Yay Freedom!

Well.....I did it! I am back in civilization....
Had bittersweet feelings as I packed up and left my northern experience behind. Although I was glad to be moving on to bigger and better things I was sad to say good-bye to certain of my fellow in-mates. Saying good-bye to Lonnie was especially difficult...but he seemed quite excited to move over to my side of the trailer and is probably sitting in the jacuzzi tub as I write this. I have already made plans to meet up with a few of the gang this summer and to visit the Slave Lake branch again.

The 9 hour drive down to Calgary was pretty uneventful until I hit fog, snow and bad roads about an hour north of the city. Its good to be hanging with Chris, Kerri and the girls. Emily is the youngest (turning 4) and she is full of energy. Kaitlyn is 7 and is my little pal. She went with Chris and I to look at potential homes...and was little Miss Home shopper. I had to follow her advice and choose the very first one out of all of the properties we saw. Aside from it being Kaitlyn's favorite...it is also near a good school and down the street from Korean markets and restaurants. Plus there are 4 Korean families living in the area and since the new ward we're moving into doesn't have any Korean members - that's something that the Bennett's will have to remedy.

I am so thankful that things are going so smoothly...I sometimes think to myself "I am so blessed" and "I don't deserve all of this". But I'm just trying my best and guess this is the reward I get.

Tickets are all bought and I leave this Wednesday arriving in Korea on Thursday. I will only be there for a week which time will be spent packing and having everything shipped here...then we will fly back on the 6th.
Once back I will be starting a new blog about our new adventures out here in the west.....should be some good reading there.

So thus ends my blog about life up in the oil patch. I have a great friend who was able to provide me with the chance to come to Alberta, which started all of this in motion. As I mentioned in a previous posting -there are definitely some new challenges and trials ahead but freedom usually comes at a price.

Thanks to everyone who visited, read and especially those who commented on my postings. I tried to make them funny, interesting and uplifting....hope you liked them....and hope you check out my new blog once it's up.

Also wanted to show some love to all of you who have kept me company via Facebook. The chats, messages and comments on my stati have really meant a lot. I was also able to make some new long distance friendships....I am so thankful for the miracle of technology.

Thanks everyone!

Yay Parole!!!

As I approach 100 straight days here in my frozen prison....I also approach the end of my sentence. I guess I shouldn't complain about being stuck in a place where every meal is a feast, there are hundreds of satellite channels and I get paid ridiculous amounts of money to do very little work -however, in many ways it is like a prison.
Pretty much confined either to my trailer or camp 27 (where we eat) and the monotony is almost getting to me...but on the bright side - I don't have to shower with the other inmates....PHEW!
Although we don't sleep together I do have a "cell mate" - Lonnie who you all should know by now.

Honestly I couldn't ask for a better trailer mate...and we both have come to the conclusion that we got along exceptionally well. You know in most prison movies there is that short guy that goes around and tries to please everybody because that's the only way he'll survive? Well that's Lonnie....but he tries to please everyone because he has a genuinely kind heart. So no complaints except for the piles of boots left all over our trailer entrance.

Lonnie is anxiously awating our parole so that he can go meet his new grandchildren and Ms.Greece. Just received an update from him that Ms. Greece hasn't emailed him back or texted him for the past 3 days...hopefully she will come to her senses...I guess people have their own good reasons for not returning messages and we can only respect their choices and try to understand.

I do occasionally get a day pass that allows me to drive to town and back...yippee! Last Sunday I had one such pass that turned into a nightmare. I had to make a 6 hour drive to pick up a part and noticed a strange noise coming from my front left wheel about half way through the trip. 5 minutes away from my destination (and a replacement vehicle) my tire exploded due to my wheel almost falling off.....so my 6 hour round trip turned into a 15 hour nightmare. The only good thing was that while passing through Slave Lake I was able to sneak into the branch and take sacrament.
　
Well it sure has been a Matthew chapter 24 kind of week throughout the world. One part of the world is on the verge of war and then of course there are the disasters that have plagued Japan.
Now that this phase of my "Master Plan to Rule the Universe" is coming to an end, I'm faced with the more difficult second phase- more stress, more challenges....and with an unknown future ahead of me...a little fear. But things were put into a better perspective for me as I thought about the people of Japan and all of their loss. All I can do is have faith and do my best. I don't like to think negative thoughts...but it occured to me that all of us have our days here on Earth numbered, so we have to make the most of it.

