Well, I’m bitter now about the airport.
My late flight lands, I get my luggage and I go to the Sky Shuttle booth. I want to take a shuttle bus to a hotel near where I live. I don’t have any other options unless I want to pay a lot for a taxi. (I’m unemployed and I can’t just throw money around.) I arrive at 11:38 PM, and am told that the next bus won’t leave until 1:00 AM.
What. The. Hell?
The Sky Shuttle has this new “Green” policy, which looks more like a “Cheap” policy. They won’t leave or pick-up until they have to. Since they have no busses to spare, I’m stuck waiting for the last one. Previously they used to have regular departures. Now I realize that may not be the most efficient method, but face it, the airport location is far from the city. Taxi rides are expensive to and from here. If you are going to be this far away, you need to have a regular service to get people into the city. Otherwise you have situations like this where I’m stuck in a waiting room for over an hour.
Cranky and tired.
And venty!
I can’t call anyone to pick me up; it’s far too late at night and I don’t want to wake someone up. I don’t like imposing on friends at the best of times.
An hour ago, I was all in favour of closing the downtown airport. Now, I’m thinking we need to shut down the international and consolidate our service in Calgary. If Edmonton wants to act like a cheap podunk town, it should be treated like one. All our flights to go to Calgary.
Cities have a transit system no to make money. It is there to help the citizens. The Sky Shuttle now feels like it is not there for the travellers.
This is reflecting very poorly on Edmonton.

Yesterday, 24 hours before I was to fly, I used the resort’s internet to try and check-in for my flight today. But apparently WestJet will not allow you to check-in if your flight leaves from the Dominican Republic. That seems like a serious bug, but I guess not many people use computers on vacation.
I figured I would at least ask at the in-person check-in for the emergency exit row. I’m not sure how it happened, but I guess since the clerk couldn’t give me that, he tried to get me as close as possible. So I was seated in the row in front of the emergency exit row. Also known as the worst row on the plane. The one row you can’t lean your chair back in.
I don’t like leaning back because I don’t like inconveniencing the person behind me. But if the person ahead of me leans back, I like to have the option to rescue myself
Luckily, there was an immigrant family in front of me, so the small child did not lean back. Instead, through great feats of acrobatics and hyperactivity, he was able to get his foot back to me through the gaps. His baby sister was also rather vocal.

Usually on the last night before leaving a tropical vacation, I like to stay up as late as possible. I mean, what am I saving my energy for? I’ve done this where I haven’t slept at all upon getting onto my flight. This time though I didn’t see the sun rise. I saw hints that it was about to; lightening sky, glow on the horizon, etc. But everyone else was gone, and I needed to get a solid two and a half hours of sleep before breakfast.
But I’ve been lax in updating. Near the end of the vacation, you feel pressured to fit more and more into your few remaining days. So I could do amazing things I can’t do at home, or I could update a blog. I picked the former.
Two days ago, Thursday, we did a group excursion off the resort. It wasn’t that good, but it was different. We traveled by bus/jeep to a beach. The resort we are staying at has a man-made beach that quickly turns into sharp, pointy rock bottom. This other beach took an hour and a half car ride. But after half an hour (or an hour?) in the water, we were pretty much done. But we had scheduled three hours. We just hung out and relaxed and ate the packed lunch. The highlight was a bunch of horses that were herded along the beach.
After we were picked up we renegotiated the excursion and went into a local town. There I bought some souvenirs, including a machete (I wonder if I’ll get that into Canada?) some cigars and the local alcohol speciality. (I nearly purchased a painting, but I’m not really that kind of guy. Besides, a frame in Canada would cost more than the art.) The others seemed to conglomerate at a beach bar where they ate and drank. The guide was great, because he protected us by letting us know good prices and whether we had gotten ripped off or not.
When it was time to go it was a trial for the guide though. People kept wandering off. When he finally got the last two missing people back to the bus, others had gone off to buy some ice cream.
Long day.
In the evening there was some dancing in the disco, but the salsa lessons didn’t seem to take. More just random gyrating. Then late into the night by the pool.
Yesterday was the last day. There had been talk to go to the Blue Lagoon for some waterfall diving so I got up early for that, but no one had the energy so I went right back to bed to catch up on sleep.
In the afternoon we did some shuffleboard and then we got a few people to go snorkelling. There really isn’t support for water activities, so there is no scuba diving. But the snorkelling was easy enough. A lot of black sea urchins though. We did discover that there were two beaches, and the second one that is more remote was much better for swimming from. We rounded a big rock sticking out of the water and saw a brain coral the size of a coffee table.
For dinner the resort brought out cake to say goodbye to our group. We’ve been very popular here, having more fun than the average tourist. And they have made us feel very special. Then we went to the bar and pool and hung out there far too late into the night.
This morning we left. Although I did manage to sneak in a skinny dip into the pool half an hour before the bus. (Don’t make me bored or I will entertain myself.)
I am pretty sure the airport is trying to make me go insane. My watch is still broken, so I’ve been depending on my cell phone. And it seems that some cell tower here is off, because my cell phone is telling me a time five hours off. There are no clocks readily apparent, not even on the departure time video monitors.

