Ted 2009

Ted / Dad
Standing on the Lake in front of the House.	2009 started off with a very tempting offer from a consulting firm to join their staff as a senior project engineer. It started off innocently enough with a conversation over lunch, then an interview, then an offer. I can tell you it was a very hard decision. In the end, Louise and I just couldn't see ourselves relocating and giving up our place at the lake. It could have been a very interesting and challenging position. I guess I'll never know.
Mid January, I was off to Ottawa for a week-long course on Emergency Management. They have a college (actually a converted nunnery) dedicated specifically to this kind of training. There was a group of about 50 of us on the course. Half were "operations guys" and played the role of first responders, while the other half, which included me, played more of a management roll, staffing an "Emergency Operations Center" . About ½ the time was course work, and the other half was exercises.	The Emergency Operations School - Ottawa
	The EOC was a bit like a war room. Over the week, the poor town of "Collegeville" (the map of Collegeville looked very much like Saskatoon), suffered a train derailment with a toxic spill into the water system, a flood, Tornado's and an Airplane crash. Thanks to our good work though, we didn't lose too many civilians…… It was fun and very interesting.
Who needs it you ask? Well back home in May, we actually had a bush fire that was out of control in severe winds. It started in the valley south of Camrose and got to within a few hundred meters of the first subdivision before the crews began to control it. We had started evacuations. For the first time in my career, our City EOC was activated, and there I was, playing the same sorts of rolls that I acted out in my course in January. Fortunately the fire was contained, and other than burn't willows, there was very little damage. We did have some very worried people for a while though…..	Ted and friend Anita - on the Tour d'Alberta 100km Bike Ride this summer.

