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.
Friday, August 30, 2002
I lied. Had to post one more blog before I leave Toronto. I went out with Natasha again last night. We took the subway up to Bathurst and walked down to College. It's a funky little neighborhood east of the College/Bathurst corner, including Little Italy and the Portuguese district. We went to a sushi place called Tempo. A little pricy, but delicious.
Headed back to the gay village afterwards. Checked out CREWS, Buddies in Bad Times (closed), 5ive (cover - didn't go in), stepped into Woody's, and ended up at a comedy show at Slack Alice's. Got back to hotel at 1am, called Joe.
Checked out this morning. Got charged $33 for local calls. Supposed to be free with Presidents Club membership, but what a ripoff. You can definitely tell you're working with a former CP company due to their pathetic tight-assedness. Especially when anything you buy in the hotel is 25% more expensive than in the real world due to the simple fact it is the Royal York.
Needless to say, I'm back on the 15th. Staying at the Days Inn on Carlton and Yonge. Close to the village, out of the core, and a short subway ride to work in the morning.
More later.
Headed back to the gay village afterwards. Checked out CREWS, Buddies in Bad Times (closed), 5ive (cover - didn't go in), stepped into Woody's, and ended up at a comedy show at Slack Alice's. Got back to hotel at 1am, called Joe.
Checked out this morning. Got charged $33 for local calls. Supposed to be free with Presidents Club membership, but what a ripoff. You can definitely tell you're working with a former CP company due to their pathetic tight-assedness. Especially when anything you buy in the hotel is 25% more expensive than in the real world due to the simple fact it is the Royal York.
Needless to say, I'm back on the 15th. Staying at the Days Inn on Carlton and Yonge. Close to the village, out of the core, and a short subway ride to work in the morning.
More later.
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Thursday afternoon....looking forward to heading back to Calgary. Talked to Joe and Mom last night. Nothing much new to report. I ended up going for another run last night, heading west along the lakeshore instead of east. The area around the CNE was swamped with cars, people. Part of the walkway along the lake was closed to make way for an airshow starting next week, and of course additional parking for all of the CNE-goers. A bit more greenspace, but not a whole lot. Are there any decent parks in this city of what? No doubt they've all been paved over. I will never dis Calgary about lack of greenspace EVER again.
This will be the last entry before I head home. I'm apparently going to be back on the 15th, but the Royal York is full, so as of today I'm staying at the Marriott at $269/day. What a rip-off. I'm going to try and get into the Royal York on the days they aren't full. Reports when I start travelling again.
Later....
This will be the last entry before I head home. I'm apparently going to be back on the 15th, but the Royal York is full, so as of today I'm staying at the Marriott at $269/day. What a rip-off. I'm going to try and get into the Royal York on the days they aren't full. Reports when I start travelling again.
Later....
It’s Tuesday night. I just got home from visiting with Natasha. Joe is supposed to be calling around 11pm.
I slept in this morning, thinking I’d be in the gym this evening, but instead I drank beer and ate chocolate truffle!
I got out of classes at 4pm, and John Walker had fixed the problem with the modem, however now my login name isn’t accepted on the dialup network…never ending problems. At least when I got back to the hotel room I was pleasantly surprised to have a message from Natasha on the voicemail. I was off early enough I ran up to Malabar on McCaul to check out their dance wear and gear. I bought a new pair of Capezio "Romeo" line of white men’s split sole ballet slippers (crème de la crème of men’s slippers – and pretty pricey too $65! - oops) and a new Mondor dance belt. There were some really nice Mirella navy blue unitards there as well, but I decided to hold out on that, at least until I check out some other places. I decided I was going to run back down to the Shoe Room on Jarvis and buy a pair of white M.Stevens tights. I got there about 5:45 and realized that they are closed today until Friday for inventory. I remembered seeing the sign up when I was there on Saturday, but of course, I forgot. It was probably fate, since I’m not in a great need for buying more dancewear, but I’m a slave to my obsessions! I guess I can reconsider that and possibly get them when I return to Toronto.
Anyways, I had a hell of a time finding an operational pay phone after that to give Natasha a call. One was plugged, but the sun was glaring on the display and I didn’t see the warning until I had already put a quarter in. I tried another down the street, but they had restricted calling between 6pm and 7am – obviously a ploy to keep money out of it – only in the big city would somebody be breaking into payphones for money. I finally found one on Yonge Street and called Natasha. She was down by the Royal York of all places, but I waited for her to show up at the Wellesley subway station and we went to Zelda’s on Church for dinner and a few beers. We had a great visit, and we’re meeting up tomorrow so I can give her her pictures from her birthday party in the spring. We decided we’re going to take a trip up to Montreal this fall together when I’m around. She’s never been there, and I’m dying to go back, so it all works out well!
I made it back to the hotel, and realized I didn’t get the bill from Zelda’s to expense, so I’m out more money –dammit!
Joe just called a few minutes ago. He always gets busy at work as soon as he calls…that’s the way things always go. We just talked quickly about what possibilities there are for doing something on the weekend.
So, since I missed my workout this morning, I’m going to go running again tomorrow morning, and hopefully get into the gym tomorrow night or Thursday morning, and I guess I can get in there on Friday morning as well. Natasha thinks I’ve lost even more weight, but I hardly feel like it!
I also emailed Greg Britz this afternoon, asking him what is going on with the project. I’m getting sort of anxious to find out what’s going on, since it will require a lot of replanning of my sporting events and other things going on in Calgary that I will now be unable to attend if I’m spending a large part of the fall in Toronto. It’s quite possible they have no idea what’s going on at that end either.
Did I mention that Joe has found a kitten for us? It’s through a friend of Marion’s, apparently the same woman that gave Joe Bailey so many years ago. It’s another calico cat like Bailey was with black, white and wisps orange. It’s nine weeks old, already litter-trained, and apparently shy since it’s the runt of the litter. Just like us to get the underdog! I love it! I’m so excited about the kitten, but depressed at the same time that I won’t be around for the formative months. I have a bad feeling that it will haunt me for years to come. At any rate, we’ll have to find a cool name for him once we analyze his personality for a while.
Well, I’m going to head to bed – I have to maintain some semblance of a workout regimen while I’m here – that means an early morning. Good night.
I slept in this morning, thinking I’d be in the gym this evening, but instead I drank beer and ate chocolate truffle!
I got out of classes at 4pm, and John Walker had fixed the problem with the modem, however now my login name isn’t accepted on the dialup network…never ending problems. At least when I got back to the hotel room I was pleasantly surprised to have a message from Natasha on the voicemail. I was off early enough I ran up to Malabar on McCaul to check out their dance wear and gear. I bought a new pair of Capezio "Romeo" line of white men’s split sole ballet slippers (crème de la crème of men’s slippers – and pretty pricey too $65! - oops) and a new Mondor dance belt. There were some really nice Mirella navy blue unitards there as well, but I decided to hold out on that, at least until I check out some other places. I decided I was going to run back down to the Shoe Room on Jarvis and buy a pair of white M.Stevens tights. I got there about 5:45 and realized that they are closed today until Friday for inventory. I remembered seeing the sign up when I was there on Saturday, but of course, I forgot. It was probably fate, since I’m not in a great need for buying more dancewear, but I’m a slave to my obsessions! I guess I can reconsider that and possibly get them when I return to Toronto.
Anyways, I had a hell of a time finding an operational pay phone after that to give Natasha a call. One was plugged, but the sun was glaring on the display and I didn’t see the warning until I had already put a quarter in. I tried another down the street, but they had restricted calling between 6pm and 7am – obviously a ploy to keep money out of it – only in the big city would somebody be breaking into payphones for money. I finally found one on Yonge Street and called Natasha. She was down by the Royal York of all places, but I waited for her to show up at the Wellesley subway station and we went to Zelda’s on Church for dinner and a few beers. We had a great visit, and we’re meeting up tomorrow so I can give her her pictures from her birthday party in the spring. We decided we’re going to take a trip up to Montreal this fall together when I’m around. She’s never been there, and I’m dying to go back, so it all works out well!
I made it back to the hotel, and realized I didn’t get the bill from Zelda’s to expense, so I’m out more money –dammit!
Joe just called a few minutes ago. He always gets busy at work as soon as he calls…that’s the way things always go. We just talked quickly about what possibilities there are for doing something on the weekend.
So, since I missed my workout this morning, I’m going to go running again tomorrow morning, and hopefully get into the gym tomorrow night or Thursday morning, and I guess I can get in there on Friday morning as well. Natasha thinks I’ve lost even more weight, but I hardly feel like it!
I also emailed Greg Britz this afternoon, asking him what is going on with the project. I’m getting sort of anxious to find out what’s going on, since it will require a lot of replanning of my sporting events and other things going on in Calgary that I will now be unable to attend if I’m spending a large part of the fall in Toronto. It’s quite possible they have no idea what’s going on at that end either.
Did I mention that Joe has found a kitten for us? It’s through a friend of Marion’s, apparently the same woman that gave Joe Bailey so many years ago. It’s another calico cat like Bailey was with black, white and wisps orange. It’s nine weeks old, already litter-trained, and apparently shy since it’s the runt of the litter. Just like us to get the underdog! I love it! I’m so excited about the kitten, but depressed at the same time that I won’t be around for the formative months. I have a bad feeling that it will haunt me for years to come. At any rate, we’ll have to find a cool name for him once we analyze his personality for a while.
Well, I’m going to head to bed – I have to maintain some semblance of a workout regimen while I’m here – that means an early morning. Good night.
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Tuesday morning...how long have I been here? It feels like forever already. It was great to talk to Joe last night - got me wanting to get home even more. It was fairly late when we got off the phone, and I was still feeling sleep-deprived, so I decided to sleep in this morning, and hit the gym tonight after class. I still have to take the stupid laptop to the 40U office tonight to see if the hardware guy can figure out why the PCMCIA card isn't working properly.
I have one more dancewear store to check out tonight, not holding my breath on finding anything I like. I also found out which subway station I have to get off at to check out the bike shops up Bloor I want to visit - I'll probably do that on Thursday, possibly tomorrow. I'm still waiting to hear from Natasha, and I also have to do some laundry. I could probably hold out until I get home, but I'm almost out of socks.
Last night I took another walk up Yonge, and came back through the Church and Wellesley area. I stopped at a grocery store to pick up some stuff for the hotel, and as I walked out, to my surprise, I met up with someone I knew from Calgary! Jan plays on the Apollo baseball team. Anyways, he and his bf are moving to Toronto in October, and he was in town looking for apartments. It was quite weird to see someone familiar, and he seemed quite happy too, since he mentioned how depressing it was not to know anyone. Anyways, I got his new phone number, etc. so it will be nice to have someone else to contact whenever I'm in town again.
Speaking of, I still have no project details. I'm planning on emailing Greg Britz this afternoon. Hopefully he'll be able to shed some light on the situation.
Gotta get back to class....
I have one more dancewear store to check out tonight, not holding my breath on finding anything I like. I also found out which subway station I have to get off at to check out the bike shops up Bloor I want to visit - I'll probably do that on Thursday, possibly tomorrow. I'm still waiting to hear from Natasha, and I also have to do some laundry. I could probably hold out until I get home, but I'm almost out of socks.
Last night I took another walk up Yonge, and came back through the Church and Wellesley area. I stopped at a grocery store to pick up some stuff for the hotel, and as I walked out, to my surprise, I met up with someone I knew from Calgary! Jan plays on the Apollo baseball team. Anyways, he and his bf are moving to Toronto in October, and he was in town looking for apartments. It was quite weird to see someone familiar, and he seemed quite happy too, since he mentioned how depressing it was not to know anyone. Anyways, I got his new phone number, etc. so it will be nice to have someone else to contact whenever I'm in town again.
Speaking of, I still have no project details. I'm planning on emailing Greg Britz this afternoon. Hopefully he'll be able to shed some light on the situation.
Gotta get back to class....
Monday, August 26, 2002
So, here I am in Toronto. I escaped from Mississauga on Friday afternoon. I arrived at the Royal York around 2pm, checked in and then headed to the CPR offices at 40 University Ave. I met up with Carolyn Bradley-Hall who allowed me to get into a carrel and do the login settings for the laptop that I needed to do. I visited with a few people before I headed back to the hotel and settled in.
I walked around a bit, getting dinner at a Quizno’s on Yonge Street. I got ready for the evening out and met up with Robert Torrance at Maple Leaf Gardens at 10pm. We walked around the Church and Wellesley area for a bit, and then went into Woody’s for a few drinks. We ended up at Zippers, a piano bar/club after that, and then ended up the evening at The Barn until about 3am. Robert walked me halfway back downtown before turning around and heading home. I hit the pillow at 4:30am.
I had a really crappy sleep that night and got up for brunch in the morning. I had intended to do some exploring, but didn’t get out of the hotel as early as I had originally hoped. I hopped on the Downsview line of the subway and ended up at the Toronto Dancewear Center. I was thoroughly disappointed with the selection of menswear – mostly cotton/lycra jazzpants and one pair of tights, all with a very poor fit, so I headed back down to Bloor Ave. and walked to the Shoe Room at The Betty Oliphant Center on Jarvis and checked out their selection – much better, but still not what I was looking for. There were a few black footless M.Stevens unitards and a huge selection of black, grey, and white footed and footless tights, but I decided to wait. I walked back down Yonge to the hotel stopping at Sam’s Records and HMV on the way. I picked up remixes of Basement Jaxx’s “Get Me Off” with a Superchumbo remix, George Michael’s “Shoot the Dog”, the import of Sheena Easton’s “Giving Up Giving In”, and the CD re-release of “A Private Heaven” with remixes of “Strut”, ”Sugar Walls”, “Swear”, and all the B-sides from the singles off the album that I’ve had on 45 singles for years, but now on digital CD! I resisted buying things that were available in Calgary, knowing full well that I can get them cheaper there. I wanted to have another quick nap before Chris Bailey came to pick me up. I didn’t get much time other than to pack up a few things before Chris showed up. We headed up to Barrie and hung around until Jenn was done work. We ordered pizza and then got ready to go out. We met up with their friends at Hooters before heading to Club 163 (?) for Leslie’s birthday. We headed to The Roxx/The Boiler Room around 11pm and danced there until 1am or so, until Chris got kicked out by a loser bouncer for being too drunk, which he really wasn’t. After that we went to the Spot (the Barrie gay bar) before heading home.
Jenn had to work in the morning, so Chris and I woke up, made brunch and then headed to Wasaga Beach for the afternoon. It was a really nice location – great beach, lots of scenery for the whole family! We came back into Barrie, picked up Jenn after work and made dinner before we decided to head back into the city. Traffic was a nightmare again, and I made it into the hotel room around 10:30pm.
I am tired enough now that I can’t think clearly, so I’m heading to bed soon. I will call Natasha’s place before I head to bed, and hopefully hook up with her sometime this week. I am in dire need of getting some laundry done too, so I have a few other things to get done as well. I’m planning on getting to the gym in the morning as well, so I should turn in. I’ll write up another report during the week, unless I’m spending all my time trying to understand this crazy Visual Basic stuff I’m working on this week.
From the looks of things, we’ve already got carrels set up at 40U for the Portal project, and Aly has said that he’s got his flight booked for September 8th, so I suspect I’ll be back in Toronto before too long, and spending a lot of time here over the next few months. I guess that’s why I’m not too anxious to see everything Toronto has to offer, since I’ll be spending more time here than I care to up until Christmas. In the short term, as long as I’m in Calgary for the Labour Day Classic game and able to compete in the Canadian National Duathlon Championships on the 8th, I’ll be happy. Chances are I won’t be in town for the Calgary Corporate Challenge 10K on the 13th, but I’ll have to be getting the team together during the week that I’m home. I’m also not sure what to do about the Ekiden run in October, or whether I should be buying season tickets for the Alberta Ballet like I had planned to do as a surprise anniversary present for Joe. I will hopefully get some more clarity on the project and what I’ll be doing for the fall this week and the week that I’m back in Calgary. Cross my fingers that I will be able to have some time in Calgary over the next few months.
I walked around a bit, getting dinner at a Quizno’s on Yonge Street. I got ready for the evening out and met up with Robert Torrance at Maple Leaf Gardens at 10pm. We walked around the Church and Wellesley area for a bit, and then went into Woody’s for a few drinks. We ended up at Zippers, a piano bar/club after that, and then ended up the evening at The Barn until about 3am. Robert walked me halfway back downtown before turning around and heading home. I hit the pillow at 4:30am.
I had a really crappy sleep that night and got up for brunch in the morning. I had intended to do some exploring, but didn’t get out of the hotel as early as I had originally hoped. I hopped on the Downsview line of the subway and ended up at the Toronto Dancewear Center. I was thoroughly disappointed with the selection of menswear – mostly cotton/lycra jazzpants and one pair of tights, all with a very poor fit, so I headed back down to Bloor Ave. and walked to the Shoe Room at The Betty Oliphant Center on Jarvis and checked out their selection – much better, but still not what I was looking for. There were a few black footless M.Stevens unitards and a huge selection of black, grey, and white footed and footless tights, but I decided to wait. I walked back down Yonge to the hotel stopping at Sam’s Records and HMV on the way. I picked up remixes of Basement Jaxx’s “Get Me Off” with a Superchumbo remix, George Michael’s “Shoot the Dog”, the import of Sheena Easton’s “Giving Up Giving In”, and the CD re-release of “A Private Heaven” with remixes of “Strut”, ”Sugar Walls”, “Swear”, and all the B-sides from the singles off the album that I’ve had on 45 singles for years, but now on digital CD! I resisted buying things that were available in Calgary, knowing full well that I can get them cheaper there. I wanted to have another quick nap before Chris Bailey came to pick me up. I didn’t get much time other than to pack up a few things before Chris showed up. We headed up to Barrie and hung around until Jenn was done work. We ordered pizza and then got ready to go out. We met up with their friends at Hooters before heading to Club 163 (?) for Leslie’s birthday. We headed to The Roxx/The Boiler Room around 11pm and danced there until 1am or so, until Chris got kicked out by a loser bouncer for being too drunk, which he really wasn’t. After that we went to the Spot (the Barrie gay bar) before heading home.
