Hello my foreign friends! It has been a while since I last updated my blog, and I'm sure you've all been sad, right? I didn't think so.
I have not updated this immaculately-coded blog since July 2, and that is certainly almost an entire month.
So, how have you all been? I hope you've enjoyed the summer, so far, especially if you live in Saskatoon, where it seems to rain once every couple of days, or sometimes... once a day. Before I talk about my boring life, there are a few things to discuss.
The first thing I would love to discuss is the fact that Michael Ignatieff's Liberal Express bus broke down just hours after the tour starting in Ottawa. As he left, the tour bus broke down just hours after the tour started, and the bus was fixed by a man named Stephen Harper... and no, it wasn't the prime minister that fixed it. But when I first read the news, I thought it was, and I started thinking, "Whoa, Mr. Harper does like to help out his political opponents." But when I read the news carefully, it turned out to be a man whose name was also Stephen Harper. Well, even if the prime minister didn't help fix the bus, I am sure that he would, if he had the opportunity to do so, as politicians are also humans, despite their bad reputations. As for Mr. Harper, I still have not met or seen him in person (except for that time I saw him from a distance at the Calgary Stampede in 2006 the first summer after he became prime minister). Reverend Nathan Dutnall saw him while he was visiting his daddy in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The next thing I would like to discuss is the old age pension payments that serial killer Clifford Olson has been receiving. The Conservative government has promised to introduce legislation that will eventually strip Mr. Olson of receiving those payments, and he has threatened to sue the government over it, claiming that he uses the payments to pay for his boarding or something like that, despite already getting free boarding and meals via the expense of taxpayers, such as myself. I find it an absolute disgrace (a term coined by the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport for the Government of Canada) that Mr. Olson is receiving free money in addition to the free room and boarding he is receiving at the expense of taxpayers, and I also find it an absolute disgrace that Mr. Olson plans on suing the government because he will lose all future payments.
The last thing I would like to talk about before going into great detail about my boring life is the fact that Saskatchewan now has Saskatchewan Roughriders licence plates, which look kind of lame. Of course, I probably shouldn't complain because I am too lazy to even think about my own design. Also, I don't have an interest in football in the first place, so there is no point in me even complaining, therefore making this whole rant totally useless.
Well, since my last update, Americans celebrated the independence of their country on July 4, and I worked from 7:30 am until 4:00 pm on that day while Americans celebrated their independence from Britain. Eventually, the Reverend Nathan Dutnall came over and we watched The Stupids, which is a classic movie that will always remain "awesome" to both of us. And in the name of the Lloyd, that movie will always remain kick-ass. If you don't know what "in the name of the Lloyd" means, perhaps you need to watch the movie, as it stars Tom Arnold.
Later that week, I received my GST credit, and the Reverend Nathan Dutnall would head to Moncton to visit his daddy, with a garden gnome. But on the bright side, I didn't have to work for two days on Monday and Tuesday, with most of the time being spent with my evil cousins, who live in Stonebridge. I also received a box of free samples from P&G that I requested through brandsamplerformen.ca, including the new Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor.
On July 7, 2010, I took my car to Ens Lexus Toyota because my car had been displaying the engine malfunction light for a week, and was told it was safe to drive. Well, when it did happen, immediately took the car to the dealer, and the service manager hooked up a diagnostic tool to the car, and said it was the gas cap problem, but I brought the car in anyway. So, after spending $133.10 for a diagnosis that found nothing, I was happy, right? Wrong. Two days later, the engine light appeared again, and I was tempted to take electrical tape to cover it up, like Homer Simpson. I then called them again, and made a service appointment for July 27, 2010.
On July 9, 2010, I learned that Senator Richard Neufeld decided that having an appointed Senate or upper chamber in Canada was a better idea. At first, I was upset that he said that, but now, after seeing that the Conservatives almost have a majority in the Senate, I don't know if the elected Senate idea sticks to me anymore... and yes, I know this makes me a major hypocrite.
On July 10, 2010, you already know what happened with my car. But other than that, I spent almost two hours waiting at the SARCAN plant on 103rd Street in order to exchange my bottles and cans for "cold, hard cash." Eventually, it was time to come home and work.
July 11, 2010 was a Sunday, but more importantly, it was 7-Eleven Day. Every year on July 11, the company gives free Slurpees (although small) at all of its stores, and I got one. And while sleeping after a long day of work, I started "thinking" about what it would be like to live in Ottawa, which I have been doing a lot of recently. I also thought of how much more politics could be interesting if I lived in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, which is currently represented by the Honourable John Baird, who happens to be the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
On the 12th, Reverend Nathan Dutnall told me that he caught a glimpse of Regis Philbin, who was hosting his talk show in Prince Edward Island that week with Kelly Ripa. Obviously, I'm somewhat jealous. Later that day, I bought some instant coffee from Starbucks Coffee that was already sweetened and designed to dissolve in cold water. However, the stuff just wasn't the same, and I still think it's better to buy the actual Iced Coffee with Milk from their stores, which I hope they make a permanent part of their menu, rather than seasonal. Eventually, my evil cousins came over, and stunk up my house. And by my cousins, I mean Ky, Tho and their evil brother Tony.
On July 13, 2010, I was sitting at home, minding my own business, and mostly watching television, when someone rang the doorbell at my house. So, when I answered the door, I was greeted by a beautiful woman with long hair. She then asked me if I was the homeowner. Since my name was on the registration as a property owner, I said that I was. She then asked me about the security system in the home and asked me how long I have had it in my home, and whether it was on a contract. When I informed her that it was under a contract for another three years, she simply said, "Thanks." Then, she turned around like a snotty person, and walked away. This encounter reminded me of a time when I asked a girl if she would like to go out with me a number of years ago, but got rejected. But in this situation, it was a lot less dramatic and not as funny.
On the 15th, I woke up with something I fear every time I go to sleep: a sore throat! After several days of gargling salt water, and taking medications to stop it, as well as the cough, I gave up, and visited a doctor.
By the 16th, I was going crazy. However, it would be the last day I work a night shift for at least four weeks, and it kept me going. But about an hour into my shift, I just couldn't handle things, and I called off the rest of my shift. I also lost my voice, which should bring joy to the ears of some people, including Larry and David.
July 17, 2010 was the big day for my friend Francis, who was marrying Shelley. The wedding, overall, was fun, and Daniel Kwok was the bartender. Later, in the front of the restaurant, he asked for a pen and paper, which he wrote "tips (for my wife)" on and taped to a glass at the bar. At this wedding, I realized something: Asians (at least the Vietnamese) in this city seem to think that the only good city to visit in Canada is Edmonton, or their home countries. Apparently, Vancouver is considered unaffordable but an ideal city, Calgary is considered lame, and other cities just aren't worth visiting because they are "too far." When my mom told people that I visited Ottawa, most people asked why, and one even went as far as to say, "There's absolutely nothing to do in Ottawa. It's a big and boring government city."
Once the wedding reception was over (it was held at the Mandarin Restaurant located at 245 20th Street West), I went outside and snapped random pictures of the traffic signals at the intersection of 20th Street West and Avenue C South. One of the pictures turned out to be insanely awesome. July 17, 2010 was also the first day of a four-week-period where I work from 9:30 am until 6:00 pm with Tuesdays and Wednesdays off.
On the 18th, I started to wonder how hilarious it would be if the Government of Saskatchewan decided to combine a bunch of cities into a mega-city. The provincial government in Ontario (I wonder if it was the government of Mike Harris) did that with Sudbury and a few surrounding cities and towns, which made no sense though because there was a lot of space in between the cities. However, the amalgamation of Ottawa with suburbs and towns including Nepean, Orléans and Kanata makes more sense to me and was done in 2001. But just think of this in Saskatchewan. What if they combined Martensville, Prince Albert and Saskatoon and the entire swath of cities and towns in-between and made Saskatoon one heck of a bigger city? It would then only take two hours to drive across town, right? And knowing how much I like to drive, I like that idea. Now, if Saskatoon actually were that big in the first place, it would probably take a lot longer than two hours. Of course, it would take many, many years for Saskatoon to become that big of a city in the first place. The only person who might think this idea is "sane" is the Reverend Nathan Dutnall.
Later that day, I went to check the good old postal office box at the Shoppers Drug Mart store on 22nd Street West, and found in the mail that I received what I thought was a credit card. But instead, it was a $20.00 MasterCard rebate payment for the video card that I bought back in April. What was funny was that the issuing bank (Citi) took the time to imprint the card with my name and "20 Dollars" as the company name, or where it would usually go. For a $20.00 gift card that would most likely be used on junk, does it really need the ability to be imprinted onto carbon paper in the event the card cannot be swiped? Well, it does protect the businesses that accept them, but it's still a waste of money and resources. Of course, when I first opened it, I thought, "Oh no! I'm an apparent victim of identity theft/fraud."
Earlier, I was watching an old episode of Home Improvement, when Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor gets audited by the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS. He then says that he would claim "all seven dependants," in which he referred to his three kids and four cars. Now, I totally agree with him on that aspect, and I think that all taxpayers in Canada should be allowed to claim their car(s) as dependants. After all, car owners do take care of their cars, don't they? We have to feed them (gasoline) and we have to take care of them (maintenance). And occasionally, since we love our cars so much, we occasionally buy them things. On another note, I qualify for some student loan funding, although not as much as last year.
At one point, I also started to wonder why other men around my age like to sit in their garage(s) and drink beer. Ben Mayes suggested that it was because they imagine it was their secret base, while John Pilon said that it was like your own personal bar. So, last week, I got a lawn chair, opened up the garage, sat down and had a can of Coca-Cola instead of a beer. I sat down, and felt relaxed. As I drank my Coca-Cola, and looked out to the alley, I felt relaxed, and it gave me time to reflect on my life, including the cool stuff, the bad stuff and the future, and I felt good about myself. So, now I might understand why other men like to drink beer in their garages, and I'm hoping it's almost the same reasons as mine. Of course, I don't like to drink beer (or anything alcoholic for that matter).
Last week, the Best Buy store in Saskatoon at The Centre Mall finally opened, with its grand opening occurring on July 23-25, 2010. So, I went there, and found that tri-color ink for my printer was only $19.99. I also found that black ink was only $24.99, which I thought was cheap. But when I got home and did more research, I found that it was cheaper at Future Shop and STAPLES. However, the tri-color ink at their stores were $31.99 or so, and it was still cheaper to buy the tri-color ink at Best Buy and the black ink at Staples than buy a combo back of both cartridges.
Also last week, the Reverend Nathan Dutnall returned to Saskatoon with "many" pictures of the garden gnome. He also saw Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a sporting event, which he was dragged to by his father.
On July 21, 2010, Global TV aired a documentary series with an episode titled "Missing the Target," which was about the danger of guns on Canadian streets, and was presented by Kevin Newman, who, unfortunately, is leaving his Global National newscast on August 20, 2010. The show revealed that although gun crimes in Canada among adults are dropping, the number of kids with guns on the streets in Canada is steadily rising, and it poses a major risk to Canadians and especially those who are children. For more information, and to see the entire episode, please click here.
