Chris and I went up to Edmonton and spent Christmas Eve at her Mom & Jim's and Christmas day at my parents place. On the Sunday a bunch of us went to check out the lights at the Legislature building. We had been told there'd be carolers and hot chocolate but unfortunately that ended the night before. Still the lights were pretty cool and they had a neat ice carving display.

The night before the big day was fun as we had some drinkie poos, played pool, and listened to the Chipmunks Christmas album over and over again. The gift exchange was fast and furious with the best gifts exchanging hands several times. Sadly there was no puffed wheat this year.

In the morning we watched everyone open their gifts and I think the consensus based on the big pile at their feet was that Hailey and Michael got the most loot. After visiting for a bit, Chris and I headed back to our hotel to get ready and then headed off to my parents place.

Ever the big kid, Chris couldn't wait for very long so we opened up presents right away. I got lots of great stuff including a 'Star Wars Vault' which contains 30 years of everything related to the movie series. I was also grateful to get a package of socks. Yes socks. You know you're old when you're actually glad to get socks for Christmas. Even Missy, my parent's dog, got a gift and had a great time digging her nose into the bag to retrieve it.

Later my mom cooked up a feast and had a couple friends come over and join us for dinner. The food was awesome and we were stuffed by the time it was over.

On Boxing day we drove back but unfortunately ran into a huge traffic jam from a fatal accident on the highway. It was interesting watching everyone trying to flee the congestion by back tracking and four by fouring across the meridian while dodging the oncoming traffic hurtling towards them from the other side. Eventually we ended up following a group of cars that headed down some dirt road. Luckily the guy in the front knew where they were going and we ended up back on the highway instead of Farmer Brown's homestead. In the end it took us almost an extra 2 hours to get home. But at least we arrived safely.

A big thanks to Jim & Karen and my parents for helping make this year one of the best. Pictures of the festivities can be found here.

Why pick the hot babe to represent such a festive occasion? Well partly because I'm sick and I need all the eye candy I can get to distract me from my overall state of crapiness and partly as a reaction to political correctness run amok. For those who haven't heard it's apparently no longer proper to say 'ho ho ho' as it degrades women by implying that they are all whores. To which I say bullocks! Take your political correctness and shove it up your happy holidaying, non religious denominational ass!

Ok rant over.

She is cute though don't you think? It must be awfully cold lying on that snow....huh? what? oh sorry I drifted there for a second. Focus James, focus!

So Chris has left me. Well not really, she's staying at Kim's for several days to keep an eye on Hailey while Kim is off having the time of her life in Mississauga. But I've been all by my lonesome, poor me. Sniff. Any care? Anyone?

Chris has been Xmas-ing up a storm and we have a rather nice pile of presents on our front room table. For yet another year I've managed to avoid the mall madness that always accompanies the last minute rush. Mostly because of Chris doing all of the leg work for me. But in my defense she loves this time of year and is totally in her element. I wouldn't want to deprive her of all the fun now would I?

Speaking of fun, last weekend was Mo & Po's Christmas party extravaganza. There was lots of older people there whom I'm sure were very nice but as I had no clue who they were I mostly hung out in the basement watching hockey and also watching Ethan going around in circles pushing a toy dump truck all night. You'd think that eventually his little legs would give out, but nope! He just kept going. Thanks to Mo & Po for putting on the shindig, it was a great night.

The next day a bunch of us went to the Hitmen game. It was supposed to be the Teddy Bear toss game, whereby everyone brings a Teddy Bear to throw on the ice to be given to needy kids, but someone who will remain anonymous (Tracy) got their dates mixed up - so it was just a regular game. Still it was fun to watch and we had awesome seats right behind the glass at rink level. Because Christopher was wearing his Flames jersey I just had to wear my Oilers jersey. Which in hindsight was asking for it. Sure enough the Hitmen's mascot, Farley, singled me out to the rest of the crowd much to my embarrassment.

Finally a big congrats to Jay & Betty on the birth of their first (of a dozen?) child - Nathaniel Peavey. All are doing well and I can't wait to see the little guy!

Here's wishing everyone a happy and safe Christmas!

I was supposed to be back on the Saturday, but ever the trickster I surprised Chris by coming home on the Friday instead.

Alpha & Nancy are taking an European cruise this summer and it didn't take much persuading from Alpha to get me thinking that it'd be cool if we went as well. It's a two week cruise with stops in Finland, Estonia, Russia, Germany, and Amsterdam. I've been wanting to go to Europe for awhile now and this would be the perfect opportunity, especially with the dollar being as high as it is - still it'd be an expensive trip. Very expensive in fact.

Oh well I guess the house reno's can wait for another year. We did install a fancy water softener so that's some progress right? Right???? Sigh.

Speaking of Alpha, after much chiding from his friends and family at the lack of regular site updates, he redid his website to make it more blog friendly. Of course that got me thinking that maybe I should redesign my site. Let's face it posting updates is generally quite time consuming - using a blog template would make things much easier and it would also be nice to be able to do updates when I'm on the road. Still, I put a lot of time and effort into making this site and frankly I'm quite happy with how it's laid out. I'll probably do some tweaks here and there, but it looks like I'm going to continue doing things old school for awhile.

