December 28, 2009, 5:54 pm
Saturday we left Louise (the rented car) at the hotel and spent the day walking around Calgary with the aid of the C-train. The Glenbow Museum was fantastic, had lunch in Chinatown and walked arouund some parks to play in the snow. We got some Big Rock beer (a brewery in Alberta) to take back to our room.
Leaving Calgary on Sunday we decided to go straight past Banff to Lake Louise and walk all over the lake because it was covered in deep snow (and ice below). We checked in at the Samesun Backpacker hostel, and tried to find a lively bar in town to eat and watch the Vancouver Canucks – Calgary Flames ice hockey game but ended up going pack to the small hostel bar. It turned out well, although we drank a lot. Met some nice people.
It’s not just Monday but my birthday, and I’m using the really bad internet connection at the hostel in Banff. Lots of mixed fun in the snow today, going out now to find somewhere to eat a good steak. I think I’ll only have one beer tonight, if I get a free birthday one from somewhere.
November 28, 2009, 3:58 pm
Five weeks ago I thought up a great birthday surprise for Tree on 5th floor. She loves xkcd, and wanted to start a student society just to get funding for a playpen ball pit. Because university students are possibly grown-ups now (follow that link if you don’t understand).
Small plastic balls are quite expensive. Ballons aren’t that much cheaper, but they are bigger so can cover more area cheaply. I made several calculations using the ball pit calculator and randomly walking in to Max & avin’s room to measure a double room. The double room sadly requires more ballons, but gives us the possibility of a getting access to make it a surprise.
Three weeks before her birthday, messages and secret conversations started going around. I was worried that Beverly wouldn’t let us in because I always seem to be where people are making noise when she’s trying to sleep or study. But she was so nice then she helped way beyond just letting us in the room. I bought 225 ballons that said 14 inch size, and we blew them up around 7-10 inch diameter (the yellow ones popped easily). The room ended up about 3 times my calculations, so I think they have a packing efficiency much closer to 30-40% rather than 65%.
We blew lots up on Tuesday night, and then the 5th floor girls went to White Spot for a birthday dinner on Wednesday evening. Me and Steph sadly had to make excuses to to join them, but it added to the feeling that this was a low-key, not really bothered, birthday. The surprise was so great, and Tree has been similing ever since, that I had to upload lots of photos. The captions include some more of the story and the trouble we had moving them about lots of locations. They only miss the stage where my bedroom was filled with girls and ballons, because I was having to get work done in the computer lab.
