FOOD MUSINGS

The Delta Hotel, joined to the Calgary International Airport, is located on the departure level, making it a very convenient place to stay. That is where G decided to stay overnight, before heading off for a meeting in Kelowna. So, we met up for breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. This restaurant has a buffet option, or you can order from the menu. Wanting to spend more time seated and catching up, we both decided on the menu option. Feeling patriotic, I order the "Great Canadian" from the menu, a mouth watering montage of eggs (anyway you like), bacon/ham/sausage, potato hash and toast, with unlimited coffee and juice. When my plate arrives, I look at it, then look at the person sitting at the table next to us who has gone for the buffet option. No word of a lie, I could have just gotten up, walked to the buffet table and assembled a more appetizing (and certainly more plentiful) plate! Luckily, food wasn't the main focus my unexpected get-together with G. It's always a blessing to spend time with someone whom I consider a good friend and mentor.

I had a much better breakfast (food-wise) experience this past weekend, when I was introduced to The Cheesecake Cafe by G & J. D and I met up with them after church for brunch. Huge portions, delicious flavours (I had the smoked salmon benedict) and, when you first walk in, you are welcomed by this amazing, glassed display of cakes! To soak up the resulting uncontrolled drool, they offer a plate of steaming fresh baby muffins for you to choose from. Most of our conversation centred around camping and biking and trailblazing. I AM SO STOKED FOR THE SUMMER! Technically, July and August are the summer months here and June and September are the "shoulder" months. It's actually better to go during the shoulder months as there are less tourists!

The night before, I went to Velvet with J & D, a quaint little lounge in the freshly renovated Grand Theatre. This theatre reminds me a lot of The Grand Theatre in Kingston. They have a decent menu and a pretty impressive wine list (the first place in Calgary that I have found to carry bottles from Alsace, France). I opted for dessert since I already had dinner. HAND MADE MACADAMIAN NUT ICE CREAM!! It was so good!

NEED MORE SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE!

I've become familiar enough with my work routines that it now takes me no more than 4 hours to finish everything. During a 12 hour shift, that means I have 8 hours to do "other things". I recently subscribed to the Calgary Herald, a city newspaper offered by the same people who bring you the National Post. So, I usually spend the first couple of hours of a shift reading through it. Yet, I have found this routine to be more and more taxing. News just doesn't develop that fast, so it's usually the same stories with slight modifications from the previous day. Plus, it's usually the more depressing stories that are highlighted and written about by at least 6 different people. Like the 12 year old girl who allegedly murdered her parents and brother with her 23 year old boyfriend. Or the different bombings of people and places (which ends up killing people). Or the standoffs. Or the "oil crisis". If I was strictly an information gathering machine, it would be okay. But to think about the impact on peoples' lives that these "stories" have is just depressing. Why would anyone want to gather and collect this type of information? So, I find that I'm just going straight to the puzzle page to work on the words scrambles and word searches. I've become very good at the "can you spot 12 differences in these 2 pictures?" activity. I'm not smart enough for crosswords.

But, in the mire of so much sadness in the world, we have music and muppetry to pick us up!

TORTURE!

For about 3 days now, I've been nursing a sore throat. It's not a symptom of a broader illness like the flu, because the rest of my body feels fine: no fever, no runny nose, no nausea. Just an extremely annoying itchy throat. It's fine during the day, because I can a. induce the coughing mechanism as a means to scratch this itch when I'm by myself or b. hold the cough in when I'm in public but work on my abs (funny how the coughing mechanism uses so much of your core!) But at night time, when one is trying to sleep... when I breathe, it irritates the throat just enough to induce the coughing reflex. Which means no sleep. I got so fed up one night, that I went to Shopper's (yes, even in Calgary they are open until midnight) and picked up some Benylin. Helped just a bit, but after about 2 hours, it would be back. Torture in its most cruelest form...

Because of this, I've been putting off doing a long run until I'm fully recovered. These past 2 days, temperatures have hit the low 20's and so it was looking quite promising for a nice, outdoor run. Well, it's now back to 0 again and it's actually snowing. So much for that...

During one of the nice days, I had a chance to break out the old baseball glove. EPCOR has a softball team and were holding a practice. I don't think I've put that glove on for years! But it felt really good once I got back into it.

Oh well, G is flying through Calgary on Tuesday so I'll have a chance to have breakfast with him! And then next week, D and Z and N are driving from Toronto to BC, stopping off in Calgary for a couple of days. And then, 3 weeks after that, my parents are here! May is going to be a busy month.

POWDER POWDER!

