always look at the bigger picture

home time

2007-12-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

below is a post i meant to publish before christmas. the reason it went unpublished is cuz i couldn't finish my thought. I had no resolution and I think I still don't. I don't really know how to deal with moving and the relationships you lose when you leave. Anyways, my thoughts:

hello all,

tis the season to gather and be with family and reflect on the year that's past. in cleaning up my place before i leave for the holidays, i came across a list that i made in Dec '06 (before i moved to lloyd) of the pros and cons if of coming to here. the list in itself has triggered a lot of emotions.

in a sense, i love and hate moving at the same time. on one side, you challenge yourself to engage in new environments, meet new people, re-evaluate your values, re-check your ego. but, on the other end, you're leaving the relationships that you've developed, the routine that you've worked to establish, the familiarity, the homieness of home. by no means am i a veteran of relocating (in fact i've only moved twice), but i've already developed a distaste of knowing that your stay will be temporary. when looking to get yourself involved in something, the question "is it worth it?" always pops into my mind. "will i be here long enough to make an impact, to make it worth my time?" for the most part, i've resolved to live like i'm not going to leave. i value the relationships that i've created and i don't think they would be the same had i had a 'temporary' attitude.

hello

2007-08-14T00:20:00.000-06:00

there has been some concern about privacy issues when posting pics of my friends and family and they're quite legit. because i post in quite a bit of detail, i thought i'd remove the pics to reduce the chance of anything happening.

anyways, it's been forever since i last posted (as usual) but honestly, not a lot has changed. the summer so far has been great: i've gone camping 3 times, which is one thing i really wanted to do more this summer, i've gone fishing 3-4 times - only caught 4-5 fish tho =(, and i've spent a lot of times with friends.

alo just left for charleston last week (or there abouts) and i'm really excited for him!! it's funny if you say it: i'm really excited for him to leave - so i won't say it that way. but it's true. i know he'll learn a lot about himself and will love the freedom of being away from home (as much as i love auntie rosaline and uncle edmond). i really wish you the best my friend and hope you fully take advantage of this opportunity!!!

a few shout outs are in order: chris lee and sarah hugh - CONGRATS!!! i'm very happy for both of you and would, without a doubt, be honored to be under your care if it weren't for the conflict of interest! anyways, i know you both will do well and i hope you both find an area you deeply, and passionately enjoy!

to lawlee M.D, the recent WICKED SICK med school graduate, congratulations mon frere!!! i know you'll be a great doctor, but you just have to learn how to ult properly =). i'm very proud of you.

lastly: please pet dez's fluff friend on facebook. i'm told that it will die if we don't feed it enough love (or food)

eep!

2007-04-12T22:06:00.000-06:00

sorry guys, it's been what, 2 months now? but anyways, i'm still alive and doing well.

anyways, i've made the decision not to post photos on my blog anymore. it's enough to disclose details on the people i love, but posting pictures might be a little too much. so yes, no more pics.

anyways, the big news is that my occupancy date for the new condo is may 3! as you can imagine, i'm pretty stoked to have my own condo and i can't wait to sleep on a real bed!!! (i've been sleeping on an air mattress for 3 months!!)

other than that, not too much going on. life with the housemate has been awesome, we get along really well, and works been good too.

flames looked terrible tonight in their 4-1 lost. honestly, they deserved to lose that bad. what happened to the characteristic jump on their backs, mug them out of no where Calgary hockey that wins playoff games? bah, they better shape up for the next game or it's gonna be a tough uphill fight.

anyways, thought i'd give the 'ol blog an update. live purposefully my friends!!!

T.O. HERE I COME!!!!

2007-02-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

what's up?! once air canada fixes its site, i'll book my flight to toronto, set for feb 17-24. by fluke, it coincides with reading week, which is sweet this year cuz a lot of people aren't going home. but yeah, i'd really love to see all of you so tell me what's going on with you guys that week.

otherwise, lloyd is sweet! my two housemates are awesome and although it's bloody freezing out with a WICKEDSICK wind, it's really not that bad! =). my boss is super laid back and i get to be more independant at work. it's nice

anyways, get back to me with what you guys are up to that week!

Lloyd

2007-01-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

aiy, busy busy busy...

spent friday night shopping for pots and pans (and linens and toaster ovens), then spent an hour before closing time at ikea looking for a desk and bed frame. advice: don't ever by any furniture you've never actually seen before. i was looking at this bed frame online that i really liked (malm) but when i finally got to it, the top of the mattress was below my knees!!! (yes, i know, i have relatively higher knees than most), but honestly, which swedish genius designed this thing!?! so anyways, i'm still looking for a frame... =(

today, i spent $500 on work boots, pots, a toaster oven and linens (and a pizza tray, veggie peeler, socks, undies and some velcro), all of which you were all dying to know about...

man... 1 week.....

anyways, thanks for lunch today guys. it was good to see all of you before i left in one place!

hm, so.... when i move to lloyd... is my nickname still 'calgary?'

