The Life of Brad: October 2013 - Hockey, Hiking, Halloween and more...

October 2013 was full of many events and I think a good month to show the life in Calgary as the weather usually starts to turn. I took in everything from more Pro Hockey, Pro Football, a visit from an old friend, saw Bumpershine open for Fozzy, refreshed my First Aid, enjoyed a live performance from my favourite singer Chris Cornell and of course dusted off my home-made Halloween costume for a second showing.

Calgary Flames vs Montreal Canadiens
One of the oldest hockey teams in the NHL came to town for a visit and the loyalty of their fans was definitely felt. I think half the stadium was in Montreal jerseys and lets just say, "Welcome French Canadian girls to Calgary!" A rowdy night for sure and the bonus was Calgary squeaked out a 3 - 2 victory after being down 0 - 2 at one point in the game.

Urgh!

Smiley face :o)

Full house for this game

After the game the boys decided we
should rent a limo for the 6 blocks to
the bar. $100! High rollers!

Calgary Stampeders vs BC Lions

Given tickets at the end of the work day on Friday I wasn't sure I would actually get to the game or really push to go as it was only hours to the start and a little chilly (-8C). I asked my buddy Marek if she wanted to go and with her excited push we were on our way. All and all a good game and time. Calgary over the Lions to top it off.

Lions on offence and Stamps on Defence at centre field.
The field is 110 yards in order to accommodate all the US
players, not sure if that's why, but go with it.

The camera guy on a moving platform
with a ton of ground to cover. CFL
fields are 100m long.

Me and Marek, staying warm with
cold beer?

Bumpershine opens for Fozzy at Morgan's pub (one of my favourite bars in Cow Town).
Although I had to miss a hockey game to see my buddies Chad and Dave play as the opener for Jericho and his band Fozzy it was well worth it. What a night which finished off on Fozzy's tour bus!

2/3 of Bumpershine. Chad looks so 80s rock drummer!

3/3 of Bumpershine

Jericho leading Fozzy

Fozzy on stage, great showmen!

Fozzy Tour Bus

German visit
As I have told many people I encounter in my travels "Come visit me!". Well, Martina took me up on that and stayed with me in Calgary for the last weeks of October. It's always to good to visit your city and surroundings as a tourist every once in a while. I wonder the last time a person living in Calgary made it to the Calgary Tower for dinner (9/10 experience!). If you haven't do it!
Glad to have you Martina and see you in Munich next year!

Photos from our trip to Banff.

A town amongst mountains, Banff.

some hoodoos

Mountain goats

Mountain Asses

Famous Banff Springs Hotel

Nothing like a hot pool at your hotel!!

Canmore Nordic Center where the
Biathlon was held during the 1988
Olympics

A golf course that never was

Nice hiking

Martina really enjoyed this part of the hike

Chris Cornell Acoustic Show!
I double booked myself to Bill's sister's Birthday Halloween party and my favourite musician Chris C former lead singer of Soundgarden and Audio Slave. Greatest present day Rock and Roll voice!

Trying to do it all we stopped in at Michelle's party in costume on the way to the show, then ventured up to the Jubilee. A place with great sound and seating, but no liquids allowed in the theatre, not even water, oh Canada you silly place.

Hugo, the car2go back on
the street

Cool entry on a bike that someone gave Chris

A clip of Sweet Sunshine (great sound).

Seasons a song reintroduced in "Man of Steel" (great sound, like you were there!)

Thanks Chris!

Halloween Day and Night
Having put so much effort in to my Car2Go costume last year I figured I should "wear it out". I popped it on in the morning for my walk to the office and our lunch party. Got some interesting looks on my way to work, but no horns or anything like that. Although when I got to work a few people mentioned they had drove past me wondering what was going on.

Side note: Last years 1st place at some bar I had high hopes to finish well in the lunch party competition. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that to the judges, oops. 2013 was not the year for a Car2Go victory.

A good video to show a few design flaws in my costume.

Productivity?

Costumes at an Engineering company...

Can you point out which one is
likely to be my boss?

The 3 winners

Once nightfall arrived we made our way down to The National on 10th for some bowling action, which I can never say no to. Not an easy game in that damn Car2Go, but the bonus was a rep from the "Car2Go" company asked me to send her photos so they could post them on their site. I later followed this up hoping to expand the opportunity to an ad campaign "Hugo the Car2Go". Originally they offered 30 minutes of drive time ($11.40) and I countered with the ad campaign, but they didn't go for it. Let's just say I have haltered negotiates until further notice.

Damn, this is going to be very difficult

Things you only see on Halloween

What is she doing to Darth Vader?

Welcome Naked Chefs

Everyone loves the Car2Go

Ended the night at Ducky's listening to the worst AC/DC karoake. Enjoy!

Hula Girl

Funny Side Story - After bowling I went to put on my shoes to find they had different colour laces and had shrunk a whole size. WTF? Seems some dumbass in the lane beside us couldn't figure out that my shoes were not his and left with mine. See if you can tell ...

One more weird side story - Walking past a City service yard I noticed something strange about this bush. It was like the fence had sprouted pieces of tree. Was the worker who hacked the bush up lazy or sadistic? Did he purposely leave pieces of the bush to set a warning to the others that if they didn't keep in line the same torturous fate would befall them. Point taken? or was he making an art statement? Nature vs Man? Take a closer look.