Calgary Stampede Pancake Breakfasts 2005

I love pancakes, but what I love more are free pancakes, what I love most is standing in line for an hour to be served free pancakes by people wearing coyboy hats.

Tracie doesn't like pancakes, or cowboys, or lining up, so I went to a couple of breakfasts by myself last year while she was at work. It was lonely and I wasn't really hungry, but the pancakes were just soo good.

I posted a scheduele of free pancake breakfasts last year and it seemed somewhat popular, so I'm posting them again. These are the Stampede Caravan breakfasts. There are a million more free pancake breakfasts out there, but I find that one a day is more than enough.

Remember Breakfast times are from 9:00 am - 11:00 am unless otherwise listed.

If these just don't cut it, check out this list of calgary stampede pancake breakfasts.

Saturday, July 9th

• Marlborough Mall
  Memorial Drive and 36th Street


• Points West Shopping Center
  # 200- 5th Ave West Under the Giant Canadian Flag
  Cochrane Alberta

Sunday, July 10th

• ENMAX Family Fun Day Breakfast
  Calgary Stampede Grandstand
  From 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM
  Admission to Stampede Park - Free Until 9:00 AM

Monday, July 11th

• Dalhousie Shopping Centre
  5505 Shaganappi Tr. NW


• North Hill Shopping Centre
  Located on the corner of 14 Street and 16 Avenue NW

Tuesday, July 12th

• Beddington Town Centre
  8120 Beddington Blvd N.W.


• Westhills Town Centre
  Corner of Sarcee Tr and Richmond Rd

Wednesday, July 13th

• Market Mall Shopping Centre
  Corner of 32 Ave and Shaganappi Tr NW


• Southcentre
  100 Anderson Rd SW.

Thursday, July 14th

• Southland Leisure Centre
  2000 Southland Dr SW


• Northland Village Mall
  5111 Northland Dr NW

Friday, July 15th

• Britannia Shopping Plaza
  49 Ave SW, at Elbow Dr


• Sunridge Mall
  2525 - 36 St. N.E.

Saturday, July 16th

• Crowfoot Crossing
  91 Crowfoot Terrace N.W.


• Lakeview Shopping Plaza
  6449 Crowchild Trail S.W.

-Gary Milner

ps. the photo is by someone named Rosina.

OF GRAND SLAMS AND RBI's

I was reading some silly quotes made by well known people when I read this one: A professional baseball coach once said, "Two grand slams! Thats seven or eight RBI's right there! This was supposed to draw chuckles from everyone. I thought to myself, didn't eight runs cross the plate when those two baseballs went into the stands? Here's what I say: If a guy bats in eight runs, give him credit for eight runs batted in. Am I the only one that this makes sense to?

Price is Right

I was watching the Price is Right this morning....the first time I've seen it in years. I noticed that all of the commercials (not some - all) targeted the very old. Commercials for scooters, prescription medication and adult diapers were all that was showed.

I don't know why I found it funny. I mean, it's a really old show. None of the contenstants seemed to be over the age of 40 though.

- Tracie

Salmon Arm

We split the trip into two parts on the way home. There was sometalk about staying in Revelstoke, but Grandma was getting pretty tired and she wanted to stay in Salmon Arm. This photo was taken right behind the Salmon Arm Mall.
Tracie and I went on a little walk there to have some time on our own. On our walk, I noticed an electric fence. I told Tracie to touch it as I was taking a picture, but she didn't get shocked. Then I touched it but as I did, I rubbed my hand along the wire and it shocked me. I guess I deserved it for trying to trick Tracie. It would have been a funny photo though.
The next afternoon we made it back to Cardston and decided to go Medicine Hat instead of saying the night at Tracie's Grandparent's house.
-Gary Milner

A YAKY PACKY

A Pakistani man who got too lippy while he was being held in a Pakistan detention facility had his mouth sewed shut by the police who were holding him. Five of them have been fired for it. I don't think that firing was a good enough punishment but that's not the point I wish to make in this post. My point is this: "don't ever sew anyone's mouth shut when there is duct tape to be had." They should have used duct tape. Duct tape would have both staunched the flow of abuse from the prisoner, and allowed the police to blow off a little steam, all the while not causing grievous harm to anyone. But make darn sure the recipient deserves it.

BBC news link with picture

Free Movie "Hitch"

Last night I went to rent the movie "Hitch" with my sister Amy and her new husband Adam, and my other sister Becky.

When we got there, ten minutes before close, we were sad to see that all of the copies were gone. We ran out, hoping to catch the next closest video store before it closed. On our way out, we noticed a poster which guaranteed the movie in, or it was free.

We went back in and called them on it. The girl figured there should be one copy left, but printed us a voucher anyway. At that exact moment, Amy came to the counter with a copy in her hand. "We missed it guys...there is a copy"

The reason for the story is to say that the girl let us use our voucher and we got a free movie out of the deal.

Lucky for us because the movie was tolerable at best. At least for me and Gary. Becky liked it. Anyone who goes for the "romantic comedy" genre will probably like it. I like a little suspense in a movie...something out of the ordinary...not mindless boy meets girl - stuff goes wrong - true love prevails.

