Families are there to drive you nuts

Man, want a good EFFECTIVE birth contorl device?  Try nieces and nephews.  They work ... at least I'm hoping so.  Families are truly there to keep you feelign good about yourself.  I'm glad the holidays are almost over.  Enough meals and friendly banter, and onto the truly great part about the holidays... the days off!

 

I've marked 2 of the 3 tests I mean to... and I haven't done any of the other planning I mean to do ... but I have another week left before I have to be back, so I'm not too worried!  I'm almost procrastinating... not quite, but close to it.  I think I'm just in shock with not having to get up in the mornings.  THAT IS A REAL TREAT!  Plus not working at Sears is a bonus.  I should just quit there, I'm much more at peace now without them ... we'll see what the new year brings.

 

Happy Holidays people (I'd say Merry Christmas, but it's already passed).

-ry

Merry Effin' Christmas

Okay... try #2... this is not a good week for me.

 

This season brings about the worst in people:

 - school - people's attitutes are really starting to whine, the marking's really piling up

 - work - the crowd's are getting huge and the people are getting angry and the hours are getting longer

 

This all adds up to Ryan getting crankier and tired-er.  I don't think i've been sworn at more in a week than i have been this past week.  I don't mind it so much when high-school kids swear at me.  I'm a teacher, it comes with the territory.  But full grown matured adults?  Yes, just so you know people, it is MY fault that there is nothing left in stock less than a week before Christmas.  Yes, it is MY fault that people can't read advertisements...

 

1st there was teh lady who didn't know what TV she wanted, so she wanted the measurements of ALL of them.  After getting yelled at about how iwas purposely avoiding her, I proceeded to (obviously) not do what she wanted and start copying the sizes out of the catalogue she goes off...  I guess I was supposed to IGNORE the 30 other people around me and physically measure EVERYTHING we had in the store.  So much for efficiency.

 

Then the next people in line felt so bad for me that they didn't mind when i asked if i could go answer the phone.  This is the lady who couldn't read.  She sees the flyer... sees the price of the stand (which is in small print) misses the WHEN YOU BUY THE TV part (in big print) and sends her husband in.  I don't know about the offer, but I tell him that the CHEAPEST the stands go are half price when you buy the tv at the same time.  He leaves.  The wife calls and bitches at me about not knowing my sales and then when I point out to her that the flyer she's telling me about has in BIGGER writing a stipulation that you have to buy the tv to get that price she just goes off... I shoulda just hung up.

 

Add to that I'm now filling out my UMPTEENTH resume for the same board.  They need the applications in 2 days (they posted today).  So i have to decide which jobs I'm applying for SOON.  And re-use the same forms and applications I've been using for almost 4 years.  Jarron's getting tired of filling out reference after reference.

 

Sigh... somebody pass the scotch

-slainte

 

Co-PM

So, the AGM for the pipe band was tonight... and as it turns out, I'm half of the pipe major now.  Co-PM.. Cool... I guess.  I'll figure out what that means really.  I couldn't be PM... there's no way i could handle it all to be honest with you.  But this might work.  HOw... that'll be found out in the next couple weeks.

Other outcomes:  Jeff is Pres [Jarron is relieved], Debbie is VP [again], Garth stays as Treasurer, Heather re-earns her position as Corresponding Secreatry and the new blood is Dylan as Recording Secretary.  It'll be all good I think.

 

Other news... stupid cold his holding me down.  I'm not getting much sleep, and I'm drowning with work.

21 more days!

 

-ry

Dave Matthews in Concert!

Awesome concert man... I couldn't write in yesterday about it because i was TOO tired.

 

So Jarron and I take off after work to get to Superior.  The drive down kinda sucked as it got dark and the snow picked up... but we eventually made it to Duluth, and then had a fun time trying to find the hotel.  The Days Inn, not the highest quality hotel.  I could attach videos, Jarron did a good opening interview.  The place did have a miror wall, which is pretty cool.  We had a few beverages, the worst onion rings in the world... but at least it was a place to stay for the night.

 

We had a late breakfast at the Perkins and head to Minneapolis for the Marriott. Now that was a swank hotel... valets, etc...  We get to check in, fight with the internet in the hotel room and have some pre-readying for the concert.  Which doesn't include food.  Which will come back to haunt me in the future of the night.  We start meeting tons of people in the hotel, and out on the street all heading to the concert.  Plenty of good lookin' women too.  I bought a bunch of t-shirts, and more beverages.  We had a great time, met with a nice group behind us, and danced for a while.

 

The end of the night I ended up hanging by the cool looking commode... shoulda ate something.  Oh, well.

 

Wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Hipeponymous

Awesome, got my Hip DVD today...  awesome.   Not only is it all their videos [which I'm a late coming fan of the Hip, so I've missed some of them], but it also has a concert DVD!  [plus 2 greatest of CDs].  My evening's planned.  Just gonna sit here and watch these for a while... veg out and Hip it up.  Good practice for the trip to Minneapolis.

