Today is Harry Potter's birthday. I think he'd be 27 if he hadn't been cruelly struck down by Voldemort in the prime of his youth. Oops, sorry. No spoilers here! And actually it's also JK Rowling's birthday, so happy birthday to her and thanks for the great birthday present- I really enjoyed The Deathly Hallows. Loved it, even.
Anyways, here is a video interview with her in which she reveals a few things that weren't in the book. And a print interview where she talks about what she's up to now, post-Potter.
And of course, deviantArt is full of HP fanart right now, here are two of my favorites, neither of which are spoilers: Bellatrix Lestrange, and some headshots of a whole slew of characters from all seven books- can you name them all?

We're back from Prince Rupert. Our trip to the Grizzly sanctuary was cancelled, unfortunately, due to a broken boat. But the rest of the trip was great fun, we saw many eagles and orcas- even some little frolicking youngster orcas. We didn't see any robots, though, since they were busy on the East coast finding new creatures such as Dumbo-eared octopi.
During our trip out to see the killer whales, we got thoroughly drenched, and, sadly, my trusty little Fujifilm FinePix may have been inadvertently sacrificed to the sea gods. It was dripping yellowish water, which in the case of electronics, is nearly always bad. There's still hope that, once it dries, I may be able to get the pictures out of it. I guess I need to make supplications to Neptune and Triton and all those guys.

The original plan was to go to the Queen Charlotte Islands. But due to some ferry troubles, we decided to hang out in Prince Rupert instead. I think it's turned out alright- there's more to do here. Yesterday we went sea kayaking, today a little hike, tomorrow whale wathcing and the day after that we are going to the grizzly bear sanctuary!

I didn't get to start Ragnarok today, but I DID get to meet Fenris. Or one of Fenris' offspring. It was the weirdest thing, actually- we saw a wolf hanging out with a coyote. My theory is that the wolf is an orphan or somehow kicked out of its pack, and hooked up with the coyote. The wolf is twice the size of the coyote, and still not full-grown. I got some really good pictures (it wasn't a shy wolfy by any means) but my USB cable is at home so I will have to post them later

My job today was to be a troll under a bridge. Some sections of our haulroad are bridges over creeks and public trails, and we had a backhoe doing some repair work on one of these. I had to be stationed underneath, near the entrance to the tunnel, so I could guide any hikers or horseback riders safely through. I was looking forward to fangloriously devouring some tourists but none actually came through in the few hours I was stationed there.
I've had a story I've been meaning to write about trolls and their bridges, but why are trolls associated with bridges in the first place?
Tomorrow I hope my job is to be a Frost Giant who starts Ragnarok.

Summer Camp!
Technically I'm at work this week, but since the mine is in a two-week shutdown we are just running a skeleton crew so it is a lot like summer camp, only at MY summer camp you get to go and play with machines that are not quite Transformers. Yet. Get me one of those cube things or whatever it is they did to zap that cellphone to turn it into a transformer and we'll be good to go. Seriously, I'm pretty sure one good whomp with this bucket would give Megatron a headache, to say the least:

Anyways, because I'm out here it means I won't get to read my copy of Harry Potter which will be arriving on my doorstep tomorrow morning courtesy of Amazon. So no spoilers okay! Or I'll whomp YOU with my bucket. Although I'm pretty sure I know what will happen- it will be revealed that Voldemort is a Decepticon.

The proprietor of the frog store seemed innocent enough. Maybe even TOO innocent- he was only four years old after all. But the deals he was offering were too good to refuse.
"How much for a frog?" I asked.
"Ten for five cents," he said.
"Well then I'll take ten." I handed him a shiny nickel.
"Thanks!" he said, and pocketed the five cents.
"Where's my frogs?"
"Ummmm, I'm just getting them ready."
Just then a beautiful blonde entered the establishment. "I want a frog, too, please."
"Okay here's a pink one!"
"Thanks!" she said.
"Hey!" I said, "Why does she get her frog for free and I don't even have any frogs?"
"Because her frog is pink."
I wasn't really satisfied with his logic, but at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that the so-called "pink frog" was actually invisible. The woman sat down, and I decided to get acquainted. I sat down next to her, nice and close.
A loud and piercing wail ruined the moment.
"You just sat on her pink frog!!!!!!!" said the proprietor.
"Sorry sorry sorry!" I said, wiping off invisible pink frog goo from my pants.
I beat a hasty retreat.
But I didn't get any frogs, and I didn't get my money back. Never trust a four-year-old shopkeep.

Baby Mammoth Remains Found
One of the best preserved mammoths ever found was recently unearthed in Siberia. Even her eyes are intact, though her tail seems to have been bitten off.
So now there's talk, again, of cloning a mammoth. The article seems to be saying that, given viable DNA from the specimen which is not guaranteed by any means, we now have the technology to produce a hybrid mammoth/elephant, if not a pureblooded clone. But there are ethical questions- should you resurrect extinct prehistoric animals? The mammoth is about the only one we could, since they are the only ones who were thoughtful enough to be buried in ice. Where would the mammoth live? Personally I would love to see a living mammoth- it would be amazing. But would it be right? I don't know. I suspect that if they do it, though, it will mean there is an associated ethical imperative to resurrect as many of the extinct modern species that have died off due to human intervention. So that would be a good side-effect.
A good book on the technology (though now out of date) and ethics of this issue is Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant, by Richard Stone.
Anyways, here is a great mastodon sketch Travis Hanson made for me a few months ago:

Have you been watching the FIFA Under-20 World Cup? Yeah me neither, though I do know Canada was knocked out of it without even scoring a single goal in the whole tournament. The soccer tournament I wished I had seen is the Under-20 millimeter Nano Cup. Played by nano-robots. Nice.
Someday soon there will be little nano-blacksmith robots hammering tiny metal swords and guns to do battle with other nanobots. But in the meantime it is up to people like Cory and me to keep the art of blacksmithing alive. Check out what we made with his forge the other day- he made the Legolas leaf, and I was proud just to do a simple hook:

Speaking of metal, did you hear that James Hetfield was mistaken for a Taliban terrorist at a British airport? They thought his beard was suspicious. Seriously. Sidenote: as much as I admire the New Zealand Herald, I have to question their spellcheckers. Taleban?

We're back from a fantastic trip to the southern tip of the province. Actually we went to Drumheller, Medicine Hat and Waterton Lakes National Park. Growing up just twenty minutes from Jasper National Park, and spending most of my life in Edmonton, pretty much the geographical center of Alberta, I've tended to neglect all that area south of Calgary. Which is a shame since it's beautiful down there and worth seeing.
Plus that's where my old friends Cory and Lauren live, and there's never a dull moment when you visit them since they do things like shoot guns and bows, and even blacksmithing.

Happy Canada Day!

Michelle and I ran our race, it was fun. Georges Laraque was there, I'm pretty sure I beat him. But then again, I would need to put on almost an extra me worth of muscle to make it a fair race.

Remember those red panda cubs I told you about yesterday? It reminded me of the cutest YouTube video of all time. All time. Thanks to Lydia for the link.