Yesterday was Chris' birthday party, also known as the Funky Hat Party. The idea being that everyone who showed up had to wear some kind of well, funky hat. We all voted for who had the best hats and Dennis and Kristian were the big winners. The night was a lot of fun even though no one voted for my velvet fedora... A big thank you to everyone who came.

Unlike past trips we decided to save some money and ended up staying in a newly built condo type development located just off the strip. As was the case last time we shared a two room suite with Alpha & Nancy. Overall it wasn't bad, we were only a 5 minute walk from the Rio hotel, but Chris didn't like not being able to run downstairs if she had the urge to gamble or wander around.

Alpha picked us up from the airport and after a quick stop at our room we went to Freemont and made a beeline for La Bayou to get squishy drinks. I told the girl to give me an extra shot and I swore she poured half the bottle of 151 Rum into it. Needless to say Chris, Nancy, and I were pretty much sloshed by the time we finished them - actually Nancy gave up about three quarters through and she felt the worst the next morning. As she said, she's such a cheap drunk :) We wandered around, had something to eat, watched the light show and went back and called it a night.

On Friday we went to the Outlet Mall and did some shopping. I managed to get a pair of jeans and some sweats for about half the cost of the same pair of jeans bought here. Afterwards we went to the Bellagio where they had a cool Autumn type display in the Atrium. After eating at the world's most expensive buffet ($40 a person) we went and saw 'O'.

Having seen Zumanity as my first Cirque show, it will always be my favourite. But 'O' is easily a close second. It was truly amazing. We were warned when we bought the tickets that we were in the so called 'splash zone'. And sure enough we all got sprayed a few times. I still can't get over how intricate the stage was. Words really can't adequately describe what we saw.

As we walked through the casino I saw Jennifer Tilley walk by with her fellow poker player Phil Laak. I nudged Chris and like a giddy school girl gushed "Bunneee! That's Jennifer Tilley!" So Chris ran after them to try and get her autograph with Nancy and I close behind. Unfortunately they ducked into a Sushi restaurant and we had to incur Alpha's wrath as he almost lost us in the crowd (we didn't have our cells on us). Still, that was pretty cool for me as she's so yummy. We then went outside and for the first time in three visits got to see the fountains which were pretty cool.

We ended the night at the famous Voodoo Lounge which is located at the top of the Rio hotel. At first I was a bit put off, it cost the four of us over $100 just to go up the elevator to enter the club on the 51st floor. Once inside there were empty tables next to the windows on either side but they were all roped off. We went outside and I was absolutely floored by the view. Again, words can't do justice. It is definitely the best view in all of Vegas. The hottie Go-Go girls dancing on suspended see-through platforms were also a nice touch :) As inside, there were tables next to the railings but they were also roped off. Bottom line there was no place to sit in this club as everything was roped off.

Alpha asked around and we found out that these roped off areas were the VIP sections. It cost $400 to get seated in the inside area and $1000 to get a seat in the outside area. So again, I was like 'you've got to be joking'. We thought it over and eventually said screw it, why not. Ever the frugal spenders we opted for the cheaper option. A seat in that section also bought you a 26'er of the booze of your choice, a plate of garnishes (lime, cherries etc.), pop, ice bucket, and private server chick. So after we got a few drinks into us, suddenly we were digging things and feeling all special and important. It was fun having security make sure no one else intruded on our area and watching the 'peasants' have to wait in line at the bar for drinks, and of course we had the best view in the house.

Alpha went to the can and came back saying "Dude! You've got to go check out the bathrooms!" Inside them you had a personal attendant who'd hand you towels, offer you a selection of mints, mouthwash, cologne and so on. I'm sure if I'd asked he also would have held my dick for me while I was taking a piss. Chris just had to get her picture taken with her bathroom chicky at the end of the night. It was a very expensive night, but it was also very, very fun.

Saturday came and I started to feel pretty crappy. I knew I had a cold coming on the night before but I was hoping it wouldn't get worse. Boy was I wrong. I left the gang in the afternoon and went back and slept for several hours. Everyone came back, we all got dressed in our Halloween costumes and went out into the night in search of fun.

On Sunday I felt like death warmed over but I made an attempt to get out with the group. We went to Treasure Island and The Mirage and gambled for a bit. I really wanted to go see the 'Bodies' exhibit, where they have real human corpses essentially dissected for the public to see. Why? I just thought it'd be neat. But I couldn't hold out any longer and headed back and slept for half the day, leaving Chris & Alpha to carry on without me.

Just as I started to worry that we'd miss our flight they came back and we rushed to the airport (Nancy flew out earlier). Chris casually informed me that she won $1000 on a slot machine at the Luxor. It was actually quite fitting. We hardly did any gambling while we were there, saving most of it for the last day. But it turned out to be a lucky day for all of us. Nancy won $400 on the slots, I put $250 of everyone's money on Black at the Roulette wheel and won (Chris told me to put it on Red), and then Chris won her mini-jackpot. It was a great way to end our visit.

