It's My Life

MY TRIP TO RED DEER - WELCOME TO COWBOY COUNTRY!

This post is coming to you from my friend Brent's house in Red Deer. Yesterday I drove from Prince George to Red Deer. I had forgotten how much I really enjoy the stretch of highway 16 from McBride to Edson. It's very scenic with lots of wildlife, mountains, lakes and some waterfalls. I spotted two black bears and had to split two mountain goats (no kidding, I stopped in front of the goats, but they wouldn't move an inch so I used my excellent driving skills to drive in between them).

Aside from nearly driving into a couple mountain goats, the trip went relatively smooth. I had to wait about 20 minutes just east of Drayton Valley before I could move again because there was a car accident. After that, the trip seemed to drag on. The most annoying part about taking a route off the main highways in this province is there's so many crossroads and small towns. And the distance markers don't show the major cities. I never saw a distance marker for Red Deer until I reached Sylvan Lake, which is nearly 20 kms west of here. Oh well. Another factor which made the trip annoying was the damn weather, which changed from rainy to sunny.

Last night I went to a bar called Billy Bob's. The name indicates the bar could be a little countryish. That's an understatement. There were people dancing on hay, there wasn't a single table that wasn't wooden, and all they played was country, with the exception of a few classic rock tunes. Yeehaw! Today I'm nursing a hangover so I figured it was appropriate I kill some time by making a post on my blog.

Looking ahead to my final week in BC's Northern Capital

It’s hard to believe that by the time I start working at the Lacombe Globe on June 27 I’ll have been unemployed for two months. Even without a job over the past couple months I’ve managed to find other ways to occupy my time, and thus, the time has moved by fairly quickly.

Today I watched the final round of the U.S. Open., in which I witnessed one of the biggest final round collapses by a leader ever. Sitting at three under and carrying a three stroke lead into the final round, Retief Goosen, a two-time U.S. Open champion, shot an 11 over par 81. As a result, he finished +8 and in a four-way tie for eleventh place. He wasn’t the only one who collapsed. Here’s a look at the players in the final two pairings and how they faired:

Player Final Round Score after 3 Overall
Retief Goosen +11 (81) -3 +8 (288) Tied for 11th
Jason Gore +14 (84) E +14 (294) Tied for 49th
Olin Browne +10 (80) E +10 (290) Tied for 23rd
Michael Campbell -1 (69) +1 E (280) First

What I find remarkable is that even while playing alongside Olin Browne, who shot a miserable 10 over par on Sunday, Michael Campbell was able to focus on his own game and shoot a 69 and take the U.S. open title by two strokes over Tiger Woods, who finished at +2. He becomes just the second Kiwi in the history of the PGA to win a major.

After the U.S. Open ended, I went to Shanghai Palace this evening for a grad dinner my mom organized for me. It was nice to relatives one last time before I head eastbound on Friday morning.

In other news, I secured a place to rent in Lacombe. It’s a three-bedroom duplex that I’ll be sharing with two other men I have yet to meet. The price is okay – at about $450/month I get a place that is furnished and includes all utilities. Also, I ordered a camera that should be arriving here in the next few days.

Hopefully this bad flooding that’s occurring in Alberta doesn’t hit Lacombe by the time I get there. I’m moving in less than five days, I can’t believe it. Farewell Prince George, yet again.

NOT WORKING HAS BECOME A LITTLE MORE BEARABLE

Staying at my parents during the week was a little depressing before, but now I can tolerate it more because I know there's light at the end of the tunnel. In just two weeks from now, I'll be working at the Lacombe Globe en route to earning a steady paycheque again. So I'm just going to enjoy this time for now.

I'm also in a good mood because a verdict was reached on the Michael Jackson case, meaning hopefully the U.S. media will start focusing its attention on something else, because I got tired of hearing about it. It turns out he was found not guilty on all 10 counts of child molestation related charges. Two media guys on CNN were joking about the verdict following the judge's announcement, one saying he'd be singing "Beat It", but the other topping that by saying he'd be doing the moonwalk. My personal view on the whole thing is that regardless of the real truth behind the matter, Michael Jackson needs to start making smarter decisions if he's to fix himself up. Hanging around with little boys and letting them hang out in your bed will probably lead to more problems.

Danielle's brother Jason (while I was on stage getting my picture taken at my convocation ceremony): Alistair we're going partying tonight!

Me (to Shawn Thompson following the ceremony): No I was your favorite student.
Shawn Thompson: No comment.

I returned to Prince George from Kamloops via Greyhound yesterday. I was down in Kamloops for my convocation ceremony on Thursday morning, which turned out to be great minus the heat I felt as a result of wearing a black grad gown, sitting on chairs situated over concrete in front of the Campus Activity Center and the sun bearing down on us. The weather was like 25 degrees outside but I felt much hotter than that.

Throughout the rest of my Kamloops visit I:
- drank a lot of alcohol.
- played two matches of tennis.
- watched 11 straight episodes of Chappelle's Show Season 2.
- went to Earls, the Fox and Hounds, Rivers, Boston Pizza and a house party.

I'm not sure when my next visit to Kamloops will be, but I plan on going down to Vernon for Funtastic even though I start work at the Lacombe Globe that week. The Globe's office is closed on Canada Day (July 1), so I plan to drive to Vernon following my Thursday shift (June 30) to be in Vernon well in time for our first game on Friday. Hopefully we can improve on our 1-3 record from last year. I'm also going to be getting a new digital camera for grad and the new job so I'll be able to start posting more pictures on my blog. Be prepared for that.

JOB UPDATE - I'M NO LONGER UNEMPLOYED

This morning at about 7:40 a.m. the phone rang. I thought it could only be one person and I was right. It was Susan Benjamin, publisher of the Lacombe Globe. I landed the sports reporter/photographer position there. I start on June 27.

It looks like I'll have more than one thing to celebrate when I attend my convocation ceremony for the Thompson Rivers University journalism program tomorrow. Well, off to Kamloops I go.