Gingerbread!

Carmella had the idea of making gingerbread houses this Christmas. I don't have much experience with these Christmas mainstays, but I remember Carolyn having an annual gingerbread party when she was in grade school.

I didn't take part in this yearly gathering, but I remember there was lots of candy, and lots of collapsed walls and failed structures. To me, a gingerbread house is something that rarely turns out like you want it to.

Here are some pics documenting our efforts.


First, we must flatten our gingerbread out on the table, or as Aussies and Martha Stewart (we were using one of her recipes, and watched her make it in a video) call it, "the bench". Carmella doesn't have a rolling pin, so we used some empty wine bottles instead.

We concocted our gingerbread from scratch. Martha used a mixing machine to blend all the ingredients, and so did we. Hers was called Kitchen Aid, and ours was called Jon's Muscular and Tireless Arm.

We must use lots of bench flour, so that our pieces lift smoothly off the table. Carmella downloaded and printed off template pieces, which you see around the edges of the frame. We carved around the template pieces, then lifted them off the bench.

Thanks to copious amounts of bench flour, we are able to make and transfer all the necessary parts. We put them on baking sheets.


The gingerbread pieces must now cool down for a few minutes in the fridge. When they're cool, they solidify a bit.

You must now take them from the fridge and put them in the oven. Carmella's pieces go in first, but as you'll see around the edges, they were in there a bit too long. I got the benefit of experience, and my gingerbread was perfectly baked.

We begin building our gingerbread abodes. It's important to prop up the walls during the initial stages of construction, so we found some hardy cans of baked beans that would do the job.

Success! When we remove the cans, the structures are self-supporting! Good thing we used much icing. Its mortar-like qualities enable us to cover up mistakes and fill gaps.

Carmella concentrates, getting her second roof-piece to stick in the proper place. While we made the gingerbread from scratch, we used Duncan Hines icing. It was much more convenient.

Both my roof slats are in situ, thanks to a handy lime. It put just enough pressure on the walls to keep them from falling in. The lime filled much the same role as the cans of baked beans did earlier, but in a smaller more organic package.

It's time to start decorating! Carmella bought lots of candy from 7-11, and we also used candy we got from our stockings. We had lots to choose from.

Placing the candy on was the most exciting part. My magnum opus is my roof. It looks modern and classic, with alternating druppies and peppermints. I found a box of peppermints from Erik and Minke's wedding, and was happy to put them to good, stylish use.

Carmella's house looks fetching with its Twizzler Pull-n-Peel accents, and the jelly butterfly gracing the front. She has an open door, and a yard with trees. There is also a gummy bear family greeting guests out on the front stoop.

Her roof will keep the rain out, but doesn't have the stylishly-cohesive feel that mine does. As a whole though, Carmella's house would attract Hansel and Grettel first.

They're finished! We put them on the avant-guard couches that Carmella's landlords gave her. They make an excellent staging environment for excellent gingerbread houses!

Once again, take the time to admire my roof. So classic! So pleasing to gaze upon! The roof is highlighted by Panda brand (imported from Finland) black licorice eve-troughs and crown molding.

The front of my house has a door bordered by jelly coke bottles, and a window with four shutters made from gum halves. It also has a gummy bear stuck to the middle and hot lips beside the door. There are bushes made from hershey kisses, and shrubs from Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

The finished neighbourhood! Carmella's creation looks very girl-ish, while mine looks like it was made with less care, typical of a boy. A highlight of Carmella's that you can't see is a giant sour key on the back. The back of my house has some bottle caps and jelly fishes.

Success on the gingerbread house front! The key to victory was keeping the houses small, and the gingerbread slabs thin. That way, the ginger slabs weren't too heavy to stick, and were easier to build with.

For all you future gingerbreaders out there, heed Martha Stewart's advice as we did. Even though she's been hardened through jail time, she still knows how to plan and make a mean gingy house!

Christmas Eve!

What a fun Christmas Eve! First, Er called me at about 5am my time to tell me he and Minke had a baby girl! She's just little and is named Anakke. You can seem more pictures that Carolyn took here. Make sure to read Carol's captions!



I went to work, and then when I got off, I went over to Carmella's and started the Christmas dinner we would share. I had most of it ready by the time she got off work at 7. While the chicken was just finishing, we went out with a saw and cut a branch off one of the many evergreen trees in her hood. We decorated it with lights and little Danish flags.

Then, we ate the dinner, which turned out great! After that, we dug into the presents. Mom sent a big box on the bus, which included two stockings and presents from Grandma. We opened them, and it was good times! Here are some pictures.