Unfortunately the flight back was hellish. I felt like absolute shit and the waiting to get on the plane and actually get in the air seemed to take forever. A few minutes into the flight I felt increasing pressure in my head to the point where it felt like it was going to cave in. I kept trying to pop my ears but nothing worked. Finally after maybe what seemed like 30 minutes they popped. I can't remember the last time I felt such excruciating pain. Although I'm now starting to feel better my ears are still messed up.

And so ended our latest trip to Sin City!

Here's some pix of the fun.

So after much thought Chris & I decided that we're not going to move after all. We'll do some renos on our existing house and try and pay down the mortgage. It was really a hard call though. I could have had my dream house built with all the upgrades I wanted, in the location I wanted, for $850k. But that also would have meant me increasing my debt load by a factor of 4. Something I ultimately wasn't comfortable doing.

I do want to thank Alpha for all his work taking us around to various listings, and for his invaluable advice. Both Chris & I are extremely grateful for all his efforts.

My dad retired a couple weeks ago and we went up for a visit and to help celebrate his achievement. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. Hopefully some of his work ethic has managed to rub off on me over the years. So now that both of them are retired what are they going to do? First up for them is a trip to Hawaii. Hopefully they'll take lots of pictures while they are there!

Chris & I are getting excited that our trip to Vegas is only a few days away. It looks like Alpha has chickened out of flying and is going to drive down a few days earlier instead. In a way that'll be good as we'll have a car while we're there and not have to taxi it everywhere.

Speaking of Vegas, last night we were at Alpha's for a King of Vegas tournament. A whole bunch of us got together to play various casino games, not only for fun, but also to hopefully help sharpen our gambling skills. It just so happens that yours truly managed to be the big winner on the night. Now if only I can be that lucky in a real casino. Here's a picture of the fun:

The past few weeks have been kinda stressful. We've seen a bunch of houses and found a few we liked, but nothing that was 'perfect'. There was always an issue, either the location sucked, but we liked the house, or the house sucked but we liked the location etc.

To throw another option into the mix, we've looked at a couple show homes and are now toying with the idea of having something built. The problem with doing that however is that you typically have to come up with 20% down, you end up paying GST, for the first couple years you'll be living in a construction zone and on and on.

Of course our friends think we're crazy, with comments such as 'you already have a great house' being typical. And they're right, not doing anything and just staying where we are and paying off the mortgage is always an option - and likely the smartest option. Still, when we walk into the one show home in particular it just screams at us to be bought. Sigh.

My head has just been spinning the past few days with all the house options and trying to figure out the best way to go. As always any insight or advice on what we should do is more than welcome. Either way we need to make a decision fairly soon as to what we're doing.

Jay & Betty came down this weekend for a visit and it was great seeing them. Rumour has it that they are having a boy - Betty is definitely looking very pregnant :) Jay also brought down his Wii game console, so we had fun playing with that - even if I did end up pulling a muscle or pinching a nerve playing baseball on it. Damn things should come with warning labels for adults.

Alpha came over for drinks a few weeks ago and before I knew it Chris was trying to convince me we should fly down to Vegas (the next morning). She's been itching to go back and I told her that we'd go when the dollar was above par. Well gee, wouldn't you know it, last I checked it was. Still, I'm not one to be THAT spontaneous, so I instead convinced her we'd go for Halloween instead. So ya, we'll be partying it up in Sin City for Halloween. We also were able to book tickets for Cirque Du Soleil's 'O'. I've always wanted to see it, but have had to 'settle' for their other shows. We can't wait for the debauchery to begin.

Finally, miss Hailey Bailey officially became a teenager yesterday. A whole swack of us helped her celebrate by going out to dinner. I can't believe how old she's getting - why I remember when she was just a little baby. Ok, not quite, but still it's scary how old she is and even scarier how old she looks.

For anyone that hasn't been there, Fort St John is near the start of the Alaska highway. While there I was just itching to jump in the car and drive north to the Yukon border. However I did the math and it would have taken 8 hours (and then I'd have to come back). Not to be deterred, I've been tossing around the idea of doing a road trip from there to the Yukon sometime next year. Why? Why not? There's so much stuff to do and interesting places to see that's in our own back yard (relatively speaking).

Chris and I have been spending the past few days 'purging' all the crap we've accumulated since we moved into our house. Sadly there's still lots of work left to do. I'm doing my part by finally selling some of my computer stuff on eBay. I placed my first listing today for my old network camera. Let me know if you're interested in bidding on it :)

All this cleaning might also come in handy as we've been thinking about maybe buying a new house. Essentially we're faced with a decision of either putting a lot of money into a bunch of renovations or trying to find a place we like that already has the things we're looking at adding. Alpha, our friend and realtor extraordinaire, took us out yesterday to see a bunch of listings. Unfortunately we didn't find our dream home. Either we loved the place but didn't like the location or vice-versa. We'll keep looking and see what turns up. If after a few weeks we haven't found anything then we'll bite the bullet and get moving on getting our current house renovated.

Finally some sad news. I recently found out that my uncle was diagnosed with colon cancer. Hopefully the regiment of chemo and radiation therapy will be able to stop it in it's tracks. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I guess we can add cancer to the litany of diseases and afflictions affecting our friends and family.

