Maybe it wasn’t the most patriotic or family-fun oriented Canada Day ever, but yesterday did mark a real shift in mental state for me. I finally got my head back in the game and it was a nice change. Since early this year, I’ve been working at a project at work to deliver a system for the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA). The first delivery of the software was due this past week, and as such I was there, seeing that it was all working and then training some of the key users on it. This first delivery was just the core functions, so that we could garner feedback and know we are on the right path for the final delivery this fall. Of course, all the tension got ratcheted up when they wanted the first cut for the Stampede, and then further when the royal couple were planning to attend said Stampede. I and some of the other team members have worked overtime to make sure everything was as solid as possible. Even so, there were things that went wrong, and the fellow I’ve been working with at CEMA was on vacation this week, so there was a bit of a vacuum to deal with as well. But in the end it was congratulations and handshakes and they are all really happy and you can tell that they have gained a lot of confidence in our abilities to deliver what we promise.
So Canada Day was the first day back home (and with the training in Toronto the day before, one of only four days I’ve been home in the last two weeks…) and it started lazy with watching Forbidden Planet with the family in the bedroom, but after lunch it shifted to finally dealing with the back yard, attacking the dandelions and trimming back the encroaching broom and blackberries from over the fence. We didn’t end up going down to the Sooke Flats for the celebrations. The one thing we were interested in seeing, the medieval tournament, was scheduled for dinnertime, and I wasn’t about to give up the fajitas that Tammy had planned for some guys swinging sticks around! We did let the kids stay up late and went down to the Sooke River bridge to watch the fireworks. That went really well. We were there in plenty of time, and despite the late hour, Ian was well-behaved. A couple took the spot next to us, with their big dog, Patrick. Ian didn’t pet him, but he didn’t run away screaming, either. I had Ian on my shoulders for most of the fireworks and he enjoyed them. He was tired though, as in one of the pauses near the end, he asked if it was time to go back to the car and go back home yet. 🙂
Tammy tried the “fireworks mode” on Miranda’s new camera last night. Haven’t seen any of the results yet. If any pictures turned out, I’ll post some.
