slip 'n slide

I'm in central/northeastern Saskatchewan. They (the weather network people) told me before I left on Monday that there would only be a light snow this week. My faithful weather friends lied to me. There was lots of snow. It was a scary 5.5 hour drive to Kamsack (it should have taken just over 4). Then this morning from Kamsack to Canora, it was pure ice. Even the big full-of-confidence-in-themselves-and-their-trucks truckers were going slow. I was sliding all around on the road. If there weren't so many deep ditches and road signs that could wreck my pretty new car, it might have been almost fun. But I just kept going nice and super slow. The roads were better this evening thankfully.

Usually on my survey trips (which is what I'm currently on), I do lots of surveying with short drives (they are totally the best part) between - but this trip there is lots of driving everyday. I am sad to say that it's made me grumpy. I just about snapped at the hotel lady when she said they are full tomorrow and I can't book a second night. Which is retarded - it's not her fault that I'm in the middle of the storm watch area (for snow, rain and freezig rain - light snow my bum) and that tons of other people booked tomorrow night before me. But thankfully I didn't snap. And we ended up laughing about something (that I won't explain because you totally had to be there) before I came up to my room. So that's good. But I still feel grumpy. I don't want to take 3 hours to get to Prince Albert tomorrow because I have to go like 20 the whole way. Actually, if I have to go 20 it would take more like 4.5 hours becuase I think I'm 90 clicks away. But I digress. I guess if the roads are really really bad I will just have to beg one of the roadside places to take me - there are 3 here. 2 are kind of sketchy. But I have my sleeping bag so I should be okay.

You know, last time I was in this town for a job, there was a huge snowstorm and I was stuck here. Methinks I see a pattern...

Anyway, I'm going to take advantage of the one night I do have in a nice hotel with a fitness room and pool. The pool is undergoing maintenance (of course) so it's closed, but the treadmill should be good to go.

Later.

oh yeah

I got my new glasses. I'm over my sadness of losing the old ones. The new ones are kind of cat-ish. Ky says they are semi - sexy librarian which I can totally handle. I got compliments on them all weekend. So I like them. Goodbye old cool blue glasses - hello new hopefully attractive ones.

This weekend, I was in Love.

That's right. I love being in Love. I just wish I could be there more often. And, although I have no complaints about being in Love with my friend Ang (the first person I have ever been in Love with), I'd like to be in Love with lots of people.

There is a town in Saskatchewan called Love. It's a cute little town, but I would drive myself crazy if I lived there. If you ever go there, you will understand what I mean. It is literally impossible to keep yourself from punning. You will find yourself saying, "wasn't it great, being in Love?" and "I wish I was still in Love." Trust me, the list goes on and on. To the point of self annoyance. But it cannot be helped. My friend Ang and I stopped by the village on our way home from our weekend quiz meet. There are hearts everywhere. And all of the streets have alternate names. For instance, 2nd Street is also True Love Drive. Railway Avenue is also Cupid's Way. It's fun, but definately cheesy. I'd drive myself crazy there so it really is a good thing that I'm not often in Love.

See.

you know you are in saskatchewan when...

I had a survey in Regina this week. It was an important one with a huge time constraint. I had to get there. Of course since I live in Saskatchewan, there was a blizzard in my city. Well, maybe not a blizzard, but enough snow that I didn't want to drive my new car on the highway. 5-7 hours (round trip depending on the iciness of the road) of stress was not how I wanted to spend my day. So I tried to get a flight. The options were:
1. a small airline that only flies between Saskatoon and Regina; and
2. Air Canada. The Air Canada flight wasn't a direct flight. I actually would have had to fly to Vancouver first. Yeah, look at a map if you don't know how far that is.

So anyways, the small airline, which was much cheaper, was sold out of the 7 am flight so I grumpily took the last seat on the noon flight and tried to be super prepared since I was going to have half the time to do my assessment. Well it's a good thing that first flight was full. Because it ended up being cancelled and there wouldn't have been anymore seats on the noon flight and i'd have been SOL. But now I must tell you why it was cancelled because it makes me laugh.

