GlobalFest Fireworks Finale

We went to the fireworks finale last night and it was awesome as always. This is the 6th year in a row that I went with my friends John & Sheila. I convinced mom & dad to come and I THINK they had fun.

We had dinner first at the Olive Garden which was nice. Dad & Sheila made arrangements for Dad to teach Sheila how to make perogies. So on September 7th, I'll be posting some pictures of the Chef and his protege - keep a watch for this!

We were at the park early this year (before the place opened) and had to stand in line at the gate. Ok stand in a crowd of people who didn't follow the "line". People are so rude. We caught the bus from the Marlborough Mall parking lot down. This is WAY easier than trying to park near Ellison Park where the fireworks are. Plus you don't have to deal with other idiot drivers and pedestrians walking this way and that.

We sat in our usual place on the North side of the lake. This is the best spot as previous years when the wind comes up, it blows East and the people there have to see through the smoke. Same with the people on the south side.

I have to remember for next year to bring a blanket as it got cold. The day was beautiful but I forgot that we are right beside the lake and it gets colder than if the lake wasn't there. Dad only brought a light jacket and I know he froze but he wouldn't admit it and wouldn't take my sweater - knucklehead.

We had a good time chatting until the fireworks started. Dad teased everyone by asking them if they wanted some hot chocolate out of his thermos, mom was bugging John about peeing in a bottle because the line to the port-o-potties was long and I seemed to have been the "security and information booth" at the same time.

On the bus ride to the park, this weird lady sat beside me. She was complaining that she had to pay extra for the bus ride and telling me her life's story. I guess Sheila was behind me just giggling listening to me and this lady. Mom & dad were across from me and were laughing at poor Sheila.

While sitting at the park, the family beside us asked me to look after their chairs and blanket as they wanted to go look at the various tents and to get some food. Later after they had come back they were going back to the tents and then asked me when the show started. I just gave them a time but I really didn't have a clue when the fireworks started. Luckily I had a good guess as they came back just as the fireworks started.

I was also asked by a Japanese couple to watch their chairs as well. The man came back and got the chairs as they were moving.

All in all it was a good time and I really loved the fireworks.

Jury Duty!

I have been all excited today as tomorrow is Jury Duty day! Woo hoo!! With my summons I received a notification to call a certain number after 2 pm for instructions. I waited all day for this time to come. I am going to make sure that I capture this day for both myself and all my loyal fans out there! (that's funny)

At 2:19 pm I called the number and listened to the recording. Tears almost started running down my cheeks when the recording indicated that the Jury selection has been cancelled for tomorrow and there will be no rescheduling. IF they need my services again I will be re-summoned. I'm heart broken. There goes my chance to see in person and experience a trial, being selected, something! Gone, brushed aside like bread crumbs on a dirty counter.

I'm very disappointed in the legal system and its process. Here I am ready to do my civic duty when most people are trying to get out of it and they cancel it on me. NOT FAIR

So this is my theory as to why it was cancelled...... The people on both sides and the legal system saw my last name and because of the huge scandal with the Ryan Jenkins they decided to call it all off.

I think I should be able to sue Ryan Jenkins (or his estate? his family?) for causing me grief and heartbreak of not going to court. I'll settle for a break and enter case, drunk driving, anything!!????!

On the Ryan Jenkins front... before he hung himself Dad got a call from MacLean's magazine asking him if he was related in any way. They also got a call asking if an Elena was here. Wow, freaky.

Poor Rod got a call from a local radio company wanting to do an interview as they said they had a hot tip that Rod was Ryan's brother. Geesh give it a rest people. This was also before the guy was found.

So that is my sad story for this week. I was so excited all week just to be let down.

I did get tickets for the GlobalFest Fireworks Finale on Saturday evening but I think I need more than that to cheer me up. Sigh....

PS..... We had a relative pass on this week - Donna (Sedonia) Fedorus. I don't think I ever met her but my sympathies go out to all.