-Tracie, gives "Hitch" thumbs down.

I'm So High Right Now

There is a game that people play in drama circles to help you become better at improvising things. It's called, "Yes Let's".
The premise of the game is that when someone suggests or says something, you can only reply by saying "Yes, let's". By doing this you are preventing yourself from blocking an emerging storyline. If one person sees an emerging line you can just run with it. You can't accidentilly stump the only person with a good idea.
I'm thinking that I need to change my personal style somewhat in life to more closely resemble the game. When someone says let's go to the zoo, I should always say, "Yes, let's" and then up the ante by inviting more people.
It's how you make friends. It's how you have fun. It's how my sister Jackie lives life. She has more fun than anyone I know.
If you want to take pictures of me jumping, from now on I'm going to say, Yes, let's.
-Gary

The Ocean

The day after the wedding, we went to China Beach. It is about an hour and a half North of Victoria.
We had a really good time playing in the water. Tracie didn't go in untill about an hour before we were going home.
She said, I can go in up to my knees. Funny thing about the waves though, they sneak up on you. Soon the bottom of her shorts were wet, so she said it doesn't matter if I go in to the bottom of my shorts now. Well it continued on untill there shorts were completely soaked. Then the bottom of her shirt. Then everything but her head and shoulders. Her Uncle Wolfgang just said, I don't know what you're trying to keep dry, but it doesn't seem to be working. She knew it too and decided to just go for it.
By the way, water at beaches in Canada is really cold.
-Gary Milner

Victoria Continued

The next day Tracie's uncles and aunts arrived and we went on a walk around Victoria harbour. This is a view of the harbour from the legislature grounds. That's the Empress Hotel on the right hand side of the photo. I really like my new camera. This is the first night panoramma that I have made with it. It's good because you can set the it manually so that you get the same exposure for each photo with out worrying about it changing due to street lights or other misc. reasons.

We wandered around and watched the street performers do their acts for a long while. I really enjoyed myself. I found myself wishing that there was something like that back home in Calgary.
I'm pretty sure that there is pretty much only one main street performer in Calgary, Dan the one man band. There are a few others too I guess, but they don't group in such a small area, and they don't really draw crowds.

Victoria Wedding

So our trip to Victoria was one of the funnest trips I have ever taken. We drove her Grandparents in their minivan so that they could also attend the wedding. We had a really good time with them and did lots of fun stuff. The highlight of the trip though was the wedding.
We went to Cardston on Monday the 13th so that we could leave early the next morning to get a good jump on the trip. We ended up leaving Cardston at 6:30 in the morning. Tracie's Grandpa took the first shift driving. We stopped in Sparwood to buy some Gravol for Tracie and then continued on to Fernie.

This little cabin was Tracie's grandparent's first home in Fernie when they immigrated to Canada.
I took over the driving in Fernie and the rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. I didn't forget to turn in Creston this time, and so we didn't get to go on the ferry to Nelson, and I'm sure that it took a few hours off of our trips as compared to the last time we took this road to Vancouver.

We got gas in Castlegar and continued on. When we arrived in Princeton, BC, there was some disscussion as to whether we should stop or press on. Tracie's Grandma wanted to stop, but didn't want to bother anyone else so she let Grandpa continue on to Hope even though she was getting tired from the drive. I would have been more than willing to continue on to Vancouver, but we got a room in Hope and then went to supper in some dinner. I took this photo of Tracie there.

That night Tracie's Dad called and asked where we were and what time we would be arriving in Victoria. I predicted that we would be there at noon. As it turned out, we go there at 12:30. We met up with them and then went for a walk. Becky and I went the furthest, but she got sick of walking before I did so we turned back to the Hotel after I took this photo of her jumping.
I think that I am entering a "jumping" phase in my photography hobby. I really like photos of people jumping right now. It adds action to what would otherwise be a regular photo. It's fun to see how the people look when they jump, and it is fun to use good camera angles to make them really high.

Victoria

We're having a great time here in Victoria. There is a lot of stuf to do and see. The library here is kind enough to have a service where they provide out of towners with temporary library cards while you are visiting. It is something that more libraries should do. So far, this service has saved me $7.50 that I would have spent at the hotel using their internet computer.

I've posted a bunch of new photos to my flickr account, so stop by there to see them. I'll most likely be adding more tomorrow or the day after. The computer here is unable to rotate the photos for me, so comment about the sidewaysness of the photos if you want, other wise just tilt your head.

-Gary

Getting Ready to Go

This is the time when we are supposed to be getting ready to go to Victoria, but we are procrastinating a little. I guess it doesn't take much time to pack a bag.

You might have guessed that we are riding the C-Train to BC, because of the photo of me on the stairs at one of the stations. If you guessed that, you are wrong. The C-train doesn't go that far.

We are driving. It's going to be a road trip with Tracie's grandparents. We'll meet them at their house tonight and then head out first thing in the morning. I'm really looking forward to it.

