Photo of the day

This is my new plan. I have been slacking again lately, so thought it would be a way to get me on here. Well, I haven't strictly been slacking, since that implies lying on the couch with a beer and a remote. I have in fact been heavily embroiled in a game of poker. With myself. Sort of. Well, look, it's my current 5 week assignment, and it's going well so far. Going well can be interpreted as "looking good enough to make me want to spend EVEN MORE time on it", which I intend doing. Not until I'm a rock-star animator (ah,... yeah, ... they exist. Matt knows) will I rest.

So, here is a pic. Okay, its a few, since you've all been so patient.

Firstly, does ANYONE know what on earth is going on here. This is exactly how this looked. The sun is rising behind the "save 75c", and has a vertical flare (weird enough, right). But then there is that odd flare on the left? There is nothing out there. It's not a reflection. Its something atmospheric I suppose. Odd, no?


Now, the next mystery is: Why do they call saskatchewan 'the land of the living skies'. Perhaps the next pic will help. Also, bear in mind that I'm usually too bored of this type of sky to take a picture of it.
Finally, we see a starbucks cappuccino being held up by nothing but the power of my mind.
TRIPPY!!!! I think it was interested in the "where to retire" mag. It's not a big traveller.


That is all.

Amusement from the ER

So I have been doing quite alot of ER work lately, which I mostly enjoy and is a nice change of pace from the mostly mundane life of a GP. I thought I could share some of my most recent amusements:

The first is just really cute, a little one year old boy fell and broke his arm. The whole cast was about 15cm long and took about 3 wraps of fiberglass. To add to the cuteness, he was beautiful, dark hair, blue eyes and french. There is something adorable about a little person with a cast - I think.

A hockey player who managed to get his bottom teeth all the way through his chin.

A new skater who couldn't stop, decided the best way was to put his head into the boards.

A lost tampon.

At 3am, a "sore bottom of my foot". Woke up to go to loo, felt some discomfort, came in. Why not??

Constipation, constipation, constipation. People are obsessed with their bowels. Eat fibre, walk a bit, drink some water and we won't have this problem.

A sore shoulder less than a day after shoulder surgery. Unexpected?? I think not. Did you try taking anything? Asprin? Paracetamol? The stuff the surgeon prescribed? No? Well go home and try it.

Tingling lips. The plague of the prairies I tell you. If anybody knows what causes isolated lip tingling in the young and healthy, let me know.

On the flip side, a sweet 80 something year old granny popped in on the way back from the shops because she had a bit of neck pain and just wanted it checked. 15 minites later she was getting a pace maker.

Vancouver

So, our days in Moose Jaw are numbered. Vancouver is on the horizon and it's very exciting. I can't believe its happening. A year ago we were in South Africa, I was doing shifts in Nelspruit because i couldn't find work in JHB. Six months ago we were in the middle of nowhere town of Yorkton, living above someone's garage on a farm. Now we are in the "city" of Moose Jaw, with our very own cinema and not rubbish hockey team. This time next month we will be in Vancouver( well, Abbotsford - which is what Midrand is to Jo'burg) and it feels surreal still. Vancouver is going to rock. We'll be able to finally find places to do all our hobbies, decent gyms with instructers who actually know how to do the thing they're teaching. Shops - yay! Robson street is like a little Oxford street. Millions of coffee shops, art galleries and all other things that separate us humans from the apes.
Pretty scary too. We have nowhere to live as of yet. We have to drive all our stuff ourselves across the country in a U-haul van. And I haven't met the guy I'm going to be working for. But these are details, the point is we are moving out of the prairies!

Blogging stall

Okay, so my resolve to blog more got temporarily stalled. The reason is I had a few things going on, like having a birthday (happy birthday me) and getting a fancy new camera for said birthday. Typing is less fun than shooting, I assure you.

Anyway, thought I would just pop a quick example of the kind of awesomeness coming off this little beauty for your viewing pleasure. I'm still working out the best way to work with my lovely new images (of which there are already about a MILLION) so rest assured, many more updates are coming.


Thats Billy in the front. He is adorable.

Okay, here is another. Same dog and fireplace. More people. I'm one of them (the one on the right).


That is all.

Walking

It seems an easy thing, right? Especially for folks who've been doing it for years. Well, lets just look at this. Cats do it. Horses do it. Birds do it (Yes, they can ALSO fly. But that's not relevant. Why did you bring that up?). Dogs do it. They LOVE to do it. Cute ones. Like Billy, at the house we are sitting at the moment. In fact, he was even doing it when this topic came into my mind.

Okay, so it BANGED into my mind. I lost my ability to walk. I lost my ability to stand, actually. I tried hard to find it (if flailing around like an octopus having a fit counts). And all because of a little water. Okay, frozen water. INVISIBLE frozen water.

Now, I have the reflexes of a cat. No, not a dead cat OR a lame cat OR a sleeping cat. SHEESH. You people! A particularly reflexy cat! Anyway, these amazingly quick reflexes were of NO use to me. I felt like Wile e Coyote after he's stepped off a cliff and discovers there IS not ground.

Fortunately I'm also built like an Ox, so felt virtually nothing. Okay, so my ass felt it. And my neck. And my head. And my ego.

I held onto the leash though.

That is all.

Some Pics

For your enjoyment, some random images, in random order.
Us looking Hoooooottt! Tsssss!

My new little cousin, Julia. Claire wanted to steal her SOOOO badly. Honestly the most beautiful baby ever to grace the earth.


Nursery ravine didn't see us coming. Kicked it's shady ass!


St Denis street, Montreal. At night. Well, 4:30pm to be exact. May as well be bloody mid-night. You know that's not helping the jet lag.


Montreal street. Random one (seeing as that's our theme for today).


Street party. New years eve. Awesomeness.


Abbey alongside Holyrood palace, Edinburgh. The queen has really let this one go. She should do something about it. Drafty.


View off a bridge over Edinburgh (Prince's street-ish).


That is all.

Chicken-o-bee

Ever ordered beef with chilli and basil at a vegetarian restaurant? How about Chicken with green beans? What if you'd done both and been unable to distinguish anything from what you'd had by that name in the past. We've just done exactly that. Soy beef. Soy chicken. Not the kind of thing you pay money for, right? (Well, except you, Matt). Some of the best food we've ever had.

I wouldn't recommend the sake though. But what do I know about sake?

That is all.

Montreal etc

Well, we've been walking our feet right off in Montreal, trying to see as much as possible. It's really quite an interesting city. Lots to see and do and plenty of european-ness to keep us happy. We like a good 400 year old building (well, at least one that looks that old). We are heading out to a bunch more museums in a moment, but I thought I would try keep our loyal fans interested with a little update. Keep you in the loop, so to speak.

Yesterday we did the biodome, the Insectorium, Stadium Olymipique, late lunch at 3 Brassareurs (including an award-winning brown beer for me and a not-pizza pizza - interesting), some strolling of the very cafe/restaurant/charming rue St Denis and a fair amount of undergrounding to get to all these places.

New Years eve was pretty nice too. Lots of trying not to pass out with tiredness while inside, plenty of trying not to get frostbite on our noses while outside, and even more people than both those things put together (yes, you can add "not frostbite" to "not passing out". Common units. Try to keep up, people!). It's our first city street new years party complete with live band and fireworks and the post-countdown crush. Photos will follow soon, but I am getting the feeling I'm holding up Claire and need to go see some stuff.

That is all.