Boston Day 1

Today we went to Boston to take me and Emily to the airport.  Emily was flying out to Ohio but I was staying in Boston for a few days with Blake.

The day could not have been more perfect for a reunion...

We got to the airport early and Blake got there late. Blake was driving on a spare tire so we went to Pep Boys on the way to his apartment to get a real tire put on. We were told it would take a couple of hours, so instead of leaving the car we just left the busted tire and continued driving on the spare. I got a brief tour of some landmarks and then we decided to drive up to Salem since we had time to kill.

Well, the road to Salem was blocked and Blake's Garmin refused to give us an alternative route (go Garmin!), so instead of seeing Salem we just drove around and walked around a Best Buy.

After three hours and no phone call from Pep Boys, we head back to check on the status of the new tire. When we get there, Blake realizes the receipt he has is not actually for his work, and is addressed Clifford Clark! Also, the tire is in the same place it had been when we left, and obviously no work had been done.

Blake tries to smooth things over and ends up getting his tire, but has to put it on himself! For the price he paid, I would have imagined Pep Boys would do it. We struggled with that for 15 min or so before everything finally clicked and we were finally on our way.

We drove to KT's to park and then take the subway to the Prudential Center, which was basically a mall, to meet up with KT and Paul. Paul, in a typical Paul fashion, was a hoot and socially awkward moments were not in short supply. We went to Uno's for dinner and were "that"table, as we always are. Paul and Blake both blurted out socially awkward things that should not be said in public and I was in stitches. Par for the course with these two actually.

We ended the night taking the subway, where Paul proceeded to spout random mathematical facts and equations from a book her bought, back to KT's apartment to watch Hell Boy 2, but her PS 2 exploded about half way through the movie and her regular DVD player refused to eject the DVD already in.

It was basically a typical college night with this bunch all over again!

Day 8

This morning we went to the cemetery to put Memere's and Pepere's urns in the column...and they didn't fit!!! It was funny and embarrassing but the family had a good laugh as we went to the funeral director, explained what happened, and ordered new urns that would fit to exchange.

The rest of the day is shaping up to be lazy. Mom, dad, and Emily have an appointment with a realtor to look at a house built in 1813, then we are headed out for a lobster dinner somewhere.

Tomorrow I leave for Boston to celebrate New Year's and a few days with Blake, KT, Paul, and whoever else shows up. Looking forward to a good time!

Quick edit for dinner: The lobster was excellent but service in the north is absolutely terrible. The whole ordeal took 2 and half hours, and my water was only refilled twice...and only because I was barely able to flag down the waitress!

Casino Night!

We started off the evening at the Mohegan Sun. Wow, that place is impressive! I think it's the most impressive building I've been inside in North America.

The family decided to eat dinner at Michael Jordan's restaurant, so we made a reservation when we arrived and began to split up and wander around for the hour we were told to wait. Dad showed me an awesome autograph store with autographs ranging from old Red Sox and Yankees players to old movie stars and presidents. They even had an Abe Lincoln signature for $20,000!

Mom quickly lost money, Emily was up 8 cents, and Dad and I hadn't bet yet when we met back at the restaurant to eat....

Well, we missed our reservation even though we came back before an hour was up and the table for 9 wasn't held for us. We waited around for maybe 20 minutes while they cleared a large table in the back, only to be told that it was for a party of 18...Terrible restaurant management and the long wait prompted us to eat elsewhere.

I can't remember the name of the other place, but I settled on the buffalo burger. It was ok, more chewy than other buffalo burgers I've had, so my personal food experience was on the negative side. The rest of the family seemed to be pleased that we were finally eating something.

After dinner we hit the slot machines. My aunt made a killing and I started to leave up $12 (at one point up $45), but on the way out mom coaxed me into playing a Monopoly themed machine which quickly gobbled up 10 bucks.

The night was still young so we headed out to the Foxwoods casino. It was an older building and didn't have the same majestic awe of the Mohegan Sun. The family stuck to slots again, and again, my aunt made a killing, Dad made enough to recuperate Mom's losses and leave with some profit, and I lost $60 on various machines. Rae Ann randomly played a dollar game on the way out and won 200, so she gave Emily and I the winning ticket so we both came out ahead on the evening.

