My friend and former roommate, Richard Hortness, was on an NPR affiliate the other day talking about swimming and about what it’s like knowing you get to go to the 2008 Olympics. Here’s the mp3.

Kelli’s parents have a friendly Irish Setter named Riley. A couple months ago, while taking a walk with Kelli’s mom, their family pet was attacked by a vicious pit-bull. Despite attempts to separate the attacker from Riley, by hitting the wild dog, she was unable to get him to release his clamped jaws.

Luckily a woman driving by in a van saw the incident and helped to separate the two dogs, finally getting Riley into the safety of her vehicle.

Suddenly a man appeared in a red blue sports car, claimed the dog as his brother’s, and apologized for neglecting to keep him in control.

Long story short, after a vet bill of a few hundred dollars (that Kelli’s folks paid themselves) and some minor cuts to Kelli’s mom’s hand, Riley has healed up and the only lasting damage appeared to be psychological.

Today the Medicine Hat News has reported another attack on the same street by a dog of the same description. This time not only did the dog attack another dog, described as a small Shih Tsu, but in the scuffle the dog bit off a woman’s finger.

See the article after the jump:
Update March 19: The news has another article up… see more below.
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I just looked in the fridge and discovered the leftovers that I planned to eat yesterday were still there. Putting 2 and 2 together, I quickly realized that my rather slender girlfriend and I FORGOT TO EAT SUPPER LAST NIGHT! At least the movie was good… I think.

During my prime of swimming for the University of Lethbridge, my fastest time for the 50 meter freestyle (short course) was 24.59. It’s fun and amazing to watch the world’s best swimmers going four times that distance (and long course too) at the same pace. Even if you’re not a swimming fan, you can’t help but get excited as Michael Phelps shatters a world record.

Hit play or watch at YouTube.

Phelps broke five world records, including the one above, during the World Swimming Championships last week in Australia. (They ended April 1).

The Washington Post has an interesting article stating that 60% of new swim records have been set in the last two years, while the records set in track-and-field on the other hand, have been much more steady.

The Post’s explanation of how athletes can be improving in leaps and bounds in one sport but not in another boil down to, more funding, better coaching, and an older average age of high caliber swimmers. They say the typical body shape of swimmers has also been changing as of late.

As an aside, a former roommate and teammate of mine competed at Nationals (the Canadian ones) during the same time and won both the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events—a seriously awesome accomplishment (even though, it seems to me, he downplays it). Congratulations Richard.

A couple of girls, sisters, that I knew from high school each had a baby within an hour of each other last Wednesday night. Congratulations Amanda and Julie—but knowing you both, I think you totally planned this.

More details from a Medicine Hat News Article, after the jump:
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My friend Brock writes from Australia to inform me how hot the weather has been where he’s staying and to share this short amusing story.

Brock says:

It’s smoking in Byron Bay (just thought I’d tell you because I heard that it was snowing and 5 below back home). It was 30 above here and I thought that it would be a good idea to get up early so that I could spend the whole day at the beach. I got up at 7:30 and was at the beach until sunset—unfortunately I neglected to put on any sunscreen—everyone at the hostel was like holy shit and this one girl even wanted to call an ambulance. Needless to say I was in a lot of pain, but after lathering up in aloe vera I feel a lot better. Moral of the story is, enjoy the snow!

Hope you’re feeling better soon Brock, and P.S. it hasn’t actually snowed here yet.

Today I took my camera into the shop to be sent away for repairs for the third time in two months. That isn’t to say that I’ve actually sent it away three times, but this was my third trip down to the store in an attempt to send it away. The first time when I heard it would take 6 to 8 weeks before I would get it back, I decided to keep it just a little longer because I really wanted to take photos with it while I was in Banff.

The second time I took it in, the lady behind the counter told me they couldn’t “look it up” on the computer and I would either need my original receipt or have to pay $50 to send it away. Yeah right! I promptly decided I would come back on another day with my receipt. What a hassle.

