10 posts tagged “invermere”

OMFGZ!!!!!1!!1!!1 Someone has a strong, fast, wide-open wireless hotspot available here in 'the valley'. It popped up while booting my laptop tonight after getting in from a grueling trip along Highway 93. There were several near-whiteout conditions along the way. People were pulling off to the side, opting to wait it out- while the rest of us trudged on at no more than 30 km/h. Sheesh.

But we made it in one piece- and have been rewarded with free Internet for the weekend.
The laptops seem to connect just fine. The DS can 'see' the hotspot, but fails to connect to Nintendo WFC. Haven't tried the Wii yet (yes, we brought some of the 'toys')

Seems I'll be fragging fireside sooner than I thought.....
*bwahaha*

It's been a very trying time for me over the past month. I have felt overwhelmed with pressure from work- as well as the numerous side-projects I have on the go as well. Downtime? What's that!?
This is really nothing new for me. It's been this way for well over a year. I did the unthinkable in May and left my 'dream job' for one that I thought would lessen the load by doing something a little different during the day and allow me to focus all my programming energies on my projects in my 'spare' time. That hasn't happened. Instead I feel as though the pressure has increased resulting in significantly more stress and anxiety. It's taken it's toll- on my health, on my productivity, on my sanity.

This weekend we went away for an extended long weekend for Thanksgiving. Both Ange and I were able to get Thursday and Friday of last week off, so Thursday afternoon we packed up and headed out to the cabin near Invermere with my Dad. The trip to get there alone is worth it- as long as you aren't driving in the middle of the night- which around here seems to be getting earlier and earlier every day.
The purpose of this weekend was to try and give my brain some significant downtime- not think about work or projects or anything else that causes any degree of stress of anxiety in my life these days. Did it happen? Not really. Certainly the extended time away in the peace and tranquility of the mountains helps- but it always only seems to be a temporary solution. Quite literally it's like trying to pick away at one of the mountains themselves with a pick-axe. It's impossible for me to get away and not have things floating in the back of my head- about what awaits me at work, or what bills need to be payed, or what things need to be done around the apartment. I can suppress them and put them off for a while- but they don't ever actually leave me alone.
Still- it was a wonderful weekend. Didn't take a lot of photos besides the obvious 'road trip' snaps going through the mountains. We deliberately didn't do very much- and yet, we still did plenty.

Already I'm beginning to figure out if there is a chance for me to take a weekend in November and go out completely by myself- similar to the weekend I went out in March of this year. Who knows if it'll happen- I hate leaving Ange and Albie behind, and November will certainly mean more winter-like weather, so at this stage I can only hope for the best. I find that having the chance to be completely disconnected from the rest of the world is exactly what I need to hit the 'reset' button in my head and come back renewed and refreshed.

So is everything back to normal? Sadly, no- but  I do have a slightly different perspective now, which in turn should result in a better week this week than what I've been having lately. Both Ange and I plan on beginning making changes to our daily routines and lifestyles in hopes of revitalizing ourselves  and break out of the rut we've found ourselves in for a while now.

Here's to this week...

I have finally gotten around to downloading our long weekend pictures from the camera and upload them to Flickr. It's really been one of THOSE kind of weeks. Sheesh.

And so yet another long weekend is upon us here in Alberta (well, most provinces have some form of holiday this weekend), and since I am not on-call with the network pager this weekend, we're taking full advantage and heading out to 'The Cabin' in Invermere for a solid weekend of doing absolutely nothing. I've even turned down a round of golf because it's far too much work for what I want to do this weekend.

Not much else to say beyond that. So toodles Voxpeeps- I'm 4 hours away from gettin' my drink on and my sleep on (maybe with the occasional scattering of playing DS and hacking away on something or another on the laptop).

Have a good weekend y'all!!

This past weekend was absolutely wonderful. There is something amazingly refreshing about being completely alone in the mountains- disconnected from everything and everyone, in order to refocus yourself and energize your spirit. I'm feeling a lot better about things now, but it's still a process- but I'm working towards it.

