I hate Winter! Always have, always will. I am a warm-weather person through and through. And as I get older, the snow, cold and horribly DRY Alberta winters have been playing havoc with my health. I’m hoping that my winter health becomes a whole lot better by leaving our dry winter weather… My sinus/ear specialist says it should work wonders for me, ‘cause yes, I’m one of those people that suffer terribly in this climate. I NEED humidity!

The Texas Gulf Coast and Rio Grande Valley has lots of humidity, and warm winters. YAH! We spent Christmas there with Shan and Josh in 2007.

Our new winter place is in Victoria Palms Resort, 15 minutes away from the Mexican border and about a 45-minute drive to the beaches on South Padre Island… We have visited the area a couple of times in the past and love it. Texas is very friendly and reminds me a lot of southern Alberta… Well, except for the Palm trees and cactus.

We bought our place in a gated, secure, 55+ community. Our house is a double-wide manufactured home on a very residential street. We lease the lot and personally own everything on it, ie house, shed, deck, etc. About 65% of the people that own or bring in their big motorhomes/Fifthwheels each winter are from Canada. And the owner of the park is a Canadian from B.C. He owns 3 parks in the Valley and is well-known for supplying the best maintenance and facilities. Victoria Palms is beautiful, has a very residential feel and the common facilties are extensive. We should NEVER get bored when we’re “officially” retired. LOL

Dwight and I are heading down Christmas Day (‘cause that’s when I could get the Airmiles flights). Dwight will come back home after 2 weeks, and I will be staying through Easter. Then Dwight is coming back for 2 weeks in February, then again for a week at Easter to help me close up.

We decided to move on the place now while we are both working, and can afford to buy it. Plus the CDN dollar is up and the crappy economy meant some good deals were available on this type of property. We spent a whirlwind September week in Texas looking at about 20 homes — and this was after narrowing down the list beforehand by dealing over the summer with Brian Macpherson, our home sales guy who actually lives year-round at Victoria Palms. We saw a lot of pictures online, then needed to see the potential places in person. You just don’t know what you’re getting until you actually walk through the door.

We stayed onsite for the week in a one-bedroom condo, right at the Resort, which has the hotel as one of the amenities. And not surprisingly, we’ve already made friends with the year-rounders we met at the Labor Day pot luck and Friday night Karoke. What fun!

Having the Texas place now, means we’ll give up the Christmas and Winter vacations we’ve been taking the past few years and roll the travel money into this place instead. When all is said and done, my 3 months and Dwight’s 5 weeks will cost about the same as those 2 vacations. And now we have a true 2nd home to spend 5-6 months in once Dwight officially retires from SAIT in 4 years.

Even though he only gets vacation time for the next few years, I swear Dwight is more excited that we bought this place than me. He was the real push behind the buy. I think those winter vacations were exchausting him instead of being relaxing. He can’t wait to sit on his own deck and NOT run his ass off for 2 weeks for non-stop vacation go-go-go!

I’m just glad that it’ll be a hell of a lot easier for me to have a dedicated place to work, ‘cause I never left that at home when we went on those winter vacations… My office always comes with me. I’m setting up the 3rd bedroom as my studio and will work while there. Plus, being in Texas is gonna make it a lot easier to make my business trips to see clients in Charlotte, NC and New York City.

We’ve thought about renting the place when we’re not there, but given I will be in-residence from mid-December through the end of March, that only really leaves October, November and April. The region gets it’s hottest weather from May-September… We never had below 35-39C the week we were there. It was HOTTTT! Of course, if I find I don’t like to be alone down there for that long a time without the hubby around, renting it out may become an option.

So, this is the upcoming test winter and I’m getting very excited. Well, other than the work that is gonna be involved getting the place set up as a home. On Christmas Day we walk in the door to an empty house… And I mean EMPTY! We have bought a furniture package that we’ll arrange to have delivered on Boxing Day… But we need EVERYTHING else… Kitchen stuff, bedding, TV, etc. We have a lot of shopping to do the first few days after we arrive. Good thing the Christmas sales will be on!