It's been fun blogging about life up here in the Canadian wilderness...I am actually going to miss it up here. But fear not, I'll have new and exciting adventures to blog about come April and most of it will be about cooking - more specifically the "Wok".

GET ON MY SHOVEL.....NOW!

OK first of all I'd like to say that today I am just feeling BLAH all over and don't really feel like blogging about anything....but I can't let my 2 blog followers down, so here it goes:

Had an even better Sunday than last week due to another awesome visit to the Slave Lake branch. I was privileged to witness a new brother get confirmed...his wife has been a long time member but isn't very active and I'm sure he will be the catalyst that will help them to get to the temple. I've only known him one week but when I congratulated him we hugged....OK maybe I AM a bit too lonely.

It's funny that sometimes we can feel connected to people that we hardly know....must have been buds in the pre-existence.

So I was on my way home when I received a long distance call and I thought "hmm that's OK it will make the trip seem shorter." But the conversation got a little deep and personal and required a certain degree of bluntness....so yeah it was uncomfortable because I really don't like hurting people's feelings....

It was during this call that I noticed something up ahead in the middle of the highway and as I got closer I noticed a furry little ball and saw two little eyes looking up at me as I ran over it. NO I didn't hit it....but it passed underneath between my truck's tires. After checking around for traffic I backed up to get a closer look, got out of my truck and met a cute little black animal. I approached it expecting that it would turn and run but it was either hurt or shocked or both. Not sure what it was but it was furry, long and black and sooooo cute but slightly dangerous looking because I noticed it had claws.

Because I am a big fan of Go Diego Go...I know that I have a responsibility to help all the baby animals but, alas, I didn't have my rescue pack with me...although I did sing out the tune. I had to think fast because I couldn't leave it sitting in the middle of the road...and then I remembered that I had a shovel in the back of my truck

As I approached with my rescue shovel the animal's body seemed to tense up a bit. I moved the shovel closer and it shifted its weight but still wouldn't or couldn't move. I then gently placed the shovel on the ground immediately in front of the critter and foolishly expected it to climb aboard....it didn't. A gentle nudge...no response. A harder nudge....nothing. A violent thought " I should just smack you with my shovel"....still nothing. Finally an angry shout " GET ON MY SHOVEL.....NOW! "....it began to raise a paw. After successfully scooping it up I gently placed it over the snow bank on the side of the road and watched it as it made it's way back to the tree line. It's movement was a little awkward and slow, so maybe it had been hit by another vehicle.
Was my little furry friend going to survive or would he end up an easy dinner for an owl or wolf?

That was the thought that came to mind as I got back into the truck and continued my super uncomfortable phone call.

YAY Sunday!!!

You know what???? I had an awesome day today.
 Finally after 10 weeks I was able to attend all 3 hours at the Slave Lake Alberta branch. It did take me almost 3 hours to get there, and I did have to pull over on the way home for a little power nap...but it was SO worth it. It was so good to partake of the sacrament, participate in Sunday school....and socialize with people who didn't include the use of the F word in every sentence. I really owe it all to Al who heads up the Slave Lake branch of our company, he had me deliver the time sheets to him in person and as a result I was just down the street from the branch building. And the really good news, I get to go every week from now on.....YIPPEE!

I have found myself caught in a sort of time warp the past few weeks....I have been in contact with friends who I haven't seen or heard from in a really long time. Amidst the reminiscing I came to realize that I haven't always appreciated some people in the way that they deserved... I can't go back and change things and that makes me sad!

OK...I am now ready to talk about the event that causes my recurring nightmare...( PG ADVISORY)

The trailer we live in is divided into two seperate living compartments located on opposite ends. Our living spaces consist of outer doors which open up into our offices and then we have our bedroom doors. A while back my trailer-mate Lonnie let me borrow a DVD which I said I would return later in the evening. He told me to just open up his outer door and place it on his desk. This is what happened:

There was an eery silence in the night air as I approached my trailer mate's front door. I knocked lightly....no answer.
A feeling of uneasiness came over me as I turned the door handle and gently pushed the door open. After my eyes adjusted to the lack of light in Lonnie's office, I placed the DVD on his desk, was about to turn and leave when something caught my eye. Peering deeper into the darkness, looking beyond Lonnie's open bedroom door, I tried to make out a mysterious pale shape. It only took a few seconds for me to realize what it was I was looking at but the image of Lonnie's naked body is burned forever in my mind.
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As I am typing this two thoughts come to mind.
First, I am so thankful that Lonnie was facing away from the door. And second, some doors are meant to remain shut.

