Hairy Marmot's and other creatures
Banff truly is a place of two seasons. With resorts operating for around 6 months, it has one of the longest ski seasons in the world. It is timely that I soon leave as the winter season is coming to an end with
Sunshine being the only mountain still operating. Many of the Australians whom I speak to are either leaving in the next week or have just arrived. Those that have just arrived will enjoy Banff's temperate summer which brings about an even busier tourist season. It is 7C today so I made my trip to the rec centre with just a light coat (it seems one acclimates quicker than I would have suspected), and on my walk I was thinking of the cool time-lapse videography that they do on those
Discovery type programs to show the changing of the seasons.
I was heading to the rec centre for some ice skating, but upon entering the janitor paused from his duties to inform me 'no ice!'. This threw me as I didn't exactly know what he meant by 'no ice', but I got the point when I gazed over to the rinks to find their floor was bare cement. As I walked home along the train tracks I laughed to myself as a pair of unidentified rodents (they may have been Hoary Marmot's), were closely following my move - their heads would pop out of one of their holes in the ground, pause momentarily, and then scurry back through their network of underground tunnels before their heads would pop up in another location. I wish I could see more animals but unfortunately many have been in hibernation - although the local paper has written of one Black bear that has risen from its slumber. Black bears are considered to be a threatened species in the park with only 35-40 left. Suprisingly, their bigger, more feroscious cousin, the Grizzly, is somewhat more prevelant. I spotted a Bighorn Sheep on the way up to Sunshine the other day but am more intent on finding a Mountain Goat - I love the Mountain Goat so I thought I would pull a few pics from the web and post them above.
While Banff is getting busier, so too is McDonald's with over $15K in sales over Saturday and Sunday. Nice news for the owner who also owns a store down the road in the town of Canmore, where I'm sure sales were similar. A great reminder that while I will be sorry to say goodbye to Banff, the same can not be said for the workplace.
It was race day last Friday and unfortunately Team McDonald's did not place in the top 10 of the 32 teams involved in the Giant Slalom. This was not suprising as we were competing against a number of ex-Olympians and a group of youngsters (the eventual winners) who were decked out in their Team Canada race apparel. Ah, it was great fun all the same! My boss, Terry, thinks he will just make a mockery of it next year and call head office for the Grimace and Hamburglar outfits to wear on the day.
I had thought poor old Sunshine was slowly falling victim to the warmer weather (the top of the mountains are quite icy while the ski out is mushy) but a dumping of snow the other day has made some repairs. Hopefully we can get a little bit more to keep them in good shape for the final 4 or 5 times I will hit the slopes. It's been a blast - skiing is such a thrill.
Palandromes and stuff
Here I am with Michelle. Michelle is Australian - her family home is around the corner from Liz' on North Road. Michelle is a great crew member because she goes beyond our 'Minimum 3 Flair Rule' (as you can see from all the badges on her shirt). Many crew members feel the bare minimum of three is enough, which is fine: but some, like Michelle, choose to wear more... and we encourage that. You see the thing is, people can get a cheeseburger anywhere, but they come to
McDonald's for the atmosphere and the attitude. That's what the flair's about. It's about fun.
And my mo' is all about fun too. I think it really caps off my manager look. I'd also like to get my hair done in tight little curls to help cap off the look.
I have 7 days of work left and 7 days of work-free enjoyment. In exactly 2 weeks from now I will awaken, pack my bag and make the short walk to the Greyhound Station at 9pm, en route to New York.
While there is light at the end of the crappy-employment-tunnel, this could be shun by the fact that I may continue my relationship with Macca's.... at Glenelg!!! This is all dependent on how my mother goes in the interview process. You see, mamma bear is in talks with Greg at Glenelg and she is obviously doing a good job as Greg has not felt the need to respond to my emails. I'm not too worried - if I don't get work at Macca's I'm sure I can get into some sort of program out at Heritage.
If I am employed at Glenelg, I think my boss will get a suprise when he realizes that his newest employee is the same guy who came into his store a few summers ago to discuss what he proposes to do about all the red and yellow trash left on the foreshore. As my sister pointed out (who, by the way, is not involved in the interview process, but whom I may call upon for a reference), the reprecussions of my save-the-planet-attitude may have Glenelg mangement hand me a bag and gloves on my first shift.
Sirius
When Daz, Rick and I were in NY, we acquired tickets for Letterman on an evening that shock-jock Howard Stern was guest (you may know Howard, he recently claimed he's the father of Anna-Nicole Smith's baby). Anyways, it was an unprecedented show with free Sirius Sattelite Radio car stereos being handed out to every member of the audience (along with a three month subscription). This is the kind of behaviour that is usually reserved for Oprah - infact when Stern told us we were all being given the stereo I really thought he was just joking. But, while it was a kind gesture it was of little benefit to any of us because Sirius isnt available in OZ and I dont have a car here.