And now I’d better get to work. Need to pay for the place… and that other stuff!

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Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random
things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.
You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to
know more about you.

Some of these things were covered in a blog entry awhile back, but I’ll reiterate them here anyway…

1. First and foremost… I an an anal perfectionist. But you already knew that.

2. I hate crooked pictures, to the extent that I velcro the bottom of picture frames onto the wall so they will not move.

3. I am a middle child, with all the personality issues that come with being a middle child. If you are a middle child, you know what I am talking about.

4. I think we have a ghost in our current house. He likes to ring doorbells and screw around with the microwave, furnace and fridge.

5. My graphic design studio is situated in my home. I love working from home and will sometimes not get dressed until noon, just because I don’t have to. I wear sheepskin slippers as my work shoes.

6. My husband and I have been married for over 30 years. We met in high school and were engaged before I graduated grade 12.

7. I am a workaholic. I only take one official vacation each year (at Christmas). The rest of the time I haul the portable office with me, and work from wherever I happen to end up.

8. I have one child, my daughter Shannon. She is perfect. I tell people that the reason we don’t have more children is because we didn’t want a dud the second time around. It’s true.

9. I smoked for years and went through addiction-level nicotine withdrawal over a 2-year period in order to quit. I am now a smoker’s worst nightmare.

10. I am completely deaf in my right ear… the result of sticking a tiny pearl bead in my ear when I was 3 years old. Because of the size of the hole in my eardrum, I cannot put my head underwater as the water goes straight down my throat. I could drown through my ear. Really.

11. I have no middle joint in my right hand baby finger. Which meant I learned to type with 9 fingers instead of 10. I also look very dainty holding a teacup.

12. I had Lasik eye surgery on both my eyes and was thrilled to death when I was able to give up wearing pop-bottle glasses after 40 years.

13. I am an avid reader of my daily horoscope and have found that they come true 90% of the time. It’s rather spooky.

14. I love playing Scrabble, even though I lose more than I win.

15. As a child, and through my teenage years, I was a complete klutz. I broke both thumbs and all but 2 fingers. I also broke my collarbone twice, in the same place. I also suffered from juvenile arthritis in my knees as a teenager. My knees are still bad.

16. I love buying, reading and collecting hardcover books. I also like reading “series” books because I hate having a good story end.

17. I read Stephen King books when I travel. Even when I travel alone. I buy these books as paperbacks, due to the travel factor.

18. I am a typographer from way back, and was in the typesetting business for 20 years, prior to evolving into a graphic designer.

19. I am a Macintosh person, even though I am fluent in PC land as well. I am a geek.

20. I love buying furniture and decorating my house.

21. I hate cold Canadian winters and dry Calgary winter air. I will move to the humid coast as soon as Dwight retires.

22. All my best friends seem to live far away. Thank god for facebook.

23. I write everything important that happens over the course of a day in my Daytimer. This has been going on for over 25 years now. The family calls the books “My Life”.

24. I am very organized. I love working with databases. I am good at accounting.

25. I need at least 8 hours of sleep every night… 10 hours if I can get it. And I must sleep all in one stretch. I’m not a napping person.

And now I’m done… that was easy!

I don’t think we were overly surprised when arriving at the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport on Tuesday morning, to find that our flight was being delayed. I thought it was rather stupid, however, that our flight was the ONLY flight delayed… all others on the departure board were on schedule. Given our track record, the delay was obviously OUR fault.

Turns out, the pilot scheduled to bring our plane from Tampa got sick and another pilot needed to be found to get the plane to San Juan… hence the 2.5 hour delay. Given we only had a 3 hour layover in Dallas to make our connection to the Calgary flight, we had pretty much given up hope of making it home that day, even before we got to the counter to drop our luggage.

The agent at the counter didn’t think we had much hope either and prepared us to expect an overnight in Dallas, as the next flight to Calgary would not leave until 10:10 the following morning. Dwight and I have learned to pretty much take what life throws at us, so we just laughed it off, made the best of a bad situation and were grateful that at least it wasn’t going to be a 6 am flight… we’d get a good night’s sleep anyway. Plus I’d packed the toiletry bag in the carry-on for just this eventuality, so at least we’d be able to brush our teeth in the morning!

