Changing Sites...
Quick message and link to let you know that I'm switching websites. For this trip, I have created an MSN spaces site that allows me to easily upload photos while I am traveling. So, check out the new site and bookmark it for my travel updates over the next 4.5 months. It's also called Goks World
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Update # 1 - live from London, England
Hi everyone, I arrived safely yesterday morning and now, I'm at my brother's flat in London. It's about 12:35 am on March 2 and I have been here since yesterday morning (arrived at around 8:30 am on Feb 28).
My flight over was pretty good although the plane was quite empty. And Air Canada - I've got one beef. I know you don't have the individual seat back tv's/entertainment centres yet but CAN YOU PLEASE CHOOSE SOME BETTER MOVIES??!!!?!?!!?! The Corpse Bride and Shakespeare in Love! What the "@$%* is that??? I tried to sleep instead and I was especially full after my 2 dinners. 2 dinners you ask? Well, I ordered a special meal on this flight. I got the "low fat, low cholesterol" meal so I got served first. It was quite dry and not that tasty. When I finished my meal, the guy right next to me just got his so I was sitting there just smelling his food and I was still hungry. So I asked the flight attendant if they had any extra food and they did so they hooked me up. Mental note - if you want to ensure you get served first or at least get served warm food - make a special dietary request and then, you'll get your food first. I also listened to my new iPod a lot and decided that I really like it but man, it's gonna take some getting used to that whole click wheel concept to navigate around (and to control the volume)
It's been a great couple days in London. First off, it's been VERY SUNNY which has been great. I haven't seen a drop of rain. I told Raj and Pari before arriving that I would be bringing the sun with me. And I didn't lie! Yesterday, after a bit of an ordeal getting to Raj's flat from the airport (there were all these tube delays), I tried to sleep throughout the afternoon. By about 4:00 pm, Pari (my brother's fiance) arrived home from work and we chatted and got caught up. Raj got home around 6:00 and after chilling for a bit, we headed out for Al-Onaak, a Lebanese restaurant in their neighbourhood. The food was quite nice, especially the baba ganoush and the lamb kebab. After dinner, our friend Sonu arrived an we went to a bar in Oxford Circus to meet up with some of my Aussie friends and other Londoners. Sam, Kat, Lindsey, Tony and Clara came out. We went to this bar called Firevault which was really cool cause they sell Fireplaces by day and at night, there is a trendy restaurant and bar downstairs. Very cool decor and some really neat fireplaces and drinks... After that, the five of us that were remaining proceeded to head to Match Bar (also in Oxford Circus) where we had some good times. They had this one drink on the menu called the Breakfast Club which sounded GROSS. It had a couple shots of bourbon, an egg white, orange marmalade and other raunchy stuff. Tony volunteered to try it and the bartender was all excited to make it. He came back a few minutes later and apologized cause they were out of Orange Marmalade. So, Tony then gave the bartender free rain and said "You make whatever you want, just do gin or absinthe". The bartender was smiling a lot and left. We must have waited for nearly 10 minutes and he finally returned with what he called "The Strawberry Delicious". That drink was HUGE and quite tasty. The bartender was so pumped about it - it was great. Good on ya Tony for being such a great sport about it!
This morning, I got up kinda late (but who cares cause I'm unemployed and on vacation). My brother did a little work in the morning and then had decided to take the rest of the day off. We had an excellent day and thanks to his amazing suggestion, I got to see a lot of London. Raj has a Vespa scooter and we rode around all afternoon checking out different sites around the city. Again, the weather was gorgeous and sunny so it made it perfect. The only problem was that when you're on a scooter, it gets considerably colder cause of the wind. We had some fish and chips in Notting Hill for lunch. They were pretty good (apparently one of the top 10 in London). I'm not quite sure about that though. After lunch, we rode up to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasdon which was absolutely fantastic. I'm really glad that Raj brought me here cause I hadn't seen it during my previous 2 trips to London the last couple of years. Unfortunately, we missed darshan by about 45 minutes but we still got to see some of the deities and also got to see the incredible stone work, wood work and especially the Haveli architecture. I also learned about an amazing movie called Mystic India . Apparently, it's an IMAX film and I just missed it in London (at South Kensington). It's playing in Mumbai and in Sydney so I should be able to see it at some point during this trip. Otherwise, maybe it'll come to Toronto in the summer. After the temple, we drove back into the city and met Pari for some drinks at a neat coffee shop near her school. When we left the coffee shop, it started to snow!!! (okay, so maybe I brought this from Canada along with the beautiful sun) It was the perfect "first snowfall of winter" kinda snow - it was really beautiful. So many people (including me of course) were taking pics of the falling snow. Since London is such a cosmopolitan city, there are probably tonnes of people that have never seen it so I think they were quite excited today.