So I've attempted to set up an account to sell mine on eBay, but this had its difficulties (mainly due to the fact that I'm an idiot). So Ive decided to start up an online bidding system of my own. Here is the first item:
1 x Sirius Plug and Play Satellite & Vehicle Kit (Starmate 4). (see image above) The kit is unopened and security tab is still in place. (Kit includes: RADIO, VEHICLE POWER ADAPTER, REMOTE, VEHICLE ANTENNA, VEHICLE DOCK, DASH & VENT MOUNTS
With
1 x unused Sirius Satellite Radio $50 Programming Gift CardWith a number of prospective readers being Australian I may have stuffed myself by informing that it wont work in Oz. But anyways, bitting starts at 50 cents and if Rick or Daz try and cut you a better deal, I'll sell mine for 10% under their offer.
I don't know how to use Paypal so cash is the only acceptable form of payment. Bidding will close in 15 years or until the item is sold.
Free Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com
In and Around Banff township
What?
Sorry, it seems I am on a run of late with crazy headlines from news.com.au
This has to be the most ridiculous to date.
A MELBOURNE man who fantasised about contracting HIV before being infected by the virus speaks of a gay subculture in which infection is seen as "desirable".Hate to sound like a fascist, but could that Melbourne man and his good time friends eat a bullet so I dont have to spend my tax dollars on the ramifications of their f*?'d up sexual fantasies?
What an insult to the millions of kids in Africa orphaned because of AIDS. You sick twat!
Yuk!!!
Ok, I'll take gun problems over flesh eating rodents any day of the week. Yuk, yuk, yuk!
(Another disconcerting headline from news.com.au)
Carving gnar!
I love Banff. Last night when I cam home from work Bambi and her mum were waitng for me in the front yard. I am hoping the bears will come out of hibernation before I leave.
Winter activities are coming to an end; Banff's closest mountain,
Norquay, closed last week.
Lake Louise does the same next week.
Sunshine Village stays open till the long weekend in late May. I was up there today "carving some gnar" while the snow continued to fall. I have been compiling music for my big race day next week - I find a little Zac DeLaRocha screaming in my ear helps me to go faster.
Hey, no offence intended for anyone in relation to the comments in my previous entry. My remarks may have carried slight contempt; I just find it mind boggling that a nation steeped so deeply in religious and moral belief can have so many social issues. I guess it's irony is what makes the US so damn intriguing.
So why is there so much violent domestic crime in the US? The conservatives will tell you it's because of the movies and music. Now I'm no Michael Moore (bless his heart),but maybe the following headline from news.com.au could be a more accurate indicator:
Bomb Iran, sings US candidateUS senator John McCain, a 2008 presidential candidate, has sung "bomb Iran" to the tune of a Beach Boys hit when asked about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.Yeah those damn Beach Boys - they're a real problem! Huh, McCain the sonuvabitch, I never did like him. It seems there is little hope for the US going into a new presedential administration.
Death and Stuff
I had a dream the other night that I was talking to Hitler on talk back radio, although I think it was just someone imitating him. I guess I'll never know.
I think the reason for my Hitler dream was because I'm going to visit Germany when I meet Mike the Mechanic in his college town of Maastricht (Netherlands) and then take the short drive to his native Cologne.
I have been continuing to hitch rides to
Sunshine with a strew of different characters. The other day it was with a middle aged man who used the words, "gnarley", "sick" and "dude" too frequently for a man of his age. But if ever there was a place that such a person would exsist, it would be Banff.
This afternoon's ride was shared with a girl who grew up in Mount Gambier (a Rediy Park alumna) and recently bought a place that leads off Pleasant Avenue, Glandore.
I had 2 customers yesterday who are prison guards in a Texas state prison. I can't remember the name of the institution but upon research I learn there are 115 state prisons in Texas (and this doesn't include federal or county jails). I also read the United States holds the dubious distinction of having the largest incarcerated population in the world, with 2 million people behind bars. (With only 5% of the world's population, the U.S. holds a quarter of the world's prisoners). The conversation with the guards was going well until they started their anti-black man chants. God Bless America.
I was thinking about these alarming statistics today as I was listening to Neil Young's "(Four Dead in) Ohio" and then arrived home later in the day to read MSNs headline: "At least 33 dead in rampage on Virginia campus: worst mass shooting in U.S. history". Without having read the details, I bet any money you like this wasn't at the hands of a black man!
