THE EYES HAVE HILLS
The New Central Library in downtown Calgary has gotten a lot of attention due to its stunning look and uniqueness. So today, Nate and I decided to walk down there.
It’s super cool!
Here are some bobbing things outside.
Here’s the inside.
More inside!
It’s such a cool space. I’m going to have to walk down there and spend some time in it if I ever get a spring or summer semester off.
Here’s a fantastic timelapse of it being built. I love timelapses.
I had no idea the C-Train went under that library. I’m dumb.
Edit: that time-lapse music is amazing. It’s now a Five-Star.
Happy December 2nd!
Oh wait, it’s October 2nd?
YOU COULD’VE FOOLED ME
(and this was taken this morning, before another eight or so inches of snow fell)
Edit: holy hell, it’s a snowy death trap out there.
Edit 2: apparently this is the snowiest October day since like 1957. Also, this September was the coldest September ever recorded in Calgary. I can believe it.
I still prefer this kind of weather to the rainy hell that was Vancouver, though.
Edit 3: hahaha:
BENCHMARK
Heeeey, so we’ve got freezing temperatures and snow in September because of course we do.
But here’s a pretty bench picture I took, so I guess it’s all okay.
When Al Gore dances, does he follow an Al Gore Rhythm?
So due to the OH GOD IT HURTS unseasonably cold weather we’ve been getting this month, I’ve had to transition (at least temporarily) to my winter walking clothes.
This made me realize that I’ve never told you what I wear on my walks based on the season.
I’m sure you don’t actually care, but I’mma talk about it anyway. Because this is my blog and I suck and thus this blog should suck accordingly.
Fight me.
SUMMER!
- Hat
- Short-sleeve shirt
- Pants (stretchy, breathable, has a butt pocket for iPod)
- Socks
- (Plus underwear, bra, shoes)
SPRING/FALL!
- Same as summer, except add a light jacket
WINTER!
- Hat
- Short-sleeve shirt
- Pants (thick, not breathable, fuzzy warm)
- Tights (extra protection from cold)
- Socks
- Headphones (to protect my ears from the cold)
- Gloves (I dual-wield those cheap $2 gloves because I’m pathetic)
- Winter coat (I swear this thing is made of the same stuff that protects the space shuttle during re-entry. It’s such a good coat and it only cost like $5 because I got it at Goodwill)
- (Plus underwear, bra, shoes)
Party time.
Dear Calgary:
It’s fUCKING SEPTEMBER, WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS WEATHER?
I am not mentally ready for snow. I’m just not. Winter ended in mid-April.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy
The Four Skies of Calgary
Summed up very nicely in one photo.
1: THE GODS ARE ANGRY
2: THE GODS ARE MILDLY ANNOYED
3: SUNBURN
4: nice
This photo also demonstrates how quickly the weather can shift between these four modes.
Whining Time!
When I’m in Calgary, I miss my mom and Moscow.
When I’m in Moscow, I miss Nate, Jazzy, and Calgary.
LIFE IS HARD
What is this “air quality” you speak of?
Me: “Walking is healthy because it helps relax you, helps get your heart rate up, and helps get you outside to absorb some of that sweet vitamin D.”
Air quality:
Me: *walking 15 miles outside anyway* “HHEEAALLTTHHYY…”
Where There’s Smoke, There’s Calgary
It’s hot, it’s smoky, and I feel like every time I go outside I lose like 10 minutes off my life expectancy due to said smoke, but I’m sure I’ll be missing this “weather” once it gets cold and horrible again in a few months.
Home
Calgary is a very pretty city.
Flavors Gonna Flave
One of my favorite things I’ve “discovered” on my walks is the giant Stoney Trail bridge that shoots over Bowness Park.
The first time I walked into Bowness Park I had no idea where I was going (as per usual), so I just kept walking west. The further in you go, the less “park” it becomes and instead becomes much more “wood.” Then, when you’re in the thickest part of it, bam!
