rest of the family and the pets before it gets too cold.

See below for pictures of the pets and people

West Coast 2013

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 02:46:25 +0000

With Erin we went to Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Bowen Island and Victoria this August.

The photos are below, click one of them to see them all. At some point in time I will write up everything we did and edit the pictures more.

July Long Weekend 2013

Sat, 13 Jul 2013 01:13:50 +0000

Another July weekend, another awesome trip to Cadomin. In addition to Erin’s family Abril and Geoff also came up with us. We drove up Friday evening after work.

On Saturday we went to the Cardinal Divide. We brought a lunch and had it before setting off on our journey. We were looking for a geocache a few kilometers away. There was a trail in the general direction and we headed off. The weather was a little cloudy and unsettled. It was decent hiking weather, not too hot and not too cool for the most part. It would get windy and rainy at times. It was also sunny at time. The trail eventually started to go away from the GPS coordinates so we went off trail towards our cache. The terrain was now a little more hilly. Spongy in some places, hard in others. We could see a large hill that seemed to be where the cache would be. As we headed towards the hill we had to go around parts that were more difficult. Eventually we got to a point where we had to make a decision turn around and head back as time was getting short or go for it. Jake and Laurie offered to go back and get the car and we would go for the cache and then head for the road at the bottom of the hill. Going up the hill was more difficult as we had to cross a stream, avoid some snow patches, avoid scree and find a path to the top. We persevered and made it to the top! However the cache was not there it was lower down in an area full of scree. Matt and Erin went to look for it. They found the spot where it should have been but there was no cache there 🙁 Now it was time to go down to the road. Abril, Geoff and I were at the top so we went down to meet Erin and Matt get out of the scree. When we got there they weren’t there so we thought they must be further down and went to look for them. Still no luck! We sent Geoff up to see if they were up a bit on the other side. Nothing. He went up higher and eventually found Erin. Matt was missing now though. They eventually found each other and Geoff took them to us where we headed down together, a little later then planned. When we reached the bottom we could hear Erin’s parents and called back to them but couldn’t see them through the trees. We heard them drive away. We jumped over a stream we had been following down and got to the road. Shortly we saw them coming to get us and drove back to the cabin with them.

On Sunday we went to Jasper. On the way to the town we saw some mountain goats on the side of a cliff. It is amazing how they can just move around on the ledges. They were pretty scruffy looking not having much hair. We had lunch at a nice picnic table by the river. After lunch we went to to Athabasca Falls. It was quite nice there. The water was higher than normal. I hadn’t seen it before so I couldn’t compare it. I got some good pictures there. After losing Matt for a bit at the falls we headed to Mount Edith Cavell and Angel Glacier. It had changed quite a bit. There was a landslide when another part of the glacier fell into the lake. You aren’t even supposed to go to the lake anymore.

See the photos below

Toronto April 2013

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:12:30 +0000

I went to visit Erin the week after Easter (because it was much cheaper) and it was a better weekend. The weather in Toronto was OK while I was there. Certainly better than the snow I had as I was leaving Edmonton.

When I arrived in Toronto, Erin was there to greet me and we went to pick up a car rental. Picking up the car was smooth enough except when I was trying to leave the parking lot, I went the wrong way and had to turn around to get out. I did my first driving on Toronto’s freeways and managed to survive. There was just one scary incident with a car kind of passing us, half in my lane and half off the edge. It was late at night so there wasn’t too much traffic.

We decided to rent a car so we could go to near Kitchener and see Jamey and Jen on their farm on Saturday. We had a nice visit. I took some pictures of their kids and they have grown a lot since we saw them a year ago. Driving there and back was ok, nothing too scary but it is way busier than Alberta highways. We returned the car back to the airport and took transit back to Erin’s place. The subway was going under some repairs so we had a little detour on buses but we caught the connections well and it didn’t take too long.

On Sunday we went for a little walk around Erin’s neighbourhood and then to her Uncle’s for supper.

On Monday we went to High Park for a walk, took some pictures at the mini-zoo which is still there for now. We had a decent meal at a vegetarian/flexitarian restaurant where it is buffet style and you pay based on the weight of your food.

Tuesday was my final day and we walked along Bloor, Erin got some gifts for a friend. We were going to have Korean for supper but it started to pour and so we decided the chicken place near her was a better idea. My flight back was smooth enough and I managed to remember where I parked my car and make it back home for a late night before work the next day.

Click below to see pictures of the trip

Easter

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 01:27:16 +0000

I went to Calgary for Easter to see my family and the pets. I took some pictures of mostly the pets.
See the pictures below.

Star Wars Identities

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 03:41:17 +0000

Over Christmas Erin and I had wanted to go to Star Wars Identities because it was in Edmonton. We decided that early on New Year’s Day would be a good time to go and it was. It was not that busy until near the end when we had spent a long time going through everything. It was quite neat and I recommend any one who is into Star Wars to see it.

There is a lot of information about all the props, costumes, etc. There are neat concept art and ideas that they had but changed later like Luke was going to be a female! There is a science aspect to it about what influences people to be the way they are and uses Star Wars characters as examples.

As you go through you build your own identity. Here is mine http://sw-id.com/50e338e225926

Here is Erin’s: http://www.starwarsidentities.com/hero/en-ca/50e338f298be3

Click below to see my pictures

Calgary Zoo Winter Time

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 04:51:46 +0000

After Christmas on a cold sunny day we went to the zoo. Our main goal was to see the Penguins, Tigers and Hippos.
We were successful in all accounts. The penguins weren’t busy because it was so cold and we could stay there as long as we wanted.
The tigers were running and walking around and let us get some pictures. Once we got cold we went indoors and our lens all fogged up!
The hippos were eating and swimming once done. I guess they don’t have to wait!
I got some quite good pictures I was happy with the results.

Click below to see the pics

Oh Christmas Tree

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:12:22 +0000

On Saturday was my company Christmas Party and Erin won a reindeer full of Chocolate and goodies! On Sunday we went to Erin’s parents and they gave us a live tree. A Norfolk Island Pine to be exact.
Click below to see pictures.

