My new knitting project

Inspired by smoothie hats that JKBN was knitting, I want to get starting on my next knitting project, Dawn. Only problem is that if I start now I will be done in about July. I really wanted to finish Anouk, but now that the baby I was knitting it for is about a year....(I think I have a problem).

An evening with AG...for $150

So I spent last night listening to Al Gore present his "inconvenient truth" about global warming live at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary. It was essentially exactly like the film with a few more Canadian twists. I was pretty pissed off that I spent $150 to see what I had already watched on a free movie pass, then I remembered I got the ticket for the live show free too...phew, thanks U of C. Fortunately, there are enough people in Calgary that will only listen to the Climate Change debate if it costs them $150. The show was sold out. It must be important if it's that expensive...right? Well, the anti-global warming protesters outside didn't think so....(I couldn't find actual Calgary protesters but you get the idea!). Please read the book or see the film if you haven't already http://www.climatecrisis.net/ I think it's worth it:)

Spring has sprung

It's been nearly three weeks since I last posted. Wow, time flies after day light savings time starts. I just never seem to be home anymore. Spring has sprung in Calgary... complete with a good snowfall on the first day of Spring! Environment Canada http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2007/03/22/weather-office.html#skip300x250 is still hearing about it as they forcasted "cloudy with sunny periods" at 5:00 am when over 5 cm's had come down since midnight when it started snowing and continued to snow nearly 10cm's more!

The perils of change

No, I don't mean something different, but actually $$ in coin form. Yesterday I rolled over $80.00 in pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters (no loonies or toonies). So anyone want to go for a coffee?

Vancouver is sinking?

The 2010 Olympics may have to use this logo if we don't curb carbon emissions.

Hopefully it won't come to that. Good design Demi you should sell this to AD BUSTERS!!

Sustainability Eh?

So "sustainability" seems like the biggest thing to hit Canada since, well I'm not sure what. Anyway, I'm trying to come to terms with my distaste of the word "sustainability". It's a shame that politicians start using a word and all of a sudden I hate it. The fact is that one word does a pretty good job at getting the point across. Today Demitri was at a International tele-conference with other Architecture schools to get some momentum behind sustainable design. Apparently, architecture is one of the biggest sources of global warming because of poorly designed buildings. Think about it. Here's a link for all you keeners, http://www.2010imperative.org/onboard.html


In other news, Demitri beat me at scrabble last night 283 to 234. He took a commanding lead when he put down "cleaved" and used all his letters for a bonus 50 points. I on the other hand had 5 'i's', an 'o' and a 'y', which was obviously pretty sweet. Still it was better than being cloistered like last time he put down all his letters! If you loved the movie "Word Wars", you'll be interested to know that this guy (left) just took over number one spot as the US scrabble champ! Click on the pic for more info.

What gets me hot...

under the collar that is. So I'm riding home from work, it's minus 23 degrees outside and I'm crossing the 14th St. bridge on the Bow river BIKE PATHWAYS. There is a man and his dog walking towards me and I think I'll say hello because it's very Canadian to say hello to other people out in the cold suffering like you are. As I approach this guy he yells out to me "Get of the sidewalk please". I am taken aback by his comment as I think to myself that 1)I'm on a bike path 2)It has been snowing for the past 10 days 3)The streets don't get plowed in Calgary so it's too dangerous to bike on the street 4) I'm on a bike path 5) They do clear the bike paths in winter (probably to encourage bike communters not to ride on the street where they will likely be killed in minutes). 6) This guy is an asshole and 7) Did Imention I am on a bike path. Anyway, I thought I'd see what's up and what did I find out... 14th Street is a BIKE/Pedestrian Bridge as noted on the river pathways map no matter what the season, all pathways are shared use during the winter months, and that generally people who yell at cyclists are assholes. I really hope I get to see this guy again tomorrow..... (ps, yes, I even had to grow a beard like this guy to stay warm this winter and I don't have any arms either and I still got yelled at)

This is my friend Jeremy. It is his birthday today. He was born sometime in the late 1970's, as I'm sure you can tell by the sweet van he is posing beside. He is good at things like skiing, biking, scrambling, and making lunch. He's also very good at wiring dryers and electrical stuff like that. We all think Jer is pretty cool. Happy Birthday Jeremy!

The Volvo Express

That's right. The McWicz's bought a new car! Just as the Canadian Gov't seems like they may be doing something to get rid of old cars we bought a 12 year old swedish tank! It runs well and is "eggplant" aka "aubergine" aka "purple-ish" in colour. Better yet, it has now made it back and forth to the mountains twice! Mission accomplished. It seems I have a "Barcelona style" internet connection so I'll add pic later. By the way Julie, I've made two February resolutions 1) Blog more (not hard because I only blogged once in Jan) and 2) Not to talk on my cell while driving (started that one when I bought the car!). ~A

black velvet..if you please

Yikes! I've been home for about 72 hours and Calgary and the rest of western Canada has been hit hard with winter and all the fun things that go along with it like; -30, a freezing cold wind from the NW, and snow blowing across the prairie faster than it's falling from the sky. Anyway, I tried to warm up by going for a pint. Since I was recently in Ireland I ordered a "Crown Float" , which for those of you who don't know it's a cider topped with a Guinness crown. I must say that it was an utter failure in Ireland (but really who would ruin a Guinness in Ireland?) and at Ceili's Pub in Calgary this evening. So, in my efforts to find out why it was so hard to get a good crown float, I thought I'd ask all knowing Google. To my surprise it the first hit was and article from the U of C campus newspaper the Gauntlet. Here's the link to my beloved drink! http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/a/story/8036 and a recipe for those that want to try it at home or give a bar tender a rundown of the spoon technique!! http://www.extratasty.com/recipe/675/black_velvet_aka_crown_float

Heading Home

Hi Everyone,

D and I are on the last leg of our trip, well actually D got to go home on an earlier flight yesterday and I am just living large in a hotel in Dallas, Texas. Everything really is large here. I have two giant TV's in my room, a king sized bed, and a huge bathroom and this is just the budget hotel for a person on the "Distressed Passenger Rate" (it's sweet if you can pull it off). We spent the previous night in the Gatwick airport, which was actually okay using a handy tip from sleepinginairports.com We hit up the chapel and got some shut eye. We even turned off the light for a while, but some airport employees who also use the area for napping on their breaks came and told us it had to be on. Anyway, my big beef was not the light, but actually someone that came in around 2am and snored the entire night. I couldn't believe that they didn't wake themselves up with the noise. D and I are getting quite good at living in airports....maybe I'll start a website. We even washed our hair in the bathroom in the morning!

See ya north of the 49th!

Andi

ps - we found this doll in Granada, Spain. Nice, eh?

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone, I guess it's catch up time on the old Blog! Demitri and I are now in Belfast visiting Julie and Stu, and almost finished our trip. Where to start...in summary, we left Barcelona on the 7th of December and headed for Lisbon. Spent a week in and around Lisbon and along the south coast of Portugal. The next week we travelled in southern Spain from Seville to Granada and into the Sierra Nevada mountain range where we climbed the highest mountain on the Iberian Peninsula (one of my highlights). Tried to get some snow in the Alps for Christmas, but there is some sort of drought that did not foster skiing. We managed to get some turns in regardless (or at least we skidded around on the icy, windswept slopes for a week). We'll be headed down to Dublin in a few days and then it is back to Canada where I will likely blog more regularly; however, possibly about less exciting things than I've been doing for the past 3 months! I'll add some pictures from our travels as a New Year's resolution.

Happy New Year