A to Z

A - Available: Yes
A - Age: 36
A - Annoyance: Complications

B - Best feature: Eyes
B - Beer: Guinness
B - Birthday: September 6

C - Crush: Not thought about it
C - Car: Norco Pinnacle (mountain bike)
C - Candy: Cadbury's Dairy Milk

D - Day or night: Night
D - Dream Car: Gary Fisher Big Sur (mountain bike)
D- Dogs or Cats: Dogs

E - Egg nog: Ewww
E - E-mail: Lots

F - Favorite color(s): Green
F - Favorite Band: Bjork

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears
G - Giver or taker: Giver

H - Hair Color: Grey
H - Height: 6'
H - Happy: When I least expect it

I - Ice Cream: Cookie Dough
I - Instrument: Keyboard (heh)
I - Idol: Richard Branson
J - Jewelry: Silver ring, silver bracelet, silver necklace
J - Job: Computer Stuff
J - Jail: Not yet

K - Kids: None
K - Kickboxing or karate: Kung fu
K - Kindergarten: Nope, straight to school

L - Longest Car Ride: Edmonton, AB to Richmond, BC
L - Lamest Inside Joke: "You put WHAT in your coffee?"

M - Meat?: Beef
M - Most missed person: Susan
M - Movie Last Watched: The Family stone

N - Number of Siblings: 3
N - Number of Tattoos: 0
N - Name: Dean

O - One wish: To find myself
O - One regret: Hahahaha

P - Part of your appearance you like best: Eyes
P - Perfectionist?: Yes, but I can't get anything RIGHT

Q - Quick or Slow: Too fast, then too slow :)
Q - Something random: I love trees

R - Reason to smile: People
R - Reality TV Show: Amazing Race

S - Song Last Heard: Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin
S - Season: Autumn
S - Shoes you're wearing: Black shoes

T - Time you woke up: 7:15am
T - Time you went to bed: 1:15am
T - Time Now: 4pm
T - Time for bed: 12am

U - Unpredictable: Other people
U - Underwear: Boxers right now

V - Vegetable you hate: bean shoots (damn things get everywhere)
V - Vegetable you love: brussel sprouts
V - Vacation spot: Jasper, AB

W - Worst habit: Nail biting when anxious
W - Where are you going to travel next: England at Christmas!
W - Weather: A crisp autumn day!

X - X-tra special someone: My stuffed penguin, Pedro
X - X-rays: Once or twice, most recently my hand

Y - Year it is now: 2006
Y - Yellow: Wheat fields

Z - Zoo Animal: Penguins
Z - Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Capital Ex : Blue Rodeo

For the past week and a bit, I took some flex time off of work and did double shifts volunteering as a first aider at the Capital Ex over at Northlands. It was great fun.

One night I was at Edfest when Blue Rodeo were playing. It was a quiet night for us. I stood stage right, watching the band, when a security guard ran over and in a frantic voice said, "There's a girl in the crowd and she's...", here he paused and calmed down, "...got a cut on her toe and needs a band-aid.". Funny guy.

"Can she come out to the first aid post?", I asked.

"She doesn't want to lose her spot.", he replied.

We're not supposed to wade into crowds, especially at concerts. We need to protect ourselves, and security are there to bring injured people to us. If it's super serious, we'll go in with a group of security people to transport someone out. I looked at him, he looked at me. I looked at the crowd of Blue Rodeo fans swaying happily to the mellow folk/country stylings of their favourite band. I shrugged, grabbed my torch (flashlight) and plasters (band-aids) and said, "I'll follow you".

He started weaving his way through the crowd, explaining that this was a test of his memory. When we got to the area, I spoke with the girl with the toe. She explained that she had gone back-countrying earlier and had ripped her toenail, then the girl in front of her stepped back and removed the whole thing for her. Ouch. I asked her if she wanted to come to the first aid post, but she was all "Blue Rodeo! Good spot! Staying here!". I told her I could hold the flashlight whilst she put on the band-aid (and that way she treats herself, so I didn't need to fill in any paperwork). She agreed, and before I knelt down to help her, I looked around at all the people surrounding us - a precaution to make sure I didn't get smacked in the head by a rowdy fan. Everyone appeared to be pretty relaxed, so I knelt down and helped her cover her toenail, and then gave her a spare band-aid and some infection control advice. That's fun during a loud concert - "GO TO THE DOCTORS IF IT GETS ICKY OKAY?".

I stood up and looked around, checking that everything was okay... And got a polite round of applause. One guy had even looked at my name tag and said, "Good job, Dean!". I made my way out (people moved out of the way without being asked) and returned to the first aid post.

Blue Rodeo fans. Not very rock and roll, but very courteous.

Slayer

Several times on Tuesday I was approached by men asking me for two band aids. I asked them if they had injured themselves, and needed further help, and they told me that they just wanted to tape down their nipple piercings before going moshing. Slayer concerts are fun.

Ten Layers Of Me

LAYER ONE: ON THE OUTSIDE
Name: Dean
Birth date: September 6
Birth Place: Harlow, Essex
Current Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Eye Color: Green/Hazel depending on mood and lighting
Hair Color: Grey
Righty or Lefty: Right
Zodiac Sign: Virgo

LAYER TWO: ON THE INSIDE
Your heritage: The Angles and the Saxons
Your fears: Finding myself
Your perfect pizza: Ground Beef, Jalapeno, Onion

LAYER THREE: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW:
Your thoughts first waking up: I think I should go to work today
Your best physical feature: Eyes
Your bedtime: Around Midnight
Your most missed memory: Bali

LAYER FOUR: YOUR PICK:
Pepsi or Coke: Coke, I guess
McDonald's or Burger King: Burger King for the Onion Rings
Single or group dates: Single
Adidas or Nike: Nike, Saucony
Lipton Tea or Nestea: Lipton, I guess
Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or coffee: Cappuccino IS coffee

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?
Smoke: No
Cuss: Now and again
Take a shower: Love 'em
Have a crush: One or two (KIERA KNIGHTLEY! IF YOU ARE READING THIS, CALL ME!)
Think you've been in love: Yes
Like(d) school: Eventually I loved it
Want to get married: Hahah
Believe in yourself: Not really
Get motion sickness: Not really

LAYER SIX: IN THE PAST MONTH
Drank: Yes
Gone to the mall: Yes
Been on stage: No
Eaten Sushi: No
Been dumped: No
Gone skating: No
Dyed your hair: No

LAYER SEVEN: HAVE YOU EVER
Played a stripping game: Yes
Gotten beat up: No
Changed who you were to fit in: Yes

LAYER EIGHT: GETTING OLDER
Are you hoping to be married: Hahahahaha
How do you want to die: Quickly

