Nothing you do will ever be this awesome

This photo is from earlier today at Drumheller Alberta

Nothing says romance like ZOMBIES!!

Rob and I just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on Monday, Dec 14. And long ago (I think around our 6th anniversary or so) we gave ourselves permission to do (or not do) anything we wanted to commemorate the date. That means we are not stuck to any expectations of anything. Rob brought home roses, which is actually not the norm (I like flowers on occasion, but really don't need or demand them). Brownie points for Rob anyway! This year we went out to "our" Boston Pizza for supper. It became ours while we were still living on 124th street. We used to walk down to have drinks on the patio in summer, or watch the Oilers play in the lounge over pizza and a beer during the winter. Then we could walk home along the older streets with Victorian remodeled homes, or along 124th, and peer in the closed shop windows, hand in hand. Yup, it was our place. So it seemed a natural choice for the evening. After a nice dinner, we roamed Candy Cane Lane (148th Street), and then the Royal Museum and the Legislature for the Christmas lights. Last we took in Zombieland. Oh yes, it was a fun ride, and seeing as it was Monday night at the cheap theatre at -32oC, we had the theatre almost to ourselves. A great evening.
Edmonton has now had the dubious honour of being the coldest place in North America, and the 2nd coldest in the world Sunday night.
"Edmonton was the coldest place in North America yesterday morning and the second chilliest in the world. The Edmonton International Airport saw a record low of -46.1 C and -58.4 C with the windchill, outfreezing even the Arctic. 'The cold high pressure has been moving down from the Arctic over the Prairies,' said Environment Canada meteorologist John McIntyre, adding British Columbia and Saskatchewan also experienced plummeting temperatures. 'We are right now in the centre of the heaviest, coldest air.' Only Dzalinda, Siberia, appeared to be colder, with a weather station there recording temperatures of -48 C. But the coldest day ever recorded in Edmonton remains unbeaten at -48.3 C with a windchill of -61 C on Jan. 26, 1972. http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/edmonton/2009/12/13/12141366.htm.
So nice of everybody to order up the strongest dose of winter possible to remind me why I will be laughing all the way back to Brisbane in January....

Home -ish

My flight took off the morning of Tues, Nov 24th. My flight landed about 10:30 p.m. Tues, Nov 24th. In between was 22 hours in the air, and about 8 hours in airports in Brisbane-Auckland-LA-Calgary-Edmonton (and crossing the international dateline, which made the takeoff-landing in the same day possible).
I am back in Edmonton, back with my soulmate, back with my friends who share significant chunks of history with me. It feels great to revive "In-jokes" with people who actually get it because they were there. Now the really odd part- I now miss my Aussie mates. Friends who may not have the length of time between us; rather we have been melded together in a crucible of intense experience. It is no doubt refreshing to have non-Med buddies with actual lives around, but I do miss the sheer bio-geek-fest that is medical school. And I miss my cat already. Stupid, expensive cat.
And I am tired. It's almost 1 a.m. as I am typing. I am WIDE AWAKE.....Nuts. My brain is s...l...o...w...l...y adjusting to Mountain Standard Time, and Rob is helping by not allowing sleeping in during the week. Most of the week has just been chilling at home with jaunts out to look at the new construction around the city, which is everywhere, and to work on my new computer's case mod (I will allow Rob to expound on that some other time, as he is better at telling that kind of stuff). So nice to just hang out with my honey.
There are some flavours you just can't duplicate outside of Canada. We went out for BP's pizza and Molson Canadian Beer Tuesday night (Carlton Draft in Aus comes close, but not quite). Tim Horton's was the first stop Wednesday morning, where 2 XL coffees warmed my insides. Gee, I missed my Timmy's. And Burger King on Saturday, for "Celebratory Whoppers". So I've had my quota for starch, fat, salt and sugar until next week now.
Rob (the introvert) obviously loves me a whole bunch, as he planned a party for me (the extrovert) on Sunday afternoon. About 25 people dropped by throughout the afternoon to welcome me back and enjoy some time hanging out at Barbra D's place (also introvert, and I am grateful for her willingness to host). Through the process, Rob has perfected the Pina Colada (with Bundaberg Rum, of course). Yum!
So we are ecstatically happy to be in the same place at the same time, as well as re-learning how to live like a functional couple again. Thanks again for reading, and all your support for us over the last year.