Encana

Last night was my last night working for Encana. It's kind of a bitter-sweet ending to my illustrious career there because money may be tight for the next while, but it will also be nice to be able to focus more on school and to somewhat have a life again.

The event passed with little fanfare but on Thursday, one of the guys on the dayshift, who is a baker, made an amazing cake for me and for Lana, who is also leaving. Last night, Lana and I and my friend Emmanuel, who also works there, went out for dinner to sort of say our goodbyes. The three of us had a lot of fun working together and I think Emmanuel is some choked about us leaving him. He and I have been good friends since before high school and it's been great to be able to hang out almost every night, make nonsense jokes, talk about old times, and come up with projects we want to colaborate on in the future.

I worked for Encana for about three years I think, and while it wasn't always the most exciting or fulfilling job, I am very greatful to them for employing me. They have been very flexible with my school schedule and working there has helped Tammy and I be able to buy our home, stay out of debt, and pay for tuition. Hopefully we can hold out for the rest of the semester and until I can start working a summer job....or until we can win some money.

Julie and Phillipa

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go into Carstairs to watch a basketball tournament and meet up with two of my close high school friends, Julie and Phillipa. The three of us planned our 10-year high school reunion late last year, so we've definitely been keeping in touch more often since then. It's been great. Both of them are married and they each have a child - Julie's boy, Hunter, will be 2 years old in May and Phillipa's girl, Amalie, will be 1 year old at the end of April. Julie's expecting again, her baby's due the middle of March. Julie, Phillipa and I - along with our other good friend, Corrie, were quite the bunch back in school; always having a great time together, and always laughing. Ahhh....those were the days.....Now I've got Mike to keep me chuckling, whether he does it on purpose or not.

Big News

It's almost old news now but when Tammy and I announced to her family that we were having a baby we managed to get a picture of all their reactions. It was an idea we stole from Heather and Tyler when they told our family a few weeks before that they were expecting. Tammy's family has a tradition of taking a picture of everyone whenever the whole family gets together. I volunteered to take a picture of all the Olsens (of course having a crafty plan in mind all along). I told them to all say "cheese" and took a picture (the before shot) and then as I was taking the second picture (the after shot) I told them all to say "Tammy's Pregnant". At first they all laughed thinking it was just another one of my classic jokes, but when they looked at Tammy and realized that it was true, they exploded, and I snapped a picture to capture the moment. Thanks Heather and Tyler for the idea, it worked perfectly.

Happy Birthday Kelly

Last Monday (Feb 7th) was my sister Kelly's 19th birthday. I don't think the family ended up getting together to do anything for it, but she did get the chance to go spend the weekend in Edmonton with some friends. Kelly lives in Calgary now with one of my other sisters (Jodie) just down the street from us. She has some pretty big shoes to fill coming up soon as she will be taking over my job at Simo when I go on maternity leave in May. It's been a lot fun training her on the job over the past few weeks and it makes the days go by faster too. Despite what the rest of the family says, I think she's alright.

Two Weeks Notice

I was given my two weeks notice last night at work. I guess with how busy they are getting they need to hire some full-time night staff, so those of us who can only work part-time are no longer needed. It's kind of bad timing but I'm sure everything will work out. I'll probably write more on this in two weeks.

Churchill

Tammy and I just got back from watching her uncle Tom's grandson play in a basketball tournament at Sir Winston Churchill High School. He plays for the Cardston Cougars and they were here to play against the Churchill Bulldogs. Churchill ended up winning 83 to 71 but it was a close game throughout. It was a lot of fun to watch but the best part was being back at my old high school again. I think this was the first time I had been back since I graduated in 1996. Some of it has changed but a lot of it is exactly the same as it was almost 10 years ago. Churchill has some significance for Tammy as well because she worked there as a janitor while she was going to college. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) she didn't start there until the year after I had graduated. That would have been some kind of weird if we had met there; the old classic tale of a student falling in love with the janitor. We walked around for a bit after the game, took some pictures, and relived some memories. We saw the picture they have up of my graduating class and as I looked at all the faces and names I realized how many people I still hang around with that I became friends with (or became better friends with) in high school. In fact, almost everyone that I was pals with back then I still keep in touch with on some level. Excluding class time of course, I would say that those three years were some of the funnest years of my life. Next year will be my 10 year reunion so I'm hoping something will be organized to get the gang back together again.