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.
.
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Ok so I started to read the MSN article:
"Witnesses described him as a man in his 20s, wearing a maroon cap and a black leather jacket...."(Ok so from that we know it wasnt a black man or the press would have mentioned that - most likely in the story's heading)
"....A spokesman for the FBI in Washington said there was no immediate evidence to suggest that the incident was a terrorist attack, “but all avenues will be explored.”
(Of course it wasnt a terrorist attack you idiots!!! It was another kid who's parents didn't give him enough attention and thus has acted in the all-American way for those fighting for their voice to be heard).
Did I already mention, "God Bless America"?
The Midnight Sun
An
All-Canadian Meal (1 Cheeseburger, 1 medium fries, 1 medium pop) at McDonald's, Canada, will set you back $5.25 (inc. taxes). However, a
Double Cheesburger Value Meal (1 Double Cheeseburger, medium fries, medium pop) runs a tab of only $4.23 (inc. taxes). It's an anomoly of the menu!
I have been working on the daunting task of organising the itinerary for my upcoming Eurasia Holiday. I refer to to it as daunting due to the number of connections I had to organise (as you can see if you click on the image above). During the 26 days, I will make a plane or train trip on 12 of them (and multiple trips on a few). While I dont care for the plane flights (for obvious reasons), I look forward to the Eurostar and TGV rides (which, coincidently, broke a new high speed rail record earlier this month clocking in at 357 miles per hour).
It is with prudent planning that I will be able to fullfill the childhood dream of exisiting in a time and place that has no night. Deaparting Oslo, I have found a flight to Tromsø, the world's most northern city, located approximately 400km into the Arctic Circle in Norway. Here I will experience the midnight sun and as this sun will not set, I will have plenty of time to see the sights. Tromsø is home to various different northernmost things on earth - like an 18 hole golf course, which must do great trade with all those hours of light.
A Film Review... kinda!
grindhouse [noun]
(1): a theater that mainly showed 'grindhouse cinema', also referred to as 'exploitation films', usually consisting of a double feature where two films were shown back to back. These scungy, aound the clock theatres were prevalant along 42nd Street and Times Square, back in the '70s and 80s, before the district became a Disneyfied version of its former self
(2): a 2007 film presented as a double feature of two full-length segments, one being a zombie film, Planet Terror, written and directed by Robert Rodriquez, and the other being a slasher film, Death Proof, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, with faux trailers advertising fictional films preceding each segment
Back in August last year I made comment in a blog entry about the yet-to-be-released, Grindhouse. I'm not big into zombie films but the artificial film scratches, missing reels gags and assorted aesthetics kept me interested in Rodriquez' part and while Tarantino's homage to trash cinema was not quite as blantant, his contribution was more to my taste.
I love it; cinema about cinema.
Springtime
Banff, which has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in Canada, has come alive due to a culmination of fine springtime weather and the Easter weekend. I have been 'celebrating' the festive season working at McDoanld's and despite the strong sales I am told they dont't hold a torch to summer business, when $18,000 days are possible. Yet the past couple of days are clear indication that my decision not to return was indeed a good one - while $18K days are good for the owner they just mean I chase my ass all day. No thanks!
I have spent my 15 minute breaks over the past 3 days taking a stroll down to the bridge that crosses Bow River. From there I see the frozen landbridge I once used to get to my old residence no longer exsists; it has thawed and the river now streams. Banff National Park continues to blow my mind; on my walk home this evening around 9 o'clock I was looking up at a mountain behind which the sun had set, creating an amazing gradient of blue sky, which began white at the rim of the mountian's silhouette and ended black in the night sky. I find boreal forest magical - this no doubt has something to do with its place in American cinema!
As you would probably assume, trying to cash in on a 'Transportation Voucher Exchange Coupon' is an exercise in futility - I have spoken to US Airways on several occassions and have been given different information each time regarding the use of my voucher for a free flight (which was given to me by one of the Aussies who came over to Butler last summer). The funny thing is, it doesn't really even bother me bcos I didnt expect anything different. I have considered just paying for my flight to NYC but am put off when I read the list of charges that are added to the fare, which include, among others; Plus Fuel Surcharge, US International Arrival Fee, Canada GST, US Immigration, US Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service Fee, US Passenger Facility Charge, September 11 Security Fee, Canadian Airport Improvement Fee, Canadian Air Travelers Security Charge, One Eye-One Arm Fee, Fee for Breathing, Fee for Living.... ok so maybe I made up the last couple.
Mad Mad World!
Well it seems that I was able to get my flight in the end. So late in the evening on May 9th I will begin my journey from Banff to NYC, which will have me in a state of transit for over 24 hours. That's always fun!
