June 20th: Edmonton

   Every Monday morning seems worst than the last. Downey and I had a media event going on at the ALS Edmonton office and we had to get down there to share our message and get the donations we were desperatly trying to raise. I wasn't sure when the last time we got a donation was, but it felt like a very long time and we were well below our 50,000$ goal.
  I had never taken public transit before, and therefore bussing in Edmonton ended up being quite the chore. Luckily, we arrived at the ALS office on time. There we were introduced to the different members of th Edmonton team. The ALS Edmonton office was a very warm reception and they managed to get a bit of media attention because amoung the welcoming party was a member of the CBC media with a Camera.
    Sam, the camera guy, was a very nice guy and had been working for CBC for only a short period of time. He had Downey and I answer the usual questions about our motivations and methods. He was dissapointed when we told him our bikes were being fixed and therefore weren't able to be video taped. During the tapping, I noticed Downey was very nervous in front of camera. It was as if the TV camera was a personality sucking vaccum, because Downey just turned into a robot simply blurbing out facts. It wasn't a very big deal, but I definatly made fun of him for it later.
   After Sam left, a couple more volunteers fom the Edmonton office showed up. Amanda, a newly arrived volunteer, was also a sales rep for the Marriot hotel in Edmonton. She arranged for Downey and I to stay our last night in Edmonton in the Marriot. Another volunteer, Krystal, was more of a conversationalist and provided very meaningful and uplifting advice, which in and of itself is worth alot.
   Once the office stuff was done in Edmonton, we got a ride to the Talbots house, where we collected our things, and then a lift to our hotel. Having our own space was nice. Amanda invited Downey and I to have drinks with her and her fiance that night. We did and it was great. It always nice to talk to people just for the sake of talking.