Meeting the Oilers!!!

On Thursday I got to meet four of the Oilers and get their autographs!!! This was definitely one of the best days of my life, so far anyway. It was so awesome. We got to skate on the same ice the Oilers skate on, take pictures with them and get their autographs. I don't know how else to describe how cool it was to meet them but for those of you who know me know how much an experience like this means to me.

Note how tall Moreau and Staios are compared to me. I know most of you would not be surprised by this but I am also on my skates in this picture.

I managed to get all four of the autographs because I got Stoll and Reasoner to sign my jersey when I went up to get my picture taken with them since I missed them when they were at the autograph table.

School Trip to "The Hat"

Did you know that Medicine Hat is home of the world's tallest tepee? Neither did I until we went down there to climb some trees for school. Now I'm sure you are wondering what exactly I'm doing in that first picture. No I am not exemplifying the literacy of a tree hugger. That is a little something I like to call the "arborist struggle". In lots of occasions one cannot make a graceful entrance into the tree and this is one of those times. I had to be swung to this branch where I attempted to somehow muscle my way onto the top side of the limb. It wasn't pretty but I made it and sometimes that's just what your stuck with.

In the second picture I am installing some foot slings on the tree so I can stand in them because the stem was treacherously slippery due to the snow conditions. I like the perspective of this picture because you can see the people on the ground and how small they look in comparison to me. That is because I am at about 60 feet in the tree at that spot. These were some big trees as you can tell by the diameter of the branch I am standing on at such a height. The tree was probably about 90-100ft from the ground at the very top.

Well since I started this blog several weeks ago and have been too lazy to finish it up until now, that is my brief description of my trip to Medicine Hat. Maybe the long version will follow someday when I get ambitious, and hopefully I will also post a Tri-Ice-A-Thon post in the near to distant future.

Awards Night!

Tonight was the awards ceremony and I got to receive the Club of the Year plaque. It was very exciting. Now I am done obsessing about the award, this is the last post on the subject I promise. :)

Happy Happy Days!!

I got great news yesterday and since then I have been bubbling over with joy and happiness. I found out yesterday that the Arboriculture Club I have been president of for the last year has won the honors of Club of the Year!!! I realize that I'm tooting my own horn here a bit but I was ecstatic when I heard the news and good news is only great news when you get to share it with others. Leading the club was fun but a lot of work so I'm glad we have been recognized for our efforts. I'm very excited about it as you can tell. Plus other things have been falling into place. School is almost over and all we are doing in class is climbing, no homework practically zero responsibility, it's great. I got a job lined up for after I graduate, not to mention South Boundary (that one was for you Jana), a new season of street hockey approaching ... There is just so many things to be excited about ... "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it, no, no, no, no ..." Anyway, I just felt the need to share my happiness with you all. The one major sour note that I will just barely touch on because it is very disappointing and frustrating is how the Oilers continue to lose. It's going to suck not watching them play in the playoffs, but I am looking forward to the future years when our young team really comes into it's own, well at least that's what I'm hoping for. For this year as long as Toronto doesn't make it I'll be happy, and I look forward to watching whoever Buffalo ends up playing. No matter who it is that should be great playoff hockey.

Banff in the Winter

Recently I joined the Damgaard clan in Banff for a few days. Let me tell you, the mountains are nice in the winter time. We finally had a real Canadian winter, well in my opinion anyway, and it made hiking in the snow in Banff that much more fun. We went to Johnston's Canyon, Lake Minewanka (don't think that's spelled right), and Lake Louise. My favorite part of the weekend was on the Lake Louise trail we were on. As you can tell by the pictures the snow was super deep and I felt the need to venture off the trail to try and knock snow off the branches that over hung the trail. I was wet when we were done but it was worth it. So for those of you who have never been to Banff in the winter time to do some hiking around, I definetly recommend it. I also recommend the wings at the Rose and Crown Pub, very good if you like your wings crispy.

P.S. As you can see by this sequence of photos I was very determined to shake the snow from the branch, hence why in the top picture there is snow stuck to my sweat pants up to my waist.