“We are pleased to advise you that processing of your application for permanent residence has been approved and completed. The Canada Immigration Centre in Calgary will contact you concerning the appointment to pick up your permanent resident card.”
“You may now apply for an open work permit, which will allow you to work in the occupation and location of your choice.”
I got the two letters yesterday and finally got to read the words we’ve been waiting eight and a half months to hear… Canada has decided they like me enough to keep me! Now the bulk of the process is behind us and I just have to wait for the Calgary office to contact …

I’ve seen some crazy stuff in person before, but I can’t think of much that could top Calgary’s Zombie Walk 2006. What’s Calgary’s Zombie Walk? The city’s apparently got a following of zombie lovers, and yesterday was their 2nd annual Zombie Walk. The basic idea is that a bunch of people dress up like zombies and then walk like a zombie around downtown Calgary on a set route together for fun.
I’m all for dressing up like a pirate for International Talk Like a Pirate Day; after all, Lucas and I put on Pirate Pub Crawl 2006 last month where we pub crawled dressed as pirates up and down 17th Ave, but dressing …

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving wishes! This long weekend was very busy, and there’s lots of new pictures to share. Oliver’s 4th birthday was Friday, the Flames vs. Edmonton home game was Saturday, and we had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeremy, Vicki, Clay, and Allison on Sunday. (The food was delicious, by the way!) Today we’re relaxing and enjoying the extra long weekend day off.
You’ll find all of the new pictures in our gallery. Oliver’s birthday pictures are under Oliver->Fourth Birthday (2006). Pictures from the Flames game Saturday are under Miscellaneous->Flames Game Oct 7 2006, and Thanksgiving pictures are filed under Miscellaneous->Canadian Thanksgiving 2006. Enjoy, and happy Thanksgiving!
P.s.- For anyone having any …

Our Pirate Pub Crawl 2006 was a success! We had 12-13 pirates in full attire yarrr’ing up and down 17th Avenue, making a complete spectacle of ourselves. We got a lot of comments from onlookers; some yarrr’d, some laughed, some looked at us as if we were crazy, (they’d be at least half right) and the best were the ones who completely tried to ignore us as if we were a normal occurrence. It was surprising how many random people on the street actually knew about Talk Like a Pirate Day and realized that’s what we were out celebrating for. One thing’s for sure: we drew a lot of attention to …