Yep, it got me good. I was rafting on the Red Deer with my cousins and buddy Aaron yesterday. Everything was great until the Nationals rapids. They are easy to guide cuz you pretty much just go straight. It's wide open, with lots of big waves and holes to have fun in. It was a big wave near the beginning and the u of c boats are very bendy, so when you hit a good size wave the back wings up at the end and you go flying (if you want to). So I send myself up in the air and miss the boat on the way down (it's happened lots to me... its fun) but I got away from the boat and couldn't get back. D'oh. So I swam the rapid, no biggie, but I was dumb and a) tried to front crawl in a rapid, and b) tried to stand up. When I stood I nuked my knee on a big rock. It was scary though, it was a big enough rock and the right shape to foot entrap. I smartened up then and did the float on my back thing, used my feet to surf off a couple obstacles and got to an eddy at the end of the float. But ow, my knee hurts now.
Was at Erin's for a B-day party for her Aunt Marcie the day before... loads of fun, sat and chatted with Erin's dad all night... drank the Egyptian beer I got him for Christmas... good times.
Oh yeah, major thesis breakthrough today, I got all my data processed properly. Turns out the X and Y were transposed in the control file so my photos wouldn't resect properly. If you wanna know what that means you have to ask me
Monday, May 31, 2004
Monday, May 17, 2004
Ryan - 2, River - 1
Not a bad record for my first day out!
Hit the Kananaskis river with Pituch yesterday (kayak). It was pretty good, but I still feel water logged.
Last time out me and Aaron got our butts kicked (last season). So the goal this year was to do a little butt kicking of my own. Practice rolled in the first pool below widowmaker (Ryan 1) and then we hit the rapids. Pituch got nailed by the first rapid we hit and went for a good swim. Luckily the many kayakers watching (hehe) saved him. He's a good swimmer though... aside from having his confidence shaken a bit he was fine.
I got flipped over in a rapid not too far down. I was aiming to skirt the wave into the eddy, but I hit the wave full on sideways. I survived that but then the eddy grabbed the front of my boat for some flippage. But then, much to everyone's surprise I managed to roll back over! My first sucessful white water roll! (Ryan 2)
Alas, at the end of the run I was surfing (ooo, getting brave) and had a funny little flip that kinda threw my concentration. I tried unsucessfully to roll, then had to bail, swallowing way to much water in the process.
Rest of the weekend was as good as it could be. Erin's great uncle Myron died last week, so the funeral was saturday. It was a really good memorial... he sounded like a great guy. I would have loved to have met him. We also had an A.S. six practice which was super fun... goodo to get back on the skins.
Wow... rambly McGee here... see ya
Hit the Kananaskis river with Pituch yesterday (kayak). It was pretty good, but I still feel water logged.
Last time out me and Aaron got our butts kicked (last season). So the goal this year was to do a little butt kicking of my own. Practice rolled in the first pool below widowmaker (Ryan 1) and then we hit the rapids. Pituch got nailed by the first rapid we hit and went for a good swim. Luckily the many kayakers watching (hehe) saved him. He's a good swimmer though... aside from having his confidence shaken a bit he was fine.
I got flipped over in a rapid not too far down. I was aiming to skirt the wave into the eddy, but I hit the wave full on sideways. I survived that but then the eddy grabbed the front of my boat for some flippage. But then, much to everyone's surprise I managed to roll back over! My first sucessful white water roll! (Ryan 2)
Alas, at the end of the run I was surfing (ooo, getting brave) and had a funny little flip that kinda threw my concentration. I tried unsucessfully to roll, then had to bail, swallowing way to much water in the process.
Rest of the weekend was as good as it could be. Erin's great uncle Myron died last week, so the funeral was saturday. It was a really good memorial... he sounded like a great guy. I would have loved to have met him. We also had an A.S. six practice which was super fun... goodo to get back on the skins.
Wow... rambly McGee here... see ya
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Rockabilly Madness
Last night was awesome!
Went to the Night Gallery to see a rockabilly show. I love it there for those. You get the regulars, but you also get the decked out rockabillys. Like black leather jackets, big hair, tattoos, pointy boots, chicks in sailor dresses and stuff. Very cool.