Today I took it in, realizing full well that this means I’ll be switching back to my little Kodak point-and-shoot camera for the next month and a half—an idea that does not please me as I’ve become quite addicted to my Nikon D70s.

The problem with the camera, and they tell me this kind of thing is quite rare, is that the aperture was somehow getting stuck after I would shoot a small number of photos, and then the next shot would be extremely under exposed and the display would flash the word ERROR in nice friendly letters. After a few seconds—sometimes as many as 30—the camera would return to normal pretending like nothing happened. At other times, it would just refuse to take anymore photos regardless of what I did until I hit the preview depth-of-field button clearing the aperture from its incorrect position.

Although the extra trips down to London Drugs were a little bit of a hassle, I’m glad I happened to be there today because, while I was standing there waiting for the guy to fill out some paperwork, who should I see but my ex-fiancée Janine and her husband, Jonas.

It was a pleasant, but short, reunion. She told me a few things about her life and I brought her up to date on what I’ve been doing over the last two or three years. It was too bad I didn’t have my camera working—it would have been nice to take their photo; they looked really nice together. Her husband appears like a fairly on-top-of-it kind of guy and it sounds like things are coming together nicely for her. It’s fantastic when you can have such a genuine and guilt-free conversation with someone for whom you once cared so much about but had, at one point anyway, lost the ability to communicate with due to the baggage of a relationship gone bad and the complications of a new girlfriend whom was quite jealous of the old. I am happy for Janine and pleased to have found out what her life is like now.

The whole experience got me thinking how things really have worked themselves out for the best—it was hard to see that just a little over 4 years ago when we broke up.

I’m in Medicine Hat for the weekend. I guess I should mention, I was totally non-plussed to see the Flames lose in game seven to The Mighty Ducks last night—nuff said.

However, last weekend was a little more exciting. I went to visit a friend in Calgary, watched the Flames game where they actually won, and then had a job interview on Monday morning that went spectacularly well. (Some extenuating circumstances may prevent me from being available to actually take the job, but the interview was great).

For those of you that have never been in a hockey town during playoffs, let me take a moment to describe the experience. Calgary is a booming town and as such traffic has taken on a new level of horror. I understand even the life-long Calgarians, many of whom were born in traffic jams on their way to the hospital (and as such are used to bad traffic), have been complaining about how unbearable it’s gotten.

But when the hockey game starts the streets clear out. Everyone sits on the edge of their seats, glued to their TV’s. At a moments notice the entire city jumps to its feet and makes a collective cheer as one of the Flames scores. Those brave few souls that venture out of their homes to refill their beverage/junk food collections will be notified of any goals via cars honking and people cheering from their homes. It can feel pretty disappointing if you happen to miss a goal, but all the same, its exciting to hear the reaction of so many people around town.

Watching the game anywhere would have been entertaining but we had a particularly fun evening lined up watching it on the roof of a building in downtown Calgary only a few blocks away from the Saddle Dome. And if all that weren’t enough, two of the people attending were also celebrating their birthdays! It was a perfect setup for a great night, so needless to say, a great time was had by all.

That was, until somebody discovered they had imbibed just a little too much wine just a couple of glasses too late.

You’re probably wondering if that someone was me, and the answer is no—luckily for me, The Universe was turning its wrath on someone else. But it meant that going down after the game to enjoy the festivities on 17th Ave (or Red Mile) was out of the question and I missed seeing the 18,000 fans stumbling into one another giving each other hugs, and spilling their drinks on each other, and telling complete strangers how much they loved each other, in celebration of the win. Instead I caught an independant private cab (what some would have described as a sketchy unmarked gypsy cab) back to the place I was staying for the night. Meanwhile my friend gripped onto the homemade puke bucket in the back seat hoping not to have to use it. Oh the adventure!