Okay, yesterday I learned something else new. If you are out in the sun, you need to reapply sunscreen after awhile.
I’m really regretting bring the book, The Girl Who Played With Fire. It’s really good so I sat out in the sun too long reading it. And since then, when I should have been out having fun with friends I haven’t seen in awhile, I’ve been sneaking some reading in. And trying to ignore the bad sunburn on my legs. I’ve got Aloe Vera now and hopefully that will help me get through this.
The only other item of note was that I got whacked in the head during a beach volleyball game. Unfortunately, the other guy did it by ramming his chin into me; he got quite the cut that bled for a long time. I just got a small bump.
Oh yeah, did Karaoke in the evening. And the meals here are all fantastic.

Two items of note.
I can’t sleep in at this place; the morning light is very bright and wakes me up.
There is only one clock in the entire resort.
Yesterday I was lethargic; I stayed up too late and was out of it. After breakfast I went back to bed and tried to relax. I didn’t get to sleep though. At about 2:00 I started functioning and went out to the pool party. Most other people were slow too. Did bobbing for passion-fruit.
A friend was trying her hand at body-painting, and she was quite good. So I had a nice design put on me. It supposedly washes off in water, but I can’t really reach my back so some of it is lingering.
For dinner I had Chicken Gordon Bleu. It was like Cordon Bleu, and I’m not sure what the exact difference was. Still, it was good.
I conked out fairly early. I’m feeling better today.

I can honestly say I’ve been skinny dipping in the middle of the night with a beautiful woman. It sounds so much better on paper than in real life. It wasn’t bad in any way; we’re in a clothing-optional resort and she’s a friend who has had a bad wedding anniversary. I was a friendly ear.
I’m a bit wired on caffeine that I had at midnight, but it is wearing out now. I’ve had a good day though.
I started it out poorly. After breakfast I slipped into the computer room where I planned to just update my journals and Facebook, but I ended up surfing the internet. In my defence, it was very relaxing.
But I then played some more pool volleyball. Then spent time in a class of “Canadians listening to an interesting American.” Very educational.
The afternoon had pool racing. Men would carry women on their backs and race from one end of the pool to the other. On the last race, I asked my passenger if she needed me to hold her knees to keep her steady; I can move faster if I can also use my arms. That was a mistake. On the way back she tried shoving someone moving faster. It backfired and without stirrups, she fell in.
The dinner was marvellous. I decided not to have the turkey and mashed potatoes, and instead had the pork cutlet. Every meal here has amazed me. The chocolate mousse would have been better without coconut, but still delicious. I spent a long time after dinner catching up with some friends and hearing the wonderful story of how they met and fell in love. I passed along stories of my adventures in L.A. Didn’t name any names though.
In the evening, Karaoke! Then just lounging by the pool.
Where I apparently stayed up until 4:00 in the morning discussing a marriage (her’s) and my life.

Crud. Once again, on vacation, my watch has died. At least this place doesn’t seem to be on the concept of Jamaica time. Last time this happened on vacation, I used my camera as a watch; up until my camera got stolen.
I feel naked without my watch. And considering this is a clothing-optional resort, that’s saying something
My iPhone seems to tell time as well…
Oh yeah, not waterproof.

The sun is finally coming out. The first day I was here it was overcast and raining. Yesterday it was just raining. Now it is partially cloudy. I can see definitive blue sky.
My burn is probably going to get worse.

I’m getting pathetic in my old age. There is a party going on, and I can’t stay awake. I was falling asleep by the pool. I haven’t even done that much; disco party for a few hours then lounging with the others. Man, that was a good grilled chicken at dinner.
I’m blaming the lighting conditions here. The sun woke me up this morning earlier than I wanted to get up.

