Happy Halloween!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October. For us it is a celebration of the end of the harvest season, similar to the older English continental-European Harvest Festival and not totally unlike American Thanksgiving celebrated in November (first a pilgrim celebration at Plymouth Plantation). I think in the past it made sense to have a party after working so hard through a summer to prepare for the coming winter. In more modern days we get to focus more on family gathering and the blessings that we are thankful for in our lives.

I am thankful to live in Canada. I am thankful for the opportunity to raise my family here and that our quality of life and standard of living makes it possible for each of us to explore the things that interest us and allows us to pursue our goals and dreams. Today I am cognizant that this experience is not shared by all of the earth's citizens and I am grateful to be Canadian.

I am also thankful for my family, our continued good health and the many blessings we share together everyday.    

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Happy 10 - 10 - 10!

Everyone knows the answer to the ultimate question of life, universe & everything is 42.

10 10 10 in binary = 42. For geeks worldwide that makes today, 10-10-10, #42day. Which then, by further extension, makes it an awesome day to celebrate The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

So fellow hikers, let us commence the celebration!

The Right of Way

CFB Wainwright

We spent last weekend in the bustling Alberta town of Wainwright, there to visit Wes for his birthday, which conveniently coincided with a leave pass weekend. Before we went we had compiled a list of "attractions" in Wainwright and the surrounding area, all of which we finished/saw/did on the first day. The biggest attraction for sure was the Trestle Bridge (literally) and the town's Buffalo statue was a close second.

It was great to see Wesley and hear his stories. He has grown up so much in just two short weeks. It was good also to see the base again, although a lot has changed since my time there - for example they now have fancy barracks to sleep in (we slept in these tiny "H Shacks" with shared showers... ah, memories).

You can see the pictures of the Wainwright trip HERE.

Hiding...

You're doing it wrong

Wesley is trying to teach Raven the basic rules of camouflage...

Wainwright Birthday

Happy Birthday Wesley

We went to Wainwright to celebrate Wesley's 17th birthday with him. This picture was taken at dinner in a place called the Honeypot. He seems much older than 17 years old now, he's grown up a lot in the past two weeks and it suits him. We had a lot of fun together and on Saturday we went to all of the Wainwright "attractions." Soon there will be more pictures on Flickr.

Looks Like Morning in Your Eyes

Good Morning Edmonton!

I woke Duncan up at about 5:00am on Sunday so we could go watch the sunrise over Edmonton together. Although I seldom see it (as I am a night owl rather than a morning person) I love this time of a summer day.

This is one of many photographs I took as the sun rose but I haven't had a chance to process the others yet. When I do they will be up on my Flickr.

One Extreme to Another

Feels like 33°C! Tonight it will cool off to 27°C, which likely means I will be sitting outside again watching Jupiter and the Northern Lights at 3:00am instead of sleeping! However, I like this weather better than our coldest winter temperature last year, I am definitely a sun worshipper. Duncan said it best on his twitter - "Todays Forecast: 31°C; Chance of showers: 0%; Chance of work: 0%; Chance of Beer outside: 96%."

Make that 100%!

Happy Bloomsday!

Bloomsday 2008 Finish Line

My daughter ran the 12km Bloomsday Race in Spokane Washington today - 1hr and 21 mins! Her overall place was 10,401 out of 42,697 people, running at a pace of 10:55 per mile (avg pace for 12 yr olds was 15:44). I am tremendously proud of her and can't wait to congratulate her in person when she gets home.

Watching the race starts on TV this morning was very exciting but nothing can top her call after the race to tell me that she had finished! She's even excited and ready to go for next year! Go Raven!

As if ...

Read all directions carefully!

Our friend Deven is here for the weekend and brought some wii goodness with him. We've have been playing Super Smash Bros Brawl - loads of fun, lots of laughter, good times!

A cursory glance at the game manual brought more laughs. It says Flicking, afterall.

Lucky in Love - 07 07 07!

Poolside at Las Vegas in celebration
of our third wedding anniversary

If there were nothing else but our love for each other
we would still have everything we need!

Duncan, these past seven years with you at my side have changed my world - thank you for being such a gift to me. I love being married to you - Happy Anniversary!

Still Awake...

But very excited that Duncan is coming home today!

The Front Page!

Allie Wojtaszek, Special to the Journal

I was surprised to see a local news story I had recently participated on the front page of the Edmonton Journal this morning. A pleasant surprise, though, and my picture looks great. Don't forget to look at my other Listen pictures in the Journal's Photo Gallery. I am becoming a real photographer!