 

Did I not mention Minneapolis?  I know I haven't updated in a while, but I'm sure I've mentioned it.  Dave Matthews Band.  My first time getting to go see them... ever.  November 26th.  Jarron and I are going down, it's gonna be effin' wicked!  Which reminds me I still need to book a hotel in Duluth for the previous night.

 

I need that break.  Classes are really running me down lately.  Maybe it's me, maybe it's the kids... maybe it's the late late LATE nights.  Not sure.

 

What else to report?  The bash was a great time.  I'd report more on that, but I think anybody who was there, already knows all about it... those who weren't?... well I'm not gonna repay your unkindness of not helping us raise funds...I shoulda brought my camera that night.  Dust Rhinos kicked so much ass that night it was great!

 

Later all!

-ry

Waiting For My Real Life To Begin

yeah, it's been a few days since I've written on here... My life's been kinda hectic.  Sleep has been little and too far between.  Last week was a real DRAIN.  So much to get caught up on.

---

First... Well, Trish's mom passed away.  That was a bit back now, but it was a real shocker.  You dont' know how to react... I mean, my reaction is probably a BAJILLION times less than what Trish herself was going through.  She looked pretty stunned.  It was good to see her out a few days (...5 or 6) at Pete's Party.  We talked... it was good to talk with her.  She sorta looked like she might have been able to move on.  Not saying that she couldn't, just it's good to see her dealing with it well.  I wasn't sure if I should bring it all up at the party, but when there was a spare second she leaned over and said how she really appreciated the card I sent.  To me, that was a sign th that was all she needed to talk about it for.  Glad she liked the card, I sat in the PACI parking lot minutes before the prayer service racking my brains what to say. Apparently it was good.

---

Secondly... made a few 'grown up' purchases lately.  That's how Mandy put it.  We bought a new bed... finally.  Finally get to sleep on something good.  Got it delivered today, and I put it together... it was fun.  Again, Armstrong didn't deliver a full order to this house.  When they didn't deliver the headboard/frame thing I was scared that it was Ikea all over again.  It got resovled thankfully.  And I also bought the HD+PVR digital box.  It's pretty cool.  REALLY expensive.  Mandy was pissed... I thought I had authorization from her to buy it, but only the HD version... not the +PVR option.  Oh, well.  But like Mandy said later that it was pretty neat to have some real grown up things.  The bed we have to climb into... it's a real grown up bed.

---

Thirdly... Cindy's dziadzu just passed.  So I imagine she's goin' through a rough patch right now.  Sending out to her family some regards.  I hope I can get a chance to make it to this funeral.

---

Lastly... I'm getting to go to a concert. A REAL concert.  Sure, Tea Party, Tragically Hip, etc... were AWESOME to go see.  But DAVE MATTHEWS BAND is playing in Minneapolis at a huge arena, so Jarron and I are going.  We were able to get the tickets from Eilidh who bought them, but she's now going to teh TO show.  So I'm giong to a concert!!!

---

After all this it's really gotten me to think that, indeed, I'm growing up.  Facing real issues here lately.  Making real decisions.  Career-wise things are sorta happening.  I've been watching Scrubs alot lately... and I'm kinda really identifying with JD.  The best part is the music on that show.  I've recently taken to liking Colin Hay.  The song - Waiting for my real life to begin - is just awesome.  It explains how I feel, and when they used it in the show they used it when somebody died.  So, I look through the stuff I'm 'blogging' about, and that song really sums it up.  I say look it up and listen.  It's great.

 

-ry

I Seriously Have Nothing To Teach Tomorrow

I am completely without ideas for tomorrow's lesson.

Not sure what I should do... I've been staring at this computer screen for a few hours and nothing is coming to me.  Crazy... I'm a professional.  Should I start in on the Criminal Law section or ... or... let 'em work on the pamphlets... It shouldn't be this hard... Should it?

 

-ry

Have I ever told you how much I missed the weekend

Even if it's not the actual weekend, but the concept of a few days off where you can stretch out and relax. That concept has been long been erased from my mind.

I'm gonna have a good weekend

...minus the early work on saturday

...plus i work on sunday

Like i said, the idea of weekend is long since been out of my memory.

teaching is fun... being a teacher sucks

So, yeah... teaching is pretty fun... I like being in charge, giving lessons etc...

BEING a teacher sucks ass.  Having to track students, follow up, call home, continually continually demand attention... etc...

Is there an easier way?  Somebody tell me... I'm tired of it.

-ry

Bayfield recap

Another Bayfield trip, another fun time.  As always.

