Things I Learned Today

Chocolate milk in coffee is a quick and delicious way to make a mocha in your very own home.

Don't trust Goodlife - ever. Fish can back me up on this.

Do NOT store fresh tea bags in a mug - the mug might get thrown in with the dirty dishes and then you've got a mug full of super strong, extra soapy, lukewarm "tea".

Always say yes to a free hand massage. At the salon that is, maybe not from a random on the TTC.

Don't live higher up than the 15th floor - unless your idea of fun is doing the CN tower climb, both ways.

Laundry, Hair Cuts and Sketchy Drivers

There is something you should know about me, despite my appearance of being extremely low maintenance, I am a consistent over-packer. I like to have a lot of options and the only thing I really like wearing over and over again is my sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Today was laundry day and the fact that I did 3 loads has led me to the conclusion that I didn't hand quite enough of my clothes over to the two volunteers (previously labeled 'hired hands', which was misleading)who helped me pack and left yesterday. Oh, to clarify, by 'helped me pack' I mean did all the work.

Anyway, point is, I'm left trying to figure out what to take. I've got 2 days in London winter time and then 3 months in Cape Town, OZ and NZ summer/fall style. To me, that seems like a lot to cover and it's hard to not want to load my bag with warm clothing as I see mountains of snow out my window. However, I shall do my best to keep it light.
Packing tips, always welcome.

Took care of some other personal things today like getting my hair cut and putting my gym membership on hold. Goodlife is the worst for giving you exactly the wrong information - such as 'no you don't need to bring anything to put your a/c on hold.' Then when I arrived they said 'do you have any documentation that shows you'll be out of the country?' Fortunately, this is not the first time they've told me the wrong thing so I had my fat/phat ticket with me. Then the woman used a felt pen, which I knew would not go through 3 layers of paper, but proceeded to sign anyway so I got to laugh to myself when she handed me a blank sheet of paper as 'my copy.' Now I have a doctored piece of paper as my proof of the account suspension. Can't wait to reactivate it.

Finally, I've been eagerly waiting for my first ever pair of glasses to get delivered and I just found out that they were delayed due to being crushed into 15 pieces. How could such a thing happen? Well you know, the driver somehow managed to drive over the box they were in. What? I guess we all make mistakes. Anyway, now I get to hit up the bus depo tomorrow. That should be fun times because, I don't really have anything else to get done tomorrow. Um, not true at all.
I think my subletor is going to score a lot more free stuff than she originally expected. Hopefully some of it is good...

Running - Around Town & Into People

Today was a big errand day so if you don't want to hear about the exciting world of an unemployed traveler's errands, I advise you stop reading now.

I finally picked up my PSP, which is totally tricked out thanks to my buddies Jayce and CB and let me say, video games are highly addictive. Sadly, I couldn't figure out how to kick a point after otherwise I'd be whipping the Broncos right now (sorry Broncos fans, I didn't choose what team to play against). In addition to the PSP, I got my box of effects from work - anyone with the same name as me looking for a name plate? I've got one going for cheap. I also got some foreign currency, a watch battery, my thick packet of tickets and some board shorts on clearance from MEC - thanks for the heads up Holmes. Getting back to the foreign currency, can I say that I have seen a wide variety of cash from different countries and I don't know why Americans insist on mocking Canadians for their "funny colourful money" - everyone else has colourful money too. It's way more fun.

With mountains of snow piling in Toronto, I am increasingly excited about taking off for warmer climates. As much fun as the winter can be, I am unable to participate in ANY of the great winter activities snow makes possible. Even my beloved shoveling is too much for my knee to take.

I was back downtown today for all of the above mentioned errands and ran into a lot of good people, mostly by chance, for one last farewell. It's tough to cram in goodbye visits but since I'm only gone for 3 months, it's not the end of the world. My parents were impressed with how well known I seemed to be in the downtown corporate world. I think it's because everyone looks the same so you have a lot of fake conversations with people you've never actually seen before in your life.

Anyway, the online Madden '09 manual is calling. I don't want to have to go for 2 on point after attempts for the rest of my virtual career.

Packing Woes and Musical Flows

Nope, I'm not gone yet. I don't leave until Super Bowl Sunday so for now, I'm in the last minute planning and packing stages. Of course, I'm taking care of the most important things first. No not foreign currency or picking up my actual ticket. I'm talking about loading music onto my mp3 player of course. Vital to every long journey, especially when potentially insanity inducing flights are involved, is maximizing your entertainment possibilities. This means, getting as many songs that you actually like, loaded onto the musical device of your choice. You would think 8GB (roughly 1500 tracks) is enough and considering last time around I was using a diskman, it really should be. However, it's tough to predict what moods one will experience 3 months in advance. And yes, I pick my music based on my mood. Being a Gemini, this may be more complicated than you think. So yeah, there are some tough choices at hand.

In other news, the guy next to me on the train this past weekend was listening to a walkman. Talk about a throw back. It's no portable 8-track but still.

My boxes and hired hands arrived today so things in my apartment are starting to disappear. As one assistant is eager to get things done, this may mean that anything of your's I have in my possession could wind up in a Martin's Family Fruit Farm box, Ottawa bound. However, I am doing my best to prevent this.

Dinner time and I'm late.

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I can't stop listening to...

see above

Une Blog

As it turns out, juggling my mass email lists has become incredibly daunting so as a back up, I've taken the advice of many and am creating a blog. Here's hoping I can figure out how to make it exciting, cool and awesome for those who visit. Feel free to pass on any blog tips you might have. I'll blog if and when I can and try to put pictures up as well. I'm hoping my new PSP will help me keep in touch with internet access and photo storage. If not, I'll at least be entertained playing Madden Football. EA Sports, It's in the Game! Happy reading.