Category: life

Is it a Near Miss or a Near Hit When You Almost die?

Post author By Jeff Milner
Post date October 17, 2006
No Comments on Is it a Near Miss or a Near Hit When You Almost die?

There was an accident at work last week. No one was hurt, but I was almost seriously injured.

Here’s the situation, some walls were taken out of the change rooms because they are rebuilding everything. At least one wall had heating vents going through it and when they moved the wall out, they left the bricks on top of the vent.

There was a guy grinding some metal bits out of the ground right where I wanted to pile some blocks. If he hadn’t been there, I would have just been piling away happily. Instead I asked him if I could start my pile beside him—if I would be out of his way or if I should just wait until he was done. He said yes so I just walked a few steps away to grab some blocks from the pallet and a couple of guys—I’m not sure who they are, (they call them the tin-bangers), started hammering on the vents, presumably to bring them down. Even though this particular job was supposed to have been done long before the bricklayers got there and certainly it shouldn’t have been done while there were four of us working beneath the vents, I guess they thought it was a good idea to be working on it right then.

All of a sudden about six bricks came falling out of the sky and landed beside the grinding guy on the ground and right where I was about to pile my blocks. It was so close to hitting him, and me, it was just CRAZY.

Some of the bricks hit the new wall that had just been built and knocked one of its blocks right out of the fresh cement onto the ground.

One of the guys stopped pounding when he saw the accident but the other idiot—probably the one that actually caused the bricks to fall, didn’t even stop for a good 30 seconds. Somebody yelled at the grinding guy to get out of the way because there were still more bricks up there and the guy just kept pounding. Did I mention he’s an idiot!?

Anyway, needless to say, I was pretty shocked that I was almost struck down by six bricks that fell from about four meters. That would have left a pretty deep mark.

Some might call it a near miss, but I think a near hit is a more accurate description. I also don’t think anyone reported the incident. “No blood; no foul” I guess. I can’t wait to finish this job.

life

Warning: This Post Uses Explicit Language Involving Matter Being Ejected From the Stomach

Post author By Jeff Milner
Post date October 6, 2006
3 Comments on Warning: This Post Uses Explicit Language Involving Matter Being Ejected From the Stomach

A few weeks ago, when I visited my sister and her family in Drayton Valley, she was so kind as to send me home with a few odds and ends of food from her storage room. One of the items was a can of beef broth with an expiration date of October 2006.

The other day I made Chicken Stir Fry with my friend Heather and she suggested that I use chicken broth instead of water to cook the vegetables. It was a great idea.

So the next time I cooked Stir Fry, this time just for myself, since I didn’t have any more chicken broth, I decided to use the can of beef broth that Jackie gave to me—even though it said October 2006 on the top of the can, I thought, well, technically it’s only the beginning of October, so it’s probably still good.¹
BIG MISTAKE.²

The first time I ate it, it was not bad. I had a bit of an upset stomach but I thought it must just be heart burn. As I packed up the leftovers into plastic containers, I poured the broth from the bottom of the pan right over the rice. MMMM, extra flavour I thought to myself—extra food poisoning is what I SHOULD have been thinking.

The next night as I regurgitated the leftovers, I thought to myself—even though I know I’m not going to die, food poisoning does feel mighty close. Since I had thrown up about as much as I could and still felt sick, I decided that it might be a good idea to eat a heaping bowl or two of Raisin Brain, you know to “push the poison through”.

Moments later I was revisiting the entire contents of my two bowls of cereal in several terrific “oooaghhhs”. I quickly came to realize that I should take deep breaths between bouts of vomiting because you can’t breath while your digestive track switches direction.

The next few hours were long and painful. I decided that unless I felt totally better, I would not be going into work this morning. This was not a bad prospect considering how much work “work” actually is and it would be a good chance to let the 7 blisters on my feet heal. However, number one, I didn’t want to call in sick on only my third day of work and on the Friday leading up to a long weekend (how suspicious) and besides, at 6:00am I was miraculously and disappointingly healed (disappointingly because hey, four day weekend) so it was off to work I went; other than another slightly upset stomach at lunch it now appears as though the food poisoning has completely cleared up.

The story of my blisters is another matter. Suffice it to say that the first three days of work have been an adventure. I need to get some new work boots ASAP and hopefully I’ll beef up in the muscles department so that lugging those heavy blocks around won’t be so hard. Here’s to the working life.

And for supper tonight, I went back to my trusty staple… frozen pizza cooked in the oven.