This giant concrete structure just comes out of nowhere and swoops over the park. It’s so surreal-looking against the woods that it’s almost startling.
But in a good way. I really like the contrast.
Anyway. I discovered this last summer but only just took my first picture of it, so you get to hear about it now.
Happy birthday.
Zoom North
Headed back up to Calgary today. Not ready to go back. I want just a bit more time in Moscow.
Edit: THIS KOKANEE FOOT HAS SIX TOES
WINTER APPROACHETH? WINTER NEVER LEAVETH!
Ah yes, April. The dead of winter.
What the shit, Calgary?
Also, it’s supposed to get to like 50 degrees tomorrow, so guess what’s going to happen to all that snow? Time for sidewalk flooding!
BUH.
DON’T TEX WITH MESSAS
Ha. I’ve walked over most of these.
The accessibility is really bad. That one in the featured picture is a death trap even if you’re fully able-bodied and have no issue going up and down stairs.
Look at the rust!
And this one. This one’s rough. I used to go over this one all the time when I took the “long way” into campus, looping up by Safeway and then heading in from there. But like 30% of its stairs are crumbling and unstable, and I’d rather not risk my leg on that nonsense, so I haven’t gone that way in a long while.
Edit: Hahaha, smile for the Google car, dude!
Claudia Gets Superficial Frostbite: A Canadian Winter Adventure Story
Alternate Title: Claudia Flirts with -25℉ Wind Chill for 45 Minutes and Thinks Nothing Will Go Wrong and Oh How Wrong It All Went
So it was cold today.
It’s been cold here for a bit now, but today felt extra cold because of the wind. Usually the wind is strongest in the morning (and as the sun is going down at night), then tapers off a bit during the middle of the day.
I can’t wait until the middle of the day to go walking because I teach at 3:00, so I usually leave as early as I can (around 9 AM) and do my walking then.
Which is what I did today.
Bad idea.
I always head west first on my walks, which is the direction the wind comes from like 97% of the time. I was fine for the first two miles or so, but the third mile happened to take place on the windiest, most exposed part of the river trail.
I start feeling really, really cold. That kind of cold where you kind of start to stumble around a lot and start to kind of lose a bit of rational thinking.
(I’ve felt it before a lot, haha.)
I also really have to pee, but luckily there’s a heated bathroom a little ways ahead, so I suck it up, push through the wind (which is blowing at me from about 2:00) and finally make it to the bathroom.
This bathroom has a mirror above the one sink. I happened to take a glance into this mirror and I noticed that the whole right side of my nose—the part that was getting the brunt of the wind—was white. Like, chalk white. Like it was starting to actually freeze.
So that was a bit disconcerting, especially considering it was a 2.5-mile walk back home in temperatures that weren’t going to get a whole lot warmer. But I had to get back somehow, so I stayed in the bathroom long enough for my skin to warm back up, then actually took my scarf out of my backpack and put it on (no, I wasn’t originally wearing it. Remember that I’m the smartest person in the world, here), and trekked back. It wasn’t nearly as bad as going out because the wind was at my back, but -25℉ windchill is -25℉ windchill no matter what, so it wasn’t like it was a pleasant walk or anything.
Finished my walk indoors at Anytime Fitness.
Party time in Calgary weather, yo.
Oh My God, Calgary
Calgary: home of the art that burns things, the giant blue ring that…exists?, and now this: the car-flipping rock.
You can’t make this stuff up.
And the Calgary subreddit is having all sorts of fun with it.
“Hazard in the streets, SageHillRock in the sheets.” Hahahaha.
Edit: When the fake Twitter account for the blue ring tweets about the fake Twitter account for the Sage Hill rock…
I love you, Calgary.
Are you Koppen with your climate?
So this is a cool little website. It lets you type in a city and highlights places around the world that have similar climates to that city.
Here’s Calgary, with its Dfb Koppen climate (continental climate, no dry season, warm summer)
Moscow, with its Csb Koppen (middle latitude climate, dry season in a warm summer)
Vancouver, with its Cfb Koppen (middle latitude climate, hell on earth no dry season, warm summer)
And Tucson, with its BSh Koppen (dry and hot semi-arid climate)
Nice!
