I'm back at home and hopefully done travelling for a little while!
My last few days in Vancouver were a lot of fun. Last Friday night I met up with Bernie at his friend Kylee's place in downtown Vancouver, where we were met by her friend Jenna and Bernie's friend Laura. We had a little bit of a martini party and then hopped in a cab for The Roxy. I really can't put into words what I saw that night, but between the huge old lady who thought she was 21, the bitch triplets, and the brutal band there was plenty of insults going around, which meant lots of jokes and smiles for the night. We had a decent time even though the cover charge was $9. Colby and Jen even came late in the night to hang out with us for a while, which was good of them, since it was really out of their way.
On Saturday afternoon I picked up Colby and his buddy at his place and headed towards Chilliwack so they could ref a Junior 'A' game. We met up with the other guy in Abbottsford and kept going. It was the second-last game ever at the Chilliwack Colliseum before everybody moves into a new rink down the road. It was a rough game with lots of fighting and what-not, so it was good to watch. After the game the other two took off and me and Colby went to BP's for a meal and a drink. By the time I dropped Colby off at his place it was around 1AM and since he had to work early the next day that was it for us.
On Sunday morning I got up early and drove an hour east to Mission, where my aunt and uncle live, for brunch. I had a great visit with my cousins and another set of aunt and uncle who came from Abbottsford. To give you an idea, there was not a cloud in the sky and it was +18C! The grass on their lawn was as green as I've ever seen! Anyways, here are a few pics from brunch:
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I couldn't stay too long because I had to drive back to Vancouver to pick a team member from Regina up at the airport, because the two of us were going to a conference starting Sunday night until Tuesday night at the Westin Bayshore! I can't really get into too many specifics about the conference since it was a company-only event, but I can say that the hotel was great, I learned a lot at the educational sessions, I got a cool prize, and got to hang out with tons of old chums that I hadn't seen in many years. In short, it was a great 2 1/2 days!
The only bad thing about the conference was that it was pretty much the whole day, which was pretty exhausting. I had to leave early on Tuesday to catch my flight, and, you guessed it, my plane was delayed almost three hours. Again, fuck you Air Canada! I gave them one more chance and look what happened! The worst part about it was that there was great weather in Vancouver, Calgary, and Regina - they were delayed for no reason! All the WestJet flights left on time! Grrr....
On Thursday night I met up with Brad and Blair at New Yorx, for the cheap-drinks student night, which would have been a good time had there been more than 10 people there, so we left and went to the Last Straw for a few pitchers. Good times!
Anyways, the whole conference/airplane fiasco didn't do much for my sleep schedule, so I was exhausted for the whole week. Yesterday I even left early from work to come home and take a nap. I think I'm caught up now, because I've slept 18 hours in the last 36!
Work is absolutely crazy, which is why I am home right now instead of playing poker at Brad's. I've got a ton of catching up to do and next week is really busy not only at work but at URSU, so I've got to work my ass off for the next week or so. Tomorrow morning I am going into work to get ready to play a prank on my boss who is away on vacation. Otherwise, for the next week it's just work, work, work, and if I'm unlucky, more work. I'm also going to try fitting in doing my taxes in there, which is as close to playing the VLT's as I'm going to get at the moment!
I was on the #1 Highway tonight on my way back from an excellent meal and excellent visit with Jen, Colby, his parents, Aub and his girlfriend, when I was first almost run off the road and then nearly slammed into by a drunk driver in a van. I called 911 and followed the van as far as I could before I was forced to turn off; I still don't know if they got him yet. Considering I was almost killed, I'm fine but still pretty shook up.
Just wanted to send a shout-out to everyone out there to give their loved-ones a phone call, an e-mail, or a hug, because sometimes we forget life can change just - like - that.
Thursday night after work I met up with Colby and Jen for supper at the Cactus Club. We managed to snag an awesome spot ahead of the huge line so that was cool. We enjoyed good food and tons of laughs so it was good times. Colby and Jen had just purchased a brand-new Jetta so they were pretty excited about that. I am going to be super busy while I am here so I'm thankful for any time I get to spend with them.