Tracie talked to her grandmother on the phone the other day, and apparently she is making lunches/snacks/vital supplies for the trip. Tracie asked if she was going to make doughnuts. The answer was no, but she could. I guess that is pretty much a guarantee of doughnuts for the trip and basically every time we visit their house from now on. Which is a good thing.

Aside from packing, Tracie still has a few errands to do before we can leave, but all I have to do is see the optician to pick up my contact lenses and I'm ready to go.

Don't We Look Great?

Well, the other day I bought a new camera. I decided that 205lbs, down from 245lbs was close enough to my goal to warrant winning the prize.

I really love it. We went on a long walk on Thursday to try it out. This is one of the photos we took. The rest can be found posted on my Flickr pages.

I'm really going to be looking for subjects over the next few days. If your in Calgary and want to have some photos done, let me know. I want some practice with the new camera before all the weddings and stuff. I'll only have two days though, so I don't imagine I'll have any takers.

Tracie got her wisdom teeth out today. She is now 4X less wise than she was before. I contemplated taking photos of the extraction but decided against it. Then when I found out that the dentist wrapped up the teeth and gave them to her to take home I was going to take some photos of them, but that would be even worse than seeing her sitting in the chair. I really want to try to get away from the nasty medical vibe I introduced to the blog with all those lipoma pictures. In any case, that's spilt milk I guess.

This morning after the dentist we rented two movies to entertain Tracie, "Finding Neverland" and "Be Cool". The former was much better than the latter. I really enjoyed, "Finding Neverland" but "Be Cool" was ok only. Not bad, just not good, and merely kind of funny.

-Gary Milner

Peanut Butter and Jelly

(A Poem)

When I bite into your chewy goodness

And colours of purple and brown ooze out from the bread

I find myself incapable of expressing my thoughts aloud

Partly because I'm so overcome with satisfaction that I'm rendered speechless

But mostly because my palate and tongue are stuck

To You

Peanut Butter and Jelly.

I hope one day to make your acquaintance again.

Pre-Wedding Test Photos #2

I went out with Daorcey and Natalie to scope out the locations for their wedding photos.

I'm getting pretty excited to be photographing them. (The photos and the couple) After seeing all the places they have to take the photos, I'm sure that they will be my best one's yet. Canmore is the ideal location to have something like this done.

This photo is a two shot panorama that I did on the shore of Spray Lake, just up the mountain from Canmore.

Wisdom Teeth

Today was the day I was supposed to get all four of my wisdom teeth out. I was both looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. Dreading the discomfort, but looking forward to having it over with.

Yesterday afternoon, they cancelled my appointment. Apparently the past three days of continuous rain caused the dental office to flood, and they had to cancel all of their appointments for the day.

I am very sad. Hopefully I can get in before I lose my benefits.

-Tracie

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

It has been raining in Calgary for the last few days, but I have a ray of sunshine all to my own. Today is my last day working for the Sears National Logistics Centre in Calgary. It give me a sense of relief to be leaving today.

It isn't that Sears is a bad place to work, it is just that 90% of the people I work with are some combination of dolt and jackass. 5% are lazy, 2% only work one or two days a week because they are going to school and the last few percent need more experience as team leaders.

A job that involves taking boxes out of trucks, sorting them into piles numbered 1-9, and then putting them back into other trucks should not be stressful. The problem arises from a desire to work hard and do a good job while the people around you don't share that desire. It is frustrating to say the least.

Only good times lay ahead though. I have one week off before I head out to Vancouver Island to photograph a wedding. The weekend after that I'm heading to Medicine Hat for the reception. The weekend after that I'm heading up to Banff to photograph another wedding. Then two weeks of relaxing/hanging out with the families until we head off to Australia.

That's why I have sunshine on a cloudy day.

-Gary Milner

THE BIG BANG THEORY

Every once in a while I get re-interested in the big bang theory and I just feel compelled to refute it. First of all scientists say they can now fairly accurately tell the age of the universe. They say that it is between ten and twenty billion years old. In other words, "fairly accurate "to them means that as long as they come within ten billion years of the correct age they can still be fairly accurate. Remember each one billion years equals a thousand million. With theories like that who needs facts. They don't know straight up about the age of the universe. They say some galaxies are farther away from us because not all the material from the bang is traveling at the same speed. I say "one explosion," one speed. They say they have seen evidence of radiation from the far reaches of the universe that proves there was an explosion. Really? How do they know where this radiation came from. What do they know about the far reaches of the universe. They've never seen the far reaches of the universe or even come close to seeing the far reaches, and they never will . It's too far. Distances in our own galaxy are measured in hundreds and thousands of light years. They say that the universe came from a single atom. For some reason this atom existed from the beginning of time then suddenly and inexplicably exploded. Scientists don't believe that the universe always existed but they're okay with just one atom. Maybe someday they will be able to fairly accurately tell us the age of that atom. Maybe some day they will be able to explain how a single atom could contain enough material to form the universe. Maybe someday they'll explain why they make all this stuff up.