They actually loaded up the little jetstream plane and everybody got on board. The plane taxied out onto the runway so they could de-ice the wings (a common occurance at many Canadian airports - except probably not Vancouver or Victoria). When they tried to take off they couldn't. Why you ask? Because they were frozen to the runway. Hah! They had to get towed back to the hanger and flight = cancelled. Shannon = happy she didn't call soon enough to get on the early flight.

I'm sure Saskatchewan isn't the only place in the world where planes get stuck to concrete, but I've seriously never heard of that happening before.

the frighteners - and i'm not talking about raven

a friend of mine has, over the past couple months, made friday nights at his pad the place to be. after wall climbing with some friends, we headed over for the rest of the evening. the decided event of the week was a movie. it took about 2000 minutes for us to decide but finally 1996's "the frighteners" was chosen. after i got over the fact that michael j. fox was a potty mouth i decided that the movie was really... well... terrible. so bad. but it was fun to watch with my friends. especially since ky got all creeped out and could barely go to the washroom by herself in her fear. now ky and i have a history of being scared by movies together. and the sure fire way to get over it, is to watch some teenageish type movie together. so that was the plan.

we arrived home and had to decide what to pop into the dvd player. i knew what ky secretly wanted to watch. see, she has this deep abiding love for raven symone (who now apparently goes only by only "raven"). but she won't admit it. in fact, there is a good chance she will deny it - on this blog even. i understand that it is probably a little bit embarrassing to adore raven, but i think ky should know by now that her friends accept her for who she is and won't hold it against her. anyway, good friend that i am, i suggested that we watch "cheetah girls" so that ky could have her fill of raven without having to put herslef out there and ask. i actually bought the movie for her at christmas and she says that she's never watched it yet, but i caught her mouthing some of the words of the songs so "sure ky. you haven't seen it." anyway, it definately calmed us down from being scared of the frighteners. although to be honest, i am little scared for the future generation of girls. scary. anyway, i bet ky had nice cheetalicious dreams all night!

hah, i'm so getting a punch in the throat for this post. tee hee.

My glasses that I loved broke. Still under warranty so I went to pick up the new pair today. They are no longer making them. So boo, I have to get new frames. And my fashion eyewear consultant is in Red Deer. So I've picked a pair with the help of his sister. But without his input, I have no idea if they are suitable.

On another note, the metal is gone. I'm surprised how much more spacious it feels in my mouth though. My tongue doesn't know what to do with all the room in there. I'm excited to floss tonight. I think I'm getting over the sadness I felt last night very quickly indeed.

comfort metal

I am kind of sad tonight. Let me explain why. When I was in grade seven, I had my braces removed. To keep my bottom teeth from shifting, I recieved a wire along the bottom of my mouth behind my teeth. It's never bothered me. It is a bit of extra effort to floss, but that's about it. They didn't want to remove it until I had my wisdom teeth out and since it never bothered me, I wasn't in a rush. When I got my wisdom teeth removed, I still wasn't in a rush. But this weekend, it broke and has been cutting up the side of my mouth and my tongue. Thank goodness for orthodontic wax. $2.50 was all it cost me for complete relief. Anyway. The dentist's office was closed all weekend and yesterday so today I called and made an appointment. As I suspected, they are going to remove this wire. Strangely I am nervous to have something that has been a part of me for 12 years taken away. Not to mention that I'm not thrilled to have a SECOND retainer that I'll have to wear. Real sexy huh.

Anyway, it will all be done in less then 24 hours. Just like that. I feel somewhatt ungrateful to this little piece of metal that has aided in creating the smile I have today. But then again, it is just a piece of wire. Why should I care?

Weird. It must be all those pickles I ate last night wreaking havoc with my emotions.

Night.