Stampede Day 3

Monday night we were sitting around. Wondering what to do. Tyler and Jen were headed off to a movie, but I have no interest in the new Die Hard. We invited them over for a pre-movie drink. We enjoyed some cosmos. Soon enough we decided we should probably head out to stampede again. With a quick phone call to our hookup we headed the block east to the grounds. Logan had some pizza and we wandered a bit. Then we decided to go on the Ferris Wheel. We paid the hundred dollars to get on the ride and were treated to the nights fireworks display while we rode. We even got the pleasure of stopping at the top for the finale.

Then we walked some more. Tyler and Jen decided they needed to get their hands on dick on a stick . What it is is bananas and strawberries on a skewer and covered in chocolate, the unfortunate part is that if they would just turn the strawberry up side down, or change the order they are put on the stick, it wouldn't look so alarmingly like a penis. Logan had a candy apple and we headed off the grounds to catch up with Jason (cousin) and his friend and Earl Tin Palace, right by us. It was a late night, but you gotta love turning a nothing night into something.

Stampede Trip 2

Yesterday we hit Stampede again. Logan was at work so Tyler, Craig, Jen, Chris and I went out. We had a good time. Mostly because of the old saying "It isn't what you know, it's who you know." Jason was working security again. Tyler put our bags and sweaters in his locker at the dome, and we were on our way. 1st stop, Beer Garden. They only serve Bud, which is a lot disappointing, but we managed. We then trekked over to the Coke Stage (which is free concerts) with the other million people for Three Days Grace. We stuck around long enough for Jen and I to hit the washroom and then headed the other direction. We then walked over to Nashville North. A great big tent with a huge line up. The line was way passed the sign that says "If you are here you can expect a six hour wait". Stupid. Who waits that long. Not us. We made a quick phone call and our hook-up, Jason, snuck us in the side door. We had a great time. First Prairie Oyster and then McQueen. McQueen was great - they are a cover band and played everything! A great night at the stampede again. And with our hookups, very little hastle.

Stampede

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth - they say.

Yesterday was the sneak peak. I was lucky enough to be one of the 100s of thousands of people to receive free passes to sneak peak evening. So after Logan's 10 hour + shift I made him take me. The best part was that Jann Arden was playing. I think she is great.

When we arrived we called Jason who was working security - just to see if we could meet up to chat. It turned out that he was stationed at he Free Coke Stage that Jann Arden was performing at. He advised us to go to the stage left gate. He let us into a sealed off section right off the stage left side. We got seats and a great view. Far better than standing at the back of the huge crowd where I may not be able to see and stand all the time!

As I sit here now I can hear the nightly fireworks ring out and the deep bass - boom boom boom of some performance. Stampede should be interesting. We are in spitting distance to the grounds. The horn honking and hooting and hollering may get old soon.

What a great weekend we had

With both sets of parents and a couple of siblings in town to help us celebrate Logan's graduation we had a great time.

The graduation itself was very neat. Not something you get to see everyday. There were the Police Trumpet Band followed by the Pipe Band. The Pipe Band marched around and had a dancer. And then out marched the recruits. Down the stairs and into formation wearing their "number ones", their dress uniforms. From the top of the badge adorned hats, crisp white shirts, black leather gloves and mirror like shine on the boots they were dressed to impress. Then they marched. Around the parade square they went in perfect unison. It was all very neat. The band was playing, the flags were waving and the recruits were in deep concentration. And then the exciting part. They presented each of them with their badge and certificate! After a quick shake of the hand with the Chief and Head of the Police Association they were off and marching again. Something that I will never forget.

After a quick stop over at our place for some appetizers and drinks we headed of to the Westin for a beautiful dinner and dance. The only problem was the recruits had been working 10 hour days all week and were at the armouries at 7:30 that morning to set up and practice one more time. They were all too pooped to party. Sure they drank and chatted - but it was up to Stef and I to dance the night away. And we did!

