Jasper Anniversary

Wow, it has been a while since I have sat down to write about anything. It has been a hectic month but more on that later. For now, just a bit about our 1st year and anniversary. That's another wow! I can't believe it has been a year. The year saw Catherine and I start off on quite the voyage, beginning by travelling from Anchorage to Vancouver by cruiseship which saw us a the crazy Canucks sunbathing in Glacier Bay while misguided Floridians bundled themselves in Tuques and Parkas. Upon returning catherine spent an intense summer in the field at Likely BC while I prepared to Orientate 800 new UNBC students. I was accepted to the UNBC teaching program and Catherine plodded along recovering copper from waste rock with a little bacteria, a little luck and a lot of know how. I am still amazed at the process she is developing. After my orientation public speaking challenge, 800 people is actually quite a crowd, I began my first semester in the Teaching program. I found myself loving every minute and blasted through my first 8 months with some fantastic Grades but some late nights writing lesson plans. Catherine spent a month down under visiting Kangaroos and kiwis with her cousins and I enjoyed x-mas with the Ducheminski clan. Catherine was with me all the way through the academic undertakings and busy herself not only with research but by undertaking an Ironman race...meaning she now trains 2-6hrs a day, a mild undertaking. She has done fantastic and runs her first half-ironman prep race this weekend. I was also not without athletic pursuit and managed to acheive my Green Belt in Judo. Catherine is currently writing her thesis, training like a madwoman and still finding time to build fences with the neighbors. I am fortunately busier than ever thsi summer working two jobs and ducking out of fence building duties...but that is another story.

Phew...JASPER was amazing! We spent the weekend in and around jasper staying just east at the Pocahontas Cabins at the base of the Miette Hotsprings Road. We did some fantastic trail riding and lounged in the hot tub. Our anniversary dinner was one of the most delicious meals ever and I would highly recommend dining at the Pocahontas lounge. Sunday morning was spent in the hotsprings, followed by shoe shopping in Jasper and then a short hike to Rearguard falls by Mount Robson on the way home. All in all an awesome weekend to cap an awesome year!

Chim Chiminy Chim Chiminy Chim Chim Cheroo!

Camping outside of San Fransisco. This took more than four pictures!

Tea Cups

What's in a name?

Well I finally got a hold of this picture from the UNBC communications office, so here it is. I managed to win a contest to name the second corner store at UNBC. My winning entry, which clients of the new shop voted on, was "Food for Thought." Clever, I know! Anyway, I received a Hoodie and free coffee and cookie every day for a whole semester, so it was a pretty sweet prize.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind week or so, new job, Judo tournament, finishing school for the year...many positives happening. I will try and narrate in order but be ready for some bouncing around. I finished my first year of the teaching program at UNBC and managed the best grades I have ever seen at UNI, so I am incredibly pumped about that! Because Catherine was away at training camp over the weekend we have spent the latter half of this week celebrating successes by eating out.
This may have also been due to a laundry bomb that went off throughout our house and the cleaning crew that had yet to deal with the aftermath. While Catherine was away I also competed at the PG Judo invitational and managed silver in both my divisions. I hope to include some photos of that soon.
Tracking back a bit I am including some pics from the Edmonton Judo competition in March and the indoor Rugby 7s tournament from last month at the UNBC sport centre. In any case, my new job is working with developmentally disabled individuals as a residential care worker. This job will no doubt offer many challenges and many rewarding experiences, I am looking forward to it all. At my other job, my co-worker has moved on and now I am managing the youth programming on my own. That is also fantastic as it boosts my hours over the summer. Much needed seeing as UNBC has seen fit to increase tuition once again.
Well to cap off this ramble it was a beautiful day today (into the twenties, wooohoooo!)and we went hiking in Eskers provincial park. Houdini was very happy about this, we could barely keep track of him charging through the woods. Bring on the summer!

Richter's Flats!

I headed down to Osoyoos this past weekend for Ironman training. I was joined by family friend Nicole, the brilliant and talented coaches from Pacific Rim Multisport and 20 or so other crazy endurance athletes. My goal was to get my tri-bike on the road after a long winter and to experience the dreaded climbs of the Ironman Canada bike route. The infamous 'Richter's Pass' and 'Yellow Lake' summits have nothing on team Cacole! That's team Catherine and Nicole; and yes, our cheer is short, ear piercing laughter!

I remember the head coach's strategy as we started day 1 of the camp: "we're climbing for three hours right now; I want to ensure your legs are fatigued for tomorrow." Interesting strategy. So climb we did, and fatigue I felt! Regardless the camp must go on. Day 2 started with a jello-leg long run, followed by a "wobbly" bike ride. Day 3 was the "don't forget your Id and CareCard" ride of my life. Our ride up, down and through the passes took us amateurs 6.5 hours, all the while racing against a headwind in both directions. To boot, Nicole managed to get 4 flats, exhausting both her and my spare tires! Not only was our physical strength tested, but also our technical abilities out on the road. The combination has boosted our confidence in this sport. But c'mon Richter's...no more Flats!

Another Random Show in PG

Well, Catherine and I had the pleasure of enjoying a Harlem Globetrotters show this evening and it was fantastic. I think that is the most entertained I have bbeen by the sport of basketball in quite some time. Those guys had the crowd into it the whole time and it was really quite funny throughout. Even the mayor of PG got in on the show and played for the Washington Generals (the loosingest team in basketball)It ranks in the annals of randomness along with Snoop Dogg and Motley Crue, can't wait to see what good 'ol PG brings us next! The mascotts were great and Catherine was a huge fan of Big G and Lil G, not too metion the breakfast food race, LMAO. Good times!

