in the windy city

i've been in chicago for work since saturday early morning. it's been quite nice so far (well, the non-work stuff). chicago is a great city. especially the downtown. the architecture, the restaurants, the life around here is so nice. it's a great city to walk around too. i did some shopping on saturday and i think i might be going to the art institute on thursday before my flight so that should be great.

i am down here for a trade show/conference (actually, the biggest one in our industry). it's nuts - i think there are like 70,000 people at this show and it is just so busy. we stand on our feet ALL DAY long and man, it's tiring. you have to be "on" all the time talking to customers about product X and product Y. after a while though, it's the same thing over and over agin and a bit much...

so yeah, i was just watching tv in my hotel room and i saw an ad for the Oral B Triumph. it's a toothbrush with a computer in it. totally random. not sure it's that necessary but what do i know? a few of my friends and coworkers have electric toothbrushes and they swear by them so i am thinking about making the switch. perhaps not this computerized toothbrush, maybe something a little less techie. we'll see what happens.


man, i'm yawning like crazy.
i think it's time for bed now.

p.s. my bed here at the Renaissance is so comfy. i could just melt in it.

Thursday at Home
Wow, I haven't been "working from home" in a while. I have been on the road in Western Canada and Southwestern Ontario for the past 2 weeks. It's nice to finally be home.

Yesterday, I rediscovered one of my biggest pet peeves (and probably the same for most peeps) - Toronto Traffic. It took me nearly 3 hours to get from Simcoe (south of Brantford) back to Toronto yesterday evening. There was no snow. No accidents. Just stupid drivers being stupid and so many of them so the volume was too much. I was getting so impatient in the car - I just wanted to get home. The QEW was rammed. So was the 403. And the 401 and the 427. It was just too much.

On Tuesday night, I played vball and it was great. I was a serving machine and had some good spikes in too. The team played great and we were 5 and 1 after the night so that was sweet. Tonight, I am playing again for a bit before meeting up with Ashwat, Kdot and G. Should be a good game. I leave for Chicago early AM on Saturday and then I'm gone for a week so I am gonna miss vball all of next week unfortunately. Vball is such a great game. I am so glad I started playing it again 2 years ago and it's amazing to see the improvements. I couldn't hit at all but now, I can spike (still slightly unorthodox but it works).

Back to working I guess...

busy satuday, chill sunday

Well, this weekend definitely went by FAST. It was great. But man, where did the time go? I think the main reason it was so quick is cause I didn't get home till close to 1:30 AM on Saturday morning cause of all the stupid escapades I had with planes on Friday night.

Anyway, I woke up on Saturday morning and was supposed to meet up with some friends at St. Lawrence Market for brunch. That didn't work out cause I was way too tired so I just chilled with my parents, had some lunch and caught up on stuff. I wanted to go play some vball but it wasn't in the cards that day (cause I didn't get a second phone call...) ;o)

That afternoon, it was the Third Annual Hung Long Master of the Universe Curling Tournament organized by Mr. Tchao. Once again, a fantastic fun-filled afternoon and even better was that the participants list grew to close to 40 this year. We had 5 sheets of ice for our games and it was a blast. I think I played much better last year but alas, we still had a great time and almost finished undefeated. Nicole was a natural and definitely our ringer. Yollanda actually had some skills but Collin definitely had the shot of the day when his rock landed right on the button.

After curling, a bunch of us went to the OSC to check out BodyWorlds. It was quite an interesting exhibit. Definitely worth checking out. I think my expectations were too high only cause of all the hype I had heard from others. Definitely don't go on a Saturday if you can avoid it cause it's unnecessarily slow and crowded. Also, the layout they have (starting in the ramp) is silly cause it creates such a bottle neck at the beginning. There are definitely some really cool features. My highlight was seeing the bodies in some actual positions like skiing, skating, soccer, etc. I wonder if those people were actually those types of athletes when they were alive - that would be even cooler.

After Bodyworlds, I had some Vietnamese food at Pho Saigon (thanks for the suggestion Flo!) I had Pho for the first time in a while and I actually liked it this time. Not sure why I wasn't a big fan the last few times I ate it but I'd have it again... Or maybe it was just this place cause it did taste good.

The night ended with a trip to Ketan's place to chill with Ashwat and G. We played some pool, saw K&R's new phat cat named Puppy and had some laughes. We have our holiday party planned for December 3rd. That will mosdef be a very chill night!

This morning, I got up and my friend Natalie came over. We had a great time catching up with each other's lives - all the juicy gossip. It was great to see her and just sit around and talk. Later, I helped mom with lunch and then went out and raked leaves...all in all for a total of about 3 hours. Raked in the front, side and back of the house and filled up 3.5 bags (those huge brown ones). But the job is done now so that is good. Watched the end of the Argos game. Man, they really shot themselves in the foot with all those turnovers. Oh yeah, and the Raptors finally won one today. Albeit, it was against the Heat without Shaq. But, at this stage (prior to a 4 game Western Road Trip), they needed something. Anything really. After this trip, are they gonna be 1 and 13? We'll see. ;o)

Winter Travel

this post was actually written on Friday night...

I sit here at Pearson Airport just waiting. Why you ask? Cause the stupid luggage area of the plane is frozen shut! Yeah, you heard me. I just landed in Toronto after my flight from Winnipeg. We were sitting on the tarmac for about 20 minutes cause there was no staff to welcome us at the gate. Then, once we got off the plane and came to baggage – we were waiting for about 10 minutes before an announcement said “Sorry for the delay for passengers who just arrived on Flight 266 from Winnipeg, but the luggage compartment is frozen shut and we are doing what we can to open it. We cannot give you an estimate on how long this will take.”

So, what have I learned this week? That air travel in the winter SUCKS! Man, I have been inside too many airports this week for too long a period of time.

Oh, an update at 12:02 AM (just 15 minutes after we’ve been waiting already). The guy came on the loudspeaker and said “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an update. At present, we are sending two of our finest agents to the gate to find out what the problem is and they will report back with a better time estimate as soon as possible”. So now I must continue to wait for the “fine agents” to get back to me and tell me how much longer I will be waiting. My money is on 35 minutes at least. This blows.

Well, I was waiting for about 30 more minutes. Finally the bags came and I got in the cab. The fun didn't end cause the cabbie missed my exit off the highway so we had to go past and come back. Man, that was a crazy week! Glad it's done. Let the fun begin again next Saturday when I leave for Chicago...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

So, I'm in Regina right now. Got here yesterday morning at around 10:45 am. Was supposed to be here just for the day for some business meetings. I was having lunch yesterday afternoon when my cellphone rang. It was "Kevin" from Air Canada. I thought it was a joke at first but he proceeded to tell me that due to the horrible weather in the Maritimes, the Winnipeg Airport was closed.

I was supposed to fly to Winnipeg yesterday afernoon at 5:00 pm but now, that wasn't going to happen. So, they booked me on a flight this morning at 5:45 am and I was to find accomodations for the night. I stayed at the Delta hotel last night. Once I checked in, I was thinking about it and realized that I didn't want to take such an early flight so I called our office travel centre and they switched me to a 7:20 am Westjet flight. I had some room service, worked out and caught up on some work. I was in bed late (by 12:30) and up early (5:00 am).

This morning, I got up at 5:15 am. Left the hotel by 6:00 am and was at the airport by about 6:15 am. I checked into my flight and they warned us that the weather in Winnipeg hadn't improved and if we were diverted while in air, we might end up in Saskatoon which really wouldn't be any improvement over my current situation. So, I checked into the flight. Got on and we were sitting there listening to the Westjet humour that goes on when they do their safety announcement, etc. Then, the captain comes over the loudspeaker and says "Sorry to inform you that the Winnipeg Airport is closed again". So we had to get off the plane and wait around for an hour until they gave us an update. 20 minutes later, we were told that the flight was cancelled and now, we were being put on a 10:57 am flight to Calgary and then re-routed to Winnipeg to arrive at 4:00 pm.

I decided I didn't like that plan and instead switched back to Air Canada so I could get on the 9:45 am flight direct to Winnipeg. It was fully booked so I only got a Standby ticket. Since I am not an Elite member or anything special, I was low on the standby list so there wasn't going to be much of a chance of getting on the flight. Instead, I got confirmed on the 5:00 pm flight this afternoon. So, I went to the gate, waited and around 9:15 am, it was announced that the 9:45 am flight was now cancelled. So, everyone was rushing to try and get on the 5:00 pm flight but luckily, I already had a ticket saved.

So, I've been sitting in the caf (still am), eating some food from time to time and really just doing work. They have wireless internet access here which is great so I can get work done and connect to VPN.

What a day it's been overall. By the end of it all, I'll have been here in the Regina airport for close to 11 hours. Man, that's just crazyness. All my coworkers that I'm talking to that are already in Winnipeg are telling me that it's pretty bad over there. I am really kinda dreading heading over there tonight. We'll see how it goes. Could be a scary flight/landing...

a little shocked

I was watching The Fifth Estate last night. It's a news documentary show on CBC that airs once a week. When I remember, I try to watch it cause it is quite informative. Last night's episode was called "Fasten Your Seatbelts" and it was all about airport security across Canada. Or perhaps, lack there of. A guy (former Airport Security head in the US) was a special guest and he was going around to Canadian airports trying to "break" through with illegal objects. He was also able to get into assorted restricted areas. He definitely knows what to do and who to exploit but I guess very determined terrorists are going to plan their attacks accordingly and could do a lot of what he was doing and showing us. It was quite scary to find out how easy it is to make a bomb as well. The kicker for sure had to be the assorted interviews with the CATSA spokesperson. CATSA is the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and they are responsible for keeping us "safe". The reporter was asking this spokesman several very direct, pointed questions about breeches that they exposed, information that she as an average person was able to locate, etc. The guy just continued to spew the company line and looked like a complete idiot anytime he said "so, I don't think that is a security breech" when it most clearly was. They said that Ottawa has collected close to $2,000,000 for "security" improvements across airports nationally. A lot of experts are saying that all that money is just more of an asthetic fix and doesn't really amount to much at all.

I was on an all liquid diet yesterday (well, actually from dinner on Tuesday night until Lunch today so that was close to 36 hours. I had to get some tests done today and as a result had to be on this diet. Man, that was difficult. Moreso cause I was just sick and tired of drinking. I had some consomme for dinner (smelled and looked NASTY). And I had jello for dessert (now I know why I don't eat that stuff anymore). Overall, yesterday sucked for food. I hope that the coming days are better. Actually, tomorrow night should be cause a group of us are going to the Sultan's Tent for some eats.