Welcome to Edmonton, the New Jersey of Alberta. Sorry about the fires.

This morning concluded my first full week in the arctic tundra of Edmonton. (Kidding, it's either no' so bad, or I'm getting used to it). So, thoughts on it? I really don't like fire alarms. Or fires. I vaguely remember O. and J. talking about fires/fire alarms in their apartments, and I can only guess it must be some sort of wierd "Welcome to Edmonton" thing that newcomers are not privy to. Early last Sunday, about 2:30 am, some drunk jackass thought it would be a good idea to pull the alarm. (Funny aside. I actually slept through the alarm. Bne had to shake me awake. Ironically, all he would have had to do was snore once in my ear to shoot me bolt upright, shaking with righteous anger and sleep deprivation.) So there we are, me, Bne, my Mum and her little dog. We had the worst response time in the world. I'd like to claim partial credit, but really, a lot of it had to do with Mum needing to coordinate her coat and boots, and getting Butter Chubs Jr. all wrapped up in her blankey before we could escape the flames. Yeeaaaaahh.......
So it turns out to be a false alarm. And I go back to bed, swearing about Bne's apartment, although, bless his heart, it wasn't his fault. I just needed to blame something, and his apartment building was right there, minding its own business. Fast forward to Friday night. I have successfully completed my first week at work. More about that later. We go out for dinner at Bne's swankity restaurant, the "Buttery Meat House" (motto: "Yup, it's a heart attack.") and go over to a friend's house to watch Bon Cop, Bad Cop (awesome!). We return about 2 am, and notice there are numerous fire trucks on our block. I jokingly said, "If that's our building, I'm going back to Calgary." Famous last words. There was a fire on the floor below our apartment. Fortunately for us, the smoke damage was limited to that floor, as should it should be for one who doesn't check to see if their cigarette is out before chucking it in the trash. Xtreme Stupid. So that's been my Edmonton experience so far. I'll talk about my job later, when I get a better bead on it.
And lastly, a private missive to Kovbasa. Be good, be safe, and take care of yourself. Be good to yourself, because not many people deserve it as much as you do. You are very important to the world. Remember what Markus Aurelius said, "The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it." Make yours wonderful.