Not the day off I had imagined...

Well, the highlight of my day off on Tuesday? Going to the emergency room at the Peace River Hospital! Monday night while eating supper I noticed a great deal of pain in my shoulder/upper arm. After taking hours to fall asleep at night and waking up with more pain I headed up to the hospital. After 2.5 hours up there what did the doctor decide I had? An injured rotator cuff. So my new best friend is my heating pad and the Advil he recommended. I'm supposed to some resistance excercises to build up the muscle and not put too much stress on it. What fun.

So between the pain and being at the hospital for quite a while I didn't get nearly as much as I had hoped done during my time off. O well.

I hope everything's well where you are!

Time for a break...

Well, I finally have a bit of real quality down time. I have worked without a day off since the 14th. With 2 jobs I am working 7 days a week now and I'm still adjusting to the pace of work at Boston Pizza. I must say that I really do enjoy both of my jobs, but I do need a bit of a breather from time to time. So I have this afternoon and tomorrow off (with pay). The Army owed me a bit of time from Christmas, so I'm collecting on some of that today and tomorrow. Hopefully this'll give me that chance to catch up on some school work, cleaning, laundry and (hopefully) some rest.

Earlier this afternoon I was at the dentist getting a couple of fillings...the freezing still hasn't worn off...it is the weirdest sensation. I've never had freezing in my mouth before. The whole experience was decidedly unpleasant, not to mention expensive.

I've been enjoying reading several blogs lately, and one that I have found particularly interesting is that of Graeme Smith, a Salvationist who lives in Latvia (but is from the UK). I'm adding a link to his blog to the sidebar. Check it out, it is definately worth it!

Anyways, I should probably go and do something productive with the time I have.

Take care all!

The longest short week

The week seemed like it went by so quickly, and yet it seems like ages ago since last weekend!! The relative perception of time can be so odd at times.

Well, this past week has been full of enjoyable moments for me. Nothing particularly remarkable at work, but it has bee enjoyable. I spent an afternoon earlier in the week visiting local businesses encouraging them to sponsor one or more children to go to the Army's summer camp in July. The response is very encouraging so far, and I am very optimistic.

Away from work (well, in some respects), I also received back my first three assignments from my course that I'm working on. The marks and comments were encouraging and I am pleased with my results so far. Tomorrow I will complete another component when I will be preaching and evaluated.

Also, after church tomorrow is the monthly pot-luck!! I'm taking perogies!! I'm thinking that I'm going to bake them...normally I would fry them, but I enjoy baked perogies.

Today was my first day working a second job. I have been hired at Boston Pizza as a serving assistant (which should lead to being a server). I worked from 9-5 today. It wasn't a bad first day. I'm utterly exhausted...my desk job has made me a little soft. My legs were killing me while I was walking home after work. I've taken the job so that I can meet my budget objectives for the next 6 months. I'll likely be work 20-24 hours a week at BP's.

Hockey & Academia Update

First of all, I want to say that yesterday was a good day in Canadian hockey!! As part of CBC's Hockey Day in Canada, the three Canadian teams worth taking note of won their games: Ottawa CRUSHED Montreal with a final score of 8-3. Vancouver defeated Toronto, 6-1. And of course the Calgary Flames continued their winning streak (5 games now) beating Edmonton 3-1.

A good day in hockey!!

I am very excited! I finished the first half of the course I'm working on right now yesterday. The course is through the Booth College Extended Learning program. "Introduction to Officership" is a required pre-requisite for going to the College for Officer Training. I wrote a book review, essay and sermon outline yesterday. The course will wrap up at the end of February.

I also want to say that I had a fantastic experience in church today. It's been a long time since I got so much joy and refreshment out of a church service!!

THe river is FROZEN!!

This first picture was taken yesterday. You can see the steam from the warmer water escaping from between the flowing ice in the middle of the river and the ice that is at the side of the river.

The second was taken about 4:30 this afternoon. The entire rive is now frozen over and none of the ice is flowing rapidly anymore. Any motion that is taking place is imperceivable.

Today the team from The Salvation Army was serving at the Peace River Soup Kitchen. This was just the second day of operation for the Soup Kitchen. Wednesday lunch was cancelled because the pilot light in the furnace went out, and with temperatures below -40 with the windchill, we couldn't operate.

The river is freezing!

It is cold here in Peace River today. After a blizzard last night we reached a high of about -35 celsius with the windchill. The overnight low is forecasted to be -33 without the wind tonight.

A New Link!!

Thanks to Ryan who brought a site to my attention!! I have been enjoying sampling various clips from Salvo Audio this evening. I have added a link to the sidebar, but I am finding it so great that I wanted to highlight it in a post!

The site includes sound clips from various SA bands and songsters from around the world (including the Japan Staff Band - I didn't know there was one!!). But better still it has sermons and speeches from various SA and other church leaders, including General William Booth, several other Generals, officers and lay speakers - including many Canadians (General Arnold Brown, Major Kevin Metcalf, Major Wendy Swan and others).