 

Didn't start out that way... it had been a LONG day.  Teaching full time now means that I have to leave directly after my day of teachign.  I'm not used to that, Im' used to just taking off whenever I wanted.  Oh, well.  Couple this with the fact that Mandy was no longer coming, and I felt somewhat guilty in that aspect, so it was hard to enjoy it with a sense of guilt brooding over me.  But I did get over it.

 

It starts off with us getting there pretty late.. DARK roads, lots of deer, drunk passengers... makes for a great trip!  But, once we get there, it's a fun time.  Jarron re-starts up the cup game thingie, which the drummers take to pretty easily, whereas some of us pipers don't do so well.  We have video.  Email me, and I'll send it to you.

 

As, usual, the morning performance sucks.  It's cold, our pipes are near awful due to the cold and teh SUPER flattened sound it makes.  But the crowd still loves it.  I renew my hatred of the full uniform.  I can't get my pipes into my armpit any more, so there's pressure on my forearm and wrist to hold it in place.

 

After our performance we have a bit of 'downtime.'  Some go down to the shops in the town, some go mopedding... I sleep.  Seeing as I think I've had about 20hrs of combined sleep all week I use this time wisely.  I tried doing some work, but it wasn't gonna happen.  Sleep won.  Slept right up 'till it was supper time [great timing!] which was awesome.  It's just spaghetti, but it's SOO good.

 

Then we gear up for our evening performance.  Which I never understand fully as it seems to change every year.  What doesn't change is that we gear up and play for the Rittenhouse.  Always cool, and Jerry always provides free beverages!  We play down in the city and the crowds love us more.  Then it's back to the school [stupid hill!] and relax before we go to 'bar storm.'

 

Heather things ahead this time... Last year some crazy lady went around with those candy necklaces and kept trying to get us to have some of it.  So, Heather figured if we already had some, then we would have an easy 'out' for this lady.  Except... that when you're in a hot sweaty bar, these necklaces get sticky ... not so fun.  But the bars were good... played tons.  But it's definitely a different scene as of late.  Usually the Rum Line is PACKED with people and it's a good time.  This year it was pretty low key.  The pavillion was pretty packed, and we went on stage with the band again.  But nothing stands out to say that the night ROCKED.  No complaints tho'.

 

The after-bar party with us was great too.  We went to bed pretty early ... in the morning.  The parade was awful... not that it wasn't fun, just I hate those uni's.  They were only about 30m late in starting.  The route was just PACKED with people tho', they had to extend it about a few blocks to accomodate.  Soon thereafter we had to pack up and jet out.  Got home about 11:30 or so... and it was a nice ride.  I let Rory drive... so it was a change that I get to sit back and relax during it.

 

Now, I just got to take today [monday] to recover and get some of the school work I was supposed to do on the weekend finished.

 

-ry

Yeah, i know... this hasn't been updated - sue me!

And I'm a law teacher now, so I could probably defend myself pretty well.  Nah, probably not.

 

I'm so burning out, how do regular teachers do it?  They probably don't work at Sears at the same time either.  And these damned reports were definitely keeping me behind.  At least I'm a little ahead now (as in, i sorta know what i'm doing tomorrow).

I need a good weekend or something.  Bayfield better ROCK.

 

When's Rory gonna get this AD&D stuff off the ground so we can play?  I think hacking and slashing and stuff would be good 'release' about now.

 

-ry

Have I told you how tired I am?

Yup, I'm tired.  4 hours of sleep a night, isn't cutting it.  I'm debating asking HR about taking a leave of absence from Sears.  We'll see, I just don't want to burn that bridge, but I'm thinking that 3 shifts a week is too much.

---

On the upside, the classes are 'starting' to come together.  A bit of rhythm has been achieved.  I'm starting to get the hang of the law... just tired of having to research it all myself.  Rory will be my eternal friend if he has, indeed, got me that stuff from one of the teachers.  I hope he has.  I just can't find a way to really put it all together.  We're doing our first mock trial situation on Friday.  Maybe monday... but it's a city council. I assigned them teams, but I don't think they like that.   We'll see... I seem to say that alot.

---

Another bonus is that I should have my first checque of the year from teaching in my account soon... won't be much, it's only for a couple of days and i might get shafted for a full amount.  Long story...

 

Later

-ry

So... I'm a law teacher?

Well... it's official, i'm teaching LAW 

The students seemed pretty enthused about it... just now I have to get used to not sleeping much, and the fake it until you make saying... well I better start making it.  Not sure faking it is cutting it here.  But I'm excited!

---

Cindy's in town today... her and Kate are visiting for a few days, so it'll be good see some friendly faces that I haven't seen in a while.  Guess I should get her project done soon...

 

Well, i'm off to do plenty of work... god, i'm gonna be sooo tired soon.

