Wind and missing handles...

That's what the last few days of my life have been about. Wednesday I drove up to Olds to help Noel finish off her Biology 20 (needs it for next university semester) after work. Drove through a pretty crazy storm around Airdrie but that's becoming pretty common this summer. We finally made it through the last module just after midnight so I just stayed the night and left early in the morning. My only other goal that night was to buy a new razor handle as my current one is MIA and I had not shaved since Saturday (starting to look too scruffy at work). Problem is Olds is a lot like Nanton in that department, no drugstores or anything open after 9:00.

So, the next morning I drove to Westbrook Mall, caught a ride downtown with Nevin (he'd brought some office clothes and stuff) and went straight up to the showers in my building. I had everything I needed to get ready for work...except a handle. I think I got a few funny looks from others in there trying to shave just pinching the blade in my fingers. Worked though.

Then last night I tried a new sport...an awesome new sport. It was an introductory course to Kiting (or kite boarding). Held out on Nosehill. We spent 4 hours messing around with trainer kites, learning safety, and even went for a special theory session afterwards...at the Reagle Beagle. Beer and wind dynamics...actually a good mix.

Anyway, I'm hooked and I know that kiting will be in my future. In fact I'm taking the first step today and buying my own trainer (so I can start practicing this weekend). Enjoy your own weekend everyone.

"Peak" Performance...

I'm sure all of you know the benefits of warming up before exercising. Get the muscles warmed up and ready for a work out. There's also long term warm ups where you train for a particular activity so that when you get to it...you might make it to the end. This past weekend we did not warm up...

I can't remember if I posted this before but I recently bought a new Kona Kula mountain bike. Absolutely love it but hadn't done more than ride around the paved streets of Calgary. That's why when Jeff called early last week to say "Mike, we're going to the mountains, you're coming" I said "Sweet! Um, just wait, I have plans with Noel. Hmm, give me a second..."

Here's the part where I say what an amazing girlfriend Noel is. I called her, explained the situation, and she said "You can go, this is something you've wanted to do for a while...but you owe me!" Yup, I'm a pretty lucky guy.

So Friday I headed out to the mountains with Terry to hold a spot while we waited for Jeff, Sat, Doris, and JR to show up. Jeff and JR didn't arrive until midnight, which wouldn't normaly be a problem except for they had both tents. Luckily we had beer. Thirsty Beaver Beer. They found a few drunk campers around a fire when they arrived.

Anyway to keep this from getting too long: Saturday morning we head out with all the bikes, leave the van at the end of the trail, and start off. The very first part of the trail is a 700m vertical climb through switchbacks. This would be a challenge even with paved trails, I would have even settled for dirt. Instead we had loose rocks and roots. Ugh, terrible. Took a few breaks. At the top of the climb we realized that Doris, due to a time commitment, wouldn't be able to finish so she and JR retreated back to the first car. The rest of us continued, bit of flat, bit of trees, and then another climb to the peak. We broke for lunch there, enjoyed the view, and let our hearts calm down. Unfortunately, a few other things calmed down and stiffened up. Ass and leg muscles. Very painful to get back on the bikes but we managed. The next part of the trek was a few kilometers along the ridge (flat and finally fun) but then a dip and another 500m climb. Thankfully this is when Terry rolled his ankle and Sat and I went over our handle bars all simultaneously (all about 30m apart on the trail). We knew at this point that we should be calling it quits. We took a short cut trail down to the road, Jeff and Sat going on ahead to get the van and I stayed with Terry.

In the van it was a pretty quick and unanymous decision to pack up camp and head back to Calgary. Basically we did the kind of ride that you would do at the END of the season when you're conditioned and in shape. Not on the first trip of the year. Beer never tasted better. Also, I managed to make it up to Olds to see Noel after all. Funny how things work out. I think she predicted this from the beginning and just wanted to laugh at me limping around for the evening.


Feeling better today, going to be back on the bike soon...but key word will be "easy" trails.

A case of mistaken Hootie...

Who says work isn't fun. It's usually a lot more fun if you can laugh at yourself. So this is how it went down:

The past two days at work have been excellent. Monday morning I received an email with a list of wells I will drill this winter. YAY! Probably doesn't seem like much to anyone else but to actually have a real, physical list is huge this summer. Limited budget and the fact that winter is still a long ways off mean it's tough to get information. So I got to work investigating these potential wells, seeing how deep, what size they have to be and where they are going to be drilled. Turns out the 3 of the 4 are right beside each other. My brain, which is so fantastical, instantly thinks "pad wells". This means that we will only clear off one surface location and directionally drill out to the targets (up to 1 km). Pretty cool project.

