Oh Canada
What a crazy week this has been. Last Thursday I finally flew back to Canada for a visit to my family and friends. This has been one AWESOME trip and I got to do practically everything that I wanted to do while here. I still have a day and half or so left but damn, this week has flown by.
Saturday night featured a trip to Monty's house where a poker night was held. The old gang from Corporate Images was there and we ended up playing Texas Hold'em until about 3:00AM. It was great to see the Pinata Beater and his family again.... his kids have grown so much since I last saw them. It seemed everybody that was there that night was having tons of success in their lives with lots of future plans involving careers and families. It's great to see this group of guys stuck together all these years especially since we all started at the same job in pretty much the same stages of our lives. I feel fortunate that I know a bunch of good people who can stand being called an asshole all night long.
It was also a chance to see Caleb for the first time. Caleb is the 16 month old son of my good friend JoJo and up to this point all I've ever had the opportunity to do was see pictures through emails. Caleb is going to be a big boy, at 16 months he's already got some size to him and I figure he'll be tackling the old man in a year or two. ;)
I also had a chance to visit the old shop and meet up with some of my old co-workers and bosses. Once again, success was the story of the day for everybody there as well. The old shop was empty of it's production department because they were already moved into the company's new building but I was able to walk around one last time. I then headed over to the new building which apparently was built to house Boeing 777's.... the place is HUGE! I heard it was like 250,000 square feet and there are plans for a monorail to be installed so the employees can get to the lunchroom for breaks...lol (kidding). I was just stunned as I walked through that building and the only thing I can think of is how the owners started out in a small 1200 square foot "garage" and have built this thing to it's current size. I hope they plan on expanding to Connecticut soon ;)
My sister and I also got to chase our tails through a couple parks for old time sakes.... and for no purpose whatsoever. You see, Ann found this little organized geeky game of scavenger hunt a fews years back called geo-caching. What you do is you look online for hidden containers in your local area and you use clues, hints and a GPS unit to find these locations which are normally located in public parks, walking trails, or other outdoor areas. If you DO happen to find these containers then you sign your name in the log book and exchange a "prize" with something in the "cache". For example: we found one of these caches about 9 trillion years ago and left a compass and chose to take out a souvenir pin. Nothing much of value really, it's just to give the game some purpose I believe. Well if you go to this geocaching website you create a team name and log your findings... or so we're told ;) For some reason, Ann and I have trouble finding these damn things... even the ones that are labeled "1's", as in they should be REALLY easy to find. We suck, but I do have to admit that we get a good workout trudging up and down hillsides and riverbeds looking for these things. It can be very entertaining and yet leave you feeling like killing the guy who came up with this idea. Oh by the way, if you've never heard of this game and would like to read up more about it, go to geocaching.com for more information. This is done in almost every country in the world and is growing rapidly. I however am not speaking to Ann for about another 24 hours since we've gone 0-for-3 on my visit back. *sigh*
But as much as I am happy I made this trip back out to see what's new and what's stayed the same, I'm looking forward to getting back to Connecticut so I can look for a new job. Thanks for the week off with pay.... now see ya!
Saturday night featured a trip to Monty's house where a poker night was held. The old gang from Corporate Images was there and we ended up playing Texas Hold'em until about 3:00AM. It was great to see the Pinata Beater and his family again.... his kids have grown so much since I last saw them. It seemed everybody that was there that night was having tons of success in their lives with lots of future plans involving careers and families. It's great to see this group of guys stuck together all these years especially since we all started at the same job in pretty much the same stages of our lives. I feel fortunate that I know a bunch of good people who can stand being called an asshole all night long.
It was also a chance to see Caleb for the first time. Caleb is the 16 month old son of my good friend JoJo and up to this point all I've ever had the opportunity to do was see pictures through emails. Caleb is going to be a big boy, at 16 months he's already got some size to him and I figure he'll be tackling the old man in a year or two. ;)
I also had a chance to visit the old shop and meet up with some of my old co-workers and bosses. Once again, success was the story of the day for everybody there as well. The old shop was empty of it's production department because they were already moved into the company's new building but I was able to walk around one last time. I then headed over to the new building which apparently was built to house Boeing 777's.... the place is HUGE! I heard it was like 250,000 square feet and there are plans for a monorail to be installed so the employees can get to the lunchroom for breaks...lol (kidding). I was just stunned as I walked through that building and the only thing I can think of is how the owners started out in a small 1200 square foot "garage" and have built this thing to it's current size. I hope they plan on expanding to Connecticut soon ;)
My sister and I also got to chase our tails through a couple parks for old time sakes.... and for no purpose whatsoever. You see, Ann found this little organized geeky game of scavenger hunt a fews years back called geo-caching. What you do is you look online for hidden containers in your local area and you use clues, hints and a GPS unit to find these locations which are normally located in public parks, walking trails, or other outdoor areas. If you DO happen to find these containers then you sign your name in the log book and exchange a "prize" with something in the "cache". For example: we found one of these caches about 9 trillion years ago and left a compass and chose to take out a souvenir pin. Nothing much of value really, it's just to give the game some purpose I believe. Well if you go to this geocaching website you create a team name and log your findings... or so we're told ;) For some reason, Ann and I have trouble finding these damn things... even the ones that are labeled "1's", as in they should be REALLY easy to find. We suck, but I do have to admit that we get a good workout trudging up and down hillsides and riverbeds looking for these things. It can be very entertaining and yet leave you feeling like killing the guy who came up with this idea. Oh by the way, if you've never heard of this game and would like to read up more about it, go to geocaching.com for more information. This is done in almost every country in the world and is growing rapidly. I however am not speaking to Ann for about another 24 hours since we've gone 0-for-3 on my visit back. *sigh*
But as much as I am happy I made this trip back out to see what's new and what's stayed the same, I'm looking forward to getting back to Connecticut so I can look for a new job. Thanks for the week off with pay.... now see ya!
