I'm on nightshift right now so I doubt I'll get around to my annual best of the year lists. Not that it matters since who cares anyways right? I don't think I even bought a physical CD all year. Rob Zombie and Johnny Cash, if those were this year. And I saw two movies. 2010 was all about the younglings. And Comic-con. Green Lantern! And work. Ha work. What a year for that. Can I retire yet? It's much better now anyways.

Good Christmas? Me too. Back to work tomorrow night but what can you do about that? We converted Pallas's crib to a toddler bed so she can get in and out by herself which will be a huge help to Michelle who Is still severely limited in her movements due to her surgery. Anyways. Did you see Scott Pilgrim? He was a big deal at Comic-con so I was glad to get the DVD for Xmas. Loved it right up there with Big Lebowski and Royal Tenenbaums which is high praise for me. What else? Got more Green Lanterns for Comicmas yay! Rage of the Red Lanterns yo! Of course I got this iPad which I opened early, courtesy of Michelle and her side of the family. She got a pretty sweet gift from me I gotta say. A dust buster. Nothings too good for my sweety!
Update: yup, that thump I heard upstairs was Pallas falling out of bed. She's okay though, I went in and handed her Pink Guy and she didn't even stir.

Ai yi yi . . . Nan!
Usually after supper Pallas and I do some rough-housing to aid our digestion. Yesterday we evolved a game more or less organically wherein she says "Ai yi yi . . . NAN!!!!" and then I say"NAN?!?" and I tickle her unto giggles. So she would go into her room, shut the door, and then call out "Ai yi yi . . .NAN!" and I would burst in to find her hiding on her froggy and I would carry out my part. Now I have to go all the way downstairs and sit on the couch before she utters the magic words. Well, anyways, that's our new game. Hopefully she'll forget her other game, where she finds things to dump in unsuspecting people's coffee mugs. Like Grandma's iPhone. Ai yi yi Pallas!

At Comic-con we went to a Battlestar panel and it was excellent. One thing that they kind of promised but never delivered on was info on the rumored BSG movie. Seemed like the deal for it was being finalized as the panel was going on, they kept checking the or phones to see of they could say anything. So anyways I forgot all about it, but mow some concept ray has surfaced over at Blastr. .
Crazy iPad! "mow some concept Ray" should read now some concept art. No arrow keys or whatever to go fix mistakes and autofill glitches.
What else? Did you hear that Chuggington will be headlining SDCC this year? I didn't either but if it were true we'd have no choice but to return to Sam Diego for Pallas's sake. She loves those little trains. She loves Winnie the pooh too, and doesn't really get it when he,s off camera to let Tigger and Rabbit and Piglet have the spotlight, and she cries and cries until he returns.

So Naia's birth was almost a carbon-copy of Pallas's. We avoided some mistakes from last time, so we never got sent home from the hospital, but ultimately she was born by c-section. Which wasn't nearly as scary as last time but is turning out to be much harder this time around in terms of now Pallas has no idea why mama can't pick her up or do anything like that. Well, that's why I'm on extendo-holidays.
In other news, finished reading The Passage finally. Took me forever! And the very last line . . . if you read it you know what I mean and if not I won't ruin anything.
Playing Zombies vs Plants on my iPad. Craig and Deb mentioned it so I downloaded it and have been planting ever since.
Listening to Wretches and Kings by Linkin Park. That's how I always thought NIN should sound but they never did- they always sounded more Depeche Modey to me. Just sayin.
Almost done Deadwood, much as I've been trying to stretch it out. Lucky for me Ian McShane is in the new Pirates of the Caribbean so that's alright then. You seen the trailer right? Of course you did.

Baby Naia is here! She was born yesterday. 7 lbs 1 ounces. Umm. Everything is good!

I'm pretty excited about Tron Legacy, though I think with the baby it might be a while before I get to see it. I would throw my Tron DVD in but I lent it to some roommate I had in this crazy house where I didn't even know everybody who lived there and it might have been a commune or something upstairs so anyways I never got it back. But I remember how painfully bad it was to rewatch it, not nearly as awesome as it was when I was a kid. The new one looks pretty good. Was Daft Punk at Comic-Con? I dunno but I saw these guys getting their photos taken in some sort of professional whiteroom and then they were wandering the hall and I took their picture.



Here's the trailer with the kind of narration that every trailer should have:



Also, did you see that sweet ten minute video of Game of Thrones? Looks pretty great, though of course none of the characters look how I imagined them. When I imagine the good guys they all look like me, and the bad guys all look like you. Oops sorry, looks like it was deYoutubed.

Here's my first post from my new iPad, works pretty great. Now I just need to load it up with some apps. I got marvel and dc comics but am a little surprised how much the digital co,ics cost- I think they would sell way more if they were 99 cents instead of 1.99. Oh well. Still cheaper than a hardcopy. What else? I got some great acoustic guitar tracks and am looking for more, if you know some good ones. Also I took some time at work to exercise my brain and memorized Ozymandias. It was easy. Now I'm Looking for more, preferably contemporary and definitely cool. You know what I like.

Two weeks till little Naia's due date! Today was also the agreed-upon deadline for me to vacate my office to make way for her nursery. Since I am blogging from my office I guess I fail. But not by too much, I think by tomorrow I should be all done moving. My dad came over and did some wiring in the basement for me so that was good. Just have some heavy lifting to do and it's all good.
Everyone says the transition from one child to two is almost crazier than none to one. I dunno. I do know poor Naia hasn't gotten nearly as much attention in the womb as Pallas did. Some of you might not even know we're having another girl! Who's Naia you're saying. With Pallas we were always reading about her development and congratulating her for all her milestones (Yay you're the size of a pear! Way to go!! Woohoo! and so forth) whereas Naia, well, at least she gets a lot more coffee than Pallas ever did.

Sad news- Irvin Kershner passed away today. He was a movie director, most famous obviously for Empire Strikes Back but he made others as well.

Did you catch this year's Canada Reads panel? Georges Laraque! Sweet! One of my favorite of all Oilers alumni, up there with Gretz and Mess. He was great in Battle of the Blades in the sense of he had lots of fun. As if that wasn't cool enough, Sara Quin too! Sweeeet! Plus she's defending a graphic novel. Definitely have to read that one. Of all the Quin twins, Sara is definitely one of my favorite top two ever, right up there with Tegan.
Anyways, Homie Bear Reads has been pretty slow lately. I got Justin Cronin's The Passage from the library and only made it about halfway through before I had to give it back. Good book, he was at a SDCC panel we went to.
If you can believe it, I have been working on a Green Lantern collection (The Sinestro Corps War Volume 1) for almost four weeks! Not sure why six or eight comic books collected together is giving me such troubles. I really like it, even showed Michelle a cool part that I thought was well written and drawn (many power rings in search of new recruits all of a sudden . . . )
Doesn't help that at work during my breaks I'm trying to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Which so far doesn't seem to be much about zen OR motorcycles.
My own motorcycle is getting raked right now! Which gives me a very zen feeling deep inside.
Also, squid worm! Finally! I've only been waiting for one of those for like, my whole life.

