Lying in bed...awake...

Ever have your brain running at full tilt when all you want it to do is shut off? That's been happening a lot lately when I go to bed. I'm tired, or know I need to get up early, so I go to bed at a decent hour (11 or 11:30 is pretty decent for me). Then, my brain starts running through everything going on in my life (and if you've been keeping track, I'm not exactly Mr. Free Time right now). Sometimes it's nice to stop and think about stuff you haven't stopped to think about it a while but the problem is that the brain just won't stop. It's firing on all cylinders at exactly the wrong time. And I'm not getting enough sleep because of it. A couple nights ago, I was up until almost 3:00, wide awake and thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. I tried all my normal tricks (I even tried counting sheep in French but that only got me thinking about French stuff) but nothing worked. If anyone else has this problem or has any ideas on how I can avoid it, please let me know.

On a totally different note, I passed my Bloc II French class at work so I should be starting Bloc III in January. At least now I could communicate major ideas across, albeit in simple sentences and at a ridiculously slow pace most of the time. Now I have to worry about my ski patrol testing which starts with the written tomorrow night. Study time...wish me luck (and hope that I can sleep better).

New Design and New Links!

Well, I finally got around to altering my template some. Of course I only picked a pre-made template again but hey, it's different right. And as Arby's tells us, "different is good" (I watch too many commercials).

So let me know what you think and what I should be adding/changing (even if I should change everything because the design is an eyesore or something). And check out the links on the right side. I just typed in most of them by memory so if some of them don't work, let me know.

Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep now. All these changes are making my head spin.

Jay's site lives again

So as any of you who tried my links section know, the links are not really kept up to date (or ever changed). Good news for me, if I wait long enough (and bug the "webmaster" enough) some of the links fix themselves. Jay has finally rebuilt his website so go check it out. He actually has some good pictures up there, plus he's a funny guy so you know there will be good stuff appearing in the future (as long as he keeps it up).

I'll be changing the structure and look of my blog sometime soon so keep checking back but for now, that's it for me. I'm off to bed.

Busy, busy, busy

I meant to talk about some of the exciting events happening in the video game world (which of course I am usually fully immersed in) but alas, I don't think I have time for a full review/summary of what I think about the PS3 and the new Nintendo Wii. Most of you probably already know generally what I think anyway. Maybe I'll get to it later (possibly when I have a new console to actually review).

On the topic of not having any time though, I hope for that to change slightly soon. With first aid training only a couple weeks away from being done and French classes almost over until January (when I hopefully start the next block), I may actually have some time to get things that need to be done, done. Then again, it will be December and besides reffing taking up a lot of my time, there will be Christmas parties, holiday activities, and shopping to keep me busy. Guess there's no rest for the weary.

For those that I haven't had time to talk to much recently (or correspond with in any way shape or form), I apologize. Maybe at some point in time when I'm sick of dealing with all the many tasks at work, I'll spend some time actually getting something productive done like catching up with some of you before the holidays really kick in.

For now though, I'll just let all of you know that I'm back in Alberta for Christmas from the 22nd to January 1st. Hope to see all of you that I can when I'm home.

Off to bed with me so I can maybe get a good 7 or even 7.5 hours of sleep for once.

"What do you mean the lift could break?"

So as you all are no doubt aware, I'm doing my training to become a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol. One of the parts of the qualification (and requalification) is to do a lift evacuation. This basically means getting people down from the chair lift if it ever breaks down (rare, but it can, and does, happen). So in the interest of getting everyone properly qualified, you take turns being evacuated and doing the evacuating (those with dirty minds can stop now). Well, I'm not especially great with heights normally (though a chair lift doesn't usually bother me anyway), but getting me off of a chair lift anywhere but at the top would have been next to impossible...before today that is. It's actually kind of fun. Now the only problem was I did some uncontrolled spinning on the way down and add that to my queasy sick stomach and lightheadedness from being sick this week and it's a little less fun. Anyway, it all ended up okay and we did have a pretty good time. Already looking forward to requalifying in two years time...or doing it for real in the dead of winter (because everyone knows the lift would never break down when it's nice and sunny and warm out).