We made friends with a couple of other people and the four of us remained on the floor from the third dance until the end. Some people came and went. But we danced. Jason and Tyler Haughey were the DJ's so that added to the fun. They said that they play the music to the crowd. They quickly discovered that no one was going to dance - so that made the four of us the crowd. We had a good ole time!

Saturday we booked the entertainment room in our apartment building. We had food till the cows come home. Appetizers, cake, punch... yum... if I do say so myself. We were a small group and I had planned for an army. But we had a great time!

(I custom designed the cake using clip art -

you are unable to see his reg # on the badge on the hat)

A round of our favorite new game Apples to Apples

Then back upstairs to play a relaxing game of Wii.

Our new game "Smooth Moves"

Logan's Police Graduation Ceremony

Happy Father's Day

To all the Father's in my Life

I love you Dad.

My Father-in-Law

Grandpa Beatty

Grandpa Glass


Lots of Love and
Happy Father's Day

Better late than never

I have been spending all of my free computer moments editing the wedding video and I have neglected my blog.

On the weekend we bought a second game for our Wii - Play. It has some fun games on it. We had the usual suspects over to play. Always a good time!

We also went out to Canmore. Gotta love living close to the mountains.

Tandem Bike Ride

A trip to the Banff Hot Springs

Matt Royer (in from Edmonton) and Tyler

Dinner at Grizzley Paw PubKim and Matt and TylerA little Fondue

My poor baby.

Logan has experienced some interesting things in his training. They have done some crazy physical training, learned things that the average person doesn't want to know. A week or two ago they Tazered him. He was one of seven who experienced that pleasure. He even videotaped it. Not something I can watch. Not true, I watched the other people and laughed - but saw Logan get it and felt terrible for him. To hear him groan in pain is not easy. But his comment on that event was that the pain was more than he thought it could be while the Tazer was cycling (3 sec), but as soon as it was done it was over! There was no lasting pain or anything. Today is another story.

Today all of them were peppered sprayed. My poor baby. They pulled numbers and he was last. He got to watch every one of them go thru it before it was his turn. He said that it was more painful than he ever thought that it could be. Apparently his eyes, nose and mouth started to run like crazy to clear out the pepper spray. Gross.

I feel really bad because the pain continued, well, continues. They were sprayed at 1:00 and felt alot of pain until 6:00. He sat in the car for half an hour with the air in his face until he could drive. He came home and looked horrible. After the exercise they had a decontamination area with a bucket of water and baby shampoo to rinse. But they were told only to wash once cause the spray is worst when it is wet. Then they all lined up in front of the fans they had to cool down the burning. He came home and stood on a phone book on a chair to put his face up to the air conditioner vent. He started to feel better and went to do the dishes. He obviously got sprayed on the hands cause the water reactivated the spray and then next thing I know he has his hands in the freezer.

I guess if the point is to show them how their weapons feel they may think about it before they use them. I think that Logan will reserve the use of Pepper spray for those who have really done bad.

We gotta Wii

I am excited to announce that we got a Nintendo Wii! I love it. We have it hooked up so it displays on our projector. I love that thing! I can't wait to try some of the other interesting games they have created for it. Yeah Nintendo!

Ceremony complete!

Of the four weddings I have edited thus far I have always started with the Ceremony. This is mostly because it is the most important part of the whole day and I want to give it that extra energy that comes with starting a project. I am happy to report that it is complete. The sound quality is not great but I tried to even it out. And there are some shaky moments. But it is all there. And I happen to like it - if I do say so myself.

What next? Hard to say. We will see what tickles my fancy when I open up the program.

Day on the Bow

Today was great. 30 degrees and sunny. We spent the day on a raft on the Bow River. And the best part is that I didn't even get sun burned. A little pink, yes. But that is the best possible outcome.