Jenn had to work in the morning, so Chris and I woke up, made brunch and then headed to Wasaga Beach for the afternoon. It was a really nice location – great beach, lots of scenery for the whole family! We came back into Barrie, picked up Jenn after work and made dinner before we decided to head back into the city. Traffic was a nightmare again, and I made it into the hotel room around 10:30pm.
I am tired enough now that I can’t think clearly, so I’m heading to bed soon. I will call Natasha’s place before I head to bed, and hopefully hook up with her sometime this week. I am in dire need of getting some laundry done too, so I have a few other things to get done as well. I’m planning on getting to the gym in the morning as well, so I should turn in. I’ll write up another report during the week, unless I’m spending all my time trying to understand this crazy Visual Basic stuff I’m working on this week.
From the looks of things, we’ve already got carrels set up at 40U for the Portal project, and Aly has said that he’s got his flight booked for September 8th, so I suspect I’ll be back in Toronto before too long, and spending a lot of time here over the next few months. I guess that’s why I’m not too anxious to see everything Toronto has to offer, since I’ll be spending more time here than I care to up until Christmas. In the short term, as long as I’m in Calgary for the Labour Day Classic game and able to compete in the Canadian National Duathlon Championships on the 8th, I’ll be happy. Chances are I won’t be in town for the Calgary Corporate Challenge 10K on the 13th, but I’ll have to be getting the team together during the week that I’m home. I’m also not sure what to do about the Ekiden run in October, or whether I should be buying season tickets for the Alberta Ballet like I had planned to do as a surprise anniversary present for Joe. I will hopefully get some more clarity on the project and what I’ll be doing for the fall this week and the week that I’m back in Calgary. Cross my fingers that I will be able to have some time in Calgary over the next few months.
Monday, August 19, 2002
I managed to get up to Red Deer on Friday night for an extremely quick visit. Trevor and Marlene Britton are also staying at Owen and Chloe's - there is a craft show going on in Edmonton that Marlene checks out every year. We sat around the kitchen table until late talking and trading pictures. Scott and Jen also came over for a little while.
On Saturday, I went out for lunch with Scott Rhodes and spent the afternoon with him. Managed to see Brandy and Brady at the new Tony Roma's. Erin Skocylas came to pick up Brady, so I got to see her too. Scott and Linda were going to a BBQ with all the guys I used to work with that are now working in Scotland. regrettably, I had already committed to returning to Calgary on Saturday night since there was no longer going to be a birthday party for Owen and Jen. I got back to Owen and Chloe's around 5pm, but the guys were out playing golf and got held up, so Irene came over and picked me up to take me to the bus depot. We had a really quick visit, and then I was off back to Calgary.
Joe and I went to Detour for a little while, and then went home.
Sunday morning, I continued to get ready and headed up to the airport. The flight left around 3:30pm. I got into Pearson at 9:30pm, and was in the hotel by 10:30. Well, here I am in transit again. Things fell apart as far as the Calgary-based training courses were concerned for the new Portal Remediation project, and now I find myself in a computer classroom in Mississauga. Everything is extremely convenient - the TriOS offices are right across the street from my hotel, and next door to that is the big Square One shopping mall. That should keep me entertained until Friday when I move into Toronto. I'm staying at the Royal York (a vacation in itself). The CPR offices at 40U and the TriOS offices at 55U are all extremely close to the hotel, so things should stay convenient. I'm glad I didn't rent a car afterall. I won't really need to go anywhere this week at least (there doesn't seem to be a lot to see in Mississauga. It's one big suburb - we're in the CBD, and it's all centered around the shopping mall, if that gives you any idea of the setup of this burg). Next week, everything will be within walking/subway distance.
The hotel has a 'gym' and a pool, which will be fantastic. It would be nice to find a running area, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of greenspace in this area. I will do more investigating though.
Nothing more to mention about Mississauga. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. Until later.
On Saturday, I went out for lunch with Scott Rhodes and spent the afternoon with him. Managed to see Brandy and Brady at the new Tony Roma's. Erin Skocylas came to pick up Brady, so I got to see her too. Scott and Linda were going to a BBQ with all the guys I used to work with that are now working in Scotland. regrettably, I had already committed to returning to Calgary on Saturday night since there was no longer going to be a birthday party for Owen and Jen. I got back to Owen and Chloe's around 5pm, but the guys were out playing golf and got held up, so Irene came over and picked me up to take me to the bus depot. We had a really quick visit, and then I was off back to Calgary.
Joe and I went to Detour for a little while, and then went home.
Sunday morning, I continued to get ready and headed up to the airport. The flight left around 3:30pm. I got into Pearson at 9:30pm, and was in the hotel by 10:30. Well, here I am in transit again. Things fell apart as far as the Calgary-based training courses were concerned for the new Portal Remediation project, and now I find myself in a computer classroom in Mississauga. Everything is extremely convenient - the TriOS offices are right across the street from my hotel, and next door to that is the big Square One shopping mall. That should keep me entertained until Friday when I move into Toronto. I'm staying at the Royal York (a vacation in itself). The CPR offices at 40U and the TriOS offices at 55U are all extremely close to the hotel, so things should stay convenient. I'm glad I didn't rent a car afterall. I won't really need to go anywhere this week at least (there doesn't seem to be a lot to see in Mississauga. It's one big suburb - we're in the CBD, and it's all centered around the shopping mall, if that gives you any idea of the setup of this burg). Next week, everything will be within walking/subway distance.
The hotel has a 'gym' and a pool, which will be fantastic. It would be nice to find a running area, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of greenspace in this area. I will do more investigating though.
Nothing more to mention about Mississauga. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. Until later.
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
I guess I never really talked about my trip back to Manitoba. If Montreal/Ottawa was the partying trip, then the trip back home was the relaxing one. I flew into Regina on July 13th. Mom and Dad picked me up and we got back to Grandview in time to catch dinner at the Farm celebrations across the road. I went into town later on to catch Carla Morran's engagement social, and managed to visit with Dave and Nicole, Michelle Jubenvill, Terry and Felicia Hyra, Chris and Lindsay Samonsky, Brady Campbell, etc.
Sunday we went across the road again for breakfast, and got to meet the Dalgleish relatives from Vernon/Penticton, BC. Ryan Yarush showed up and we went up to Myer's site at Child's Lake. Had a great day there, then came back to GV. Donna Yarush drove me home.
Monday I worked out in the basement and pulled a muscle in my side that didn't hurt until that evening. It hampered the rest of my training plans for the week, although I did get a 15km run in on Tuesday.
Tuesday Dad and I headed up to Child's Lake. We spent the afternoon on the lake and then Mom and Grandma showed up for dinner. After they went home we spent most of the evening at Connor and Bonnie Macdonald's site. The next day we were out in the boat again, still catching nothing. The Macdonald crew went and caught a bunch of jackfish at Little Laurie Lake, so we managed to get a good feed in from their bounty. Dad and I headed back to GV that evening after packing everything up. I went over to Lance and Buffy's in the evening.
Thursday came around rather quickly. I met with Tannis and the boys and Roxanne and the girls at Pulock's place for a nice visit in the morning before mom took me to Dauphin to catch the bus to Winnipeg. I missed the express bus by minutes and had to go through Brandon instead. I managed to get into Wpg around 9:30pm. Ryan and Lynn picked me up and we spent the rest of the evening visiting.
Friday morning Ryan and I took Takeo to Bird's Hill Park for a run through the woods. We got back in the afternoon and did a little looking around in Osborne Village before getting to Carlo's and Murphy's for a few beers and a visit with Kristy and Barry Westerlund. We relaxed the rest of the evening.
Reid was at the house around 5:30am to start the trek back to Calgary. Very uneventful - I'm glad I only do that trip once a year or less.
It was back to work on Monday after relaxing on Sunday - actually I think I rode 100km that day.
The following Sunday was Elbow Valley, and then off to Ottawa on the Monday. What a bunch of whirlwind trips :-(
Sunday we went across the road again for breakfast, and got to meet the Dalgleish relatives from Vernon/Penticton, BC. Ryan Yarush showed up and we went up to Myer's site at Child's Lake. Had a great day there, then came back to GV. Donna Yarush drove me home.
Monday I worked out in the basement and pulled a muscle in my side that didn't hurt until that evening. It hampered the rest of my training plans for the week, although I did get a 15km run in on Tuesday.
Tuesday Dad and I headed up to Child's Lake. We spent the afternoon on the lake and then Mom and Grandma showed up for dinner. After they went home we spent most of the evening at Connor and Bonnie Macdonald's site. The next day we were out in the boat again, still catching nothing. The Macdonald crew went and caught a bunch of jackfish at Little Laurie Lake, so we managed to get a good feed in from their bounty. Dad and I headed back to GV that evening after packing everything up. I went over to Lance and Buffy's in the evening.
Thursday came around rather quickly. I met with Tannis and the boys and Roxanne and the girls at Pulock's place for a nice visit in the morning before mom took me to Dauphin to catch the bus to Winnipeg. I missed the express bus by minutes and had to go through Brandon instead. I managed to get into Wpg around 9:30pm. Ryan and Lynn picked me up and we spent the rest of the evening visiting.
Friday morning Ryan and I took Takeo to Bird's Hill Park for a run through the woods. We got back in the afternoon and did a little looking around in Osborne Village before getting to Carlo's and Murphy's for a few beers and a visit with Kristy and Barry Westerlund. We relaxed the rest of the evening.
Reid was at the house around 5:30am to start the trek back to Calgary. Very uneventful - I'm glad I only do that trip once a year or less.
It was back to work on Monday after relaxing on Sunday - actually I think I rode 100km that day.
The following Sunday was Elbow Valley, and then off to Ottawa on the Monday. What a bunch of whirlwind trips :-(
Sigh....back in front of the office computer - back at work for another stint until vacation comes around again.....
We got back last night with very little difficulty, except for the sprint through Pearson to catch the Calgary flight since the flight out of Montreal was delayed 15-20 minutes. I still feel quite groggy even though I'm back in my environment - it may take a few days of re-adjustment yet.
We ate at Bato Thai with Jerome and Tom, and ended up going to Sky on Friday instead of Le Parking. The choice was a good one - everyone managed to join us for the evening, and all Labatt products were $2 apiece. I knew I should've stayed on beer, but we all started drinking those stupid lemon coolers - I think Labatt's is called Lemonice or something equally disgusting. Needless to say, I was puking by 4am while sprinting out of the cab on the way home. The last thing I remembered was pushing Bertrand's wheelchair around the block while we were trying to finish off all of the coolers we stole out of the bar on the way out.
I spent all of Saturday in bed. I couldn't keep anything down until 3pm, and then once getting up at five we headed out for dinner once again. The choice was a very good Italian place on Ste-Catherine, of course we didn't get out of there until 9:30 or so, and proceeded to the T-dance until 11pm. Joe and I followed Bertrand and Alain to Club Date and howled over the karaoke hell we were being put through. Bob came back into town and met us for dinner and the evening. Jerome, Tom and Karen all went home early to prep for the next day.
Joe and I decided we wanted to catch a drag show at Mado before heading home, but the club had already been transformed into a dance club when we got there. We went home.
Sunday we headed to the parade route on Rene-Levesque around 11:30. The parade started around 12:30 and continued until around 3pm. It was a fantastic parade - 800,000 people showed up for it. Afterwards we moved to the blocked off sections of Ste-Catherine and did a lot of people watching before moving back to Sky for a few drinks, and then to the dance on Berri and then the festivities in Parc Emilie-Gamelin. We slowly lost everyone until Bob, Joe and myself were left. At 11pm the outdoor shows were done and we went back to Sky again. We smoked more ganja before heading home.
Monday morning we got ready and went out for breakfast. Bob drove us to Dorval and then we headed home.
We got back last night with very little difficulty, except for the sprint through Pearson to catch the Calgary flight since the flight out of Montreal was delayed 15-20 minutes. I still feel quite groggy even though I'm back in my environment - it may take a few days of re-adjustment yet.
We ate at Bato Thai with Jerome and Tom, and ended up going to Sky on Friday instead of Le Parking. The choice was a good one - everyone managed to join us for the evening, and all Labatt products were $2 apiece. I knew I should've stayed on beer, but we all started drinking those stupid lemon coolers - I think Labatt's is called Lemonice or something equally disgusting. Needless to say, I was puking by 4am while sprinting out of the cab on the way home. The last thing I remembered was pushing Bertrand's wheelchair around the block while we were trying to finish off all of the coolers we stole out of the bar on the way out.
I spent all of Saturday in bed. I couldn't keep anything down until 3pm, and then once getting up at five we headed out for dinner once again. The choice was a very good Italian place on Ste-Catherine, of course we didn't get out of there until 9:30 or so, and proceeded to the T-dance until 11pm. Joe and I followed Bertrand and Alain to Club Date and howled over the karaoke hell we were being put through. Bob came back into town and met us for dinner and the evening. Jerome, Tom and Karen all went home early to prep for the next day.
Joe and I decided we wanted to catch a drag show at Mado before heading home, but the club had already been transformed into a dance club when we got there. We went home.
Sunday we headed to the parade route on Rene-Levesque around 11:30. The parade started around 12:30 and continued until around 3pm. It was a fantastic parade - 800,000 people showed up for it. Afterwards we moved to the blocked off sections of Ste-Catherine and did a lot of people watching before moving back to Sky for a few drinks, and then to the dance on Berri and then the festivities in Parc Emilie-Gamelin. We slowly lost everyone until Bob, Joe and myself were left. At 11pm the outdoor shows were done and we went back to Sky again. We smoked more ganja before heading home.
Monday morning we got ready and went out for breakfast. Bob drove us to Dorval and then we headed home.
Friday, August 02, 2002
Joe's still sleeping, so I thought I'd drop a few lines. I was hoping to get out for a run today, but it poured out last night making everything muddy, and now it's getting hot again...like we need the humidity.
Yesterday was fun. Joe and I spent the day shopping on Ste-Catherine. We did the obligatory stops at Simon's and we both ended up buying new sandals at Aldo. I bought a couple of bathing suits on sale at Simon's and Joe bought a pair of shorts and several shirts. We continued walking towards the Village and stopped at several others stores before grabbing a bite to eat at Cafe Europeen and heading back to Jerome's. We quaffed a few beers and headed to Cafeteria on St-Laurent where we met up with Karen, Bertrand, Simon and Alain for drinks and food. Joe and I headed back to the Village and spent the rest of the evening dancing at Unity II.
Today we're planning on walking around the Vieux-Port and getting our souvenir shopping done. Tonight is the beginning of the weekend long party, starting with the HomoRama fashion show at Le Parking, and possibly to Stereo, Aria or Sona for afterhours dancing. Tomorrow is the T-dance in Emilie-Gamelin Park, and possibly some dancing at Sky or one of the other bars afterwards, and Sunday is the parade on Boulevard Rene-Levesque, and the street parties on Ste-Catherine and Berri, and who knows what else afterwards? If I don't manage to add an entry over the next few days, these are my excuses. Wish me luck!
Yesterday was fun. Joe and I spent the day shopping on Ste-Catherine. We did the obligatory stops at Simon's and we both ended up buying new sandals at Aldo. I bought a couple of bathing suits on sale at Simon's and Joe bought a pair of shorts and several shirts. We continued walking towards the Village and stopped at several others stores before grabbing a bite to eat at Cafe Europeen and heading back to Jerome's. We quaffed a few beers and headed to Cafeteria on St-Laurent where we met up with Karen, Bertrand, Simon and Alain for drinks and food. Joe and I headed back to the Village and spent the rest of the evening dancing at Unity II.
Today we're planning on walking around the Vieux-Port and getting our souvenir shopping done. Tonight is the beginning of the weekend long party, starting with the HomoRama fashion show at Le Parking, and possibly to Stereo, Aria or Sona for afterhours dancing. Tomorrow is the T-dance in Emilie-Gamelin Park, and possibly some dancing at Sky or one of the other bars afterwards, and Sunday is the parade on Boulevard Rene-Levesque, and the street parties on Ste-Catherine and Berri, and who knows what else afterwards? If I don't manage to add an entry over the next few days, these are my excuses. Wish me luck!
Thursday, August 01, 2002
Greetings once again from Montreal! Joe and I arrived safely last night (Wednesday). After spending 48 hours of non-stop walking in Ottawa, it was nice to get somewhere with acceptable transit. We had a lot of fun in Ottawa, and obviously didn't get everything done we had set out to do, but we did get quite a few things accomplished (including taking six or seven rolls of pictures). The city is beautiful. On Monday, we went out for a late dinner on Bank Street, and then Bob Flynn took us to a bar in Hull called "The Living Room" that had a gay night, and apparently is one of the few occasions during the week when anything is going on. It was fun.
Tuesday we spent walking around. We had a tour of the Parliament Buildings, and walked up Sussex Drive, stopping outside the Canadian War Museum and Rideau Centre. That evening we went out with Bob again for a few beers in the Bytown Market.
