Wired Al

Little Matthew

This is my new little nephew... Matthew - Born Sept 1, 2006 - Cute!

Rain

Yes -- as the snow has begun to fall in AB the rain has started to fall here in Vancouver.

We are on the brink of the rainy season... and you know what?!?!?!

I'M GOING TO LOVE IT!!! I was made for this climate. I love rain... I'm going to write a song about rain...

here is a picture to express how I feel about the rain:

Life in the 80's

You Know You Grew Up In The 80's if:

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.

2. You watched the Pound Puppies.

3. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton

4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.

5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.

6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.

7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom

8. Two words: Hammer Pants

9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"

10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect

11. You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales" (Woo ooh!)

12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

14. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen and still know the turtles names.

15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

17. You played the game "MASH"(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.

19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?

20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. (She's Truly Outrageous.)

21. You remember reading Tales of a fourth grade nothing and all The Ramona books.

22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"

23. You wanted to be a Goonie.

24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe)

25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.

26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

27. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pail kids in the schoolyard.

28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.

29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.

30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.

31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.

32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.

33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.

35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"

36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"

37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.

39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.

40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.

41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.

42. You remember Popples.

43. Don't worry, be happy

44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.

45. You wore socks scrunched down

46. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

47. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.

48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"

49 You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales

50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.

51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB"

53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class.

54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

55. You just sang those words to yourself.

56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.

57. Homemade Levi shorts..

58. You remember when mullets were cool!

59. You had a mullet!

60. You still sing "We are the World"

61. You tight rolled your jeans.

62. You owned a bannana clip.

63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"

64. You used to (and probably still do)
say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"

65 You had big hair and you knew how to use it.

66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!

Life in a Cubical

More on SHARKS...

So many of you who have been reading my blog from the beginning of time have followed along in my journey and stories of my fear of sharks... (along with snakes and rats)

My roommate, Jan, brought to my attention a link to a video that was on one of our other friends blogs - (Nathan (aka Homie Bear)

Click on this link to see why octopus have now been added to my list of "reasons not to swim in the ocean"... OCTOPUS AND SHARKS

oh my....

Gone to the USA

Went to the USA today. It was my first official - drive - across the boarder. I have flown to the US many times, but never had the experience of driving. It was everything I expected... well, actually it wasn't. First it was 1.5 hours of waiting in a long line of cars.. crawling slowly towards the green arrowed lane. Then some guy asked us why we were going and for ID. My friend only had a drivers and no other ID - he said he'd let us in, but not sure if she'd be allowed back into Canada... WHAT?!??! But there were no dogs sniffing our belongings... no guns... no mirrors looking under our car... nothing really except a hard nosed guy in a uniform trying to scare us.



Once across we drove to Bellingham - it's the outlet heaven of Washington - or so we were told. Well.... we found an outlet store place - but it wasn't anything special - found out later it was the
wrong one.
Fueled up for $30 - that felt good since it usually costs me $40+!!!

NOTE: Dairy Queen's in the US don't carry Skor Blizzards

Found some US Only stores - JC Penny's and Target... had some fun there. Bought a blow dryer. Had supper at some American sports bar - the Mac Daddy - is what we ate.

NONE of the stores or restaurants accept "INTERACT" soooo weird... must have cash or credit card. 6 hours later we headed back for home. Got across the boarder in about 2 minutes... no questions... not even to look at our ID... we must look innocent.

All in all it was a fun little outing... BUT I know for sure - I have no desire to move to the USA! I'm a Canadian girl -- ALL THE WAY!!!

The Best Nite of My Life

Last nite will be one that I will remember forever.

It was like the "rite of passage" from my 20's to my 30's.

My friend Ariana and I drove out to White Rock at 9 p.m. last nite. We sat on a log on the beach and chatted and enjoyed a beverage.
Then I saw my very first RAT!

Yes, now I have seen a real snake and real rat... I did okay - mostly...

The tide was going out and there was much sand being exposed... it was totally dark except for the full moon... the moon beams shimmering off the sand and water... we had to go and walk on it.

Well.... we did more than that - we just went for it and swam - with our cloths on.
I wasn't even afraid of the sharks... I was laughing too hard at the idea that we were swimming in the ocean in the middle of the nite with our cloths on.

Then it was time to go home. We were drenched.
SOOOOOOOOOO we stripped off our cloths, got in the car, and hung our wet cloths out the window; Wet jeans flapping in the wind as we raced down the highway. What a site.

What a nite!

I am turning 30 in 3 months yesterday - it felt like last nite was one of those - had to do so I didn't feel so down about getting "old"!

Next time we decided that we are going to bring a rubber dingy and perhaps a bathing suite (or maybe just skinny dip! hee hee)

FEAR

As many of you may recall I have shared with you some fears that have come to the surface in light of my move here to Vancouver.

Fear of Sharks
Fear of Rats
Fear of Snakes

WELL.......... I think I may be on my way to conquering the fear of Sharks... I swam half way across Alice Lake... I had to concentrate on not thinking about the creatures under the glassy surface. I got half way across and had to turn back b/c I was starting to sink - like a rock.
(Yes, I failed Red 3 times b/c I couldn't get that front crawl mastered)

I did well... I was able to swim without freaking out about fish, sharks, seals, octopus etc... That's because I was freaking out about DROWNING!

I need to get into shape. Next summer I'll swim across the entire lake!!

We'll see how it goes when I graduate from the lake to the ocean :)

The City Where (Written By: Mike Sommerville)

THE CITY WHERE
Written by: Mike Sommerville

Toronto: The city where the right lane (ie for slow people) is used as a passing lane.

Edmonton: The city where a lone vehicle on an empty road will stop for a pedestrian waiting to cross.

Vancouver: The city where you get the finger for not driving dangerously fast.

Mexico City: The city where traffic lanes mean absolutely nothing.