Easter
Today marks the one month point until I leave Banff, and coincidently, the time remaining represents exactly one quarter of the entire duration of my stay.
Of course these statistics are based on the assumption that my plans will go ahead. After the excitement of my winning bid for a
Coachella ticket, I realised I had given little thought to how I might actually get to the music festival out in the Californian desert. After careful consideration, I calculated that such an exercise (when taking into account flights and loss of income from leaving Macca's earlier than anticipated) would cost around $1000 - a lot of money for a 45 min - 1 hour gig. In light of this, I am planning on other things.
Many of the towns people are getting around with goggle tans at the moment and I am no exception (although in my case, thanks to my pig Irish heritage, its more of a burn than a tan). This is the result of the fantastic spring weather we have been experiencing these past few days. Yet despite the sunny times,
Sunshine is still in fantastic shape thanks to sub zero temperatures that continue overnight and the snowcats that plow its runs.
My trip to California would also mean that I miss out on my day at the races. You may recall comment that I've joined a race team - its actually a corporate day up at the mountain so I guess there will be as much attention on the luncheon as there is on the actual racing. Yet what's worth doing is worth doing well so I have been partaking in a little light training with a downhill race course, equipped with gates, paired poles and timing gear. I completed a run in 16 seconds yesterday. Is that good? I have absouloutley no idea.
In addition, I have been spending time in the terrain park where I have finally built up enough courage to tackle some of its jumps, the result being some "gnarley air time".
In other news, the Florida Gators won the men's college basketball championship this past week. The back to back title win has sports columnists posing the
Best (men's college basketball) Team Ever question? Whatever the case, Butler can be proud that they were competative against such a team in their Sweet 16 loss.
I thought I would add this photo below. It was taken from an article on news.com.au about Luc Longley's house fire. Look at MJ there - he looks god like. Man he was something!
I Like Big Dumps!
So the skiing is coming along well, uuummmmm....
My Sonny Bono/Michael Kennedy impersonation was performed at
Sunshine where the snow continues to fall, suprisingly, and I guess the regular dumps over the past 5 months are reason why this is one of the world's premier skiing areas.
I tell ya, I hate smart alec kids! I was cruising down the mountain today and some youngster passes me as he heads towards a ledge and while I'm thinking the poor kid's out of control, he hits the ledge, gets massive air, does a 360, lands on one ski and continues on. Unfortunately for myself, one needs to start at a young age to truly master the sport.
But hey, kids like him may be able to do 360s but they can't buy themselves tickets for
Coachella. But I can, so I skiied down to the trapper's lodge and made the winning bid for a ticket to the Saturday show on ebay. This plan had been in the pipeline as it will be my only chance to see the
Stadium Arcadium tour.
Decisions!
Flipping through the supermarket magazines while waiting in line today, I noted news of Carmen Elektra and Joan Jett's "gay love", and a 200kg car crushing mouse is living under the streets of NYC. Yikes!
Man, these "Late Nights" are messing with my sleeping patterns but thankfully I am now finished with them and my schedule will return to normal. Currently, its 4am which means its time for some, oh no, late night blogging!!! But wait, dont go, I'll try to keep it productive.
I have given my 5-odd-weeks-notice-of-resignation to the bosses which means I will not be returning to Canada. After careful consideration I have decided it is the best decision for me to return to Adelaide. This will be the first time that I make a
return; apart from some short stints in The Gam, it seems that I have always ventured to new surroundings, so the fact that I choose territory that I am familiar with speaks positively for Colonel Light's vision for the city ... and perhaps a few of the folk that reside in and around it.
However, it's with slight trepidation that I arrive at this point. While travelling allows me to tick off a number of 'to do' things on my
Vision 2020, it tends to seriously neglect entire sub-catergories that lie within the plan. With this in mind, and recognition that I find it hard to stay settled in any one place for an extended period of time, I am presented with some concern.
Yet, with this aside, I guess a key step in the application of any 2020 is to make sure fun is being had along the way, and with that said, I'll see ya in June!
Banff truly is a place of two seasons. With resorts operating for around 6 months, it has one of the longest ski seasons in the world. It is timely that I soon leave as the winter season is coming to an end with Sunshine being the only mountain still operating. Many of the Australians whom I speak to are either leaving in the next week or have just arrived. Those that have just arrived will enjoy Banff's temperate summer which brings about an even busier tourist season. It is 7C today so I made my trip to the rec centre with just a light coat (it seems one acclimates quicker than I would have suspected), and on my walk I was thinking of the cool time-lapse videography that they do on those Discovery type programs to show the changing of the seasons.
