It's Friday night. It's 4:11 am. So, it's actually Saturday morning. Why am I up you ask? Well, I just got home and I'm going to bed now. Scary thing though is that I've been awake for almost 22 hours cause I got up at 6:00 am on Friday morning. It's almost 6:00 am on Saturday morning so that ain't cool. What is cool though is that this is a long weekend AND I am going to sleep-in tomorrow for as long as I want. I am still sick and trying to get over my cough and stuffy nose. It is getting better but there are definitely still sniffles and the odd prescription.

Tonight, I went to my friend Sonali's going away dinner in Oshawa at Red Lobster. I "charted my own course" and picked some good dishes to make it an eventful dinner. That was the first time I met her close bddies (There were 4 of them). All were very cool and a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll see them again. After, I met up with JLO and Rachel and the gang to go bowling for JLO's b-day. Before I go any further...I have a confession to make. I SUCK AT BOWLING!!! My first game today was an 87 and my second game was a 67. I didn't even come close to breaking 100!!! I didn't even get 1 strike!!! What the fugg is going on? I remember the days at Club 300 when I used to be into bowling (as into bowling as you can be anyway) and I was scoring in the 150's or 160's. Man, my skillz have diminished. After, I went to Rachel's place and chilled at her place for a while. We had an amazing conversation about life, relationships, work and family. It was totally grea to catch up with her. At the end we were talking about "effortless friendships". That's exactly what her and I share too because we don't spend that much time together in any given month but her and I seem to have this ability to just continue where we left off the last time. Speaking of great conversations...Thursday night - I went back to sushi bistro with Etch and Kris. We brainstormed ideas again and talked a lot about weight lifting and cardio. I am back on the horse now!!! Let's see how long this lasts...

Today I was at the office from 7:45 am to 7:45 pm. What the heck was I doing there so late on the Long Weekend Friday??? My answer is that so much customer crap came through so while I had the time, I considered trying to answer/set it up as much as I can. That way...my weekend is now clear and I can chill out like you're supposed to in the rest of the world on a long weekend.

Today is my brother's 30th birthday (on the 30th of August). Hope he has a good time with his posse this weekend...he is having some peeps out to a club in Notting Hill called the Gate. And he had a huge dinner party at his place last night.

Good night all...time for bed. (I'VE BEEN UP TOO LONG)

Greetings Earthlings. I am going to look at Mars tonight. Are you? Before I get started with news...a few shoutouts:

Amisha - welcome back buddy. We've missed ya and it'll be great to start hanging out again. Congrats on the MBA...it must feel good.
Blair - it was good to see ya at the Jays game buddy. Just saw your site and will definitely keep up with your goings ons... You're right man - it's weird to think that there are people who you see once every few months (or less often for that matter) but cause of blogs, they know everything about you.
Craig - what happened to ya buddy? You were going to come to my bbq and I didn't see ya. Hope all is well. We still gotta do dinner and/or a movie sometime soon.
Karen - long time no talk as well buddy. I've been keeping up with your life for the past while and it's interesting to hear your thoughts about msft and company culture, people's attitudes etc. I get the same feelings at the General quite often and just wonder how I am fitting into the big picture - and more importantly, if it's a good fit. I'm looking forward to seeing you the next time you're in town.
Ingrid - hope all is better now that you've had this epiphany. I think that we are all struggling to really understand WHAT is most important to us. Once we figure that out, a lot of things will start coming together.
Etch - lets lime this weekend. Kris is thinking of having another evening with us over and maybe we can hit J.P's at some point. I was also thinking that I would love to go on a weekend road trip sometime soon. Perhaps Ottawa, Quebec City or Montreal? Let me know what you think.

My neighbour (Mrs. Mac) moved away today. She has been our neighbour for about the last 15 - 20 years. Her husband passed away in March, 2000 and she's stayed here this long since. It just got time for her to move though because most of her family (sisters, daughter, son, etc) are out west in the Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo area. It was hard to see her leave today. Such a wonderful lady - very caring. My parents were really fond of her and I know that she really liked our family - always telling us how wonderful we are and how helpful we are.

