Madagascar Work Assignment: Travel Day 1

Date: Sun, July 31
Location: Toronto, Pearson Airport

The first leg of my travels to Toamasina, Madagascar is to fly to London via Air Canada (Business Class!). The Airport Limousine service took me to the airport for my 11:20pm flight. THAT is when it finally hit me where I was going and for how long!! Mum and dad met me at the airport. Gave them my house keys and had some tea and a snack from Tim’s. Of course, if I had been there alone I would have spent all my time in the Maple Leaf First Class lounge! Tons of snacks and drinks (alcoholic and non) all for free!! Well, not free, but I don't have to think about whether I can afford it or not! I did have just enough time to enjoy a glass of white and some pretzels! First class seats, as expected, are quite spacious. As we were waiting for the plane to be boarded, I was served some sparkling white wine… in a REAL glass, NOT a plastic cup! ahhhh… the simple pleasures in life... they also served some delicious mixed nuts. Dinner was four courses. I had: Starter: Smoked Salmon and capers; Main: Grilled Beef with Truffle and Porcini mushrooms; Cheese Plate; Desert: fruit plate. All this with more wine, water, and tea. And all while I watched Thor on my TV, which they give you a remote for so that you don’t have to move if you don’t want to! After all this, all that was left was to have a few hours of sleep before… you guessed it, MORE FOOD! For breakfast I had some fruit and yogurt.

Random thought regarding my NYC trip...

why the heck didn't i think of going to see something with the NYC Ballet while i was in NYC??? silly girl. okay okay okay, i saw a symphony orchestra with choir, a piano concert, opera, and two broadway shows... but a ballet would have been nice to round it all out!!!

Globe and Mail Article about e-books...

Here here!

i see the benefits... but as a book lover... e-books just don't do it for me... i love the way they look and feel and sound and smell... there is no replacement...

click the title to see the article.

Clowns & Mice vs. Lattes & Mochachinos

So I grew up in suburbia. "The city" was a place we frequented, but it was a planned visit, not really a lifestyle. Today, I've just encountered something in the city that makes me laugh at how urban people become so darned urban. Does anyone remember the good times in childhood at friends birthday parties held at venues like McDonalds playland? And nowadays Chucky Cheese. Well... I have encountered a new breed of childrens' party locations. "The Downtown Coffee Shop Kids Party". You heard me. Right now I am writing from a coffee shop downtown in which a table is decorated with party themed tableclothes and utensils etc. While 10 year olds run around inside and outside the coffee shop doing kids birthday party things... How did this happen? Who in their right mind thinks to themselves "My kid is turning 10. Where should i throw the party? I know!! The local coffee shop!!" Personally, I think the location just screams 'kids party'. Mochachino's for everyone! Except for Timmy, he's only 5.

UCA - Ultimate Canadian Adventure - Part IV & V - abridged

so.... i'm taking forever to finish this re-cap of my cross canada trip... partially due to my general lack of focus for these things, and partially due to the "big move" that started right when i got back from my trip... i also don't have internet at the new place yet. either way, i returned from my trip at the end of may, and now it's the beginning of august and i'm still writing about it :S hence, i have set aside this time to - come hell or high water - FINISH IT! :)

