Game Day in Calgary

I felt amazing during the game, until I lost all feeling from the cold, that is. Then I got back to the hotel and had no idea what to say about it. I stared at a blank page for 10 minutes before walking away to have some tea and contemplate. I could never do it justice. I may never try.

All in all, today has been exhausting. I got in around 7:30pm and felt like going straight to bed. How was it that Calgary so took it out of me today?

I woke up early this morning and took the train down to the city center and checked out what makes this so-called Cowtown tick. Evidently, on a Sunday, it's not much at all. It's interesting to me that the population here is larger than Seattle's, but there's a lot less going on downtown. Perhaps that's because the city sprawls out so much farther, not wedged in between water and mountains. At any rate, I didn't find anything there to amuse me.. except for the brief thought that one could understandably assume Canada has some sort of inferiority complex, given the requirement of an extremely tall phallic tower in every major city. Aside from that, nothing; very little shopping was open, no people were around, so I got back on the train to the hotel and set about counting down the minutes until the game that brought me here.

After dressing quite fashionably for the affair -- base layer (mountain climber long johns) top and bottom, jeans, long sleeve tee, Montreal sweatshirt, coat, scarf, Habs toque with ear flaps, gloves with hand warmer inserts, sock liners, wool socks, stick-on foot warmers, and shoes which I could barely reach to pull on after all those layers -- I grabbed my ticket and took the 5 minute walk down to the stadium with the other fans. Once inside, I grabbed a couple of cans of Molson Canadian (each one for the price of a six pack at The Liquor Box across the road), and found my seat.

With the warm-up skate finishing up, the sun shining on me,and the temperature a balmy 15 degrees, my excitement was running high. Pre-game festivities included a song by Five for Fighting, singing of the Canadian national anthem (as well as the US anthem, why?), and a flyover by the Snowbirds, the Canadian equivalent of the Blue Angels. All of this fanfare would make me roll my eyes and say start the game already in the States, but here I got into it, singing along, cheering the pyrotechnics, and feeling a sense of one-ness with everyone around me. Despite the hassle of moving across the border, I should end up back in Canada eventually. I just love it so much more than my native country.

Anyway. My elation didn't last long. While I loved  being at this rare game, always enjoy live hockey, and will forever be glad that I came, the experience became a bit less enjoyable as it went on. The Flames came on strong in the first period, while the Canadiens seemed to be unable to get their feet under them, which dampened the spirits of me and all the Habs fans around me. Then it got colder. The sun went down, and the wind picked up, bringing the temperature with wind chill down to around -5 F. To add to our ordeal, Montreal continued losing (ultimately being shut out 4-0) despite picking up their game and outplaying Calgary for the second 2 periods. Penalties and resulting power play goals plagued our boys. The concrete under our feet was much colder than the air, and my foot warmers quit working, making me unable to feel my toes for at least 35 minutes of the game. Beer sales ended before the 2nd intermission, and as the outcome became obvious, the drunken Flames fans jawed more and more at those of us there to cheer on Montreal. I stayed until the final buzzer, but then this frozen Habs fan skipped any after-game hoopla and got back to the hotel post-haste.

In the end, I may voluntarily forget how the game went. I've seen my Habs play live many times, and fare much better. But I'll never forget the experience today. It was like nothing I've ever done in so many ways, and not all of it was entirely pleasant. But I'd love to do it again. And again. And again.

When's the next one? I'm ready... let's go!

Indoors... Where it is Warm

After some TV and a brief nap this afternoon, I layered up and ventured out to the streets of Calgary's Motel Village to see what I could find. Within the distance I could walk without my face freezing off, I found a couple of chain restaurants, McDonald's, an extremely sketchy-looking bar, a little strip mall, and of course the entrance to McMahon Stadium. Not seeing anyplace I really wanted to hang around, I grabbed something to eat and headed directly back to the warmth of the hotel.

Gearing up for the game. Go Habs!

