Get Lucky

Yes, Daft Punk’s latest release is still high a top all of my playlists. Yes, I still think it’s one of the greatest records I’ve ever heard. Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve spewed out some letters and hoped they formed words. What’s new? Well, let’s see…

Since last time we spoke and or I typed and you read, I have found a steady job, went cottaging, attended a few ball games, saw a best friend off to another country, and various other itty bitty things.

After a few weeks of misery trying to decipher my role in an industry that is not quite my forte, and pavement pounding and resume slinging, I happened to make small talk with a chef about living in Vancouver. Three days later I had a job. Right place, right time. One fellow was just quitting and they needed someone to take over. Awesome. So now I’m thrilled to be slinging grilled cheeses and sliders at Gallagher’s Bar and Lounge. My coworkers are fantastic and there’s live music every night. Things quickly changed from disparaging to phenomenal. Indeed, I got lucky.

Cottaging with the family happened the following weekend, which was great. What was supposed to be a boys weekend away was wonderfully hijacked by my female cousins, which was great. It was nice to have all the grandkids be able to spend time together as it doesn’t happen often. Or ever, really. One evening there was a thunderstorm that rolled in and I was able to snap this beauty:

Weather is neat.

We didn’t catch many fish though, but the time together spending was nice.

Baseball has been trying to say the least. I’ve been to four of my flex pack games and have a record of 3-1, so that’s good at least. Also made it out as part of a group of twelve to the Canada Day game which was a blast. It was the first time in five years or so that the TBJB team from 29 Princess has reunited. And that was wonderful fun. Looking forward to trying to make that an annual baseball tradition (Boston next year, anyone??). Also made it over to Buffalo to catch a triple-A game during Jose Reyes’ rehab. That was much fun as well – and outlandishly inexpensive. I don’t know why we don’t do it more often! After this post is written I’m going to pop in the shower and jump on the GO Bus and head on down to the Dome. Here’s hoping the boys in blue can make up some ground on the Rays.

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!

My best friend and former roommate (Roommate, The as you know him) had us out for some going away drinks a few weeks ago as he has begun his grand adventure in the land down under. I’d offer more details, but I encourage you to get his side of the story instead. And his blog is much nicer than mine. I’m a wee bit jealous. Check it out (and his amazingly witty title) at…

http://bornagainchristien.com/

For those of you may want to check it out later, you can get to it by clicking on “Roommate, The” on the side of my page —>

Also, I know some of you are in the GTA. And some of you have pianos. So get them tuned and repaired here:

http://www.adamguerrapiano.com/

Again, it will be available o’er there —>

Hm. I think that’s about it for now. Hopefully I’ll be less busy at work and can write more – but not really, I love my job.

Five

As our time in Vancouver draws ever nearer to a close, I find myself looking back at the last two years and fondly remembering the good times and of course, trying to forget the not so good times. While there are specific occasions to be filed away under both categories, I think the best way for me to really encompass everything would be to make a list. Everyone loves a good list. Over the next five days I plan on relating the five best and worst aspects of Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest. Some days there will be a theme, others there will not. They will be presented in no particular order, just as I think of them and am able to try to pair them together in some cohesive fashion. I hope this will entice you to visit this beautiful area and not deter you in anyway.

Overall, I am very pleased with what has transpired over the last two years. Things were shaky at first, but I guess that’s to be expected when one picks up and moves to a place one has never been. And only has two contacts. However, after the bumps and bruises of the first few months, things really ended up for the better, as I made some great new friends and got to take in a massive amount of the breathtaking scenery. Moving from Vancouver’s ocean and mountain ranges to Hamilton’s lake and escarpment is most definitely not going to be the same, but one will have to make due. Besides, we’ll be back in May for a few days for graduation anyway. To conclude my brief introduction, I will say that while Vancouver isn’t where we need to be at this stage in our lives, it is absolutely a place I could return to and live happily. I just need a bigger pay cheque first. Which leads me into the first of five ‘Hits & Misses’ for my westward adventure.

Miss – Dolla, Dolla Bills Y’All

Money is the be all and end all of this city. I guess that could be said of anywhere, but it really is true here. Rent doesn’t come cheap, beer is double that of Ontario, parking is outrageous, and the minimum wage is only crawling towards respectable. Living in the confines of the city is out of the question unless you’re a professional. As a student and someone in a menial job in the quick-service industry, we may have lived a tad outside our means for our time here. Most of the people I work with take over an hour commute on transit to get to work just because they can only find work for minimum wage and can only afford rent well outside the city. While there are no water bills here (menial savings at best), car insurance is run through the government and is costing me fifty percent more than it will in Ontario. Health care here is also only moderately supplemented by the provincial government and requires a monthly payment unless one proves to be low-income. Much of the economy here is also driven by the service industry with many of Canada’s most high-end restaurants here. Even beyond that, there are hundreds of little family eateries scattered about. It seems that even with much of the produce coming from local farms, most people still decide to dine out. While this is a habit we could control, we got quite caught up in that trend. There’s no pocket drainer quite like dinner. Beer is another prominent culture here – whether it be the many small batch microbreweries or the fact that many people go to the pub for a pint or two at the end of the day (I’ve learned that law students work hard and play hard, and that trend continues even after employment).