Roasting Grains

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:06:08 +0000

I needed some Crystal Malt and the store didn’t really have exactly what we need for our next beer so we decided to roast some grains to make them instead.
I soaked them over night then put them in the oven for an hour and they seemed to turn out pretty well.
Click to see the pictures

Night photography

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:04:16 +0000

A little bit more than a week ago, I decided to try to take some night/sunset pictures for some practice with my camera. It was a nice night and I knew they would be quickly getting colder.
I went to the Legislature and some shots of the river valley and High Level bridge. Click to see them.

Jacques Lake Backpacking trip

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 19:41:10 +0000

On the last weekend in August I went backpacking with Erin and her dad. We drove up to Cadomin Friday night. Dealt with a leaky tire Saturday morning then went to Jasper.
We got to the trail-head around 11am. It is 12 km to the Jacques lake campground and has a slight elevation gain but not very much. We had perfect weather – it was nice and sunny but not too hot. There was not too many bugs so that was a plus!

My backpack seemed to work pretty good. I rented it from MEC for the weekend. My shoulders were quite sore by the end of the trip but not too sore.

It was a nice hike. The beginning of the trail is an old fire trail so it is a little wider. There were gravel washes in multiples from previous storms that we had to walk over. It made things a little more interesting. After about 4 kms it turned into a single track trail through trees and next to lakes. For most of the trip there is either a lake or creek next to you. There are many nice views of the mountains and the water. It took us about 4.5 hours to get to the camp including stopping for lunch and snacks.

It was a nice campground. We were the only ones there and some of the sites hadn’t been used for awhile. We got a nice site. After we had set up camp we went for a little walk to a ranger station next to the lake. On the way to the ranger station we saw a moose in the water. It was pretty neat and didn’t really care that we were there. Each day we saw about 6 people on the trail. Most of them went to the campground and back in a day.

After a nice long sleep we got up and noticed that there were two moose eating in the picnic area! The sun wasn’t yet over the mountains so it wasn’t too bright out side yet. Jake tried to scare them away using a bear banger. First he launched a flare by mistake and they didn’t really move. He then used a bear banger and they moved a little bit more but still not really and they went back to eating. The bear banger was a bit like a firework going off. Eventually the moose moved far enough away and we could get to our food that was hanging and start a fire.

It was quite cool in the morning so we wanted a fire to help us warm up. It probably went down to around zero at night. I was warm in sleeping bag but once I was out of it, I quickly got cold!

After breakfast and packing the tent up we again left around 11. This time it took 4 hours and a bit. We were a little faster.

Both ways we saw some fairly fresh tracks that looked like maybe a wolf was hunting a deer or something. The tracks were pretty neat.

We got back in the car and we were on our way back. All in all it was a good introduction to my first real backpacking trip

We took Erin’s camera as it is more weatherproof and not so heavy! Erin took most of the pictures. I took some and Jake took some. Some pictures turned out quite well! Other ones not as much but it is hard to tell if you got a good one or not.

The pictures are below

Legislature walk

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 02:18:05 +0000

Erin and I took a quick walk around the legislature today. It was a nice day that wasn’t too hot or windy. We took some pictures. Erin did most of the flower ones. I did some of the other ones. Click below to see the photos:

All Grain Beer

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 02:10:52 +0000

Saturday was beer day.

Earlier in the month we had bought the grains, hops and yeast that we would need to make beer using grains and no extracts. Previously we had made beer using only extracts and thought it would be neat to try it with grains.

On Friday we rented a grain crusher and went to Erin’s parents to crush it outside.

Saturday I got up planned my exact recipe and determined that we could not fit all the grains that we had crushed into my pot. We decided we would then make two batches and put it together in the end to up with the same amount of beer that we had planned on. Making 2 batches of beer takes a long time. Though there is lots of time in between doing things you have to keep an eye on it. I woke up around 7:30 am and it wasn’t until 7:30 pm that we were all done.

Click to see the pictures of the day:

Pickle Making Long Weekend

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 01:55:11 +0000

For the August Long weekend Erin and I went to my parents. We mostly relaxed while in Calgary. We also made pickles. Here are the pictures from the weekend:

Easter in Toronto

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:04:52 +0000

For Easter I left Edmonton late Thursday night for Toronto. There was a snow storm in Edmonton in the morning to make things interesting. It had mostly melted in the afternoon but my plane left late not because of weather but because it was late from LA or somewhere. My flight was smooth and Erin picked me up when I arrived at 1:30 am or so and we took a cab back.

On Friday we went for lunch at a German place with Erin’s friend. I had a good wiener schnitzel that came with a potato salad. After lunch we walked around Parkdale and went to Trinity Bellwoods park. While walking we came across a big parade for Good Friday and watched it for a bit. For supper we made a light meal at Erin’s place.

Saturday we picked up lunch at the chicken restaurant that is near Erin`s place at made our way to the ferry to the Toronto islands. Before we took the ferry we found a nice place by the lake to sit and eat. The ferry seemed to take a long time to come for some reason. We walked around some of the islands and took some pictures. It was a nice clear day. After taking the ferry back we met Erin’s cousin and had burgers. Mine was quite good. We then went back to Erin’s place and got ready to go to a Pirate themed party at one of Erin’s friends. The pirate party was quite good and had some pirate themed activities. Such as sword-fights and lighting a cannon.

Sunday involved lots of travel. We went to Erin’s uncle to borrow his car and drive to near Kitchener/Waterloo to see Jamey and his family. His twins have grown a lot since we last saw them. Jen is due any day with a new baby. We had a nice lunch, played Settlers of Catan. Much to our chagrin (not Erin’s) Erin stormed at the end and beat us. We got a tour of the chickens and had a nice supper before driving back.

Monday was my last day there. We bought lunch at a nearby restaurant to Erin. I got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. We took the subway to High Park. There is a small little zoo in high park that we walked to. It was quite interesting. It is free and may be closing down soon. After a nice walk, cool at times with the wind we took the subway back and Erin made a nice quiche with quinoa and kale among other things. My plane left late at night but on time. I arrived on time for a late night before going back to work the next day

See the pictures below

Ninja Cookies

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:25:29 +0000

Yesterday with Aidyn we made some gluten free cookies. His mum made the dough and we rolled it out, cut, baked and decorated them. We used the ninja cookie cutters I got from Erin and also an Easter egg and Easter bunny one.

