Ryan Hellyer » Canada

RIP Mike!

Ryan — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:48:09 +0000

Dr Michael Hewitt Benn died in Calgary, Canada on Wednesday, December 21st at the age of 80. He was one hell of a guy. One of the nicest people I’ve ever met and the best boss anyone could ever ask for. He would do anything for anyone and was the epitome of kindness and generosity.

One of the last conversations I ever had with him involved him convincing me he had enough money to keep me employed for another three months. On pestering him about where the money was coming from, it turned out he was intending to make a trip to the bank and take my income out of his own personal account! I turned him down on that offer, but it is a shining example of how generous the man could be.

Mike, you will be sorely missed!

I worked for Mike at the University of Calgary 2004/2005. We published a paper about Lycoctonine … Lycoctonine revisited

Downtown Calgary

Ryan — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 04:10:47 +0000

Downtown Calgary is a very picturesque place. All the major buildings in the downtown area are connected by bridges, tunnels and walkways to allow people to move between buildings without getting chilly in the winter.

West Edmonton mall

Ryan — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 23:35:27 +0000

Some photos I took whilst visiting the West Edmonton mall in Edmonton, Canada. The West Edmonton mall is the former largest mall in the world.

Edmonton City

Ryan — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 13:03:05 +0000

I was planning to catch a bus around Edmonton but I met a local called John Arnieri on the way there from Jasper who kindly took me on a tour of the city. Random acts of kindness like this are very appreciated. Thank you very much John

The photo below is of the Alberta Legislature building which is one of the most famous pieces of architecture in Edmonton.

Vancouver

Ryan — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 00:27:04 +0000

Vancouver is a wonderful place I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance. The weather was awesome while I was there. Stanley Park is a huge park area right beside the city center which I skated around while there. I hope to go back to Vancouver some day, might even consider getting a job there if I can.

Seagull in Vancouver

Ryan — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 09:18:40 +0000

I kept wondering what these crazily bright coloured but very common birds were in Vancouver. It turns out they’re just Seagulls! I felt a little silly when I found out This particular shot took about 500 attempts to get. Those darn birds move way to fast!

Drunk Greyhound drivers

Ryan — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 09:03:42 +0000

We had a completely insane bus driver on the trip from Vancouver to Kamloops, BC at 4am in the morning. As we were coming into Kamloops he came on the radio with a slow drunken sounding voice saying he’d got a bit lost and was having trouble seeing straight! But that we’d be in Kamloops in a few minutes! It turned out he was just joking Joking about being drunk that is, not about reaching Kamloops. There wasn’t much there so I took this pic of a sign as a momento of my midnight visit before catching another bus to Jasper.

Lake Louise

Ryan — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 00:18:04 +0000

Lake Louise is a spectacular area in the Rocky Mountains. From above, the water is an unbelievable blue colour.

Rocky Mountain wildlife

Ryan — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 09:10:14 +0000

There was lots of wildlife around Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains. Including chipmunks, birds and although I didn’t see the bear itself, there were even bear droppings on the track I was walking on. Scarily they were fresh droppings!

Princes Island Park in Calgary

Ryan — Fri, 13 May 2005 04:18:22 +0000

Princes Island Park is a small island which is separated from downtown Calgary by a small strip of water from the Bow river. There’s lots of wild life, greenery and picnic areas to enjoy.