Has been ages since my last post. That is probably a good thing and means we’ve been busy.

Got out for a round of real (ball) golf on Canada day. Weather cooperated, which was nice since the greens sure weren’t. The good news is that thanks to some really great chipping lessons and tips, and a night of practicing chipping at the park, my chipping game is really coming along. I think eating lots of chips has also helped

The Monday after Canada day, we took off up to Edmonton to see Green Day. **spoiler alert**.The Green day concert was absolutely wicked. They play for 2 hrs and 15 minutes and I loved every minute of it and was sad when it was over. Billie Joe was so full energy spraying the crowd with water, faking orgasms, bringing people up on stage to sing-you can read the full review of the Vancouver show (same as Edmonton) here. Not sure if it was the acoustics or the band or both, but their pitch was spot the entire show of singing and screaming. They started by playing their entire new album, 21st Century Breakdown. We bought that album a while back and I just couldn’t get into it. Then I saw it live and loved it! Actually, I’m listening to it right now. After playing the whole album they went old school and played songs from Dookie and Good Riddance. As with Offspring, I expected them to be out of their prime and I was so wrong. I’d say that they are completely in their prime and if you get the chance to see them on this tour you should definitely go . I’m so glad we went with the floor tickets. Jeff and I are venturing to say that was one of our favorite concerts ever. Edmonton is a bit of a dive downtown but we stayed at the Westin (which nice and we used Hotwire for the first time), caught dinner at a pub before the show and then spent the next day at West Edmonton mall.

Upon our return from Edmonton we were in full swing of Stampede here in Calgary. Managed to catch a few pancake breakfasts (probably an unhealthy amount), take in our favorite event of Cattle penning, saw sheep herding for the first time,  and took in the chuckwagon races and grandstand show. They were advertising an “all new” grandstand show this year and I’d agree that it was new and way better than past years. They have cut down the amount the singing and dancing from the Young Canadians and have added an edgy comedian and way more action. It’s more like a cirque de soleil now instead of a bad Vegas musical. And they definitely did not cheap out on the fireworks this year. As I was watching them I was wishing I had an extra eye  like the Simpson’s fish.

Last night we went to see the Theatre Calgary play “The Christmas Carol” with Mary Ann and Robert. It was great to get some culture, catch up and get into the Christmas spirit all at once. We even knew one of the cast members, Dave Trimble, who plays ultimate. The acting great and the set was amazing. I’m a super fan of fireworks and they had a few going off. If you are wondering how Scrooge and fireworks go together, you should check it out.

Played some squash today. Our last two squash clubs have been marathon 2 hour sessions. Super fun times and a great workout. Makes justifying the bag of chips I ate during Grey Cup today easier (yeah Stamps!). The weekly lessons from Jeff have really worked to improve my game lately. I’ve changed my grip, improved my backhand and learned about positioning. I’ve tried to focus on one thing a session, but lately I feel that I have too many things going through my head at once. I guess it’s great that I have so many things to work on. I feel bad that I can never return the favor to Jeff as he’s much more advanced than I . However, this week we got Duncan and Robert out, who were able to give Jeff a few great tips. Should make beating him even more difficult…

Also this week I came across this article on CBC. Calgary will begin charging $3 a day to park to take the C-train (park and ride). This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while. There are so few people that take the train already, and this will just create more traffic on the roads. Also, it is $75 per month just to take the train but now for one person it will cost about another $75 per month to park. That will double people’s commute.

I think the city should start monitoring the train instead. In the 6.5 years that I’ve lived here, I’ve been checked only once on the train for my fare, yet I’ve always paid. However, I know people who have been taking the train for longer than that every day who have never paid..and why would they? Nobody ever checks anyways. All other cities have a turnstile or something to prevent you from not paying. If you monitored for even a little while, people would believe they could be caught and would therefore start paying. I think I’ve been checked on the train for a ticket as often as I’ve been through a check stop – once. Brutal.