This will also be the calm before the madness at work starts. I'll be busy in the coming weeks with my annual trip to our regional offices. Basically I'll be away from home for 3 weeks :(

Speaking of being away, Vancouver was pretty fun. However, I felt like a dork when I got there, getting off the plane in my shorts and sunglasses. Being Vancouver of course it was raining and everyone was walking around with coats on and holding their umbrellas. Thankfully the weather there was only crappy the first couple of days. The course itself was ok, and I really liked my hotel room. It had a great view of downtown Vancouver.

I went and saw the Festival of Fire the one night which had Spain competing. Unfortunately Canada's turn wasn't until the Saturday so I didn't get to see it. Still Spain put on a pretty good show. I basically walked the entire length of downtown to get to a good spot to see it. I didn't go to English bay because that was even farther away, but watched it from the Granville bridge instead.

Of course whenever I'm out there I always get the itch and start daydreaming about buying land on the coast. This time I ended up finding a great listing for over 500 acres of land on an island near Prince Rupert for the bargain price of $425k. I tried to talk Alpha into going halfsies but he kept going on about 'that was alot of money, bla, bla bla'. Sigh. One day it'll happen.

Chris flew in on the Thursday and we spent a few days hanging out. She got to have lunch with an old friend of hers and we went and saw the Aquarium on our last day there. The aquarium was pretty cool, I liked watching the Beluga's and they had some really neat looking jellyfishes. I thought it would have been a lot bigger though. You always hear about how great it is, but I was a bit underwhelmed.

We parted ways at the airport with me going home and her jetting off to Edmonton to hang out with the girls and to see Deb's new house - which by all accounts is fabulous.

Fast forward to tonight and we're going to go over to Tracy's for a BBQ, and then tomorrow is yummy Waffles. Yup life's pretty good right now :)

Here's some pix Chris took while we were in Vancouver:

Chris went away last week and spent several days with her Aunt Val and Uncle Lane in Kamloops. It was fun having a few days to myself, but ya, I did miss her and was glad when she got back. I'm surprised she didn't die from the heat. We might have all been complaining here but it was even worse there.

I'm leaving tomorrow to spend a week in Vancouver on a training course. The sad thing is I had my choice to either take the course in Vancouver or in Montreal. I chose Vancouver because I thought Chris could come out with me and we'd be able to spend some time with her Dad & Lorie. But as fate would have it, they won't even be there. Oh well, everyone feel free to call her lots and come over if you can so that she won't be lonely.

Last night Alpha & Nancy came by for some wobblies on the deck and later we went to Woody's for even more drinks. While we were there I ate for the first time in about 12 hours. Needless to say I felt like crap this morning - which really sucked as everyone came over for Chris' world famous waffles. But on the plus side my sleeping in got me off the hook of helping to get everything prepared :)

Last week I was exercising downstairs when I glanced out the window and nearly fell off the elipticiser - outside were three skunks! Our neighbor has a big gaping hole under his front steps and I guess they were checking out its suitability as a den. I ran upstairs and yelled at Chris to come see and grabbed the camera to take pictures. Obviously I didn't want to get too close, but I tried to get some good shots. Unfortunately the stupid battery ran out after only taking a few pictures. Here's the best one I managed to get.

Finally, three of our crabs have 'molted' - that's the process whereby they shed their exoskeleton in order to grow. This also means that they then need to find a larger shell to live in. Hippy was first, then Cindy, and finally Hermie. All happening within a span of about a week. However just to confuse things, Hermie ending up moving into Cindy's old shell. So I think we need to start writing all of this down because I'm beginning to lose track of who's who. We think this new flurry of activity is mostly due to the bigger terrarium that we got them. Happy homes make for happy Crabbies!

Thought I'd take a bit of a rest and update the news. I'm pretty beat after installing our new light in the Dining Room. We recently got a new table and because it has benches on the sides it 'looks' a lot squarer than our old table did. As a result I wasn't happy with the light we had over it as it is more suitable over an island or a rectangular table.

So off we went to the best lighting store in Calgary - Cartwright Lighting - and found one we liked and even better it was on sale. There was one light there that was pretty funky, but then we looked at the price tag which was $12,000. So we um, went with this other one :)

I've also been busy putting up new pictures. I finally got my Lord of the Rings map put up in the computer room, along with my sword, Red Sonja sketch, and my 1st edition Savage Sword of Conan (you might have noticed a certain theme). I also got up a few more pictures in the front room to help flesh out that wall. But nice as it all looks now, it's a pain doing all the work. I think I'm done with all the home improvements for awhile.

The past few weeks have been nice as Carlie has been continuing her nomadic existence and living with us for a bit. I know after her being gone overseas for so long that Chris has been tickled pink having her here. And truth be told she's a pretty good roomie to have - unlike that troublemaker Michael!

Speaking of which, we had a Bday party for both of them this weekend. I got to try out my newly aquired BBQ (thanks Kim), plenty of drinks were consumed, and we wrapped up the night philosophizing over the crackle and pop of the fire pit.