New video whoas

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Logan's sister Lindsay was married on the long weekend. I now have a brother-in-law.
While at that wedding I had a number of jobs - most importantly was the job of stage manager. But I will not blog about that.
The other was self imposed. I took two video cameras and attempted to practice being a videographer. This is easier said than done when you have a million other things to be worried about. (I had some great help from Stef and Tyler!)
But now we are home and I am back to editing. You all remember those days of old when I would complain about the troubles I was having with my own wedding footage. Well let the complaining begin again.
My first complaint is about lighting. At the church it was pretty dark - except for the windows that are right behind the band and the readers - thus creating great silhouettes but no good shots. The second is about sound. Both camera angles are producing crap sound with muddled words or terrible hiss.
But I do still love doing it. Frustration and all.

I hate traffic in Calgary

Far to many people live in this city. Days like today I can't handle it. It is SUNDAY for pete sake. Get off the road and walk in the park!

Logan and I got in the car at 1:30 to do a little running around, pick up at dress at the seamstress, a picture from the framer, the library and drop Logan off at the cop shop. It took us an hour and a half. 90 minutes! That is stupid. There is too much traffic. And, like all cities, summer equals construction. So every block is down from four lanes to two or even one lane. Now I know most of you reading this are thinking "I hear you". Those in Regina. You have no idea. When two lanes of traffic is cut down to one - sure it ties things up. But when four lanes are traffic are diverted to one lane - that ties things up for 7-10 lights. Stupid. And to make matters worse we drove down a couple blocks of Macleod with one block having the two right lanes were blocked - the next block the two left lanes were blocked - and then down to one. AGH!

To top off the whole thing there is a festival going on right by us. On 4th street. So I am driving home with a little road rage and then get home to remember that we have Lindsay & Dan's car parked in our underground spot (while they are on their honeymoon) so I need to park above ground in visitor parking. Well, with a million people trying to attend this street festival a block and a half away from us - there is no parking. Our visitor lot is full. I take a couple of loops and still nothing. Now my blood is boiling. Then I see a family at their truck taking out a couple strollers. I drive up and unroll my window:
"Do you guys live here?"
silence
"Do you live at one of these three building?"
"No but this is visitor parking."
"Are you visiting someone in one of these three buildings?"
"No but this is visitor parking."
"This is parking for the people of these buildings, I live here and have no way to park at my home."
"Don't you have underground parking?"
"Yes, but this lot is also our lot."
"Would it make you happy if we moved our vehicle and had no were to park ourselves"
"Yes." (that is why, after all, that I pulled over and was bitchy to ruin you family outing)

Now, I have one hour to park at my own home. For I am sure that if there was ever a day for the meter maids to be out in full force watching our lot, I would hope that it would be today. For all of the other residence and their guests that are no doubt as frustrated as I am right now. Especially the two other vehicles that I saw making the loop that I was making.

To catch you up

It may seem odd that I didn't write for a long time and then suddenly put forth a lengthy entry on my thoughts about a subject most people like to avoid. To fill the gap...

We were in Regina for the Long Weekend. Logan's sister Lindsay was married to Dan. And we had a lovely time. As always, the stay was far to short. We left Calgary at noon on Friday (the earliest they would let Logan out of class) and arrived late for rehearsal but just in time for supper. The weather on Sat started out horridly, but shaped up in time for the ceremony and started raining just after pictures. Sunday we went to the gift opening, had tea with my grandparents, had the Kotlar's over for dinner - and I flew home.

I flew home because on Monday I started a short contract with Theatre Calgary. A festival called Fuse - a new play initiative. It was to look at different plays and if a theatre like Theatre Calgary should consider presenting them or plays like them.

Monday we rehearsed Much Ado About Nothing
Tuesday we presented it.
Wednesday we rehearsed Omnium Gatherum
Thursday we presented it.

Today, Friday we rehearse Passage to India.
And tomorrow we present it.
12 hours of rehearsal and then a presentation, script in hand, to a small, but interested group of theatre people and their spouses (who are usually also theatre people).

But it has be extremely interesting, but a bit tiring. Three first days and three performances in six days. Though I wouldn't change a thing. I am meeting people that may hire me in the future, and a ton of interesting actors from Calgary I have not yet met - and others whom I have.