The other highlights of this week include me buying a gift card for someone that could not be used in Saskatoon. And on Friday night, I did a little bit of shopping and bugged the hell out of Peter Poorman at Randy River in the Midtown Plaza. I was also on the lookout for Jenn, who now apparently works two jobs, but she was nowhere to be seen in the mall (at the two stores she apparently works at).
On Friday night, I was at home (yes, this makes me a loser) and started looking for the textbooks I would require for the first term of school this upcoming year (2010 to 2011). After looking at the list, I found that the total I would spend before tax would be $531.95. With tax, that comes to a whopping $558.55, as I don't believe the University of Saskatchewan Bookstore charges PST with the books... or do they?
On Saturday, I spent a good part of the day working. But after work, I went for a walk and happened to stroll into the Shoppers Drug Mart on 22nd Street West, where my postal office box happens to be. While I was there, I checked my postal office box to see if anyone had sent me threatening letters. After going through the mail, I realized that I had received an interesting looking envelope with a tagline that said something about Michael Ignatieff's not-so-hidden coalition agenda. Inside, there was a letter asking me for money, and it was hilarious. Of course, I believed it, and made a small donation. I'm hoping that my donation is being used strictly for television ads about Michael Ignatieff's coalition agenda, and nothing else.
On Sunday, I spent most of the day working. And after a long day of work, my mom's friends came over for dinner, and the dinner was brought to the house by them. As for the food, it wasn't all that great. And after some surfing the Internet and getting frustrated by the problems with my car, I decided to purchase an OBD2-to-USB diagnostic cable that I will use in the future, should the "check engine" light appear again. And where did I buy it? Well, I bought it on a website none other than eBay.
Monday was spent at home, working like a working man. Then, I called up my cousin Tho to make a cheesy impersonation of him by saying "I'm Tho and I'm stupid." He then informed me that he would be going to Calgary on Wednesday and then mocked me. At this point, I started to draft plans to see what I would do with the three evil kids on Tuesday. However, my uncle decided to leave one day early, and nobody would be home at their house. Later that day, I started thinking about my future, and what the future holds. Some questions I asked myself were "Will I move?" and "Will the Conservative government ever adopt a butler sentence?" Of course, this seems to be questioned only by Larry Chen.
Yesterday, I woke up at 6:00 am and eventually left my home at 7:10 am. I then headed north on Circle Drive from 22nd Street West and proceeded north. Once I arrived near Idylwyld Drive North near Circle Drive, there was a huge semi blocking three lanes of traffic, leaving the right lane accessible. At this point, traffic wasn't crazy, yet. Then, there was another odd traffic detour by Faithfull Avenue and Circle Drive, which caused everyone to use the median lane. With ten minutes to kill before having to be anywhere, I decided to give Tim Hortons another try. When I pulled up to the drive-thru at the newly-opened Tim Hortons at the River City Centre, there was only one car going through the drive-thru, and I ordered myself a large French vanilla cappuccino. Eventually, I dropped my car off at Ens Lexus Toyota for a diagnosis, which was free this time. After dropping my car off, I got a ride from the customer shuttle, and as usual, I was the only to live on the west side of town. There were six people on the van, including myself. The first stop the driver made was at a place called Custom Countertops. Naturally, I thought he would drop me off next. Instead, he drove downtown and dropped off a guy at his fancy home near the Broadway Bridge. After that, he dropped someone off at the Royal University Hospital, then someone near the Market Mall on Preston Avenue, someone in Willowgrove before dropping me off at my house, somewhere on the west side of town.
So, I spent hours watching television and movies, as the dealer told me that it would take approximately an hour. I then called at 10:30 am, only to be told that the car wasn't even in the shop yet. I then waited even longer. There were two things I wanted to do, including mowing the lawn, which I didn't do, because I was afraid they would call right away. So, I waited until 1:50 pm and called again, and got picked up and dropped off at the dealership by 2:15 pm. The diagnosis was free, and to repair the issue, it will cost me $350--an amount that I must think about for a while. After picking up my car, I went to one of my managers' houses to pick up a new phone amplifier for work, and then I went to the University of Saskatchewan Bookstore and made a cool $98 by selling two old textbooks they didn't want a year ago. I then dropped by BLOCKBUSTER located at 1505 8th Street East, then the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East. Eventually, I headed home and found that more textbooks were worth about $47, and most of them were from an English 110.6 class I took during the 2008-to-2009 school year. Eventually, I cleaned the inside of my car and got it washed. But where I got my car washed is an interesting topic. Why? Well, a jerk named Justin sold me a car wash ticket, and he was very rude. In fact, I know that guy, and I am pretty sure I went to high school with him. In fact, he called me, the customer, a jerk... numerous times!
Eventually, I went home and was about to relax, when my mom got into a bizarre argument with my aunt, and I was required to drive across town to Willowgrove to pick up a bag of food. As a person that enjoys driving, I gladly went across town, as I was bored. Eventually, I decided to drop by Esther's house, which was lame. First of all, there was no cable television, or any television service for that matter. And since there was no television, there was no PVR, making it virtually impossible to record and store hundreds of episodes of Cops without a computer or any other magical device. Secondly, there was no connection to the Internet, which makes me come to a conclusion that she is insane, as she has been living without it for four or five months, apparently. Apparently, she now has television and Internet services from an evil company they call SaskTel. The company may not be a bad company, but it is overpriced, and their customer service sucks. In addition to that, part of my reason for not choosing that company is purely political. Besides, their "Max" television service absolutely stinks up the joint. So, when I complained last night that her house was "lame," Tammy Poorman suggested that I start a section on this website where I review the living quarters of people I know... or at least I think that's what she suggested. I also met Esther's fiancée Steven (or Sten, as he previously called himself), for the first time, and found that he was pretty funny, despite being quiet for the most part.
I also got back in touch via email with Zheng Wang, who mysteriously disappeared for two months and refuses to explain where he has been.
Today, I did some shopping in the morning, and came home, and mowed my lawn. While at the Real Canadian Superstore, I found something interesting. After mowing the lawn, I watched more television. And when Global National was on television, I saw an interesting report about a website called rentafriend.com.
After that, I had dinner, and while I was eating, the Reverend Nathan Dutnall, who was walking his dog Charlie, happened to be in my neighbourhood, and dropped by. I then told him about rentafriend.com, but his dog Charlie was more active than usual, and the reverend was forced to leave. Eventually, I came back into the house and watched The Bounty Hunter, which wasn't a very good movie in the first place. In fact, most of the movies that were released on Blu-Ray or DVD this month weren't that great in the first place. After watching that movie, I came back to the computer to finish up this blog update at some point.
Well, I am now done talking about my boring life.
But before I left, there are a few more things that have come to my mind. First off, Phillip Wu told me about a burger joint called Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and that their Canadian website says that they will be opening a location here in Saskatoon. The only questions I have right now are... where and when?! It looks good to me, and I would like to try their burgers and fries. And as of now, as it seems, they no longer have a Canadian website, which was previously located at www.fiveguys.ca. In addition to the food looking good, U.S. President Barack Obama and his staff members eat there too!
Now, the big thing I'm wondering is... where did the summer go (not that I'm complaining)? Anyway, there is at least one month of summer left and I hope it rains throughout the rest of the summer, as I hate the heat and/or hot weather.
Anyway, as July comes to an end in a matter of days, there are things I am looking forward to next month, including a long weekend. In addition to that, I will no longer be working full-time as of August 14, 2010. And before I know it, it will be time to buy textbooks again... and then it'll be September and it will be time to return to school. Another thing I look forward to is a work gathering on August 21, 2010, with my manager and director from Salt Lake City, as well as many other Marriott employees. But ultimately, I look forward to my cousins returning to school. My younger cousin Tho will be in the eighth grade and will be a "senior" in elementary school, which seems to be the year that most students goof off and do nothing. In fact, my favourite school year (as well as Reverend Nathan Dutnall's) was the 2001-2002 school year. At that point, I had just returned to Saskatoon from Calgary in October of 2001 (just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington), and was attending W.P. Bate Community School. My teacher was Mr. Ganes, who was oblivious to a lot of things that Nathan and I did throughout the school year. I later told him in 2006 about most of the things we did, but there are some things he will never know about... because I can't remember anything else at this point. Should new things come to light, I will let him know right away. Anyway, both Nathan and I believe that eighth grade was the best school year of our educational careers and we find it even easier than kindergarten. Anyway, as Tho embarks on an interesting venture, his older brother Ky will no longer be annoying grade nine student... he will now be a grade ten student. But if he does not get his act together, he will remain unemployed (and annoying). Being a tenth grade student is also important because this is the point where the provincial government records your grades for your high school transcript, which eventually determines your future after high school. Anyway, I wish both evil boys the best of luck in their future endeavours. And as for their evil brother Tony, he will be in the first grade this year. Man, kids grow up so fast these days that it's not even funny. In fact, I remember when Tony was still considered "adorable" or "cute."
Anyway, thank you for reading, and don't get ripped by the riptide!
Hello foreign friends. I'm back, after a few weeks of not updating this immaculately-coded blog.
Anyway, since my last update, I started to wonder... is there a soundboard for Transport Minister John Baird? If not, well, it's an absolute disgrace. I started to wonder, after his angry outburst at a committee hearing for the Jaffer-Guergis scandal because he couldn't get the floor to speak.
On a brighter note, the City of Saskatoon finally patched up the "crater" they left near my house in January.
During the same week, I learned that this website cannot be accessed in China, thanks to Anthony Khow, who was in China that week. I also learned from Phillip Wu that there would be a Five Guys Burgers and Fries location somewhere in Saskatoon, eventually. However, where it will be is unknown at this time.
At some point, my arch nemesis Aaron Arnault told me to call him because it was about serious business. So, I did, and Angela Arnault said that I have some sort of accent. As you can tell, they are both evil. As for the "business proposition," I don't remember what it was, because it made no sense to me at all.
During that week, I also received a $25.00 cheque from TNS Canadian Facts, as part of my reward points that I redeemed through their website, mysurvey.ca. In addition to the cheque, I also received a letter from the Honourable Steven Fletcher, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform. To see the awesome letter, please click here.
Later in the week, I started to think about what a Liberal MP said in the House of Commons. According to a Liberal MP, Dimitri Soudas, who is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesperson, gets paid a whole lot of money to "bully the Parliamentary press gallery."
On Saturday evening, June 12, 2010, I paid a visit to the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East, and was shocked to see that my favourite paintings had been painted over. Later that day, I started to wonder what Prime Minister Stephen Harper would look like with an afro, and Tammy Poorman provided a picture of that:
During the week of June 13 to 19, I did something important: I decided what my major at the University of Saskatchewan would be. The result should not be surprising to many, except Andrew Pang: political studies. Now, what kind of political studies degree I would like is still up in the air. Also, later that week, I lost my Internet connection on June 16 for almost two hours, and did not get paid for that time. Also, the week before, the bridal store my worked at (Jessica Bridal) shut its doors down, and I was given permission to "rob" the store, meaning I would bring home any remaining wedding gowns in the store to my mom's house. But when I arrived, everything was gone, like it was "pre-robbed."
