some of you have been very kind and have written to ask me what the hell is wrong me with me for not having entered a blog post in over a week and a half, or to express concern that i might not be having much fun jetting all around north america. i can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that even though i hate the telephone, and even though i communicate with almost everyone i know by writing here in my blog or on facebook.

i should probably take a page from the book of jim, who has managed to update his blog like three times in the last week alone with the experiences that he has had here in calgary. and i've been meaning to... really... but it's difficult. at work, my laptop has only a spindly weak wi-fi connection from a neighbouring restaurant to tether it to the internet, and at home, i don't have a desk or a chair or a space that is warm enough to sit and write. so finding time and opportunity to blog has been challenging. and of course, there is always the challenge of ramping up on an exciting and challenging new project to keep me busy even after the 9-5 hours.

that having been said, it would be nice if i could write something good about my experience here in calgary over the last few weeks to comfort those of you who might be worried about me. ...so... err... the cats are here! we all flew out on westjet on sunday! except... i arrived at the airport only an hour before my flight was to depart and this apparently was not enough time to have the cats stowed on the airplane, so i was bumped to a flight three hours later. that doesn't sound too bad, but that meant that hans and gretel were stuck in their little kennels for almost 8 hours (1 hour + 3 hour wait for the next flight + 4 hour flight) before they could be freed to use the litter box/water dish/food bowl. to their inestimable credit, they held their bladders, didn't cry too much in the cabs, and patiently did all their instinctive business only after they had surveyed their new basement surroundings. and kudos go out to westjet too for not making me feel like an ass for not getting there on time, and for rescheduling my flight at no charge and without hassles!!

i think that it's my greatest regret in this whole alberta summer adventure that they are mostly stuck here in the basement where windows and sunbeams are scarce. somehow, i will make it up to them once we return to my airy, window-y, 24th story apartment in toronto.

in a later post, i'll write more about what i'm doing, where i've been, where i live, and all that. hopefully, there will be more timelapse goodness shortly - maybe from the drive to edmonton that will be inevitably coming soon.

while you wait for the next post, enjoy some quizzy goodness i've been saving for the past couple of weeks.

- g

ps. between the cable 80's radio music that they pipe in at the local office, and the 80's radio station that i've been listening to in the rental car, i get the distinct impression that music and culture in calgary haven't changed since the 80's. i'm not sure exactly how i feel about that, but i do know that jim hates it! ;)

song of the day for not having a car in a city where a car is an absolute necessity: where the streets have no name, u2