Day 16: We arrived in Port Hardy and were given unofficial guidance to follow the train tracks into town. so we did. it was much prettier to walk by the water, then through the main roads in town. Eagles are like pigeons here... FLOCKS of them everywhere. We then hung out at Breaker's Pub watching wildlife out the window and catching up on correspondence until we had to head back to catch our ferry to QCC.
Day 17: The boat was rocking like a freaking rocking horse all night! it was rocking so hard that it forced the bathroom door open. i didn't sleep a wink :| When we got to the Island we were given official guidance that hitching from place to place was safe. so we hitched a ride from queen charlotte city to the haida gwaii museum in skidegate. and then hitched back... wandered the beaches of queen charlotte city till evening, then had dinner at howler's. all the ferry's were delayed due to bad weather. so we missed the 11pm ferry and ended up staying on the island another extra day.
Day 18: This is one of the most memorable days for me, since it was the most unexpected. Because our ferry wasn't leaving until 8:30pm, we had no choice but to enjoy ourselves! and enjoy ourselves we did. It wasn't raining!! and what's more, it was clear skies almost all day! we rented a car and drove to the north tip of Queen Charlotte's North Island! (on really clear days you can see Alaska from there!) We drove through Tlell, Port Clements, Masset, Old Masset and made it all the way to Agate beach! filled our pockets with Agates and other pretty things... then headed back down for dinner and to eventually catch the ferry. Day's 18/19 blur into eachother since we didn't sleep on the ferry much that night (watched two movies instead) because it was bringing us into Prince Rupert at 3am!! at the station we watched cartoons and napped on uncomfortable plastic chairs until the train arrived for 8am.
Day 19: train from Prince Rupert to Prince George. pretty uneventful. mostly just hung out with PGgirl and JohnnyBoy. got to hang out in the first class car for a bit too. preeeeeeeetttttty. saw some wildlife. spent an overnight in Prince George.
Day 20: the usual pretty stuff, flora, fauna. etc. ended up in Just Another Small Place Earning Revenue. Saw a random heard of Elk Grazing beside the Petro Canada station... just hanging out, in town. chillin, relaxin, grabbing a bite to eat. you know. the usual.
Day 21: did the whole Jasper super tour! checked out Whislter's mountain, athabasca glacier, pyramid lake, spirit island, medicine lake, maligne lake, and maligne canyon. the day wouldn't be complete without being chased off the road by Bighorn Sheep!
Day 22: 30 degrees in Jasper today! they RARELY get this kind of warm weather... souvenir shopping and wandering while we wait for our LAST train ride of our trip... bitter sweet moments... on the train had ravioli and maple salmon with wine for dinner... :)
Day 23: arrived in vancouver! took the aquabus to grenville island and wandered about. drove through chinatown, wandered through Gas town. had sushi for lunch.... and dinner... :) checked into our hostel (which is a converted nunnery) then headed over to Kitsilano beach to watch the sunset with BigTop and Pilot... it was mostly covered by clouds (of course) but was still pretty. then we headed out to some pubs (Wolf & Hound; Copper Tank; The New Bohemian; Elwoods) yes... that was in one night. it was a gooooooooooood night. ended too early...
Day 24: woke up still drunk. it was raining. but we have to make the most of our last few hours in vancity. we drove through stanley park. Lucy took some pics. i recuperated in the car (since i'd already been through stanley park before). went to Earl's for lunch. then off to the airport to catch our flight home. and watch the last sunset on our vacation from the plane.

Days 16-24 Highlights: silly children; us: "what do you do?" him: "I'm an alcoholic... see" (as he points to his liquor store bag); QCC beaches - mostly Agate beach; "In America, our trains MOVE" - lady from Atlanta; "wolf-elk"; Pam's Legs.

Shoe Betcha...

so i just did a preliminary shoe count for my pending move... :S apparently, in the past 15 years of my existence i have amassed 70 pairs of shoes. 6 slippers, 7 flip flops, and about 57 pair of dress, casuals, boots and sandals... yup, that works out to about 4.5 shoe purchases a year... wow.

UCA - Ultimate Canadian Adventure - Part III

Day 11: this day started in search of dinosaurs, hoodoo's and a guinness world record and ended with white linen tablecloths and $7.50/bottle of still water... we left calgary on a bus tour to drumheller and the badlands of alberta... other sights included: two GORGEOUS canyons (horseshoe, and horsethief...), sprawling oil fields, 11 bridges in 4 miles (a record) and the Last Chance Saloon (so named because years ago when people traveled through the valley in Wayne Alberta in a horse and buggy this was truly their "last chance" for a drink before the 45 km trip to the next town... SOOOO adorably western!). Our guide gave us free admission to the Calgary Tower at the end of this trip (YES, we saved $13) for a nice view of the downtown and around. now the end of this night is something else... so we wanted steak. Alberta beef, you know, in Alberta. we ask T-mo, and he's like, "you gotta go all the way"... so we went where he suggested... Meal: $250, Wine: $34, 2 Bottles of Still Water: $15, waiter's in white coat's folding your napkin on the table while you are in the washroom: Priceless. suffice it to say it was quite the experience we had, in our jeans, sweatshirts runners and hoodies... :S

Day 12: slightly less eventful then the last... we spent the whole day wandering about Calgary Downtown... bought myself cowboy boots and a cowboy hat!! WOO HOO! i've been wanting those for YEARS... and what better place to get them then Calgary... now i will have to visit during the stampede so i can wear them where they should be worn :) then we had the tastiest Tandoori Chicken Pizza for lunch... and finally T-mo whipped up a super SCRUMPTIOUS BBQ... :)

