So the last few weeks have been a bunch of fun which has been lovely. My birthday was in late april and I became an old man. On the day Amber took me out to the Olive Garden where we had some great Italian and some nice Californian wine. Amber also showered me with gifts and tomorrow she is taking me to go skiing which I'm looking forward to. A few days after we had some drinks at the pub with friends. Amber, Steph and Tony suprised me with an amazing cake shaped like a footy oval which was possibly the best cake I have ever had! Good times.

The next week I went for a hike in the mountains with Tony and some friends from work. The mountain was called Mount Baldy and is near Nakiska ski resort. It took us 2 hours to climb to the peak from the road, a 800meter vertical ascent to a 2700m peak. It was really tiring, especially walking through snow up to our knees at some points, but it was definitely worth it. The view was amazing.

And finally, today I bought a car! :D A Mazda Protege 5 ES. Its a 2003 and has done 105000km. It's in really good condition, and has leather seats and a sunroof. I looked at it tuesday, had an inspection and bought it today. Couldn't be happier! Checkout pictures on my picasa web album, linked below.

much <3
mark

So a lot has been going on. First off, my cousin Simon and his mate Craig came to visit me on the last stop of their trip around America which was fun. They were here in early March. They did a bit of touring around, and I did my best to show them Canada Olympic Park, a hockey game and curling!

Not long after that I was in a 5 pin bowling competition at work with workmates. 5-Pin is a canadian game and is fairly different from 10pin that we are used to. Not only is the number of pins different, but the ball is a lot smaller and doesn't have finger holes in it. Anyway, my team won! we were pretty happy, and not at all humble about it :P I recently found out that Bakers Delight has a franchise here called Cobs Bread. So I was pretty pumped to find that, and have been eating a lot of Aussie bread lately.

Last weekend was a busy one too. I went to a concert to see a band from Newfoundland, Canada which was a bunch of fun. And the next day Amber and Myself along with friends Jennelle, Mark, Alison and her kids went to Banff for the afternoon for a picnic and to hang out before Jennelle goes away on holiday. Spring looks like it is finally here, and it has been up to 14c lately, which is a lovely change.

I have started a Picasa Web Album, which is a good way to share pictures with you all, rather than linking them to you manually. Just click the picture folders below, and you will be taken to my site where you can view a bunch of pics :)

Also, if you are tech savvy and know what an RSS feed is, you can add my blog to your favourite RSS reader through the link below. If you dont know what im talking about, either ask me, or forget about it :)

http://marksaway.livejournal.com/data/rss

Curling with Simon & Craig

Is Spring here yet?

I know it's been about 6 weeks now, but I have an exucse, my computer was out of action for a while. At least thats what I'm going with!

Anyway, Its been a busy month or so, and it's likely to continue! In mid Jan, Brendan Noolan was in town on his way back to Adelaide, so it was a good chance to catch up with him and enjoy a Hockey game at the same time! Sadly the Calgary Flames lost, but we still had a good time. I wore my Crows geurnsey since I didnt have a Flames one, and even got a cheer from a random person in the crowd :)

A week or so later, Adam Lohmeyer and his brother + sister in law came to visit me. His brother+wife were visiting Adam on Fernie (about 4 hours from here), so they flew into Calgary, stayed a few days and then went on their way. So it was nice having some visitors to show around. We did a few things in the city, went to Canada Olympic Park, went for a swim at my work, up to Banff Lake Louise and the Banff Hot Springs! All in two days! They had fun though, and I was happy to play tour guide. Up at Lake Louise there was an ice sculpture competition that attracted many international sculptors and was pretty impressive! Unfortunetly the photos didnt really turn out as it was a very dull day. But I was happy to get out and have a skate on the frozen lake, even if it was about -25c!

I had a good Australia Day too. Tony and his Girlfriend organised a little thing at their place. Steph made lamingtons, pies, pavlova and fairy bread! It was great. After that Amber and I went to go and see a band we like called Anberlin play as part of my christmas present. They always put on a great show.

