The Mess That Is My Life

Another year in the books

2012-01-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

Not sure what to throw up here, but I felt compelled to write something. It's been a strange year, and two things stick out the most.

Jenn and I built a shed this summer, and ended up with her back going out and me in the hospital twice (1st time, cracked ribs and a concussion, 2nd time, 14 stitches). 6 months later, she still isn't feeling okay and at the chiropractor 2-3 times a week. While we're proud of what we built, it certainly doesn't seem worth it to have put Jenn's health at risk for it.

The second one is losing my youngest uncle in October at age 51 to cancer. It still doesn't feel real, him being gone. While I wasn't exactly close to him (or any of my aunts/uncles really, but that's just the way I'm wired), it's a difficult loss because I just can't picture "home" without him. He was always there with a laugh or a joke, and when you got us all together it was quite the riot.

Hopefully 2012 will be a year of more positive events, and I'll be recapping a happier year next time around. Here's hoping.

A long time

2011-06-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it`s been over a few weeks, but I`m down to 223 (IIRC) as of this week. Not actually doing much other than cutting the Coke back out, but it`s a start. Now I just need to find my rollerblades and hit the road.

One week down

2011-01-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

And over 10 pounds lots. I've been watching what I eat, cutting out all of the pop, and anything other than water to drink actually, cut out the chips and other junk food for the most part, eating 5-6 small meals and snacks a day, and that's it. I'm down to 231.8 pounds, and 7 inches as measured in a whack load of places. A good start, but I've got a long way to go. Now to start exercising more.

I'll throw up an update in another week or so, and again after 30 days.

So I'm A Fatass

2011-01-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

Well, with the New Year always comes the promises of better health and all that crap, and of course, I made my usual "lose weight" resolution. For the past few months, I've been constantly needing to pick up new pants and shirts as my old wardrobe became "a bit snug". Jenn has also noticed that my breathing is a lot more laboured than before, even at rest. So after getting checked out by the doctor for anything serious last November, I finally stepped on the old scale. Any guesses?

It certainly wasn't pretty, but at 242.2 pounds, at least it was an honest start. 20something % body fat too, but I was a little to shocked to remember exactly what it was. Keeping in mind the nightmare that my father went through with diabetes, I finally decided to actually follow through, and I'm trying to get down to a slim and trim 200 or so. Well, maybe not so slim and trim with my body type (really small frame for a 6'2" dude), but better than it is.

To that end, I've given up pop (caffeine withdrawal is a bitch), cut down on portion size and upped the number of meals/snacks. Right now I'm aiming for 5-6 meals/snacks a day, with each coming in around 300-400 calories. Next, figure out how to work time on the treadmill into my schedule. From what I've read and heard, first thing in the morning is the best. Problem is, the treadmill is right below our bedroom, and I don't think that Jenn would appreciate the racket at 6am. Throw in making dinner and snacks for the next day, time with Jenn, and her time on the treadmill, and it seems the evenings are shot too. Gotta say, I can't wait for spring so I can at least go for a walk, bike ride or roller blading on my lunch break.

Anywho, I'll try to keep some updates on my progress, and try to stay motivated this time around.

New Years Baby!

2011-01-04T10:00:00.001-08:00

I'd like to welcome baby Julia Estey to the world, and congratulate the proud parents Tamie and Brian. You can check out pictures and even an adorable video over on Brian's blog.

We can't wait to meet the not-so-little lady!

The Weirdest Christmas Gift Yet

2011-01-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

Another year down, and no posts. Yay for boring lives. Didn't do much this year, just kicked around the house, tried to pay down some debt, and broke pretty much every part on my Jeep. Oh, and packed on 20 or so pounds...good times. Christmas, like usual, was pretty hectic with family here and calling back home. I did get a very interesting gift from a friend, though, and I promised to upload a video if it in action. All I can say is that it is much louder than I expected:

Yes, I am now the proud owner of some blinking eyeballs. Now to come up with ways to creep out my co-workers with the eyeballs. I'm thinking either stuck to their monitor, maybe on a window in their office, or maybe in the fridge. We shall see.

Quite the blur

2010-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

2010...it seems like a very short time ago I was back in Thunder Bay, celebrating over a few vodkas at the Davinci, the end of the 90's and the beginning of 2000. In that time, I moved to Ottawa twice, back to TBay once, moved around Ottawa and the NCR 5-6 times, put down my cat, lost my father, buried too many friends and family, made many many more friends, been through a myriad of messed up relationships, got (and hated, and quit twice) my first job, travelled the world, bought and sold a half dozen trucks, bought a house and got married. It seems like so many rich memories in only 10 short years. Hard to believe how far I've come, and how different of a person I am today.

It also makes me wonder with the next decade holds. I can't see there being as much upheaval as there has been this past 10 years, but then again, I didn't plan on all of the changes that I've seen so far.

I also sat down and though of what resolutions I could have for the next decade, and other than the usual lose weight, stick to a budget, buy yet another truck (yeah, it's a disease), etc, etc, the only things I could think of were have kids and work on making my marriage even stronger and better than it is. Anything on top of that is just icing on the proverbial cake. Mmmmm....icing.

Anywho, just wanted to throw up an update, and see who else has been thinking about the decade that was, and the next to come.

August Sucked, and October Isn't Much Better

2009-10-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

October was supposed to be a good month - Jenn's 25th birthday, a few days off work (yay Thanksgiving), an extra hour of sleep when the clocks reset...you know, good things. And as good as the month has been, it came screeching to a halt on Friday when I found out that a friend and ex-co-worker had passed away.

Jerome was a pretty good guy, and definitely from a different generation. Repeating some of the jokes he would tell landed me in some hot water at work as they were usually on the "colourful" side. Honest to god, he walked up and started a story with "I was in the washroom with my dick in my hand...". He was just that kind of guy. But even though there was 30 years between us, he still treated me with respect and as a friend. He was also one of the first non-family member to congratulate Jenn and I on our wedding (the slow cooker he got us is awesome).

While we may have had our differences at work (I swear Maps were going to drive me to drink), he was still a great person to be around. I'm going to miss him. Weird thing is, just like with Ray, I was thinking on Friday "hey, I should email Jerome and see how things are going". Ray and Jerome were diagnosed in the same week a couple of years ago, and it's sad to think that they passed away so close to one another. Guess I really need to take that lesson to heart this time.

Weight Loss Progress

2009-10-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's less than stellar. Still haven't even dusted off the treadmill, still eating a bunch of junk food, and still getting fat(ter). Good news is that my in-laws gave me a bunch of new shirts, so at least I have fat clothes that fit now, and one less motivator to get my ass going. Wait, maybe that's a not so good thing.

What else to chime in with...the cats are doing fine and actually seem to like each other. Most days, that is, there is still the occasional hissing match. Work is going pretty good, getting into the busy install season, just in time for the not-so-awesome weather. Snow the last few days, although at least it's had the decency to melt before hitting the ground. Oh, and I bought a new to me Jeep...maybe I'll actually get around to posting some pictures this time. I'll have to get Jenn to take them, just to give a perspective to the size. It's a little on the big side.

And that's pretty much it for October so far.

Fall is Nigh

2009-09-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

So I have to get my September post in.

Not much to report, although I did manage to go a month without someone dying, which I guess is a plus. Also have some resolve to start eating better and exercising, just need to get rid of (okay, eat) the last of the junk food in the house first. After all, waste not, want not, right? Then it's on the treadmill every night. Or most every night. Or one night a week. Or month. Yay motivation!

Anywho, that's all the excitement from my little corner of the world. Maybe October will be more fun.

August Isn't My Month

2009-08-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Seems like just yesterday I was posting about Ray passing, and yet there is more news about someone who has died far too young. Last weekend I was at home, unwinding from a day at work, ready to head out and pick up dinner for Jenn when my cell phone rang. "Crap, they better not be loading another job for me" I thought. Hmmm, 807 number, this can't be good (area code for Thunder Bay, and my grandfather had been in and out of the hospital lately with breathing problems). GJ is on the other end, asking if I've heard any bad new from TBay. My first thought was "how the hell would he know about my grandfather dying before I did?", but instead I just said "no, what happened?". It turns out that the uncle of a mutual friend had passed away suddenly. I can honestly say that I've never been more surprised than I was at that moment.

Uncle Dave was a great guy...teacher, entrepreneur, and a genuinely caring person who would take the time to help anyone. Hell, he even opened his doors to us for Grey Cup in Vancouver, and it takes a special person to welcome 4 loud, drunk guys into his home for 3 days. He was also in great shape and always health conscious. Non-smoker, social drinker (if that), triathlete, etc, etc. I never would have expected the news, and I still can't believe he's gone.

Again, the news hit me pretty hard, and again, I'm asking anyone who does read this to get in touch with loved ones. I finally had a chance to sit down and talk with my grandfather this past week, and it's something I am happy I could finally do. There wasn't much to say between us, but it made me feel much better about myself, and about our relationship.

It also made me think about my life and where I'm at. I work 7 days a week, pretty much every week. I've lost touch with friends, given up hobbies and basically stopped doing anything. Since Ray's passing, I've done my best to get back in touch with some friends and family, and I'm seriously looking to get back into some of my hobbies. I may live to 100, I may drop dead tomorrow, but I want to make each day count either way, and I hope everyone out there reading this will too.

I'll miss you Dave, and give Blue a big belly rub for me too.

New Family Member

2009-08-04T09:52:00.001-07:00

So we added a new member to the family last month, Scratch. And like the last cat we got from the humane society, it came to us sick. The first few days, she seemed to be healthy and happy, not to mention a little psychotic. After 3-4 days, though, it was just like Ella - puss coming out of her eyes, wheezy, and sneezy. She still had good energy and was eating and drinking regularly, but obviously she wasn't doing well. And here we sit, 4 weeks later, and she's still doing crap, and now Ella is sick too (eyes are goopy). The joys of pet ownership. Anywho, hopefully I'll update this with some new pictures that show a little more than her head, and how she's healthy again, but for now, this is it.

Scratch
AKA Scratch Fury Destroyer of Worlds (and socks)

Things to Make Time For

2009-08-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been a bit down about work and life in general, and in talking to a friend, he suggested that I take a more active role in bettering myself and preparing for advancement at work. At my old job, I had a boss who was always trying to better himself by attending seminars, reading books, etc, etc, so I immediately thought to myself "you should email Ray to get some ideas on what to read and where to start". And I kept saying, I'll do it later. Ray passed away last Wednesday night (diagnosed with cancer 2 years ago), and now I'll never get that chance.

I really didn't think it would hit me as hard as it did...I almost started crying at my desk as I read the news, and felt the same way talking to his widow at the funeral. I don't know if it's me not grieving properly for my dad, or my fear of losing my grandfather without being there, or if it's something else, but it really shook me up. It also made me realize that I do need to make time in my life to keep in touch with those that I care about.

I also challenge anyone who reads this to get in contact with an old friend or relative who they haven't talked to in a while, and just say hi, how's it going. Not that anyone reads this thing anymore, but what the hell, at least it will serve as a reminder to me.

I'll miss you Ray, and say hi to my dad for me.

Made it!

2009-06-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

June post, check! Not much going on here...seems to be a fair number of staffing changes at work (reminds me of my last job), installer work is going okay when the customer's have a positive IQ, and live is good in general. Still don't have enough free time, still have a huge list of things to get done around the house, but hey, who doesn't?

Hopefully I'll have some more exciting news in July, but since I'm a pretty boring guy, I'm not too hopeful.

One Year

2009-05-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

So last Sunday was our first anniversary, and what a year it's been. Lots of changes around the house, additions and subtractions from the driveway, a finished and running daycare, and a happy couple that are glad each day that they found each other. Kinda amazing how fast it's flown by though. Makes me wonder how fast the next 40+ years are going to go.

Why Did I Go Back To Facebook?

2009-03-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

I've been bored at work lately as my customers have gone pretty quiet, thanks in part to a big hit in the auto sector I guess, but it's given me a lot of time to get caught up on work, get a bit organized and understand different packages we sell a lot better. It also gave me some time to check out Facebook every day.

Now let me start by saying I'm not a huge Facebook fan, but it does give me a quick and easy way to catch up on what friends are doing. If, of course, they update their status and the like, which a lot (like me) don't. However, I wasn't expecting everyone to act like they are in highschool again, throwing up crap about personal relationships in their status, going on about how they are sad, or depressed, or whatever. I'm all for getting help when you're down and you need it, but don't throw such a public pity party.

I went through a similar issue with depression and heartache and all the crap years ago, and the best advice a friend gave me was to "stop whining and get over it". Nothing good will come of bringing it up again and again, refreshing everything in your mind and putting yourself back down. And I certainly don't want to see new status messages saying how you're hurting every couple of hours.

That's my personal rant about Facebook...I won't even bother with the layout issues, the random "you were just bit/punched/whatevered, would you like to join?" crap that floats around, stupid petitions and groups, etc, etc, etc. Maybe I should just deactivate the old account again, and disappear into the good night.

Mini Update

2009-03-03T08:54:00.001-08:00

Not that there is much to update, of course, I still live a boring ass life, but I figured I'd give the highlights:

Jenn's lined up some new families for the daycare starting this summer so when the teachers pull their kids, she'll still be busy
Weekend work is going okay...still has it's busy weekends and dead weekends, but it's fun
Day job is undergoing some restructuring...nothing bad, but we have to move our office to the other building. No more quiet cube, and no chance of a window seat :(
My old company was bought out for $3.5M. I wonder how much my shares would have been worth if I had stuck around....

And that's about it. Like I said, life is boring. Until...well...June at this rate.

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T10:29:00.001-08:00

Wanted to wish anyone who is still reading this a Happy 2009. Not much else to report otherwise...my sister finally got married over Christmas, installation work was slow all December but has picked up again in January, and my big pain in the butt customer at my day job suspended their support plan (no more calls, no more issues, nothing) due to the economic climate in the US. All in all, January is shaping up pretty nicely so far.

New Job Update

2008-11-07T07:27:00.001-08:00

After a lot of back and forth and pressure on Bell to get the paperwork through, I finally started work last weekend. I've been told that for your first few weeks they load you lightly...1 job in the morning, 1 in the afternoon so it came as more than a bit of a surprise when I logged on on Saturday to find 4 jobs waiting for me. The seasoned guys I was training with usually only had 4 jobs on weekends, and here I am on my first day. Fun stuff. Managed to get through 3 of the 4, got help for the last one, and finished the day around 8PM. Long day, but a good learning process.

Sunday was much better with only 1 highly lucrative job, and I was done by 2 (or 1...stupid time change). I definitely have a little more confidence heading into this weekend and hope to start tackling more jobs and holding my own soon.

