Life in Lochlanland

Small Things

The cafeteria at work makes these super yummy cinnamon buns. I have a weakness for cinnamon buns. it's a problem. However, the cafeteria makes them in two sizes - large and small. The small ones are about 2" in diameter, so they're tiny. And yummy. So I have taken to grabbing one in the morning after I drop Lochlan off. A teeny cinnamon bun along with a small carton of chocolate milk just makes my morning. So despite getting up early, putting in 12min on my exercise bike, getting Lochlan ready, and trying to write a section on full model runs for our training manual. I'm actually in quite a chipper mood.

There is just something about that tiny burst of cinnamon sweetness in the morning that always perks me up!

Until I think about my training manual. Blah.

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All About Lochlan!

Lochlan is probably my favourite person :-). He is such a character, and that alternately delights and frustrates me. \

I have developed a deeper level of sympathy for my parents, I was a chatterbox when I was growing up. I yammered ALL.THE.TIME. Now I'm beginning to wonder how I managed to survive until adulthood. If I was anything like my darling son, it's a wonder my parents are still sane!!

However, it is cute. I love some of the things he comes up with, his imagination is INCREDIBLE!! Everything from crocodiles are coming to get us (it's okay, though, Lochlan will eat them all up). A few days ago he told me he loved kisses. So I gave him a pile, then he said "Stop Mommy, I don't like LOTS of kisses!!" He plays with his cars and they tell each other stories and have cute little conversations with each other. Things like "Where are you going today" "I'm going to daycare" "That's good, are you going to play with your friends" "I'm going to play cars with Elizabeth." It's too cute :-).

Then he sings. he's not really into arts and crafts, and he generally doesn't do any art at daycare unless I ask him too, but he loves to sing. He'll start singing and then he'll say "Sing with me Mommy?" How can you resist. so if you happen to see me walking with a little boy along 3 ST SE singing "I Have A Tiny Turtle." That's why :-).

He has his favourite CDs - mostly the Cars Soundtrack and his CD from the singer that comes to daycare every couple of weeks. It's so cute!! He'll be in the backseat singing along to all his songs. It's so cute to hear him make the little "Uhn" sound that the Elvis car makes in the Sheryl Crow song!!

His current favourite movies are 101 Dalmatians and Wall-E. He's started repeating conversations he hears in the movie - and in Wall-E's case that means we are treated to a chorus of "WALL-E!!!!!" "EEEEEEE-VA!!!!!!" All evening long, it's cute. But the cutest thing is when he pretends to be Wall-E. I caught him doing this just after Christmas. He would gather up his blocks, stuff them under his shirt, crouch down, grunt a bit and then left his shirt up the let the blocks fall down. Then he'd say "Ta-Da!" SOOOOOOOOO cute!! I just about fell off the sofa because I was laughing at how cute that is.

We've also been having fun with Rock Band - he likes to play about 2-3 songs with us and then he's done. But he likes to play the guitar with us or sometimes the drums. It's fun - although he can be a bit of a turkey and insist on watching his shows when he's done. He's a stubborn little thing sometimes!!

He's our little sweetie pie! I love him so much, I can't imagine life without him :-).

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Bridge over Troubled Water

So. I want to talk about bridges. Specifically the City's current plans to hire a world famous architect to design an iconic structure to cross the Bow River. The proposal is meeting with a lot of resistance, mostly due to the $25 million price tag that is allocated for the bridge's design and construction. The money is coming from a provincial grant, and, if you believe the media in this city, I am probably the only person who supports this idea.

Here's why.

I was born in Calgary, I was (mostly) raised in Calgary. I love this city - I love everything about it. Calgary is not a perfect city, we have sprawling suburbs, gang crime is on the rise, and congestion is, according to everyone but me, horrific. However, there is something about this city, the spark that makes it Calgary and that spark has become a part of who I am and I couldn't live anywhere else.