It was great! Here, Carmella wears the hat I got her. It has little ears on it! Carmella got me a word game and a word calendar. Excellent!

Merry Christmas everyone, and welcome to the world, small Anakke!

What I like about this time of year.

Christmas season is here in Whistler, and that means a few things. First, lots of people! Everyone's here to ski, and the snow is good. People are here to spend money in our little town, so that's excellent.

Because Whistler wants people to feel good about spending their money here, they've put a lot of Christmas lights up. Thousands of blinding LEDs at the village entrance off the highway.

Christmas doesn't have the same feel at it used to, because I rarely get to spend Christmas with the family. However, I still like this time of year because of the good Year End lists that start coming out.

Various media outlets create Of The Year lists and I enjoy them. I don't even have to look very hard to find them. They range from CBC's Newsmakers of the Year to YouTube's Most Watched Videos of the year. The Globe will have some good pieces coming up too, so I'm looking forward to those.

I like these year-end lists because I get a full year's worth of news in one easily-digestible portion. I don't keep up on my real news on a daily basis unfortunatley, so these Year in Review pieces are the next best thing.

So, enjoy the various Year End articles, pictures, and compilations everyone!

Christmas haircut!

I got a hair cut last week, and am happy to have my hair nice and short again. My stylist tried to get creative and leave the top a bit long, which is OK I guess, but I think I'll choose another place next time. Anyway, happy to have shorter coiffed hair!

Skating on Lost Lake

I went skating again today, but not on my neighbourhood pond. I scouted all the local lakes, and found that Lost Lake was completely frozen. I got my skates on, and hit the ice!

Like my local pond, Lost Lake froze pretty well all at once, so it was as smooth as glass. Times like this don't come along very often, when it's cold with no wind and no snow. It created the most amazing skating conditions. Here are some pics.



I got on the lake before 10, and left about three hours later. For most of the time, I had the whole surface to myself. It was so much fun! When I was ready to leave, some people came and got a hockey game going. I was too tired to put in the social effort and join them, since I'd been out there for more than three hours. The middle of the lake was sort of snowy, from others skating and some frost I think.

In the corners and fringes of the lake though, it was very clear.



Look at the ice! It's so flat and clear. I stayed out as long as I could to take advantage of the amazing conditions. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, so the heady days of skating the lake end-to-end will likely be over. I needed to take advantage of the ice while I could!






It took awhile to get my skating legs back, and they're not fully used to skating yet. I feel pretty good out there, but since it's been 10 years since I've played hockey, there are still some dust bunnies and cobwebs that need to be cleared out.

It was such good fun, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I'll try and get in on a hockey game later, if the ice stays around.

Comments Back Up

I've re-activated the comment section. You'll have to input a code to confirm you're not a spam bot, but otherwise it'll be the same as it was.

Zip video

I threw together the footage from Carmella and my zipping adventure.



"I had to show them how it's done in Whistler!"

Pond Hockey

The pond outside my house has frozen. It's been really cold here, after a bit of a thaw. The pond froze all at once too, so it's like skating on glass. The kids in the neighbourhood kids play on it after school, and have little hockey games. Most kids are about 6 to 9 years old.

I bought some skates in Squamish yesterday, and also a puck and a stick. I was excited to hit the pond and get some touches on the puck!

Today is a day off for me, so I slept in, then laced up the skates, taped my stick, and took to the ice. I was nervous at first, since the ice was somewhat invisible. I peered closer, and was happy to see that it was about four or five inches thick. Beautiful ice!




It was really smooth! Since it hasn't snowed since it froze, there is no shoveling required. I brought a big rubbermaid container out on the ice, and used it as a net. I skated around the pond, and fired pucks into my makeshift net. I was out there for over an hour. Before I went in, I got a pitcher of hot water and repaired some divots in the ice.



It was great fun! I'm going to cruise around Whistler and see how the bigger lakes are doing. They're probably not frozen enough to skate on, but if they are it will be amazing. I hope they're as glassy and solid as my local pond!

Albert!

Last night after church I got to hold my friend Jess' new baby, Albert. He's big! He has a rash from the recent cold weather. He's about two months old I think.



Here's Carmella with James, who she nannys. He's about a year old, and is honestly very advanced. If he can't reach something, he grabs Carmella's arm and aims it towards what he's trying to get. He can also walk now, and will fetch things if Carmella asks him to. Good work James!

6!

Today, Carmella and I celebrated our six-monthiversary! It actually happend a few days ago, but we're both working lots so we celebrated today.