Other than that, not much to report...Jenn's birthday was last month, got her some Flyers tickets that she's been bugging me for and the game was last night. Wasn't much of a game, though, as the Flyers really didn't show up and both sides looked like they were made of glass (maybe 3 hits in the entire game?).

And so ends another update...god I live a pretty boring life.

Little Bit of an Update

2008-09-26T05:59:00.001-07:00

Not much going on in my little world lately but I figured I'd throw an update out anyway:

Let's see, since August I've managed to land another part time job for weekends doing satellite installation around Carleton Place. Started training last weekend and hopefully I'll be hard at work soon. Doesn't leave a lot of free time, but we're hoping it'll help us save up some money for kids in the future (no maternity leave for the self employed sucks). As such, I needed a work truck so we traded Jenn's car in on a 2007 Trailblazer. Not quite the big ugly diesel pickup I had in mind, but probably a much better choice.

My day job is going pretty good, just got a "cost of living" raise which is apparently unusual for anyone here less than a year. Guess I'm doing a good job. Also just got back from a 2 day trip to Detroit...a bit of a waste the second day as the main problems were cleared up day one but with only a limited number of flights between the two cities on NWA, I couldn't bump my flight up. Oh well, at least I can do my job more efficiently now.

And I think that's about it for updates from my world.

Oh, and you can check out pics from the wedding I was in back in August here:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/kevin.kunka/AlTabSWedding#

Congrats!

2008-08-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I was in Thunder Bay last week for a wedding. The father of my best man got re-married on Friday and I had the privilage of standing as a groomsman in his wedding. Since we've been friends forever, it honestly feels like one big family, and I'm happy for Al and Tab, and wish them nothing but the best.

The trip started out as a Charlie Foxtrot (look it up on urbandictionary). Due to peronal commitments and limited vacation time, I needed to fly out Thursday and come home Saturday, and since I'm cheap, this is all on airmiles. I check out the Aeroplan website and there are dozens of flight options and I should be in TBay around 4 and leave at noon...looks good. So being an Elite/Gold member of Aeroplan, I called up the "Priority Service" number provided and book the flight. "That will be $150 in fees"...what? On the web it was $35 for the exact same flight. "If you can book it for that online, I suggest that you do so." Click. All I can say is that Aeroplan/Air Canada sucks. Back online and I book the flight...everything looks good, I click confirm, and I'm told this flight is sold out. As are the next 4 I try. The only one I get to work has be arriving in TBay at 9:45pm on Thursday and leaving at 6:30am Saturday...could it be any worse?

The answer, of course, is yes. There were a lot of fierce thunderstorms in Toronto on Thursday causing AC to cancel the flight before and after mine, and cram as many people as possible on our flight. Thank god I wasn't bumped off. Okay, it's still good. Then an announcement on the overhead that our flight will be delayed a bit. More time to read my book, yay I guess. We finally get onboard around 5 (on a 4pm departure), taxi out to the runway at 5:30 and promptly taxi back to wait for clearance which should be "in about 50 minutes". This is just fricken awesome. Thankfully we managed to get off the ground around 6:15 and we're on our way! For about 30 minutes, that is, when the pilot tells us there's a delay in Toronto and we need to circle for a while. Good times.

We finally landed around 8pm, about 30 minutes after my connection should have left but with the weather, it's obviously late too. Keep in mind that I haven't eaten anything other than a small salad at noon, so I grab a Coke and some chips and start munching while looking at the gate. I swear, it said 8pm departure and as I blinked, it changed to 8:20. 5 minutes later it was 8:40, and we actually got off the ground at 9pm. Looks like it's going to be a late night. Thankfully that was the last of the delays for the trip, and it was trouble free to Thunder Bay.

That night I called one of the other groomsmen, found out (finally) that we'd be meeting at 1 the next day to get ready for pictures and the like, and crashed for the night. Next morning (Friday) I got to see my grandparents (first time since Christmas 2006), tried to swing by my cousin's place (it was her birthday that Thursday), have lunch with my mom (the only time I got to see her), and headed off to Al's place to get ready. Turns out that getting the suits at Moore's was about as painful as the tux for my wedding...a couple of the guys had their reserved shirts sold on them several times. Funny stuff.

We did the pictures before the wedding, and man was it freakin hot. I guess it wasn't hot enough, though, as we had to take the pictures in a greenhouse. Talk about humid...we were ready to die. Then it was unloading stuff at the hall, getting everything ready, and next thing I knew, the ceremony was over and it was dinner time. Nice BBQ theme, awsome food (at least the two salads I had), and lots of drinking and dancing (open bars rock for everyone who doesn't have to be at the airport at 5am the next morning).

Around midnight I decide to call it a night since I've got literally 4 hours before I need to be up again, and say my goodbyes to the groom and bride. Turns out that they have to take down some decorations and return them that night after the hall closes, and everyone else is way too drunk to help, so Kevin to the rescue. It was also a good thing as the groom couldn't find the keys to their truck, so they would have been stranded. All said and done, I was home at 2:30 for a glorious 2 hours sleep before heading back to the airport.

One hell of a rushed trip, yes, but also a lot of fun. Congrats again to the lucky couple, and it just reminds me that Jenn and I will have to make a trip back sometime soon. If only "soon" didn't mean next year. Such is the price of having pretty busy schedules. I hope to get some pictures from the rest of the gang as my camera died on me a few months back.

No Post For June I Guess

2008-07-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

Just a little update on the summer...not a whole lot going on. Work has been busy as has getting the house ready for the daycare leaving very little free time for anything. The house still rocks, we got the deck fixed so we can use it now (it was a bit wobbly), and that's about it.

My birthday this year was a pretty quiet affair...just stayed home with Jenn and had a lovely (and very low-key) evening which was much needed after all the stress at work (don't you love multi-million dollar demos dropped on your lap at the last second?). Maybe for my 30th I'll try another 30 shots...we'll see.

And that's pretty much it for info from my end. If I don't post up in August, someone kick me...I should have something to post by then.

Pictures!

2008-05-26T08:12:00.001-07:00

Now can you leave me alone Mr. Estey? ;)

http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.kunka

A little note on how the albums are organized:

Wedding Pictures - contains the photographers favourites in black and white, plus the prints she made for us.
Wedding Pictures 2 - contains the photographers favourites in colour.
All Wedding Pictures Part 1 - first 500 wedding pictures, good and bad, in colour
All Wedding Pictures Part 2 - last 496 wedding pictures, good and bad, in colour

The Photographer Called...

2008-05-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'll be picking up the DVD with our pictures on it this Friday, so I hope to have a few more shots up next week (it's a busy weekend).

A little more detail on our day as I remember it:

The service was great. A lot of people turned out (mostly Jenn's side), and time flew by. Thankfully neither of us made any mistakes either. As bad as the rehersal was, we still managed to muddle through. Biggest surprise was that neither of us broke down in tears either...a struggle at times, but we managed. Jenn looked absolutely awesome in her dress, and I've never been more proud than when I said "I do". Not that I actually remember the words to the service, but I said something like that.

The pictures were a lot of fun...the rain that was called for held off just long enough for us to take all the pics, and it didn't start raining until we literally stepped under the awning at the hall. As a wise friend likes to say, timing is everything. Okay, so maybe he's more goofy than wise, but it still applies. The only downside to pictures was that the forecast was right about the temps...it was 15-18 degrees, and it felt a whole lot colder with the wind coming off the river. For the guys in their tuxes, no problem. The girls, on the other hand...

After pics we made our way to the hall, did our intro and receiving line. It was touching to see everyone who came out, and to hear the nice words that they had for us. I hadn't seen a lot of the family since Christmas 2006, and it was great to get a chance to talk again. Same for a lot of my friends...since we moved to Carleton Place, it's not as easy to get together for a drink or game of pool.

Dinner was fantastic, couldn't have asked for better food. Everyone we've talked to since absolutely loved the meal. The only "hiccup" of sorts is that to serve our own wine, we needed a liqour license. Once the wine was opened, the bar had to close and stay closed until the wine was collected from the tables. This kinda put a rush on the speeches, but everyone had a few (okay, a lot) of words to say. I have to thank my best man again for keeping it short and still leaving my mom wondering when she's going to hear all the things we did as kids. After dinner we handed out wedding cake to everyone, and it gave us a chance to stop by each table and say hi to everyone.

Now the first dance. I've been on the go, standing now for about 8 hours. Not much water to drink that day either. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a recipe for cramps, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. About half way through our first dance, both legs start cramping up bad. By the end of it, I'm ready to cry as the muscles are knotted up something fierce. Thankfully, the second dance is the Father/Daughter dance, so I got to stretch, chug some water, stretch some more, and get back out for the third dance. After that it, it was more chatting with people, lots of handshakes and well wishes, and a bit more dancing. Not a whole lot more to add.

When the night finally wrapped up at 12:45, we loaded up the SUV and headed for home. For some strange reason we decided to have everyone over at noon the next day for an open house, which meant we had to have the truck unloaded, gifts unwrapped, and the house clean (mostly) before we went to bed. Combine that with trying to get Jenn out of her laced up wedding dress and finding all the stupid pins in her hair, and we weren't in bed until close to 2am. I was really wishing we had pushed back the open house while we were setting the alarm for 9am the next morning. It was all worth it, though, as it gave us more time to spend with the family before they had to head back to Pembroke/Thunder Bay/Edmonton/etc.

So This Is Married Life?

2008-05-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

A little recap for all of you who couldn't join us on our special day.

I'll start with the wedding rehearsal. With a good chunk of the wedding party being from out of town (Edmonton, Sioux Lookout, Pembroke), we were hoping to have the rehearsal the night before the wedding so everyone would be available. The priest, though, had other ideas. It absolutely had to be the weekend before, and we had to bring our "donation" to the church as well as for the priest with us. I wonder if he didn't base how good of a service he would be giving on the size of the donation. The rehearsal itself was a bit of a cluster, uh, well, it was screwy. Basically we were directed about the church for 20 minutes and left with no one knowing what we would be doing. Time well wasted indeed. I think the only good to come of it was to make sure that the best man and maid of honour knew how to find the church.

We were getting married on the 3rd of May, and knowing that it's still early spring, we were a bit worried about the weather. April was a fantastically warm month and as such we had high hopes. Checking the weather forecast, though, made us wonder what the hell forecasters actually do. It honestly would alternate between a sunny 24 degrees and 10 degrees with rain. I swear they just make this stuff up as they go along.

Between checking the above mentioned "forecast", the week before also consisted of a lot of little details like final meetings with the DJ and photographer, picking up tuxes and dress, and getting the rental in order. This is where my life starts to go to hell. We had originally arranged for a Suburban (big SUV, seats 9) so we could get most everyone in the truck and have as few vehicles as possible. The problem, though, was that you apparently (it was no where obvious on their website or on the confirmation) have to be 30 or older to rent one. Thankfully I was able to use my Aeroplan miles to book a slightly smaller but much nicer Acadian instead, and all was good. Once the Aeroplan website was back up, that is...it went down for the entire weekend beforehand and apparently you can't call in and reserve a rental when the system is down. Fun times.

Wednesday I got a call that my tux was in and to come in as soon as I could to try it on. Having done this before for grad and GJ's wedding, I was expecting everything to go smoothly. I got to Bayshore and was told to try on the pants and shoes. Uh, what about the shirt, jacket and vest? We'll get to that later...okay. Shoes and pants fit fine, jacket was good, vest was good and "you don't need to try on the shirt, I'll just check your neck and arms". 30 seconds of measuring later, I'm trying on the shirt and finding out that it's indeed too short. I was told that they would order me a new one and it'd be ready for pick up on Friday at the latest. I decided to leave the rest of the tux there so I could try it all on when the shirt arrived.

Friday rolls around and my shirt is in. We pick up the rental at noon and swing by Bayshore again. The guys see me and hand me my shirt. "Uh, where is the rest of it?" I ask. Never have I seen someone's face drop so much...it was obvious that they had no idea where my tux was. 15 minutes of futile searching later and I'm being told that I picked it up yesterday morning. Funny, I distinctly remember working on Thursday morning. Well, maybe one of the groomsmen picked it up. Did they sign for it? Cause if not, I'm coming in every weekend to pick up someone's tux. Another 10 minutes of yelling at the manager and I'm told they will rush a tux in for Saturday morning. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. I did make sure to take the shirt this time though.

That night was the rehearsal dinner (I know, the rehearsal was the week before) in Arnprior. This is the first time that Jenn, her family and my Ottawa friends have really met my friends from Thunder Bay, and I don't know that they will ever look at me the same. GJ and Jeff were in fine form, having pre-drunk for dinner to continue their apparent 3 day bender. GJ is as loud as ever, saying pretty much whatever popped in his mind (I think my family and I were the only ones not offended), and the beer flowed like water. When it came time to open the groomsman gifts, I was really wishing I had picked something other than engraved knives to give. I was picturing my best man and groomsmen getting in a knife fight in the parking lot later on. Thankfully I managed to pocket both before the stabbing started. At the end of dinner (well, when they started putting chairs on tables), the guys decided to head down to the local sports bar for a few more drinks. How we were ever served is still beyond me. Guess they don't have liquour inspectors in Arnprior. We get a couple of pitchers of beer, a Strongbow (a whole one) for me, and GJ immediately starts talking trash with the girls beside us, then calling their boyfriends a "bunch of pussies". Just what I need, a brawl the night before the wedding. Thankfully the other guys were more interested in drinking and having a good time than fighting. All in all, I think a good time was had, and the Ottawa crowd got to see where I got my patience from.

Saturday morning. All I have to do is pick up my tux, eat, and make it to the church by 1:45pm. Not too hard, right? I get up around 8:30, shower, shave and toss on some clothes. Get to Bayshore, try on the tux, bitch some more at the manager, head back home, call Jeff and arrange for them to swing by early for breakfast. While waiting, I remember that I haven't picked up a card for Jenn yet so I speed off to Hallmark and grab one. Thankfully I looked at hers first as there were only 2 cards for people on their wedding day. Get back to the house and keep on waiting...I'm starting to get pretty hungry so I crack open a bag of chips and start munching. 11am rolls around...where the hell are they? 11:30...12...12:30 the guys from Ottawa show up, and 2 minutes later I get a call asking how to get to my place from Arnprior. Keep in mind that it's about 20-30 minutes from Arnprior to my place...yep, we're gonna be late and I still haven't eaten really. We all get dressed, TBay shows up and zips through a quick tour/getting dressed, and we race off to the church. Even though we didn't leave until 1:35, we still managed to get there almost on time for flowers and a few quick pictures.

By this time the priest is getting pretty impatient and wants Jeff and I in the church. I'm not sure what for as this wasn't part of the rehearsal, but what the hell. I give the dude the rings, pre-sign the registry and wedding license, then back out front to wait in a "closet" for Jenn to show up. 10 minutes later and we're on...I don't remember too much after that other than looking over to see GJ ready to pass out in the pew. Awesome stuff.

