Movember Curling

Last weekend the 3rd annual Movember Bonspiel was held at the Granite Curling Club here in Edmonton. After missing last years event for work I was excited to get back on the ice again.

The day itself is a blast as everybody gets dressed up in their finest curling wear and tilts back a few beverages in the spirit of hairy man camaraderie.  As I am as skilled as a professional curler I thought it best to dress like a professional so I picked up a spiffy suit at Value Village for $25. I tried to convince Greg to also dress up in a crappy suit for curling but he went with a 'dandy' look instead. Stupid jerk kind of pulls it off.

My suit didn't last the day as it ripped during a Hulk Hogan pose down.

More friends and their outfits.

Amy looking good in the killer looking homemade sweater.

 The biggest hat I have ever seen.

 The 1980's track pants are now in their 3rd year of Movember curling.

 A true Canadian man!

 I have probably seen Chris wear this half a dozen times now, it never gets old.

Mo'Sista Amanda and Crystal modeling the Mo'Sista's gear.

Our team started off awesome winning the first 2 games. 

I had to take off for rec-hockey before the 3rd game but before I took off we snapped a team pic.

The team won their next game without me then got slaughtered in the finals by a bunch of ringers. For a bunch of rookie curlers and drunken louts we did pretty good. Now, all I want to do is curl. I need to join or start a team.

Non Movember Continuation.

My full day continued at rec-hockey where we won our game in OT 7-6. Foss, who is by far our best player had 5 goals and 2 assists. No big deal...

After all the games I took in the Death From Above 1979 concert. Which was awesome.

Sunday was pretty lazy. I don't think I got off the couch from 2PM on. 

Movember 2011

It's every pervert and weirdo's favorite time of the year. Half of the men in Canada grow moustaches in support and solidarity of prostate cancer and it's impossible to tell the difference between a MoBro and a paedophile. Huzzah!

2009 Movember Couple of the Year
Picture from the Edmonton Journal

This is my fourth year participating in Movember and I'm going back to my original facial hair expression: The Handlebars. Hmmm, I wonder if it's any coincidence that Christina decided to take off for three weeks this month? She is missing out - I make this look good - or according to my boss...Everyday I look more and more like I am from Saskatchewan.

Of course all the moustache stuff is for fun but it also has a serious message to it.

On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face.

For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery and raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words, they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health while their fundraising efforts go towards prostate cancer research.

To track the progress of my Moustache you can go here and while you are there you might as well donate.

So far it is coming in nicely with the cold weather - and yes I am from Saskatchewan. Next year Riders....

Memories of Moustaches past.

2010 - The duster and the tickler.

2009 - It's Business Time

2008 - The Original Gangster stache and his niece Claire not scared to wear pink.

BTW - Blogger says this is my 150th post. Yeah me?!

Free Time On My Hands

I haven't been blogging much lately as I have been having problems with my camera. However, I finally have fixed it as of 10 minutes ago...So look for a few quick posts. Additional to having access to my photos again over the next few weeks I will be without my BFF Christina as she is currently on vacation in South America.
So with all this free time I will try to get caught up on my blog in between long sessions of X-box 360 and sauerkraut eating (2 activities that Christina does not approve of).

I am hoping that when Christina returns I can get her to do a guest blog on her trip. As a potential tease of that post I have some pre-trip picks to share.

Christina is an experienced traveler and likes to have local money ready when she arrives at her destination. I am fascinated by notes from different countries so I took the following pictures.

Argentina

Typical looking old white dude doesn't seem right.

 Uruguay

This guy looks like a total lefty intellectual - the ultimate insult, putting his mug on money.

 Brazil

I find the Roman style picture on the 20 to be weird.

 Straight up ballin'

Last picture of Christina taken in Canada at the airport at 6 am. That bag is all of her gear for a full 17 days.

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day

Whatever you do today, do it to 11.

Halloween

For me this had to be the least built-up Halloween ever. As a man of a certain age without kids there really isn't that much to look forward to other than scantily clad women, and if I wanted that I would just goto Earls or the bar or something.

So it was with a high level of apathy that I entered the weekend.  Thankfully, Christina was able to break me out of that funk with some simple Halloween activities.

Friday night before the pagan holiday Christina and I popped over to Sobeys to pick out some sacrificial pumpkins in which to make Jack O'Lanterns.  We chose a couple nice plump ones and started to work on them.

 The horror, the horror.

 Stu's pumpkin

 Chrissy and her cat pumpkin.

 The finished product.

Spooky! 

 Just to add to the experience and further deepen the pain of the carved pumpkins I was drinking the lifeblood of their fallen brothers: Pumpkin Ale was great.

For the Saturday night Christina and I decided to head out to the Overtime Bar and Grill in Sherwood Park for a duelling pianos pirate themed party. Value Village hooked us up with some sweet accessories.

Christina's mean pirate face.

 The dread pirate weird neck pillaging the country side.

At the bar I cam across this dude in the awesome Goonies costume. As he walked by I gave out the "Hey You Guys" call. Out of nowhere he rewarded me with a Baby Ruth candy bar. It was quite the moment.

Finally, on Monday night (Halloween) Christina and I donned the pirate gear again to give out candy at her place. We had 85 kids come through with my favorite being a little guy dressed as a skunk. Near the end of the night there was a special visitor as Christina's only niece, Gabriella, showed up. Although you can't tell from this picture Gabby was happy to see Chrissy.