I think the agent was rather amazed at our attitude. So much so, we got both breakfast and lunch food vouchers to tide us over at the San Juan airport while we waiting. She also got us the bulkhead exit seats, right behind first class… which means LOTS of extra leg room and first out position in the economy cabin. Very impressive, I thought!

We touched down in Dallas at 6:25 pm, just 15 minutes before our 6:40 pm Calgary flight was supposed to leave.

Turns out there were 14 of us needing to make the Calgary connection, all grouped together near the front of the plane. We would need to RUN from Terminal C to Terminal D, up and down escalators and using the tramway to get there. I didn’t think we had any hope in hell of pulling it off. We were told our pilot had tried to get us a Terminal D entry to Dallas to help us out, but couldn’t pull it off. We appreciated his trying.

As we were pulling up to the gate, the flight attendant came on the loudspeaker and asked all the other passengers to please stay in their seats so that the 14 Calgary passengers could deplane first. We were told to look for the AA rep in the green vest as we exited the plane –I assumed in the terminal itself.

Turns out the lady was right outside the plane’s door! We were ushered down the utility stairs at the side of the plane and a bus was waiting for us on the tarmack. Also there was the baggage crew supervisor, who started organizing his guys to start digging our bags out of the hold FIRST. He yelled over to us that he would guarantee our bags made it to Calgary with us! We laughed and wished him luck with that!

Once all 14 Calgary passengers were on the bus, our driver whisked us around the tarmack from one terminal to the other, driving up to the freight elevator right beside our departing plane’s gate. Another AA rep was waiting for us in the elevator and all 14 of us (along with our carry-on luggage) were loaded in and whipped up to the gangway area right behind the terminal gate desk.

Waiting there, was a customs/security agent to check our boarding passes and passports, as we were now boarding an international flight. We were hustled into our seats on the plane exactly 15 minutes after we had deplaned the San Juan flight!

The plane was held for another 20 minutes while our baggage was loaded onto the new plane, and when all was said and done, the Dallas flight left only 30 minutes behind schedule! The final bonus was arriving in Calgary and having ALL our luggage come FIRST onto the baggage claim.

It was truly amazing to me that AA jumped through all those hoops to get us home. We’ve travelled a lot over the last couple of years and have had some “hell” experiences, I’ve gotta tell ya. Not this time though.

I will absolutely make a point of flying American Airlines again in the future!

I voted Conservative in the last election. They won. It may be a minority government, but they won none-the-less.

It completely disgusts me that the Liberals, NDP and Block are banding together to try and force a coalition government. It is nothing short of a political coup. What are we, some third-world banana republic?

For the first time in my life I have been disgusted enough by a Canadian political event to actually send an “email letter” to the Canadian political party leaders. It might not do any good, but at least my opinion will become part of the federal record.

Harper, Dion, Layton and Duceppe all got the same email.

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As Canadian citizens and voters, we performed our democratic rights in October and helped vote in a Conservative Government. We did not vote for NDP, Liberal, Block or any other political party.

It is a sad state of affairs when the great country of Canada could allow a coup to overthrow its elected government. And who in their right mind honestly thinks the coalition parties can “work together”. It’s nothing short of ridiculous. The Block are separatists, yet they would hold the balance of power. What a disgusting situation this would create.

We DO NOT support a coalition government and its destruction of Canada’s system of government.

DWIGHT & LORI McKAGUE
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Calgary, AB, Canada T3K 5G2
Email: lori.mckague@typewise.ca
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If I could only predict when my work life would be busy or slow I could actually take some vacation time. Instead, I take my work everywhere I go. This week, I’m back working from the cottage at Sundre. This is my 4th full week out here so far this season (which began on the May long weekend).