WorldSkills & my job

I have had a request to explain what the heck the WorldSkills is and what my job is so here goes....

The WorldSkills is a competition like the Olympics but for "skills". For example, some of the skills are Plumbing, Fashion Design, Cooking, Carpentry and so on. The skills are to get people (mainly young students still in high school) to think of other careers besides going to just University. They are not putting down the University choice, but some people just aren't suited for that route. This gives students a chance to see what other options are out there.

The WorldSkills competition is for students currently in technical colleges from around the world. There will be students competing from Australia, Malaysia, UK, Germany, etc.... The events are free to the public so anyone can go down and watch whichever event they like.

One event I personally want to see is the Mechatronics. They build robots and will be building teams to play hockey against each other. Sounds very interesting.

If you are interested you can go to their website for a better explanation. It can be found by clicking on WorldSkills2009.

Now for my job. The company I work for was contracted by the City of Calgary (one of the sponsors of the WorldSkills) to provide 18 technicians per day to install computer hardware, printers, cabling, etc. So after interviewing and hiring 27 staff for this we have been down setting up the Stampede grounds for this huge event.

For people who have been to the Stampede, they will know how big the grounds are. Well just imagine the whole park (plus the new buildings) being used. On the grounds they have put up huge tents (some the largest in the world). Every square inch of the grounds will be used for this competition.

Some of what we have to setup are:
- 850 PCs
- 120 laptops
- 40 printers
- 10 plotters
- lay 43 kms network cables

So my job is to make sure the techs are working and doing a good job. And to follow-up with the WorldSkills people if there are any issues and fixing them. I've had a few issues and am disappointed in one team that is working there but things are relatively going good.

Tomorrow I am spending the whole day down at the Park helping out and watching how the techs work. After the project I have to do reviews for all 27 people so I'm gathering info tomorrow.

I'll be glad when this project is done - September 9th.

I am excited though as Friday is Jury day. I'll keep you all posted!

Needing to find things to do at work

I need to find things to keep me busy and especially make me LOOK busy while at work. I am again in the situation where I have nothing to do. I’m surfing the ‘net but am only going to shopping sites so that could be VERY dangerous. I am also playing Spider Solitaire and it is getting boring.

Today at 9 am I was going out of my tree. I did nothing but start playing solitaire and was completely bored by 9. I would normally ask for things to do but no one is really busy and I don’t want to give them a reason to get rid of me. I’ve also been told by my boss to make sure that I always look busy, so you know they have reviewed my position and don’t deem it useful.

I’m also in a very high traffic location and people are walking by my desk all the time. I do have my back against the wall so people can’t see what I’m working on, but if they come around either corner they can get a glimpse of what’s up. I also have an extra monitor on my desk so can jump between the laptop and second monitor screens. This helps out a bit.

I do have some old paperwork at my desk that I constantly move around and pretend to look at. I’m a clean freak so every night before I leave I ensure nothing is left on my desk. So during the day I look busy with all this paperwork strewn around my desk. That I’ve mastered. It is the “keeping myself from going nuts” that I’m having problems with.

I haven’t even received one email today. How sad!

Grand Opening

Well Mom, Sheila, her daughter Jaime & I went to the Grand Opening today of the new outlet mall in Balzac. We went straight after work and got there around 5:30 pm. We shopped, had some food and were done around 9 pm. We had a good time looking at things and bought just a few items. Most of what we bought was from Body & Bath Works. They have the best lotion and soap there.

This type of mall is something new to Calgary and we'll see how long it lasts. The place was packed all day long and when we got there it was still busy. We were lucky and got rock star parking - very close to the door.

The interior is quite interesting and I took a picture of the huge fire pit they have at one of the entrances.

I also got a picture of my mom groping a huge bear! See the proof below.

To be honest I think that is the first and last time I'll go to the mall. Most of the stores are very high end and I would never shop there. Plus with Chinook opening another 200 stores in the next year, there is no reason for me to drive to the other side of the city.