 Gabby and Alex (dad).

After a slow start it turned out to be a pretty good weekend. So, Thanks to Chrissy for making my Halloween fun. You are the best.

Client Appreciation

I was lucky enough to receive an invite to a client appreciation night a few weeks back by Delnor Construction. In my new world of employment I am eager to meet and greet as many folks in the industry as I can so I made a point of marking it in my calendar. It didn't take long though and I forgot about it.  When my calendar alarm went off a few days before the event I realized I never RSVP'd and had missed the deadline by a week. Undeterred , I decided to send an email to the contact person. They were extremely gracious in re-assuring me that they could definitely accommodate me and my tardy ways.

I arrived a little past the 'beginning' of the social and was a little peeved that the parking lot of the Royal Mayfair was already full. I grumpily accepted that I would have to drive and find a spot at the neighbouring Hawrelak park. As it began to rain during my walk to the event I started having second thoughts about attending but I continued on.  When I arrived I was greeted by a friendly face, great food and free drinks at the bar. Needless to say, I was now happy.

I mingled through the room for awhile and met some great people, including quite a few project managers and a great coordinator from Delnor Construction. Eventually, one of the Partners from the firm got up to the mike and graciously thanked everyone for coming. At this point, I was engaged in a discussion with a woman regarding the durability requirements of affordable housing so I wasn't really listening to attentively to the speaker. However, my ears perked up when I heard my name announced. I had won the door prize. Stunned, I waved to the crowd and thanked the host unsure of what I had won.

Well, it turns out that I won a NEW 55 INCH 3D TELEVISION. Holy Crap.

As I drive a Civic there was no way I was going to get that puppy home so they are dropping it off at work for me this week.  Obviously, I was overjoyed to receive anything let alone a new tv, but that wasn't it. On the way out they gave all guests a customized set of headphones and i-tunes gift certificate.



So being that they gave me all of this - I feel its the least I can do but thank them and pop up their logo on my personal soapbox read by literally the most prestigious dozen or so people on-line.

Thank you Delnor Construction. Hey everybody, go build something with them!

Lakedell Country Fair

The NHL season is well under-way, the Roughriders are done and there is an off chance of snow for the coming week. There is no way of getting around it - winter is just around the corner.

I have been putting off writing anything about my favourite event from this past summer as somehow my procrastination was holding off winter. Don't get me wrong, I truly do like winter.  It's just not as fun living in the centre of Edmonton during winter - There are no snowmobiles and inexpensive junior hockey games 5 minutes away to watch.

Anyways...This was by far my favourite event of this past summer and I will fondly remember it when I am stuck in a snowbank in 3 weeks.

Christina and I attended the Lakedell Country Fair out near Pigeon Lake the first weekend in September. The Country Fair is advertised as "Alberta's Largest One Day Fair" and as you can see from their flyer there is lots going on.

We arrived a little after noon, grabbed a couple of burgers and walked around soaking in the sights.

Christina likes this horse because it's wearing leg warmers. They are sooooo back.

As far as we could tell, this was mostly a parallel parking competition with horses.

Eventually we settled down and watched a couple of events. I was drawn to the log cutting competition and after watching a few other city slickers enter I decided to give it a go.

Overall, I did pretty decent. I was a few seconds below the average at 17 seconds but way behind the top cutter at 12 seconds. I tried to remember my Dad's words about sawing - "let the blade do the work". I typically take fast short strokes instead of the better method of longer strokes with all the teeth. In the video you can see I am cutting this one somewhere in between my usual and preferred stroke.

After my sawing expedition Christina and I decided to sit down and watch some real athletes ride perform in the greatest exhibition of man and beast of all time - Mutton Bustin'. For those not in the know, Mutton Bustin' is basically bull riding for children but instead of riding bulls they ride sheep. And it is the greatest spectator event ever.

The kids ranged from about 4-8 years old.  However, most of the youngest one's never even left the gate.  All too many of the kids were placed on the sheep in the chute by their overzealous parents before throwing a fit and getting pulled off by their now laughing parent. These kids now share the worst badge of shame ever - too chicken to ride a sheep. Those that did get out the gate are obviously the ultimate studs of the prepubescent world.

Notice in this video how awesome the kids 'stroll' back to the chute is. Pure Stud!

Exhausted from all the excitement we checked out the vendors and exhibits. I really like looking through the wood working and gardening displays. It reminded me of my days in 4-H back in Humboldt, but it was rare I ever got a blue ribbon.

As we left, I thought it was only appropriate to commemorate the great day with a souvenir so I picked up this awesome mug to impress all the people at work.

The whole day was great and Christina and I are already looking forward to next year.

The Pool is Closed

I walked by the Legislature grounds last weekend and noticed that the reflection/splash pool is now drained. That sucks. We had some good times this summer.

Go Fly a Kite!

This spring, while killing time in a Winners while Christina shopped, I came across a kite in the toy section and on a whim decided to buy it. It sat in the trunk of my car for months till a few weeks back I convinced Christina to join me at Hawrelak Park and give flying a kite a go.

The wind would come in bursts where it would catch the kite nicely, other times I would have to help the kite stay aloft by running with it and creating my own wind.

Christina was a little unsure at first but after watching me run around like an idiot keeping it aloft she decided to give it a try. She was a natural and ended up really enjoying it.

I would definitely recommend picking up a kite somewhere and keeping it in your trunk for an inexpensive (~$10)  fun time.