So!!!!! I freaking love my job. I spent the day actually excavating on the Bar U Ranch site. The purpose of this excavation is to find out the architectural information about the root cellar on the Ranch. It was built between the years of 1910 and 1917 but they aren't sure which year exactly. It is a really cool building. Bill and Brad (the main arch guys on the site) were asked to get the info so that in the next few years the site will be able to reconstruct it to it's original state. The Bar U Ranch is in the foothills of the Rockies which is really beautiful. It was a cloudy day so I couldn't see all of the mountains but I'll get to see them right up close next week when I spend 10 days right in the heart of the mountains. SUPER EXCITED! I'll be doing excavations tomorrow as long as we don't get rained out so please NO RAIN! lol :)
OH, my exciting adventure for yesterday was rafting down the Elbow River. It was a ton of fun. I also met a whole bunch of new people. They were pretty eccentric and hilarious. I'm hoping to do that again soon.
But i'm off to bed. Night all and I miss you.

First Day at Work....

Had my first day of work today and it was awesome. I didn't even mind that I had to be there for 8am, meaning I had to drag my butt outta bed at 6:30. I finally met Bill and Brad, two of the archaeologists that work there and they were hilarious. So funny and I think this is going to be a really fun summer. I was working in the lab today getting to know the artifacts and studying the reference collections for the Bar U Ranch site, Jasper National Park, Banff and Kootenay. Really interesting collections, didn't expect to see so many shell casings from Jasper Park. I will probably be working in the lab for the rest of the week but starting next week I'll be working in the field at the Bar U site.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/ab/baru/natcul.aspx

There is a link to see some information about the site. It's a cool site. (Nic you should look at it cause it's a Western Ranch :P) Then after that I think I'm going to be in Kootenay for 10 or so day, living in a little cabin in the mountains. Talk about super fun and exciting. I'm trying to decide where to post all of the pictures that I am taking....so when I figure that out I'll let all of you know.

Well, I'm going to head to bed soon as I do have to be up really early from now on.

Cheers All and I miss you All.

P.S. If you are looking for something funny to watch please look up Tommy Tiernan, Blue Collar Comedy Tour, or Jeff Dunham. All are pretty much EPIC beyond all belief.

Ahem...

So, I spent most of yesterday wandering around downtown Calgary by myself. It was actually really cool. Seriously made me think of downtown T.O. and what it's like to walk around there. I was there around lunch time and all of these executives from the major high rises were out of the streets having lunch. It was really interesting to experience that. I also figured out which bus route I needed to catch to get me downtown. I luckily have a bus route right by my place that will drop me off right in front of the office building that I need to get to every morning. Tis quite handy. I headed down to the Parks Canada office so I could finally meet David and Phyllis, the two people I was corresponding with over email and telephone about this position with Parks Canada. It was good to finally see them in person. They had all sorts of paperwork for me to fill out which was joyous fun. At least now I don't have to do it when I get to work tomorrow. Which is my first official day! YAY! I met most of the historians that work in the office but didn't get to meet the other archaeologists cause they were all in the field, save the Jess (I think that is her name) who looks after all of the lab work in the office. I am really excited to do this job. There is this cool thing that is downtown called the +15. It is a series of catwalks that connect the second floor of most of the big high-rises and it is all shopping centers and food courts. It is really cool. I asked why it was called the +15 and the answer I got was that the catwalks are 15ft above the ground. I am still using my home phone number which means any calls will be LONG LONG distance so I've got to go out and get a Calgary number today. Should be fun stuff. I still don't think that I am used to the time difference yet cause I get hungry and tired at Ontario times. Aside from getting that new telephone number, I'm not sure what my plan is for today.

random thoughts...

So the downtown of Calgary is quite beautiful. In the one park area in the downtown there is a fountain and all around them in the ground and gardens there are these random pink gophers. They are quite strange, but oddly amusing. When I was walking around it felt quite similar to home, though the downtown has many more sky-rises more like TO. Still, the city had somewhat of an older feeling to it. I was able to see which building I will have to get to every day and which bus will get me there. It doesn't look it will be too difficult to manage my way around downtown....it will take just a little bit of time to get a feel for everything. I did however find a really good pub/restaurant that had amazing food. Talk about YUM! OH, and from certain points in downtown you can see the Rockies in the distance. They look kind of surreal in the distance, makes me think i am in some kind of fantasy film. The whole time difference is making me hungry at very odd times and I get waves of extreme tiredness. BUT, I was able to get a new and fluffy pillow for my stay here and I'm quite excited about that. :)

Till Later.

First Impressions....

I am finally here in Calgary and I'm staying with a couple of friends from CY09, Dave and Vaike. :) Their place is a basement apartment with two bedrooms. It is really quite a quaint little place and I am grateful for their hospitality. The flight here was really good and the staff at WestJet is absolutely awesome. I did have an interesting time in the airport going trough security. They totally tore apart my one piece of carry on luggage like I was trying to take something on the plane that I should not have. They then proceeded to tell me that I could not take it on the plane, but instead I had to check it. LAME! I already had two pieces of luggage checked and it was going to cost me $75 to check a third. Once I explained the fact that I was moving to Calgary she waved the charge for me so I was able to check 3 bags. She was very nice. The flight staff were really nice too. The guy's name was Charlie and there were three lady flight attendants whom he called his angels. :P He was quite hilarious. I must say though, I do love to fly. Being above all of the clouds at approx. 38000 ft. and seeing them from above rather than below was beautiful. I had to take lots of pictures for my dad. He loves clouds. But overall, the best thing about the flight was when we were coming into land and seeing the Rockies in the distance. They were stunning from that distance so I can hardly wait to see them up close. Calgary is a huge city, though surprisingly not a whole lot of high rises or tall buildings, only in the downtown core. Dave and Vaike are going to take me on a tour of the downtown today so that I can get some bearing of where I am going. I had a fairly decent sleep last night, though I got chilly at one point. Which is easily fixable for tonight as there are blankets galore in this apartment. I still have very mixed feelings about all of this, but I'm sure those will dissipate over my time here.

Love all of you and miss you lots.