Friday of that week was my day off, and I spent that day doing nothing, before getting a new wig, picking up my cousins from school and taking them to my house for a small barbeque gathering of some sort, where I cooked burgers. I also watched Youth in Revolt, which sucked. However, that movie When in Rome was kind of funny. And at one point, Cory Standing biked near my house and told me, "I know where you live now." What a bastard.
June 19 was the start of a new four-work "period" at work, which also meant a new schedule for the Reverend Huy Dang. At this point, I was starting to work 3:30 pm until midnight with Mondays and Tuesdays off. The schedule sucked, as I wanted to work in the day.
On the afternoon of June 20, 2010, I was thinking of places I slept while I was in Ottawa. Here in Saskatoon, I live in a Conservative federal riding, as all Saskatoon-area ridings are represented in the House of Commons by the Conservative Party of Canada. But in Ottawa, they aren't as fortunate. So, when I started to do some research, I realized that Ottawa Marriott was in the federal riding of Ottawa Centre, which is represented by Paul Dewar from the New Democratic Party of Canada. Then, in Montréal, the hotel I slept at, which was the Residence Inn Montréal Downtown, the riding was represented by former astronaut Marc Garneau (Westmount-Ville-Marie). Now I feel dirty...
June 21, 2010 was a good day, as I did not have to work at all for two straight days.
On the evening of June 22, 2010, I was checking the old PO box at that Shoppers Drug Mart store on 22nd Street West, and found that I had received a letter from 10 Downing Street, the home and/or office of the British prime minister. Essentially, it was a response to the letter I wrote to David Cameron, and I really thought it was the prime minister. However, it was just one of his staffers. To view the letter, click here.
During that week, I also watched She's Out of My League, which was hilarious. However, the best part was when I saw a bunch of losers watching that television network I used to obsess about (and still do), G4. Later that day, on June 23, 2010, I learned that Ottawa and surrounding areas experienced an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5, which was later downgraded to 5.0. And by this point, I was excited about the arrival of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for the G8 meeting in Muskoka that would be hosted on June 25, 2010.
June 24, 2010 was important, as I received a reply to an email I sent from Dr. Jason Zorbas about the constitutionality of deporting natural-born Canadian citizens. I had an argument with someone about The Constitution Act, 1982, and the notwithstanding clause within it. So, I said that I believed that the Government of Canada could eventually deport natural-born Canadian citizens by invoking the notwithstanding clause. However, the other person argued that it could not be done. So, I decided to email Jason, who could not give me a complete answer, as he was not a constitutional expert. To see his reply, click here.
June 25, 2010 was an evil day, as I had to work. However, that wasn't why the day was evil, as I was already used to working full-time for the summer months. What made it evil was that most elementary and high school students in Saskatoon would finish school for the summer months, which means that Tho and Tony are going to be home every day, all day for two straight months. Then, there's Ky, who wrote his last final exam of the school year on Friday. However, June 25, 2010 was the start of another thing, which was start of the G8 meetings in Muskoka in Huntsville, Ontario. But, something that overshadowed that was the anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. And, as I learned that day, Shelly had made her way with her family over to Calgary for a few days, and with my suggestion, paid a visit to the Real Canadian Superstore located at Deerfoot Meadows. The store is huge, and what I have liked about the stores that were built since late 2004 was that they all contained double entrances. However, Shelly seems to think that is stupid, because it means "double the theft." Well, although I agree with her on that aspect, I do think that having double entrances could "double the fun" for loss prevention officers, who are otherwise probably bored because nothing funny seems to happen while working at that store.
For the most part on Friday, I drove around two numerous places, and waited for a computer to become available. Basically, I was kept in suspense.
But on Thursday, my computer stopped working and I didn't have to work, but got paid anyway. So, I picked up a temporary computer that I could use, which kept crashing.
On Saturday morning, I woke up, expecting rain. For the most part, it did not rain, and I was upset. Therefore, The Weather Network isn't all that great, is it? Saturday, however, was the end of the G8 summit in Muskoka, and world leaders would move onto the G20 leaders' summit in Toronto, which was met by a bunch of "protesters," which Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair eventually labelled as terrorists. At this point, I have yet to understand what the protesters were trying to prove by damaging property. But what I do find entertaining is the fact that hundreds (about 800 or more) were all stuffed into detention centres without water, and other fluids. Why should those who are arrested enjoy luxuries such as a comfy seat or space?
I woke up Sunday, wondering why the Toronto Police Service didn't use tear gas until Sunday morning, as it could have been more effective on Saturday, and wildly entertaining to me. I also had a whacky idea for the Government of Canada to save money when it comes to its tough-on-crime agenda. Instead of spending more money to build additional prison spaces, or new buildings for prisons, they should just more offenders into one jail cell, and categorize areas of prisons into different crimes. For instance, those who are in prison for raping young kids should be put together. That way, when someone in prison gets raped, they will know remotely how their victims feel.
On Monday, while driving around Saskatoon, I noticed something important was installed on the traffic signal post for eastbound traffic at the intersection of 20th Street and Idylwyld Drive South: a sign that states "no left turns," meaning more fun for me when I drive through that area. Back in 2008, the City of Saskatoon reversed the signs in the area to accommodate reconstruction of the 1st Avenue on-ramp to the Idylwyld Freeway into a signalized intersection as part of the River Landing development. The restrictions were finally reversed in 2009. But this year, they have reappeared. However, the signs are not as obvious, and idiotic drivers still make left turns, despite my wild honking.
Monday was also when I started to register for classes at the University of Saskatchewan for the 2010-to-2011 school year. I registered in all of the classes I wanted, except for one, which was English 288: Introduction to Film. By the time I was able to register, the class was full, and there was no space for the Reverend Huy Dang. That's a shame, as I've wanted to take that class since the 2008-to-2009 school year. At this point, I have yet to contact the instructor of that class to potentially convince him to sign an override form that would allow me to take his class.
Tuesday was a bizarre day, as I found myself driving around town for no apparent reason. For starters, I woke up and the Internet wasn't working. So, as I "configured" things myself, it started to work again. Then, I went out to the Walmart Supercentre on Betts Avenue because my mom wanted to go there, and the "check engine" light began to appear on the dashboard. Of course, I'm not Homer Simpson, so I didn't cover it with electrical tape. I read the owner's manual on my 2001 Toyota Camry and the manual stated that possible malfunctions include: gas cap not closed properly, spark plugs wearing out or other mechanical issues. So, I replaced the spark plugs, with no luck. Eventually, I left, and went to the University of Saskatchewan campus, to do some nonsensical stuff. Then, I headed to Ens Lexus Toyota, only to be told that nobody was available to look at my car, unless I came back after lunch. So, I headed home... but made a stop at KFC on the way home, to the disgust of Chelsea Breher. After having an excellent lunch, I returned to Ens Lexus Toyota, where the service manager did a diagnosis on a fancy yellow device that provided him with a code, but he said that the only problem he could find was the gas cap not being closed tight. Then, he removed the device, and I left, and the malfunction light was gone. However, I decided to keep my service appointment for next week as a precaution, as there may be other mechanical problems that I don't know about, which could cost me more money that I would rather keep.
After an interesting turn of events, I decided to drive around and drove through the University of Saskatchewan campus like a "maniac," before deciding to take a detour along Cumberland Avenue North, where I saw Andrew Mareschal at a bus stop, carrying a funny-looking package. I then offered him a ride, and eventually dropped him off near The Centre Mall, before heading to my evil cousins' house.
Eventually, my evil cousins came over, and we went back across town to the Lakewood Civic Centre to go swimming, before deciding to head home. At this point, I found myself driving across town in two different directions, before finally heading home. Then, at some point before the night ended, I went across town once again, to drop those jerks off at their fancy home in Stonebridge.
And before the night ended, there would be one hell of a thunderstorm that included chunks of hail. And while I was in the comfort of my own home, I heard chunks of hail, and started to think, "I wonder who is throwing stuff at my house."
Wednesday was lame, as I stayed home, did nothing, did a little shopping, picked up a new computer and started my usual work routine, again.
As for Canada Day, I watched television (the Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa), slept, and returned to working mode. Yeah, while everyone was out having fun on Canada Day, I was at home, working, like a loser. On the bright side, my aunt and uncle came over with my cousin's daughter.
And, as for today, I will soon have to work, again. On the bright side, I get tomorrow off, then return to work on Sunday, and then get two more days off of work, before returning to my usual work schedule on July 7, 2010.
Hello my possibly-non-partisan friends, it is the Reverend Huy Dang, and I'm back to talk about my boring life, as you know it, for the first time in about an entire month Sure, I talked about my trip, and yes, it was amazing, but I haven't talked about my boring life since I returned to Saskatoon.
But before I talk about my boring life, and the things I like to complain about, I would like to draw your attention to an awesome email that I received a while ago. As a Seinfeld fan, I think you would appreciate the email. However, the email is a sad reminder of what Canada and Canadians do not have access to. To see the awesome email, click here.
Although it has been a good month since I've last updated this blog, I am glad that I still update my blog as much as possible, as it makes my blog something interesting to read as I get older, and how my views may have changed between now and ten years down the road. For instance, only six years ago, I preferred having a Liberal prime minister in Canada than having a prime minister from the Conservative Party of Canada. However, for some reason, in 2005, I got annoyed with the current governments that were in power where I lived, and my political views began to shift to the right (although I am still liberal in a sense, as I support the right for same-sex marriages, even if I am against it myself). If you were to ask me why my political views started to shift to the right in 2005, I have two parties to mention: the Liberal Party of Canada under the leadership of Paul Martin and the Saskatchewan New Democrats under the leadership of Lorne Calvert. I disliked both of them very much. And as you may or may not know, former Prime Minister Jean Chretien was recently "hung" on the walls of Parliament Hill. Well, when I was there during my visit to Ottawa, the latest prime minister that was "hung" was the Right Honourable Kim Campbell. So, it appears that I had missed the hanging of Mr. Chretien's portrait by a number of weeks, but I am still glad that I got to visit Parliament Hill, as it was a beautiful place and I will never forget it, unless I go again. And yes, I miss Ottawa very much. It was a nice city, and the folks there were friendly, as it seems, and I would not have any objections to living there. However, the only thing missing is a reason to move there.
Recently, I requested to be friends with someone I knew from my days of attending Mount Royal Collegiate on that social networking website everyone likes to call... Facebook, who originally requested to be friends with me on the social networking website two years ago? For some reason between then and now, he decided that he didn't like me. So, a few weeks ago, when I added him as a friend on Facebook, after assuming that it was a mistake, or some sort of misunderstanding, as it seemed like I had nothing against him. So, I added him as a friend on Facebook. Two days after I made the request, I received a private message from a gentleman named Aaron Reynolds. The subject was "Friend Request?" As for body of the message, it only contained one word: "Ha!" So, it was already obvious that Mr. Reynolds decided to ignore my friend request, as he obviously didn't like me all that much. Then, in addition to that, he decided to act like he was better than me. Well, if he doesn't like me, that's fine... but the fact that he sent me that message makes him a douche, and is an absolute disgrace (the same way Yasmin Ratansi refused to allow John Baird to speak).