Carmella knows I enjoy root beer, and brought me the following, while at work:



Six different kinds of glorious nectar, one for every month we've been together! She also bought me the Miga key chain. Miga is a mascot for the coming olympics. I am always losing my keys, so installing a large lanyard has helped, but having Miga attached will probably solve the problem completely.



The big celebration event today was going zip lining. Lots of people in Whistler like to do it, and we decided to go. I was able to get a great rate since I work at the front desk, and we took advantage.



Basically, you have a harness and zip on five different zip lines placed in the forest between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. The lines are up to 600m long, and we would get up to about 80 km/h.

There are two guides, and up to ten guests on each tour. One guide helps you take off, while the other guide collects you at the end of the line. Our tour, which started in the morning, had 7 people on it.



Here, Carmella watches a member of our tour finish the freestyle line. We were encouraged to zip upside down. I went first, and thought I was doing a good job. Turned out I was just horizontal in the air, not inverted. No wonder it didn't feel too disorienting!



The zip lines criss-cross the Fitzsimmons river, and go between big trees. There is a lichen that forms on the branches, called Angel's Hair, which you can see in the picture. These lichens only grow where the air is pure, and they only grow about 1mm per year. So, the guides told us that some of the strands we were seeing were over 300 years old.



Here's another shot of the trees, which I enjoy.

I took some video during the day, and when I get some days off I'll concoct a video and post a link here. It'll give a better idea of what we were up to. Carmella had no issues with heights or the actual zipping, but I got nervous at times. The video will show that well, unless I decide to edit those parts out!

The roof of my car

My car's roof has been a source of much humour, and occasionally, frustration. It's now a source of loss.

When unlocking my door, it's tempting to put things on the roof as I fumble for my keys and try to free my hands. I've put many things atop my vehicle, yet I rarely remember to take them off.

When we were driving across the country, Carmella and I stopped in at Kanga's Sauna in Thunder Bay. After, I opened my door, got in, and began pulling out of the parking lot. A woman frantically stopped me, motioning to the roof. I had left my wallet up there, and a map.

In Whistler, I bought a subway sandwich after work one night, and was excited to eat it. I put it on my roof, and then forgot about it. I remembered before I got up to speed, and pulled into the taxi loop to rescue it. I was happy to provide entertainment for the taxi driver pulling up behind me.

Another day, I loaded Celeste into the trunk and took her to the dirt jumps. After riding for an hour, I loaded the bike back in the trunk and set off for home. I heard a noise, and decided to investigate. There was a friendly skateboarder frantically skating toward me, with my bike helmet in her hand. I had put it on the roof and forgotten about it! It slipped off when I took a turn.

I've recently misplaced a pair of generic black skate shoes that I wore to work. I cannot find them anywhere. When I think about it though, I remember placing them on my car's roof before I got in, and thinking that even though the roof was wet, it was OK because I had the shoes in one of those fabric grocery bags. I had them in a bag because I was wearing my new winter boots and was leaving work. I had a Nature's Path granola bar in the bag too. Or is it Nature Valley? The ones in the green wrapper that are fairly healthy.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure my shoes are on the side of the highway somewhere, along with the granola bar. I hope someone who was both hungry and needing a pair of shoes found them both in the bag. I'm not too sad about the loss, because they weren't my favourite shoes anyway. But I'm disappointed that I continue to place things on the roof and have not learned my lesson! And it is one less pair of shoes that I have to wear now.

I'm thinking of getting some red electrical tape and making a big "X" on the portion of roof just above the driver's side door. That could remind me to not put anything up there. It'll make my car seem broken and in disrepair though, so that's unfortunate. I think I'll just try and remember not to put anything up there, since I've lost my shoes forever now. I don't want to lose anything else.

Morris

So this is the cat that was named after our Morris.

Good old Morris. Cats are popular on the internet, doing things like jumping into boxes. It got me thinking about the real Morris, so I googled his name.




I bet the Morris on TV advertising cat food couldn't climb a ladder!



In other news, I recently finished Douglas Coupland's latest offering, Generation A. I loved the first half of it, but the second was disappointing. I find Coupland does really well creating characters and his word use is excellent. This all didn't matter by the second half, when the plot fell apart and began dragging on and on.

At one point, we're told that one character was befriending other characters so he could eat their brains (because they had some drug-like quality due to mutation or something) looking for the ultimate high. Silly and unbelievable.

The book centred around a future where people are overly reliant on technologies like computers and cell phones, and as a result look to drugs to make them feel better.