LAYER NINE: IN A GIRL/GUY
Best eye color: Any
Short or long hair: Long

LAYER TEN: WHAT WERE YOU DOING...
1 MINUTE AGO: Reading emails
1 YEAR AGO: Feeling guilty
I FEEL: Sick - I have a cold
I HATE: Idiots
I HIDE: My emotions
I MISS: Things that are not good for me

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Basics
Intials: DWS
Middle name: William
Current location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Height: 6'
Hair length: Short, grey
Eye color: Green/Hazel, depending on mood or lighting
Piercings: None
Birthmarks: None

Chapter 2: The Background
Do you live with your parents: Nope
Do you get along with your parents?: Yes
Are your parents married/seperated/divorced? Marries
Do you have any siblings? Two younger brothers, one youngest sister
What pets do you have?: None
What are their name(s): N/A

Chapter 3: Favorites
City: London
Vacation: India
Place lived: Harlow, Waltham Cross, Chalfont St. Giles, Edmonton
Clothing brand: MEC
Shampoo/conditioner: Couldn't tell you
Old nickelodeon show: Ren and Stimpy
Color: Green
Cheesy pick-up line: Don't use 'em, probably should
Flower: Self-raising

Chapter 4: Do You ...
Write memos on your hand?: No
Call people back?: Yes, generally
Sleep on a certain side of the bed?: I sleep on the edge of the bed
Think you're attractive?: No
Wear glasses or contacts?: Glasses for distance work
Have any weird pet peeves?: Use of English language, when I'm not GREAT at it myself

Chapter 5: Have You Ever ...
Gone skinny dipping?: Yes
Worn braces?: No
Broken a bone?: No
Had stitches?: Yes, four in my right knee after kneeling on some glass
Shoplifted?: No
Punched someone in the face?: No
Skipped school?: No
Taken painkillers?: Yes
Gone SCUBA diving?: Yes, only in a swimming pool, if that counts.
Been stung by a jellyfish?: No
Been stung by a bee?: Yes
Thrown up in a restaurant?: Not yet!
Been to overnight camp?: Yes?
Written a letter to Santa Claus?: No, but he used to come and visit our house in the run up to Christmas!
Been sent to the principal's office?: Yes
Made a prank phone call?: Yes
Been called a b***h?: Yes
Been called a Ho?: No
Met someone famous?: No
Climbed a tree?: Yes, I love climging trees.

Chapter 6: Random
If you could take back one thing, what would it be?: Hahahahaha
What time do you go to sleep?: Around midnight
Do you prefer blonde hair or brown hair?: Brown

Welcome!

Most of the Sandman related names were taken a long time ago, but I've been known as 'Morpheus' online for over 17 years. Some habits are hard to break...

Northern Exposure: Busy Recently

I'm sorry I haven't called recently. I started my new job mid-December, and I ended up working really hard, over a lot of weekends, to finish a proposal.

We receive requests from the Alberta government to propose a computer solution to a problem they have, and there are deadlines and structures and stuff.

Anyway, I had to be the Technical Architect for this one, and I've never done it before, so I had to work very hard. I'm very pleased with the results, we'll see if we win it in a few weeks.

Today is the first time I've really had a chance to sit at my desk and relax. Heh, I shouldn't even do that. I wanted to call you guys to chat, but the timings are usually all wrong.

Over the past two weeks, the temperature has been around -30C or lower. One day, with windchill, it was -46C. Last week, our car stopped - we had it at home, plugged in (all cars here have to have a heater block to keep the oil from freezing), and it does start, but it dies soon after. The battery is good, it's just too cold for the car.

This week it is supposed to get warmer, to maybe -10C or -5C. I can't wait. A few weeks ago I took Soph to the Muttart Conservatory and it was SO NICE to see green stuff. We were very happy there.

Soph organized a Chinese New Year party last week, and it went really well - lots of people came over (we had 15 and 2 kids in the place), and it was really good fun. A nice break for me, at the time. Also, last Tuesday I went to a Nickelback concert for first aid, got to see three bands for free - but was kept very busy with drunk girls, one of whom had to be rushed to the hospital. I ended up being an IV bag
holder for her, while the paramedics dealt with her. Good fun.

So, I'm keeping busy, and Sophia is well, and it's really cold here, and we miss everyone back home. I hope you are all feeling good, and that your "cold snap" I heard about was tolerable. Hehe.

Northern Exposure: Started my new job!

I'm at work at my new job! I started today!

I had an interview a few weeks ago, then a follow up, then a technical code exam, then they offered me the job. They wanted me to start last week, but we went away to Calgary for the weekend to see Sophia's family.

It was her grandmothers 91st birthday. We saw lots of cousins who I've never seen - and some Soph hadn't seen for 15 years - and had a big Chinese banquet thing. It was fun, we stayed over at her cousin's house, and played around with all their children.

I was all worried about this job because it was so sudden, but now I'm just sitting here doing the things I like doing, and it's all good! I guess it was just nerves, because in this new job I'm now a Senior Consultant and I'm getting a little bit more money, too.

Over the weekend Sophia's company moved offices. For the past few weeks, when I wasn't having interviews, I was in her old office boxing up stuff for them, or in their new offices putting furniture together. It was lots of fun, great to do something physical for a change.

Speaking of that, since I left my old job, I've lost 5kg in weight. I think it's just because I haven't had any big lunches!

Christmas stuff:

• We were originally going to come to England over Christmas
• I was made redundant, so we said we'd stay here and save money
• Sophia gets lots of holiday time, so we thought we'd drive to Vancouver and stay at her parents place there for the holiday
• I got my new job and I don't know if I'll get any holiday!
• We might just stay in Edmonton
• Some of her friends get married in May, so we want to come home then, we'll definately see you all soon!

Tomorrow night I've invited some of my first aid people over for a "potluck dinner" - have you heard of them? It's where people come over and bring food or drink. I think it's pretty north american.

Wednesday we're going to see the Lord of the Rings - her company has booked out an entire cinema to see it!

Thursday we're going to see her friend and help her pack, she's bought a new place and moves in Jan.

Friday is her company party and it should be really good fun! After that, she's on holiday until the 5th of January, it's alright for some!

Anyway, I'll speak to you all soon!

Northern Exposure: You'll never guess what...

...that's right! I had another bike accident on the high level bridge!

It really doesn't like me.

I was cycling south on the west side, I'd just got onto the bridge itself by turning the corner onto the bridge, and I clipped the railing on the right with my handlebar as I turned. This caused me to wobble at some speed until I stopped suddenly using only my nose.

I did not knock myself out. I was able to pick myself up and cycle the rest of the way home - mainly because my toe hurt too much to walk.