In previous years, before I’ve come to a tropical place, I’ve gone for a Fake ‘n Bake at a tanning studio. A base tan prevents real burns. Because I’m trying not to throw money around, I neglected to do it this time.
I applied suntan lotion before playing pool volleyball, but apparently I neglected my front. So I have a nice mushroom-shaped red patch on my chest. I did do my face, but looking in the mirror, it looks redder than it should. And I don’t feel embarrassed right now.
There is also something in the pool turning the bottom’s of feet blue, so a nice contrast is present.
This is a low-key event. There aren’t as many activities, so I’ve been relaxing, resting, and hanging out with friends. (I should do more.) Meals are different than in Jamaica; you sit down and order what you want instead of a buffet. So far the food has been very good. (I should eat more fish.)
The highlight of the day was the water balloon toss. Well, not really a toss, but a firing line. All the guys line up against a sand wall and all the women throw water bombs at them. Lot of fun, but we ran of balloons eventually. It is subject to debate whether it is permissible to throw unburst bombs back. And with what force?

This is a much better resort than what I’m used to in Jamaica. The people here are bending over backwards to make this a pleasant stay. It’s a nice change.
I’m trying to be more sociable. One of the weapons I’ve used in this fight is to drink more. The first five hours I’ve been here I’ve had a drink every half hour. It’s probably the drunkest I’ve ever been. But since then I’ve had nearly a matching number of bottles of water. So the new powers are fading fast. It was interesting the mindset I had when I was plastered. Upon tripping on a sidewalk I found it easier to just keep running forward than to try and stabilize myself in place.
The resort is pretty empty except for the group of us. There aren’t many/any single women, so that’s a downside. But because of the vacancies, I have the best room in the place. Did I say room? I meant bungalow. I’ve a separate house next to the main bar, complete with kitchen. And I’m apparently not sharing it with anyone. That’s very important because the bedroom has a single king sized bed with the towels on it arranged romantically as a pair of swans. There are rose petals. I’m really hoping I’m not sharing that.
You know what I mean.

When you think about it, flying is a big leap of faith. Your plane takes off and heads off into the wasteland of the ocean. You have to trust your instruments to find land and then you have to trust the locals to have made a place for you to land safely. Doesn’t bother me.
My big fear is just whether my luggage decided to join me.
The Dominican Republic seems very nice. More mountainous; while flying high up there was a cloud covered mountain still higher.
I can’t really judge a place after half an hour, but it feels better than Jamaica. (But not as nice as Turks and Caicos.) Not so much poverty. Still, buildings look like they are abandoned or falling down; the jungle is trying to reclaim itself.
My driver felt very complimented when I told him his English was better than a Jamaican. (They speak Spanish here. In theory, they speak English in Jamaica.)

Yesterday I ran my furthest distance since the Death Race. 29.2 km. It was a bit of a learning experience.
It was in the mountains, and my father greatly enjoys driving slowly in the park, so he offered to support my run. It was a fairly gloomy day; very overcast, chilly, and occasional sprinkles. Not great for enjoying summer, but fairly good for a run. This was a similar route to every previous run I’ve done in the mountains, but was going to be shorter; initially only planned to be 30 km. We started just off Bragg Creek and went west.
I had walkie-talkies from the Death Race and they allowed me to communicate with my father instead of yelling across the highway. So I had conversation most of the way. We also had Harry the dog in the car, and he went fairly berserk on seeing me running next to the car. After half an hour, we put him on a leash and made him run with me for ten minutes. That quieted him down for awhile. It took another ten minute run later to truly shut him up.
Actually he was pulling me for most of the run. I kept having to tell him to slow down. I think this dog finds it easier to run than walk; he seems more tired after a long walk than a hard run.
Anyway, because this run was shorter than the usual ones into the mountains, I didn’t do the usual training option. In other words, I ran up hills instead of walking. Did I say hills? I meant mountains. I ran through clouds. (They’re cold.)
The learning experience though was in the recovery. I didn’t respect the distance. So after the run, I didn’t do much special. I forgot that I had burned way too many calories and I needed food. But I just ate a regular amount. It took 24 hours for me to eventually figure out that the reason I was feeling under the weather was not because I had caught pneumonia, but that I was hungry. I don’t really notice hunger anymore. That’s probably not safe.

