Calgary Zoolights 2005

During Christmas break of 2005 my friend Andrea and I took a road trip up to Calgary to see where her new office was going to be downtown.  As part of this we also went to the zoo to see the annual zoolights display.  I used my crappy digital camera I had at the time to try and capture some of the Christmas lights, but mostly I ended up with a bunch of blurry and glitchy pictures (not a huge surprise really).  Looking back, I still think they're kind of cool.  The picture of me and 'my trunk' ended up being one of my first facebook profile pictures when I signed up.  What can I say?  I'm still a class act.  

Beatles Christmas Ornaments

What fan doesn't want a few Beatles on their Christmas tree?  I bought my first one, the Yellow Submarine, at Beatles Love in Las Vegas in 2008.  After that I couldn't help but pick up a few more.  I've got two others from the Yellow Submarine universe, and a giant ornament of the Beatles cartoon characters.  They're like a slightly smaller version of the other Beatles I collected.  Who am I kidding?  I like Christmas ornaments because they're just like buying toys.

Imperial Bank of Canada

This building in downtown Medicine Hat, Alberta was constructed in 1913 with the Imperial Bank on one side and F.C. Lowes & Co. on the other.  F.C. Lowes was a real estate, insurance, and financial agent, and despite neither company existing anymore, their names have remained carved in stone on their respective sides.  Coincidentally, the historic Canadian Bank of Commerce is just across the street from the Imperial Bank, and these national banks merged in 1961 to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (or CIBC).

Today the structure appears to be mostly vacant (I'm not sure about the suites), with rental signs in every window.  The matching arched doorway that used to be on the Imperial Bank side was replaced long ago with a store front.  It seems to be another case of a rather attractive structure falling victim to time and neglect.  The details are there, but I cringe to think about how much work the building may actually need.  That said, I'd love to see it restored or re-purposed and back in use.  They don't make buildings quite like this anymore.       

Imperial Bank ca. 1914