Journal of a Sysadmin

Oh, and we did skating this week

It was only for a short time, because we live in a Nordic country where it’s hellish cold (frozen tundra?) we could only stay out for 10 or 15 minutes before our noses and toeses started to hurt. But we did get a picture of it too.

Calm before the storm

We all knew it was coming. It was looming over the city this morning so thick and pungent I had to document it.

There was a storm brewing at 9:00am when I shot this:

I could feel the city starting to wake up, have their coffee, make their lists and check opening times. I could hear the engines of a hundred thousand cars warming up and the squeak of shoppers sliding onto leather and vinyl seats in heated garages from Copperfield to Tuscany.

It was Christmas Eve morning.

Be damned if I was going to be stuck in that mess so Jonah and I headed out to the chiropractor early, did the one exchange I had to do and pick up food for the one day of the year not everything can be purchased at the local store.

This Christmas Eve morning is slightly different for our family because there are so many storms looming on the horizon. We are in unknown waters and each day brings new perils which fray nerves and leave everyone unsteady and on unsure ground. Counting Crows only touched on how long a Long December can be, in the end everything I’m sure will be alright but our lives may be more or less rich because of it and this Fall will have touched us in so many ways.

So Jonah and I did our last bits and headed home. By the time we returned to the South West of Calgary our city of a million people was starting to bounce with Christmas spirit. Some guy actually stopped traffic in the middle lane to let us pull out of the local grocery store. Traffic of course was picking up, two light waits already by 10:30am on Richmond Road and I’m guessing by 12:30pm when Jaime left work tensions would have started to get high and people would be moving into aggressive “Get the fuck off the street and let me get home” mode.

So much for Christmas spirit.

Later today we are doing Chinese from our favourite local place and I’m hoping to watch some movies after we wrap presents tonight. Tomorrow will be home cooked dinner and maybe some surprise skating if it’s warm enough and not -30C.

We almost took too long trying to get to where we wanted to go but made it through before the traffic was too crazy.

Now we are going to wait for mommy to come home, hang out on the couch and watch Bob the Builder, Mighty Machines or Dog the Bounty Hunter. Just the way Christmas Eve should be spent.