Banff Funtimes

I just got back from my mini-trip to Banff. I went for the Orchestra's Canada Manager's conference.

My predecessor and I travelled to Calgary from Regina by Westjet and then picked up our rental car. We asked if there were any good deals on upgrades and they said that we could have a red convertable mustang for only $20 more. We obviously took them up on that sweet deal. We had a lovely drive into Banff in our fancy car, checked in, got our photo ID and then stopped at the Wine Bar. Who did we see, but some TSO people! Loie & Cathryn were there and it was so great to see some Toronto faces. We then all headed over to the pub and I learned a few things about Orchestra Managers that I'd assumed, but hadn't had proven to me. They like to drink, and they especially like to feed drinks to the newbies. At one point someone said to me "you aren't go to walk out of here standing up tonight." I wasn't sure if this was a threat or a welcome to the club. :)

Lisa & Chris were at a film screening at the centre that night so they stopped by the pub too. It was a full-on reunion when Leanne showed up. Good times.

The conference was quite good with lots of cool ideas that I know I could use. My brain was still thinking in TSO schemes rather than RSO, but it was good. On Friday night, I drove the 'Stang down into Banff and went out for dinner & drinks with Lisa & Chris. We had a damn good time and Lisa & I liked our waiter named Neil. Chris liked the girls he saw making out in the alley. I had to leave the Mustang downtown that night which led to a nice hike for me early yesterday morning.

I had a bit of time to kill yesterday afternoon after the conference so I drove up to Lake Louise with the top down on the car. It was one of the best drives ever due to the sweet car and the beautiful scenery. I headed back into Calgary, caught my flight, and got home just in time to see the Riders win on TV.

Memories of Last Summer

I love the cottage

TO House

Stevie sent me some photos of our house. He's been busy!

Age-ism

In my new position, I'm meeting new people every day and almost always there is some sort of comment about my age. Whether it is hidden "well, at least you don't have to worry about getting grey hairs from this job" or "I wasn't expecting someone so YOUNG, I was expecting to meet an older lady" there is always some mention. It's somehow acceptable to make comments about age that way. I wonder what would happen if every time I met someone I talked about how old they were or commented on their grey hair or baldness.

Car Safety

My third weekend is here. It's surprising to me that it gets easier to be away from Stephen and yet I miss him more and more each day. On Wednesday night Stephen called me and suggested I come home for the weekend, but it was just too last minute...it would have been nice to be in TO to see Star Trek the Music and to check out the progress on the house. Anyway, we will see each other in 2 short weeks in Vancouver airport before we head to Hawaii. I can't wait!

Stephen bought a lot of baseboard today which is great news - I can't wait to see finished rooms!

So, I have a Saskatchewan complaint. Right before we moved, I bought a 98 Honda Civic. It's cute and red and used, but in great shape. We had to get it safetied and plated in Ontario before we left (4 weeks ago). One night this week I went to get the car plates changed over and found out that SK now has a safety inspection. The part that makes me angry is that it's not reciprocal so the Ontario safety that we spent time and money getting is null and void.

Weekend Number 2 (Not So Bad)

Weekend number 2 in Regina is complete. Only 2 more until Hawaii!

When work was over on Friday I headed home to meet up with Uncle Brent who stopped by to see the rental and to chat. After that I headed right down to the Copper Kettle to meet up with Lisa who was visiting from Edmonton for the weekend. It was great to visit with her and Angela and Connnie. We had a nice visit and then went to Crave for some delicious wine. Yes, Regina has a wine bar. It was pretty decent and as I was leaving a guy stopped me and asked, "what is this place?" I said "a wine bar, you should go and have a drink". He said, "I just moved here and I'm not sure if it's my thing, maybe I'll go to O'Hanlon's instead." When I asked him where he moved from he said "Ontario" under his breath. I asked him if he was from Toronto and he said yes, but that he didn't like to admit it. Pretty funny.

On Saturday, I met up with Ashley and her friend Brenda and we went to Bazaart - an outdoor craft/art show at the Mackenzie Gallery. It was great - I bought some earrings and it didn't rain at all. After that, Linda came over as she had driven in from Melita for the weekend to do some visiting. She is off to England in July so she wanted to see as many people as she could before she took off. We went to the Mongoli Grill for dinner and then went back to my place for the party. Ashley & Ryan, Joe, and Derek and Sofi all showed up so there were great world traveling conversations. To my embarrassment we had to sit and listen to my clock radio because my ipod had run out of batteries.

On Sunday I said see ya to Linda and then Mom & Marshall & Mortimer came over for dinner. I ordered a delicious pizza for us. Morty didn't get along with Tesla very well, but maybe someday.

Stephen got some nice work done on the window seat upstairs and went to see Indiana Jones with Nigel on the weekend. He also sent me this link on the art that he helped set up last weekend.

http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/06/dan_bergeron_documents_the_residents_reg.html

Dainties

I was in a meeting and one of the ladies was describing an event from the previous year. The event included coffee and "dainties". I smiled with glee, having not heard that word used for quite a few years. Oh Sask.