This one's for Jon.
Waaay back in the day we were in an Astronomy course together. First year university. It was an interesting class, not only because of the subject matter but also because we spent most of our time drawing X-Men and Star Wars guys and writing sonnets to various planets. I've been cleaning out the basement of junk and I came across our masterpiece, written during the lecture on the solar system's 4th planet, which I present, unedited, to you now:

Mars- The Sonnet

The funny thing about Mars
is that it's the same size as Earth only smaller
Not many people have cars
So to visit people they have to holler
you can jump real high over there
But one thing that's different is the air
If you attempt to breathe it you will die
So let me warn you to not even try
They have a big big volcano
Olympus Mons is its name-o
It has three moons, Phobos, Deimos
and Manhattan Island. But that is not THE most
amazing thing about Mars, Mars, Mars
That's where they make those candy bars

Fourteen lines, just like all other sonnets. That's about all it has in common with that fine artistic form though. Manhattan Island?
On the same page there is a poem about Saturn. The word "Saturn" is written out and around it are the words "Its rings circle it always" as if those words were the rings. Get it? Artistic!
But those were good times.

So now that all I have to do at work is take five or six loads of coal, I am sleeping so much better and I have so much more time for things like listening to podcasts. I find one episode of DNTO is good for a round trip. But it's bad when I'm writing down interesting things to remember for later while 300 tons of coal and metal are careening down the snowy haulroad. Just kidding! Right! I would never do such a silly thing would I? Or if I did I certainly wouldn't blog about it. Or if I did I would make sure to make it sound like I would never do such a thing on the blog so I wouldn't get fired. Umm. Confused yet? Anyways, check this out: Takeaseat.org is the site for Dominic Gill's documentary about how he tandem biked all the way across the Americas, getting total strangers to ride tandem with him. As soon as I get home I want to check out the film, and the book too.
The Green Lantern trailer came out, at least in the Spanish speaking world. Even though I am a GL rookie, it was still kind of cool to see Kilowog and stuff. Not sure if I buy Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan though. He's a great guy and I like how self-deprecating he is in interviews. So . . . yeah actually that should be fine. Anyways, here it is, Linterna Verde:

I got a speeding ticket today, d'oh!!! Except, no I didn't! Sweet! Cop pulled me over on the way to Hinton, it's snowing but the roads are in good condition, so I may have been doing 125 or so. I suspect that I was doing 120 by my speedometer but my snow tires add about 10% in actual speed. Anyways. So cop pulls me over, asks where I'm going.
Hinton
Business or pleasure?
It's where I work.
What do you do?
Coalminer.
So you live in Edmonton but work in Hinton?
Yes sir.
Been drinking?
No sir.
Okay hang on while I write this up.
So he comes back and says, how long you been driving back and forth like this?
I dunno, most of my life I guess. I haven't gotten that many tickets considering.
And I'm not going to give you one now. But drive safe okay? The roads are in rough shape.
Yes sir. Thank you sir.

Then later a caribou of all things crosses the road right in front of me. I gave him a ticket for jaywalking.

Bobber update: it's right down to the frame now, and ready to be taken in to get raked by a professional welder. Although we now have a welder and I was able to spend an hour or so at work learning the basics of welding, raking the front end is kind of like the neurosurgery of welding, and I will never be much more than a field medic type welder at best.
Totally unrelated other stuffs: Anyone have extra tickets to see Ayaan Hirsi Ali next Sunday? It's sold out. The only other person I can think of that we were stymied from going to see is Lady Gaga. Gaga and Hirsi, probably the first time they were ever mentioned in the same sentence. Well, maybe not. Let's ask Google. Hmm, inconclusive.
And what is Apple cooking up over there anyways?
Update: Well, of all the things it could have been, announcing that The Beatles are on iTunes is about the absolute least exciting. Ever. Lame.

Running on my treadmill, listening to the iPod. Good recipe for coming up with the crazy shite! Remember this one?
A line from Unforgiven II inspired this little snippet (Unforgiven III is my current favorite Metallica song though, this line is so wrenching to me- How can I blame you when it's me I can't forgive). Anyways.

She traced the outlines of his tattoos with her fingers. They always asked about the tattoos.
"What does this one say?" She pointed to the script on his chest.
"Black heart scarring darker still."
"Jesus."
"Fuck."
"What?"
"You say Jesus, I say fuck. It's like a blessing. The muslims do it, whenever someone mentions their prophet they always say 'Peace be upon him.' It's like that."
"Huh. Sounds more like a curse to me."
"Yeah. Exactly."
"Jesus."
"Fuck."
She giggled. He didn't. After a while she went on with her line of thought.
"So this tattoo around your heart . . . you have a black heart?"
"It's from a song. This guy sleeps with a girl and then kills her and leaves."
He felt her tense.
"It's just a song. A tattoo. I'm not gonna hurt you. Jesus."
"Fuck."
"Exactly."
She went on to explore his other tattoos.

I'm trying to get out of the habit of saving good stuff for special occasions. Because you know when the perfect special occasion for almost anything is? Right now! Michelle got me Seasons 2 and 3 of Deadwood for Christmas last year and I only just finished season 2. It was worth the wait but No waiting 11 months till I watch Season 3.
Some highlights sans spoilers:
“Pain or damage don’t end the world, or despair or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man — and give some back.”- Al Swearengen. How can you not love good ole Swedgin?
Of all the great songs that play as the end credits roll, the best from this season is The Fox by Bill Staines. I didn't mind the quack quack quack!
Anyways, how's this for a sweet move I gotta practice? Maybe I'll try it out on you!

The easy part is done, now I have a bunch of boxes that used to be a motorbike. In the space of an afternoon we stripped it down to its frame, more or less, though the wheels are still on it. The engine is sitting on the floor of my dad's garage. We'll have to see what parts that will need, and we can look at getting the front end raked. The back we might be able to do ourselves. Maybe. So now over the long cold winter this is where I go for inspiration to keep at it.



Oh yeah Pallas helped too.

You know what the saddest song in the world is? A Dream That Can Last by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
One of the more uplifting songs in the world is The Cave by Mumford and Sons. And don't forget Just Breathe by Pearl Jam. Don't Give Up by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush too. I think you need at least three uplifting songs to cheer you up from the saddest song in the world. Though listening to the saddest song in the world can actually make you feel better, too, in a weird way.

