Gustav

If you watch any newscast or CNN, you know that Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the US Gulf Coast as I type this. It was a category 4 hurricane yesterday, with the potential to reach category 5 status. Fortunately it has weakened, and is only classified as a category 3 right now. New Orleans has been evacuated, and unlike with Katrina, this time most people left with enough time to get to safer ground. Hopefully even if there is flooding, wind and water damage, there won`t be such an extreme loss of life.

The scary thing (for me) is that I have a very good friend that lives in Central Louisana. Typically the folks from New Orleans evacuate to her location, but even they`re on high alert, and expecting around 45 inches of rain and winds up to 75 miles per hour. Hopefully there will be no tornadoes that develop as a result of the current weather. I worry about her and her family, even though they`ve lived through many hurricanes. You just never know when one will be too much.

My other concern is that I`m supposed to be traveling to Houston for work on Tuesday. Now, even if Houston does get some of the Gustav weather, it`s right on the western band of the storm, so it shouldn`t be nearly as severe. But it still makes me nervous to think of being down there with that horrendous weather. I`m reassured by the fact that Air Canada is very unlikely to fly into dangerous weather.

Pray for those in the path of Gustav (and Hurrican Hanna, predicted to hit the East coast - FL, SC, etc - in a few days).

Godspeed

Today I got the news that a friend of mine lost his battle with cancer. I knew he was sick and had heard that he was in hospice care, but somehow the news was still surprising to me. I think maybe it was because I had just come back to my office from lunch, and was in a completely different frame of mind. In any case, I'm thankful that his family notified his friends. It was a caring gesture.

I can't make it to the memorial party. Yes, they're having a party and not a service. It's definitely what he would have wanted. The drive is just too long, and with heading out of town for work on Tuesday, the timing is the pits. So this blog entry is my way of wishing him Godspeed. I'm glad that he's not suffering, and I know he's in a better place. But saying goodbye still sucks, no matter how a person looks at it (well, it sucks for me, anyhow).

Kevin, I wish you Godspeed. You are in the hands of angels. You will never be forgotten, and I will always smile when I think of our visits and conversations. Nobody has a better sense of humour than you had! Take care of those of us that are left down here.

Good Read

Well, I just "discovered" a new writer, and had to share. I have been hearing about the "Twilight" books for ages (author is Stephanie Meyer), so my best friend took the plunge for me and bought me the first book in the series. I have to preface this by saying that I don't traditionally appreciate the paranormal, and so I tend not to read those kinds of books. But so many people whose opinions I respect have raved about these books, so I held back disbelief and plunged in.

Wow! What a great book "Twilight" is! Granted, it's geared towards teenagers, so you have that social element, but otherwise it is very enjoyable. The story is good, and I actually got involved enough in it that I didn't have to suspend disbelief for long - just for the first chapter or two. I have since picked up the second book, and am trying to find the third one in trade paperback as well. I can't wait to read on!

Busy Weekend

I normally do more blog writing on weekends than during the week, but this weekend was an exception. It was busy! One of the things that I like do it in my spare time (you know, the stuff we all have oodles of LOL) is volunteer work. One of my passions is animal rescue - so locally I do as much as I can for the SPCA. In the late winter I was helping sort bottles (which can be returned for a refund in Alberta), so I decided that I would get back to that. I did some sorting on Friday night, and more on Saturday afternoon. It's actually fairly enjoyable, because I go with a good friend of mine, and we chat as we sort. It's also a good workout. You have no idea how stiff and sore you can get from hauling around cases of beer and big boxes of glass bottles!

I also managed to get some grooming in this weekend. Jack-Jack and Grace are entered in a show the weekend of Sept 13th, so I wanted to do some preparatory grooming. Saturday I spent a couple of hours with Jack-Jack, and then on Sunday I spent some time on Grace. Both of them look fabulous and ready to take on the world now!

Other than that I spent some more time moving stuff from my old laptop to my new one. I'm still getting used to Vista, but otherwise the transition is going well. I'm happy with my new PaintShop Pro X2 software and VERY happy to have been able to install FrontPage again.

