CLERK 1: Do you need firewood. ME: Yes, please. CLERK 1: Oh good, how many bags? ME: Umm. Well, how much is it? CLERK 1: $10 per bag. ME: Hmm. Two bags, I guess. CLERK 1: It’s supposed to rain tonight. Are you sure you don’t want three? ME: [???] CLERK 1: [smile] ME: [???] […]
There’s No Vaccine for Layoffs
You think you’re immune, until you discover you aren’t. In February 1995, god that’s nearly thirty years ago, I grew up in a hurry. Or at least my budding work persona did. I was one of five wide-eyed geology students freshly fallen from the Ontario turnip truck in the early weeks of eight month, co-op, […]
Calgary Needs a Shrink, Not the Olympics
One week ago, the debate over Calgary attempting to host the 2026 Winter Olympics kicked of in an online community forum with an interesting comment. Someone whom I don’t know personally shared a CBC article accompanied by the interesting observation that this person learns more from the comments posted to such articles. My immediate reaction […]
The Nostalgia Driven Mistake Calgary Wants to Make
The winter of 1988 was quite the momentous time. I was about to turn sixteen and was focused, albeit anxiously, on honing my driving skills in order to obtain a coveted driver’s licence. Hormones were wreaking havoc on my body and mind. Girls were a growing distraction, dare I say, obsession. My part time job […]
Slow Mo Reno – Contracting a Sticker Shock
There are two groups of people in Calgary; those that work in the oil industry and those that renovate their homes. Sure, there are thousands of others who work in service industries and the civil service, but in two years’ time when the NDP is obliterated in the provincial election and the “new” conservatives dial […]
Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park – review
There’s a first time for everything. This is absolutely true except for when it’s not. Forget things I have no intention of doing like, say, seeing how many ball bearings I can stick up a nostril; the dime scare of 1980 was enough nostril adventure for one lifetime, thank you very much. Forget also the […]
Little Bow Provincial Park – Review
Victoria Day. The long weekend with the antiquated name, unless you use the more colloquial May Two-Four, marks the unofficial start to summer for Canadians. There are spring cleaning and summer projects, sure, but more importantly BBQs and camping. Unless, of course, you live in Alberta where we’ve become all too familiar with everything from […]
Crude Awakening
“It builds character.” These words of encouragement, long-favoured by well-intentioned relatives and friends, cycled endlessly in my mind as I sat behind my faux-wood desk in my soon-to-be-former cubicle on the west side of the fourteenth floor of Gulf Canada Square in suddenly not-so-opportunity-filled Calgary. I was numb. A few minutes prior, my phone had […]
When Your Vote Doesn’t Matter
I woke up this morning with a bright red pimple above my left eye. Fate, always eager to mess with me, has apparently decided to brand me with a scarlet letter of sorts, outing my voting choice in yesterday’s federal election. I’d consider it a relatively minor prank except that I reside in the blue […]
Aspen Crossing Campground, Cabins & Restaurant – Review
I discovered Aspen Crossing early last summer while searching for potential campgrounds we could go to after a couple of our booked camping weekends were washed out, literally, by the June flood. Though we didn’t actually camp there last summer, this past autumn I did book a night in the Canadian Pacific caboose cabin and […]