For dinner, Raj made spaghetti with meatballs, Pari made a salad and I made tuna cakes (but used yogurt instead of mayo) so they were definitely healthier (but just not solid enough). Rajs' coworker Salo came by and so did Sonu. It was a fun night just chilling out, eating, drinking and watching the England - Uruguay friendly match that England one with a late goal during injury time - definitely a last minute win!
London is a funny place. One thing I've noticed is that it is quite transient here. So many people come and go so often. I was asking my Australian friends who've been here anywhere from 2 - 4 years. All of them are sure they won't stay here forever and most seem to think that 4 or 5 is enough. Raj's friends even feel the same way. It's so cosmopolitan and there is so much to do but I guess it just doesn't have the long term appeal to many people. Maybe with all the constant moving around, people just find it hard to establish and maintain solid relationships with people. The cost of living in this city is absurd too and for students or people with entry level jobs, it is very difficult to save up or survive because rent, food, etc just adds up. Another observation is that there is a bar/pub or restaurant everywhere you turn in this city. On the scooter today, we went through a lot of old neighbourhoods and all I kept seeing were different restaurants (and all were from various parts of the world). It's a fun and exciting city and I love coming to visit. Just don't know if I could live here full time.
I reckon that it's time for bed as I've got a full day of bumming around to accomplish tomorrow before my flight to Mumbai leaves at 9:30 pm. Oh yeah, did I mention that it's about 37 - 39 degrees celcius right now in Mumbai??? Man, I am going to sweat my butt off.
Night all.
Hi everyone, I arrived safely yesterday morning and now, I'm at my brother's flat in London. It's about 12:35 am on March 2 and I have been here since yesterday morning (arrived at around 8:30 am on Feb 28).
My flight over was pretty good although the plane was quite empty. And Air Canada - I've got one beef. I know you don't have the individual seat back tv's/entertainment centres yet but CAN YOU PLEASE CHOOSE SOME BETTER MOVIES??!!!?!?!!?! The Corpse Bride and Shakespeare in Love! What the "@$%* is that??? I tried to sleep instead and I was especially full after my 2 dinners. 2 dinners you ask? Well, I ordered a special meal on this flight. I got the "low fat, low cholesterol" meal so I got served first. It was quite dry and not that tasty. When I finished my meal, the guy right next to me just got his so I was sitting there just smelling his food and I was still hungry. So I asked the flight attendant if they had any extra food and they did so they hooked me up. Mental note - if you want to ensure you get served first or at least get served warm food - make a special dietary request and then, you'll get your food first. I also listened to my new iPod a lot and decided that I really like it but man, it's gonna take some getting used to that whole click wheel concept to navigate around (and to control the volume)
It's been a great couple days in London. First off, it's been VERY SUNNY which has been great. I haven't seen a drop of rain. I told Raj and Pari before arriving that I would be bringing the sun with me. And I didn't lie! Yesterday, after a bit of an ordeal getting to Raj's flat from the airport (there were all these tube delays), I tried to sleep throughout the afternoon. By about 4:00 pm, Pari (my brother's fiance) arrived home from work and we chatted and got caught up. Raj got home around 6:00 and after chilling for a bit, we headed out for Al-Onaak, a Lebanese restaurant in their neighbourhood. The food was quite nice, especially the baba ganoush and the lamb kebab. After dinner, our friend Sonu arrived an we went to a bar in Oxford Circus to meet up with some of my Aussie friends and other Londoners. Sam, Kat, Lindsey, Tony and Clara came out. We went to this bar called Firevault which was really cool cause they sell Fireplaces by day and at night, there is a trendy restaurant and bar downstairs. Very cool decor and some really neat fireplaces and drinks... After that, the five of us that were remaining proceeded to head to Match Bar (also in Oxford Circus) where we had some good times. They had this one drink on the menu called the Breakfast Club which sounded GROSS. It had a couple shots of bourbon, an egg white, orange marmalade and other raunchy stuff. Tony volunteered to try it and the bartender was all excited to make it. He came back a few minutes later and apologized cause they were out of Orange Marmalade. So, Tony then gave the bartender free rain and said "You make whatever you want, just do gin or absinthe". The bartender was smiling a lot and left. We must have waited for nearly 10 minutes and he finally returned with what he called "The Strawberry Delicious". That drink was HUGE and quite tasty. The bartender was so pumped about it - it was great. Good on ya Tony for being such a great sport about it!
