Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Category: Travel

  • Flying home

    I’m at the Toronto airport enjoying a little free wi-fi courtesy of Cisco, unlike the Toronto Sheraton who is charging outrageous daily rates for internet access. They should really get with the program. Many lower end hotels all over North America have free wi-fi and yet many of the upscale hotels think they can still gouge the consumer. If it wasn’t the conference hotel, I’d have stayed elsewhere.

    Speaking of the conference, this years IBM blueHorizon’s 2 day educational event was one of the best I’ve attended in some time. THere were better sessions and more choices that ever. I hears someone say that there were 21 simultaneous presentations going on over the last two days across multiple streams. It was a great learning event.

    I’ve almost recovered from the sunburn gained while walking along the harbour front for all day on Sunday, and my calves have almost recovered as well. The true test will be on the next bike ride to see how well the legs hold up. The long walk had an alternate purpose as the beginning of training for a couple of days of mountain hiking in Banff this summer. The main hike will start at an elevation of 5,000 feet and climb to a mountain summit at 11,000 feet. Hey, don’t you need oxygen at over 10,000? While I will have had a solid 2+ months of cycling by that time I think I’ll throw in some extending walking to get the rest of the muscle groups ready to go. I hear they leave the injured and stragglers behind, and it is grizzly country.

    I’m looking forward to being home, see you soon.

  • On the Road – Day 3

    So much for the intention of blogging something every day. What happened to Day 2?

    Not much to report from TO., except a warning about taxi drivers. Since we don’t have a car on this trip we’ve been cabbing it the short trip from the hotel to the Agfa office. The trip can be anywhere from $7.25 to $10.00. Why the discrepancy? It’s cell phones. The guy with the high price ride was so busy talking on the radio and the cell phone and oh yeah, and spending a few brain cycles on driving in heavy rush hour traffic, that he forgot where we were going and had to be reminded several timers, especially after he made a couple of wrong turns. Hey there are only 3 turns between the office and hotel.

  • On the road – Day 1

    It’s been a while since I’ve been in Toronto on business but this afternoon I flew in for four days of education with Agfa for a project I’m working on with two other team members.  The flight down on Westjet was uneventful except for the guy in the middle seat who thought he owned the armrest and couldn’t figure out why the TV control buttons were not doing anything for his screen, while mine was flipping channels like a bandit. He even tried it twice, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him what was wrong. Guys that technically challenged probably shouldn’t watch any more TV. I slept off and on and listened to a couple of podcasts to pass the time.

    After a long wait in a taxi line and a short ride we’re at the hotel. We’re staying at the Radisson Airport and the rooms are quite nice and we hit the local Kelsey’s for dinner. Over dinner I got to know my team mates a little better as they are both new on the project and work on different areas that I do. Now I’m back in the room watching a little TV, without any help from my seat mate! It’s warmer that Winnipeg at +4, but raining. No matter, we’re stuck at the hotel without a car, so It will most likely be work and sleep for most of the week.

    Radisson’s have sleep number beds, so I’ll get to check it out for a few days. Since we’re looking at a new bed for home and I know somebody who can get me a great deal on a bed!

  • Memory

    It’s interesting how memory works.

    When I was about 12 my parents took my sister and I on a fabulous road trip to New York City and Washington, D.C.  It was quite a memorable experience. Lately I’ve been thinking about one of the stops we made on this epic trip.

    As part of the trip we spend several days on Mackinac Island. This portion of the trip was a GWL convention location for my dad and as kids we were all over the place with pretty much unlimited access to food & fun. The strange part is that all these years I thought the island was in Canada! Well, not so. Its an island in the Great Lakes but clearly in U.S. waters close to where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron join, and the Mackinac bridge spans the water with the worlds third longest suspension bridge.

    We stayed at The Grand Hotel and had a great time. After looking at some of the website and remembering the fun I had as a child, I think I’ll put this on our “must visit” destination list. I’m not sure we’ll be staying at The Grand at $330+ US/night, but somewhere on the island. And for sure we’ll being the bikes, as no cars are allowed, very cool. Just bikes, hourses & walking. That will slow you right down.