We didn't do anything for Canada day, but looking out our back window we did manage to see some of the higher exploding fireworks. As I also had Friday off this had been a nice mini-vacation for me. Unfortunately it's back to the grind tomorrow. Sigh.

Of course after the wedding comes the honeymoon!

We spent two glorious weeks in The Dominican Republic. The first week we went with a bunch of our friends - Chuck & Tracy, Alpha & Nancy, and Kim - and stayed at the Bahia Principe resort. The second week it was just Chris & I and we stayed at the Excellence resort.

We thought it'd be better staying at two different resorts as I was worried that we'd get a bit bored staying in one spot the whole time. I'm glad we did as it gave us a better all around experience.

The flight there was ok. We had a 3 hour stop in Toronto and because some of us were flying first class we got to hang out in the Air Canada special lounge. That was pretty cool - free booze for everyone! This was my first time flying first class and I would have to say it is worth it. Not because it in itself is so great, but because flying coach is so absolutely abysmal. Sure you get a better meal, free drinks, and a moist towel. But for a extra grand or so? No, the real reason to shell out the extra dough is so that you get a decently sized seat.

We had a lot of fun with everyone the first week. Our first excursion was a safari where they took us into the countryside. We got to see a school, a typical Dominican house, how they make coffee, sample sugarcane etc. We had lunch and ended the trip boogie boarding on a secluded beach. Half way though it started to pour and although they quickly covered the truck we were riding in with a tarp we all ended up getting soaked. Normally it would have sucked but as they kept feeding us Rum & Pepsi's we were happy campers.

Our second excursion was a snorkel tour on a Catamaran. We went out off the coast and, well, snorkeled. It wasn't my greatest snorkel experience but it also wasn't my worst. I believe it was Kim's first time and from what I could tell she made out great. After that we went to a spot in the ocean where it was quite shallow even though we were still quite far from shore. We all hung out in the water consuming large quantities of Rum from the floating bar that they had there. The whole idea was for us to see the sunset, but because it was cloudy that didn't happen. Still it was fun watching the lightning from a distant storm. From there we went and had lobster dinner (freshly caught) on the beach.

I have to say that this night ended up being the highlight from the first week.

There were two nights we could have booked, the first one being for mostly English speaking tourists and the second night for mostly European (in this case German) tourists. We picked the second night as it didn't conflict with our dinner choices and because Germans are supposedly crazy when they drink. I guess they have a lot to learn from us Canucks.

When we got to the beach we were supposed to change. I went into the (tiny) bathroom and it was full of said Germans trying to get out of their bathing suits. The thought of stripping down with absolutely no room to maneuver didn't really appeal to me. So I went back and found the gang who were still on the beach. We weren't sure what to do, all of us just kind of looking at each other for guidance. At some point I think we all collectively said 'screw it' and we changed in front of each other and within full view of the restaurant. It was very cool that we were all comfortable enough with each other to do that - the previously mentioned Rum might have had something to do with it as well.

At the restaurant we ended up getting seated with this nice couple who were from Belgium. Between her broken English and my broken French we were actually able to carry on a fairly decent conversation for most of the night. I guess my French 10 and 20 really paid off :) It's funny, as much as I mock Quebec I think in this instance it's good that Canada is bilingual. They definitely identified with us Canadians more than they did with the Germans - of course we never invaded them either (don't mention the war....shhhhh).

So ya, I'm pretty sure the impression all the Europeans got from that trip was that Canadians are a bunch of wild, crazy drunks :)

When we got back to the resort (it was quite late by this point) we were pretty loaded and so someone suggested we go skinny dipping in the ocean. The beach was deserted except for us, so we ripped off our clothes and splashed around in the water. Without sounding overly corny it was a beautiful experience. All of us butt naked in the ocean, laughing and frolicking about under the moonlight glow. Sadly the fun ended when Chuck got stung by a jellyfish (maybe that why no one goes in the ocean after dark?) and we called it a night at that point.

Other than the excursions we just hung out either at the beach or the pool. The swim up bar was fun, although it's a bit tortuous doing all that drinking in a pool and not letting yourself pee in it (do I get out and run to the bathroom or do I just have another drink?). The ocean was fair game however. Oh there was also lots of topless women! I have to admit that watching them during the first day got my engines revved a little bit, but after that it wasn't a big deal. It was still good eye candy however. Occasionally Alpha would come by and ask Chuck & I if we wanted to go on a boob hunt and we'd go off down the beach and count how many 'pairs' we found. Childish? Yes. Fun? Definitely.

When the day came for all our friends to leave I was ready to go home as well. Not that I wasn't having fun, but just that if I had gone home at that point I would have been satisfied.

The second resort was about a 50 minute drive from the first and in terms of resorts it was the end of the line. Or the beginning depending on your perspective. The first thing that struck me was that it seemed even nicer and bit more upscale. I was shocked when the lady that greeted us had a thick Scottish accent. It certainly stood out as by that point we were so used to hearing everyone speaking Spanish. When she found out it was our honeymoon she sweet talked me into upgrading to the Excellence Club. This gave us access to the club members only pool and beach section, plus the 'club house' where we had free internet, could eat there instead of having to go down to the restaurants, and we had our own personal concierge. OH! And while we had a mini-bar at Bahia Principe that consisted of pop and beer (the local swill) here we had a bar stocked with water, pop, beer (Bud), chocolate, as well as 26'ers of Gin, Vodka, Whiskey (Jim Bean), and Rum. Finish off a bottle? No problem they'd just replace it with another one. That was pretty sweet.