Vampires were sexy and monstrously fine
but now that they sparkle, glitter and shine
their lustre is lost, and worse they're benign

Zombies are always disgustingly cool
but they're awfully damn dumb, and also they drool
if you get eaten by one then you're kind of a fool

Werewolves are angry, vicious and mean
but you need a full moon on Hallowe'en
for any of them to even be seen

The only monster that scares me the most
is any kind of spider, or maybe a ghost
if a spider ghost showed, I know I'd be toast

About a month ago I didn't even know what a bobber was. Now I'm going to build one. I agreed to buy this one off my dad and we'll chop it all up and hopefully make something pretty cool out of it.
A few minor obstacles that I'm sure I can overcome:
1. I'm not the most mechanically inclined guy ever.
2. I haven't ridden a motorbike since I was 14. Never rode a street bike.
3. Because we are on opposite shifts, I can see my dad only about 3 hours or so a week.
But I'm super excited. I'll post some pics and progress reports as we go. The goal is to have it running by the spring, which in Alberta usually comes in June. Late May if we're lucky.

I did indeed win my bid at work. No surprise there, since this is roughly equivalent to going back to the mail room in a normal job, the only concern was how long it was taking to be posted. And now my pump bid is posted and we have to see who wins it and whether they need training or not. I already trained up a couple of Padawans, either of which would make a fine Jedi pump master, but I doubt they have enough seniority to win the bid.
So I'm a truck driver again! Been almost 6 years since that was my actual job description. I'll be the third-most senior truck driver so I will get my pick of the fleet, my choice is between one of these, which are getting up there in miles but you only haul 5 or 6 loads a shift:



Or one of these (actually an 830 E AC but I don't have any photos), which are newer but you haul way more loads in high traffic areas:



Either way, I'll no longer have to keep the minesite running with just a toolbox half full of rusty wrenches and three bolts. Sweeeeet!

It turns out I forgot all about my bloggiversary, which I think was yesterday. Just been busy I guess. Pooing in the Woods is 8 years old. It'll be driving in no time.
So today was a full day and a little more diverse than usual. Started off with a science fiction convention. Pure Speculation was this weekend so I thought I would check it out, a friend of mine did a discussion but my schedule didn't allow me to see it. Anyways it's a bit of a small con, especially after San Diego, but I'm glad I went. Met some interesting people who do some amazing stuff. I'm glad Edmonton has a few things in the year like this.
After that I went to a funeral of a friend who I used to work with at the mine. Younger than me. That's three funerals I been to this year, and one more I was supposed to go to but was kept back at work for a special job. I think it's time for a moratorium on going to funerals for a while.
And after that was a birthday party for one of Pallas's little friends, at Gymboree. She had a blast and I did too just watching her play and jump around and stuff. When Michelle first told me about it I was like, why would I want to go to that? It's not like the little girl is MY friend. But I'm glad I went.
We had to race home to have supper before our book club friends came over. We were kind of dreading it a little since Michelle only skimmed the book and I didn't really bother with it. Hey, I been busy, remember! Luckily the one who picked the book had the flu and couldn't come so we just talked about other books and watched the Oilers lose.
Anyways, my Flickr page has a small number of photos of cosplayers from Pure Spec, and many photos of Pallas at the birthday party. Here's the birthday girl, Bloodrayne:

At Comic-Con we went to a panel that had all these great writers, some of whom we knew and some of whom were new. Scott Westerfeld, Justin Cronin and more! China Mievielle was the reason we went, but we were also impressed by Naomi Novik so Michelle bought her book, or actually three books in one hardcover volume called In His Majesty's Service. It's about dragons and the British Navy circa . . . uh, when Napoleon was conquerizing it up.
I just finished the second one tonight, Throne of Jade. The first one was great fun, His Majesty's Dragon. It introduced us to Temeraire the dragon and his Royal Navy captain. One of those books that pulls you in and makes you want to live in its world. The Jade one was also very good, lots of very authentic Chinese culture which I love. There was a seven month sea voyage in it, and it felt a little like it was recounted in real time, but otherwise it was pretty good. Though I think I will take a small break before diving into the third book.
I also just read The Child Thief, by Brom. Twas a birthday gift from a friend. Also very good. Not one of those books that makes you want to live in its world, since it's kind of violent and scary. It's a reimagining of Peter Pan. If you like dark fantasy you should check it out.
Now to choose from among many Star Wars and Green Lantern comic books.

Hopefully I find out tomorrow but next week at the latest if I got my truck bid or not. I'm pretty confident since my seniority is getting fairly uh, mature. But I'm gonna miss days like today!
All I had to do today was weld pipe. An extra pumpman came in on overtime (Sunday is double time for overtime guys so even though we didn't need an extra pumpman the extra pumpman decided he would come in anyways) so we let him do the rounds while me and Mike welded the pipe. Nightshift pumpman set it up for us, sort of. So the first thing we went and set it up more right, moving the lightplant which was our generator, and moving the welder into place. Looks like we'll need a chain to pull the pipe. Let's go get one! Hmm, no chains in my pumpshack. I know where there's one- only five kms away or so. Alright now we have our chain. Hey what if we move the welder over there? That would work better. We'll just need an extension cord. So we go get one. Of course there aren't any in the warehouse but we find one eventually. But now that we're looking at it, maybe the hot plate should be over here, too. Now we need another extension cord! Off we go!
Now we're set! So we grab some pipe and get it all in place. The ends are a little jagged so I grab my chainsaw to cut it better, but guess what? Chainsaw is frozen solid. It will need to sit in the service bay for a few hours to thaw out. Okay well, let's find some pipes with nicer ends and weld those while we wait. Cause we might as well do something before coffee right?
Suitable pipe is found and emplacened, only now the hydraulic control for the welder is frozen solid too. Anyways more rigmaroles ensue to get that working. And now we have welded our first join of the day, woohoo!
Hey, why is the generator kicking out? Reset the breaker there. Try it again. Again. One more time. Now it's smoking so we better not do it any more. Call the electrician!
Well, here's your problem, says the electrician. This generator only has a 20 amp fuse and your welder and hotplate are 30. Oh right. Amps. I know they make guitars loud but what they have to do with electricity has always been a bit of a mystery to me.
Anyways, what we wind up doing after exhausting a bunch of other ideas that all involve driving around the minesite is, we grab another lightplant. So now we have two lightplants to power our little pipe-welding operation, when normally a tiny little Honda generator is more than ample for the job. But whatever cause now we're good to go. Wait, god . . . dammit! I left my wrenches up at the dump where we found the lightplant! I never lost a wrench yet and I'm not gonna start now.
Anyways I think that was our final little wrinkle for the day and after that things went quite smoothly. Luckily our foreman left us alone all day because I didn't want to have to answer the question at 4:00 in the afternoon, "Nathan how's the pipe coming along?" Well, we're about ready to get started. Soonishly. We hope.

