Limited Internet

I am sad to say I will have limited internet access at home for a while. This translates into a blog that will be not updated as often. (Currently, I am typing from work while I eat lunch).

I am hoping it will only be a week or so before my housemates and I get the situation figured out, but with the upcoming holiday, it may be a little longer.

Yesterday I planted some pepper plants in the backyard and today I am going to get a couple of tomato plants. On Monday, we are having a bbq with some friends from Grad school. On Wednesday, I am helping out at church for the big Fourth of July party and then heading to a church friends house in the evening. Their home is located near the local fireworks display so that should be fun. Then on Friday I head to MI to go to a friends wedding. Before I know it, we will be halfway through July!

If I don’t have a chance to blog much in the near future, the above mentioned activities, in addition to lack of internet, will be taking up my time.

SO, on that note, I would like to take this moment to wish all of you a happy Canada Day on the 1st and a wonderful 4th of July.

A Mariner from Calgary Alberta

This afternoon (although I am only now listening to the game while I study) Mariner, Chris Reitsma, who grew up In Calgary Alberta was interviewed. He commented on the snow and how in Calgary, school is not canceled unless it is minus 30 and three feet of snow. He said as a kid you just learned to deal with it, “with the jacket on and touque and gloves…” The next question “explain the touque.”

Oh, the Triple A team for the M’s used to be in Calgary…cool. Of a city of 1.2 million, he is may be the only MLB player…Its a hockey town and there is no where to play baseball in doors. He still lives there.

Ok back to my homework

Canadian Christianity

I am now done with going to class.

I have a few more things to get done, like the book I am supposed to be reading right now. It is called “Borderland Religion: The emergence of an English-Canadian Identity, 1792-1852” The overall topic is pretty interesting, Its just that my brain has already started checking out. I have about 160 more pages to read and then write a paper about it, which is due on Monday.

Other than that, I have a final on Wednesday that I need to study for and with that final is one take home question that I need to finish before I go to take the test.

I cannot wait until Wednesday after 3:30!!!!

Oh, right, I also have work all of next week which is a good thing. And birthday celebrations for one of my roommates, and cleaning and packing to do before I head to WA state. Should be a good, yet busy week.

Now I just need to keep plugging away on my book….

What a lovely day!

I got to sleep in today. That was nice. Really, I woke up at about 9 which is not really sleeping in, but it was nice to not wake up to an alarm.

Then I read a bit of my book on John Brown. I have to read it for class, yet it is a fairly interesting read.

I made an awesome sandwich for lunch.

I backed up my itunes music.

I read some more of my book. Next I think I will take a nap.

One thing I wanted to mention was that on Thursday I was able to listen to the entire Oilers game. Edmonton scored first, but then gave up 4 unanswered goals to the Sharks. They got one back, but heading into the third period, it was 4-2 and Edmonton was not playing well.

THEN within 2 minutes and 1 second, my favorite, Number 94, the man I once saw at Tim Hortons after a game, Ryan Smyth, scored 3 goals. Thats right, a hat trick within 2 minutes and 1 second. He broke a previous oiler record from back in the day when Gretzky got three goals within 2 minutes and 18 seconds. So that put them ahead 5-4 and they finished the game off with one more. What a great game! I am looking forward to listening to tonight’s game against Colorado. I am envious of everyone who can watch the CBC tonight.

Something I did not expect

Today a couple of us went to Panera Bread to get some studying done. As is customary & expected, we each bought some type of beverage so that we were actually paying customers. As I waited for my iced mango drink to be made, I noticed that they sell Jones sodas. I looked at the different flavors, (none of which were my favorite – peach).

Then I started looking at where the pictures on the labels were from.

For those who don’t know, Jones soda is bottled in Seattle and the labels to there sodas feature pictures that people (from all over the US & Canada) send in. They also list the contributor’s name and home town. While I was looking at this, to my complete surprise, I came across a photo of an owl that was sent in by some one in Puyallup, WA. I thought that was cool. Although, admittedly, not as cool as the Jones Soda that once featured two of my Canadian friends in the photo. That would be almost impossible to top. But a picture from Puyallup was pretty rad.

Popeye!

Its 11 at night and I just made myself some cooked spinach. Yummy!

