delayed going to camp

I guess it has been a rather long time since I have posted anything. Not really much happened in the way of cooking or baking. Christmas with the family was quick and interesting though no blood shed and I am still married and not disowned by the family so as family vacations go I guess it was a success.

On New Years we had a dinner party for a couple friends. Our dinner was a spinach salad with home made raspberry vinegrette (turned out really good), BBQ ribs (sort of dry, used side ribs instead of back ribs so there was more fat than I would have liked), baked italian potatoe fries (not bad, one of my friends thought they were store bought I cut them so perfectly uniform but they werent cooked brown enough for my liking and took too long), honey glazed carrots (rather good). For dessert we had creme brulee (again a success, getting pretty good at it), banana split cake (a banana cake roll up with whip cream in the middle on a bed of home made strawberry sauce with chocolate sauce and garnished with fresh pineapple and bananas) and a lemon meringue pie (got a little crazy on this one. Home made lemon pie filling with a meringue topping that had to be at least 3 and a half inches tall at the centre). I think all the desserts turned out pretty good. We played Wii till midnight and then cheered in the new year. It was a good evening and great way to end 2009.

I was supposed to go back to camp on January 2nd. However, when I got my flight papers they were for January 5th. I did my usual "WTH??!!?" and fired an email and found out that it was put to the 5th because there were only 20-30 people in camp at that time and I wasnt needed. I was fine with that since I had a few movies and books from the library that I had to finish.

I was to fly at 11am on the 5th. A friend offered to drive me out to the airport after her night shift ended at 7am, which I am really really grateful for. So, we were up at 6am, the Mrs, my friend and myself went to Humpty's for breakfast and out to the airport. So I was there at 8:30 am for my 11am flight. Mainly cause of all those crazy newspaper reports of 3 hour waits to get through security while airport security did body cavity searches on every living thing going on the plane.

OH, here is something freaky. I am used to using the self serve ticketing booths in the airport. Put in your booking reference, tell them how many bags you got, confirm your name and seat and out pops your plane ticket. This one, however, threw me for a bit of a loop cause before my ticket popped out I got one of those long bag stickers that normally the booth person prints off and puts on my bag. I spent a couple seconds trying to figure out how to attach it to my bags and hoping that I got them on the right way. Turned out I got the things on right but I ripped off the tiny bit on the end (what I had seen them do countless times) when I shouldnt have. Now I know.

Anyways, turns out my 11am flight was delayed till 11:20am as the plane was 'being serviced'. This was later extended to 1:20pm while the plane was being 'serviced' some more. I wish prostitutes serviced as long as the plane mechanics. Anyways......1:20 came and slowly went by till 2pm when we got the announcement that the flight was going to be cancelled but do NOT worry because the good people at Air Canada Jazz had us rebooked on a First Air to Yellowknife at 8:10pm. Oh yeah, I bet you can almost guess how thrilled everyone on this flight was at that moment. Our thrill and excitment got even higher when we were transfered to the First Air flight and the lady at the counter confirmed that they had 35 seats available for the 33 Air Canada passengers going to Yellowknife, but there was no room for our luggage and that would be coming up in the evening of January 6th. Not much help for me since I was to get on a puddle hopper out of Yellowknife at 6am on the 6th and all my winter gear would have been in my luggage that would arrive nearly 12 hours after I needed it.

I called the camp and told him what the deal was and then I found out that the next flight in to camp was on Friday but it was completely booked so my next available flight would be on Monday out of YK. So instead of flying me to YK and leaving me there for 5 days they decided to leave me here in Edmonton till January 10th. Though, after talking to the boss in camp it is almost a good thing I am still here. There was 25 people in camp when I was to fly in and they already have a 1st and 2nd cook (Tony 2 and Curtis are back), a dishwasher (Henry) and a baker (Big D)...yes, the Dragon Lady has returned to her cave...The person that makes people say "yeah, birth control is definitly a good idea"...the woman I am sure that has made many a man take up a vow of celibacy when she walks into a bar...yep, she is back in camp. I now wonder, with only 25 people to bake for, she must have enough time to bake at least 25% of the things and only cut 75% of her stuff instead of serving 90% of the premade stuff on a regular basis.

I guess the one bit of comic relief that I had was the little french guy that was on the flight with us. By the smell of him and how he was acting I think he was having a beer at 10am and then when he found out that the plane was delayed till 11:20 had another and then when it was delayed till 1:20 he must have went back for a bit more. He was being a royal pain in the butt, was being loud, abusive and just plain annoying. When we got the announcement saying that they were waiting to see if there was going to be enough room on First Air for us all he was told with no uncertain terms that if he did not have something to eat and drink some coffee to sober up he would NOT be flying on the plane, even if there was room. By the time I was cancelling my flight and about to leave the airport he was at the Air Canada counter making a big fuss and noise that the RCMP had been called and was on their way with security. I think the guy behind me said it best when he said "you do NOT raise your voice in an airport...you do not cause a fight in an airport...you do NOT do anything to cause concern in an airport. On the street, the RCMP will just give you a warning and tell you to leave. In an airport they will taser your ass." I left and didnt see if he got tasered or not but since I didnt read about anything in the news the next day I am guessing he wasnt tasered or shot but might have been escorted off the premises.

So, here I sit...in Edmonton...playing Wii (Force Unleashed is a good game but now I have Spiderman 3 for $14.98). Oh yeah, I am also spending some time with the Mrs....but, yeah..Wii*G*