    Technorati Tags: Mackinac, “Grand Hotel”

  • Smells

    Smells can really trigger strong memories. Occasionally I’ll catch a wiff of something and it will instantly take me back 30 years to a very specific time and place. Sometime, I’ll smell the perfume my mom used to wear and a flood of memories will instantly come back to me. It’s quite an experience.

    Wow, that was a little of track from how I thought this would go. A couple of days ago while riding to work in the morning I was really hit by how much closer to life you are on a bike vs. a car when moving around the city and it was the smells on the ride that gave me this thought. As I went up the street there was a freshness in the air, a smell that would be hard to describe, a spring quality. To me it was as if I could smell the “green” of the grass.

    Well, at the top of the street the relaxing and refreshing scent of spring was quickly swept away by a VW TDI diesel exhaust stream. We’ve been looking at a new vehicle and the TDI has caught my attention mainly because of it’s incredible mileage, but I’d forgotten about the exhaust and diesel smell and the clanking of the engine. This car was almost out of site and I was still sucking in the fumes.

    From there it was back into a brief reprieve of fresh air on a bike path and then into the fragrant mix of heavy rush hour traffic downtown. Actually, this is the most fun part of the ride as I get to pass most of the cars, weave in and out of traffic and try not to get hit or be too obnoxious, but it is a bit of a rush. I’m certainly awake when I roll into the office.

    Technorati Tags: smell, cycling, spring

  • Road Trip – Day 2

    From a Starbucks in Grand Forks.

    We checked out a cool Swedish design furniture store across from the HoDo and then headed off to the Fargo Air Museum. Then it was off to Schells, a totally awesome sporting goods store and a stop at Cold Stone Creamery for a treat for the road as we drive back to Grand Forks for, you guessed it, more shopping!

    More pictures of planes & Schells. Wakeboards for Dez?

    More detail later, we’ve got to hit the road. 

  • Road Trip – Day 1


    The Donaldson Hotel
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    We’re taking a road trip to the US which is quite unusual for us. It’s the Easter long weekend and we headed south after making a Starbucks stop for a couple of ventis. The border crossing was backed up with travellers with the same idea at 9am but, thanks to Shirley’s skillful navigation we ended up in the fast lane and were quickly on our way after about a 15-20 minute delay.

    The next stop was a rest stop, an impressive convenience in the US that Canada could do well to copy, assuming we had an interstate. Most amazing, besides the quality if the facility and it’s cleanliness was this. Only in America.

    Back on the road it was a quite, sunny drive into Grand Forks for the real purpose of the trip, shop til’ you drop! We hit a few of the big box stores on the way to the Columbia Mall. We even bumped into some church friends doing the same thing. After cruising the mall and lunch at Applebees we were back on the road. Shirley had a nap and I listened to Maxwell on the iPod. Next stop, Fargo.

    We checked into the HoDo and surveyed the room for a few minutes, then moved on to more shopping. West Acres for over 2 hours! I think I dropped after the first hour. Thanks to John Maxwell on the iPod and some comfy leather chairs the second hour was quite enjoyable. Dinner at Paradisio (mexican) and a litte sight seeing (Horbachers grocery store – wooo hooo!) we were back at the hotel, WOO HOO!!!

    The hotel is very nice, quite artistic, but not very soundproof. The resturaunt had live jazz and the bar must have been busy, because there was quite a lot yelling and screaming. We’re also one block a way from a very active rail line in the heart og the city, which means a lot of whistle blowing. I slept through some of this but the 8am wakeup train could not be ignored.

    Lots of wireless internet around besides the complementary hotel system, so that’s quite nice. We’re just enjoying the second cup and a snack from the complimentary breakfast and then we’ll be off for the day. More shopping, but a bit more of a focus on sight seeing, I’m hoping for the Air Museum.

    p.s. – Scott, the Blue Man Group was in town yesterday, but we didn’t go (review). 🙁

  • In Vancouver and lovin’ it!

    I flew in to Vancouver this morning for some professional development and a western regional team meeting for work and I’m having a great time. Vancouver is my favorite Canadian city and any time here is a good time. After the meetings the team was out for dinner and then I headed back to the hotel.