I'm okay, mainly once again because I was wearing a helmet. My left big toe is cut rather badly, but not deep. It has been bandaged up expertly by Sophia. I have a graze on my left leg. My chin took a whack, as did my nose, which is much bigger than it usually is... I'm going to have a pair of black eyes tomorrow, I'm sure. The nosebleed stopped fairly sharpish, but the dull throb in the conk is still there. My wrists are also aching, because I used my hands to stop some of the force of the impact. I'm sure after a rest they'll feel better.

This of course means I probably won't be in tomorrow, mainly to spare everyone the sight of my face. I'll let you know what happens, but really I'm just a bit battered. Also stupid. Ah well.

Northern Exposure: Fifteen

I just got back from fifteen, I have the menu for Wednesday Evening here so I can type what I had:

• Spiadini of smoked buffalo mozzarella and rosemary pancetta with sweet onion toasts
• Grilled rib eye of McDuff beef (hung for 30 days) with potato mascarpone and horseradish pie, braised leeks and a little jus
• Creme Brulee

We started at Smiths of Smithfield, a cool bar. Their absinthe cocktail had quite the kick in the tail. After a bit we went on to fifteen, we were very lucky (or rather jammy) to get reservations there, they have a three month waiting list.

The place was very cool indeed, a nice bar upstairs and a good sized dining area. The service was fun, especially as we were all being rather cheeky, and the food was fantastic. Everyone had lovely dishes, and my beef was really REALLY good - Alberta standard, we're talking!

My only minor niggle, and I think it's a niggle for niggles sake, is that the creme brulee wasn't warm and the burnt sugar was a bit sticky rather than melt-in-the-mouth - should have gone for the fantastic lemon torte, but it was still nice.

On Thursday morning I'm driving back over to see Sophia's parents. I'll be staying with them overnight, and if any of you are in the area and would like to pop over to their house, they've said they'd love to see you. This way those of you that know them know where to find them, there's parking, and plenty of cups of tea! Much easier to do this than try to meet up in various parts of Kingston. Give us a call if you can't find the place!

Friday I'll pop over to my old work place in Hemel and see everyone for lunch - I will be in the Crabtree from 12 onwards, so please tell everyone who might be interested!

Later that day I'll return to Harlow and go out for a curry with some friends, got to have that authentic English curry. Hang on, that sounds a bit odd. You know what I mean.

Saturday my family is having a get together at my parents house - again, if you're in the area and you'd like to pop in, do please feel free - anytime after lunchtime.

Sunday I'll try to meet up with a few more people from Harlow, and perhaps go shopping for those essential things I really miss (ginger nuts and worcestershire sauce crisps).

Monday I fly back to Edmonton - and it had better have warmed up!

I do hope to see as many of you as I can - drop me and email, give one of the sets of parents a call, it would be great to see you!

Northern Exposure: Home Again!

I arrived! Yay!

I'm at my parents house on a Saturday morning, it's so lovely here. When I left Edmonton, it was snowing and the temperature was just below freezing. Sophia told me it was acutally -11C on Friday morning, too.

When I arrived in England I was stunned at the warm sunny weather, the light breeze, and how everything was growing and basically not covered in snow. Fantastic.

I took a coach from Heathrow to Harlow. It was really nice because it took me through areas I used to drive through, good to see how some things had changed and some had stayed the same. Harlow hadn't changed that much, it seems - or I've been away so long I couldn't tell.

I tried to surprise my mum in Sainsbury's, but she's left her shift early. Instead, I got a taxi home and just walked up the back path. My mum said to my dad, "That looks like Dean!". Hehehehe!

The dog, Star, went crazy for about a minute then was all "Oh look, a bone". It's like I never left for her, the silly thing.

I had some dinner and relaxed with the family, heading for bed fairly soon. I am probably going to see the family this weekend, but I hope to see as many people as possible!

My parents-in-law in Surbiton still don't know I'm here, so shh, I'm going to tell them I have a friend who might be able to pop over to have a look at their PC if they're in on a certain day, then turn up myself! :D

Can't wait to see you all soon!

Northern Exposure: Homeward Bound!

I'm coming back to England for a while! YAY!

It's just me coming over, and it's just for 10 days or so. My project at work has stalled for a while, and I have some holiday free. Sophia is really busy still, so she can't afford the time off - but I'm homesick! She got to come home last year.

I am not sending this email to my parents or to her parents. I intend to get a coach from Heathrow to Harlow, and then turn up at my parents place to surprise them. I hope the dog doesn't bite me. Hehe.

After spending some time with them I'll arrange for a "friend of mine" to pop over to Sophia's parents house to "have a look at their PC", I can't wait to see their faces! I'd better fix their PC though! I'll probably stay overnight with them, but only for a day or so.

So - some of my family are recieving this. Don't tell either mum and dad. Let me know if anything is planned at any of the weekends or any time I'm over!

My parents and family are my priority, but I am going to make sure I see all my friends, Harlow, Kingston, London, wherever. This includes a few lunchtime sessions with the Hays Consulting people, and definately a drinkie or two at a pub in Hemel (yay Parker!).

I can't wait to see you all again!

Northern Exposure: Smoke on the Water

Thursday October 29 2002 14:00
This morning I boarded the LRT - (Light Rail Transit) at the University Station. I get there by catching a bus from just outside HUB.

The journey takes me above ground as I cross the LRT bridge over the North Saskatchewan River. When I cycled to work, this was the bit I enjoyed the most - heading down the hill to the bridge, building up a bit of speed, coasting gently over the bridge and gazing out over the river valley scenery in the early morning light.

Since my bike accident, I've been taking the bus-and-LRT combo into work. The view is no less stunning, and as I looked out across the valley today I could see smoke on the water. It was actually steam, rising off the water in strange circular patterns, caused by the morning sun.

The temperature this morning when I came in was about -12C - as I write this at 14:00 it is -8C - and the sun was very warming, which I guess caused the strange effect. All too quickly we passed back into the tunnel, and two stops later I got off and walked to work.

We had some snow the other day, and it all but melted, then this weekend it snowed again, and a little bit more. It's cold, and winter is coming. It will get worse, but one thing I'm hoping is that it won't last as long as last year - it was still snowing in April. I'm still finding it hard to adjust, because it's nice to wrap up warm and be all toasty, sitting in Second Cup with a hot chocolate, but then again it's still bloody cold.

My new route to work means I don't need to stay outside that much, which is very fortunate.

I've recovered from my bike accident, the cuts have healed over and apart from an occasional twinge in my lower back I seem to be fine. The bike is currently chained up outside a repair shop, I just need to find the time to go there and ask them to take a look at it. What with the road conditions now, I might get them to check it over and then just store it for the winter.