Agriculture club opened. Cool enough band. They weren't the most talented musicians, but good and very entertaining song writers. Think prairie country meets punk. It was cool.
But the real show was Southern Culture on the Skids. What a band. I've loved these guys for a long time, so it was awesome to finally see them live. REALLY tight musicians. When you listen to their albums you kinda think... they're good enough to make albums, but they really get by on their image and songwriting. But you hear Greg and Mary get going on their jam songs and you're like drooling at the skill. Seriously, that guy can play hard, fast, and tight as anything. Their drummer was awesome too. Imagine Gord Downie as a hillbilly, and playing the drums, only standing up while he played, and wearing old man pants and an orange work shirt.
Great stage presence too. The new fourth member was flippin hilarious when he played trumpet. And the lead man (Greg) interacted with us amazingly. I'd be staring up, rockin away with a big grin on my face, and he'd meet my eyes and just keep lookin'. He'd hold it until you did something or looked away! Erin was tired, and momentarily had a blank look on her face... he caught it, and looked at her with a big pouty lip until she started laughing. Very cool show.
I'm getting old. My ears are still ringing.
In other brief rockabilly news, check out http://www.boardinghousementors.org/
Perhaps the greatest rockabilly rocker we've got, Brian Setzer, is giving his time to a great event for at risk youth. Go Stray Cats.
Went to the Night Gallery to see a rockabilly show. I love it there for those. You get the regulars, but you also get the decked out rockabillys. Like black leather jackets, big hair, tattoos, pointy boots, chicks in sailor dresses and stuff. Very cool.
Agriculture club opened. Cool enough band. They weren't the most talented musicians, but good and very entertaining song writers. Think prairie country meets punk. It was cool.
But the real show was Southern Culture on the Skids. What a band. I've loved these guys for a long time, so it was awesome to finally see them live. REALLY tight musicians. When you listen to their albums you kinda think... they're good enough to make albums, but they really get by on their image and songwriting. But you hear Greg and Mary get going on their jam songs and you're like drooling at the skill. Seriously, that guy can play hard, fast, and tight as anything. Their drummer was awesome too. Imagine Gord Downie as a hillbilly, and playing the drums, only standing up while he played, and wearing old man pants and an orange work shirt.
Great stage presence too. The new fourth member was flippin hilarious when he played trumpet. And the lead man (Greg) interacted with us amazingly. I'd be staring up, rockin away with a big grin on my face, and he'd meet my eyes and just keep lookin'. He'd hold it until you did something or looked away! Erin was tired, and momentarily had a blank look on her face... he caught it, and looked at her with a big pouty lip until she started laughing. Very cool show.
I'm getting old. My ears are still ringing.
In other brief rockabilly news, check out http://www.boardinghousementors.org/
Perhaps the greatest rockabilly rocker we've got, Brian Setzer, is giving his time to a great event for at risk youth. Go Stray Cats.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
oooo... my 60th post!
Okay, I suck at updating... once a week... meh. And it's been a pretty interesting one too!
The rest of the grandin retreats were okay... Wednesday's group was awesome... thursdays... a bit hostile. I ended up spending the first half of lunch listening to some students talk about drinking cough syrup... good times.
Friday met up with Devin and Breanne at the Hop in Brew... that was awesome... don't see enough of them. Funnily enough Ryan Fitz was upstairs with Jocelyn. I was looking for Devin and it was like... what are you doing here? No what are YOU doing here? They stayed upstairs though... I think they were on a wee date or something.
Saturday was a swing dance party at the sunalta... had a blast. Danced for a few hours. I'm getting old.. I was soooo tired at the end of it. Erin was doing great too... she danced with some of the old hotshots and got to feel some really strong leads. It was fun. I miss it a lot... can't wait for the next one.
Last night there was a meeting with the Bishop about youth ministry. For the sake of being nice and all that all I'll say is that there were some positive things and some not so positive things. The diocesan lawyer is a really nice guy... I talked to him a bit after. Went for a pint with J and Elly and Elly's bro Coey. It was fun. They all live together, and I swear when you throw in our psycho dog, and the geeky little brother (that's me) we're an episode of Mission Hill.
Anyway, that's the scoop. Love the snow. Hopefully it stops in time for yakkin' on sunday!
