jeffmilner.com

With another year coming to a close, I decided to take a look back and recall some of my highlights for the year.

• January – Attended the show “Stomp” in Calgary
• February – Went cross country skiing for my first time, 19km on the Goat Creek Trail
• March – turned 30
• April – Lost jeffmilner.com
• May – Drove to Washington State to attend the Sasquatch! Festival
• June – Saw the Rural Alberta Advantage play at the Slice in Lethbridge and made a few leisurely but excellent trips down the Old Man River
• July – Sasquatch Gathering near Drayton Valley
• August – Attended a Virginfest event in Calgary and saw Pearl Jam perform for my first time ever
• September – Back in school at the U of L
• October – Interviewed Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant from Age of Persuasion and had my photos published in Alberta Views magazine
• November – Recovered about 1000 posts from 2002-2006, but mostly I buckled down and did a lot of homework
• December – Won the intramural water polo league and got straight As in school

Happy New Year!

BEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBE…The whining screech of the fire alarm wakes me abruptly.

I glance at the alarm clock beside my bed. 6:10am seems a bit early to get up on a Saturday morning but I decide that I’d better check just in case nobody’s around — nobody is.

There isn’t a lot of smoke, in fact, in my groggy state I can’t figure out the source of the alarm. Then a moment later I flip on the oven light.

It turns out somebody’s cooking one of those Delissio frozen pizzas. I hope they like a crispy crust… with black toppings. Yum.

I just received an invitation to join Google Wave. I have yet to have an actual conversation in it yet, but I’ve been supplying nominations for a few of my friends to get invitations. It’s sort of like being the first person with a telephone—it’s not very useful until the people you want to talk to, get one too.

Previously

I finished the homemade jib I started working on last Saturday this afternoon. Here it is:

Here is some of the first footage.

I realize I need to work on the steadiness of my hand, but so far I’m quite happy with how easy it was to get a more professional looking shot. The whole contraption cost me about $45 CAN and a few hours of work — not bad!

I used the plans I found here.

Feeling tired after a long day at school, I walk toward the setting sun. I must run to catch the pedestrian light and I jump to safety just as the countdown reaches zero.

I walk another block to my forlorn vehicle. Everyone else picked up their cars hours ago. I feel anxious to get home. I roll down my window to let some of the hot air out of the Jeep and I’m on my way.

I glance at the oncoming traffic and see my opening. I quickly make my right hand turn, rushing out to catch another green light just down the block.

That’s when I notice you. Your blonde hair is glistening in the setting sun. My gaze immediately settles on your bright blue eyes. You are riding toward the setting sun. You are beautiful, but you look like you’re about to die.

My wheels scream as I slam on the brakes. Your jaw drops and you stare at me like I’ve done something wrong. I wonder what that could possibly be.

“Why are you riding your bike on the wrong side of the road?” I yell out the window.

You don’t respond. Instead, you quickly peddle away. I wonder if you’ll opt for the safety of the sidewalk, but no, you are incorrigible that way. I watch my rear view mirror as you continue to slip past oncoming traffic and out of my life. You are someone else’s problem now.

The man behind the counter explains that he’s going to run to the back to get some more chicken for the small sandwich. I shrug and smile but I’m in a bit of a hurry. I will need to eat and walk if I don’t want to be late. I’m not even sure of the room number.

I watch as people of all shapes and sizes collect their various orders of coffee and tea. The petite blond, the tall brunette, then a skinny guy with braces, they are each in their own world. They take their turn, grabbing beverages while I wait. My fascination with people watching begins to lose its appeal; my mouth waters as I stare at the incomplete toasted chicken sandwich.

Finally, the man with the chicken returns. He throws some bacon on for good measure and it’s complete! I decline a bag. I’m anxious to rip into that sandwich that I’d been thinking about since I left the house.

I unwrap the paper, ready to dig in when suddenly, in a moment of gross miscalculation, half the sandwich falls—it’s much smaller than anticipated and the prospect of recovering it vanishes before the thought is fully formed.

I stand dejected amongst a crowd of disconnected people, bacon, tomato, and chicken strewn out before me.

I will have plenty of time to find my class.

Over the weekend I went to my good friend Duane’s stag in Banff. We were lounging around in a bar sometime after midnight. My friend Niall was sitting beside me in a little love seat, in front of us sat a coffee table and on the other side two ladies were chatting with us. Out of the blue, one of them challenged Niall.

She declared, “I’ll betcha $20 that my friend here can beat you at an arm wrestle.”

I looked at Niall and then back at the girl—she was very tiny. I thought wow, this girl must be tremendously strong or have some kind of trick, because there’s no way she’s going to beat Niall, she’s just too small. He’s not a particularly big guy, but big enough. He’s about my height and weight, which lead me to ponder what this girl was thinking.

We moved some empties out of the way, they set up, a small crowd had gathered. It was over almost as quickly as it started.

Niall kind of shrugged and picked up his cash. I suggested to him that maybe they figured he would buy them some drinks and therefore they wouldn’t really be out any cash. Niall’s response was priceless.

“Fuck that. They can buy their own drinks.”

I’m off to see Pearl Jam and others at the 2008 Virginfest in Calgary. I’m having the busiest summer in memory so posting will continue to be light for the next while.

Update: Here’s a photo of the crowd at the Pearl Jam concert. I’m right up there, second from the front.

This weekend I’m in Easyford, Alberta at the Sasquatch Gathering. (Not to be confused with the Sasquatch! Festival.)

Honestly, I’ll be more surprised than you if we actually gather any Saquatches. Sasquatchi?

My kayaking friend Gemma recorded some footage at the Three River Rendezvous last May. She’s finished editing and tossed it up on YouTube:

[Three Rivers Whitewater Rendezvous 09 | YouTube]

I make a couple of appearances in the video — I’m the guy with the bright yellow helmet, blue PFD, and red dry top.