A bold acquisition

Well as this was originally a scotch blog I think it is fitting to announce that I have finally bought a bottle of Ardbeg 10 yo. This was the biggest "must have" on my list for quite some time and was an absolute steal at $55 CDN. I am looking forward to cracking this one open, but I will wait for a very special occasion to do so. We got it at Crowfoot Liquor, which is a huge store right up the street from my parents place in Calgary. They had a very large selection, and a few hard to find in the US bottles. One of which was the Ardbeg I bought, and a 16 yo Lagavulin as well. There were some rarer bottlings as well but nothing spectacular, just a very good selection of good single malts. Now I know where to go when I come up north.


Last week I had an opportunity to visit NANUC which is the facility that houses the 800 at the University of Alberta. The folks there are great and they have done an amazing job of running the facility there. I hope that the 900 facility will be on this level as well. We had a good time visiting with the Edmonton folks as well, it's great to see old friends again, especially when there is lots of Kokanee to accompany. Thanks Lisa and Chad for making that happen. We have a couple of days left in Calgary now to see family here, and then we head back home. I am a bit anxious to get back as there will be a lot happening with the magnet in the next couple of weeks. I did get my passport though, so it should be smooth sailing hopefully.

You leave Canada, eh!?

Well, I made it into Canada okay. I'll be off to get my passport tomorrow and then pretty much everything will be squared away. It's a nice day here today, although it's cooler than Denver for sure. It'll be nice for a run for sure. Melissa and Elijah arrive tomorrow, and I miss them already. Well it's only a few more hours away.

Happy Father's Day

I'm off to see my dad today. Although it means a trip to Canada, I'm still looking forward to it. Passport Canada really screwed me on my passport this year, but to their credit they mostly fixed it. Unfortunately I have to enter Canada with my birth certificate though, so I don't know how that will go. I've never crossed borders without a passport before. If all goes well I can pick up my passport tomorrow in Calgary. Hopefully the re-entry will not be too much of a hassle.

I'm probably the only one who finds this funny

It's about time...

Finally! It's been a week and two days since my last run. Today I got home at a reasonable time and it did not thunderstorm so I was able to go out for an hour. I took Elijah with me in the joggy stroller, which takes a bit more effort to push. Also he started crying with about a mile and a half yet to go so I had to book it home. That boy is going to make a faster runner out of me. That or give me a heart attack.

I'm small and tricky!

I am a Thrust-ship. I am small and tricky - where you think I am, I probably am not. I can work very fast, but I tend to go about things in a round about way, which often leaves me effectively standing still. I hate rocks. Bloody rocks. What Video Game Character Are You?

Job Interview

Well, I've been quiet lately on the blog front as I have been really busy at work. And today I had a job interview that I've been preparing for as well. It went well, but I don't really have any idea what the result of it will be. I haven't really wanted to talk much about it as I did not really want to get too excited. But now that it is out of my hands I feel a little better about the whole thing. We'll see what happens I guess. Stay tuned!

Mmm, Iced Tea!

Had a great run today for a little over an hour. It was hot, but I took it fairly easy and did alright. When I got back I had iced tea and scones. Melissa bought me an iced tea blend from Peet's, and I made up a small batch of it at lunch and put it in the fridge to chill. So it was a great after run refresher. I've started to enjoy iced tea more now, and I will often drink it if it is available. I like the fact that it is unsweetened here and I can add as much or as little sugar as I like. Canadian iced tea is too sweet. Although I have to say that homemade is on a whole other level than the crap you get just anywhere. Peet's rocks!

Rainy Day

Well the rain that I experienced this morning just got worse as the day went on. It was pouring until about 2 in the afternoon, then the sun came out. So we were able to have a short family walk, but still get most of our chores done. I also baked scones for our afternoon tea, which were excellent.


In other news, the worldwide developers conference is on Monday, and I'm looking forward to seeing what announcements await from Steve Jobs' keynote. The rumors are suggesting that Apple is going to switch to Intel chips from the current PowerPC line. This would be a huge shift in policy, and I think it is unlikely, but you never know. In any case it will be an interesting announcement I'm sure.


Well, gotta go give the baby his bottle!

Running in the rain

Well today I got up early and started getting ready to go running. We got a jogging stroller from some friends yesterday and I wanted to take Elijah out and hopefully give his mom a chance to sleep in. It was kind of gloomy though, and by the time we were ready to go it was raining. But I was determined and I decided to go out anyway. It was not too bad as I was generating enough body heat to not notice the dampness of my clothes. By the time we got back we were dripping wet, but happy. I was refreshed and Elijah was asleep. It turns out mommy was not able to sleep in, but did get a nice hot bath. So everyone was happy.

Dress Steve Jobs for his keynote!

Morning person

Well, after a week of not going out running, I've decided that I need to be a little more proactive to get out and do it. Mostly I've been trying to go out after work, but with the magnet going in I've been too tired, or too late to go. Also, I've been wanting to spend time with Melissa and Elijah, and have often opted for long walks instead of runs. So with the arrival of much better sleeping patterns from Elijah I think now is the time to get back into going out in the morning. So tomorrow I'll be up bright and early to have a bite to eat and head out for a few miles. I'm hoping this will help with getting things done at work too. We'll see I guess.


Things have slowed down a little with the magnet installation. It takes a lot of time at each stage to check and recheck all the parameters. It's good though as it has allowed me to do some of the things that have piled up. All our equipment is now up and running again so we can do experiments again, and I have time on the 500 tomorrow to run some samples.


I got to watch the Incredibles last night, which was very entertaining. I enjoyed it partly because it was a good movie, and partly because Melissa and I were able to watch it with relatively little fussing from Elijah. It felt like old times again. I really liked the relationship between Mr. Incredible and his wife (Elastigirl), it reminded me a little of the relationship that Melissa and I have. At any rate, I really liked it, and I will have to check out the special features later.