Speaking of John Baird, who is the honourable minister of transport for the Government of Canada, Mr. Baird recently got angry because he was not allowed to speak, even though it was procedure for him to be heard because Liberal MP Yasmin Ratansi thought she was above the procedures. For more information, click here. To see the entire committee hearing, click here. Mr. Baird's outburst, although hilarious, is something I do not blame him for. In fact, I don't think he got angry enough. Had he been angrier, he probably would not have been required to ask for the floor fifty times.
Speaking of shouting, question period in the House of Commons is my favourite period of time every weekday when Parliament is sitting, and I especially love the period when John Baird rises to answer questions, as he often shouts. However, a Conservative MP named Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills) has introduced a motion to reform question period, and would require the ministers responsible to actually answer the questions, instead of giving off smart-mouth remarks. That, in my books, is wrong, and should not be adopted. As a result, I have written a letter to the honourable member telling him about my disappointment towards the idea of reforming question period. However, I doubt that the letter will make a difference.
Since my last update, a lot of things have happened.
Shortly after I returned from my trip to Ottawa, David Cameron became Britain's newest prime minister and the youngest prime minister in almost 200 years. But by the time I had arrived in Saskatoon, things were already looking to go down... and within 24 hours, I was already having anger issues, thanks to specific people and others that are beyond my control.
On May 7, 2010, I saw the first of seven new transit buses (four of which are from New Flyer) that were delivered this year to Saskatoon Transit. The bus I did see was 1004, which was a 2010 New Flyer D40LFR. To date, I have only seen three of the seven buses delivered this year, which in all three instances, were a 2010 New Flyer D40LFR.
The weekend at that time was lame, because I had to work, again. But while working, I had a cool idea, after watching an old episode of That '70s Show. The bright idea was to throw a party, invite your friends, get them drunk, have their cars towed, and then watch these newly-drunk people look for their cars after their cars have been towed.
And on May 13, 2010, I started thinking that the fall is the greatest season, ever, as I dislike the summer. Sure, summer is fine, sometimes, because there is no school, but work makes up the painful burden of summer. Another reason that I dislike the summer is because of the heat. And at this point, I was starting to consider taking a French class during the 2010-to-2011 academic school year.
On the evening of May 14, 2010, I was travelling from downtown to Stonebridge via the Idylwyld Freeway, and noticed that traffic was backed up. As it turns out, there was an accident that took up one lane, but police officers thought it would be bright to take up two lanes as they pulled over. That's a big deal, considering that the specific portion of the freeway between the 1st Avenue on-ramp and the Lorne Avenue exit is only three lanes.
On the morning of May 15, 2010, I made a "power reservation." I made up that term. However, on the phone, the guest wanted to make a reservation at a Marriott hotel in Boston that he often stays at, and did not care how much it costs per night. As for the rest of that weekend, it was great, as I did almost absolutely nothing.
As for the week of May 16 to May 22, 2010, aside from working from 6:00 am until noon on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday mornings, I spent most of my days sleeping in, napping or watching television, and it was great! I felt like a kid again, and I felt like I had lots of energy, which, of course, would be wasted. But other than that, it felt great! However, there was one exception: I did spend an hour and a half at the Hilton Garden Inn on the evening of May 19, 2010. Why? Well, as a member of the SaskWatch research panel operated by Insightrix Research, I was invited to a focus group that was held at the hotel about cellular phones. For my participation, I was paid $75.00 in "cold, hard cash." Speaking of that, I highly suggest that you join as well. However, you should use this link so that I get $3.00 for the referral.
May 22, 2010 was the day I returned to working full-time. Although I didn't like the idea, I didn't actually have to work until May 23, 2010, when I worked from 11:00 am to 7:30 pm. I then got Victoria Day off, but felt sick on the day after that. On Wednesday (May 26), I went back to work. But on May 22, 2010, my cousins that I usually hang out with (Ky and Tho) went to Regina for the day, but the trip didn't make sense to me (they were part of a church event, and everyone else planned to leave Saskatoon on Sunday morning and return Sunday evening). So, I spent a good part of that day performing work on the yard, and hauling gravel to the dump from my uncle's house. After a long day of doing so, I had to feed and walk my uncle's new dog, Jack. Thankfully, it was raining, and he refused to go for a walk. However, he did his business, which I didn't bother to clean up, because it was my uncle's house, and is ultimately his responsibility. And by business, I meant that he urinated on dirt. Eventually, I came home, showered and watched an episode of America's Most Wanted. And at that time, my mom invited her friends over for dinner.
May 23, 2010 wasn't very different. In the morning, before coming home to work a full-time shift for the first time in months, I went across town to feed and walk an annoying dog. After doing so, I returned home, showered, had lunch and was set to work at 11:00 am. By the time my shift was over, my mom's friends were over, again, and it was time for dinner. Then, I had to drive across town again, just to feed that annoying dog, again. If my uncle wants me to take care of his dog again in the future, well... he's screwed, because I dislike his dog greatly.
May 24 was Victoria Day. Early in the morning at around 10:00 am, I received an interesting phone call from my cousin Tho asking me if he could come over to my house and whether or not I would pick him up. So, when asked why I should pick him up, he simply said, "You have to." Because he sounded a lot like his younger brother Tony, I decided to pick him up. And yes, I picked them up, later.
Now, at some point back in May, I had an idea that didn't make any sense, but was funny to me, nonetheless. My idea was for a television show, but based in Canada, spoofing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. During my visit to Ottawa, while listening to 1053 KISS FM, I kept hearing radio ads for a local Toyota and Lexus dealer called Bel-Air Lexus Toyota. However, back then, I didn't give it much thought. But upon my return to Saskatoon, I started to have a crazy idea. I thought about the show having its own Canadian version. In this Canadian version, the main character would be Peter Poorman, rather than Will Smith. And instead of Philadelphia, the character's hometown would be Saskatoon. And instead of Bel-Air, California, the show would take place in the Ottawa area, in a neighbourhood called Bel-Air. The show works out too, as Peter has relatives in Ottawa! So, all he needs to do now is get into a fight to the extent that his mother gets scared and sends him to Ottawa to live with his aunty and uncle. In fact, Tammy Poorman, who liked the idea, used her remarkable talent with Adobe Photoshop and created this:
That is awesome! However, I doubt that Mr. Poorman's uncle is an angry judge. From what Mr. Poorman has told me, his uncle in Ottawa works with technology and that he kicks some major ass.
Anyway, May 24, was of course, Victoria Day, and I didn't work, as you already know. But best of all, it rained all weekend, and that delayed any yard-work I needed to perform. Eventually, I took my annoying cousins to Dairy Queen on College Drive, where I saw a bunch of Marriott pens. It was like the employees of that Dairy Queen location were staying at Marriott hotels too! Why? Well, in Ottawa, I took home a few Marriott-branded pens. Then, at the Dairy Queen, I saw five of those exact same pens!
Later that evening, I dropped by the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East and saw Shelly, who told me a hilarious story about Andrew Pang's dad performing some sort of odd exercise in the parking lot of the Real Canadian Superstore. Yeah, it's funny that everyone seems to have at least one funny story about his dad. Then, on the way home, I stopped at the Starbucks Coffee location on 8th Street East near Campbell Avenue. After getting that coffee, I finally headed home. At the intersection of Clarence Avenue South and 8th Street East, however, I saw two girls "rocking out" to their probably-hippie-like music. When they saw me, they started making "kissy" faces at me. I then decided to act like I was too cool for them, and drove away. But as I drove away, they sped up in order behave the same way, again. While at the store, however, I saw three people that I knew. Before the night ended, I also bought donuts from Tim Hortons. And as for those donuts, I didn't eat them all on Monday night.
On Tuesday (May 25), I ate some donuts with a knife and fork. Now, that leaves me with one question? How do you eat your donut... with your hand? By that time, I was developing an annoying sore throat, and eventually felt sick enough to not work. Luckily, tons of advanced downtime was available, and I didn't have to take an unpaid sick day. Later that day, Jean Chrétien had his official portrait hung on Parliament Hill. When I was there, the most recent prime minister to have their picture hung was the Right Honourable Kim Campbell. However, someday, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper will have their portraits hung too!
On Friday (May 28), the iPad was launched by Apple, which is a useless device that is shiny so that the masses would enjoy it. So, as a curious bastard, I went to Future Shop to play with one. While I was there, my cousin Ky did something that he thought was funny, and insisted that I take a picture of it. If you look at it, you'll probably think, "What the hell is wrong with this kid?" In fact, here it is:
Yeah, it is retarded, isn't it?
However, despite my cousin's odd behaviour, something else overshadowed it: the death of Gary Coleman. Mr. Coleman, sadly, really did pass away, and I am going to miss him as much as I miss Michael Jackson. At some point, I did visit that Randy River store at the Midtown Plaza so that my cousin could buy that "sweater" that he is wearing in the picture above. Anyway, before ending my evening, I decided to drop by Westgate Books located in the Cumberland Square shopping centre (located on 8th Street East near Cumberland Avenue) to give the Reverend Nathan Dutnall the "dangerously silly move." While I was there, I performed two awesome transactions, which cost the store $1.00 in total, according to the minister's step-daddy. For the record, I must say that after I said that I would charge $0.01 to my Visa and debit cards respectively, the minister simply said, "Go for it."
On Saturday (May 29), it rained outside, hard. So, doing what I usually do, I went grocery shopping, and eventually picked up my cousins from their home and drove them to my house, where they stunk up my house, like they usually do. Eventually, I went out, and returned with a game rental from BLOCKBUSTER. The game that I rented was The Price is Right. I also tried some awesome "sliders," or small burgers, which were awesome.
May 30, 2010 was an interesting day, as I started working at 11:00 am, and had nothing to look forward to on television at the end of the day. At this point, I started considering another trip to the Ottawa/Montréal areas. This time, I would visit Montréal most of the time, and visit Ottawa for at least one day, in an attempt to visit the museums that I failed to visit during my original trip. Also, the drive around the Ottawa area was pleasant. And thanks to David Lee, I am now using a fully-licenced version of Microsoft Office 2010.
May 31, 2010, which was a major holiday in the U.S., was also my day off from work, until I picked up some extra hours in attempt to offset the amount of hours lost from my previous "sick day." I lost eight hours, but picked up five hours. But before working, I paid a visit to the Real Canadian Superstore and made a purchase, which had a total of $6.66. But later in the day, I also published a nonsensical article about the advantages of being a Member of Parliament in an Ottawa-area federal riding. And now that I think about Ottawa, I really wish that Air Canada were cheaper, because it seems like their planes have more leg-room, they offer direct flights to Ottawa from Saskatoon, and they also offer Wi-Fi services (for a fee), unlike WestJet. And before I knew it, the month of May as I knew it, was over.