I'm enjoying my Wing Chun - I took a Butterfly Knives class last Sunday, which was good - as part of the course fee I got a set of my own knives to practice with. Very nifty. I'm also going extra days, because Sophia wanted to keep going and normally the lessons are the same days as her Taiko practices. We started going to the Tue/Thu lessons as a community league hall on the
southside of Edmonton, but we've since found a smaller class in the west side at a community college. The smaller class sizes mean more attention and that really helps. Attending the extra classes is good, because due to various commitments I often end up missing one or two.

Speaking of extra commitments, the St John Ambulance duties are going really well too. I've attended quite a few now, including an Oilers game and some dragon boat races. I hope to write more about my experiences with them, as this is supposed to be a quick email.

Work is going well, we're finally into the big development phase (although saying that, I'm finishing off some more design documents). The atmosphere here is good, we all know we're aiming for a 31-Dec deadline.

Sophia and I are still thinking about our holiday plans this year - I'm still building up vacations days anyway - and we might not come back to England this Christmas, but instead go somewhere really warm in January or February for a week and a bit. We're not sure, still thinking about options and prices, and when to schedule a trip "back home".

My mum came over about a month ago, just as I had my bike accident, which limited the number of things I could do at the time. She had a great time, though, and we were so pleased to see her. I think she managed to explore more of Edmonton that we had!

Anyway, I'll write more soon, must get on with some things!

Northern Exposure: The Miracle of the Internet

Please find attached a picture of my manky face and arm as taken by my webcam. I'm sure you'll all be delighted to receive this.

I had a bike accident this morning. I'm currently concussed so who knows what I'm really saying. Sophia has to stay off work in order to ask me every four hours who I am. If she doesn't know by now, we've got problems!

My mother came over to Canada on Saturday. I was going to work today and take a day off tomorrow, and perhaps Friday, plus a few next week, to show her around. It's her first time leaving England, and she's really quite stunned by all this "new country feeling". I say that, but she's gone to the West Ed Mall for shopping - don't want to spoil her fun by telling her that her eldest son skidded down a hill on his face.

So - I'm off today. I've got a shiny face because it's covered in Polysporin (that stuff is sticky, it's antiseptic and all that, they use it all the time over here) and my head hurts a lot. I have no recollection of half an hour of my life. I remember changing gears on my bike and the next thing I remember was answering some ambulance guy when he was asking me who I was and where my Alberta Health Care card was. My right shoulder is currently hurting because of the typing, and I generally ache all over. However, because I wore my helmet, I can still talk and type and generally be pampered by my wife (mmm tea and buttered bagels).

Oww oww oww. I hate this. Still, could have been much worse.

Northern Exposure: Wicky Wicky Wild Wild West

Week Beginning Monday May 13th 2002
I'm composing the majority of this update in a hotel room in Vancouver - the Delta Pinnacle - and I can see the head office of my new company from the window. I can also see Vancouver bay - all very nice.

What has happened over the last month?

My wing chung is going well, I'm working towards my orange belt. It has been good to get back into the swing of things, I've missed it (I took a break in the depths of winter). Of course this trip West means I'm going to miss another few lessons, plus next weekend is a long one - Victoria Day, I think.

Generally Canadians seem to get much less basic holiday than Europeans, but there's a statutory holiday just about every month. Still strange to go from 5 weeks holiday a year to just 3, but there you go.

Several weekends ago I ran my first 5km race! It was the Sorrentino's Garlic Fun Run, and I finished in 34m 04s, I'm quite proud of that. My first proper race! I did a fair bit of preparation beforehand, but not a whole load. The second lap around Hawrelak Park was really tough.
Finishing made it all worthwhile. Afterwards, we ate really stinky garlic pasta. A day later my calves were ok - stretching out after the run really helped. I may even have caught the running bug, I used to find distance running boring but my mindset has changed.

A few weeks ago I saw Spiderman. What a great film, a super hero tale that works, much better than Batman. Maybe perhaps because of Willem Defoe, who was excellent as the Green Goblin, especially when NOT in costume. Sure, the film had a few dodgy moments, script-wise (a dash of corn), and I understand it has the most mistakes of any film recently (clearly the true purpose of the internet), but it was a great action romp.

What made it even more enjoyable was the company - and I mean that two ways. The whole trip was arranged by BioWare, last time they did something like this was for Lord of the Rings, but THIS time they managed to block book the back four rows. We had to queue with everyone else (good fun, lots of screens playing old Spidey cartoons), but when we got inside we walked to the upper reaches where my lovely wife said, "Why yes, I do work for BioWare!". Man, that's still as cool today as it was over a year ago.

Anyway, we ended up near the back in the middle, surrounded by other like-minded geeks (trust me, its a mother lode there). It was quite cool to watch many people get turned away at the barriers (manned on both sides). Some people had a bit of a grumble, too, and we did check the forums in the morning to see if there was any "you suck because you stole the best seats" posts (none that we could find).

We also went to a talk and a signing by Terry Pratchett - now this is unusual, I thought, what is he doing in Edmonton, so far North? (he was on a Canadian tour, it seems). We heard about the potential Pratchett presentation through a guy at BioWare who knew a girl at
Greenwoods who were arranging the whole thing. They wanted to make sure enough people were interested before they arranged
his visit.

The day of the talk we grabbed a book each (there was talk of signings!) and got a taxi to the Provincial Museum of Alberta. The taxi was of course driven by a guy with road rage (to be honest, the first bad one I've had over here) but we made it in one piece. Despite having to explain to the driver that no, I hadn't seen the car in front fail to turn on the green filter light because sitting in the back as a paying customer I was unable to see the traffic signal.

We were a little early, so we got to see the really serious geeks with the multiple books, or the strange goth couple, or the rabid fantasy collectors. Soon the main doors were opened, and (because Canada is a civilised country that knows how to queue) we were fairly near the front. We realised that one of the books was dedicated from Sophia to me (shortly after we started going out) and we couldn't really ask him to sign it "love from Sophia... and Terry" (although perhaps "love from Terry and Sophia", maybe he wouldn't mind first place), so as the bookshop had a stand there we quickly grabbed a copy of "The Last Hero". In the queue with us was a university student, probably under twenty, who was an absolute delight. We'd ask her about the books ("who is your favourite character?" for example, or "what do you think of Rincewind?") and she would just gush excitedly about the question, how much she enjoys his books, and how she couldn't believe The Terry Pratchett was here in Edmonton. She really helped the time pass before the auditorium opened.

When it did we found ourselves right at the front, good seats. After an introduction from a local representative, the man himself took the stage. Unreal. Too cool. This is the guy who wrote the Discworld books. I reread them over the Christmas break when we were snowed in. I love those books. Clearly not as much as some people there. They scared me.

