The domino effect on the regular morning bus ride.

I left home this morning a little earlier than usual, but couldn't "feel" my bus pass inside my pocket. I returned home to retrieve it. When I was a few steps from my home, I unzipped my pocket and realized I had it the whole time. Running a little back to the bus stop, I saw the express bus (#64) stopped at the light a couple of blocks ahead. Then the regular route (#8) decided to whiz by my stop since the driver thought I was going to board the bus which had stopped (#73) so I had to get on the #73 to get to the transit centre. The #8 starts to pull away from the stop as I approach it, but luckily the driver saw me jump to the curb. Along the way, we approach the train tracks and along the crossing is one of the longest trains I have ever encountered (one of the cars owned by the Government of Canada had "F*ck the" preceeding it, compliments of a graffiti artist). Total bus ride time (including waits): 55 minutes, which is over 20 minutes longer than usual. So if I'm acting strange today, you know why.

Do you know where Garden River, Alberta is? I had never heard of it before last Wednesday. On my 1991 official Alberta road map (the newest one I have), it isn't even on the map. After some looking up in other sources, I found it.

It is located inside Wood Buffalo National Park, and takes ~10 h to reach Garden River from Edmonton by car. First, you need to get to Highway 58 (the northernmost east-west highway in Alberta) via Highway 35 (which is paved) or Highway 88 (which is partly gravel road, but the distance is ~170 km shorter). After that you need to travel east on Highway 58 until the official end, and then continue further on an unimproved road for ~50 km. In the winter, your only option out is by private charter plane.

The reason why I mention this is because I received a phone call from the principal of a First Nations school in Garden River. We had a friendly little chat, and she told me about the school and community. If it weren't for the extreme isolation, I would have considered it.

I went for a walk in the river valley after work today. The river is an ugly shade of brown, and it crested yesterday at 8.7 m. The Edmonton Queen was all right, except the dock got washed away. 

Okay, so I'm at home on the computer rather than biking to Rundle Park. I left my house once, only to come back after a little rain. About five minutes later I thought, "What the heck", and set out again. The rain started going really hard, so I turned back. I never made it past 36th Avenue (three blocks).

Nothing like rain to spoil a good day. It's stopped now, but I guess I'll have to wait for another time. In honour of today's rainy day, I can cross the Lethbridge School District No. 51 off of my list - they're done hiring for the upcoming year.

Ouch! When I read an article about hardware torture tests earlier this week in the library, I winced.

At least flash memory cards are more durable than digital cameras.

A larger pension makes superintendents happy. But what about the teachers? Is Elk Island going to do any hiring this year?

As of today, I've decided I'm going to broaden my horizons and start applying for jobs in B.C. as well. I don't know how successful it will be, but it's worth a try.