Definition of Redundancy

Just a quick note to say that I won't be updating this blog anywhere near as regularly as my family blog - the Frozen Fowlers .

Mark

The Canadian Weather Office says there will be blizzards tonight, followed by minus 30 temperatures in the next day or so - woo hoo :-)

http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/warnings/report_e.html?ab33

Blizzard conditions expected tonight and into Wednesday.

A disturbance crossing southern British Columbia will track eastward into Alberta today and intensify. Bands of snow ahead of the system will become an organized snow area tonight and is forecast to extend from the Lloydminster area west into the grand Prairie/southern Peace regions. Widespread snowfall amounts of near 10 centimetres can be expected with local heavier amounts especially over east central Alberta. Increasing winds this evening will combine with the falling snow to generate blizzard conditions in exposed areas across most of central Alberta. Conditions will slowly improve from the northwest on Wednesday as the snow tapers off and the winds gradually diminish.

In the wake of the disturbance on Thursday an Arctic ridge will build down over western Canada bringing clear skies and very cold temperatures. Brisk winds and temperatures near minus 30 will result in extreme wind chills over the High Level region.

I've been shopping for warmer gloves, beanie and scarf - hoping they will be warm enough :-)

Mark

OK, the past month or so has been a little hectic.

Preparing, packing and finally moving to Edmonton AB, Canada.

Things are still hectic, but at least now I've managed to squeeze a little time in to blog.

The photo - that's the street we now live on.
All the white stuff - freshly fallen snow.

Stay tuned - regular updates to come.

I guess so.

Though it really is a pain to type stuff in.

Wow, I had almost forgotten my train of thought by the time I got to the end of the sentence.

Mark

My Son's soccer team, the Glenwood Redbacks, played a mini game of soccer during half-time at last weekend's game of Sydney FC vs Adelaide at Aussie Stadium.

That's my boy at the start of the line about to lead the team onto the pitch. (yeah, the Redbacks are the ones in red...)

A mighty game it was against Hoxton Park, with just one goal scored each way.

All this before a crowd of over 14,000 people. I don't think those boys will forget that experience in a hurry...

Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas is a fun game. I like listening to the WCTR talkback radio station while driving around. One of the shows - Gardening with Maurice - talks about the Amorphophallus Titanum.

Maurice: "It's called, 'amorphophallus titanium.' God, I love to say that. Amorphophallus titanium! The sound of it gives me a redwood in my khakis. If I come back as a super hero, I want to be called that. It's Amorphophallus Titanium, the rare botanical wonder! See his eight foot protrusion as he pollinates on everyone!"

So anyway, one was blooming last weekend at the Botanical Gardens, so my daughter and I went to take a squizz.

Did it smell? Yep, though it was just a mild smell of rotting garbage, not the "oh my god, what is that stench?", but hey.

Here we are at Wednesday in the first week of Gardening Leave (GL).
I've mowed, watered (recycled water rocks), weeded, replaced a busted pop-up sprinkler, and even removed a dead tree. My compost is thoroughly stirred thanks to a compost corkscrew thingie (there was some nasty slimy stuff down the bottom, but now it's at the top - yay).

Anyway, enough about the boring domestic stuff, and on to the boring fitness stuff...

Mate, just how full on are some gyms when it comes to signing you up???

There's a gym near where my kids go ice-skating (we're giving them lessons so they don't look like total noobs when we get to Canada).
So while they're skating away I pop on over to they gym and ask about prices and stuff.
Keira, the cute gym person, asks me to fill out a membership form, since it has the questionnaire about the kind of programs I'm interested in.
She shows me around (cardio, weight machines, free weights, etc) and then we finally talk about prices.
Since I'm heading to Canada in two months, we discussed the 3 month memberships - their minimum.
$275 for the "self-motivated" program, since it only includes 3 personal training sessions.
$475 for the "keep on track" program which includes 7 personal training sessions.
Which one would I be signing up for today?
I said thanks, but I'm still thinking about it, and got out of there as quick as I could.

Of course, a few days later Keira called to follow me up.
"Um, I'm still thinking about it..."

So, I visited the new you beaut Fitness First megaplex. That place is massive. 3 levels, rooms of machines, stuff like that.
The cute gym person Kate got me to fill out the membership application (since it has the questionnaire), showed me around, and told me that they have a minimum of 12 months membership, but that I could postpone my membership for a set amount of time if I got pregnant or moved away from the area or something. In other words, I would sign up for 12 months, use 2 of those months, put the membership on hold while I was in Canada, and then have 10 months to use up (and pay for...) when I got back. Hmm.
Was there anything stopping me from signing up now, Kate wanted to know.
Um, yeah, I'm still looking...

At the local pool there is a gym run by the council, so I made an appointment to see Nadine, the consultant there.
I filled out the membership form, since it had the questionnaire about what sort of program I would be interested in (can you see a pattern forming here?), and Nadine showed me around the gym. (Cardio, machines, free weights, big room for aerobics, boxing etc classes)
They have 12 month, 6 month and 1 monthly no commitment direct debit)
The price is good, and it includes access to the pool :-)
The biggest thing though, was the total lack of sales pressure.

I think I'll be signing up there...

It's Monday morning, my first day of not-work.

Actually, I'm on "Gardening Leave". You see, I'm still kind of employed by my employer.

The way they retrench people these days is to put them on "Work Force Reduction", which is one month at work, then one month (paid) at home, during which time the person can take another job within the company if something suitable is available. At the end of this period if they haven't found another job within the company, then it's payout time.

So, I'm officially getting paid to NOT go to work. How good is that?
Not only that, but if I spend the whole month not going to work, they pay me a big not-going-to-work bonus! I should not go to work more often :-)

What are the plans from here?
Well, in January 2007 the Fowler family is moving to Edmonton, Canada.
The beaut thing about being married to a teacher is that they get to do amazing things like swap jobs with someone overseas for a year. And that's what we will be doing.

In the meantime, I've got a long list of fun stuff to do - yay! :-(

Yeah, well - nothing much to say at this point in time.

Just setting things up ready for the torrent of creative brain ooze.

(Yeah, like that's going to happen...)