Saskatoon

So, today (Friday) I have to fly again. Ahhh, I hate flying so much. This time I will be flying from Kelowna to Calgary and then Calgary to Saskatoon. I am driving Dylan, Jesse and I to Kelowna and then we are flying out of there. At least the flights are paid for and the hotel rooms. That makes me pretty happy. Dylan claims they have prize money at this meet...so, if I do not shit the bed and throw a decent mark maybe I will get something, who knows? I arrive tomorrow afternoon and then we throw on Saturday, have a banquet Saturday night and then depart Sunday morning and come back to Kamloops and train in the afternoon. Should be a cool weekend.

I have not been throwing very well in practice for the past week because of my new program but today I felt pretty loose. Just thinking about competing makes me so excited so I am hoping for something interesting, if not...oh well, it is not a huge meet. The cool thing is that Dr. B had us train through this meet and is just telling us it is for fun and that the real meets start at the end of March and last until June/July...not now. Today I threw the 10k and then did some other easy things in practice. If nothing else, this will be a fun weekend.

Saskatoon is a pretty neat city. I was always infatuated with the place and even was thinking about going to school there for university and then possibly for a graduate degree. When I hitched across Canada I ended up staying with a family for a week in the town and I got to know it fairly well. It is a clean place but at this time of year it is brutally cold. About -30 F. It is so cold in the winter because it is on the plains and then in the summer it tends to get quite hot. Probably similar to Fargo. I called the people who I stayed with and I am hoping to meet up with them tomorrow or Saturday so that will be a good time. I also told Dylan and Jesse that I would much rather hitch to Saskatoon than freaking fly, oh well.

My favorite professor in University, Bill Petersen did some graduate work in Saskatoon. The odd part was that I did not find this out until I was going across Canada. He and I were working on an independent study together prior to me dropping out of school. We became very close and he told me about the city also. It will be cool to go back there just to see where he went to school again. He had passed away on December 20th of 2006 from prostate cancer. It was shitty since he was by far my favorite professor and really taught me a lot about critical reading.

I am also hoping to meet the University of Saskatchewan's track coach for the second time. When I passed through on my first trip, he was kind enough to meet with me and show me the facilities and take me around the campus. He was a very nice guy and I think it will be cool to talk with him and just talk about how I have made this roundabout path back to Saskatoon.

One of the guys who picked me up and took me to Edmonton also works in Saskatoon so Saturday night I am going to go to the bar that he may still work at and see if I can talk with him. He was one of the cooler and funnier guys that I met on the trip and was very intelligent and it will just be neat if I can talk with him again as well. It should be a fun weekend.

The only part that sucks is that I have to fly, hahaha. Anyway, Mom...if I die make sure you get Anton and my Star Trek dvds back home. Also, give Brooks my timberlands so he can use them for work. Kai can have my books but give Brooks V for Vendetta. Give Anton to Kai so he can piss all over her apartment and wreak havoc with Copper. Alright, hopefully I survive this weekend otherwise...I will see you on the other side...hahahahaha!

P.S. If we die in a Bombardier plane, make sure you sue their asses. I have been reading a lot about how they have a lot of technical problems and what not. Then start a farm and training center in my name, haha. Again, I love you all.