Election!
YAY, Nenshi got elected as Mayor again. Badass.
I was worried Calgary would pull a “U.S. Voters” move on themselves and have more people voting for Nenshi’s opponent than the polls had suggested, but that wasn’t the case.
Too bad I couldn’t have voted.
3,000 Miles
Yo dawgz, I just hit 3,000 miles for the year. To put that in perspective, it took me until November 1st last year to get to that distance.
So that’s cool.
What’s cooler is this badass little hideaway I found while out walking the other day. This is about as far west as you can go on my current walking route. How cool is it that Calgary is a city of 1.2+ million and you can still get views like this from within the city?
CAT CAFÉ
So Calgary’s first cat café is opening this weekend.
Two things that they’re doing that I really like:
- They’re working with the MEOW Foundation, which means that all the cats in the café are adoptable!
- The cats are sanctioned off in their own special room, apart from the café itself. I was originally worried that the cats might be in the actual café and thus would have plenty of chances to escape (onto a pretty busy street) as people entered/exited the building. But nope! Safe cat room makes things better. AND you need to make an appointment to visit the cat room portion of the café, meaning that the cats won’t be overwhelmed with too many people at a time.
Hopefully Nate and I can go there someday (and order something non-coffee from the menu, haha), though they’re already quite booked into the future.
WOO CATS!
River Knee Knee River
So the Bow is really high.
That’s part of the River Walk that runs under Centre Street. They’ve got it closed off because of the amount of water that’s pooling in that low portion.
IN OTHER NEWS, I think I gave myself runner’s knee. I had no idea runner’s knee was a thing, but ever since I did the dumb of jumping from “run a 10k every other week or so” to “let’s run two half-marathons in a week because we can!” my left knee has been giving me some issues. Not enough issues to make me stop walking (it would basically take my entire leg falling off to make me stop walking, let’s be honest), but it starts to hurt after about 12 miles or so.
At least, I’m assuming it’s runner’s knee. Hopefully not something more serious.
‘Cause like hell I’m seeing a doctor.
OKAY SO NEW GOAL:
I want to run the Calgary marathon next year.
I had no idea that there even was a Calgary marathon (though it makes sense that there is, of course; most big cities have one), but when I went walking down by the river this afternoon they had one whole side of Memorial Drive (plus other roads) blocked off for the marathon.
The runners inspired me, so now I want to go for it next year.
Considering I can only currently run about 10k (6.2 miles) in a stretch, it’s going to take a bit of work to get up to marathon distance (26.219 miles). But considering I run a decent amount and walk as much as I do, I think getting to that point should be possible.
YAY GOALS!
Jimmy crack corn, and I don’t ca—OH GOD NOW HE’S MURDERING PEOPLE
An Ode to Garbage Weather and My Recently Deceased Umbrella
(to the tune of this part of the Pirates of the Caribbean music)
What in the fuck
is all this rain
It’s like it’s GODDAMN VANCOUVER
I’m not a duck
I hate the wet
I just want to be dry.
I should get home
but I cannot
Cause I just LOST MY UMBRELLA
It caught the wind
It flew away
It’s gone forever, goodbye.
True story.
Busking!
Wow, hey, so the other day (Saturday?) when Nate and I were out walking, we stopped to sit on a bench down in Eau Claire to chill out for a few minutes, and there was this guy across from us busking. The song he was singing was super catchy, but I didn’t get the chance to look up the lyrics until this evening.
I was thinking it was a Jimmy Buffett song or something (it had that style), but it’s actually a song he wrote himself! And when I found the song and Googled his name (Perry Wilson), I found this video about him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3doEs6qiI3A
How cool is that?
Here’s a good recording of the song that you can buy for $1 if you like it.
Edit: man, all the songs on that album are good. Just buy the album.
Eigenblogger 