It's really interesting to see how different two relationships can be. On one hand you have Mrs. Mac - this wonderful neighbour who is a beautiful, thoughtful person. It's perfectly juxtaposed with our idiot neighbours on the other sides - completely thoughtLESS, stupid and ill-tempered. We know everything going on in Mrs. Mac's life and virtually know nothing with the other fools. We even share a wall with them. I just think it's interesting to see how people's lives can be so private and public. You only open up to people you care about and that is totally evident in the relationships here in Scarborough on my street...

Last weekend, I was at a company off-site at the Talisman resort in northern Ontario (close to Collingwood). We had a good time from Saturday evening to Tuesday afternoon. There were a lot of productive business meetings and tonnes of chances for team building. On Sunday night, we had a team karaoke contest. My team won and we each got MP3 players. I go the RCA Lyra. Cool, eh?

Speaking of technology stuff...I am thinking about this digital camera - The Canon EX-Z3. What do you think?

My losing weight regime hasn't been successful over the past 2 weeks. I've felt my self getting fatter rather than skinnier so I am not happy at all. It's the result of too much snacking, not enough working out and poor eating habits. Gotta change back to how I was in May, June and the beginning of July. That was much better and my size was going in the correct direction. All it takes a little determination and a whole lot of work ethic.
I'll get back on that horse very quickly.

Long weekend...just aroud the corner. SWEET!!!

It's 12:57 am and I just got home from downtown. I left the bar over an hour ago so why did it take me so long to get home you ask? Well let me tell you. Tonight in Toronto, there was this crazy rain storm with so much thunder and lightning. It actually put the power out in several areas of town (ironically, exactly a week has passed since the giant blackout of 2003). But I digress...

I was walking from the bar (Wayne Gretzky's) to my car that was parked underground at 99 Harbour Square (the condo on Queen's Quay right at the foot of York). As I was walking, I kept seeing these crazy bursts of lightning in the southern sky but often, they would hide behind the buildings. So, before I walked to my car - I continued to walk along the boardwalk until I passed the condo and had a completely unobstructed view of the entire lake, Toronto islands and the sky.

It was complete magic. Words cannot describe what I saw. Every second, there was a lightning strike and every other second, the sky was completely illuminated. Some of the strikes would last for up to 3 or 4 seconds as well. I totally wished I had a camera but alas, the pictures will have to stay in my memory forever. There were these 3 South American guys there with a video camera but it turns out that it was only an 8mm. I asked them if it was digital cause I was going to ask them if they could send me some images and .avi's but since it wasn't, that plan fell through. I also met this couple who live in 77 Harbour Square. They are probably in their late 40's. Both are self-employed and completely love it. However, they both said that the job I have now is an excellent starting point...especially cause it's Sales. Pretty much everyone left and I was sitting there alone watching the lightning after that. It was so calming cause the water was so peaceful. There were no noises (especially of traffic), the weather was fantastic (it wasn't raining and it wasn't cold or hot). What a truly amazing spectical.

Berfore I go to bed...quick thanks go out to Jimmy Sparks for the Jays tickets this evening. Dude - it was awesome to see you and all your peeps at Skydome tonight. Thanks again for organizing this. See you again soon...

I played beach volleyball tonight at Ashbridge's Bay and I have sand ALL OVER my body right now. It's too late to take a shower so I guess I'll do it tomorrow morning. I just caught a listen of it...GUESS WHO IS PLAYING THEIR F*CK$NG loud music right now. It has been quite quiet of late - what the heck happened???

hey guys...it's been a good couple of days. spent a lot of time with my friend Angie who has just moved to toronto with her husband. i helped them move into their place on Raglan Avenue last night (St. Clair and Bathurst). it's interesting cause when my dad first came to Toronto about 36 years ago - he lived on that street with a couple other bachelors. last night was actually the first time i've been on that street so it was cool to be back where my dad has some roots. they have a really nice place - totally renovated and it looks awesome. the guy who was doing all the work (landowner's son) was there last night so we met him. he was telling us everything he had done - knocking down walls, putting in new floors, changing insulation, etc... so much work but he loves to do it and is so proud of it. it's great to see someone so proud of their own work. i love seeing the elation on their faces. he was telling us that he's taken before and after pictures on his digital so i'd love to see those sometime.

