Saskatchewan Plates

I’m killing time in the boarding lounge in Calgary after the fastest consecutive security screens I’ve ever had. My good fortune with the TSA has given me two hours to jot down some of the post-holiday trip reflections. For the most part, it’s nothing I haven’t felt or likely posted somewhere in the archives of this blog, but I appreciate the therapeutic benefits of keying it out.

I remember when I left for Waterloo back in 2003. People asked me “When are you coming back?” Depending on the person, I would often soften the response but the answer in my head was “Never”. After seven years though, I’d be lying if I said I was as resolute as I was back then. Every single one of my trips home rattles my resolve just a little bit more. Others that left have plans to return home or already have in some cases. As Jer points out in our occasional video chats, we had (and still have) a very good thing going in Saskatoon.

The usual disclaimers apply: Returning permanently wouldn’t be the same as the concentrated hang outs that happen over my short trips and not everyone would be as willing or interested in my forced intermingling. But it’s certainly an intoxicating thought.

On the runway this morning as my flight was taxiing for take off, the pilot momentarily pressed on the throttle only to immediately pull back. In tandem, I could hear some airplane instrument chime from my first row seat in response to their action. As it did, my heart skipped a beat at the thought of a mechanical failure marooning me in Saskatoon for one more night. Alas, no encores of last night’s trip to O’Shea’s were in store (thanks to everyone that made it out!), but it does serve to illustrate my attachment.

I’ve given a fair amount of thought to the idea over the last few days, but unfortunately no conclusions were reached despite the suitable timing for a new set of resolutions. I know there’s a set of things I want (nay need!) in my life that I currently don’t have and it’s not hard to identify the things that would need to be sacrificed in order to avail myself of them, for lack of a less sterile word. It’s a tradeoff I’ve rarely made before and it’s got me to where I am today, but certainly at some cost. Now that I’m halfway through my twenties and a quarter century into life, I’m giving a lot more thought as to whether the on-going cost is too high.

I’ve been blessed with incredible fortune, family, and friends over the last year and decade, and I’m thoroughly excited about what these new ones will hold.

Happy New Year!

For the interested parties
Flight from Calgary (YYC) to Saskatoon (YXE) – Air Canada 8592
Depart: Calgary (YYC), 10:55pm MST
Arrive: Saskatoon (YXE), 1:00am CST(+1 day)

I spent the last hour going over how I can’t live in the past and I have to grow into the opportunity ahead of me. Then Wheat Kings by The Hip came up in rotation and it all came rushing back.

I am a product of my environment and my environment has been Saskatoon for 18 years and Canada for 24. I’m having an incredibly difficult time getting past that.

This track caught my ear on the ol’ satellite radio as we were making the rounds last night:

Digitalism – Pogo (Shinichi Osawa Remix)

Also, this is the first attempt at hacking the youtube embed into a music player. I’m hoping that Facebook notes auto-import will pick it up properly.

Another relatively uneventful holiday season has come and gone. I’m halfway back to San Francisco on the coldest of all the days in Saskatoon (-40 C, -58 with the windchill). Calgary is already significantly warmer (-6). Google reports the bay area at 13 with a sun icon. The cute girl on the plan coming in was right: My longing for snow lasted nowhere near the length of the trip.

2009 comes with no real revelations. I’m still not 100% with my current situation, but I’m resolved to make the best of it. I’m starting to look at this less like a career and more as another leg in the education. That makes this much more of an experiment – a learning experience. I expect to be much more confident about my direction one year from now. I also expect to eat these words. In the meantime, I have a two hour flight and a forty minute, top-down welcome back.

Work tomorrow.

The weather gadget is unnecessary on all flights where the weather is warmer at the departing airport than it is at the destination airport.

Assuming the plane still starts, I should be landing in Saskatoon in just over 24 hours. I’m getting in late, but not necessarily opposed to a beer or a slice of Verns. Here’s the deets:

AC8592 Arriving Saskatoon (YXE) Sat 20-Dec 2008 00:58 (As in really late Friday night)

I had to clear off the digital cobwebs in order to write today’s post. Not to worry, with the move only a week (possibly two) away, blogging is bound to increase. I’ve come to the conclusion that my posting frequency is inversely proportional to my social life. From this, you should conclude that things in Saskatoon have been quite social. You’d be correct.

It has been an, for lack of a less over-used term, epic summer. One that has flown by almost too quickly. It seems like just yesterday I woke up to my drive to Sackville for the start of our Maritime trip. Yet here we are in departure season already. Dave and Keeley, and Lisa have already headed east (I had a message on my answering machine from Dave this morning, apparently they drove 43 hours straight and have already made it). Brett and Jamie head out this weekend. Evan takes off next week. Mine shortly after, and Jer shortly after that.