As temperatures in Calgary climb to the high teens, I can't believe that I'm still writing about snowboarding. But that's just the thing about Calgary: travel less than 1.5 hours west and you are in a completely different world. During the gondola ride up, we chatted with a couple who were there for the 100th time this season. Wow! Imagine riding for a third of the year! When we got off, there was about 20cm of fresh powder waiting for us. The skies were clear and the sun was beaming. Which made it a little warm, which meant that the fresh powder quickly became slushy and chunky. Which meant that our particular riding approach was somewhat challenging. There are 2 schools when it comes to riding: technical and speed. G happens to be of the latter school and so most of my day was spent zooming down the mountain at super-sonic speeds. After lunch, it started snowing. REALLY HARD. It got to the point where each time we went up, there was another 2 cm of new powder. So, the afternoon was just amazing! Some of the best riding this year. Now, my dilemma. According to my Sunshine pass, my next visit is free. Obviously, I need to go again! Luckily, Sunshine is open all the way until May "too-fer"!

After cooking for D, we shot some stick at his parents' condo downtown. We then hopped over to Eau Claire to watch Lucky Number Slevin. He bumped into some of his university friends and we were both invited to join them at Joey Tomato's. As we sit down, one of his friends whispers to look behind us. There, sitting 2 tables away were a handful of the Colorado Avalanche and Calgary Flames, just having duelled at the Saddledome. Honestly, I didn't recognize them due to the fact that I don't follow either of these teams. But, I was quickly chastised for not recognizing Dion Phanuef, the Flame's popluar rookie (highly popular amonst the female followers for his charming good looks). He was walking around, signing autographs and just chatting it up with some of the other patrons.

I guess I can now officially mourn the Leafs, although it's a private mourning as everyone else in this town seems to be getting geared up for the Flames' playoffs.

INSOMNIA

I find myself sitting here at 2:00 a.m., trying to get tired enough to fall asleep, as I just finished a set of night shifts. I am reading over last my entry and I'm a little disappointed. I think I had conceded to the OCD part of me that makes me anxious when I haven't posted anything in nearly a week. And so, it seems, the highlight of the week was the birthing of a new radio station!

The last glint of sunlight retreats over the jagged edges of the distant mountains. Oddly shaped clouds that seemed to have invaded the moonlit sky can now be seen, barely reflected off the Bow River. The rider races along the paved path, leaving the blinding city lights and nonsensical chatter of urban hum. He passes a couple, clearly near the end of their evening stroll, mindlessly shifting up and down his gears as the topography demands. Soon, the path of pavement becomes a line of earth, pounded down by many footsteps and other bicycle wheels. It is eerily silent now, except for the soft rustling of the dry yellow grass as the wind starts to pick up. A split in the path appears and now the rider must depart from the comforts of the wide path that continues invitingly along the river. Instead, he crosses over a set of train tracks and begins his ascent into a forest...

I've actually been spending a lot of time outdoors as the weather is starting to pick up in Calgary. And with the marathon just around the corner, I've been increasing my mileage. A short run is now 15km. I'm also keeping up with the triathlon training, although I haven't registered for any races this year. So, this gets me to the pool every other day (working on that bilateral breathing thing) and likewise on my bike.

His concentration on keeping the bike on a path that cannot be seen is annoyingly interrupted by the steep pitch of the ascent. Shifting to an easier gear proves useless as his rear tyre starts spinning. Breathing rather deeply and rapidly, he makes it to the first bend. Despite the moon being shrouded by the clouds, he can almost make out the treeline which escorts this winding path on either side. The trees are leaf-less at this time of year and it's like he's riding through an army of tree skeletons, each peering down at him with menacing limbs stretched forth. Yet another hill. In his strain, the landscape blends into a grey, formless mass. Except for a patch of white that he barely catches out of the corner of his eye. He looks a little closer as his bike slowly passes by. It is a bunny.

I had lunch with J&P&E today (who invited their friends G&J) at Central Grand, probably one of my favorite places in Calgary for dim sum. G&J are expecting their first child this summer, so, lunchtime conversations eventually turned to strollers. Apparently, the Ferrari of strollers is a Bugaboo, and Nelly Fortado was recently spotted in Toronto sporting one of those (and not necessarily for a baby but for carrying her shopping bags). I guess there is a market for everything! G is also an avid snowboarder - well, who can blame him?! He was born in Calgary and has lived here most of his life. So, I guess I'm not done this season after all! We're going to do some spring time riding 2 days from now at Sunshine. Spring, relatively speaking, because they still got 10cm over the past 5 days!