On Wednesday we caught the changing of the guards on the Parliament grounds and then went to the Canadian Museam of Civilization in Hull. What a fantastic facility! We spent about four hours in there, and realized we were going to have to miss everything else to keep on our schedule and make it to Montreal in the evening. We caught the 5pm bus to Montreal, and we were at Jerome's place around 8:30pm. Joe and I headed down to the Village in the evening, and stopped in at Campus for a few beers. Regrettably, we missed the Flexx show at Emilie-Gamelin Park, which was one of the countless Pride Week activities I actually wanted to check out. Oh well, there's always next year!
Today we are heading downtown to do some "window shopping". Hopefully this does not lead to any impulsive purchasing, but we'll see what happens. I already know we're going to run out of time by Monday to do everything we want to do, but we'll do our best to get as much in as possible.
Still feeling a great high from my finish at Elbow Valley Half Ironman on Sunday. I knocked 20 minutes off of last year's time, ending sub-five hours, which was my goal (4:57), so I'm quite satisfied with my performance, even though the 2km swim was no hell yet again.
Anyhoo, I will add more tomorrow.....
Tuesday we spent walking around. We had a tour of the Parliament Buildings, and walked up Sussex Drive, stopping outside the Canadian War Museum and Rideau Centre. That evening we went out with Bob again for a few beers in the Bytown Market.
On Wednesday we caught the changing of the guards on the Parliament grounds and then went to the Canadian Museam of Civilization in Hull. What a fantastic facility! We spent about four hours in there, and realized we were going to have to miss everything else to keep on our schedule and make it to Montreal in the evening. We caught the 5pm bus to Montreal, and we were at Jerome's place around 8:30pm. Joe and I headed down to the Village in the evening, and stopped in at Campus for a few beers. Regrettably, we missed the Flexx show at Emilie-Gamelin Park, which was one of the countless Pride Week activities I actually wanted to check out. Oh well, there's always next year!
Today we are heading downtown to do some "window shopping". Hopefully this does not lead to any impulsive purchasing, but we'll see what happens. I already know we're going to run out of time by Monday to do everything we want to do, but we'll do our best to get as much in as possible.
Still feeling a great high from my finish at Elbow Valley Half Ironman on Sunday. I knocked 20 minutes off of last year's time, ending sub-five hours, which was my goal (4:57), so I'm quite satisfied with my performance, even though the 2km swim was no hell yet again.
Anyhoo, I will add more tomorrow.....
Friday, May 31, 2002
I"ve decided to race in the Bikeshevik this weekend.....I'm not sure if I've made a mistake or not! Actually, with how things went last night at the race series, I hope that I can pull off some good results. I think I'm registered in the 200m sprint heats, the 3000m and something else, on top of the possibility of racing some Points races, Devils and Scratch races. There could be six races in all on Sat. and Sun, all in the Master's category.
Joe has Sat. night off and wants to do something. I'll have to play it by ear.
Results on Monday......
Joe has Sat. night off and wants to do something. I'll have to play it by ear.
Results on Monday......
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
What's been happening? Not too much....work, training, competitions. I've had a cold that won't disappear for the last two weeks - I ended up missing the Bikes on Broadway Stage Race in Saskatoon on the long weekend due to that fact, plus my ride arrangements fell apart at the last minute.
The races so far:
Calgary Police Services Half Marathon, April 28, 2002 Place: 24th. Time: 1:25:49. Pace: 6:33.
Creative Restaurants Banff-Calgary Relay, May 4, 2002 CPR Track Stars overall team place: 14th. Category place: 4th (Fun category). Total time: 11:06:12. Pace: 7:45
Individual results: Leg 1 (Banff-Canmore - 22km) Leg place: 9th. Time: 1:29:19. Pace: 6:32.
Crankmaster's Bearspaw Breaking Away, April 21, 2002. Individual TT time: 12:31, place 2nd overall. Team TT: 14:25, place 2nd - Team place 1st overall.
Velocity Ardrossan Stage Race, May 11-12, 2002. Individual TT: 8:02 (14/53). Criterium: 41:48 (31/53). Road race: 2:19:23 (35/53) GC: 3:09:13 (33/53).
Next up: CBTL racing night on Thursday, May 30. Bikeshevik Grand Prix at Glenmore Velodrome on June 1-2. Headwinds SR June 15-16. Geldsetzer Memorial Track Competition on June 22-23. Arbour Lake Triathlon on June 30.
The Lilac Festival was on May 26 - Joe, Doug, Wayne and myself spent the day moving up and down 4th Street and sampling all of the different beer gardens. Spent most of last week in the gym and at yoga, due to the fact I was still feeling crappy and had the sensation that there was no cardio endurance to be summoned.
I received another order of M. Stevens dancewear at the end of April. I ended up ordering a navy blue unitard, a white leotard and a nude dance belt all in milliskin. The unitard is the most comfortable lycra article I've ever owned - paired with the milliskin dance belt, I could dance forever. Fits like a second skin. I can't wait to start lessons now! I ended up making two waist belts to hold up the tights from some material I bought. The belts work very well, especially with the tights over the milliskin leotard. There is movement at the waist, but you can cinch the belt tight enough to secure the tights in place. Marvelous!
I'm waiting to buy some more Juventus team gear - jacket, skinsuit, bib shorts. I will probably get the rest of the order at Headwinds, but now I'm thinking that Juventus, even though they are a great team, aren't for me. I'm going to join Bicisport or Synergy next year. They get track practice time included with their membership, which is a great deal, plus all of the organized team rides. I'm feeling pretty isolated here - if I was in Edmonton, Juventus would definitely be the way to go. I was hoping on being able to do more team stuff here as well, but since all of the other Juvie riders in Calgary are Cat 1/2/3, there's no chance I'll be able to ride with them, at least for the first half of the season. By adding in a track practice and racing night once a week, plus weekly crit races on Tuesdays, I'll be able to network and meet some new people, and find new people to train with (hopefully). The limits of Wednesday and Friday nights for group road rides isn't working with Tim, Doug, Wayne, or Hugh's schedules so far.
Joe and I finalized purchase of our flights to Ottawa/Montreal a week ago. We're heading to Ottawa on July 29th, returning from Montreal on August 5th. I wish we had more time, but that's the way of the world. We're going to spend a day or two in Ottawa and check out the sights, and then we're going to bus to Montreal and spend the remainder of the week and Pride weekend in the city. It's going to be so awesome! I found out from Jerome that Bob Flynn is living in Ottawa now, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up with him, along with Fraser and Matthew. Jerome will be done is art show by then, Tom will be free, Karen will have just moved there, and Wendy will be around too. FUN!
I'm planning now on heading back to Manitoba on July 12th for Keith and Sharon's Century Farm celebration, and return the following weekend of July 21. I may be hitching a ride to Grandview with Bob and Trudy, and hopefully will be able to spend the 19-21 in Winnipeg visiting the old haunts. I want to spend most of the week up at the lake - I'm really hoping I'll be able to either take my scuba equipment or my bike. I was originally going to go back with Cheryl-lee for Pattie Rausch's wedding on June 15th, but it was too early and too much money I don't have that factored in to screw up that plan.
The races so far:
Calgary Police Services Half Marathon, April 28, 2002 Place: 24th. Time: 1:25:49. Pace: 6:33.
Creative Restaurants Banff-Calgary Relay, May 4, 2002 CPR Track Stars overall team place: 14th. Category place: 4th (Fun category). Total time: 11:06:12. Pace: 7:45
Individual results: Leg 1 (Banff-Canmore - 22km) Leg place: 9th. Time: 1:29:19. Pace: 6:32.
Crankmaster's Bearspaw Breaking Away, April 21, 2002. Individual TT time: 12:31, place 2nd overall. Team TT: 14:25, place 2nd - Team place 1st overall.
Velocity Ardrossan Stage Race, May 11-12, 2002. Individual TT: 8:02 (14/53). Criterium: 41:48 (31/53). Road race: 2:19:23 (35/53) GC: 3:09:13 (33/53).
Next up: CBTL racing night on Thursday, May 30. Bikeshevik Grand Prix at Glenmore Velodrome on June 1-2. Headwinds SR June 15-16. Geldsetzer Memorial Track Competition on June 22-23. Arbour Lake Triathlon on June 30.
The Lilac Festival was on May 26 - Joe, Doug, Wayne and myself spent the day moving up and down 4th Street and sampling all of the different beer gardens. Spent most of last week in the gym and at yoga, due to the fact I was still feeling crappy and had the sensation that there was no cardio endurance to be summoned.
I received another order of M. Stevens dancewear at the end of April. I ended up ordering a navy blue unitard, a white leotard and a nude dance belt all in milliskin. The unitard is the most comfortable lycra article I've ever owned - paired with the milliskin dance belt, I could dance forever. Fits like a second skin. I can't wait to start lessons now! I ended up making two waist belts to hold up the tights from some material I bought. The belts work very well, especially with the tights over the milliskin leotard. There is movement at the waist, but you can cinch the belt tight enough to secure the tights in place. Marvelous!
I'm waiting to buy some more Juventus team gear - jacket, skinsuit, bib shorts. I will probably get the rest of the order at Headwinds, but now I'm thinking that Juventus, even though they are a great team, aren't for me. I'm going to join Bicisport or Synergy next year. They get track practice time included with their membership, which is a great deal, plus all of the organized team rides. I'm feeling pretty isolated here - if I was in Edmonton, Juventus would definitely be the way to go. I was hoping on being able to do more team stuff here as well, but since all of the other Juvie riders in Calgary are Cat 1/2/3, there's no chance I'll be able to ride with them, at least for the first half of the season. By adding in a track practice and racing night once a week, plus weekly crit races on Tuesdays, I'll be able to network and meet some new people, and find new people to train with (hopefully). The limits of Wednesday and Friday nights for group road rides isn't working with Tim, Doug, Wayne, or Hugh's schedules so far.
Joe and I finalized purchase of our flights to Ottawa/Montreal a week ago. We're heading to Ottawa on July 29th, returning from Montreal on August 5th. I wish we had more time, but that's the way of the world. We're going to spend a day or two in Ottawa and check out the sights, and then we're going to bus to Montreal and spend the remainder of the week and Pride weekend in the city. It's going to be so awesome! I found out from Jerome that Bob Flynn is living in Ottawa now, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up with him, along with Fraser and Matthew. Jerome will be done is art show by then, Tom will be free, Karen will have just moved there, and Wendy will be around too. FUN!
I'm planning now on heading back to Manitoba on July 12th for Keith and Sharon's Century Farm celebration, and return the following weekend of July 21. I may be hitching a ride to Grandview with Bob and Trudy, and hopefully will be able to spend the 19-21 in Winnipeg visiting the old haunts. I want to spend most of the week up at the lake - I'm really hoping I'll be able to either take my scuba equipment or my bike. I was originally going to go back with Cheryl-lee for Pattie Rausch's wedding on June 15th, but it was too early and too much money I don't have that factored in to screw up that plan.
Tuesday, April 09, 2002
The volunteer list for the Juventus team has been posted. It looks like I'm going to be helping out with the design of the team website, and also in charge of team clothing for the Calgary contingent. Sounds interesting!
Speaking of the rest of the workout clothing, I'm hoping to buy some more M.Stevens dance stuff. The Milliskin material is SO superior to anything else I've ever worn. The dance tights fit like a glove and feel like you almost have nothing on. I'm intending on buying a black unitard, a white SS leotard, and a nude color dancebelt, all in Milliskin from Get to the Pointe dancewear online. I probably won't do this until mid-summer, when some more of my bills are out of the way/under control.
I'm really looking forward to trying new things this fall. So many options - I'm seriously considering taking a few dance classes (for sure Introductory Ballet, and possibly a jazz or modern class), but also possibly getting back into speed skating again. Why not? It's a good overall sport for muscle conditioning, and I already have all of the equipment! On top of that, I'm also wanting to get back swimming with UCTC in September. We'll see what happens.
Speaking of the rest of the workout clothing, I'm hoping to buy some more M.Stevens dance stuff. The Milliskin material is SO superior to anything else I've ever worn. The dance tights fit like a glove and feel like you almost have nothing on. I'm intending on buying a black unitard, a white SS leotard, and a nude color dancebelt, all in Milliskin from Get to the Pointe dancewear online. I probably won't do this until mid-summer, when some more of my bills are out of the way/under control.
I'm really looking forward to trying new things this fall. So many options - I'm seriously considering taking a few dance classes (for sure Introductory Ballet, and possibly a jazz or modern class), but also possibly getting back into speed skating again. Why not? It's a good overall sport for muscle conditioning, and I already have all of the equipment! On top of that, I'm also wanting to get back swimming with UCTC in September. We'll see what happens.
Received Kylie Minogue "In Your Eyes" remix CD-R from Rob Rumble in Lincolnshire through eBay auction at the end of February, the week before Malina's 25th birthday party.
Received Kylie Minogue, "Butterfly" limited edition remix CD from BluePlate Records in Chicago (Mark Picchiati's label) on April 4, 2002. Expecting "Can't Get You Out of My Head" club promo CD from Praphan (Kevin) Kongthanasunthorn in Bangkok this week.
Received Kylie Minogue, "Butterfly" limited edition remix CD from BluePlate Records in Chicago (Mark Picchiati's label) on April 4, 2002. Expecting "Can't Get You Out of My Head" club promo CD from Praphan (Kevin) Kongthanasunthorn in Bangkok this week.
Another letter to Fraser Valentine in Ottawa:
Hey Fraser,
I'm just heading out of the office for another week....just thought I'd drop you a quick "hi" and see how things are going.
Not too much new here. The weather is still sucking shit - really putting a damper on getting some miles on the bike before competition season. The first race of the season is on the 20th...only two weeks away. I doubt the snow will all be gone by then, but hopefully the route will be clear enough.
I've been in physiotherapy for my knees for the past month. Nothing too major, apparently muscle imbalance in my legs from concentrating on too few sports has tightened up my IT band and weakened my gluteus medius muscles enough to pull my knees off center when I run, causing some nagging pain. The massage and acupuncture therapy has been doing a lot of good, and I've been doing a lot of Pilates, yoga and stretching along with muscle training in an attempt to swing things around. I went for a test run on Tuesday night - 16km, everything seems to be working okay, which is a good thing, since I'm running two half marathons back-to-back on April 28 and May 4.
The rest of the summer is full of competitions, either triathlons or road/track races almost every weekend. I am still taking the August long weekend to come to Montreal for Pride. I would really like to take a few days to check out what Ottawa has to offer too, still no definite plans. You and Matthew should come to Montreal for the Pride weekend. Should be a lot of fun!!!
Sept. Labor day long weekend is the Vancouver International Triathlon taking place in Stanley Park. I'm definitely considering that one as well. I'm planning on taking the week off after that to do some riding on the Pacific side of Vancouver Island and some scuba diving off of Nanaimo, Victoria and the Lower Mainland coast.
Some friends are also considering heading to Toronto for Pride in June as well. One of our good friends is moving there this weekend, and so we'll have a place to stay. So many plans, so few confirmations......
I guess I'm considering so many trips because I have a pile of Aeroplan miles and Airmiles I can use up for some free trips, and instead of putting myself further in debt this year, I've thought it would be a good idea to use them up to still complete the trips I've intended on doing, while still keeping my spending under control. It all sounds good in theory, at least.
Most of my spare time right now is spent in the gym or in the pool. I've had one cold after another this season, which has really been dogging things as well.
I haven't bought any new gear lately either. I think I told Matthew that I won an auction on Ebay a few months ago for a longsleeve 2000 season Mercury-Viatel skinsuit. It's a beautiful piece, I've been wearing it on the windtrainer, but I'm anxious to test it out on a few time trials this season.
Other than that, not too much is new. Work is going better after the budget fiasco that occurred here at the beginning of the year. I got picked up by another project team at the beginning of February, and things have been pretty hectic since then - just the way l like it! Joe (the bf) has 24 days until his last exam is over, and then he's officially an alumni, barring any technicalities like failing a course. He's so excited to be done (he's been in school seven years sans break as well) - so am I - maybe we can start building a normal life together with normal hours. Who knows? Maybe spending more time together is exactly what we need. Maybe it's not. I guess we'll have to wait and find out. I'm still having issues with commitment specifically because of this vagueness in our lives right now - time will tell whether the fog clears somewhat.
Speaking of school, isn't your dissertation due at the end of this term too, or maybe it was at the end of the fall session??? I can't remember anymore (something tells me I'm three months behind things). At any rate, you're close to being done too, thank god. It's so nice not having all of that studying to do on top of everything else, like classes, jobs, working out, maintaining your health and diet, and boyfriends for starters.
Well, I've been at this desk enough hours today. I'll drop another line soon. We should be firming up our Montreal dates within the next month or so. I think the plan is to leave Calgary on the evening of July 28th (after the big triathlon of the season - Elbow Springs- on the morning of the 28th) or the morning of the 29th. We are planning the return flight from Montreal on August 5th, but I am still thinking of using a few more AV days to get to Ottawa after the 5th. Maybe I should fly into Montreal, and return from Ottawa. That will sort of depend on what Westjet is planning for its flight expansions this year.
Enough about details! I hope everything is well at your end. Drop me a line or two to prove you're still alive.
Talk soon,
Reid
Hey Fraser,
I'm just heading out of the office for another week....just thought I'd drop you a quick "hi" and see how things are going.
Not too much new here. The weather is still sucking shit - really putting a damper on getting some miles on the bike before competition season. The first race of the season is on the 20th...only two weeks away. I doubt the snow will all be gone by then, but hopefully the route will be clear enough.
I've been in physiotherapy for my knees for the past month. Nothing too major, apparently muscle imbalance in my legs from concentrating on too few sports has tightened up my IT band and weakened my gluteus medius muscles enough to pull my knees off center when I run, causing some nagging pain. The massage and acupuncture therapy has been doing a lot of good, and I've been doing a lot of Pilates, yoga and stretching along with muscle training in an attempt to swing things around. I went for a test run on Tuesday night - 16km, everything seems to be working okay, which is a good thing, since I'm running two half marathons back-to-back on April 28 and May 4.
The rest of the summer is full of competitions, either triathlons or road/track races almost every weekend. I am still taking the August long weekend to come to Montreal for Pride. I would really like to take a few days to check out what Ottawa has to offer too, still no definite plans. You and Matthew should come to Montreal for the Pride weekend. Should be a lot of fun!!!
Sept. Labor day long weekend is the Vancouver International Triathlon taking place in Stanley Park. I'm definitely considering that one as well. I'm planning on taking the week off after that to do some riding on the Pacific side of Vancouver Island and some scuba diving off of Nanaimo, Victoria and the Lower Mainland coast.
Some friends are also considering heading to Toronto for Pride in June as well. One of our good friends is moving there this weekend, and so we'll have a place to stay. So many plans, so few confirmations......
I guess I'm considering so many trips because I have a pile of Aeroplan miles and Airmiles I can use up for some free trips, and instead of putting myself further in debt this year, I've thought it would be a good idea to use them up to still complete the trips I've intended on doing, while still keeping my spending under control. It all sounds good in theory, at least.
Most of my spare time right now is spent in the gym or in the pool. I've had one cold after another this season, which has really been dogging things as well.
I haven't bought any new gear lately either. I think I told Matthew that I won an auction on Ebay a few months ago for a longsleeve 2000 season Mercury-Viatel skinsuit. It's a beautiful piece, I've been wearing it on the windtrainer, but I'm anxious to test it out on a few time trials this season.
Other than that, not too much is new. Work is going better after the budget fiasco that occurred here at the beginning of the year. I got picked up by another project team at the beginning of February, and things have been pretty hectic since then - just the way l like it! Joe (the bf) has 24 days until his last exam is over, and then he's officially an alumni, barring any technicalities like failing a course. He's so excited to be done (he's been in school seven years sans break as well) - so am I - maybe we can start building a normal life together with normal hours. Who knows? Maybe spending more time together is exactly what we need. Maybe it's not. I guess we'll have to wait and find out. I'm still having issues with commitment specifically because of this vagueness in our lives right now - time will tell whether the fog clears somewhat.
Speaking of school, isn't your dissertation due at the end of this term too, or maybe it was at the end of the fall session??? I can't remember anymore (something tells me I'm three months behind things). At any rate, you're close to being done too, thank god. It's so nice not having all of that studying to do on top of everything else, like classes, jobs, working out, maintaining your health and diet, and boyfriends for starters.
Well, I've been at this desk enough hours today. I'll drop another line soon. We should be firming up our Montreal dates within the next month or so. I think the plan is to leave Calgary on the evening of July 28th (after the big triathlon of the season - Elbow Springs- on the morning of the 28th) or the morning of the 29th. We are planning the return flight from Montreal on August 5th, but I am still thinking of using a few more AV days to get to Ottawa after the 5th. Maybe I should fly into Montreal, and return from Ottawa. That will sort of depend on what Westjet is planning for its flight expansions this year.
Enough about details! I hope everything is well at your end. Drop me a line or two to prove you're still alive.
Talk soon,
Reid
Another letter - "The State of Training" address to Reid Cummings:
Hey RJC,
I think everything is going really good. I was at six pills a day last week with no adverse effects - I was even sleeping good. I started 8 a day yesterday, and everything is still fine. I guess I will stay here until either I reach my target weight or the pills run out. I'm sitting under 180 (178 to be exact on an empty stomach at lunch hour today), a loss of 6 or 7 pounds already. I think I'm setting 165 as my absolute low limit for now. I haven't weighed that little since early high school, I think. I reached 167 at one point last summer, and I know that once the weather warms up, I will have no problem maintaining that. The rate things are going, I should only have to take one dose of this stuff (240 pills) and save the other batch for next spring. That would be a good idea considering I am starting to balk at the cost of all these supplements.
BTW, I paid $72 for a pail of Endurox at Samson's last Tuesday on their 20% off day. Another friend has told me their products are overpriced. Would you check out the regular price of Endurox (and Hydro-Lean) at Gator's the next time you're there? I'm curious to find out how overpriced they are...I don't really think they are, if you buy on the SuperTuesdays.
I took a dose of Endurox on Saturday. I ran 21km in the morning, did Pilates at the gym and then an upper body workout. I drank a glass of Endurox afterwards, and I did feel pretty good an hour or so later, as I continued to stretch out awhile longer.
I had hoped to ride yesterday, but you know what the conditions were like. I ended up going to Swan's in Inglewood on Sat. night to meet up with Joe (that's where he works), and we ended up staying until 1am playing darts and drinking beer with a bunch of people. The snow started falling around 9pm, so I knew I wouldn't be going out for a ride anyways. It was nice to have a full day off at any rate.
Once cycling starts, this is going to be the schedule I will be trying to maintain:
Monday am - gym workout
Monday noon - stretch/abs
Monday pm - cycle - speedwork
(THIS WILL BECOME MY OFF DAY ON COMPETITION WEEKS)
Tuesday am - swim
Tuesday noon - stretch/abs
Tuesday pm - Crits at UofC Research Park
Wednesday am - gym workout
Wednesday noon - Pilates
Wednesday pm - run
Thursday am - swim
Thursday noon - stretch/abs
Thursday pm - cycle - hillwork
Friday am - gym workout
Friday noon - Yoga
Friday pm - OFF
Saturday am - run/Pilates
Saturday pm - OFF/distance cycle?
Sunday am - distance cycle/OFF?
Sunday pm - swim/OFF
(THIS WILL BE MY DAY OFF ON NON-COMPETITION WEEKS)
The weekends will change according to when everyone else wants to ride, and when the competitions are. Most people want to go out for their distance rides on Saturday morning. I'd much rather go out on Sundays, but since most weekends are being taken up by competitions anyway, it won't matter much. I'm going to have to find a full OFF day during the week in that case.
Anyways, gotta go,
R.
Hey RJC,
I think everything is going really good. I was at six pills a day last week with no adverse effects - I was even sleeping good. I started 8 a day yesterday, and everything is still fine. I guess I will stay here until either I reach my target weight or the pills run out. I'm sitting under 180 (178 to be exact on an empty stomach at lunch hour today), a loss of 6 or 7 pounds already. I think I'm setting 165 as my absolute low limit for now. I haven't weighed that little since early high school, I think. I reached 167 at one point last summer, and I know that once the weather warms up, I will have no problem maintaining that. The rate things are going, I should only have to take one dose of this stuff (240 pills) and save the other batch for next spring. That would be a good idea considering I am starting to balk at the cost of all these supplements.
BTW, I paid $72 for a pail of Endurox at Samson's last Tuesday on their 20% off day. Another friend has told me their products are overpriced. Would you check out the regular price of Endurox (and Hydro-Lean) at Gator's the next time you're there? I'm curious to find out how overpriced they are...I don't really think they are, if you buy on the SuperTuesdays.
I took a dose of Endurox on Saturday. I ran 21km in the morning, did Pilates at the gym and then an upper body workout. I drank a glass of Endurox afterwards, and I did feel pretty good an hour or so later, as I continued to stretch out awhile longer.
I had hoped to ride yesterday, but you know what the conditions were like. I ended up going to Swan's in Inglewood on Sat. night to meet up with Joe (that's where he works), and we ended up staying until 1am playing darts and drinking beer with a bunch of people. The snow started falling around 9pm, so I knew I wouldn't be going out for a ride anyways. It was nice to have a full day off at any rate.
Once cycling starts, this is going to be the schedule I will be trying to maintain:
Monday am - gym workout
Monday noon - stretch/abs
Monday pm - cycle - speedwork
(THIS WILL BECOME MY OFF DAY ON COMPETITION WEEKS)
Tuesday am - swim
Tuesday noon - stretch/abs
Tuesday pm - Crits at UofC Research Park
Wednesday am - gym workout
Wednesday noon - Pilates
Wednesday pm - run
Thursday am - swim
Thursday noon - stretch/abs
Thursday pm - cycle - hillwork
Friday am - gym workout
Friday noon - Yoga
Friday pm - OFF
Saturday am - run/Pilates
Saturday pm - OFF/distance cycle?
Sunday am - distance cycle/OFF?
Sunday pm - swim/OFF
(THIS WILL BE MY DAY OFF ON NON-COMPETITION WEEKS)
The weekends will change according to when everyone else wants to ride, and when the competitions are. Most people want to go out for their distance rides on Saturday morning. I'd much rather go out on Sundays, but since most weekends are being taken up by competitions anyway, it won't matter much. I'm going to have to find a full OFF day during the week in that case.
Anyways, gotta go,
R.
Monday, April 08, 2002
I've had five (?) physiotherapy sessions. I like Mina, she's very good, but the receptionists at that Lindsay Park physiotherapy center are pretty inept. Acupuncture and electric therapy are pretty weird, but they seem to be working. Man, could Mina ever massage the crap out of my IT band. I came out of their with bruised more than once.
I went for a 16km run last Tuesday and a 21km run on Saturday morning with Wayne Guest. My knees didn't hurt at all! I was so relieved and this fact has alleviated a lot of training stress for me. I was so worried I wouldn't have anything for the Policeman's half marathon, and it would take me a good chunk of Spring training to get back in shape.
I've been taking Hydro-Lean for two weeks now. I've already lost 6 lbs., down to 179. I was quite amazed. If it stays at this rate, I'll be down to my target weight in 1 to 1.5 months. Then I'll be a lean cycling and running machine! It will definitely be an advantage for me in the early races this season.
I've been feeling pretty good lately. I feel spring is right around the corner, and with that comes freedom, the warmth of the sun, and MOBILITY! I will be able to spin all over the city again on my bike. I really enjoy that.
I've been taking Hydro-Lean for two weeks now. I've already lost 6 lbs., down to 179. I was quite amazed. If it stays at this rate, I'll be down to my target weight in 1 to 1.5 months. Then I'll be a lean cycling and running machine! It will definitely be an advantage for me in the early races this season.
I've been feeling pretty good lately. I feel spring is right around the corner, and with that comes freedom, the warmth of the sun, and MOBILITY! I will be able to spin all over the city again on my bike. I really enjoy that.
Here's a letter written to Jerome a few minutes ago:
Hey Jer,
How are things? Spring MIGHT be finally showing its very late sorry-ass face around here soon. It snowed again on Sunday, and I don't trust it enough to say that it might not do it again. I've been dying to get my bike out on the road. I have a race on April 20th, only two weeks away! Talk about an abrupt start to the season, eh?
Ahh, now that the obligatory Canadian conversation about the weather is over, how have you been? I imagine you are feverishly painting once again. That next show with Tom and Marie-Josee is coming up in a few months, isn't it? You were so successful at your last show that you are probably having to do a few more paintings than you had originally thought before the first show. Oh well, sucks to be talented...LOL
I was thinking earlier today that it has almost been a year since I was in Montreal, and I am SO wanting to come back and visit. You live in a fucking cool city, man...I want to experience more of it. It's so much fun having a cool friend there to hang around with too! Diverscite is going to be so much fun. Joe has managed to book days off then, so we're heading your way for sure! Be scared, be very scared!
I think the tentative dates of arrival and departure are July 29th to August 5th....at least that's when Joe goes back. I wouldn't mind taking a few days after Pride to check out Ottawa, but my AV days are pretty precious (aka scarce)...I'll have to see what else is going on. I'm considering a few more short trips this year.
The Vancouver International Triathlon is on the Labour Day long weekend, and I'm thinking of going to it, and then taking the week after that to cruise around Vancouver Island on my bike and do some scuba diving. It would be fun to have someone to go with, but I may go by myself anyways.
Also my friend Natasha, who was integral spoke to a fun set of friends, moved to Toronto last weekend. A few of us are thinking of going out there for Pride in June.
I have two free flights in North America that I can use, so I am thinking of using one to come to Montreal. Joe and I will split the cost of the other one and then I'll have one left to play with.
I was considering using it to go to Vancouver, and then I thought, "Why waste it on a trip that's cheap?" So now, I'm thinking maybe San Francisco for a getaway in November or something like that, OR coming back to Montreal for Black & Blue? Hmmm....what kind of crazy thought is that???
Nevertheless, Diverscite will definitely be a blast. I am so looking forward to partying with you again. Tom and Wendy will nicely add to the mix, and JOE WILL BE THERE! Wow! The mystery boyfriend....
Anyways, I've got lots of bike racing and triathlon crap to do before that. We were even originally thinking of coming to Eastern Canada on about July 27th , but my main triathlon of the season is that weekend! Joe ended up having to work that weekend anyways, but you get the idea. I pretty much only have maybe a half dozen completely free weekends this summer. It's all very good. I've been working out pretty hard this winter getting ready, so I hope that all the hard work is going to pay off.
How's Tom? I guess he'll be in Taxation hell for at least another month. Maybe you'll get to see him sometime in May. You'll have to tell him that I'm deeply in love with Kylie Minogue (again - I'm such an 80's hag), and that the DVD "Live in Sydney" of the last show of her "On A Night Like This" tour last year comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. She is such a sweet, appreciative woman - and a great ass too! I've been getting a lot of her rare remixes imported lately; winning eBay auctions, etc.. She's such a diva.
I've still been in touch with Rejean Livernois. He was living with Louise from the Aids charity dinner we went to last spring because he ended up not moving to California as he was supposed to last year. We've been playing answering machine tag over the past six months. He's living with a guy named Robert now. It will be fun to see him when we are there too.
Sean and Nancy's housewarming is this weekend. I called Susan Armstrong tonight to see if she had any gift ideas, but we're both stumped for the time being. I've had the advantage of already being to the condo since the naked repainting job they did, so I know the color schemes, etc. I was trying to think of something for their bathroom, but I'm at a loss for ideas. I regret not thinking earlier of getting them that painting you did of them. I could've had everyone chip in some money and could have easily covered most of the cost. Anyways, too late now. Do you have any good gift ideas? I need something original yet functional.
I'm starting to run out of things to talk about. I would have called you tonight, but I didn't get home from the gym until almost 8pm. Email is a great thing, isn't it? It's just crappy when you have a lot to say and type like a drunk monkey. It takes so much longer!
Anyways, I gonna take off. I hope everything is going well in your end of the world, and I'll talk to you soon.
Hugs,
Reid
Just thought it would be a good way to update the blogger too.
Hey Jer,
How are things? Spring MIGHT be finally showing its very late sorry-ass face around here soon. It snowed again on Sunday, and I don't trust it enough to say that it might not do it again. I've been dying to get my bike out on the road. I have a race on April 20th, only two weeks away! Talk about an abrupt start to the season, eh?
Ahh, now that the obligatory Canadian conversation about the weather is over, how have you been? I imagine you are feverishly painting once again. That next show with Tom and Marie-Josee is coming up in a few months, isn't it? You were so successful at your last show that you are probably having to do a few more paintings than you had originally thought before the first show. Oh well, sucks to be talented...LOL
I was thinking earlier today that it has almost been a year since I was in Montreal, and I am SO wanting to come back and visit. You live in a fucking cool city, man...I want to experience more of it. It's so much fun having a cool friend there to hang around with too! Diverscite is going to be so much fun. Joe has managed to book days off then, so we're heading your way for sure! Be scared, be very scared!
I think the tentative dates of arrival and departure are July 29th to August 5th....at least that's when Joe goes back. I wouldn't mind taking a few days after Pride to check out Ottawa, but my AV days are pretty precious (aka scarce)...I'll have to see what else is going on. I'm considering a few more short trips this year.
The Vancouver International Triathlon is on the Labour Day long weekend, and I'm thinking of going to it, and then taking the week after that to cruise around Vancouver Island on my bike and do some scuba diving. It would be fun to have someone to go with, but I may go by myself anyways.
Also my friend Natasha, who was integral spoke to a fun set of friends, moved to Toronto last weekend. A few of us are thinking of going out there for Pride in June.
I have two free flights in North America that I can use, so I am thinking of using one to come to Montreal. Joe and I will split the cost of the other one and then I'll have one left to play with.
I was considering using it to go to Vancouver, and then I thought, "Why waste it on a trip that's cheap?" So now, I'm thinking maybe San Francisco for a getaway in November or something like that, OR coming back to Montreal for Black & Blue? Hmmm....what kind of crazy thought is that???
Nevertheless, Diverscite will definitely be a blast. I am so looking forward to partying with you again. Tom and Wendy will nicely add to the mix, and JOE WILL BE THERE! Wow! The mystery boyfriend....
Anyways, I've got lots of bike racing and triathlon crap to do before that. We were even originally thinking of coming to Eastern Canada on about July 27th , but my main triathlon of the season is that weekend! Joe ended up having to work that weekend anyways, but you get the idea. I pretty much only have maybe a half dozen completely free weekends this summer. It's all very good. I've been working out pretty hard this winter getting ready, so I hope that all the hard work is going to pay off.
How's Tom? I guess he'll be in Taxation hell for at least another month. Maybe you'll get to see him sometime in May. You'll have to tell him that I'm deeply in love with Kylie Minogue (again - I'm such an 80's hag), and that the DVD "Live in Sydney" of the last show of her "On A Night Like This" tour last year comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. She is such a sweet, appreciative woman - and a great ass too! I've been getting a lot of her rare remixes imported lately; winning eBay auctions, etc.. She's such a diva.
I've still been in touch with Rejean Livernois. He was living with Louise from the Aids charity dinner we went to last spring because he ended up not moving to California as he was supposed to last year. We've been playing answering machine tag over the past six months. He's living with a guy named Robert now. It will be fun to see him when we are there too.
Sean and Nancy's housewarming is this weekend. I called Susan Armstrong tonight to see if she had any gift ideas, but we're both stumped for the time being. I've had the advantage of already being to the condo since the naked repainting job they did, so I know the color schemes, etc. I was trying to think of something for their bathroom, but I'm at a loss for ideas. I regret not thinking earlier of getting them that painting you did of them. I could've had everyone chip in some money and could have easily covered most of the cost. Anyways, too late now. Do you have any good gift ideas? I need something original yet functional.
I'm starting to run out of things to talk about. I would have called you tonight, but I didn't get home from the gym until almost 8pm. Email is a great thing, isn't it? It's just crappy when you have a lot to say and type like a drunk monkey. It takes so much longer!
Anyways, I gonna take off. I hope everything is going well in your end of the world, and I'll talk to you soon.
Hugs,
Reid
Just thought it would be a good way to update the blogger too.
Friday, March 01, 2002
Went to the physiotherapist at Lindsay Park last night. She told me she thinks my knee problems are due to poor balance of my muscle groups (some muscles more developed than others, creating misalignment in the knee socket) as opposed to damage per se, although that will occur soon enough if I don't look after the knees a bit more. This will require a lot more stretching, yoga, loosening the I-Band muscles, building the gluteus medius and inner thigh muscles. She's suggested I stop running for awhile, do some pool running, exercises.....worth it to get rid of the pain, no doubt. God, I can't wait till cycling season starts.....
Forgot to mention Joe, Doug, and myself went to the Carl Cox show at the Whiskey last Wednesday night (Feb. 20). Great venue, great music, great evening....it's nice to see DJs as big as "the People's DJ" don't mind coming to these little backwater burbs once in awhile. Thanks Coxy! Come again soon!
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
Wow...I haven't written an entry since before Christmas....well, not much has happened since then. I've been busy with my new workout schedule, and work has taken on a new direction in the last few months.
When I got back from Manitoba on Dec. 30, I had a few more days of parties to endure before heading back to work. Once I returned to work on Jan. 3, I found out that the funding for our Doc Mgmt project was pulled, and no one seemed to know what was going to happen next. To make a long story short, I spent most of the month of January surfing the internet and getting caught up on emails until I was scooped up by the Webmail project team in early February. Now work is busy again, and I feel like a contributing member of society again.
The 30th birthday party and New Year's were a lot of fun. About 30 of my closest friends showed up at Ming on the evening of Dec. 30th. We ate and drank, and headed to Detour for the drag show and dancing around midnight. The rest of the night was a blur for me, but apparently I looked like I was having a lot of fun.
New Year's Eve, twelve of us went to Kyoto 17 for sushi, including Grant and gf from Saskatoon. We all went back to Joe and my place for drinks and the countdown, and to Detour again afterwards for more dancing, where I proceeded to lose Joe's tie that he had gotten for Christmas.
January and February have been a blur of gym workouts, pool sessions and running. I've been faithfully keeping to my goals, and I can already see more definition and feel more strength in my upper body. Yay!
Feb.3 was the Lindsay Park Aquathlon, the first "competition" of the year. It was only 2.5km run, 750m swim, 2.5km run, but it was really nasty to transition from an all out sprint to sudden breath control in the pool. Needless to say, I ended the race in 10th.
February has been completed by non-stop Olympic action. I've been watching everything rather fervently, and it all came to a head this weekend with Canada's hockey team win over the Americans on Sunday. I met up with Jeff, Tony, BJ and Jeff at Watchman's Pub. The game ended in complete chaos, which then spilled out onto the street. I will never forget Jeff in the middle of the intersection at 17th Ave and 8th St offering champagne to anyone who drove by.
When I got back from Manitoba on Dec. 30, I had a few more days of parties to endure before heading back to work. Once I returned to work on Jan. 3, I found out that the funding for our Doc Mgmt project was pulled, and no one seemed to know what was going to happen next. To make a long story short, I spent most of the month of January surfing the internet and getting caught up on emails until I was scooped up by the Webmail project team in early February. Now work is busy again, and I feel like a contributing member of society again.
The 30th birthday party and New Year's were a lot of fun. About 30 of my closest friends showed up at Ming on the evening of Dec. 30th. We ate and drank, and headed to Detour for the drag show and dancing around midnight. The rest of the night was a blur for me, but apparently I looked like I was having a lot of fun.
New Year's Eve, twelve of us went to Kyoto 17 for sushi, including Grant and gf from Saskatoon. We all went back to Joe and my place for drinks and the countdown, and to Detour again afterwards for more dancing, where I proceeded to lose Joe's tie that he had gotten for Christmas.
January and February have been a blur of gym workouts, pool sessions and running. I've been faithfully keeping to my goals, and I can already see more definition and feel more strength in my upper body. Yay!
Feb.3 was the Lindsay Park Aquathlon, the first "competition" of the year. It was only 2.5km run, 750m swim, 2.5km run, but it was really nasty to transition from an all out sprint to sudden breath control in the pool. Needless to say, I ended the race in 10th.
February has been completed by non-stop Olympic action. I've been watching everything rather fervently, and it all came to a head this weekend with Canada's hockey team win over the Americans on Sunday. I met up with Jeff, Tony, BJ and Jeff at Watchman's Pub. The game ended in complete chaos, which then spilled out onto the street. I will never forget Jeff in the middle of the intersection at 17th Ave and 8th St offering champagne to anyone who drove by.
Wednesday, December 19, 2001
It's Wednesday afternoon and I'm bored out of my tree at work. Thought I'd write a few notes down about the weekend, and prep for the wonderful trip across Saskatchewan back to Manitoba next week.
I got back into Calgary on Friday night. Doug was there to pick me up at the airport, and we proceeded directly to Jeff's Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, not nearly as many people as last year, but that was probably a blessing in disguise. I ended up drinking too much and making a fool out of myself. Poor Kim...I was giving her the old "why don't you like me?" sob story. I really have to apologize to her next time I see her. That's the state I was in....and yes, I ashamedly admit it. I can't believe I packed away a case of beer....well, actually I can. I haven't drank that much in one sitting in at least five years (okay, maybe it hasn't been that long, but it has been a long time).
I got a phone call from Robert in Lethbridge at about 8 in the morning. After I talked to him, I went back to bed and ended up missing running. However, unbeknownst to me, the Christmas brunch was taking place at Tim and Doug's, and since I didn't get back in time to organize a ride up there, I wouldn't have made it anyways. I did head down to Eau Claire around 10:30, and not surprisingly, didn't find anyone there.
I went back home and went back to bed for awhile longer. Joe and I got up around 2pm. I spent the rest of the day slithering around the apartment, and then got ready to go to Jeff and Susan's with Sean and Nancy. Philbert showed up, and we had a lot of laughs during the evening. I so enjoy getting together with that gang.
Anyways, Sunday, Sean, Nancy and myself headed to the Westhills Chapters. Jeff told us that all CDs were 50% off, and he was right! Nancy and I went temporarily insane, and bought a lot more CDs than we probably needed to, but it was so worth it. I even got the rest of my Xmas shopping done there (except for Joe, of course). Did some grocery shopping with them, then headed home and spent the rest of the evening lazing around.
This week I've started at Fountain Park finally. I'm still using the guest passes, so I'm only going to the noonhour classes. Step Aerobics was on Monday - lots of work, as was Move It! on Tuesday. I did Fusion today, which was essentially Yoga. Very relaxing. I think I could add on top of Wednesday a swim workout at LP. The run last night was pretty good although I didn't properly stretch afterwards. Tomorrow is my first ICE (Spinning) workout, and I'm looking forward to it. Actually I may keep the swim workouts on Thursdays and Sundays as I had originally planned since I will start the weight workouts in the gym on Monday and Wednesday (and possibly Friday) mornings. That leaves Tuesday evening and Saturday morning for the runs. What day to I get off? Well, after Pilates after running on Sat. mornings, I still have well over 24 hours off until the Sunday night swim. I hope the schedule works out.
I'm meeting up with Reid, Louis, and possibly Tony tomorrow night for a night on the town. We've been planning on getting together before Christmas, so it should be a lot of fun. Friday night is the last Christmas party at Greg and Marion Tompkins, and Joe's coming too. It should be a lot of fun.
Vonnie and Louis are planning on leaving for Grandview at around 7am on Saturday morning. I hope I'm not too hung over - although I figure, what the hell? There'll be four of us to drive anyways.
I also sent out my birthday party invitations on Monday. The plans are to do this on Sunday, December 30th. 8pm at Ming (I'm reserving the "Red Room"), and then heading to the Night Gallery for Sunday Skool around 11pm - midnight. I'm looking forward to it. Should be a lot of fun.
Ken isn't planning on getting back to Calgary from Winnipeg until the afternoon of the 30th. He's staying over in Regina on the 29th. I'm thinking I'd like to be back in Calgary before the 30th at least, so I may have to cancel the trip to Winnipeg after all. Probably just as well....I'm sure Grandview will be more than enough to handle.
Anyways, this will be the last blog until the new year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to anyone who may be reading this in the future.
I got back into Calgary on Friday night. Doug was there to pick me up at the airport, and we proceeded directly to Jeff's Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, not nearly as many people as last year, but that was probably a blessing in disguise. I ended up drinking too much and making a fool out of myself. Poor Kim...I was giving her the old "why don't you like me?" sob story. I really have to apologize to her next time I see her. That's the state I was in....and yes, I ashamedly admit it. I can't believe I packed away a case of beer....well, actually I can. I haven't drank that much in one sitting in at least five years (okay, maybe it hasn't been that long, but it has been a long time).
I got a phone call from Robert in Lethbridge at about 8 in the morning. After I talked to him, I went back to bed and ended up missing running. However, unbeknownst to me, the Christmas brunch was taking place at Tim and Doug's, and since I didn't get back in time to organize a ride up there, I wouldn't have made it anyways. I did head down to Eau Claire around 10:30, and not surprisingly, didn't find anyone there.
I went back home and went back to bed for awhile longer. Joe and I got up around 2pm. I spent the rest of the day slithering around the apartment, and then got ready to go to Jeff and Susan's with Sean and Nancy. Philbert showed up, and we had a lot of laughs during the evening. I so enjoy getting together with that gang.
Anyways, Sunday, Sean, Nancy and myself headed to the Westhills Chapters. Jeff told us that all CDs were 50% off, and he was right! Nancy and I went temporarily insane, and bought a lot more CDs than we probably needed to, but it was so worth it. I even got the rest of my Xmas shopping done there (except for Joe, of course). Did some grocery shopping with them, then headed home and spent the rest of the evening lazing around.
This week I've started at Fountain Park finally. I'm still using the guest passes, so I'm only going to the noonhour classes. Step Aerobics was on Monday - lots of work, as was Move It! on Tuesday. I did Fusion today, which was essentially Yoga. Very relaxing. I think I could add on top of Wednesday a swim workout at LP. The run last night was pretty good although I didn't properly stretch afterwards. Tomorrow is my first ICE (Spinning) workout, and I'm looking forward to it. Actually I may keep the swim workouts on Thursdays and Sundays as I had originally planned since I will start the weight workouts in the gym on Monday and Wednesday (and possibly Friday) mornings. That leaves Tuesday evening and Saturday morning for the runs. What day to I get off? Well, after Pilates after running on Sat. mornings, I still have well over 24 hours off until the Sunday night swim. I hope the schedule works out.
I'm meeting up with Reid, Louis, and possibly Tony tomorrow night for a night on the town. We've been planning on getting together before Christmas, so it should be a lot of fun. Friday night is the last Christmas party at Greg and Marion Tompkins, and Joe's coming too. It should be a lot of fun.
Vonnie and Louis are planning on leaving for Grandview at around 7am on Saturday morning. I hope I'm not too hung over - although I figure, what the hell? There'll be four of us to drive anyways.
I also sent out my birthday party invitations on Monday. The plans are to do this on Sunday, December 30th. 8pm at Ming (I'm reserving the "Red Room"), and then heading to the Night Gallery for Sunday Skool around 11pm - midnight. I'm looking forward to it. Should be a lot of fun.
Ken isn't planning on getting back to Calgary from Winnipeg until the afternoon of the 30th. He's staying over in Regina on the 29th. I'm thinking I'd like to be back in Calgary before the 30th at least, so I may have to cancel the trip to Winnipeg after all. Probably just as well....I'm sure Grandview will be more than enough to handle.
Anyways, this will be the last blog until the new year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to anyone who may be reading this in the future.
Friday, December 14, 2001
I am stuck in Denver International Airport for six freakin' hours. Luckily they have these 15-minute internet kiosks. I've been doing some emailing, checking the weather in Calgary, etc. I wanted to go into Denver and check out the city, but the shuttle bus downtown is $32 dollars retrun, for god's sake. This country is such a big ripoff.
It makes me happy that I'm Canadian - "the land of the good deal" - where everyone's not trying to screw you and providing a service for what it's actually worth.
Anyhoo..if I'm still bored in an hour or two I may be back. My time is running out.
Joe wanted me to call him this morning. I tried him in New Orleans and here as well, and he's not answering the phone. I'll keep trying until I get him the hell out of bed.
It makes me happy that I'm Canadian - "the land of the good deal" - where everyone's not trying to screw you and providing a service for what it's actually worth.
Anyhoo..if I'm still bored in an hour or two I may be back. My time is running out.
Joe wanted me to call him this morning. I tried him in New Orleans and here as well, and he's not answering the phone. I'll keep trying until I get him the hell out of bed.
Thursday, December 13, 2001
Last day in New Orleans....extremely humid, spotty rain all day. People say it's cool, but I'm still sweating buckets and getting the clammy, greasy feeling on my skin.
Today I did a bit of packing, and headed back downtown. My mission today was to check out the New Orleans Museum of Art. I got down to Canal Street, and through talking to several extremely rude people decided to take the 46 City Park bus. Big mistake! Actually it wasn't too bad....definitely went through some questionable neighborhoods along Basin Street and Orleans Street. Seemed like I was in the Projects. Unemployment must be running pretty high in those neighborhoods, coz everyone was out on their front stoops, not really doing much of anything. We ended up on the west (er...uptown) side of City Park, so I had to walk across to the other side to get in on the Esplanade Ave. entrance. I finally made it to the Museum, and spent all afternoon there as well.
Fascinating variety of art there, for sure. The first floor was devoted to special exhibits, right now that being the Martele Silver Collection. These were handcrafted silverware pieces created by craftsmen of the Gorham Mfg. Company of Rhode Island from 1897-1912. Apparently they were the first response to Art Nouveau design in North America, and were progenitors to the modernist movement. They were figured very prominently at the 1900 Paris World's Fair and were extremely sought after over the next two decades. These pieces displayed incredible craftsmanship. I kept thinking about the first class table settings on the Titanic when I saw all of this stuff.
Disappointingly, the 17th century Dutch artist exhibits on the first floor were closed for some reason. I followed a tour group around for awhile, but the guide was really dumbing stuff down for the fat American tourists that were there, so I ventured off on my own again. There were also lots of 15th to 18th cent. Italian Renaissance paintings on the main and 2nd floor galleries. The second floor also housed French 17-19th century art, and European, American, and Louisianian 19th and 20th century pieces, including an impressive collection of Picassos, Renoirs, Rodins, and Degas. Edgar Degas' family lived in New Orleans, and he visited here often. He was the only French impressionist to paint in the U.S.
Of special note on the 2nd floor were the Decorative Arts section, including a huge ceramics collection, esp. Belleek and Meissen porcelain. There was some glassware pieces there from well over 2,000 years ago. The Faberge section was very cool. The detail that was involved in the pieces was incredible, and what's even more incredible is that most of the detail was made from precious jewels, metals, etc. There were three Imperial Easter eggs from 1893, 1895, and 1912. There were many flowers, clocks, and such other things as cigarette boxes, opera glasses, and photo frames. What I thought was really interesting was the Imperial Basket of Lilies of the Valley. It was a tiny arrangement of these flowers, but all made out of gold, diamonds, and other precious stones.
The third floor contained all of the global art collections. There was a huge variety of aboriginal pieces from Oceania, Africa, and North and South America in the pre-colonial periods. There was also a large collection of Japanese, Chinese and Indian Art, such as Chinese porcelain jars, Dynasty ceramics, Japanese silk screens, and Indian paper art using tempera and gold.
After I left the cold, air conditioned museum, the humidity and warmth outside felt like getting hit with water. I took another bus down Esplanade Avenue, took one last walk through the French Quarter, and had a last meal at a Creole restaurant named Gumbolaya consisting of Crawfish cakes, Gumbo, Red beans and rice, and Jambalaya. It was fantastic. I walked down Bourbon Street to Canal and caught the Magazine bus back to Bill and Ed's.
I'm going to relax for the rest of the evening. My flight for Denver leaves tomorrow morning at 9:30. I took out some more money today - hopefully enough for a cab to the airport and an airporter bus out of Denver International to downtown Denver and back while I try to kill seven hours tomorrow afternoon. Then it's off to Calgary tomorrow evening, and to Jeff's Christmas party as soon as I get home. *Sigh* ...another trip coming to an end, but I'll be glad to get back to my arctic desert home.
I spent WAY more money here than I thought I would. The conversion simply destroys you. A Canadian pays on par here what they would back home, plus having to add 60%. This will be my last trip to the United States for a long time. It seems ironic that Canadians can pretty much go anywhere else in the world and get great rates on the Canadian dollar, except for here. And where did I decide to go vacationing? You guessed it.....
At least I got to send my dance gear order from Action Dancewear to Bill and Ed's place with the 2 pairs of M.Stevens tights and 3 BalTogs bodysuits. That'll save me some hefty duty charges when I cross the border with it packed away in my suitcase. I also got the "Hard Heroes" movie sent here -- the customs office wouldn't allow it across the border because of it's content. I mean, please, it's a wrestling/bondage/hero-villain fantasy. What a bunch of prudes. That's coming across the border with me as well!