Below you can see some of the results of my cookies:

Legislature at night

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:01:30 +0000

Geoff and Abril came to visit me while Erin was here. We went to see the Legislature at night and I took some pictures with my new lens. It takes some pretty good pictures. I think I need to turn some lights off on the camera when shooting dark things. There are some “lights in the sky” that I think are coming from the camera.

Erin and I also bought a new tent. It seems quite nice and we had to test it out by building it in my apartment.

See pictures below

Valentine’s Supper

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:06:48 +0000

Since Erin is back in town we decided to make ourselves a nice Valentine’s meal.

We started early and made a marinade sauce for the chicken and got the potatoes cooked. While the chicken was marinating we went to find some saffron at bulk barn. We got lucky and there was one box left for us. After getting the saffron we went to the liquor store that my coworker is at and he helped us a pick out a wine that went great with our meal.

We cooked
Chicken Biryani – (rice and chicken and spices)
Cauliflower with ginger and cilantro
Yogurt with potatoes – (Indian potato salad)

Everything turned out great! We learned to not put in nearly as much salt and oil as the recipe asks for. Each dish complimented the other dishes. The potatoes would cool down your mouth when it was hot. The cauliflower had an immediate spice to it and the chicken had a different spice that built up. The wine was not too sweet or sour and the spice helped the flavour out.

Click the link to see the pictures of the meal below

New camera lens!

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:49:44 +0000

I got a new lens! I had some money from Christmas and decided this would be a nice way to use it. It is a 35mm prime lens. It should be good for lower light pictures and pictures with a fast shutter speed. It can also do neat blurring on unfocussed parts of the picture. I bought it from futureshop (I had a gift card) and price matched the lens and a filter to make it a good price!

Yesterday I took some practice pictures with it inside. Today I went for a nice walk and took some outdoor ones. Click the link to see the pictures.

Fish Creek and Pet photos

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:31:04 +0000

These photos are a little late going up but better late than never.

I spent the time being busy mostly. For these photos I learned to to remove some green cat eye (instead of red eye) from one of the photos. I also wasn’t always sure with some of the photos when I adjusted them what I liked better for looks.

The pictures can be seen below. The first bit is from a nice walk near the weather. The second bit is some pet photos.

Toronto Trip

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:30:48 +0000

I had a quick trip to go and see Erin for a bit. I left work a little early on Friday and got back late on Monday. I took Monday off instead of Friday for Remembrance day as Erin was off of school on Monday.

To get to the airport I decided to try jetset parking. It is right near the airport. Booking online the wepark was the same price as the youpark so I did that. I had a fairly smooth drive, dropped off my car, I could even check in my bag and caught a shuttle right away to the airport and could then go right to security. Security was quite busy but they had all the lanes open and it didn’t take too long. I had a hamburger at Montana’s for supper with some ok potato salad. The flight was full and it we got on and left basically on time.

I watched some curling and cfl that was on the flight and maybe drank too much club soda and water as I really had to pee after we landed and there was really no bathrooms until after you picked up your bags. Just one toilet and a big line. It seemed to take forever for my bag to come. Once I got it, I could go see Erin and try to find a bathroom! The close one was closed so we had a ways to go before I could relieve myself.

We found a taxi and made our way to Erin’s. The next day we had an easy morning, followed by some dress shopping for Erin. I got to talk to a guy that had two daughter’s and a wife and wasn’t so happy to be clothes shopping. I also bought a new cheap belt to replace mine that is falling apart. After Erin found a nice dress we did some grocery shopping and she had 4 hands instead of her normal 2 to bring food back. We made a nice supper of chicken mole, yellow rice and squash. It was very tasty. We watched an episode of Nikita that I brought for Erin as her Uncle’s house was in it. I will have to visit his place some time it seems very nice.

On Sunday we went to the zoo and had beautiful weather. We took the subway and 2 buses to get to the zoo. It all went very smoothly. We did not have to wait very long at the connections For some reason when we got to the zoo there was a long lineup to get in. I don’t think they were expecting as many people to come as did. They had a promotion with groupon that made the tickets quite cheap. The layout of the zoo was not how I remembered it. It was as big as I remembered it. We did not see the whole zoo. I took lots of pictures which you can see below. We had a nice lunch at the zoo and took more pictures in the afternoon. On the way back we took one bus and multiple subway trains. It took about the same time as in the morning. For some reason the heat was just blasting on the bus and we were glad to get off it. It made me remember some of my old school bus days when the heat was on! At night we watched Chicken Run. It was my first time seeing it and I quite enjoyed it.

For supper we went to a nice restaurant with in walking distance of Erin’s place called the Butler’s Pantry. I had a slice of vegetable curry pie with salad that had a good dressing made in house. The pie kind of reminded me of a giant samosa. I was quite happy with it. Erin had a zucchini cake. We shared a dessert of a chocolate cake. It wasn’t too sweet and also good but maybe a little bit too much.

Since we didn’t get enough walking in at the Zoo and the day before we decided to walk again. This time we walked to the University for Erin to drop off some papers. We then walked towards Yonge St. We stopped at a sandwich place for lunch. It had fried vegetables and mushrooms on a big bun and I got turkey on it. I enjoyed it but it was a little greasy for me. We walked down Yonge to Queen St. W. On Queen we stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and to sit for a bit. Erin saw a yarn store that looked interesting. It was called Romni and was giant. I have never seen so much yarn before!

We walked to Ossington where we caught a bus as we needed to get back to Erin’s and were tired. We had a nice salad for supper using the leftover chicken mole and also nuts and berries and goat cheese. Oh Erin also introduced dutch rusks to me. They were quite tasty and not too hard or crunchy. They are messy with crumbs though. We also had salsa and chips.

