Happy New Year!!!

As the first decade comes to close, it is important to remember all the things that have happened in the past 10 years. And the dozens of TV shows, magazine articles, and general web-crap will definitely ensure that we will remember all the stuff that happened. I saw 4 or 5 magazines that had tributes to certain members of the celebrity variety, and there have been so many top ten lists that my head wants to explode. So on that note, let's not add my top ten list. Sure there were lots of interesting things that happened (graduations, jobs, births, deaths, moves, mortgages, marriage proposals, wins and loses), but I have enough problems remembering what has happened in the last few weeks, never mind the last few years.

For the first time since moving the Kingston, I actually managed to get out of town, at Christmas, on an airplane, without any sort of delays or issues. I know I have jinxed myself for the foreseeable future just by saying that, but it is a pretty monumental achievement. Snow delays, mechanical delays, and personnel delays usually curtail my travelling plans and increase my December blood pressure exponentially. This year was awesome. Everything worked out, which is to say I got to Vancouver in one piece with my luggage, 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

The holidays were really nice. Vancouver was its usual mild-weather self this year, returning to normal after the freakishly terrible weather last year. I pretty much got to see and spend time with everyone I wanted to (Sonia, Iku and Jeremy... you have to wait till the summer), and thanks to my Mom and my future Mother-in-law, I was well fed and well looked after. It is amazing how fast things go by, and how much Vancouver has changed, especially with the Olympics just ahead.

I am still glad I won't be around for the Olympics. I am not sure whether or not Vancouver is really ready for them. I think it could be a debacle in the making, or everything will go off smoothly - I don't predict anything in-between. I saw the new Canada Line (rapid transit) and some of the the other infrastructure things being built, but I know its going to be a going show downtown. With no parking zones and no driving zones, commuting and travelling will be a nightmare anywhere near the downtown core. I hope SkyTrain is ready for the influx.

Boxing Day saw the annual Over-Under game played at Burnaby Lake, with the Overs finally winning after a because long hiatus from the victory ciricle. This coincided nicely with the fact that I played for the Overs for the first time, and as such, continued my undefeated streak. Several others also remained undefeated (Joe Lee, Ryan Neufeld, and Pat Riordan) and it did not hurt the overs to have 3 current or ex-Captains from team Canada playing (Mike James, Ryan Banks, as well as Pat Riordan). Some of the over 40's showed up as well, and despite the petty chirping from the Unders, it was a glorious day. Check out http://blrc.bc.ca for a full recap of the day, as well as lots of other cool stuff.

As aways, I got too much Christmas loot, and it was nice to have Donna around for the week. I hope next year is just as good. Except I hope the driving gets better. I forgot what the Metrotown parking lot is like during the winter holiday season. People need to get some patience, and they need to get some instruction on not only the correct driver courtesy, but traffic laws in general. I was lucky to escape with my life, and although Avatar was a pretty awesome movie (the reason I went to the mall in the first place), it wasn't worth almost losing my temper and attacking the driver in front of us.

Pictures to come soon.

Stay Frosty.