So it seems as though my new job has some pretty awesome perks to it. Things like actually being paid for the number of hours you work, not having pay deducted for time that you take to go to the bathroom, not having to work on Easter Sunday, and getting to go on impromptu helicopter rides followed by being allowed to drive a fuel truck (when, in fact, you were hired to be an office manager), AND STILL GET PAID!
To make a short story shorter, yesterday I flew up to Gypsumville (approx 250km Northwest of Winnipeg...with a big ol population of 285) with Jeff (our pilot) and Walter (the guy who does everything from ordering coffee to designing new camera systems for the helicopter).
 |
| C-FJPL our Bell 206 Long Ranger Helicopter |
The purpose of this trip? Jeff had some work to do with Water Stewardship (or maybe it was Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation), and I wanted to drive the fuel truck back to Winnipeg for no reason other than to say I have done it!
 |
| I named her "Big Bertha". She is old (1987), rusty, noisy, has a wimpy horn, and her seats are really bouncy. I like her :) |
 |
| Like any good trucker I wore plaid for the occasion (unlike any good trucker, I showered that morning) |
Walter and I stopped for lunch in some little town called Ashern, evidently known for nothing besides its giant prairie chicken (even though the website claims it is an ideal place to raise a family, settle in for retirement or start a business).
We then continued on, eventually stopping to fill up with gas (Charles, I finally found a truck that gets worse mileage than yours did! It averages out at 5 miles per gallon!). It was at that time that Walter decided to change the view of the CHASE camera (which was recently bought to use for aerial filming with the helicopter and Walter brought along to test out) to this:
Had I known I was being filmed I would have something more interesting than just sitting there, bouncing along and giggling to myself. I would have definitely honked the horn, because for the size of truck the horn sounds extremely wimpy (very similar to the Road Runners "meep meep!"), and maybe even made a clever joke or two. Unfortunately, I didnt do either of those things... and instead got caught saying something about how the muddy gas station window water (that Walter had just finished "washing" our front window with) probably didnt even contain water, just mud...but then realized that if it didnt contain water and just mud, it would be a solid....ah damn.
If you overlook the fact that that afternoon, while I was happily bouncing along saying unintelligent things about muddy water, my mom had been run over by a bicyclist on Fort St. and ended up in the emergency room at Health Sciences Center (but she is OK now, aside from what we assume is a mild concussion, some bruising, and general soreness (so I wont say more about it than that because she is embarrassed that weird happenings always have a way of finding her...)), it was a great day!
On that note, I shall end this blog and go wait by the phone for everyone to start calling and demanding further explanation of what shall forever be known as "The Mom vs. Bicycle" incident.