Terry did a little stand-up show, a talk about how he started doing what he does and how he keeps doing it. Very witty, wry observational humour, as you'd expect. Great fun. Cool stuff about being horizontally rich rather than vertically rich - the difference being how these days he can afford lots of books but has no pressing need to buy ski resorts. At the end, before the book signings, he asked for questions. I even got one of mine answered (the lame "do any of your characters run away from you?", heh).

Because we were one of the first in I thought we were going to be one of the last out, but for some reason we ended up in the middle of the queue. We saw our bouncy friend way ahead, and because of how the line was arranged we were right by the signing desk. As we shuffled along we became aware of the group just behind us. Ubergeeks. You know the kind. The type that smell slightly stale, and slightly of grease. The non-car kind of grease. Anyway, they were very loudly talking about different game systems, saying how a was better than b but D&D was better than a and b. There we were, several Neverwinter Nights programmers, testers, and their other halves, listening to these guys go on - "if I had a tower shield, and another one, and another - if I had four tower shields, and I made holes in them and used wire to tie them together, then I was inside them, and they had handles so I could lift them and move around (assuming a strength of at least 17), then I BET YOU my armor class would be really good". You get the idea. If only they knew what the BioWare people were working on.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, we eventually made it to the front of the queue. It was pretty fantastic to meet Mr. Pratchett. He is very friendly to his fans, always happy to chat and sign.

Afterwards we were offered a lift back by some friends. Whilst we waited for them to finish up we noticed another set of geeks who were sitting in line of sight of Terry. They had noticed a guy in the line with a BioWare polo shirt on and chatted to him. He gave them his business card, and they were just showing it to each other and making "isn't this cool" noises. I just found it funny that they were doing this in sight of Terry Pratchett.

What made the whole thing even more surreal was how the week before a set of European journalists had been flown over to check out the new BioWare game, including Terry Pratchett's daughter, who writes for PC Zone magazine. Small world, eh?

Terry made mention of Neil Gaiman, another of my favourite authors. I just finished reading his latest book "American Gods". Very good stuff.

I rarely mention my vitiligo, but recently I signed up to a mailing list that I was last a member in 1996, I think I changed email accounts. It was good to sign up again to find out how others with vitiligo are doing. For those of you that don't know, vitiligo is why I have had grey hair since age 8, and why I never tan. It's what Michael Jackson has - he went through total depigmentation to not be so blotchy. Honest. No, really, he did. The nose job and other stuff wasn't related, mind you.

Anyway, I also saw a Chinese girl on the bus with vit a while back. It made me realise how lucky I actually am - despite all the teasing and bullying I had when I was younger. Her neck and chin were pure white while the rest of her was a nice golden colour. I'm just pale (understatement) with salt'n'pepper hair.

Hmm. I'm six foot, reasonably fit, need to lose a few pounds, have a lazy left eye 'cos I scratched my lens when I was born (so I'm told), have vitiligo, could develop LHON (Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy) , have a scar on my brow where I fell out of a bunkbed onto a toy fire engine. Oh, and a few years ago I went to the doctor and told him I thought I got plaster dust in my pores which was why I developed a rash - only to be told it was Shingles. It's a wonder I can get by on a day-to-day basis, isn't it?

We were going to see Attack of the Clones when it came out, but we heard there were no pre-booked tickets - you just had to turn up and try to buy them. A group of us went on the Sunday instead - it was still packed out, but a lot less hassle. No BioWare people to buy the cinema out, hehe. The film was really good, I enjoyed it a lot. Anakin was such a wuss though - he really could have been played by Harry Enfield as Kevin doing his "That's SO unfair!" bit. As Soph said, why would anyone want to fall in love with him? Still, huge jedi battles and Yoda kicking arse. Nice.

I'm getting rather worried about spring in Edmonton - before I came out here it was brown and horrid over there. The late winter snap (snow through April, VERY unusual) has caused all the plant life to slow down big time. Vancouver is just delightful though, green, glowing, gorgeous. All the flowers are out, the people walk the streets, very nice indeed.

My second night in Vancouver, I walked to Robson Street, the "Oxford Street" of Vancouver, and from there to Chinatown. I wandered all around the place, marvelling at how things in Canada seem to shut really early. I guess it's because there are only 17 million people living here, so there are maybe one or two fun places the night owls hang out. I ended up at an Earls on Robson street, where I had cedar planked chinook salmon with maple cider butter and asparagus - mmmm - when in BC, eat BC food.

On Wednesday evening once the course had finished I took a bus down Granville Road to Granville Island, a really funky little place connected to the mainland by a landbarbridge. I wandered around the island perimeter before checking out all the shops and markets on the interior. As I write this I'm sitting at a table in a pub / restaurant / bar called Bridges, sipping a Granville Island Pale Ale, waiting for my smoked duck pizza to arrive. I wonder if it was a Granville Island Duck? It is lovely here, checking out the boats, taking in the sea air, basking in the sunlight...


Thursday July 11th 2002
I'm just testing out my new foldable keyboard for the iPaq which is now technically a HP iPaq, not a Compaq iPaq, but I'm not fussy. Unfortunately it has an adapter, so it's not quite a self contained unit, but it does seem rather good for typing. Wheee! I shall enjoy taking this with me next week for my course in Vancouver!


Tuesday 16th July 20:10MST
Currently several thousand feet up in the air flying to Vancouver on a WestJet flight. One of the other guys from my company - and my current project - is sitting just behind me. I'm feeling a little off colour, maybe it's the heat. I went home early because of this, and fell asleep until I was woken by the door (good thing too, I didn't intend to sleep and I didn't want to miss my flight!). The person at the door was Leanne, a friend of our upstairs neighbour. I'd offered to courier something to Vancouver for her - a set of jewellery that she designed and created that was comissioned by a rather cool jewellery store on Robson Street. Pretty cool stuff.

I'm also taking some gifts for a friends ex-boyfriend. He moved to Vancouver for his residency, which I think is the last part before you become a real doctor. I gleaned this information from Dougie Howser M.D. some years ago. It'll be good to see him again - the ex-boyfriend, not Dougie Howser.

So, time for another recap. When I got back from Vancouver last time, I had this almost finished opus of an email pretty much done. I thought I'd be able to polish it off one evening and sent it out pronto, but then I got really busy at work. We were working on our Proof of Concept for the project we're doing - this is where you create something that does the major bits of what the final project should do, so it accesses the data and shows the functionality, but it's not the final system. It's to prove we understand what's required, and also that we can actually do it. It got rather hectic towards the end, and we has a mini-crunch time. Nothing like Sophias crunch time, mind you - I did pop in over the weekend, but I wasn't doing 9am to 11pm (at least) every single day for a month.

We got the proof of concept done, and then we started on the design work for the project. All very good. This course I'm going on will help, too - it's a new design methodology (whatever that means).