Day 13: so when we left Calgary this morning it was cloudy, but not raining or anything... drive, drive, drive... 1 hour later... :S where the BLEEP did all this snow come from!! just as we were driving through Cochrane on the way to Banff we hit SOOOO much snow! it wasn't deep, or accumulating too much, but there was a LOT more than you would expect on the road on May 8th!!! i had to follow the tire tracks of the car ahead of me to be sure of where the road was!! it was a while before we got out of the full on snow storm-y-ness... but it was still sprinkling snow pretty much the whole way until we were in Jasper... unfortunately, though the icefields parkway is known for wildlife, we did not see any on the way up... except for these really scary huge Raven's, or maybe they were crows... well, whatever they were, they seemed to be chasing us away whenever we parked the car somewhere... perhaps they were spirits guiding us away from the freak snowstorm that was chasing us up the mountain from cochrane...?? perhaps... Jasper was a dream... and though our train was late, i was NOT disappointed as it gave me plenty more time to spend just wandering about and soaking in the mountain scenery... it was pretty damned cold... but i didn't mind... i never wanted to leave! :) most of the train ride to vancouver was dark, since evening was on the approach when we boarded... so very little wildlife viewing here as well... just a few bears, elk, and deer.

Day 14: we woke up to some really beautiful and unexpected sights! if our train had been on time, we would have been passing through the Thompson and Fraser Valley's by night... but since we were late, we got to see all the picturesque views! sometimes what seems like a set-back, is really a blessing in disguise... :) it was like it was painted or something... the views were so unbelievably vivid... although, because of the delay's, we didn't have enough time to check out Victoria, and had to go straight to Nanaimo instead... i'm not too dissapointed though... Victoria is just another medium sized canadian city... we wandered about in nanaimo, which was a cute little town... but not much to see and we were tired... so off to bed, off to bed...

Day 15: off we go to drive North up the East coast of Vancouver Island... we made a stop in MacMillan Provincial Park at Cathedral Grove to check out the GINORMOUS (technical term) Douglas Firs... the forests were as wonderful as i remember them... and all my favorite trees, roots, and stumps were right where i left them! we continued on through the town of Campbell River (which was MUCH bigger than i thought it was! quite nice...) and finally to Port Hardy where it rains pretty much alllllllll year... :S but, we did get to buy some super yummy smoked salmon :) the ferry left on time (unlike Via) and so we were on our way to northern BC!! The first few hours of the ferry ride were like being on a rocking horse because we were being hit by Pacific Ocean currents... then we moved in among the little islands along the west coast of BC and it was smooooooooooth sailing until bedtime...

Days 11-15 Highlights: Alberta's Canyons, Vintage Chophouse, Cowboy Boots, Jasper, Jasper, Jasper, Fraser River Valley, Pacific Ocean.

whoever invented "on hold" should die...

so i am trying to call fido to simply find out when my contract expires and to reduce my extra's until i find a new phone carrier to sign up with... but i have now been on hold for 16min and 43sec... and counting... the stupid dial-tone-lady keeps telling me to stay on the line to maintain priority sequencing... stupid dial-tone-lady... what does she know...? and why does she keep apologizing...? she's not sorry... she could care less if i'm waiting or not... and why lie to me...? why say that someone will be with me shortly...? when there's probably no one even working tonight... and i'll be on hold until i die!! BLASTED PHONE COMPANIES!
WAIT!! what was that?!?!? is that a HUMAN voice???
it's true!!!! he's ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

SUCCESS! :)

UCA - Ultimate Canadian Adventure - Part II

Day 6: after being 6 hours late we finally arrived in winnipeg at about 2pm... it's a very small and quiant place... but nevertheless was very impressive... it had just enough to keep us occupied for the 24 hours we were there, but not too much so as to overwhelm... st. boniface was the favorite spot. :) the forks area just east of the train station was quite nicely done as well! if a place like winnipeg can get it right... why can't toronto?? whatever...

Day 7: after an overnight in the most crap-tacular hostel ever, we headed over to the mint to see where canadian circulation money is made... turns out we mint coins for other countries as well! wicked... i bought myself the most BEAUTIFUL 99.99% pure silver 5 dollar coin... :D :D it's in one of those protective plastic cases and a nice blue velvet box... whenever it open i think to myself that if i get engaged, that's what i'd like to find inside the jewelry box... :) checked out the legislature after that then puttered around till we grabbed our train... as always, great times with boys and polish vodka until 1am when our train left us in sketchatoon.. :)

Day 8: headed down the long, lonely, FLAT drive to moose jaw. out of nowhere the qu'appelle river valley shocks you with it's NON flatness!! super pretty! moose jaw surprised me with a really funky and chic store called Rings and Things... it almost didn't belong in this tiny middle of nowhere saskatchewan town... apparently al capone may have had some dealings in this town... and they also had some "issues" with chinese immigrants at the turn of the last century... quite a bit of history for such a nowheresville place! then off we went across the prairies to regina... it was like an oasis in the wheat... :P we saw this gray hilly looking thing from afar (about 75km away) and wondered what it was... then as we got closer, it took shape... it looked like blocks... then even closer, we finally realized... it's REGINA! i can't believe you can actually see the town coming from MILES away!! trippy... had some drinks at Le Bodega and checked out the bar scene before calling it a night in regina...