I’m visiting my parent’s. For their anniversary they got themselves a new TV and a Blu-ray player. I brought some of my Blu-ray disks so that they have something to watch on it. Since they live in the country, it is hard for them to rent disks, so I even rented some from my local video store as well.
I have a big screen TV and a Blu-ray player, so I’ve got experience with High Definition. And now I’ve learned that I don’t have squat. My TV is big, but it is old. I’m stunned at how sharp the picture looks on their new TV. Watching Avatar, it looked like a science program on PBS. It was better than the movie theatre. It actually looks too good. It doesn’t look like a movie anymore.
We just saw 2012. A hard to believe movie, but you should check your brain at the door. I was stunned at the beauty of the long shots with mountains in the background. Special effects actually didn’t look as good as they would on my old TV. Because everything is sharper, the little errors stand out more.
I need a new TV.
One last thing about the movie, and I’m trying to figure out if I’m right or wrong. Okay, spoiler alert: the apocalypse happens. At one point, they comment that the south pole is in Wisconsin. At the end of the movie they show the earth, and the dawn/dusk line is still going north and south. Shouldn’t it be going towards the states?

GrandeCache
Originally uploaded by ad_havoc

It Works?!
This is the Grande Cache area in iCartographer, using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data.
It’s clear there are still problems, but it is an amazing first run. But this is the first time my program has had to deal with real data, and not just the stuff I randomly generate.
Pretty good for only an hour’s work!

I should still see about getting a dinner.

So, if I’m left to my own devices, I can get into trouble. It is late at night, and due to possible food poisoning, I still haven’t had dinner. I’m not that hungry, but I’m alert, so I’ve been doing some delaying tactics to avoid getting a meal made. This usually involves trolling the internet. Then what do I discover, but the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
Long story short, but it is possible to download the elevation data for almost anywhere on Earth. Some further research, and I’ve found out the file format. It’s really simple!
With just a bit of work, I think I could get iCartographer to read these in.
Then my program goes from just a fun little toy, to… something else. I’m not sure what yet. Educational?

I have been working on adding a new feature to iCartographer. I could have done it very quickly, but I decided to take the hard way. This is sort of like going to the moon. I wanted to learn more about Cocoa Bindings and Key-Value Coding/Observing.
It took a day and a half to get any progress to show up. Even then, there were fundamental problems. Then, yesterday it just clicked. While resting and vaguely thinking about the problem and how to debug it, I realized that the way I was going to debug was revealing the fundamental defect. Once I figured that out, all the bugs disappeared.
I would like to make a release of iCartographer once a month. A schedule like that will keep me focussed. And I had a personal goal of getting this month’s release done on the 15th. I can easily do that now, but I’m thinking that I should do a better job of bullet-proofing the code to handle future features. It’s somewhat hard to justify that when no one has downloaded it. At least I don’t think anyone has downloaded it; Google Analytics isn’t reporting any downloads, not even the ones I did. Does it ignore the ones I do? i.e No one has downloaded it. Or did I set up the downloading code incorrectly. I should look into that.

I feel like a little girl. This is not a good thing.
There was a woman I liked and who was the closest thing I’ve had to a real relationship. There was a bit of a falling out earlier this year. But I thought things had been repaired and we were still friends; albeit long-distance. Today, I noticed that I hadn’t seen a Facebook update from her in awhile. Five seconds of research showed that I was no longer her Facebook friend.
I felt really hurt.
And it has been lasting all day. This should not be happening. Well, the de-friending can and will happen, I understand that. But the feeling hurt shouldn’t. I’m a big boy. Life continues.
But, if I look at it properly, this is a good experience. I probably need to be rejected more often so that I don’t live in such fear of it. Because really, I can’t talk to woman I’m attracted to; too much fear.
Luckily, after the evening run, I’m feeling much better. Because running makes you stupid. (New research is also showing that being stupid makes you a better runner.)

I’ve made enough changes to iCartographer that I felt I could make another release. Sure, it isn’t much, but I should try and make releases on a regular basis so that I can get into the habit.
Interesting thing: the website wasn’t working for the last two months. It had a broken link that made it impossible to download the application. No one ever pointed that out. i.e. No one downloaded it.
I feel like a starving artist.