Fast forward an hour and we're out of the church, pictures on the steps, off in the SUV for more pics (sadly no burnouts...I hate all wheel drive sometimes), more pics and even more pics (none of which I have so don't ask Brian), and it's back to the hall for dinner. Dinner was good, the speeches were awesome, and thankfully my best man left out all the stories that my family had been waiting years to hear. Not much more to add than that.

And yes, I will post more pictures in the future...this is all I got from Jenn's uncle.

The wedding party...I'm doing my best to look as good as Jenn

Testing...Is This Thing On

2008-03-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

Since my one and only loyal reader is on my case to update, I figured I should dust this thing off and post something. Not sure what to post, though, as life has been pretty dull lately. Lots of shovelling and little else. I still haven't managed to take any pictures of the house all finished and decorated, or of the truck (now getting buried with junk in the garage), or do anything with the basement.

Lots of planning and stuff going on for the wedding but again, most is in place and its taken on a life of it's own now. The invites were mailed out last week and we're starting to get replies. Hopefully everyone replies quickly so we can send out the second batch (people we wanted to invite but there's a limit to the number the hall can hold). What else...got the tuxes ordered recently for the guys in town. Not much else to report.

Oh, speaking of weddings, and since this is a travel blog, does anyone out there have some suggestions on what to do for a quick honeymoon? Since it's a new job I only have 1 week's holidays by May, so we're thinking either postponing the trip or taking a couple of days (literally 1-3 days) for some place close like Montreal, NYC, Toronto, etc. Anyone have any ideas/recommendations? Flights aren't a problem (thank you Aeroplan) but hotel room costs are. We'd like to do this on the cheap if possible. Okay, I'd like to do this on the cheap, Jenn would like a 5 star suite.

Work is pretty good. I haven't mentioned it on here but I started a new job in January out in Kanata. Nice to be in a larger company (~200 people) but at the same time it's weird not knowing everyone or being the go-to guy. Also a lot of learning to do, it feels like I'm back in university or something with all the reading.

Not much else to add right now...I'll try to get pics of the house up this weekend (I know, I've said this before).

So This Is Snow

2007-12-18T08:27:00.001-08:00

First week in the house, and we get a major snow fall. Now, we didn't think it would be so bad...I mean, we planned ahead and found someone to plow our driveway. Good thinking, right? Wrong. Turns out it's his first year, first snowfall, and when it stopped on Sunday, he never showed. Monday morning? Still nothing. I call him around 11am, and no answer on the cell (he was so proud about carrying his cell, and we could always reach him). Left a message at the house to call me as we want to know when...we're completely snowed in and can't get anywhere.

1pm rolls around, and we decide to call someone else (another guy down the street...more expensive, though, and we're trying to cut costs). He's been out since the snow stopped Sunday night, and needs a quick nap before coming to clean us out. I call the first guy again...no cell, but the wife answers at home. Apparently his truck broke down, and he's at the dealership. He'll get to us in a couple of hours. WTF? And you couldn't call to tell me this? Long story short, neighbourhood guy shows up an hour later, cleans the mess (see pictures) in 10 minutes, and we're all happy, and I'm only out the $10 it cost me to put a stop payment on first guy's cheque. Not fun.

You can see how badly the front walk is drifted over

More front walk

Me shoveling...YAY!

Side of the garage...it's about 4 feet high

In front of the garage...only 3 feet high here.

Drifted right up to the hood of my car

The huge snow pile from shoveling the deck earlier in the week

Visual reference of how high the snow is...I'm not crouching, and I'm probably 6'4" in the Sorels

From inside the garage to outside. It got inside the garage and actually stopped the door from opening (it covered the little laser thingy)

Yet another shot of the front walk

Action shot!

One last look back from between the cars. They were surprisingly snow free (except the one side of mine), which made us think it wasn't as bad as it was. We should have taken some the next morning...you couldn't tell (other than by where the cars were) our driveway from the rest of the yard.

Engagement Photos? What are they?

2007-11-09T08:56:00.001-08:00

Apparently, when you spend enough money on a wedding photographer, they throw in engagement photos for free. That being said, here is my fav of the bunch...

Don't we make a cute couple?

This is the product of two weeks of planning, getting rained out the first time, and almost being rained out the second time. Thankfully it held up for about 30 minutes while we took the pictures in front of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Pictures, Picture and More Pictures

2007-11-09T08:42:00.001-08:00

I said there would be more pictures of the house, and here they are, as promised.

Front Door

Living Room (note the lovely clean carpets)

More living room, with some dining area, and the stairs to the basement. The white door straight ahead leads out to the garage.

Our sweet kitchen...I love islands.

Main entrance where it leads into the living area.

Lower portion of the deck...it's pretty massive as it's the entire width of the two car garage.

View back up to the patio doors (0ff the dining area). You can see how it's a two-tiered deck.

Basement view from the bottom of the stairs...eventually this will be a pretty sweet daycare.

More basement, and showing the walkout to the back yard.

And that's the stairs into the basement, as well as the fridge that will be moved into the kitchen.

Well, that's our house...we're pretty proud of it, and will be even more so when we finally get the carpets pulled up. The two dogs the previous owner had shredded them up pretty good, not to mention all the dirt and other stains. Man, is there a lot of cleaning ahead.

Hot-lanta? I think not

2007-11-08T11:09:00.001-08:00

On the road again, oh how I hate to be on the road again...okay, so it's not quite right, but it fits this trip. I ended up getting shipped off to a Users Conference in Atlanta earlier this week. Sounds like fun, right?

It started off on a bad note...I haven't been feeling all that well for the last few weeks, and it really caught up to me on Sunday when I left. Between the flight down and the cab ride to the hotel, I was feeling pretty sick. Sadique and I got to the hotel where the conference was, set up the booth, and then decided to find a nice restaurant for dinner. What we found was a local pub where, unknown to us, Georgia law still allows you to smoke. Just what my system needed. So by the end of it, I'm about ready to hurl my guts all over the place, and we still have a cocktail mixer to attend. I end up leaving early (about 10 minutes in), and let poor Sadique fend for himself.

Monday morning rolls around, and I'm feeling little better. Oh well, the show must go on...down to the booth to finish setup, and I realize two things. One, no one ordered a power outlet for our booth, so we have no where to plug in anything and two, I forgot the power cable for the monitor. A quick chat with the organizers, though, and both were solved in minutes. A big thumbs up for the organizers. 9:45, the exhibit opens, and we get flooded with people...people looking for stamps. See, they have this draw where if you visit all the booths (proven by this stamp), you can win $100, $300 or $400. So we had tons of traffic, but no interest in our product. Oh boy, this is going to be a fun couple of days. The conferences/workshops started at 10:30, so by 10:35, the hall is a ghost town, and no one showed back up until 4:30 for another 30 minutes. What a waste of a day.

I'm still not feeling well that night, so I ended up skipping on the bus tour they put on. After all, I had to be ready for another day of twiddling my thumbs. And sure enough, Tuesday was a repeat of Monday, but since there was another cocktail party, this time in the exhibit hall, I had to stay not until 5:00, but until 8:30. Fun stuff, especially with a 9am flight the next morning. All in all, the show was a complete bust, and I didn't even get to see anything of Atlanta. Last time I do that sort of thing.

It wasn't all bad, though...I did end up getting a nice travel mug, laptop bag and new mouse out of the deal.

House Pictures

2007-10-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

Me on our new front porch.

SOLD! The happy couple now eyeball deep in debt

And last, but certainly not least, a shot of the house from the road.

That's a lot of grass to mow, and there's way more out back :S

So This Is Debt

2007-10-08T19:30:00.001-07:00

More steps on the road of life...Jenn and I bought a house this past month. It's a pretty sweet place, about a 1500 square foot bungalow (2500 square feet living space with the finished basement), and the best part is it's on a 2 acre lot. I love space, and I'm going to love the riding lawn mower even more :)

So now we have 25 years of mortgage payments to look forward to, but we also have years of memories, a place to start a family, and the groundwork for Jenn's home daycare to look forward to as well. I can't wait to move in!

Pictures are coming, but probably won't be up until next weekend at the earliest.

London...again

2007-10-08T18:36:00.001-07:00

At the end of August, I asked my boss what the schedule was going to be like for the next few months...it looked pretty slow, and that I would be in Ottawa all of September, minus maybe a day trip to Montreal. A nice, relaxed pace. Two days later, I get an email asking if I could go to London for a week on short notice for a show and customer visit. While Jenn wasn't too excited at the prospect, it was that many more Aeroplan miles that we could use for the honeymoon, and she relented.

It started out pretty badly...we were attending a major show (DSEI), and as a result, almost all the hotels (well, certainly all the decent motels) on the east and south side of London were booked. We did manage to find some nice rooms close to the exhibition hall, but at $6000 for the week, it was a bit much for the company. A few hours more searching, and we were in the area and the budget.

Like normal, I booked my own tickets, and the sales guy (Peter) had my itinerary to do the same. The plan was for the Pete and I to meet at the airport, and I assumed that he was on the same flight. After kicking around the Ottawa airport for a few hours, I realized that he wasn't on the same flight. Hmmm...maybe we'll meet up in Toronto then. I check the terminal in Toronto, and still no Peter. He doesn't carry a cell phone, so by this point I'm really unsure what the heck is going on, but I have all the directions and reservation information, so I'm good.

A long ass flight later (first class thanks to some upgrade coupons), and I'm in London. $250 in cab fare later, and I'm checking into the hotel...I should have known it was a bad sign when there were 3 rooms reserved for "K Kunka" and another for "Kevin Kunka". I tried to cancel some, but the hotel staff thought that there might actually be another one out there. I mean, what are the chances that two are staying in the same hotel at the same time? At this point I still haven't heard from Peter either, so I'm a bit nervous. I log onto the net, check my email, and waiting for me is a "where are you" message from Pete. "I'm at the hotel...where are you?" "At the hotel". We finally talked to each other around 2pm, and made plans for dinner. One mess straightened out.

At 7, I met Peter in the lobby and talked to the guy at the desk to cancel the other (mistaken) room reservations. I was then informed that I would have to pay one night for all of the rooms as you can't cancel after 4pm. Astonished that the guy would argue with me (the customer is always right after all), we asked for the manager. And she preceded to say the exact same thing...we'd need to pay 1 night * 3 extra rooms. Finally I asked her to show me the reservation sheet that was emailed to her by the website I booked through, and low and behold, there should have been 2 rooms...one for Pete, one for me. I thought it was straightened out finally, only to hear the first guy argue with the manager that we should be paying for the room. Uh, shouldn't you just shut up and listen to the boss?

Dinner that night was pretty good, we were in a nice local restaurant (the only one within 3 miles, it turns out), and figured out a game plan for the next day. I was to meet the other Peter (our reseller in the UK) at 8am to head out to Jaguar for a meeting. Talk about a rude way to get over jet lag...I needed to be on the tube by 7am to get across town to meet UK Pete. Another 2 1/2 hours in the car to get to Jaguar, and I'm toast before the meeting begins. Thankfully the guys were really interested in our stuff, and they're continuing on with the evaluation. Think we'll get a car to test the GUI on later?

The show itself was pretty cool...lots of guns and tanks and rockets and such in the halls, a bunch of naval ships in the river outside, and not a single prospect to stop by the booth. It was pretty much a waste of time, and that's about all I have to say about it. If it hadn't been a last minute decision to go, I think we would have set up a bunch of meetings with customers to make it worth while, but it was just too late to organize anything. At least we know not to go back in the future. And even though there were hundreds of protesters, and a bunch of arrests, I didn't even see one. What a shame. I'll post some pictures later in the post.

Back to the incompetence of the hotel staff, though. It started with the reservation problem, then kept getting worse. Tuesday we asked where the closest pub is..."Just a bit up the road, no more than 15 minutes walking, 20 if you stroll". We head off looking for this pub, and after 30 minutes and no luck, we ask a guy on the street. "Oh, it's about a mile and a half up the road, you're about half way there." Good job, hotel staff, good job. We finally made it there about 20 minutes later, and the food was worth the exercise, but had we known the distance up front, I think we would have grabbed cab. We asked the cabbie for the mileage on the way back, and it turned out to be 3 1/2 miles from the hotel. I'd like to see anyone cover that in 15 minutes.

Wednesday and the problems continue...I get up, all ready to meet Peter downstairs at 8:15 to head out to the show. 8:30 rolls around and no Peter...I call up to the room, and he confirms that it was 8:15, and asks what time it is. "8:45". Apparently asking for a wake up call was just a bit too much for the staff.

It can't get any worse, right? Wrong...Thursday we call down and ask for a cab to the pub (no more walking for us). Peter even double checked that they called the cab. We wait for 10 minutes outside, then head back up to the desk to ask "Cab? What cab?". Honestly, they couldn't get a single thing right the entire week. If you're ever in London, never even think about staying at the Holiday Inn, Newbury Park. Out of all the places I've stayed in my life, it ranks right behind the Ranger Motel in Calgary (the single worst experience of my life, complete with body hair and blood on the sheets) as the second worst place in the world. Nice facilities, yes, but zombies would be an improvement over the staff.

Enough ranting...here's some pictures:

The booth next to ours was all guns

Armored Personal Carrier from General Dynamics

The Russian booth, complete with rockets, APCs and tanks

Gives you a bit of an idea of the size...

...it just keeps going...

...and going...

...and going. Keep in mind that this is only one of two halls, plus some displays (ships you could tour, some tanks and such) outside.

Some More Pics

2007-08-27T08:41:00.001-07:00

The promised and requested picture of the fiance

One more of Ella, this time playing with a toy mouse

Not much else to add...the eye infection on Ella is getting much better, and we're going to talk to wedding photographers tonight. Should be fun (and expensive as hell).

New Addition To The Family

2007-08-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

As mentioned before, we have yet another addition to the family, but this one is a little closer to home. Two weeks ago, Jenn and I picked up a little kitten, promptly named Ella, at the humane society. She started out a little ill, but now that she's healthy again, she's turned into quite the ball of energy.

Right after we got her, all she did was sleep for the first week.

A little more perky during week two.

Not much else to add on the home front for now. Still doing a lot of prep work for the wedding, seeing a few photographers this upcoming week, so hopefully we'll iron that out soon enough.

On a work front, it looks like I'll be heading off to London (again) for a week or so in September. It'll be my first time there in the fall, as all other trips to the UK have been in the spring/summer, so it'll be a nice change. I'm also staying on the east side of London (probably), which again is a little different from where I've normally stayed.

It's shaping up to be a busy fall for the company in terms of travel, but now that we finally have all 3 TAMs back in the office, hopefully I'll be at home more than I'm on the road. With luck it won't be much more than 2-3 trips this fall.