Day 9: regina is one of the nicest fake cities i've seen! nice fake lake, with fake streets, fake town, but quite nice! the royal saskatchewan museum was pretty wicked. very very impressive displays and information... it actually made saskatchewan interesting!! turns out millions of years ago they used to have an ocean in the middle of it (tectonic plates were not fused yet) and there was a coral reef and sea monsters, and at some point there were mountains and a volcano... but now... it's just flat... hold on to those memories SK!!! :) legislative building is same as the one in winnipeg and edmonton (same architect). very pretty. then off back to saskatoon to have our 5-star spa day at suart's in saskatoon before we head over to catch our 1:30am train...

Day 10: so... first things i saw in alberta when i woke up on the train and looked out the window: oil rig's and cows... very fitting... :) the train arrived late into edmonton (as expected) so we did not have an opportunity to wander about the town before catching our bus... on the way into cow-town, the only thing that came to mind was SUPER SUBURBAN SPRAWL! similar to how Saskatchewan had houses as far as the eye could see... calgary has houses as far as the eye can see!! when we got there T-Mo treated us like royalty... he has THE best condo location! wicked view of downtown AND stampede grounds... and only a 5 minute walk to downtown! wicked. we had our own bedroom and bathroom... and could come and go as we pleased... it was the perfect 5-star hotel treatment with great company to boot! :) we went for sushi dinner and LittleSista and her Financer joined us :) they got engaged! yay! it's nice how things work out in the end... :) we had japanese vodka... it was... different... funny how i had to go all the way out west to see her again...

Day 6-10 Random Highlights: st. boniface cathedral in winnipeg, buying my silver dollar, yummy polish vodka - neat, royal saskatchewan museum, "what a pain in the apple core", buying my authentic calgary cowboy boots!!

UCA - Ultimate Canadian Adventure - Part I

Day 1: so the day started with what seemed like the train taking a wrong turn, then having to go backwards before we really got on our way out of t-dot... this was not the worst thing in the world, since it allowed us to get another glimpse of what i like to call the "snack machine burial ground of greater t-dot" (see photo). near the end of the first day we were only delayed about 3 hours and there was a light snow starting outside as we approached north ontario. THIS is where all the fun begins!!!

Day 2: a foot of snow outside the train! booooooo.... a train derailment on the freight train ahead of us while we are in the middle of nowhere in northern ontario ... double boooooooo! the only saving grace is that we met a a couple of guys who helped make us laugh hysterically in order to forget about the fact that we were TEN hours delayed getting into mannipeg winitoba (though the juice and cookies we got as compensation were doing a good job with the sugar high it gave us :) also, can't forget to mention one of the funniest native guys we met on our trip. besides being hilariously sarcastic and quick witted, every time he went back to his coach seat to rest he would put his blanket up in the shape of a tipi over his seat... TOO funny!

Day 3: FINALLY at 1am monday morn we arrived in mannipeg!! the train is putting us up in a hotel for the night at the Radisson for FREE and then flying us to thompson so we can catch our train to churchill that we missed because of the delays... WOO HOO! we felt so important... it was one of those cute small planes that you had to walk up to on the tarmac :) thompson train station was desolate. and of course, we waited 3 hours before the train arrived.... late!

Day 4: we got into churchill 6 hours late... this train-always-being-late thing seems to be a running trend and at this point we are starting to plan 6 hour delays into our daily schedule... nevertheless, we saw the only five things there were to see in churchill at this time of year: two museums, the churchill river, the hudson's bay, and boys :)

Day 5: nothing exciting to report about day 5. the entire day was spent traveling south through winitoba... with a stop in thompson to re-relive old memories of the high life back when we were important... :)

Days 1-5 Random Highlights: went from 23 degree weather to -23 degree weather in 3 days; met some really great people; letting people off the train at mile marker 58.9 in the middle of nowhere northern ontario; free hotel and flight; standing on hudson's bay; the sights at gypsy's bakery ;)

Stay Tuned for Part II of the UCA - Days 6-10.
highlights include: winnipeg, moose jaw, regina, saskatoon, edmonton, calgary and plenty of MISCHIEF :)

deep thoughts by princess agnasia

as anticipated i am fully in love with the west coast of this country. the mountains, the wildlife, the serenity, the people - it all feels like a different world from the concrete jungle and comfortable suburbia i left behind 3 weeks ago. it's hard to believe that in 3 short days i will be back at home getting ready to start a week of work, dressed in business casual, talking about compensation metrics and results, and sitting in on meetings with managers and VP's... it seems so far away and so unreal... but reality IS starting to hit. i'm going to log out and enjoy my last few moments with the gorgeous mountain air and the warm sunshine... i wish it would never end... when i get back i'll right up some play by plays from the notes i made as my trip has progressed.

Cross Canada Tour Sidebar...

So, many many things have happenend. i simply don't have time in these few minutes i have to write about them... suffice it to say that i am writing from a hotel in winnipeg right now, but i should be on a train to churchill instead! this isn't entirely bad news, but i'll write more when i have more time... met SO many great, fun, interesting people on the train :)
more details to come soon.... this keyboard stinks... so i'm done!!
PS: won't get to write anything before the 30th.... so MISS YOU ALREADY EUNICE! have an awesome trip back home, with uncle felix :)

My First Time...

i'm kind of nervous.... i've never done this kind of thing before... and tomorrow will be my first time... i'm not even sure how to start... what if it's too much? what if it's too little? what if it's just the right amount?!?!?!? what do i do next? i'm a bit scared... it's a lot to take in for just one person... maybe i should just have fun with it... play with it... and see what happens... in the end, all that matters, is that both parties are satisfied right?... i never thought putting in an offer for a condo could be so provocative :)

i wish my brain wasn't mush and i could think of more interesting things to blog...

recap of the past few days...
dundurn book launch at casaloma was LOTS of fun! even made it onto their blog page :) http://kickstartcanada.wordpress.com/ april 4th article called "launch wrap-up"... free wine, snacks, eye candy, and good company in casaloma... what more could i ask for!!
went to see Zander conduct mozart and mahler on sat, which was SUPER entertaining as symphonies always are... i'm always amazed at how someone was able to compose such a complicated array of music and make it sound so beautiful and perfect together!! honestly, listening to the trumpets and trombones compete with the french horns and bassoons was like watching a tennis match! and the timpani!! always a favorite... boom BOOM boom... heh heh... used to love playing those in drums class in highschool... :)
i have started reading the material for the course exam coming up later this month... it's actually really interesting! though i have no idea where in the immediate future i will use international remuneration info... oh well.... free education is nothing to be scoffed at!! :)

we have much to talk about... but it's way past my bedtime and it's been a long day... this will have to wait...

a place where the 80's live on...

so the thing about visiting any-town USA is that sometimes you forget what year it is....

the characters of this story:
Babs: with the biggest roundest 80's black-rimmed glasses i've ever seen... Beaker: long, long, long and only the lower jaw moves... AyeCaptain: one eye is almost always half closed, and can't say anything without a loud gfaw at the end... Sum-o: put's all my charts and graphs to shame and stuffs himself with super-sweet donuts and salads in the same span of time... Arabia: skipping lunch to talk about work :|... FamilyCircus: been with the company for 15 years, or was it that he's 15 years old, hard to tell really with that baby face... MrGreen: knows his shit, and doesn't fuck around.

i felt almost like i was in one of those crappy quality 80's video's they show you in business classes in highschool... tooooo funny!

good times... work trips are fun...

Conversations with Drunk Lucy at 1am...

"He would use the excuse 'I didn't call because the train got into a car accident.' " bup?

"This is why i called him a jerk.... This fuck the right here...." double bup?

"Between now and then, there's shleep and a sower.................................................... shut up."

no subject....

i think of so many things to blog during the day... and then promptly forget them once i am home... :( maybe i should step into the new millennium and get one of them blackfruity thingy's that has the keypad and the interblag and the .... other stuff... so i can blog on the go.... maybe :| naaaaaaaah.... i just don't see it happening... anywho. better luck next time with blog topics... :P

I'm the Sunflower Who Wants....

so, the title of this blog, "The Exciting World of Princess Agnasia", is a bit of a misnomer... by "Exciting" i mean that it's at least more exciting then pocket lint... i make no promises besides that. consider yourself disclaimed.
~ Hope climbs atop of the piano reaching out towards the warmth of the sun; some man tries to ask her down but now maybe that's where she belongs - olp ~

snow snow go away come again some other day

it's still snowing. hard.