Well, Friday went by pretty smooth. Got out by 4pm, quickly walked myself to the train station and after getting my ticket validated, sat myself in car 5, seat 64. The train left on time and was virtually flawless. The woman sitting next to me wasn't very technically oriented though, asking me to help figure why her iPod didn't work etc. When she realized there wasn't much we could do for her device, she went back to knitting.
I, on the other hand, had borrowed a portable dvd player and began watching some asian movies (research for work). Near the end of the ride, the woman next to me cracked.
'I'm sorry...but...I can't stand it any more. Your movie, so violent, on that techno device....and your PSP, that thing, makes noise...it's driving me crazy. I just can't stand it anymore. Please please can you do something?'
For the record, I watched my movie with no audio. And it was subtitled in english. The PSP game was low audio and was not violent. In a nutshell, she just didn't like technology. I suppose it's weird to have such cool gadgets on a train....? I don't know.
Arriving in TO....got myself a cab, and got to Howie's by half nine. Great to see H and P. Two months have gone, but it just seemed like yesterday. We quickly caught up, before going to bed.
Saturday morning, woke up to find both H and P still at home! They were supposed to go do volunteer work but their dog G was up all night. I heard her walking around too. But boy was I shocked when I was in the washroom and H comes and says 'Hi!'. Boy was I scared to death!!
We went out for lunch, at a local british pub. Y3llow Griffin. Great stuff. Then some shopping before leaving for Ni@gara at 3pm. Ed was late as usual, we were supposed to go at 2pm.
The drive was remarkably quick. I got maybe an hour of PSP time and boom we were there.
We found out hotel, went to see the Falls, before heading to the Old C@sino. I dropped a hundred there. I have to say, I wasn't feeling it. Last year, I took over a grand from my trips. I felt good on those. This time, not so. Anyway, so I lost my first hundred. Then we went for food. Cabbed it to Sher@ton for their 'known' restaurant Cut @bove.
We got there around 7pm. We didn't leave until 10pm. While we had great conversation, the four of us catching up, our food was just plain delayed. We all ordered steaks and they were all supposed to be done Chic@go style. Like medium rare. Well, our steaks came back well done, except for H's. So the three of us had to wait yet again.
When they finally came, I was not impressed. The restaurant brags that it's all 100% Angus Beef. Well, I'm pretty darn sure mine wasn't Angus. I think it was just triple aaa or so. It just didn't taste like Angus and I have had a TON of Angus beef while in TO.
With the screwup, we got free dessert so that extended our stay too.
When we got to the New Casino it was packed. K1m went for roulette and was doing well....but eventually it got the better of him. H didn't gamble at all. So that left Ed and I. I don't mind gambling so I was looking for poker or BJ. Poker was dumb though there, so I skipped that. So off to the BJ tables, and well, it just wasn't happening. Cards weren't there, and Dealer was just hot, so I called it quits after dropping 200 more, for a total of 300.
After that, went to You Know Where. It was crazy. Embarassing story for me though, I met this one nice gal, and we got to talking. Well, things lead to other things, only....well, I got an upset stomach. So I had to run out on her. She must have thought I was nuts or something. Boy. How embarassing. Urgh.
Sunday, woke up early saw the Gold Medal match, went for pancakes, before heading back to TO. Hung out with K1mmer until time for train. Got on it at 5pm, and around 630pm, they tell us we'd be delayed 45. Well, 45 turns to 1 hour, 1 to 2 hours, 2 to 3.....and then 4. Boy we're we mad. Apparently there was an 11am train that got into a wreck. Our train had only 2 servers, as the normal servers were stuck on the 11am wreck. We had no food carts, we weren't moving, and when we did move we had to go eastward away from our destination.
By the time we finally rolled in, it was 1am. Everyone went for cabs, but no can do. Cabs were all busy or taken. So I walked like 3 blocks hoping to catch one. Caught one I did, but I was so frustrated and tired I just couldn't care less. Gave the cabbie a big tip, got out, and once out, realized I left my cell in the cab. (Well, it fell out of my jacket pocket.) Now, I have never lost my cell, never lost my wallet. I make a routine habit of checking my pockets everytime I leave a car or just walking around. As I left the cabbie I told myself, check your pockets just in case your cell or something fell out. But my brain said, nah, it hasn't....forget it, you're good.
But alas. As the cab left, and as I opened the front gate, I checked my pockets. No cell. Gone. It really did slip out as I thought. I raced to my apartment, dropped everything, logged online to see if any buddies were able to help. I needed them to call my phone and tell the cabbie to come back.
