Aside from work, which sucks right now, I haven't been up to much aside from preparing for the Christmas season. Last night I finished doing up my Christmas cards, and I mailed them out tonight. Here is the text of them for your reading pleasure:

CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU ARE THE PROUD RECIPIENT OF
DEREK BURT'S 7th ANNUAL GENERIC CHRISTMAS CARD!

Dear Friend(s),

Another year has come and gone - life is good so I suppose that's all anyone can ever ask for! I sincerely hope that you and your loved ones are safe and happy this holiday season. For some of you, this time of the year is usually the only time I get the chance to catch up, so I'm very grateful for the opportunity to let you know a little bit about what I've been up to for the last year.

I went to Mexico for a week in late January for my girlfriend Sofia's university graduation. It was the first time that I got to see her for pretty much an entire year, but just seeing her waiting for me at the airport made the wait worthwhile. It was a really amazing time and although I wasn't there for very long, I had a blast. I can't wait to go back!

In the spring I decided that as much as I enjoyed renting with my room-mates, it was time to start looking for a place of my own. After not a lot of searching (hey, I'll be honest!), I ended up buying a 2 bedroom condo in downtown Regina. It's a great place that I'm very happy to call my home. I've got a new room-mate living with me named Marco, who is in 3rd-year Engineering at the university, who moved in with me at the end of the summer, and it's been smooth sailing so far.

The weekend before August long weekend this year marked yet another cabin party in Cypress Hills, the 5th Annual. It's been a great tradition that sees me and my friends take over my parents' cabin for a weekend for some fun, some food, and some drink. We got amazingly good weather this year which made it even better. You are more than welcome to come out to the party next year!

Early this year I finally took my hunter safety course, which was pretty embarrassing considering I was in a room with 12 year-olds, but I made it through. I also wrote my federal firearms test which means I can now legally own a gun. Both of these new facts together meant that I could go hunting for the first time in my life. Me and my sister's boyfriend Brandon (also a first-time hunter) hit South-west Saskatchewan with my dad, my Grandpa, an uncle, and a cousin, and had a great time filling my deep freeze full of deer meat.

This summer I got to see Sofia again, except this time it was her visiting me here in Canada. She came with her friend Vanessa. We attended Brad Young's wedding to Stefanie Mohr, which was a great time. I was the MC for the wedding reception and it couldn't have gone better. The whole day was perfect. I can only hope that my wedding goes that well should I ever have one some day! After the wedding, me, Sofia, and Vanessa went on a tour of Western Canada that saw us visiting High River, Calgary, Drumheller, Edmonton, Jasper, the Okanagan, Banff, and Cypress Hills, in that order. It was a whirlwind tour that saw us all over the place for a week and a half but we had an amazing time that we won't soon forget. Brad's wedding wasn't the only one I was involved in - I was asked to MC another wedding at the end of September for one Mr. Shaun Stevenson. It was a great time because I got to basically repeat the same script that I used for Brad's wedding, so it went great!

In other news, my work is going very well. I sold the business I started with a few friends earlier this year, but I am still working for ISM Canada on the university campus. I got hired on permanently early this year and just celebrated my first anniversary working for the company. After working on a number of successful projects in the first half of the year, I spent most of the end of summer back and forth between Vancouver and Regina. Right now I am working for IBM Securities Industry Services in Toronto through the IBM Pacific Development Centre in Vancouver doing work on IBM's next-generation brokerage software. Sound confusing? Don't worry - it confuses me all the time! I'll be working with them until the end of June at least, then it's on to the next project!

I have some sad news to report, in that I will not be making my annual trip to Assiniboia for Christmas and the Festivus. I am going to be visiting Sofia in Mexico for Christmas. I am also going to be talking to her parents to see if they like the idea of the two of us getting married ... sshh! Don't tell! I will keep you all posted on how it turns out!

May the holidays bring you joy, happiness, money, fame, power, or whatever else your heart desires. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Yours,

Derek

The URSU staff X-mas party is on Saturday, otherwise I plan to lie low until then until the next X-mas party I have to go to. Also, I have so much Christmas shopping to do, it's not even funny!