    This trip I’m staying at the Delta Vancouver Suites, and to date this is the best ever hotel that I’ve stayed and and I’d highly recommend it to anyone. The service and experience has been exceptional. Upon arrival I pulled up in front of one of the hotel doors in what seemed to be a loading zone on the street. I was just going to run in and register, drop off the bag and head on out to the office. As I’m checking in they asked if I had a car and where it was. When I told them, one of the staff offered to take it around the block and into the hotel valet holding area as where I left it, I was likely to get a ticket. Checking was quick and with a cookie to boot! The room is fabulous. A corner suite with floor to ceiling glass, a new and modern decor, and a great view of the downtown skyline.

    When I return from dinner later that day, there is a personalized welcome note on the work table with my name printed on the envelope and the note in side. A small fruit plate has also shown up with an apple, two large strawberries and some grapes. A few moments after I enter the room the phone rings. It’s the hotel staff welcoming me to the hotel and ensuring that everything is OK. A nice touch except for the spook feeling that came with know the call was triggered by me using my access card to enter the room. This was no random call, Big Brother is watching.

    I head out for a walk down Robson to pick up a Starbucks drink, (Tazo chai latte, extra hot) and on the way I stop to watch a scene being shot for a movie and wild and crazy crowd of mainly scantily clad young girls in what seem to be Halloween themed costumes waiting to get into some club. Talk about night life.

    Great city, great hotel. Now if they’d only stop hosing you $9.95 a day for Internet access. Oh yeah, wireless would be nice too.

  • Maah Daah Hey – not this year

    Well, this is the weekend where I should be in North Dakota on the Maah Daah Hey trail biking with the boys. But, it’s not happening. We had a great run for 5 years of making the annual trips with a bunch of guys for some great mountain bike riding. The trips were always fun, and resulted in some great stories, guys getting lost in +100 degree weather, crashing and landing on a cactus and other guys (me) crashing and getting a 3rd degree separated shoulder in 2005.

    But this year, thing just seemed to work against getting enough riders to make the trip. Some had weddings to attend, some were moving, some were over worked and needed some home time. Gee, where are your priorities? This would have been easier to take if the weather was really bad because the trail is un-ridable when wet. But at 8:45am in Medora it’s 56F and sunny and the forecast high is 81F and the same for Sunday!

    What are we doing here in Winnipeg? Ugggg.

    Technorati Tags: Maah Daah Hey, Mountain Biking, cycling

  • Last day on the road

    I think everyone is very ready to be home now. We’re driving from Billings to Winnipeg, a 12 hour drive, if you don’t stop for anything. Well, we’re stopping for a few things, rest stops, gas, lunch and any Starbucks we come across.

    One of the may joys of traveling in a group is making decisions. This is something that is never talked about in advance it seems, but sort of happens on the fly. Everyone want’s to be so agreeable and get along with everyone and accommodate everyone that sometimes getting the information you need to make a decision is hard to come by. In Billings, it was somehow a fore gone collusion that we’d eat at the Outback. This was great, immediate consensus and the food is good with lots of choices.

    More challenging decisions  happen on the way home when everyone is tired, tired of being in the car and not looking forward to more hours in the car until we’re home. Also, cruising by Interstate exit trying to assess the likelihood of finding an acceptable restaurant’s is fun. By the time anyone says anything the exit has flown by. Finally, an exit is taken and the choices are listed out and are greeted by silence. What is the driver to do? You don’t want to arbitrarily make a choice but nobody want’s to offend anybody, so not much gets said. Perhaps in this situation the choice comes down to the lowest common denominator. A known restaurant’s with a wide variety of stuff on the menu, and it’s Perkins or Denny’s. Yummy.

    I’ve got the laptop plugged into an inverter in the back seat and I’ve totaled up our trip cost and prepared my list for Canada Customs. Even with the van repair we’re well under the $750 limit for the week. I wonder when there will be coast to coast high speed wireless Internet access available? I read in Wired once about an organization who arranged Internet access for a very large portion of Idaho. In one case a farmer uses this access from his tractor to send real-time potato reports to McDonalds. Hook me up baby!