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Recent Happenings

Since I haven't actually talked about what's going in my life recently, I thought I'll give you a little update.

Last evening I along with my dad went to the 100th anniversary of the Rankine hydro plant in Niagara Falls. That's the plant that was acquired by Fortis when they bought Canadian Niagara Power. It's quite mindboggling that even 100 years later, it's still working, not that efficiently mind you. There were a bunch of bigshots there at the ceremony such as the Ontario Minister of Energy, the Mayor of both Fort Erie and Niagara Falls as well as other random politicians for whom I didn't bother to remember titles. In any case, it was generally boring speeches but I did get to meet some of the people my dad works with. A pretty fun loving crew from what I saw. Generally pretty happy and not all that serious. They sure enjoyed cracking jokes. Anyways, they were all very nice to me; apparently my dad talks about me at work...

One interesting point though was the fact that Rankine Station was inducted into the North America Hydro Hall of Fame. It's one of only 18 stations in North America and one of two in Canada to have been given the honour. That was probably the most exciting part of the evening. Also, I saw something that really hit a soft spot in me. As we approached the festivities, I heard some music floating out. As we got closer, the tune sounded very familiar. I recognized it as "Girl From Ipanema", a tune that I have played with the combo back on PEI. It was definitely a nostalgic moment for me. So through the reception after the official events, I stood there listening and taking in all the music that I could. There was trumpet, keyboard and drums, which is very similar to our old group, minus the bass. Oh I longed to go play a couple standards with them, but after much deliberation, I decided that wasn't the best idea! ;-)

Anyways, here are a few more pictures I took during the event.


That's the Niagara River from the observation area of the Rankine facility. That's just before the Horseshoe falls. As you can see, the water's rushing pretty quickly at this point.


If you read my previous post about Niagara Falls, you'll know what I mean when I say appearances can be deceiving. The skyline would have you believe this is a much larger city than it really is.


And as we were leaving, I decided to grab this photo of the ever present rainbow caused by the spray coming up from the falls.

I'm also fairly proud to say that this morning (well, more like noontime) I went for a run. Yes, I stopped procrastinating and finally did it. I think I started off too quickly and as a result got tired pretty fast. Of course, I can't say I'm in shape whatsoever. However I got lost in the neighborhood a bit so I probably ran, what 2 kilometers before I found my way back to the house again. I did that route in about 10 minutes, which I guess equates to 12km/h. I have no clue how fast that actually is, but boy did I feel it afterwards. (feels ashamed) Gotta start somewhere though I guess.

Right-o, anyways as I sit here and listen to Coldplay's X & Y CD, I realized something I've always wanted to get out there. Do you ever notice that music will bring you back to a specific point in time for an instant? For example, this X & Y CD really reminds me of the last few days I spent on the Island. Fur Elise (Beethoven) always reminds of the last level in the Soviet campaign of Command and Conquer: Red Alert (yeah, yeah I know...), It's Getting Hot in Here reminds me of the Colonel Gray dances. I always envision Michael and I standing beside a tree near the back of the playground at West Kent Elementary whenever I hear Gettin' Jiggy With It and Norah Jones reminds me of the time when Ellen wanted me to play one of her tunes. There are countless other tunes that remind me of certain events. The images I see are so vivid that I think I am truly there. Then I realize I'm not and I get this pang of sadness about days long gone by.

I truly miss my life on PEI and the people who shared the experiences with me. I regret nothing though and my memories are only happy ones.
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Blogger Charlie wrote at 7/30/2005 8:13 p.m.

*sniff

Those were indeed good times, times which I'll always think back upon with fondness.

Anyways, so is the Shad program over now? You going to be hanging out around Vancouver for a little while longer? Hope it all went to your satisfaction. ;)    



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