SETTLING IN

The condo board recently organized a Christmas social at a local pub for all the residents here at the Milestone complex. It was great seeing so many people out and I was surprised that it wasn't all "older" people (I was under the impression that it was mainly seniors that lived here). In fact, there were a couple of people similar in age to me that just moved in. And although most of my neighbors that I met are in the energy field, there aere some that aren't:
- Julie is a crime analyst for the Calgary police department. She's probably been asked a million times but she's not in forensics; rather she does all the data gathering to create profiles for criminals and then deploys this information to the front line force. Pretty cool. Her husband is a contractor, currently working on a project in the posh Garrison Woods community
- Nancy is a rehab therapist. Her and her fiancee (set to get married in July) Kevin just moved here from Saskatoon. She's so lucky: she didn't know what she was going to do for work and walked across the steet to the plaza, where there is an agency that specializes in "at risk" children. Well, she showed them her resume and they hired her on the spot; apparently, one of the workers there was just finishing that week and they were just about to post the position!
- Dwight is in the energy field. He and his companion Martine are avid outdoors people. We spent lots of time talking about cycling, snowboarding and snow shoeing. Yup! When there's too much snow on the ground, that doesn't hinder these crazy Calgarians from hiking the mountains. They just strap on a set of snowshoes and off they go. He mentioned that the University of Calgary has a superb outfitter renting everything from snowshoes to snowboards to camping equipment. He also pointed me to the Calgary Outdoor Club who organizes many of these excursions.
- I met Jerry near the end of the evening. Him and I were the only visible minorities there and so I guess there was some unspoken bond. Anyways, he's an older bloke, but I didn't really find out much about him. Instead, he was beeming about his sons, one who is a dentist in town and another who is a stock broker. He even gave me their business cards and asked me to give them a call!

I AM SO SORE RIGHT NOW....
Newton was right when he said that a body at rest tends to stay at rest. I recently joined the Westside Recreation Centre, a community centre that is endowed more like a health club. They've got 2 pools (a dedicated lane one, and a leisure one that is a wave pool!), a rock climbing gym, hardwood courts, 2 ice rinks (a hockey one and a 2-tiered leisure one that has fire pits and benches where you can warm up!) and a super crazy fitness area. All their machines are computerized so you can custom tailor any fitness program you want and it will keep track of all the data. It also has 430m worth of running track. Instead of one big oval track (like the ones you would find at a high school), there are a series of smaller tracks: 50m, 100m and 200m and they all link together if you want the full distance. So, that means you're not really running in a circle, which helps to break up monotony. Their spinning bikes are awesome, donning clipless pedals if you've got the shoes and soft tail suspension to give you that realistic climbing feeling as if you were on a mountain bike. So, I decided to go swimming. Not more than half a year ago, I was training for a triathlon and could swim 1,000m non-stop. Well, I could barely do 200m without gasping for air. After 600m, I decided that it probably wouldn't bode me to well to have a lifeguard pull me out on my first day! But my body is in so much pain right now!

HOSTED MY VERY FIRST DINNER...
After finally unpacking everything and putting it away, I feel like I could actually have guests over. So, in a way of paying tribute to a family who has been so hospitable to me ever since I arrived in Calgary, the Tangs were the very first to see my place. And, for once, it was I who prepared the food! Ella was the guest of honour and I'm delighted that she seemed to enjoy my chicken and potatoes! She's really cute because she can pull herself up now; you can tell she's just on the verge of being able to walk. I'm also glad that Mrs. Tang came as well, despite having an extra early flight back to Toronto the following morning. I suspect that there will be more of these dinners since I'm just a mere 10 minutes away from the Tangs.