Happy Birthdays

Well, I'm a day late and a day early, but happy birthday to my brother, Phil, who celebrated his 20th yesterday. And happy birthday to my Grandma Waters, who celebrates another birtday tomorrow!! (I wonder, do people eventually get tired of having birthdays?)

Umm...it's been a while since I posted, and for a good reason...I really don't have anything to type...

Favourite Pictures

One of the wonderful things about being sick is the amount of free time that you have on your hands!! Well, I've been looking through all sorts of pictures on my computer and thought I'd post some of my favourites. Some are sentimental, some are silly and some are...well...disturbing. Anyways, here are pictures that come from various people I know, taken in various places at many different points in time over the past number of years. Hope you enjoy.

Good news...bad news...

Well, the good news is that my shoulder hasn't bothered me for nearly a week now!!

The bad news is that for the past 5 days...today is day number 6...I have been dealing with a stupid cold...I think. No fever (thank goodness), but this cough is horrible. I have trouble sleeping (I haven't slept yet tonight), I can hardly talk, and eating is difficult. I haven't been to work since Monday morning. I am low on engergy and very tired. Not good conditions for getting better...I'm thinking it is time to go to the clinic...okay maybe it was time to do that a couple of days ago...but I'm thinking it is going to happen.

I hate when I get sick. It only happens once or twice a year...but at least once a year I get something really miserable!! It SUCKS!!

Anyways, I've finished browsing blogs and was a bit bored and still hacking so I thought I'd voice...or type...my petty little complaint.

Chocolate Egg Cream

Well, the second half of this week has been sort of on and off. My shoulder has good days and bad ones. Yesterday was pretty bad, so I decided that it would be best if I didn't work this weekend at Boston Pizza, which sucks cause I won't get paid and my boss sounds pretty unhappy with me...hopefully things'll get worked out.


A special word of congrats to my parents, who are celebrating 28 years of marriage today!

To think that it has been 3 years already since their big Hawaiian themed party to mark the big 25!! Of course this year they will actually get to spend a week in Hawaii - somewhere they've drempt of holidaying since they had their honeymoon in a small cabin in the middle of winter.


This week in some browsing around I found a recipe for a New York City drink that intrigued me, so today I decided to attempt it - the Chocolate Egg Cream. Of course I didn't have the "authentic" chocolate sauce or the seltzer cylinder, but it didn't come out too badly. I might have to play with the amounts of milk and club soda that I use, but I will be making it again. If you like trying new things, I'd suggest this one! It's easy and is something of a unique experience to try. Here's what most people online seem to agree is the "authentic" recipe.

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.