Well, the cabbie turned my phone off, didn't answer and I think it's gone. We stayed up another hour to see, but no luck. Boy was I steaming mad.
I wish I remembered the cabbie number or name, or hell even the cabbie company. Yeah that's right, in the bleak of night, I don't even know which cab company drove me home. That's how cold it was, and how dark and how frustrated and frantic we all were.
I even text messaged myself in case someone would open it. We'll see if any luck happens. Calling Rogers today, they said they'd block my stuff but it doesn't look like I'll get it back. I'll have to take a replacement sucky phone or pay like $500 for a new phone and start a new contract, to get rid of the old. Since I paid like $800 for a phone before, doesn't sound like a bad deal.
But what a hassle.
Damn cabbie.
Another friend from Van lost her cell too, and we were laughing online swapping stories. She was at a club, went to washroom, came out, and 5 min later, gone! Taken. Vanish!
What's up with cell phone thieves!! If I found a phone I'd return it. Sheesh.
Well, that's it for now.
Gotta go sleep.
I swear, time is passing me by so quickly.
Already it's Thursday! Been doing the usual and in a blink the week is gone.
Though I have to say weekends are a bit boring right now, the weather being cold and not really having too many people I'd like to hang out with.
Still...it's Thursday today. Tomorrow and the weekend, going to TO to visit the gang. We're headed to Ni@g@r@ for some Boys Weekend. K1m and I will gamble, How1e and Ed will probably not.
Why am I spending major money to do this when I could easily just stay here and do the same? Good question. But it's their bdays, so....good reason to go see them!
Speaking of birthdays, this month has been crazy.
Feb 4th - brother
Feb 5th - sister
Feb 8th - nephew
Feb 10th - coworker
Feb 14th - grandmom
Feb 18th - coworker
Feb 21st - Ray
Feb 22nd - K1m
Feb 25th - Cat
Geez!
Well, didn't do much over the weekend. Still staying home to keep costs low. But I did go grocery shopping and blew 200 bucks there. Ouch. Man, I sure feed myself well!
Ended up watching olympic hockey, mainly Team C@n@d@ lose both games 2-0. Crazy. Definitely the other countries have stepped it up.
Regarding work, it's amazing how I'm really turning things around, I've got my team very focused and idoling me, and my name is spreading to the rest of the company. Good buzz. I've always said the goal was to help manage a company and it's amazing. I'm really getting things done for the company and even though people keep telling me they've tried to change certain procedures, for some reason, I'm not seeing that resistance. I think it has to do with the way I approach the problem.
In any case, things are moving.
Even to the point where I may hire an ex-coworker. Though not sure about that.
So while work life is great, time to focus on personal. And yes went to badders tonight, but again no luck with Annie. We kept rotating off each other, so we were never on the bench to even strike a conversation! How maddening is that. Grrr.
Damn!
So I go to badders and she's there. Tried to talk to her and just clammed up.
Man...it's been ages since that's ever happened to me.
How rookie.
This whole language barrier is damn frustrating!!
Grrr....
So today was a very interesting workday.
Remember how a few weeks ago I was interviewing someone for an exec level job? He is a friend of the owner and got the interview based on that. The other execs all approved of him until he got to me. When I interviewed him, I realized that he was not qualified, and I campaigned quite hard not to have him hired. It would be a huge success if I managed to pull that through, given his connections.
Well, I got it half right. I managed to convince them all that the job he petitioned for fell through.
Now to back up a bit, I have....on my team, another role, called the Cr3@tive Dir3tor. This person is in theory my equal, my counterpart. The current person filling this role is half absent and not delivering what he should be delivering. I have raised red flags about this and he is a concern. However, having said that, while he lacks experience, if he just put in the time and worked with me through a cycle, he'd be an outstanding asset. The question is, will he lose his stubborness and listen to me. So far, no.
Well, guess what, this person has been relieved of duty temporarily. There's a bigger picture story to this and I've been informed that the OTHER guy will be given this role.
Hot damn.
Now what the heck do I do.
I was asked if this would be a problem. I spoke my mind. I don't think he's qualified at all, at either positions. But I have to live with the decision and find a way to work with him. It will be tough. I personally don't think this role on my team needs to be filled. We've been functioning so well without the CD that....why add him later in the project when it's not necessary?
The team is fully behind me. Morale is high, goals are established, I've blazed a path so bright it's going to be damn hard to put out. So....what to do what to do. The problem is, I don't think the company needs this role, at least, not on my team anyway. It's a redundant role.
Hmm....what a predicament.
This one blemish....can I get rid of it?
Well I just hate it when you show up for badders and it's closed.