I have especially enjoyed this clip, with Commissioner Catherine Bramwell-Booth, the grandaughter of William and Catherine Booth, the founders of the Army. She is speaking at the Centenary Thanksgiving Service in Usher Hall at Edinburgh (June 1979).

For the Salvationists out there, enjoy some amazing pieces of our heritage, musical gems, and samples of the Army throughout the world. For the non-Salvationists, enjoy experiencing some of the truly prime examples of where the Army has been...and perhaps, in the words of some of the speakers, some insight into where we might be headed...

Highlights...followed by an indepth story

Okay, here are the highlights of my life since my last post:

Dad breaks Methuselah's record!!

Phil spends Christmas in K-country.

The Turtle visits Calgary.

Outdoor staking New Year's Eve.

Youth Pastor nabbed at checkstop on Eve of New Year.

New driver runs stop signs, jumps curbs.

Okay, that's the abbreviated version for those who don't particularly care. For those of my friends who more concerned with the happenings of the past few weeks, here's what I've been up to.

December 22nd, I flew down to Calgary via Peace Air flight 708. The plane was a little 9 passenger deal. A very different experience than a 737 or 747. It was a strange sensation to feel the plane being pushed around by the wind. I enjoyed it!!

The 23rd I completed my Christmas shopping 45 minutes after starting. Most of it was done at Chinook Mall. Normally going to Chinook on the Saturday right before Christmas is not on my list of things to do, but I didn't have a lot of options. The mall was suprisingly quiet, and I was out of there fairly quickly. I also got my hair cut. So far I have not got a hair cut in Peace River - I just get it done when I'm in Calgary. With my next visit to Calgary not scheduled until July, I think I will have to find somewhere in town to get a hair cut or two.

December 24th was my father's birthday. Man is that guy getting old!! The Christmas Eve service at Glenmore was wonderful (as usual). I ran the MediaShout during the service, which projects the words for songs, readings, etc for the congregation to see (kind of like PowerPoint - only better). That service proceeds unannounced, so congregational participation is cued by what is shown on the screen...such power no one man should wield!! I enjoyed the evening.

It was different this year at Christmas, as it was the first time that our family has not been together on Christmas Day. My brother, Phil, spent Christmas at Camp Horizon in Kananaskis with the Easter Seals. We did have my Grandma Waters with us. A couple from the church who immigrated to Canada from Columbia also joined us, along with their children.

I can't really remember what happened on Boxing Day...so I'll skip that one.

The evening of the 27th I was able to visit with my friend Jackie. She has become a very dear friend of mine over the past several years and it was fantastic to spend some time catching up. Then on the 28th I spent some time with Kyla, another fantastic friend. We went to see Casino Royale, the latest James Bond film. I also finally tracked down the one Bond film that I did not yet own. It's an older one, but one I have been unable to find in at least 4 years of searching. I know own 20 out of 20 "007" films on VHS and DVD, and have the 21st in theatres.

On the 29th a bunch of us who hang out together got together and Mr. and Mrs. Decker's house (aka Michael and Lindsay's) for a few hours. We watched the fireplace channel, discussed hockey, and just had a good time. Myrtle, one of the Australians that I went to school with joined us. She had arrived in Calgary on the bus from William's Lake, BC earlier that day. She was staying with Alicia for a bit before heading back to Australia.

On the 30th I had an eye exam and got new glasses. I had been wearing the same glasses since 2001. Last time I had an exam (in 2004 I think) my prescription had changed so little that I decided that instead of getting new glasses I'd get prescription sunglasses. Unfortunately the finish on the lenses has been pealing for a while now and it has been very irritating. But now I had nice new glasses!! After that I met Myrtle and Alicia for lunch, and then we went to the Museum of the Regiments. We had supper at Peter's Drive-In. After we finished supper Alicia couldn't get her parents' van started and we ended up having to get a boost from a nearby man. Very kind of him to help us with that.

Sunday dinner on the 31st we had a full table. Here's a picture (taken by my father):

Pictured are (going clockwise, starting on the left): my Mom, Myrtle, me, Kyla, Amanda (Phil's girlfriend), Phil (my brother), my Grandma W.

New Year's Eve was spent at Glenmore. Michael, Linds, Kyla and I were the "old" people. At least that's how we felt standing in the kitchen drinking hot drinks away from the noise in the other room. We had a good time though. We took some of the kids skating downtown Calgary at Olympic Plaza. We also played volleyball, "terminator" and watched some movies. Linds made waffles and Michael made sausages for breakfast. The waffles were great, but my stomach couldn't handle anything that morning.

I slept most of New Year's Day. Our family went to the Russell New Year's dinner that evening. The food was great as usual and a few of us had a good time playing Scattegories for a while.

Then it was off to the airport at 5:50am on January 2. My flight left Calgary at 6:50am, and after a stop in Red Deer and a delay in Edmonton I was back in Peace River by 10:30am.

I was back to work January 3rd to start cleaning up from Christmas. Now it's time to move forward with some other projects that have been on hold over Christmas. Two big ongoing projects plus planning and fundraising for a couple of things in July. Oh, and a volunteer appreciation gig to plan. Lots to do still, but definately a slower pace...I'm not sure if I'm glad about that or not...