When Louise and I were in Quebec in October of 2008 at the National Water Conference, my friend Duncan Ellison, introduced me to Adrien, a young fellow from France who had been working with him for 6 months. He asked if there was any possibility that we could also hire him for 6 months. We had a couple of projects that I thought might be suitable, so - long story short, we arranged for lodging (a basement suite shared by another one of our student help) and he started with us in January. We had lots of fun showing Adrien around.
	Ted and Adrien at Horseshoe Canyon by Drumheller
	I was invited to sit on a Canadian Water Network committee - investigating better ways of managing small water systems. I am a little overwhelmed by the caliber of people on the committee (experts from everywhere), but they seem to be interested in my perspective - representing small utilities. Louise and I spent a few nice days at the Banff Centre in July. As usual, Louise shopped, while I attended the sessions. The committee has also allowed me to travel to Ottawa and Toronto a few times.
Bob and Ted (on the Left) with the CCHS Badminton Team	My long time friend, Bob Klatt, and I coached the high school Badminton Team this year. We had lots of fun. Unfortunately, none of the teachers volunteered to help this year. One of the teacher aides, Karen, helped with some of the paperwork and the year end tournament, but otherwise we were more or less on our own. We had lots of fun, and the kids did very well, but our season is too short to do any real coaching. Spencer played singles, but I let Bob do most of his coaching. That seemed to work pretty well.
I'm not sure how I managed it, but Louise let me go to Margarita for a week to go windsurfing with my friends from Edmonton. I had received a bit of a salary increase, and Louise let me blow it. The wind (which is always supposed to be great) was marginal (again!). I am not sure my friends want me to come with them again, as I seem to kill the wind. It was lots of fun anyway - good friends, good food, good drink, and some windsurfing!.	Ted and Mike enjoying a cerveza in El Yaque.
The beach on Margarita Island - El Yaque	More surprising than being allowed to go to Margarita, was that I was also allowed to go on my two annual Gorge trips. I think this is the 7th year that I have gone with the Edmonton group. We all rent a house, so it is fairly inexpensive ($150 U.S. for the week). The only hitch is that if you are late getting there, you get to sleep on the floor - but that's OK. We sail all day, and party all night - at least until about 9:00 when we are all exhausted and have to go to sleep..... We had good wind and weather both trips.
At the end of the Spring trip, I got to meet one of my long-time hero's Robby Naish. He is probably the most famous windsurfer of all time. I also had a great day on the last day of the fall trip. After sailing at the Hatchery, I went to the Windsurfing Industry Trade Show. While it's not supposed to be open to the public, my friend Scott Currie (distributor for Starboard) let me in. I spent the afternoon trying out all of the 2010 boards and sails. WOW!	Robby Naish - on a SUP (Stand Up Paddle Board)
In the summer, I saw three Air Shows. One in Camrose - "Snowbirds over Camrose" which was hosted by the City and the Flying Club. As it was the 100th anniversary of aviation, the snowbirds were joined by the "Golden Hawk" saber jet. They did a beautiful performance. The snowbird performance was one of the tightest I have seen. A few days later, Laura, Louise and I drove our motorhome to Cold Lake to watch the Cold Lake Airshow. Cousins, Ray and Ina let us park on their driveway, and fed us a wonderful dinner. It was very nice getting to know them. They were extremely gracious hosts. I hope we see them again soon. Unfortunately the weather for the Airshow wasn't great, and we got rained out about half way through the show. My Photos are here.	CF-18 All weather Fighter (in bad weather).
On the way back, we met my long time friend Doug and his wife Anita. They were visiting from BC. We had a wonderful dinner. Another friend that I need to find a way to spend more time with....
Ted and Lou's new boat - 1995 Sanger Ski Boat!	The third "Airshow" was at the Hood River Fly-In, in Oregon. They have a wonderful museum of Aircraft and Automobiles. Every Aircraft in the museum is in flying condition. My Photos are here. From Cold Lake, we drove to Long Lake to visit with Louise's brother Pierre and his family. The weather was a bit cool, but we still had fun with them, and got to go for a ride in Pierre's new boat. With both kids working full time last summer, we weren't able to take a family summer holiday this year, so we stayed home and enjoyed the lake.
Louise and I decided this was the year to upgrade our boat. We bought a 1995 Sanger which is in pretty good shape. We got it at the end of August, and put over 30 hours on it by the end of the year. It is much bigger than our old boat, and works much better for Wakeboarding, and Surfing. We all had a lot of fun with it. Louise seems to really enjoy it. How lucky am I, that my wife is thrilled that we spent all our money on a BOAT!!!	Ted driving the new Ski Boat
Munsch a Bunch of Miles team	In the fall, I was able to help out some friends with the Munsch a Bunch of Miles for Literacy Project. These four friends road bicycles from Camrose to Grande Prairie, to Fairview and back - to raise money and awareness for local literacy programs. They would stop at schools along the way to read, and act out, Robert Munsch Books. They completed the journey in spite of 80kph winds, rain and many obstacles. I help out each year with the web site and Blog...
We finally put the boat away just as the lake froze in October. Fall was extremely busy at work with budget preparation and cleanup of all the summer projects. I did manage to get away to Grande Prairie (an Alberta Airport Managers' Association meeting) and had time to visit our friends Bernd, Angela and family. Wonderful people - wish we were able to see them more often.	Sad to sell the old boat. It has been a lot of fun for 30 years!
Hans - Skiinig at Marmot	In December, Spencer and I picked up my friend Hans in Edmonton at 7:00am one Friday and drove to Marmot Basin for a couple of days of Skiing (Boarding). The weather in Camrose (and Edmonton) had been extremely cold (-30c to -40c) so we weren't sure what we were in for, but the temperatures on the hill were quite reasonable (-10c on Friday and -15c on Saturday).
We had the hill to ourselves, and only twice in two days had anyone ahead of us when we got to the lift. Snow conditions are as good as I have seen in Jasper in a long time. It was a wonderful trip, and great to catch up with Hans. Spencer even got to hike up to the top of the mountain. We happened on a Ski Patrol who was just opening the "out of bounds" section above the Knob Chair. He had his ski's strapped to his back and was going to make the climb. Spencer asked if he could tag along, and the fellow said yes. They had a great chat on the way up, and he showed Spencer where to go and how to manage the steep, deep powder. Hans and I had three or four runs on the knob chair watching them make their way to the top. I was very happy I didn't have to make the climb - particularly on the second day.......
Oh... I forgot to tell you - after 29 years in the same office......we moved! Council decided they would build a new City Hall. We had been getting very crowded, and when they condemed 1/2 of our lower floor because of mold growth, they kicked us out. We are now in the Mirror Lake Centre (The Camrose Senior Center). Lots more room, but very temporary quarters. At least they were..... Now City hall is on hold, and I suspect I will spend the rest of my career here. Dad says that I beat him to the Old Folks' Home.	My old office...
Well, now it's Christmas. The usual hustle to get things ready - both at home and at work. I may even get this Christmas message out before Christmas this year. I hate to break tradition, but....... Anyway, it has been quite a year. Next year looks just as interesting. Laura is no longer a teenager and Spencer will graduate from grade 12. I am sure it will be anything but boring. I hope that our paths cross again in 2010 and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year! Ted

Our Windsuring group - with Robby Naish. Can you guess which one is Robby?

I waited a little too long to take the dock out this year.....

I tried out a few Motorcycles during Demo Days at Camrose Cycle.
Couldn't find one I liked better than my 1972 Honda 750k

Margarita......

Windsurfing with Friends

Andreas	Jumping HIGH!
Mike had a good day!	My board after sailing.
The boys at Margarita	My friend Phil Soltysiak (Ranked 8th in the World in Freestyle)


	In June, I was able to go on the High School Band Trip to Banff with my good friend and the CCHS Music Director, Tom Spila. I have known Tom since I moved to Camrose. We play Badminton together, and he has tried to teach me the guitar. We had lots of time to chat and catch up. I love watching the kids have fun. The concerts are great too. There are some very talented kids!

I toad the 100km Tour d'Alberta Road Bike tour this summer with friends Alan, Jim and Anita. I was OK until about 70km. Then I thought to myself - only 30km to go. That is what I do after work - should be no sweat. I made it to the finish, but the last 25k were tough...
Jim	Alan

Doug is always in a good mood!	Andreas, rolling one over...
	This summer, Spencer and I played Beach Volleyball in Edmonton with friends Doug and Andreas. It is really the first time Spencer and I have played together. Beach is an entirely different game. We didn't do all that well, but we had lots of fun.

There were many days this fall, when we were out on the lake until after dark.
This is a photo of us (and our new boat) taken by our neighbour Ron.