Really, I am procrastinating. Jonathan Edwards (also known as “my homeboy” – See current Christianity Today) is not that enjoyable of reading tonight. His previous two sermons were informative & easy to read. The one I am trying to get through right now “The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth” (1739) is a bit much.

So instead, I eat spinach and blog.

I did get some reading done tonight and I bought a couple text books online. I think I saved about 20 dollars.

I think I cooked too much spinach. It is starting to taste bad…..Sick. That’s enough of that. Maybe I should go make some pop corn….

I had some “miss vickie’s” jalapeno chips today from subway. I ate them while I read earlier in the evening. It took me back to my NABC/Taylor days. Miss Vickie’s are a Canadian brand and I used to buy a big bag of them and eat them while studying….Maybe I can locate a grocery store that has them around here…or there is always online. Actually, they are basically the same thing as tim’s cascade jalapeno chips.

I have now done some research, Miss Vickie’s have been bought by Frito-Lay.

Obviously, I am a little bored. I should just go to bed.
Night.

Pirates 2 & The Ledge

On Friday afternoon, I hung out with one of my close friends. I was a little worried heading to Edmonton, because this friend was not involved in any of the wedding activities, so I did not know if we would be able to hang out.

She had not seen Pirates 2, so we went and watched it (which I was very excited to see again). After the movie, we went to find somewhere to eat. We wanted to try out this little French restaurant, but no one came to serve us, so we end up choosing the Sherlock Holms Pub. This was a little English pub where I almost ordered bangers & mash, but opted for the beef & ale pie. As we left the parking garage, we are pretty sure the pay lady ripped us off.

After lunch, we went to the Ledge grounds. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, and they have a very nice Legislature building with fountains & beautiful landscaping. I have been there many times for picnics, freshman connections, (anyone out there remember the infamous Dan & Dan race in the fountain even under the bridge?), and “purple city” but I had never been inside the building.

It was really fun going on a tour and learning a bit about the history of Alberta. Here is a picture of the marble entrance.

The Big Event

The wedding was very fun. The Bride looked like a princess in her gown. It is such a joy to see two individuals who love the Lord so much following him down this path called marriage. They are so much in love and with their focus on the Lord, I have no doubt they are just starting out on a spectacular adventure together, striving to serve him.

The reception was at a very nice golf club and I ended up sitting with “the rowdies.” At our table of 10, there were only 3 girls to try and maintain some order. Four of the guys were old classmates of mine from college and their crazy antics were extremely entertaining.

Crazy antics include, but are not limited to: chanting the Groom’s name when he was being “dinged” to kiss the Bride, holding up score cards to judge the kisses, and lining up the spouses/boyfriends of the Bride & her bridesmaids so each girl could be kissed. We laughed so much and fortunately, even though we were the “rowdy” table, we still were just under the line of over the top obnoxiousness.

This is the first wedding for any of the girls in “the crew.” Fun thing is, she married a guy from our college crew, so I had the privilege of being friends with both the bride & the groom.

Here is a picture of “us girls.” Three of us lived in dorms and we hit it off with the Bride who was a commuter student. We spent a good 2 years building some pretty tight friendships.

Of Bumper Boats & Go Karts

On Wednesday night, a group of us girls (the bride, the three bridesmaids/matrons, & myself) got together and had a bit of fun. We went on some bumper boats, which at first glance I was not excited to do. It looked like it was going to be really lame, but turned out to be quite fun. I had a very difficult time steering, so mostly, I just went in circles while laughing.

After the bumper boats, we tried out the Go Karts. My little yellow number 15 car was super fast! I was whipping around corners, passing people left and right…right up until it ran out of gas that is. So I had to wait while they brought out a new car.

My second car was meant for two people. It had space for a driver and a smaller passenger. Unfortunately for me, the seatbelt was really loose, plus with no passenger sitting in the seat next to me, I kept sliding around. Every time I took a corner, I would slide across the seat and end up on the passenger side. After a while I started using my knees to squeeze the pole that held the steering wheel, in order to try and stay in the drivers seat. It worked ok, but that night & the next day, my knees were killing me.

Here are a couple of pictures of me in my two different cars.

Home Safe & Sound

Thanks, friends, for the wonderful trip to Edmonton. It was great to see so many of you! The wedding was such a fun celebration.

I will have a couple of pictures to post later when I get a chance along with a handful of fun stories to share.