1. This is where one comes to realize how important it is to have a girlfriend/boyfriend to bounce ideas off each other, like hey do you think this mould can just be cut off or is this dark grey block of cheese a write off?
2. For those of you that skipped over this post because it seemed too long, the moral of the story is don’t play Russian Roulette with expiration dates, it will catch up with you.

life

Blast from the Past

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 SLR.

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 any more 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.

family life

Death in the Family

I’ve been spending some time with my family in Medicine Hat over the last week. While I was here, we received some very bad news. A cousin of mine, Michael Scoville, passed away last Friday at the age of 26 years old.

Of all my cousin’s, I hung out with Mike more than any other. We lived in the same city for most of our lives and were pretty much the same age. We never went to the same school at the same time for very long but I was always amazed at how many people knew Mike all over the city.

Growing up we had our share of fighting between us but within the last ten years, or so, we made up and I enjoyed running into him at his parents house on the many occasions when they would invite us all over for dinner. It’s sad that he’s gone.

Tags death

life

Hard Drive Deterioration

I may be headed for an involuntary hiatus from posting because my hard drive is beginning to act like it has Alzheimer’s and files are beginning to disappear. Each time I start my computer is worse than the last. Pretty soon I won’t even be able to boot the thing up. I should have started to migrate my photos and songs as soon as I saw it happening, but alas it looks like I might lose everything. C’est la vie—in the meantime I’m at least I’m enjoying the week visiting my sister and her family. Here are some photos of my cute nephews.

life Photography

Whoop-Up Daze

I’m not exactly a professional photographer even though I have a very nice digital SLR camera. However, very often people assume that seeing a person carrying a professional looking camera is seeing a person that takes professional looking photos. This can be good and bad, because while I have been known to get some pretty good captures, I feel a little intimidated that people expect all my photos to be great. (I do my best.)

This last week has been Whoop-Up Days in Lethbridge, which is to say the Rodeo has been on at the Stampede and Exhibition Park and though I’ve lived here for almost 4 years, this was the first time I’ve been to the Lethbridge Rodeo. I took a bunch of photos that even though I know will probably never win any awards, they do give a pleasant taste of what the rodeo is all about.

The rodeo I remember as a kid was not nearly as entertaining as my experience on Friday and Saturday night. I remember sitting through extremely long breaks where it seemed that nothing was happening followed by short bursts of entertainment which if you were not careful, you might miss completely because hey what’s going on UNDERNEATH the stands? Needless to say I was always looking for entertainment. The other thing I remember about the rodeo as a kid was that there were a lot of cowboys smoking cigarettes and drinking beer—which coming from a non-smoking, non-drinking, somewhat religious family—made me extremely uncomfortable. The other thing I didn’t like about the rodeo as a kid was that we always sat so far away from the action. It was hard to see what was really happening.

That all changed this weekend. Well the drinking and smoking didn’t, but I came to realize that the breaks are actually not that long and this time I didn’t waste my time with all the suckers up in the stands, I got down right beside the field because my plan was to get some really nice photos. I was a little nervous just heading down there, because I didn’t know if you needed special permission or what? Well, I guess people just saw my camera and assumed I was a seasoned photographer and obviously was supposed to be there taking photos. It turns out that’s all it takes.

I had such a good time at the Rodeo on Friday night, that when my brother arrived in Lethbridge on Saturday, I talked him in to going with me for another night of photography fun. He’s got a lens that lets in more light and therefore is able to take photos later into the evening after the sun has gone down and he actually is a seasoned photographer. He gave me lots of good tips.

Anyway, Gary and I, each had our cameras out, shooting next to the Global TV camera man when we met a friendly guy from the Canadian reserves. He asked if we would mind taking a few shots of their mascot for him, since we had fancier cameras, and then just emailing him. We agreed and he gave us his card.

Well a little while later someone official looking came up to us and asked us if we had press passes. The old “carry a fancy camera and get into restricted areas” trick had used up all its juice.

But as we were getting told that if we didn’t have press passes then we would have to leave, I whipped out the business card I had just been given and explained that this guy asked us to shoot photos for him. What a stroke of luck because the guy knew who we were talking about and all of a sudden it was fine for us to be there. We were rodeo photographers again!

But the fanciest camera and all the permission in the world won’t necessarily help one to remember to set his white balance properly. I can’t believe I shot the whole night with my white balance set for fluorescent lights. Luckily Photoshop is helpful at fixing such issues. We had a lot of fun at the rodeo and Gary, as expected, got some really great rodeo photos (which he hasn’t uploaded yet).

