What can you do in -23 ℃ (-9.4 ℉) Winter of Alberta?

Let's assume that you're a single man or a bunch of single fellas (let's exclude the ladies. I can't talk on their behalf) travelling to Alberta during the Dec.-Jan. period. What can you enjoy? 

First off, the temperature would be considerably low, something similar to what you see in the title. Secondly there're a plenty of actions that you can be entertained with. I don't think it will be Montreal, Toronto or even Vancouver but there're things that you can do:

1) Canada Olympic Park in Calgary offers winter sport activities such as snowboarding. I'm no one near that stuff but I know many enjoy that. This might not be very comfortable in the temperature written in the title but at the same time, might be! I don't know. I'm not much to winter sports but a little bit of snowshoeing which I know I would not be doing at that temperature! 

2) Many ski resorts are within one to one and a half hour drive from the major cities, at the most. They, of course, come with all sorts of amenities. The question, again here, is how comfortable would someone be to go skiing in such a low temperature. Also, are the ski resorts open at that time?

3) Bars and restaurants. Lots to try and enjoy.

4) Shopping malls. If you have money, you can get good merchandise.

5) Not many, so-called, gentlemen's clubs! The last time I was to one, I think it was about four or five years ago and I was there with The Chef, who, by the way, is technically considered an awkward fella! While it could have been a fun time, it turned into a night of mediocre experience! This was in Calgary and I think there're currently only three of them in the city. Don't know about Edmonton.

6) Relaxation places. Now bear in mind that there're, as everyone knows, legal and legitimate and illegal and fake places which both offer relaxation services. The municipality and consequently, the police, is aware of the second type and if I'm not mistaken, one of the mayors of Calgary, a few years back, wanted to clean up the city from the illegal ones and by illegal I mean the ones which under the name of Massage, would provide other services. The Criminal Code of Canada (also known as C-46), in 1363 pages, has sections about soliciting sex and related stuff. It's a very interesting read(!) but could be confusing and hard to understand by an average person! After all that is why an average person gets caught, charged and convicted! 

I hope the above helps the people who intend to travel to Alberta in winter.

(Photo: Seems like the very temperature has not kept these young people inside! They're preparing a local pond for hockey. Good for them. Have fun)

Snow Den on Christmas

It's Christmas season and I'm mostly stuck at home due to the extreme cold. It went down to -32 ℃ (-25.6℉) last night! I go to the windows every now and then just to watch snow. To see how much it has landed. Do I have to shovel or not? Then I said: I can't go out. It's too cold and dangerous. Why don't I watch Snowden, instead of snow? I always wanted to know what this guy's story was and now years later I'm about to find out. I guess I'm not very up-to-date with many things! People are going to laugh at me that I'm learning about this guy after more than 12 years! There're things that I follow closely and there are many that I pay not much attention. This did not catch my eye but I'm glad to watch the movie now. This is one of the Stone's but didn't sell much. One might wonder why. To me it's very obvious: The movie doesn't have any sex or violence in it! A movie like that would not sell much in North America but I liked it. Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon, W, The Doors and JFK are the movies made by him and I enjoyed watching them, some, including Platoon and JFK, several times. I didn't know, first, that he had made this movie as well. It is very good and the main character actors were great. In a society that consist of many mindless dumb, it's not surprising that they don't like this movie. 
Stone decided once to make a documentary or biopic about the former Iranian president, Ahmadinejad who created lots of controversy during the two terms he was in the office. It appears that he, the president, accepted to take part, at first but the project got cancelled later for a few reasons which are not very clear and I'm not going to dig into it.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian President in the UN building.

All aside, Snowden is a good movie and I enjoyed watching it and most likely will, again. It's not as high as JFK, which I've watched several times and I like the dialogue but both Gordon-Levitt and the gorgeous Woodley play very well. Clint Eastwood's son, Scott, also has a small role. I'm not going to spoil the movie but highly recommend it, if you haven't watched. You'll enjoy it. As per the principals that Snowden stood behind and for them, later, he was charged with, I believe he was wrong! If your government has to monitor yours and everyone's conversations, e-mails, reading habits (as said in Se7en!), etc. to keep the country safe, they should. If you're not doing anything illegal, why would you care whether the government knows what you're talking about or not?! That, alone, is enough for me to abide by what the government does. Last thing: I know Snowden is written Snowden, not Snow Den!  
(Photo, top: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Oliver Stone. Edward Stone and his wife, Lindsay Mills live in Russia now. To me that is real love! The couple split once and then, according to the film, Snowden went back to her in the mainland States and after he had to leave to avoid apprehension, they were separated again until she joined her in Russia a few years later. That's a kind of girl you want in your life) 

A very Labourious Christmas Season

I booked a truck to go to Mt. Robson Provincial Park this holiday season and I'm really glad that I canceled it. That would have been suicidal! I basically haven't done much this past week or so but eating and shoveling snow this Christmas. Some people drink. I eat. Both are detrimental. Which one is worse?

When you don't do much, or at least it's me, you can't get a good sleep. I went to bed late last night. It must have been around 23:50. Woke up around, I think, it was 03:00 or something. Stayed up for an hour. Went back to sleep and woke up at around 09:05 to a -22 ℃ (-7.6 ℉) very windy day. That was when I realized: Damn! The pipe! The pipe is frozen and I'm going to be in trouble. There's a pipe which sticks out of the front of the house and takes the, I assume, vapours out of the heating system. If it is clogged, you're done! I learnt that from a neighbour! She has helped with that in the last two years or so but she was not here this year! So I rushed and got my ladder. Set it up and started banging on the damn pipe. The temperature inside showed 14.5 ℃ (58.1 ℉)! from the 16.5 ℃ (67.1 ℉) which I had it set (I know it sounds insane to many, but I'm fine with that). I don't know why that was! The system might have been confused! I started hitting the damn pipe with everything I had in my possession, as I said and eventually it was clear. Went back inside and the temperature was back up to the set. I had to take a shower after all that as I also shoveled the front for almost half an hour. 

