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Vancouver -- Day 2

To her credit, my mother did manage to stay quiet enough that I didn't actually wake up till almost 7am on Saturday. I have no idea what time she got up, but I got to sleep in. Apparently she went out and found a Tim Hortons so she could have some coffee, and when I did finally get up and dressed, etc... We went downstairs to have breakfast.

Breakfast is served in the Garden Terrace. Which is neither a garden, nor is it a terrace. But...that's what they were calling it. It was a nice place, and the chairs and tables were extremely comfortable. Breakfast was good, but absolutely not worth the $60 that we were charged for it. Yes, you're reading correctly, SIXTY DOLLARS for breakfast. Uh-huh, gotta love the Four Seasons.

Afterwards we were planning on taking the trolley ride around the city. Did you know that nothing in Vancouver opens till 10AM? Seriously, you can't do anything (as a tourist anyway) till after 10. We had to wait that long for the trolley on Saturday and again that long for the shuttle on Sunday. On Saturday we went for a walk while we waited. I showed my mom the hotel I stayed at the last time I was there, as well as the Hyatt where many drunken hours were spent, and a few other places. We walked along Robson Street too, not that we could actually do any shopping, but we looked in all the windows. I think the only place along there that we really wanted to go back to was the candy store, which we ended up forgetting about. Oh well, no big deal.

So, when finally the trolley came we got on and were the only passengers. The driver was quite amusing, and very friendly and was surprised that we had tickets already (we'd purchased them the day before because we knew we'd want to take the early trolley and I forgot you could buy tickets from the driver). It turned out that the driver we had was to be the 'overflow' driver for the day, so for some reason once we got to Stanley Park we ended up having several stops along the way till the trolley that was running behind us caught up. Off we went, on the rest of the trip around the park...when we got to the gate where we were supposed to leave, the gates were closed. The driver spoke to a park ranger and was very annoyed about the whole thing, complaining that nobody informed them, etc.. etc.. The Ranger patiently explained that nobody had informed them either.

So, we got to see a whole lot more of the park than we ever would have if we'd just gone on the regular route. So, the detour suited us just fine. However, it put that driver way behind, so the original driver came back and took over so that she could catch up on her schedule. Actually, the day was sort of funny that way, we ended up only seeing those two drivers even though I'm sure there must have been several more. Even after we got off at Granville Island it was those two drivers that ended up picking us up.

So, we took most of the tour on the trolley without getting off till we got to Granville Island. Which I love. I went there last time I was there too, and really I think it's my favourite place in the city. Stanley Park is nice, but Granville Island is fun. There's shopping, there's boats, there's a market.... Really, it was great. I can't quite remember how long we were there, but it seems like for quite a while. I bought a few things there too. Something for my brothers fiancee for her birthday and something to give my dad for Christmas. And postcards, which I always buy no matter where I am, because I'm sort of dorky and I collect them.

All we heard about all day Saturday was this amazing display of fireworks that were going to take place that night. Apparently every year they have a competition between three countries. Canada always participates, and then two other countries also play along. The week we were there was the grand finale, which meant that all three countries got together to put on a display that was supposed to be absolutely phenominal. They were expecting half a million people in English Bay. While I love fireworks as much as the next person, I do not love crowds. And half a million people is about 499,999 people too much for me, so I refused to go. Yeah, I'm a party pooper, whatever. My mom was able to see them from her smoking station downstairs, so whatever. She saw them, and I watched Trading Spaces and chatted online. ;) Why should my Saturday night in Vancouver be any different from normal?

And um...Oh, I forgot. We went back to Gastown Saturday evening so we could have dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Which was incredibly good. I ordered the most plain thing on the menu, and when it came it was far more spicey than I expected, but still it was good. I believe I managed to eat it all (which is quite a feat these days) and I don't think it even caused me problems. It's a miracle. Actually...spaghetti is something that's always been fine for me, I guess there's not a lot of fat in it.