Although I was never allowed to sign up for Google ads, I did sign up for Google Analytics. That has proven interesting. Basically, I’ve got a report of what kind of people visit my site.
Nothing incriminating.
But I’ve learned that no one has downloaded my program. (Either that or I set up the analytics on downloading incorrectly.) I don’t know how I feel about that. I haven’t advertised the site to anyone, I’ve never even asked my friends to go visit it, so it is not like I can be surprised.
I felt I should only tell my friends to visit it after I was able to put up ads. I figure only my friends would visit the site, and then only once, so I only had a single chance to monetize them.
But, looking at the traffic, what little there is, I am getting the impression that people who aren’t known to me are visiting. Google provides a lovely map to show where people are coming in from, and I’ve had visitors from the U.K., Australia, Finland and India. The Finnish and Indian people (singular) probably came by mistake because they spent zero time on the site. I’ve had two visits from Australia, all from Perth. I have an old friend who I haven’t spoken to in years near there, so it could be him. I do have friends in the U.K., but I’m not aware if they are actually in Sunderland or Northampton. In the U.S., I’ve had visitors from California, Florida, and Michigan. But when I look closer at the cities involved, I’m not sure if I know people from there.
It’s weird thinking that people I might not know are looking upon my works, ye mighty and despair.

I attended a public meeting on rezoning an area near where I live. Currently it is vacant lot, although last month there were two machines digging big holes in it. When I had asked them what they were making, I was told a gas station.
The meeting I was just at conflicts with that theory. The owners want to build a six story condo, but they need permission from city council to get rezoned. I’m normally a fan of infill development, but it becomes a different matter when it is in your own backyard. My big concern is that they want to put a tall roof on it, which will make it look nicer, but block more of my view. I somewhat like the vacant lot because it gives me a clearer sight of southern Edmonton. It’s the same reason I miss overlooking the noisy trainyard, currently blocked by a different four story condo, but with a very tall roof.
But, looking at what the lot is currently zoned for, they could construct a post-apocalyptic nightmare there tomorrow without anyone’s permission. I looked at the list of acceptable uses, and I figure they could make a gas station with an attached liquor store if they wanted. A condo seems like a better idea.
I found the people who attend these meetings interesting; I wonder if these archetypes attend every public meeting? In attendance were the people who were upset that their neighbourhood has evolved (agreeably not always for the better) and had suddenly found a forum to vent about it. Even if completely off topic. They liked to be angry, and wanted to take it out on someone.

A zealot can’t change his mind. A fanatic can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject. – Winston Churchill.

They were like dogs with a bone; couldn’t let it go.
Also there were the people who want to run for council. They aren’t elected yet, but trying to. Unfortunately, this person was trying to cater to the senior’s vote. I did not like her platform.
The biggest issue of the night was one that wasn’t supposed to be covered: increased traffic and parking. According to one official, Edmonton council is trying to concentrate more on moving people instead of goods. So they are focusing on transit and bikes. Hope it works out.

This is going to be a complicated post, that probably will make no sense to anyone. Mathematicians might have a better chance, but I don’t exactly know the terms they use so I may be making up my own inadvertently. I’ll probably find this all confusing if I look back at it in a month. For a better use of the word “erf”, may I suggest Erfworld, an amusing webcomic.
So, for the generation of fractal landscape, I should be using the gaussian function. With a random number generator, this creates a better distribution for making landscape. But, I’ve been using a straight linear random number generator. So instead of a bell curve of probability, I have a straight line probability.
In other words, my random number generator is just as likely to make an extremely high positive or negative number, as any other number. I should have been using a random number generator that is more likely to generate a zero than an extreme value. This would cause the land generated to be more even and less… spiky?
Anyway, I’ve been researching the gaussian function. Wikipedia is generally confusing, but it does give me the formula for the distribution. That doesn’t really help me though, I need to make numbers into that distribution, not see the end result of the probabilities. The best way to do that is to take the integration of that. Unfortunately mathematicians assure me that it is very difficult to do that. So I’ve been thinking of using a simple upside-down parabola as my distribution and integrating that.
Fortunately I’ve been having difficulty remembering how to do the integration of said parabola, and then what to do once I’ve got it. I say fortunately, because I realized this evening that I can’t be the only person to have this issue. I quick search under “generate gauss function” and I find that in Matlab (whatever that is) there is a function called “erf” that does exactly what I want. And even better, I’ve found that it is part of the standard math library that is on my Mac.
Happy day. I get to ignore higher order math problems and get straight to programming. This change will require tweaking of other parts to get the distribution proper, but it looks very promising.