The cottage is my favorite place to work. I use the kitchen table as my desk. My laptop is my main computer these days since it has to go where I go. I have a travel printer, backup portable hard-drive, bring all the client files with me, connect to my highspeed, radiowave dish internet connection, pour a cup of “Lori-Blend” coffee, and I’m good to go. And since I use my cell phone for business anyway, my clients seldom know (or care) where my body is located on any given day. As long as they can find me via phone or email, it’s Typewise as usual.

The view from where I’m sitting in the cottage is 180 degrees around the front of my property, which means lots of trees. I can see the road out front as well, hence anyone that comes and goes. When you open all the windows/doors you get the outdoors coming in.

Working from the cottage is less stressful than the Calgary studio or hotels/condos when we travel. Rather than trying to fill every minute of my work day with client projects or Typewise to-do lists, I do everything in my power to escape outdoors to sit in the sun and read books. I wander when the weather is nice… snuggle in my favorite chair when it’s not. I make a point of sleeping an hour later… and considering how quiet it is at night, I sleep really well.

The weather today is quite glorious after yesterday’s rainy coolness. That was fine though, due to aforementioned insane work day. If I must work insanely, bad weather outside if definitely a plus.

Cross your fingers for me… I’m about to venture outside with my book.

For the past week I’ve thought many times about the questions and insights they have posed to themselves. Even had a conversation about it with Dwight last weekend. And now, early on a Friday morning, and uncharacteristically wide awake, I’ve decided perhaps I should take a look at how I’ve lived my life to date.

My 20′s are a far distant memory. I’m trying to “remember” what goals I had for my life back then, never mind trying to figure out if I met any of them. When I turned 20, Dwight and I had already been married for six months, and I was just leaving SAIT to go look for a “real job” in my chosen field. At 27, we were 4 years into owning our first house, and Shannon was 3 years old. Back in the 80′s we were slowly reaching the “goals” set by most young, married couples of the time… cars, jobs, marriage, house, children. The order might be different for some, but the ultimate “goals” were the same.

When you have a mortgage, children and car payments, extra time and money pretty much dictate whether any other personal “goals” get achieved. And don’t forget “energy”. Working full time to pay for the financial commitments surrounding a house and family can be exhausting. And when you’re not working, you’re taking care of the house and family. Then throw “starting your own business” into the mix, and you can pretty much say goodbye to you even thinking about personal goals for the next few years. That business will take on a life of it’s own. Every waking minute not spent with family will be taken up making that business self-sustaining. This was my young-adult life. And Dwight’s. And through extension, Shan’s childhood as well.

Looking back now, I’m glad Dwight and I lived our young-adult lives the way we did. Now in our early 50′s, we no longer have a mortgage. We own both a house and a cottage. We drive new cars. We travel frequently. We’ve stashed money for retirement. We have a fantastic, independent, “adult” child that we can afford to spoil when the urge arises. And thanks to successes achieved through “the business”, we can afford to live the life we do.

But you know, there are still “personal” goals I’ve yet to fulfill. I want to tandem skydive. I want to zip-line through a rain forest. I want to shoot a handgun at a target and hit dead-centre. I want to go to a Formula 1 Grand Prix race. I want to travel through Europe and Great Britain. I want to retire and move to Vancouver and be closer to Shan again. And I want to reconnect with a lot of people I’ve lost track of over the years due to distance and the paths our lives have taken.

I’ve come to realize that life really is short. And the older I get, the harder it’ll become to fulfill some of the more physical goals I’ve yet to achieve. I don’t want to be sitting in a nursing home 30 years from now regretting not “doing things” in my life. Likewise, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so I’d better start cramming a tad more into my life today.

But I’m also a creature of habit. I need my days to be somewhat predictable in order to stay sane. I don’t like to be stressed out by situations beyond my control. I don’t like to get yanked into someone else’s crisis when it has nothing to do with my bubble of a life. 

I also like to sit and watch television in the evening. I love to read long novels. I like to play scrabble on facebook. In other words, I also like to just sit on my butt and couch-potato sometimes. Nothing wrong with that either. Everyone needs downtime.