We took the subway and bus to get to the airport. We made quite good time and there was basically no line for security. My flight left and arrived a little early which was nice. It was basically full. There wasn’t really anything good on tv and TSN didn’t come in for most of the flight so I only watched a little of the Monday Night NFL game. Futurama was on that was good. I was quite hungry on the plane so I bought a macrobar. They are vegan bars. It was interesting. I was hoping it had more protein than it did. I doubled up on my snacks and didn’t drink as much water this time.

My bag came quite quickly, the shuttle was there right away for me and I barely had to leave the door. My car was running and waiting for me when I arrived. The drive back was smooth and quiet. I was glad there has been no snow yet. All in all it was a great trip!

See my photos of the zoo below

Beautiful Fall Day

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:10:36 +0000

Today was a beautiful fall day here in Edmonton. It got over 30! So I decided to go outside for a bit and enjoy the outdoors. There must have been some sort of police type ceremony at the legislature grounds because there was lots of various police, rcmp, etc all dressed up fancy leaving the grounds.

I took some pictures of the grounds starting to change and you can see them below

Indian Baked Chicken

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:59:29 +0000

Yesterday I decided to try and make an Indian dish from the cookbook that Erin got me.
I saw a roasted chicken one stuffed with rice that sounds good. Instead of getting a whole chicken I used boneless skinless chicken strips and marinated them with the sauce. I then baked the chicken and started to prepare the rice and sauce for the rice. When the chicken was mostly cooked, I added the rice and baked it for a bit longer.

I only had some mini disasters as I was making it!

It turned out pretty well. Next time I make it I think I would add some cayenne pepper or something as it wasn’t spicy hot.

Edit: I added the recipe to the comments

To see the results look below

New look

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:19:34 +0000

I have put a new theme up on the website. Not sure if I like it or not. I may try to find another or go back to the old one. Let me know what you think.

Oldest Tree in Alberta

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:08:12 +0000

This is the 3rd post of 3 from the August long weekend.

Erin’s dad and brother went on a 120km hike for 10 days or so and we were their designated people to pick them up. So instead of the busy 3 hour trip up the number 2 we took the roundabout way through the mountains. It took 10 or so hours but lots of nice views!

After picking Erin’s dad and brother up at the icefields centre, on our way to Rocky Mountain House we stopped at Whirlpool point. Near the whirlpool is Alberta’s oldest tree which is over 1000 years old. I took some pictures of it and the area around it. On the way back we also saw a small black bear munching on some grass. I didn’t get any pictures of it. Some people were doing their best to try to get a physical from the bear.

See pictures below

Calgary Zoo

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:07:44 +0000

This is post 2 of 3 from the August long weekend.

On the Saturday we went to the Calgary Zoo. It was a nice day, hot but not too hot.

Lucky for us maybe but not for Jaclyn she had to work that day. We got to hear her do a talk about the elephants, touch some elephant poo that was covered and hold part of a tusk. Tusks weigh a lot!

Jaclyn also showed Erin and I around the butterflies and the caterpillar tree.

We then got to follow Jaclyn as she set up for a bat presentation. She gave a little talk and would answer people’s questions while showing Sundar. She was a nice big fruit bat.

It was a nice day at the zoo we got to see some neat things. A tiger was running, a tiger sleeping with his feet up in the air and looking very happy. The male lion was roaring and moved around a little bit. Grizzly and black bears were moving around and taking a bath.

See part 1 photos below. Click on one of the photos to see them all

Strathmore Heritage Days

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:07:30 +0000

This is post 1 of 3 from the August long weekend.

Friday after working half the day and lunch, Erin and I drove down to Strathmore. We got to see the same storm twice. Once when we were driving through Airdie. The rain was very big and close to hailing. It was very dark. Just as we got to Strathmore it started to storm again. We hid in the shelter of the grandstand while it rained. The temperature dropped a lot. It cleared up pretty quickly and we dried our seats off and had good weather for the rest of it. It was a little cool in the grandstand.

The rodeo went well. The announcers talk non stop and there was lots of events I hadn’t seen before. Like teams try to catch a wild horse, put a saddle on it and ride it. Kids had to do something with a pony. The animals didn’t always want to go back out of the ring providing laughs for everyone.

The chuckwagons were very exciting as always. There were some very close races and just general chaos as they go around the barrels.

See below for photos.
For most of the photos, I fixed them up a bit and there is a cropped and non cropped version of them.

Camping!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:00:31 +0000

So after many years I finally went camping in a tent again. On Friday we went to Elk Island. The weather was pretty good but as expected the mosquitoes were vicious. Friday night was mostly spent building a fire and making sure that it stayed lit. The wood was a little damp so it took a long time to get going. When it finally got going it was time for bed and waiting for it to go out.

The next day we went on a nice hike. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting though. It was basically paved all the way. It was still fun and pretty and a good way to break in my hiking boots some. There were a ton of dragonflies. Swarms of them everywhere, I guess they were getting their fill of mosquitoes. They did not seem as bad on the hike. For lunch we had lunch in a nice picnic area. It was about 1km from the parking lot and very nice. We were the only ones there.

After hiking we came back to Edmonton, cleaned up, made a quinoa salad and were off to a small work bbq. It was quite good, lots of good food, wine and company.

See pictures of the trip below

July Long Weekend

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:53:45 +0000

This past weekend I went with Erin’s family to there cabin in Cadomin.
On the Friday, Erin and I went on a hike that was about 10 km or so long. It was called Prospect Creek Trail. It was quite nice but a little more work then I thought. Sometimes we had to go through brush or up some big ledges to continue on the trail.

Saturday we celebrated Erin’s birthday by going geocaching with her family. We went to 3 different sites and found 2 of them. The one at Mountain Park was probably mined away. We also went to one at the Cardinal divide that Erin and her dad found before and they let us find it. The third and final one was at Grave Flats lookout which needed a 4wd vehicle to go up the road and then a small hike and some searching in trees to find the geocache. There were spectacular views at the top. It is quite high.

To make things interesting on the way back as a passenger in the front, a rock or something hit the rav4 as a semi was coming towards us. It made a big crack in the windshield and sprayed some glass on me. Thankfully everything was ok and we were able to continue on with me now in the backseat.