yesterday when i was driving home from a customer in Ingersoll (outside London) i had a bit of a problem. as i was driving on the 401, there was a piece of a truck tire on the road (i can't believe there are so many pieces on the road still). i tried to avoid it but ended up going over it on the driver's side. there was a car beside me so i was relunktant to swerve too much... anyway, i thought nothing of it until i got into the city 1.5 hours later. when i was in the city, driving with my window down and not as quickly - i started hearing a repetitive noise that was unsettling. i pulled over and looked under my car. there looked to be something lodged in by my front driver's side tire. i tried pulling it out but couldn't. when i got to dragonboat, i had a buddy of mine help me out and he was looking under my car. turns out that it's not a piece of the tire but it's actually a piece of the underside plastic that protects the underneath of the front of the car. it must have broke with the impact of the tire and was dragging against the road as i drove. so now i have to go to the mazda dealership today and check out the damage. i need to look under the car to make sure nothing else was scratched and/or damaged. damn, i hate this - that is probably gonna set me back a couple hundred dollars. DAMN IT!!!

i really want to get my finances in order. i've had enough of this "shoulda, coulda, woulda". i am the only one that is accountable for my finances. i have to understand how all that stuff works. my money is going to start working for me. not the other way around! it starts with keep tracking of everything...VISA spending especially. i also want to understand this whole RRSP thing and try to find out where i can start investing and making some good rates of return. if anyone has any suggestions - please let me know.

did you guys hear that over 10,000 people have died due to the crazy heat waves in France. is that correct? wow, that is insane.

i just had one of the best parties i've ever thrown. it was perfect weather today and i had a birthday bbq for a bunch of buddies. there was posse from l'am (high school), waterloo (university), work, osc, shad, marathi crew and other randoms. i had such a great time and can't believe it went by so fast. one thing that i totally wish is that i wasn't running around as much as i did. however, i must say that it was truely a team effort cause my mom/dad helped out A LOT and angie was such a huge help too....especially with all the cutting of fruits and veggies. overall - a great day.

really though. any day you can spend with that many of your closest friends is going to be a good one.

Funny story happened last Thursday night that I forgot to tell ya'll about. I was driving back home after meeting Kris and Tchao for dinner. We had awesome sushi at Sushi Bistro (thanks again for dinner Tchao). Afterwards, I dropped Kris at Union station and then made my way to the Gardiner and eventually onto the DVP. I was driving along and just passed Bloor when I was passing a curve and noticed something near the right lane shoulder. It was someone pushing a motorcycle, wearing a red and black leather jacket. As I passed him, I realized that it was Tchao. Instantly - I was thinking..."What happened to him? how can I check to see if he's okay?" I then took the next exit (Don Mills) and immediately called him on my cell phone. He picked up and we chatted and I realized that he had run out of gas. I found a random gas station about 10 minutes later and went inside. They were actually selling those red plastic gas holders so I got one and filled it up. Called Tchao and told him I was on my way... I then got back on the DVP and drove south to Bloor so I could turnaround and come back to where he was. I eventually got there and found that he was speaking to some other guy who had pulled over to see if he needed help. Turned out that guy was a biker as well (but driving his jeep at the time). It's cool cause bikers have this unwritten code of safety and commeraderie. He left and then Tchao and I filled up his tank. It was crazy to see how fast the cars zoom by when you're on the shoulder. The trucks are really freaky. All in all, it was an interesting end to a very fun evening.

so i think that my blog yesterday may have been slightly negative at times cause of the whole power outage thing. in all honesty though...it was a really cool experience and something that i'll remember forever. it was quite amazing to be connected to so many other people by one single event. it's definitely been an interesting year (2003 that is) for Toronto...with SARS, Mad Cow, the Power Outage and whatever else awaits us in the coming 4 months.