This morning, I got up kinda late (but who cares cause I'm unemployed and on vacation). My brother did a little work in the morning and then had decided to take the rest of the day off. We had an excellent day and thanks to his amazing suggestion, I got to see a lot of London. Raj has a Vespa scooter and we rode around all afternoon checking out different sites around the city. Again, the weather was gorgeous and sunny so it made it perfect. The only problem was that when you're on a scooter, it gets considerably colder cause of the wind. We had some fish and chips in Notting Hill for lunch. They were pretty good (apparently one of the top 10 in London). I'm not quite sure about that though. After lunch, we rode up to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasdon which was absolutely fantastic. I'm really glad that Raj brought me here cause I hadn't seen it during my previous 2 trips to London the last couple of years. Unfortunately, we missed darshan by about 45 minutes but we still got to see some of the deities and also got to see the incredible stone work, wood work and especially the Haveli architecture. I also learned about an amazing movie called Mystic India . Apparently, it's an IMAX film and I just missed it in London (at South Kensington). It's playing in Mumbai and in Sydney so I should be able to see it at some point during this trip. Otherwise, maybe it'll come to Toronto in the summer. After the temple, we drove back into the city and met Pari for some drinks at a neat coffee shop near her school. When we left the coffee shop, it started to snow!!! (okay, so maybe I brought this from Canada along with the beautiful sun) It was the perfect "first snowfall of winter" kinda snow - it was really beautiful. So many people (including me of course) were taking pics of the falling snow. Since London is such a cosmopolitan city, there are probably tonnes of people that have never seen it so I think they were quite excited today.
For dinner, Raj made spaghetti with meatballs, Pari made a salad and I made tuna cakes (but used yogurt instead of mayo) so they were definitely healthier (but just not solid enough). Rajs' coworker Salo came by and so did Sonu. It was a fun night just chilling out, eating, drinking and watching the England - Uruguay friendly match that England one with a late goal during injury time - definitely a last minute win!
London is a funny place. One thing I've noticed is that it is quite transient here. So many people come and go so often. I was asking my Australian friends who've been here anywhere from 2 - 4 years. All of them are sure they won't stay here forever and most seem to think that 4 or 5 is enough. Raj's friends even feel the same way. It's so cosmopolitan and there is so much to do but I guess it just doesn't have the long term appeal to many people. Maybe with all the constant moving around, people just find it hard to establish and maintain solid relationships with people. The cost of living in this city is absurd too and for students or people with entry level jobs, it is very difficult to save up or survive because rent, food, etc just adds up. Another observation is that there is a bar/pub or restaurant everywhere you turn in this city. On the scooter today, we went through a lot of old neighbourhoods and all I kept seeing were different restaurants (and all were from various parts of the world). It's a fun and exciting city and I love coming to visit. Just don't know if I could live here full time.
I reckon that it's time for bed as I've got a full day of bumming around to accomplish tomorrow before my flight to Mumbai leaves at 9:30 pm. Oh yeah, did I mention that it's about 37 - 39 degrees celcius right now in Mumbai??? Man, I am going to sweat my butt off.
Night all.
Monday, February 27, 2006
life changing?
Well, in about 4 hours, I am leaving my house to head to the airport for a trip that many are calling "one of a lifetime". I will be gone until July 13 so in total, that is 137 days (I had to total it up for travel insurance purposes).
I was up till 4 am last night and I'm still doing stuff. Man, so many last minute things that I left too late - my fault of course. And that new iPod Nano is amazing but wow, that was a bit of a LONG process to load it up. I even had to call Apple Tech support - man I'm a loser.
Stay tuned for several updates and I hope I'll be able to figure out how to upload photos to this site too.
Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone. It really means a lot and definitely - thanks for coming out to Sage last week for my party. That was a blast. And, here are some pics from that night.
Until we meet again...
Well, in about 4 hours, I am leaving my house to head to the airport for a trip that many are calling "one of a lifetime". I will be gone until July 13 so in total, that is 137 days (I had to total it up for travel insurance purposes).
I was up till 4 am last night and I'm still doing stuff. Man, so many last minute things that I left too late - my fault of course. And that new iPod Nano is amazing but wow, that was a bit of a LONG process to load it up. I even had to call Apple Tech support - man I'm a loser.
Stay tuned for several updates and I hope I'll be able to figure out how to upload photos to this site too.
Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone. It really means a lot and definitely - thanks for coming out to Sage last week for my party. That was a blast. And, here are some pics from that night.
Until we meet again...
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
February is here?
Wow, this month is going by fast. Not sure if all of you know but this is my LAST week of work. I have officially resigned from my job and this Friday February 17th is my last day. On February 27 (less than 2 weeks from now), I take off for a little journey. I'll be hitting England, India, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Europe - returning by the middle of July.
It's kinda nuts and I'm definitely a little scared about the whole thing but I think it'll be a fantastic experience and one that I never regret. If I didn't go - that would have been my only regret cause once it was in my head, it was just something that made sense and something I had to do.
I like to plan everything and make sure that I know what's going on. So far, I haven't really been able to wrap my head around this trip. It's coming so fast and I am still working till Friday. AND work is VERY busy right now. So, next week is gonna be a blur and before I know it, I'll be on a plane heading out. I've got this list of "to do's" and it is only growing even thought I am tackling things on it.
Gotta get back to work but before I go. Some shoutouts...
1. Congrats to Bobby and Bonnie on their engagement. It was a lot of fun at your party on Saturday night and my apologies about the ICICI jab - hopefully no one was too vexed about that ;o)
2. Happy Birthdays go out to Byron, Ian, Sherry, Arthur, Anh, Vip, Bobby, Sarah and Julie.
Wow, this month is going by fast. Not sure if all of you know but this is my LAST week of work. I have officially resigned from my job and this Friday February 17th is my last day. On February 27 (less than 2 weeks from now), I take off for a little journey. I'll be hitting England, India, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Europe - returning by the middle of July.
It's kinda nuts and I'm definitely a little scared about the whole thing but I think it'll be a fantastic experience and one that I never regret. If I didn't go - that would have been my only regret cause once it was in my head, it was just something that made sense and something I had to do.
I like to plan everything and make sure that I know what's going on. So far, I haven't really been able to wrap my head around this trip. It's coming so fast and I am still working till Friday. AND work is VERY busy right now. So, next week is gonna be a blur and before I know it, I'll be on a plane heading out. I've got this list of "to do's" and it is only growing even thought I am tackling things on it.
Gotta get back to work but before I go. Some shoutouts...
1. Congrats to Bobby and Bonnie on their engagement. It was a lot of fun at your party on Saturday night and my apologies about the ICICI jab - hopefully no one was too vexed about that ;o)
2. Happy Birthdays go out to Byron, Ian, Sherry, Arthur, Anh, Vip, Bobby, Sarah and Julie.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
trash filled evening
Last night was Ketan's birthday and the posse got together to go out and the theme was "trash". Yep, that's right. So where did we go? Well, we went to Hooters for dinner of course and then Cockodile (oops, Crocodile) Rock for drinks. It started off with a bang at Hooters. Sam and Raquel got there first and told the servers that we had a reservation cause we had reserved the couches by the big TV (since there were 7 of us and we wanted to watch the Leafs-Habs game). Apparently when they got there, there were these 3 black guys sitting in the couches and they had to be moved to accomodate us. When the rest of us got there, we were just sitting around shooting the $hit, etc and then we noticed that those three guys that were sitting in the couches AND were now sitting on some crappy benches were actually NBA players. They were Mike Bibby, Francisco Garcia and none other than Ron Artest (as an aside - Ron Artest is the guy that got suspended for the entire season last year cause he got in a fight with fans in Detroit and he's also the guy who said he needed to take time off to work on his album so the suspension was no problem).
Anyway, these guys were having their night before a game dinner at Hooters. They were eating curly fries, wings, burgers but no booze - just water bottles. It was hilarious seeing these guys eating in Hooters. No one was really bothering them and they eventually took off anyway. But man, they are tall. So, we asked our waitress what kind of tip they left. She went and asked the waitress that was taking care of them and apparently, they left a tip BELOW 15%. Can you believe that??? Their total bill was probably no more than $50 CDN and they left below a 15% tip. Wow. That is totally tight! But a story nonetheless.
The fun continued at Cock Rock where of course, the music sucked and so did most of the people. It definitely made for fun people watching. Ketan and I started playing pool and were running the table for a bit. At one point, I was shooting and had one ball left before going for the 8-ball. As I was lining up my shot, there was this girl leaning on the table and her butt was right in my line of site. I joking said to Ketan and Nikhil - what if I hit that girl in the butt with the ball? We all started laughing. It was too perfect. Well, as I was winding up my shot, my conscious got the better of me and I decided - No, I shouldn't do it. But in the end, I said Fugg it and I went for it so as I did my shot, I hit under the cue ball so it hit my ball and then bounced and boom - hit her right in the cheeks. She was so startled and look around and we were all killing ourselves. I went over and apologized and after the game bought her a drink to say I was sorry. But man, that was totally priceless. I couldn't believe it actually worked so well. I didn't get my shot in by the way (it missed by inches). But, we did win the game so that was good.
Off to Quebec City tomorrow morning for the next 4 days for work. Talk later.
Last night was Ketan's birthday and the posse got together to go out and the theme was "trash". Yep, that's right. So where did we go? Well, we went to Hooters for dinner of course and then Cockodile (oops, Crocodile) Rock for drinks. It started off with a bang at Hooters. Sam and Raquel got there first and told the servers that we had a reservation cause we had reserved the couches by the big TV (since there were 7 of us and we wanted to watch the Leafs-Habs game). Apparently when they got there, there were these 3 black guys sitting in the couches and they had to be moved to accomodate us. When the rest of us got there, we were just sitting around shooting the $hit, etc and then we noticed that those three guys that were sitting in the couches AND were now sitting on some crappy benches were actually NBA players. They were Mike Bibby, Francisco Garcia and none other than Ron Artest (as an aside - Ron Artest is the guy that got suspended for the entire season last year cause he got in a fight with fans in Detroit and he's also the guy who said he needed to take time off to work on his album so the suspension was no problem).
Anyway, these guys were having their night before a game dinner at Hooters. They were eating curly fries, wings, burgers but no booze - just water bottles. It was hilarious seeing these guys eating in Hooters. No one was really bothering them and they eventually took off anyway. But man, they are tall. So, we asked our waitress what kind of tip they left. She went and asked the waitress that was taking care of them and apparently, they left a tip BELOW 15%. Can you believe that??? Their total bill was probably no more than $50 CDN and they left below a 15% tip. Wow. That is totally tight! But a story nonetheless.
The fun continued at Cock Rock where of course, the music sucked and so did most of the people. It definitely made for fun people watching. Ketan and I started playing pool and were running the table for a bit. At one point, I was shooting and had one ball left before going for the 8-ball. As I was lining up my shot, there was this girl leaning on the table and her butt was right in my line of site. I joking said to Ketan and Nikhil - what if I hit that girl in the butt with the ball? We all started laughing. It was too perfect. Well, as I was winding up my shot, my conscious got the better of me and I decided - No, I shouldn't do it. But in the end, I said Fugg it and I went for it so as I did my shot, I hit under the cue ball so it hit my ball and then bounced and boom - hit her right in the cheeks. She was so startled and look around and we were all killing ourselves. I went over and apologized and after the game bought her a drink to say I was sorry. But man, that was totally priceless. I couldn't believe it actually worked so well. I didn't get my shot in by the way (it missed by inches). But, we did win the game so that was good.
Off to Quebec City tomorrow morning for the next 4 days for work. Talk later.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
New Government, New Investments, New Adventures...
So, the Conservatives are in power now, eh? And with Paul Martin stepping down, it appears that the Liberal party will be in a bit of shambles for a little while. Seems optimal for the Conservatives to get some stuff done because their official opposition is without a leader. Well - our country definitely needed some change. I just don't think this is the right change. Hopefully the NDP and Liberals will keep the Conservatives accountable and we'll probably end up having another election sooner rather than later because that's how it seems to go when you have a Minority government. Here's a funny website with some images of our parliamentary leaders
Saw a condo with Etch last night. Kris, Etch and I were throwing around some investment ideas so we thought we'd check it out. Man, it's funny how different event he subtlest change can make something look/feel. This condo was "identical" to Etchs - only a mirror image. But because it had an enclosed den, the space almost felt completely closed off. So subtle but man, it totally was. Etch's just feels so much more open and liveable. I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that his is painted very nicely and he's got it set up great with nice furniture but it definitely felt different (although it was "identical"). Needless to say, I think that investment idea is not gonna pan out.
Speaking of investments, I recently got a new Financial Planner who is a friend of the family and will help me learn this stuff and make my money "work for me". Nothing wrong with that. I hope it starts working double time now!
So, my plans for the rest of 2K6 are coming together quite nicely. Everything is finalizing itself and my departure date is February 27. Lots to see and do before then so stay tuned.
So, the Conservatives are in power now, eh? And with Paul Martin stepping down, it appears that the Liberal party will be in a bit of shambles for a little while. Seems optimal for the Conservatives to get some stuff done because their official opposition is without a leader. Well - our country definitely needed some change. I just don't think this is the right change. Hopefully the NDP and Liberals will keep the Conservatives accountable and we'll probably end up having another election sooner rather than later because that's how it seems to go when you have a Minority government. Here's a funny website with some images of our parliamentary leaders
Saw a condo with Etch last night. Kris, Etch and I were throwing around some investment ideas so we thought we'd check it out. Man, it's funny how different event he subtlest change can make something look/feel. This condo was "identical" to Etchs - only a mirror image. But because it had an enclosed den, the space almost felt completely closed off. So subtle but man, it totally was. Etch's just feels so much more open and liveable. I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that his is painted very nicely and he's got it set up great with nice furniture but it definitely felt different (although it was "identical"). Needless to say, I think that investment idea is not gonna pan out.
Speaking of investments, I recently got a new Financial Planner who is a friend of the family and will help me learn this stuff and make my money "work for me". Nothing wrong with that. I hope it starts working double time now!
So, my plans for the rest of 2K6 are coming together quite nicely. Everything is finalizing itself and my departure date is February 27. Lots to see and do before then so stay tuned.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
in pain...
...first because I had my first DB practice this morning (after a few months). We weren't doing any pool paddling. Just the regular 2 hour cardio, weight and stretching INTENSE practice. My legs are hurting, my arms are in pain, my shoulders are feeling it. It's definitely a good feeling cause I know I worked hard but wow, I haven't felt like this in a while. Its all about proper stretching though. Gotta stay on that.
...second because after practice, I got together for a less than great brunch (just the food was less than great) with Ashwat, Romi and Samp at the Summit Grill at Yonge and Eglinton. The food was OK. It was definitely better the last time I went there but hey, can't win 'em all I guess. I really wanted to get their sweet potato fries with my omelette but instead I got the regular home fries cause I didn't know they had the other ones. Doh! One funny part was when the snooty waiter dropped all of our dishes after clearing the table. That definitely brought a nice smile to my face. Especially cause he wasn't the greatest waiter.
...third because my eyes/brain are confused. This weekend, I saw some shortfilms. First, on Friday night with Kris and Etch, we watched this collection of shorts that Kris brought. There's really nothing else to say other than THEY SUCKED. Man, I couldn't get into any of the 3 we watched. Something about "The Delicious" and some other guy that wanted to become a fish. They were definitely hurting. To make up for it, on Saturday night, I went to the National Film Board to watch another short film. My buddy Nikhil (aka Jugular) was in a movie called Andy in the City. It was a good movie and definitely cool to see Nikhil on screen. The concept was quite heavy and the character development was pretty good, especially for a short. After the movie, we watched some short films in the lobby. It's really cool cause anyone can just go there and sit in the lobby and watch movies. They have these really cool seats that have built in speakers in the headrests so you just sit back and relax. We watched some some "Science is fun-type" movies that simply explained science concepts like Explosions and Fire. They were quite amusing.
...fourth because tomorrow is the big federal election. Should be quite an interesting result. I'm not sure I wanna see the Conservatives in power but the Liberals kinda confuse me too. The mud-slinging is the worst though. Why can't anyone just focus on what they do well? As opposed to pointing out all the faults and shortcomings of the others. No one can build any credibility this way. It's just stupid.
...fifth because tomorrow is the 5th episode of 24: Season 5. I've been waiting a week and man, it's quite good so far! Can't wait for tomorrow although it's only going to be 1 hour so man, that is gonna go by way too fast!
...first because I had my first DB practice this morning (after a few months). We weren't doing any pool paddling. Just the regular 2 hour cardio, weight and stretching INTENSE practice. My legs are hurting, my arms are in pain, my shoulders are feeling it. It's definitely a good feeling cause I know I worked hard but wow, I haven't felt like this in a while. Its all about proper stretching though. Gotta stay on that.
...second because after practice, I got together for a less than great brunch (just the food was less than great) with Ashwat, Romi and Samp at the Summit Grill at Yonge and Eglinton. The food was OK. It was definitely better the last time I went there but hey, can't win 'em all I guess. I really wanted to get their sweet potato fries with my omelette but instead I got the regular home fries cause I didn't know they had the other ones. Doh! One funny part was when the snooty waiter dropped all of our dishes after clearing the table. That definitely brought a nice smile to my face. Especially cause he wasn't the greatest waiter.
...third because my eyes/brain are confused. This weekend, I saw some shortfilms. First, on Friday night with Kris and Etch, we watched this collection of shorts that Kris brought. There's really nothing else to say other than THEY SUCKED. Man, I couldn't get into any of the 3 we watched. Something about "The Delicious" and some other guy that wanted to become a fish. They were definitely hurting. To make up for it, on Saturday night, I went to the National Film Board to watch another short film. My buddy Nikhil (aka Jugular) was in a movie called Andy in the City. It was a good movie and definitely cool to see Nikhil on screen. The concept was quite heavy and the character development was pretty good, especially for a short. After the movie, we watched some short films in the lobby. It's really cool cause anyone can just go there and sit in the lobby and watch movies. They have these really cool seats that have built in speakers in the headrests so you just sit back and relax. We watched some some "Science is fun-type" movies that simply explained science concepts like Explosions and Fire. They were quite amusing.
...fourth because tomorrow is the big federal election. Should be quite an interesting result. I'm not sure I wanna see the Conservatives in power but the Liberals kinda confuse me too. The mud-slinging is the worst though. Why can't anyone just focus on what they do well? As opposed to pointing out all the faults and shortcomings of the others. No one can build any credibility this way. It's just stupid.
...fifth because tomorrow is the 5th episode of 24: Season 5. I've been waiting a week and man, it's quite good so far! Can't wait for tomorrow although it's only going to be 1 hour so man, that is gonna go by way too fast!
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Fun Weekend except for one Stupid move
Back home on a Sunday night just trying to wind down after a fun weekend and get ready for a long, busy week. It was the annual high school gang snowboarding weekend up at Blue Mountain. There were 16 of us and we had this lates-80's style Chalet with a huge kitchen, dining area and common room. I think there were 7 or 8 bedrooms as well so that was good cause everyone got a place to sleep. We even had a hottub which was definitely very cool to chill out in on Friday night and Saturday again after swimming.
As an aside, I'm not gonna get too much into the "stupid part of the weekend". Let's just say it has something to do with my cell phone and being submerged in the hot tub. Oh well, time for a new phone I guess... ;o)
Thanks in advance Cristine - sounds like you are gonna be able to help me out which is totally awesome. And for anyone else, you'll be hearing my voicemail for the next few days if you call cause I need to activate my "new" phone. One thing that sucks is losing all of my phone numbers from my phone book and some funny saved text messages that I had. O well, looks like I'll have to create and save some new memories.
Getting back to the weekend - it was a blast (well, everything except for the snowboarding). I guess it actually started on Thursday night when Etch and I did the grocery shopping at Food Basics. $212 later - we were done and had all the food. Man, I didn't think it would take as long as it did but then again, I don't think I've ever shopped for food for 16 people before. We had tonnes of stuff - main stuff, snacks, appetizers, desserts, drinks - I think we did well overall. The was definitely NO shortage of food the entire weekend either and man, there was a lot of sitting around eating and drinking the whole time. I really wish I could have "sweated" a little at some point cause I was starting to feel gross just sitting or standing around after eating so much.
It rained all afternoon/evening on Friday night and then got really cold overnight so all that did was freeze everything that was on the hill. Needless to say, boarding in that ice was quite difficult (and painful when I fell on my knee or butt). It's so hard to carve and catch an edge on ice like that. Luckily, I had just had my snowboard waxed and tuned up so I think it was in tip top shape.
Changing gears - I haven't posted in a while and one thing I'd like to do is Congratulate the 2006 World Junior Hockey Champions - Canada with their convincing 5 - 0 win over Russia a couple weeks ago. In other sports news, I finally pulled off a deal in my hockey pool and upgraded my defence corps so we'll see what happens now but hopefully it'll pay dividends.
One final thing. 24 Season 5 begins tonight. Although I've been saying all along that I am going to skip this - I just can't and I think I'll be watching the 2 hour season premier. Man, this week to week thing is gonna kill me though.
Back home on a Sunday night just trying to wind down after a fun weekend and get ready for a long, busy week. It was the annual high school gang snowboarding weekend up at Blue Mountain. There were 16 of us and we had this lates-80's style Chalet with a huge kitchen, dining area and common room. I think there were 7 or 8 bedrooms as well so that was good cause everyone got a place to sleep. We even had a hottub which was definitely very cool to chill out in on Friday night and Saturday again after swimming.
As an aside, I'm not gonna get too much into the "stupid part of the weekend". Let's just say it has something to do with my cell phone and being submerged in the hot tub. Oh well, time for a new phone I guess... ;o)
Thanks in advance Cristine - sounds like you are gonna be able to help me out which is totally awesome. And for anyone else, you'll be hearing my voicemail for the next few days if you call cause I need to activate my "new" phone. One thing that sucks is losing all of my phone numbers from my phone book and some funny saved text messages that I had. O well, looks like I'll have to create and save some new memories.
