one month in....

...and I've only had to cheat twice...changed the clock again, 12.22 became 11.22 by the magic of computer science.

It was bitterly cold today, so I stayed home and looked at this lovely view from the living room....

Cheaters never prosper

I am committed to posting  photo every day in this Project 365 adventure - and I had a very busy day, with lots of interesting photo ops, but didn't have my camera with me.  So, here we are at 12.22am technically it's Monday Jan 31, but as I haven't gone to bed, it's still really Jan 30; so I changed the clock on my computer so that I could fool the blog into thinking I met the deadline.

I've still posted every single day!!

However, I only had my ipod with me at choir tonight, hence the poorer than usual quality of photo (sadly you probably didn't notice the difference!)

..and now to sleep.

There won't be any more snow this winter

I LOVE WEEKENDS - but I think I need to get back to work for a rest.

I started the day by clearing the snow from our driveway - there was lots of it.  Then, I had signed up for a 1 mile walk/run with the Calgary Herald Health Club challenge thing.  I THOUGHT this would be relatively easy going, I usually walk more than that almost on a daily basis BUT this 1 mile walk was in a foot of snow, that hadn't been packed or ploughed and it was -17C, so it turned out to be a really good workout.  I didn't even come last!

There were only about 30 people that turned up; even though over 1,000 had signed up, so I felt pretty proud of myself for being there.  This is a photo of most of us at the end...I didn't realize at the time, but I'm standing next to Leslie Horton (from Global News) - she was very amusing.  I also won a free personal trainer session at some gym downtown - not exactly what I call a prize, I was hoping for a box of chocolates.

AFTER the run, I went to pick all the boys up at the airport - first Dad and Boyce...

and then we waited for about an hour for Arlan.  No more peace and quiet at home :(

When I got home, I decided to do the neighbourly thing and clear the snow off of our neighbours driveway because they were away on vacation, and when I finished that I felt bad that I hadn't done the other neighbours driveway, because they were away too.  So I did three, count them, THREE driveways.  After which, we promptly went out and bought a snow blower - hence I can almost guarantee it won't snow for a very long time.

Jackie's last day

Well there are big promises of lots of snow again today, but it managed to hold off long enough for me to go to lunch with Jackie and Karen.  It was Jackie's last day at Flextronics today - she's landed a sweet job in the oil patch.  There are only a few of us left in Calgary now - and my time is almost up, I'm scheduled to leave on April 1. Soon there won't be enough people here to even hold a farewell lunch

We had lunch at the Phoenix Grill in Westhills; quite delightful.

I think I'd like a shelf like this in my basement, I could store all my San Pellegrino on it; perfect

..and yes, the snow has started again - oh joy



how can I diet when I keep going out to dinner?

Dinner tonight with the ladies from Nortel. I don't often get to go to these evenings, but I always enjoy them when I do.  Hopefully less travel going forward so I should get to go more often.

We ate at Chianti's in WillowPark; and they prepared me some grilled chicken and steamed veggies - very nice - we'll see if the scale agrees tomorrow.

L-R:  Sandra Boer; Karen Sonntag; Paddy Cush; Sandra Falconi; Pearl Doerksen; Donni Kolton

OK - I really need to do something about this habit I have of just uploading snapshots.  Karen mentioned this evening that there is a guys at London Drugs in the south that does free photography lessons - I think I should start there.  I need to be better at taking photo's - next week, I promise they will be better :)

It occurs to me that February is going to be a busy month.  I booked all my business travel and it seems I am flying every week....in between the trips I have my first ever half marathon (Feb 12) which I am SO not ready for.  So I decided to start the training - I went for a not-long-enough walk today (6km), I really need to build up my speed or it will take me all day to do the walk/run.

A couple of photo's from the walk...this photo really doesn't show how steep this hill is, it is the worst part of my walk and it comes right at the end after I've walked 5.5km - tomorrow I will thumb a ride up the hill

This photo is of the pond at the 3km mark - very pretty...



I almost had a good photo op this morning,  our neighbour got her car stuck in the snow outside her house, and she knocked on the door for help to move it...so I went out - we pushed and dug for 10 mins, couldn't move it.  So I asked the guy who is working on our basement to help, we continued to dig and push for another 10 mins at which point I realized I should get a photo - so I ran into the house and picked up my camera - and when I came out they had moved the car - I was absolutely no help.  Situation normal

Finally for today, I was trying to work out how to deliver some stuff to my friend (Jenni Heath) in Kansas City, so long story short I'm flying to Kansas City for a few days in between trips to Austin.   So looking forward to seeing Nauvoo and Carthage!

Is there an app for that?

I was up at the crack of dawn...well actually earlier than that...the clock should never say 5 something when you get in the car....there should be some kind of app to stop cars working at that time of morning.

Lately Arlan has been driving himself to the airport for work, but we decided I would take him today because he is arriving back at about the same time as his Dad and Brother on Saturday, so I will pick them all up together.  Just one more week of peace and quiet before everyone is back...I should party every day until then - just because I can.

This is Arlan - catching a way-to-early flight to somewhere.