The weather was pretty good. Not too hot and not too cold. Though on our hike in Prospect Creek it was snowing a little bit when the sun was out. It was the nicest I had seen it in Cadomin. On Saturday we were able to sit out by the fire and it wasn’t too windy!

I have been using lightroom to edit my pictures some and get some more of the details out of the pictures.

Click the link to see the photos of the trip:

Indian Food

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 01:41:44 +0000

For our one year anniversary on Thursday, Erin gave me an Indian cookbook and some spices in jars. The book is called “An invitation to Indian cooking” by Madhur Jaffrey. According to the cover it is “perhaps the best Indian cookbook available in English.” Erin came up with some recipes that sounded good for us to try:
Shrimp pullao
Potato patties (aloo-ki-tikiya)
Kheer
and Naan (We didn’t bake naan just bought it)

It took awhile to make everything, the potato pancakes took a while. Everything turned out quite good, the potato patties were quite salty. We think we can use way less salt next time! As part of our cooking we made sure to break in the cookbook by spilling milk on it.

Below are some photos of the food and getting ready:

Delft, Arnhem and More

Mon, 23 May 2011 21:22:18 +0000

So I arrived back in Edmonton on May 22 to end a great trip.

All my pictures are now up, still unorganized but I am working on that. I will rotate them and say where they are from.
http://gallery.pfink.ca/Travel/Netherlands-2011/Netherlands/
And added a new gallery:
http://gallery.pfink.ca/Travel/Netherlands-2011/Netherlands-2/

Some things we did from my last post:

Went to Delft to see the town, delftware and a botanical gardens
Visted some of Erin’s relatives in Alphen aan den Rijn
Went to Arnhem to see a ballet and to Ooseterbeek to see memorial and graves for Operation Market Garden
Went to Keukenhof – very large tulip/flower garden/tourist park
Went to The Hague again to see some of the buildings and museums and tours
Went to Amsterdam again to walk around, get candy and go to the NEMO Science Centre

Katwijk aan Zee

Sun, 15 May 2011 15:22:10 +0000

We made it to Katwijk aan Zee by taking a train to Leiden and then a bus to the coast. We got our rooms in a nice hotel with an ocean view. We went for a walk along the sea. It has been quite windy here and cooler weather than we had before.

The next day we went to The Hague by bus. We were now with Erin’s uncle and his girlfriend. We went to Scheveningen which is a beach/touristy area. We then slowly tried to find our way to Erin’s grandparents old house. After many wrong trains, walking, etc we found it and made our way back much easier.

Utrecht

Thu, 12 May 2011 21:19:19 +0000

We managed to make it to Utrecht and found our hostel. Streets are always fun to find and when you have a big backpack on it gets even more fun.

In Maastricht we did do the canal cruise which we weren’t overly impressed with but did another cave/tunnel tour in a different spot and it was excellent! The guide got to do the tour in English because there was only a couple from Quebec, us and a guy from Malaysia who lived in Australia. The guide did a great job and had a lot to say.

Pictures from Netherlands

Tue, 10 May 2011 20:28:18 +0000

Pictures are available here:
http://gallery.pfink.ca/Travel/Netherlands-2011/Netherlands/
They are unsorted and will be changing as I update them

Also see some of them below click link above for all

Maastricht

Tue, 10 May 2011 20:00:06 +0000

On Sunday we left Amsterdam and took a train ride to Maastricht. It is about a 2.5 hour train ride to the South East of Holland. It is in between Belgium and Germany. It is a very nice city and is very slow paced compared to the fast pace of Amsterdam. During the train ride we were in the wrong half of the train and it was splitting so at one stop we had to quickly run to the right part of the train and just made it in time.

Amsterdam Part 2

Tue, 10 May 2011 19:47:03 +0000

On our second last day in Amsterdam we went on an hour long canal cruise that was a good way to see different parts of the city and get a little background on some stuff. There was a recording in Dutch, English and German. In the afternoon we went to the Anne Frank House. It was very well put together and had lots of info and original diary’s but was sad too.

Amsterdam

Fri, 06 May 2011 21:12:08 +0000

My flights all went smoothly and early Wednesday morning a tired me was greeted by a tired Erin. It was really good to see her again. We planned what we wanted to do that day. Our first order of business was to get a train from the airport to Amsterdam Central. The airport has a train station that many trains go through, it took us a while to find the right train on the right track but we did eventually. We then found a tram, got off at the right spot and made it to our hostel. We have a nice 2 bed hostel room to ourselves and it has been fairly quiet.

To Holland I go!

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:10:40 +0000

Well I get to go on vacation again. One more day of work then I am off to Holland on Tuesday. I am going with Erin and we will be there for close to 3 weeks. I look forward a lot to the trip and seeing Erin again. I will update my blog with what I have been up to and pictures when I can upload them.

Banff and Canmore

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:15:22 +0000

On Sunday Dec.19 Erin and I drove to Canmore for a couple of nights to see the mountains and do some skiing. We stayed at the Falcon Crest Lodge and had a nice room that even had a full kitchen for us to use.

After we arrived in Canmore we did some grocery shopping. We bought food for supper for another day and lunch when we were skiing and some breakfast food. For the evening we watched the Get Smart movie which we borrowed from the hotel.

New Audio Stand

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:07:00 +0000

I bought a new audio stand to replace my existing “stand”

Toronto

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:35:04 +0000

This past weekend I got to go to Toronto to see Erin and see some friends eat lots of food, walk through a lot of Toronto and had a great time.

I arrived late Wednesday night and Erin was there to greet me and we took a cab back because it was late. I slept in a bit as Erin went to her first class. I walked down Bloor St. to the university and met her for lunch. The weather was nice and sunny and in the low teens for most of my trip. It seems like Toronto is a month behind Edmonton in terms of getting to winter. After lunch Erin had another class and I read a magazine for a bit before heading out for a walk around the U of T campus. I took some pictures and quite a few of squirrels. They are out everywhere before I slowed my self down on squirrel pictures. After I got back Erin was done her class and we headed back to her place. Erin made some couscous with some grilled eggplant and zucchini and some tempeh bacon. It was quite good, my first veggie bacon. After supper we went on the hunt for some olives so Erin could make martinis. We went to quite a few stores before we found the right ones. After martinis we made some scrumptious chocolate cupcakes for my birthday.