May was a decent month overall. Although I disliked most of it, what will stick with me is my visit to Ottawa and Montréal, as it was my first time visiting those cities, and I will never forget the trip, unless I visit those cities again.
This past Tuesday, I got a new muffler installed at Midas on Circle Drive, where I saw a sign that "fails at life." Since they were backed up, I got a ride home from that lady at the front, "receptionist." She drove like a crazy bitch. But when they were finished, I was working, so my mom ended up picking up the car. But on the bright side, she paid for it, and if I say anything, I'll probably have to pay her back... so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.
On Thursday, June 3, 2010, I watched a news conference in England on CPAC with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and David Cameron, Britain's newest prime minister. However, I thought it was odd that Mr. Harper was speaking French in England. But then again, I forgot that Canada is multi-lingual and that Mr. Harper was simply showing Brits that Canada is unique (based on my assumptions).
Friday evening was interesting. Instead of staying at home, I went to my uncle's house, and eventually went to the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East... and to my dismay, they installed new automatic doors. But while there, I did see something interesting. Yeah, I'm going to miss the automatic sliding doors that were there until last week.
Here is what one of the new sets of doors look like:
Aside from visiting the Real Canadian Superstore, I drove around town, and eventually headed out of town for a brief minute, stopping at Peter Poorman's former workplace:
On Saturday, I went shopping at the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East. And as I paid for my groceries, I saw a couple of morons with construction materials enter the store through an exit door, hitting it as they came through, and knocking one of the doors off the track. The doors, managed to close, but failed to open. Here's a picture. Anyway, after a long day of my cousins stinking up my house, as well as yard-work, I eventually returned to the store to buy some Febreze, in an attempt to eliminate the odours that were left behind by the two fat kids. Oh yeah, I did visit the Burger King on Confederation Drive at one point, and found an extra-wide parking spot. So, naturally, I parked in it. Here's a picture of the spot, with my car parked in it:
And eventually, I purchased gasoline at the Petro-Canada gas station on 8th Street East at the corner of Cumberland Avenue South, where I purchased regular gas at 91.9¢ per litre, thanks to my Preferred Price card, which saves me 10¢ per litre for up to 250 litres, to the dismay of Tyler Koch, who is Wayne's cousin, who is a crazy bastard, and apparently a rebel as well.
Now, recently, I purchased a TomTom ONE 125 GPS device, which supposedly only comes loaded with maps of the USA. However, I found a way to load North American maps to the device without charge. But when I opened the packaging and turned it on, I was pleased to find that maps of Canada were already on the device, thus saving me a bunch of time that would have been spent loading maps of Canada to the device. However, what I have done since purchasing the device is load Homer Simpson's voice to the device.
And at some point on Sunday evening, I decided that I must visit Oliver Jewellery on Eglinton Avenue West if I ever visit the city of Toronto. Why? Well, you should check out the YouTube page for his business, which contains many awesome commercials. In fact, here's my favourite commercial:
That's hilarious, isn't it?!
Anyway, today is Monday, and I spent most of the day, working like a crazy bastard.
Now, as I finish up this nonsensical and long blog update, there are a few things I would like to discuss before officially coming to a conclusion.
First off, Justin Bieber is the kid that slightly entertains me with two of his songs, but also annoys me. Other than that, I don't really have anything against the kid. However, the fact that he will be in Saskatoon annoys me. Why? Well, I don't care how many young girls like him. What annoys me is that my cousin Ky previously stated that "Justin Bieber is gay," but wants to attend the concert in September at Credit Union Centre. So, it appears that my cousin Ky holds a double standard of some sort. But then again, I probably have some sort of double standard too. Actually, I'm pretty sure that I do.
Aside from Justin Bieber and his minor annoyances to the reverend, Noelle, and Peter Poorman, may be surprised that this note is a little shorter than usual, as I have used pictures in this post.
Now, recently, my uncle told me about some cheesy Toyota commercials that the company had on Canadian television when the company first started selling cars in Canada. Although I didn't find those commercials on YouTube, I did find others, including this one, which is pretty cheesy:
Anyway, that is all for this edition of my insanely-awesome blog update!
But before I come to an official conclusion, things to look forward to this month include the summer break for my cousins, and Canada Day next month! Now, remember... don't get ripped by the riptide!
Hello my foreign friends. It has almost been two weeks since my last blog update, and when I last updated my blog, I was getting ready to visit Ottawa and Montréal. And, I must say, I had an amazing trip.
Day 1 of the Trip
So, since that last blog update, I was up at 4:00 am, getting ready to head to the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport. Eventually, I did, and quickly went through security. What I forgot, even though I read it the night before, was that security officials required you to remove your laptop from your baggage and that it would be x-rayed. Since that time, I've been wondering what the x-ray images look like. I was on the same flight with my foreign friend, Larry Chen, who had failed to check in the night before, and was not able to get a seat anywhere close to me. By the time I arrived in Calgary, I was greeted by my foreign friend David Couchman, who had nothing better to do at the time, or because he was waiting for his brother, and decided to come early to greet the minister. Eventually, my cousin Jeannette's husband David came to pick me up, who eventually took me to his house for breakfast. It was great, and I had returned to the airport to go through security, again, by 9:00 am. Going through security in Saskatoon and Calgary were quick, and almost painless. But, before I left to David's house, there was something that caught my eye that I knew that my cousin Tho would love:
Yes, my cousin Tho has an obsession with moving walkways.
So, after a one-hour flight that felt like an eternity, I was ready to board a flight that was three times as long, from Calgary to Ottawa. And yes, I did fly west to fly east. So, the flight from Calgary to Saskatoon wasn't so bad, even if I got "burned" by hot water by a flight attendant by accident. Usually, WestJet's flights offer free soft drinks, coffee or water. So, there was a woman in front of me that was drinking coffee, and somehow, water accidentally dripped on me. As a result, I got a whole can of ginger ale, instead of a glass of ginger ale. As for my flight to Ottawa from Calgary, that was painful, as there was almost nothing good to watch on television, with the exception of two classic episodes of The Simpsons. Other than that, I watched episodes of That '70s Show on my laptop. Overall, it was a painful flight, and I have decided that I dislike flying, as the seats are crappy (and uncomfortable). And, the part that scares me the most is the take-off process. The landing process is scary to me as well, but it is not anywhere near as bad as the take-off process.
Arriving in Ottawa at about 4:20 pm local time, I got my luggage, which took about 20 minutes. Eventually, I it was around 4:45 pm and I decided to head on over to the Hertz car rental office to pick up my car rental. The car I rented was a Toyota Prius (pictured here), although I have no idea what model year it was. What I do know was that the car was purchased from Tony Graham Lexus Toyota, which looks like a pretty cool dealership. Leaving the airport, I set up my uncle Harley's GPS navigation device and headed on over to the Ottawa Marriott on Kent Street. On the way there, I passed Carleton University. By the time I got to the hotel, it was 5:30 pm, after some complications as I attempted to get the adhesive that came with the GPS unit to stick to the car's dashboard surface. After I got that done, I tried to figure out where the aux cable for my Zune would go, but I gave up and started the drive. When I got into the hotel room, I plugged in my laptop and eventually started to surf the Internets.
Now that I was in Ottawa, it was time to get my trip started, right? Since most of the tourist attractions I wanted to visit were closed, I decided to head to the mall. So, I headed to that fancy mall they call St. Laurent Centre, and had Taco Bell food for the first time in a while. After that, I drove around the downtown area for a while, and saw a Loblaws store on Rideau Street. Not having been there before, I decided to go inside. Things already looked grim when I entered their parking lot and realized that I would have to pay for parking. So, I decided to "bite the bullet" and enter the store anyway. When I entered the store, it wasn't as nice I had expected. However, I did find something that I presumed was a myth in Saskatchewan: a Coinstarmachine. And by the end of the night, I was ready to go back to the hotel to sleep in a comfortable king bed.
Now, something you may find interesting is that when I left the mall, I got some dirty looks from young people who were most likely university students. Why? Well, I was wearing a University of Saskatchewan Huskies t-shirt. And from what I understand, there was recently a basketball tournament that was held in Ottawa, and the U of S managed to kick everyone else's asses in that tournament. So, based on what Alex Kowalchuk told me, I'm going to assume that these young people are either from Carleton University or the University of Ottawa, and are bitter due to the fact that the U of S kicked their asses.
By the way, my room number at the Marriott was 1128. Now, during my drive around the downtown area and Chinatown areas, I saw a few interesting things, including a man pushing a little girl around the area in a computer chair, and that little girl seemed to enjoy that ride.
Day 2 (Sunday, May 2, 2010)
Sunday was an interesting day. For some reason, I couldn't sleep. Before I fell asleep, I started to feel bad that I would be missing out on my cousin Tony's sixth birthday. So, having problems sleeping, I woke up once at 5:00 am to use the washroom. I then returned to bed, but had problems sleeping and ended up waking up again at 5:40 am. So, being bored, I decided to head out at around 6:45 am.
So, I left my hotel room and stepped out at around 6:45 am on that Sunday. To start the day off early, since most tourist attractions had not opened yet, I decided to drive out to that fancy suburb called Orléans. Why? Well, no trip to another Canadian city would be complete for the Reverend Huy Dang, unless he paid a visit to a Real Canadian Superstore that he hasn't visited before. So, I decided to visit the store located at 4270 Innes Road, and found a few interesting things within the store, including a section that sells wine, and a separate room for cigarettes. I found that interesting. After visiting the Real Canadian Superstore and still having moments to spare, I drove down the street and stopped by Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, which was not yet open until 8:00 am. Not wanting to return to the Real Canadian Superstore, I decided to stop at the Walmart Supercentre for some breakfast. And when I entered the McDonald's in Walmart, I was surprised by what I saw, as I thought that those fancy couches were limited to American locations. After that, it was still too early to visit Lowe's, so I went to the store and waited ten whole minutes for the store to open. Eventually, it did, and I entered the store, which had incredibly friendly staff. However, that store was lame and wasn't as cool as I assumed it would be.