The rest of the grandin retreats were okay... Wednesday's group was awesome... thursdays... a bit hostile. I ended up spending the first half of lunch listening to some students talk about drinking cough syrup... good times.
Friday met up with Devin and Breanne at the Hop in Brew... that was awesome... don't see enough of them. Funnily enough Ryan Fitz was upstairs with Jocelyn. I was looking for Devin and it was like... what are you doing here? No what are YOU doing here? They stayed upstairs though... I think they were on a wee date or something.
Saturday was a swing dance party at the sunalta... had a blast. Danced for a few hours. I'm getting old.. I was soooo tired at the end of it. Erin was doing great too... she danced with some of the old hotshots and got to feel some really strong leads. It was fun. I miss it a lot... can't wait for the next one.
Last night there was a meeting with the Bishop about youth ministry. For the sake of being nice and all that all I'll say is that there were some positive things and some not so positive things. The diocesan lawyer is a really nice guy... I talked to him a bit after. Went for a pint with J and Elly and Elly's bro Coey. It was fun. They all live together, and I swear when you throw in our psycho dog, and the geeky little brother (that's me) we're an episode of Mission Hill.
Anyway, that's the scoop. Love the snow. Hopefully it stops in time for yakkin' on sunday!
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Go Flames Go
Long time since my last update.
Edmonton was fun. Too much shopping, not enough playing, but still fun... got a beanie and some stuff for my kite... mission accomplished... oh, and a yoyo... where did I put it... crap. I always lose those things... not a big problem except when they cost $25 a pop for a good one.
Things are cooking up at work again... on retreats this week with Bishop Grandin. Heard David Aidie and Pat Nixon speak today... both amazing... REALLY enjoyed their talks.
Other things are good... parents are coming home soon... exciting... well, 2 months away, but they'll be fast months I think.
Runoff has started early, but it should cool down and dump some more moisture this week, which is good... I need it to stall a bit cuz I don't want water until the end of may. So hard to predict the good runoff times. Got some mad whitewater plans this summer... should be loads of fun. My goal, to be ready for next season to drop Elbow falls on a boogie board. Crazy? Yes. Awesome? Definitely. How am I gonna do it without getting killed... still working on that part, but I figure I'll ask John Imhoof. He's this guy who stayed with me who happened to be the invetor of river surfing. He was passing through when I was first getting into it and we ended up hanging out for a couple days. He runs operations in Australia and Africa.
Hmmm... Other news... not sure. I have the parish council Annual General Meeting coming up in 15 minutes, so I'm a little nervous. I shouldn't be... I've done tougher presentations on way less work to way more high profile people before, but still... I love this job and I want everyone to know that I'm working hard at it and it's making some difference.
Okay, boring enough I guess. Hopefully some fun stuff happens REAL soon.
Edmonton was fun. Too much shopping, not enough playing, but still fun... got a beanie and some stuff for my kite... mission accomplished... oh, and a yoyo... where did I put it... crap. I always lose those things... not a big problem except when they cost $25 a pop for a good one.
Things are cooking up at work again... on retreats this week with Bishop Grandin. Heard David Aidie and Pat Nixon speak today... both amazing... REALLY enjoyed their talks.
Other things are good... parents are coming home soon... exciting... well, 2 months away, but they'll be fast months I think.
Runoff has started early, but it should cool down and dump some more moisture this week, which is good... I need it to stall a bit cuz I don't want water until the end of may. So hard to predict the good runoff times. Got some mad whitewater plans this summer... should be loads of fun. My goal, to be ready for next season to drop Elbow falls on a boogie board. Crazy? Yes. Awesome? Definitely. How am I gonna do it without getting killed... still working on that part, but I figure I'll ask John Imhoof. He's this guy who stayed with me who happened to be the invetor of river surfing. He was passing through when I was first getting into it and we ended up hanging out for a couple days. He runs operations in Australia and Africa.
Hmmm... Other news... not sure. I have the parish council Annual General Meeting coming up in 15 minutes, so I'm a little nervous. I shouldn't be... I've done tougher presentations on way less work to way more high profile people before, but still... I love this job and I want everyone to know that I'm working hard at it and it's making some difference.
Okay, boring enough I guess. Hopefully some fun stuff happens REAL soon.
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