(Photo: Winter is really beautiful here in Alberta. Took this during a short walk close to home)

The Beautiful Winter of Alberta, again

The temperature has not gone up -15 ℃ (5 ℉), maximum, in the past few days and I'm really glad that I don't have to go to work today, although it will be mostly boring and waste of time but I get paid for it! Driving is not so bad as soon as I leave my street! The roads here are covered with a sheet of ice and now it's -24 ℃ (-11.2 ℉). If you think you can drive without winter tires, think of jumping in the pool and not getting wet! 

I have my winter tires on but my vehicle isn't in such a good shape. It's losing oil or perhaps I should say it's burning oil. I went to a close Toyota dealership to see what they can do. Here is what they said: $200 for diagnosis! And here's my answer to them: Shove it! Purchasing a new vehicle, no matter how good it is, without winter tires, is like having a wife to starts and raise of family without being intimate! My car has been sitting in the garage for the past month of so and the price of, not so excellent, two pair or winter tires plus the cost of installation is nearly $1800. So I decided not to buy it and instead rely on my old one, until, perhaps in a little more than a year from now, I buy another one: A vehicle for winter and a vehicle for summer. That's how you beat these guys who charge tremendously for their services. You don't have to book an appointment to change your tires. You don't have to change them back to regular one when summer ends and this last you many long years. My  goal is to buy an electric car so I can skip the damn time-wasting and expensive oil change as well. I will work hard and will reach that goal. 

Accidents were really bad on Q. E. II last week, on Thu. There was a big pile up in southbound close to Airdrie. When I reach there I saw tankers and semitrucks on their sides, pick up trucks in the ditch. It was really bad. I heard between 80 and 100 vehicles were involved. Northbound was not that bad. It was slow and blocked and then, happily, when I reached where I needed to take an exit, it had been opened. 

(Photo: I couldn't stop to take pictures but saw these two cars being taken by a tow truck in the city during late evening)

Mindless Retards at Work (1): You Tell 'em!

I used to have posts called Workplace Stories. I stopped about a year and a half ago. I have decided to restart that this time under a new title called Mindless Retards at Work, as we have plenty here and there! I tell the story and you are the judge:
One of the things you observe a lot in workplaces is that the majority of the people get their jobs based on their relationships or as they like to call it networking. What it means that you have lots of incompetent, pretentious, mindless losers appointed to positions. Companies do that because they don't have to pay a lot to a qualified and experienced and knowledgeable person.  
Here at work we have a so-called Safety Officer who is occupied by a sort of aid. A couple of lazy retards, I should say. You barely see any of them in the working area, sitting on their asses most of the day. 
There were a number of visitors last week whom I directed them to the work area. We were having conversations and all of a sudden I saw the " officer " show up! She turns to me and goes: One of the guys doesn't have his ear plugs in. This is his second violation. Tell him if he repeats it, he would be banned from this work area! This is how a lazy and stupid tries to prove that she's working! 
First of all this is your job to tell them. Not me! Secondly, they are the people who have placed an order with us. They have given us a business and we must have done something good to build a reputation and get the order. We simply cannot ban them from our company for a freaking earplug! Turn your brain on! 
I, often, ignore ignorance! So I told her that I would tell them and walk away! The idiot went back to her cave! Now imagine how much money the company spends on people like these every year! They have a silly monthly Safety Meeting once a month and while the main person talks, mostly nonsense  for nearly 45 minutes, the other ass, just sits and stares at the people! I'm sick of these idiots.

(Photo: These are not different types and sizes of condoms. These are earplugs to help people to protect ears from excessive noise)

The Supervised Consumption Sites!

I used to go Sheldon M. Chumir clinic when I lived in Downtown Calgary. Good service, most of the time. Long wait times which is normal everywhere in Canada these days. It's because of the sudden explosion of population without having the infrastructure available. Stupid or most likely careless Government of Canada! 

Going back to that clinic, I saw addicts, drunks and homeless poor people, from time to time. All around the clinic and the nearby streets and at time inside, escaping from the cold or simply hanging out. I also knew there was a Safe Supervised Consumption existed there! If you're not from Canada and don't know what that means, I can tell you it's the stupidest idea ever, in the entire world! The idea behind that is people can go register and get the doze of drugs they need from a clinic and consume it! These guys are so stupid and clueless that it's not easy to simply start to fathom what really their goal was by starting such a sick program! You basically tell the addicted people that hey don't worry about what has happened to you and now you're hooked up on this drug. We will provide you and even, in places, in British Columbia, provide you with clean facilities to do your drug of choice in a very relaxed environment! 

The result has been a total failure in British Columbia and everywhere else in a way that now they're going to close this place in Calgary! The fact is these guys don't think and plan for their action and use the society as a lab rat! The society is not the place for your Trail & Error games, assholes. Think. 

You dignify and glamorize the consumption of harmful substances instead of cutting the roots. One should ask if you're helping the addicted perhaps you should help the ones who seek prostitution by doing what the State of Nevada has been doing for such a long time! Is this not worse than legal prostitution?! You legalized consumption of alcohol and marijuana! Is prostitution not the same or is it less harmful to the society?! 

(Photo: An opium den in old China, circa, 19 century from the time consumption was legal. Canada is back to that time of the history)