Yeahww...

10:10pm - Short and sweet.  I've been so full of energy for the last few days that I don't know how to burn it all up.  I'm bouncing around all over the place.  Happy, happy, happy for the most part.  Don't know why.  Is it the sun?  The heat?  Being off work?  A.'s suggestion?  I wanted to bag the Middle Sister tomorrow, but an 80% chance of thunder put a stop to that.  I don't want to be standing atop a mountain with hiking poles, metal in my pack, and getting drenched.  So, instead I turned today into Stampede Day.  Normally I stay far away from that, but as I've been itching to do more stuff, figured what the heck.  My summary is that:

Smell of booze + horse shit + BO + riding the vomit comet = Calgary Stampede. 

The midway stuff I guess is fun if you're a kid or a teen (I though a couple of the rides could be good for longer exposure photos, but it obiously wasn't dark yet), the animals just reeked and I don't get how there's money involved wih horse racing, I felt sorry for the RCMP guys who manned their tents with no-one being interested in their stuff (the cornet army guys were more successful), watched in amazement how people get sucked into buying the stupidest things (detox machine, anyone?), and was in plain disbelief how drunk people are even before dinnertime.  I almost went home after that, but figured I'd give it another chance and stuck around for the Rock 'n' Roll show.  At least there was some live AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, KISS, and U2.  Top it off with Elvis Stojko (I was never a fan of him; this is Kurt Browning country) and Vaughn Chippeur (I first saw him at Olympic Plaza a few years ago before anyone knew who he was), and at least the $14 admission was worth it.  I was also thrown off my healthy eating bandwagon (chuckwagon???): 26 mini donuts (because two bags barely cost more than one), a bottle of Coke (how can I resist free Coke that they're giving away?), a greasy slice of pizza (I bet they pump something into the air to make you hungry; I had just eaten at home), and a bag of cotton candy.  Yuck.  This will probably last me for the next decade. 

Just in case anyone's having trouble attracting an ass (err, redneck).

U2, Led Zeppelin, KISS & AC/DC at least made it worth my time.

A mural that I spotted on my way home grabbed more of my attention than the Stampede did.

12:50am - Just spent a couple of hours catching up with DAK.  It's nice when someone calls you just because :-).  Might see you in Calgary next week.