Two weekends ago, Tony and I went on a ski trip with a group from work for the weekend which was fun as well. We went to Panorama, which is about 3.5hours from Calgary. The snow wasnt amazing, but the weather and views made up for it. It was my first time up on the slopes this season, but I got back into the swing of it really quickly.

Finally, this weekend just gone by, Amber's Dad got re-married to his fiance, Yvonne. Ive only met them a handful of times, but they are both lovely people, and it was a very relaxed and simple wedding. Amber was a bridesmaid and looked smashing, so be sure to checkout the pics. They had a french inspired wedding, with a guy doing charictures, and lots of cheese and wine and such.
The second to last picture is of Amber's extended family. From right to left is, Amber, sister Robin, sister Candice, dad Paul, step-mum Yvonne, step sister-Brianna, step-brother Mike, step-brother Andy. They're all very friendly and don't mind me somehow, so thats definitely a good thing :P

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics, I'll try and make the next update sooner rather than later!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!

A fair bit has been going on as is expected. First off Amber and I went on a road trip to Seattle, the Washington Coast, Astoria and Portland. Seattle was good but we were only there a night, the coast was amazing and we stayed there for 3 days. Astoria was cool, and we got to see the school where Kindergarten Cop was filmed and I had a great crab for tea one night. Portland was great too except it snowed a whole bunch and it was a chore getting around, but we saw the Australia film there one night which was rad and went to the famous Powells Bookstore. We made it back safely and I got issued a new work Permit for another 2 years which was a headache at the border but it got done which was great.

Christmas was fun too. I spent it with Amber and her family. I got given some great pressies and way too many chocolates! Amber made me breakfast which was amazing, then we saw Amber's mum and sisters for afternoon tea and her Dad and his Fiance for a great Turkey dinner. We had a white christmas here which was a treat, about 30cms or more.

New Years was fun too. First off I went to Tony's place for an hour or so and shared a few beers then over to Amber and Jennelle's for a wine and cheese night and a few games with friends which was fun.

I'm looking forward to going skiing in a couple of weeks as well as a few hockey games as well as catching up with Bob from adelaide and hopefully buying a car in a few months!

I hope you all had a great Chrissy and good start to the new year

Pictures:
- View from our hotel in Long Beach, Washington
- Sunset on Long Beach
- A state park near Astoria
- Crab, Astoria
- The school from Kindergarten Cop, Astoria
- New Work Permit
- A white Christmas Day
- Christmas with Amber and her Dad, Paul

Hi guys,
This will have to be a short entry as I leave for the USA tomorrow!

Things have been good but busy. My boss was away for a few weeks so I was in charge of the department. One guy got fired and I had to deal with a few staff issues but that was all.

Amber has been super busy with school as she finishes Semester 1 of year 2 tomorrow. Last weekend I went to Banff with Tony and his girlfriend (Steph) which was fun. It snowed 15cms that day though so the roads were terrible. We had to stop on the highway for 20mins or so because of a broken down truck ahead. So Tony and I took the opportunity to have a snowball fight in the middle of the highway. We went to the Banff hot springs, out for dinner and to the Banff Springs Hotel.

Christmas is coming, we have our Christmas tree up and I got a package from mum so thats very exciting :D

Tomorrow Amber and I are going on a road trip down to Seattle, Long Beach (Washington), Astoria and Portland Oregon. Should be a ton of fun. We get back Christmas eve.

hope you are all gearing up for the season!

Pictures below are:
- Snowball fight
- Waiting for the road to clear
- In Banff
- Banff Hot Springs
- Tony and Steph by night
- Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
- Banff main road
- My house after fresh snow

So Halloween has come and gone, and it was a fairly good time. Unfortunetly I only got to carve one pumpkin, Amber and I had plans to do one together, but they sold out! Such is the demand for pumpkins at this crazy time of year. We did go to a Halloween party though which was my first time doing that. I dressed up as a Pirate and Amber dressed up in 80's garb. Good times. The other people there dressed up as Zombie's and Characters from books.