Since Facebook stati go away forever after a while but blog archives are forever, I am retweeting, uh, reFacing my status since it's about my daughter and she's just so darn cute!
Pallas helped me put up the Halloween skulls and stuff*. Then she gave them all kisses and milk after!
Then she helped me make pancakes, I had to explain that the recipe actually didn't call for napkins, Pink Guy, egg shells or paperclips which is why it was important to fish all that stuff out. And she can crack an egg like nobody's business! her aim is not so good though.
* all this stuff basically. I need to get some new stuff since decay is making them a worse for the wear.

So much for the perfect season right? I was so sure they were going to pull it off this year, 82-0. They say it can't be done. And they're right!
Okay enough with the terrible comedy. Leave that to the professionals. Michelle and I went to a taping of CBC's Irrelevant Show tonight. It was good! You can hear it on the radio in December and see it on TV at a later date. Reminded me of back in the day when me and Jonny used to go to Rapid Fire Improv. More than just a little since Neil Grahn was a big part of both. Speaking of my old friend Jon, if you're in New York you should go see the show he's in called Balm of Gilead, written by Lanford Wilson. He didn't say he was the star or anything but I see he's in the center of the maelstrom.
Oh yeah and speaking of the CBC did you hear Steve Martin on Q? Who knew he could play banjo so good? And write songs? He won a Grammy even. Check out this YouTubeo.
Oilers, Dead Trolls, Broadishway and Banjos. You know what this post needs more of? Motorbikes. Here are three of my Dad's bikes, Yamaha XS 650's. They're so cool I think I will get one too! Why don't you?
Here is a café racer style, modified for speed and handling:


Here is an unfinished bobber, the kind I want to try and build, which are like choppers but more different (usually more stripped down and with a "bobbed" rear fender, among other things):



And here is a stock machine, modified into the less popular "wreck" style:



Anyways all of these bikes were bought as is, to be worked on or not as needed or possible.

So on Wednesdays I take Pallas to the library for this Fun for Ones program, it's singing and picture books and stuff. Pretty cute because all the little children just pretty much do their own thing. Since she's 20 months Pallas is one of the oldest, I think maybe even the oldest. Three weeks ago the librarian brought out the bubbles, and Pallas was the only one who insisted on blowing her own bubbles. Anyways the next week all she wanted to do was "bubbub" and she'd walk up to the librarian in the middle of a song or a book and say "Bubbub!" so the librarian felt bad that she didn't bring them. So this week there were bubbles.
What else. I accidentally bought grapefruits instead of oranges today. They're in the exact same mesh bag! How was I to know? Michelle: Well, was there a sign? Me: Signs? Who reads signs? Anyways at first this was traumatic for Pallas but she adjusted quickly. Which is good because I can't stand pamplemousses. I also accidentally bought a motorcycle magazine which I thought covered all the motorbikes but is only about Harley Davidsons. Pretty interesting anyways. My dad biased me against Harleys from a young age but really are they so bad? Not as bad as grapefruits that's fer sure.
What else. Sure glad those Chilean miners all got out. Sure glad I don't work in an underground mine. Speaking of which, I put in a bid to go back on trucks at work, so hopefully I'll get it and my pumpman days will be behind me. Winter is coming. Winter and pumps means ice and frostbite. No thanks.
What else. Did you see the sweet Lego Spaceman shirt a Flickr friend made me?

My Grandpa passed away last week. His funeral was Sunday and we laid his remains to rest today.

I know I have been hardly ever blogging much lately any at all. It's cause I like to mangle english so much! Why not?
But really, I dunno why not. Not much to say in this phase of my life I guess. Here are some pictures of work from lately abouts:

One time, I'm thinking well over ten years ago, I saw a documentary on sasquatches. You know, one of those ones that TLC or the Discovery Channel makes every so often with "stunning new footage" and "shocking new evidence"of Bigfoot's existence. Anyways, I forget what this particular one was called, but it played an audio clip of a sasquatch howl. Supposedly, anyways. It was pretty chilling. So anyways if you saw that one too and remember what it was called, please let me know. I would love to listen to that again. Even if it's just a howler monkey.
Also, if you remember what the name of that book about Norse mythology I read in grade 8 with all those amazing paintings, please tell me what it is. I can't find it anywhere, even in the Age of Google.
And another thing. There was a movie that came out in the 80s, it was 3-D and probably a cheap Raiders of the Lost Ark knockoff. Do you know what it was called? Cause I can't remember.
Plus, did you ever read a short story about some aliens who come to Earth looking for Walt Disney? It had some interesting commentary on why all the great protagonists are orphans. And something about how all the Disney cartoons had father figures. Anyways if you wrote that one drop me a line cause I'd like to read it again but I can't remember what it was called.
Finally, if you can help me with one more. A movie came out, probably 30 years ago or so, it started off on this snow planet and had all these walking tanks and a little green man and stuff. It was crazy, really mind-blowing. Can't think what it was called now.

Last night some of the guys on the crew were busy making a helipad. Apparently someone is landing, well, already landed, this morning at 10 AM. Who could it be? The only conceivable possibility I can think of is James Cameron and Ed Stelmach, popping over from their tour of the oilsands to see firsthand Alberta's coal mining industry. Our very own brand of Unobtainium. Sadly there are no Na'vi anywhere around because I would be the first to volunteer to drive an avatar.
Well, I don't see anything in the news about Cameron touring Cardinal. In fact, it appears he isn't even here yet. So who on earth could be flying in for a visit? Lady Gaga. Has to be.

So the first Green Lantern I read was a collection called Secret Origin, which was a good entry for a newbie like me who spurned DC Comics all his life and didn't know anything about him. This writer Geoff Johns has taken an old superhero and reinvigorated him, to huge critical acclaim within the comics world, and even mainstream media. I learned about the green power rings and the lanterns that charge them, and all the funhokey things that were part of the 70 years of Green Lantern mythology, like their oath. How Hal Jordan became the Green Lantern. All about the Green Lantern Corps. Atrocitus is a cool name, right? Sinestro, not so much.
Anyways, turns out the actual reboot started earlier, with a miniseries collected as Rebirth. Poor Geoff Johns, he inherited quite a mess. And there I am, thinking I know all about Green Lantern now and reading about how Hal Jordan is dead because he reignited the sun but his soul is currently possessed by Parallax and also the Spirit of Vengeance. And Batman is really mad at him, and Batman and Superman and Mister Terrific and Dr. Mid-Nite all live on the moon together. Anyways, it was fairly confusing but in the end Hal Jordan is reborn and not evil. Yay!

