Sad News

Hello Everyone, We received sad news Tuesday evening. Jerry's Dad, Cy, passed away. He had been the hospital for the last week after he colapsed at home. This was the day after we had left the campground from visiting him. Jerry's mom had called earlier in the day to let us know he was having a tough day so when we got the phone call later that night it wasn't completely out of the blue. His health had been going downhill over the past several years and his muscle mass had deteriorated. But, he was 80 and lead a full life. We rented a car Wednesday morning and headed down to Lethbridge. Funeral arrangements have been made and today they are finalizing things like photos, obituary etc. Lois (Jerry's mom) had spoken with Cy over the past few years over his final wishes so it went smoothly. The funeral is on Saturday and he is to be cremated and then buried at the veteran's section of the cemetary. He was a Korean war vet before leaving the RCAF to become a police officer. I needed to come back to Calgary today so I took the Greyhound this morning and will head back down tonight. It's a 3 hour drive and I thought I'd be to tired to do a 6 hour drive by myself along with everything else. I'll wait until Jerry posts something on Facebook before I comment there. I thought it would be more appropriate that way. But I wanted you to know just in case you've been trying to reach me. Jerry seems to be handling it well. He told me he had seen his Dad's health deteriorating and that it was only a matter of time. It was a short hospital stay and he passed away in his sleep. As well, we had a great visit with him on the long weekend so Jerry's last memories with him are good.

Ah Exam Week

Hello Everyone, My exam's on Thursday so I'm in study mode this week. Basically it means once dinner is ready, I bring my books into the bedroom, study while petting Mike and nap. It's probably a flawed system but Mike rather enjoys it. lol A relaxing weekend. I went for a bike ride Friday night to figure out a bicycle commutting route. I've been gaining weight and since I don't like to exercise it seemed like a good solution. My commute to work is straightforward but my ride home is longer. I've decided to take the pathways rather than the main roads because it is more relaxing. I ride along the Bow River, cut through the zoo (yesterday I saw Musk Oxen!)and then go on the Nose Creek pathway. I then push my bike up the stupid hill (even when I get in shape I may not ride up it because it is super curvy and on an angle). From there I'm on quiet, tree-lined residential roads that lead me straight home. All in all, the same length of time it would take me to walk home. I didn't ride this morning because I broke my brake cable coming to work. Luckily, that's one extra reason why I ride a fixie. It was in stop & go traffic so I just used my legs for braking. And no problems going home. I probably won't get around to fixing it until the end of the week but it's a pretty easy fix. My last day of full time work has been moved up to a week from now. I had some extra vacation days and it made sense to use them. Today I'm getting a hair cut (always a relaxing event) and Jerry is going to Evil Dead - The Musical with his friends tonight. I went to it with him last year so when he scored tickets I suggested it may be a great thing to do with his friends. He's so excited - they're front row centre, in the splatter zone (yes, that's splatter as in splattered in blood so much that they receive covereralls to wear and they are required to leave the theatre after everyone else). The hail storm on Sunday night was crazy! It sounded like someone throwing a baseball at a steel roof. Mike hid in the closet. We didn't have any damage but we shut the windows just in case. The garden looked much better than expected as there were only a few flowers whose petals were cut in half by it. It was huge hail. Strange since it shattered when it hit the ground, kind of like a loose slushy snowball. Lots of damage north of us. Have a good day!

I'm Back

Hello Everyone,

Yes, it's been a while. I think it's that I'm also working on a laptop at work that when I get home, I don't want to deal with another laptop. So, to catch you up on things...

I have the last week in August off in preparation for school and for Mom & Dad's visit. I have my orientation on the Friday and I start classes right after Labour Day. Akita is keeping me on for 2 days a week (flexible on my schedule). I have my schedule now and so far it looks good. I can come into work Monday morning, Wednesday & Thursday afternoon. These are also good times from a payroll perspective (based on duty timelines). Training for both new clerks is coming along nicely. I am sharing an office with the newest so I have a little desk and a lap top in the corner.

We had a visitor stay with us for a good portion of July. He's a friend of Jerry's from snowboarding and needed a place to stay for Stampede. It morphed into several more weeks so our household was in a bit of an upheaval for a while.

For the long weekend, we went to Torrington gopher museum on Friday (pictures to be posted on Facebook), and then went to Jerry's Mom & Dad's trailer near Fort MacLeod. They have a large trailer lot so there's lots of room to set up a tent there. We had built a deck (16'x16') and a fence there in mid July.

We're going through a heat wave and the apartment's been 30+ over the past week or so. Even the fans aren't doing that much. We get cool temperature at night but it's for a really short time and not enough to get the apartment cooled down before it gets hot again.

Busy watching the Olympics

Oh, and Jerry made deep fried Mars & Snickers bars for me last week. They were super tasty.

I have my Medical Terminology 2 midterm next Thursday. My memorization cards are complete and this week will be word activities. It's a multiple choice exam but based on the previous course, it can be a bit tricky.

Good news - Jerry is now full-time! He was a permanent part-time employee and he was able to bid up to full-time. And, the depot is only a 15 minute bike ride away. Currently, he's riding 40 minutes each way, which is ridiculous in my mind.

Calgary has also gotten a car share program using Smart cars that we're trying out. So far it's been useful.

Have a great day!