I had a much better time at Mohegan Sun, but the evening was fun overall.

Day 6: The funeral

Today was obviously highly emotional for everyone.

The service was held in the church Dad attended as a child, so it was particularly touching for him. A couple of old people who knew dad while he was growing up were stunned by how much I looked like him when he was my age. Everyone knew I was "Bobby's" son.

Emily and Mom delivered readings, I brought up the gifts with Norman, Memere's companion for the last two years, and then Dad blew us all away with an excellent eulogy. He gave one at his father's funeral in 2001 as well. It was so well done we joked later that he would have to record his own for his funeral!

Becca and her family were very sweet and sent a beautiful flower arrangement.

After the service, the was a big gathering for lunch at Memere's favorite spot, and the seafood was excellent. I guess that's what is to be expected in New England.

I did have an embarrassing moment when I discovered I had packed not matching black dress shoes to go with my suit, the kicker being they were both the left foot! Luckily, Uncle Don had a pair of brown shoes that fit, so it was more a funny episode than a catastrophe!

Tomorrow the plan is to go to a casino, probably the Mohegan Sun, to get our minds thinking about something fun.

Day 2-5

I had intended to blog every night, but there were some Internet complications for a bit. Except for Christmas, the rest of the week honestly went by in a blur. We looked through old photos and reminisced with various family members and family friends, and just kind of waited until Saturday to roll around.

I got some nice Carolina gear, a sweat shirt and cap, to support my alma mater from Emily. Mom and Dad gave me Kevin Youkillis wine and a Russian doll based on Red Sox players, that they found in Prague, of al places! Stocking stuffers and cash from relatives rounded out a small Christmas.

One day, and I've now forgotten which one since they've all run together, Emily, Mom, and I built a snowman, made snow angels, and had a mini snowball fight with Dad. I miss the snow and hope that I am not stuck in the South forever

Christmas 2008

Goodness gracious! It's Christmas Eve already!!!

Work has put a freeze on travel and I haven't really done any exciting personal travel until this Christmas trip to Connecticut to see family. Originally, we had planned to continue our new found family tradition of celebrating Christmas in a new country (2006-Denmark, 2007-Ireland, 2008-Italy), but Memere's help began to deteroriate so we decided to celebrate Christmas with her while we could.

Getting to Connecticut proved to be rather difficult. My direct flight on the 21st out of Houston was cancelled about 5 min before board time because of an ice storm in Boston. This turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise, as Dad was able to be with Memere when she passed the same day rather than on the way to the airport to pick me up.  I would have loved to have seen her one last time, but at least I was able to see her at my college graduation and for a few weeks afterwards last year. The funeral will be this Saturday.

Boston had much better weather the 22nd, and I was able to get a 4pm flight out of Houston with a short 30 min layover in Memphis before arriving in Boston at 10:30. Well, the plane is delayed 30 min from Houston, so I am in panic mode when we land, and I book it to my connection flight...only to see that it has been delayed 2 and a half hours! Apparently there was some mechanical problem coming from Oklahoma to Memphis. I ended up landing shortly after midnight, and spent a good deal of time looking for my luggage in baggage claim before being told that it flew to a different terminal because it was checked the day before on my cancelled flight. All was well in the end, my parents beat me to the terminal and found my bag for me and we made it to the house about 2:30am.

Day 1:

Slept late and then greeted my aunt and uncle before looking through some old family photos. My baby photos look strikingly like my dad's baby photos, so if you couldn't tell I'm his son from the sense of humor, the pictures do the job.  It was a fairly lazy day, I put my presents under the tree and then we went to the local mall and watched a college football bowl game.

Sad times

Just got the news that I will not be participating in the Chicago and Minneapolis trips. Oh well. No idea when next company trip is.

Canada wrap up

I plan on uploading some pictures from last night, but I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll take care of that sometime this weekend. They can paint a much better story than I ever could with words.

THERE IS SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG WITH AIR CANADA. Not only do you have to pay for snacks and meals, but you also have to dish out cash for a pillow and blanket! Also, the hour flight from Montreal back to Toronto was huge. The plane was gigantic, 7 seats in each row and 2 aisles. 2 seats/aisle/3 seats/aisle/2 seats. However, the much longer 3.5 hour flight from Toronto to Houston was on a tiny express jet. I can understand the economics behind these decisions, but it certainly is not building any brand loyalty. I'm going to try never to fly Air Canada again.  Canada is strange because you have to go through customs in Canada rather than when you land in the US. I don't think any other country does that. I was lucky to hit a lull in Toronto and breezed through customs in under 10 mins.The flight itself was not bad, I sat next to a coworker and had pleasant conversation. We were both pretty tired from the previous night though, and I zonked out pretty early. 

Getting out of the airport would have been much easier if Christin wasn't so dumb. She couldn't figure out how to get to the E terminal where we parked from the C terminal where she landed, so I had to get from A to E, then drive to C to pick her up even though she landed at least 40 mins early that I did. :-P

I must say I rather enjoyed Canada. I had more fun at the Toronto event and was glad I got to see the CN Tower, but the most fun was the night out in Montreal. I do wish I had time to see some sights though. Next stop (fingers crossed!) is Chicago and Minneapolis in mid July, hope there is room for me!

Day 2 Update

So I lied, we met at the hotel bar for drinks then headed out to an Irish pub called Mckillians (maybe? it was right across the highway from the Holiday Inn) for an all guys (and Christin) night out with real food and more drinks. I decided to be authentic and order the steak and kidney pie, and I was not disappointed. The night progressed with quite a few beers for all involved, and at one point it boiled down to the 4 of us that were left around midnight dancing to the live music (they were pretty good). Yes, I have pictures and video, but I'm not sure the world is ready to see them.
That's all I can really remember from the night, but it was an awesome way to end a good event. I had such a good time I don't even mind spending the evening in a bar rather than sight seeing!
Flying back out on Air Canada tomorrow morning, where you have to pay for your meals. DUMBEST. CONCEPT. EVER. but it makes them a ton of money, and that's all that matters in the business world

Montreal Day 2

The morning came way too quickly. I stayed up a little too late watching Naruto and The Simpsons in French. Neat experience but I was only able to pick up bits and pieces and if I hadn't seen the episodes already in English I would be pretty lost. Maybe I should spend some of my free time relearning French...I was also able to pick up bits and pieces of random conversation at the event between the French Canadian customers. The Quebec culture really is different than the rest of Canada, they really pride themselves on being French. I like to think of them as France Jr.

Anyway, the event went pretty well from my perspective, but I think I did a better job in Toronto. Every bit of experience helps though. For lunch, we had "barbecue" which turned out to be hamburgers on a grill. That was pretty funny.

Up next on the agenda is dinner at the hotel bar, so nothing really to write home about there, then a night out in Old Town Montreal. My understanding is that it's a little like Old Town Spring, only much more historic. Most places seem to be much more historic than Spring, lol.

Montreal Update

Dinner was good. 15 or so of us went to La Perle, a Szceheuan and Thai restaurant and ate family style. It was good, but nothing really special.
The Holiday Inn Pointe-Claire is much better than my first hotel. The building is pretty old, so it has a sort of character when you look at it, but the architecture isn't fancy. My room is gigantic but I must just have bad look with air conditioners...this one doesn't even have a panel to open to adjust knobs.
Hopefully the event goes smoothly tomorrow and I get some time to sight see.

Montreal Day 1

It's day 3 of the trip, but day 1 of Montreal.
Air Canada sure is a strange airline...the plane to took us from Toronto to Montreal, about an hour flight, was larger than the plane that took me from Houston to Toronto! Also, there's this gem during online booking:
"Do any of your bags include the following sports equipment or special items?

1. Bicycles
2. Hunting bounty (antlers/horns)
3. Hunting firearms
4. Surfboards

Yeah...

We landed and headed to the hotel to unload and grab something to eat before heading over to the site to do prework for tomorrow. Unfortunately, there was a shipping problem and none of the hardware was there. We did what we could by putting up signs, testing internet and projectors, but most of the time we spent waiting for the shipment to arrive. 3 hours later Laurie, Christin, and I headed back to the hotel and left Leslie behind with Emily and Annette to figure out what went wrong with the hardware shipment. This was really unfortunate because the plan was to blitz through setup and have some time to sight see in Montreal before the pre-event dinner. Since there was such a massive delay, all we had time to do was head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner (and write this post).

So far I like Montreal, most of the signs are in French and not bilingual, so it's nice to have to dig around my brain for the translations. It's also fun to practice my accent!

First Post/Canada!

I LOVE TRAVELING! I'm also very fortunate to have a job that gives me plenty of opportunities to do so, so I thought I should share my hotel, restaurant, and tourist experiences both through work related trips and through personal ones with whoever wants to listen.
I meant to create this blog in the beginning of June to document a trip to Philadelphia, but laziness prevailed. Now that I'm actually out of the country (hurray Canada!) I felt the need to start.
My trip started yesterday with a trip to the dog boarding house to put up my two 8 year old golden retrievers for the week, then on to my coworker's and boss's house to carpool to the airport. I was flying Air Canada while they were on Continental, my preferred choice, so we parted ways soon after arriving in the airport.
The flight was not so good. Slight delays both taking off due to maintenance and landing due to weather, and two screaming babies made the roughly 3 hour flight seem much longer. Customs was a breeze however, it only took 25 minutes to get through and wait for the baggage carousel to spit my bag out.
Unfortunately, it then took about an hour and ten minutes to wait in the taxi line and get to the hotel. Rush hour in Toronto isn't any better than any other major city. I also had a rather unpleasant cab driver. He was Indian and didn't speak a word the entire trip, then got really angry when I had to offer 1USD to go along with my $30 Canadian to match the $31 Canadian fare. I know the USD is weak, but it's still stronger than the Canadian dollar right?
Anyway, I got to the hotel and waited for a ride to dinner with the rest of the team as well as many other employees from other teams at a place that I sadly cannot remember the name, really fancy though. I ordered a Pomegranate Martini because I like girly drinks and I'm not ashamed to admit it! and shared the calamari, chicken wings, and spinach dip ordered as appetizers before diving into my lamb entree. It was very delicious but I felt that the portion was too small. I topped off with a chocolate cake dessert which was good, but I immediately regretted my decision to not get the white chocolate cheesecake when it was ordered by another.
Dinner lasted a long time and by the end of it we were all exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I went to bed not knowing exactly what was in store for me the next day.

Today was busy. I was at the event from 7:30-5ish. Afterwards, the team, Laurie, Leslie, Christin, and I, went to an absolutely wonderful restaurant called Snug Harbor. I take after my dad in that I am a sucker for good seafood, and this place did not disappoint. Leslie and I split a dozen oysters on the half-shelf an an appetizer. My main course was a seafood bouillabaisse consisting of clams, muscles, shrimps, and scallops, similar to something I had sampled in Philadelphia one night, but not as good because lobster was not included (more on the Philadelphia trip when I have time after Canada wraps up). Dinner ended with Christin and I splitting a really soft brownie and a walk on the harbor on Lake Ontario.
The view looked like an ocean. It was incredible to think that it was a lake, I guess that's why they call it a great one. (whahn whahn)
We had time after dinner to sight see, so we went to the CN Tower, once the tallest man made structure. The view was spectacular, and you could also see right into the Blue Jays stadium directly below. My only regret was not getting a picture of the "distance from CN Tower to various destinations" wall, including various cities on Earth, both the North and South Poles, the crater on the Moon, and Olympus Mons on Mars, the highest point in the Milky Way.
One quick point before I go to bed to make sure I catch my morning flight to Montreal...the Hilton Garden Inn hotel room has issues. I didn't realize anything was wrong yesterday, but tonight the room is really hot and the air conditioner is turned off (I think) and the knobs are missing. I tried fidgeting with what's left, so hopefully I don't catch the sheets on fire when I burn up tonight. The Internet is also spotty at best. I took about 20 minutes of refreshing, relogging in, adn finally re-writing and sending a simple email. The light in the bathroom also flickers and hurts my eyes. One the plus side, the staff is really nice and friendly though, the shower is poweful (one of my biggest pet peeves is a weak shower!) and the bed is pretty comfortable for a hotel bed.
For whatever reason, I am having an impossible time uploading pictures and videos at the moment, so I'll give that a go when I get settled in Montreal or back home.

Until next time, enjoy seeing the world through my eyes.