It's been a while (what a perfect excuse for a stream of consciousness)

The last month has been interesting. Amidst the sports highlights, the long work hours, and the crazy whether patterns, I've managed to have a delightful (albeit disconnected) time. This last weekend, I went to the Calgary Stampede. In summary:

• I saw my first rodeo and chuckwagon races,
• bet on the chuckwagon races using BP scoring (I broke on high speaks),
• turned into a lobster,
• drove through Calgary with an Oilers logo on my window,
• watched people go icing,
• turned into a lobster,
• rode a train,
• drank coolers on a balcony with a couple engineers, Erin, and super-awesome-cool-amazing Lexy,
• made plans for money we didn't win,
• saw OLP live,
• saw the British flag flying high,
• actually enjoyed sitting on a basement floor for a few hours,
• fed cows,
• laughed at Erin feeding cows,
• drank beer in a park in the dark with only tiki torches for light,
• went on a boat ride,
• laughed at the engineers that were trying to heat a portable hot tub that was filled with cold water by using a pump to run water through a tube through a fire and back in (with a minimal of tubing through the fire - what happened to maximizing surface area),
• caught up with old friends,
• discussed the differences between a stroller, pram, and carriage,
• saw a windmill,
• didn't take the salamander,
• laughed at the talking tree (which may or may not have been a passed out drunk guy speaking from under the tree),
• twizzlers,
• laughed at Erin for only burning her nose,
• condemned a man for having a weak handshake ("it's all about the web to web connection") [aside: if anyone knows the guy, could they please pass alongmy sincere apology],
• got a cowboy hat (although, unlike Erin's, it doesn't match my shoes),
• had good breakfasts,
• established several driving relationships (it's ok for cars to flirt),
• and attained blackmail photos.

All in all it was pretty awesome.

However, after such a relaxing trip, my next trip to the world's oldest newest war zone might not be so fun. It's a good thing I have a nice bomb shelter waiting.

Speaking of current events, I was watching the news coverage of Bush and Blair speaking candidly while the microphone was still on. I learned that in the US the TV stations are required to bleep out the part where Bush told Blair that Syria just needs to "get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit." Oddly enough, the CTV online article does bleep it out.