Losing faith in humanity

Ok, it's time for me to bitch...I'm losing faith in the general kindness or even civility of humanity. At the beginning of last week (I don't remember the exact day), Dan had his stereo in his Jeep smashed in after some stupid thief couldn't get the stereo out to steal it. Luckily he didn't have anything else of value in the Jeep for the thief to take but still, smashing a stereo right outside of our friggin' door just because you're frustrated because it's welded into the console...come on. That only started the lack of faith, I believed it was an isolated incident. Tonight, sometime while I was playing poker, some idiot stole my extension cord in the parking lot that was plugging my car in. Now it's the heart of winter and one of the coldest nights of the year but come on, stealing an extension cord, that's low and stupid. It wasn't even a very good extension cord (one end had the outer plastic stripped away near the plug part). So I've lost faith in humanity just a little at a time. I understand this is a pretty trivial matter but I'd like to think that things right outside of our apartment are a little safer than that. Guess that might just be the small town boy inside me talking and the optomist that people are generally civil.

It's Freaking Cold

I'm not one to complain about the winter much, I mean I usually handle the Canadian winter (especially in Edmonton) quite well...but even I'll admit that the last couple days were a little too much. My face froze between the bus stop and the 3 min walk home. Even a 20 second walk between buildings at the University made me frozen. Anyway, enough complaints about the weather. All of us have to live with it (well those of us where it is -25 as a HIGH).

So school is back in and it's looking like a relatively easy final semester for me. It's hard to believe this is my last semester of my degree. Time really has flown by. Lucky for me, I have no labs and no programming classes (but more papers) this semester so I have slightly less work than normal. I also managed to dump my night class (more than likely) for another option in the day so I don't have to worry about two three hour breaks on Tuesdays. Things overall are looking up.

Oh, and a couple of belated birthday wishes to Jarett and Adam since I missed talking to them on their birthdays.

Gone Skiing

It's amazing how much I missed the mountains. With my grandparents living in Jasper we came up so often when I was growing up that I took trips to the mountains for granted. Coming back after being away for over a year and a half has given me new appreciation for the beauty here.

Today my mom, dad, and I went skiing to Marmot Basin. After skiing last in the "mountains" in the east (Jay Peak in Vermont and Mount Cascade in Quebec), Marmot seems a much bigger ski area than I thought before. It was good to get back to what I would deem my "home hill". Despite the wind blowing the snow around and fogging problems with my goggles, we had a good day. There is no one at the hill and it was decent snow conditions where the wind didn't blow all the snow off to reveal ice. I found a couple decent jumps on the easy runs and so managed to keep myself occupied while taking some of the easier runs with my parents. I worked some muscles that haven't been worked for a while and I'll probably feel it even more in the morning but it was well worth it.

Nothing like relaxing with a good book and looking out the window at the Canadian Rockies after a day of skiing.

Go Canada Go!

Well, the World Junior Hockey Championships are over for another year, but this year it doesn't leave a bitter taste like the last couple of years...CANADA WON! They dominated the whole tournament and the gold medal game was no different. In some ways I miss the NHL but if I could watch more good junior hockey like this tournament then I think my televised hockey needs would be met.

Now it's off to Jasper for some skiing for a few days before school starts again next Monday. These holidays just flew by (as most do), but besides being sick for Christmas, it's been a good break. Can't wait to get back to the mountains, but I guess I don't really have to since we're leaving bright and early tomorrow.

New Years Resolutions

Ok, so yesterday I forgot to post my resolutions with my expectations, so here they are:
- Lose weight - like almost everyone else, this is an ongoing resolution that rarely gets fullfilled, but I'll set the goal again anyway; I'm more about just losing some of the fat more than the actual poundage
- Play more music - I want to get back into more trumpet playing this year and hopefully find some kind of band to play with as well as continuing to learn guitar
- Keep my living space clean - for those that know how I live, this could actually be the toughest of all; I'm lazy, everyone knows that, so to clean more often could be tough
- Keeping in touch - well, this blog is part of this, but there are still other ways I want to keep in contact with those friends that I don't get to see much anymore
- Get out more - I've had my fair share of Friday/Saturday nights at home; I want to get out and do more things, hopefully this can tie in with getting out to see people more

Well, I'm sure there's more but that's a pretty general outlook at my goals. Criticize them as much as you want, I think most of them are actually achievable. I may re-evaluate that position in a few weeks but for now I remain optomistic. So what are everyone else's resolutions?

Happy New Year

Well it's the beginning of a new year. Instead of reflecting back on the year past like I have been recently, I'm going to look to the year upcoming. What do I expect out of 2005?
- Graduation - after all my life of school, it's going to be weird to be "done"
- Career - coming off of the last point, I'm going to be entering the real world with a real job, and after the taste I had last year on my internship, I can't wait
- Travel - this still has a question mark next to it due to budget constraints and hinges on the career/job thing as well but I hope to make a trip across Canada

Other than that I look forward to more time with my family and friends and more good times like I have enjoyed in 2004. This is a bit of a year of change for me what with graduation and all, but I look forward to entering the "real world" and beginning the rest of my life.