So I was born here, I was raised here, I'm raising my own family here and I will likely die here and those are thoughts that make me happy. I've never felt the desire to live all over the world, my heart is here, my home is here and I know this is my place.

And I don't want to live in a concrete jungle.

I don't want to live in a city where there is nothing but freeways and interchanges, I don't want to live in a city where art and beauty are constantly sacrificed due to cost. I don't want to live in a city where there is nothing beautiful to see. I think $25 million dollars to build something that is iconic and different is a bargain.

So what about ideas to hold open design contests etc and get something done by local designers. It's a good idea, and I would bet that the creativity in this city would mean there would be plenty of people who could design something beautiful and different. However, someone has to pick the design and I can bet that the people making that decision would not choose something that's radical and unique. I would bet that they would choose something safe and traditional to please people rather than making a statement.

I love the idea that this bridge could make a statement, I love that something like this could energize the downtown, it could bring people here who wouldn't have come before. There is a second bridge proposed for the east side of downtown - make that one an open design, then we have both a local project and something that iconic that is truly unique to Calgary.

There are plenty of objections to the bridge - mostly relating to the price. But sometimes, you just need to take a leap, spend the money and when you're done you end up with something that is truly amazing. That's what I think will happen here.

Yes, there will be people who will drive by and think "Grrrr.. that @$#$^@#%^@#% expensive bridge," but I think that when you're building infrastructure that is going to be around for generations, sometimes money is not the only factor that should be considered.

Those are my thoughts.I can't wait to see what this bridge is going to look like!

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Ooops! It's been awhile...

Somehow I seem to get busy and complete forget about this thing. or I can't think of anything to write. or I write something and it's so mind-numbingly dull that I don't bother to post it.

That, however, needs to change. so I am going to begin inundating you with the minutia of my life as often as I can!! (How's THAT for a sentence full of big words an engineer shouldn't know how to use!!)

So. where did I leave off? Our anniversary. we went out for dinner, it was great, we love the Calgary Tower, but it's super-dooper expensive so we'll only do that once a year or so. None the less, it was a nice night out and I could actually enjoy talking to my husband without our little boy constantly interrupting.

Then it was my birthday. my mom had a yummy dinner for me, I got some nice presents, including more X-files DVDs. it was excellent!

Then Christmas was wonderful, as usual, we got plenty of stuff, yet somehow it all seemed to be stuff we can actually use which was great. Lochlan got enough toys, but not 4 times his weight in loot so it wasn't too hard for us to organize, that was wonderful too. We had a nice visit with my grandparents in Edmonton and some time off from work. All in all it was a nice break - although I could use a bit more time. But I suspect that's just the way it goes when it comes to vacation!!

New Years Eve we discovered the wonderful game of Rock Band. It was SO.MUCH.FUN!! So we bought a Wii and the instrument and have been happily rocking the house ever since. We've picked up a couple other games. but honestly, when you could be singing "LIVIN' ON A PRAAAAAYER!!!" do you really need anything else?

We're having issues with Darren's car - we bought a Toyota Yaris in November. well, we ordered one. There wasn't one in North America with the options that Darren wanted in the right colour, so we figured his car would be okay for a couple of months while we waited. We thought wrong. his car crapped out just before Christmas. We're not sure what's wrong - something electrical since the car doesn't boost but it's not worth fixing at this point so we haven't bothered to get it checked out. Now we're carpooling together until the new car comes in. it's nice to drive together, however, since he really needs to leave earlier than I normally do, it turns out we're scrambling every morning to get out the door. Oh well, hopefully it's only for 3-4 more weeks until his car comes in. He's phoning today, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I think that's enough of an update for now. it's time for my coffee break!! More later (I really mean it this time!!)

NOTICE - This communication is intended ONLY for the use of the person or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient named above or a person responsible for delivering messages or communications to the intended recipient, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that any use, distribution, or copying of this communication or any of the information contained in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and then destroy or delete this communication, or return it to us by mail if requested by us. The City of Calgary thanks you for your attention and co-operation.