Michelle got me Season 6 of The Office! Sweet! I just finished watching Season 2 of Big Bang Theory. My Mom actually got me that (and Season 1) for Christmas, and I would just watch an episode or two while doing a workout over the past year. Pretty great show, if you have any leanings towards the geek side. In fact they did a panel at Comic Con, but I was stuck in line so I missed it. Michelle saw it though, and her big highlight was seeing the Barenaked Ladies come out and do the theme song. She was kind enough to call my cell so I could listen in while I was stadning in line. Why was I in line while she was inside? Long story, but basically, it's Galactus's fault.

Happy birthday to me! I'm trying to think if I've ever spent a birthday at home since I got married. I know one year I was out hiking with Robin, and all the other years I think I was at work. Umm, yeah. Fascinating I'm sure.
You know what's cool? Green Lantern! I never really knew anything about him but the relaunch has been getting good reviews so I checked him out. He's a space cop! If I ever gave him any thought at all I just thought he was another superhero. And he is. But in space! With all his space buddies.
Here he is, actually as a Red Lantern, with his girlfriend Star Sapphire at SDCC:

For a while when we said she had mischief in her eyes she would point at her nose. Thanks to grampa now she knows that that's where boogers come from.
What else do you know?

One of the many minor annoyances you learn to deal with at work is trying to get stuff from the warehouse. Although I've never thought about it in these terms before, I suppose you could make a list of rules of how to deal with warehousemen:
1. Never go to the warehouse at their coffee time as, though they will eventually help you, you will have to wade through about 50 tons of whinging and moaning first.
2. Be prepared to either kiss some ass or sling some bullshit before you get what you want.
3. They love to fuck with you.
So. I went down there at my foreman's behest to get three items. A drill bit for 25 drill, some coffee, and some creamer. I wrote the list down on my hand so I wouldn't forget. The drill bit was no problem. But coffee is on the list of banned subtsances, apparently. Along with pens. Last year or so there was a problem with coffee and pens going missing so now there are extra procedures and precautions in place to make sure no one steals them.
"Can I have some coffee and creamer?"
"No. Your foreman has to get that."
"Well, he sent me to get some. See?" I showed him my hand with the grocery list written on it. Since I forgot to get my hand notarized he wasn't impressed.
"Your foreman has to talk to my foreman."
I didn't even know they had a foreman and pretty much thought he was fucking with me. But whatever, that coffee is so disgusting I wasn't heartbroken to not get any. Anyways he loads me up with the drillbit and then he tells me to go ask his foreman for some coffee. I even get to go inside the warehouse to do this. He points to a closed door. "Just go in there," he says. I know better than that, so I knock. I can clearly hear someone talking on the phone inside so I know someone's there. I wait. Now the whole warehouse crew is watching me, which is kind of weird.
"Just walk in, we always do," they say. Mindful of rule #3 I knock again. Still no answer. Eventually I give in to peer pressure and open the door.
"I didn't answer the door for a reason," some guy who I've never seen before barks at me. He is young, probably younger than me, seated at a desk and dressed in a t-shirt and sweats. Since I am a pumpman out in the pit, I have to wear full safety paraphernalia, vest, coveralls, steel toed rubber boots (which are always wet on the inside), hardhat, and I always have a few layers of mud as extra protection.
"Uh yeah, sorry. Um, can I get some coffee?"
"No you can't get some coffee, there are procedures in place and even though I didn't write them I have to follow them. Your foreman has to come see me directly."
"Well, technically he's not supposed to leave the pit."
"Not my problem- speak to Gary about it. His policy, I just have to follow them."
He is so over the top anal about this that now I have a mission to get some coffee out of this guy or die trying. I show him my hand. "See, he sent me to get some coffee, I wrote it down right here."
Now he loses it. He jumps out of his chair and starts raving, I can't even remember all he said but he finally mentioned how it's a good thing it was month-end since, even though he was up to his ass in alligators (a favorite expression of harried foremen out at the mine, though in his spotless office I could see no evidence of alligators or even gecko lizards) he could bend the rules this one time. "You tell your foreman this is his One. Got it?"
He takes me back to a locked cabinet and grudgingly gives me two bags of coffee and way more creamer than I need.
"I'm not usually such a dick but it's month-end you know?"
"Yeah," I say. What the hell does that mean, I wonder. Long ago I learned that the absolutely best way to deal with people who have tantrums is to remain completely calm and serene. This job has made me so dirty, and scarred, and jaded, and tough even, that all I can do is laugh at this clean, soft, petty little child freaking out about some coffee.
As he stomps back to his office I can't resist. "I suppose it would be too much to ask for some pens, eh?"

Date night! We were planning to go see Eat Pray Love but it didn't work out. So sad right? Instead we had Indian food on Whyte and then bought many books. Many books. Some form the used bookstore some from the new. And then we went to a Second Cup and read books till we got chased away by the Tango dancing. Yes, tango dancing at the SCup.
Some of my bookswag from tonight:
Marvel's adaptation of George RR Martin's Hedge Knight II- Sworn Sword. I just got the first volume from the library and it is kickass. Set in the same world as A Song of Fire and Ice, but 100 years before. Lotsa Targaryens still around.
Shit My Dad Says- I'm late to the party since I never followed him on Twitter but at least I beat the sitcom. Very funny.
A signed Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. When was he here?
Geektastic, Holly Black. We went to SDCC. Obviously we need this book.
Half Brother, Kenneth Oppel. Chimps! From the bat guy!

So one of my Flickr friends, Skipthefrogman, not only takes fantastic photos of his Star Wars and GI Joes, he also even dabbles in casting moulds. Moulding casts? So he made his own mandalorian helmet and made up a figure for me, complete with old-skool card. Sweet!

The irony certainly didn't escape me. I spent all week running shovel, loving every minute I wasn't doing my normal pumpman job. You remember, the job I took because I didn't want to run shovel.
Anyways. What's with all the Russian military aircraft making like they're going to invade Canada lately? Are they bored? Feeling the Cold War Nostalgia Blues? Or getting ready to invade the Arctic to claim all its supposed oil?
Also- sewer diggers discovered bones from an Edmontosaurus and an Albertosaurus right here in Edmonton. Alberta. Not discovered- any Calgarysauruses. Cause there's no such thing sucka!
And look- all of Chewbacca's dialog from Star Wars!

