金曜日ありがとう

So yeah, today, lots of rain. Ranging from showers to downpours. I'm a bit more busy tonight than planned so I decided to post the images without explination.

It must be Friday.

I did snap some pictures today but I forgot my camera stuff at home. Thus a start and pictureless post. It is again raining in Shikaoi, the third Friday in a row. I know its the third Friday in a row because for three Fridays in a row instead of going for a nice run after work outside I have had to retreat into the sport center. An amazing streak of probablity don't you think? I will get the images up tonight or tomorrow.

The writing of Speeches

Nothing too much new to report. I am waiting around because soon I am suppose to help translate some of the Shikaoi town officials speeches. To help them read more naturally I guess. This is all in preparation for the Stony Plain deligations arrival next week. Lots of meetings going on around town, only now do the major details seem to be coming togather. Even with that they still won't tell me until next week. Still, I know the drill, so I don't get too worked up about it. You know that something is happening next week because every flower bed in Shikaoi is getting worked on and every blade of grass inspected. Everything will be in tip top shape for the arrival. This starts my July, on top of many open classes we have in my schools. Then it will be off to Canada for the first two weeks of August.

A picture of Shiakoi

Must be Monday

I don't have too much time to spare today but I thought I would share how my day is going. Not even 10 minutes into work today and I made a student cry. Normally he is a rock solid student to call upon; I asked him to stand up and that's when he fell apart. It really wasn't my fault, there was no way I could of known he was having worst day than I. His homeroom teacher apologized later for not warding me off. This story ends well; the student was his bright and normal self by the end of class. Me, however, still has to make it through the week.

Where are the Tomatoes?

My internet was down for some of the day yesterday. It probably had something to do with the earthquake and thunderstorms. Luckily the world kept turning while I was otherwise unconnected.


A shot from Friday. Notice how sunny it is? The weather has turned pretty ugly since then; just clouds and on and off again rain. This is suppose to continue into Monday, which somehow seems fitting. (Small thumbnails to the left can be enlarged by clicking.)


A new product has made it into 7-11. I had been craving that super sweet ice tea we have in Canada and I bought it on impulse. They also had peach and, get this, pineapple flavor, along with straight summer ice tea. My review isn't favorable. I think it tastes like soap; I guess I'm trying to say it didn't taste like tea or lemon. (I couldn't finish.) I guess I will have to wait until I go to Boston Pizza to indulge my craving.


Made pesto pasta tonight. It was absolutely delicious if I do say so myself. The vegetables (in the local supermarket) were amazing this week! Readers may be aware of the tread in Canada to buy local foods. But this has been the historic norm in Shikaoi. Perfect asparagus, green onions, and carrots all locally grown within an hour of Shikaoi. Even the chicken breast was from Tokachi. The red pepper, which really did look and taste great, and whose price has finally fallen from the winter highs, looked to be sourced from the Philippines. The whole point of making pesto pasta tonite was to use a package of sun dried tomatoes I had, but, in the end, I forgot to put them in. D'oh.

And the piece de resistance:

And I end this post with a question: What happen to the rest of the truck?

Saturday Morning's What if?

We had rolling thunder in Shikaoi from 4 in the morning to 6AM. (Very rare.) and then an earthquake at 7:21ish. It has left me wondering what this Saturday could bring...

Friday Post

I got a flood of traffic earily in the week when I posted about the Drudge Report and Keanu Reeves. Over sixty distinct visitors showed up through searches only to be disappointed that my blog really has nothing to do with either. I don't think they will be back. It's cloudy today and I am concentrating on sending out good thoughts to stave off the rain but I did kill a spider earily today. (It was me or him!) Nothing else worthy to report except to say: Happy Friday!

Thursday Summer Time

Just finding the time to update has been hard this week. At present the office is pretty empty due to some high level meeting I was neither invited to nor want to attend. I'm pretty sure they are discussing education but I'm pretty sure it boils down to money because that's what our office is in charge off. (But not me, that's just where my desk is.) I paid for my tickets home yesterday which is a big worry off my back, and I got paid today, so everything evens out nicely. Dropped running down to four days a week from five but included another day of badminton. (And my body is thanking me.) So now I do that now three days a week. I am pulling back a bit but will increase it again soon. As long as one isn't running uber-far everyday it's an attainable goal. I really am in great shape but I don't want to push my luck with a nasty injury, then I wouldn't be able to run at all! I haven't had anything too serious yet but reading the injury forum on a running website was a real eye-opener. Let's run healthy, I thought. Running outside is a bit of a challenge because I hate running on busy roads or even right beside them. Luckily, just west of my house a bit are long stretches of open country roads that only have the occasional truck on them. There are actually stretches of roads I have never seen cars on. An empty road is a bit daunting in the heat of the day but at sunset is quite relaxing. The fields are pretty much being left alone this month to grow and the green hills just roll off into the distance.

The writing of this post was violently interrupted be a rain shower. A single solitary grey cloud with a grudge. Pretty spectacular but it would only last a couple of minutes as we could see the sun the entire time. The "we" here is a bunch of teachers and students caught under the canopy of the building waiting for the rain to stop. Everyone was having a good time trying to push each other into the rain and once that because boring we searched out the inevitable rainbow. I was tired before but feel invigorated now and I'm sure if our readers could be here they would agree the air seems fresh.