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Photo Friday always offers up an opportunity to get better at my craft, and at first this week's challenge had me stumped. At the time, I filed it towards the back of my mind, as I've had more than my share of work to get accomplished. When I was finally prepared to find my entry for the challenge, I knew that this photo would best show growth.

Last weekend, when the weather was so very nice, Sonja and I took a walk out to Nose Hill Park, and while we were laughing at the people who had dogs in the area of the park with all the wildlife, we saw this fine gentleman taking his pocket bike out for a rip. He had a smile coming for days, when I raised the lens barrel towards him, knowing that in this moment he was famous even it it was just the two of us. Looking back, it's a great representation of growth, as the man appears to enourmous compared to the bike he is riding. The effect is further compounded with the narrow running track that runs through the park. He appears to be a giant in a man's world.

Could it be that we've already finished the first of these 'quarter' things that the financial world is so wrapped up in? It seems like it was just last night that the New Year was knocking at the door. Keeping my head down, and focused on my many tasks has allowed Father Time to slip things past me that would regularly demand more attention. I know that it always seems that I'm complaining about not having enough time to do the things that I want, but very rarely is justification provided. Thus, wanted or not, here are the things that need to get done in the next two weeks:

• Build a router table
• Have soil delivered and construct a raised garden bed
• Fix the NW gate
• Fix ImageMagick on my MacBook
• Attend the last few Roughnecks games
• Give a presentation at CPS
• Level out the yard and re-seed it
• Help Pete build his Wine Rack
• Go car camping at Crow's Nest Pass
• Take photographs of a house
• Play Craps with fake money

Not bad for fourteen days, eh?. Throw in a little sleep, some time to eat and the time spent earning my keep, and I've pretty much plugged up the next two weeks.

The last few days flew by much faster than desired. Every night of the week was filled with a miniature adventure.

Most recently I spent the end of the week attending classes for my Master's Certificate in Project Management, and as usual it was a very educational. This was the fourth session where we learned about Procurement of materials and services, and I found the whole area of 'Contract A' and 'Contract B' and how you go about evaluation of vendors and bids was very interesting. Furthermore, I have discovered that Calgary's weather is on a two week cycle that corresponds to the two week cycle of my course. It seems that whenever the Weather in Calgary is due to be absolutely spectacular for a couple of days, those are the days I'm due to be indoors sacrificing half of my weekend.

Friday night we went out to celebrate Sonja's birthday at Classic Jack's. It was a fun time and a good deal of people cycled through to say hello and wish their best. I definitely had a good time catching up with everyone, but in hindsight a measly six hours of sleep was barely sufficient to keep me alert during Contract Law thankfully my friend caffeine was there to ensure my wakefulness.

Saturday after my class, we met up with the usual gang for another battle involving the Roughnecks. We were triumphant over the Sting, and after a long drought we now face two games in two weeks. Hopefully we can improve on our third place standing.

Today was a nice relaxing day, with a sleep-in, followed by a visit with Peter, and a viewing of TMNT. The movie was just as cheesy as I had expected. It brought me back to my after school cartoon days, and the CGI was phenomenal. I'm not sure if it was worth the big-screen, big-sound price, but it was entertaining. For a PG flick it did have a pretty twisty plot, and they did a pretty faithful job bringing the Turtles back.

Now, I'm standing at the end of another weekend, with another packed week ahead of me. It isn't all stacked on the working side of the coin, as I do have an evening watching Nelly Furtado in the Saddledome. Keeping on this pace, I'm sure I'll be turning around and March will be gone.

The results are in: I had fun this weekend. Late in the week, a few of us attended the Calgary Auto Show and it was pretty nifty. Ford's Super Chief was outrageous in how huge it was. I was quite impressed with the prototype of the new Camaro, and of course, the Exotics at the show were fabulous.

Friday, I received my new Mac Book. I tried to use the snazzy user synchronization to pull the user from my Mini, but I wasn't about to sit around for a couple days while the Firewire transfered everything. I quickly put an end to that, and started personalizing my newest technological gadget.

Saturday, well it was St. Patrick's day. The day where everyone thinks they are a little Irish. I had some work to get done earlier in the day, but by nightfall, we were surrounded by green, and indulging in some adult beverages.

Sunday, we an unscheduled relaxation day. It was nice, except for the fact that some time during the evening the light fixture in the kitchen fell off the ceiling. It wasn't a whole lot of fun climbing around in the attic trying to set up some anchor points for light, but now that light is so well secured to the ceiling that I could hang from it. I'm not going to try mind you, but it's good to know.

My weekend was shorter than most, but still, productivity was high and a lot was taken off the to-do list. On Friday night Sonja and I went out for a bite of sushi at Sakana Grill in the north. The place was packed and we had to wait before being seated. Despite the wait, the food was spectacular, and before long the salmon, tuna and various imitation meats were all gone, and I was happy with my distended belly. After the meal in nice ambiance, we strolled over to the Cineplex to take in the film rendition of Frank Miller's 300

The movie, plainly put, was excellent. I somewhat knew the storyline, and had an idea of what to expect. The thing, I believe, that set this movie apart was the cinematography. As a photographer, I have a bit of an understanding of light and shadow and how it plays on three dimensional bodies, and this movie is just excellent scene after excellent scene. You could stop the movie at any point and have an excellent candidate for a photograph or poster. The movie also make you feel good, and I have been geeking out about it since I've seen it. The one scene where Queen Gordo "gets even" actually made me scream out a 'Hell Yah!' right in the theatre. The visuals along with the wicked story make 300 a movie I would recommend to anyone who is old enough to watch it.

Saturday was a day to get stuff done. The first order of business was to get caught up on sleep, which is something I have been meaning to do for quite some time. Afterwards yard work sucked up the remainder of the day. We managed to pull six bags of leaves, grass and garbage along with three garbage cans full of branches out of the yard. Now there is no piles of fall leaves blown against the buildings, and my crab apple tree in the back yard is under control. I was surprised at the stuff that I found buried in the hedge. The stranger being a mug from the City of Calgary, a comb, a empty box for Huggies and spike for tying a dog to a particular spot. Even though the weather is sure to turn more winterish, I'm glad that the majority of the spring cleanup is done.

Today, I had to make a sacrifice in order to attend classes for my Master's Certificate in Project Management. The class was entertaining, and definitely full of useful information, but being indoors, on a Sunday when it was over sixteen degrees outside was a tough haul. It didn't take much convincing for the class for us to sacrifice a couple breaks and cut our lunch in half so that we could get out almost 45 minutes early. My extra free time was spent on a nice leisurely walk out to the 1127 hectare Nose Hill Park. The weather was nice and there were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine. On the walk out I came across the fence pictured above. It reminded me of the shambles my own fence used to be in, although; I think with the effort taken to secure all those boards in place with twine probably could have been better used with a hammer and nails.

Tomorrow, I have the second class in this week's module, and then into a four day work week before St. Patrick's Day.