Hey Homie Bear where you been? Oh you know, here and there. Where here is Edmonton and there is Hinton. Haven't been doing too much really, especially with all the end of the world smoke hanging like a toxic wet blanket over the province. Mostly been reading, I guess. I finally read Maus. Michelle got it from the library after hearing so much about it at Comic Con. One of those books everyone should read, especially comic book fans. Dunno what took me so long. I just got another neglected-by-me all-time classic of the graphic arts from the library today- Akira. Now I just have to read The Iliad and The Odyssey and my training will be complete. Maybe there are some good comic book adaptations of those two . . .
Here is a picture of my wise toddler reading Toddler Wise. Upside down.

Star Wars Celebration V is in full swing in Orlando right now. Having just got back from SDCC, I'm not there but I'm there in spirit. Much like the ghost of Obi Wan was with Luke when he blew up the Death Star. Which is easy to do courtesy of Flickr photostreams such as the Official Star Wars one and attendees such as Evil Benius. I also like Club Jade a lot.
In the meantime I just have my own little Star Wars celebrations alla time.

Haha remember this terrifying Triceratops I drew? It was netcromanced (yes- the black art of internet necromancy, thank you very much) back to life today by David Orr over at Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs. Seems there's a debate over whether Triceratops is its own species or not. Well, even if he's not there's always Eotriceratops.

Don't you wish you could take photographs of music? And yet songs about photographs mostly suck. Exhibits A and B: Def Lepperd (Leppard? It has been too long since grade 8 and I don't recall how to spell them or if they have umlauts or not) and Nickelback. Exception to the rule: Yawning or Snarling by the Tragically Hip.

I actually bought some comics at Comic-con. Including this compendium of Man-Thing issues from the 70s. Reprinted in black and white but it's big as a phone book. I was scared it might be a little painful to read (after all, whatever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing) but it was so much fun. Lots of 70s cheese and really weird moments. See, M-T's swamp happens to be the Nexus of All Realities so that he would have something to do every month. One time the realities all sort of got mixed up and so a jar of peanut butter transmogrified into a barbarian warrior. Also Howard the Duck materialized and was killed off a few pages later when he fell of a stairway to heaven (Howard would later get his own series and become a minor 80s icon, they even made a movie which I thought was great when I was 12 but is widely considered to be among the worst movies ever made). Further up the stairway, a wizard gives M-T and buddies wings so they can fly away. The peanut butter barbarian asks the wizard why he didn't give Howard wings and the wizard says, I forgot! Not to mention that Howard, being a duck, should have wings. But doesn't.
In another issue, Man-thing fights ghost pirates in space!

After a great week I'm back home where hardly anyone dresses as superheroes. Hard to believe I have less than 24 hours at home then I gotta head back to Hinton for work. The ole coal mine is gonna look especially dreary after a week in San Diego. Let's not even think about that.
Yesterday as we left the convention center for the last time I saw two ladies step out for a quick break, so I approached them and asked for a photo. One, dressed as an Imperial Officer (well, a sexy Imperial officer) had a nametag. When I saw it, I said,"You're Adrianne Curry, I'm sorry, I thought you were just a random cosplayer." But she was gracious and they posed for a photo. Unfortunately it set off a chain reaction and she was quickly swarmed. I felt kind of like a paparazzi, but the difference is those guys never ask. Right?

I need to take a moment of silence because Comic Con is over. Today we mostly just did a little bargain hunting and photo taking. No panels or anything to speak of. We had a sort of mini panel discussion with two steampunk cosplayers on the trolley to the convention center. Steampunk, said the guy, came about when goths discovered the color brown.
It warmed my heart to see Michelle have a moment of transcendent geekery when we scored 3 discs worth of Battlestar Galactica soundtrack featuring music by Bear McCreary.
Later, back at the hotel, we figured we would take a cab to the In N Out Burger since, having watched The Big Lebowski about 87 times, I was dying to eat there. That little cab ride turned out to be the misadventure of the trip. Every trip needs one right? This guy had no idea where to go. Nor did he really know how to drive. At one point he was driving in circles in a parking lot. He had a GPS he kept typing "In And Out Burger" in and I kept telling him it was In N Out. He wouldn't listen. I actually had to break out my stern voice which only ever comes out as a last resort,. "The letter 'N' sir, N! Just type N! Not 'and', N. Just N. It's right there below your G. No! Listen to what I am saying! Delete all the way, yes! Right there, type N. N! Not AND!" And so forth. He went to ask directions and left the meter running. Luckily he turned it off and said it would be a free ride or there would have been more sternness. But we still had to get there! He almost had an accident and he was making Michelle carsick from all his jerky stops. But the burgers sure were good!

A quieter day for us at Comic Con. But still ten tons of fun. China Mieville had his own spotlight session, basically he read a great short story and then answered questions, incuding one from Michelle. Later he signed our copy of Kraken and he made it out to Pallas. In a few years I am sure she will come to love his writing as much as we do.

Another highlight was meeting my online friend the Rebel Penguin! Sweet! That was fun. And we stopped by the Red-5 booth and talked with the guys there, they're supernice. Some of them are Canadians too. And of course any time you have a lull you can always go and take photos of cosplayers!

One thing you learn at Comic Con is you can't possibly do everything you'd like, so you pick and choose and some things get sacrificed to the Mighty Odin. Like Galactus. I wanted to get the special exclusive ten foot tall (19 inches actually) Galactus action figure. Sadly it is all sold out. Earlier today on my way to stand in line I saw a smallish woman struggling with a whole case of them, so I carried it for her. A very long ways. Although I did it altruistically I was also sorta hoping karma would kick in. Turns out she wasn't a Hasbro employee but the daughter of a retailer who bought 4 cases to resell at his store. Would he sell one to me? No way of course not silly bear! Ah well. The rest of the day made up for it. Umm, other than all the standing in line I had to do. Michelle was already in the big hall and got to see the Big Bang Theory panel with special guests the Barenaked Ladies!

Joss Whedon put on a great panel, and it was hilarious when an incognito Nathan Fillion asked him who his favorite actor was. And the highlight of the day was the True Blood panel, almost the entire cast (minus Eric Northman and Jason Stackhouse) was there. There was some exclusive footage that I can't tell you anything about. But Sookie dies. Sorry!

As always, got lots of photos.

So we decided to miss out on the Whedon/Abrams panel. All the big things take place in Hall H, Angelina Jolie was there for a panel, and if you want to get in you pretty much had to line up yesterday or the day before. So we did other things, and we had a great time. Tons of fun actually. SDCC is fantastic! The Battlestar panel was pretty great. China Mieville was in a panel we saw, he didn't get too much time but he was fascinating and passionate and I really hope to get into his own session tomorrow. What else? Tons of cosplayers:

SeaWorld was pretty fun, we fed a dolphin. To a polar bear! Nah just kidding.



