My first couple of days in Alberta found us going on an adventure to Writing on Stone. I love this place because of the mounds of deformed and weathered rocks. The added feature that you can carve stuff into the rocks is also quite fun. I scampered off to find the rock I had carved my name into to see if it was still there and untouched. I climbed up and down the hills and cliffs to the place I recall my name being. Before I could look up at the High spot to where my name was carved all by itself, I noticed that I was totally out of breathe. Three months of inactivity had taken its toll on me. All of a sudden I was a bit worried about returning to work the next day. I looked up at the rocks and couldn't see much of anything other than rocks and dust. I had to climb higher to get a better look. I climbed up to the rock accross from mine and got caught with a gust. I nearly fell off the 9 foot cliff like rock. This was the very reason I wouldn't climb up "my" rock. I managed to catch my balance and discover that my name was still firmly embedded into the rock and very much noticable. Even more than when I had first implanted it into the rock. I thought back to the time I had carved my name into a desk at school. The teacher that yelled at me for it didn't think my name carving would be very usefull skill in the future. I know different now.

I returned to work the following day and discovered that it is almost second nature to me now. Even though I'm out of shape now I dont think it will take to long to get back into the groove. I'm already starting to settle in. The only thing that I'm lacking right now is my snips grip. This is still the only part of my job that I have trouble with. I have to use tin snips to cut the wire to fit on the walls of the home I'm working on. Because of the constant squeezing motion, it is very hard on the hands. It gets better after a while but doing this repetatively for an entire week takes its toll on the hands. Then again it sure does beat talking to idiots on the phone for a call center.

I have my own place in town as well. It's a quaint little one bedroom place that is actually quite perfect for my needs. It's close to the places I visited last year (library and coffee shop) as well as a number of other places that I would use I'm sure. This is a turn for the better I spose because I may even get my lazy ass outside this summer to meet people and do fun things. I hope to obtain a bicycle for the bike path in the park. I may even break down and get a new pair of roller blades. This may be a bit extreme however. Especially since my work makes me very tired most days. I think that the relaxation of the beach will be my saviour again this year. We shall see.