I had a pretty busy weekend. Friday we hung out with some friends of ours from the net in a small town about 45mins from Calgary. Saturday I had to do shopping and buy shoes for the wedding and then Amber and I went to see a band called Hey Rosetta! with friends of ours Mark and Alison. It was a good night. Sunday we went to the wedding of Amber's friend Shireen which was cool. It was an Indian wedding which was different, but good food and times were had.

Weather is still fluctuating between warm maximums (14c) and cold ones (4c). Winter is on its way. Boo. Also, checkout how much I paid for petrol the other day! :O

Well thanksgiving has just come and gone which was good. Amber's Dad invited her and I over for dinner with the family, but unfortunately I had to go to work to train a new employee so I couldn't. So instead Amby and I went shopping for a turkey at Superstore the next day, and whilst we were there I found Tim-Tams! I was obviously excited and bought 5 packets. Eventually found a "small" turkey at 4kg and cooked it up. Wasn't too hard really. Amber made a apple pie from scratch as well which was amazing. A good meal and day for sure.

A few weeks ago the Canadian Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) was in Calgary and came to my work to do a press conference. He spoke about the environment and some business stuff which was boring, but having him there was exciting.

Halloween is coming up, so this past Sunday night I hung out with Tony to carve some pumpkins and eat lollies which was fun. Sat night I saw a good Canadian film called Passchendaele which was about canadians fighting in World War One. It was filmed in Calgary and was very realistic.

Work is going fine and things are good with Amber although she is really busy with Mid-term exams this week. I hope you're enjoying the warm weather back home, it snowed for the first time this week! :( Winter is lose.

So autumn has been lovely. Lately it has been around 24c so amber and I have been doing our best to make use of the warmth whilst we have it. A few weeks ago we went to Heritage Park here in Calgary, which is a historical town themed like the turn of the century. We had lunch there, looked at a few of the villages and houses, a short train ride and went on the ferris wheel (which broke down!) It was a quite interesting day. After that we had dinner with Amber’s dad which was nice and not at all threatening :-P

The next day we went out with some friends for a lunchtime breakfast at a diner in town, and then we went and watched a cricket match for a few hours at Riley park near my old house. It took a while to explain the game to Amber, but I was more impressed that she actually put up with it! We lay on the grass and soaked up some sun. I even got a light tan!

Last weekend we went shopping to buy some bed sheets and a quilt cover for me which was frustrating but fruitful. Then we went to go and see my old housemate Chad play a show on guitar at a local coffee shop which was relaxing and good to see him and other friends. Then on Sunday Amber and I decided to go and have a picnic at Bowness park on the outskirts of the city. It was only about 17c, but it was warm enough to have a nap in the sun and walk along the river.

Work has been busy and stressful, but life goes on. And we have a new roommate at my place which is great news.

The first three pictures are of my house from across the road, looking out of the front door and down the road. The next one is of me driving Amber's car :D

Sorry it's taken so long for me to update this thing, 15 weeks according to livejournal.

So whats been going on you may say? Well after leaving Adelaide on Wed 13th, I caught up with Chris in Sydney and went out for dinner with him and Sarah which was good, then we watched a movie at their place. Chris dropped me off at the airport the next morning at about 11am, only to find out that my flight was cancelled because of mechanical reasons. AirPacific put everyone on the flight up in a hotel across the road from the airport and Chris and Sarah met me at the hotel for a drink that night. The next morning there was a fire alarm and so our chartered flight was delayed yet again as we all were locked out of the hotel until the fire department figured out the source of some smoke and let us back in. We finally flew out at 3pm on friday.