I cannot recommend this book as a whole. But if anyone is looking to read half a book, I give the first hundred or so pages of this tome four bookmarks out of five.

Manatee

I came across this picture in my travels today, and found it humourous.

I wait

I am stuck in my work's parking lot, waiting.

I'm waiting for the tow truck to pull a 4x4 pickup out of the ditch. They're blocking the road.

At least a foot of snow has fallen in the last eight hours since my shift started. It's still snowing too!

It'll be an incredible mid-week day up the mountain tomorrow, for those with passes!

I've never seen this much snow fall when I've been awake. When I arrived at work, I could see the parking lot's pavement. At 7pm there were probably four inches of snow I needed to shovel off the stairs. Two hours later, another four inches. Now, at the end of my shift, there's at least a foot.

It'll be fun to hear the stories of people who ride the mountain tomorrow!

Mountain to open early

The big news around here is that the Mountain will be opening early this year. Since I've opted to forgo buying a pass again this year, this doesn't mean a lot to me. However, it's good news for Whistler as everyone is always happy when the mountain opens and the mood lightens as the ever-present rain turns to snow. The mountain will open November 14th.

We have snow in the valley, and there is much more snow up top. Here's what it looks like just outside my house.

A bike video (that I didn't make).

Check out this awesome bike video. Most videos these days revolve around jumping, tricks, and racing. It's very rare that a good video is made about "normal" bike riding.

I like this video because it reminds me why I wanted to move to BC in the first place. The video depicts great wildlife and scenery, good biking, and lots of trees and nature. It was filmed recently on Vancouver Island.

It's less than three minutes long. This video will make you want to go out and ride your bike, even if you don't have one!



If it's slow to appear, or doesn't at all, you can find it here.

In other news, I've decided to disable comments for a bit as I've got some spam in the comments section. I may open it up later once the spambots move along.

Practice video

Carmella was looking into what she'd need to apply for her Psych Masters program, and one of the things she'd need was a video. She would need to include numerous things in the video, such as why she wanted to enter the program, her views on depression, and she'd also have to display her counselling skills.

I figured I should learn to use the video editing software on my computer, so I threw together an example video, learning to use it in the process. You can watch it! I made it a month ago while it was still sunny.

Watch the video!

I had fun making it, so I want to try making other ones in the future.

In other news, I have decided to discontinue blogging every day. I think I'll just post things that are actually interesting and worthy of sharing. I don't want to stock my blog with useless, uninteresting filler.

Internet

Looks like someone hasn't locked their wireless internet signal in this townhouse complex, which means I get to use it free of charge. Excellent.

We'll see how long it lasts for.

Moved

So I've moved into my new place, but just had enough time to put everything in my room and then run to work.

I was able to move pretty much everything in one load, in my new car. It sure was easy to do by myself, now that I have wheels! I didn't need to use any boxes either. I had enough sport bags, suitcases, and rubbermaid things to get it done. I used a number of reuseable grocery bags too.



My room is bigger than the one I moved out of, and is only missing a chair to read in. It has a rickety shelving unit that I'll put my books on, and it has shelving in the closet for my clothes. I'm pretty happy about that, as I won't have to buy any extra shelving or dressers. I'll make what I have work, so I am pretty pleased.

I live in a two-bedroom place. Here's a picture of it. We're on the ground floor of this building. You can see my stuff piled outside the door. The people who live on the upper floors access their units from the back of the building.



The house is in Alpine Meadows, a neighbourhood that's five minutes driving from the Village. It's pretty convenient, and it's close to the gym as well in case I decide to go to the gym regularly.

Because I had my car, I didn't need anyone's help to move. It was a lonely thing though, moving by myself. It sort of reminded me of the times I've moved from familiar situations to unfamiliar ones, something I've done often.

I'm happy with my room, and am going to search out some sort of chair that I can use to sit and read in. I've also got to get the internet humming, and once I do I'll be good to go.

Moving tomorrow

I am moving tomorrow, and went by my new place to pick up keys and get mailbox instructions.

The house has a good feel too it, and I feel confident moving in.

One potential problem could be the TV though; when I arrived today it was on, but nobody was really watching it. There were also two TV dinner tables set up side-by-side on the couch, letting me know where meals are usually eaten.

TV can really suck you in, and I hope I can fight off the temptation to sit in front of it and waste my time.

I haven't watched TV in about six months, and I haven't missed it. Hopefully I can keep it going.

U2's set list from the other night.