During my walk, I kept spotting Habs and Flames fans all decked out in their team gear, and was feeling good about the fact that I'll be among many other Montreal devotees at the game tomorrow. I just hope my seat isn't in the midst of a bunch of Calgary nuts, or I might get lynched. The closer I got to the sky bridge to McMahon, the more I was surrounded by fans, all amped up and heading across to some sort of event. Confused, I hit the search engines the moment I got back in my room, but couldn't find any information about Heritage Classic events happening today.


As soon as I turned on the TV, though, I found out what they were doing. Hockey Night in Canada was showing an outdoor Habs/Flames alumni game, and all of the hooting and hollering fans I had seen were in the stands.

Given the bitter cold -- I'm starting to believe they call it that due to the bitterness I feel when trying to go anywhere in it -- I'm in for the night. Right now it's 1 degree out, and rapidly getting dark. Since my exploration also turned up a C-train station nearby, though, I may spend the morning tomorrow taking the train downtown to actually see a bit of Calgary before the game. Even with several layers on, I'd prefer to wander around in the 20s more than the single digits, for sure.

On the plus side, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm on vacation, and definitely like I'm in Canada... And that always makes me happy. I love being here, in the True North, strong and free.

Yes, I will be singing along with that line and every other one in the anthem tomorrow. You may hear my voice straining all the way back in Seattle. I'm that excited. Can't wait!

My Calgary Mini-Break

I need to realize that I'm on vacation.

I've been working nonstop for the last 2 weeks, and just finished 2 extremely long days. When I got up at 6 this morning and headed to the airport, it just seemed like more work. A few airport hassles ad a short jaunt over the Rockies later, I'm here in Calgary. But I haven't relaxed yet. As excited as I am about my reason for coming here, it hasn't hit me yet. I feel like I should be doing something, but I don't know what.

At the same time, I definitely don't feel like I'm in Seattle anymore. While Calgary is the Texas of Canada -- cowboys, oil, everything spread out -- it looks more like Eastern Washington. Just significantly colder. There's frozen snow everywhere, including ground into the pavement in the parking lot outside. The high temperature today is expected to be around 4 degrees. Fahrenheit. It was just below zero when we landed. It's not the kind of cold that I'm used to, where it takes a few minutes to hit and chills you slowly, it's the kind that makes you want to go directly back inside when you walk out the door and stays long after you come back in. Luckily tomorrow is supposed to be closer to 20, and I have plenty of layers for spending a few hours outdoors at the hockey game.

To make matters more difficult, my hotel is off in the suburbs, and there's not much within walking distance. I can see the stadium from my window, but there's a highway in between, and I have no idea how I'll get there. I'm not sure I'm ready to wander off and get lost on this frigid Saturday afternoon.

So I guess I'll curl up here, enjoy being back in Canada, and figure out what to do with myself. Maybe it will finally start to feel like I'm taking a few days away. Maybe. I hope so.

Food Adventureland

I've been sick, stressed and overworked lately, which has left me irritable and anti-social. Luckily, I found the time to finish a great book that has become one of my new favorites:

The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten

I couldn't help but love this collection of essays; it includes some of my most loved things: food obviously, science, travel, intelligence and wit. If I had to come up with a criticism -- and of course I do -- it would be that the book was written over a period of a few years back in the early 90s, so doesn't include anything that has happened since. For example, the chapter Why Aren't the French Dropping Like Flies? discusses the French Paradox, which Steingarten is credited with bringing to the public consciousness. Because it was written in 1991, though, it can't come up with any reasons why the people of France ate so much more fatty and "bad" food than Americans, but had much better health. I suspect that the same discussion today would conclude that the French's better health came from their intake of "bad fats" from whole food sources, rather than the processed, empty calorie versions that Americans are so fond of. Even with the outdated references, though, the central points are timeless.

I not only found the book entertaining, but very inspiring. I've already tried a couple of the included recipes, and the introduction about Steingarten's quest to truly eat everything has gotten me thinking differently about my own irrational food phobias. Whether I'll change my habits in any major way remains to be seen, but as we learned from GI Joe, knowing is half the battle.

I'm not much of a reviewer, so I'll stop now. My point is just to recommend this fantastic read to anyone who loves food; it should be a requirement for all of us.