Calgary - take 2

Well this past weekend I was back in Calgary, spending time with Jen, Adam and Henry. I arrived on Friday night, only to be greeted with a light SNOWFALL... Winter is well and truly here!! It was a very relaxing weekend overall, with only one real PARTY night where we went across to Jason (a work colleague in Calgary) and Natasha's place for a BBQ.I got to spend time with both Jen and Henry, which was really the main objective of going across, coz I'm likely not going to see them until next year now... I flew back to Winnipeg on Tuesday, and got straight back into the craziness that is my life.

Updates x 3

Ok so there were a few updates I posted today, apologies for posting them all at once, I had them queued for a few days, I just needed to press send!!

I'm in Calgary again this weekend, which is likely going to be my last break until December. Things are really starting to get tightly sprung in preparation for busy season and my trip to Scotland. I'll have to send out an email to everyone in the UK to try and find out where you are to see if I can coordinate meeting up with you while I am over there (bearing in mind that I will be based in Northern Scotland).

The Windy City

I've just been in Chicago for a couple of days for SAP training, which went really well. I only got told on Friday that it would be happening, so I booked my flights and got here on Monday. Its been really awful weather the entire time, but was still good to see another city. The people here seem really friendly and helpful, which I have to admit was a bit of a surprise. I had a good time and met up with a collegue from Calgary and we went for a few drinks on one of the nights. We headed down to the beach which was a little surreal as you are surrounded by skyscrapers, yet you are on a sandy beach with waves and all.



There was apparently a bit of a weather problem yesterday, so my flight was cancelled, and the airline I was booked on has a clause that they are not liable for anything if they cancel a flight. All of the hotels in Chicago were full, so I ended up going to hotel in a little hole of a town 50km away. I'm sitting in the airport again today and my flight has been delayed 3 times already, who knows if I will get back to Winnipeg today. Its very frustrating because if I knew then I would just head to the office and get some work done. There is a lot to do, and when people see how little I have gotten done this week there will be questions.

Update:
So I got back to Winnipeg on Wednesday night only to find that they lost my bag en route. Seems as though that entire trip was jst doomed from the get go... I got my bag back from the airline only on Thursday night, and I am flying to Calgary on Friday!!

Jen, Henry, Braaiing in Calgary :o)

Well after my Edmonton trip I headed down to Calgary. What a welcome relief. I hadn't been to Calgary since April when I went skiing in Banff! I was greeted at the airport by an excited and enthused Jen and Henry - and damn was it good to see some friends. The whole weekend was kind of planned and I was really looking forward to the break. That night (Friday) we went for dinner together and then picked up Adam, Jen's other half and we went down 17th Ave, which is the "happening" street. I guess we took the places to go out in Zim for granted coz although there were _plenty_ of bars etc on 17th, none had a decent vibe. We had a couple of drinks out and about and got home at a reasonable hour.

The next day we woke up reasonably early and headed down to a shop called SA Meat Shops. They import a lot of South African goods and make their own boerewors, dry wors, and biltong. We grabbed a whole bunch of provisions for that evening, including boerewors, lamb, sadza, rusks, biltong, dry wors, koeksusters and got some castle lager at a local liquor store. That evening Jen had her friend and her other half over for a braai. It was really really great to be eating like a zimbo and be surrounded by friends from back home. Just what a home-sick man needed!

On Sunday we pretty much just hung out, went to Church and I tried roller blading down by the river. It was rather scary at first, as it is a completely un-natural feelign to have wheels strapped to your feet. I had Henry and Adam supporting me for a lot of the time, and everyone had a good laugh at some of my first attempts, as it looked as though I was russian dancing, with my skates shooting back and forward as I tried to steady myself. By the end of the session I was basically able to steady myself without falling too much. Definitely want to give that a go again!

On Monday we headed up to Banff, which is just as beautiful in the summer as it was during the winter. We went to a lake and just had a picnic with a few people, took some pictures and waded around in the lake. Really good fun, got some great photos which I will try post here soon.

Leaving for my flight on Monday night was rather sad, becuase I had such a good weekend, it was a bit of a let down to know I was going back to my lonely little apartment back in Winnipeg. The consolation was that I was going to Calgary again in a couple of weeks (this coming weekend)!!

The City with the BIG mall

Well its been a little bit since I last updated this, and I've done a bit since. Last week but one I was in Edmonton for a few days for an audit. It was my first time across there, so I was quite eager to see what it was all about. I landed there only to be greeted with a rather dismal baggage collection area, undettered I headed downtown to my hotel. My hotel was downtown, and to my dismay after 5:45pm Edmonton downtown becomes Edmonton ghosttown. I spent a couple of days there and found a couple of places that were open.

On my last night there I headed down to West Edmonton Mall, which reputedly is the biggest mall in the world or something like that. Those who know me, know that I do not like shopping at all so I guess going there was a bit of a waste on me. It is massive and rather impressive overall (Indoor rollercoaster, wavepool and icehockey rink amongst others), but certainly not something that would bring me back to Edmonton as an attraction.

On my last day I headed down to the airport (boy is it far from Edmonon - about 50 minutes away, I think its over 40km away) and the departure lounge, thank goodness is much nicer than the arrivals. I then caught a quick flight down to Calgary (it was quicker in the air to Calgary than it was to drive from Edmonton to the airport, the flight is only 43 minutes).