Just got back from an excellent long weekend. Actually, I guess these days...for me there are no long weekends but in any case, it was an excellent weekend. Before I go on...

Happy Birthday Canada and Happy Birthday Dad.

Montreal is a fantastic city. I really like the vibe there and definitely think that I could live there for some time. I would love to work there and stay there for an extended period of time. The people were all nice and good looking, the city itself has some cool neighbourhoods, style and architecture. Cool shopping indeed and of course...food was excellent. We had Montreal Smoked Meat twice - very yummy (I didn't try the "Beaucoup de fat" though"). The trip posse consisted of Tai, Linda, Su-Lin, Ketan, Tchao, Miranda and me. The drive up to Montreal on Saturday was really fun. Tai, Ketan, Tchao and I got talking about Transformers and then for approximately 2 hours, the conversation didn't stop and we ended up speaking about Transformers, The Baseball Card Conspiracy and Old Skool WWF. It was hilarious...we all were just so into it and I'm pretty sure that neither Linda or Su-Lin said anything. When we arrived in Montreal, we got ready and went straight for dinner and then to the Jazz festival. The Jazz festival was huge but I didn't see any of the wicked jazz that I was expecting. We should have probably tried to go to a smaller more intimate venue or club to see the good performances. After the jazz fest, Su-Lin, Tchao, Ketan and I went to an alternative club and got into this huge discussion about the merits of Capitalism vs. Annarchism. It was quite an intense debate.

The next morning (Sunday), we watched Brazil defeat Germany. I was upset to see Brazil win but I am glad that Rivaldo didn't score any goals. I have found my favourite football player though. Ronaldino is his name and he is classic. Just take a look at that smile and tell me that he doesn't look like a fun guy to be around. And, he is a good baller! After the game, we saw so many Brazilian fans shouting and honking their horns in the streets and waving their flags. It was nice for a little while but after about 5 or 6 hours, it was getting tiring and the worst part was definitely seeing all the wannabee fans trying to look cool with their flags. That afternoon, we went shopping, went to the casino and had some beers. At night, we went to a Mexican restaurant and afterwards, we were all bloated so we ixnayed the club and ended up walking around the Old Port (Old Montreal). It was so nice and crowded there. We raced and did tricks in Quadricycles so that was a lot of fun.

Today, we got up pretty sluggishly and ended up in Ottawa by about 1:30. It was cool to be in Ottawa for Canada Day but it was SO hot. It totally reminded me of India or Thailand. All in all though, the vibe was nice and there were so many beautiful ladies everywhere (just like in Montreal). We missed a Maestro performance but we did leave at a decent time and got back no problem.

I am pretty tired now so I'll tell you more stories later.
Good night.