Category: Life

Chrystina and I went to Waterton for the day. It was great. We had a picnic, went on a hike, got up close with a bear, found some fascinating caterpillars, ate delicious ice cream, and checked out some monstrous wind turbines on the way home. Got lots of nice photos. And videos too! Continue reading Waterton Windmill Weekend

 

 

Shadow passed away last night at the age of 13.5. She really was a great friend. She was incredibly energetic, always showing off her toys, always looking to play a game. Whether the game be catch, or tug of war, or simply trying to avoid being fooled… “Who’s here!? Go see!”… she always loved to play. And yet she was so caring and emotional. If I were upset, she’d come nestle her head under my arms looking for a smile. When I came home from a semester of university, she’d ignore me for a few hours as her way of saying “Why the hell were you gone so long?”  My family has a lot of great memories with Shadow and all of her funny quirks. One of my favorite memories with her was going down to the river bottom.

Shadow’s all-time favorite place to go was the river. It was her Disney Land.

 

Her favorite thing to do at the river was play fetch with rocks. You could tell she considered herself a pro. She’d eagerly await a pebble thrown her way from the shore so she could show off her skills.

 

The pebble was too small for her to see sometimes, but once she heard the sploosh as it struck the water, she’d take off for it, sloshing through the knee-deep water.

 

Arriving at the drop zone, she’d start feeling around for the right rock. Sometimes it would take her several minutes as she sorted through all the rocks with her little paws, but she knew exactly what she was looking for.

 

Once she found it, she’d drop her head in for a final visual inspection and retrieval.

 

And then she’d erupt with the biggest boulder her mouth could possibly fit.

 

She’d carry it around for three or four paces just to show how awesome she is, then plunk it back into the water. It was very important to her that you immediately threw another rock for her to find, otherwise she would freak out. “THROW A ROCK I CAN’T WAIT ALL DAY.” (She took lessons from my dad.)

 

Pebble after pebble, she’d pull up the biggest rocks she could find.

 

Because little rocks are for sissies.

 

And Shadow was awesome.

 

 

 

But really, she just loved playing in the river.

 

When it was time to go, she’d downright refuse to get out until we were practically driving away.

 

Eventually she’d force herself to come out.

 

And as we drove away in the truck she looked incredibly sad.

 

But I know she had great memories of the river. And great memories of her life. I’ll always have great memories of you, Shadow.

 

I was in Las Vegas last week with my dad and sister. My dad took me there as part of a graduation present for completing my Electrical Engineering undergrad degree this April. We had a ton of fun. Seen a lot of things. Bought a lot of stuff.

Monday – May 1
Arrived in Vegas. Went to The Strip. Seen Mystère, a Cirque du Soleil show at the Treasure Island Hotel. As expected, that was incredible. Did not understand the story at all.

Tuesday – May 2
Went shopping at the South Las Vegas Premium Outlet Mall – my dad bought me a suit from Van Heusen and I bought some new golf attire from the Nike store. Ate at the largest buffet in Vegas (which was in the Rio). Went to Penn and Teller illusion/comedy show – both my dad and I were called on stage on separate occasions! After the show, my sister and I went up to the Voodoo rooftop nightclub on the 51st floor of the Rio; coincidentally there was a huge group of Albertan’s there.

Wednesday – May 3
Went on an all day bus tour to the Grand Canyon. Our bus driver, Mike, made the 3.5 hour drive to the canyon a blast; he was hilarious the whole way. Checked out Hoover Dam. Went on the Skywalk. The Grand Canyon was amazing. The Skywalk, however, was just silly. I heard it was a 4000 ft vertical drop through the glass – turns out it’s between 500 to 800 ft. Felt like 50 with the glass as scratched as it was. Got back and went to the Strip again; can’t understate how incredibly massive and glamorous it is. I don’t normally like drinking, but I had a Havana and Banana colada from Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and that thing was tasty.

 

Thursday – May 4
Went shopping at the same outlet mall again – my dad bought a suit for himself. Later at night we went to Freemont street. It’s kinda neat with the roof being a gigantic screen. I put $20 into a slot machine and lost it. Felt bad. Watched my dad win in Blackjack. Felt good.

Friday – May 5
Went shopping at the North Las Vegas Premium Outlet Mall. It was all outdoors – a very cool place actually. I ended up buying more golf apparel. Went to the Strip again. Afterwords my sister and I went to Absinthe, a small show at Caesars Palace. It was hysterically vulgar and featured impressive acrobatics. We got bumped up to front row seats which was awesome – one of the actresses gave me a little more than I was expecting…
Saturday – May 6
Started the long 18 hour drive back home. Got home on Sunday. What a great week.