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Published: November 19th 2006
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The Bowling Alley
Check it out... Computer scoring When i wrote last (now 5 weeks ago) i was about to start my new job. Things started early monday, having to get up before 5. I spent my first week of work in the warehouse in Fort Saskatchewan. Its about 45 minutes north of edmonton. And just my luck, my first day of work it snowed. At this stage i thought its not that bad. The week went reasonably quick and before i knew it i was handed air tickets to Fort Mcmurray. I had been given my first assignment, a 6 month stint as a field engineer in Alberta's boom town.
But before i flew out i had one more night in Edmonton. One of Jesse's old bosses had opened up a "Dueling Piano" Bar just out of town, and she had some free tickets. Now you may be thinking, as i did, what am i doing going to a piano bar. And i intially considered staying home, but im glad i went. Amoungst Elton John covers (Jesse's favourite) they managed to play rock songs on piano. The dueling part is because there are 2 pianists playing on 2 pianos at the same time. One would do the
My Visitors
Here we are outside my apartment building. For those keeping score beard progress after 1 week bass and rythem, and the other the lead. And they took requests during the night, so "Livin on a prayer" by Bon Jovi made an apperance. Apart from that the other highlights were when they played bits of poison and skid row songs back to back, and how they cleverly mixed Aerosmith with the Gilligans island theme verse for verse without having to change the rythem. Very clever.
Sunday came around, and i missed check in for my flight. Luckily i was able to reschedule for a later flight at no charge. And i was off to Fort Mcmurray. When i arrived i was greeted with a very fancy appartment where ill be for the next 6 months. No time to enjoy it too much as my alarm was set for 4.20am. My new get up time. I catch the work van at 5.15am for a 6.15 start. Not wanting to bore you too much with the details of my work, im working on a large construction site. They are in the early stages of making a large oil sands refinery, and the company i work for, Horton CBI, is a construction contractor, making large vessels. Attached are some
Me and Jesse
A good photo of both of us. Harder to get than u would think. Look at that snow in the background pictures from their official site (theres meant to be a camera ban). It looks the same now, except where there is dirt there is now snow.
Those who knew me at Century will be glad to know ive continued my tradition of breaking vehicle windows. This time on my first day. We had a new work van. I was the last one out and the hinge was a bit sticky, so when the side door shut it slammed and the glass shattered.
But im enjoying my new position. The weather is a bit of a challenge though. And the guys give me a hard time about all the layers i have on my head. It peaked at 4. A beanie, a balaclava, the hood from my hoodie and a hard hat liner. I have socks that are rated to -30°, but they wernt all that good. My new winter boots i got yesterday are rated to -100°C so they better do the trick. I dont intend to test them that far. Ive also got a good jacket and just bought insulated overalls. The coldest ive been outside is -17°C. But next week thursdays high is -21°C so ill
Getting Shaggy
Beard progress 3 week in. I figure i can go without a shave or haircut for 6 months give them all a test then.
I had the next weekend off and went down to Edmonton. This weekend was also Halloween weekend, a big thing over here, and the first weekend of snow in Edmonton. Jesse got some tickets from her work to the Edmonton Oilers game in an executive suite. I am so spoilt. We thought lets go in our Halloween costumes, so we drove downtown, walked across a snowfilled car park into the subway station, and went to the game with hundreds of people dressed in Oilers Jerseys. I can safely say we were they only Viking and Nurse on the train. But once we got to the stadium we wernt the only people dressed in costume. Buzz Lightyear made an apperance, as did some WWF wrestlers, the Ultimate Warriar and Razor Ramone. There were 2 Auzzie guys Jesse knows dressed as princesses (with facial hair) and this guy i thought had a mullet wig, but turns out it was actually his hair. The game was great to watch and i really got into it. Will have to go again when im in town next. We briefly went to a house party after the game and
Viking in the Snow
I summon all my Viking powers and cast a sheet of snow across town. saw superman do a keg stand, but felt a bit old and we went home fairly quick. Interestoing thing at the hockey was the initial security search. For some reason i was targeted. I though they better not take my sword, but you will never guess what they didnt aprove of. My beard. Yes my beard. Im concealing my identity. Because if i get drunk and cause trouble i can take off my beard, and they wont be able to recognise me. A viking witout a beard. The mind boggles. So i had to take off the beard once i started drinking. The princess also got the same thing. 2 guys in fairy dresses blend in you know.
I missed my bus back to Fort Mcmurray, and was very lucky to get another. I will have to work on this i think. I worked another 5 days before getting some visitors for the next weekend. Mel and Nico had been out east for a while and were passing through Alberta. I convinced them to come up for a few days and they bought Jesse up with them. We spent saturday morning at my apartment before going bowling. As the
Halloween Line up
Me and 2 of Jesses cousins. Beard progress. Would you believe 4 weeks? sign showed this is 'big time' up here, with them advertising computer scoring (that would have been impressive if the year was 1988). It was a good afternoon, Nico beat me to win the first game, and as we have come to expect, Mel somehow managed to pull out a strike on the last frame to win the second game. Despite have a bad leg and not being able to croutch down properly.
We went out to dinner saturday night, and they headed back to Edmonton Sunday lunchtime. Since then i worked 11 days straight, had yesetrday off and am looking at another 6 days before i go back to Edmonton next weekend. Its actually ok working everyday as you get into a routine. As long as i get enough sleep i can keep functioning. I only have 3 hours once i get home to do stuff before bed. Ive got Macgyver series 1 on DVD to keep me busy, and am growing a beard. I figure it will keep my jaw warm. See the pictures for progress.
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