Back to the mountains

So I decided to head back to Alberta for the May long weekend to visit my family (parents in Devon and grandparents in Jasper). I didn't really realize it but I haven't been back in Jasper for over two years. It's amazing how much I miss the mountains. The fresh air, the bright blue sky (when it's not covered in clouds), and the majesty of the huge lumps of rock thrust into the sky and capped with snow. Quite breathtaking. I'll throw up some pictures later but for now I'm heading back outside to work in the garden and maybe go for a hike. Hope everyone has a good long weekend.

From Camry to Malibu

As I mentioned before, I just bought a new car. Yesterday morning I went and picked it up. I'm really happy with my choice. Even with some of the stupid drivers on the road, I couldn't help driving around with a smile on my face yesterday.

The sad part is that in getting a new car, I had to say goodbye to my old one. Granted, it was getting on in years and it's seen a lot of kilometers but that car still felt like a pair of broken in jeans. It just felt comfortable and still drove very well. There was the matter of the huge dent in the hood from ice falling off of the garage a couple years ago and the broken driver door handle on the outside from the door being frozen shut and me trying to pull it open, but it still held its own. I'll miss the Camry but I think I'll be happy with the new Malibu for many years to come.

Here's a few pictures of the old car and the new one...






















































There are more pictures up on my Facebook page if you want more.

Did you miss me? I'm back!!

I've decided to foray back into the world of blogging. Not for any specific reason but I feel that this might be a good time to start posting again. I won't go into too much detail into what is going on in my life right now but suffice to say, I'm still as busy as ever. Here are some highlights right now (which will likely be expanded in following posts):

• I just bought a new car...YAY! It's a brand new 2009 Chevy Malibu. I know, I know, some people are worried about domestic cars (especially with the current economy) but I like the car and it seems to fit me well. I believe that Chevy will be around through the current crisis and even if not, there are enough Malibus around that there shouldn't be a problem getting it serviced.
• My active lifestyle has been hampered of late due to a completely torn ACL in my left knee. This has been at times depressing but mostly just annoying and I miss playing sports and being active. It happened back in October but at first the doctors only thought it was an MCL sprain. After an MRI in March (yep, I had to wait that long), I found out the MCL was healed but the ACL had also torn but the doctor couldn't tell due to the MCL sprain and swelling. Long story short(er), I'm going to have reconstructive surgery. Of course the wait list for that is fairly long so it likely won't happen until the fall (probably September). Looks like it'll be a long summer. At least once I get my brace I can do some light physical activity and for now I don't have any pain or discomfort walking around or anything.
• I recently moved to a condo that I'm renting in the west end of Ottawa. It's fairly big and comes with an indoor parking spot and a large storage locker. The building is very nice and has many amenities. If anyone from out of town (or even in Ottawa) wants to visit, there's plenty of space to stretch out the futon :)

Well that's about it for now. I'm going to get back to jamming away on the guitar for a bit. Great way to spend a Friday night. I might even get back to finishing some of the songs I've been writing. Keep an eye out for future posts, I should be back at it again soon, maybe with some pictures of the new car.

-Dave