Glorb

Okay - I'm better now. Yesterday was painful but I spent the afternoon drinking beer again - hair of the dogging it (much slower this time) - with Ryan watching movies at his place. I had to watch "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" again. Jeez - Johnny Depp can play a hilariously accurate crazy person. I get such a laugh out of his Willy Wonka performance in that one. And those teeth, how beautiful.

Swan's has been short a cook AGAIN this week, so Joe's squeezed 85 hours of work at the bar in the past eight days. Needless to say we haven't seen much of each other - possibly a godsend for me since he's been a little difficult lately due to the soul-sucking hours of work and little sleep. However, we did manage to get out with Kirsten and Johnny on Sunday night after I got back from Edmonton for Natasha's b-day party at the Hi-Fi Club. It was lots of fun, but a little tipsy and late....

I crawled into work late this morning (give me a break...the TdF is on, fer chrissakes - I have my priorities) after watching Matthias Kessler make the jump on the peloton and win Stage Three. Having the Tour on is such a part of the summer experience. Watching that makes a person really get a sense of the scale of the human experience. Classic, that's all I can say! After work I headed to the track for some training. After my 'humiliating' work at the Crits this weekend, I figured it's best to stick with what I know! ;-)

The weekend was fun. More team bonding and such. The weather was hot, the racing was fast, and I got my ass handed to me on a platter, thanks especially to Tim Heemskerk - our provincial phenom ass-kicker, who is pretty much making all of us non-Belgians look fat and slow.

We got to see the firework display on Canada Day in the Saskatchewan River Valley in Edmonton. They were fired off directly in front of the Legislative Buildings in the valley just below the High River Bridge. It was a half-hour performance - quite impressive. I quite like Edmonton. It has many qualities that Calgary doesn't which is both good and bad depending on your perspective, but they are certainly quite distinct cities from each other. Its one winning attribute is its ginormous river valley which essentially cuts the city in half but provides a lush playground (in the summer, anyways) for the citizens. I dream of running on the valley trails in Edmonton. Okay, other than that and it's vibrant cultural scene, there maybe isn't too much more. ;-)

But what's any city without culture? Oh, right. Calgary.

That damned Stampede starts again at the end of the week, when we get overrun with yokels that can't drive and drunks that can't shut up. Great. Okay - it brings a lot of cash to the city (and we know that's what Calgary embodies -- a big stinking money whore), but really - is this all we're known for? I had an interesting conversation with Tony on the weekend about the demise of the gay community and we concluded the only part of the community that is flourishing right now is ARGRA - the Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association! The Canada Day long weekend rodeo and dance has become one of the biggest events on the gay calendar in Calgary and is growing bigger each year. The only other event to rival it in size is Western Cup, I believe. I suspect with the realization by many gay wannabe cowboys worldwide that 'Brokeback Mountain' was filmed nearby that that will only help out the numbers even more. I can't believe that the hokey western theme (which is completely artificial of course - unless you live on a ranch in Longview or something) is the only thing Calgary has going for it...and everyone's perfectly fucking happy with that! It frustrates me to no end. I guess it's pretty harmless and naïve. I guess it's better than having no caché whatsoever.

I suspect Friday will be a short workday as all the O&G working stiffs queue at Cowboy's and Desperado's post-parade around 11am and proceed to drink the rest of the day. I'm not sure if I will partake, but it certainly won't be at one of the big commercial country bars-turned-superclub-for-the-week. I can't stand the garishness and blatant whorishness of it all. Oh well, one guy's opinion....some people appear to love it, for some reason.

Jeff's party is Saturday night! That will be the highlight of the weekend. Lots of pics to come, no doubt. The following weekend is Trezlie's first birthday, so I (and hopefully Uncle Joe) will be heading to Red Deer for that.