I am the Burgerfan!

Starting off the Sherwood Park leg of the 2010 Olympic torch relay. I actually caught the torch lighting from the master flame!

Last night I dreamt that my car went missing, only to find that I parked in a different place. Then when I went to work, all the parking spaces were full and I had to park elsewhere.

I’ve seen people remark that this passing decade was bland, and/or they’d rather get on to the next one. Me, I think it was fairly major. Any ten year window is a lot of time for events to happen in.

While any window of time has its bad events, the celebrations were often enough and grand enough to make this 2000 to ‘twenty-ought-nine’ decade my favourite so far. Not that I’ve had many to choose from. Here is ten years in short summary from my point of view:

• Witnessed the start of a new century, and millennium. Living to tell that sufficient work was done to ensure that computers would not annihilate the planet at this junction.
• Graduated from University, and saw my friends graduate. Started the ‘first day of the rest of my life’ in my profession. Seeing all my friends start at the same starting gate at the same time(ish) and witnessing where we’ve all progressed to has been fun.
• Presented at an industry conference. I don’t remember how I got that courage, but hope to do it again.
• Started a family. Marrying, supporting, and being supported by someone I love for a lifetime of adventures ensures that this and future decades will be bright. Bringing Lola into the world has brought about even more adventures.
• Bought our first house, and then built a new house. No more rent was nice, but we really miss the free heating bill.
• Traveled. Discovered that Los Angeles wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (in fact its quite enjoyable!), and made several return trips. Backpacked around the world (and in the process, inspired others to travel). Made a return trip to Europe (and would go back a lot more if the wallet wasn’t so empty).
• A new car!
• Witnessing my friends’ celebrations, from new homes and new families to new jobs in new cities and countries. I’m hoping they too will have found this decade fantastic.

Somehow they get you every time… At least the future is freindly, right?

Even dogs have bad Monday mornings…

Fresh from this evening’s lightning storm, I present: Lightning Collage! Although, Brad might say “Lightning, a view from the window”

Today was the day we cast off the shackles of a dirt yard and put down sod to start building a lawn. We can finally go outside now, and Lola finally has a place to play!

Here is a collage showing the back yard every five minutes during this time:

Here is February’s entry for Brad’s photoshoot challenge. This was one of a series of photos I “drew up” for Tiffany’s Valentine’s Day Card. It was also my first experiment in light-drawing. Pretty fun stuff!

In marketing terms, I am pretty brand loyal about a lot of things. In the case of my home land-line phone, the incumbent Telus was where I was happy to dedicate my patronage for about nine years. In that time there were cheaper alternatives, (such as internet phone services, or dropping the land line altogether for a cell phone). I figured “hey, Telus is the phone expert, they do this well, and I have no problems with them, so why bother making any changes,” case closed.

Then just over a year ago, I started to think “hey, I do not get a lot of value for money on this phone service”. Shaw Cable had been offering their cheaper digital phone service for a while, and I sent an inquiry to Telus asking for a more competitive rate. Instead I got back rhetoric that the competition was not the same product, that Telus offers a higher quality of product and service, and other promotional buzz-words. So, whatever, no deal on the phone, I’ll just leave it alone anyways.

This Christmas Break I had a chance to clean the office a little and catch up on some filing, the contents of which included a recent Shaw Digital Phone ad and 18 months of Telus phone bills. Wow, for what I used and what I paid, I could have saved at least $200 this past year! I kinda need that money more than ever now. So later this week Telus will be getting the punt as I start to cheer for Team Shaw, and we’ll see if they really can deliver the value-for-dollar that they claim.

Don’t worry Telus, unlike many Albertans who seem to despise you with every fiber of their being, I don’t hate you. I just want to pay less money. And you still have my unwavering support when it comes to my cell phone. Which is in the middle of a three year contract. And is not an iPhone…

We moved into the house in May, and our immediate neighbours moved in sometime during the summer. Having never properly met, we thought we’d go over to arrange a visit. Upon answering the doorbell:

Hello, sorry, we are just leaving to the hospital to have our baby.

What are the odds? It was pretty amusing timing.