 

-ry

I have an interview - a thank you - lost property returned

So, I have an interview for the law class.  It's getting better, I'm starting to feel like I'll actually take the course, if offered.  I had my friend Brandon come in and do a guest speaker thing.  Man, he was amazing.    I'm still a little irked over how much I'm having to work every night, JUST to keep up.    With the other classes, it's a little tiring.  Today was pretty cool.  The students gave me a few complements, maybe they just want me to stay because they could get somebody worse... who knows.  Just it's another interview... I hate interviews.  I hate not having a job.  Having Jarron mention kinda frustrates me.

---

The other thing I need to mention is I do have to THANK Jarron.  He filled out, yet another, reference check for me.  He let me see it after he filled it out.  And, man, it was alot of good stuff.  Thanks Jarron!! 

---

Last, but not least, my piece of missing property from White River has been returned.  It was hidden in my pipe bag when I came back, so I will just as anonymously not acknowledge it.  But, thank you! 

 

-ry

[I need more pictures, don't I?]

Start of week 2 - and i'm relenting

So, here I am about to start week 2 of school. And I'm giving in, I'm applying for the law calss.  Maybe Mandy's right, maybe I'm worrying over this when I may not even be the person they want for the job.  Who knows.  I know, I'm tired.  I've got a lot of resources for this law calss, just no real skills in how to present it.  I feel drained over this whole debate.

Somebody wish me luck eh?

I'm gonna try for a early night.

-ry

FIRST KID SENT TO THE OFFICE...

So I had it today... the first kid to send down to the office. 

First of that class...

first of the semester...

first of the year... 

first I had EVER with MY OWN CLASS...

Didn't feel good tho'.  I kinda felt like I did it out of exasperation.  He does have an IEP.  So he's apparently got issues.  He's medicated.  But he's still a jackass, who I don't want in the classroom.  Just too much distraction, too loudmouthed.  That whole class is pretty brutal, but I sent him down and it sorta settled after, but still undertones of his subordination.  What to do?

This whoel teaching thing is tiring me out.  Just wait until I have to go back to Sears next week.  *sigh*

 

Day one... done... day two - dreading

I think Mandy put it best, I'm second-guessing myself only because I'm actually there now and I'm a little nervous.  The first day was ... long, and I didn't even talk to anybody really.  We had a Social Studies meeting and it was... spooky to say the least.  I'm not sure about this law class.  They've posted the class at least, applications due in on Monday.  Not sure if I should apply...

The math stuff looks pretty easy, just appears as tho' I have shitty classes.  Grr... stupid kids.    The math dept looks really good.  So that shouldn't be a problem.  Can I get away with just teaching the math... should I let the law class go?  Should I suck it up [as Rory puts it] and just get through it?  It would be a nice feather in the cap.  But I'm hesitant still.

---

Then there's the whole Sears thing.  I've got a few days off I need as well.  One saturday this month, one weekend next, celtic bash... Will they back off because of my schedule?  I'm geting pretty used to having the last 2 weeks off...

---

Being a grown up sucks sometimes! 

-ry

Have I told you I really love piping...

So, Rory gives me a shout last night, I NEED A PIPER FOR A WEDDING, and he was leaving town.  So I accept, and it wasn't until like 11 that we were able to get the details.  I'm supposed to play before the wedding at 2, so I should be there for 1:30.  I was a little early, I got there for 1 so I could figure out what was to go on.  NOBODY showed up until at least quarter to 1.  So I played for a bit, and as always, nobody really knew what was going on.  But it was an easy $100.  So I never complain.

Dude, I'm a teacher.... !?!?!?!?

So, I think the realization is starting to seep in. I'm a teacher.  Guess it sorta happened when I got my keys today.  I'm teaching in a few more days.  I've been steadily procrastinating on setting things up and stuff.  What I mean is I've got a few days' worth of lesson plans sort of ready, but the whole SETTING stuff up... I've never STARTED a class before.  I've come in part way through, or finished up.  But these classes are MINE... I've got to set the pace, etc... And no better day to start things off than the first day.  And I have NO CLUE how to set that sort of thing up.  Just dancing around the idea of what to do the first day.  I sort of have an idea on what to do 2nd, 3rd, even the 4th... but the 1st.  Yoiks...  I dont' really want to TEACH something ... hell, it's their first day.  But I can't kill an hour of just me shootin' the breeze about the course.

The other thing is the fact that I've got to teach LAW.. yah, LAW... go figure.  I've had NO run ins with the law, WHATSOEVER, so my experience is ... nil.  Well, I do like Law & Order.  But that's American Law, so I apparently shouldn't be using it in the class.

Hmm... I'll bring in a pic of my office as soon as I take one.  Wish me luck

-ry

The Bayfield Trio trip

So, Rory gets a call a while back from Jerry (sp?) from the Rittenhouse in Bayfield that a couple would like to get married in Bayfield and wouldl ike to have pipers.  Rory throws some figures at him, and lo' and behold  Steve, Rory and I are heading down to the states for a wedding.