Oh yes, and Neverwinter Nights, the game Sophia was working on, got finished. They had a big push and got it out just in time. Everyone was really relieved and happy, and they spent ages signing boxes for various people and charities. The launch party was good fun too, it was farewell for some people because once the game was done they moved on to other companies or in some cases other countries. The party was also the last night Sophia was here before she flew off on her holiday.

They gave her two weeks extra holiday because the game shipped, over and above her normal amount (which is 15 days here in Canada, very odd after coming from a country where we both had 25!). She hasn't had a holiday since February of 2001, the poor thing, so I sent her off for a well deserved rest. Of course, I would have loved to join her, but I had just started my new job, needed to be there for the project, and
hadn't built up enough days yet.

Oh my word, someone on this flight is shuffling a deck of cards again and again, this is the third time I've been on a flight and have that happen, I really am going to snap one day and kill 'em with the ace of spades. IT'S SHUFFLED ALREADY! GAH!!

Sorry.

Anyway, Sophia flew with a friend to London, and spent a few days there with her family. She managed to see some friends around London, but didn't have a lot of time. She was bound for Mauritius, and the flights are a lot cheaper from London than from Edmonton. She's been there a while now, it's their equivalent of Winter (I think they're just south of the equator) but it's not the wet season. She's relaxing and enjoying herself lots, and while I can't wait for her to come back. I know this is just what she needs after all the hassle of crunch time.

While she has been away I've been sorting out our house like crazy. We live in a three bedroom basement suite, underneath a young couple with two lovely daughters (3 and 5, I think). He is a graphic artist at BioWare, she is an agent for improv comedy artistes, and they're really nice. We've got a large size front room, a good sized kitchen, a study (the computer room), a dressing room (the back bedroom) and our bedroom. Since our stuff arrived from the UK we've not really had time to sort it all out, so I have really gone to town, moving and mixing and sorting and throwing and all sorts of things. It's been very rewarding and I feel like I "own" everything again because I've touched it - if that makes sense. I hope Sophia likes what I've done, anyway.

This Stowaway Keyboard is working really well, most impressive. The adapter for the iPaq 3850 is a bit fiddly to use, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.


Tuesday 16th July 23:15PST
Whee! Just got back from a sports bar where the other member of the team and I had a few beers. Watching an old Buffy (the one where Xander and Cordy kiss for the first time, hehe). Fun stuff.

Okay back to the stories. You're really bored by all this aren't you?

I spent Canada Day wandering around Whyte Avenue (Soph was on holiday at this point), checking out the parades and generally soaking up the patriotic feeling. The only problem was the weather - it had been so dry over the past few days that the normal waterfall from the high level bridge was cancelled, and there were no fireworks allowed. So, instead, I had a nice lunch at O'Byrnes, that Irish pub on Whyte Avenue.

I passed my orange belt test for Wing Chun! We had to demonstrate attacks and counter-attacks, hammer fist (a Shaolin attack), and some Wing Chun kicks. It was good fun, and it feels great to be up another level! We started Monkey Form II, well I say "we", the rest of the class had done it for about three months. It was good to watch, which is all I could do after the first few moves!

Hmm Jay Leno is on tv now. He's got my hair and chin.

I found out that the St. Johns Ambulance are active in Canada - what with it being a Commonwealth and all - so I went along to an orientation event to volunteer. There's not really a "First Aid at Work" as there was in England, so being a volunteer is an ideal way to keep up my skills - and besides, I really like doing it. There was some confusion over my qualifications, just the conversion from England to Canada, but I think it's okay. Anyway, I've signed up with a unit that's really close to our house. I've been to a few meetings now, and they're just basic office stuff - who can attend what event, who is taking the minutes, that sort of thing. By doing this, I have to volunteer to do at least two events a month, and I'll have my 60 hours a year that I need (they count the meetings, y'see). The events range from antiques fairs to rock concerts, covering fun runs and hockey events too. I'm looking forward to my first event, which is a six pm to midnight shift for the Klondike Days.

Oh, the Klondike Days - this is a two week long festival in Edmonton to celebrate those days of yore where, I think, people from the area managed to persuade prospectors that there was a route through to the Yukon. So, for two weeks everyone gets gold rush fever, someone gets appointed as Klondike Kate and maraudes around with her posse (I SAID POSSE) and there are fairground rides and food of the world. We're going there to enjoy it, as well as doing some first aid shifts there.

Seeing as I'm on probation with them, I can't wear the official brigade shirt so instead I have a tabard. They insist on calling it a pinafore, but seriously, it's a tabard. I'm not going to wear a pinny.

Now, I know the history of the St. Johns Brigade, how they fought in the crusades but then stopped fighting and started fixing people. They have a religious history, but during the orientation it was clearly stated that they were multi-denominational. However, my unit has a prayer at the start of each meeting, and while I respect the history and traditions, I don't feel comfortable participating.


Wednesday 17th July 21:20
The course was good today, started slow but soon got brain-achey, heh. I got back from Gas Town earlier, the historic part of Vancouver. The other guy from the Edmonton branch took me to a really nice microbrewery called the Steam Works, I had a very nice steak and a couple of very good beers.

So, where were we? As well as the Klondike Days in July, I think August is the Fringe Festival too - lots of funky plays and shows around the Whyte Ave area. Soph did a few last year and really enjoyed them.

I was really happy when Neverwinter Nights was finished - I was a little cynical when it was being developed, but when I had a chance to play it I recaptured some of the feeling I had when I played D&D back at school. It was great fun to romp through dark passages with Sophia. Currently I'm playing a half-elven druid who has a badger as an animal companion, and Soph is an elven ranger. We have a henchman each too, so it's a good crowd. I love badgers, and mine really kicks arse. Yissing, his name is. I reached a level where I could transform into an animal of my choice, and after a while Sophia said "Hey you summoned another badger! Wait! YOU ARE A BADGER!", then she cracked up. Later one when she was checking a room for traps she came out to fine me chasing Yissing around my henchman. Hehehe. Great game, and not just
because of the badgers.

Ahh! Another thing I forgot! We've almost (so close!) almost got our new car! We've gone for a deal through my new work, and we're getting a nice new Ford Focus ZX5 - I like 'em. Anyway, we were almost ready to get them and then the agent mentioned how he'd need our Alberta Driving licenses. Ooops, we don't have one. I had to take my test again - and the first time I failed. Yup - I was doing really well then on the last stretch to the test centre I passed a cop by the side of the road, checked my speed, "yup, 60kph, just right" and once we got back the examiner told me a few minor things I could improve on and then explained how that stretch of road was 50kph, how he was worried that the cop might have pulled me over, and how a speeding violation was an automatic fail.