Getting back to the weekend - it was a blast (well, everything except for the snowboarding). I guess it actually started on Thursday night when Etch and I did the grocery shopping at Food Basics. $212 later - we were done and had all the food. Man, I didn't think it would take as long as it did but then again, I don't think I've ever shopped for food for 16 people before. We had tonnes of stuff - main stuff, snacks, appetizers, desserts, drinks - I think we did well overall. The was definitely NO shortage of food the entire weekend either and man, there was a lot of sitting around eating and drinking the whole time. I really wish I could have "sweated" a little at some point cause I was starting to feel gross just sitting or standing around after eating so much.
It rained all afternoon/evening on Friday night and then got really cold overnight so all that did was freeze everything that was on the hill. Needless to say, boarding in that ice was quite difficult (and painful when I fell on my knee or butt). It's so hard to carve and catch an edge on ice like that. Luckily, I had just had my snowboard waxed and tuned up so I think it was in tip top shape.
Changing gears - I haven't posted in a while and one thing I'd like to do is Congratulate the 2006 World Junior Hockey Champions - Canada with their convincing 5 - 0 win over Russia a couple weeks ago. In other sports news, I finally pulled off a deal in my hockey pool and upgraded my defence corps so we'll see what happens now but hopefully it'll pay dividends.
One final thing. 24 Season 5 begins tonight. Although I've been saying all along that I am going to skip this - I just can't and I think I'll be watching the 2 hour season premier. Man, this week to week thing is gonna kill me though.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy New Year
It was nice hearing from various friends over the holidays and also getting updates from those with families, etc to find out what's new and exciting and changing. I had a good holiday and as of tomorrow, it's back to the grind. Oh well all good things must come to an end, eh? Or at least - they must be stifled from time to time until we realize how much we miss them and figure out how to get them back...
So I've got a couple "realistic" resolutions for this year...
So far, I'm 2 for 2 on all of these but it is only January 2nd, so we'll see how long that lasts.
I also did a great job in 2005 of tracking my expenses with MS Money so I just want to keep that up. This year, I might set up a budget to see how that goes. Oh yeah, with that budget, I do want to get a better handle on my investments as well.
On another note, tonight, I watched the first half of a movie called Human Trafficking. Part 2 concludes on Wednesday night. It's got Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland in it and it's quite a heavy story. I think it was made for TV cause I never saw ads for it or heard of it being released in the theatre. Anyway, it comments on and shows quite a serious topic. The sex trade/porn industry is immensely lucrative and the way they lure women (and girls) into the industry is totally scary but I can see how easy it must be. The way they portrayed it was just so simple (getting a passport, pretending to be a "modeling" agency, etc. And then they showed some scenes in Manilla, Phillipines and it totally reminded me of the grossness I saw in Bali and Thailand where local girls were always with these nasty British, American and German men doing just about everything. This is a major problem in the world because unfortunately, the money for trafficking humans is becoming just as large or larger than the money for trafficking drugs.
It was nice hearing from various friends over the holidays and also getting updates from those with families, etc to find out what's new and exciting and changing. I had a good holiday and as of tomorrow, it's back to the grind. Oh well all good things must come to an end, eh? Or at least - they must be stifled from time to time until we realize how much we miss them and figure out how to get them back...
So I've got a couple "realistic" resolutions for this year...
- Eat the recommended amount of Fruits and Vegetables every day. Gotta get my vitamins and fibre at all times!!!
- Exercise/Stretch/Yoga/Walk/Play sports/Do something active at least once a day. Preferably more! But at least once. I have to do something!
- Read something for at least 10-15 minutes every day. The Newspaper (Sports and another section) count but a book would be better. And preferably before going to bed just to put my mind at ease.
So far, I'm 2 for 2 on all of these but it is only January 2nd, so we'll see how long that lasts.
I also did a great job in 2005 of tracking my expenses with MS Money so I just want to keep that up. This year, I might set up a budget to see how that goes. Oh yeah, with that budget, I do want to get a better handle on my investments as well.
On another note, tonight, I watched the first half of a movie called Human Trafficking. Part 2 concludes on Wednesday night. It's got Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland in it and it's quite a heavy story. I think it was made for TV cause I never saw ads for it or heard of it being released in the theatre. Anyway, it comments on and shows quite a serious topic. The sex trade/porn industry is immensely lucrative and the way they lure women (and girls) into the industry is totally scary but I can see how easy it must be. The way they portrayed it was just so simple (getting a passport, pretending to be a "modeling" agency, etc. And then they showed some scenes in Manilla, Phillipines and it totally reminded me of the grossness I saw in Bali and Thailand where local girls were always with these nasty British, American and German men doing just about everything. This is a major problem in the world because unfortunately, the money for trafficking humans is becoming just as large or larger than the money for trafficking drugs.