I arrived in Fiji at about 8pm, it was really warm and humid there, a big change from Sydney. I then got a bus to my resort about 2.5hours away and didnt get in until after midnight. The next day it was so sunny and warm it was beautiful. I walked around most of the day, exploring the beach and enjoying the sun. I also cracked open a coconut and drank the milk. I sat in a hammock and read a book and watched the sunset, it was an amazing moment. The next day, Sunday, I went for a paddle in the bay and saw some tropical fish and coral, then I went to a secluded beach and drunk a beer. It rained that afternoon, a really heavy but warm tropical rain. Then at 5pm I caught the long bus ride back to the Nadi Airport and sat around for a few hours and waited for my flight. Another 5 or 6 hour flight to Honululu and then another 5 hours to Vancouver.

When I got there I had to go through Immigration, and I was a bit nervous when the guy there didnt understand my passport and previous entries into Canada, but it was fine. My flight into Calgary was delayed because there was a thunderstorm here, so I got in at about 1am instead of midnight. But it was amazing to see Amber at the airport, we were both extremely happy. Amber drove me here to my new house and we talked and caught up for hours. My sleeping patterns were obviously out, so I got to sleep at about 5am and slept until 5pm the following day. For the next few days I basically relaxed and then got a few things organised like a bank account and dropped into work to pick up my mobile phone and things like that.

Then on friday August 22nd Amber and I headed up to Canmore, which is about an hour from Calgary to stay for the weekend. We stayed at a nice Hotel in Canmore with a kitchen in the room and made dinner and had a bottle of Lindeman's. The next day we went for a walk in the mountains which was lovely and warm and sat by a stream and talked for a while. That night we had a BBQ on the patio of our room and sat outside in front of the three sisters which was great too (except for the wasp that kept annoying us!). The next day we wandered around Canmore, did a little shopping and had an icecream and came home. A great weekend away just catching up.

Last week (August 25th), I went back to work which was both exciting and annoying at the same time :P My boss was quite excited to have me back, he basically spent half of the morning telling me what has been going on in the last 4 months and then left me in charge. So it was good to know that he still trusted me! I have got back into the swing of things well, working a standard 40 hour week which is a good change. I am doing a lot more Admin stuff than I was before. More paperwork and organisation and stuff which is welcomed. The increased pay is also good too :P

Then last friday Aug 29th, Amber, myself and Amber's good friend Jennelle went camping to a place called Wasa lake, which is in British Columbia, about 4 hours west of Calgary. We left around tea time, but it rained really heavily in the mountains, so we stayed in Jennelle's parents cabin for the night which is on the way, and drove the last 45mins to the camping ground the next morning. It was a long weekend, but there wasn't a lot of people around because of the average weather, but we had a great time regardless. It rained a little, then was sunny again. We played a few games like scrabble and Wizard and did the camping things like making a fire and what not. On the monday it was a lovely warm day and we had lunch in Fairmont and then drove home and I started work again on tuesday.

Work that week was pretty normal, and on friday night I caught up with a few mates for a drink or two which was good. Saturday I went to Ikea to exchange a table I bought and that was about it. Sunday I went to church and then had to drop into work for a few hours because we had a big event on. Watched a movie that night with Amber and my housemate Jen. This week has been fine, doing a lot of admin'y stuff at work and such. Having a few meetings, placing orders for the department and met with the General Manager of the club to give him some statistics about our department.

Life is pretty good here, back into the swing of things. I'm really happy to be around Amber again, but I miss you all a lot. It didnt really hit me until this week. Photos of Fiji, Amber and I in the mountains and my new house are below.

love, M

So I have been in New Zealand for the last few days which has been nice. I got here very early friday morning. For the first few days I stayed with my friend Karen in a small town called Snells Beach where I mostly relaxed, but saw some of the countryside and met with some of her friends as well. It's very green here! For the next few days I have been in Auckland, where I wandered around a bit, did a tour around the bay on a ferry and went skydiving today, it was pretty amazing. But I will let the video speak for itself.