I'm still not up to my regular blogging self as of yet, so I expect updates to be sporadic at best for the next little while. In the meantime, I've posted a pretty complete photoblog of the weekend over on Flickr- lots of nature photography shots.

This has quite possibly been one of the worst weeks in recent memory- and it seems to have affected everyone around me in extremely negative ways, myself included. I've deliberately stepped away from blogging altogether as a result (hence the cryptic Linux-command posting below)- a kind-of stepping 'out of the spotlight' if you will.

Personally, I'm burned out- again. Before Christmas I set a mandate that if certain things (my job being a big one) did not improve by April 1st, then I would have to make some changes. So with April 1 being approximately a week away- and reflecting on the emotional torture that this week has brought, I've decided to retreat into the mountains, alone, for the weekend to try and regroup, refocus, and rediscover myself. There is much to ponder in the coming days. Everything from my health, to my career, my relationships, and even my blogging future.

In the meantime- almost as if by fate, I stumbled across a few 'old skool' humor MP3s while browsing through some old CD-R's while packing for my 'retreat' this weekend. So I thought I would post them here in hopes that they can help break through the cloud of perpetual darkness that has invaded our lives this week.

Well we're just about ready to head off back to Invermere. This will be our first family Christmas in the cabin. Our cabin in Invermere is where Ange and I spent our two week 'honeymoon' back in September. We're definitely looking forward to a much-needed break away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. I've been beyond my breaking point mentally, and physically for the last several months- so I'm hoping that the time away will be exactly what I need to recharge my batteries, get over my moist recent health ailment, and refocus myself to get back to work, and continue on my HD-X project in the new year.

Here's hoping everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Yet another day, yet another adventure into Fairmont. We found a glass-blown orb that looks like a tree with fall-colored leaves at an art store just a few doors over from the Internet cafe. Ange and I decided to pick it up as a keepsake to commemorate our wedding and honeymoon. So we planned on coming in to write a blog entry and pick up our orb- but sadly the art store is closed Mondays, so we'll have to wait until the 14th when we come back to get the dirt on Wii.

Near the end of our last session, which my brother tagged along with me, we became technicians-for-a-day as the Internet connection went down. They know nothing about their Internet cafe out here. In fact, their method for tracking your time is by estimation. There is no software that tracks time, and the security is horrendous- I could easily install any program I need without questions. But anyways- as wel were troubleshooting the connection, we discovered that their router has an antenna! Both our eyes bulged open- so today I brought SpitFire AND my DSLite to see whether I can connect. Sadly it doesn't appear so- all signals I'm actually picking up have a strength of < 40, and in my experience, SpitFire doesn't like signals below 60. Oh well- it was worth a try. If I actually would have found an open connection, I'd certainly be uploading photos to Flickr. So sadly, there are still no wedding or honeymoon pics. :(

The weekend with Rob & Kris is great- too bad Kris ended up OD-ing from her Nicotene patch and was bed-ridden most of Saturday after golf. Oh well, it made for a great weekend anyway- great food, lots of laughs, and Rob even willingly played DS again! (I swear he'll own a Wii before the end of the year). Too bad the weekend went so fast- there's a lot more we could have all done together. They left yesterday afternoon- but we went into Invermere with them for lunch at 'The Bistro'- which probably serves some of the best burgers in the valley. We hung out for a bit before they took off back home to Calgary.

Ange and I ended up staying in Invermere a little longer again- found a wonderful shop with all kinds of spiritual and holistic (sp?/pr?) items. Power stones and the like. I find those kinds of shops very difficult to focus in because there is so much energy radiating from them- all positive of course.

