I'm a little overdue for an update by now. So I'll start with the trip out west.

It was interesting. I was able to see alot of relatives, many of whom I had little to no memory of. If I had a dollar for everytime someone walked up to me and said "oh but I haven't seen you since you were this big..." (with the appropriate hand motions indicating my previous miniature status), I would be very well off. So yes, I was a pallbearer. I carried the casket around when I was told to. It wasn't heavy, because by the looks of him, grandpa must have lost about half of his body mass since the last time I saw him - in stark contrast to everyone's impressions of myself.

The funeral was long, and not a single person was crying. I was working hard to filter out the catholic rhetoric issuing forth from the priests mouth via his "Guide to Christian Funerals" book (something I found terribly ironic). I think I managed to get away without offending anyone. Mom was impressed that I and my atheist/absurdist belief structure survived the cauldron - without a single lightning bolt striking me down from above. Maybe it's a sign that I'm doing something right by believing respect for humanity is more important than worship of a deity. Then again, I may simply be too insignificant to register on any otherworldly radars :).

I would be sad that I didn't really get to know grandpa, but in a way I think it's a good thing. It seems everyone that really knew the man didn't like him. So it's just as well that I didn't know him well enough to feel that way - as a result I can gleefully bask in my neutrality.

I made a visit to my grandma as well, and it was good. Aside from her indoor chain-smoking, I enjoyed the chance to spend some time with her again. My biological father also stopped by as well, and that was interesting. He's aged quite a bit since I saw him last. It's unfortunate and I feel bad for the man. He's only 45 but looks much older than the 55 year old man who's been my father for the last...15? years - Wayne. Some people just wear their age differently.

I also saw Dianne, Stan and their children. Was another nice visit :).

The time was also spent at Aunty Kathy + Uncle Johnny's house, where I saw cousins DJ, Bobbi and Janelle. I kept on beating Janelle at darts. Honestly, I did. And on Wednesday I drove Bobbi back to Edmonton (I had to go back as well for my flight back to Toronto - did I mention I rented a Chrysler Sebring? Put 1400km's on it). We had a good time I think, and she showed me her pictures from China - a lot of really interesting stuff. I'd love to travel out that way sometime, though perhaps not for a full 3 months ;).

In other news, I had an interesting friday/saturday combo. Friday was another busy day at work, and I was pretty tired by the end. But Shawn and I decided we should have a few drinks, so he headed over and we engaged in some good drinking. Before we knew it, it was 6am and we were really feeling the effects of that tasty Cuban rum. Not a problem, usually, but we also had to work at 7am for an 8 hour overtime shift. Let me tell you; by 3pm we were absolutely dead. The funny thing is that we did far more production than anyone else - in spite of our state. Elena had about 3hrs of sleep, Shawn and I had none. Pam, Mike and Gary were good and rested - and we still kicked their asses. Tell me WHO is the top crew? Damn right.

Last bit of news for tonight, my computer has undergone a few more changes. Namely, a new case, psu, and fan/light controller. My case is the silver Thermaltake Tsunami. The PSU is an OCZ 450W ModStream. The fan/light controller is a Vantec Nexus NXP-305. I am extremely happy with the new setup! The Vantec controller has an especially neat little sound activation function. When turned on, I can snap my fingers by it and the blue cold cathode lights in my case will flash in accordance with my snapping. As well, while listening to music for example the lights will flash in tune with the bass. Very cool. The old case has been outfitted with a respectable set of components costing around $400, and I'll be gifting it to the parents. A bribe of sorts, to keep them from using my computer all the time. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

That's about it for now - back to work tomorrow. My knee is absolutely killing me because I blew it out again on friday :\. Will have to be a little more careful in the future. Anyway, peace out folks.