And yes, the Real Canadian Superstore in Orléans really does sell wine within its store:
And here is what I mean by fancy couches:
After an hour of visiting two stores that Saskatoon already has and one that Saskatoon doesn't, I headed to Chinatown and walked through eight blocks of the area, and saw a lot of interesting things. To see from the first photo, click here. While walking through the Chinatown area, I saw something quite interesting. Here's a guy riding two bikes at the same time:
Aside from that, I did pay an incredibly short visit to the Vietnamese Buddhist temple on Somerset Street West, and found that it was incredibly small, even when in comparison to Saskatoon's Buddhist temple on 20th Street West:
After walking through seven or eight blocks of Chinatown, it was 9:15 am, which meant that the Canadian War Museum would open its doors soon, right? Yes, it would be a time for excitement. And as I travelled, I have no idea where I went, but as I travelled along Wellington Street, there were a bunch of cyclists (could have easily been thousands of people) travelling along the street, and their destination was in front of the Canadian War Museum. So, I myself paid a visit and was greeted by a friendly girl that had a French accent. While there, I bought myself a ticket to both the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization for $18.00. So, I gave myself a tour of the Canadian War Museum and found a few things that were interesting, including a replica of a typical kitchen during the 1950s. However, what was really interesting was seeing Hitler's actual car:
When I first saw the car, I didn't know what to say. But after seeing it with my own eyes for a moment, I began thinking negative thoughts of the place, and Hitler in general, which resulted in me leaving. But aside from that, I spoke to a veteran and volunteer named Hyman (he knows a former judge in Saskatoon whose name I have forgotten), who told me about the Enigma machine, which were invented by Germans to encode their own messages. At the museum, there was a computer with an application that allowed you to unscramble encoded messages, or encode your own messages. I had a little fun with it:
And yes, I understand that teasing my cousin Tho with this was "mean." But then again, he is as big of a jerk as I am. After a visit to the awesome Canadian War Museum, I bought some postcards, and headed back to my hotel, only to find that someone had "busted in" and cleaned it. When I left, the bed was messy, and the washroom had soiled towels. When I had returned, the bed was made, the towel supply was replenished, and even the drinking cups were replaced.
Eventually, I left the hotel again to go for lunch. Since it was Sunday, and I wanted dim sum, I went to the Chinese restaurant I saw in Chinatown, which was called Yangtze, which sucked. Now, although parking on the streets of Ottawa is free on Sundays, I still paid $5.00 for half an hour of parking, as it was impossible to find a spot on the street at that time, so I ended up paying $5.00 to park on some guy's lot for half an hour. To see where I parked, click here. In fact, it seemed so funny to me that it reminded me of that episode of Seinfeld when Kramer and George decided to park their car at a parking lot for $50 a month, only to have George discover a used condom in his car. That episode was respectfully titled "The Wig Master." That episode, like all others, was hilarious! Anyway, why did the Chinese restaurant suck so much? Well, when I came in, the restaurant was busy, which is understandable. But, the service sucked. When I came in, the hostess was screaming like a maniac, and the food sucked, and some of those people pushing dim sum carts around didn't even bother to stop at my table. In the end, I left after trying four entrees, which cost me $17.52 plus a tip I left for $2.00.
After having food at the crappy Chinese restaurant, which had horrible service by the way, it was time to visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization, right? Well, technically, it was. But, I had to return to the hotel, as I forgot my ticket there. So, I drove back to the hotel, went through the annoying underground parking, then went took the elevator to the main lobby of the hotel, and then took another elevator up to room 1128, where I was staying. Then, I went down to the lobby, then took another elevator down to the parked car, and eventually left the hotel.
Eventually, it was time to head to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, which involved leaving town by crossing the river over to Gatineau. Eventually, I did go to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, after going through some construction. However, my visit to the Canadian Museum of Civilization will be unforgettable, as I enjoyed every exhibit there (except the Canadian Postal Museum, which wasn't as cool as I assumed it would be). In fact, I took many pictures. Then, outside, I took pictures of the Alexandra Bridge, which I did not get to drive through, as it was closed to traffic except weekdays from 2:00 pm until 7:00 pm. As I drove through Ottawa, there were a lot of places that were either being renovated, or under construction, and it was kind of annoying. However, during my visit to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the battery pack in my camera ran out, and I had to head back to the hotel to get a new battery pack, which I failed to bring. So, I "charged" the pack for 30 minutes, and headed back to the museum, and took many more pictures. I truly enjoyed the visit to the museum, and I particularly liked the exhibit that highlighted the history of Chinese people in Canada and their dry-cleaning stores.
And after a "long" day of visiting museums, I was "tired," and hungry. So, being in Québec, it reminded me of something that one of my former sociology professors said about McDonald's. He said that McDonald's locations in Québec offer the poutine on their menus. So, seeing one just before heading back to Ottawa, I decided to stop by and order a poutine, which would delight my cousin Tho, had he been with me. Now, being the evil cousin that I am, I decided to call his home to tease him about the fact that I was eating a poutine from McDonald's and that he wasn't there to enjoy it. As usual, he referred to me as "Stink Huy." Stupid Tho! However, the poutine wasn't that good, and Tho wasn't missing out on much. And at some point during the day, I did drive by the U.S. embassy, and I must say that it is a nice-looking building!
After deciding that I was too tired to go out again, I decided to "call it a day," even though it was only 8:00 pm. So, to relax, I turned on the television and watched a new episode of The Simpsons, which had an interesting opening sequence that I enjoyed very much. I also enjoyed The Cleveland Show too, believe it or not! But as for the one-hour special episode of Family Guy, that was a waste of an hour. While watching television, I got hungry, again, and decided that I was too lazy to go out and eat, so I got up, and looked at the in-room dining menu. In it, everything looked "expensive," so I ordered something cheaper (as Bill Marriott had been raving about them on his blog): the Marriott Burger and French fries. And as it turns out, it was not as great as it looked on the menu. But, shortly after finishing the meal, I got a call from Guest Services asking me how the food was and whether or not I needed a wake-up call. I opted for a wake-up call of 6:30 am, as I had arranged for a tour of the hotel on Monday morning, which would eventually result in a complimentary hotel stay (excluding parking and in-room dining).
Day 3 (Monday, May 3, 2010)
Monday morning was interesting. I met with the hotel's Front Desk Manager named Hiram, and learned that he himself was from South Africa and that his wife is from Brazil, who both enjoy taking their daughter to the Canadian Museum of Civilization. As for the hotel, I went on a tour of the concierge rooms, the suites, the concierge lounge, the recreational room, the banquet rooms, the fitness club and others, and the tour before I knew it, was over. It was a good tour, and the manager was a nice man.
After the tour, I got changed and stepped outside to the fresh air, to start another day of sightseeing.
The first place I visited was the Supreme Court of Canada, which was lame, because it was not open to the public for tours until May 6, the day after I left Ottawa. So, as a loser walking around town, I still decided to visit the building anyway, because I would probably never have another chance to do so. Anyway, I entered the building, and was subjected to a security search similar to those at airports, but I didn't mind it, as I understood why it was important to go through a security checkpoint at the Supreme Court of Canada. So, after a lame visit to the Supreme Court of Canada, I walked along Wellington Street to a place I've wanted to visit for a while: the Parliament of Canada.
As I approached the grounds of Parliament Hill, I saw a fire in a fountain, and I thought it was pretty cool. Then, I saw a "protestor." Then, I got someone else to take my picture. Eventually, I headed inside to get myself a free ticket, and went through a security checkpoint similar to airports, again. After the security checkpoint, I waited in a lobby until 9:50 am, when the tour officially started. When the tour did start, our tour guide's name was Catherine, who walked us through many parts of the building. And eventually, she told us to smell the greatness of the Library of Parliament, but pictures were not allowed. It's a damn shame, because the inside of the library was amazing! Up next, it was time for a tour of the Peace Tower, which was kind of boring. However, the view was spectacular. While I was there, I caught a glimpse of a Conservative caucus meeting that had just finished. While in the Peace Tower, I met a nice couple from the United Kingdom that also enjoyed discussing politics. After that, I viewed paintings of previous prime ministers, including Joe Clark, who looked better in the painting than he did back then in real life. Brian Mulroney looked good too. But what I really enjoyed seeing was the Speaker's Parade, which to my understanding, is rare during tours. Well, I saw it with my own eyes, and I am glad that I did. However, I failed to get a good picture of the Honourable Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons. After seeing that, I went upstairs to the public galleries of the House of Commons. Before entering the gallery, there was yet another security checkpoint similar to the one I had just gone through. However, this time, they held on to more of your personal items. When I entered, they "held on" to my camera, cell phone, and jacket. As a result, I wasn't able to take pictures of the politicians that I like, which is probably a good thing, as it is a matter of security. So, after the security check, I listened to Liberal and NDP MPs make statements while complaining about the Conservative government. And while sitting there, I did see four cabinet ministers from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, including the Honourable Jason Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism), Honourable Diane Finley (Minister of Human Resources and Social Development), Honourable Gerry Ritz (Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board and Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism) and my favourite, the Honourable John Baird (Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities). But I was also looking forward to seeing Tony Clement and Jim Prentice, because they both have such cool names and they are both members of the Conservative Party of Canada. But unfortunately, I was getting really hungry and eventually decided to leave. At that time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had planned to visit Europe for five days. So, I naturally assumed that he was leaving on that Monday. Sadly, I was terribly wrong, and the prime minister was indeed present during question period that day. Unfortunately, Mr. Harper didn't leave until the very next day. As you can tell, I love Stephen Harper, and would like to meet him someday. I did drive by his house when I was visiting Rideau Hall (which was lame), but it was guarded by RCMP officers for obvious reasons.
After a visit to Parliament, I walked back to the hotel and took pictures of a few interesting things on the way back to the hotel. Eventually, I had a weird craving for food from Denny's, so I made the drive from downtown Ottawa all the way out to Nepean, not realizing that the chain had a location on Bank Street in Ottawa. So, as it turned out, I drove all the way to Nepean... for no apparent reason. But then again, most of you know that I enjoy driving further to get to places that already exist closer to where I just left. Nathan Dutnall, David Couchman and others can back me up on this portion. For example, I like to drive across town to visit the Real Canadian Superstore located at 2901 8th Street East when the store located at 411 Confederation Drive is so much closer. Another example is where I like to fill up my car's gas tank with gasoline. As you probably do or don't know, I like to fill up the gas tank in my car with gasoline from Petro-Canada, which is owned by Suncor. Although there are two conveniently-located locations on the west side of Saskatoon (Diefenbaker Drive, as well as 22nd Street West and Witney Avenue South both have locations), I like to drive across town and fill up at the station located at the corner of Cumberland Avenue South and 8th Street East, just because they have a car wash, and is conveniently located across the street from Westgate Books (it should really be called Eastgate Books), which is owned by Nathan's mother, even though I rarely visit the store.