Beantown

2007-08-17T05:15:00.001-07:00

Not much to post about my trip to Boston...it was over before it began. Wednesday was another early start, getting up at 3:45am to be at the airport for 5am. The joys of a 6am flight. I ended up getting to the airport a bit late, and thanks to the ever so speedy Gold service at the Air Canada desk, it took a lot longer than it should have to get checked in. Thankfully I made the flight on time (walked up to the gate just as they started boarding).

The flight itself wasn't too bad, but I forgot my back roll to help out with my posture. Needless to say, I was a bit sore when I came off the plane. Then it was off to Dollar for the rental, and to stand in another line. 20 minutes later and I'm finally on the road in the middle of a thunderstorm, so my original time line for getting to the customer site is now officially out the window.

Once I got to the customers office (albeit 30 minutes late), I spent most of the morning writing up some documentation, and reviewing the process to change languages in our product. For those familiar with our product, it takes 1 line of code, so there wasn't too much to review. The afternoon was much the same, with a quick review of the process in the doc, and then trying to help figure out a bug in their app. After sending off a quick email to our office in Ottawa, I was off to find my hotel.

Checking in was a breeze, but I got stuck across the hall from the ice machine, which was pretty damn noisy. Not good, but the air conditioner (set at 60!) overpowered the sound once I closed the door. I swear, Bostonians must be allergic to sweat or something...everywhere I went I had to put a sweater on as the A/C was just cranked. Anywho, I ended up at a mall for dinner, trying a nice little Italian place. Nothing like Italy, of course, but it was pretty good.

Thursday morning I was up, checked out, and off to the customer. Training was the order of the morning, after a company wide meeting at 10 am...had I known this, I could have gotten more sleep :( Then it was lunch with the software team, and more bug fixing in the afternoon. We did a bit of a code review to try to figure out what might be causing the bug, and like I had originally suspected, it was their code and a character array that was too short for the string they were using. A quick fix, and everything was working again.

The day wrapped up around 5pm, when it was back off to the airport, trying to find something to eat for dinner (I ended up eating mozzarella sticks, blech), and heading home. All in all, a long day, but it felt so good to be in my own bed that night...the joy of being home. As nice as it would have been to see a bit more than just the highway between the airport and the customer, I'll take being home most any day.

Luskville

2007-08-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the weekend of drag racing. A lot of fun was had by all, sunburn not withstanding. Unfortunately both Jenn and I left the cameras off for the day, but here's a nice shot from her uncle Bernie. I'm the guy in the red hat in the background.

I'll post some more about Boston in a couple of days, as well as some more news about additions to the family (it's not what you're thinking Brian).

Time For A Tea Party

2007-08-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

I'm off to the Boston area for business next week. It's not much of a trip, though, as I'm only in town for, oh, 37 hours or so, at least 16 of which will be at our customer's office, another 2 hours driving out there, an hour or two in airports. So all in all, I get about 15 hours, including sleep, this time around. Talk about fun. The sad part is, 15 hours sounds like more time than I expect to have. The best part is, with my back still out of whack, the plane ride might kill me. My physiotherapist suggested that I walk around the plane as much as I can. Anyone over 6 feet tall try to stand on a regional jet? It's just not possible, especially if you're supposed to keep your back straight and stand tall.

On a more immediate note, Jenn and I will be heading to Luskville in Quebec this weekend for some drag racing fun. If only we owned a drag car, instead of being in the stands with a camera :( Oh well, something to work for. I'm sure I'll have some pics to post next week (or whenever I get off my butt).

And I'll post more on the Boston trip next week too, if I can find time in my ever so busy schedule.

And Now For Some More Good News

2007-07-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

As some of you know (well, I think everyone who reads this knows), I proposed a few months back, and she actually said yes (sucker!). I've been slowly telling friends and family as I think of it, and now am ready to tell the world. Jenn and I are getting married next May (the 3rd to be exact), and we're so excited. Now we're just stuck with all the details...who knew a wedding was so much planning? Thankfully the parents are helping out. Couldn't do it without them!

And yes, at some point I'll finally post some pictures of the lovely Ms. Coulas, but for some reason she's a bit camera shy. Or at least when I'm trying to take pics. Something about "let me put some clothes on" or some excuse like that ;)

I'm An Uncle...Twice!

2007-07-04T10:01:00.001-07:00

I know this is mostly a travel blog for me, but I've got to post some pics of the new additions to the extended family of sorts.

First is a beautiful baby girl that my good friends Brian and Tamie (they live in Japan), Layla Estey, born at the beginning of June this ye

Layla Estey

Congrats Brian and Tamie!

The second addition is a little closer to home (as it were) as it comes from someone I consider one of the brothers I never had. A big congrats to GJ and Heather up in Sioux Lookout, who just gave birth to Hannah Lynn a few weeks ago (and I finally got some pictures!)

Hannah Lynn Ninivirta

Proud (and very tired) GJ with his new girl

All I can say is that I'm super excited for both of you, and I can't wait to meet the kids.

The Bay of Tampa

2007-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

My first trip to Florida was pretty short, so this time around, I invited Jenn and decided to make a "vacation" of sorts out of it. I was supposed to be down from Mon-Thurs, so I just pushed the flight back to Saturday, and we had some fun.

Monday was another early flight (6:30am), and since Jenn is a bit of a nervous flier (third trip on a plane, and the first one over a border), it was just that much more hectic, answering questions and re-assuring her. All in all, we made it to Tampa without incident. In Tampa, it was slightly different, though. I swear, we waited at least 45 minutes for our damn luggage to show up on the belt...it was ridiculous. After that, it was off to pick up the car (Jenn insisted on a red Charger), and find the hotel. Combining my slightly "excitable" nature and Jenn's first time giving me directions, it was an interesting trip to the hotel. Thankfully we found it eventually, and all was forgiven.

It would have been more easily forgiven, though, if the hotel hadn't booked us in a room with two beds instead of one...so much for a romantic getaway. We ended up getting them to switch us on Wednesday to a king size room on the 25th floor (man, what a view), which was a bit better. After checking in, it was off to lunch and to wait for Roger and Ariel to show up. Their flight ended up being delayed (mechanical trouble), so we had to head over and set up the booth ourselves. It doesn't sound too hard, but I've never set it up before, and Jenn doesn't even work for us, so it was an adventure. Thankfully, it was pretty straightforward, and all was done by the time the other two showed up.

Tuesday was the start of the show, and in the morning we thought it might be a good turnout. We had a lot of people by the booth, we were across from the buffet, what could be better? As we found out that afternoon, that was all the people we were going to see. I swear, after that, we had maybe 4 people stop by for the next two days. Not my idea of fun.

All I have to say about Wednesday was that Jenn got a wicked sunburn...those mostly cloudy days when you can sit outside forever and not feel hot are a killer.

Thursday I dropped Ariel off at the airport, and Jenn and I did some mall exploring. She was so excited to get some shopping done in the US (again, she's never been), so it was fun. I also got to find out where my fav NFL team (the Bucs) play, so that was cool. Friday was beach exploring in St. Petersburg, and little else (it was so nice to relax). And Saturday, we stopped back by Raymond James Stadium, took some pics, and off to the airport.

All in all, a good break from everyday life, and I can't wait to do it again.

And All That Jazz

2007-06-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

More shows for the company means more travel for me, this time I'm off to the windy city, Chicago, and the not so windy city, Minneapolis. This time is a bit of a first for me, as I was off by myself with no sales guys to help me out.

Another first in that it wasn't a 6am flight out of Ottawa, either. I nice, leisurely 6pm departure time. The only problem is, now everyone expected me to be into work on Monday. WTF? No one else has ever had to come into work when they are flying...oh well, gives me more time to get ready on a work front. Plus I got to meet the new guy, John, who happens to be from Nipigon and went to Lakehead too.

Around 3:30 I finally got out of the office and headed to the airport. Breeze through customs and I'm on my way (direct flight and everything!). Not too bad. Once I get to Chicago, it's off to National for my SUV (somehow cheaper than the smallest car), and on to the Hilton. Only problem is, the salesguy didn't book the hotel for two nights, so I ended up having to scramble to find a new hotel minutes before the show started. To top it off, once I found a new hotel, I ended up breaking my shoelace in a hurry to get downstairs to the booth...definitely not my day.

The show itself went okay, not a lot of traffic, but a couple of good leads. After the show, I packed up and headed off towards the airport and my new hotel. It was honestly one of the nicest rooms I've had in a long time, with a monster TV, huge pullout couch, and kitchen. All for $100 a night. Pretty good, in my opinion. For dinner that night I tried a place called Charlie's Charhouse. Since I've never been before, I had no idea what to expect. I ordered the potato skins and a caesar salad. Problem was, I was expecting normal size portions, not a platter of potatoes (10 in all) and a salad bowl that was (I kid you not) about 14 inches across, and a good 4-5 inches deep. Needless to say, I didn't even get half way. No wonder some Americans are so big.

Wednesday saw me back at O'Hare and off to Minneapolis, where I was to meet with a customer of ours. No problems with the flight or getting to the hotel (a real dump this time), but the customer was actually in the process of moving offices, so everything was packed up, and it was decided that maybe we'd skip the meeting. Oh well, more time at the Mall of America and lounging around the pool for me...I wasn't complaining.

The show on Thursday was much better attended, and I had a few more good leads. Again, back to the mall for dinner and some last minute shopping, then a good nights sleep before heading back to Ottawa. And since the flight left at 6am, I was back at work that afternoon (seriously, I had to go). Thankfully the only work I had to do was figuring out who was bringing what hardware for the trip to Tampa the next week, and I was out of there pretty quick. Once the two guys I would be traveling showed up, that is. All in all, a long day, but with the promise of sun and sand the next week, one I could handle.

Texas and California

2007-05-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Another month, another trip, this time to Houston, Dallas and LA, all in 4 days. Way too much time was spent on planes and in airports for my tastes.

Monday was a holiday for everyone else, but since we were meeting a long standing customer in Houston that afternoon, it meant a 6AM flight to Toronto for me. Fun stuff. At least I didn't have to take a taxi to the airport this time around. The flight was uneventful, and soon we were on our way through customs in YYZ. No free pass this time around as I was thoroughly searched (all bags, patted down, no rubber gloves thankfully). Still managed to make it to the gate in time, though, which was good. A few hours later (and the entire book I brought to read this trip), we were in Houston. Pick up the rental, and off we go looking for our customer's building. Unfortunately Roger had picked up directions from Yahoo maps, and they sucked. No directions (right, left, north, south), and they actually referenced "un-named street" at one point. Needless to say, we got lost, but still managed to make it on time thanks to some rental car map navigating by yours truly. Never again.

So we talk to the customer for all of 10 minutes, and head off to the hotel. The entire time I'm thinking "I gave up my Monday for this?", but they've been using our product for 7-8 years, so it was good to get in touch and see exactly what they do. Now it's off to the hotel where the show on Tuesday is going to be held. Another navigation nightmare (again, no directions), but this time compounded by the hotel being in the middle of a construction zone. This bodes well for the show...

Tuesday morning it's up bright and early to set up the booth/table, and work the show. Problem is, the construction zone combined with heavy rain made this the worst attended show that I've ever been to. I swear, there were more exhibitors than customers. At the end of the show, we pack up and head out to the airport to catch a flight to Dallas. Problem is, Roger booked the flight into Dallas at Dallas Love airport, and the flight out at Dallas Fort Worth, so we had to change the rental car (among other things). Easier than it sounds, as only Budget would let us rent from one and return to the other on such short notice. We get to Dallas, head off to the hotel (and get lost again, because Roger didn't get the directions to the hotel but to the area code), and get a short nights sleep.

Wednesday morning and it was a quick breakfast and out to attend the Freescale Worldwide FAE Training. Why we showed up so early when we weren't presenting until 11 is beyond me, but then again, I'm just an engineer. Over 100 people are signed up, so I figured we'd get maybe 20 attending (it was optional, and I was hopeful). Apparently I was too hopeful...6 people showed up. Two were very interested and engaging, but still only 6. Finishing up here, we raced off to the airport for our flight to Los Angeles for the Wind River Aerospace and Defense Conference.

Once in LA, it was a quick (and scary as hell) taxi ride to the hotel, where we freshened up and headed downstairs for the parnter meet and greet. Basically an excuse for an open bar, but I was glad for the change. Met a few good people, and then off to bed for the show the next day.

Thursday it was up early again and manning the booth. Which was less exciting than it sounds as there were seminars all the time, and few people on the "show floor" as it were. I did catch a few good seminars by parnters, though, and was impressed by their offerings. Oh, and I got a new laptop bag out of the deal. Not bad at all.

Friday it was another early flight (7am this time) to Chicago, an hour wait, and back to Ottawa. All I can say is that I'm glad to be home.

Finally, Paris Pictures

2007-05-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Promised many months ago (or so it seems), I've finally managed to get the pics off my camera (my desktop died, so it took me this long to remember to bring my camera to work).

Notre Dame Cathedral...very big, and tons of tourists (just like me)

The Louvre - line-ups were way too long for me to even peek inside.

L'Arc de Triomphe (as if you didn't know)

Eiffel Tower, which I also didn't go up. Damn tourists.

Apparently I can't go anywhere without taking pictures of ducks, so I'll keep the streak alive.

This is a building under construction, so they put up a wall around it. Tres cool. Freaky too.

Time For A Tea Party

2007-05-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the quirkyness that is our company, I ended up going to Boston on about 4 days notice. Originally Steve-o was supposed to go, but he's overseas now. Then Ariel was to go, but he needed the time to prepare for a trip to Asia. So the Wednesday before the trip, I get a "hey Kev, wanna go to Boston?" from Ariel, and next thing I know, my ticket is booked.

Monday I show up at the airport and met Roger (fresh back from vacation and unaware of the personnel change), which was interesting. A direct flight to Boston (thank god), and next thing we're bouncing around in the back of a shuttle bus to get to the car rental office. I swear, the driver was either drunk or practicing for a demolition derby. Picked up the car, and Roger was nice enough to head downtown as I've never been before. We walked around a marketplace downtown for a bit, grabbed lunch (where I found out my company card was maxed), and then headed off to the hotel. The hotel we're staying at is about 30 min north of Boston, on a good day, but we got stuck in traffic, so it took about an hour. Fun times. And it turns out that the hotel is booked only for the 1 night, even though we'll be in town for 2. Even more fun. After that, it was just a quiet night, grabbing dinner in the hotel (we're not really close to anything), and crashing early.

Up at 6:30 to set up for the show, a good breakfast, and off to the floor. Roger booked another hotel downtown for that night, so we were taken care of there. A good show, good turnout for the presentation, and some solid leads, which was awesome. After the show, we talked to the new reseller that we signed for the Northeastern US (an old friend of Roger's), then headed off downtown. Another good meal, a quick walk around, and off to bed.

Wednesday we had to meet with an old client, who convieniently enough, had their office just down the road from the first hotel. Which is now an hour drive away. But the meeting is at 10AM, so we weren't too rushed in the morning, thankfully. We spent just over an hour with them, talked about where they were going and how we could help, and then jetted off to the airport to see if we could change our flight (we weren't supposed to leave until 8pm, but got to the airport around 1pm). A $50 change fee later, and we were on our way home, 5 hours earlier. I can't imagine how boring it would have been if we had to wait around the entire day.

Europe Recap

2007-05-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Since I've been asked about it, I'll do my best to re-cap my latest European adventure.

It was a short trip this time, only 10 days, so I figured it would be a pretty good time. I left on the Friday (March 23rd), and got into Heathrow at 6AM on Saturday. After stumbling through security and customs, I wandered off to find a cab to the hotel. $100 later, I was checking in, preparing to be told that my room wasn't ready and to come back at 3 or something. By some miracle, though, my room was ready, and it was off for a quick nap.

Having been to London before, I figured I might be a bit pressed for things to do, so I asked a friend for advice, and was in turn sent to talk someone who actually lives there. I was pointed in the direction of a bunch of markets, and had a wonderful time checking out all the stalls, and looking for a good bargin. I ended up with a nice shirt for myself, and a head massager for Jenn.

Monday rolled around, and it's time for work. We ended up meeting with an editor for a magazine, where I gave a brief presentation on my company, and what we do, then did the same thing for the resellers/distributors that we recently hired in the UK. I had a good time, got to know them and their business a bit better, and then it was "see you tomorrow" and off for dinner. Some good food at the pub, and a good night sleep, preparing for the trip the next day.

It was an early morning Tuesday, as I had to catch a train out to Reading/Twyford for a web presentation from Peter's home. Unfortunately there were some technical difficulties on the prospects end (web server was having trouble, phones were out, and the cellphone he was on was dying), so the presentation was a bit short, but they seemed very interested. A quick bite to eat for lunch, and off to Heathrow (again) to catch a flight to Glasgow, Scotland, where I was to do some training for a customer of ours.

In Glasgow, we had some beautiful weather (no rain, sunny skies) which is almost unheard of. Unfortnately, I spent most of the trip in an office, so it was wasted on me. The training went smoothly, except for a bout of the flu which saw me leaving my breakfast in the hall at our customer. Not fun. Oh, and we took in a match at a local pub, getting to see Scotland be dominated by Italy. We only had 2 nights in town, so as I said, I didn't see much.

On Thursday, it was back to Heathrow, drive back out to Reading, another hotel, and another early morning (6am) for the drive out to Southampton, where we were to meet another prospect on Friday morning. Again, a good meeting, but it was cut a bit short (only an hour and a half) due to prior engagements by our prospect. I think it was well worth the visit, though, as we seemed to have convinced him that our product is a good fit. Now it's on to the technical evaluation by their engineers. We finished up at the customer, took a quick bite to eat, Peter showed me his boat (it was near by and actually work related), then back up to London.

Saturday saw me at Heathrow again (4th time, for those keeping score) for my flight to Paris to see another distributor. I decided to go over on Saturday so I could see some of the sights, as I'd never been to Paris. Saturday ended up being a wash, as I only had time to check into the hotel (outside of Paris, it turns out), and wander around trying to find dinner, which was harder than expected.

On Sunday, though, I did manage to grab a train into Paris, and check it out, if briefly. I think I saw all the major sights, but didn't have much time for anything else (no museum tours, no going up the Eiffel Tower, etc), but I did manage to grab a little something for Jenn.

Monday was another presentation, more training, and little else. Tuesday was more relaxed at the reseller (I had nothing to do, really), but we did meet a new customer that afternoon, and then Julien took me around Paris. Great time, and I really enjoyed myself. Julien was an awesome host, and I can't thank him enough.

Wednesday was back to the airport, flight to London, switching terminals, kicking back for a few hours, then off to Ottawa. I even managed to use my upgrade certificates and was in first class on the way back. Man, it's the only way to fly. If only I could afford it more often.

And yes, I'll post pictures soon...

Europe in 10 days or less

2007-03-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that it won't just be London and Scotland, but also Paris as well. I leave on the 23rd of March, and get back on the 4th of April. Such fun...I wonder if I'll even get a chance to see anything other than the inside of hotel rooms, airport, planes and offices. But hey, I get to see some of the best cities in the world for free, so how can I complain?

Hopefully I'll have some stories to tell and some pictures to post when I get back...until then.

The New Place

2007-03-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

So Jenn and I moved in together last weekend into a new house in Bell's Corners. No, we didn't buy, we're renting, but it's a step in the right direction. I also means I'm sore as hell and broke too, as moving is never cheap. And I have nights and weekends of unpacking to look forward to. Fun stuff. Maybe this time I'll get around to a housewarming.

Swamps and Tornados

2007-03-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ah, the first business trip of the year...and the first of many from the sounds of it. Now if only I hadn't been under so many other deadlines right before we left, and if my laptop didn't start crashing two days before as well. We (Roger and myself) were doing 2 shows, one in Melbourne, Florida and one in Huntsville, Alabama.

For some reason, this involved leaving at 6am the day before the show, then a 2-3 hour layover in Philadelphia. Not my idea of fun. When we finally land in Orlando and rent a car, we're running late for our appointment with a client. No biggie, pedal to the metal and we're almost on time...not even a speeding ticket. We talk business, they are looking at using us for another project, and all is well. We even get some advice on a scenic route to the hotel, so I can at least see the ocean (my first time to Florida). The "scenic" route meant looking at the back of a lot of hotels and condos, and not so much of the Atlantic. Better than snow, though, so I'm happy.

We get to the hotel, shower and change, and downstairs for dinner. The food was okay, but the sweet potatoes left us both feeling terrible later that night. Next morning, up bright and early, and off to the show (also in the hotel). I made the mistake of having some fruit for breakfast and ended up having an allergic reaction (three cheers for hives). Thankfully it didn't kick in until after my presentation, which was well received by the 6 people in the room. The rest of the show was me trying not to scratch, and talking to the odd person.

That night we went in search of a restaurant with a view of the shore...think we could find one? Hell no, all condos and hotels. We ended up a seedy little bar that had a patio where we got some drinks and a basket of fries. Also got a chance to walk along the beach, which was really nice...I think I could stand living there. Except for the old people and hurricanes, that is. Later we hit up a seafood restaurant for some real food, and called it a night as we had another early flight in the morning to Huntsville (damn US Airways scheduling).

We get into Huntsville without incident, check into the hotel, and walk over to the US Space museum next door. At $21 the entrance price was a bit steep, so we just walked around outside and checked out the various rockets on display (as well as an SR-71 Blackbird...very cool). It was pretty awesome. Dinner at the hotel (no rental this time), and off to bed early.

The show this time wasn't as well attended, but had some better prospects showing up. It didn't help that they were forecasting a tornado to hit Huntsville at the end of the show. Thankfully it veered off, so we weren't effected, but still caused a number of fatalities elsewhere.

Naturally, this lead to a number of delays that day, so our trip home the next day was a bit packed. Every seat on every plane was booked with people delayed earlier, so loading time was stretched, and each leg was late. Compound that with a snow storm in Ottawa, and we thankfully only got in about an hour late. Then we had to wait another hour in line at customs as they only had 2 people checking passports, and 3 planes (including a large charter from Cuba) arrived at once. Not what I wanted to see after 11 hours in airports and on planes. I swear, the people on that charter must have been there for a solid hour after we got out.

Thankfully I survived it all without incident, although Roger caught a pretty bad chest cold out of the ordeal. Next trip is supposed to be London/Scotland from the 24th to the 31st. Now if only I would hear back from the reseller so I could book my tickets....

Travel

2007-01-23T10:28:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed from most of my posts, I enjoy travelling and seeing as much of the world as I can. Not exactly an inexpensive proposition, let me tell you, but a rewarding one none the less. The problem I have is that I have limited holiday time here at work (3 weeks a year), and am trying to figure out how to maximize my travel this year.

I'd like to get over to Sweden this year as my good friend and sometimes travel pal will be coming home (he lives in Lund currently) at the end of the year. Problem is, he spends about 1/3 of his time in Italy, plus his own travels and commitments, so I can't plan too far ahead. Combine my busy work travel schedule, and it becomes a nightmare to organize. I also want to head out to Edmonton for my cousin's wedding in July.

Anyone have any suggestions what I do? Do I take the maximum amount of time in Scandinavia (I'd do Denmark, Norway, Sweden and hopefully Finland) with only the weekend in Edmonton, or do I take a week in Edmonton to see Jasper/Banff? Or do I skip the wedding, grab the surf board and head off to Hawaii?

Also, I'd like to ask everyone who reads this to post a comment telling me about their best vacation or favourite place to travel to, and where they would like to go next. After all, I'm always looking for ideas to steal.

Christmas, and all that crud

2007-01-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted, mainly because I was home (Thunder Bay) for Christmas, and time is always rushed while I'm there. And I don't have internet access at my place, so updates are saved for work hours. I hope everyone had a safe and very happy holidays, and is enjoying what little we've had of 2007 so far. A quick recap of my holidays:

Wednesday, December 20th. I left for Thunder Bay with Jenn, and we managed to get to TBay without incident. My mom picked us up from the airport, then it was off to home and dinner. Not much else happened as we didn't get in until 9PM, and all my friends wouldn't be in until the weekend.

Thursday. Mostly spent shopping with my family (I realized that I didn't pack enough pants, and had to run out to get more), followed by dinner at a nice local restaurant (if you're ever in TBay, head to the Prospector...I hear the buns rock). Then a quiet night of talking and cards to catch up. Turns out that my family is as boring as ever ;)

Friday. Another fairly quiet day, although we had an open house with the family dropping by for the afternoon, so the morning was spent cleaning and preparing snack food (cheese, veggie and meat platters). I got to see most of my aunts, uncles and my grandparents, so it was a good time, even if I didn't talk for most of it. It was just nice to have everyone in the same room again, as it seems like we only do that for funerals anymore. The evening was dinner with the family again, and opening up gifts as my sister was leaving on Saturday to head back to Edmonton and her fiance.

Saturday. Dropped my sister off at the airport in the morning, and then I finally got a chance to head out and see some of the old haunts, and take Jenn for a tour of my home town. She was surprised at how large TBay actually is, and at the beauty of some of the places I used to hang out (I used to spend a lot of time wandering around the bush, pondering life's questions beside waterfalls). We also dropped by to see my dad as it were, which was nice. Then off to BP for dinner (man, the Ottawa locations are so much better).

Sunday. Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is traditionally spent with my friends family, as they have a huge get together at their house where everyone is invited. They make me feel like one of the family, and I really enjoy going. It was good to see everyone again, as it's so rare that we're all in the same city anymore. I ended up kicking around there until midnight or so, and got caught up with most everyone, even if GJ was suspiciously absent.

Monday. Christmas was full of family stuff, as it was lunch at my aunts house, an afternoon with the family, and the evening at a friends with his family. Everyone showed up (even GJ and his dogs), and a good time was had by all. I even got a box of chips out of the deal.

Boxing day was pretty much just packing and getting ready to head back to Ottawa, so a pretty dull day. We were at the airport way too early, the flight was pushed back 2 hours, and as a result we almost missed our connection to Ottawa. Which was the last connection of the day...I was pretty calm (Air Canada screwed up, they pay for the hotel, right?), but Jenn was about ready to have a heart attack. Kinda funny to watch. All in all, we did get back safe and sound, and none the worse for wear.

Since then, it's been catching up with Brian and Tamie (in from Japan), Jay (in from Sweden) and other friends, and drinking Jenn under the table and onto the bathroom floor. And she said she could drink.

My Decision

2006-12-11T06:12:00.000-08:00

After much thought, and a few flipped coins, I decided to stay at my current company. It came down to a simple question: if it weren't for this current contract I'm working on, would I be thinking about leaving? And the answer was no, that I enjoyed my job before said contract, so I'll be staying on here. I think it's the right decision, as it will give me more exposure to different and cutting edge technologies, and give me a chance to develop myself better than the other job. Only time will tell if it was the right decision, though.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice, and to my friends for offering their support.

Job Offer

2006-11-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

So I've been in the process of interviewing for a new job the past two weeks. I was turned down for the job I really wanted (FAE), but later that day offered another role. It's not exactly my dream job, but I think it's a good role, and would provide some new and interesting challenges. The pay is a lot better, as are the benefits, but on the other hand, I feel some loyalty for my current company. They flew me home on short notice for a family emergency, even though I was supposed to come home the next week anyway, and they've treated me very well over the past year.

I have to decide by Monday at the latest, and I really don't know what to do. I'm leaning towards taking the new job, but it's based mainly on the compensation side, not the work side. And the fact that I have so many friends (okay, a couple of friends) at my current company isn't making it any easier.

At times like this I wonder how other people make these choices. I had a friend who used to flip a coin to decided everything (it went so poorly that I was actually supposed to shoot the coin later on). Other people are clinical and place the pros and cons on a chart, mapping out which is the better choice. Some go with their heart. Any advice on how I should approach making these choices?

Grey Cup 2006

2006-11-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again where my friends and I head out to a Canadian city, and at great expense, freeze our asses off watching a football game. That's right, it's Grey Cup time. This year was no exception, as we spent far more money than we should have, but had a great time. Some of the highlights include an all Thunder Bay pub crawl, GJ puking his guts out on a city bus, beat downs from the bouncers, and Special Ed showing some beer pong magic.

Friday. My flight doesn't leave until 5pm, so I've got time to kill. I get all packed, hope I don't forget anything, then head way the hell out to the back side of Orleans to pick up Jeff. When I show up, he's mostly ready, but forgot about the flag. How could you forget the flag, especially when you paid like $500 for it? After some searching, we ran out of time and had to head for the airport flag-less. Not a promising start, I must admit. Security is a breeze, flight is good, even if the inflight entertainment was broken, and there we are, in Winnipeg. A quick call to Mike, and Brandon is on his way to pick us up. 20 minutes later, he finally shows up, and off to McDonald's we go (none of us have eaten that day).

We get to the hotel, throw our bags in the room, and the beer drinking starts. Mike has a head start on everyone, but it can't last long. Once GJ wakes up, it's funnel time (he came straight from working nights). A few funnels later, it's time to get the gong show on the road, so we head down to a friends place for few more beers and the hallowed shirt ceremony. Every year we get team shirts made, with Thunder Bay Bombed Squad on the front, and Grey Cup (insert year here) on the back. White long sleeve shirts for the bars, blaze orange t-shirts to go over our jackets for the game. GJ and Mike gave small speeches, the shirts got handed out, and we passed out letters as well (captain, and two alternates). Then it was off to the convention center and Riderville.

We get to the convention center and try to find the Saskatchewan party. Thankfully there was some sort of incident going on at the time, so rather than wait in line we managed to walk straight in the back door. Unfortunately, the place is packed, and the bathroom is outside of the hall, so if you need to take a leak, you have to wait in line to get back in. The plus side is that the beer comes in cups, so if you're really desperate, you can always huddle up and refill the cups. Nothing says Grey Cup like a warm cup of piss. At least not with this crew. After about an hour of listening to Beatles covers, we decide it's time to head out to a bar, so off to Cowboy's we go.

With a name like Cowboy's, what kind of bar do you think it would be? A country bar, right? Well, so did we...and apparently it is, most nights. That night, however, it was disco night, complete with $16 cover. We still go in, but it's not what we were expecting. We had a good time (some of us, that is), and left a bit early (2am). A long ass cab ride, and it's back to the hotel for some food and another pitcher, then a good nights sleep.

Saturday. We got up bright and early in the afternoon (well, at 11) when Mike and Jeff's dad knocked at the door. After getting dressed and having a couple of beers, it was off for lunch across the street. More beer, huge burgers (triple fat boy burger anyone?), and a cute waitress later, it was off to the beer store for beer, and the grocery store for jungle juice mix. For those of you who don't know what jungle juice is, it's a case of beer, a 40 of vodka, and 4-6 cans of frozen fruit juice concentrate (no water). Add ice to chill. And that's it...almost pure booze. And it tastes like juice. This stuff is what gets us into trouble every year.

By this time, it's around 1 and we're ready for beer pong. Somehow, Al's buddy Special Ed is a machine at beer pong, going undefeated for most of the day until Mikey finally caught fire. By the end of it, we've gone through most of the juice and about 50 beer, so the guys were pretty good to go. And by good to go, I mean right gassed. During this time, GJ tried to BBQ some sausages for dinner, and manage to burn them all. I at least had the sense to go to Boston Pizza for dinner (mmm...cactus cut potatoes). We've bought tickets for a pub crawl, so it was time to head off to the Tijuana Yacht Club (the starting point).

We get to the TYC, and there is no one there, other than a hockey raffle group. And no one seems to know anything about this pub crawl. Turns out that we and our friends we've called up are the only ones on the damn crawl. Literally, it's all people from Thunder Bay, which means it's bound to get out of hand. We stick around the TYC for an hour or so (we're calling the shots on when we leave and where we go), then head off to Pharaohs. Pharaohs is dead, and entirely rap and R&B, which isn't our kind of music (most guys are wearing cowboy hats). Still, we spend a good 2 hours there, have fun, act like idiots, and get even more gassed. Even I started to partake in the drinking with a few shots.

11pm rolls around, the bus is back, and it's time to go. But not without stopping at the beer store next door to pick up a case, just to make things interesting. After all, it's a 30 minute drive to Silverados, so we need something to tide us over, right? At this point in the trip the TBay-ness starts to show as some of the guys get in a fight in the back (yes, we are all friends, but this is what happens at Grey Cup, every year). No one was hurt too badly, although GJ couldn't really stand without being in pain from a good kidney shot at one point.

A case of beer (and several broken bottles) later, we're at Silverados. This place is packed, and, unsurprisingly, the guys at the door had no idea we were coming, so they had to clear it with their managers to even let us in. Great job, Canad Inns. During this holdup, a couple of guys get in another fight with a random guy in the lineup, and GJ get's the boot. Kevin goes out to keep GJ company, and apparently they picked up another 6 beer, and won some money at the casino. Almost more fun than we had inside. We only planned on staying a little over an hour here, so we spread out, got some drinks, and hit the dance floor. Round up time came, and where is everyone? After some searching, we found Special Ed (I swear I was ready to haul him off the damn patio), then had to head back in for Kenny. Another 10 minutes of searching, we grab Kenny and off we go back to the TYC, but this time with 2 random people in tow. On the way out of the parking lot, the bus just about gets hit so the driver stands on the brakes. This wouldn't have been too bad if everyone was sitting, but a couple of guys went flying down the aisle...very funny indeed.

We finally get back to the TYC, wait in line to get in, then get told by management (literally the same guy who sold us the pub crawl pass) that anyone with the bracelet won't be allowed in, regardless of their current condition. Special Ed has already snuck in, though, so we can't leave without him. A couple of guys are also protesting and won't leave the lineup. After much arguing and posturing, we finally get most of the real agressive guys in a cab and on their way home, just in time. About 2 minutes later, as Mikey is coming out, Gribbs finally chirps the bouncers a little too much and is pulled out of the building. Gribbs pushes back, and next thing I know 6 guys have him on the ground, and one is elbowing him in the back as hard as he can. Most of this I see from the hood of a car as some guy sent me flying, probably because of the team shirt. Such fun. Another 30 minutes of Gribbs fighting with the bouncers, losing his glasses, and finally getting in a cab, and we call it a night.

Sunday. Game day. This is what it's all about. Five years running, and this is the best we've felt on game day by far, which means there's a lot more drinking to do. If only we weren't out of beer. A quick trip to Steve's for breakfast again, then down to the beer store for another case (only 15 beer this time...funds are running low). Combine that with the jungle juice, and it's game time before we know it. We hop on the bus, hit the stadium, and we're ready. While we're waiting outside for Robby to show up, some Argo cheerleaders try to get us to buy a calendar. Kevin tells her that if she can name the #1 reporter on The Score, he'll buy one. From the look on her face, it was "like I asked her the square root of pi or something". Honestly, she didn't even know what TSN was. And she's a cheerleader. Go figure.

A bunch of $7 beer and next thing we know it's kickoff. The game is pretty much covered on TSN and the like, so I'll leave that alone. Suffice it to say, the game was pretty boring with a lot of kicks. More fun was Mikey making an ass of himself, especially since some of his students (he's a high school teacher) were three rows down from us. I feel sorry for him today. I can only imagine what the rumours will be like. After the game, it's back on the bus so we can get changed before heading out to the Palemeno. GJ isn't doing so good right about now, as evidenced by him puking all over the bus. Those people just loved us.

Back at the hotel, we get changed, and half the guys go next door for food, the rest of us head down to the Pal. GJ heads back to the room to puke and die, Kevin and Brando head home, and Jeff joins Mike and I at the Pal. The moment Ms. Skinner sees him, she crawled over the bar and promptly informed Mike and I that "he's going home with me". Thankfully, impaired and all, Jeff had a bit more sense than that. More beer, more dancing, then it was off to the hotel for a nap, up at 7, and off to the airport. Every other year, the airport is packed the day after the game. This year, dead. No line ups, no nothing. I could have slept another hour...damn it. Plane takes off without incident, short flight back, I drop Jeff off, and it's another Grey Cup chapter in the books.

Let the planning start for next year....anyone know a good hotel in Toronto?

Weekend-y goodness

2006-11-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

This weekend, some friends and I decided to check out Borat. Now, I don't have cable at home, or internet access, and I've been out of the country for most of the past few months, so I know little to nothing about pretty much every movie in theatres now and coming out soon (there's a new Bond?), so it was a bit of a surprise for me.

We all enjoyed the movie as it's the hardest we've laughed in a long time. That being said, it's not a movie that any of us thought that we need to see again. The biggest question we had coming out of the movie is "how is that only rated 14AA?". There were more than a few scenes of questionable content, especially seeing how other media is rated (video games and the like). Why is it the moment there is violence, the rating goes straight to R, but (spoiler warning) you can show a couple of naked guys wrestling and ending up in sexualy implicit poses and still be 14AA? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Anywho, that's my two cents on it.

The reason I'm back

2006-10-31T10:48:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to get back to Ottawa this past weekend, but due to a family emergency of sorts (my mom had surgery for a detached retina), I flew in a week early. Everything went smoothly, and she already has some sight back in her damaged eye, so it looks promising. Why bring this up you ask? Because of my girlfriends attitude towards me during the past week.

I came back because my mom was shipped off to Ottawa on a couple of days notice for eye surgery. Her parents passed away in 74 and 05, and my father died in 04. My sisters are stuck at work in Edmonton and Thunder Bay. The rest of the family is scattered throughout Northwestern Ontario. In a nutshell, I'm the only person within a 1000 km. As a result, I asked my boss for an early flight, and my company, thankfully, was very accommodating, so I was on a plane within 2 days (I'd been working in Italy for the previous 5 weeks, minus 8 days in Japan).

When I get back to Ottawa, all I get is pressure from my girlfriend to ditch my mom and spend time with her. Now, I can understand her being happy to see me, and wanting to spend time with me now that I'm back, but she got very upset when I tried to spend even one night alone with my mom. Or at least I interpreted the crying and yelling to be her getting upset...I could be wrong. Does anyone out there think that this is appropriate? I would have thought that she'd be more understanding of how I came back to support my mom. She's in town for maybe a week for surgery, which she is worried about, and all I get is flak about "needing us time".

Does anyone else think this is an unreasonable approach from her? Or am I the one who is overreacting?

Japan Pictures

2006-10-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hakone

Stinky Egg Place

So, which button flushes the toilet?

See? My feet aren't that big

Money Laundering, Japanese Style

As you can see, Brian wishes he had a smaller bill than 10000 Yen (~$100)

I swear I did not photoshop this picture

For afterwork stress relief. And yes, that's 4 litres.

Shopping Street

Downtown Tokyo

Downtown Tokyo II

Rainbow Bridge (and no, I don't know how it got it's name)

Me with the dancing robot

Brian's future father-in-law, now with bullet trains

Bullet Trains II

The Royal Palace

Tamie's dad and me...he rocks

Me and my gracious hosts

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower II

Asakusa

The conclusion - pictures to come

2006-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday.
Thursday was the first day that I had a proper guide (sorry Brian) since Tamie had left for China. Tamie’s dad spent the day with Brian and I, showing us the sights. The day started off quite early with a train ride out to the middle of nowhere, where we met up with Tamie’s dad to grab the bullet train (Shinkansen) back into Tokyo. While it took us an hour and a half to get out there, it was less than an hour to get back into Tokyo, and we started 40 minutes outside of Tokyo, so it was much faster. The train was awesome, and far roomier than any other mode of travel I’ve used, other than a limo. When we arrived at Tokyo Station, we wandered around the platforms taking pictures of the different types of Shinkansen trains as there is apparently more than one. They even have a double decker…it was neat.

After that, it was off to a giant bookstore to pick up a guide book and some postcards for me. A big thanks to Mr. Akimori-san for that. Then off to the Imperial Palace for a quick tour (most of it is closed to the public) and some pictures. Since there isn’t all that much to see at the Palace, we grabbed a cab to the train station, stopping off at the Diet buildings (their Parliament buildings) for some pictures. After quick train trip to Kudanshita (I think, I kinda forget which stations we stopped at), we stopped for a traditional Japanese bento lunch. Or something like a bento lunch…I think bento implies takeout. It was pretty good, although I must admit that I’m not a fan of tofu. Then it was off to Yasukuni shrine, a memorial to all of Japan’s war dead. More pictures, a brief stop at a museum, then off to Asakusa.

Asakusa is a really cool place in Tokyo…there is a large shrine there, but leading up to the shrine is a market street lined with stalls where you can get all sorts of traditional (and not so traditional) Japanese gifts. Again, Mr. Akimori-san was far too generous, and picked up another gift for me. Man, I swear I’ve got to send him half of Ontario to show my appreciation for the time he show me. We wandered around the area for a while, taking lots of pictures and seeing cool things before deciding to call it a night. Rather than just take the train back to Shinjuku, we hopped on a water bus and got a new view of Tokyo. Only problem was the boat was designed for Japanese people…I hit my shoulders on the roof when I stood up straight. At the station, Brian and I parted ways with Mr. Akimori, as we were heading back to Akihabara to find me a maid café.

Getting off at the station, it was promising when there were half a dozen maids passing out flyers outside. We asked for a picture with a group of three, but were quickly informed that had we tried, we would be cuffed and arrested. Either that or they wanted us to handcuff them…I hope we interpreted correctly. After that disappointment, we headed off in search of the maid café from earlier in the week. Problem with finding it is that we didn’t really remember where it was. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we found the place, but to my disappointment, the cute English speaking girl wasn’t working. So we hurried through our drinks and took off, as being ignored wasn’t the experience I was looking for. We then decided to ask all the girls in the street to see if we could find one where they do speak English. Ten minutes later, we discovered how anti-English the maid cafés really are…not a single one spoke English, and all seemed very pleased when we left.

To put this disappointment behind us, I decided that tonight would be the night that I finally try sake, so after a dinner at an Izakaya (Japanese-style bar…we had to take our shoes off), we headed back over to Brian’s usual haunt, Cathy and Edwards. Exxon guy was there when we got there, and I was informed that we would be getting a special sake treat, care of him. He had picked up a bottle of high end sake from a friend, and had given it to the bartender to take care of. Both Brian and I ended up getting two free drinks that evening, which in a normal place would have cost around $40 a glass. Pretty sweet deal, and the sake was awesome. Too bad I’ll never find any near as good in Canada.

All in all, a fantastic day, and a big thank you to Tamie’s dad for being our guide.

Friday.
Friday was a Kevin goes exploring on his own day, as Brian had to go back to work. Up at 9:30, a quick shower, and out the door I go. I decided to check out the beach on my last day in Japan, so it was down to the train station for an adventure. Thankfully all the stars aligned, and I pretty much just had to catch the first train at every station to get where I was going…I swear, it worked out perfectly. If only the weather had been nicer…it cooled off in a hurry in the afternoon. Anywho, I got to the right station easily enough, and then made my way towards the beach by following anyone carrying a surfboard. Worked like a charm. This is where Brian goes surfing, and the waves were pretty good in my opinion, although it was a windy day, so they might have been a bit larger than normal.

Walked down the beach a bit, then walked out to Oceania Island, which is a nice nature preserve and tourist trap rolled into one. A lot of eagles flying around, riding the thermals, and I got one or two nice pictures. Wish I had more optical zoom, though, as the pics could still be better. Up and down the island I walked (a lot of hills and stairs), and I even got to take some pictures from atop a tower on the island…an awesome view, but it was a bit cloudy and hazy, so I’m sure it could have been better. Still, well worth the $5. By this time it’s around 3:30, so I head back towards the beach, stop off at Denny’s for lunch (much different from North America), and give Brian a call to see what the plans for the evening are.

I’m pretty much beached out, and it’s getting cold (at least for the t-shirt I’m in), so we decide to meet up at Machida (station by Brian’s place with a lot of shops) for dinner. A bit of wandering around the area leads us to a mall for dinner. Good times were had by all, although I should have tried harder to pick up the waitress, even if just for funniness factor. We headed back to Shin-Yurigaoka to find a bar, and hit two places. The first was a total sausage party, so we didn’t stay too long, then it was off to the second place where there were at least some women. One of them even spoke English and tried to help us order (the bartender was trying to ditch us). Unfortunately, she turned down my offer to join us . Oh well.

Back to Brian’s where I finished packing and burned a DVD with all of the pictures that both Brian and I took, and it was off to bed. After all, I had to be on the 8AM bus in the morning, so I needed my sleep. I was woken up during the night by an earthquake though, just to make my experience complete.

Saturday.
Up at 7:30, a quick shower, and out the door. Said my goodbyes to Brian, caught the bus with plenty of time, and had no problems at the airport (thankfully). All in all, a great trip, and I can’t wait to go back, whenever that may be.

Japan: Tuesday and Wednesday

2006-10-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Tuesday.
A really late start to the day as there was an accident on the train line. Everything was delayed a few hours, and as a result, we didn’t really start the day until 3 or so. We headed off to Akihabara, which is the electronics district in Tokyo. A lot of big electronics shops selling everything imaginable. It’s also home to a unique type of café called a maid café. In these establishments, the waitresses are all cute young girls dressed up in maid outfits. Naturally, the prices are a bit higher for the atmosphere, but I had a good time. We found a small little place, out of the way, that had a really cute girl who even spoke some English. A good time indeed.

After taking off from Akihabara, we headed off to Tokyo bay and the Odaiba area. There we found a lot of the sights that I wanted to take in the next day, including the Emerging Sciences museum and a car museum. We also got to see the Rainbow bridge (very cool) and a ferris wheel that was all lit up…a striking sight. There was also a huge Coke store in the area that we stopped by, where I got my picture with the famous Coke polar bear. I was in heaven.

Back to the station, back to Shin-yurigaoka, and off to one of Brian’s favourite bars, Cathy and Edwards. It’s name was apparently picked to give it a classy, non-Japanese feel. It certainly was a classy place with jazz playing softly in the background, and a really awesome atmosphere. The bartender was great, and spoke excellent English. We had a few beers/cokes, and I even got hit on my an Japanese woman. If only I had been the one drinking, she might have looked good enough to take home. Not sure that there is enough booze in the world, though, to cover up the chain smoking. A couple of hours later (around 3 am, I think), we extracted ourselves from the bar and headed back home for the night.

Wednesday.
Today is the day for some upper-class shopping. Window shopping, that is. I can barely afford to look at the crap they have on sale here it’s so expensive. Found some really nice jewellery for several thousand dollars, though. After a couple of hours wandering about (and checking out a really cool toystore), it was back to Odaiba to actually make it into the museums, where we got to see Asimo (Honda robot) dance. It was pretty cool. At this point it was starting to drizzle, so we decided to head off to Roppongi Hills for some at home love.

Roppongi Hills is supposed to be where all the ex-patriots go to unwind and enjoy a taste of home. Now, I can’t speak for everyone, but unless you live in a sleazy part of town, it won’t remind you of home. Again, lots of black guys asking you to go to clubs, women offering “services”, and more titty bars than I’ve ever seen before. There is a nice upscale part a few blocks away, though, that offered excellent views of Tokyo and more upscale shopping. Problem is, they kinda frown on two white guys in shorts and sandals there. We did manage to grab dinner, though. It was an awesome restaurant with an indoor waterfall…not really sure why it was there, but it was cool. We were easily the worst dressed in the entire place. Easily.

Then, like every night, after a bit more wandering it was back to Shin-yurigaoka for a night cap (this time at Woodstocks, where we had garlic potatoes and caught part of Goodfellas) and a good nights rest.

What a way to start the week

2006-10-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

Monday...huh.
Monday morning was another early morning, as we had to pack up (we would be staying at Brian’s place from here on out). The only problem was that the late nights had taken the energy out of Tamie, so she wasn’t feeling too good by the time we got to Brian’s place, and decided to head home for sleep. She felt great the next day, so it was obviously the right decision, especially since she was due back in China on Wednesday (or was it Thursday?).

Anywho, after Tamie took off (around 1), Brian and I headed into Tokyo proper to check out the sights. We hit up Harajuku and the Meiji Shrine there, took some pictures of a family dressed up (I’ll post pics later), did some window shopping in Harajuku (teen fashion place), and grabbed lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s. After that, some more wandering, picked up some allergy pills (I had to cave, my sneezing was just ridiculous), and headed off to Shibuya. Shibuya is famous for it’s bright lights and billboards, like Times Square in New York, so this was my first experience in what I would call “my expected Tokyo”. I also saw the coolest parking garage ever…you drove your car in, where it was lifted away on a ferris wheel like thing, and when you backed out, there was a turntable on the sidewalk to turn your car around. Very cool. We ended up at a pub for dinner, where Brian enjoyed the smallest chicken wings I have ever seen. Honestly, they weren’t much bigger than my pinky finger around.

Then it was off to Shinjuku to (hopefully) find a really tall building to get some pictures of Tokyo from. Problem was, Brian picked the wrong exit from the station, so rather than end up in a brightly lit area, we were in the dark, and no where near where we wanted to go. After some aimless wandering, I ended up following a bright billboard which lead (completely accidentally) to the Park Hyatt Hotel, which was a place I wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed in thanks to Brian’s shorts and sandals, but we got to take some cool pictures. After that, we headed back towards Shinjuku station, where we found all the neon lights and the side of the station Brian was looking for earlier. Much more Tokyo-like in my opinion. Also much seedier as we were approached by hookers and many guys trying to get us to “come, try our club…completely naked nice Japanese girls. All you can drink!”. Very sleazy. I swear, if you see a black guy in Tokyo, don’t make eye contact…they will hunt you down otherwise.

After some searching, we found a karaoke place where we ended the night. A super classy place, it had some naked ladies on the walls, and posted naked pictures of women between songs. Oh, and smelt like an ashtray. Still, it was a good time, and a nice way to end the night.

The weekend

2006-10-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday.
That early start ended up being a bit later than expected as we didn't roll out until 10 or so. Apparently no one wanted to wake me up (go figure). After grabbing fairly quick breakfast (rice, natto, and apples, I think), it was off to Hakone and the Stinky Egg place (it has a real name, but I can't remember it). The drive up to SEP was fun, as it was basically bumper to bumper traffic the entire way up the mountain. If it weren’t for the fact that we didn’t want to abandon Tamie and the car, it would have been much faster to just walk up the hill. Once we finally got to SEP, there were these hot springs in which they cook black eggs. Now, if you eat one of these eggs, it's reputed to add 7 years to your life. Eat two and you add 14 years. Not sure what eating three would get you, other than gas. We ended up getting a dozen (6 for us, 6 for Tamie's dad), and ate the 6. Guess that means I have 7 more years of this life to look forward to, at least. After that, we zipped down the mountain to Hakone where we wandered around, checking out a historic checkpoint that was used to monitor movement around the country. We also took a walk around the area, seeing some ancient redwood trees that were absolutely mammoth.

Back down the mountain we headed, off to check out a Japanese bath house. Not a traditional one, thankfully, as I got to keep a swimsuit on and hang out with women J. This place was huge, with many different pools, each with a theme. For example, there were green tea pools, sake pools, wine pools, and sea salt pools. It was definitely a different experience, and a lot of fun. Even if all the swimming while suffering from jet lag did want to make me hurl.

After all of that, it was off to find a place that serves Kevin-friendly food. This being Japan and all, it’s a bit harder than it sounds, at least outside of Tokyo. After trying an all-you-can-eat place to no avail, we ended up at an Italian place for dinner. Considering I had just flown in from Italy, it was kinda funny. I must say, the Italian on the menu wasn’t all that bad, although they did have a pizza named wrong. After dinner, it was off to karaoke. Who knew you could sing for 2 hours straight? Man was my throat sore. Everyone else's ears, too. It was a great time, though, and I’m glad to have gone.

Sunday.
The plan for Sunday was to head off to Enoshima to check out the beach, as well as head to Kamakura to explore the temples there. We ended up just driving past the beach and focusing on the temples as it was extremely busy (long weekend + nice weather). After parking the car we stopped at this cool store that sold swords and throwing stars. Man, if I could get that stuff through customs, I would have had a field day there. First temple was this place with a huge (and I mean gianormous) statue of Buddha. Very cool indeed. Very popular too. After that, it was off to a second temple where you got to take part in money launderying. Apparently it’s good luck to wash money at this temple, and so we all partook in the activity. It was funny to see the look of fear in Brian’s eyes as he dumped water all over his crisp new 10,000 yen note ($100). The temple itself was cool as it was in the side of a hill/mountain, and the entrance was a tunnel.

After that, it was a quick jog over to the last temple of the day, on top of a hill. Fantastic view, and we got to rub a god of money. Weird tradition, but if it gets me that raise I’m looking for, more power to it. Beautiful temple, lots of statues, and an awesome pond out front. Unfortunately we shows up right at closing, so by the time I headed back to take pictures of the pond, they had already shut off the fountains. I did get to see a turtle, though.

By this time, we’re already a little late for dinner with Tamie’s family, including her sister. We jet back home, stopping at a grocery store on the way. All I can say is Wow, Japanese people must be big drinkers…I saw a 3 litre bottle of whiskey for like $12. Messed up. At dinner Tamie’s sister gave me some gifts (damn it, now I have to get her something) which was very thoughtful if entirely unexpected. After dinner, Brian and Tamie did dishes while I tried to teach Tamie’s sister tongue twisters. Apparently the Japanese aren’t really good at “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”. And trying to explain “how much wood would a wood chuck chuck, if a wood chuck could chuck wood” can be a lot of fun. A few laughs later, and it was off to pool. By this point, though, we are all exhausted, so I don’t remember who won the last game. I do remember kicking Brian’s ass for most of the night, although Tamie wiped the floor with both of us.

Japan, Day One

2006-10-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

My recap of what happened in Japan, as best I remember it. Or at least, what I can legally tell. I'm going to break this up into a few posts, mainly to give me time to remember what exactly happened. Hopefully I don't screw this up too much.

Friday.
Ah Friday, my first day in the country. I wake up on the plane, going over my directions to Brian's meeting place. This is the time when I realize that I have no idea where he lives, what his address is, or what his phone number is even. We land at the airport on time, a good sign, and I head for customs. "Where are you staying?" I was asked. "With a friend" is my answer...apparently this must be common, as I was only asked to write down his name, nothing else. I guess there aren't that many Brian Estey's in Japan. I pick up my baggage and head for the currency exchange. Fill out some forms, wait in line, and when I get to the counter, what do I find out? I can't use a credit card to get Yen here, I have to use an ATM. Off to find a cash machine I go, and I don't find just one, I find 4. Do any of them accept my credit card, hell no. All I get is "invalid card" messages, and no money. Damn foreign countries. Not a major problem in the short term, though, as I only need 3000 yen to catch the bus to Brian's place, so I exchange the little Euro that I do have on me, hop on the bus, and hope Brian will be there to pick me up.

Two and a half rainy hours later, I get to Shin-Yurigaoka, and sure enough, there's Mr. Estey, big smile and happy to see me. At this point I find out that I actually landed in the middle of a typhoon, and that this is the worst weather Japan has seen in many years. Timing is everything. A quick stop at the post office to grab some cash, a short train trip, and I get to crash at Brian's place for a few hours while he goes back to work. Wake up at 5, quick shower (cold shower as I don't know how to turn on the hot water), and wait around for Brian to show up. At 6, he stops by, and off we go to meet Tamie (we're spending the weekend at her parents place as it's more comfy). This is where Brian's "familiarity" with Japan really shows, as we get on three wrong trains before finally catching the right one, in the process being about a half hour late in meeting Tamie. Must have been the weather. We finally meet up with Tamie, go buy some rain jackets, then grab a cab to her parents place.

I've never met Tamie's parents, so I'm not sure what to expect. What I got was two very friendly and welcoming people who made me feel like family/royalty from the get go. Shows how little they know about me, eh? They had fixed an excellent (and Kevin friendly) meal, which kicked some serious butt. Mainly the evening involved eating dinner, catching up a bit with stories, and heading to bed for an early start the next morning.

Back in Italy...

2006-10-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

Just a note that Japan was awesome, had a great time, big thanks to Tamie and her family for being such fantastic hosts (Brian was okay too), and I can't wait to go back. I'll post more pics and stories later...need sleep first (damn 12 hour flights).

Florence, home of the naked guy

2006-10-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend brings me to the tourist filled confines of Florence (Firenze if you're Italian), where the statue of David is. Unfortunately for me, the lines were a bit too insane for me to even bother trying to see it...instead, I spent the time with a friend of mine, just wandering about and enjoying the atmosphere.

Since it was just a day trip, we only spend about 6 hours there (neither of us were feeling well), so I'm sure we missed a bunch of things. The Duomo was just awesome (huge church, with a big dome), as I haven't seen anything more impressive on the outside, including St. Peters. The inside was a bit understated, though, so the Vatican still takes that award. We also climbed the adjoining bell tower, all 414 steps of it. Beautiful view, well worth the minor heart attack. Definitely not for the clausterphobic, though, as the stairway is about 2 1/2-3 feet wide, and handles both up and down traffic.

I also picked up a cool bottle of grappa there, shaped like a clipper ship (pics when I get back to Canada, I don't want to unpack it). I swear, the staff spent at least 10 minutes trying to pack the bottle in a box, wrapped in bubble wrap and with paper packed around it. It was kinda funny to watch. Oh, and Florence has about the highest per capita of smokin' hot chicks. At least, the highest outside of Sweden, as Jay keeps telling me.

This week, Jay heads back to Sweden, and then I'm off for Japan. I wonder if they have potatoes there...

Iceland Pictures

2006-09-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Beginning of the hike towards the pool

Part of the hike leading up to the pool below

A pool inside a narrow crevice which supposedly has healing powers.

The water tanks that supply Reykjavik (Perlan)

One of the big trucks that I love so dearly

Glacier and glacial pool

View from the hill we climbed...it was sweet

One of the taller waterfalls in Iceland

Gullfoss (Golden Waterfall)...the picture doesn't do it justice

Gullfoss part 2

Blue Lagoon (before my camera died)

Geysir (go figure, eh?)

A random crater we stopped at

Part of Thingvellir

Thingvellir

Lake near Thingvellir...I just really like the picture

Pipe organ in the big concrete church

Ducks in the lake outside of City Hall...I couldn't resist

Iceland, home of the Vikings. And big freakin' trucks :)

2006-09-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Finally, a little vacation time and a chance to see a good friend of mine again, all in scenic Iceland. This will give me a chance to unwind before I head back to Italy again in a few weeks, right?