The first 'fun' comes from the fact that we leave at like 8am.  Have I told you all before that I'm not a morning person?  I'm not.  So, I'm ready for 8am, on the other hand, Steve is ready for 8am.  Rory is ready for 8am... Bain time.  So about near 9 Rory picks me up.  After a quick McDick's breakfast we're off to south of the border.

The second 'fun' happens at the border.  The border guys aren't believing us that we weren't getting paid [go figure] for this wedding.  We go in and are questioned for a while.  Finally we are let go, and we're off to the races.  We stop (typically) at Hacienda del Sol.  Yum, some good Mexican food.  Then we visit downtown Duluth and head on out.  Fast forward a few more hours and we're in Bayfield.  We visit the Rittenhouse and told some of the general specifics and we scope out the landscape and head to our room.  We're told our 'room' is attached to somebody's house.  Ermm... doesn't sound good.  Ever heard the expression, don't judge a book by it's cover?  Well, this room attached to a house turns out to be a small condo-like apartment, and is quite spacious for the 3 of us [we later find out it is $150/night].  We head down to the Rum Line for a refreshment and meet a new bartender there.  Amaris.  Hot!

We have a quick change and we do the first of the gig.  The first part is we do is for the reception [kinda backwards].  We play while people mill, and then play the bride and groom in.  Turns out the family is authentically Scottish.  From Aberdeen!

Now we have about 3 hours to kill before the actual ceremony.  We pick up beer, and groceries and head off for the 2nd gig.

The second part is at the actual wedding ceremony outside, and it's starting to get a little dark out.  Rory and Steve pipe down the bridesmaids and I pipe down the bride.  We wait for the bride and talk with the family for a bit.  After a pretty cermony we beat them all down to the Paviillion for the dance portion.

Final part of the gig.  We pipe the newly pronounced couple into the Pavillion and they do the normal wedding cake ceremony.  We play a little more [and faster too] while waiting for their DJ.  We hang outside after with soem refreshments and cake.  Chat up the family some more [it's always neat to hear the accent of authentic Scottish people].  Rory collects our fee and we head off to the hotel for a fun night.  The Rum Line is dead, Morty's is (as always) a hick bar, so we call it an early bar night and decide to party it up ourselves.  That doesn't last very long as we're VERY tired.

Morning wakes us up pretty early and we pack up and go, reflecting on how old we've all gotten [not having had a PARTY night].  We drive blearily on past most of the normal stops until Rory needs coffee, finally about Two Harbours.  We drive more until Grand Marais [lasting almost 700km on a single tank of gas].  We stop and visit the town for a bit, going down to the waterfront and Trading post.  Fast forward through driving and talking about band direction and tunes until we're home.  Another gig done.

Fun!

Readying for the trip

Blimey it's warm in this basement apt when the windows are closed.  Damn rory and his tea late at night.  So we're leaving for Bayfield in about 6 hours.  I have yet to sleep and pack yet.  At least my mom has a ton of cookies for me to pick up.  MMmmm... cookies.  Apparently Peanut Butter with chocolate chips and Chocolate with Peanut Butter chips.  Hmmm...  Well, the weekend shoudl be good, with Rory and Jessome, and there's the possibility to pick up a few bucks... As long as the gas prices are ok, we could make some money.  Just not too enthused about the drive.

I'll report back when I get home.

Being sick sucks! - thank you brian

Okay, so last night I came home and thought I wasn't feeling 100%, so I went to bed early.  Brian had complained of some cold on the weekend.  I didn't wake up until almost too late.  I woke up early enough to drive Mandy to work and call Pete and cancel my chiropractic appointment.  But I went back and woke up roughly around 12, I had to work for 1.  I debated about calling in sick, but with recent developments at work, I thought it would be mean of me to do so.  So, I go in, late, and I barely lasted 3 hours before I got to pull to plug.

---

Then there was the bad news at work.  Ok, now I'm not sure that Cameron would want me to go into the details, but my previous MSN nickname made me seem like a total jerk.  It wasn't about him, but could be construed the wrong way.  I apologize Cam.  Our department is falling apart.

---

I tried to get some more sleep, but can't, so I'm just taking tons of drugs to keep me alive ... and now I have to debate about calling in sick tomorrow.  I could, but there's NOBODY to cover the shift, so I kinda feel bad.  But I'm sick... not much I can do.

THE GREAT CANOE TRIP '05 - Journal

just a side note - this was written AFTER the canoe trip while I still had some memories fresh.

