Finally...

I think it is safe to say that Spring has arrived. It's wet. It's kind of warm. I can wear sandals and not freeze my toes off. It's Springtime in Vancouver.

Let me get the sad/bad news out of the way first - unfortunately for the citizens of Vancouver, Colin will not be out on the streets protecting us. He received his "dear john" letter from the VPD on Tuesday saying his recruitment has come to an end. And the worse thing is that they give you no explanation. So, suffice it to say, the last couple of days have been rough. Now we are keeping our fingers crossed and hope Colin finds himself getting shipped off to Regina... (not something I would wish on my worst enemy, but in this case, it would be a very good thing). Of course it could be a really long time before we hear back from the RCMP. Should we be surprised about this? No. After all, we are dealing with the Canadian government. And we all know how the government likes to take its sweet time with things.

So, apart from that horrible, black mark, things have been good. Last weekend Lisa and Andrew hosted the traditional Whistler weekend. The same group, now with spouses, has been heading up to Whistler for a weekend of fun since 1997. But just because we aren't 19 anymore doesn't mean we can't party like we aren't 19 anymore - I think we had our largest and most varied Whistler bar yet. Which is probably due to the fact that we are all working now and can afford a well-stocked liquor cabinet.

With Andrew heading back to Vancouver Saturday afternoon for the Canucks game, and Colin and Dasha skiing all day, Travis, Lisa and I got into the hard stuff early. It was a relaxing day of drinking, reading, electronic Yahtzee and board games.

We took the dogs and wandered over to the new "Village" in Creekside. It's great, we don't have to drive all the way to the Village now to pick up the necessities - food, booze and Starbucks.

Thalia and Todd made it up to Whistler around 6:30 PM, and at 7:00 PM we all crammed into my Honda Civic (minus Dasha and Lisa) and headed to Colin's place (Whistler Cay Heights) to catch the hockey game.

They were doomed to lose. The fact that Andrew had to drive back to Vancouver and then back up to Whistler after the game had Canucks loss written all over it.

Ciro and Andrew made it back up to Whistler around 11:30 PM.

Unfortunately for me, I had to be at work on Sunday to take one picture. Yes, I had to leave Whistler earlier than I wanted too, to rush back to Vancouver to take one bleeding photo. So many cliches come to mind - life sucks, c'est la vie, when life gives you lemons... Oh well.

Don't Mess With My Snow Pile, Bitch...

These could have easily been the words spoken on Monday between Marty Turco and Alex Burrows.

During a long break in play, while penalties were being doled out, truce started to build a little snow pile around his net. Goalies will do this to make it harder for the puck to go into the net. Anyways, Burrows skates right throw Turco's snow pile. Turco is extremely upset by Burrows' action and starts, what looks like, mouthing off to Burrows, and gives him a small shove. Burrows answers back. And lo and behold another two penalties are handed out - what do you call that one - two minutes for messing with the goalie's snow pile?

Even though Vancouver lost, again, the game on Monday against Dallas was definitely one of the most amusing hockey games I have ever seen.

Time Flies

Where has March gone? I can't believe the month is almost over, and Spring starts next week, although you wouldn't believe it. I think someone in Vancouver has done something severely wrong and has royally pissed off the weather gods. First, there was that insane amount of rain in January. And now? It's cold, too cold for this time of year.

If March has to have a theme, I would refer to it as the reunion month. I started my first weekend of March with the first of two (or more) 10 year reunions. Every year, on the first Friday of March, Crofton hosts a school birthday and alumnae luncheon/reunion. You can attend any year, but is traditional to return during a big reunion year. There were only two of us from 1996, and only three of us who graded between 1990-2005. So Jen and I didn't have a chance to reconnect with classmates, but we did get to chat with some of our teachers, including our Grade 1 teacher!

I also found out that the Kappa representative on VAPA also attended Crofton (she graded in '70).

The next day Colin and I headed to Port Coquitlam for Devon's birthday dinner. This could be classified as a reunion since we hadn't seen Devon since our wedding (7 months ago) and it had been ever longer since we saw Devon's husband Steve (I believe he was in Vietnam on our wedding day). After dinner the group headed to Boulevard Casino. This was only my second time in a casino, but found this one far more impressive than Edgewater Casino. I didn't feel like staying too long though as it reminded me too much of work. I may work in the Bingo division, but all the BCLC messaging is the same...

On the following Tuesday I had dinner with a classmate from BCIT. We became good friends during our two year marketing program, but lost touch after graduation. So after almost two years we reconnected and spent five hours at the Milestones in Kits catching up.

The following weekend Colin and I enjoyed a night out at the Blarney Stone. It is the only club I enjoy going to anymore, and usually go 2 or 3 times a year - when the mood strikes me. We got there around 8:30 PM (which is not early for the Blarney), but wanted to leave to go watch the end of the hockey game. Turns out you can now watch hockey at the Blarney Stone on their new, projection screen TV.

Then I got sick (but not from the drinking last Saturday). I got this horrible cold that is going around. It is not your usual cold however. Yes, you get congested and a soar throat, but this thing sucks the energy out of you. Despite living a very active life and getting plenty of sleep, I spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday absolutely exhausted. Wednesday morning I woke up and could barely get out of bed - so I have missed the last two days of work. I am back at work today. I still don't feel %100, but I feel a lot better than 2 days ago.

And here we are - it's Saint Patrick's day and I'm wearing my green sweater and I can't wait for the work day to end and the weekend to begin.

My Nemesis

I think it's good to have a nemesis. It makes life a little more fun and interesting.

I don't personally know my nemesis. I don't know what they look like. In fact, I don't even know if they are male or female. All I do know is that my nemesis is a Calgary Flames fan (season tickets holder as far as I can tell) and owns an air horn.

I refer to him/her/it as "Air Horn Dude."

I first came across my nemesis in game 3, round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2004. As I watched the game from home in Vancouver, I could not shake from my mind the incessant blaring of that annoying air horn.

And it was there, for every game played in Calgary during the Stanley Cup playoffs - of course they went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals - and I watched those games - cursing and swearing under my breath at Air Horn Dude.

Unfortunately, for me, during the off season and the year-long NHL lockout, the air horn did not meet an untimely end. It did not get run over by a car, or trampled in the Red Mile, for there it was, blaring away during the first Vancouver-Calgary home game of the 2005-06 season. And it is still there. Every game the Canucks play in Calgary (which is why I believe that Air Horn Dude is a seasons ticket holder - or they just happen to go every Canucks game in Cowtown). And what makes that air horn even more the bane of my life? Thanks to the NHL's new scheduling the Canucks have already played 5 games in Calgary - thank god there are no more this season.

But then there's the playoffs...

(Disclaimer: the blog is all in good fun and humour - my real nemesis is Greg Millan ;)).