The trip to Iceland was thankfully the worst part of my entire trip, and it wasn’t even that bad. Hell, if you like rollercoasters, I’m sure you would have enjoyed the flight into Newark and Baltimore. Thanks to the wonderful timing of my trip, I had the exciting experience of flying into the remnants of hurricane Ernesto, which meant some minor delays (thankfully I had a lot of free time in my schedule) and a bit of a bumpy ride. Oh, and thanks to the ground crew’s attentive service, my backpack got soaked, as did a good chunk of my clothes. Meh, I made it to Reykjavik in one piece, and on time, so I’m happy. On the ground through customs (complete with metal detectors for some reason), buy some kroner, and off to catch a bus for the city center.

At the central bus station, the driver stops and starts asking everyone where they are going. Problem is, I left the directions to Jay’s hotel in my backpack. Underneath the bus. So I have no idea, and am told to get off and wait for the “min-ee boose”, which I failed to translate to mini bus. I wait a few minutes, then head inside and ask someone at the desk what’s going on. They explain the mini bus (the other bus is too big to get around the downtown core), and tell me to wait outside. A half hour later, I go back inside ask again, and am told that maybe they can arrange something in 20 minutes. All told, I wait about an hour, and almost get left behind again. When I finally get to the Metropolitan hotel, Jay is just on his way out, so it was rather fortunate timing. We head back up to his room, grab his stuff, and head off in search of our new hotel (supposedly just down the street). After about 45 minutes of wandering and checking maps, we finally get the right street, find the hotel, and are told that we can’t check in until 2 (it’s around 10:30AM). Off with the bags, and out exploring we go.

We mainly just wandered around the downtown area, checking out some shops and the big church (big mess of concrete, but sweet view from the bell tower). Unfortunately, we were up said bell tower at 1PM, so I can tell you exactly how loud those bells are. We both got some nice pictures of the city there, which I hope to post later. More aimless wandering, and it’s back to the hotel to check in. I wasn’t paying attention when we booked the room, but thankfully Jay was. Problem is, twin room and double room are two different things, so rather than two separate beds, we had a single double bed. Nice and cozy. After a bit of explanation, the staff kindly changed the beds for us, and we were back to a good 3 feet of separation. As an aside, if anyone is in Reykjavik, I highly recommend the Hotel Phoenix, as the staff there was just incredible. Then it was off for some more exploring, some more pictures, a quick dinner (I also recommend the restaurant Red Hot for a taste of home, and a hell of a server named Frank), and off to sleep.

The next day (Sunday) was the “Golden Circle” tour, which hits the major highlights of the area around Reykjavik, such as Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall), Thingvellir (ancient parliament site in a national park…also where the rift between the tectonic plates is) and Geysir, which are geysers. It meant 8 hours on a bus, but it was well worth it as Gullfoss is beyond explanation. I can’t wait to go back and check out some of the more remote falls. Then back to the hotel for a quiet night of vodka and gummy candy. Mmmm…alcoholic gummy candy.

Monday was our walking day, where we checked out everything we could think of around Reykjavik. We took in a few museums (whose names I forget), as well as a volcano show (which I also recommend, although only stay for the 1st hour) and the Blue Lagoon. Not much more I can say about the Blue Lagoon other than it was awesome, especially on a cooler day with the mist rising from the hot water. Just awesome. Tuesday, it was another tour, this time of the southern shore with it’s extremely inhospitable terrain. There were some more beautiful waterfalls, a nice hike up a little hill for some scenic pictures, and a great view of a glacier, all combined with a great commentary from our Icelandic driver. He rocked. Oh, and another short hike up a ravine to a waterfall/well combo that was unbelievable. It’s also where my companion/sidekick Jay hit his head and temporarily knocked his brand new camera out of commission. Not good. We also made a new friend in Dana from Brooklyn, who was more than happy to drink free vodka with us, and show us some sights we hadn’t seen around town (the cemetery is spooky at night).

Wednesday, it was early to rise, packing up, and heading off to the airport for our flights. Jay left much earlier than I, so he was back in Sweden before I even left the ground, but it also meant that I got to check out the water tanks (called Perlen), which offered a different, but much clearer, view of the city than the church tower did. Well worth the ½ hour trek each way. And had I known the bus schedule a little better, I would have also made time to take a swim in the ocean, but things didn’t quite work out L

The flight back to Ottawa was as smooth as it could be, with a minor delay in Boston, which meant my flight from Toronto to Ottawa was held. But I made it home, safe and sound, and even managed to get into work the next morning without incident.

One awesome trip.

Nice (as in France, not the adjective)

2006-09-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

Up at 6AM to catch my 7AM cab to the train station. I’ve had the front desk arrange for the taxi in advance, so there should be no problems, right? Not for me, never for me…the driver starts driving me to Gambro. Which is in the wrong direction…takes me a few minutes to explain that I want to go to the train station, not the office. So I finally get to the train station around ten after seven, which still gives me plenty of time. I leave Mirandola at 7:30, transfer at Bologna (without incident for once) and get to Milan, albeit a half hour late, wiping out the time I had there for lunch. My stomach really isn’t liking me now. A quick stop to grab a chocolate bar and a Coke. Back on the train, and I finally get to Nice around 5PM after a longer than expected 7 hour train ride (just this last leg). All in all, a long day without, especially without air conditioning on the last train (keep in mind that I'm in a suit in preparation for the casino in Monte Carlo, and I don't want it wrinkled) and food (no stop long enough to eat). So by the time I get there, I'm ready to drop. I get a map, find the hotel after a bit of searching (who knew the damn sign would be that small), check in and look for a restaurant. As per usual, my style of restaurant finding is a bit random…I walk around until I find either a) a place with hot waitresses or b) a menu with fries. So when I walked out of the hotel, I had my eyes open, looking around. I made it about 20 feet, and what do I see? A giant comic book shop, complete with action figures displayed in the windows. And not just a small shop, this sucker had 2 floors (that I could see). I swear, these places find me, not the other way around. I finally find a place (good potatoes), grab a bite, and go to get a train ticket to Monaco. Problems, though, are that the automatic ticket window doesn’t accept any of my credit cards, nor does it give out enough change for any of the bills I’m carrying (ie. I have a 20 and the most change it gives on a 7 euro ticket is 5 euro). After waiting a while in line to see a ticket agent, I find out that they are all sold out for Friday night. Damn. So I pick up a return ticket for Saturday, just to get some use out of the trip. Back to the hotel, out of the suit, into shorts, and off to see Nice.

All I can say of the rest of the night was that I’m glad the train was full. Wow, what a beach (all pebbly though, which sucked), lots of hot chicks wearing next to nothing, and a huge boardwalk to rollerblade on. Talk about awesome. I'm not looking for a huge adventure this first night, just going to walk around a bit (my foot was sore from something, not sure what), so I head off down the beach. Problem is, the beach keeps going, and the town gets more and more fun the further I get (more bars, more people). I finally make it down to a point where the shore curls around, and on top of a cliff is this cool waterfall. Damn it, it looked awesome, and I knew I was going to have to climb the thing the next day. I end up spending a little more time wandering around the coast, then down head into a market/downtown area. Bars everywhere, hot chicks everywhere...talk about heaven. All sorts of stores that are still open too, offering plenty to distract and drain the wallet. I wander into a neat little pub (they had this cool traffic light on the ceiling - green = bar open, yellow = last call, red = bar closed), order potato skins (best meal I've had in Europe) and a vodka. The waitress even spoke English and chatted it up with me. Made me wish I didn't look like a bum, and that I wasn't dead tired and needing sleep. I should have stayed, but really did need to get back to the hotel (loser speak, I know). For trips like this, I really do need to bring someone to help draw out the social side in me.

Next day, more of the same. All day is wandering around town, swimming in the sea, and getting a good sunburn. I manage to see the waterfall thing (cool view of the town), take some pictures, and have a good time. That evening, off to Monaco. More sweating, more standing around in the suit, and finally I get to Monaco. My entire reason for going to Monaco is to check out the casino, and pick up a deck of cards for Jenn's mom (she loves gambling, so I thought it would be a neat gift). Problem is, it turns out that the casino doesn't give out cards, they all get destroyed. Wow, what a waste of time. And I couldn't even play any games as the only casino game I play is blackjack, and with a 200 euro minimum, I can't quite afford it. So I wander around downtown Monaco for a bit, then catch a train back to Nice. Wander around Nice for a bit (sweating my nuts off in this damn suit the entire time), and head back to the hotel. Only to find out that the hotel has been having power troubles all day, and that the a/c is out. I finally manage to fall asleep around 1, get up at 8, and head back to Italy, after another 10 hours on trains.

My Weekend in Rome (alternate title: Is That Guy Giving Me The Eye?)

2006-09-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

So this weekend, the plan is Rome. You know, ancient Rome, full of history, romance, and tourists. Oh, and money hungry businesses out to suck you dry, but that's another story. It's Friday, I'm all packed (after another night of 6 hours sleep), and ready to go. I get Mike to call me a cab for 5PM so I can make my 5:30 train to Bologna (where I transfer). We call the cab early, and I get out of work at 4:45. When does the cab actually show up? 5:10, at which point I have to run to the hotel (I forgot my passport, which apparently I should bring), then hit the train station. I make it with 5 minutes to spare, so things are still good. I can only get a ticket in Mirandola to Bologna, then have to buy the next leg in Bologna proper. I find an automatic ticket machine, find a train to Rome, and try to buy a ticket. First class only, 50 euro. Okay, I can pay that, it's Rome. Put in the old credit card (it's getting quite the workout, let me tell you), and let's get on with it. Next thing I know, I see the message "Printing error" and no ticket comes out. What the hell? The machine ran out of paper I guess, so here I am with a 50 euro charge on my CC and no ticket. I try to find someone to get a refund, but "me no parlo Italiano" which makes things kinda hard. Three attempts and 20 minutes later, I finally get my refund, and a ticket on a later train. That will take 2 hours longer to get there. As in I arrive at midnight. I'm a little ticked now, but hey, it's Rome. Not quite Vegas, but still.

The train ride there is uneventful aside from me being incredibly hungry. We pull in at 11:30, I find a map, try to locate the hotel, and start walking. Little did I realize that I booked a hotel in the worst part of town. Most people won't try anything with me (nice thing about being 6'2" and surly looking), but it's still not all that nice. The hotel, though, is a nice surprise. It's back from the street, and gated, so it's secure and a good place to stay. I recommend it for someone going to Rome if they don't mind walking (the location sucks). By now it's midnight, so off to bed with a 7:30 wake up call...after all, I gotta make the Sistine Chapel, right? Little did I know how painful that decision would be.

Alarm goes off, up I get, shower, and head down to check out the breakfast buffet. No surprise, nothing there I can eat, so a glass of water and off I go. All I know about the Sistine Chapel is that it's part of the Vatican, which is where I go. The only part listed on my map is St. Peter Basilica, and that's where I end up. After about an hour of walking, that is. Past every cop in the city...I swear, you would think Rome was under siege. I also managed to see almost every other sight in Rome on the way...the ruins, the Panthenon, Venezia Square. Upon arriving, I look for a sign, any sign, telling me where the SC is. Could I find one? No. So into the church I go, thinking maybe there will be signs in there. FYI, St. Peter's Cathedral is worth the price of a stay in Rome...just awesome. And I'm not a religous guy, so when I say this, it must be something. I ended up asking two more people, who pointed me somewhere (just to the left, one kilometer, whatever that means), then said to hell with it and checked out the information center. There I got another small map of the Vatican, and was off to find the Chapel. Or more correctly, the hour and a half long line to get into the Chapel. At least I got to meet two awesome Canadians in line, Frank and his sister who's name I regretfully forget. And as promised, "Hey Ottawa, Frank Washington says hi!". They had to be at the port to catch their ship (heading off on a cruise), so they had a quick run through the museum. I don't know if they got to see everything they wanted (they had about 15 minutes, where as I rushed (kinda) and still took 2 hours) or if they made the ship, but I really do hope so. In my opinion, shared by pretty much no one else, the Chapel itself was so-so...I wasn't quite so impressed. But that's just me, go and form your own opinion on how wrong I am.

By the time I'm out of there, it's 12:30, and I need food. Across the street to this restaurant I go...big mistake. I paid 28 euro for a salad, potatoes (microwaved none the less), a coke and 2 water. Ridiculous. If I hadn't have been so hungry, I would have left everything there and walked away, but much more time without food and I wouldn't have been able to walk away. Semi-satisfied by lunch, it's off to explore the tourist traps of Rome. I headed north along the river, and hit up most of the places marked on my map as I headed south, finally ending up at a pyramid of all things (go figure). Good thing about that was I managed to find a monument to the Devil's Brigade right next to said pyramid. Tres cool. Back north to the Colussem, where I find out it's 11.50 (all in euro) to go inside. I'm a cheap bugger, so to hell with it. I start walking away, and realize, I'm only going to be in Rome once, maybe twice, why not spend the money. So I sign up for a guided tour of both the Colussem and the ruins nearby, and hear some neat stories about the time. All in all, well worth it. By now, it's starting to rain, so I grab the metro back to the train station, walk to the hotel, shower, change, and head out to dinner (it's 8PM by now, I've condensed the hell out of the day).

Finding a good restaurant, not so easy...I walked by about 6-7 on my way to the train station (I wanted to pick up my ticket for the next day early, so I would get a seat), and even stopped in at a supermarket to pick up a pop and some chips for breakfast. I get my train ticket for Sunday and head back to find a place. On the way, I find a strip club, my first in Europe. If I hadn't have been so broke, I would have given it a look, but I had about 8 euro to my name by this point, so no. Dinner was okay, more pototoes, some cheese, and a coke. This time a little more reasonable at 16 euro. Back to the hotel and another nights sleep.

Sunday, the day of relaxation. Which for me meant waking up at 8:30 (so late!) and spending only 4 hours walking around rather than the 14 of the previous day. I head back to the Vatican, and walk down the river lazily, checking out the sights. I randomly pick a street in the southern part, end up back at Piazza Venezia and the ruins...a good place to be. Unfortunately, it also happens to be the place that I get eyed up by the strangest guy I've met: he's staring at me, smiling, and fondling himself. Can you say creepy? I sure can. Thankfully you're never alone in Rome, so within seconds I was in a crowd and out of his sight. I spend a half hour touring the ruins, take a few more pics, then head back to the terminal. Oddly enough, I had misread the ticket (I thought I had booked one for 2pm-ish, and really had, but I read it as leaving at 16:07, which was actually the date, July 16th). Thankfully I happened to be eating lunch at the train station, around 2PM, when I figured this out, giving me 1/2 hour to finish eating and make my way to the train. Worked out perfectly. Trip back was uneventful, much faster, and a good time. Back to Mirandola, walk back to town, shower (again), and head out to dinner. Back to the hotel, talk to Jenn, and off to bed. All in all, a good weekend.

It's been asked for...

2006-09-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

...so here it is. I'll do my best to post all the crap from the last year here, then start chronicling the new adventures that await me.

Until then......