We had a swim up room which meant that you opened the patio door, took a few steps, and could jump in the pool. The pool itself was pretty neat as it paralleled the beach and ran the entire length of the resort. We spent most of our days just hanging out there, lying on the floaties, and saying 'more cervezas por favor!'.

Excellence was just nicer all around. It was much smaller, yet we kept coming across places unexpectedly. It's hard to explain, but even though it was smaller there was more to discover. We also thought the entertainment was better. Plus there were lots of animals on the grounds - Chickens, Turkeys, Turtles, Fish, Birds, Parrots, Flamingos and so on. About the only thing I didn't like was that there were lots of Mosquitoes after the sun went down. We quickly learned to avoid the beach after dark.

Chris & I only really got crazy one night. We started out by going to the sports bar where we got to watch Ottawa lose the Stanley Cup. Their losing was made up for by the fact that we were actually watching hockey in a tropical paradise. From there we went on to the Disco whose theme that night was a pajama party. At some point I vaguely remember Chris getting up to partake in a dance-off and thanks to some fancy footwork (and taking off her shirt) she ended up winning. Her prize? A free couples massage!

Unlike the first week, when it came time for us to leave I truly did not want to leave and I was depressed at having to come home. The flight back was uneventful, although it was a bit stressful back in Toronto (they couldn't find our reservation at the hotel). And so ended our honeymoon.

Again I want to thank everyone who came with us. Being able to celebrate with such good friends made the trip even more special. Pictures from the first week can be found here and pictures from the second can be found here.

Ok, so now that we're back from our honeymoon here's my thoughts on our special day.

When I proposed to Chris a year and a half ago it seemed like our wedding was still forever away. It wasn't really until this year that we both came to the realization that we didn't have a lot of time left.

There were times when I got sick and tired of having to 'remember to do this', and 'don't forget to call so and so', 'we need to run and get this and that' and so on. So ya, the weeks leading up to the event were a bit stressful.

However I was surprisingly calm in the hours leading up to the ceremony. It wasn't until I was left alone while Jay was driving everyone up to the tower that it really hit me and I had that 'oh God, what am I doing?' moment. I don't think I got any sleep the night before. So when I got to the tower I was exhausted. I was pretty much in a daze when I got to the top and walked down the isle to take my place. Although I was able to take in some of the people who were there, for the most part everyone was a blur.

When I saw Chris walking down the isle my first thought was how beautiful she looked. Then of course I forgot what we had rehearsed and went to go get her before I was supposed to. I tried my hardest not to start crying so I ended up looking down alot. There's a few pictures of me up there and I look like I'm in absolute hell. I was just concentrating on keeping it together. About half way through I thought to myself 'Hey, I'm doing pretty good' and then something just snapped and I started to lose it. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm an extremely (to a fault) emotional person. Lack of sleep and all that pent up stress just came to a head and I got choked up. Then I found myself getting really warm and I started to sweat.

So here I am at what's supposed to be the most special moment in my life with tears running down my face, snot running out my nose, and rivers of sweat coming from my forehead. Nice. I'm sure Chris thought to herself "I'm marrying this guy?". Thank God the camcorder was to my back. I don't even really recall what I was being asked to say, yet somehow I was able to repeat everything. Then suddenly it was over and we were Mr. and Mrs. Lee.

The Hummer experience was a lot of fun, mostly due to Jay's crazy driving. The pictures went really well and it wasn't nearly as painful as I'd thought it would be. It was really cool how the weather held off just long enough for us to finish.

I had a lot of fun at the ceremony and I think (and hope) that everyone else did as well. My only regret is that while I made an effort to go around and talk with everyone there were still a bunch of people I didn't get a chance to spend time with.

Although Chris and I mentioned it in our speech, I want to again thank everyone for all their help. Jay & Chuck being there to keep me sane, Lindsay for being a part of that day, Nancy's amazing job on the cakes, Alpha's great MC'ing, Anutie Bev's awesome photography, Deb & Leanne's special gift (hee), and everyone else whom I forgot to mention. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Pictures can be found here.

I also wanted to thank my best man Jay for coming down and spending several days with us. It was fun hanging with him - almost like the good 'ol days when we used to live together.

Next up for us is of course the big day and then the honeymoon.

In preparation for the honeymoon we went and talked to our doctor about what preventative medication we should take. Normally I don't even like to take aspirin. A few years ago on our cruise we went to a number of countries without taking any medications and according to the CDC website it's a miracle we're not dead (sarcasm). Still the fact we will be in one place for 2 weeks straight convinced me that maybe we should get some shots.

And thanks to Deb, friend and nurse extraordinaire who administered them, we're now protected from Tetanus, Typhoid, and Hepatitis. Now all that's left is to take some Malaria pills before we leave and while we're there.

