Hey, contrary to popular belief, I'm still alive.
I don't have constant Internet access yet, but I'm stealing a few minutes on my house-mates' computer. They actually don't care, I can sit here all night, but it's ewwy.
Anyways, here's a timeline of my week. Sorry if it sounds a little bloggy, but this'll be useful to me to remember this trip, too.
On Dec. 31, I went to my friend's for New Year's. There were four of us. We played gamecube till like 2am. I didn't realize how late it was. So I got to bed about 3am.
On Jan 1, I got up at about 8am and packed last-minute stuff. At roughly 10am, we (me, my mom, stepdad, and sister) left home, heading west. (For anybody who wants to find a map,
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=winnipeg+to+calgary should get you there, but that link is un-tested). Anyways, we stopped for breakfast in Hedingly, which is about 10 minutes west of Winnipeg (15 minutes West of my house) on Highway 1.
Our next stop was for coffee in Brandon. Then again in Regina (where you turn left -- the only turn on the entire trip). We picked up gas as some point in Moosomen oir something, which is an awesome name. Plus, we had lots of bathroom breaks in little towns. Finally, we got to Swift Current, where we picked up dinner at Boston Pizza. We then drove the rest of the way to Medicine Hat, AB, where we stayed overnight (at a Motel 6). By then it was about 11pm CST (10pm local time). We left there at roughly 8am (local time), arriving in Calgary at 11am.
My stepdad's friend (who I was to be staying with -- more on that later) was working till 4pm or so, so we figured we'd drive around. I bought a map and got to know the major routes through the city. Eventually our van started sounding really bad, and after some stressful times (because my family had to be back in Winnipeg by Wednesday), we found a garage and they told us it was the A/C. That's fine, it's cold, but the A/C was stuck on so they bypassed it.
We met with my stepdad's friend (Leonard) and drove down to Applebees for supper. After that, we went to his house. It's not a bad place, a little messy and well-lived-in, but that's exactly how I like it. I got a smallish room, and it's just him and his daughter (Marcia, pronounced Marsha) living there. She's really great, we talked all evening. She's engaged, but she's already a good friend to have. After a lot of crying, my mom left. They just got home a half hour ago.
This morning, I got up around 6am. I took the bus downtown with Marcia, and she showed me where to get off. From there, I went to work. At work, it was about an hour of paperwork, then they gave me real data and a tight deadline. So basically, I jumped right in. It was pretty cool.
At lunch, I went out with most of the guys from my team (it's a team of 5, including me and another contractor), and 4 of us went. They introduced me to the +15, which is a system of walkways and restaurants throughout downtown Calgary.
After work, I met with Marcia and went home. And that pretty much brings us to right now. We took the bus with her Fiancee. He's a good guy, but they're both big into sports, and that's obviously not my thing.
Finally, a word or two about my living arrangements. Orginally, I was going to live with a guy named Nathan. He's a friend of my dad's boss and is originally from Winnipeg. But he's in Winnipeg till Thursday (tomorrow), so I had to find another place to stay. My stepdad's close friend offered to let me stay, and I accepted. After a couple days here, I think (and it's ok with them) that I'll stick around here till I find my own place, or until a friend moves over here with me (which shouldn't be long -- I'm hoping for a month or two).
So yeah, I don't know how often I'll be able to post, but that's my story up to now. Next time I'm around, I'll let you all know what's going on.
Ron
Oh, and I have a new cell number. If anybody wants my new one, PM me and I'll send it to you (if I think you deserve to have it 
).
Didn't you already post it in the members board? O_o
Yes. But last time I checked, there are a lot of people here who aren't members