Next trip? Well, I had been thinking about going somewhere in the spring, but that may be a little to premature. I'm definitely going to Montreal-Ottawa this summer for a week again, but Joe and I are thinking about Mexico for two weeks in the fall. Cancun for one week, Cozumel for the other. Now that sounds like an awesome time!
I love New Orleans...I'll be back again someday.
Today I did a bit of packing, and headed back downtown. My mission today was to check out the New Orleans Museum of Art. I got down to Canal Street, and through talking to several extremely rude people decided to take the 46 City Park bus. Big mistake! Actually it wasn't too bad....definitely went through some questionable neighborhoods along Basin Street and Orleans Street. Seemed like I was in the Projects. Unemployment must be running pretty high in those neighborhoods, coz everyone was out on their front stoops, not really doing much of anything. We ended up on the west (er...uptown) side of City Park, so I had to walk across to the other side to get in on the Esplanade Ave. entrance. I finally made it to the Museum, and spent all afternoon there as well.
Fascinating variety of art there, for sure. The first floor was devoted to special exhibits, right now that being the Martele Silver Collection. These were handcrafted silverware pieces created by craftsmen of the Gorham Mfg. Company of Rhode Island from 1897-1912. Apparently they were the first response to Art Nouveau design in North America, and were progenitors to the modernist movement. They were figured very prominently at the 1900 Paris World's Fair and were extremely sought after over the next two decades. These pieces displayed incredible craftsmanship. I kept thinking about the first class table settings on the Titanic when I saw all of this stuff.
Disappointingly, the 17th century Dutch artist exhibits on the first floor were closed for some reason. I followed a tour group around for awhile, but the guide was really dumbing stuff down for the fat American tourists that were there, so I ventured off on my own again. There were also lots of 15th to 18th cent. Italian Renaissance paintings on the main and 2nd floor galleries. The second floor also housed French 17-19th century art, and European, American, and Louisianian 19th and 20th century pieces, including an impressive collection of Picassos, Renoirs, Rodins, and Degas. Edgar Degas' family lived in New Orleans, and he visited here often. He was the only French impressionist to paint in the U.S.
Of special note on the 2nd floor were the Decorative Arts section, including a huge ceramics collection, esp. Belleek and Meissen porcelain. There was some glassware pieces there from well over 2,000 years ago. The Faberge section was very cool. The detail that was involved in the pieces was incredible, and what's even more incredible is that most of the detail was made from precious jewels, metals, etc. There were three Imperial Easter eggs from 1893, 1895, and 1912. There were many flowers, clocks, and such other things as cigarette boxes, opera glasses, and photo frames. What I thought was really interesting was the Imperial Basket of Lilies of the Valley. It was a tiny arrangement of these flowers, but all made out of gold, diamonds, and other precious stones.
The third floor contained all of the global art collections. There was a huge variety of aboriginal pieces from Oceania, Africa, and North and South America in the pre-colonial periods. There was also a large collection of Japanese, Chinese and Indian Art, such as Chinese porcelain jars, Dynasty ceramics, Japanese silk screens, and Indian paper art using tempera and gold.
After I left the cold, air conditioned museum, the humidity and warmth outside felt like getting hit with water. I took another bus down Esplanade Avenue, took one last walk through the French Quarter, and had a last meal at a Creole restaurant named Gumbolaya consisting of Crawfish cakes, Gumbo, Red beans and rice, and Jambalaya. It was fantastic. I walked down Bourbon Street to Canal and caught the Magazine bus back to Bill and Ed's.
I'm going to relax for the rest of the evening. My flight for Denver leaves tomorrow morning at 9:30. I took out some more money today - hopefully enough for a cab to the airport and an airporter bus out of Denver International to downtown Denver and back while I try to kill seven hours tomorrow afternoon. Then it's off to Calgary tomorrow evening, and to Jeff's Christmas party as soon as I get home. *Sigh* ...another trip coming to an end, but I'll be glad to get back to my arctic desert home.
I spent WAY more money here than I thought I would. The conversion simply destroys you. A Canadian pays on par here what they would back home, plus having to add 60%. This will be my last trip to the United States for a long time. It seems ironic that Canadians can pretty much go anywhere else in the world and get great rates on the Canadian dollar, except for here. And where did I decide to go vacationing? You guessed it.....
At least I got to send my dance gear order from Action Dancewear to Bill and Ed's place with the 2 pairs of M.Stevens tights and 3 BalTogs bodysuits. That'll save me some hefty duty charges when I cross the border with it packed away in my suitcase. I also got the "Hard Heroes" movie sent here -- the customs office wouldn't allow it across the border because of it's content. I mean, please, it's a wrestling/bondage/hero-villain fantasy. What a bunch of prudes. That's coming across the border with me as well!
Next trip? Well, I had been thinking about going somewhere in the spring, but that may be a little to premature. I'm definitely going to Montreal-Ottawa this summer for a week again, but Joe and I are thinking about Mexico for two weeks in the fall. Cancun for one week, Cozumel for the other. Now that sounds like an awesome time!
I love New Orleans...I'll be back again someday.
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
Update to Dec. 12 -
Just got home from another long day of walking around. Today's big event was checking out the National D-Day Museum. If anyone is in New Orleans, I highly recommend that you go and check it out. I spent five hours there this afternoon. It is very well set up, very interactive, and very moving. They play a movie co-produced by Steven Spielberg in the main theater as well occasionally throughout the day. I'm not sure if they run another one, but this one began with the bombing of Pearl Harbour and went on to discuss the rest of the War in the Pacific. It was very moving. I was tearing up through the entire thing, and I know I wasn't the only one who was. The exhibits are set up chronologically, beginning with the world events that set up the stage for WW2. Next were the beginnings of the fights in the Pacific and European Theaters, the entry of America in the war in 1942, and a detailed look at both fronts for the American Armed Forces. A look at life for American civilians during the war years brought the immensity of the war and the effect it had on everyone around the world to light. Of course, the most powerful exhibits were the D-Days in Normandy and the numerous attacks across the Pacific. There was a lot of mention of the British and Canadian forces in Europe, and the British and Australian forces in the Pacific that I really wasn't expecting, so I got a chance to learn a lot more about what our own national armed forces achieved in 1944-45 when pushing back the Nazis (all of that brought on some nationalist tears of my own).
Even though I was expecting the exhibits to be overwhelmingly from an American slant (and I'm not saying they shouldn't be), I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of explanation of how the citizens, resistance forces and armed force personnel from Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada, France, Russia, the Phillipines, etc. were coping with the situation. There were displays of how the war propoganda from each side (Allies and Axis) was scewed to portray the enemy as being even more horrible than they were (the Nazis were just horrible). It's amazing how a suppression of the truth is seems necessary sometimes to keep moral and alliances strong. I don't suppose the war's outcome would have been the same had the people from each side really known what the other side was like. It makes you realize that we're all people and that we all aspire to achieve the same things in our lives. It's also amazing how one or two people can make that all go horribly wrong (and that has even more relevance in the events that are unfolding today on the world stage).
All in all, a very amazing museum. By seeing how the American effort changed the face of the war and the face of the nation itself (the economic implications of the war effort on the US were mindboggling), it's certain that the world would be a much different place if the US hadn't gotten involved in the war when they did. December 7, 1941 certainly did change the course of world history (those two words, coincidentally, were scratched out by Roosevelt and replaced by "infamy" in the Declaration of War he made the following day - "A day that will live in infamy"). Pretty powerful stuff.
Things of note that I learned, or learned more about:
-By the end, the entire world was involved - the logistics would have been unbelievable.
-Eisenhower was the commander of the allied forces in Europe. He had to make a decision to send the D-Day forces to Normandy through a storm in the English Channel, or risk delaying the attack for weeks. It was a decision he had to make over the course of a few hours, with half of the allied leaders saying "yes", the other half saying "no". If you've ever thought you were in a stressful situation, you don't know what stress is...
-the Canadian 3rd infantry were one of the first six "teams" on Normandy, were responsible for landing on Juno Beach and meeting the British outside of Caen and occupying the city. Is this how the Junos got named? Seems like a strange relationship if true.
-Nimitz was the commander of the allied forces in the Pacific (MacArthur was leader of the American forces (I think)). I had never known much about the Pacific theater before since Canada was not involved in it, but it is fascinating. It makes me want to learn more about the involvement of such countries as Australia and the Phillipines. It makes me want to visit the places of the fiercest battles, such as Truk and Leyte Gulf (scuba dive down to the plane and shipwrecks) even more. Even though the battle was fought so much more on the water, hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
-mainland Japan was destroyed by air raids to an extent I had no idea. The pictures were horrible - some of the cities were completely (ie. 100%) razed.
-there were 2 million soldiers, etc involved in the European D-Day + followups. The initial sail across the Channel involved 5,000 ships. Amazing...
-before the go ahead was given to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Allied tactical plans to move onto Japanese soil (to start on Kyushu) were to be the biggest, and undoubtedly bloodiest battles ever witnessed by humankind. We are talking millions of casualties on both sides. The a-bombs killed around 250,000. I know I had always been one of those that didn't know what to think about the decision to drop the bombs, but now I think the best decision had been made, despite the horror that resulted. Harry Truman weighed on his decision VERY heavily as stated in his diary (he was sworn in after FDR died of a brain hemorrhage in early 1945 - something else I didn't know).
War is absolute hell. I just hope people don't forget that.
That does reflect back on my fundamental belief that people are essentially lazy and ignorant. I would think we would NEVER want a repeat of the years 1939-45, but given the wrong conditions with the wrong people in power, I can completely see a scenario like this, and most likely a LOT worse to play itself again.
"Those who cannot remember history are bound to repeat it", or so the saying goes. Sometime I wonder if it should be "do not want to" instead of "cannot". At any rate, in order to not forget, we must all go and see such things at the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. 'Nuff said.....
On much lighter news, I have officially finished my souvenir shopping. Tomorrow is a completely free day of touring. I'm going to head up to the Museum of Art tomorrow in City Park.
I fell asleep watching my movie last night. I'm going to go and watch the rest of it now. Nite nite.
Just got home from another long day of walking around. Today's big event was checking out the National D-Day Museum. If anyone is in New Orleans, I highly recommend that you go and check it out. I spent five hours there this afternoon. It is very well set up, very interactive, and very moving. They play a movie co-produced by Steven Spielberg in the main theater as well occasionally throughout the day. I'm not sure if they run another one, but this one began with the bombing of Pearl Harbour and went on to discuss the rest of the War in the Pacific. It was very moving. I was tearing up through the entire thing, and I know I wasn't the only one who was. The exhibits are set up chronologically, beginning with the world events that set up the stage for WW2. Next were the beginnings of the fights in the Pacific and European Theaters, the entry of America in the war in 1942, and a detailed look at both fronts for the American Armed Forces. A look at life for American civilians during the war years brought the immensity of the war and the effect it had on everyone around the world to light. Of course, the most powerful exhibits were the D-Days in Normandy and the numerous attacks across the Pacific. There was a lot of mention of the British and Canadian forces in Europe, and the British and Australian forces in the Pacific that I really wasn't expecting, so I got a chance to learn a lot more about what our own national armed forces achieved in 1944-45 when pushing back the Nazis (all of that brought on some nationalist tears of my own).
Even though I was expecting the exhibits to be overwhelmingly from an American slant (and I'm not saying they shouldn't be), I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of explanation of how the citizens, resistance forces and armed force personnel from Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada, France, Russia, the Phillipines, etc. were coping with the situation. There were displays of how the war propoganda from each side (Allies and Axis) was scewed to portray the enemy as being even more horrible than they were (the Nazis were just horrible). It's amazing how a suppression of the truth is seems necessary sometimes to keep moral and alliances strong. I don't suppose the war's outcome would have been the same had the people from each side really known what the other side was like. It makes you realize that we're all people and that we all aspire to achieve the same things in our lives. It's also amazing how one or two people can make that all go horribly wrong (and that has even more relevance in the events that are unfolding today on the world stage).
All in all, a very amazing museum. By seeing how the American effort changed the face of the war and the face of the nation itself (the economic implications of the war effort on the US were mindboggling), it's certain that the world would be a much different place if the US hadn't gotten involved in the war when they did. December 7, 1941 certainly did change the course of world history (those two words, coincidentally, were scratched out by Roosevelt and replaced by "infamy" in the Declaration of War he made the following day - "A day that will live in infamy"). Pretty powerful stuff.
Things of note that I learned, or learned more about:
-By the end, the entire world was involved - the logistics would have been unbelievable.
-Eisenhower was the commander of the allied forces in Europe. He had to make a decision to send the D-Day forces to Normandy through a storm in the English Channel, or risk delaying the attack for weeks. It was a decision he had to make over the course of a few hours, with half of the allied leaders saying "yes", the other half saying "no". If you've ever thought you were in a stressful situation, you don't know what stress is...
-the Canadian 3rd infantry were one of the first six "teams" on Normandy, were responsible for landing on Juno Beach and meeting the British outside of Caen and occupying the city. Is this how the Junos got named? Seems like a strange relationship if true.
-Nimitz was the commander of the allied forces in the Pacific (MacArthur was leader of the American forces (I think)). I had never known much about the Pacific theater before since Canada was not involved in it, but it is fascinating. It makes me want to learn more about the involvement of such countries as Australia and the Phillipines. It makes me want to visit the places of the fiercest battles, such as Truk and Leyte Gulf (scuba dive down to the plane and shipwrecks) even more. Even though the battle was fought so much more on the water, hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
-mainland Japan was destroyed by air raids to an extent I had no idea. The pictures were horrible - some of the cities were completely (ie. 100%) razed.
-there were 2 million soldiers, etc involved in the European D-Day + followups. The initial sail across the Channel involved 5,000 ships. Amazing...
-before the go ahead was given to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Allied tactical plans to move onto Japanese soil (to start on Kyushu) were to be the biggest, and undoubtedly bloodiest battles ever witnessed by humankind. We are talking millions of casualties on both sides. The a-bombs killed around 250,000. I know I had always been one of those that didn't know what to think about the decision to drop the bombs, but now I think the best decision had been made, despite the horror that resulted. Harry Truman weighed on his decision VERY heavily as stated in his diary (he was sworn in after FDR died of a brain hemorrhage in early 1945 - something else I didn't know).
War is absolute hell. I just hope people don't forget that.
That does reflect back on my fundamental belief that people are essentially lazy and ignorant. I would think we would NEVER want a repeat of the years 1939-45, but given the wrong conditions with the wrong people in power, I can completely see a scenario like this, and most likely a LOT worse to play itself again.
"Those who cannot remember history are bound to repeat it", or so the saying goes. Sometime I wonder if it should be "do not want to" instead of "cannot". At any rate, in order to not forget, we must all go and see such things at the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. 'Nuff said.....
On much lighter news, I have officially finished my souvenir shopping. Tomorrow is a completely free day of touring. I'm going to head up to the Museum of Art tomorrow in City Park.
I fell asleep watching my movie last night. I'm going to go and watch the rest of it now. Nite nite.
Just thought I'd drop off another quick note before I head out for the day. The last few days have been overcast and cooler (but still in the mid- to high teens), but today is supposed to be back up to 24^C, so I don't want to miss out.
Yesterday, I got up and ran from the house here in the Garden District to Tulane University campus and Audobon Park. St. Charles Ave. is the main drag through MidTown, and it is simply gorgeous. There are huge magnolias and oaks lining the street, and the old-fashioned streetcars run up and down it from the French Quarter to the Universities (Tulane and Loyola). Most of the nicest examples of southern colonial style homes line the avenue as well, and they are all decked out for the holidays. The area where I'm located is between Downtown (the Central Business District and the French Quarter), and Uptown (at the universities and further west). It is south of St. Charles and an area along Magazine St. which is quite similar to Inglewood.
The directions north, south, east, west are meaningless here since the city is build on the curve of the Mississippi River and the streets turn in a fan pattern with it accordingly. The directions are Downtown, Uptown, Riverside (obvious), and Lakeside (towards Lake Ponchartrain). It's getting a lot easier to travel around once you get used to the lay of the land.
But I digress. After my run, I got home, changed and ate and headed back down to the Quarter to do some more souvenir shopping. I ended up in the Cabildo, which is a historic building now housing the Louisiana State Museum that dates back to the late 1700's. It's where the Louisiana Purchase was completed between Spain and France in 1803, and then between France and the U.S. 21 days later. Lots of War of 1812 ("The Battle of New Orleans" in 1814) and the Civil War information. The region has a fascinating history. I ended up spending about 3-4 hours there. I got back and ended up being a loser and renting a movie for the evening.
Today I either want to head Lakeside to the City Park where the New Orleans Museum of Art is, or head back downtown to the Confederate Museum and the D-Day Museum. I'm pretty much tourist trapped out, and have most of my souvenirs bought. I was considering going out for one last time tonight on Bourbon Street, but I might pass on that.
December 7th was the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, so the D-Day Museum hosted a huge event with parades, etc. There were jet fighters and bombers flying over the city all afternoon. I'm sure the Americans found it all very wonderful, but I found it sort of unnerving. There is also a huge aircraft carrier docked at one of the piers downtown that I've taken about a thousand pictures of. Very impressive piece of engineering.
I guess I'll take a bunch more pictures today, and that will pretty much finish up the trip from a image perspective. I'm trying to write down everything I do so I don't forget anything.
I don't think I'm going to have time or money to go on the Riverboat ($$$) or on a swamp tour. Apparently it's pretty off season to see any critters in the bayou, so I may have to go back to the Audobon Zoo at the Park to see some local flora and fauna. The amount of squirrels around here is ridiculous though. There as plentiful at gophers back home. And everyone owns at least one dog down here, while all the cats you see are strays. Weird....
Anyways, gotta go. I see the temperature is supposed to be -15^C when I get home...great.
Yesterday, I got up and ran from the house here in the Garden District to Tulane University campus and Audobon Park. St. Charles Ave. is the main drag through MidTown, and it is simply gorgeous. There are huge magnolias and oaks lining the street, and the old-fashioned streetcars run up and down it from the French Quarter to the Universities (Tulane and Loyola). Most of the nicest examples of southern colonial style homes line the avenue as well, and they are all decked out for the holidays. The area where I'm located is between Downtown (the Central Business District and the French Quarter), and Uptown (at the universities and further west). It is south of St. Charles and an area along Magazine St. which is quite similar to Inglewood.
The directions north, south, east, west are meaningless here since the city is build on the curve of the Mississippi River and the streets turn in a fan pattern with it accordingly. The directions are Downtown, Uptown, Riverside (obvious), and Lakeside (towards Lake Ponchartrain). It's getting a lot easier to travel around once you get used to the lay of the land.
But I digress. After my run, I got home, changed and ate and headed back down to the Quarter to do some more souvenir shopping. I ended up in the Cabildo, which is a historic building now housing the Louisiana State Museum that dates back to the late 1700's. It's where the Louisiana Purchase was completed between Spain and France in 1803, and then between France and the U.S. 21 days later. Lots of War of 1812 ("The Battle of New Orleans" in 1814) and the Civil War information. The region has a fascinating history. I ended up spending about 3-4 hours there. I got back and ended up being a loser and renting a movie for the evening.
Today I either want to head Lakeside to the City Park where the New Orleans Museum of Art is, or head back downtown to the Confederate Museum and the D-Day Museum. I'm pretty much tourist trapped out, and have most of my souvenirs bought. I was considering going out for one last time tonight on Bourbon Street, but I might pass on that.
December 7th was the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, so the D-Day Museum hosted a huge event with parades, etc. There were jet fighters and bombers flying over the city all afternoon. I'm sure the Americans found it all very wonderful, but I found it sort of unnerving. There is also a huge aircraft carrier docked at one of the piers downtown that I've taken about a thousand pictures of. Very impressive piece of engineering.
I guess I'll take a bunch more pictures today, and that will pretty much finish up the trip from a image perspective. I'm trying to write down everything I do so I don't forget anything.
I don't think I'm going to have time or money to go on the Riverboat ($$$) or on a swamp tour. Apparently it's pretty off season to see any critters in the bayou, so I may have to go back to the Audobon Zoo at the Park to see some local flora and fauna. The amount of squirrels around here is ridiculous though. There as plentiful at gophers back home. And everyone owns at least one dog down here, while all the cats you see are strays. Weird....
Anyways, gotta go. I see the temperature is supposed to be -15^C when I get home...great.
Monday, December 10, 2001
I also see that the weather in Calgary has improved immensely. I also see that it is supposed to go back to shit the day I get back too. I was beautiful here on the weekend, but it has also cooled down here quite a bit in the last few days. I think it's 17^C here or something today. Here's hoping that it warms up again later this week.
Hi
It's Monday afternoon and I managed to get completely wrecked again last night....good for me! ;-)
I'm done that nonesense for the rest of the week. I'm going to get a good sleep tonight and get back on track tomorrow doing some sightseeing, etc.
I think I might take the swamp tour tomorrow - or do the riverboat thing. It all costs a bunch of money, but oh well. I've been spending way to much so far on all the wrong things. I still have to go to the parks, check out the museums (the Cabildo, D-Day museum, Confederate museum).
I did manage to get to the pool yesterday at Tulane University. Ed wanted to work out when him and Bill got back from Houston, so I caught a ride. Considering how I felt, I still managed to get 2000m done in the pool.
Last night there was a tea dance at the Bourbon Pub Parade, which cost $5 to get in and was all you can drink draft thereafter...you can imagine how happy I was about that! I went out with Bill and Ed for dinner last night to a really wonderful restaurant in the French Quarter called Irene's, and then they let me go free on my own. I managed to blow $100 (that would be $160 Canadian) yesterday, and that was the sign that I should stop spending like a freak. I still have to buy a lot of souvenirs, even though I have bought a few things.
Well, I'm going to relax for the rest of the day. Bill is going to cook a roast on the BBQ tonight, so that is what I'm looking forward to for the rest of my day.
It's Monday afternoon and I managed to get completely wrecked again last night....good for me! ;-)
I'm done that nonesense for the rest of the week. I'm going to get a good sleep tonight and get back on track tomorrow doing some sightseeing, etc.
I think I might take the swamp tour tomorrow - or do the riverboat thing. It all costs a bunch of money, but oh well. I've been spending way to much so far on all the wrong things. I still have to go to the parks, check out the museums (the Cabildo, D-Day museum, Confederate museum).
I did manage to get to the pool yesterday at Tulane University. Ed wanted to work out when him and Bill got back from Houston, so I caught a ride. Considering how I felt, I still managed to get 2000m done in the pool.
Last night there was a tea dance at the Bourbon Pub Parade, which cost $5 to get in and was all you can drink draft thereafter...you can imagine how happy I was about that! I went out with Bill and Ed for dinner last night to a really wonderful restaurant in the French Quarter called Irene's, and then they let me go free on my own. I managed to blow $100 (that would be $160 Canadian) yesterday, and that was the sign that I should stop spending like a freak. I still have to buy a lot of souvenirs, even though I have bought a few things.
Well, I'm going to relax for the rest of the day. Bill is going to cook a roast on the BBQ tonight, so that is what I'm looking forward to for the rest of my day.
Saturday, December 08, 2001
Hello from N'awlins!
How are things? It's Saturday (December 8th) morning here, and I'm killing from a hangover (imagine that!).
It is so beautiful here. Everything is so lush and humid. It was like 25^C here yesterday, plus the humidity made it feel even hotter. I think I got a bit of a sunburn. I spent all of yesterday walking around to get my bearings. I spent most of the day in the French Quarter, but I also walked up to the Superdome and along the river to a huge shopping complex called Riverwalk (imagine that...) where I got to buy some souvenirs, etc. It's very touristy here, but luckily Bill showed me around a bit yesterday to some areas of town that are less frequented.
We went out last night to a bunch of the gay bars in the Quarter which was pretty fun, but everything's so damn expensive here. I ran out of money and came home with Bill, then proceeded to go back to the Quarter for a while longer by myself. It is crazy down there at night. The entire stretch of Bourbon Street is a mass of people moving around, socializing, and going from bar to bar. You can drink booze here 24/7. They even sell it in kiosks in the mall. Bill told me there are drive-thrus that sell daquiris here too. I find that a little bizarre. The traffic is insane, I don't think you need drunk drivers added to the mix as well.
I think today I'm going to do a bit more walking around and maybe take the ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers and Gretna and do some more exploring over there. The architecture and urban layout are so fascinating. Bill and Ed's house is at the east end of the Garden District, and it is typical of the homes here. Huge and stately....the main floor ceilings are 13 1/2 feet...and all the windows are SINGLE pane, if you can imagine that. I still plan on taking an evening cruise on the Natchez paddlewheel sometime next week (hopefully...if there's any money left). The dinner cruise costs (yipe!) $50US.
Audobon Park and Tulane University are very close by, so I'm going to start running tomorrow and get in for a few swimming/gym sessions at the Uni with Ed (he teaches law there).
Anyways, that's about it from here. I'm spending a lot of cash. I thought SOMETHING would be a deal here, but no chance. Even the booze is expensive. I'm having a hard time controlling my spending urges, since everything is there for the grabbing, however, I keep in mind that everything sells for a price on par with Canadian prices (again: THERE ARE NO DEALS HERE), and realize that I can end up buying stuff for cheaper in the long run when I get home, and that keeps me in control....so far! LOL
How are things? It's Saturday (December 8th) morning here, and I'm killing from a hangover (imagine that!).
It is so beautiful here. Everything is so lush and humid. It was like 25^C here yesterday, plus the humidity made it feel even hotter. I think I got a bit of a sunburn. I spent all of yesterday walking around to get my bearings. I spent most of the day in the French Quarter, but I also walked up to the Superdome and along the river to a huge shopping complex called Riverwalk (imagine that...) where I got to buy some souvenirs, etc. It's very touristy here, but luckily Bill showed me around a bit yesterday to some areas of town that are less frequented.
We went out last night to a bunch of the gay bars in the Quarter which was pretty fun, but everything's so damn expensive here. I ran out of money and came home with Bill, then proceeded to go back to the Quarter for a while longer by myself. It is crazy down there at night. The entire stretch of Bourbon Street is a mass of people moving around, socializing, and going from bar to bar. You can drink booze here 24/7. They even sell it in kiosks in the mall. Bill told me there are drive-thrus that sell daquiris here too. I find that a little bizarre. The traffic is insane, I don't think you need drunk drivers added to the mix as well.
I think today I'm going to do a bit more walking around and maybe take the ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers and Gretna and do some more exploring over there. The architecture and urban layout are so fascinating. Bill and Ed's house is at the east end of the Garden District, and it is typical of the homes here. Huge and stately....the main floor ceilings are 13 1/2 feet...and all the windows are SINGLE pane, if you can imagine that. I still plan on taking an evening cruise on the Natchez paddlewheel sometime next week (hopefully...if there's any money left). The dinner cruise costs (yipe!) $50US.
Audobon Park and Tulane University are very close by, so I'm going to start running tomorrow and get in for a few swimming/gym sessions at the Uni with Ed (he teaches law there).
Anyways, that's about it from here. I'm spending a lot of cash. I thought SOMETHING would be a deal here, but no chance. Even the booze is expensive. I'm having a hard time controlling my spending urges, since everything is there for the grabbing, however, I keep in mind that everything sells for a price on par with Canadian prices (again: THERE ARE NO DEALS HERE), and realize that I can end up buying stuff for cheaper in the long run when I get home, and that keeps me in control....so far! LOL
Tuesday, December 04, 2001
We did our last 30 min time trial in the pool on Thursday (Nov. 29). I'm happy to announce that I managed to swim 1600m in 30 min, a 100m improvement over the last one. That means I'm doing a 1500m in just over 28 minutes, which is a great improvement over the 35:00 clockings I was doing this summer....still about 5 more minutes to knock off before spring....
The last swim practice with UCTC is tonight. There is one more running session tomorrow night. Depending on how much packing, laundry, etc. I get done tonight will determine whether I go or not. It would be nice to go and say goodbye to everyone.
I joined the Fountain Park Fitness Club yesterday. $530! Yikes! At least I get $250 back from CPR. I'm SO looking forward to taking classes when I get back from NOLA. I'm still not sure what the itinerary looks like over Christmas. We still haven't decided what day to have the birthday party. I imagine a lot of people will be taking the 31st off, since it will be the only day that week some people will work, however, having it on Saturdya would guarantee more people coming out. Which means I'd have to be leaving Manitoba the morning of the 29th at the ABSOLUTE latest. I'm not sure if Ken will be up for that. If that's the case, I probably won't be heading into Winnipeg after all... :-(
Christmas party season started last weekend in high style. My manager John and his wife had a party on Sat. night for our implementation team and spouses (Joe was working again...). It was a good meal, lots of wine and laughs. I caught a ride back downtown with Boris and Hanna and went to the other party, which was an Apollo party at Don's place that moved to BT's around 11:30. The condo was packed full of people. Doug, Darren, Rodney and myself made a stopover at the apartment before heading to the bar - had to make sure we were nice and pleasantly pickled before we headed to the bar. Fun, fun, fun.
The night I get back from NOLA is Jeff's annual Christmas blowout. He typically has it on a Friday night for some reason, but this year his company Christmas party is on the 15th, so he has to have it on the 14th. Joe has the night off, so it should be a lot of fun. I'll have to jump in a cab and head home, drop off the bags, and head up to Jeff's.
Saturday the 15th is the Frontrunner's Christmas brunch after running. I hope I'm not in too bad of shape for that. The following Friday is Greg and Marion's Christmas party (21st), the evening before everyone is taking off for the holidays. Joe also has that night off, so we will be able to have a last fun evening together before I take off to Grandview with Vonnie and Louis.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to do some updates in New Orleans, although if not, I'll keep a journal and update this when I get back.
Until then, have a happy mid-December, especially you chumps who are here in the gross, frigid Prairies. I'll be thinking of you while I'm hanging out in shorts and t-shirts on Bourbon Street and getting sunburn while feeding the crocodiles in the bayou.
The last swim practice with UCTC is tonight. There is one more running session tomorrow night. Depending on how much packing, laundry, etc. I get done tonight will determine whether I go or not. It would be nice to go and say goodbye to everyone.
I joined the Fountain Park Fitness Club yesterday. $530! Yikes! At least I get $250 back from CPR. I'm SO looking forward to taking classes when I get back from NOLA. I'm still not sure what the itinerary looks like over Christmas. We still haven't decided what day to have the birthday party. I imagine a lot of people will be taking the 31st off, since it will be the only day that week some people will work, however, having it on Saturdya would guarantee more people coming out. Which means I'd have to be leaving Manitoba the morning of the 29th at the ABSOLUTE latest. I'm not sure if Ken will be up for that. If that's the case, I probably won't be heading into Winnipeg after all... :-(
Christmas party season started last weekend in high style. My manager John and his wife had a party on Sat. night for our implementation team and spouses (Joe was working again...). It was a good meal, lots of wine and laughs. I caught a ride back downtown with Boris and Hanna and went to the other party, which was an Apollo party at Don's place that moved to BT's around 11:30. The condo was packed full of people. Doug, Darren, Rodney and myself made a stopover at the apartment before heading to the bar - had to make sure we were nice and pleasantly pickled before we headed to the bar. Fun, fun, fun.
The night I get back from NOLA is Jeff's annual Christmas blowout. He typically has it on a Friday night for some reason, but this year his company Christmas party is on the 15th, so he has to have it on the 14th. Joe has the night off, so it should be a lot of fun. I'll have to jump in a cab and head home, drop off the bags, and head up to Jeff's.
Saturday the 15th is the Frontrunner's Christmas brunch after running. I hope I'm not in too bad of shape for that. The following Friday is Greg and Marion's Christmas party (21st), the evening before everyone is taking off for the holidays. Joe also has that night off, so we will be able to have a last fun evening together before I take off to Grandview with Vonnie and Louis.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to do some updates in New Orleans, although if not, I'll keep a journal and update this when I get back.
Until then, have a happy mid-December, especially you chumps who are here in the gross, frigid Prairies. I'll be thinking of you while I'm hanging out in shorts and t-shirts on Bourbon Street and getting sunburn while feeding the crocodiles in the bayou.
Tuesday, November 27, 2001
It's almost December. What the hell?...Why are the years going by faster and faster? I don't understand it.
Anyways, I'm heading to New Orleans next week. I'm so excited! It's going to be a lot of fun. I've gotten my tour books and maps, learning as much as I can before I go. I get into NOLA on the evening of Dec. 6. I'm staying at Bill and Ed's, but they have to head to Houston on Saturday night for Ed's Christmas party. So I'm alone in the Big Easy (is there a confluence of spirit here? -- I'm not implying anything). Anyways, I have posted a few messages around on Yahoo!, etc. to see if anyone wants to play tour guide with me on the weekend. I've heard back from one guy; I'll be trying to get a hold of him possibly tonight or later in the week. I have feelings the culture down there is much different than here in Canuckland, however it can't be called "The Big Easy" for nothing. I'm expecting the people to be really laid back like Montrealers...really out for a good time. They certainly have a lot of institutions and events that would indicate such truth (Mardi Gras, Halloween, Cajun cuisine, etc.).
With the bars being open 24 hours a day, and a lot of deep fried food (which can fortunately be avoided), I'll have to maintain some semblance of a workout routine there. I'm joining Fountain Park Fitness Center here as soon as I get back. I plan on hitting the gym in the mornings before work 3x a week, doing fitness classes at noon (spinning and pilates), and core strength in the evenings before hitting the pool at Lindsay Park 2x a week. I'm looking forward to getting back into a hard-core schedule ASAP. My membership with UCTC ends next week. I really got to enjoy swimming and running with the people in this group, however, getting up the University four nights a week will prove to be torturous now that the snow is flying and the temperatures are in the minus double digits.
I get back on the 14th from NOLA, work a week and then head to Manitoba for Christmas. I'm hoping on getting into Winnipeg for a few days after Christmas to visit with Ryan and Lynn, Mike, Heather, and hopefully get in touch with Byron and Anita.
Then it's back here for the big 3-0 and New Year's. I'd like to have a party much the same as last year, with early evening cocktails and eats at Ming, and then dancing at Detour afterwards. I hope some people can come out for it.
The focus right now is getting the work stuff out of the way and getting ready to head south. I have quite a few things to get ready, and quite a few things to bring back from NOLA. I have a video at Bill and Ed's that I couldn't get across the border, so I'll have to sneak it across, and I also ordered some dance and exercisewear from a retailer in New York that I have to avoid duty on. I'll be coming back with bags quite a bit heavier than what I had taken with me. Good for me!
Update to come soon. Hopefully I'll be able to run a log about the adventures in the south as I did in Montreal.
Anyways, I'm heading to New Orleans next week. I'm so excited! It's going to be a lot of fun. I've gotten my tour books and maps, learning as much as I can before I go. I get into NOLA on the evening of Dec. 6. I'm staying at Bill and Ed's, but they have to head to Houston on Saturday night for Ed's Christmas party. So I'm alone in the Big Easy (is there a confluence of spirit here? -- I'm not implying anything). Anyways, I have posted a few messages around on Yahoo!, etc. to see if anyone wants to play tour guide with me on the weekend. I've heard back from one guy; I'll be trying to get a hold of him possibly tonight or later in the week. I have feelings the culture down there is much different than here in Canuckland, however it can't be called "The Big Easy" for nothing. I'm expecting the people to be really laid back like Montrealers...really out for a good time. They certainly have a lot of institutions and events that would indicate such truth (Mardi Gras, Halloween, Cajun cuisine, etc.).
With the bars being open 24 hours a day, and a lot of deep fried food (which can fortunately be avoided), I'll have to maintain some semblance of a workout routine there. I'm joining Fountain Park Fitness Center here as soon as I get back. I plan on hitting the gym in the mornings before work 3x a week, doing fitness classes at noon (spinning and pilates), and core strength in the evenings before hitting the pool at Lindsay Park 2x a week. I'm looking forward to getting back into a hard-core schedule ASAP. My membership with UCTC ends next week. I really got to enjoy swimming and running with the people in this group, however, getting up the University four nights a week will prove to be torturous now that the snow is flying and the temperatures are in the minus double digits.
I get back on the 14th from NOLA, work a week and then head to Manitoba for Christmas. I'm hoping on getting into Winnipeg for a few days after Christmas to visit with Ryan and Lynn, Mike, Heather, and hopefully get in touch with Byron and Anita.
Then it's back here for the big 3-0 and New Year's. I'd like to have a party much the same as last year, with early evening cocktails and eats at Ming, and then dancing at Detour afterwards. I hope some people can come out for it.
The focus right now is getting the work stuff out of the way and getting ready to head south. I have quite a few things to get ready, and quite a few things to bring back from NOLA. I have a video at Bill and Ed's that I couldn't get across the border, so I'll have to sneak it across, and I also ordered some dance and exercisewear from a retailer in New York that I have to avoid duty on. I'll be coming back with bags quite a bit heavier than what I had taken with me. Good for me!
Update to come soon. Hopefully I'll be able to run a log about the adventures in the south as I did in Montreal.
Monday, October 22, 2001
Just a note....last weekend was the Ekiden run in Banff. We had three Frontrunner teams from Calgary and one from Edmonton in attendance. Everyone did very well. The team I was on ended up 30th out of 190 teams. Our best place team beat us by seconds, in 29th place. I came over the rise at the finish line and saw Doug about 100m ahead of me. I poured on the speed and came in right behind him. I did the 12.4 km leg#5 in 49:50, good enough for 10th best time on leg#5. I was really happy with my time.
Swimming with UCTC is going good. We had our first timed swim last weekend, and it was the first time I've ever swam 1500m in under 30 minutes. I hope to lose another 5 minutes off the swim by next spring. My membership with UCTC is done in December. I think I'm going to join the club at Lindsay Park after that, not because I don't like the UCTC, but for convenience's sake, if I could do a gym workout in the morning before work, swim at lunch hour and run/bike in the evenings, it will make my days more organized, and won't require me riding my bike to the university and back in January (perish the thought....).
I'm heading to New Orleans on December 6. I'm really excited about the trip, and I've rationalized the fact that I'm going there in a non-tourist season time will be a good thing. Bill informs me that N.O. is insane during Mardi Gras in February and Halloween in October, and it's preferable that the locals vacate the city while all the drunken tourists flock into the French Quarter. Much like the Stampede in July here in Calgary. It's just too much redneckism and country music for most sane individuals' likings.
I will still have a few days of vacation left, so I'll take the rest at Christmas, including my banked time, and hopefully also have Dec. 22 to January 2 free. I'll head back to Manitoba, and also hopefully get into Winnipeg for a visit as well.
Next year, the plan is to go back to Montreal for Diverscite in August, and take a week before or after that to check out Ottawa and possibly Toronto. Joe is planning on going back home to PEI in the summer, so the current plan is to meet in Montreal and travel back together.
Work is going okay. I could go on about the good and bad at work, but I'm sure most of you aren't interested. Frankly, neither am I.
Swimming with UCTC is going good. We had our first timed swim last weekend, and it was the first time I've ever swam 1500m in under 30 minutes. I hope to lose another 5 minutes off the swim by next spring. My membership with UCTC is done in December. I think I'm going to join the club at Lindsay Park after that, not because I don't like the UCTC, but for convenience's sake, if I could do a gym workout in the morning before work, swim at lunch hour and run/bike in the evenings, it will make my days more organized, and won't require me riding my bike to the university and back in January (perish the thought....).
I'm heading to New Orleans on December 6. I'm really excited about the trip, and I've rationalized the fact that I'm going there in a non-tourist season time will be a good thing. Bill informs me that N.O. is insane during Mardi Gras in February and Halloween in October, and it's preferable that the locals vacate the city while all the drunken tourists flock into the French Quarter. Much like the Stampede in July here in Calgary. It's just too much redneckism and country music for most sane individuals' likings.
I will still have a few days of vacation left, so I'll take the rest at Christmas, including my banked time, and hopefully also have Dec. 22 to January 2 free. I'll head back to Manitoba, and also hopefully get into Winnipeg for a visit as well.
Next year, the plan is to go back to Montreal for Diverscite in August, and take a week before or after that to check out Ottawa and possibly Toronto. Joe is planning on going back home to PEI in the summer, so the current plan is to meet in Montreal and travel back together.
Work is going okay. I could go on about the good and bad at work, but I'm sure most of you aren't interested. Frankly, neither am I.
Wednesday, August 15, 2001
I signed up for four months with the University of Calgary Triathlon Club. The training starts in September and ends in December. I was considering going for the full eight month plan, but I didn't want to commit to something that was going to cost me so much money when I may be looking for something different. Needless to say, that cost me almost $200, and that doesn't even include gym/weight room priveleges. I may end up getting a membership at Fountain Park afterall. I hate thinking that I'm going to have to pay another $3-400 for a gym membership, but it has to be done. I'm already figuring on scheduling weight room workouts for the mornings before work and heading to the Uni for the evening swims, bikes and runs. It should be a pretty intense autumn.
Vancouver was an absolute blast. We didn't do anything too spectacular. We were staying at the residence at UBC (only $60/night on the long weekend), so we would cab downtown (transit was still on strike), and walk around downtown all day. We met up with Cheryl-lee and met a few of her friends on Friday evening, then we went downtown to the Odyssey on Friday night, the Pride Ball ($40 ticket) on Saturday night, checked out a T-dance at the West End Community Center and another gay bar (Numbers) on Sunday. The parade was on Sunday and started nicely, however it started to rain, and by the end of the parade at 2pm, the rain was coming down pretty hard. There were over 100,000 people out watching it. It ended up raining for the rest of the day, which was too bad since the festival on Sunset Beach would've been a lot of fun had the weather cooperated. We also got to see the Celebration of Fire fireworks on Saturday night from the main beach downtown. Spain was presenting on Saturday night, and it was incredible. The fireworks were so beautiful. There were SO many people there. I think the media said around 250,000 people turned up around English Bay to watch them.
On Monday, I had the chance to catch up with Grant and Alana. It's been so long since I last saw them. We had a really great visit, but unfortunately, it was too short. I plan on returning to Vancouver soon enough, so hopefully I'll be able to visit them longer, as well as all the friends I missed visiting. Cheryl-lee drove us to the airport, and after a short hour flight we were back in reality.
Last weekend I was pretty cool. I had the Lake Chaparral Tri on Sunday so I didn't go out Saturday night. There was a farewell party for Perry on Friday. He's heading to Toronto to do his MBA at York. We'll sure miss him.
This weekend, I don't have much planned either. This is my first completely unplanned weekend since early June, so I figure I'll take it easy and catch up with some friends I haven't seen in awhile. Team Calgary's having the Zodiac Challenge at Moneypennies on Sat. afternoon, and I have to organize the Corporate Challenge running team this weekend as well. We have a run on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday next week, just to get everyone out and meeting each other. A few of us are also planning on having a big bike ride on Sunday as well.
I'm supposed to be working with one of the CP programmers on the weekends over the next little while. I have to get that organized also. Too much to do.........
Vancouver was an absolute blast. We didn't do anything too spectacular. We were staying at the residence at UBC (only $60/night on the long weekend), so we would cab downtown (transit was still on strike), and walk around downtown all day. We met up with Cheryl-lee and met a few of her friends on Friday evening, then we went downtown to the Odyssey on Friday night, the Pride Ball ($40 ticket) on Saturday night, checked out a T-dance at the West End Community Center and another gay bar (Numbers) on Sunday. The parade was on Sunday and started nicely, however it started to rain, and by the end of the parade at 2pm, the rain was coming down pretty hard. There were over 100,000 people out watching it. It ended up raining for the rest of the day, which was too bad since the festival on Sunset Beach would've been a lot of fun had the weather cooperated. We also got to see the Celebration of Fire fireworks on Saturday night from the main beach downtown. Spain was presenting on Saturday night, and it was incredible. The fireworks were so beautiful. There were SO many people there. I think the media said around 250,000 people turned up around English Bay to watch them.
On Monday, I had the chance to catch up with Grant and Alana. It's been so long since I last saw them. We had a really great visit, but unfortunately, it was too short. I plan on returning to Vancouver soon enough, so hopefully I'll be able to visit them longer, as well as all the friends I missed visiting. Cheryl-lee drove us to the airport, and after a short hour flight we were back in reality.
Last weekend I was pretty cool. I had the Lake Chaparral Tri on Sunday so I didn't go out Saturday night. There was a farewell party for Perry on Friday. He's heading to Toronto to do his MBA at York. We'll sure miss him.
This weekend, I don't have much planned either. This is my first completely unplanned weekend since early June, so I figure I'll take it easy and catch up with some friends I haven't seen in awhile. Team Calgary's having the Zodiac Challenge at Moneypennies on Sat. afternoon, and I have to organize the Corporate Challenge running team this weekend as well. We have a run on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday next week, just to get everyone out and meeting each other. A few of us are also planning on having a big bike ride on Sunday as well.
I'm supposed to be working with one of the CP programmers on the weekends over the next little while. I have to get that organized also. Too much to do.........
Okay, I wrote a note to Scott Rhodes, and here's the meat of it, since I'm pretty much summing up what I've been doing over the summer (since school finished in May).
Losing my computer at home really messed things up for me. I lost all of my email addresses, Office documents, webpages, and pirated software I've collected over the past four or five years. Much of it I'll never be able to recover, but I did manage to find a company that was able to recover and burn off 7GB of MP3s for me. The biggest problem (I learned after it was too late, of course) was that the version of Windows 95 I had on my PC was a customized version (apparently a lot of the big PC manufacturers get certain aspects of the O/S customized for their hardware - go figure). The guy that burned off my MP3s had to go on a big hunt to find an add-in that would communicate with my O/S. Even when he found that, all of the MP3s were burned off without titles, so I've been spending the last few months trying to figure out who sings what. For those songs that I have three or four remixes for, it's been particularly cryptic. However, the fact I was able to recover almost a thousand songs makes the whole venture worthwhile.
My other great loss was all of my personal webpages. My Cadvision DSL account expired about a week after the computer crashed, and at the time I didn't even think to save the webpages from the server before the account was closed. All that work - two years of creativity - gone. What a shame.
Anyhoo, on a lighter note, I've been pretty busy with triathlons and training this summer. I competed in two triathlons, one duathlon, a 10K road race, and a team relay so far this year, and I still have two team relays yet in the fall. I've done fairly well, but there's still a lot of room for improvement, especially my swimming. I have room to lose 10-15 minutes off my swim time which would very easily throw me into top 20 rankings in any of these events I enter. My goal is to be in peak form next fall. I'm planning on going with Team Calgary to Sydney, Australia for the Gay Games next November to compete in the triathlon. It's going to be the trip of a lifetime, but I don't think I'll be able to get more than two or three weeks off work, which is unfortunate because I'd really like to tour the country while I'm over there. I'm definitely going to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef though...that's been a dream of mine since I was a kid.
The new job is going okay. It's a lot of the "hurry up and wait" mentality here as well, but not due to the fact that something fucked up in the field, but due more to something being held up in the bowels of bureaucracy somewhere in the company. There are a lot of factors screwing up processes in the company right now, the biggest one being the breakup of CP Ltd. happening in October. There have been a lot of IT projects that have been put on hold until the CP Rail IPO is completed on October 1. I think what happened was that they hired a bunch of us last December with good intentions to throw us on project teams once we started working in May. However, when the breakup was announced in February, a lot of those projects got put on hold, and when we started in May, they were scrambling to find places to put us. I got moved from one project team to another and moved to three different floors in the first couple of months that I was here. There have been 500 layoffs including 250 in the office which have also screwed things up. My manager had a web server ordered before I even started working here. It was discovered a month and a half later that the person that was in charge of ordering was one of the people that was laid off, and the server request was still sitting on their desk. Needless to say, they finally got the server a month or so ago, but then it got lost again in Receiving for a few weeks, and just got installed and initialized about a week or so ago. How's that for efficiency???
I'm designated as an API/Customization programmer for the Electronic Document Management/ Product Database Mgmt/ Workflow Mgmt System (EDM/PDM) that the company is phasing in. The software is called Centra 2000 and it's a hierarchy-based document storage and management application that runs on an Oracle DB. Right now, we're bringing an Intranet version into production company-wide, and eventually we're planning on moving it onto the Internet. This is where I'll be working mostly - building custom code to facilitate the communication between the web server and the Oracle database. This wasn't really what I expected to be doing here (programming....BOOO!), but it will be a great experience, and I'll be able to learn a lot about the company and IT that I probably wouldn't be able to see had I been put onto a team that was doing a more local or specialized projects. Since there are so many departments in the company that are planning on implementing the EDM/PDM, I'll get to see the work processes involved in a wide variety of departments here. Eventually I'll be able to analyze the processes and design the customization requirements needed, but for now I'm the lifeform at the bottom of the food chain, so I get to do the coding.
Losing my computer at home really messed things up for me. I lost all of my email addresses, Office documents, webpages, and pirated software I've collected over the past four or five years. Much of it I'll never be able to recover, but I did manage to find a company that was able to recover and burn off 7GB of MP3s for me. The biggest problem (I learned after it was too late, of course) was that the version of Windows 95 I had on my PC was a customized version (apparently a lot of the big PC manufacturers get certain aspects of the O/S customized for their hardware - go figure). The guy that burned off my MP3s had to go on a big hunt to find an add-in that would communicate with my O/S. Even when he found that, all of the MP3s were burned off without titles, so I've been spending the last few months trying to figure out who sings what. For those songs that I have three or four remixes for, it's been particularly cryptic. However, the fact I was able to recover almost a thousand songs makes the whole venture worthwhile.
My other great loss was all of my personal webpages. My Cadvision DSL account expired about a week after the computer crashed, and at the time I didn't even think to save the webpages from the server before the account was closed. All that work - two years of creativity - gone. What a shame.
Anyhoo, on a lighter note, I've been pretty busy with triathlons and training this summer. I competed in two triathlons, one duathlon, a 10K road race, and a team relay so far this year, and I still have two team relays yet in the fall. I've done fairly well, but there's still a lot of room for improvement, especially my swimming. I have room to lose 10-15 minutes off my swim time which would very easily throw me into top 20 rankings in any of these events I enter. My goal is to be in peak form next fall. I'm planning on going with Team Calgary to Sydney, Australia for the Gay Games next November to compete in the triathlon. It's going to be the trip of a lifetime, but I don't think I'll be able to get more than two or three weeks off work, which is unfortunate because I'd really like to tour the country while I'm over there. I'm definitely going to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef though...that's been a dream of mine since I was a kid.
The new job is going okay. It's a lot of the "hurry up and wait" mentality here as well, but not due to the fact that something fucked up in the field, but due more to something being held up in the bowels of bureaucracy somewhere in the company. There are a lot of factors screwing up processes in the company right now, the biggest one being the breakup of CP Ltd. happening in October. There have been a lot of IT projects that have been put on hold until the CP Rail IPO is completed on October 1. I think what happened was that they hired a bunch of us last December with good intentions to throw us on project teams once we started working in May. However, when the breakup was announced in February, a lot of those projects got put on hold, and when we started in May, they were scrambling to find places to put us. I got moved from one project team to another and moved to three different floors in the first couple of months that I was here. There have been 500 layoffs including 250 in the office which have also screwed things up. My manager had a web server ordered before I even started working here. It was discovered a month and a half later that the person that was in charge of ordering was one of the people that was laid off, and the server request was still sitting on their desk. Needless to say, they finally got the server a month or so ago, but then it got lost again in Receiving for a few weeks, and just got installed and initialized about a week or so ago. How's that for efficiency???
I'm designated as an API/Customization programmer for the Electronic Document Management/ Product Database Mgmt/ Workflow Mgmt System (EDM/PDM) that the company is phasing in. The software is called Centra 2000 and it's a hierarchy-based document storage and management application that runs on an Oracle DB. Right now, we're bringing an Intranet version into production company-wide, and eventually we're planning on moving it onto the Internet. This is where I'll be working mostly - building custom code to facilitate the communication between the web server and the Oracle database. This wasn't really what I expected to be doing here (programming....BOOO!), but it will be a great experience, and I'll be able to learn a lot about the company and IT that I probably wouldn't be able to see had I been put onto a team that was doing a more local or specialized projects. Since there are so many departments in the company that are planning on implementing the EDM/PDM, I'll get to see the work processes involved in a wide variety of departments here. Eventually I'll be able to analyze the processes and design the customization requirements needed, but for now I'm the lifeform at the bottom of the food chain, so I get to do the coding.
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
