from the "reelin' in the year" dept.

TOP 5 GOOD THINGS ABOUT 2009

-Living in Guatemala for most of the year.
-Being published in some big-ass newspapers.
-Getting a fulltime job.
-Getting men’s gold medal Olympic hockey tickets. (for sale)
-Reconnecting with family.

TOP 5 BAD THINGS ABOUT 2009

-Leaving Guatemala.
-Enduring an Edmonton winter.
-Working fulltime.
-The economy, stupid.

-Glenn Beck. And Sarah Palin. (tie)

from the "he ain't heavy" dept.

Remember this guy? Looking at the photo above, I sometimes wonder if he ever really did exist. He did of course. And he's still here, just buried under the ravages of time, beer and careless eating.

Well, no more. He's decided to finally escape the shackles. He knows it won't be easy. Nor will it be fast. But you have to start somewhere.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

And so it begins...

from the "and to all a good night" dept.

from the "warmer climes" dept.

I'm back in Vancouver, but just for the weekend. Good timing. In Edmonton it's -30C with windchills hitting -40C and beyond. Cloudy and +1C in Vancouver. Aaah.

I'm here to pick up my Olympic hockey tickets, get my hair cut and retrieve some stuff from my storage unit. I head back to the Arctic on Sunday.

Cheers!

from the "that was then, this is now" dept.

THEN:

Eres un angel y mereces vivir
Originally uploaded by ivan castro guatemala.

NOW:

Edmonton moonset

Edmonton moonset
Originally uploaded by borderfilms (Doug).

I've posted some pictures of my Edmonton condo and the view. This photo was taken on the morning of Dec 1... it shows a quite full moon setting. Unfortunately the yellowness of the big ol' orb wasn't captured. Point-N-Shoots... what can you do?

from the "got wood" dept.

A Chinese television station has created a creepy animation about the Tiger Woods incident. Check it out:

from the "muppets do queen" dept.

It's a bit slow at the beginning... but stay with it. This is one of the best covers of Bohemian Rhapsody ever: