Canadian Undergrad Tech Conference

Last week I went with Cory to Toronto for the Canadian Undergrad Technology Conference. This is the first time I have ever been to a conference and the second time I have ever been to Toronto. I definitely would never just pay $700 to go across the country and go to a conference I am semi interested in. Either way, the school paid for most of it so I went anyways.

We left on the Wednesday, flew from YVR at 7 in the morning out to Toronto. We arrived at our hotel, a Super 8, in the middle of Chinatown. We didn’t have much to do, so we walked around the downtown core. We went up to the U of T, Cory wanted to go join some Parkour group there. We headed down Younge street, through the Eaton Centre and I found the Strip club I got kicked out of when I was 17, Zanzibar. Heading back on Queens street we walked pasted Much Music and saw where the conference was going to take place. I then went for a run around U of T, to keep up my training for rowing.

Thursday we slept in, woke up at 10:30 because of our shitty alarm clock and failure of a wake up call. We ran to the hotel and missed the keynote speaker. We then had a guy from CCICT talk about recruiting high school students and girls in CS, followed by a talker from Rypple. We then had a seminar on programming for the Blackberry, both Cory and I decided to opt out of that. That night we half-ass worked on our project for the “inspiration project” we were required to be a part of. Following that, we went to dinner with two guys from U of C. We ate at a Johnny Rockets, a restaurant that looks like something from Back to the Future, or Pop Tate’s from Archie comics.

We also went out and watched the Watchmen that night which is a really good movie, though with a HOLY RANDOM! soundtrack.

Friday, we got to the conference early. On the way there we saw four fire trucks rush off to the School of Culinary Arts. Someone must have failed their project. At the conference we had a discussion from the head of Engineers without Borders Canada, and on how to use AJAX where some douche that reminded me of Travis was asking a million questions. In the afternoon we presented our project and then it was followed by a fancy banquet dinner, again with me in a t-shirt.

Friday night we went to Ryerson University where they had a pub night and it was super cheap. Nothing like you would see here at the Highland. I wish we didn’t have so many taxes on our damn beer and I wish our pub served poutine.

Saturday I was supposed to wake up early to go to the Argonaut Rowing Club but it was too damn cold so I didn’t feel like it. We left our hotel, then went to a restaurant from Pure Pwnage called Maggies (it is on 400 College St.) and it was the best place I ate in Toronto. I have never had such good breakfast at a restaurant (except maybe the Wooden Shoe on W17 and Cambie).

We walked around Toronto some more but where quite bored and cold so we opted to go back to the hotel to use t he internet for a few hours before heading off to the airport to go home.

I think I will try and do it again next year. For now I am have to do my deliverable and make a presentation with Cory.

Things I learned in Toronto:

1. It is cold in Toronto, a jacket is needed.
2. People wear collared shirts at conferences. T-shirts are not acceptable.
3. The airplane is a perfect place to get 5 hours of homework done without distraction.

Backskies

So I am back from Reno and I honestly don’t want to do anything right now. I know I should so I am at least doing my daily writing. Here are some pics from the trip to show what happened. Thanks to Jesse for these.

Me still drunk and passed out at the airport (Seattle I think)

Me at the Reno Airport.

The Reno Airport.

The first thing I saw when I got off of the airplane.

Downtown Reno (seriously that place is a shit hole)

Squaw Mountain

Me riding in some waist deep pow.

Me ridiculously happy up at Squaw Valley in California.

Lost Along the Way

This last weekend I had an interesting time. On the Saturday I went down to Seattle with a friend to see my Yankees and the Mariners play. We spent the afternoon at an outlet mall where I got a shirt and a hoodie. The game was fairly boring through the first six innings but then it really got fun. There were just as many Yankee fans there as there were Mariner fans.

On the way back to Vancouver I filled up for a $1 a litre. I am considered that fairly cheap right now and I remember only a year ago I would fill up in Chilliwack for $0.85 a litre.

Once we hit the border we got double teamed by the border guards. One was interrogating us while they other was searching through my truck.

On Sunday I headed out to Kits where I had brunch at my favourite breakfast restaurant with my best friend from UBC. After words I met up with an old friend of mine where we watched the Redbull Soapbox Derby which was just ridiculous. It went from Arbutus to Cypress on West 4th Avenue. Some of the entries were a picnic table, a giant taco and an F14 jet that actually banked when it turned.

I then headed back to SFU where I drove my truck to my Uncle and Aunt’s in Slurrey to have dinner with them and my Oma and Nonno and to see my new born baby cousin.

It was definitely a good weekend before having to go back to school where working is going to start soon. I already have two assignments to do.

Sundays in New York

I have yet to write about my trip to New York and I must say that it was awesome! I am definitely going to go back. I left Montreal on the Saturday and ended up missing the train. I then found out there was only one train a day and the next day’s was full. Luckily there was a bus. I took the bus to New York City and then I walked across Manhattan to my hostel.

On the Sunday I woke up and left at 8:00am. Even though it was New York there was not much for me to do. I walked a bit and took a look at the Little Church Around the Corner. There was a mass in session. I quickly left and found that the Museum of Sex was just across the street.

I walked to the Chrysler Building and the train station there on Lex and 42nd st. There was a huge street fair going on all the way down to 57th st. I walked up and down that looking at all the neat little souvenirs they were selling.

I then headed out to the Bronx where the Bronx Bombers were playing the Kansas City Royals. It was such a fun game and you can sure tell the Americans are into baseball. I was sitting behind the centre fielder and whenever the Royals were out in the field, this little kid around twelve years old was just ripping apart David DeJesus, their centre fielder.

I definitely want to go to more of these baseball games. Infact next Saturday I will be going to Seattle to see the Mariners play the Yankees.

After that I headed up to 110th St, back in Manhattan where I was at the North End of Central Park. I must say it is much bigger than I ever imagined. It took me three hours to run around the entire park to see everything and even then it was dark by the time I was done.

Finally to top it off, that night I went to the top of the Empire State Building and I got an amazing view of the city from night.

Unfortunately I do not have any place to host all of these pictures online so I can’t put them up here. I did manage to take about 300 photos in the few days I was there.

That was just my Sunday though. I will write about the other days later.

Everyday People

So last Saturday I slept in and missed my train to New York. I ran to the train station (Gare Centrale) from my hotel (on Rue St. Hubert) and found out that all the trains for the next few days were sold out. I was n’impressed pas as we Francophones say. The man working for Amtrak tells me of the bus station and tells me there were multiple buses to New York with Greyhound. It turns out that the bus station is right next door to my hotel.

In the end I got to New York on time and I had so much fun there. I walked all over Manhattan, from the lofts in SoHo to the tenements in Alphabet City. I was in many burroughs of NYC, the Bronx, Harlem, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. It was awesome trip and I cannot wait till I go back. I will post about my trip when I have time in the next few days. I need to go to bed shortly as I am to fly home to Vancouver in a few hours. I definitely cannot miss my flight.

I ended up meeting a lot of random people, both cool and creepy on my trip.

• First there was Claudia, a girl from Quebec City who I ended up sitting by on the bus down to NYC.
• Then there was Lee, an older asian male from Texas who I shared a room with at the hostel.
• On the train back was Paul and his newly wed wife, they are from Coquitlam and are here on their honeymoon.
• Then there was the black ex-naval PO who I sat beside on the train ride from NYC to Montreal.

Then you have your much more interesting, more colourful people.

• John Johnson, this was the actual name of the bus driver who drove me to NYC. It was his first time driving to NYC and he had no idea how to get there. He kept asking this one lady where to go.
• In NYC when I first got there, a homeless black guy started to help me find my way to my hostel and on the way he explained how the roads in NYC worked so I could get around. I did not know till half way to my hostel that his fat wife was following up, for whatever reason.
• After the Yankee’s baseball game, while wearing my newly purchased Yankee’s t-shirt, some guy comes off the subway yelling at me, “NICE SHIRT!! NICE SHIRT KID!! WE SHOULD GO PLAY BALL SOME TIME!!”
• While wearing the same shirt, only a few hours later in Central Park, a Mets fan named Johnny came up to me discussing baseball and the idiotic choices that the coaches were making. Then he went on to discussing the choices of colours on hockey jerseys when he found out I was from Vancouver. He the proceeded to give me a huge and offer to buy me a steak dinner with his friend at some local restaurant.
• While eating my “street meat” near Central Park, two asian women came up to me and started discussing the motherly spirit with me and if I believed in god. This was not the only time random people came up to me in NYC to ask me about my beliefs in god.

Montreal

I spent the day around Montreal as I do not leave until tomorrow for New York. When I left my friends hotel room last night to go to the hotel I had reserved a few months ago I had to call a taxi. When the taxi pulled up, the driver grabbed my one bag and then out of no where another driver grabbed my other bag and threw it in his car. They started to shout at each other over who was my rightful driver and then they went inside to yell at the front desk guy. I was just standing there completely confused over what had just happened. Eventually one of the drivers took my other bag, put it in his car, told me to get in and we drove away.

I spent most of the afternoon shopping around for some clothes since I did not bring enough civvies with me. In the evening I went and saw the movie Hancock which was pretty good. I also saw the trailer for the movie that I am in.

Beside the hotel I am in they were setting up for a festival all day but I wasn’t sure what it was. Just now when I walked buy I figured it out, it was for Pride Week. All I can say is that it was sure flamboyant.

Through my seven weeks here I have noticed that there are just so many good looking girls here, it is like they banished all the uglies to Toronto.

Now I must go and pack for New York as I have to get up early.

Now Back to your Regular Programming

I write this now from my hotel room in downtown Montreal. Yesterday we finished course officially. We started celebrating on Wednesday night by having a big mess dinner. Basically we wear a modified version of our dress uniform and then all the officers go to a big fancy dinner full of many many traditions. All in all the night was very fun. I can’t wait till my next mess dinner in the future, as long as I am not the one planning it.

Thursday we all got dressed in our dress uniforms, finished packing and left our rooms. After breakfast we got our certificates and course reports and I am glad to say it was very good and had nothing about the “challenging authority” b.s. incident. We then took fancy photos in our dress uniform. You can see the two samples here and here. Of course here is me parading and my entire platoon.

It was definitely a fun day. But as soon as we were done the parade I said my goodbyes and I hightailed it out of St Jean as I never hope to go back there again.

I will be in Montreal till tomorrow where I am going to be off to NYC. Next thursday I come back home to Vancouver and then on Friday I will be back on rez.

Gas Gas Gas

Three words I never want to hear again.  This week was mostly spent on learning CBRN which is Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear.  We learned stuff like, in a nuclear blast our CADPAT will give us moderate protection (yeah right).  Tuesday was spent all in the classroom learning the theory of CBRN.  Wednesday was getting out gas suits and learning gas drills (changing canisters, masking up, drinking, decontamination etc).   

Then wednesday we did the trial hut.  Boy have I been dreading it for about a year.  Basically we all put on our suits (which are charcoal lined, one piece bunny suits) and walked in 30 degree weather across the base and then went into a building full of tear gas.  We had to wear the suits for two hours before we could take it off.  After ten minutes my gloves were already full of sweat.

First time you go in you were wearing your suit, you did the confidence test (some light PT), changing of canister drill and drinking water drill.  You then went outside, took off the mask and gloves and undid the hood.  You then had to walk into the chamber and when you went in and felt the effects you had to mask up.  First time I walked in I had my mouth and eyes open and took a good five steps in before I felt it.  And then I really felt it.  When the mask was finally on we went to the next room and put on our hoods and gloves and then we had to decontaminate.

This weekend I went to Montreal on Friday/Saturday.  Friday night I went to a casino for my first time with some friends and we mostly stayed at the roulette and craps table.  We also were at the blackjack table too.  On Saturday I picked up two new books (I am Legend and Empire) as I had finished Ender’s Game (also a good book).  I saw the Dark Knight and really liked it.  I also went to this restaurant I went to last year called The Three Amigos.  It is a cool mexican restaurant on Rue St. Catherine. 

We have more more week here in the Mega.  Three inspections and one is a platoon commander’s inspection.  Next week we go to the field for Pre-Vimy which is preparing for Vimy, our final challenge were we get a task, have to write up orders and then execute them while not sleeping for the whole week.

Also, I heard that Matt Sundin was offered $20 million for a two year contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Now I must go and get ready for tomorrow’s inspection and Maritime Crossing.

Talkin’ New York

After doing a bunch of logistics I have come up with a basic itinerary of what I am going to do in New York. I know it is still a long time away but after this week in basic I won’t have time to think about or plan the trip so it has to be done now.

Day 1

• Check out the Chrysler Building and it’s Art Deco arcitecture. As well check out the Grand Central Terminal where I plan to catch the subway to the Bronx.
• In the Bronx I will be watching the NY Yankees play the Kansas City roayals.
• Walk around Central Park and see all the sights in the 843 acre park.
• Take the elevator up to the top of the Empire State Building.

Day 2

• Check out the dino bones in the American Museum of Natural History.
• Get lunch at the Hello Deli.
• Head to the southern tip of Manhattan and check out the New York Stock Exchange.
• View the old location of the World Trade Centres
• Ride the Staten Island Ferry there and back.
• Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
• Head up to Greenwich for a late dinner, walk around Washington Park.
• Go to 1st and 1st for a photo op moment. (How can a street intersect with itself? It must be the nexsus of the universe).

Day 3

• Take a tour of the UN Plaza.
• Check out the New York Public Library.
• Sightsee Radio City Music Hall and Rockafeller Centre.
• Try and find Donald at the Trump Towers.
• Be a tourist at Times Square and see the giant Toys R’ Us with a free indoor ferris wheel.
• Check out Spamalot on Broadway.

At this moment I feel it is a fairly light schedule but I will probably end up being rushed while there.

My United States of Whatever

Yesterday I went down to the US for the day with the intent buy buying some new shoes as my old ones have worn out. Like all my trips into the states, I had to stop at the dairy just on the other side of the US border where I got a large ice cream and some dairy products for my parents.

I drove down to the Seattle Premium Outlet mall in Tulalip. After walking around for an hour or so I picked a pair and then paid for them. Right next door was one of those Walmart Supercentres. I decided to venture inside and I must say it was the largest Wal Mart I have ever seen. I ended up in the pop aisle where they had so many flavours of pop and at a fairly good price.

I picked up a 12 pack for redbull, for mixing at a birthday, for $20 and a case of Vanilla Coke for $4.

By then I had nothing left to do so I headed home. I first grabbed a snack from McDonalds off their Dollar menu which was definitely a good deal, but the size of their pops still surprise me.

In Bellingham I stopped at a Taco Bell and got some more delicious, fattening, gross food.

After clogging up my arteries I headed toward Lynden to get to the border crossing. I managed to get myself pretty lost but in the end I found my way.

It was a pretty solid day, and the moral of the story is that cheap and large stuff comes from the US.