I'VE MOVED!!!

Crazy weather…
I bundle up just a bit more tightly as I make my way to work. It’s -18 in Calgary and, though I’ve only been outside for a few minutes, my eyelashes are sticking together and I think I’m starting to lose feeling in my nose (I’m stricken by the fear that there’s goober escaping but I don’t realize). I can’t help but ponder the words of one of my colleagues from the day before: “The most essential car things to survive a Calgary winter are snowtires, a scraper and an extension cord”. An extension cord? He responds to my bewilderment in a tone more crass than probably what was intended. “So you can plug in your block heater!”

Speaking of my car…
I learned that my car had arrived on the 30^th, sitting in some holding station before it is released. I find out that the rest of my possessions (which went on a separate truck) were to arrive a week later. Now, having lived without a car for the past month has been very liberating. I don't think that I've walked this much since university days. I have not tracked gas prices in this time period, nor have I had to worry about things like where to find parking, watching the speed limit or worrying about when the next scheduled maintenance is. Makes me realize how so much of my life in Toronto was created with the car as the key mode of transportation, but that IT IS possible to survive without one!

About a week later…
My fingers feel raw and my back is creaking. I’ve done a lot of cleaning and assembling of furniture. The month of not driving has gone down the tubes as I made more trips to Ikea, Linen’N’Things and Zellers than I care to count. Despite Calgary being smaller, population wise, it’s still pretty sprawled out. The difference is, instead of thinking in 45 minute blocks that need to be reserved for traveling (usually from one end of Toronto to the other), I only need to think in blocks of 20 minutes. I’ve also noticed that, despite all the running around, I really haven’t traveled that much in mileage.

Hello AMJ Campbell…
Well, the furniture arrived exactly a week after the car. Apparently, it was more cost effective for them to drive straight through Calgary onto Vancouver to do another pick up before coming back. I was pretty impressed by how professional the movers, Glen and Greg, were: they laid drop cloths everywhere, were very careful when maneuvering the different corners and even put together all the furniture for me. My fingers thank them very much! Kind of silly, but words cannot describe how happy I the moment I saw my snowboard!

Crazy weather…
Today’s temperature climbed to +2 and is expected to hit 11 this weekend. Hello Chinook.

A brief comparison…
Having spent almost 2 months in Calgary, I’m starting to get used to things that I have found unique to Calgary. Here are some things that are done differently than in Toronto:

- when turning at many intersections, there are double left hand turn lanes. This means that you constantly have to check your blind spot to ensure that noone is sliding into your lane. It also means that you have to watch carefully that you stay in your lane, lest you slide into someone else’s lane.
- there is no “+15” rule here; back in Toronto, it was pretty safe to drive at +15. Here, if you’re even 7 km/h over, they’ll get you. And “get you” can manifest itself in different forms: I’ve seen a police officer standing right in the middle of a busy road pointing people over; there is photo radar here (apparently all the equipment from Toronto’s failed attempt at this was sent to Alberta) so you have to be weary of grey vans with tinted windows parked on the sides of the road); your traditional cop-with-radar-gun-hiding-behind-a bush or lamp post. I think that it’s congruent with the general mentality that many Calgarians have – everything is seen as a revenue generating opportunity, including how the police “police”.
- more on driving: you have to constantly pay attention to the lights; they don’t change in the same sequence as what I’m used to; sometimes, left hand turn signals come on, even if it feels like it should be the other lane’s turn; I think that the intersections are actually intelligent, knowing which lanes to wave through to minimize congestion
- the price isn’t always the price (in a good way) – at the Petro Canada here, if you use your Petro Points card (which I do anyways) you get another 3 cents/litre off!; on more than a few occasions, the prices usually shown are not the prices in the computer when the item gets scanned (and it’s always been in my favor!) For example, I saw the Family Guy Season 3 DVD box set at Zeller’s for $45. When they scanned it, it came up for $29! Wow!
- the radio stations here are awesome; so far, I’ve found 3 stations, I believe that’s all I really need to listen continuously without having to listen to commercials. On preset 2 is Vibe 98.5, a top 40 station, just like the 98.5 I would get in Toronto (except this one is local, so the signal is strong unlike in Toronto where you would have to be facing Buffalo to get a good signal!). Preset 3 has 92.1 a classic/current rock station. They play some pretty good stuff. And, on Preset 1 (to my greatest joy) is Shine 88.9, a contemporary Christian music station. I can’t believe that in all the years that I lived in Toronto, there was never a Christian station available on the FM dial. You’d have to listen to one from Burlington or Barrie. Right now, Shine is playing all Christmas songs, so you can listen to every version of Let It Snow ever recorded.

Finally, I created some videos to show my mom how I’ve been living for the past month:

October 17 to December 3: The Executive Suite, Downtown Calgary:

My new digs at Signature Parke Milestone, just west of Downtown: