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Tyrell Dinosaur Museum

This post is overdue actually. Anyway, it happened on 10 September 2005 when me, Poh & Calvin (all M'sians working for Talisman) went to a place called Drumheller, about 150km from downtown Calgary. We were heading to the Tyrell Dinosaur Museum.

Poh rented a Toyota Echo to drive us around. Thanks for the kind gesture, Poh. Along the way, the scenery was filled with vast expanse of prairie fields for cattle to feed on the grass. Very nice.


Toyota Echo does the job. In the rear, you can see the rolls of hay which are prepared for the coming winter.

The Tyrell Dinosaur Museum was something. The museum offers a different perspective from other museums like the London Museum and the Petrosains, Malaysia. The dinosaurs depicted here are their actual fossil/bones, whereas the other museums would offer 'skinned' and 'fleshed' dinosaurs. Some are just replicas while the ones in Tyrell are actual ones dug from the badlands.


The preparation room - since it was a Sunday, there was no one working in them. It would be cool to be able to see them at work.


My favourite dinosaur - Stagisaurus.


Most feared - Tyrannasaurus.


Me at the Badlands. This area saw many fossils uncovered.

shah alam 10km run

Normally, Sundays would mean waking up late at about 8.30am, a lazy 100 metre walk to the nearby mamak stall and a hearty and fatty roti telur breakfast while reading the newspaper. For an urban man who is always under stress during the weekdays, the sedate pace on weekends like this is luxury.

However, yesterday I decided to be on the move. I participated in the 10km run in Shah Alam. Phew! The last I remember running this far was during the Subang Jaya 10km run, when I participated with Telal, which was about a year ago.

The run started from Dataran Shah Alam and ended in Dataran Shah Alam, passing through several sections of the city and housing estate, where some areas were hilly and quite challenging. I took 1 hour 32 minutes to complete the whole course, which is pathetic compared to my past 'performances'. I usually will manage something like about an hour if I keep running non-stop, maybe slowly but surely it's 100% running.

However, my 10km run yesterday consist of maybe 60% running and 40% walking. My new shoes caused both my feet to blister - wrong move. I should've used my old running shoes.

Anyway, I still managed to finish it and have a certificate to prove it. :)

I pledge to participate in more runs in future. Anyone interested, do join me. I'll try to put up the weblink in this blog.

tag me?

Started working today. Finally getting over the jet lag.

So Telal, you tagged me? Here goes...

Seven things you plan to do before you die:
1. Sky dive (after I manage to get approval from wife - takut bini kawin lain kalau mampos...heheh)
2. Hajj (going in 2007, Insya Allah)
3. To taste a life with RM1 million cash.
4. Travel to all the countries in the world to see all the nice places and wonders of the world.
5. Write several books on various topics of interest.
6. Help economically poor people to improve their livelihood by providing jobs and business opportunities.
7. Repent all my sins to Allah and humankind.

Seven things I could do:
1. Become a good son, brother, husband, father and citizen.
2. Exercise more, eat less.
3. Continuous learning and self-development.
4. Never miss a prayer.
5. Visit friends and families more often.
6. Buy another bike.
7. Read quran everyday.

Seven celebrity crushes (more of 'like' than crush):
1. Mawi!!! Hehehe... just kidding. I'd say Brad Pitt. (Am I more gay than Telal or what? I just like his acting.)
2. Samuel L. Jackson
3. Angelina Jolie
4. Jackie Chan
5. Jet Li
6. Ning Baizura (her songs, not her)
7. Heather Graham

Seven often repeated words:
1. Oops, sorry (automatically after release of stink bomb...hahaha)
2. YA ALLAH! (when sometime extraordinary happened, like my wife releases her stink bomb...hahaha)
3. Niamafullat! (when I'm swearing)
4. Ciss! (when I'm angry)
5. MMMBBUAAAHHHH!! (when laughing out loud after doing something cheeky with my mates)
6. Lyana! (calling my daughter for errands or playing with her)
7. Hello?

Seven physical traits I look for in the opposite sex:
1. Pretty face (complete with pleasant smile, nice eyes, etc).
2. Fair skin.
3. Straight hair.
4. Slim but not thin.
5. Nice voice.
6. Medium sized boobs - NO, not large ones.
7. Wonderful personality and positive attitude (ok, maybe I can't count this)

just a little bit more

In S'pore right now, 12.10am of 19 Sep 05. I really need a shut-eye. Have checked into the airport transit hotel. I'm going to shower, solat and then tido. Will fly to KL at 6.50am this morning.

Yanti & Lyana, I'm coming home.. :)

balik rumah... ho ho ho... balik rumah... ho ho ho...

It's 17 September, 11.30am Vancouver time now, while M'sia is 2.31am, 18 September. I'm currently at the Maple Leaf Lounge, Vancouver airport waiting for my connecting flight to S'pore and then KL. Will reach KLIA at about 9.00am, 19 September, because I lose a day travelling into the east.

This morning has a story of it's own. I wanted to check-out at 8.00am, but Execsuite being an apartment, the office does not open on weekends. But on weekends, the Resident Manager (RM) was supposed to be in-charge. But when I called the RM, he/she didn't answered. The suite key was still with me, while the phone and Internet bills were still unpaid. I left my room by reading ayat seribu dinar and walked out with my bags.

With the help of another tenant, I managed to get access into the Execsuite Tower building where the office is and dropped the key with a note into the Key & Mail Drop Box. At that time, I left my bags in the Execsuite Manor building because I don't want to leave it in the open (unless I want someone to steal it).

After I exited the Execsuite Tower only I realised that my bag was locked in the Manor Building and I need the key to go in. The taxi was already waiting and I was in the verge of panicking - like how am I suppose to get my bags now?

As I walked towards the Manor Building, masya Allah, the door was wide open with a wedge holding it open but there was no one there. It was as if the door was left open specifically for me and I simply went in and collected my bags. Allah surely had helped me... Alhamdulilah.

Well, that's the power of faith and doa at it's best.

sunday in Banff

On Sunday, with the promise of sunshine from the weatherman, Lynne & hubby, Mike, were kind enough to take me on a trip to the mountain ranges in Banff. It was a 2-hour ride in Mike's white sports car. Very fast at times. [It's ok Mike, I'm sure the coppers don't read my blog. Btw, Mike's car registration number plate is... ;) ]


A view of the mountain ranges while on the road to Banff.

We reached Banff village at about 11.45am and grabbed some grub. Then, it was straight to the parking lot and we got ready for the hike up to Lake Agnes. I was thrilled! The guide book mentioned that the hike distance is about 3.4km with moderate difficulty. We would start from Lake Louise and reach Mirror Lake half way, and then Lake Agnes near the peak. Lake Agnes, would be about 2315 metres above sea-level.


Lake Louise - its turquoise. Mike mentioned some mambo-jambo on why it's turquoise in colour but I can't recall what it was. Sorry Mike... hehe..


Me at Lake Louise, with the mountain that we climbed in the background.

So, we hiked and we hiked and we talked and we talked along the way. I was panting after about 5 minutes into the hike. Phew! It was hard work. Then we decided to slow the pace because I was sweating in my sweater. Finally, we reached somewhat like half way through the hike and stopped to drink. But because the temperature was quite cold, I don't feel very exhausted compared to climbing in M'sia.


Half way through the hike. Notice Lake Louise in the background. I started shedding my sweater because I was sweating.

We later reached Mirror Lake (pictures in my videocam, will upload later) and took more pictures and rested as well for a drink. By this time, it was getting much colder and I had to wear gloves that Lynne had thoughtfully brought for me. Along the way, we saw some residue of snow from Saturday's snow fall.

After about 1 hour 40 minutes of climbing, we finally reached Lake Agnes, where a tea house is located for hikers to enjoy snacks to 'celebrate' the successful climb.


View of Lake Agnes - finally!


Two men and a lady... and 'Lady' Agnes, which is turquoise, at the tea house.

It was very very beautiful up there. Just before the tea house is a medium sized waterfall which was fed by Lake Agnes. It cascades down into Lake Louise, I think (where else would it go?). Then Lake Louise feeds a river which flows all the way into Calgary. Remember my walk in Prince's Island Park and the river in my previous blog? Yes, it feeds that river.

It was cold up there with the cold wind blowing. We ordered 2 hot chocolates and ate our packed lunch at the tea house. After spending about 30 minutes basking in sun and taking pictures, we proceeded a little further to the edge of Lake Agnes. Along the way, we spotted this cute little animal called a 'pika' that looks like a squirrel but with very short tail and make this cute sound like "eeeeett". Didn't manage to get them on video or camera, though.