Besides the medical stuff both Chris and I have been tanning for the past couple weeks. Basically we're hoping that by doing so it'll help us to not get burnt while we're there - and to hopefully not stick out like we have a sign around our necks saying 'Tourist'.

But enough chit chat and onto what you're all really wanting to see - pictures from the party. Note that we took over a hundred pictures and aren't going to post them all. Some didn't turn out very well, and others, um, well we just can't show. For those who weren't there, the night started off with a sex toy party, then we had a topless server girl and hunky bartender guy, followed by the prerequisite stripper. Enjoy.

Considering that she didn't stumble home until 5am, I guess you could say that she had a good time. The girls whisked her off to a crafty place where they did crafty things, then they went to Leanne's for a fondue party, and they stayed up into the early hours talking about whatever it is that women talk about. On her behalf I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who participated in and organized her shower. It's good to know that she has so many wonderful friends. If anyone has any pictures of the fun, send them to me and I'll post them here.

Last Thursday Chris and I ran up to Edmonton as I had some work to do as well as having a surprise for my parents. When we got to the hotel the room wasn't what I had booked so I bitched and they upgraded us to one of the two story suites. We went over to Jay and Betty's place to see their finished kitchen (gorgeous) and to watch the hockey game. Sadly Calgary lost (Detroit sweep anyone?) but we still had fun. Chris spent Friday during the day visiting with her mom while I was at work and then that night we went for dinner with my parents where I gave them their surprise.

The surprise consisted of us paying for their flight to Hawaii, which is where they are going this fall to celebrate their 40th anniversary. I've spent the past couple months trying to figure out what to do for them. I thought about doing what some of our friends have done for their parents and organize a surprise party and have a bunch of their friends and family there. But I didn't think it was fair to have our family here for the wedding and then ask most of them to come back to Alberta again a few months later for the anniversary party. As well, I simply wouldn't have a clue of who all to invite and how to get a hold of them without my parents catching on. 

So in the end we decided that paying for their flight was the next best thing. They definitely didn't expect it and I'm glad we were able to do this for them. They deserve it so much. As we wrote in their card, Chris and I can only hope that our marriage is as rich and fulfilling as theirs has been.

I got back from Edmonton Thursday night. While I was up there I basically worked 24 hours in two days plus all the traveling. Needless to say I'm pretty worn out. However I did manage to squeeze in going for lunch with my mom. In the course of our conversation she dropped the bombshell that her and my Dad are moving to Saskatchewan in under a year. Um, great, when the heck did they plan on sharing that little nugget of information?

So in addition to the steady stream of friends moving away from us over the past few years (Jay, Deb & Chris), plus Chris' mom and step-dad, now my parents are moving out of province. Pretty soon it'll just be Chris & I left all alone :(

Everything lately is wedding this and wedding that. On Friday we met our DJ and got him fitted for his 'costume'. He was pretty young but seemed like he'll be a lot of fun. I also got our mode of wedding day transportation all booked. Now we just need to get our rings done.

Since last year I've been wanting to lose about 30lbs for our wedding so I won't look like a fat guy in a tux. While I have lost 15 lbs I just can't seem to lose the rest. I've been ellipticising four days a week to no avail. I need to start lifting weights again but I can't seem to get motivated. Maybe I'll just fork out 10 grand to get lipo and get it over with. Of course I could die during the procedure, but I could also die getting hit by a bus....or eating tainted cat food.

For the most part I've been ignoring the whole pet food crisis mainly because it's only affected 'wet' food. However last night I jumped out of my seat when during the evening news they mentioned that Hill's Science Diet dry food was also affected - this is the brand we feed our cats. Great! Now what the frick are we supposed to feed them? After calming down I went to their website and was somewhat relieved to find that it's only their m/d brand they are recalling (we feed them the c/d brand).

I'm still worried though. At first it was reported the problem was due to wheat gluten, then it was rat poison, now it's something else. Frankly I don't think they have a clue how big the problem is. Years ago I had to watch a cat of mine suffer and be put down due to crappy food. I couldn't bear to go through that again.

Last weekend we went to a pub to help Mo & Po celebrate their 40th anniversary. They were setup as a surprise and a bunch of their friends and family were there waiting for them. They were presented with a scrapbook that Tracy, Kim, and Chris spent a tonne of time working on - to my own credit I served as Chris' creative consultant on a couple pages. It was obvious both Mo & Po enjoyed their evening. Of course after the older people left us 'youngins' continued the party.

Chris, Tracy & I closed out the place - well actually they kinda kicked us out as they were closing. Thankfully we managed to get a cab and went to Denny's at 3am for greasy burgers. We got sat next to a table of I'm guessing University kids who were all wearing toga's - seriously. I'm pretty sure everyone in the place was hammered, but everyone was having a good time. Chris & I finally got home around 4am. It was kind of fun reliving the drunk stupidity that used to be a common occurrence when we were younger.

Lots to catch everyone up on I guess...

I'm just sitting here, sipping a Booster Juice, enjoying the warm weather and the sun. I hope this means winter is over but somehow I doubt it. I do know that just the hint of nicer days to come has put me in a much sunnier (pun) disposition than usual.

This past week was complete hell at work. People scrambling over the Daylight savings change, virus outbreaks, servers crashing. It just never let up. I'm definitely in need of a vacation.

Speaking of which, we paid off our Honeymoon trip! Only a couple months till we're being bums on a beach, soaking up the sun. I've even been practicing my Spanish - "More cervezas por va vor!" First however, comes the wedding and we've both been busy getting things done in preparation. We got the first batch of invitations out a few weeks ago - Chris says now that they're sent that it's to late for me to change my mind :) Her gal pals were over yesterday getting the rest done and they look great. Thanks to them for helping out so much! We also spent last night having a wine tasting. The purpose being to sample the wines that will be available at the reception in order to pick the best tasting. Needless to say my head was not so subtly reminding me this morning of what happens when I drink to much of the vino.

I finally got tired of having to run upstairs to record shows on the VCR, as well as Chris and I having to watch shows in different rooms whenever there was a scheduling conflict. So I bit the bullet and bought a Personal Video Recorder (PVR). Now we can pause live TV, skip through commercials, and record two different shows at the same time. Frankly I don't know how we lived without one before.

Why has it sucked you ask? Well for starters I've been sick for the past 3 weeks. What started out as a typical cold quickly grew into fears of phenomena and/or bronchitis, plus I lost the hearing in my left ear which is only now starting to return to normal. As Chris often says, you know I must really be sick when I decide to go to the doctor, and of course they just pushed pills on me.  To top it off Chris is now sick as well.

I'm also suffering from the January blues. Constantly tired. Achy. Bored. Broke. Grumpy.

Bleck.

Now that it's 2007 Chris and I have come to the shocking realization that we're getting married just a few months from now. So we're both in scramble mode to take care of the various things we still have to do - the most important being the planning of our stag/stagette party (at least in my mind).

I just got back from Edmonton and got to see Jay & Betty's in-progress kitchen reno. As of now they have the electrical in and the cabinets done. The plumbing still needs to be done as well as the floor. Still the cabinets look amazing and the whole place has that 'new wood' smell. So naturally I'm all jealous and want to get my own reno plans going. Hopefully we'll be able to get the basement done this year (fingers crossed).

Of course then you wonder what's the point as we're all supposed to die in the next few years from global warming.

Bleck again.

Chris has been on my case to get the news updated..........I'm sorry but I've been busy saving Middle Earth from the dark lord Sauron's evil reign. Jeesh.

As I mentioned previously we had an early Christmas in Edmonton. We had dinner and the gift swap (no puffed wheat this time) at Jim and Karen's place. Most of the kids were there as well as my Mom & Dad. On our way home we also got to see the new house that Jim and Karen are building. It looks like it will be fabulous and I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Because Carlie is in Taiwan teaching and couldn't join us, Chris had a front and back picture of her made up to take with us wherever we went. It didn't make up for her not being there (Chris really missed her), but it was a pretty cool idea. As there's a gajillion pics of her I'll only post a few of them and we'll send the rest to her. Hopefully she'll get a kick out of them.

Christmas was once again excellent. Chris and I flew into Comox a couple days before everyone else so we could have some alone time. Just the two of us, lots of booze, a secluded cabin, a hot tub..........good times :) For the most part the weather was good but Christmas eve had us in the midst of a wicked windstorm. I kept looking up at the swaying trees wondering if they were going to snap. Luckily they didn't fall on us, however one did fall on the restaurant we were supposed to have dinner at - needless to say we didn't eat out that night. But we kept busy stuffing our faces, drinking (Baileys and coffee seemed to be a favourite), and playing games.

One of the games was our take on 'Where's Waldo?'. As we didn't have Leonardo this time (last time Michael had a Ninja Turtle figure which we'd hide in various places in our cabin) Carlie's picture had to do. It may sound kinda lame, but we all get a kick out of it. Oh, I almost forgot, we also got to fire off a bunch of fireworks and play with sparklers that were left over from our Houseboat trip.

It sucked having to leave, but at the same time I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. Thankfully this time we didn't miss the ferry and the flight back went by quickly. A big thank you to George and Lori for putting up with us (well ok, me) again!

New Years was one of the better ones. Dennis invited me to go with him to the Oilers/Flames game, so I couldn't turn that down. Unfortunately the Oil were brutal but I had a good time regardless. A big thank you to Dennis for taking me as it had been quite awhile since I'd been to a game. Afterwards we went to Chuck & Tracy's and ate Moroccan food, celebrated Kim's Bday, drank our faces off, and soaked in the hot tub until 4am. I won't go into details of the late night fun, let's just say 'What happens in Chuck 'n Tracy's hot tub, stays in Chuck 'n Tracy's hot tub'....

Pictures of Early Christmas, BC Christmas, and New Years can be found here.

Today was picture day at Mo and Po's. Chris and her four closest gal pals (Tracy, Kim, Deb, Leanne) have all known each other since High School and are still active friends. Chris thinks that's pretty amazing and I have to agree. So to commemorate how cool we all are Auntie Bev was asked to take everyone's picture - not only of the gals but of everyone's families as well. Here's one of Chris and I (awww).