So, there we go. Day 2. I'm sure I've already forgotten things, but that's the general gist of it. Mom was in bed super early that night again, she actually got up to go downstairs and watch the end of the fireworks. And actually, even I went to bed earlier than I normally would, but at a more respectable time than the previous night.

Oh, a funny thing. After the fireworks were done, I saw this big flash outside the window, so I went over to look out and saw this huge line of people down below going into a building across the road. I had no idea what it was. There was no sign, there were no lights and there was no music. Though, I was convinced that it must be a club of some sort for all those people to be lined up. The line was huge. I gave up on figuring out what it was and went to bed. But the next morning mentioned it to my mom. She knew what was down there....it was a train station. Brilliant me, of course the half million people that were down there watching the fireworks needed to get home somehow, didn't they? So, yeah, they were waiting in line for the skytrain. Sometimes I'm an idiot.

Dress Shopping

I don't often wear dresses, and if I do, generally they're made out of denim or t-shirt material, or something equally comfortable. The last time I wore a dress that could be considered fancy was when I graduated from high school. Which is quite a few years ago.

It was navy blue, but short, which is a shame because had it been a long dress I could have just starved myself for a year and worn it. (I've had weight loss, yes, but not so much that I fit into clothes I wore in high school) Actually, I'm kidding, I can't imagine actually wearing something that I already own to my friends wedding. Well, if I was just a guest that'd be ok, but not so much as the maid of honour.

So, yesterday we went out looking at dresses, I am what you'd call flat broke at the moment, so actually purchasing wasn't going to happen. But, I've got it all picked out, so it's not going to be a problem when I get off my ass and find a better paying job than the one I 've got now. I don't need to worry about the store running out of them either, because apparently they're special order dresses. When you want to purchase, they have to order it in for you, even if they do have it there in the store already. Also, the stock will be available to order until December, which gives me some time.

But, I am happy to report that the dress was found in the very first store I went into. In fact, it was actually the very first (well, second the first was huge and it actually fell off) dress I tried. I did try a second style on, just to see. But, I liked the first one so much, that we decided then and there. The second one just didn't fit quite right, it was sort of baggy at the top a bit, and it was one that tied up at the neck (and that was all there was to hold it up), and I had visions of it working it's way loose as I'm walking up the aisle... Yes, totally frightening.

So, for a person that doesn't wear dresses, it's pretty good because it's actually not a dress. It's a skirt and a top. And, so far the general concensus is that it's really nice. If I have to wear a dress, it may as well be a pretty one...right? And my thoughts are that I may be able to actually wear it again sometime. Maybe not together, but separately. We'll see.

Clean Sweep

There's this new show on TLC. Yes, it's another of those DIY reality TV shows. I don't know how I got hooked on home decorating shows, but somehow it happend. Damn you Trading Spaces!

So, right, the new show....It's called Clean Sweep. Since I'm a Trading Spaces addict, I've been seeing commercials for the show for quite some time. And for quite some time I've been thinking, that it wouldn't be very interesting at all.

I was wrong.

I'm not the most organized person in the world. In fact, I think somewhere on my computer I've even got pictures of the clutter that usually surrounds me. If I can dig them up I may even post one or two. Because when compared to the people that are on this show, my clutter is positively tidy. So, maybe it's a feel good thing. "Holy shit, look at that mess. I'm not nearly that bad." Or something.

At any rate, the show goes something like this.

Welcome to so and so's house, they are complete and total slobs and are in dire need of help, because they are just so slob-like they can't possibly sort this out all on their own.

Enter Clean Sweep Team. The team seems to consist of one organizer, one decorator, one master carpenter and several underlings, one hostess, and several general labourers. And the homeowners. The team tackles two rooms in the house. Generally it's a bedroom and a living space, but not always (I imagine that the homeowner has some say in which rooms get fixed).

So, the entire crew picks up everything in the two rooms and dumps it outside on the lawn. (I'd like to see what happens if it rains) So, now the lawn looks like a tornado has gone through town. The organizer and the homeowners then have to dig through all this crap and decide what they keep, what they throw out and what they sell in their yard sale.