For my part, the move is a little less daunting everyday as I hammer out details. I’m happy to report that housing has been arranged pre-move which takes a lot of stress off. House is down in Mountain View this time around (rather than San Francisco). This is an attractive proposition for myself as it allows me to dodge the commuter bullet. The corresponding con is that Mountain View doesn’t hold a n LED flashlight to SF in terms of social happenings. I suspect there will be many a weekend trip to visit.

In the meantime, to those who wish Jamie and Brett off, there will be some sort of shindiggery tonight and all are invited. Call around for details.

I have to report that I have changed weather pattern allegiances. As I’ve remarked in the past, fog has been my soulmate of weather patterns for some time now. Whether it was the overdose on fog last summer, or the sheer magnitude of awesome I witnessed over the weekend, my stance on this has changed. Fog has been ousted by the prairie thunderstorm.

Southern Ontario has us beat on frequency, but being able to witness the colossal hammer head approach against a sunset backdrop hours before it strikes is an unrivaled experience. It is impossible to not stand in awe while watching the natural spectacle more impressive than any fireworks show. Even just knowing that the storm is imminent instills some sort of primal excitement I can’t explain. To this day, I get chills when I look at the storm pictures I took in Ottawa.

I suppose I’ve forgotten the extent of the my emotional connection with the weather. In terms of elements that can shape my mood, weather is only bested by music and the opposite sex.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog.

We’re rapidly approaching the T-minus one month mark on my Saskatoon departure. For good. This isn’t quite the same as it was in University. There won’t be a two week vacation to Saskatoon every four months. This is the start of something completely new I’ve been working my ass off at putting off. And I’m mostly typing this for my own benefit.

Quick, back to more positive subjects! My new 24″ beast of an iMac shipped today. Should be here by early next week.

Dear the bassist of the local band Hurricane Cletis,

I thought it important to inform you that you should probably leave the dark eyeliner at home when you’re playing Our Lady Peace covers to my mom at Taste of Saskatchewan. It’s unnecessary.

Thanks.

I’ve been neglecting my blog. I’m not entirely sure why being home in Saskatoon has that effect. I hypothesize that it was because the blog was originally started to relay my Waterloo adventures back home. In reality, my readers have transitioned from being almost entirely Saskatoon to an eclectic mix of states and provinces with Saskatoon being a very large minority. So it would make sense for my writing to stay just as frequent regardless of my location. Evidently this hasn’t been the case (so much so that I’m writing my first post in almost a month at the moment in Vancouver). I promise to try and do better.

What’s happened since my last half-assed post? Well WWDC was a great time. I met some very cool people, learned a ton, and saw the Barenaked Ladies. Back in Saskatoon, I joined a start-up company in Innovation Place doing some proof-of-concept work in exchange for just enough pay to cover this summer’s bar tab… and maybe a new mac. This last Thursday, not even two weeks into my job, I’m back on the road. This time out to the west coast.

If I were somehow able to get my hands on an unlimited supply of both gas and great music, I could drive between Saskatoon and Vancouver for the rest of my life. The prairies might be boring for some, but the massive skies and vast fields make this boy’s heart skip a beat. The mountains though are undeniably beautiful. My first night, I stayed with Duncan in Kananaskis, which is just south of Banff on the edge of the Rockies. On Friday and Saturday, I moved on to Vernon to stay with Chandra in the Okanogan who was playing in the Funtastic, a weekend long baseball tournament and beer gardens. I had an blast, even as a spectator as Chandra’s team was full of ridiculous characters. Kim Mitchell played the beer gardens on Saturday night, and I barely made it out of the scorching hot weather alive. Seriously, Lytton was the hottest place in Canada on Sunday rocking a 39.6 C. I drove through Merritt which is just west and the thermometer in my car read 38 C. And I was driving without AC trying to save gas. My left arm is more sunburnt now because it was next to the window the entire trip.

Still, I made it to Vancouver just fine and it feels so wonderful to be back. I cannot describe how much I love this place. It’s just like any other love in that, even over the years, and as much as you try to cox yourself to move on, being back just makes it all come rushing back.

I wandered around Granville Island market today, sampling produce and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. I had to work quite hard to form a justification for not just staying. Right now, only my career ambitions have me headed anywhere else, and I’m finding both in Vancouver and in Saskatoon that being in a place you love surrounded by your friends and family is just as satisfying.

In the mean time, I have five days to enjoy Vancouver and two months to enjoy Saskatoon. Summer is shaping up just fine.

Here’s something to do while you’re bored at work. First one to figure out where I am in this picture gets a free t-shirt!
GO!