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.

This weekend we popped down to Lethbridge for a whirlwind visit with my dad and Susan. They were in LA (Lethbridge, Alberta not to be confused with Los Angeles) visiting their good friends Cathy and Albert. We were joined with Jane and Ray, visiting them from Brooks. The 8 of us went golfing at a cute little par 3, Bridge Valley. Jeff and I golfed with my dad and Susan and I think we all learned a lot:

-I learned that chipping is the biggest flaw in my game. I’m a powerhouse.
-Susan learned a ton since she’s an amazing listener and is a sponge when it comes to golf. I could see her game improving right in front of my eyes as we played.
-My dad learned that he shouldn’t try to compete with someone 25 years younger than him.
-Jeff learned that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and he’s pretty sure what side of the family my competitive nature comes from. Jeff put on a golfing clinic and blew us all out of the water (although I will say he got off to a slow start and was losing to my dad at one point.)

We all went for lunch at the Paradise Canyon clubhouse (a very nice course, and we pretended that we golfed there) and then over to Cathy’s daughter’s place for a quick visit. It was great to finally meet Kristy and her partner Scott as I’ve heard so much about Christy over the years and how similar we are. They have a gorgeous new showhome in LA and are expecting in the fall – Congrats!

Then, off to Cathy and Albert’s to sit in the backyard and enjoy the gorgeous weather that apparently LA gets and we don’t. Here’s a pic from their lovely yard:

In the backyard at Cathy & Albert's

The train

Susan & Lindsay at Bridge Valley

Thanks for the fabulous day!

Went to see the Killers concert two Sundays ago in Calgary. They were fantastic and I recommend seeing them if you get the chance. I forced Jeff into going with me since we were getting off a plane from Vancouver and had to bust down to the Saddledome after landing. It would have been way more complicated to bring someone else so he came along against his will. He ended up really liking the show and was so glad he came. Our seats were super crappy but it was funny since we were 7 seats away from Mauri and 17 seats away from Scott…what are the chances with 11, 000 people in the Saddledome that we would all be in the same row? The sound in the Saddledome was brutal at the start but got better as it went on. How unfortunate since they were bang on with pitch and the only reason it wasn’t perfect was the acoustics. It was an all ages show and it’s interesting to see how the times have changed. On the slow songs all the young ones pull out their cell phones and wave them around. Cellphones, the new lighter.

In other news, life is slowly returning to normal. Funding proposal at work got submitted on time (with an hour to spare even!). Now I’m just playing catch up from all the work that got tossed by the weigh-side for the last two weeks (at work and at home). How convenient that a) our dishwasher decided to break b) inlaws are coming for the weekend and I can’t really see the spare bed because of the laundry. I guess they should just be lucky that we haven’t had to resort to piling dishes up in their room yet. Yet….. c) I don’t give a crap about all the stuff I have to do. I’m taking Friday afternoon off to go golfing!!!

Jeff and I got a golf gift certificate to a really nice course in Kananaskis for our wedding and plan to use it this summer now that we have all this spare time not spent playing ultimate. We are booked for August 14th so we have till then to get decent (by we, I mean me). We got out golfing last weekend at Highland Park (really cheap – $12 but you get what you pay for…greens? I’ve played on smoother ultimate fields) and my ball was drawn to every fairway but the one I should be using. We’re off to Cochrane this week to give it another shot, literally. Might as well get out and enjoy the spring rates!

The answer is 714 or 59.5 dozen eggs (or namatamago, as they say in Japanese since Japanese words will probably be all over this blog for the next month and you can learn along with us)!!!

Thanks to everyone who guessed. There was something wrong with the blog and a couple of people had to submit their guesses verbally.

Jeff was the closest at 62 dozen, but he had the advantage of seeing the stacks of cartons. Heather was a close second at 74 dozen. My dad guessed 1836 eggs, but he’s seen how much Jeff and I eat and I can understand fully how he came up with this number!

How did this all come about? Well, we have been saving all of our recyclable plastics since we moved in October 17, 2005. This includes anything from shampoo bottles and yogurt containers to plastic egg cartons. It is because you are unable to recycle plastics in Calgary, so we are saving them for the day that we can (I feel way too bad throwing them in the garbage). Curbside recycling has been in the works for years, but now they are saying 2009 or 2010. I won’t go on a rant here since I’m pretty sure I’ve ranted about it in an earlier blog.

We had once given a bunch of recycling to a friend whose apartment complex pays extra to ship their plastics up to Edmonton to be recycled and we also gave a bunch to Larry and Brenda to take to BC as our garage was getting pretty full. I apologize to those who made educated guesses since Jeff pointed out that we recycled a few egg containers at the apartment so the number is not completely accurate.

Powell came over last weekend before heading to Golden and said “wow, you guys really like eggs”…which is what inspired this random factoid. It’s true, we really do like eggs, especially poached. 3 on 2 is the best! 3 poached eggs on 2 pieces of toast. Brilliant!

In other news, we’re off to Fernie this weekend and pretty pumped for a bit of biking and a lot of relaxing.

Jeff went golfing tonight and shot 94 at Shaganappi, which is pretty decent since (unlike his retired dad), it was Jeff’s first time out this season. Just in the knick of time as golf season is dwindling down. I have been too busy at work lately to get out golfing, but I plan to go at least once before it snows.