I'VE BEEN IN CALGARY FOR ONE MONTH NOW!

ALMOST-REALITY TV...
They sure do show a lot of ping pong on TV in Calgary. They also show a lot of Flames games, which makes me miss the Leafs a lot. AND, it still amuses me to see an ongoing soap opera appear religiously on a sports channel, but something from Smackdown caught my attention: The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels was paying a tribute to Eddie Guerrero who passed away recently. He spoke nothing of EG's wrestling accomplishments or skills. Instead, he talked about EG's faith, professing that both he and Eddie were born - again Christians! He was looking forward to being able to wrestle with Eddie one day in eternity, before an audience of One, that being "Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords!" Wouldn't this be an interesting topic of debate: Christians in wrestling, playing the roles of heroes and heels. Broader yet, Christians in the entertainment business. Christian artists or artists who happen to be Christian.

DANGEROUS PLACES, THOSE CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORES....
I always seem to leave one of these places with a new CD. I recently purchased the new Switchfoot CD (which has my current favorite song: The Shadows Prove The Sunshine). Shortly after the purchase, I found myself disappointed that the CD had a built-in security schema that would launch its own music player every time you put it in your computer. This prevents the owner of the CD from making digital copies, so, I found myself unable to listen to the songs on my portable player. To get around this, I played the CD real time into the player and encoded it into MP3 there. It's a hassle because I have to sit there, ensure the levels are good, and split each track as it ends. I also have to input the file information (album name, artist name, song name) afterwards. Well, it turns out that this CD is one of those that inadvertently makes your computer vulnerable and has been a major source of grief for Sony which has faced class action from around the world and has now committed to stopping the production of these CD's, removal of these CD's from retailers and the exchanging of "secure" CD's for non-secure ones to those who have already purchased them. In the meantime, I recall that I've played this CD on both my laptop and desktop, so I'll have to figure out how to fix the vulnerability. Man! One tries to do something good and...

ANOTHER TORONTO VISITOR COMING...
This time, it is a person who has been my mentor and was the former manager who hired me at the music store. He has since moved on to a natural drug company where he is the Canadian general manager. He also attends the Meeting House and is a home church leader in Brampton. I've always admired him because of his business acumen, business ethics and dedication to ministry. He has demonstrated to me that you can be successful in business AND make a difference socially. He introduced me to the idea of living on 10% and tithing 90%.

ADVENTURES IN IKEA...
I woke up one morning, hearing a child ask the question "What is an Ektorp?" A man with a heavy Swedish accent responded, but I forget what he said. Somehow, this smart radio ad from IKEA that played as my alarm went off stuck in my subconscious. There was a sofa sale at IKEA! Since a couch is not on the list of items being shipped to me from Toronto, I've been envisioning a bare living area in the condo that I'm moving into at the end of the month (a minimalist approach that might not work for the long term). So, I decided to go to IKEA to check it out (my subconscious was telling me that this sale had something to do with buy-one-get-one-half-off and that the sale was ending soon - an innate Asian tendency that allows me to shelve these important details!) It was 14C today in Calgary and I discovered that there was an IKEA just 13.5 km away. That was a no brainer! I decided to strap on my blades and go for a nice ride, assuming that the trusty Bow River Pathway would take me to where I wanted to go. Well, it turns out that 13.5 km represented the most direct route. After snaking around the Bow River and safely crossing major highways, it felt like I had bladed more like 25 km! I felt bad about trying out the sofa because my back was just dripping with sweat - don't ask for the floor model if you're ever in the Calgary IKEA!! Well, after doing another marathon through the humungous store just to get to the self serve furniture section, I picked up (literally, because I had to load them onto the carts myself) an Ektorp sofa and an Ektorp armchair. Sure enough, it was buy-one-get-one-half off. It will be delivered at about the same time that I move in. And how does one fuel himself after such a grueling workout? TWO FIDDY-CENT IKEA HOTDOGS!

HOMECOMING...
I'm going to tack on an extra week off at the end of January, as I return for the roadtrip to Jay Peak. It'll be nice to see family and friends again!