I leave for Sydney today! See you all in a week or so.

So my last few days in Canada I spent in Vancouver with Amber which was awesome. We arrived on Sat the 10th in the evening and left in the arvo of Wed 14th. For the most part we walked around Vancouver enjoying the sunshine and warth on sunday as well as the seaside and docks and gastown. On Monday we went to the science museum in the morning which was very hands on and lots of fun. They also had an exhibit on Australia which of course I knew everything about :P On Tuesday we had a big day and went to Victoria on Vancouver Island via the ferry. Its a nice little town also by the beach, where we went to parliment building an aquarium and had lunch on the water.

Wednesday I left for Auckland and Amber went back to Calgary which was very tough. Good times were had though :)

Hey all, had a great time in Montreal which was helped by good weather and good company. Saw numerous things including the Olympic Park from 1976, old montreal at dusk, the biosphere from Expo '67, Montreal from across the river and the Grand Prix track. I also ate some famous Montreal smoked meat.

Arrived back in Calgary with only 2 days here then I go to Vancouver.

So I am in Quebec City, the oldest city in Canada, it was founded in 1608 by the french. So its quite european and about 490,000 people live here, but it feels much smaller. The first few days I was here it rained a fair bit which was a real shame, but I still got out and about to see the fort that the French started to build, and then the British improved to defend themselves from the Americans. Mostly poked around, went to some markets, some chocolate shops, across the river and some of the artwork and some museums etc. Quite an interesting history. Had a few instances with people who didnt speak english, but I survived :)

Off to Montreal tomorrow where I wont have internet, so I will talk to you either from calgary or Vancouver next.

xo

So Ottawa was a nice city. I was only there for 2.5 days but i enjoyed myself there. First day I didnt do much but got my bearings and went out to the pub with some people from the Hostel which was fun. Next day I did a tour of the parliment building which was very old skool inside and impressive. Also got to go to the top of the tower in the middle which had a good view. Went to the Mint which was cool but they only make special coins there now, not the normal ones for circulation. Then went to a nature museum and walked along the Rideau Canal. Next day I spent the entire day at the War Museum which was really interesting. Today I'm in Quebec City, spent most of the day getting here on the train. Looks like a nice city but I've barely been outside because its raining!

Oh yes, and I finally got to have milk in a bag again, i was very excited :D (first pic)

hope your all well,
missing you lots
mark

Hi all,
So I am now in Ottawa, the capital of Canada after just arriving from Toronto. Toronto is a nice place, but I was only there for 2.5 days and that felt like enough for me. It's a large city of 2.5mill people in the downtown core, with a surrounding area of over 4 million total. The most notable things in Toronto are the C.N tower, which is over 500meters tall and the Hockey Hall of fame. The view from the CN tower was quite impressive, especially with the glass floor, and the hockey fall of fame was interesting even if I couldnt fully appreciate all of it. I got to see the Stanely Cup (the hockey version of the grand final cup). Then yesterday I caught up with some family friends who live not far from the Niagara Falls. So went to see that again (the last time was in 2006) and the surrounding attractions, including the barrels that people went over the falls in and the wine region. Got the train to Ottawa today, and am now in the youth hostel here that is an old converted prison :)

Having a good time so far, but am mostly looking forward to Montreal and Quebec City.

Am also looking forward to being back in Australia!

Take care,
Marky Mark

So I've been doing my best to get around to doing those last few Canadian things before I go. A few weeks ago I went to a Lacrosse game which was pretty sweet. Its similar to IceHockey in that its played on the same field even, they simply cover the ice with astro-turf. The scores are a lot higher though, the game I saw the Calgary Roughnecks won 15-12. Then a few days later Amber and I made a Pavlova which was pretty good and a bit of fun :)

Then on friday night Tony, Amber, Myself and two of tony's friends went to a Calgary Hitmen game, which is one divison below the NHL. The Hitmen lost to the Moose Jaw Warriors (yes, there is a town called Moose Jaw), but it was still a good night out. Last of all I've posted a pic I took in early February to prove that it does get rather cold here in Calgary. This day it got down to -30c before windchill, and -48c with windchill. And believe me, that wind makes a HUGE difference.