We also saw a mamut (did I spell this correctly?) eating some leaves on our hike back to the tea house too. It was cute too. Nope, we didn't meet any grizzly bears - might not have had the chance to tell the tale if we had, I guess.


Here we are at the other end of Lake Agnes, where the ice and snow melts into the lake. If you look closely, you can see the snow capped tea house in between the two mountains. Gorgeous isn't it? Perfect for making postcards.

Me sampling the snow. Brrr...


The snow feeding Lake Agnes.

After that, we climbed down the same route which took us a little over 45 minutes to reach Lake Louise. Aahh, what a climb.

Mike later took us to his father's cousin's house in the town of Banff. Phil & Jean live in a very nice home which was 90% built by Phil himself. I was impressed! Phil is a do-it-yourself man who used to be a true-blue cowboy, complete with horses and revolvers - but he has sold those off and pursued a life of an entrepreneur owning several businesses. But Phil's retired now.

They were hosting supper and was serving flavored rice (tasted like Briyani) with chicken curry, papadom and glorious chutney. Then, the meal was complemented with chocolate cake with ice-cream and a wonderful cup of cappucino. I wish I had taken some pictures.

After chatting and chatting, we later retired at about 10.00pm with goodbyes. Along the way back to Calgary, we were lucky to have seen the Northern Lights in the sky. It was light-purplish and dancing in the sky. Masya Allah. It was beautiful. But it was too dark to be able to capture the spectacle on video or digital camera.

I finally reached Execsuites at about 11.30pm. Mandi, solat & tido.

Lovely trip! Thank you very much Lynne and Mike, not forgetting Phil & Jean too.

working... Talisman Energy Inc.

Me ready for work.

I've been taking the taxi everyday to work and return now because it always rains and can get very cold, as low as 0 degrees Celcius especially with the wind blowing. I tried walking home last Friday but my ears, nose and hands were experiencing cold-bites until I can't feel them. So, I took the taxi half way home.

Every morning I will call 2991111 for a taxi to fetch me at Execsuites, the operator already recognizes my voice. "Mr Azad, right? Taxi at Execsuites?" Hehehe.. But waiting for the taxi by the street, I shiver like crazy - you'll know it's really cold when there's mist coming out your nose when you breath. The other indication is most people wear thick coats/jackets/trench coats/scarves/gloves/snow caps. So, it's not just me.

Here's a picture of me working in Room 34016. I also have a very nice view of the Calgary landscape from the 34th floor of Banker's Hall.

The room temperature can be controlled by a regulator and it's set at a cool 22 degrees Celcius, so there's no need to put on a coat.


The view from my room.


Banker's Hall from ground floor. The first 3 floors consist of retail shops, so lunch is just a lift ride away.



Lunch - vegetable sub.

I stick to seafood or vegetarian for meals. My only source of meat is serunding daging, which nervously got through customs. ;)

tour of downtown Calgary

On 4 & 5 September 2005, I toured the downtown Calgary on foot. 'Downtown' here refers to the heart of the city where the main/major business buildings and operations are located. Calgary is also known as the oil city because it houses many oil & gas companies, like Nexen Oil, Husky Oil, etc including the services companies, like Schlumberger.

Anyway, my tour brought me to several places of interest within the city. It was also to get me to aclimatize to the weather and environment. During the 2 days I toured downtown, the weather was perfect for walking - sunny day with cool breeze and the temperature was about 10 degrees Celcius. Armed with my video and digital camera, here are my pictorials:


Orienteering with a map, I roam the city.


Almost all big buildings have the Canadian flag flying. This one is just opposite Execsuites.


A view of downtown at about 10am. This was taken while I was walking towards Eu Claire Market.


Reached Eu Claire Market in less than 10 minutes and I was expecting a wet market selling fish, produce etc - well at least initially that was what it intended to be, I was told later.


Rupa-rupanya, it contained retail shops. There were shops selling clothes, souvenirs, wine, hair-dressing salon, etc.


After roaming around and buying some postcards, I had a Subway tuna salad for lunch. Two things I noticed... 1. The helping was large; 2. It was expensive at $5.66 - RM16 for a salad?

As I walked, I noticed a structure that looked exactly like KL Tower. As I approached it, I discovered it was Calgary Tower - memang saling tak tumpah. But it's much lower than KL Tower though. I didn't go up it either.



