"Cuts like a knife -- "

Buck revealing how he feels about taking pictures these days.
Buck trying to escape from our condo! He's almost walking (Yikes!)



Where RKZ works -- downtown, tall building! A sea shell in the lobby & a jazz festival in the park. Lastly, is a photo of 9th Ave -- a street dedicated to shopping & strolling. No cars allowed in this section.

Regarding today's title:
OK, they play loads of Bryan Adams here -- it's the whole Canadian thing. You should see Canadian Entertainment Tonight. There are all these stories about famous people we've never really heard of. That's how we know that they're Canadians (sorry, my Canadian friends). Although, with Ryan Reynolds & Mike Meyers & many other really famous--and funny--celebs (I refuse to include Pam Anderson), Canada does hold its own on the celebrity front.

After taking a day from posting, this will be a random hodge-podge of entries about what's been happening with us. The pictures above have taken you through most of it.

A mention of our first "difficutlties" with Calgary:

1. I have called a large number of Calgarian doctors & the standard response (OK, every single office) has been -- "Call back on the 1st of October; but call early (9am) because we schedule the meet and greets in a 1st-come-1st-served way." A meet and greet is basically an interview for patients where the doctor decides if s/he would like to treat us. First, we are asked to basically do a radio call-in type thing just to get on a list to see if a doctor wants to treat us. Second, there is a chance that a doctor might not like one or all three of us. I struggle with all of this because--even throughout the US--the Canadian medical system is touted as one that is very fair for everyone. We are able to use "walk-in clinics" if we have a medical need -- but we must be refered to any specialists by a general practitioner. The entire process is really stressing me out. As I mentioned before, we do have a "referral" to a doctor by our realestate agent, G. But even this doctor's office (she is a childhood friend of our agent) told us that they had to run the name by her as they are "restructuring" their office. I don't even know what that means.

2. There are a lot of people here & the systems are not set up for this many people. Businesses can't find people to work all of the jobs that are here. If you (or someone you know) needs what is a pretty good job (the local donut place pays around $10.00/hr.), they should move to Calgary. Even the rec center we have recently joined requires pre-scheduling (a week prior) for babysitting. It was like trying to get Buck into a haughty private school just to get him in for three one-hour slots next week! The scheduler (is that a word?) explained that the infant ratio is 3 to 1 and that they just can't find enough day-care workers for the demand. [Side comment - there are A LOT of children here. Which is also a nice thing.]

That's about it for my complaining. Please also keep in mind that we are still in the early stages of living here & our opinions could change quickly when we get everything figured out.

A few more random comments in this already convoluted blog --
RKZ & I stayed up really late to watch The Path to 9-11 on Sunday and Monday nights. Even though parts of it were dramatized, my only thought is "Man, do we need to demand a little more intelligently organized security throughout North America." That's it. So, from my soap box I say -- We (as American/Canadian citizens) need to pay freekin' attention to what is going on in our countries. We need a little more dialogue and a little less "top-down." That's it.

Also, Happy Anniversary yesterday, Coach K 1 and Hoonka. And Happy Baptism to Little A-ngel. And thanks for the the dinner, CSG!