When we got to the place I quickly setup the futon for myself and was about to get her into her friends bed when I was surprised to hear her say she wanted to sleep on the futon beside me, and of course she wanted her trusty bucket nearby too. I got her all wrapped up in a blanket and pillow and laid her down to sleep.

As the moment just before I drifted off arrived; I looked over at my platonic friend and contemplated on what a fun time we’d had. The cheering as the Flames won, the yelling down from the top of the building at the happy fans as they made their way to the Red Mile and the all around unifying force that only a home town win can bring. Despite the evening being cut short, what I really liked most was how good it felt to have someone to take care of again, even if it was only for one night. It’s moments like that, where I can make someone feel just a little bit better, that make me most happy to be alive. Oh and of course the Flames winning was a nice bonus.

Last night my friends wanted to do some shopping at Walmart and not being much in the mood I decided to do some exploring on my own. After doing the usual daily Flickr upload ritual, I headed out and found myself a mighty greasy looking taco stand and ordered 5 of the most delicious quesadillas I have ever eaten. I also had a really delicious Coke-Cola—which as you may or may not be aware tastes so much better in a bottle.

It might seem a little scary to eat food prepared right on the street but so far, other than a couple of the guys having a natural reaction to the beans, we haven´t had any real issues.

I ordered the pork quesadillas which in addition to flame roasted pork chunks come with melted cheese, fresh pineapple, a little bit of onions, and cilantro. They have a motley selection of sauces to add but I usually just stick to good old guacamole.

On one of the first nights where we had tacos and quesadillas, Steve was showing us the ropes of what was good what was bad, and how to prepare a delicious taco. He poured on some of the green—which he thought was guacamole (the other green sauce). Luckily for Steve, the guy at the stand warned him that it was going to be quite hot. Despite his efforts to scrape most of the sauce off, it was still easily observable that Steve was enjoying some very spicy food. Though you wouldn’t think it was possible, his red sun worn face became even more red and tiny beads of sweat collected on his forehead. He kind of laughed as he mentioned that yeah, this stuff was pretty hot, and we might want to avoid that particular sauce.

One great thing about coming home for the holidays is meeting up with many of my old friends. Since I had been making a habit out of not coming to Medicine Hat for Christmas the last few years I’ve really lost touch with many of them. It has been great to catch-up and discover how people have changed and what has happened to them since high school.

This afternoon I went out with my friend Linnsie, and tonight I went out with Janie and her friends. I’ve had a great day—I ran into four different guys that I used to play basketball with in high school, one of them even treated us to lunch! What a great surprise. Happy Holidays indeed.

A very good friend of mine once wrote me a beautiful note that had this quote from Violeta Parra. “Don’t cry when the sun is gone, because the tears won’t let you see the stars.”

Toyota, yes the car company, is launching a record label in conjunction with its Scion line of cars.

This story is of particular interest to me because a friend of mine, Nate Smith, helped build the Scion “What Moves You” website.

In a presentation to our New Media class he shared a little bit about Toyota’s new direction in targeting twenty-something’s with an advertising campaign that focuses on music and design instead of more traditional methods.

I used to hate camping. It’s a secret from Anna-Maria and most of my family, but I don’t think it would come as a big surprise to those that have been with me on Scout Camp. I’ll try not to delve too deeply into the bad memories.

It’s not that Scout Camp is inherently bad. It’s not even that LDS Scout Camp is inherently bad. Which as you can guess is what I went too. But do I ever hate those jerks. Please don’t take offence if you are reading this and happen to be the one or two people from Scout camp that actually made it bearable. I’m hoping you know who you are.

The thing about Scout camp was that our troop had a very motley crew of people that I would never hang out with in real life. Nice guys—most of them, but so many of them just weirdos or mental cases. They were either too different in their interests or too anxious to start a fight with us. It was especially bad after they split our ward. Which meant that most of the people I liked to hang out with were no longer in our troop. I sometimes snuck in to the other wards camps because ours sucked so badly.

