It's been a little over a week now since we were set free from our jobs and what a week it has been. I have been so busy that I have not had much time to even post anything on this page. However, I have slowed it down a bit and I am finally getting an update done.
Last Friday we held a very special party for our very own Dianne. It was a surprise party to celebrate her 50th birthday which comes up next month. Much of my time over the last couple of weeks has been spent preparing for this party. I spent my last week at work working a midnight shift and seeing as how things had kind of wound down by that point, I had a lot of time on my hands at work. So I loaded up my new laptop with my editor and a bunch of pictures and video footage of Dianne and put together a little tribute video for her party. It was a spoof of the Mission Impossible shows/movies and included a little DVD based game in which people had to guess the right answers to questions about Dianne in order to free her from the clutches of old age. It turned out quite well and was a fitting end to my career in the broadcasting industry.
Last week, as I enjoyed my first week of freedom from work, I put together all the sets and props for the game and finished organizing and setting up the party. Between all this was constant shoveling of the snow which was constantly falling. There were several other things happening during the week which made the time pass by quite rapidly to the point that I was still putting the finishing touches on the party preparations the minute Dianne left for work on Friday morning.
The party was on Friday evening and was held at our friends John and Jeanette Fraietta's. The ruse was that we were all going out to celebrate our other friend Renee's birthday with a meal at the Keg. But Jeanette, Renee and I had gathered a few of our friends together and when Dianne and I arrived at Jeanette's they were all hiding silently in the living room, which had been decorated with an "explosive" theme in light of Dianne's nickname "Diannomite". Here is a little video clip of the highlights of the party.
We all had a great time and the video was a big hit. Here is the tribute part without the game which was all based on DVD menuing. The party went for quite some time and with all the cleaning up and everything we didn't get home until 2:00am. Stay tuned for a little picture album I am compiling of the event.
On Saturday morning we had to be up bright and early to face the frigid weather and head out to Leduc to help Angela and Lee move. They have bought a cute little condominium on the 10th floor of a building on Saskatchewan Drive, right on the riverbank overlooking the downtown area. It's quite a spectacular view and should be a very lovely place for them for a while. It's only a small one bedroom place and the plan is to fix it up and possibly rent it out at a future date.
Then on Saturday evening Dianne and I went to a beautiful little restaurant for her office's annual Christmas party. The meal was incredible, all five courses and it was fun to fellowship with the other staff members in such a cozy, informal atmosphere.
It was another busy day yesterday as Dianne and I were both playing in the orchestra in church and so had to be there early for rehearsal. Then after church we went out for lunch at Swiss Chalet before heading home to grab a little nap after shoveling the driveway, again. Then it was back to church for a special night of music topped of with a trip to Tim Horton's for coffee with friends.
So it was a pretty busy week with an equally busy weekend. This week I am taking it a little easier. There is still snow coming down and so that will keep me busy, but I am going to start doing a little research into the job market and try to get an idea of where to start looking for my next career move. At some point in there I will be going to get my teeth cleaned so that is something to look forward to.
Now we are fast approaching the end of November with Christmas looming up behind it. Time to start getting ready for that, and I guess I will have to start working on the Christmas 2006 edition of the Chronicle. That should prove to be interesting and could end up being a three pager this year what with all the exciting adventures we have had.
In the meantime, I'll try and keep the driveway clean and hope for a couple of days of milder weather so I can get the Christmas lights up. And at some point I'll have to haul the Christmas tree down from the rafters in the garage. Maybe I'll wait till January to look for work.

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