We all had a good time and it was an enjoyable evening.

Bubble Wrap Suit

Well it appears I need to purchase the following suit...

Last night was volleyball practice and guess what! Yes I hurt myself. I went for a ball and the ball hit my hand and bent it back. I pulled or strained something and it hurt like the dickens. It started to swell so I had to call it quits. Luckily there was only three of us at practice so it was no real loss.

I went home and put ice on it. Sleeping was a little fun as it was really sore but I slept with ice and it wrapped, so I was able to get a few winks. Advil and ice will be my friend for the next few days.

So let’s recap my injuries so far this year:

1. Slipped on ice in February. Started 7 weeks of physiotherapy for tearing my MCL in my right knee.

2. Slipped on stairs on July 8th. Off work for 3 weeks with concussion and sore back

3. Hurt my right wrist practicing volleyball on August 18th.

They say things happen in 3s so that should be it!

Mom says that I try to hard, that is why I got injured. I just say I’m a clutz!

BIG Work Project ready to start

I’ve been working on a BIG project since June 25th and it is ready to come to fruition. The project officially starts tomorrow. This is the biggest project I’ve worked on so far since starting my new job in December 2008.

I’ve had to come up with a number of staff required for this, their schedule, do the interviews and a project cost vs. revenue.

The project requires 27 technicians that I had to break up into 3 teams working for 13 – 9 hour days. It took me almost a month to get the schedule right but it is done and I can’t wait to have this project start.

Tomorrow morning I am going down to the Stampede Park for 7 am. That is when the first shift is starting and I want to make sure everything is running smoothly.

So until September 5th, I’ll be at the Stampede Park almost every day checking on things.

Seems my August is going to be busy. Besides watching this large project, I am also playing on the company volleyball team for the Calgary Corporate Challenge. We are practicing every Tuesday evening in August. Our first practice was last week and for being out of shape I didn’t really hurt a lot. My right knee was sore but that was due to my MCL injury I had earlier this year.

I’ve also got a few company events that I have to go to as well. Plus my jury duty on August 28th!

Oh and wrestling…. Since I missed last month’s event I am going to make sure I see this month’s event.

Sandwiches

So we have been watching an Australian drama on DVD this summer called McLeod’s Daughters. It is actually very good and we are hooked on it. Originally we had started watching the series on TV, but were only able to catch it mid-way. We did watch the first few seasons on DVD as Jacki had purchased them.

Since Dad got his library card this year, we decided that we’d start watching the whole series starting from the beginning. I showed Dad how to check the library for availability of the series and he has been very diligent in either getting the DVDs or requesting a hold be put on them so he can pick them up.

We were going great guns for most of the summer when we hit a stumbling block and had to wait over a week for the next DVDs to come back to the library. Amazing how popular this show is.

Currently we are watching season 7 and it is starting to get familiar as these are the shows we have been able to catch on TV. The series on TV begins again in September but I’m sure we’ll have watched the whole series by then. It is too bad that there are only 8 seasons.

So what does this have to do with sandwiches you ask? Well the drama is about a bunch of women who run a huge cattle/sheep farm in Australia and in almost every single episode they are eating sandwiches. Whenever there are sandwiches on TV I can see Dad to start to drool and he gets hungry. It is pretty funny. He’s like Homer Simpson and doughnuts, but with sandwiches.

Mmmmmmmmm, sandwiches.

I’ve been called….

So I received notification the other day that I’ve been called up for Jury Duty. I am so excited! I’ve always wanted to be on a jury to see what it is truly like. You see it on TV but I want to experience it for real.

Will I get picked?
What type of case will I hear?
Will it be high profile!!!?
What juror number will I be?

So on August 28th I have to go down to the Calgary Court Centre early so I can go through security and see what all the fuss is about.

I just checked the internet and you can actually see what court cases are being held.

I'll definitely keep you posted on this!