So, the homeowners put a zillion stupid things that they don't need in their keep pile, throw out practically nothing, and put a decent amount of things in the pile to sell. I swear, one man put bowling balls in the keep pile. Bowling balls that he'd bought at another yard sale for $1 a piece. Does anyone in the family bowl? No, of course not. Obviously the organizer then digs through their keep pile and makes it a whole lot smaller than the way the homeowners left it.

Meanwhile, in the house, the decorator and master carpenter are going to town on the rooms. Generally the idea is to create more storage, because obviously these people have a problem, they collect junk and lack a place to put it. The rooms I've seen so far have all been really gorgeous when they're done. Both decorators (there are two that switch off) are really good.

So on day two the homeowners have a yard sale. The host has each of them pick one thing of their spouses that they hate, and then puts those two items up as a prize. The homeowners have a contest to see who can sell the most stuff at their yard sale. The winner gets to keep their item and the loser..well the loser loses of course. And their item has to go with the rest of the leftover junk to charity.

I'm sure the experience really helps the homeowners out. But really, the entire thing makes me laugh. Why is it so overwhelming for someone to sit down and dig through their junk? Honestly, it doesn't strike me as something that can be so terrible that you require an entire team of people to come in and help you out.

Nonetheless, the show is strangely compelling. I'm enjoying it, a whole hell of a lot more than I ever expected to.

Vancouver -- Day 1

I never did write about my trip to Vancouver, and I promised...someone (I forget who) that I would. So I'm going to do that today. Or at least until it's time for me to go to work.

Back one day in June I was over in the fiction aisle helping someone find a book. She was off to Europe on vacation and wanted a book to take with her. She told me she liked to read depressing stories that were about something. Which was fine, I dug deep and ended up talking her into Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. Don't look at me like that, I did explain that it was somewhat funny, but still about a drug addict. The drug addict part caught her attention apparently. Anyway, while I was over there trying to tell her about the book my boss came over and interrupted me saying that there was a phone call for me. Generally that's not something that's done, so I was sort of curious as to what the reason could possibly be. And of course I panicked that something was wrong.

As it turns out it was a lady from Random House, calling to tell me that I'd won a contest. I of course was shocked, and my manager was all excited, and I basically floated around the store for the rest of the day.

There were a couple of restrictions on the trip. Nothing too serious. It had to be taken between July 1 2003 and July 1 2004, and couldn't be taken at 'peak' flying times. I assume that meant long weekends, Christmas, Spring Break....stuff like that. My biggest problem with that was that I was going to have to wait till after July 1st to go, naturally I wanted to go immediately.

We planned the trip for the 8th, 9th and 10th of August. The lady from Random House explained that the prize included airfare for two, two night accomodations and $1000. All expenses while in the city were to be paid for with that money, and getting to and from the airport in both cities was my own responsiblity. Not so bad, right?

I found out much later that she'd booked us into the Four Seasons. Which was really exciting of course. I've stayed in some really nice hotels before, but they've never been the Four Seasons. Admittedly the Carmina Plaza where I stayed last time I was in Vancouver was absolutely fantastic, but this one was just a tiny bit more wonderful. Which probably has something to do with the cute doormen who always held the door open for me? It was expensive though, I looked through the room service menu when I first got there and decided very quickly that we'd just have to go out to eat. I can't imagine paying $15 plus tax and gratuity for 3 cups of coffee. That's just insane. You can get 10 cups of coffee for that much at Tim Hortons! (or so I'm told, I don't actually drink coffee) Despite the prices for the food, the room was really nice, and I've never slept in a more comfortable bed than the one I had there.

So, we arrived in Vancouver on Friday at about noon local time. The hotel doesn't have an airport shuttle, which surprised me at first until I remembered that there is a company that runs one. It's a bus that'll pick you up at the airport and makes several stops around the city at various hotels eventually ending up back at the airport. I'd used it the last time I was there to get back to the airport (my aunts had it all sussed out and used it both ways, but I arrived mid-week and ended up taking a taxi to my hotel (which probably put me in the poor house)). So we caught that for a measly $18 each and were on our way.