On the way home, Ange wanted to see the 'HooDoos', which is basically a joint government/private land conservation. The problem is, it isn't marked very well- no signs to direct you there, and more importantly, no signs to indicate when you have left the conservatory land and go onto private land. We decided we would go for a drive along the dirt road into the area thinking we would get to the top of the ridge which runs alongside the highway going into Fairmont from the south. We began going deeper and deeper into the woods, and began climbing higher and higher. Admittedly, neither of us were of very sound mind at the time, so when we came across a marker indicating 6 km in- we quickly realized this road was not going to the top of the ridge by the highway. I'm not quite sure exactly how far we actually went, but I do know we left the actual government-owned land and onto land owned by a company. The further we went in, the more we realized we probably shouldn't be here. Several signs stating 'No Trespassing', and the eventual supervision of us by people in unmarked navy-blue trucks kinda made it a bit obvious. Ange, still not of sound mind, wanted to keep going- I vetoed under fear of suspicion by the men-in-the-navy-trucks, and the fact that this was absolutely terrain for at least a truck or SUV- certainly not my 4-door sedan. So we turned back to go home, met no confrontation with the men-in-the-navy-trucks, took a lot of pictures, and came to be dumbfounded that 'Silver Lining' (yeah, I name all my stuff, big whoop- wanna fight about it? lol) was capable of making it that far up the side of a mountain with seemingly little effort. Coming down, there were parts of the road so steep and windy that I would have been afraid in Rob's Blazer let alone my Neon! But it was a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll have a few more valley adventures in the coming days.

Until then....

A somewhat unexpected turn of events this weekend- turns out my brother and his (now, finally) girlfriend, our pal, Kristin (aka lil_pink_frogs) came out to spend the weekend with us. They came in last night after Kris was able to get the afternoon off. Last night proceeded into the first of many 'family' weekends we will have- the four of us. The evening was truly amazing- certainly one of those first 'married life' events that reminds you of where exactly you've ended up. What a feeling it was. This is exactly why this cabin was built- Dad would be extremely proud. :)

This morning we went for breakfast and golf at 'Coys'- but since there was a copious degree of alcohol consumption that lasted well into the wee morning hours, many present were focussed more on their 'war wounds' than golf- but so what? We all had a good time- didn't golf worth a shit, but so what?

Sadly, I have my brother tagging along with me to the Internet cafe today and I sense his boredom just sitting, having already read the paper. So I will sign off- but I will try to assemble a small collection of pictures from the wedding and the honeymoon, burn them off to CD and upload them soon.

We're into Day 2/3 (depending on how you look at it) of our honeymoon in the Columbia Valley near Invermere, BC. It's been hot and smokey the last few days, and it doesn't look like much of that will change in the coming days. But it's been a wonderful few days so far and looking ahead to another week-and-a-half of being out here is beyond my comprehension. I've never spent more than 3-4 days out here consecutively, so to essentially be living out here on our own, virtually disconnected from the outside world, without anyone else around, is a new, but exciting concept for both of us.

We have really enjoyed our time here so far- we've done daytrips into Invermere, went out last night for dinner to celebrate the 9th Anniversary of my Mom's passing, and have slept (not like that) better than we have for the last several months. Silence here is deafening- no sirens, no city din echoing in your ears. The days are hot, and the nights are cool. Last night's full moon was a spectacle. It was so bright that I could see around me with great ease from the moonlight alone- I have pictures to prove.

The wedding itself was a phenominal success- I think everyone had a great time, I know we did. We would not have changed a single thing. I'm inviting anyone who attended who took pictures to burn them to a disc for me so I can collect as many as I can. I will hopefully begin posting my pictures to my Flickr account in the coming days- but since my only connection is an Internet Cafe near Fairmont Hot Springs, it will be spotty and periodic until I get back home.

If I can get Solo to stop adding my phone number to all my outgoing text messages, then I might moblog more. But so far so good- looking for a day at the pool and Hot Springs in Fairmont, a trip into Kimberley and Cranbrook, and an evening at a local pub yet in the coming days. Oh- and golf. If my brother and his 'misses' comes out, then I think we'll end up kicking it up another notch. Here's hopin' ;)