LynnF

Penguins smell bad. So do most of the fishermen I know But penguins are cute. Just like some of the fishermen I know I believe in global warming. I met up with Al Gore last week and I've joined his fundraising team. Him, David Suzuki and I are having a big meeting next month. I'm inviting Clive to be a guest speaker. It will be a no-guns-allowed event. Sorry Clive - it's 2 hours past the cocktail hour and I'm feeling a little wiley

Of course we care LS Glad you're having fun sailing the high seas of Europe. Better hurry back - the boat is about to go out for the inaugural voyage of 2008 on the Bow!!!

Sorry that we missed it....sounds like we missed a fun time. There's always next time though! Congrats on raising all that money and a good event - awesome to hear!

I have a Blackberry Pearl (pink, natch) and I love it too. The phone reception is 100 times better than what I had with the Mike phone. Never drops calls, coverage area is way better than my son's Rogers phone. I have the unlimited web and email. IMHO...if you're going to go email, really be careful that you won't go over your plan if you don't go unlimited. Otherwise your bills are gonna be huge. I have a myfaves30 plan plus unlimited web and email and it only costs me $75/month. Only thing I don't like is that when I travel there are no plans for your email and web to cut down on the roaming charges like you can with your phone service.

Oh Ed...why didn't you take me with you? PDC is my FAVOURITE place on Earth!!! Have a mojito or 12 for me. And make sure you take some fishy pics if (when!) you catch something. BTW...the Flames are as hot as the Mexican weather.

Seriously.....and I don't care who you vote for....tell me this isn't a team that doesn't deserve to go on past round one. I love it. Joseph wiping away tears. Nolan getting the winner. The two "old" guys pull it out for the Flames. Fantastic.

I just woke up the sleeping men in my house Unreal....Flames deserve this win.

Flames kick ass at come-from-behind hockey. And ain't no way you can blame the last 2 goals on Kipper. I feel sorry for him - guy stands on his head game after game and his team consistently lets him down in the zone. That being said, the best thing Keenan did this game was pull him. He was clearly rattled (rightfully so!) and, even if you don't believe he's the answer, Joseph is playing rock solid and his head is in the game. Oh ya...****ENEH.....3-3. That's our Flames baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little optimistic on 2009 there aren't ya Darren?

I also heard that they tried to second him to Kentucky

Good stuff Al - thanks for checking and letting us know!

They got all the rain last spring Dave....took forever for us to get out working there due to the mush. I think Red Deer is a good place for it. Good snow pack is fine and dandy, but if you go all of July with no rainfall, you're still back at square one with fire bans, closures and low stream flows.....like last year.

I'm with ya there Birchy. I'm still sitting at my kitchen table playing Scrabble, waiting to leave for work. I think it might just be a snow day. Snow day on April 10th -- effing ridiculous. If this turns to rain/thundershowers later today as they DID predict, watch what happens to the river....

I thought my heart was gonna leap out of my chest the last minute of that game. Little too close. Kipper was truly the star, but the Flames were super aggressive out there and deserve some props - they know better than to try and outskill the Sharks and got the job done. So let 'em keep doing what they're doing and I look forward to some people eatin' some crow here. That being said, I'm gonna predict that the game they will lose this series will be tonight's. If they prove me wrong and come out swinging two nights in a row, then I think there's a reasonable expectation they'll make it to round 2.

and prw.un But I'm gonna give the drinking thing a try and I'll let y'all know how it works out for me.

Well...I personally couldn't think of a better way to spend an anniversary. But then again, your wife may not be as passionate about camping, fishing and drinking as I am. So.....tell her I'll bring a really good bottle of red for her and make it worth her while to show up

Thanks, Al, for pointing me here. If our trailer is out of storage, I might be able to talk the old guy into coming. Therefore: Taco - we'll bring the rum Lady - I'll be mixing Martini's Al - I'll stock some Drambuie (ever had the homemade stuff...outstanding!) Everyone else: We've got a couple of pontoon boats and fins that we could bring if anyone needed some. Sounds like a fun time.....

