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April 30, 2000
Today was a very good day for me. I adjusted my bike again and got some good power
out of it, and although it still is not perfect, it is a LOT better. Its back to the
good old "Pull your arms back" torque that I like about it so much, and I can put
up with it like that for a few weeks. I had to order special ends to fit the machine
that I need to use to tune it properly. But for now it is certainly rideable. I was doing
my finances today too, to see how I am comming along in terms of making the downpayment
on my Seadoo in 26 days. It will be tight until I make the big payment as I have had
several large and unexpected bills spring up on me recently. I will be cutting it downright
close towards the end, so hopefully I can get some more overtime or fix some more
computers or something to make some extra cash. I ran into my cousin Christy today at
Sunridge Mall and talked to her for a while. I was thinking a lot about Pine Lake lately,
and when I went to get a drink, the sound of the water trickling into the glass reminded
me of an evening trip down to the spring to fill a 5 gallon bucket of water. I know those
days are gone but the memories are still crystal clear. Pat and I rode up to Pine Lake
over the Easter weekend and a lot of the lake was still frozen. We picked up big rocks,
and hurled them at the ice and they bounced and stayed on top of it, so its still fairly
solid. But hopefully by the May Long Weekend it will have mostly thawed. I know all the
campgrounds around the lake open May 15, those that aren't open all year. We're planning
a camping trip for the May Long Weekend to go down around the Milk River area, and stay
at the same campground we did when we canoed down there in grade 12. It would be a lot of
fun. And that is all the news for now. April 08, 2000
Well today was quite an adventure. I rode over 450 kilometers around
southern Alberta, stopping in Red Deer, Pine Lake, Three Hills, and even
a stop in Irricanna. (I got rather lost and needed gas.) But none the less,
I had a good time, despite being completely frozen by the time I had finished
my journies. It was interesting, when I stopped in Three Hills to visit my
grandparents, my aunt and two cousins were there too, Craig and Maria.
Craig and I played Goldeneye on his N64 for a while, between visits with
the relatives. Then, as I was driving back to Calgary, I got behind this
car and was doing the speed limit behind her. I guess she thought I wanted
to pass but I was in no hurry. When she came to the stop sign, she stopped,
and of course I stopped behind her. The way was clear and I was wondering why
she wasn't going. Then she looked back and waved her arms as if to say,
"Go ahead." At that point, I realized that I knew who she was, so I pulled
up beside her and sat there as she was fiddling with her purse. She looked
over, and I was like, "Hi" with a nod. Her look was priceless, a stunned,
"Is it really you?" look. It was my dear Auntie Annette, also on her way
back from Three Hills. We talked by the side of the road for a few minutes
before heading back to Calgary. It certainly is a small world. Anyhow, I
took a hot bath when I got home to help return heat to my numb body, and
as I was finished, realized that there were NO towels in the bathroom.
(The bathroom with the tub is up-upstairs and I rarely ever use it,
especially not to bath so I didn't even think to look to see if there were
towels... Live and learn I guess. But that's about all that happened today.April 05, 2000
It seems the weather is teasing us. It gets nice, then it snows. Then it
all melts, and then it snows again. I spent two days around Taber, Vauxhaul,
and Brooks, and it was 19 degrees there one day. I was outside sitting on
the grass in jeans and a t-shirt at 10:45pm talking on the phone. We had
a bit of fun, our transmission leaked all its fluid out and the brakes
barely worked. But it was really nice down there and we enjoyed a lot of
scenery. I visited the "Aqua Fun Center" that has a diving board and
waterslide, and it was a little boring by myself but very relaxing. We
actually ran into a thunderstorm on the way back, complete with thunder,
lightning, and pelting rain -- the full 9 yards! It was a nice change to
the snow we've been seeing up here, and even a large lake had already
melted! Quite a drastic change in the temperatures as you travel 200 km
north. These last few days, being snowed in, I've been working on my bike,
trying to fix up the fairings so I don't have to buy new ones at $800 per
side. Outrageous ripoff if you ask me, a price that would almost match
the total price I paid for the bike! How people can be so stupid to pay
that kind of money for plastic is beyond me. It would be cheaper to have
them made from scratch! Take some fiberglass, shape it to fit, sand, finish,
and paint it and you've saved yourself over a thousand dollars! I've been
quite frustrated as of late with a lot of things that I see around me.
Nothing in particular really, but things that most people take for granted
in life really bother me, and perhaps its not so much that they are
ridiculously unfair, but that people tolerate them! There are other things
adversely affecting my mood, but we won't go into that. Suffice to say,
I've had a hard last couple of days. But with summer just around the corner,
big plans are making the year approaching look better and better. That's
about all I have to say for now... BACK to Journal Index |