Gutted? Yes. Embarassed? Yes. Still, I told you about it, which takes the sting out. Oh, and during the test I was telling the guy how my dad was a driving instructor. The shame!

I booked the test again for as soon as I could. For both tests, I borrowed a car from our upstairs neighbours, and the second time I went out early to get the car only to find the battery was flat! ARGH! Always an adventure. We had to call a cab, they give people a boost for a small fee, and then I was on my way. The examiner turned up late, so the battery had a chance to recharge.

I passed the test with a perfect score, and you should have seen how carefully I kept to the speed limits throughout, hehe.

We've moved offices too. Well, basically we have another office a little further west of downtown (but still in downtown). There will be support and development staff here. Usually we do development at the client site, but sometimes they ask us to do it at our own offices. This just enables us to expand. The new location is almost exactly opposite where we live, just over the river. Because its so nice now, I'm cycling to work and back every day. The river valley is really steep, but I can cross the High Level Bridge so the gradient isn't that bad. There are still a few nasty hills though.


Thursday 18th July 22:20
Just got back from a restaurant in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver, down near the University of British Columbia. It was called Fatso's and they had a Thursday special on, nice blues / dixie style place. I went with our friends ex and some of her other friends. We had a good time.

Today I paid for my Scott eVest, which I got through my company with a special deal - they got 'em branded with the company logo. The jacket itself is fantastic, so many pockets for so many bits and bobs - the stowaway keyboard, the headphone, everything. It made going through airport security really easy - show and turn on the pocket pc and the mobile phone, then put the jacket through the xray machine, nice and simple.

The course was more difficult today, and promises to get even more complex tomorrow. We should finish early, though, and our flights back to Edmonton isn't 'til much later. I also confirmed that Soph flies in at midnight on Saturday, pretty late. I get most of Saturday to finish everything off, but still! I'm missing her loads, hehe.

Ah well, it's late now, I was watching Buffy as I wrote these last bits. That should be pretty much it for this big email, it's been a long time coming though, I'd apologise but I made you read it all, heh.


Friday 19th July 23:20MST
Woo hoo! I'm 20,000feet in the air on my flight back to Edmonton. The course finished early, around 16:30, and we got chatting to one of the ladies on the course about what we could do this evening. She knew a guy who had a micro-brewery, and who sold his wares through a bar a little way downtown. Clearly this was meant to be, so we wandered down to the place - Sorbeez - and had quite a few pints of Storm Brewery's India Pale Ale. Very nice indeed. I topped it off with a pint of Strongbow and a pint of Guinness (the cider was to be expected - not so good - and the stout was quite disappointing - a bit of a burnt taste to it, maybe sharing the pipes with something else), but my companion stayed with the IPA. After we finished, we popped back to our respective hotels which were keeping our bags for us, and got a taxi to the airport. After checking in for our flights, we had a few more pints at a bar before eventually turning up for our flight. I think I've drunk more in the past three days that I have in the past six months. Very nice.

We're starting our descent so it's almost time to turn this off and put it away - we're going to arrive around midnight, maybe a little earlier because the driver of this plane has got his schwerve on, but this is good training because Sophia's flight arrives late tomorrow. I'm preparing myself for a late night of unpacking. Hehe. I wonder if she got me any presents. I've already received the first set of things from her - english tea and english mustard and that luxury, Branston pickle. Yay!

Right, the seatbelt sign is on, time to put this away!


Saturday 20th July 21:20MST
Well I finished tidying up the house today. A friend went away to Sylvan Lake for the weekend, and lent us her car so I can pick up Sophia. She's landing in just over an hours time, I so can't wait! We chatted for a while last night online.

I'm going to end this off now, finally - it's taken a while! Sorry for the delay!

Northern Exposure: Snow! Argh! Not Again! I thought we'd seen the last of it!

It's been a long time since I wrote one of these "here's what I've been doing" things. Bad me! Bad!

On Saturday it was wonderfully warm for the first time this year. We walked over to the University and I went to a Wing Chun class whilst Sophia went for a run around the area. We were both really tired out afterwards, and it was a lovely sunny day - really nice, about 10C or 12C. On the way back, I commented how all we needed was a rain shower to wash away all the remaining snow and dirt and gravel.

Sunday came along all wet! It was raining all day! I really do need to watch what I say. I went over to the shops for some supplies (our local Safeway), and Sophia went for another jog. She met me at the supermarket and after a quick wander around, back off home we went. As it was a miserable day outside (but very refreshing, and quite warm (3C or 5C)) we made oatmeal cookies using a recipe we got from the internet. They turned out REALLY yummy - very pleased with this.

It was a really nice weekend. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning ready for another week at work, looked outside the window and saw almost a foot of snow. Really. Almost a foot. I checked the weather, got ready, opened the door, and had to very carefully walk up the few steps from our basement apartment. Slogging to the bus stop was pretty funny. It wasn't cold at all, but the snow was relentless, and the bus was late. I must admit that sometimes during my time in this wonderful country I have literally had to suppress maniacal giggles when thinking about the weather.

I sneaked a little reference into the previous paragraph that some of you might not know about - I've managed to get a job! I'm now working as a Consultant. My role is a Microsoft Developer, and they're giving me some training in the new technologies (all the .NET stuff) before putting me on some fun projects. As a consultant, I'll be working at the offices of the companies, rather than in our offices. I've only been here a few weeks, and I'm still settling in but it's all very exciting, and I'm really pleased. For the job (well that's my excuse) I got a pocket pc (if you're interested, it's a Compaq iPaq 3850). I'm very happy with it - easy to use, very friendly, very sexy.

I get the bus to work. It takes about 10 minutes to go from where we live (south of the river, just north of the really funky part of town (which is where Sophia's company is)) to get Downtown. After I get off the bus, I can wander through two malls to get to my building - so I can avoid the elements if I want/need to.

Stuff I'd missed over the past few months!

We missed you all loads over Christmas, as we stayed here for the whole thing. A few days over the holiday break we didn't even leave the house at all, as it was around -29 outside during the day.

We saw our first live ice hockey game on the 15th of December - it was between Tampa Bay and the Oilers (of course, GO OILERS!). Lots of fun! We ended up really high near one end, and sat next to a cool retired army guy who told us all about the rules, and why these seats are particularly good ("You get to see the play go back and forth, and flying pucks don't knock your teeth out" - works for me). The Oilers won that match, and the crowd went totally bonkers.

Also back in December we saw Harry Potter (enjoyed it a lot) and had an entire staff outing to see Lord of the Rings with BioWare. They block booked part of the cinema, and we all went along in the afternoon. Fantastic fun, great film.