THIS WAS FOR THE WEEKEND OF JULY 15-18

---

DAY 1

Started out at a place called Madelaine Lake [met some nice TO guy who's been going there for 50 years he said.  Gave us some shelter from the rain before we headed out] and we paddled through to Icarus.  Couldn't find the right portage at the end of the lake, so after searching ALOT of ground (and one canoe tipping by me!) we find a great portage (super easy road) leading to what we think leads to a lake that'll take us AROUND the one we wanted to get into.  This leads us actually to areas of swamp, HUGE bushwacking portages (one had 4 stages in it, really fun!) and a general feeling of unsureness of where we were.  As light fades we try to find a last portage & decide against it and camp for the night.  We find an "ok" spot on a bit of a high rock.  Very narrow, TONS of bus (literally it hummed so loud you thought there was a plane or something), no light.  Jarron and Regan ended up taking a spot a few feet away which was about a 30-40 degree slope.  We all beat a hasty retreat into the tents and get some sleep.  According to Jarron and Regan this was a VERY rough day, VERY out of the norm for them.

---

DAY 2

The day starts out realizing that the previous day wasn't a bad dream (and then seeing Todd and his naked ass).  I'm trying to vote that we head back, take 2 days to do so and come back a day earlier.  No takers .  Jarron and Regan said the portage they found last night [but was too dark to use] should work, just it'll be tricky [like anything vs. last day would be considered tricky].  So we give it a go.  Dry socks go into semi-dried shoes & within seconds they're soaked again!  The first portage is a KILLER.  Not as bad as the previous day, but it'll rank up there.  Just swampy areas.  This leads to an area that we're still unsure about, but we meet a Wisconsin who tells us we're the first to come through the way we did, and how he came through Icarus (the portage that WE couldn't find - apparently we didn't look hard enough).  He also tells us that if we had been there the previous day, another set of campers might have given US a case of beer that they gave to him.  BURN.  We take lunch on a rock with chicken fajitas which were supposed to be last night's dinner - if we had the time.  We paddle on through what seems to be endless kilometres of swampy beaver areas and small low water rapids.  As we're just about to give out from exhaustion, we come out on Granite Lake.  A BEAUTIFUL pristine calm lake.  We find THE campsite.  nice beach, log benches around the fire pit, a cooking table, plenty of tenting sites, even a place to actually sit down to crap!  Just a bit of garbage and lots of quad tracks.  The night is nice, we make some sausages over the fire.  Have a nice swim, Rory tips over in the canoe [trying to pump water from the lake].  The bugs get SUPER insane and we make an early night of it.

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Day 3

Probably the best sleep of all the trip.  Tho', I realized that my 'muscle shirt' (read, wife beater) was a bad call for eysterday as my shoulders are a nice shade of RED.  Sleeping kinda irritated it.  We head out for the best day of all.  Nice amount of paddling, broken up really well with nice portages.  Apparently we covered ~20km!  We had some nice rapids, then some strong winds at our back.  Jarron rigged up the tent fly with a pole and we SAILED pretty well for about an hour.  Then a nice little rest by some rapids while Regan and Todd fish (we swim) and Regan breaks his rod.  Then we get to more paddling.  WE stopped for a quick lunch @ what I call "Joshua Tree Island."  The wind is still strong so we go and sit side by side in canoes so that the wind pushes us better.  Works sort of like a catamaran.  We find some guys DRIVER'S LICENSE & then we finally land in NORTHERN LIGHT LAKES.  We try to camp @ the falls but some Americans already have it.  They blocked the landing with 2 canoes (one had a dead fish tied to it), and a few beer cans, and 3 more canoes on the lane up to the site.  We decided to push through their site to on on the other side.  We start to paddle through some rough waves.  A bit leery actually, but we eventually come out to an AWESOME camp ste.  Again a little dirty [coffe cups, and other litter].  There's a lean to, that helps block the wind around the fire spot, with a shelf for cooking, and they have a toilet as well!  The wind really starts to pick up.  Rory sets up a clothesline to dry everything out.  We take a good swim and set up camp.  Todd & Regan go fishing.  The wind definitely helps keep the bugs away!  Strong wind really starts to turn into a "storm brew," and with no sign from Todd or Regan we start getting concertned.  It gets a little worse out.  Heavy winds, little spots of rain.  We start dinner without the 2 fishers and as we start they appear with 2 catches.  It rains almost immediately thereafter.  I eat my 2 sausages and head to bed (i hate getting wet).  Just as I turned on my MP3 player the rain stops so we all get out and watch the storm.  A bunch of huge FORKS of lightening strike pretty close by.  But it looks like the storm just went all aorund the island, but nothing ON the island.  Todd decides to jump out and scare Jarron [it's really dark now].  He does so, but it was Regan instead, and I thought Regan was gonna kill him.  Rory & Todd decide to do a midnight naked swim, I bow out and fall asleep listening to tunes.

