NUmber of jackets purchased 0

Pretty good haul lawn/garage saling this morning

Snowboard helmet, goggles & head warmer - $20
Book Rough guide to Canada - $1
Book some vampire novel - 50c
Potato cookbook - $2
Tan leather boots - $2
Little plush canadian moose with tags on - $1

Still on the hunt for cheap snowpants!

A couple of things that bug me about Canada.

The postal(post) codes are different for every street I'm not kidding the way they do their post is attach the codes to the streets rather then "districts" back home the postcode will direct you to a suburb then its quite easy to find the street from here. Banff is smaller the our typical suburb back home yet my Street Address, Work Address and Postal Address all have a different postal code. Oh and 90% of the time if you say "Postcode" they have no idea what I'm talking about. Yet if I say Zip code they understand me.

The phone system here is confusing
The province (aka state) I live in has at least 3 that I know of area codes
403, 780 and ... 1-403. Yes you guessed it every long distance call I make needs a 1 in front of it and for some reason certain 403 numbers are considered long-distance. However the only way you know this is when you get the automated voice on the other end of the phone telling you to dial 1. Or the returned fax! Oh and even better? If you put the 1 in front of the number and it doesn't need it then you won't get through either! So its a bit of a hit and miss situation really..

If you answer the phone you get charged!! Man that drives me up the wall. Some networks even charge you to recieve messages! And Brendan can't recieve anything if he has no credit on his phone!

Disclaimer Obviously no country is perfect and there is a lot I love about this place. (like the super cheap high speed internet) Just not those two!

Today I lost my virginity

Well my bear sighting virginity that is!. Driving to the Garage sales this early Saturday morning I was gazing out the window and I saw a little black bear just ambling along the side of the road. I was shocked because I've been keeping my eyes out for bears for two months now and this is the first one I have actually seen. Poor Brendan was driving so he missed out so we turned around quicksmart to see if we could find it, but it was gone.

On Thursday we did a road trip down to Calgary, mainly to see The Dark Knight. We went to the mall in the town centre first only to be repulsed by the eight dollars an hour parking charge. So we turned around and went to the Chinook Mall which is supposed to be Calgarys biggest shopping mall. I finally saw the Dark Knight in all its IMAX glory.. it was a great movie. Heath Ledger was so good in it. I thought there was a bit to much story and not enough action though!

I also got some shopping down and managed to replace the shorts that I wrecked sliding down Mt Norquay on my butt. Been a slow week here. Going to a BBQ tonight for Max's going away he heads back home to england.

my week in banff

SO the whole thing with my grandfather has been occupying my mind for the week, I've been having shit sleeps, no crying just goddamn thinking all the time!

But how is sunny Banff? Well not so sunny really... I forgot to mention that last Saturday morning Brendan and I went lawnsaling in Canmore/Banff since the prices here are UNREAL. That means expensive. Anyway I got a couple of nice jackets for $3 which helps fill out my meagre winter wardrobe (I'm definately going to be feeling the pain in three months) I also got a bunch of books for $1. I got a reading lamp for $1 then the guy gave me two spare lightbulbs for free! Score!!! But the win of the day was my snowboard and bindings for $20!! Ok so the snowboard is scratched and old and a little chip on one side although Brendan said that he could fix that at work. But for someone who doesn't know how to snowboard and doesn't anything good or flash it will do the trick. Cheaper then renting anyway!

I also have to mention on Thursday the 10th I took Fay out to see Johnston Canyon and we did some walk in Canmore which was beautiful. you can view the photos here Funniest park was the huge roadblock - which we joined. To take photos of a damn elk!! Fay and I thought it was a moose...

Anyway fay left on friday the 11th :(

So LAST night the 17th of July a bunch of us went up to the top of Sulpher mountain and had a picnic drank some beers. I had a bottle of wine but forgot to bring the corkscrew so I just had nothing. So the crew that went was Alli (English, front desk at Hidden ridge) Valeska? (Front desk hidden ridge Australian) and valeskas boyfriend Max who works maintenance with Brendan he is English and this guy Joe who is Canadian and is excutive housekeeper at the ridge so I was the only employee that wasn't from the ridge. Anyway they were all pretty awesome and Joe and I had this connection only nerds can have. Thats right I found me a fellow nerd FINALLY!! So we talked video games and stuff but he is a bit more far gone then me in the nerd department lol.

Oh and my Karma was right on the last few days I dont know if my grandad was having some divine intervention but I was killing with the same day walkins making some great comission. Only problem is I look at my paycheck after 80 hours of work and $160 in commisionf or two weeks and its just under $800! Of course rent and utilities I dont have to pay for but still thats nearly half what I was earning back home. Fingers crossed I can save some good cash whilst I'm here. Hopefully we will save one full paycheck.

Anyway thats bout it I have three days off now so I'm gonna go do something.