Anyway having had enough of this tangent I’ll be getting to the point of this post.

I went camping with Anna-Maria on the weekend and we had such a good time. Trust me when I say that I was extremely skeptical (even though I kept my skepticism to myself).

I’ll try and keep it condensed. On Friday we left and arrived in Sparwood (we = Anna-Maria and Sophie the Dog). Saturday: after eggs and bacon for breakfast we went bridge jumping on a VERY HIGH bridge. I’m guessing approximately 5 or 6 meters 10 meters—I didn’t realize it at the time but it was about twice as high as the 5 meter platform at the University. This bridge was HIGH!.

There were a wild bunch of guys there jumping off and one of them even did a back-flip. There were signs that said, “No Jumping - No Diving” but we got into our wet suits and promptly ignored those signs.

I joked to Anna how we would probably still be here after those locals were gone and the RCMP showed up.

I was half right. The RCMP showed up when Anna was dangling on the side of the bridge and the others had all dried off. She quickly scrambled onto the bridge but it was pretty obvious that the two of us dressed in our wet suits were up to no good. I thought for sure he was going to give us a hard time. Just then the wild back-flipping guy climbed out on the edge of the bridge. I felt immediately relieved because it wasn’t Anna or I that would be getting into any trouble today. He smiled at the officer and leaped head under heals down towards the frigid water. I looked at the cop who just said to us, “Tell him that next time I want to see a double back-flip with a twist.”

They laughed and the tension was broken. I guess he was cool with it (maybe because nobody was drinking? Or maybe because he really didn’t care. It wasn’t a dangerous place to jump and he probably wasn’t looking for a confrontation anyway.) Either way it made me have a lot more respect for him as a guy who can tell the difference between harmless fun and reckless self endangerment.

Later that night we had a game of Frisbee golf and then late night partying.

Sunday - We drove to Trail, BC to visit my cousin Don and his family. They just had a new baby girl last week.

Monday - Drove home, bought some fresh BC cherries, a peach, and four cobs of corn at a roadside shop. I can only describe how good they were with a sound that has no English word to represent it. (Think Homer Simpson drooling over Beer).

And when it was all over we were very happy to be back in a familiar bed.

In conclusion, camping isn’t that bad when you can shower in the morning, free fall into a cold deep river for at least 3 seconds, drive to the store for lunch and take off for relatives if those you are camping with are too boring or having marital problems or both. You can’t go wrong camping with Anna-Maria.

P.S. Camping with the Medicine Hat First Ward still would have sucked even with daily showers, but maybe not if I had had my Jeep and someone warm with whom to cuddle.

Anna’s mom gave her some sparklers a long time ago but we never ended up using them. She came into the computer room today and asked if it would be ok to light one in the house. I was surprised that she asked me, but she must have doubted something about the idea anyway I told her to go ahead. I said if something bad happens she could always run out the back door and throw it in the dog’s water. Um, about 6 seconds into the burning of the sparkler I suggested she write her name and burn it into her retina. Well the flinging motion of the sparkler caused a bit of hot burning metal to fall onto a piece of paper hanging on the bulletin board and then burned through onto the floor. All Anna could say in surprise was, “Oh no! Something bad DID happen.” We now have a little black mark on the hard wood floor to remind us of the dangers of sparklers.

I finally sold my old washer and dryer. I am very happy to have them out of the house. I’d like to say I am going to do something particularly special with the money, but in truth it will be going to my monthly bills. I am very happy though, to have the washer and dryer gone.

More importantly than my Washer and Dryer (boring) is the fact that Anna, yes the one and only Anna-Maria LeMaistre, has made a triumphant return to Lethbridge and has no plans to leave again anytime soon. Anna-Maria was on tour for the last two months doing theatre performances in the French immersion and francophone schools all over Alberta. I’m so happy she’s back—I was wasting away and already I’m feeling (and looking) much better.