After a fancy lunch at Denny's, it was time to visit the Royal Canadian Mint, right? Wrong. It turns out, I was distracted by many stores, including a BLOCKBUSTER Clearance Centre that I found while driving along Merivale Road because I was bored. After wasting an hour, I finally decided to head back towards the direction of the Royal Canadian Mint. So, I arrived at the Royal Canadian Mint after driving through some construction zones at around 3:10 pm, and paid $5.00 to enter the Royal Canadian Mint facility. The guy who sold me a ticket looked a lot like Taylor Martens, except with longer hair. However, his name was Eric (probably not Eric Forman), and not Taylor. So, after waiting around the stupid boutique at the Mint for almost twenty minutes and "lifting" a 28-pound gold bar worth $500,000, I also took some pictures of some Olympic medals, as we were only allowed to take pictures of the medals, or the that $500,000 gold bar. Eventually, it was time for a tour, and the same guy who sold me the ticket was the same guy that took me on a tour, along with four other people. I learned a lot, even though I could not take pictures, and the tour guide was funny! He also accepted questions that had nothing to do with the Mint. He also told us some interesting things, including the fact that there was a company that believed the Mint dumped its shredded metals (gold and silver) into the Ottawa River, and eventually sent divers to look for the shredded metals. Years later, as well as $600,000 later, nothing was found, as the Mint recycles the pieces into new pieces. Other things I learned were that there is a department that mints coins by machine (with a rejection rate of 30%), and one that mints them by hand (with a rejection rate of 40-60%). And, he also told us that if we were nice, he would let us hold his gold coin that was worth $2,500, which he eventually did. The whole tour was fascinating, and I met two couples. I got to know one of them, who were living in Toronto. The man was from Vancouver, but his father is from Saskatoon, while his wife was born in Quebec City. Then, there was another couple from Guelph, Ontario, but I didn't get to know them as well. However, that trip was totally worth it. When I left, I was totally satisfied. However, it was past 5:00 pm, and many places I wanted to visit were almost closing. So, naturally, I did what I usually do in Saskatoon when I'm bored: drive around and go shopping. So, I did, and drove through some nice neighbourhoods, with no idea where I went. Then, it was eventually time for dinner, as it was after 7:00 pm and I was hungry. So, my next task was to visit a place that a Twitter user named DontTaseMeBro77 recommended in terms of good steakhouses in the Ottawa area: Al's Steakhouse. Since I was already in the Nepean area, I decided to visit the location on Richmond Road. So, while I was there, I had a salad with ranch dressing, which was good. I then ordered the New York Cut Steak 12 oz Served with 6 oz Broiled Lobster Tail, as it appeared on their menu, along with mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and served on a "bed of rice." The steak was good, the lobster wasn't as great, the mashed potatoes were excellent, but the vegetables and rice tasted like crap. But overall, I liked it, and would most likely return to the steakhouse if I were ever in Ottawa again.
Returning to the Ottawa Marriott, I was tired, and decided to "unwind" by going for a swim in the fitness club on the fourth floor of the Ottawa Marriott, which has 29 floors by the way. While I was there, I met a nice girl named Bess who had just graduated from the University of Ottawa and had suggested some pretty kick-ass ice cream joints, including one in the Byward Market area that I didn't have time to try. She acted like a concierge desk employee, and was excellent in providing me with relevant information. Of course, I steered it towards a nonsensical direction, and we both ended up discussing schools, the differences between cities that I have been to in Canada, and oddly enough, traffic signals. When I explained how those fancy left-turn arrows on traffic signals in Saskatoon work, she thought it was bizarre, but also stated that she hates LED traffic signals, as they are too bright for her. But I've seen their LED signals over in Ottawa, and they're not anywhere near as bright as they are in Calgary or Saskatoon for that matter (I mentioned Calgary because all of the bulbs they use are consistent, unlike in Saskatoon, whose new traffic signal bulbs are never consistent, and the ones that I don't like, are very similar to those used in LED traffic signals that are actually used in Ottawa).
Eventually, after talking to Bess, I returned to the hotel room, and got ready for bed, as I was sleepy and wanted to sleep, effectively "calling it a day."
I may have visited the Casino du Lac-Leamy at some point too, but it was a bad experience. To sum it up, I came in with $40.00 in cash, turned it into $80.00, and left with $12.50.
Day 4 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)
Tuesday was a more interesting day, but it was unfortunately shortened, as I overslept. Apparently, I was really tired the night before. But when I woke up, the first thing I did do was shower, pack my bags, and other stuff, as I would check out of the hotel before noon. But before checking out, I decided to go for a walk, as there were letters I needed to mail. So, I walked through Sparks Street all the way to the central post office, and realized that there was a lot to see on Sparks Street. So, I came back to the hotel, and took my camera, and took pictures of the Sparks Street Mall, in reverse order though. While going through Canada's first pedestrian mall, I saw some interesting things, including the back doors of the Wellington Building, where the Office of the Prime Minister is located, and an old-lookingZellers store.
Then, as I walked through Sparks Street, I managed to walk by the Bank of Canada, Canada's central bank, which included the Currency Museum. After getting bored of walking through Sparks Street, I stepped inside to the Bank of Canada, and paid a visit to Currency Museum, which was actually pretty lame. This is the point where I would make a terrible decision as to where I would like to go next. But while walking through Sparks Street, I saw Conservative MP Michael Chong, who recently introduced a motion to reform question period, which is not cool to me.
I could have taken in a visit to another museum or something, but this is where I made a lame decision. I decided to head to the University of Ottawa instead, to check out the campus. I did, and it seemed like a snobby private school for rich and spoiled kids, but this assumption is based on the limited stuff I saw, and my impression of the school is based on Tabaret Hall. For lunch, I had a hot dog and Coca-Cola from a guy on the street selling hot dogs.
After visiting the University of Ottawa, I decided that I would visit Carleton University (I drove by the campus on Saturday on the way to the hotel from the airport), which seemed to be a nice and vibrant campus, but I didn't go inside this time. I just drove through the campus like a crazy bastard. Before I knew it, it was already 12:50 pm, and I decided that it was time to head to Montréal, instead of trying to visit the Canada Aviation and Space Museum or the Canada Science and Technology Museum. By the way, on the way to Carleton from uOttawa, I drove by the Canada Postheadquarters.
After making the decision to leave Ottawa and head to Montréal, I paid a visit to the Real Canadian Superstore on Innes Road in Orléans to buy a light snack and to fill up the car's gas tank with regular gasoline, but only received $0.34 in Superbucks, since they only offer $0.02 per litre, unlike in Saskatoon, where the gas stations offer $0.05 a litre. In total, I filled up and purchased about 17.34 litres of gasoline. I also dropped by a Shoppers Drug Mart store to get myself a free drink with a coupon that I had shared with you all before I left to Ottawa (as well as through Facebook).
By 2:00 pm, I left Ottawa and was headed to that evil city they call Montréal in the province of Québec. The drive there was nice, and on the way there, I drove by a town named Rigaud, which sounded familiar to me. Upon doing some research, I learned that former MuchMusic VJ and actress Amanda Walsh is from there. Eventually, I arrived in Montréal alive, but was stuck in traffic for almost 40 minutes.
By the time I checked into the Residence Inn Montréal Downtown (the girl that checked me in was named Sandi... she was attractive, and her accent was 'sexy'), it was past 4:30 pm, and the first thing I did when I arrived in the suite I reserved was watch television. On the FOX channel, there was an episode of That '70s Show, so I watched it. And on the way to the city, there was a hitchhiker, but he was picked up by the car behind me. I was tempted to pull over, and then have him run towards the car, and then drive away before he could enter, but I didn't. After seven minutes of watching television, I decided to head out "on the town." Being the tired bastard that I was at the time, I was too lazy to get my car, because those valet parkers were scary to me (and I don't like the idea of valet parking in the first place), and decided to walk. So, I didn't exactly remember which route I did take, but I went to this fancy mall called Place Ville Marie, which was adjacent to a building that housed the offices of a company we like to call Electronic Arts. When I entered the mall, there seemed to be a lack of stores within the mall, and there were a lot of fat guys in black suits, wearing mysterious earpieces. Walking around that mall felt weird, but I did see a place of interest: a Dunkin' Donutslocation. So, getting hungry, I decided that I would go for some dinner, and would return to buy some donuts before heading back to the Residence Inn. So, for dinner, I went to this place downtown called Boccacinos and had a burger, and a classic bottle of Coca-Cola, which only turned out to be a 355 millilitre bottle. While at Boccacinos, I chatted with two girls from Nova Scotia that could speak French fluently. Although they were nice-looking, they probably didn't like me all that much. At this point, I started to consider taking French classes.
After dinner, I returned to the mall, only to find that Dunkin' Donuts was closed, as well as the rest of the mall, and I didn't feel like driving to another location. So, I continued walking around downtown and eventually got some ice cream at some Ben & Jerry's location before heading back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, I met a guy in an elevator at the hotel who claims to have grown up in Saskatoon. Also at the hotel, I did hang out on the 23rd floor of the hotel briefly while waiting for my laundry to finish. Too see a picture, or more, click here. And yes, there was a patio, which gave pretty mediocre views of Montréal.
After the laundry was done, I watched television and "called it a night."
Day 5 (Wednesday, May 5, 2010)
On Wednesday morning, I woke up to find a paper slipped under the door on the floor of "suite" that I stayed in overnight, and I felt slightly "insulted." But then again, who cares? For about $45.00 for the night, I got a suite that includes a kitchen, living room and two beds, as well as free breakfast.
The breakfast wasn't as cool as I expected. I had eggs, sausage patties, and crepes, as well as fruit punch. The eggs were simply bland, the sausage patties were dry, and since I didn't know how to roll up that crepe stuff, I failed at it, therefore making it something that stunk up the joint. As for the fruit punch, it was sweet and it seemed like it had a lot of sugar in it.
After having breakfast, I checked out of the hotel and drove around town. Something I really wanted to do was drive through the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, and I did just that. It was great! After going through the bridge and realizing that I travelled in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go, I made a u-turn at some point after the bridge and I headed to Dunkin' Donuts and bought myself a few donuts. The taste was terrible, and it made me appreciate the donuts from Tim Hortons.
After getting some terrible-tasting donuts, I decided that it was time to leave Montréal. On the way out of town, I saw a trashed apartment building, and was eventually on my way out of town, after going through some tunnels. Eventually, I left Montréal later than I had hoped, due to traffic, again. And when I arrived in Ottawa again, it was already 12:50 pm or so, and I was hungry.
For lunch, I went to this fancy Chinese restaurant located on Ogilvie Road called Mandarin Ogilvie Restaurant, which was admittedly better than that Yangtze restaurant in Chinatown, but the service wasn't much better. And before I left, I told one of the owners that there was a restaurant in Saskatoon called Mandarin Restaurant too, and they weren't surprised. In fact, the lady told me that "a lot of people from Saskatoon say that."
Well, by the time I left the restaurant, it was already 1:20 pm, and I thought about going to the Canada Science and Technology Museum, but ultimately decided not to. My plan was to fill up the gas tank in the car at 4:00 pm, and eventually head to the airport to return the car. So, deciding that I didn't have enough time to take in a visit at the museum, I decided to go visit some stores that we didn't have in Saskatoon, and possibly do some shopping.
But before going shopping, I did something seemingly-pointless, and I will explain later. I drove across the river to Gatineau, found a spot to pull over, stepped outside, and got back into the car and returned to Ottawa to go shopping.
The first store I visited during my shopping adventure was IKEA. That store looked old, and it was smaller. But before I entered the store, I already liked what I saw, as I liked the automatic sliding doors they were using, since they weren't from Stanley Access Technologies. And when I entered the store, I was particularly interested in a fake computer monitor that the store had, but I also took pictures of stuff I did like. Then, I left the store. As I left, I was tempted to buy some hot dogs, since they were only $0.50 each, but I didn't.
Leaving the store, I walked across the parking lot to a Chapters store, browsed through it, since we don't have a store in Saskatoon, and bought something from the Starbucks Coffee location on-site there. The season for Iced Coffee with Milk has apparently returned for the summer, and I couldn't be happier. Remember a number of months ago when I was told it was seasonal?! Yeah, I was pretty "upset." But earlier this month, I was able to have my favourite drink once again, and I couldn't have been happier.
