Gas Gas Gas

Three words I never want to hear again.  This week was mostly spent on learning CBRN which is Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear.  We learned stuff like, in a nuclear blast our CADPAT will give us moderate protection (yeah right).  Tuesday was spent all in the classroom learning the theory of CBRN.  Wednesday was getting out gas suits and learning gas drills (changing canisters, masking up, drinking, decontamination etc).   

Then wednesday we did the trial hut.  Boy have I been dreading it for about a year.  Basically we all put on our suits (which are charcoal lined, one piece bunny suits) and walked in 30 degree weather across the base and then went into a building full of tear gas.  We had to wear the suits for two hours before we could take it off.  After ten minutes my gloves were already full of sweat.

First time you go in you were wearing your suit, you did the confidence test (some light PT), changing of canister drill and drinking water drill.  You then went outside, took off the mask and gloves and undid the hood.  You then had to walk into the chamber and when you went in and felt the effects you had to mask up.  First time I walked in I had my mouth and eyes open and took a good five steps in before I felt it.  And then I really felt it.  When the mask was finally on we went to the next room and put on our hoods and gloves and then we had to decontaminate.

This weekend I went to Montreal on Friday/Saturday.  Friday night I went to a casino for my first time with some friends and we mostly stayed at the roulette and craps table.  We also were at the blackjack table too.  On Saturday I picked up two new books (I am Legend and Empire) as I had finished Ender’s Game (also a good book).  I saw the Dark Knight and really liked it.  I also went to this restaurant I went to last year called The Three Amigos.  It is a cool mexican restaurant on Rue St. Catherine. 

We have more more week here in the Mega.  Three inspections and one is a platoon commander’s inspection.  Next week we go to the field for Pre-Vimy which is preparing for Vimy, our final challenge were we get a task, have to write up orders and then execute them while not sleeping for the whole week.

Also, I heard that Matt Sundin was offered $20 million for a two year contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Now I must go and get ready for tomorrow’s inspection and Maritime Crossing.

Gross Out

I just came back from a lunch at the local Taco Bell / KFC place. At this “restaurant” they were advertising some new dish, called a Chicken Bowl, and I have never seen something so disgusting. It is a combination of mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, popcorn chicken and cheese. Just looking at it makes me feel sick.

I wonder how many people actually want to eat this?

Just for fun, Patton Oswald doing a stand up bit on this delicacy:

Same Old Boat

Saturday, my girlfriend, her sister and I went to Victoria for the day. We decided to go for a number of reasons, her sister wanted to do stuff at her place on the island, my girlfriend wanted to go see friends there, I wanted to go eat at the McDonalds with the giant Chandelier but the biggest reason was the ferry was half off.

We got up at 4am and left from Aldergrove at 5 am. We took the first ferry across. The ferry that took us there was the Spirit of British Columbia. This is one of two of the big ferries they have and it is the only one I really like. All in all, I hate the ferry, it is a long ride that is slow and expensive. If I wanted to ride a boat I would have joined the Navy.

On the ferry rides I managed to read the book The Alchemist which is a pretty decent book, but it is short, running at only 160 some pages.

We arrived in Victoria and drove to this restaurant called Shine cafe, which is a very good mom and pop breakfast restaurant. It is located at 1548 Fort St in Victoria. Basically it is this small little cafe which is always full. The wait is definitely worth it. The have the most amazing eggs benny that I have ever eaten.

After we went downtown and walked all over. I picked up a book called Catch-22 which I have heard good things about.

We went into a store that sells Threadless shirts.

We had dinner in the McDonald’s with the giant chandelier and weirdly enough I ran into a guy who graduated at the same time as me from my high school in Kamloops.

At the end of the day we came back to Vancouver on the same ferry again. While waiting to load up the ferry, four police cars were waiting at the bottom of the loading ramp. After letting off the bottom level, they started to let the top level trickle out. After a bunch of bikers came off, one PC went after them but the lights never came on. The other three PCs were still waiting. Finally they directed one car to the side where two cars parked behind him, and were looking around. We had to get on the ferry before anything really exciting happened, but I have never seen that happen before.

Victoria is a fun place to be though, the next time I am going there will probably be for the Head of the Gorge regatta in October.