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Incidents are Bollocks

Incidents are Bollocks
Well to be honest not listening to the Sex Pistols but you have to love the punk and the graphics on this one and its essential Britishness. So here I am 2 days before I board a plane to the UK knocking out part 2 of the blog from # 1 Son and dear old Dads trip to Jasper 2012. Now you may be asking why I am running 1 year behind, and I have been asking myself the same question. Of course having your site hacked and crashed isn’t very helpful and although WordPress is the greatest thing since sliced bread there is a bit of a learning curve involved. There is technical stuff how to admin the site install themes and plugins etc . Then there is the question what are you going to put on it , and why. So read some articles on blogging the do’s and dont’s some blogging etiquette (try not to make an arse of yourself straight off the blocks and off you go.) Whoa Nelly, not so fast have you registered a catchy domain name ? Who is hosting your sight? Where are you getting your content ( Its not good form to steal it, copyright and all that,) do you have enough content ready what about images? are they yours or do they belong to someone else? Just because they are on the internet does not mean they are yours to use as you please ( See copyright and disclaimers for some idea of how it goes,) I spent quite a while trying to get that right before I started. So you have all these ideas how’s your writing style, your tone ,voice etc. Can you keep it consistent do you have time to carefully craft interesting posts ( even if no one is going to read them?) I have 40 odd years of my past to blog about and hopefully 40 odd more to come and as I am defective in an unusual way. ( No, not that way) I have a narrator in my head carefully placing my actions and experience into a story as I go, now I understand not everyone has this going on and can actually sleep at night but what the heck for once this disturbing inner monologue might just come in handy. As...

So who needs GPS…

So who needs GPS…
No we did not get lost and no we don’t have a G.P.S.  I borrowed one once and it told me my house/road did not exist and I was turning into a field which was a bit bizarre as my Town House was built in 1973. I tried at work to order something on line and it was to be delivered by UPS apparently  My place of work does not exist either on the G.P.S and it could not be delivered. Now I know I function in an alternate version of reality but my place of work  does exist, if UPS had a local driver I am sure he could have got the package here, as it is I was so frustrated I cancelled my order. As G.P.S is a military platform I hope it’s a lot better at delivering missiles than it is at mail. So what’s this all about? Those of you who have read my blog before will realize this miserable looking figure is #1 Son. I am sad to announce we have completed our first Tribe adventure without #1 Sons presence, and he was missed but much as we don’t like to think of it our children are on a journey too and at some point,  well I am not going to blather on here may be in the next blog. So “what we have here is a failure to communicate,” not true I just wanted to use that line, talking of lines I just can’t resist what I am about to do next. One of the few Blogs I follow is ” Jay Kristoff- Literary Giant ” It’s a long story that I will not hesitate to tell of in many posts to come. I have to confess to lurking on his pages and following his blog since Nov 2012 never quite mustering up the courage to post a comment or two even though I am in awe. I just have to repeat this one line and dam the consequences ( Now I don’t want anyone to think this is a true reflection of his content but it was the final piece of evidence as to his greatness ( In my eyes anyway) I can feel the tension building…. and now for a disappointment I have just spent the last few days combing through...

Before this,there was that.

Before this,there was that.
So before I can get away into the Rockies for our second camping expedition there was one last hurdle. A 2 day course and an exam courtesy of my new job and just to put the pressure on one I can’t afford to fail. So off I set  to a conference center out near the Airport to be tutored in the vagaries of ISO 9001:2008 Internal Audit. Anyone who knows me understands just how much I hate exams, it’s not that I do poorly its just I hate being tested. That extra pressure just totally messes me up. I have been known to get out of a driving test after only 1 Minute and 100 yards from the test center flatly  refusing to carry on. What the hell sort of  stupid question is which way do you turn your wheels on a hill when facing up or down when parking . I am in the prairies not a hill in sight, you would think there were other things to worry about. I can drive, I have for 30 years and back home I have an HGV license and have driven all over the world. On both sides of the road whether I am supposed to or not I can even go the wrong way around roundabouts, no worry….. anyway I got back in the car and completed my test and passed. ( And you know what? Between the 2 years it took me to get the courage to take lessons and the test the Province changed its mind. I could have just swapped my UK driving license for a full Alberta license no questions asked!!!!) So dramatic scene is set and I take the course the exam and pass and now have a shiny new certificate on my wall. Nothing to worry about at all. However it does make me worry a bit about what else is lurking within my new job, I am not the worlds best negotiator. I have been known to sell myself a used car and on one occasion insisted on offering more for a Gibson EB3 than the guy selling it wanted. If you want me to do something tell me what it is and I will get on with finding a way of getting it achieved no matter how bizarre or unheard of...