2007-01-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

i can't believe it's been so long since i've posted. i guess things have been pretty busy and i haven't really taken the time to sit down and digest what's happened to me, but first HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! hope you guys had a good one and are optimistic about the year to come. i wish you guys all the best!

considering i haven't blogged in 1.5 months, here's some of the major recent happenings:
- went to st. george, utah (really close to las vegas) with some of my brother's friends in early december. had a GREAT time playing pickle ball (cross between ping pong and tennis), seeing the blue man group for the 2nd time (still very entertaining), playing a few horrible rounds of golf and eating lots of buffets. good times tho. just email me if you're ever interested in going =) some pictures:

getting posterized by shaq and mme tussaud's wax museum (complimentary tickets with the blue man group tickets)

the 6 of us in our pickle ball uniforms. my brother's on far right

romantic evening watching the fountains at the bellagio

nite with the men in blue

- i made my final decision to move up to lloyd and actually found a place. it's a new condo that won't be done for a few months so i'll have to find a place to rent until then. real nice tho. literally like a 5 min walk from the sportsplex. thanks for all the encouragement by the way guys. optimism can be really contagious... =)

- had a sweet new year's in canmore, alberta (about 45 minutes outside of calgary). good times with about a dozen good friends and played some sweet outdoor ice hockey. fun times. definitely won't forget this weekend

i leave for lloyd in 2 weeks. lots of stuff to get done, things to organize... it's gonna be a busy week. i'll try to post before i leave. take care guys!

lloyd

2006-11-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

hey, long time since i've posted. few major items:

1) congrats godwin on the engagement! hopefully the proposal worked out just as you hoped it would! i'm excited for both of you! =)

2) i'll be moving to lloydminster, AB in the new year to pretty much do the same job i'm doing here, just in the field. for those who don't know where lloyd is (EVERYONE), it's pretty much 2 hours straight east of edmonton, right on the alberta/saskatchewan border. for those of you who don't know where edmonton is, it's pretty much 2.5 hours straight north of calgary. just got the offer on thursday. talked it over with the parents and lawrence on thursday night, talked with dez about it last night: i obviously don't want to go (pay rent, no parents, no friends, new job - old boss is great, town of 25000 ppl), but it'd be the right decision to make (gain field experience, get to know field personnel, come out with a more diversified resume, more flexibility when dez gets out of school). aiy... sucks to sorta settle back in with friends and family and just uproot yourself to go again - it's like teasing them. anyways, i'm flying up with my boss on thursday to see the town and what's available there. i'll have to start looking for a place to stay soon too but i hear it's not cheap ($500 - $600/mth). compared to toronto that's quite reasonable, but you'd think it'd be cheaper in small towns. but yeah, never thought i'd have to make this kind of decision this weekend.

3) in edmonton with dez. it's only really been 2 weeks since i was last up here (only saw her for 15 minutes tho - was up for godwin's engagement) but it's fantastic to see her again. i'm so proud of her and i love just being around her. can't wait till we actually live in the same city.

4) flames are back, just as i predicted. my new predictions: they keep on rolling, small mid-season hickup, but they end strong. kipper's another vezina winner, iggy's right up there in scoring and tanguay's team leader in assists

5) aiy, so i'm still on the 1st half of chapter 2 of that book, but the wedding videos are done. i've been getting tons of sleep and playing less video games, so i guess that's sorta progress right?

6) looking at the prospect of using a LCD projector as a TV at home. that way i can use it as a normal tv, but watch movies on it through the comp, and play video games on it too if i wanted. in the past they've always been so damn expensive ($3000+), but now that they've come down in price ($800 - $1500) and the new big screen TVs are about $2000 anyways, i thought this would be a more inexpensive, portable solution. seeing as i'm moving and i'll need a tv anyways, it seems like the right time to take this more seriously too. if anyone has any experience with this sorta stuff, gimme a shout?

tru: 28th sounds good! sorry for not replying to emails - i don't check them too often anymore. will try to get better on that =) like andrea's said, thx for organizing this!

