Korean Festival

Now that I've been gone from Korea for over a year, I can dabble in some of the better parts of Korean culture without suffering some kind of psychological trauma. This past weekend we decided to go all out and check out the Korean festival being held here in Calgary. The best part about it was that I could go and immerse myself in all things Korean for as long as I wanted, then I could get in my car and drive home. Some of the other highlights included:

• lots of galbi and duk-boki (although the prices weren't nearly as good as in Korea)
• a traditional ceremony celebrating a couple's 50th wedding anniversary
• stands selling "Be the Reds" hats and t-shirts
• me making the vendors laugh by trying to pay with a 10,000 won bill
• all the Koreans referring to us as "wayguks" (foreigners), even though we were both born and raised in Alberta!!

In With Pat Quinn

Caroline had to work at the Telus Skins Game in Banff last weekend, so after my hiking trip I joined her to make a little vacation out of it. Five of the top golfers in the world were there, each representing his decade, so the field included Sergio Garcia, John Daly, Stephen Ames, Greg Norman, and Jack Nicklaus. Of course, there were a lot of spectators, so I only watched a bit of the golf (but I watched enough to see Greg Norman hit his ball right into the gallery and bean a guy on the head!)

The golf was great, but I'd have to say the highlight was meeting Canadian hockey icon Pat Quinn. He was there on behalf of Making the Connection, a group that educates people on the link between high cholesterol and heart disease. Pat was gracious and kind, and we had a good chat about his future prospects (offered a job with the Boston Bruins, but turned it down) and law school (turns out he took some time to go to law school after retiring as a player). Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Bertha Lake

I didn't make it to the mountains as much as I would have like to this summer, but I was able to get away for the August long weekend with my new hiking pals (aka brothers-in-law) Craig and Ian. We did an overnight trip to Bertha Lake, a relatively easy hike in Waterton, one of my favorite places on earth.

The trip was great- I caught a couple of nice rainbow trout, and had a great time up at the mountain lake. Craig and Ian were great to hike with, we didn't get eaten by any bears (like the "girls" feared we would), and all in all it was a great time. I'm hoping that this will be the first of many trips in the years to come.

A challenge to vegetarians

Words of wisdom from my brother, Rob: "If we're not supposed to eat animals, then how come they're made of meat?"