The rider thinks he is hallucinating, as his legs are just burning from this incredible climb. Yet, the bunny remains there, curiously watching the rider struggle by, wrinkling its whiskers in disinterest. A twig snaps to the rider's other side. Without warning, and in true tag-team velociraptor fashion, another bunny darts out, baring down on the rider. Its fangs are exposed, dripping a thick, hunger-induced drool and its eyes are glowing blood-shot marbles. In the silence, a deep growl is let out. As the rider braced himself for the final strike, he closes his eyes and reflects on what a ridiculous way this was to die. When the pending darkness of life's expiration did not come in what seemed like an eternity, only then did he dare open his eyes. Just then, he caught a small glimpse of the second bunny, scooting off with the first bunny, both swallowed by the thick yellow grass and fence of naked trees. The rider turned his sights back to the path and saw a clearing quickly approaching, where the path ended and opened up to reveal a street, one familiar to the rider and one that would be leading him home. Only when he felt that he was at a safe distance did he look back. The diminishing forest didn't seem so scary now and he chided himself. But at that exact moment, a flash of lightning erupted the calm darkness of the sky. Oddly, there was no thunder. The only sound that the rider heard was the pitter-patter of the raindrops as the heavens opened up. And the snickering of two bunny rabbits that had their way with him tonight.

Oh yeah, Preston Manning might be running for Premier of Alberta...

YOU'RE LISTENING TO...

Despite having driven/bussed/run past it numerous times, it just donned on me that Calgary has a new radio station. Actually, an existing "oldies" station has been replaced this week by an "all news radio" station. It finally clicks that the discreet, green bench ad, bearing a familiar font and format, reminds me of something that was part of my Toronto past. Rogers Media has implanted into Calgary our own version of "680 News". Except, it's "660 News" here. When I get home, I dial it in and hear even more familiarity: traffic report on the one's, sports at 15 and 45, and the distinct single tone announcing the top of the hour! Even the stock music clips are the same. I swear that there are one or two radio personalities that I recognize from my Toronto listenings. Nice.

I'M A SCARECROW!

J did a quick fly-by of Calgary for a business meeting. In between shifts, I swooped over to the Port-O-Call Best Western to rescue her, briefly, from bland hotel food. But it was a botched operation because I forgot my wallet! It was really nice catching up with her, sharing about wrestling with meaning and purpose at the current stage of our journeys. In a respectful way, I am envious of her vocation, working for a Christian organization that is involved with development and relief work all around the world. Me, I sit in front of a screen and look at numbers, I tell her. Yet, she reminded me that there are many elements involved between a planted seed and a blossomed fruit. Aside from the work in getting the seed planted, somehow water, soil and sunlight is thrown into the mix. And sometimes you need a scarecrow to stand there, appearing to do nothing, but purposed in protecting the growing seed. A hedge of security from unwelcome/unexpected elements.

My director likes to come up to me and quiz me point blank. He doesn't care for a full analysis, just a simple answer which shows subconscious understanding. He asked me, once, what the most important task is for someone in my position. I was torn between protecting our company's energy position and ensuring that we are operating in compliance. But his answer blew me away. He said that the most important thing is "our Millar Western Dispatch Hedge". Basically, we have an arrangement with one of our syndicates to effectively shut down one of their production lines if ever directed to by the province's system operator. In the event of a sudden energy shortage, one way of avoiding a blackout is by forcing larger consumers of electricity to shut down. If we receive one of these dispatches, WE HAVE TO get in touch with our syndicate and they must comply within ten minutes. What's the risk? Should we fail in getting the plant to shut down and a blackout occurs, we would be held liable for anything that might result from this. Worst case scenario, a life support machine fails to support the life that it is connected to. Obviously, there are more than just financial risks involved. And guess what comes in at 19:44, less than 2 hours after my scarecrow dinner conversation? My director has only seen these twice in his 5 year tenure at the trading pit, and the sirens that go off are pretty scary so you can't miss it!

It's a small world after all. In 1999, there was a University of Waterloo accounting co-op that attended the same church as I. We first met when I started giving him rides to church. Then, with his mom moving back to HK, he stayed a work term at my parents' place. Well, we've sort of lost touch once he went back to school and graduated. I find out recently that has been working in Calgary for the past year! After three weeks of trying to get together (he's an internal auditor, right in the middle of busy tax season), we get caught up over lunch at Milestones (he had suggested Catch, but they're, regretably, closed on Sundays). The food arrives, but we're so engrossed in our conversation that we pay little attention. After saying grace, we both have our forks into our respective omelets. What a second, I didn't order an omelet! Just then, one of the servers arrive at our table with a puzzled look. "This isn't what you ordered, right?" We both realize that it wasn't, and quickly, the plates are whisked away, a bite size portion of egg still impaled on our dangling forks. I wonder if they served those plates to the right table?

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Recently, I went with J to watch a movie. She ordered a kid combo which comes with a slushee. However, the icy drink was served it in a large cup. After the server realizes the mistake, she takes a kid-sized cup, pours into it the contents of the large she just filled and dumps the rest back into the slushee machine! Umm. As they say "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"!!

HERE'S TO WISHING MY SIS A HAPPY B-DAY!!