Hope your weekend was enjoyable and productive :)

One Hundred Pushups

Now, those of you that know me know that I am not an athlete. In fact, nine times out of then, the word exercise has me shaking with fear. So I kind of surprised myself when I visited a website called "One Hundred Pushups" and was considering taking the challenge! But the website makes it sound so easy. Of course, there are always the multitude of benefits of exercise that make it attractive too.



The site is - http://hundredpushups.com/ - take a look and see for yourself. The folks (or folk, maybe) that came up with the idea are pretty smart. They took something that sounds impossible to most average people, and made it attainable. Heck, they even made it sound almost easy. I haven't fully committed to trying it yet, but to be honest with you, I can't really see the downside. Worst case scenario - I fail. At least I will have tried. Will you?

101 Things

So, a good friend of mine told me about this list that her friend had made - 101 things to do in 1001 days. I really liked the idea, so I decided to do my own list, with a start date of September 1, 2008. The list is broken into sections, like Learning, Randomness, Adult-Like, Beauty/Vanity, etc. I'm not going to post my list, because some of it is more personal than I want to post . . . I just wanted to give you something to think about, and maybe consider doing for yourself.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Thankful Thursday

It's been a long, long time since I've done one of these posts. And honestly, I've exhausted most of the major things I'm thankful for. Family, friends, my health, etc. You know - all the things that most people are thankful for. I can only write about that stuff so many times before you guys fall asleep. I don't want you falling asleep, or who will read my blog and make me feel loved? LOL It's all about the ulterior motive folks!

So this week I am thankful that Hasbro made a version of Scrabble for Facebook, since Scrabulous was taken down due to copyright violation. I was so sad at the thought of losing Scrabulous, and by the time I got home from vacation, the Scrabble Beta version was already in place. It's not without its bugs, but I'm happy nonetheless. Simple pleasures for simple minds, right?

More Flowers

The two above were taken in the gardens at the Calgary Zoo

The two above were taken at the Calgary Zoo, in the hothouses

This is the flower on a pepper plant of my mom's

My "specialty"

Since I bought my Canon Rebel XTi, I have been playing with taking pictures. I think I've taken around 2500 pictures in the last 6 months, and it hasn't really worn off yet. With all of my experimentation, I have discovered my "specialty" so to speak. Flowers. I have gotten some phenomenal flower photos, and wanted to share.

These are some of the roses that we bought my Grandma for her 50th Wedding Anniversary (we were in charge of flowers . . . )









I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do . . . I'm off to do more experimenting!

Adventures in Kelly-Land

I'm sure those of you that read my blog with any regularity have noticed that I've been absent. I wasn't purposely ignoring my adoring fans (okay, I might be delusional, but let me enjoy it please!), I was on vacation. My bestest friend in the whole wide world (one of them, anyhow) came out west for a visit, so I took some time off work to play chauffeur. We started in Calgary, had a day trip to Banff, saw the Calgary zoo, and then puttered to Edmonton. In Edmonton we went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the Telus World of Science (VERY cool!), saw Spamalot, and got fancy pedicures. Then we headed up to Peace River with my mom in tow, for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was really good seeing my extended family - I definitely don't get up there often enough. Ange fit in like a glove . . . it was great for everybody to finally meet her.

Then we came home and hung out for a week. We watched a few movies, played some games (Scrabble anyone?), played Wii and just chilled. It was a wonderful 2.5 weeks that went by far too quickly. Ange has gone home now, and my life is back into its regular schedule. Work, home, work, home . . . well, you get the idea.

Hope you weren't in too much withdrawal ;)

I did it!

Last night I did something that I almost NEVER do (and those of you that know me well know that this is true) - I made supper! My mom had taken a pork tenderloin out for supper, and then discovered that she had to work late, so she suggested that I cook it. I HATE cooking, and am not very good, so I was nervous. But I found a recipe online, and it turned out awesome! I cut the tenderloin into medallions, browned them in the pan with mushrooms and onions, and then put them in the oven for an hour with a mushroom soup sauce. It turned out really tasty! I made rice as a side dish.

It sounds stupid, I know, but it's a big deal for me to make a whole meal and have it turn out AND nobody got sick LOL