No email, no nothing.
So I wasted a good 1.5 hours due to poor communication.
Grrr.
I'm mad because I didn't get to get my exercise and.....didn't get to see the cute girl. :)
Well, Tuesday, met with Jim M@c. Former colleague from the TO days, was good to see him. Went to dinner and exchanged our thoughts in our new city. Unlike him, I'm having a blast. From his viewpoint, he wasn't into the new languages, his wife isn't working and they weren't used to living in a city where english isn't the primary language. He's been here for half a year now and only now is he kind of 'becoming' happy.
I sympathize, but explained to him it's all mindset. Got to change your mindset.
Anyways, I'm sure I'll be seeing him soon again, he's a good guy.
Wed went out again to badminton, flirted with the gal some more but she's just so not talkative it's hard to get through.
Thursday went out for cinq et sept, which is like Happy Hour with my team, very cool.
Friday was busy day, as we had important documents due. We delivered and waited to see what the response was.
I found out Sat on IM, when my contact explained to me he wasn't happy with the docs. Then we spent a good 4 hours online talking about why and so forth. Much of the 'blame' is the guy who wrote it and we plan on focusing on how to steer him. It was one of those tough conversations about personnel on your team.
Weekend saw me do some chores, errands etc. Another ex-coworker is actually here, stuck in the airport, he was in Vancouver visiting with my ex-boss who got released heheh. Kinda serves him right. :) Now he's here at our airport waiting for a flight back but it got delayed! So he's here a night. I think we'll go for a beer or so, chat about 'old times' etc.
Work is great. Everything is coming along so smooth. I even somehow got elected to the Social Club! It's like everything is coming perfectly.
Went to badminton, and played freaking well. Definitely regaining my form, and won some games, lost some games, but all via tiebreaker.
Even chatted up with the french gal....unfortunately didn't get to play with her tonight but it's going good. Nothing is going wrong right now for me.
Hope it lasts!
Super Bowl Sunday featuring my beloved Seahawks came to a sad ending. They played well, and pretty much dominated those Steelers. But the east coast bias was pretty clear, the refs were making huge momentum killer calls against my team.
1) Offensive pass interference? Please. That took 7 points away from Seattle.
2) Roethlisberger Touchdown? Please.....did the ball really cross the line? It's the Superbowl. Don't freaking give touchdowns or take away touchdowns if it's not clear-cut legitimate. The refs give Pittsburgh 7 points there, for a swing total of 14.
3) Penalty calls. Please....the Hawks are driving from their own 2 yard line, get to deep Steeler territory....and the refs call holding. Holding? Even the broadcasters admitted they didn't see it on review.
And really, the list goes on....every time the Hawks threatened, the refs would call this bogus penalty. Giving phantom points to a team is huge. Taking big plays away from Seattle and penalizing them is a huge mindf**k. Kills your momentum and I swear, the refs did a damn good job of momentum stealing and helping the Steelers.
Overall, the Hawks outplayed the Steelers, and the Steelers won because they got lucky at the right times.
Great poise by Roethlisberger on 3rd and 28 to get it to Ward.
Great TD run by Parker.
Great gadget play by Randle El to Ward.
But that's about it. Their QB played horribly. Horrible stats. He was saved by the refs and big plays. He's the youngest QB to win, but it wasn't really him that did it.
Seattle played very well, but just didn't get any breaks. Missed some big play opportunities, some dropped passes too. But y'know what? They didn't deserve the fate.
The game literally came down to that pass interference call and the phantom touchdown.
I'm sad for Seattle.
Just like that a month has gone.
Let's see....January saw me relocate, resetup, reacquaint myself with new coworkers, and start playing Badminton again.
The 30th saw Sarah's birthday come, followed by my Mom and Tony's on the 31st. On the 4th is my brother, 5th my sister and 8th my nephew. I'm sure I've said this all before in previous years post. It's one crazy week. Not to mention, the 5th is Super Bowl! Packed eh?
Bren almost got us tickets to the Bowl. But alas, was not meant to be. Oh well, I'll be home all day, on my couch, my big screen tv, watching and cheering my team of 31 years. I have watched every game every sunday....this goes back so long.
After this game, I will have no idea what I will do on Sundays!! Last game of the season!
I think the Steelers are the stronger team, but hey you never know, Hawks could pull it off!!
Just got back from Wed night badminton. Did I tell you there's this really cute chick there? Damn is she cute. Perfect french girl, super quiet, doesn't talk much, super cute....speaks very little english though, forces me to learn french if i want to get to know her. But did I say she is soooooooo cute?