Oh yes, and I booked my final flight back home, I will arrive in Adelaide on May 27th. If you want to come and abuse me as soon as I step off the plane, give me a yell and I will give you the flight details. Thats all for now. Hope you're all enjoying the Footy Season.

<3

So last week I went skiing with Tony and our friend Lunsie (Andrew) which was great fun. It was good to pack the snowboard away and get back out there on the skiis. Had a rad day, was very tired at the end, and I managed to do the hardest black run I have ever done. Being full of moguls and trees I was dripping sweat by the end of it! But satisfying none the less :) It was a lovely sunny day and about 0c, so it was a perfect day for skiing.

I made a video going down an easy blue run, the image is very washed out unfortunately, but you get the idea. Enjoy :)

So the last few weeks have been fairly busy as I'm doing my best to get the most amount of things possible done before I leave. A number of weeks ago after church one Sunday arvo a bunch of us went out to lunch, and then ended up at Jennelle's place and played a game called Rock Band the entire day, which was heaps of fun. If you dont know what RockBand is, its similar to Guitar Hero. You have 2 Guitars, Drums and a Microphone that are connected to a video game console, and you play the instruments as the tv tells you which 'notes' to play. Its awesome. I don't think it's out in Australia yet.

Then a few of us went sledding next to our friend Brandon's place. It was only a small hill, but constantly walking up and down the hill makes you tired very quickly. There was even jumps there that some kids had made, so we made good use of those :) Even if we were a little worse for wear after! Brandon also has a snake named Mephibosheth who is fun to play with! The 20 year celebration of the 1988 Winter Olympics was last week, so they had a big thing at Canada Olympic Park with Eddie the Eagle and one of the Jamacian bobsledders :) COOOL RUNNINGS!

Last of all it was Jennelle's birthday last week, so a bunch of us went out for Pizza at a place not far from here. Pictured next to me is Jen, and in the group photo, Jen, Amber, Jennelle (the Birthday Girl) and Alison. In the RockBand pictures are Michelle, Jen, Me, Trevor and Will.

Going skiing tomorrow which I'm stoked about, photos hopefully to follow. Enjoy the heat people! I miss it like the desert misses the rain (pun intended).

Gday Folks! Sorry it's been so long since Christmas/New Years since I've made a post, things have been crazy busy around here! First off Christmas was great. I was taken in by the Enns family which was wonderful. They had me over for two meals, let me participate in their family gift exchange and I was even given a stocking with Calgary Flames gear in it :D So I was very thankful to them. I even played a bit of indoor hockey after Christmas Dinner :)

On the 27th I went with Luke to go snowboarding at Mt Norquay and stayed in Banff for the night at the Hostel there. Ive only been boarding 3 times now, but I had a bunch of fun and was doing mostly blue runs. I got 30 runs in which was a full on day! There is a video below of me boarding at the end of the day.

New Years was rad, I went with friends to an Ugly Sweater party which was lots of fun. No pics of that yet sadly.

I also went on a short roadtrip to Jasper and Edmonton with Shawnti and stayed in the Jasper Hostel surrounded by the mountains which was awesome. Didn't do much there, just looked around the town and then went to Medicine Lake which is 7kms long but completely drains every autumn! Saw some Elk and mountain goats also.

Going snowboarding in 2 days which should be great, Tony came back from Australia yesterday and hung out yesterday with friends after church and played RockBand all day which was a ton of fun :) I spoke to some friends back home the other night who were at Tony's going away party, and they said I have a slight Canadian tinge to my accent! I'm mortified! I better come home soon so that I don't become a complete Canuck!