Tomorrow is my bbq...can't wait cause it's gonna be a great day. The weather is going to be fantastico and lot of peeps are coming.

See you tomorrow...

I'm still in the dark. It's been 26 hours since our power went out on Thursday August 14 at 4:14 pm. I was at work at the time and just thought it was a regular black out. Then I started hearing rumblings that all of Ontario was affected. And then, the northeastern United States as well. Can you believe that? It was quite an interesting day actually. Here's how it played out for me:

4:14: heard the news
4:14 - 4:45: talking to a co-worker about my customer meeting for friday (trying to prepare for it)
4:45 - 5:10: surfing the net at work trying to find out more info about the blackout after hearing from my dad about the magnitude
5:15: left the office (with less than a quarter tank of gas - i'll tell you that story in a bit...)
5:20: as I was driving, I thought "I don't have enough gas to make it home in stop and go traffic - that will take about 2 or 3 hours cause the roads are so crazy cause everyone is frantic and left work early. So I decided to drive to the Esso station to fill up my gas. I got to the gas station (after 20 minutes for what should be a 2 minute drive) and pulled up to a pump only to realize (cause I'm an idiot and didn't clue in earlier) that the pumps weren't working.
5:40 - 6:10: there were about 20 cars just parked under the shade at the gas station and all of the occupants (including me) were just chilling in the shade talking with each other and hanging out. Most of those people actually didn't have gas so they were even worse off. I at least had about 1/4 tank.
6:10: spoke to my parents again and then called Kristian on the pay phone (cause my cell phone wasn't working cause the Networks were over run). Kristian wasn't home but I spoke with his cousin (who just arrived from Trinidad one day before). She told me I could come over and chill there till Kris got home cause he was expected home in 30 minutes.
6:15: I got in my car and drove to Kris' place on side streets. I avoided most traffic which was good and the drive only took about 15 minutes. Along the way, I passed many good samaritans directing traffic in the streets. It was totally awesome and I really wanted to do that. Everyone was honking at the them and saying thanks, people were giving them water and hats. It was a really cool sight.
6:30: I arrived at Kris' and chilled with his cousin until he called
7:00: We drove to Streetsville GO station to pick up Kristian who got off the train and walked to a side street to meet us.
7:15: to Sobey's to try and pick up food for a BBQ but they weren't selling anything
7:20: back to Kris' and we raided his freezer. All the meat we could find (pork chops, chicken breasts, steaks, hot dogs) - we thawed all of it and started marinating. Also did some veggies, corn and beans.
7:30: Kris' sister arrives
7:40: Kris' parents arrive.
8:00: we start grilling.
8:30 - 9:30: we ate such a feast. The food was awesome. The funny thing is that the second we were done cooking, the gas in his bbq tank finished. We were praying that we would have enough gas and we totally did. So that worked out really well.
9:30: went for a walk in Kris' neighbourhood searching for some fire wood cause we wanted to make a little bonfire in Kris' bbq. Everyone in his neighbourhood was out chilling and kids were playing. It was realy cool to see the sense of community.
9:50: Kris built a bonfire and we played some cards (I was the a-hole too many times)
10:15: went to the park to chill and look at the stars, etc (Damn, it was such a clear night and the moon was so big and bright. It was absolutely perfect and I totally wish there was no light pollution like that more often)
11:00: I decided it was time to leave and go back to Scarborough. The lights were still out and it was going to be an interesting drive. I was just hoping I had enough gas to get me there. Along the way, cops were directing traffic at busy intersections, some lights were back on but for the most part - it was darkness. I noticed a lot of office buildings had full power (guess they have their own generators or something. But that is damn annoying and what a waste of electricity. They are unoccupied over night yet every floor has to be lit up.
11:35: Along the way home, I was at Bayview and my gas warning light went on. I was so close so I kep going with my fingers crossed. I pulled into my driveway at 11:50 and was fine. I probably have a tablespoon of gas left but it's all good - I got home AND I didn't have to abandon my car on the highway.
12:30: I was in bed after taking a shower and just sitting and doing nothing for a little while.

What a memorable day...

Today, I woke up at 7:00 am only to find that the power was not back. I didn't have any gas so I couldn't go to work to my appointment. Also, Premier Ernie Eves declared a state of emergency in the province of Ontario and Mayor Mel Lastman was pleading with citizens not to leave home if they didn't need to. I called my customer and rescheduled the appointment.

It's now 6:00 pm and I still don' thave power. That is about 26 hours that we have been with out. I am at a parents friends place right now with my 'rents. We came for tea this afternoon and I've just been chilling.

Tonight, I'm supposed to go out downtown but not sure if that is a viable plan anymore. The power is not totally on yet in all of downtown and now with the "rolling blackouts" people with power now may be affected later. This whole "rolling blackout" concept is really annoying cause it hasn't rolled to parts of Scarborough, North York or Etobicoke yet. Whereas, parts of downtown Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Richmond Hill all have full power. What is even more frustrating with that is the people who have power have their AC on, are probably watching loads of TV and/or on the computer (something I'm doing right now) when the city is asking them to do none of those things and conserve electricity. The problem is that if too much is used again - there will be an overhaul on the grid and we could lose power again. So they are going to be doing rolling blackouts for the next couple days to ensure everyone has power. My beef though is that places like Mississauga have had power since 1:00 am last night. What about us? I hope I am not ranting but I am interested to find out how they choose who gets power and who doesn't. This is just my theory right now but it seems that all the "richer" areas have had power a lot more/longer than the "dredges" of Toronto like Scarborough and Etobicoke. I can't substantiate this at all...but it's just a theory at this time.

Some cool observations though have been that kids are outside playing. It's funny cause callers into radio stations have said they had no idea there were so many kids living on their streets. What does that say? Basically the generation of kids these days is inside all the time watching TV and playing video games. Gone are the days of playing outside and having fun with your friends. Hopefully an event like this changes that. Also, the line-ups for gas today have been ridiculous. Some stations have been fortunate (or unfortunate) to re-open and as a result, there have been lines of 60 or 70 cars (up to 3 hour waits) for gas. It boggles my mind because all of these people have to have gas (in case of an emergency). My Protege is sitting on the driveway with no gas but I am fortunate to have another car to use... I'll go tonight and fill up my gas when it's not as crowded.

In New York - there were all sorts of people sleeping on the streets last night because it was just too hot to do anything else. People in Toronto and New York had to escape the subway as well cause the trains stopped running. Although there was all this good stuff going on, there was some crime (looting, fires, etc) in Toronto, NYC and Detroit but there definitely wasn't as much as was expected.

All in all...an incredible ordeal and an incredible day. There really were interesting things that came out of it in the end. The power of people and the kindness exhibited by most was fantastic. It really speaks volume to the way crisis can bring people together.

My one suggestion for governments is to turn the power off every now and then for an evening. Last night (cause the weather was perfect as well) was absoulutely beautiful.

Hey everyone. I must say that I had one of the best birthdays ever yesterday. The day started and ended with KB...thank you for that. At work - some people knew it was my birthday so I got the odd greeting. At lunch, 9 of us went out to my favourite Indian restaurant in the city called Bombay Bhel and had a fantastic Indian lunch. Came back to my desk after and spent the afternoon digesting my meal while "working". Then, it was home around 5:30 to see some old family friends - the Natu's - that are now living in Venezuela. It was cool to catch up with them and they both (Vinay mama and Kiran mami) look fantastic. They left and then I went for a run. I went for about a 40 minute jog (my first in about 5 days since London). I got back, showered and got ready cause my awesome niece, Ankita, and her mom were coming over for dinner. I absolutely love that girl. She is so smart. So cute. So funny. So well-behaved. It's gonna be really tough when they move from Toronto next year. I definitely don't want to see her leave. We played Tic Tac Toe and Trouble last night which was great. She almost beat me actually. Overall, I'd say it was a pretty chill day. Hung out with the peeps I wanted to see as I will see many more this weekend. I definitely wanted to spend some time with the 'rents as well since I've been away for the past 2 weeks on vacation.

Tonight, after dragonboat practice...I am going to meet up with Kris and Tchao for some sushi. Should be good...

hey folks. my vacation is OVER. tomorrow - it's back to the office and how do i feel about that? well, let's see. i am rested and relaxed, chilled and content. so really, i guess it should be okay. but i must say - i love the vacation lifestyle. makes me just want to skip forward 40 years and retire. that would be awesome. imagine being retired at the age of 25? damn, that would be sweet. you'd have a nice sum of money to sit on - could do everything you've wanted to do and it would be such a blast. plus, you're only 25 so all is pretty wicked.

This weekend was the perfect way to get over jet lag. i got home from London at 2:00 am on Saturday morning and got up at 6:30 to go dragonboating in Woodstock all day long. Got home, chilled out, did laundry etc and then got up at 7:00 am this morning to go dragonboating in Toronto today. In Woodstock, we did okay but didn't end up successfully defending our championship from last year. In Toronto, we won our last two races which was great.

I went down to Harbourfront today to a summer festival called Masala, Mehndi, Masti! It's an Indian Cutural, Music, Art and Food festival that's been going on every August for the past 3 years. It was cool and I met up with some of my old buddies. I ran into Nikhil (the human beatbox) and Gurpreet (the tablaguy) and chilled with them which was great. We ended up at this Somalian-Bangladeshi restaurant for dinner and the food was awesome. It was totally a hole in the wall on Dundas Avenue and the service sucked but that all just added to the charm. I drove home through some old parts of Toronto including Gerrard Street, Woodbine Avenue and St. Clair Avenue. It was great to do a lot of thinking and it was a really nice peaceful drive home. When I was home, I went for a walk with my parents which was nice cause we don't get that much time to actually talk as much as we used too.

So you want to know about London, eh? What haven't I told you? Well, one thing that was awesome was last Sunday in Hyde Park. There was this event called Flug Tag It was one of the silliest things I've ever seen. It was so crowded - my estimate is that there were at least 50 - 75 thousand people there. I met some really awesome Aussies and a cool Swede and Kiwi while I was there and it was so cool to chill with some really amazing and incredibly cool people. I also saw Les Miserables which was an amazing show and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream at Regents Park in an Open Air ampitheatre. I did a day trip to Stonehendge, Bath and Oxford too. That was a really cool trip with some great site seeing and lots of cool history.

Most of all - I had SUCH A GREAT time meeting so many new people. Raj's friends are all really cool and such varied in their interests and experiences so that is really cool. And the people I know in London are great including all the new people that I met while I was there.

It's very late. I am going to pay for this tomorrow at the office...
Night

last friday afternoon turned into this friday after. sorry for the week long delay. i am just finishing my packing and getting ready to spend my last day here in london. my flight home is at 9:15 tonight. like you always say at the end of a vacation...i can't believe it wen by that fast! i must say though that while it was going on, it didn't feel fast at all. each day was great...i didn't have any type of schedule or clock to go on. i just took each day as it came and it was perfect that.

the highlight of the trip is definitely all the new people i've met. it never ceases to amaze my how great people are and how many awesome people there are in this world. i know i have the best group of friends at home in toronto and always think how cool it would be to come to these great cities like london with all of them. that would be a party! the new people in my circle of friends are now from all over as well which is really cool...aussies, kiwis, japanese, malaysian, italian, spanish...you name it.

it was nice to spend time with my bro. we did some bonding. unfortunately though - our schedules didn't totally mesh and we didn't see as much of each other as i would have liked.

gotta get back to packing now but i'll give a full account of highlights when i get home. have a wonderful day...

hello folks...london is going great. totally chilled out. will write more this afternoon.