But Comic Con is here! Tonight was preview night, which basically means they want to start the party a little early. So we headed down and got our badges (which I have already lost twice but my wife always comes to the rescue! without I would have to go home). I was hoping to snag some exclusives but the lineups were already crazy. Oh well, got to meet Katie Cook and Travis Hanson. Meeting Travis was especially cool as we have several of his prints in our office and Pallas has one in her room, she kisses the polar bear in it goodnight and good morning every day. Here are some pics and don't forget where there's more!

We left Pallas at home with her grandparents, and this was definitely the wisest decision we could have made. But that doesn't mean it hasn't been hard. She would have loved the San Diego Zoo. A disproportionate amount of the words she knows are animals (dada means dad and duck and panda; she sorta says yia for lion, na means snake and daboo means puppy. Oddly she has no word for bear) and she sure loves them. Oh well, I took lots of photos for her.

Almost time to head to San Diego for Comic Con. There I will undoubtedly learn more info about Iron Man and maybe some of his Avenger friends. I've been busy reading some old comics from the library and my own personal stash. Remember the Micronauts? They were cool. The Defenders too. Sadly, the Shogun Warriors didn't really age too well.
You know who was really cool? Man-Thing! But when you say "I love the Man-Thing!"it conjures up meanings other than the one you might have intended. Even his tagline, which is pretty fierce, has an unfortunate double entendre: "Whatsoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing!"

I hope I never have cause to regret saying this, but I honestly think I just survived the worst week I will ever have as a pumpman. It was beyond ridiculous. It strains my meager writing skills to describe it. Like, I wish there had been a camera crew following me around so I could just show you. Maybe I can break it down, give you the merest of snapshots.
Monday: Crazy. It snowed all day. Rivers of water were pouring into CC3 (and everywhere else) and we were in danger of losing it altogether. Our only defense? My poor tired pumps that have been chugging along 24-7 these past many months. It sure would suck if one of them broke down hey? Anyways, on the bus ride home I was dozing and someone saw a bear so I instantly woke up and looked out and was amazed to see a type of bear not normally native to these parts. "Panda!" I shouted excitedly. Except it was a grizzly with two-tone fur like all the other ones we have around there. Everyone was looking at me, the world renowned bear expert, so I recovered by saying, "Doesn't she look a lot like a panda? You know, sort of? A little bit you have to admit. Ah f*ck you guys."
Tuesday: Still snowing. Yes, it is July. At 10:30 or so we lost one of the booster pumps in CC3. And the electric ones were coming ever closer to drowning. Tic toc the party never stops. They order a new pump (because there's no sense in having a spare on site right?) and it would arrive at 2:00. Of course it didn't. 4:30 at the latest. Okay maybe 6. Hey Nathan can you work overtime so we can put this pump in? Thanks. 8:30 at night it shows up. 12:30 AM I leave the minesite, in bed by 1:20. Up in time to catch the bus to work at 5:10.
Wednesday: Good thing there's a safety meeting first thing in the morning, I'm so tired it will be nice to sit still for a minute- I haven't even had time for a coffee break yet this week. Oops there's my boss pulling me out of the meeting to fix the pipe that blew apart when the electric pump failed for the umpteenth time this week. I've never seen anyone pulled out of a safety meeting before. Oh well. It was not too bad of a fix, not like the pipe that burst later that day. Hey did I mention that shovel 10 up in Prospect has been drowning all week too? Yeah, gotta get up there to fuel that pump and pull the suction line to desilt it and on and on and on. Also the haulroad is more of a haulriver, and even worse, the actual river is getting contaminated. All my problem!
Today: Might not be a bad day today! I actually have time to head down to the other end to check on some pumps that I have been assuming on faith are running all this week. But at 6:45 (my shift starts at 6:30) I get the call- "260 Nathan, we need you to grab your biggest pump and get up here, the culvert above shovel 10 has failed and it's a waterfall!" Yeah okay, I'll just throw a thousand pound pump in the back of my truck and head right up there. Who's idea was it to buy the cheap, thin-walled culvert again? Pretty sure it wasn't mine.
Well, we were still pumping out of CC3 at the end of my shift. Shovel 10 might not be alive anymore when I go back on shift, but we didn't lose anything on my watch.
Anyways, now I'm on holidays. Sandy Eggo!
Oh yeah plus I had to kill a deer on the way home. With a hatchet. That wasn't fun.

I read two Joss Whedon comics in succession and promptly came down with a Jossession. Did you know he wrote the Toy Story screenplay? I didn't! I knew he wrote the Alien Resurrection screenplay but that the movie bears little resemblance to his script. Also he is directing the Avengers movie! But can you believe that I've never seen any Buffy or Angel? One of the comics I read of his was Fray, which is about a slayer in the future, but that's my only foray into the Buffyverse. Anyways. Big fan of Firefly, so I have some Whedon cred.
So then I was wondering if he was perchance coming to Comic-Con. Turns out he's directing a documentary about it! Also he will be in a panel discussion with someone by the name of um, who is it again, J.J. Abrams.

Michelle was just perusing the Comic Con schedule and there's some pretty interesting panel discussions and stuff like that. And she's only on Thursday!
Wuh? Upcoming BSG movie?? Sweet! We'll definitely try to get into that one. Bear McCreary!
I think I will put on my own little panel discussion in um, room BSG-12 (second floor by the water fountain) where we will discuss secret plans of forming a new real-life superhero group composed entirely of bears. So, don't tell anyone, other than any bears you know with superpowers.

Two posts today, since the one below is mostly just me feeling sorry for myself.
I bought some comics today! Thanks Jonny for your suggestions (I can't read the comments on my blog but they get emailed to me and sometimes make it past the spam filter) I wound up buying none of them! Well, not because I didn't want to I just got other ones. And you sent me Ultimates Volume 1 already anyways!
So what I got was that Joss Whedon X-Men series, Astonishing X-Men? The first volume anyways. A Green Lantern one on the rec of the comic book guy (little tip, buddy, when someone says to you "what's a good iron man book I could buy?" don't say "I don't like iron man" because that costs you a sale. Maybe that's why yer shop is closing down). I also got Ex Machina, I don't even know what it's about but I wanted to experiment. Plus a Deadpool collection since he was really funny back when his series first came out, hopefully he still is.
And some individual comics (imagine!) one of which was a random Iron Man. I like Iron Man even if snooty comic shop guys don't.