I'm looking forward to coming home, but it will be sad to leave at the same time. Such is life.
Blessings,

So it's that time of year folks. It's been cold and snowing here, quite regularily its been about -18c for a week at a time. But i've been doing my best to get out and about and enjoy what winter has to offer. Notably this means Ice-Skating since I picked up a pair of skates a few weeks ago. I went skating in downtown Calgary (see video) as well as playing a game of hockey with friends Dave at GP at a public rink with 20 or so random people. I fell down a lot, but I got a few touches of the puck so I was happy :) I shovelled snow from our front yard for the first time this season and went up to Bragg Creek in the mountains with Shawnti. Unfortunately I haven't been skiing yet :(

Work has been busy with Christmas just around the corner and I'm excited to say that I have booked my flights back home to Australia :D Currently I have only got flights from Vancouver to Sydney, but I will be back in the country in late may. I'll be going to New Zealand for a few days to see a friend and then a wedding on the central coast on the 24th of may. It'll be sad to leave Canada, but I've had a great time here and I believe it's about time for me to move on.

<3 mark

This last month has been really busy which has been great. My brother's friend Letecia (Teesh) Arrived in Mid-October so it was great having a fresh (and much more pretty!) face around the house. Not to mention another Aussie accent! So it was good to show her around and be a tourist again.

The first and possibly most exciting thing that we did was that a few of us went on the zombie walk in downtown Calgary. Basically a few hundred people dress up as zombie's and walk around town for the fun of it. Was the most fun I've had in ages :) Teesh and I went to a Calgary Hitmen hockey game which was good, and then a few of us went to stay at our friend Kevin's house which is about 45mins out of Calgary, so it was great being out in the country with a view of the Mountains in a nice quiet area. We also ate Deer for the first time, it was a good experience but the meat wasn't anything spectacular. Teesh went to Edmonton and Banff for a few days whilst I was at work, and my boss was quite good at letting me go early to go out with Teesh and friends for dinner and drinks on numerous occasions.

Halloween was on Oct 31st as you may know, so I got into the spirit by carving 3 pumpkins! I made a map of Australia, a Grim Reaper and a Pumpkin throwing his guts up. I decorated the house a little bit with fake spiderwebs, and bought $20 worth of candy for the kids, but only had 5 come! Oh well, there was plenty left for us to eat :) It's been snowing on and off once a week lately, but it only lasts around 2 or 3 days before it melts. Teesh, Tony and I had hoped to go skiing/snowboarding last week, but due to lack of snow the resorts pushed back their opening dates sadly. But we did manage to go ice-skating the other night, on the track that they held the 1988 winter Olympics at so that was fun. I hadn't ice-skated in about 10 years, but I got the feel of it pretty quick.

I've been quite busy at work hiring and firing people, got nominated for Employee of the Month again (but didn't win) and my boss tells me that I will be acting Dept Manager whilst he is away for 2 weeks in December, so that's great. We have a new housemate moving in soon, so that'll drop the rent a bit, but I should clean up the house.

I hope you are all enjoying the heat, whilst I am shopping for a new winter jacket!
Love, Marky Mark

hey folks,
a bit has been going on in the last few weeks so thats good.

First thing is that Autumn (fall) has come and pretty much gone already. It barely lasted a month! The cool thing is though that heaps of the trees here are deciduous so there is lots of colour around the place. The weather has been getting colder too, and ive had to start wearing a jacket in the morning. It snowed once a few weeks ago, but it was only a tiny bit and it melted before it even touched the ground.

Thanksgiving was on monday which was great. Tony and I were lucky enough to be taken in by the Chapman family again (they had us for christmas) so it was great to have some good food and company over the weekend. On Monday I went rockclimbing in the mountains with the same friend that took me last year which was great. Did some fairly hard climbs, and it snowed whilst we were climbing. Needless to say our hands were cold! but it was well worth it.