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DAY 4

Woke up from the worst sleep (sun burn and a MILLION bug bites can do that).  We have a quick breakfast and off we go in VERY choppy weather.  We were warned to wear our life jackets.  Good idea.  If Jarron and Regan suggest to do so, i say we do so.  Nothing happened, mind you, but it was good reassurance.  I can see how some people can get sea sickness.  So we paddled a ton of open water.  NO PORTAGES!  Which made for really boring paddling.  The wind was mostly @ our backs, but still some very choppy waves.  A few close scrapes with some power boaters (jerks - Todd really had to wave at one of them so they wouldn't get so close).  Rory was really getting concerned.  And Jarron decided to use the sail trick again. Gave him the edge, beat us by ~20minutes but we were dead tired of paddling all that way, and he just sat back.  The last 10 minutes it rained HARD, but we were so close & we were glad we didn't tip.  To top the weekend off Regan's tire was flat!  Then we headed for home - only stopping at the Stanly for a STANLEY BURGER, of course.

 

THE END

White River & a lesson in maturity

So it's a day late [white river was yesterday], but i was busy putting the final touches on the DVD from the Canoe Trip.  I'll post stuff about that later.

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Well... White River.  Good times.  Bad drive.  The whole long route up Jarron and Brian just got obliterated.  Actually, Jarron held his own.  It was Brian who ended up calling God on the big white porcelain phone.  That was funny.  Loud too.  A good night none the less of just hanging out with some buds from the band.  Middle part was a little 'iffy' as the bottle cap wars escalated when somebody found out that I was collecting them.  I won't get into it, but I ended up hurting Erin.  I'm REALLY sorry  about that Erin.  Almost that alone caused me to call it off.  What did end it for me was the little prank/joke thing we had going rose [or fell is a better description] to outright theft.  Not of my stuff, but of Jarron's too.  And the manipulation to make people do the stealing too.  To me that seemed really childish and that coupled with the accidental hurting of Erin caused me to just call it quits.  I guess it was my lesson in maturity.  For that I'm grateful, and if all it cost me was my skull [that I had since I was 8], then so be it.  What else I enjoyed about the trip was that I got to use my Aztek tent again.  That thing is SOO comfy [when there's only one person in it].

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What else.  Oh, the viewing of the DVD was today.  Went pretty good, the guys seemed to enjoy it.  A few weeks back I went on a canoe trip with Jarron, Regan, Todd and Rory.  It was  agood time.  I think I might post my 'post journal' [I wrote it when i came home] on here.  So I put together a DVD of all the pictures and put some music and made a whole DVD of the thing.  It was a lot of fun.

 

Well, that's about it for now... Not much else is sticking in my head.  Mandy wants me to go see off her sister at the airport.. her flight's at 7.  Mandy has to be at work for 7.  Which means a SUPER early wake up call for me.  GRRR... seeing as it's past midnight now, not sure I'm too pumped about it.  Definitely not pumped about me going to work tomorrow.  Grr..  But I'm going to go see if I can get into PACI, which will be good, 'cuz it'll sorta start off my teaching career for the fall.  that should help keep me in a good mood.

 

Ciao for now.

-ry

Another Harry Potter book down - and I'm single again

So... in keeping witht eh I've lost my ring... I'm not "bach"ing it again.  Girls, don't get too excited, Mnady's just dog sitting at her parent's.  In the mean time, I'm learning too cook and clean by myself.  As well, I've finished the last Harry Potter book.  Not bad, definitely an improvement from the last book.  But overall not as 'mysterious' or stuff like that like the first few were, where there were clues that could be tied in.  There were some, but it was more or less tacked on I feel.  What to read next?  I'm looking at either The DARK TOWER 05 [wolves of calla] or the 3rd in the Chronicles of Narnia book.  If only the Narnia books weren't so childish. OR, if only Robert Jordan would get off his ass and finish the next book.  Been waiting forever for that one.

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What else to say... not much has happened.  Dinner with the folks for our anniversary and theirs as well at the Neebing.

My DVD production is finishing up and readying for final viewing, just need  ascan of the map.  I should call Todd so I can get that AND I need to getfrom him stuff for the math class next semester.  I can't believe I'm gonna be teaching.  It's gonna be so awesome!

A camping trip with NOTHING, STRANGE and WHAT

So we decide that we need to go camping some weekend.  Mandy thinks that inviting the Howie girls would be a good idea. I agree.  Just because i need any excuse to get out and enjoy the out doors.

So the day comes up and we head out.  MAN they packed alot of 'stuff'.  Well Jen did.  Apparently tehre was a miscommunication about what they were to bring.

So we get to the Sleeping Giant park and find our spot.  Apparently, just MISSING all the fun of the weekend stuff.  But we digress and set up camp.  Well "I" set up camp.  So we spend a pretty good time... uncomfortable night, good swim, me losing my ring, getting sunburnt, hiding in the shade, etc...

