Before Andrew left for his big trip he required a hair cut. And where else would you go for a classy cut but the MacDonald's? Jon is practically a hair dresser and his clippers are only 20 years old. As you can see, Andrew felt very comfortable at the salon.

Andrew starts off with hair.

Jon takes a little off the top and sides.

Andrew is afraid to look.

But it all turns out ok in the end.

Bus Number 73 - My New Least Favorite Part of Calgary

When its cold I take the bus. Usually I walk to school, but the 40 min hoof is a little unpleasent with the wind chill. Where I used to live the bus came every 10 min, but now my new bus route barely comes at all. Its been late, a lot late, every day. Like tonight, it was 40 minutes late. About 40 other student, and myself, waited in the cold for the 5:11 bus, and then for the 5:26 bus and finally caught a bus near 6:00. That's one out of three buses actually making it to the university. That's a lot of cold, unhappy people after a long day at work.

I've got worms

I got them from my mother, who got them from Jon, who got them from a prof of his way back in undergrad. They live under our kitchen sink and every so often I open them up and feed them.

I've got so many of them, that when you open up the lid, you can hear them moving through the dirt. You don't even need to lean in, you can hear it from a safe distance away. They form these massive balls around the food source and when you dig a hole to place things in, you're not moving dirt, you're moving a mass of worms.

They're quite efficient, they can eat pretty much anything that isn't animal based or contains high amounts of fat. At at their current population levels, they are going through about 3 cups a week. Sometimes its a struggle to find enough food for them but I guess it keeps them in check.

My mother keeps a tub at school. She lets her students feed them. I think it promots healthy lunches - if you don't bring fruit or vegetables, what are you going to feed the worms?

Cooking

My cooking has really gone down hill lately. I'm not sure why, perhaps I'm just too tired to care about what I throw in the pot. I'm uninspired by what I see in the grocery store and all I really want is my mom to come down and cook for me. I've even hauled out the recipe books, but I think I've just been making bad choices. Like Sunday night, I made pilaf and I even followed the recipe. But after only a few bites neither one of us could stomach any more and I made grillers instead. You know your cooking is bad when your husband won't even eat it! The dog did not reject the sample I gave him, but he wasn't exactly excited for more either. Stella was possibly the only one who would have enjoyed it, but I just saw her eat a rotten apple out of the garden, so she doesn't exactly have gourmet tastes.

I think I need restaurant makeover to come by, and make over my kitchen. I'd probably feel more inspired if I had a nice new gas range and a whole new decor for the kitchen.

Well, I survived my trip up north and it was surprisingly enjoyable. The mine up there, the one right on the highway, is actually kind of scenic. There's an artist, I can't remember his name, that does these amazing photos of mine pits and acid mine drainage (among other things) that are absolutely beautiful and it sort of reminded me of those.

I've seen several mines close up and I'm always amazed at how nice all that destruction can look. You get all those exposed rocks, and un-naturally blue waters and its easy to forget that the toxic leachate from the thing is probably seeping into your drinking water. We even swam in an old mine in Nigeria and if just ignored that fact (and kept your mouth closed while swimming)the whole thing was pretty nice.

Up to the Land of Oil

I'm flying to Fort McMurray tomorrow. To do some "real" geophysics. I don't particularly want to go, especially since it's a weekend but it was too good to pass up. My biggest problem with the whole thing is the flying. I hate flying, its the worst part of travel for me. I never used to worry about it so much, and then we flew domestic flights in Nigeria (where I understand the chance of being in an accident is way higher) and I just never felt the same about it again.

On the upside, I've never been to Fort McMurray before, although its not really on my Top 10 Places to See list. Still exciting though, free travel always is a good thing.

A Post for the God Father

[My family called Friday night, I think with the sole purpose of getting my blog address. This straight forward task was complicated by the fact it wasn't just my mother on the phone, but the whole gang. And they were calling on a cell phone. Glad you guys called though, welcome!]

We started a puzzle this weekend (I know, we're wild!). It's a bear, a brown bear, and all the pieces are of brown hair. Its that kind of puzzle where you pick a piece and then try to attach every other piece to it until you get a match. The degree of difficulty is increased by the number of missing pieces, at least two, and probably more now that we've discovered that Stella likes to eat them. It promises to be cheap entertainment for a long long time though (which is good for the budget), it was priced $0.99 at the thrift store and then was an additional 10 % off. And will probably take us the rest of the winter.

