Burrrr...

I learnt an important lesson today on 'basic home maintenance'.

The baseboard heater in my apartment had been down for awhile, probably since I moved in this past summer. The fact that I hadn't been getting any heat didn't bother me until this last couple of days when the average temperature in Calgary dropped down to between -22 C and -32 C (there's going to be a wind chill of -40 C tonight). I started to put on layers of clothes and used an extra blanket on top of my down comforter when I slept. It worked. I slept through the night and didn't feel cold at all. I thought I could probably survive without the heater until this morning when I noticed a thick layer of ice had started to form on the inside of my windows. I called the management office and explained my situation. Within 30 minutes a mechanic came in and fixed my heater. Before he left he looked at me and said in quite a stern tone of voice: 'Do you realize if the water freezes in the pipe it could cause a lot of damage to your home? Next time you NEED to call right away!'

Caption: Ice on my window

A Race to Remember

Top left: Tim; Top right: me ; Bottom left: Brave kid; Bottom right: shorts?!!!

Calgarians are nuts when it comes to the outdoors. Some friends and I decided to run an 8 km trail race on Saturday. It was quite an experience running on slippery snow, up and down the hills and trying to breath the -7 C air. I got frozen sweat all over my eye lashes. It was a ton of fun though. I loved it. I'll probably do it again!