The Fuzz!

Issue?

So here is my issue. I have been excited about blogging and developing a bi-line to my life yet I am bombarded by warnings of online threats, the need to watch what you put out there or even the debate as to what is worthy content for a blog. Is my life worthy of regular writing? Should I write regularly? and if so, what should I write? Some perplexing, complicated questions. I believe that the only way to address such issues is to jump in and blog. Say something, say anything?! I believe that this is an online medium for me. Someway to express thoughts and record experiences. I belive it is a much better, more honest, less intrusive, more personal, more thoughful and more challenging online format for me than you can acheive with facebook or these types of social networking sites which in my opinion are completely discociative for the people using them. You must choose to visit my blog to read and see my life, thoughts, ideas and experiences. You won't ever get an IM, email or any other notification to help you pretend that you are attached to this in some way. Well to finish this rant, this blog is for me and for anyone. If you are interested great, if not, whatever!

So I am going to start this contribution off and I am sure my better half will have something to add later as for now she has just awoken from a slumber on the couch to say "what the heck are you blogging about?" My typical response being "not sure we'll see what happens." Anyway, Catherine was pumped (sarcasm added) about her bike ride this morning and I was happy to help but distracted by some note taking for my last final...when will it end! In any case, we each did our thing. I had a Judo practise while she was on her ride and then met up at the Hickey's place for some birthday cake. I think we both agreed it was the best cake ever and we need to get Tammy's cake maker hookup. More about this bike ride though. I phoned Catherine to find out how the ride was going and a somewhat normal return call turned into a story aboout snarling dogs, bruised legs and a ride gone wrong! I was ready to go pick her up at the time but she is a trucker and was almost to the final destination anyway. Well, I guess that is it for now, we are off to the women's hockey league year end party tonight, should be a blast. Stay tuned for some ditty's about that one!

Twitter This!

I have a burning question. What is twitter? Is it an action: to twitter? Or is it a thing: a twitter? Can I describe something as having "twitter-like" qualities; such as my communication skills are twittertastic?

In any case my husband, and partner to this blog, can't answer these questions but claims that he's going to start twittering. His words exactly were: "I'm going to twitter Ellen!" This comes just one day after Shaun started this blog. Since his debut to the blogesphere, he's documented every breath we've taken. Mind you, a new addition to the Henry Clan is a major deal! Welcome Carter. I look forward to seeing my husband's take on our daily bits and pieces rather than relying on my own perception of his experiences. Keep it up Shaunshine!

But twitter? Let's not get crazy. We've never even text messaged before!

A common occurrence

So, I sent Houdini out for his morning business and started to get into some work. About an hour later I heard him whine at a passing dog, also not uncommon. However, this whine came from the front of the house not the side yard, HMMM..... Low and behold there is Houdini chillin out in the driveway. Not really being bad, but just outside the fence. The neverending winter here facilitated his Houdininess, ah well the battle continues; I have yet to figure out all his tricks!

Congrats!

Wow! Congratulations Scott and Victoria! He's awesome, good looking little guy. Hopefully his aunt and uncle from PG will meet him soon.

Baby Carter

Hello Blogesphere!

Welcome to MY life!

Creativity

Well I am still playing around with the blog to get used to running it and decide somewhat randomly what and when to post things. So here is the next chapter in the randomness of the beginning blogger experience.

Just thought I would talk a little about this past weekend. Dave and Veronica along with Arlene and all the kids came to visit over Easter. They arrived Thursday evening and after along haul everyone was rarin to go in the morning. Baby Cameron particularly had a smile on his face the whole weekend, Meghan did art and hid the cereal on shaunmonster. Duncan directed traffic or at least directed me, we had a full itinerary from swimming to road hockey games to rugby lessons. Duncan and I had a blast hanging out watching Kung Fu Panda in the basment TV lounge or boys room. Duncan was also busy making calls from his office, giving his dad the low down on the day's oiperations over the phone.

The whole gang including uncle Ed visited the PG aquatic centre and the UNBC Northern Sport Centre, check the New West record for the picture (hopefully, as we did make it in there for the Iceman visit) Look out for more on this visit as I am sure this post is not covering all the good times!

The whole house was used for the first time and it was awesome. Love having the family and friends up for visits, so keep that in mind travellers!

Update April 16th 09

So, I am nearly done the semester's work and thus my first year. I have one final exam to write and then it is work, work, work for the summer! I will be continuing with my job at IMSS working on youth programming and begin working at another job next week. This summer promises to be busy. Catherine is plugging away at her MSc and aims to have it finalized at summer's end. She is also busy training for Ironman Canada. I have been continually impressed by her efforts and she has inspired me to the point where I have actually gone along on some 3 and a half hour bike rides. I can't keep up with her swimming but I try sometimes. I continue to compete at as many Judo events as possible and my next tournament is at home in PG on April 25th. Catherine will be participating in her first training camp of the summer that weekend in Osoyoos.

My sister Saskia visited briefly last month on her whirlwind tour through the west. We picked her up in Calgary and enjoyed a beautiful drive through Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise and across the icefields. She spent only one day in PG but I guess there was snowboarding to be had at Whistler!

Most exciting news of the last little while. I became an uncle to Carter James Wallace Henry at 7:42 EST today. Everyone is doing well. Congratulations to Scott and Victoria! We hope to come visit all the family soon!

Entering the bloggers dominion! Nice to have a place other than my head for these ramblings.