Here's a list of the songs the band played on the 28th. I'm posting this for myself as well, so I can remember what was played. That's a lot of songs.

I enjoyed the second half of the show better, as there were more songs from my early days as a fan, and fewer songs from the last three albums, which were released in 2000 and after I think.

Here's the set list.

Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment
No Line on the Horizon
Elevation
In A Little While
Unknown Caller
Until The End of the World
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

For me, the highlights were Sunday Bloody Sunday followed by MLK, With or Without You (the crowd sang the whole first verse) and Unforgettable Fire, from the album of the same name. It was recorded in 1984, and is one of my favourites. The last song, Moment of Surrender, was also excellent.

I've been reading a bit about the Edge's guitars, and I wish I was a guitar geek so I could have really appreciated all that was going on during the concert. The Edge played 18 different guitars during the show, and used lots of effects. I did notice him switching guitars all the time, but didn't know it was almost one for every song.

The Edge brings about 43 guitars on tour, which includes spares. His guitar tech, Dallas Schoo, strings them all with new strings for each show, and it takes most of the day.

Dallas Schoo has fan clubs too, and people cheer him on at the concerts. While I had forgotten about that, after reading

this piece, I was reminded that during the last tour in 2005, a fan beside me knew all about Dallas Schoo and Edge's various guitars.

It was a good show, and I liked finding this set list because it reminds me of what happened. It's hard to remember the ins and outs of a 2.5 hour rock show!

U2 Pics

Carmella and I saw U2 yesterday, and the dominant feeling I have today is one of tiredness and soreness! We had to stand and sit awkwardly all day, so by the end of the night, we were both itching to get home.

Here are some pictures from the day. Remember, click on them to make them bigger.



We arrived at the venue @ 9:15am, and got in line. Civilians start the line patrol, writing a number on your wrist and getting you to write you name on a pad of paper. Our goal was to get into the Inner Circle, and since it fits 2500 people, we were feeling good about our place in line and our chances of seeing the show from where we want.



The people we lined up with were socially able and fun to be around. On girl beside us likes to see at least 10 U2 shows per tour, so she's doing well as this is her 12th. She's an airline server and coordinates her schedule with tour dates. This tour, she's seen shows in Cardiff, Dublin, Las Vagas, Los Angeles, and more. While I find that excessive, I guess she doesn't get tired of standing in lines and seeing the same band over and over and over!



The line begins to move! We're instructed to move calmly into the venue two-by-two. It's about 5:30, so it's been a long day outside in the damp cold, and some light rain. It'll be nice to finally be warm and sheltered!

This is the stage set-up, and Carmella and I are down there somewhere. While we could have been very close to the stage, we chose to be close to the runway that you see encircling the stage. That way we wouldn't have to crane our necks to see.

We're in The Pit!

The Black Eyed Peas opened the show, and I was impressed because I found myself being entertained by them. I know some of their songs from the radio.



U2 came on at about 8:30, and their stage show is huge! There is a big retractable LCD screen, which in this picture is extended down.



Here's Larry Mullen walking on the runway with a bongo.



The Edge and Bono are each on their own bridge, and these bridges moved around. They moved over us, and met in the middle at one point.

Here's The Edge playing very close to where we were. My camera was crapping the bed majorly, so most of my pictures are blurry. The flash wasn't working correctly, so I had to try and shoot with no flash sometimes.



Bono sings for the adoring crowd.

For the song Walk On, volunteers walked onto the stage with masks of Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.



The masks were given out at the beginning of the show, and we were encouraged to wear them during this particular song.



Walk On is a song about keeping going when it doesn't look like there's hope. Aung San Suu Kyi would win any election in Burma, but the ruling military junta has kept her under house arrest for almost 14 years. This mask-wearing goes a long way in bringing awareness to the situation. I hadn't heard of her before the tour started.

All in all, it was a great show, but it took a lot of energy! I was happy to be so close to the band, but it sure was a long day, and both Carmella and I were both very sore by the end. Here's a short video with bad sound I took with my camera. This is one-minute worth of the song Magnificent. While the quality is what you'd expect from an old, well-used camera, it gives an idea of the stage's layout.

On the way out, the streets were packed with people. You wouldn't have been able to fit a car in there! While you can't see them, it's like when a baseball team wins a big game, and the fans stream out. Nobody won anything though, we were all just going home. Carmella has never seen so many people in downtown Vancouver!


Today, there is snow in Whistler. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, as I'm not ready for winter to set in. It could be April before things get green again! I would like to get a few more runs and bike rides in.