On Friday we went to Union station to meet Erin’s friend and then chatted with her and had a lunch/snack at Starbucks before walking up University Ave. for a bit before dropping her friend off. We then walked to Kensington Market to a neat vegetarian restaurant called King’s Cafe. It was Asian type food some pretending to be meat or just vegetarian versions of food with meat. We had some dim sum items that were quite tasty though sometimes tricky to eat with chopsticks! It was kind of foggy during the day and really foggy as it got darker and darker. It was quite a neat fog as it did not go that high and was pretty low.

Saturday we met my friend Jamey and his wife and twin girls at the Royal Ontario Museum. We walked around the museum, had lunch and saw more of the museum. We had to check in our backpacks and because they had a jacket in the back pack we got charged for it. We got angry about it but there wasn’t much we could do. I had been there before but nothing really seemed all that familiar to me. I think they have also added on to the building since I was there last. There was a special exhibition on The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army it was pretty good but a little busy. It would be nice to go through it when it is less busy and you have a lot of time to read and see everything. No pictures were allowed in the special exhibit. We got some picture’s with Jamey and the babies before they left to go back home.

After the museum we went back to Erin’s place to find a place to eat supper. We found two Italian places that sounded good on Elm street. We took the subway downtown and saw a busy street when we got there. The road was closed and they had a tasting of some sort going. There was also some entertainment like a guy on stilts or a guy twirling fire on a stick. We found the first place but it was full and we needed a reservation. We walked down the street some more and found Frascitati’s. They asked if we had a reservation and we said no and then he said he would go check and fairly quickly came back and got us a nice table. We had bruschetta for an appetizer and some house red wine. We both decided on a creamy tomato angel hair pasta with lobster. It all tasted very good. There were large chunks of lobster in the pasta and even the lobster shells were cut in half and placed on the plate to make it fancy looking. It was a very good meal.

Sunday was my last day before heading back to Edmonton. It was a little rainier today. The other days were all sunny but it wasn’t pouring and much warmer than Edmonton would have been. We took the subway to High Park and walked through part of the park to a big natural pond, Grenadier Pond, that had some ducks and nice houses overlooking it. After our walk Erin made some good Tofu Toes, which are like chicken nuggets but made from Tofu. It doesn’t taste like chicken but they are not greasy at all and go well with different dipping sauces. We then took the subway and bus for a smooth ride to get to the airport.

My plane left a little a late but arrived in Edmonton on time. I had intended on taking the shuttle bus back but for some reason the next one was leaving in 1.5 hours. There were some other people there that were not happy with that so four of us shared a cab and the price ended up being basically the same.

My photos are after the link:

Jasper!

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:16:25 +0000

I had a busy fun-filled weekend. I went to Cadomin and stayed with Erin and her parents at their cabin.

On Saturday after driving to Cadomin, Erin and I went on a hike by Whitehorse Creek.
Sunday we went to Jasper and had stops at Maligne Canyon, Medicine Lake, Mount Edith Cavell and the Miette Hotsprings.
Monday we walked around Cadomin and headed back to Edmonton.

The weather was beautiful. There was lots of good food and a nice big fire in a fire pit for marshmallows.

See below for pictures.

Warm Weather!

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:42:05 +0000

Edmonton finally had a beautiful spring day. I took a nice walk by the river and saw a Pileated Woodpecker, it is a giant sized woodpecker. It is around the size of a crow. I heard a weird flying noise and it sat in a tree close to me for a second and I got a couple of pics.

Edmonton

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:44:11 +0000

So I finally have a job and am working again. I got a job in Edmonton with HP!
I started working on Mar.15.

I took a walk today and took some pictures around the river valley.

Photos

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:01:30 +0000

Some photos from Australia that I liked are available here:
https://gallery.pfink.ca/keyword/abridged
These photos can also be seen further in the post by clicking on the more link.

All the pictures from my Australia trip can be found here:
https://gallery.pfink.ca/Travel/Australia-2009

I have also added a link on the right hand side of my blog that goes to all my photos that I have put up so far.

Last day in Australia

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:43:10 +0000

Today is my last full day in Australia and tomorrow I make my long trip back to Canada.

Maroochydore was nice. Got in a couple beach days and then back to Brisbane for some exploring of the city and seeing some museum, sciencentre and art gallery.

I hope to add some posts with photos and more details about my days in Australia.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and more

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:18:27 +0000

Today I went to the lone pine koala sanctuary and saw some of the shows and presentations they did and also hugged a koala and got some pictures of that. Also touched some kangaroos and a snake.

Yesterday was the Australia Zoo which was quite good too and touched a koala bum and petted some kangaroos. The crocodiles are quite neat and they have lots of them.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Maroochydore. A beach town and will probably relax on the beach for my birthday maybe I’ll do something else.

Brisbane

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:41:32 +0000

Made it to Brisbane and my hostel. Basically took as long to get to my hostel with the shuttle bus as the flight took but all is well. Tomorrow is Australia Zoo day so I will be taking lots of new photos. 4 Blackhawk helicopters were circling around downtown today, I guess they are doing practice for something for a couple weeks.

Daintree Rainforest

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:43:17 +0000

I just got back to Cairns after a few days in the Daintree Rainforest. It is pretty neat. I stayed at a hostel called Crocodylus. In that part there is no electricity unless you have a generator which was run at the hostel during the day. One of the neatest thing I did was a night walk through the rain forest with a guide and he would point out animals, trees and history and such. Some trees are hundreds of years old maybe even thousands. Tomorrow I fly into Brisbane for the last third of my trip

Cairns

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:59:01 +0000

I made it to Cairns and got a ride to my hostel by some Aussie businessmen that I was sitting next to. I went to the great barrier reef to three different sites and snorkeled there. It was fun but I didn’t take any pictures of it.

I didn’t really like my hostel so I switched ones today and spent a lot of money doing nothing. I set up some tours one is a day tour to kurunda and the other is a 2 night one with daintree stuff. I walked along the esplanade and took some neat pelican photos.