Somewhere along the way my brilliant plan went awry. Five months ago I made the choice to become the crew pumpman rather than be forced to become a shovel operator, possibly on another crew. I knew pumps could be a really shitty job at times but I also knew that it could be really really easy at other times, especially in the summer. Well here we are in summer and things just keep getting more ridiculous. Like yesterday, I was busy installing a pipeline for a deepwell pump as well as putting in an electric pump in this one pit, for which I had to scour the entire minesite for such things as nuts and bolts (I was short 5 nuts and 2 bolts so I robbed them off this one pipeline) and two 6 inch quick couplers (I robbed one off another line but never did find a second). Anyways, we made do like we always do, but in the meantime I have another pit that has a system of 7 pumps working furiously to keep the water from flooding over completely. Some of these pumps are diesel and have to be fueled by me with jerrycans since the service truck can't get into them. The sumps they are sitting in can dry out and have to be monitored pretty steadily to make sure that doesn't happen.
So, at 12:30 I shut off the interim pump back in that first pit I mentioned giving us about a half hour to move it to the new, bigger and better sump before the water starts flooding us out. Oh look, I am short of hardware! So I go to my pumpyard to grab some pieces (which ultimately I didn't have but wound up making do without) when I get a call from my buddy the hoe operator down in my other pit, he wants me to move one pump for him so he can dig me a deeper sump. Alright, since I have to go down there anyways to check it out and try to find parts. So we do that. At the same time an 8 inch pipe blows, water everywhere. Disaster! Except, that particular electric pump was down already for a blown cable and it can wait for a while. Off I go back to the other pit.
Water truck driver calls me and tells me my pump way at the other end of the minesite, about 25 kms from my current location, is down. I just laugh and say on the radio something like this: "Okay, well, what I can do is, maybe you can, um, let's see, okay I know just hold on, uh" and I just had to stop talking because really there was nothing I could say. On hot dusty days like yesterday the water trucks are pretty important. Luckily the electrician was heading that way already so I was able to get him to reset it for me. He was heading that way to go to another one of my pumps to rob some parts from a genset for this deepwell we put in. He asked me on the radio if that was okay and I said "I been rhyming and stealing all day you might as well too, welcome to the world of pumps."
Anyways I headed up to finish the job up top and it went pretty good, took a little longer than it had to but I am still new and inexperienced (and a little incompetent) so at least it got done. Maybe even time for a break right? Technically I have all these other pumps all over the site that I haven't had a chance to check but I'm union so I'm taking a gawdam coffe break right? Too bad the one pump in the other pit ran out of fuel.
It turns out the company changed their policy on forcing oilers to become operators and putting it back to how it should have been, as a bid process. So I could have stayed as the oiler. But whatever. I think I'm done with all that. We have some brand new rock trucks and I think I wouldn't mind driving one of those for a while. On those when they are missing a nut or a bolt or blow a line, they fix them right now, like magic.

San Diego Comic Con is less than a month away! I'm getting pretty excited. I haven't been out of Canada since I got back from New Zealand. Now I just gotta catch up on the last few years worth of comics. Any suggestions?
Here are some cute pictures of my daughter to help you think:

I had a good idea today, I think I will found a new institution, called the Odrer of Canada. And you can join for a very nominal fee, say ten bucks. Why? Just think how it will look on your resume. "Member of the Odrer of Canada." Prospective employers will assume you made a typo, normally bad news on resumes, but will overlook it to land such a lauded and decorated individual. It has to be official though, so when they google your name they will see that you are indeed an officer of the Odrer of Canada. Hopefully it gets big enough so that when people type in Order of Canada Google will just assume that you meant to type Odrer of Canada and redirect your search.

Iron Man 2 was a lot of fun. Michelle and I dropped Pallas off at a friend's and went on a date, something we don't get to do as often as before, obviously. We both really enjoyed the movie, I'd heard quite a few bad things about it but we both had a blast.
I want to be excited for The Last Airbender but I have some concerns. The cartoon (Avatar: The Last Airbender) is so much fun with some truly witty humor and amazing 2D animated action. It has non-annoying child characters!! Well Sokka can be annoying sometimes. Anyways. From the trailers, it seems like the kid who plays Aang is a good martial artist, but not a good Aang. Too serious. Plus his tattoo is all wrong. Well, we'll give it a chance right?
HBO just released a teaser trailer for Game of Thrones. I called Michelle up from downstairs to watch it because I was so excited but it turns out the 20 second footage shows hardly anything at all. Still, if you want to see it.

Bear City
They must have gotten the memo. Now that they're officially listed as threatened in Alberta, the grizzly bears are out in force at the minesite. Maybe they feel much safer now that they're threatened. So far this spring I've seen 9 grizzlies. That's a personal best and I feel very proud of this accomplishment, I will probably be nominated for all sorts of Oscars and Nobels and Pullitzers very shortly. Usually it's from a distance, but the other day I was doing my rounds in my pumptruck and crested a hill to discover two furry cannonballs go shooting past my truck at a truly astonishing speed. When I recovered from my surprise I followed them slowly, doing 20 kph and they easily outdistanced me. I didn't want to go any faster because they were already spooked and I certainly don't want to cause distress to my bear brothers and sisters. "It's okay I'm your friend" I told them but they must not have heard me. Anyways they ran up this ridge and one of them hid in the trees, I could hear him making a sort of crying sound, while the other one kind of did some bluff charges at me, and she made some woofing sort of sounds at me. This brings me to
Extremely valuable lesson about grizzly bears #1: Never ever (not ever!) try to outrun a grizzly bear. I'm serious. Get it tattooed on your hand so next time you are tempted to try, you can look down at your palm and remember that this is a Bad Idea.

Yesterday I was making my rounds and discovered a bear trap that hadn't been there the day before. Not only that, but it was apparently tripped. Unless they didn't bother to trigger it when they set it up? But that makes no sense! Not being able to resist, I went up to the trap to see if there was anyone inside. Helloooo?? There's a camera there so you have to be careful about not getting your photo taken. Anyways I was eventually able to ascertain that there was a bear inside. I tapped on the trap and heard a heavy breathing sound in return- remember the velociraptors in Jurassic park when they breathed on the window? It sounded exactly like that. I peeked in the air hole and saw a gleaming eye staring back at me.
I met the U of A researcher and the park warden who set the traps the other day, they are doing research on the effects of mining on grizzly bears. Anyone who studies bears is someone I want to get to know so I gave the researcher a ride in my truck to scout out locations for his traps. Unfortunately this was not the bonding experience I had hoped for as he locked himself out of his Tundra and was more preoccupied with that than answering my questions.
Anyways when they arrived at the tripped trap they were able to determine that the bear inside was a 250 lb female they had preciously collared, so they were just going to release the trap and let her go.

This brings me to
Extremely valuable lesson about grizzly bears #2: Never ever approach a sprung bear trap. Not ever! Why not? you might ask, and indeed I asked this same question of the park warden when he told me this yesterday. It's not like it's going to be able to get out, sheesh! Yeah but, what if the bear inside the trap was a cub and the very distraught and aggravated mama bear was hiding in the bushes?