On Friday I was busy so it was all work for me. Saturday was the same except I had decided to make some time on Saturday to hang out with Colby, Jen, and Bernie, who is in town on spring break searching for a job in the area. Colby and Jen had been out too much recently so they didn't want to come out (wtf???) so I met up with Bernie at his friend Laura's house downtown where he was staying. The three of us went to a new restaurant called "Ordinary Joe's", where the food was a bit heavy for my taste and the entertainment was, shall we say, not very uplifting? Anyways, we hit the road to the Shark Club where we met up with my cousins Natasha and Amanda who had been working the Canucks game that night down the street. We had a few drinks before hitting the road. My cousins had a long drive home so they left and we, of course, went off to the gay bar. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you are, there was a huge line-up so we went to a pub instead. It took me about ten minutes before I asked, "Why am I in a pub that has two huge murals of body-builders with their cocks hanging out?" Yes, they had taken me to a GAY pub! After a drink it was time to head home so I dropped them off and that's what we did!
Courtesy of Laura's digital camera, check out some photos - and the car! ;)
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I've spent the better part of the last two days working and it's going to be more of the same for the rest of the week. I've got a union meeting over the telephone Tuesday night. Colby and his parents invited me over for supper on Wednesday night so that's going to be a good time. No plans for the weekend yet but I should be free so we'll see what pans out. I'm really looking forward to the conference I'll be attending on Monday and Tuesday, I just have to make it there first! :)
My attention today wanders towards the perfect way of organizing what I will define broadly as "society" - all of mankind. Of course, I know (and you should know) that the most perfect way to organize ourselves is a benevolent dictatorship with me in charge of the operation of the planet. We all know that I am too lazy to get moving on this initiative, so we must examine other alternatives. It is absolutely clear that far-and-away the best alternative is capitalism.
It needs to be said, however, that the goals of socialism are the best. Who doesn't want everyone in the world to be happy and have what they need to better themselves? The problem with socialism is that in its truest form, it causes the exact opposite: most are unhappy and there is no incentive to better yourself. Anything in the middle doesn't work either, because it is just not a practical way of doing things. Let's say, for example, a decision was made that everyone must give what they can afford to the less-fortunate. What does this mean? That could be 50 cents to somebody or $100 million to another. As I've said before, life is defined by the line and where you draw it. Socialism is about knowing where you want to put the line but being practically unable do it. The only way to accomplish the goals of socialism is to impose a completely arbitrary set of rules on everyone, except who's going to do that? The answer has been tried and it isn't pretty.
Capitalism is easy, intuitive, is much more common-sense. It's not about being equal - because people are not equal. Arguably, it could be a goal for humanity to strive towards, but it's just a plain fact that no person is 100% like the other. "One size fits all" doesn't apply in life or anything else. So what does this system do? It rewards the best, brightest, most hard-working, and just plain lucky, and does nothing at all to help the others. All if this happens automatically, which is really the beauty of the whole thing. Is this wrong? Is this evil? I certainly don't think so.
It's really all about your point of view on the situation. For me, most of school growing up was absolute torture. Why? It's quite simple - we progressed through the material as fast as the slowest person in the class could handle it. Instead of letting those who were capable move on to other things, everyone progressed at the same retarded rate. Socialism is a lot like that, we might all personally be marginally better off (that is, if we could get a practical system of socialism that works), but collectively we'd all be much further behind.
Well, I'm out of town again! I got up super early this morning to head to the airport, bound for Vancouver. It was a pretty decent flight all around, though for some reason somebody decided to take my bags off the carousel for me so I thought that they had lost my bags for the longest time. The weather here today is phenomenal! It's got to be at least 12C and sunny out - no need for a jacket even! It's going to be hard to leave in two weeks! I'm going to be pretty busy while I'm here, but Bernie is coming into town for spring break to look for jobs so I'm hoping to do some visiting with him, as well as hang out with Colby and Jen as much as I'm able. I'm also really looking forward to the conference I will be attending for the two days before I leave.
Did I mention my rental car here is a 2004 Jaguar X-Type? HA!
P.S. - It took me more than an hour to get home the other day in that f%*&ing snowstorm, when it usually takes me around five minutes. "Boo!" to Saskatchewan weather!
I'm home and it's good to be back! I seem to have missed all the terrible temperatures so I am very glad for that!
On Friday it started raining like you wouldn't believe, so the drive from work to the airport wasn't exactly fun, but I made it without any accidents so I'm thankful for that. A lot of flights were being cancelled but I lucked out in that mine left right on time. It was the second time in my life that I've ever flown first-class, and I enjoyed every second of it. Tons of leg room, getting on and off the plane as you please, an actual meal, and free booze made the flight super great. I must have had at least six beers before we landed in Minneapolis. I went to the duty-free store to pick up some Crown before boarding my connection to Regina. I almost forgot to pick up my duty-free as I rushed off the airplane before we left to grab it from the check-in counter. When I got back to my seat I remarked to the guy next to me that I couldn't afford to throw those American dollars away by leaving my stuff behind, and we got to talking. I found out that he was from the States so I asked him bluntly, "What the hell are you doing going to Regina?" He says, "I'm going there for a wrestling event."
A wrestling event ... hmm ... then I remembered: Smackdown! was in Regina on Saturday night! This guy is from the WWE! We kept talking and it turns out this guy is like the production manager or something for all the TV and most of the live events! The plane was delayed so we were side-by-side for over 3 hours and all we did was talk about wrestling. He (Mark) has been working for them for almost twenty years, and was just coming back from a dinner hosted by Linda McMahon to recognize all the old-timers in the company. We kept getting drink after drink and talking about wrestling. He whipped out a copy of a new wrestling DVD and we watched that on my laptop while he told me stories about all the wrestlers and the production guys. It was awesome! He even volunteered to hook me up with free tickets for the show! All in all, the best plane ride I have ever had!
Mike was kind enough to pick me up from the airport so with a little fanfare we picked up Brad and went to the Barley Mill for some brews. Tyler joined us later on and we closed the place. After we dropped everybody off, me and Mike got some BK and then hit the sack.
On Saturday I unpacked and did other un-fun things around the house and then went to my parents' place for supper. After a great meal I picked up Brad and we met Mike and Marco at the Agridome for the big show. Mark had left four tickets for us at the "Will Call" window and they were great seats, in the first rows of the stands. It was a good show, especially considering the price, but the bad thing about it was when we went to thank Mark for the tickets after the show. "Where were you guys at intermission?" he goes. "I could have taken you guys backstage to meet all the wrestlers!" Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn! Oh well, maybe next time - I do have his business card, after all! ;)
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After the show we went to the Barley Mill again for some brews before calling it a night early. I'm pretty much wrestled-out after the last few weeks!
Today I got my film developed and have been diligently working on cleaning and doing laundry. This week there is lots of stuff going on after-hours at work, I have to get a haircut, and my cousin is playing hockey in Lumsden Monday night, so I might check that out. Otherwise, I'm planning to leave for two weeks to Vancouver on Thursday morning. I don't think the plane ride will be quite as fun as my last one! ;)
Well, my stint here in West Chester is almost over. I'm heading to the airport Friday afternoon to hop on a plane that will take me home. It's been a great trip and there is a possibility that I will be back in the future so it's always good to have possibilities. I'm starting a new contract on Monday (actually re-starting the project I was on before) in Vancouver that will carry me until the beginning of April. I will be working from Regina but I will be in Vancouver from next Thursday until the 24th of this month to do some work on-site there and also attend a conference. It's kinda cool to be jetting from coast-to-coast for work but it will be nice to be home for a while to chill a bit.
I'm mulling over a job opportunity at the moment and right now I'm torn between travel and technology opportunities and a huge pay increase. A quick look at my budget reveals a shortage in ability to pay for some big-ticket items I've got planned this year, so it might just go down to the wire. I'll go to the interview, at least, and see where that leads. It can't hurt to talk!
What another great weekend! After printing out directions I hopped in the car after work on Friday and made my way towards Washington, D.C. It was another great drive and I made it there pretty much in record time. When I arrived me and Nick hung out and I watched some TV while he got his work done, then after midnight we walked down to 'M' Street and went into a jazz club for a few beers. The tunes were great, but we spent most of the time either talking about or trying to avoid the most drunk guy I have ever seen in my life (and I mean EVER!). He said he was "rich" and just left a ton of cash on the table before he proceded to fall on it and a nearby girl. I must admit I thought of keeping it, but Nick prefered the "good things happen to good people" argument rather than my "good people must teach bad people a lesson" argument, so we gave the cash back to him on our way out.
On Saturday we slept in until after noon. We went downstairs where they have a place that sells Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, so I had my first one and I must say, the hype is real! They are awesome! We got in my box-on-wheels and headed downtown. We stopped first at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was a pretty awesome sight, seeing tens of thousands of names up close. We decided to trek on foot to The Whitehouse. We stopped for some street-meat and soon enough we were there. It was definitely very cool. Nowadays there is absolutely no way you can get close to the place there is so much security. Look closely at the pictures and you can see the box we found on the front gate that said, "Welcome to the White House - Push Button". There was no way we were going to push that button! Speaking of boxes, there were tons of them lining the inside of the gate, all making this very loud humming noise. Nick told me the story of a guy a few years ago who jumped the fence and got gunned down so I thought against it. We walked behind and then around down to the Washington Monument. All the tours were full so we didn't get to go to the top. It wasn't a very inviting place because recently they've erected a huge concrete barrier wall all around it. We kept walking until we got to the Lincoln Memorial. It was very cool and I got to re-live many a scene from Forrest Gump in the process! We got back in the vehicle and drove over to the Jefferson Memorial, and the coolest thing happened - just as Nick was about to snap my picture we heard this tremendously loud noise - an Air Force helicopter. You have to picture this monument, it's made of pillars in a circle topped with a dome, so when you are inside you can see outside as well in pretty much every direction. Just as he was taking the picture the chopper came down low and buzzed us as he went all the way around the monument! It was sooooo cool!
Aftewards, we headed back to the university and passed by The Pentagon on the way. We grabbed some supper at Hoya's, where we had brutal service but decent food. Nick had to work from 6 to 9PM so I walked across the bridge to the Metro station and rode it to the MCI Center for the hockey game. I had the chance to buy cheap tickets but I thought that in case one of Nick's friends wanted to go with me I would wait until gameday to pick them up. That turned out to be a mistake as the cheapest tickets available were $55USD! It turned out okay, though, because I got to sit next to this guy named Craig who is a U.S. Marine. He was at the game with his crew and a whole bunch of dudes from Holland in town for some cross-training at Quantico. He told me a bunch of stories about Iraq (he was there from the start until August and probably going back soon). Guess what, all you hippies out there? Morale is definitely not low - everybody is raring to go over there! He didn't know much about hockey so I got to teach a little bit so that was good, because the game definitely was not. It was a complete blow-out that saw the Canucks destroying the Capitals 6-1. Interesting note: they had a trivia question during one of the breaks that asked how many people were aware that a "Canuck" is another word for a "Canadian". The answer: 32%! Idiots! Even Craig was embarrased! After the game I got the opportunity to say two things to him: 1) I asked him to please not judge the sport of hockey on what he had seen that night and 2) I thanked him and his mates for all their work in protecting the free world, and told him that not everybody from Canada is a communist! He was very appreciative, because as he said, it's hard to remember that when he's watching the news!
After the game Nick caught a cab and met up with me downtown. We walked down the street to a place called the Capital City Brewing Company. When we got inside we became aware that each and every day between 3 and 6PM and after 10PM (it was 9:50PM!) it is happy hour and draft is 1/2 price and so were appetizers! Score! We had great brew and food for 2 hours for less than $15! We called some of Nick's lady-friends and caught a cab back to a place close to the university called "Au Pied du Cochon" (the site of many spy stories and Russian defections!). It was a little pub where we continued having some good brews. I can also now say that I had drinks with the niece of the U.S. Attorney-General! We walked home, and along the way managed to steal a Wesley Clark poster!
In the morning I slept in while Nick did some work and then we hopped in the vehicle and went back to 'M' Street to have brunch at J. Paul's. It was some pretty good eats and we were both stuffed. I dropped Nick off, and said our goodbyes, and then hit the road back to West Chester. I just want to highlight Nick's generosity throughout the weekend: from him offering me a place to sleep, to taking care of a majority of the food and drink, Nick is a top-notch host and a fabulous human being! Props to you, buddy!
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When I got back to the hotel I settled in to watch my first-ever Super Bowl with American commercials. It was probably the best game I've ever watched, but as luck would have it, the commercials were brutal! Not a single one was memorable. The one thing that was memorable?
(from The Drudge Report)
I can't say I'm surprised, because nowadays I hear swearing on public TV at 7PM, but there you go!
Even though the job situation is still up in the air (i.e. I have no idea whether I'll be in Regina, Vancouver, or Philadelphia next week), I'm all set to return back to Regina on Friday night around midnight ... see you then?