It's snowing up here on Burnaby Mountain. It pretty much has been snowing for a week straight, though, not a lot of it stuck last week. Even in the city there was snow, but not too much until last weekend. We got about a foot of snow over Saturday and Sunday. I went up to Cypress on Sunday. I had to go! Aileen tried snowboarding for the first time and was hooked. She caught on pretty quick. The skies where clear on Monday and it stayed cold. Unusual for Vancouver! It was so beautiful! I enjoyed driving around and seeing all the snowmen...usually they all melt by the next day.

My family went for dim sum at Sun Sui Wah on Saturday to celebrate my younger brother's birthday. The food there is really good, but I really just enjoy sampling many different morsels of food and each is a work of art. My favourites were the poached geoduck congee, soy sauce braised quail, and two more dishes that I'll have to describe because I don't know what they are called. One was a deep fried sesame ball...it was a 2mm thick pastry shell about the size of a tennis ball, perfectly round, hollow and rolled in sesame seeds. Surely, it is made of a batter, and the expanding hot gases inside make it round and hollow, but it must be an art form to make them. The second was a round of deep fried egg tofu topped with a ball of minced prawn. The tofu was velvety soft, with the lightest crispy skin.

I am a Gauntlet Adventurer. I strive to improve my living conditions by hoarding gold, food, and sometimes keys and potions. I love adventure, fighting, and particularly winning - especially when there's a prize at stake. I occasionally get lost inside buildings and can't find the exit. I need food badly. What Video Game Character Are You?

Saturday was our high school's 11th year reunion (we were a little late in having it). I can't say that I enjoyed myself immensely, I was glad to go because if I hadn't, I would have regretted it, as Mary suggested. I had a pleasant conversation with many people there, though most of those people I never talked to throughout 5 years of high school, or in the last 10 years, and probably won't talked to again unless I just happen to run into them. There were a few people I was happy to see and they filled me in on their lives and on the lives of other people they still see. Oh, I wish there were more people there, but I think I'll make an effort to contact the people that I missed not seeing.

The most surprising was not who was married, or who had children, but the fact that EVERYONE LOOKED THE SAME!!! I guess it is a good thing...

Oh yeah, big news...Chris and Nancy are engaged!

I just went to Cypress for the first time this season. It was so awesome to be back. The mountain was a little unfamiliar because of all the changes. There is a new huge tent for equipment rentals, and two highspeed quad chairlifts have replaced the rope tow and the old dual Eagle chair. Quite kick-ass. There hasn't been much new snow in the last little while and the weather has been really warm (up to +13 degrees C!) but the skiing was still good -- a couple inches of fluffy stuff on solid ice. You just had to watch out for the patches of exposed ice. Maybe I'm just excited because I haven't been skiing in so long.

Oh yeah, my time to climb 48 floors of the Wall Center was just under 15 minutes. I haven't been training so I took my time and took lots of water breaks. The fastest time was 5m20!

I just ate a strawberry pop-tart. I haven't had one in over 5 years. And for good reason too. The "pastry" is like a sugar cookie and probably the best part. Then there is the pink frosting, which is hardened sugar paste. And then the bright red sugar paste filling...I wonder if that particular red dye is approved for consumption. However, I am reminded of a classic internet gem, the Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow Torch. Be sure to check out the grape experiment too.

I am still in the habit of saying Merry Christmas. I think because I was away for Xmas, that I feel like Xmas has not passed yet. And probably because of this, I feel like it's not the new year. I think this is the first year that new year's day has been just another day. Usually, I look forward to the new year and wonder what it'll bring, but this year, I can't seem to muster up that optimistic outlook. The feeling is very strange.

Patrick and I spent Christmas with his family in Red Deer, Alberta. The weather was perfect -- there was only about 20cm of snow on the ground, the skies were clear and the temperature was around -10 to -15 degrees C. That's warm for December in Red Deer. I put on my toque and Patrick's mom said to me "Oh, you won't need your toque. People will laugh at ya. It's too warm. See, there isn't even any frost on the windows." We left the house and five minutes later I was back for my toque. I don't care what they say! It's cold enough! But as long as you are bundled, up it's not too cold. The drive only took us 14.5 hours, due to good weather (except for some really high winds) and excellent road conditions. It was cloudy in Vancouver when we arrived, and I instantly missed the sunshine.

We also visited the local ski hill there. Ski hill in Alberta? Well, it's not a hill. It's build on one side of a canyon, hence the name Canyon Ski Area.

I guess my New Year's Resolution is to get in shape. I'm starting by entering Climb the Wall for Clean Air: The Marathon of Stair Climbers.

The Fellowship of the Ring is totally awesome. We tried to go see it on the weekend at SilverCity Riverport and twice the shows were sold out even though it playing on many screens starting every half hour. We settled for watching it at the smaller Richmond Centre theatre.