This is a true story – written by me, experienced by me. Today - one of the longest days I can remember. Today I found out that a good friend is going to die. Leanne is 32 years old, is a single mom to a 7 year old boy and a 5 year old girl and has terminal pancreatic cancer. She is the funniest, liveliest, bubbliest, most optimistic person I know. Even in the face of major surgery this morning she had her sense of humour about her telling everyone that she was going under the knife to get her tooma removed (in her best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice). This nightmare began a few short weeks ago when she got admitted to hospital with severe diabetic related blood sugar problems she knew nothing about (her blood sugar peaked at 452). She was so jaundiced that she couldn’t see. Yet she still found a way to hit on the male orderly. She got rushed into emergency surgery to have a stent put into her liver and that cured her, temporarily, of many things. After a week of being in hospital she fought to get released so she could get home to her children who were being looked after by a work associate’s mother. Her parents had yet to fly in from Nevada. That was 2 weeks ago. Since then, her parents have flown out and she has been to see a surgeon who told her what was going to happen. What they hoped was going to happen. He told her that he would operate and either remove the tumour entirely or, if they couldn’t do that, remove part of it and then she would recuperate for 6 weeks and then go to Seattle for another 6 weeks for chemotherapy. She lives in Vancouver, Washington right now so that would mean 6 more weeks away from her “babies” as she calls them. That, however, is not how things happened today. Despite all of the hope and optimism and prayers, she was told today she was going to die. When they opened her up in the operating room, they found the cancer to be so bad that they just closed her back up. The size of a normal pancreatic tumour is, apparently, the size of a pea. Hers was the size of a golf ball. They think she’s had this cancer for over 3 years now. They told her she’d have 2 months to live with no chemotherapy and 6-12 months to live if she did some treatment. How does one decide what to do when given those options? My eyes have not been dry since I heard the news. My heart aches for her and her babies and how the world will lose her spirit and her children will grow up without their mother. I wonder what will happen to them as there are issues with the father. Children should not be without their mothers to raise them. Women should not die when they’re just 32. Especially women like Leanne. I haven’t mentioned this, but I’ve never met Leanne. I’ve talked to her a lot by email, on the phone and on another bulletin board we belong to. I’ve “known” her for over 4 years and, despite the fact that we only met in the virtual world, I consider her a dear, good friend who I am heartbroken for. The power of internet friendships should not be understated. I will be booking a plane ticket to see her because I feel I must. I will share my tears with her, my condolences and my sympathies. I will also share a lot of laughs with her because she will still have that in her despite the knowledge of her fate. I will honour her by reflecting on my own life and the many blessings and good fortunes I have – ones that she will not live long enough to experience for herself. I know you don’t know my friend Leanne but please say an extra prayer for her children tonight and honour her by making someone laugh, doing something kind for someone or by simply appreciating the gift of good health and prosperity that you have – even if you had thought you don’t. Lynn

Oh Clive....time to leave your basement. I almost chucked when I saw that

Well Dave - if by "us" you mean the collective "us" then...well....enjoy the snow. If by "us" you mean you and me...then I prefer my chocolates in a Bernard Callebaut box

Here is a recipe that will go with any white fish - not just whitefish Get some of those kettle chips (the jalapeno and cheddar Miss Vickies ones rock), crush them up. Dip the fish in either buttermilk or ranch salad dressing (whichever you prefer) and roll them in the potato chip breadcrumbs. Put on a cookie sheet and cook (preferably on convection bake to keep it super crispy) and you will have the wickedest tasting fish you've ever had. We did this with halibut and it was OUTSTANDING.

I remember back in my Toronto days pushing a baby stroller through this crap day after day one fine April in 1994. I'll take this crap over what they're getting now. I don't miss those highways turned into skating rinks from the freezing rain storms. Driving in one of those is the closest I ever came to biting it. I left half an hour later for work this morning and it was a breeze....well as much of a breeze as the Deerfoot can get.

God...what a bunch of romantic schmucks you guys are. My man knows how to treat me. No chocolates or cards for me....I'm going to paradise on V Day. Y'all could take a lesson

Dustin, I watched the whole game last night and I fail to see how Calgary got away with murder last night. I do agree that Edmonton forgot how to play hockey and I will agree that Vancouver getting beaten was good too, but the plain and simple fact is that Calgary outplayed Edmonton (like I knew they would after the shellacing last game). Need proof? Check the shots on goal - that's why your guys lost, plain and simple. It's just too bad that Kipper's shutout was ruined. By a nice goal nonetheless.

As TCBT would say: Marveilleux et SENSATIONALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!