Five Years... The First Two and a half.

Its been five school years since I started working on my degree, and I am finally done. I wrote my last exam yesterday morning, and I AM DONE! (assuming I don't fail my basketball course, which if I do, you can all disown me as a family member/friend). My journey has taken me to many places and through many experiences.

I started my voyage at Mt Royal College in Calgary, which was when I courted Kristy and saw me get engaged. I only stayed for a semester, and then transfered to St Mary's University College, mainly to play basketball. This semester saw me get married, came close to a perfect season in basketball (lost in the championship game), and a move from my biological parents basement to my parents-in-law basement. It also saw me go on my first cruise on my honeymoon and my first trip to Mexico. After a summer of painting people's homes, late applications to other schools, taking a course on my own in 2 1/2 weeks, and tough decisions, we knew we were off to Edmonton for many years.

(For those who wonder why I chose the U of A, here is a recount of my reasoning process. The choice for me was either the U of A or U of C for business school. U of A required that students take one year of prerequisites, and then you can get in, but no sooner. U of C, however, required that you either apply directly from high school or you had to wait for two years before applying. I applied after one year to the U of A {granted, I applied over a month late} and was accepted, so I decided to go with the sure thing instead of waiting another year and taking the chance of not getting in. Also, the fact that the U of A has a great reputation as a school didn't hurt either, as well as getting away from family, since we were living in their basement and three blocks away from the other set.)

My first semester in Edmonton was great. We loved the space and being able to strengthen our marriage. It saw me make some of my closest friends to date, be a groomsman to my best friend, learn that I was going to be a father, enjoy some tasty meals at Granny's house, overpaying for a last minute apartment rental, and the decision that I was going to become an accountant. Kristy worked hard to support us as we got adjusted to school and Edmonton. The next semester saw me begin one of two stints with Coca-Cola as a delivery driver, the joining of the co-op program, moving to bigger, cheaper, and a more ghetto apartment, and many preparations for the upcoming baby, which blessed our lives during the summer.

In the fall of 2006, the adjustment period really began as I tried to balance baby, wife, school, and work. We also purchased our minivan as well, breaking an oath I made many years ago that I would never be caught dead with one parked in my driveway. Oh well, the sacrifices you make.

To be continued...

My Bucket List

A year or so ago, Kristy and I went to the theatre and watched a movie called "The Bucket List", which we thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend to anyone who wants to watch a good-hearted comedy. (Stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman). For some reason, as of late, I have been contemplating different things that I would love to do before I "kick the bucket." Granted, I am still young, but I feel as if it is a list that should be made, added to, and adjusted as soon as possible so that things can be checked off on a regular basis instead of rushing to do it all in one's "golden years". So here are a few things that I have done and want to do on my list. Feel free to share things that you agree with, as well as any others that you have on your list that I should think about doing. I am going to break things down into different categories for my own purposes.

Here we go!

LIFETIME GOALS
Serve a mission (completed)
Get married in the temple (completed)
Have children (completed)
Get a good education (completing)
Own a house
Serve a mission with my wife

TRAVEL
Overnight African Safari
Backpack up and down New Zealand
Drive the Loop around Australia
Speed down the Autobahn
Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef (or somewhere like it)
Swim with dolphins
Shop in a busy market in the Middle East (like you see in movies)
Go up the Eiffel Tower
Visit all 50 of the United States (half done)
Visit all of the Provinces in Canada (mostly done, except Maritimes and Territories)
Visit all of the unique temples
Go through the Panama Canal
Boat down the Amazon River
See the Great Pyramids and Sphynx
Float down the "streets" of Venice
Travel through the Grand Canyon
Revisit Quebec
Take a train across Canada (completed)

CHARITY
Pay for someone (other than my own child) to serve a mission
Set up a scholarship


CONSTRUCT
Build a tree house
Build a deck
Build a shed

DO
Attend a session of General Conference in the Conference Centre
Sing in front of a large group of people (completed)
Run in a race (5K, 10K, or marathon)
Coach a sports team (completed)
Learn to snowboard
Buy a truck
Go down rapids (min. Class 3 or 4) (been down smaller ones, but nothing big)
Learn to fly a plane
Learn to ride a motorcycle
Go on a fishing trip


These are a few of the things that I want to do before I pass on. I will add things to it and cross things off. I will also share the experiences with you as I do them. Share with me your lists!

Ahhh! Spiders!

Like many of you know, Kristy is deathly afraid of spiders. If she spots one, she gives one of the most panic-stricken screams you've ever heard and takes off like a gazelle running for its life from a cheetah. It is pretty comical, especially since they are the tiniest little spiders, and not ones like this:


The worst part of it is that Kristy has a radar to spot spiders that would rival even the best technology found in the Pentagon. She can step into a gymnasium and she could spot a daddy long legs from 100 feet away. Being the noble husband that I am, I always come running to the rescue, quickly and efficiently eliminating any possible threat to my darling wife's happiness.

Unfortunately, Kristy has started to train Zoë in her "spider spotting" ways. A couple of days ago, Zoë kept saying "Spider! Spider!" and pointing to the end table in the living room. So I gallantly strode over to eliminate this:



In case you can't tell what it is, its a piece of lint. Yes, lint. All that I know is that its going to be a painful time until our daughter can begin to distinguish the difference between a real spider and everything else...

Flames Fan!