In addition to all this puzzle excitment, I also found time to up load a whole bunch of pictures onto my album. If you ever wanted to see more pictures of us, and the dog, they're there.

Puffy 'Pack Pix

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, this is the closest I could find here. This is also similar here. Now, just imagine them loaded down with all the stuff they claim you can put in there...

Those big puffy backpacks really upset me at the moment. They drive me nuts, gouge out my eyes nuts. It's irrational, I know that, but I can't help it. And they're everywhere I look, I just can't avoid them. With all those pockets stacked on each other, and those silly handles at the top. And people wear them dangling off their backs... Agh!

What do you need all those pockets for? Can that be good for your spine? Are those skinny ankle jeans cutting off the blood flow to your brain? Does my backpack look that puffy?

Almost as annoying are those condom ads in the hallway to MacHall. But thankfully, someone has taken a black marker to them, which tells me I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Perhaps if I start mentally drawing graffeti on puffy backpacks I'll feel a lot better?

Nighty Night

Just some quick shots of my (and other people's) pets enjoying a good night's sleep, at 7:30pm. Oh, I wish...




She's not our cat, but I love her anyways. Jonny isn't always sure how he feels about her.


At least Patches finds our couch comfortable.


He also finds the floor comfortable.

Rookie Move MacDonald!

Jonny and I decided that this was the weekend to start our winter camping season. Neither of us had ever been to the Cypress Hills so we packed up the 'preza and the dog and headed out early Saturday morning. The plan was to hike around Saturday, spend the night and head home Sunday morning sometime.

The first part of day went according to plan. We arrived around noon, figured out the self registration system, and headed off to see if we could find any more wild turkeys lurking in the hills. Sadly, things went horribly wrong when we arrived back at camp and attempted to set up our tent. Someone (lets call him Jon) had forgotten to pack the tent poles. It wasn't our finest camping moment and after spending a little time trying to come up with a workable solution using three spruce trees and some rope we gave up and headed home. Option B was sleeping in the car, but after emptying it out and crawling in, we decided it wouldn't be the best sleep, especially since Jon would have to spoon the dog all night.

A little disappointing but we've learned to check for all our gear before heading to the other side of the province. We also got to see wild turkeys, the fattest deer possible and some large animal prints. Oh, and lets not forget the world's tallest tepee in Medicine Hat. We'll be attempting to start the camping season again soon, but this time we'll make sure to check what we're actually packing.



Patches enjoying hunting for turkey.


Demonstrating how the tent could have worked.


The best moon I've ever seen.

Can you ever have too many stuff sacks?

It started with a tear in our tent fly and my refusal to pay some chump to fix it when I could fix it myself, given the right tools. So, I borrowed my mom's old Singer and Jon and I drove down to Campers Village (our new favorite gear store) to purchase some tent fly material. The end result of this expedition was not only a fixed tent fly, but an assortment of other outdoor gear sewing projects on the go, the majority of them being stuff stacks.

I like sewing stuff sacks, they're moderately easy and very useful. In fact, I just finished sewing 3 light-weight water resistant roll-top sacks (cost per bag ~$5). I also made a neck warmer (cost ~$2) and a set of doggy boots for Patches (he has sensitive feet).

I've got a few more designs and fabrics to try out before I move onto something bigger and better, so expect to see the MacDonalds sporting more stuff sacks than completely necessary next camping trip.

Its COLD out there

In case you haven't noticed, its cold out there. I'm not saying its winter yet, but I think that we're nearing that time. My goal for this winter is to learn to embrace the season. I've got a plan, involving a few simple steps, that should hopefully lead to enjoyment of winter, well, right up until it's spring.

1. Dress appropriately. I usually follow this one, but this year I'm taking it to a new level. I finally bought winter boots last year (active rating: -40) so my feet should be toasty regardless of what I'm up to. I think this might be the most important step to enjoying winter, and since it will probably involve some shopping at outdoor gear stores, I'm all for it.
2. Heat my house. We're a little cheap, and often we skimp on the heating to save a few $$. I've decided I'll heat the house to a more normal temperature this year, so at least I won't have to wear all my winter gear inside as well as outside.
3. Participate in a winter sport. This will at least get me out of the house and into the winter.
4. Relocate to a warmer climate. I'm doubtful I'll be able to follow though on this one, but I'll put it on the list just in case. You never know, I might become independently weathly really soon and be able to winter somewhere warmer.

Patches and I embracing winter. He does a better job of it than I do.