So my advice to Shannon and David… and any other young adult, for that matter…

Live your life the way YOU want to. Don’t worry about what other people think about the choices you make… or if they agree with you. Do whatever you can to be happy every single day, and be with the people who make you happy. The decisions you make as you get older will be “right” if your gut instinct says they are right. So follow your gut instincts. And never have regrets. They don’t get you anywhere, and in the grand scheme of things, you can’t change what’s already happened anyway. Just keep moving forward.

And jump out of the way if you see that bus heading straight at you.

At 4:30 this afternoon I will be the proud owner of a brand, spanking, new Lincoln MKX SUV.

I’m hoping that HER name comes to me as soon as I turn the key because I feel bad not already having personalized my purchase.

Suggestions anyone? — POSTSCRIPT… I decided that “Sophie” was perfect.

Quincy (my Infiniti QX4) is being traded-in  and I’m sure there will be tears and tantrums from him when I abandon the poor boy on the dealership lot. He’s been a good SUV these past 3 years, but because we bought him as a lease-return, Quincy is now 6 years old, which means HE’S OUTTA HERE! Sorry old friend, but you simply don’t have enough gizmos to keep me amused anymore.

This, on the other hand, has gizmos, bells and whistles galore! I think I’m gonna need a course on how to run her.

http://www.lincolncanada.com/main/default.asp?language=en&sVehCategory=Lincoln&model=MKX&source=FC&session={486C5B4B-7EC9-4B70-9AD1-99D66AF18F77}&section=1

I love Formula 1 Grand Prix Racing . . .

It is the only sport I watch. LOVE IT I Say! LOVE IT! Dwight got me hooked during the 2006 season and now I probably know more about the ins and out of the teams and drivers than he does. And the stupid thing is, most of the races occur in Europe and Asia, which means I have to crawl out of bed really early on Saturday/Sunday mornings in order to see the qualifiying runs and races live on TV. Anyone that knows me well is aware that I usually have a 10 am rule when it coming to sleeping-in on weekends, so this compulsive hobby really cramps my style. My favorite driver is Felipe Massa, a Brazilian driver with Ferrari. I like to refer to him as Shan’s twin brother, ‘cause he was born the same year…just a fews months apart. It made for a long pregnancy. He’s my boy! Dwight and I have decided that we are going to go to a Grand Prix race in person someday. Not sure when, or where, but it’s gonna happen!

I have always wanted to fire a handgun . . .
Not at a person mind you. At the targets in a shooting range. I want to experience the challenge of perfection that this hobby would hold. I may just pursue the hobby if, and when, I ever get my winter home on the Texas gulf coast. They like their guns down there… so I should find lots of friends to go shooting with.

I am a middle child . . .
If you are also a middle child, you may know how I feel. We tend to be a society unto ourselves. Not the oldest, not the baby. just stuck in the middle, taking whatever leftovers our parents had for us. Always striving to get them to notice us. My father-in-law was also a middle child. Years ago we had a conversation about it. He understood. He was a dear man, and I miss him.

My mother was adopted . . .
Which has left half my family tree with absolutely no leaves whatsoever. And because any information Mom may have about her natural past is kept firmly locked behind a door to which only she keeps the key, I will always have that hole in my lineage. I wish she’d open the door and let me see what’s there.

I love buying furniture . . .
Selling the house and moving into the condo this past summer has done wonders to feeding this habit. Some redecorating appeared to be in order given the scale of some of my new rooms. Cushy upholstery. Hardwoods. Leather. Walls of bookcases. Unique little tables. Yummmm!

Crooked pictures drive me nuts . . .
Therefore I have velcroed the bottom of all pictures to my walls.

I am an anal perfectionist . . .
If you know me even just a little bit, you’ll have no problem agreeing with this assessment. Whether it’s with the jobs I do for clients, or the way I arrange ornaments on shelves… everything must be in exactly the right spot. There was no way my daughter would have ever gotten away with throwing wild parties at the house as a teenager—she knew that I’d find out just by the placement of something on a shelf. I’m also a clean-freak. Luckily I have a fabulous cleaning company to take care of doing this for me… ‘cause while I like my house and studio spotless, I’m not a big fan of doing it myself.

. . . enough procrastinating.