Then I went to Sears and bought some stuff. The lady who was packing my stuff suddenly greeted some passerby with salam. Apparently I discovered it was her cousin. Anyway, delighted to find a muslim, I enquired from the man the closest masjid. However, it was quite far but he mentioned that there is a musola in downtown Calgary - in the EPCOR Center for Performing Arts. So I went there with his directions.


This is the musola (surau) on 2nd floor of the EPCOR Performing Arts Center. It was empty when I came so I stayed a little longer and managed to solat together with some muslim during Asr.


After prayers, I found this glimmering building near the EPCOR Center. It is Calgary's Municipal Building.

Oh, I should add - walking in downtown, I realised that majority of the pedestrian are disciplined and adhere to traffic rules. If the sign shows stop, they really stop even if there is no vehicle around. No one jaywalks here... because undercover cops will fine offenders $80 on-the-spot, I was told later.


Stop/Walk lights.

On top of that, there is close to virtually no traffic jam in downtown. Again, drivers are more disciplined and orderly too. They stop at junctions even when there are no vehicles, and they let pedestrians pass too - always.


I got a glimpse of the Fire Engine and Ambulance while I was walking and these two vehicles were tearing down the street blaring their sirens. There was an incident at that place in the picture because I saw the paramadics carrying a girl into the ambulance. Sorry, didn't take pictures of the coppers, though. Enough close encounters with them already.


Since it was getting late, I decided to walk back. Here is a picture of Calgary skyline at about 7.00pm.

I decided to walk through the Prince's Island Park back to Execsuite. Here's me by the river.


Here's a picture of the bridge across the river.


I finally reached back to suite 316 in time before sunset.

I miss you, Sayang

Drumheller & Banff

Wooo, I had an eventful weekend. On Saturday I went to Drumheller, a small town about 150km from Calgary with Talisman's Malaysian expatriate Poh Kwong Wee and international assignee Calvin Chua. Poh was kind enough to rent a car and took us on the trip. Though it rained all day and was freezing cold at 0 degrees Celcius, we had fun.

At Drumheller, we went to the Tyrell Dinosaur Museum. It seems Drumheller or better known as the "Badlands", have been a graveyard for dinosaurs. Many fossils were unearthed, and still are, here. Pictures on my visit will come in future blogs.

Today, Lynne Lepansee, a consultant with Talisman which came to Malaysia, and her husband Mike took me to the mountains in Banff. Banff is about 200km away from Calgary. Since the weather was beautiful with no rain and snow, we went on a 4-hour return hike up one of the mountains to Lake Agnes. Lake Agnes was gorgeous and the view from up there was picturesque - postcard perfect.

After the hike, we went to the Banff town and then to Mike's father's cousin, Phil and her lovely wife Jean, nice and quaint house for supper. They were wonderful host. More pictures on that too.

I'm going to sleep now - too tired for more blogging.

Execsuite

Let me show where and how I am living in Calgary...


Execsuites' main entrance. The office is through this doors but I stay in an opposite block - the Manor.


This is the Execsuite Manor - a 3 storey apartment.


Yup, the sign pointing to the right.


This is entrance to the Execsuite Manor. Notice there are two doors. The first one is not locked, while the second one is.


I'm given 2 keys - one to enter the Execsuite building as depicted here. That's one turn to the left and I have 7 seconds to enter before it automatically locks the door again.


Then, into the lift to level 3.


From the lift, turn left and walk. Here is the hallway to my room.


And here we are, room 316.


This is where I use the 2nd key to unlock my room door.


This is the view of my room once the door has been unlocked. Straight on is the bedroom, on the left where you can see the stand-light is the living area and kitchen, and the toilet is on the right just before the bedroom. Not shown in this picture on the left from where I'm standing to take this picture is the closet while on the right is a store room.


The bathroom - and me.


The bedroom. Sepah sikit.. hehe.. the cleaning lady will clean my suite every Monday with fresh sheets and towels. I have to do my own laundry though, at level 2. Otherwise I can use the laundry service, which I will. Malas la nak basuh and dry clothes sendiri.


This is the kitchen, complete with dining set and cutleries, fridge, electronic stove and oven, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, electric kettle and diswasher (under the counter).


There's the coffee maker, phone and a CD player. That is the table where I sit with my laptop to update this blog.


This is the living area - picture taken while sitting at the table in the picture above. There's also a video player and videos to rent at CDN5.00 for 2 tapes.


This is the balcony.


This is the view from my balcony.