I'm almost done the second hitch in Toronto. I've spent the last week and a half at Royal York, and spent most of my time at work building ASP pages and COM classes, learning how to build WSDL files to allow SOAP communication between applications on the web, and getting a better understanding of the database architecture we're working with. Since the the steering and architecture committees that determine the direction of the project are still changing specs on a daily basis, there is still a lot of confusion and ambiguity going on. I will be surprised if we get this project done by our deadline, but I've been surprised before.

From the looks of things right now, I'm coming back to Calgary on Friday night. I should be coming back to Toronto the following Sunday and spending another two weeks here. Natasha and I are planning on going up to Montreal for the long weekend and participating in some of the Black & Blue festivities going on that weekend. I still have to get my ticket for the main party at Olympic Stadium on the Sunday night, but I'm waiting to get confirmation on what's happening with work.

I've been doing WAY too much shopping here...it's time to come home and save some money (yeah, right!). Last week I dropped some more cash at the Shoe Room, buying a pair of white M.Stevens milliskin tights and two pairs of Freed ballet socks. At HMV, I found an import of Kylie Minogue's "In Your Eyes" with the vocal version of Jean Jacques Smoothie's remix. Awesome. On Sunday, I ended up buying the Layo and Bushwacka! - Night Works and the new Lamya - Learning from Falling CDs last week - they're both pretty good. I didn't know what to expect from Lamya, but it's a pretty nice piece of work - her collaborations with Nellee Hooper remind me a lot of Morcheeba and others of that ilk.

Natasha and I went out for dinner Fri. night to a place in the Village called "Hair of the Dog". It's a nice little place and the food was fantastic, reasonably priced. Sat. night went out with Robert to Babylon for martinis and 5ive, which is a really kickass bar. It was really packed around midnight-1pm, then the crowd really cleared out. Apparently the Barn (which is the popular bar du jour here - Lord knows why) stays open for dancing until 4pm, so everyone heads over there till close. We stayed at 5ive though. Robert is SO funny - we had a great evening. He thinks I'm a riot too. We laughed about my "naivete" coming from the western frontier where subtlety isn't a strong point. I did a few "Yeehaws" in the bar to prove his point, and found the queens scampering for cover. Hilarious. I found out from Jerome on Sunday that Bob Flynn's brother is a co-owner of that place.

Sunday I went shopping - oh no! As per usual, my mother called me at 10AM on Sunday morning waking me up. It's so funny talking to her when my voice in an octave lower than normal - "What mom, oh no I wasn't smoking last night....". I was a zombie yesterday. Went down to BodyBody and Priape, spent a bunch of money in my weakened state, then did the tourist thing and wandered aimlessly around the CN Tower and Skydome. At one point before getting there, I thought "if it's affordable, maybe I'll take a ride up to the top of the tower." Geez...What was I thinking? $30!?!?! What a ripoff! Needless to say, I fully enjoyed the grandeur of the tower from ground level.....
I bought a pair of Body Body board shorts at the store on Church, then went over to Priape and bought a really nice pair of Jocko workout pants and a DVD ("Out of Athens - Pt.2" - yay!). After Jerome informed me of the CK/Joe Boxer/etc underwear sale at the Bay, I popped in there last night and dropped another $170 on underwear, socks, and shirts - yikes! Oh well, you can never have enough undies and socks, right? Two pairs of CK bikinis and tank top, a Pour Lui lycra belly shirt, two DimSkin thongs, and six pairs of CK socks....

I also sent an order to Dancechoice.com for two new Grishko unitards and another pair of Grishko slippers. The unitards are a men's cut in a poly/lycra material full body with zipper in the back and turtle neck top. One is black, the other is skintone. I'm so excited to check them out! I hope I chose the right size for a snug fit though.

Other than that, I've been working out in the Royal York gym and I went running with the Toronto Frontrunners on Sat. morning. Went on a hard 15km trail run through the Don Valley and Rosedale. It was a lot of fun! Spent the rest of Saturday helping Natasha move to her new place - finally got back to the hotel at 9:30pm and rushed to get ready and meet Robert at MLG at 10:30. Frontrunners are out again on Thursday - I'm planning on running with them again tomorrow night.

As far as the weekend's concerned, yes, we're going to the Davison's on Fri. night as soon as I get home. Saturday I should be doing laundry, etc. and then Joe and I are supposed to be going out for dinner for our anniversary, then possibly going out for awhile - no solid plans yet. I had wanted to book a room at the Palliser or something like that, but gotta put a hold on spending for awhile, esp since Montreal isn't going to be cheap. Sunday is Joe's birthday. I think a bunch of people are supposed to be going to The Keg for dinner, then to Boyztown for the drag show. It certainly sounds like a busy weekend. And then...Sasha on Wednesday night.

Gizmo (the cat) is doing well, I guess. Joe says he's out of control and needs his knackers removed. I guess that will be happening soon enough. I've been elected the "permanent enemy" that will drop him off at the vet. He's growing so fast!

The Ekiden plans are in the works for the 19th weekend. I should be flying into Calgary Friday night, off to Banff Sat. morning. I have to get release forms signed yet....more later.

That's all for now.