Good weekend

I hope all of the mothers out there enjoyed their special weekend.
We did.
We went to the Haughey's for Wii Party. I would post more pictures but they seem to be corrupted files and won't let me upload them to the computer.

Below are photos (that I could retrieve) of the real life players next to their Mii's.

Saturday we went out to Melrose to celebrate Jason (and though he wasn't there) Tyler's birthday.

Jason doing a muff diver shot.

And Sunday Matt (the little brother) and his girl friend Mary Anne, came over for supper.

A very nice weekend.

Happy Mother's Day

To all of the Mothers in my life.

I love you mom.

Mother-in-Law

Grandma Beatty

Grandma Glass

Nannie (Great Grandma)

Muttar (Great-Great-Grandma)

Happy Mother's Day!

Ah Friday

I have complete a full week of Photo Finishing Training. Not that interesting. But not bad. I was quite bored today as there was hardly any film to develop. Oh well.

In other news. Car broke down again. First it was the radiator. $1000 touch. And now, only three weeks later the car over heated (very quickly) on a very short ride. We had to stop twice to let it cool down before we could go on. We had to get it towed to VW. We assumed that overheating = radiator problem. Nope. It is a water pump - oh and your timing belt is cracked. So another $1200 into the car in one month. There goes my tax return.

What's in a name?

For a long time now I have been talking and thinking about trying my hand at wedding videography. After the mess our guy made of our wedding I thought that anyone can do better, especially me. I really enjoy video editing. I have been doing so for years. Way before computer editing softwear I would have two VCRs hooked up together with the video camera and create videos for different events. I have finally put a deadline before myself. I want to have myself ready for the next batch of Bridal Shows in January.

Step 1 is a name. I need a catchy, great name. I like simple. I don't like anything like The Wedding Shooter. Examples of names I like, Red Leaf Studios, our wedding photographer. It is simple and clean and leads itself to a logo. I like Day One, a videography company in the city. It links to weddings and it being the first day of the rest of your life etc.

Before you read my ideas think. Don't read ahead. I don't want to influence your thoughts.

The first thing that came to my mind was Slogan. A name that they ole Do It With Class kids used to call us - Stacey & Logan. But that name doesn't go anywhere. Logan came up with Glass Imagery. It is winning so far. I like it. Ties to my old name and a nice sound.

Tell me what you think. All ideas are great ideas!

Visual Profile

I found this link on someone else's blog. It is supposed to tell you about yourself, by what pictures chose. Some are true. Others not so much.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

stupid facebood

I did it. I joined. I have spent all morning updating my profile, uploading pictures and finding friends. It is a little weird finding people and asking them to be your friend. Some of them are no brainers. We are friends. But others, I just know them, do I ask them? What does it mean, if anything, if I do. What if they don't confirm. Of course they will confirm, if for nothing else than curiosity. Ah well. I am on and am awaiting confirmation of these friendships - and then I can browse around their pictures and conversations with other people. The internet is weird.

It snowed

It is May and it snowed today. Everyone always brags about the weather in Calgary. Clearly it is just the winter chinooks they are bragging about. Regina has been in summer for a month - or so I have been told. Meanwhile, there are have been approximately 3 days of nice weather. Not even shorts weather - but no jacket and sandals weather.

Snow. Stupid.

What kind of name is Facebook?

It seems every one is apart of facebook these days. There are always emails inviting me to be someone's friend. Logan is on and he has been in contact with people we haven't talked to in years that stumble across your name and say hey. As I stated previously stated I already have one internet vice - blog. But one of the guys in my last show pointed out (while trying to recruit me) that you can link your blog to it, have a larger viewing audience. That idea scares me a little too. I enjoy my limited audience. I can complain and the chances of the wrong people reading are small. But... I feel like I am missing out. My cousin Kim invited us to a party, well Logan was invited, through the facebook. I am growing weak. It may just be a matter of time now.