Sam, surprised us with a new haircut and looked so different! As we know, he has been doing gymnastics since the fall and accepted the challenge for an amateur competition in January. Practising with his partner, the trampoline was fine, and the double mini trampoline was also fine, running up to and jumping off onto the mat. Then, he tried without the mat on to the landing zone and the first10 times were also fine. But on the 11th he said “nope” just before taking off, not landing on his back, and driving his knee into his (now very blackened and swollen) eye. 
He took time off so as not to traumatize the children and drive them to a different sort of counselor.
Marg’s literacy program is winding down. She saw Elf which was overacted but a lot of fun.
Kal thought the karaoke was fantastic on Saturday and wishes everyone a Happy American Thanksgiving.
Debbie M. loved the karaoke, says we did a great job, and we raised a lot of money. Manuel had a meeting with the surgeon in Spain, on Zoom, but they can’t do the surgery as it is too risky. However, he is still stable, so we have our fingers crossed. Her good news is that they were invited to the hockey game on Monday night, had fantastic seats, could actually follow the puck, and were only a few feet away from Prince Harry.
Judy could have been the highlight of the concert! She volunteered to lead a club Karaoke night. 
There were two birthdays this weekend, a family dinner on Sunday and a birthday party on Saturday. Lindsay and Siobhan had Canuck tickets and were thrilled that Prince Harry was there. On Friday Judy is going shopping with Mellia for clothes for her birthday, as it’s a ProD day, but it is also Black Friday, so we wish them good luck.
Debbie S. thanks Judy for organizing the Foundation karaoke. Her girlfriends had a good time and went to a little Japanese restaurant within walking distance of the theatre. She is in Palm Springs for a week with friends.
Amanda is just back from Tofino, with lovely weather (but no storms), long walks on the beach and was happy that Graham loved it too. She is working for two days, then is off to Saskatchewan for an early Christmas but will be back next week.(check with Dick for a Saskatchewan weather report! – 5 in Swift Current).
Joyce was needed by her family in California and was away for a week, then, while driving back in a cab from airport, they were hit by a young student driver. Joyce hit her head in the cab, but that didn’t stop her from spending last week in Calgary at a life-changing leadership course. She is excited about the Shoebox Project next week.
Melinda leaves tomorrow for Mexico until Dec. 6th and will miss the Christmas party. She went to the Seahawks game two weeks ago and saw “Sally Seahawks” and bought tickets a few times and was urged to write her name on them. Later, she received a call from Washington Lottery, saying she had won a Seahawks Experience (John was sure it was a scam). But they really did win 2 tickets to the Philadelphia game, overnight at the Hyatt, including parking, brunch, a meet and greet with Michael Bennet, hundreds in gift cards and hundreds of scratch tickets. The prize is worth about $3700! She went to see her aunt in Olympia, phoned the lottery ticket office, signed a form, and was seen jumping up and down hugging the lottery lady. She is off to Australia at the end of the month. No that was not part of the lottery win.
Sandra missed the concert although intended to go. Will definitely go to Judy’s karaoke. But she spent the afternoon with a realtor in South Surrey, had to pick up a cake on Commercial, their internet went down and needed fixing, but then the toilets started bubbling and the sink wasn’t draining as the sewer system was clogged. Brittany’s party was planned for their house. The City came out within four hours, and it was cleared at 7 p.m., but they didn’t make the concert. Brittany’s party had a Seahawks theme, and they got a 7-inch Blitz the mascot which turned out to be a 7 foot high blow-up!! She went to the Cirque du Soleil. Things should be calming down now.
Jeanette is happy the hospital has new beds, from which the patients can’t climb out. There is a voice control which tells them not to get up, that help is on the way. She thought Saturday’s concert was Name that Tune, but she didn’t know any of the answers. She went to a surprise lunch on Sunday for Elena’s husband’s birthday, but they were still hungry even after lots of eating.
Micheal had a funny story. Two Sundays ago, it was Diwali, he was at church, a normal routine, then Bobby said not to come to the office that day as there were not many calls and Monday was a holiday, and his child was free, too, so Saturday night they decided to go to Seattle on Sunday. They got to the border at 3 p.m. waited in a lineup, even at the truck crossing, exchanged money to be at the front of the line(?), had a couple of drinks on the way, then decided to go to Tukwila for a cheaper hotel, the Ramada Inn, checked in at 6:15 p.m. and were off to the Cheesecake Factory for 8:30 p.m. After several too-strong margaritas, $35 for two drinks, he was then buzzing, ordered a bottle of champagne, so as not to overdo it. They were served by an international student, with a bit of a language barrier and tried to order dinner. At about 9:30 they got the bill, went to the front counter for the cheesecake, and realized the restaurant had forgotten to serve dinner. They were told that their food could be made quickly but instead they called Uber, were at the hotel, and saw a Wendy’s across from the hotel, open to midnight. Wendy’s door was locked and apparently the dining shuts down at 10 p.m., but you could order in drive-thru only if you were in a car. Micheal spied a car driving through, walked behind it to the window, ordered for 18$ but didn’t have to pay, because the guy in the car had paid for him, and Micheal even got change for the $20! At the Chevron station, he saw the car who had paid and asked the driver why he had done that. The guy said he knew how it feels to be homeless. (Anyone else notice a pattern here. This is Micheal’s homeless karma.)
Peachy thinks she could beat them at the concert. (will get a chance at Judy’s karaoke.) She had to have dinner with her friends, or they would have asked for the $50 back. They went to a Japanese restaurant.
Pat had tea and crumpets last week. She thanks Judy for the concert but was annoyed by people on their cell phones. If we do it again, we should ask that they be put away (the phones). She didn’t like the bright lights. She watched Barbie on demand, and thought it was a cute show. She will miss next week’s meeting as she will be in Palm Springs. She gave boxes to Joyce. Her nephew and his wife just had a baby girl, and he is the son of the brother-in-law who is very ill.
Elena reminded us that this Saturday is the loading of the container at 9:30. She was happy with the surprise party for her husband and for all the messy seafood eaten in two hours. Yesterday she had meetings, then a phone call from the Chairman of the Business Association about a presentation regarding wills, etc. at so she took the SkyTrain, to RBC, on the 32nd floor. She is going to Las Vegas on Monday.
Debbie T. had a surprise last week. Her husband thought it was Black Friday, and was telling her she had to buy stuff for rotary, but there weren’t any sales yet. However, he managed to find a cruise, (although she’s not keen after her food poisoning experience), out of Cape Town, to Rio de Janeiro, flights included, and they also booked a safari. She’ll be gone during the month of January, with a health kit from the naturopath.
Chris P. will make a Foundation Donation, as she wasn’t able to go as they were closing the cabin before her dad’s treatment. But she was linked to the email from Dave and felt it might not go well. She loves Micheal’s stories. She worked with Victor at Van City where she was a teller and he was an insurance manager.
Dalbir appreciated his Saturday at the Red Truck Tree Farm, where he learned of the huge shortage of Christmas trees, due to droughts. His grandson Jacob was with them, and he is thankful to the Band who facilitates the flights, as it wouldn’t be possible for the social workers. It’s a good thing.
John waited for the 1.5 hours of concert to end and started looking at his watch at 8:15 p.m. He had invited his sister who slept through most of it. His seat neighbour was the Japanese guy’s wife. John said he should give her the bouquets. He is off to the Okanagan, weather permitting.
Chris M. couldn’t go to the Foundation concert and was wondering what all the fuss and comments were about and was treated to a litany of more comments. She was in Victoria for four days, working for the Ministry of Education on the FSA Numeracy team (Ed. note and outdoing the other younger members of the team). She reminds us to bring boxes, items, or cash for the Shoebox Project next week.
Mary Lou enjoyed Jann Arden and Rick Mercer. She took Oscar to the East Van cultural crawl, and picked out presents for his parents. She takes Alan to VGH today to find out about next steps. Alan wants to know if he can drive. Mary Lou has the other 21 questions and we’re hoping for good news next week.
Bobby says their mother had 4 boys: Sanjeev, Victor, Bobby and Micheal who are all so very different, with almost nothing in common, and each of their stories is so different. He was at a wedding on Saturday, did a toy drive at Lansdowne and Save on Foods on Sunday for Surrey Food Bank. He used to have vertigo, but it has been settling down during the last years, and apparently is activated by your wife staring at you in a different way, which happened at the concert. She started down the stairs and he got vertigo following her. He is going to the Seattle Seahawks game.
Bob says that Micheal’s stories are like mini movies. He is kind of glad he missed the concert, as he went to the States with the family, to Trader Joes and Costco and the kids were not even arguing. Trader Joes is worse than Costco, and they went nuts shopping, then relaxed and had dinner. Gavin bought his first car yesterday, a Mercedes from Kelowna, for a good price and with low km, but it was going to cost a lot to ship it here and they had to go to Abbotsford to pick it up. So, after Bob sent in a google review, the car was dropped off at their house. It’s an important milestone for a guy to buy his first car. Gavin is going to Big White skiing but not taking the car. Bob was in Victoria Monday and Tuesday, and recommends Discovery Coffee, with the best donuts, and a line up outside. Karen ate them but Bob was fasting.
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