Plus there was the snowboarding in January - BioWare managed to book an evening at a local ski centre (quite impressive considering Edmonton is very far away from the mountains). Sophia may have mentioned how she
did. I certainly didn't manage any "720 Canadian Bacons to a Late Japan Air - With a Wedgie", but I did eventually manage to go down the bunny slopes all the different ways. Insert joke about "left side, right side, backside, face" here, and you'd not be far off. Of course, I didn't manage to get rope burn on my eye, unlike some.

In January we signed up for a Taiko (Japanese drumming) Workshop. It was really good fun. One of our friends over here has been doing it for over a year and we've always wanted to give it a try. Earplugs, blisters on the hands, headaches from trying to learn the songs - but really incredible when the whole class managed to get the
whole thing sounding right. After the workshop was over we were invited to sign up for a "pre-apprenticeship". Quite a few people did, and for the next few Sundays we were trying to learn new songs, working on our stance and technique, and generally trying to look like we knew what we were doing. After it was all over, they went away to
deliberate - and unfortunately I didn't get in. Sophia did though, and I had a fantastic time, if you get a chance to try this, I really recommend it!

That's why I'm continuing with Wing Chun, as the Taiko sessions are at the same time (Mondays and Wednesdays). Sophia is doing lots of running as well as the Taiko (she starts proper on Wednesday), she's training up. I went back to Wing Chun for the first time in ages last week. Lots of the people who were yellow belts are now orange belts,
but it all soon came flooding back to me. Rather painfully, when we were doing balance trapping exercise and I caught my finger when blocking. Still, all part of the fun.

We're going to see Terry Pratchett give a talk over here soon, pretty cool that he's coming all the way over to Edmonton. If any of you lot feel like coming over, just let us know and we'll pick you up from the airport. Trust me, the snow WILL melt soon.

Northern Exposure: Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting...

Last Friday evening, we went to O'Byrnes again. I had an Irish Stew, and Sophia had some fish and chips. We chatted for a while over a pint, and we were both thinking how like Irish Pubs everywhere other than Ireland this place was (although there were a few pubs in Dublin that sort of fit this stylised ideal). A guy came over to take our plates - not one of the usual waitresses - and he had an Irish accent.

Well, that blew our theory out of the water. Maybe it was really authentic.

On the way home, the weather amazed us again. Little ice crystals were suspended in the air, floating down slowly. The lights caught them and they twinkled delightfully, but we soon noticed they started settling on our eyebrows and lashes. Fairy-tale-christmas-cake it may have looked, but it started to sting.

The snow brings out the Sherlock Holmes in me. We've got a theory about certain types of Canadians:

• a lot of them shuffle their feet when they walk
• a lot of them walk very close behind you

We had no idea why they shuffle their feet, and we think they walk close behind you because there are less than a million living in Edmonton and they must crave some kind of human contact. For us, coming from England and hanging around in London, it's quite strange. Most British people are very protective of their personal space, and it makes the paranoid reflex we seem to have developed twitch a little.

Anyway, back to the snow. I've seen footprints where, like "normal" people, the planter has lifted their feet up and lowered them into the snow carefully, to avoid getting wet shoes and soggy trousers. I've also seen lots of shuffling footsteps all over the place. It must be environmental or something.

Where it has settled without being disturbed, the snow is about 9 inches deep. Near our house there's an apartment complex (in England they're called maisonettes) and a cyclist has cut across the snow - at regular intervals the vague imprint of the pedals and the bottom of the feet can be seen. It's very cool, but in a 'not very exciting' way.

On Monday night, Sophia did her belly-dancing recital - I'm sure she'll give you her own side of things, but I can tell you it was not boring at all. About two hours of young ladies showing how well they can wiggle their tummies - and the bits just above and below them - was enough to capture my attention. Very good fun.

Last night was my Wing Chun exam (hence the title of this email). I passed, it went very well. At one point I punched when I should have blocked, but that was just nerves - it all went okay. The cycle there and back was a lot more hellish - this weather has gone from being funny to being deadly serious. I'm seriously concerned about my nose, it seems to act like a heatsink, radiating all the heat-energy from my body. Troublesome, no?

We'll have to get some pictures up of the two of us in our winter gear - the GoreTex jackets are great for stopping the wind and we just layer beneath them. Everyone is telling us to get some quilted down jackets for when the temperature goes below -25, but I'm counting on global warming here.

We still haven't seen Harry Potter, we plan to do that maybe this weekend. I've heard good things, of course, but then it is Harry Potter.

Northern Exposure: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

It's currently -17 here, and it's midday.

We've had a lot of snowfall over the past week. On Monday I cycled to Wing Chun and nearly froze to the bike. I went down the alleys that run down the middle of each block, they had a lot of packed snow on them but at least there was no traffic, so it was safer. I did skid around a bit, mind you.

We've found a tea shop just around the corner called Cargo and James. It's very good there - we still have some PG Tips here, but they do some really strange, exotic teas. I had some Monks Tea the other day, which Sophia thought smelt like marshmallows. It was very nice – first time I've really drunk a black tea with no milk or sugar (I have PG Tips with milk, and Earl Grey with sugar, etc.).

Last Friday we went to a local Irish pub – O'Byrnes. On Fridays they have an all you can eat fish and chips. I had the one plate, mind you. If only the chips were real chips, rather than fries, it would be perfect. Still, the guinness there is good, and they do lots of other nice beers and ales.

Next week I take my Wing Chun exam, hopefully I'll get to yellow belt. I'm really looking forward to it, I've been going for quite a while but due to things like our furniture arriving and me damaging my foot I haven't been able to go as much as required. Oh, and it's not that we won't go somewhere that doesn't have a web site, it's more like everywhere around here has one. :)

Oh, that's right - our furniture arrived a few weeks ago. I can't tell you how good it is to be sleeping on a bed again, rather than on the (fantastic, magical, but not very supportive over 2 months) self-inflating mattress. We've got all our stuff in place now, just about. I'm waiting for a claim form from the movers - they damaged a number of items that they packed themselves.

Not that bad considering the distance, and we're most upset about the sake cup, because it was part of a set. We're sure they can fix the divan drawer, too. The other thing I'm waiting on is the Canadian movers appearing again to remove all the boxes the stuff came in - I've flat packed 'em all, and asked them two weeks ago, but still nothing. Plus, now it's snowing. Well, more fool them.

The owners of the basement suite we're renting had two of the rooms carpeted. The computer room feels much nicer, and the back bedroom is now also carpeted. This means the only rooms NOT covered are the kitchen, hall and bathroom. Feels a lot more cozy now. When we've got everything settled, we'll take a few pics to bore you silly. Oh, the larger of the two bedrooms (which was just carpeted) is Sophia's Dressing Room. We have the bed in the smaller room, as it's more cozy and gets better light in the morning.

Our house in England is now rented. A single tenant has moved in, yay! I think that's about all - I must do these little updates more often.