After leaving Chapters, I decided to go to the nearest Shoppers Drug Mart store to get myself another free drink, and I did just that. After that, I drove through some residential areas, and ultimately visited a store that my mom would want to visit if she were in Calgary, or Ottawa, or any city with this store in general: T & T Supermarket.
At the recently-opened T & T Supermarket in Ottawa, I bought different flavours of Pocky that could not be found at the Real Canadian Superstore in Saskatoon. At those stores in Saskatoon, they carry a limited selection of Pocky (mainly strawberry and chocolate). At the T & T Supermarket in Ottawa, they had flavours besides those two, which included caramel milk and milk coffee. And to top things off, they even had those bigger boxes of Pocky, but the biscuit sticks were in "giant form." However, it is important to note that I went to the store because I know how much Andrew Pang loves the stuff.
After visiting the supermarket, I went to a local Toyota dealer just to be able to say that I did. Which one did I visit? Well, I paid a visit to Tony Graham Lexus Toyota. After that, I went to Best Buy and Future Shop on Merivale Road in Nepean, which are both across the street from each other. At Future Shop, I met an interesting Vietnamese employee who said told me that I "don't look Vietnamese." Although slightly insulting, I still found it hilarious. And before I knew it, it was time to fill up the gas tank in my rented 2010 Toyota Prius.
When it was time to fill up, I decided to stop at the Petro-Canada gas station located at 4000 Riverside Drive. My original plan was to fill up, then pay inside, and buy some Krispy Kreme donuts, as they had those donuts at that location. Instead, I paid at the pump, and left, totally forgetting about the Krispy Kreme donuts. Yeah, I felt pretty stupid when I realized that I did that on the plane ride home.
After filling up the gas tank in my rented 2010 Toyota Prius, it was time to return the "sweet ride." And once I did, I once again felt naked. That car was wonderful. Every time I wanted to use it, all I had to do was keep the keys within my pocket. When I wanted to unlock the door, all I had to do was place my hand in the door handle, and it would automatically unlock. If I wanted to use an accessory within the car, all I had to was press the power button. If I wanted to start the car, it was as simple as applying the brake, and pressing the power button. Man, I loved that car, and it helped me with my habit of being lazy, as it somehow made me lazier. The only thing that I couldn't do was make it drive itself without my steering-the-wheel. The only complaint I have about the trip, was my Uncle Harley's crappy GPS navigation device.
After returning the car, I grabbed the boarding passes I printed in Montréal and headed to the WestJet counter, where I dropped off my checked baggage, and lugged my carry-on baggage around. Then, noticing that there was a Harvey's restaurant in the airport, I ate there, for the first time in years, seeing as to how Saskatoon's only location closed a number of years ago. If you remember correctly, there used to be a location inside that store they call The Home Depot, which is located on Circle Drive. The newer store in Stonebridge doesn't have one either. Instead, it appears that Subway has taken over in Saskatchewan, when it comes to The Home Depot.
Eventually, it was time to go through security at the Ottawa International Airport, and this is where the experience soured. When I arrived, there was a long, but fast line to get into the security screening area. As you waited, you were eventually greeted by a young-looking guy wearing a pretty cool-looking uniform that works for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. Although I understood why he was there, I didn't understand why he had a yellow highlighter. When it was my turn to present my boarding pass, he just said "Hey bud," then he looked at my boarding pass, marked a line on it and then said "Go ahead."
Once it was time for screening, this is where it got interesting. I presumed that I knew the drill, so I took out my laptop and put it in a bin for screening, as well as my other metals that were within my pockets. Now, when I left Saskatoon and went through security and then arrived in Calgary, left, and then returned, security wasn't as bad. However, it is important to note that in Saskatoon and Calgary, I was wearing black pants, and sneakers. This time, I was wearing shorts, and sandals, and this is where it takes a twist.
Anyway, as I placed my valuables in bins, the guy ahead of me had an iPad. As it turns out, he was lucky enough to get one, but he lives in America and was in Ottawa for business reasons. Anyway, with that aside, I walked through the metal detector, and it went off and I was subjected to additional security screening. As I was being searched, the handheld metal detector only seemed to make a noise when the metal detector was near my footwear, or sandals, as they call them. So, apparently, the sandals had metal in them, somehow. After an embarrassing thirty (approximately) seconds, the guy who "searched" me said, with a French-Canadian accent, "Okay, you can get your stuff now." Although that experience was bad, I decided something funny: the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has got to be the coolest federal department, ever!
Now, you must be wondering why, and I'm going to tell you why. Well, first of all, when you read the name, it already seems long: Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. And in French, it seems even longer: Administration canadienne de la sûreté du transport aérien. Although I cannot speak French, it probably sounds really cool in French too. My second reason for thinking it's a cool department is because of the department's logo. But more importantly, when it comes to federal agencies, they always have acronyms. For example, the Canada Revenue Agency is known as the CRA, or in its multilingual form, CRA-ARC. However, that is lame. But when it comes to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, their multilingual acronym is CATSA-ACSTA. Now, I don't know about you, but I have nonsensical standards... and to me, that seems like an acronym of a much-longer acronym, and that, to me, kicks some major ass. However, this is my not usual standard, as I have a habit of naming things or projects with long names that are so long that you would have to somehow "abbreviate the abbreviations." In conclusion about this agency, if I ever have a chance to work for them, I would certainly take that opportunity, as I like the uniform, since the patch sewn onto the uniforms are huge, and they look cool. And in that kind of job, I would carry my identification around at all times. That way, if I run into someone I haven't seen in a while, and they ask me where I work, I could take out my identification with the awesome logo, and say: "I work for CATSA-ACSTA!" Of course, it would be hard to say that at first. In case you are wondering what their logo looks like, here it is:
Doesn't the logo look awesome? It reminds me of superhero shows I watched as a child.
Anyway, continuing on with the trip home. After going through security, I eventually boarded a flight from Ottawa to Calgary, flying over my final destination of Saskatoon. The plane ride seemed much quicker this time, but that was thanks to the television channels actually showing something decent. On the plane, I watched an episode of The Simpsons, Global National, another episode of The Simpsons, then an episode of Two and a Half Men, and then an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, before switching over to an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. And before I knew it, a three-hour-and-forty-five-minute plane ride was over, unlike the time I flew from Calgary to Ottawa, when the only good thing on television were two episodes of The Simpsons and two episodes of Family Guy.
Arriving in Calgary, it was -2°C, and snowing, causing my flight home to be delayed. This was bad, as I was wearing shorts, and sandals, with no jacket. But, despite that cool weather, I stepped outside for two seconds, then came back in, and checked through security once again. Why? Well, I'll explain to you, later. This time, security wasn't so bad, and I didn't face the same problem I faced in Ottawa, with the secondary search. However, this reminds me of a time when an African-Canadian woman claimed she experienced racial profiling at the Ottawa International Airport. Now, although it is at the back of my mind, I'm starting to wonder if it was set up that way for me. Of course, I'm crazy. But if it's true, I would be disgusted. However, I have no proof, and am going to stop worrying about that, since it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to security. However, the woman mentioned in the story was searched by customs agents, and not security.
Anyway, with that "serious" stuff aside, there was a man on the flight from Ottawa to Calgary who was lucky enough to have chosen the seat by the exit row, which gave him more-than-enough room for his legs. Now, on my flight from Calgary to Ottawa, there was a jerk sitting in front of me who reclined his seat, but he just slept during the entire flight, and I just didn't disturb him, because he was probably tired.
Anyway, my flight back to Saskatoon from Calgary was supposed to depart at 9:51 pm. However, since it was cold out, and snowing, my flight to Saskatoon was delayed to 10:31 pm, and I eventually arrived in Saskatoon at 11:40 pm or so, and was greeted by my mommy. Yes, I said "mommy." Do you have a problem with that?
Anyway, by the time I got back to Saskatoon, I was able to say that that I set foot in five different cities over four different Canadian provinces in a 24-hour period. How? Well, I woke up at 6:00 am in Montréal, which was 4:00 am in Saskatoon. Then, I went outside to walk to the valet parkers, and finally left Montréal at 10:55 am or so (8:55 am in Saskatoon) and arrived in Ottawa at about 12:50 pm (10:50 am in Saskatoon). Then, I drove to Gatineau and back to Ottawa. When I arrived in Calgary at around 9:07 pm, I stepped outside and back into the airport. Then, I arrived in Saskatoon before midnight, and stepped outside before midnight. So, between 4:00 am and midnight, I set foot in Montréal, Ottawa, Gatineau, Calgary and Saskatoon. And as for my cellular phone, I can now add more cities to the list of cities where I've used my current cellular phone, which is an LG Shine TU720.
Here is the complete list, so far, from west to east:
Calgary, Alberta
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Regina, Saskatchewan
Gatineau, Quebec
Ottawa, Ontario
Montréal, Quebec
Now that's downright impressive, isn't it?
Conclusion of a Trip
In conclusion, I loved my trip to Ottawa, even if I didn't get to visit every place I wanted to visit. Although I didn't get to visit every place I wanted to visit, I did get to visit all of the places I've wanted to visit since childhood, including the Royal Canadian Mint, Parliament and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. As for the drive around Ottawa, I always enjoyed it, and the traffic signals are generally unpredictable in many places. Although the city isn't exactly small, it does have a hometown feeling similar to the feeling you have while travelling in Saskatoon (by the way, I love 105.3 KISS FM). As for their traffic signals, it is similar to what Saskatoon used to have. Anyway, I loved the city, and I loved the trip, and will be returning to the city in the near future.
Among the places I didn't visit (or take pictures of) include the following:
Canada Science and Technology Museum.
The National War Memorial.
Earnscliffe, the residence of the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom.
The Byward Market area of Ottawa.
The embassies of several countries, including Japan and Kuwait, even though I walked by it when visiting the Royal Canadian Mint.
The offices of the Conservative Party of Canada.
The Canadian Museum of Nature (it was impossible, since the museum is closed for major renovations and will have its grand re-opening on May 22, 2010).
The Canada Aviation and Space Museum.
Although I am disappointed that I didn't get to visit the aforementioned attractions, I am still glad I visited 100% of my "must-see" tourist attractions, according to a list I made up before leaving.
In conclusion, if I ever have to move to the Ottawa area, and it were possible because I have no love life or anything, I would certainly take that opportunity or meet those demands (whichever flips the waffle). But other than that, after this trip, I am now considering two interesting things: taking French classes and a potential transfer to the University of Ottawa (this will most likely never happen, as I have chosen to pursue my education at the University of Saskatchewan).
Anyway, if you read the entire update, you obviously have no life, just like me. But if you really did, I would like to thank you for reading through the entire update and taking an interest in my trip. Other than that, remember not to get ripped by the riptide!
That concludes my blog update about my trip to Ottawa and Montréal, and I'm sure Peter Poorman is looking forward to reading this blog update.