See also my Listen Bird Group on Flickr. I uploaded a bunch of new Listen pics.

Power to the People...

Thanks to Shaw I'm blogging live from the PC AGM and Convention here in Edmonton. I wanted to mention a few thoughts that arose from the heated discussion at our AGM earlier this evening regarding raising our membership fees, which our Provincial Party Executive had attempted to do already (and without consultation) at an executive meeting.

The strength in our Party lies within it's core - at the grassroots level - with it's constituencies and their members. These members have long resisted raising membership dues, especially as a method of fundraising, and with good reason: a $5.00 fee makes membership in our party available to anyone and everyone who wants it. I think it is of utmost importance that everyone who wants to participate in the democratic process be able to do so, and the price of a membership to a political party should never be a barrier to this.

In attempting to raise our fees in a closed meeting (and inform us of it later), our executive forgot about the most important people in our party - us. Today, the grassroots members of the PC Party of Alberta sent a clear message in voting down the proposed fee elevation... we know that power lies within our voice, our vote and we will not tolerate anyone trying to take this away from us. Power to the People.

Vancouver Island 2007

Vancouver Island 2007
Originally uploaded by Allie Wojtaszek.

The winters here in Alberta get the best of me at times; they are just too long. By March, when the place of my birth is unfurling spring's glory in many tiny blossoms, I am more than ready for winter to be a memory. The trouble is that spring doesn't really begin where I live until the end of May (any vegetation trying to grow before the May long week end is past is usually short lived). May is still a long ways away.

So in search of spring I embarked on a weekend adventure - involving Comox, Courtney, Campbell River, Oyster Bay, Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville and Quadra Island.

More pictures here!

Enjoying the Wiikend!

After playing the Wii for the better part of the day we decided to watch the Flames/Oilers game last night over at our pub. Turns out they were showing something called "UFC" instead. I wish I could say I am more cultured for the experience, but somehow I doubt it. I prefer my fights on ice.

Today has been Wii, Wii and even more Wii. I know time is a luxury and we have taken a lot this weekend to relax and have fun, but damn, this Wii is way more fun then I could have thought! Nintendo has outdone itself, and it's not just the games. We are also enjoying the little extra's like our Mii's, surfing the internet and looking at our pictures on the TV.

Since I have my new camera now too I have also spent some time surfing through the many pages of Flickr, trying to get some ideas for shots I would like to try. I've added some brilliant pictures from all over the world to my Flickr Favourites, which I am hoping you can see if you click on the link. It's hard not to be inspired by these pictures - we live on a beautiful planet with a lot of interesting people.

The kidlets come home this evening and I am really looking forward to having them home again. I and hoping they enjoyed their weekend as much as we have ours.

Chronology of a Wii

Forty Wii available!!! This must have been what it was like
when Jesus turned all that water into wine...

Hey... What's a PS3?

05:30... The "O" stands for "Oh my god it's early!"
The people in front of us have been here since 1:30am.

Starbucks opened at 6:35am.
There was much rejoicing!

Just an hour to go now... the line up is much longer
but the wait is much easier in the sunlight.

They handed out the tickets at about 9:10 am
- we are actually going to get one this time!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Next we drag our mattress and bedding down to the living room and gather the neccessary "weekend supplies."

Zelda, here we come!

10 things in my head right now...

Saturday Update

1. We are still Drunk. I am sure there was some sober time today, but it is now a distant memory. Life is good.
2. The Grand Theft Auto 3 dialogue/soundtrack is even more hilarious when drunk.
3. I have decided Duncan's bro Will is very cool.
4. Duncan confirmed all of his Wedding Party today - Quynn Phillips, Deven Singhal and Rob South.
5. That means I now am short one bridesmaid, having asked two people to stand with me so far.
6. Promised Rob I would find cute single girl to be bridesmaid. I am having a hard time deciding who to ask.
7. Wesley won his play off hockey game today in what was described as the best come back ever seen.
8. Duncan's driving on video games is as bad right now as one might expect any drunk driving to be in real life.
9. The kids are visiting their Dad this weekend. My Ex is waaaaay better than Duncan's Ex.
10. I like my new jobs. Working on the university has been refreshing and enjoyable.

There are other things floating around my head, but I can't form them into coherent sentences so there they shall remain for the time being. Who wants me to talk about news and politics anyways? I believe the last request I got was for more sex.