Just as a preface to this note, I am NOT a hockey player. I played hockey for 3 years in my life (when I was 5 and 6 years old, and then in a spring league when I was 13). Maybe I should have been one because I would be considered a HUGE hockey player, but instead I am a relatively small basketball player... I also have not been much of a hockey fan in general for most of my life, but have become a bigger one in the last 10 years.

I am a pretty big Calgary Flames fan, however. I have been a fan for as long as I can remember. It all started when I was quite young, probably around 8 or 9 years old, when I got a Christmas present from my Grandma. It was a alarm clock with a radio built in. That was the gift that I have used the most in my life, lasting for the better part of 15 years. I set the radio to 660 AM, better known at the time as 66 CFR, which stood for Calgary Flames Radio. I would be sent to bed at a decent time every night and I would stay up for hours just listening to the voice of Peter Maher (pronounced Marr) as he called the play-by-play of the hockey games. He still announces the games today, even having the opportunity to announce the games on the radio for the last Canadian Olympic team. I listened faithfully for years and years, even when the Flames became incredibly bad in the mid to late 90's. (Note: I still listened to 66 CFR even when Flames games weren't being broadcast. They played music from the 60's and 70's. Needless to say, I wasn't "in the know" when it came to popular music at the time. As a matter of fact, I never have really been too knowledgeable when its come to current music, except for maybe from when I was 18-20 and from 22-25 years old [the two year hiatus was from when I was a missionary]. I do feel to a large extent that music from this era is much better than a lot of todays garbage.).

As some of you may know, there has been quite a buzz around the Flames recently because of a few trades that they have made. I would even say that its been one of the most exciting times in recent history for Calgary, except for when they made it to the Stanley Cup finals in 2004. They acquired a player by the name of Olli Jokinen (below), arguably one of the top centermen in the game, as well as a very good defender in Jordan Leopold, who played for the Flames when they made the above mentioned run for the Stanley Cup.



In his first game with the Flames, Jokinen scored two goals, while Leopold scored another. I feel as if these two moves have definitely cemented Calgary as one of the favourites to win it all come playoff time. All I can say is... GO FLAMES GO!!!

I Love My Job!

For the past two years, I have worked for APX Alarm as a technician, installing and servicing alarm systems. My first summer, I hauled the family out to the Detroit area and worked hard for 4 months. This past summer, we stayed in Edmonton and I worked half as hard as I took 3 courses over the Spring/Summer semesters, yet somehow I made twice as much money. Besides the busy season (from May-August), there is a bit of work available in April and September as sales reps do "post season" work. That leaves me with 6 months off!

I recently just got on full time as a service tech. I go and fix peoples systems. No matter how slow it is, I am guaranteed to be paid 36 hours of work each week. Its pretty sweet. It also allows me to be at home more often each day. Today, I had no service calls to do. Here are some pictures of our morning today.





Zoë and I made breakfast crepes today. We invited Auntie Erin over to enjoy them with us. They consist of scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese wrapped up in a crepe. You can add peppers (we didn't have any), condiments (I like some salsa in there), and anything else. Of course, fruit filled crepes are always delicious. The recipe for crepes is extremely simple. For a small batch, all you need is 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, and 1 cup of flour. Combine flour and milk first and mix till smooth, then add the egg. I also add a half tablespoon of sugar too. You usually need to add a bit more milk to bring it to the right consistency (needs to be fairly runny). Then you can use a frying pan (you need to grease it before each crepe. I use Pam.) heated to the point where water will dance on it.

It is such a beautiful day today that we decided to play with bubbles outside. Unfortunately, our bubble gun broke so we had to improvise. I remember playing with HUGE bubbles as a kid by just combining dish soap with water and using a wire coat hanger shaped into a circle to make them. You need to use tons of dish soap though, so use the cheap stuff from a dollar store. The kids and I had tons of fun playing with them.





As you can notice, the other perk about having time off with the family is that I have the right to not shower and stay in my p.j.'s for hours on end. Don't feel too bad for me, though, as I do work my tail off in the summer.

The First Post... Of Many?!

As my wife strokes my arm encouragingly, I begin my blog! I know that I have attempted to blog before (click here) but that fizzled out... but my love for my wife didn't. Kristy has pestered me for over a year now for me to start my own blog of my own thoughts and perspectives. Lets just say that she is EXTREMELY happy about all of this (even to the point that she is taking pictures as we speak to document this historic occassion).



I guess the purpose of my blog is to share my insights, thoughts, and experiences as I go along. This will be of a temporal, emotional, and spiritual nature. I will also use this blog to make myself accountable to you readers for goals that I will set, as I truly feel that goal setting is crucial to progression in life and by making yourself accountable to others, you are more likely to accomplish them.

I begin by setting a goal right now. I vow to write on here at least 3 times a week. If I fail to do so, please pester me unceasingly and I will sucumb to the pressure.

So here we go! Down the road of Lee's life and thoughts. I hope that you enjoy!

Disclaimer: The path that you are about to follow down Lee's life may cause unusual thoughts and feelings. Lee is not responsible for any mishaps caused by uncontrollable laughter, anguish, or confusion that this blog may cause. If at any time you feel any feelings at all, no matter what kind they are, feel free to post them in the comment section of the post, or consult a physician immediately. This blog will contain several grammatical and spelling errors.