Oh, that's right -- LOST MY RING.  I know, totally STUPID of me to wear it in the lake.  It has NEVER fallen off before.  I guess all the sunscreen caused it to be a bit slippery [it was okay the first time we went to the lake].  Anyways, an EXPENSIVE trip to say the least.  So anybody who wants to help me find a new ring... by all means.  Or if you think you could find my old one... by all means.  Grr..

Other than that, it was a great trip.  I hope the girls [which, btw I've renamed NOTHING, STRANGE and WHAT - basically by what they said the most throughout the first day] enjoyed themselves.  We definitely want to go again!

A pipe band trip and an anniversary - all rolled into one weekend

So, since I've last added...

We went on, what will now be referred to as the NUTBURN trip.  The trip was to a town called washburn and then on to Butternut.  It was a good trip.  Just felt all guilty all weekend because it was on my 1st anniversary.  It's a long story, but I was given permission to go.  [Mandy had used up her vacation time, so we couldn't go anyplace, so I went].  It was a good time.  Pics to come.

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Started out by a LONG [or at least felt like it] car ride.  Actually it was preceded by the fastest packing I had ever done.  [I told Jeff I'd meet him at 11... I woke up at 11:10 and hadn't packed yet]  And when we got to Washburn we couldn't get into the EMT spot because of some sort of social gathering, so we tail-gated in the parking lot for a few hours.  It was fun.  We got to hang out a fair bit this trip, and have some good 'bonding times'.  I have a few new nicknames, a few new bruises and a few new drinking games.  [Names now include:  Granpa, Shark, Great White Granpa and the Albino Rhino... don't ask, you had to be there].

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Now I get back LATE on Sunday evening [my anniversary] and Mandy points out that the flowers I had delivered are old looking and I should get my money back.  We held our 'night' tonight [Monday] with the eating of the cake... 1 year old cake.  Not so good an idea as you would think.

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So now it's all kind of a gross feeling.. and I'm going to bed.  Hopefully I can change my car service appointment, because they might be going on strike.  Cross your fingers for me.

More Ramblings

So what's happened since last time that's note-worthy.

I hate my job at Sears, but it's easy enough to stick out for a while longer... hopefully somethign comes from teaching in the fall and I don't have to look back.

Not much really has happened.  I worked out mandy's anniversary gift I think.  I hope she's not too mad that I'm out of town for it.  I do feel bad over it.

I've started work on teh slideshow/dvd of the camping trip.  It's starting to take a life of it's own on now.  Kinda scary.  Release date... TBA.  Tentatively a week or 2.  Hoping nothing else pops up.  It's beeen such a busy week.  What, with the car, my broken permanent retainer, 10 day stretches at work.  Grr...  This weekend should be a nice release.  READY TO PARTY!

Hmm... what else.  OH YEAH

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So I've gotten THE uber stereo comment the other day.  Any audio-nerds out there remember the ad that polk had in the magazines?  It was a 2 pager, with one page one half of a duplex and a little old lady looking out her door to the other side.  Other page was the other half with a sorry looking dude and 2 police officers.  I had tha thappen.  Ror came over to watch Constantine with me and we had the windows open 'cuz it was bloody hot.  By 2am there was a rap at the little window.  I thought it was like Chris or sometbody wanting in.  "It's the cops" is all I heard.  Apparently neighbours 'across the way' are complaining of the loudness.  Awesome!

Let's hope mandy doesn't notice my 2 new speakers [replaced my older smaller ones].  Should get more attention from the cops now!  Not really.  Same power, just taller and slimmer.

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Just got an email from Don, saying he's in town.  Which is very cool.

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Last point... if you're a student, or ex-student of mine.  Please... please, do not think that if you see me in the mall you're entitled to HANG OUT with me.  Stupid grade 9s. 

 

A new entry

So... how did the day start out... Hmm... Well, I do hate mornings.  Grr.  I had a chiropractic appointment and hten I had to be at work for 10:30.  For the first time in a while I wasn't more than 30m early to work.

But then it didn't matter, 'cuz that day sucked hard.  Let me ask you... blog viewers.  If you ordered a tv to your older relative in a far away city to be delivered to the home and you had just previously sent her a universal remote control, THEN the relative says [almsot 5 months down the line] that she didn't get the original remote for the tv... all she has is A universal remote.  Somehow this universal remote works for the tv.  So... according to the customer she's saying that TOSHIBA puts in it's box a crappy GE universal remote.  Or, that sears did it.   Not that the possibility tha tsomebody in the old folk's home replaced remotes or lost the original or something.  She's admitted tat the relative is old and losing it ... sigh.  Never been sworn at by an old lady I must say.  Threatened once that one would bring in her shotgun...

After that... jsut some typical running around...and then a warning about how i might be hugged in the future [won't get into it].

Ending the day watching A&E's Airline show... i feel good watching that show.

Plus a little ego trying to help Cindy and her issues.  I hope you feel better kiddo.