Misc.

I’ve been silent for a while as I’ve been away from computer access. Here is a brief summary of the things I have to say:

1) The photo is of my “nieces“. This was my first time meeting Nala- the kitty. Her size is misleading, she has the heart of a giant. They are cuties- don’t you agree?
2) If you are ever in the Kelowna area, I HIGHLY recommend the Greek House Restaurant. The technical address is Lake Country, which is not too far out of Kelowna towards Vernon. I had the mousakka, and it was fabulous. For a reasonable price (around $14.95) my dinner included pita bread, amazing potatoes, rice, and greek salad. All were tasty. The service was also fabulous. The leftovers were also good the next day.
3) If you ever happen to stop in Hinton, I would caution you about staying at the Twin Pine Motor Inn. The price was $119 for our room. The roof leaked all over my bed. Fun! The walls were also paper thin. Interestingly, we stayed cheaper in the Fantasyland in Edmonton on our way home- where the walls were neither paper thin, nor did the roof leak!
4) Housing in Kelowna is rather pricey compared to Regina!
5) Driving from Regina to the North Battleford area does not prepare you very well for other parts of the country such as the route of Jasper through Kelowna where there are numerous curves in the road. I was a little off on my estimate that 200 kms should take less than 2 hours. Also- big trucks seem to like to drive fast around those curves!
6) I hope Kelowna drivers are good on ice or that it doesn’t get icy there… Lots of stop signs at the bottom of large hills. That kind of thing. I’m not sure I’d be prepared for an icy day driving there!
7) Baby black bears are cute! We saw 3 with their mom on the Maligne Lake road in Jasper park.
8) After the Oilers game 1 I had tried to post that “Just for the record, I think the Oil should play Markanen”, however it didn’t post due to technical difficulties. I stand by my assessment, and am pleased with how well he has played. The OIL have a huge task ahead of them. I hope they can do it. If they can’t, it might remind me of Kevin Lowe quoting Wayne Gretzkey in his book “ Champions”… “We were all dejected and down. We walked by the Islanders dressing room. They were celebrating and their guys had ice packs on their shoulders, their jaws, their knees… We realized then what they had done to win. We said to each other, ‘Hey, now we know what it takes. You gotta put your face in front of slapshots, take a punch in the face, you gotta sacrifice- that’s what winning is.’ ” (Gretzky was commenting on the OILERS finals loss to the Islanders in 1981). I hope the OIL have already learned that lesson. The odds are long, but if any team can do it, it is the Oilers. They’ve already gone from being an 8th place team to a Stanley Cup finalist, came back from being down two games in a previous series, played through a terrible bought of the flu, and scored the NHL’s only shorthanded game winning goal in the finals.
9) I really liked John Spencer’s character (Leo) on the West Wing. He made a comment somewhere in season 5 or season 6 about why he left the private sector. (ie: why he was in political life). It resonated with me.
10) On that note, Amazon and Chapters online are great for those dwelling in rural areas. I found West Wing 6 on one or the other and it arrived in the mail within a few days.