That's all for this week....

BRRRRRRRR! and smiles!

OK, knowing that my fellow Canadians will think less of me, I am still gonna go ahead and say that it's COLD up here. I hear it was minus 40 with the wind chill factor and that was 3 hours south of here. But luckily for me things have been slow and I haven't had to be outside much.

I was super busy making people smile last week in so many ways. On several occasions I received calls asking me to take dinners out to remote locations to our drivers. It was kind of hit and miss with the meals, as the main chef is on days off, but the guys were generally appreciative. I was also helping some of the guys with parts and things. Plus after a bit of research and with the help of an old friend...hopefully I was able to put a smile on a new friend's face.

I am normally a very social person but sometimes find myself in a situation where I think: "I hope I don't have to sit with that person (or) I hope I don't have to talk with that person". You know...sometimes you just want your own space...a little private time and this past week I found myself thinking those thoughts a couple of times only to have it turn into a great experience. I had to drive a new guy around and wasn't thrilled at the prospect but we ended up having a really great conversation about family and ideology....I almost wished that it didn't have to end. Other times I go into situations with this negative hope for solitude and then it turns into a great missionary moment.....
So I've decided that my privacy is not as valuable as lending someone an ear or sharing a Gospel message....cause when you think about it......we are all here for each other....and I'm glad I'm here.

My trailer mate Lonnie has had an emotional week-end. He lost someone very dear to him AND he became a grandpa the next day. He's also getting very excited to meet Ms. Greece and their emails and calls are getting hotter and hotter....so hot that they have a PG rating and therefore cannot be described any further because as you know this is a G rated blog. BUT....next time I'll tell you a horror story about something I saw one night that still haunts me from time to time and barely squeaks in under the G rating.

Have a great week my friends!

YAY FRIENDS!!!

     It’s been a while since the last entry. Nothing much has changed up here in the wild north other than the moustache is gone. Some people said it made me look like a drug dealer and others said adult film star, so yeah…thought it might be a good idea to shave.

I have been learning a lot though, about people and myself. Like I’ve mentioned before the culture up here is very different than anything I’ve ever experienced and it is sometimes hard to prevent myself from being dragged down. Not that I am better than anyone up here, it’s just that a lot of the guys can be a little negative. So to be surrounded by that and also have my own problems, doubts, fears and uncertainty….it can be tough sometimes.

Recently one of my new friends who has gone through a period of trials began a new relationship. I was filled with so much gratitude and hope that I wrote a song. That was the first time in a long time (like more than 10 years) that I have written anything for/about anyone….and to top it off it came out as a country song…YIKES! At least my mom will be happy with that.

Still quite disappointed about the lack of wildlife I see as I drive out on the ice roads. I guess they all hide when they see me coming.

My best bud Chris, came up to inspect how this project is doing and we did some serious reminiscing…had a great two days together and can’t wait till I move to the city so I can hang with him and his AWESOME wife (wrote that in case she reads this..but she IS awesome).
Tune in next time for updates about Lonnie and his love-life (warning….could be some PG material in that post).

Yay.....moustache!

In an effort to increase my manliness I decided a few weeks ago to grow the stache. I wanted to grow a goatee but we can't grow beards (safety reasons). I don't have any photos to prove that I can grow a nice moustache, so you'll have to use your imagination. Just try to picture Tom Selleck, only much shorter and slightly less handsome ;)

Finding it really hard to fit in amongst the rough and tough men of the oil patch. As many of you know I'm terribly shy.....NOT....so I am chummy with a lot of the boys but I'm the only one who doesn't swear or smoke or tell dirty jokes. I've already alienated myself from one of the guys when I told him I didn't appreciate his kind of humor.

I did find one way that I could relate to the men up here.....eating. I really hate eating a lot...but I have to in order to prove my manhood. Nice excuse huh?

Been kind of warm this past week: -5' C or 23' F....and it snows everyday......
Not much else....will have some wildlife stories later this week-end...over and out!