Besides that not much else has been going on. Went to a Gridiron game a number of weeks ago now, as well as another one today. Both on nice days to be outside which is good. Halloween is coming up in a few weeks, and although I would never celebrate it in Australia, its a bit of fun to carve out pumpkins and whatnot.

Work is going ok. I was the chair of the department heads meeting at work, and part of that is to come up with a game or something interactive to have at the end. So I did an Australian general knowledge quiz which was a bit of fun, and the staff all seemed to enjoy it. I even managed to get some of them to try vegemite!

Oh yeah, and I was also named Employee of the Month at work which was really awesome to know that members think I am doing a good job :) I got my photo on the wall and a $100 gift certificate at the mall.

Thats all for now, I hope you all are well, keep in touch and thanks for reading
Love, Mark

No news so far people, just some pictures form last weekend including before, during and after painting the living room.
Enjoy

I figured It's been a month since my last post, but sadly nothing new or exciting has really happened. The last month has been pretty normal in regards to work, sleep and hanging out. I painted the living room which has taken up a fair bit of time. Sadly doing the vast majority of the work by myself means that it is taking a lot longer than I expected. I scored a mountain bike for free from work the other week which has been handy getting to the shops and what not. It was in lost and found and was then thrown out so I picked it up.

A couple of weeks ago a few of the young adults went out to a lake about half an hour from the city to enjoy the sun and get out and about. One of the girls' parents had a speed boat which we were going to use but sadly there was a problem with the fuel line so we just sat in the sun, read and chatted after having lunch and snacks which was nice.

Work has been normal, its starting to get a bit more busy which is good. There have been a few challange's with staff, and I had to fire one of mine a few weeks ago for not showing up for a few shifts. Which means that I can never leave work early which sucks, but it was good to be able to exercise that power :) My department is having a lot of trouble hiring staff. I am constantly calling up people that submit resume's, and having them not reply or after an interview not being interested. I hired one guy for the night shift, he only worked one shift and then quit. So that was very annoying.

Today Tony has organised to have a Aussie themed BBQ with a bunch of people which should be good. He's made rissoles, salads, chops and even a Pavlova! Can't wait! I've been watching a few of the AFL matches lately thanks to the internet, and it was great to see the Crows get up against Port in the Showdown, even if our finals hopes are pretty much shot.

My brother Phil has a friend coming through Calgary soon who is staying with us, so it should be good to get out and be a tourist/guide again. And hopefully I'll be going up to the mountains for the day on Monday.

Hope you all are well.
Mark

The good news comes first, and that is that on the weekend I was granted a new work permit that will allow me to stay in Canada for another 2 years! (picture 1) I've been waiting on news for this for a few months now, so it was certainly a relief to have it come through. Once the Labor Market Opinion was granted I had to go to the border to get my permit issued, so on Friday Shawnti and I drove to montana and got it on Saturday morning after a bit a of problem with the Immigration office closing early. I don't know if I will stay for the whole two years or not, but its a great opportunity and I'm very thankful to God for coming through on his promise to make it happen. To all of you back in Aust, I'm very sorry that I wont be home in the immediate future. I do miss you all.

A few weeks ago I went camping in the Kananaskis country of the Rocky Mountains with a bunch of people from church which was great (pictures 2-5). Canada Day was on the 1st of July with the usual celebrations, and the next day Shawnti and I went into the mountains for a swim in a glacier lake which was absolutely freezing, I stayed in for less than 10 seconds :P (picture 6)

The Calgary Stampede is on at the moment which is great fun. Everyone dresses up in western gear, there are lots of free breakfasts on as well as the Stampede celebrations in the city with a Rodeo, Grandstandshow, Chuckwagons and general Fair type things. On friday I went to the parade, then to the Show with Tony, his dad who is visiting for the week and Shawnti. I had a Bison burger there which was quite tasty, and dressed up for the occasion (pictures 7-10).

Hope you are all well. The weather is lovely here.