quick update

2006-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

loving http://www.viidoo.com - thanks to larrylee69 for that. it's a program that allows you to view tv (NBC, ABC, ESPN, NHL, etc...) on your computer for free. even though the quality's not THAT great, it's not bad. been catching a bunch of hockey games on it =)

i went out to provost last wednesday and thursday which lies pretty much right on the border between AB and SK. it was a 5 hour drive and i stayed in this pretty cheap motel (i refrained from taking a shower that night). i found out some guys from the office in calgary actually made the trip out too so i ended up meeting up with them for a drink after work. i guess i consider myself somewhat sheltered from a lot of what goes on in bars, but man, these guys were DIRTY!! (and not because they were in my hotel!). filthy filthy mouths - i think 3 of the 5 of them were married and still all they talked about was how big the tits on the waiter was and how one of the unmarried guys should drive down to med hat to screw his new girlfriend. not just a 5-10 minute talk but the WHOLE night... not many people know, but i've expressed the desire to my boss to be moved out to the field as soon as possible to get my field experience done and over with (husky wants their engineers to work out in the field for ~2 years before they move back to calgary). i've never really thought it was a big deal as i've already done the 4 month operating in lubicon (up by slave lake) after 1st year, but after my recent trip i'm really starting to reconsider. i realize this is my be an isolated case and i'd probably move to a bigger town (possibly lloydminister) which can offer a lot more diversity, but if it means having to put up with that kind of garbage cuz drinkings the only thing to do out there, i'd seriously have to reconsider

anyways, aside from that, not much else happening:

went to edmonton last weekend. dez got off call the day of the huge shootings disaster. scary stuff. went to west edmonton mall for the first time in probably 15 years - from a fresh perspective, it's really nice! =)

hi peggy! alberta's alright. it's taken some readjusting to, but i guess it's home. miss you guys out in TO a lot tho (i'll continue repeating this phrase forever... or until i go back)

hiding away in my den with the lights off to avoid trick-or-treaters. lol! we've never really given candy out although i don't know why we don't

completing version 2 of chris and steph's wedding video (i'm making progress!!!). should be done by either tonight or the next few days

flames suck. i have very little doubt they'll get better as the year progresses, but i'd almost rather watch another team on TV (ie: BUF)

i'm missing photos. that's what i need. i'll see what i can for the next few posts. ciao!

congrats john ye!

2006-10-22T23:29:00.000-06:00

glad to hear you found a job in what you actually want to do. i expect a wedding invitation within the next 6 months =)

i love myself today (non-webdings version)

2006-10-22T23:23:00.000-06:00

for the next month, my goal is to show myself a little love (get your mind out of the gutter =). i will make decisions that will benefit me in the future and that'll bring me one step closer to where i want to be, or who i want to be. for example, for the past few weeks (going on months now) i've been a zombie at work, and utterly useless on our ball hockey team due to a lack of sleep. surprisingly, i'm getting more sleep than i used to in university but i honestly get headaches at work from NOT DOING ANYTHING! so now, i'll take care of myself. i won't get to do what i want to do after a long and drawn out day at work, but i'll do what's best for me. i'll do what needs to be done (finish compiling steph and chris' wedding video which is now almost 2 months overdue, laundry - thank goodness i still live at home, and keeping up with people - especially dez), and get to sleep early. it's time to take advantage of the able body i've been given and challenge myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

i've been putting off reading this one book called "Jesus among other gods" by Ravi Zacharias for over 2 months now. i started by borrowing it from our church library, but i had to return it within the 3 weeks i was allowed. in that time, i got through the first chapter and really liked it... so, i bought it. haven't opened it since...

so in front of you, my few friends that read this, i commit to reading a chapter of the book a week. i will finish this book. i will get more sleep. i will make this time right here, right now, worthwhile.

i love myself today

2006-10-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

GET EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-24T02:11:00.001-06:00

some sweet 2005-2006 vids of the calgary flames to get you into the hockey mood. goals first, dion phaneuf (hits) second, fans third. very entertaining stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA74cOfetw4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrobustcj7Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yb34hfLynk

lol, go elmo

2006-09-24T01:16:00.001-06:00

if you're in for a retarded time, check these videos out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJ2WTn9WOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4x-VW_rCSE

weekend in dead-monton

2006-09-17T23:56:00.000-06:00

spent the weekend at dez's place in edmonton. real quick run down of what went down:

1) had the worst jap food i've ever had at yokozuna (by the hospital). dez's chirashi had a live bug underneath one of her pieces of fish, we had to go up to the counter twice and wait in line to ask for extra stuff (wasabi dishes, tempura sauce), and they tried to make us pay for the bug-infested chirashi!!!