Two important things. Firstly, when I run quickly, nutrition is different than when I run slowly. For ultramarathon training, I can eat a lot of things and I’ll digest them without too much difficulty because I’m not abusing my stomach too much. Today, I ran quickly and when I tried a fruit leather (safe at a slow speed) my stomach went into rebellion. That affected the rest of the run. Still, I was faster, and I should work on being faster.
Secondly, Sophia Coppola needs to have her movie making license revoked. The last three films she made, I have not enjoyed, but I just saw Marie Antionette and it was painful. It makes Transformers 2 look deep. Nothing happened! And when something starts happening, the film ends. With some editing, that two hour movie could be cut down to twenty minutes. And there was never any reason to care about the title character. I would have gotten the same amount of satisfaction about watching the life of Paris Hilton before her first sex tape. It seemed to me to be an excuse for Kirsten Dunst to be treated like a princess for the time it took to film it. Please take your vacations on your own time.
</rant>

Okay, villainy averted. This morning, after breakfast, we went back to Fletcher Falls. The dam was still doing its basic purpose of backing up water. No one had destroyed it. However, everything else had been.
Yesterday, there had been two beautiful stone sculptures; basically stones piled in towers and leaning against each other. I had taken a lot of pictures of them. This morning, someone had kicked them apart. Tragic.
I took pictures of my work, and then cleared it out. It wasn’t as much fun destroying. But it was interesting to see how quickly the level of water dropped. But the fishies will now be able to spawn in peace.
Other than that, it has been a fairly bleak day. Overcast, occasional rain. In the evening there was a squall that put up a lot of whitecaps. But there have been moments of sun and we’ve been enjoying our time here.
I’ve been taking a lot of pictures; I’m hoping to be a better photographer. I’ve been doing a lot of experiments to create HDR pictures. Hopefully they’ll turn out well.

Today is my parent’s golden wedding anniversary. We’ve driven out to Ainsworth, B.C. to celebrate, although it doesn’t look like we will touch the hot springs.
The drive yesterday was long, but the mountain sights were beautiful. It was actually the first time I’ve ever been to mainland B.C. I’ve done the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, but that has been about it for my British Columbia experience. (Airports don’t count.)
There are hippies everywhere. I’ve seen more hitchhikers in 24 hours than I’ve seen in my entire life. Anyone who isn’t a hippie, seems to be a motorcyclist; the route from Creston to the north is considered the best motorcycle ride in North America.
We’ve even made new friends. Did I say friends? I meant people we lovingly hate. On the drive from Creston to Kootenay Bay, we fell behind a combine pilot from Saskatchewan who drove a little too slow, and all over the road. He would conveniently speed up whenever there was a passing lane. And we were stuck behind him for far too long. We called him “Rustler” after the name printed on the back of his pickup camper. We were able to pass him five minutes before we got to the ferry, and we stayed that way for the crossing. We got off the ferry first too, which let us stay ahead of him as he was headed the same way.
We think Rustler went to Kaslo, because we’re pretty sure everyone in that town hates us after we went there for breakfast. I got chewed out by a disabled man for opening a door for him he didn’t need. My sister got poisoned by a veggie smoothie with far too much ginger. A lady nearly ran over my mother because we hadn’t left enough room in the parking stall behind us.
After breakfast, we went to Fletcher Falls and found a lovely site to have a picnic beside the lake. But after swimming and lunch, I got bored. Then I noticed the Falls in question were the source of a river into the lake. And being who I am, that river needed to be dammed. I spent several entertaining hours moving rocks around and making a nice waterfall. Unfortunately, as we were leaving we noticed a sign that said this was a spawning river, so it shouldn’t be dammed up. I am now an ecological terrorist. One man (me) can destroy nature.
We’re going back tomorrow, so I’ll tear down the dam. Hopefully after I’ve taken a picture of it. Unless the hippies have already taken it down.
After champagne at my parent’s rented condo, we went to dinner at the Ainsworth hotel. Under my rules, I had to have the salmon. You have to have the specialty of the province you are in: In B.C. you have the fish, in Alberta you have the beef, in Saskatchewan you have the grains, in Manitoba you have the perogies. It was a nice dinner, and not too formal a place. We all left happy.
My mother thinks this was the best day ever. I guess making an entire town hate you is what brings this family together.