Since then I've been running around meeting geologists, geophysicists, reservoir and completions engineers to spread my idea and see what they think. So far it's been positive. There are a couple of issues to work out but it looks possible and it's already apparent that if it works smoothly, it will save us lots of money.

What's so funny about that? Nothing really...that just the interesting lead up that will hopefully make me look smart and save some face.

This afternoon I'd agreed to meet with Tyler, a sales rep from National to talk about mud motors and some of their new technology. He brought another NOV guy along. I instantly had a feeling that I recognized the other person. He is black, short hair, goatee, familiar face...I just couldn't place him. It was loud in the lobby so I thought I heard him introduce himself as "Carry". So we start walking to a table to sit and chat and it comes over me..."Holy crap, this is Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish. I didn't know his first name was Carry. Huh!".

Anyway, we sit, talk, they have some pretty cool stuff coming out in September, discussed Stampede, mountain bikes...the whole bit. After half an hour we're getting near the end and I ask "Carry" how long he's worked at National. He said 2 months, just getting his feet wet and learning the business, and that he also does work for CBC. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because he continued to say he works there as a CFL analyst.

BAM!

That was the super powered light bulb that just went off and exploded in my head. This isn't Hootie. It's Kahari Jones, former CFL quarterback. It all starts to make sense. I'm pretty sure he recognized the look on my face and I think he chuckled. Well, that's my funny story of the day.

Stampeding again...

The Calgary Stampede is here again (July 6-15) and, as usual, a great time. The plan this year was to take it easy, only go to a couple of events, keep rested and work hard...funny how plans change.

Started last Friday watching the Stampede Parade downtown with Nevin. Had a great view from the back of his truck in the parkade. Have to remember that one for future years. Also watched Transformers that night, excellent movie. Saturday was a fun day of rafting down past Cardston with the Hornecker family reunion. 45 people floating down a river trying to soak each other as much as possible...great fun.

On Sunday another kind of fun started, the fun of entertaining. We were able to talk Marie into stopping by Calgary for 4 days to see Canada (well, a part of it). She'd been in San Francisco the week before at her cousin's wedding. Talk about a good time to show up in town. Gave her a quick tour of Nanton Sunday night and a chance to meet some family. Monday I had rodeo tickets so I took her to see her first rodeo. I think she was impressed...or stunned at how crazy some of us are. One bull rider got bucked off and managed to run about 30 feet before the bull spun around and tracked him down. The cowboy got launched at least 15 feet in the air. He was okay and able to walk off the field. Everyone around, even the veterans, were saying they'd never seen anyone get bucked that high.



Anyway, after the rodeo we had to check out Nashville North and meet more family...Terry. I always love going to NN for two-stepping. The music is good and everyone there is pumped about it. Not like going to Cowboys and trying to dance at some other time during the year. Stayed until Jack Ingram came on stage but instantly found out that I really don't like the guy...so we left.

Tuesday was spent in the mountains. I mean, if you come to Canada you HAVE to see the rockies. Stopped by Lake Louise, Peyto Lake, and then back into Banff. They were doing construction on the main road so we just bypassed downtown and went out to see the Banff Springs Hotel. I'd never actually gone inside before. Walked around the bottom few levels and, to sum it up, the place is nuts...in a lavish, make-you-feel-like-a-king way. Stopped by Boston Pizza in Canmore on the way home for another Canadian experience.

Wednesday I was back at work and Marie just stay at our condo to rest and collect herself. I had a lot of work to do...at least in the morning. Somehow got talked into going to Cowboys for lunch and didn't make it back until 2:30 or so with a few beers in me. I did get "some" more work done. Marie came downtown after so we could have one last supper with Nevin, Kyla, Luke, Ang, Jesse, Rocky, AND Rocky's new fiance Shelly...that's just a whole other story in itself. Had tickets to watch the chuckwagons and the grandstand show after. Amazing show. Always fun betting on the chucks. The Young Canadians were good but it was the rest of the show that made the night. Great ventriloquist comedian, dirtbike jumping, and the fireworks were the best I've ever seen. So much better when they follow the music. Jesse came with us and we decided to hit up a few rides after the show around midnight. Can't remember the names of them all but they have some good ones this year. The Zipper was of course a classic. Couldn't convince Marie to come on but Jesse and I managed to pull off one of the best Zipper runs ever.

Only problem with all of this is that we didn't get home until almost 2:00am...and Marie had to be at the airport by 4:30am. Yup, not going on a lot of sleep today. Drove her over, said good bye, and was back home and asleep right away. Wow...that was a packed four days. Almost wish I had a 13 hour flight today to rest. I'm definitely going to take it easy today to rest up for when Noel makes it down tomorrow. Not sure what the plans are going to be but it will definitely involve some Stampeding of our own. Can't wait. Still 4 days left...let's do this.