In Case You Were in Doubt...

When the meteorologists in Calgary say that it's going to be a strange weather day, I've learned that it's best to just take cover. You know that they're operating out of a completely different frame of reference; if even they say it's going to be a bad day, oh boy, you're in trouble. Especially if you're a yellow-bellied hippie temperate-rainforest west-coast-of-BC kind of person like myself. Even though it wasn't as bad as some had predicted, it was blah. Today's low temperature: 0 degrees. Today's high temperature: 1 degree. Ooh.

Needless to say, winter has most definitely asserted itself here in central Alberta. We woke up this morning to snow yet again, and it just kept falling all bloomin' day. You know, if we were back home, the scene we woke to this morning would have bordered on magical; here it's just annoying. But I'll admit, it did take me by surprise to throw the drapes open this morning to find a light blanket of the white stuff waiting to greet me. For just a brief moment, I was a kid again, getting terribly excited by the prospect of snow, and thinking about making snow angels and building the meanest, baddest snowfort on the block. But then adulthood kicked in, and I realized that even though I have a kid, he's a little too young to claim he built the massive snowfort, and, for some reason, we adults have lost our capacity to just get back to the simple pleasures in life, like pegging your neighbour in the head with a snowball.

It also emphasized that, in the words of Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore. In BC, today's snowfall would have caused chaos; schools would be closed, traffic would be gridlocked for hours, and general productivity would have plummeted. Thankfully, it only snows once a year in the Lower Mainland. The GDP couldn't stand more than that. Out here, nobody even bats an eye. In fact, the street sweeper was out today. No, he wasn't sanding, salting, or plowing; he was cleaning the street. Just another day at the office. Fortunately, the snow that fell throughout the day didn't stick (which also reminded me of home), and by the end of the day it was mostly all melted. And now it's started up again. We'll see what's in store for the rest of the week.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we took another trip into the fabulous town of Red Deer this evening. We might as well move there. But it's easier to navigate than Calgary, and much more interesting than Airdrie. Besides, the only Starbucks in Airdrie is the one in the Safeway, which just won't do. We have our standards, you know.

Anyway, had to go to Home Depot and pick up a plastic spacer for our blinds. Our landlords didn't quite finish up all the renos on the house before they left, so we haven't actually had a blind in the bathroom window since we got here. And the window isn't frosted. And it looks right out onto the street if you're standing in the shower. Hmm. This is a problem. So instead of becoming known in the neighbourhood as "those crazy nudists from BC", we decided that it would be a good idea to put the blind up. But alas, there's a frame around the window, which means that we can't just screw the blind into the wall as it wouldn't open and close properly. And so, for the sake of 50 cents worth of plastic (which HD charges four bucks for), we took a 45-minute drive. And in our economy, that works, because if nothing else, there's a Starbucks at the end of the road (did I mention we enjoy Starbucks?).

Of course, once one is in the Home Depot parking lot, one might as well head over to Wal-Mart and pick up a couple things as well. And hey, while one is there, one should probably also head over to Payless to find some shoes. Oy. Fortunately, I've nagged and whined enough that my wife knows of my inherent dislike for both Wal-Mart and shoe shopping, and she keeps the trips mercifully short. Mostly it's self-preservation, I'm sure (I can squeeze a lot of whining into a 45-minute drive home), but hey, whatever works, right?

After all the shopping, it was dinner at Tim Horton's, hit the Starbucks, and back home again. Only this time it had started snowing in earnest. No more of this mamby-pamby light flakage; this was all-out. In fact, as we were driving home, looking out the windshield was like looking through the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon as it jumped into hyperspace (it ain't like dusting crops, kid). Or, for those of you who are considerably less nerdy than me and can't locate a Star Wars analogy for every life situation, it was like sitting in front of your computer and watching the "flying through space" sceensaver turned up to the highest number of stars at the highest speed. Or maybe I was the only person to do that, too. Dang it!

Since I promised you some exciting details of our weekend, here it is: I vacuumed. That was probably the highlight. Oh yes, some sports were watched. But Saturday was mostly just a massive cleaning day around here. It feels good to clean up every once in a while, even though the getting there stinks. It's actually a lot like going to the gym--the hardest part is just getting out of the house. I'd much rather never clean house, but I feel good once it's done, so I suppose that's something.

Of course, the early Hockey Night game was, well, the Leafs, AS USUAL!!! Stupid Toronto. But I'll take whatever hockey I can get, so I'll even watch the Leafs play. Worse yet, I'll actually cheer for the Flames because, well, I can't cheer for the Leafs now, can I? Sadly, the worst part of the early Hockey Night game is still there--Bob Cole. Okay, I understand the man is a legend. I understand that he's been a part of the national conciousness for (too) many years. But seriously, it's time to pack 'er in there, buddy. Listening to him call a game is like watching the Jamaican bobsled team--the effort is there, but no matter what, they just can't keep up. Give me Jim Hughson any day.

One bright spot, though, was CBC's brave move of hiring Cassie Campbell to do colour with Bob. I'm not sure what's happened to Harry Neale, but I'm sure glad that at least one of the "dynamic" duo wasn't there. Okay, I just looked it up; turns out Harry was snowed in at his home in Buffalo. Too bad that doesn't happen every week.

Anyway, what I meant to say was kudos to CBC for stepping out and bravely charting a new course, even if it was only a one-off. As someone who loves the game of hockey, I really admire the contribution Cassie Campbell has made to the sport. She's someone that we in Canada should be proud of, and I'm continually impressed by her poise and knowledge both on and off the ice. I'll admit, it was a little bit strange to hear a woman's voice doing colour, and she was a bit off (first day jitters, I'm sure), but I thought it was fantastic to hear her, and I hope this is the beginning of something bigger. Are Canadians ready for a female hockey commentator? I think that if you really do love the game, you'll realize Cassie's head for it and appreciate it regardless of her gender.

That was Saturday. Sunday was also fun. Our church put on a potluck, and for once in my life, I had no idea there was a potluck, and I certainly didn't bring anything, but I stayed anyway. Ha! When I was a kid and we had potlucks out at Richmond Baptist, I always heard the pastor say "If you're visiting with us this morning and didn't know there was a potluck, you're welcome to stay anyway" but we were always that family that brought more than their share of food to compensate for those who wouldn't bring theirs. But this time, the tables were turned, baby! Unmerited participation in food-related events--what could be better?

The afternoon was great, too. The boy was being pretty fussy and we couldn't get him down for a nap, even though he was tired. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have a nap with him. That did the trick. We were both totally zonked for about 90 refreshing minutes. I woke up then, but he slept for another half hour, which gave me a chance to catch up on some reading that I had to do. A wonderful day, all in all.

And that brings us to today, if a little bit out of order. Now, it's time to head to bed. I'm trying to get into a practice of self-discipline, wherein I boldly set my alarm for some crazy hour and wake up before being woken up by a hungry baby. I realized today that I really need that time in the morning to get centred and focused on what's to come. I've really been getting off on the wrong foot recently, and that needs to change. If I'm really ambitious, I'm going to start running in the mornings. Stay tuned to see how that goes. So for now, goodnight. Thanks for coming by, and I'll see you in the same place tomorrow.