Sydney

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:47:26 +0000

So I made it to Sydney smoothly and will be leaving for Cairns tomorrow.
Just a quick post to update what I have done: Taronga Zoo, Sydney Aquarium, walk around the harbour and see the harbour bridge and opera house.
Went to manly and bondi beaches. Burnt my self a little today where I couldn;t reach on my back, doh!
Will update with more details later.

I’m still alive

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:44:42 +0000

I haven’t been updating here recently but I am still alive. I’ve been looking into gallery options but found nothing that I like so far.
I bought some plane tickets to Australia for November. Woohoo!!!

A Meeting of Minds

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:22:15 +0000

Peeking inside a window to an extravagant building Eru slowed his breathing down. A deep breath in through his nose and a slow exhale out of his mouth. Charmalina and Eru had been sneaking throughout the compound trying to find the council. This building looked like the one, it had heavy security inside and out. The council members were in the room through the window sitting around a large table. The window was large and full of stained glass making a multicolored symbol of some kind. It went from the ground all the way up to the 30 foot ceiling. It would be weak and maybe their best way inside. It would certainly get the attention of the council. Eru motioned Charmalina towards him.

Prison Break

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:08:46 +0000

Eru lay there on a bed. He was still handcuffed and now his feet were also tied to a pole near the bed. They were in a makeshift cell with no windows. Charmalina was tied to another pole away from Eru. Slowly breathing Eru urged himself to calm his mind and body. They were slightly beaten as they made their way to the council’s retreat. They were so close to the council and yet could have been on the opposite side of the planet.

“Hey how you doing?” Charmalina asked Eru. There was still time to get to the council if they could find a way out of here. There was no one else in the room but Eru wasn’t sure if someone was listening to them or even guarding them.

“I could use a good beer or that water that seemed to get left at our campsite”, Eru laughed.

Starry Night

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:24:25 +0000

Eru got a better view at the guards that were walking by. They were the council’s secret service. There was no council member with them, they must be patrolling the area Eru thought to himself. Charmalina and himself were quite well hidden and the guards weren’t doing a particularly thorough job. A loud noise or something visible would certainly alert them.

Charmalina wanted to avoid any contact with the guards as long as they could. Ideally they would get into the council’s meetings undetected. After a few minutes of waiting the guards were far enough away. Charmalina got up and got their bags. The road would be clear for awhile so they had to move quick as the path was much faster to walk up. More guards would likely be on coming down on the path.

A walk in the forest

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:24:11 +0000

Eru started to walk up the backside of the mountain with Charmalina behind him on the narrow trail. The council would be meeting in a lodge up the mountain. There was only one heavily secured road up to the lodge. It was too dangerous and they would be spotted too early if they took the road. Finding maps of the area they decided a half day hike up was the best option.

After the train arrived without incidence, they found a quiet hotel and bought supplies for the hike and the confrontation with the council. Eru and Charmalina had no idea what to expect when and if they actually made it to the council.

Time stands still

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:07:33 +0000

Eru woke up in a new hotel. He had slept fine but had a nagging sensation all night that he was being chased. They were in a different part of the city now. They ditched their stolen police vehicle and made a round about way using public transportation and walking to eventually end up here. They had stopped for some money and other items that they had stored around the city. Charmalina was awake now too.

One last drink of Freedom

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:40:08 +0000

A table in the back of the bar was open. It was a perfect table they could see anyone that was approaching or looking at them with out having to worry that someone would come from behind them.

A waitress came by and told them about their drink specials. The specials sounded good and they each took one. There was no sign of the person that had been following them yet. He could be waiting outside or by the entrance it was a big bar. Most likely a new person would keep an eye on them inside the bar.

The drinks came quickly and Eru took a big sip of it. He was thirsty. It was a good choice, very tasty, not too much alcohol and a good mix. “What should we do about these guys? Should we approach them?” Eru took a long slow drink.

Eyes are watching you

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:55:11 +0000

“Hello Eru and Charmalina. How are you two doing?” One member asked them feigning hospitality.

“We are doing fine”, Eru replied. “What are you doing here?”

“We understand that you came across a password before Brown died”, The other council member, very large around the waist, spoke this time.

“Yes we did,” Charmalina thought about it. They had no way of knowing that unless Basq had told them or a listening device of some kind was present. Why would they need it if they already had it?

Mmm mmm good

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:15:18 +0000

They awoke hungry around supper time and decided to walk and find a nearby restaurant. Eru was happy that they had nothing planned and he could relax for a bit and relieve some of the stress that was building up inside of him. He was too hungry to worry about what was next, They could worry about that they later when they had time to digest the information and food of course.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:02:18 +0000

Eru and Charmalina scurried to the edge of the freeway. Eru’s heart slowed down when he didn’t have to worry about getting hit by something. They jumped over a divider and leaned against it. The rain was still coming down but the thunder and lightning had stopped.

“Do you know where we are?” Eru asked Charmalina. He tried to get his bearings. There were a number of freeways around and he couldn’t see far into the distance.

Fun in the Sewers

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:52:38 +0000

The sewers were a lot cleaner then they normally would have been. The heavy rain did a good job of that. Moving through the sewers was slow. Water was up to Eru’s waist and they slowly trudged through it. The sewer was dark and the water was cold, they would have to get out soon or risk hypothermia.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. One foot in front of the other, they moved in tandem. Only rushing water could be heard. It even drowned out the storm and maybe the attack too. Eru wondered if they had stopped shelling the place yet. He just wanted to get out of the sewer, they hadn’t seen an exit yet. It was possible they had missed one, the dark didn’t help with that. The roar of the water was getting louder up ahead. Probably not good, he laughed to himself.

Business as Usual

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:15:42 +0000

A large figure sat alone in the dark room. Eru assumed this was Brown. Shadows covered his face until a blast of lightning briefly lit it up. From the quick glance at Brown, Eru could tell that he was not okay. His face was pale and sweat was dripping down off of it.

