June 2006 Archives

Somehow, a friend of mine suckered me into picking up a copy of World of Warcraft. So in addition to my unbelievably hectic summer schedule, I have been playing quite a bit of WoW. It is a fun game, and so far I have a level 24 character and a level 8 character.It certainly is a great way to kill a couple of hours. Put on a headset so I can hangout on Teamspeak (a way to talk to other players without typing) and burn a few hours. Not terribly productive, but then leisure rarely is. Everybody needs a bit of dowtime ;-).

Over the last few days my thoughts have increasingly turned towards camping and the fact that I haven' t done any of it for a couple years. I once again find myself itching to get out there for a few days with a sleeping bag, tent, and a package of hotdogs. I am thinking the Canada Day weekend would work out pretty well. Go out to Jasper and chill out for a days under the stars with a fishing pole. It's been a few years since I have done any of that really, too.

Tiem for me to get to the grocery store, I think.

Spent the last two days in Fairview, Alberta. For those of you not living out here, that's about 6 hours northwest of Edmonton. Thus far, the trips up there have been relatively fruitless, but after a good 16 hours of searching, we came across two suitable sites for our collection of flea beetles. Nonetheless, getting back after midnight is exhausting. Once again, I hear little but the call of my sheets. Tomorrow morning will likely see us out to Vegreville for some more plantings. Still, at around 75 minutes, that trip is considerably shorter than yesterdays.

The the title so eloquently suggests, finally ran across a moose while driving south on highway 43 today. Nothing particularly special about it, but rare enough. Always a concern near the highway. There really is nothing like hitting a moose. Really puts a damper on the rest of the week, especially since we have a rental Chevy van right now. Of course, there was quite the abundance of deer too. All in all, I am seeing a great deal of the province right now, though it's going to cost me many a set of crappy jeans and old t-shirts from all the mud and thistles.

After a fairly busy week, I am spending a few days getting caught up on stuff here around the apartment. For instance, for the first time in ages, I actually have pedals on my bike. It was quite the scene. Two people holding the bike down and one person giving it everything he had to get the 20 year old rusted nut off. The thing was absolutely screaming. Drew quite the crowd. But at the end of the day, the bike is mostly ready to go again. However, I don' t much feel like repeating that little bit of fun.

I spent last weekend and the beginning of the week travelling from one end of the province til the other. IT was mighty exhausting, but I think by this Saturday I managed to come back completely. Just in time to take off on Monday for Grand Prairie and Peace River again. And then down to Lethbridge I think by Wednesday. I think I am better prepared now though. I picked up a thermos for $20 so I can have my coffee in the truck. All in all, the summer is moving by pretty fast. The experiments are starting to kick in, and we actually might start collecting data in a couple weeks.

The tickets, rental, and room are booked for a trip to San Francisco in July. By that time I think I am going to be in need of a decent little vacation. It'll be good to get out of the province for a little while if nothing else. And it' s been years since I was on a decent beach. For that reason alone, I am looking forward to this. In any case, more than time to get to bed. Tomorrow is another busy day.