rain deprivation...

Well, it's been a busy couple of days for us here in daveberta.

Here's a quick recap...

Saturday...

Fringe! Saturday afternoon, we made our way to the International Fringe Theatre Festival in Old Strathcona with our friends Dan and Ryan.

For the first time in what seemed like 9 years, it wasn't raining in our fair municipality. Though we all suffered from severe moisture deprivation from the lack of rain, it was extremely pleasant to enjoy what was know to generations past as "sunshine" and "summer."

As luck would have it, we spent most of the afternoon and evening in the beer gardens, though we did break to see a show. We enjoyed a splendid rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat by Alberta Lyric Theatre, which was held in the basement of the Strathcona Presbyterian Church. It was fun. It was youth theatre, but it was fun.

We also had a nice chat with our favorite MLA, Laurie Blakeman, who was also enjoying the Fringe-festivities.

Following Mr. Joseph and his Amazing Dreamcoat, we excused ourselves back to the beer gardens for another round of refreshments. Our night finished itself off with...

1. An impromptu techno session on Whyte.
2. Randomly getting invited to a rave and a frat party within 5 minutes of each other.
3. A nearly lost car.
4. A donair.
5. EH-OH!

Sunday....

After waking up at 1:30 in the afternoon, we slowly made my way back to the Fringe to enjoy some shows (after stopping for coffee at the Sugar Bowl of course!).

After chillin' wit some of our peeps for a bit, we took in some of the free shows. This included the half-naked torch juggling lady, Australian "mating" rituals, and two Yanks who did some more juggling. We also saw one guy do 100 push-ups in 1 minute! It was crazy!

Later hooked up with the Boggmaster and Ms. Catrin. We again ended up in the beer gardens. Intellectual discussions ensued. All is well.

Indeed.

The three of us ended up going to one of the best Fringe shows we've seen in quite a while: ANTOINE FEVAL (we added the caps for effect). Seriously folks, if you get the chance to see this show this week, TOTALLY GO. It was awesome funny.

Following Mr. Feval's production, we seem to remember returning to the beer gardens...

(FADES TO BLACK)

Monday...

Following a restless night of severe "rain withdrawal," we made our usual 5 minute walk to work in typical Monday morning fashion... slowly but surely.

Monday afternoon progressed into a Tuition Policy Seminar at University Hall with Dr. Dan Lang from the University of Toronto. Dr. Lang is working on a study with the United Nations on tuition models in G-8 Countries. We try not to comment on work stuff here on our blog, but seeing as how it seems we've already broken that rule, we're just going to say that it was an interesting seminar and not quite what we expected…

Monday evening, we progressed to what was known as the Prime Minister's BBQ in Edmonton.

Yes, that is correct, the one and only Right Honourable Paul Martin, PC was in Edmonton and at a BBQ (600 people and sold out).

We were joined by the lovely Misses Sarah and Samantha, along with the always hip Misters Adam and Dan. There were alot more people at the BBQ than we expected, including the striking CBC Workers/Telus Workers/Prison Guards outside the event. Though we felt a little dirty "crossing the line," we felt redeemed after signing their petitions and posing for some pictures (see below).

Ms. Sarah, Mr. Adam, and daveberta's editor-in-chief in solidarity with the striking workers.

We attempted to bring one of the prison guard union flags into the event, but unfortunately, one of the RCMP goons thought otherwise. He grabbed it from us and proceeded to put it "where it belongs"- which turned out to be the garbage. Fortunately, my level-headed intellectual friend, Dan, snatched the flag from the goonish cop and returned it to the workers.

Shame on that RCMP officer. Shame.

Even the entire membership of the Alberta Separatist Party showed up!

Of course, being the political Casanova’s that we are, as we entered, we smoothly put our "schmoozing hats" on and delved into the crowd.

Hot Dogs and wine had the pleasure to grace out palate that evening. We had a nice chat with a number of people and we even got to sit at the same table as the amazing Todd Babiak! We thought he was a pretty cool guy (which we discovered he is).

Some other notables at the event included Senators Claudette Tardif and Grant Mitchell, Minister Lucienne Robillard, Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, Liberal MLA's Rick Miler, Bruce Miller, Dan Backs, the lovely Nic, and the blogging hipster himself, Mr. Sheamus Murphy.

The PM entered, people cheered. Our favorite Liberal MP, Anne McLellan, introduced him and the reception was fairly warm (for Alberta). The Prime Minister said "tremendous" at least 8 times in his speech (6 times in the first minute). He spoke about foreign policy, training, etc....? Fairly decent speech overall. Props for campaign style delivery, but not so much for the overusage of the word "tremendous."

We continued to schmooze and drink as the evening continued.

As the evening ended, we were reminded that it is supposed to start raining again tomorrow.

Ah, summer in Alberta.

(Exit Stage Left)

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