Showdown

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:08:35 +0000

They made their way through a maze of hallways and rooms. Eru wasn’t sure how long he could remember the way back. Hopefully Basq had an exit plan. There was no one around the rooms were empty and guards didn’t seem to be in this area yet. Eru was beginning to warm up and he was mostly dry now.

Basq motioned for them to stop. There was a large round room ahead with a high ceiling. Guards were positioned around the room. The room was dark but lit up with each lightning strike. Some large doors were closed and protected by many more guards.

Climbing

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:15:23 +0000

“Let’s go quick,” Basq commanded to the the group as he got back. A strike of lightning lit up the hill momentarily. No one was on the hill yet that they could see. “The guards will be checking here soon, if we are lucky they will be a little slow just assuming the storm caused it”

They scampered out onto the hill trying to run up it as quick as possible. The grass and mud was slippery. Each step would slide a little backwards. The rain pounded their faces making it tough to see far ahead. Another bolt of lightning went across the sky lighting the hill up with them on it.

Thunder

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:20:56 +0000

The day went quickly enough. The location given to them by Basq was an open square. Most likely not the actual place but a rendezvous point. They could be sniped down there but they could be sniped anywhere. It didn’t really matter what Basq had planned for them they had to go and be alert.

They waited there now. They were wearing some loose fitting clothing that didn’t draw attention to themselves and could easily fight in without getting in the way. The sun was beginning to set, colors weren’t as sharp as midday and the sky had a warm glow to it. A breeze was beginning to pick up that cooled down the air.

Teatime

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:42:10 +0000

Basq introduced himself to the table. Eru and Charmalina gave their names to Basq. Eru wondered what his job really was. He decided at this point in time he was a truth seeker. The deeper he got into finding what was going on, the less he seemed to know. Lost in his thoughts, Charmalina started to explain what they had seen earlier with Basq and Senator Stillman.

Fine Dining

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:17:46 +0000

Charmalina knew that Basq was a famous bounty hunter. He was a true professional. He played no games unless you tried something on him. If you didn’t pay him what you said you would, you would pay the consequences. Through some contacts they found that Basq frequented a club in the city and you could talk to him there. That’s where they would go, they just wanted information about the senator. No one had even tried to arrest Basq before as there was no proof of what he did and he was rumored to have good lawyers and connections everywhere.

Politics

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:23:34 +0000

The train eventually came and provided a welcome cool and shady place. The heat had become unbearable outside and was even worse inside the broken train. People squished onto the new train as it was about half the size of the one that had been carrying them before the derailment. The train ride seemed long Eru thought, probably because he had to stand the whole way and just wanted to get to the city.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:09:32 +0000

At the market everything seemed normal. People buying goods, birds chirping, the sun shining nothing was out of place. It was like the explosion hadn’t really happened, though when Eru looked off into the distance towards Charmalina’s apartment he could still see the dust and smoke rising through the air.

An Early Morning Walk

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:40:24 +0000

Arriving outside the smoke and dust surprised them as they left Charmalina’s building. Dark smoke came from the building that was no more and the dust from the building was slowly making its way to the ground. The combined effects made the morning light dull and not very bright. Eru and Charmalina made their way closer to the building. It was not a pretty sight. It was a professional job though, all the other buildings around were left untouched and unharmed. Not many people inside the building could have survived.

Rest

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:42:13 +0000

They arrived at an apartment, maybe it was her main one, maybe she had multiple places, Eru wasn’t sure. It was nicely decorated and looked like a girl lived there. Charmalina made him sit in a comfy chair and asked him if he wanted a drink.

“Sure a water would be good.” Charmalina returned with a nice cold glass of water with ice for Eru and one for herself as well.

“Here you go. I’m thirsty too, lucky that fight wasn’t too big. I am glad you can handle yourself well.” She sat down on a couch across from him.

Dancing with Friends

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:10:35 +0000

They chatted a bit as they danced. Not really saying much about themselves but not appearing like they were trying to hide anything. She told Eru her name was Charmalina.

“Hey Eru, want to sit down for a bit?” Charmalina asked with a pretty smile. She certainly looked good, even better when she smiled.

The intruder

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:43:29 +0000

After getting off the bus and walking up to his place, Eru sensed something was amiss. Someone was in his place or had been in since he was gone. The door was not closed the way Eru had left it. Eru decided to enter as he normally would and put down his book on the floor. He saw the intruder, a scruffy looking guy around his size, and ducked as the intruder threw something at him. They were darts of some kind and missed Eru sticking into the door behind him.

The market

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:43:06 +0000

There was no training for Eru. The council just told him where to go and they would contact him later when necessary. Though he did not need to work, Eru decided it was best to get a job to fit in with the locals. He had never been to this city before. It was far larger and busier then most cities but he had been to many a big city for his fights. A big city was easier to fit into he thought. He was just one of many new people arriving to make some money. He quickly got a factory job and a small place to live.

The fight

Mon, 19 May 2008 17:38:36 +0000

The room got dark, real dark. Eru blinked his eyes trying to adjust to the darkness and quietly moved from where he was. Listening closely Eru could hear gentle footsteps approaching to where he was. It was couple of minutes since they had given him 5 minutes. “I guess it starts now” he laughed in his head.Eru decided he would try and get around the footsteps that he heard. He quietly was slinking to get the footsteps in between his equipment which he had left on the ground and himself.Eru paused for a minute looking around listening intently if there was anyone else around. He couldn’t hear anything else and he couldn’t see anything.

The story begins…

Sat, 03 May 2008 16:36:49 +0000

Eru entered the change room nervous. His stomach was tied up in knots. He went and relieved himself in the washroom but that was no help. In his mind Eru knew that he should not be so nervous before a big fight. Waiting was the hardest part for him. One the match started it would be painful and push himself physically but he had to make sure he was ready for that. He went to the water fountain took a sip of water. Just enough to not be dehydrated but not to much to slow him down.

Jayme’s coming to town

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:21:24 +0000

My girlfriend Jayme is coming here on May 23rd for a while. I can’t wait

Creative Writing

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:20:13 +0000

I am going to try and write some random stories or such. I will try and do it once a week when I have some time.

All Glory to the Hypnotoad

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:46:54 +0000

First Post

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:28:44 +0000

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