Because we were both already exhausted we decided that we'd like to just go for a walk and not do anything too ambitious that day. There was this really cool trip up one of the mountains that we were going to do, but the girl selling tickets for the tour discouraged us because she said it was too hazy and that we wouldn't be able to see anything by the time we got up there anyway. So, no big deal. On the way to the hotel in the Airporter, we passed Canada Place, which I now know (a million times over) was Canada's pavillion at Expo (the year escapes me at the moment) when it was in Vancouver. Now the cruise ships come into port there. It wasn't too far away so we walked back there and took a bunch of pictures. While we were there this guy came up to us and said "Excuse me, I don't normally do this, but...oh, you're not from here either. I'm from Halifax, Nova Scotia and I'm trying to raise $18 to stay in a hostel tonight. Could you help?" Don't normally do this? Yeah, ok. At any rate, my mother quickly said (and she wasn't lying) that she'd come out without her wallet, I echoed that (for the record, I was lying).

That was the first of our encounters with people asking for money. It didn't bother me quite as much as it did my mom. Well, I'm not sure if it was that it bothered her or if it shocked her. It's different out here. We live deep in suburbia and rarely ever run across anyone asking us for money, however, from what I've noticed in Toronto, the guys there don't actually stop you and ask you for money, they just sit pitifully on the side of the road hoping that you'll stop and give them something. In Vancouver, they'll interrupt you while you're eating dinner to ask(this is a true story, though it was the last time I was there).

After we took copious pictures of Canada Place (at least mom did she had the digital camera so she could take as many as she wanted, I was limited by how many rolls of film I had), we wandered down into Gastown. Gastown is sort of the historical section of town I guess. I don't actually know how old it is, but it's certainly made up to look old. The passengers have the right of way, if you even look like you're going to want to cross the road, the cars almost immediately come to a screeching stop to let you pass. The roads are all cobblestones and the buildings have that old, downtown sort of feel to them. My favourite part of Gastown is the Olde Spaghetti Factory. :)

Gastown apparently is so named because there used to be a guy there who either owned most of the area or was the mayor or something, who liked to tell tall tales. (Or so the tour guides story goes) Therefore they nicknamed him 'Gassy Jack', and apparently that's how the area got it's name. It seems unlikely, but then, who knows? Probably if I'd bothered to read the plaque on the bottom of the statue of him, I'd know if it was true or not. As it is, I didn't. Gastown also has this really neat Steam Clock which was donated by...someone. It's neat because it's driven on steam, and apparently took forever to build. It goes off once an hour on the hour and has quite a musical song it plays through the whistle at the top. It's actually really quite fascinating.

So by this time it had started to rain (typical, didn't I say it was going to rain?) so we decided we'd best go back to the hotel and get out of it. On the way into gastown I mentioned to my mom that we absolutely wanted to retrace our steps exactly on the way out, but for some reason I guess she didn't believe me, so she dragged me off in another direction, which of course happened to be the type of area that you absolutely don't want to go into....unless of course you're a heroin addict. We got out of there ASAP, back down to the road we'd walked down on, and the one I said we'd best stick with. (I'd made the same mistake the last time I was there, so I knew what was going to happen if we strayed off the beaten path)

We went back to the hotel and waited for the rain to stop before going back out to have dinner. Of course, we were starving by then because all of our other meals that day had been served on EST and so at 3pm PST it seemed like it should be dinner time to us. We eventually wandered out, and arrived at a deli at just about 5pm and had some sandwiches for dinner. And then just went back to the hotel and watched some TV till it was late enough (well, not quite) to go to sleep.

Weight Loss

This is something that's been going on for a while. I haven't put a whole lot of effort into it, and yet the pounds keep disappearing. I know, that should be a warning signal to go to the doctor and find out what the hell is going on, but I already know the answer....sort of.

Back at the start of the year I was having all kinds of problems with my stomach, which ended up actually being gallbladder issues. By the time I had the surgery I basically couldn't eat anything without doubling over with pain afterwards. Yes, I know, this is an old story.

So, basically for a month, I ate nothing but turkey sandwiches and fresh pasta with plain tomato sauce. After the surgery I expected that things were going to be normal again. I expected far more than I got.

I can certainly eat more than turkey sandwiches and fresh pasta with plain sauce, but there are many, many things I can't eat. Basically anything with fat in it. Not a big deal, fat is bad for me anyway.

So, I've lost all this weight. When last I checked it was around 30 pounds, but it's been a couple of weeks since I last looked.

The problem with this is that none of my clothes fit anymore. All of my pants fall down, both pairs of jeans that I own are so big that I can't wear them anymore, the pants that I wear to work are being held up with a belt. And it's getting annoying.

Of course, I could go out and buy all new clothes, but I can't afford that. So, I have to do it slowly. A few weeks ago I bought a cool denim skirt, and some new shirts. Today I bought new jeans. I'm terribly excited about my new jeans. In fact, every new thing I buy is exciting because it's all so small. And...did you know that smaller clothes are cheaper? I guess that makes sense, since there's less fabric in them. I guess....?

Sitting in the Dark

Yesterday at work it was very busy. For some reason our head office decided that they needed to re-categorize the Self-Help and Health sections in the large format stores. Which means, that suddenly nothing is where it's supposed to be anymore.

Can anyone explain to me why half the diet books are now in the Self-Help section (renamed Wellbeing) and the other half are still in the Health section? No? I didn't think so.

Anyway, yesterday was the day to finally change all the crap around. We're doing our bi-annual count of the store, so it was decided that yesterday my boss and I would focus our energies on those two sections and get everything sorted out. No big deal, in fact, I was sort of enjoying it. I like it when you're finished and everything looks neat and tidy. Yes, perhaps that's sort of nerdy, but whatever, I work in a bookstore, do you expect me to be anything else?

So, as I counted what used to be the self help section I moved all the books into place where they were going to live, it was really the easiest way to do it, and it took almost no time at all to complete. I went over to the computer to enter in my numbers to make sure I wasn't missing anything and as I was part way through entering them, the power went out. This was at 4:10pm.

They'd been having problems with the cooling tower that day and the maintenance staff were running around resetting all the air conditioners in the stores, so immediately we were concerned that perhaps something had happened to one of them and that they'd been electrocuted and that the mall power went out because of that. Without a radio, we didn't know that the problem was a little more widespread than that.

Immediately everyone in the mall shooed their customers out and closed their doors. We had one girl that wanted to browse (in the dark) so we didn't shut our doors we just blocked them off with all of our roll out carts that sit out in the mall. And of coruse we followed her around to make sure she wasn't shoplifting. At any rate, we eventually decided to close the doors and have a meeting we'd been putting off.

We had our meeting and then there was an announcement that the mall would close at 5pm. I'd heard rumours about the power being out from Chicago to the other side of Toronto, but I really wasn't sure I believed that. Till I got home and my mom arrived later and told me that it was in fact NYC, Detroit, and most of Southern Ontario (CNN please note that while we may like to think we're all that's important in Canada, there actually is quite a bit more to the country than our little Golden Horseshoe).

It took me 45 minutes to get home last night. Of course, there were no traffic lights, and I guess they'd deployed as many police as they could to intersections, but still, there were quite a few that had nobody directing them. The two that surprised me the most were the ones closest to my mall which have the exits from the QEW Niagara, you'd think that they'd want to make sure there were no accidents there. Thankfully I live in the country so I was quickly able to get away from the traffic, I'd say half an hour of my 45 minute trip home was spent on a 3km stretch of the road the mall sits on.

I made dinner on the bbq and we ate it by candlelight. And by the time we were finished, the power was back on. It was about 8:30 when it came up. So we didn't do too badly. I hear there are many, many people that still have no power, so I guess I should feel extremely fortunate.

I tried to call a friend that lives in NYC last night, but my cell wouldn't work. I tried to call this morning but couldn't get through due to increased activity. And when I finally realized that the cable wasn't out, it was just the Canadian TV stations that aren't working, I saw on CNN this morning that they've not got power back yet at all. So, yes, I'm definitely lucky that ours came back so quickly.

But you know what makes me angry? People are calling for essential services only. And yet the mall that I work at is open and I have to go into work. You know what? The mall is not an essential service. If there are people who don't have power to their homes, then the mall should bloody well stay closed till all those people have their power back.

A Small Rant

The Ontario Government put out a request today that all non-essential services close so that that power could be reserved for residential customers.

Why then was the LCBO open this afternoon when I drove by?

Delays...

I hate delays. You'd think that before they loaded a huge jet full of hundreds of people they'd know that the baggage drawbridge thingy wasn't working, and that it was going to take some extra time to load the bags. And that perhaps it wasn't a fantastic idea to load all of those children onto the plane early, and have them sit while everyone else loaded. And then have them sit for 35 minutes while they tried their damndest to get the luggage on the plane too.

Yeah, let me tell you, it was a fun flight, screaming babies all over the place, especially on take off. But really, can you blame the kids? I was getting antsy, and I hadn't been on the plane as long, plus, I've got a few years on those kids, which should mean that I've also got some patience.

Thank God the movie was Finding Nemo, that at least shut up the kids that were old enough to wear headsets.

So, I'm lazy

I'm just back from Vancouver, and instead of writing all about what happened (I will, eventually), I'm just posting pictures instead.

Click on the one below to see more. (They may load a bit slowly)

Twofer Tuesday: Travelling

Since I've actually been somewhere recently, I figure I'll answer this one. I've never done the twofer before, so here we go....

Where was the last place you travelled?

Vancouver. I was there over the weekend. It's a lovely city, which doesn't feel anything like the rest of Canada (at least the bits of Canada I've been to). It's quite strange.

Where would you like the next place to be?

I'm always up for a trip to France. It's just beautiful over there. Is that likely to happen? No, not for a very long time, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Rain, Rain Go Away...

And stay there dammit!

Why is it that every weekend I have off it's destined to pour rain for the entire time?

My weekend at the cottage turned out to be extremely rainy but for one day, I had this weekend off, and it rained both days. Clearing up only in time for me to go back to work on Monday.

My aunt and cousins are here visiting from Illinios, so we had all kinds of activities planned for the weekend. Saturday we were going to go to the Renaissance Festival. And we did, even though the skies were threatening rain. We had a couple of umbrellas and we were on our way. We got there in time to see The Tartan Terrors, who totally crack me up. They are fairly bawdy and completely hysterical. I was crying from laughter. After that we went to get out of the rain and saw these guys that called themselves the Loudley Brothers. They were acting out the story of "Puss in Boots" for us. Again, hysterical laughter. But then it started to rain in earnest, so we had to leave. And we'd hardly seen anything. So, I'm going to try and get there again sometime....which of course means it'll rain that day too, but I'll take a raincoat and an umbrella, and perhaps some rubber boots....and it'll be fun.

So, I have Friday through Sunday off this week, and I'm going to Vancouver. Yes, from what I know of Vancouver it's rainy city. It's bound to rain. I can't think of a single reason for it not to. Aside from the fact that it'd be nice to have some time off when it's sunny. Also, sight seeing in the rain isn't overly fun. I've done it before of course, but still, totally not fun.

So, right now the extended weather forcast says scattered showers Friday and Saturday and sunny periods on Sunday. With a 40% chance of rain....

How much do you want to bet that it'll be sunny and gorgeous on Monday?

What next?

This will not be a long entry, in fact, I should probably just post it at one of the message boards I visit instead of here, but I need to update, so I'm going to put it here.

I went to see a movie today, before the movie I saw commercials. Not the usual commercials, normally I see one for the Canadian Army, and one for some sort of car.

Today I saw one for those Listerine breath strip things. And the second, which is the one that has me amazed. Diet vodka coolers.

Seriously, what will they think of next?