You can check out the rest of my rodeo photos in my flickr set: Whoop-Up Days 2006.

life movie

Movie Review: “La Grande seduction”

Post author By Jeff Milner
Post date August 23, 2006
No Comments on Movie Review: “La Grande seduction”

Last night I enjoyed watching “La Grande seduction” with my friend—Amber L., (whom is coincidentally from Lethbridge and even works as a lifeguard at my old pool, but whom I only met recently on my trip to Quebec).

The movie was great. It’s about a tiny fishing village on a small island in Quebec where almost all of the residents are on welfare. When a much-needed boost, in the form of a new factory, is promised, providing they can secure a full-time Dr. into taking residence there, the mayor starts a massive recruiting project. The main problem being, the microscopic island doesn’t really have much to offer—so the villagers scheme together to make their little village a tiny piece of heaven for their potential MD, Dr. Lewis by creating an elaborate facade of how wonderful the place is. They even go so far as to tap his phone to “understand him better”; hilarity ensues.

Though it’s actually a French movie, we wimped out and watched it with English subtitles, because the two of us weren’t that confidant in our French skills, but I’d totally watch it again only in French this time. But despite the fact that it’s not in English, I highly recommend it. You might need to look for it under its English name, “Seducing Dr. Lewis”. (Personally I like the French title better). So go out and get it, I promise you won’t regret it.

life travel

As Pretty as an Airport

I’m down to my last two exams before I’m officially done here at Laval and that’s probably a good thing because I need to get home where I can get some rest.

I’ve been keeping busy this last week. On Monday a few hundred students here in the French immersion program took a ride down the St. Lawrence on the Louis-Jolliet. The folks here sure know how to fill up a boat. (photos)

Tuesday night was spent chilling out with my host family and eating, quite possibly, one of the best meals of my life. Definately top 10 anyway.

Yesterday I had lunch at a Pub in Vieux Quebec with my classmates and afterwards I took a bunch of photos of a couple of the girls.

Last night was the Spectaculaire, a talent show with vaudeville style acts. After the show, and the souvenir video, we had some of the best cake I’ve ever eaten followed by an evening of dancing and partying at the campus pub. Not everything was exactly perfect, as was previously alluded to, but on the whole I did have a good time. Oh, and as a splendid little cherry on top I ended up walking home alone in the rain for an hour and got home 3:30 in the morning—nice.

I don’t remember even talking to my roommates this morning at our 7:00 breakfast. I barely remember grabbing a couple slices of bread and washing it down with OJ—oh breakfast of champions. I think they realized I was not in my finest form. Luckily the written test this morning was not too tricky.

Saturday is rapidly approaching and in addition to the fact that I really like it here, I am not overly excited for my trip with Air Canada’s infamous service. If the voyage here will be of any indication then I wouldn’t make any bets on when I’m going to arrive. If you’re reading this in Lethbridge, don’t wait up—I’ll be home when I get there.

In honor of my air travel here is a quote about airports:

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase, ‘as pretty as an airport.’ Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort.
-Douglas Adams

I think the same can be said about Air Canada’s service—a kind of carefully refined treatment that can only be achieved with a lot of practice and determination.

life travel

All Good Things

This bittersweet ride is almost over. I’ve had the time of my life here—filled with both good and bad experiences. I guess some lessons take a lifetime to learn; I’m definitely still learning.

life travel

That’s Me in the Trees

This morning I was fretting a little because I really wanted to go to the “Parqours Aventure Le Relais” (I think that translate to something like Relay Adventure Park), but I didn’t buy a ticket in advance and I was worried that they would be sold out.

Well as the universe has decided to be on my side lately, I showed up at the University and got the very last spot! Ca va tres bien!

The Parquors Aventure is a series of suspended cables that stretch between the trees (we were told that each one was a separate “game”) and each game is a different level of difficulty. One of the most interesting ones was a kind of snowboard zip line where you jumped onto the board and then zoomed down the line. It’s difficult to explain properly without a photo and since we were doing a lot of climbing, I opted out of bringing my camera with me.

However, some of my friends brought their smaller (more manageable) cameras with them and so I have a few photos of the event (like this one):

Here I look a little wobbly, but it was because I was trying hard to use only my sense of balance and not to grab the “life line” above my head in order to get across. I ended up being able to get across this one without cheating but for most of the others, I would have fallen if it weren’t for grabbing the line (oh and of course the fact that I was strapped in).

At one point I was getting pretty confident about racing across the lines and one of the wood panels under my feet actually broke. Of course, I had the harness to hold me up, but I still got quite the adrenaline rush.

I’m having such a great time here but I’m heading out in only 7 more days! It’s time to really buckle down and get the most of it with regard to learning French!