2) good time making dinner with dez. nothing special (just pasta), but it's nice to just do stuff with her again - reminded me of europe. the sauce turned out really nice too

3) played poker with dez and my brother's med friends. i was getting pwned at hold'em but we learned omaha and i owned!!! good times! my brother and i tried to play omaha online one time but we didn't know the rules, so we made our own =) one rule was you had to yell OMAHA every time you showed your hand. now that we know the rules, it's actually kinda fun. mad change of moneys all the time. almost every round someone went all in

4) dota's so fun. as many times as dez presses the 'nerd button' on me when i talk about it, i love it and wish i was better at it =). on the other hand, i wish i spent more time reading books and knew more about history, art and music.

nhl exhibition games are starting =). can't wait for oct 5! GO FLAMES GO!!!!!

yes!!! I'M BACK!!!

2006-09-10T10:06:00.000-06:00

ok, for the longest time i thought i'd lost my account (and all my effort going into the wonderful template and design = 0 mins) but now it is well (w/ my soul). i'll update more often. sorry guys. honestly, that was the reason why i haven't been posting.

UMM... so yeah, not much has happened lately. here's a quick summary:

1. dezzy 's been up in edmonton for two weeks now but was back this weekend =)

2. bought the parts and built my first comp: amd x2 4200+, geforce 7600 gt ko, 2 gb ram, 320 gb hd. props to ye for all his help and guidance in the process. you really made it easy for me

3. bought my first CAR!!!! (but won't get it until i turn 25 [insurance reasons]). we bought a 2007 mazda3 but i get the beater 97 corolla for 2 years before then.

4. work's been ok. i find i work a lot harder and much more efficiently when i have a lot of work to do. slow times mean i can slack off and read articles on wikipedia. stressful times mean i know in the back of my mind that i should always have something to do. btw, if anyone needs a job, i believe husky's looking for a process engineer (ie: chem, mech)

5. miss chillin in toronto w/ house, leela69 and ccf. it's been a tough transition...

that's it for now. peace!

HOLE-IN-ONE!!!!

2006-07-29T22:25:00.000-06:00

AHHHHHHH!!!!! So I went golfing today with my dad at country hills and I got a HOLE-IN-ONE!!!! Hole 6, 145 yards, using a 9 iron. I actually didn't even see it go in but one of the guys we played with said it was so close it might actually be in. So soon enough we were on the green and we couldn't find it, and the guy goes to look in the hole and there it is!!! WOW! And I never thought it would even happen in my lifetime.

So Country Hills gave me a plaque to put my scorecard and ball in (shown below) and a free drink for everyone eating in the clubhouse (I got unlimited drinks... which amounted to only 2 Kokanees). But yeah, great dinner with the parents (almost entirely paid by gift certificates) and good feeling inside. What an experience!!!

BTW - I shot a 37 on the front nine (best ever in my life), but shot a 46 on the back nine for a decent 83 (best ever again).

blog blog blog...

2006-07-15T15:11:00.000-06:00

so i figure it's almost impossible keeping up with everyone i want to and i can't move everyone to calgary (or calgary to toronto) so i've decided to start a blog. i'll try to get in the habit of blogging often and feel free to comment, question and criticize. i think i learn a lot about myself when i'm questioned. so yes, i'll start on a happy blog with my pics from europe =) enjoy!

dez & i at mont. st. michel =)

blue grotto (capri): this small cave that you row into and then when you look back, the water's a magnificient blue

a picture of the eiffel tower that turned out really well. we went on a friday night so if you look really close, you can see the massive crowd of people on the champs de mars just drinking wine and having picnics =)

punting on the river Cam with trudy: one of my most memorable times in europe. THANK YOU TRUDY!!! we loved cambridge so much!!!! (btw: punting = travelling down a shallow river by shoving a long ass stick in the ground then pushing =)

the arno bridge (florence): beautiful bridge filled with not so beautiful street vendors selling fake prada/LV bags and little cars that turn when they hit things (which gladly, you can't see =)

dez's fantasy world...

a tribute to chadly mcchaderson: guy killing babies...

great shot of dez in the louvre (good call dez)

dez and i being retards....

um... moisturize?

versailles - orangerie: we were too late to go in but what a view. so symmetrical/geometric

another one of my favorite memories: dez and i were walking in the blistering heat (27-28 C?) in the boboli gardens (florence) when we found these huge RBC (red blood cell) shaped marble rocks shaded by trees. there were so cool and soothing!!! we literally spent a half hour just staring at the sky and relaxing. oh how i miss that rock...

beautiful florence and the arno river at sunset

um..... which way to s. marco?

ok. there's more but i'll just post these for now? ask if you want to see more (i'll send them to you?) or maybe i'll find a photo album online. whatever. ok. i'm out. go raps/flames/jays!!!!