Jays Activities

Another Year in Toronto

Anyone looking for an MBA with 27 years of managerial experience. Toronto is not what I signed up for although I do try to make the best of wherever I am. One advantage is that I get to see Ontario relatives more frequently and other than the location the job is great. What do I do with my time? SCUBA dive, work, play sports and visit relatives and friends. This would be an excellent job if it were 3,000kms closer to home. A lot has occurred in the past year and it is difficult to realize until you look back through the picture file. Last Fall I was in Gagetown instructing the officers tactics course, at Christmas we went to Mikkie's in Kamloops. Cathy and I went to Mexico in Feb and the whole family was in Toronto for Easter. The pic on the right is having a drink at the CN tower. In between I have done a lot of diving, visiting friends and relatives and of course working. One must be very careful while away from home not to work all the time and impose on others. Unfortunate there are many in this world that do not head this advice.

Posting To Toronto

WHY??? It finally happened the army moved me to Toronto but not without promoting me first. Cathy took some time off and we made a holiday of the trip out at the end of July. Cathy has her career and Brett is in high school so it did not make much sense to move the family. Toronto is an extremely busy place with 24/7 traffic reports. There are only three things in the news here; traffic, weather and shootings. I was able however, to secure a two bedroom apartment not far from work or the subway. Rob PB and Ron Teschl have taken advantage of the extra room and dropped by for a visit. One of the few highlights of being in Ontario is the opportunity to get out of Toronto and go to the lake. Hans Teschl (Ron’s brother) has a cabin on an island in Georgian Bay lake Huron. It is an excellent time to get out in the country and get a little diving in on some of the numerous wrecks in the area. The water was so clear at about 40’ (Great for diving) and warm at 72 degrees down to 50’. The picture on the left is with my cousin Karen taken this fall who lives only about 70 kms from Toronto. She often complains I am the only relative that comes out to visit but then again I am the only relative nearby. I have also had a busy fall since going to Toronto. I spent the later half of August on Exercise and October and November in Gagetown NB teaching on the Army Tactics Officers Course. See the full details of the trip out in Current Events. I did get a chance to visit Kandahar however, not in Afghanistan but in Saskatchewan on the way out.

MBA Convocation 05

The MBA is done, here are a few shots of the MBA below and some of the other activities in the spring 2005. Also don't forget to check out the Mexico Vacation in SCUBA.

Spring O5 Activities

On the pedestal about to receive my scroll	Cathy played an instrumental role in supporting me through the MBA.	Dad was upset when I did not go to my undergrad convocation 20 years ago when I joined the army. He was determined to be with me at this one.
Our spaghetti tower during my final residence course. We were doomed to failure but made good use of it later in the course	Skiing at Jasper in Feb. The unit went on a two day ski trip.	The great white hunter, however, it is only April and after a long winter white is to be expected.
PB explains the finer points to Jim and AJ while Gord reloads.	Over looking the badlands near dinosaur park as part of professional development training on a trip to Suffield in southern Alberta	The convocation dance was a blast. Guy Rook and I add some colour to the dance.

2004.

What would be an activities page without activities? Yes you have read about the MBA otherwise you would not be here however how about the fun stuff? Here is a short collection of activities during 2004. Yes in case you were wondering I do work long and hard but no one wants to hear about that.

Bob St-Pierre moving up to take a shot during our curling tournament.	The CO holds orders during the Worlds Longest Hockey game. Unfortunately the ice melted before they could make the outdoor record.	Surveying the lay of the land during Golf Tour 6 (May) in Fairmount BC.
Ron not having one of his better games destroys the evidence. Fortunately I captured this picture.	The gang at Grey Wolf Golf course Panorama BC	The sun begins to set on the longest day of golf (Jun 22)
Lost Ball again. The number of balls I have put into that bush and not found them are incredible.	Ron having a cold one at the Football game. I bought seasons tickets this year.	Dad and Ron prepare for a round of golf at Marmot Ridge near 100 mile house BC

2003

When I look back over the past seven months it is good to see that I was able to do something other than just study on my MBA and go to work each day. I recently changed jobs to the Adjutant for Garrison Edmonton. This is a 180 degree shift looking after mainly personnel problems from what I was doing in operations. The bonus is that it is not quite as intense. In Feb I was at a conference in Halifax and I managed to get tickets to the Briar. This is definitely a party so if you ever get the chance it is worth taking in the Briar. Cathy an I went to Nanaimo in March and had a great trip. Visit Nanaimo for more details. July was a fun month, I went to Karen and Garnet's to visit them and Bryn. Kathleen was there as well. I then came back and went to Christopher lake Sask with Brett to Visit Gord and Mary Anne on holidays at Taylor's cabin. During the August long weekend Cathy and I went to Waterton and did the diving and tourist trip. We visited the Carriage museum the Prince of Whales hotel. The next day we went to Smashed in Head Buffalo Jump and ended the trip visiting the Big Rock near Okotoks. For all you Big Rock beer drinkers out there this is the real Big Rock.

In Apr 2002, I was in England on the Joint Services Movement Staff Course. This is a NATO course that is held SW of London. When we arrived we got to spend the first weekend in London before the course started. This permitted us to see some of the sights of London. However, given that all of us had been there before, we viewed the inside of many pubs. The course consisted of many briefings mainly on the British movement system and discussion of our experiences. We also got to go on many tours. One of the tours included the Victory which is still a commissioned ship in the British Navy. This was Nelson's flag ship in the battle of Trafalgar in 1806 where the British handily defeated the French Navy.

One of the other cool sights I saw was with Jeff Porter. His particular highlight happened to be kayaking with one of the other course students but we also went to Salisbury Cathedral. The cathedral was build in 1200 AD and the footings are only 4 feet deep. This was due to the site being near the junction of 5 rivers. We also had a couple of parties on the course one of which was the international night. At this event each country puts out a food dish and beverage from their country. Needless to say the next day was rather sullen.

No spectacular plans for summer 2002, however, I am going to Kingston for my Army Staff College course in the fall. This is apparently a particularly tough course but it may lead to a promotion in the future.

At the end of March 01, I was in Virginia for a couple of weeks. I was on the Advanced Traffic Management Course. Essentially its a course on strategic movement of the US forces. It was very interesting and we spent a fair bit of time on a number of different ships. The course was at Ft Eustis near Norfolk Virginia. This particular area is ripe with history. This is where the first British American colony was. It is where the war of independence was won and much of the civil war fought.

Happy New Year everyone. Christmas was a lot of fun this year and the treasure hunt was a big success. It took me all day Christmas eve to prepare it for the kids. For some reason they don't want to just open presents they want to make it a challenging event. It wasn't until almost two in the afternoon before we finally finished opening presents. Essentially the process is they can have their stocking once they get up. Inside their stocking is a disk which provides the instructions for the treasure hunt. Part of the hunt includes a pause for breakfast. This year we had a treat of SPAM for breakfast. There had been a number of SPAM jokes lately after viewing some Monty Python. SPAM therefore was discovered as part of the hunt and became breakfast. For more details on the hunt itself visit Brett or Bryn's page. After the hunt and the kids received their Santa presents it was time for lunch therefore, we did not get to opening the rest of the presents until the afternoon. Christmas has been great so far just to enjoy some time off. As you have noticed I have taken up learning to use the internet and its associated programs over the holidays. Don't forget to visit our Current Events page for the full details of this past year.