Some things we could control (and didn’t) and others were out of our hands, but my advice for those moving to or visiting the west coast: be prepared to spend.

Hit – Vancouver Canadians

Well, if you’re going to spend some money, you might as well have a good time. For me, bang for the buck this year came at Nat Bailey Stadium in Victoria Park. A ten dollar ticket, a few five dollar beers and the occasional foot-long hot dog and any weeknight could be turned into a great date night. A recent switch to become the Blue Jays’ short season single-A affiliate really bolstered the support and the team took it from there. The two seasons since that announcement, the team has won back-to-back league championships, won a business award for minor league team of the year and has set consecutive attendance records. There’s a sushi race every night (damn you Chef Wasabi, always cheating!!), dancing grounds crew (aka Men in Drag, GFT’s favourite part) and no big name beer companies in sight. The dugout is connected to the stands so the players can chat with the fans and the stadium seating is mainly wood benches, just like the old days. There’s a two-foot long hot dog if one feels the need to challenge their own stomach and there are prizes to be won every game of the year.

A beautiful venue, a well-supported team, and cheap beer (for a sporting event) all qualify the Vancouver Canadians as my favourite past time for a warm summer evening in Vancouver.

Check back in tomorrow for more!

Dear Fairweather Fans…

…namely the gentlemen I overheard discussing the Blue Jays yesterday (and the thousands more like them that are out there),

Baseball is not hockey. Baseball is actually not like many sports. It is a war of attrition. It is often not very fast paced or aggressive and features arguably the most difficult aspect of sport – successfully connecting a round bat to a round ball travelling in excess of ninety miles an hour, hopefully not directly at another player waiting to get you out. It isn’t easy. And while you sit there, staring at the television, talking offseason trades that should make them the best team ever like you understand what’s going on, followed by saying you can’t believe how much they suck this year and laughing with all your chums – well, just try to remember there’s another one-hundred fifty-seven games to go. If you can count that high. This isn’t a sixteen game football season. Or even an eight-two game hockey season (oddly enough, something I feel is way too long, even as a baseball fan). It’s one-hundred sixty-two games, day in and day out, April until October. Heck, sometimes you don’t know which teams make the playoffs until the last day of the season. Sometimes there has to be an extra game to decide even that. And while championships aren’t won the first week of the season, those wins sure do help and yes, this season hasn’t started as everyone had anticipated, but one must not forget only a few years ago the Blue Jays started 27-10 and most of us remember how that turned out. It would have been nice to win the opener, I agree. It would have been even better to crush the Red Sox in John Farrell’s return. But as fans, we need to still cheer regardless of the outcome. It astonishes me when people boo their own team (see: Maple Leafs, The). As someone who has watched every game for the last several seasons, watched the team come close to doing well and fail, watched a team get torn apart and the best player in team history traded away, watched a roster hit the field entirely made up from players belonging to the island of misfit toys, watched a team lose nearly every player from the opening day roster to injury, watched the local farm team develop some very skilled young players (and win back to back championships along the way), watched the big club sell off most of those players and one of the most epic trades ever witnessed, watched the hype machine turn its wheels and build up an excitement not seen since I was a kid – well, all I can say is “so what if we start 1-4. That’s baseball.” I’m in this for the long haul. Whether we win this year or not. Next year, or the year after that – doesn’t matter to me, I’m going to don the blue and white and cheer and heckle and chant and sing ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame’ until my voice is hoarse. Night in and night out. April until October. Because that’s what real fans do.

#LoveThisTeam

h.

Long Time Commin’

It’s been a long offseason, full of ups and downs and trades and signings and releases and waiver claims and demotions and promotions, but it all boils down to one simple undeniable truth: baseball is back in Canada.

I’ve been waiting with eager anticipation since ‘the trade’ broke in mid-November. There was a meet and greet and the WBC, but they only helped to allay the pain of having time meander and drag slowly forward until April 2. But it’s here. Today’s the day.

It’s time for me to get some sleep and when I wake up, it’ll be Christmas Baseball season.

The End is Nigh

I’ve been slacking lately on my Mirthful Monday’s, so I figured I might as well do one on time this week. There’s not too much to say though, really… Today I’m continuing to pack. I’m going slow so that way it won’t be as tough to do last minute, but also can allow us to use most of our stuff until that point. I also don’t want to make the house a disaster in anticipation of our Blue Jay home opener party (one more week!!!). GFT had her grad banquet on the weekend and it was pretty epic. Everyone looked really nice and it was a tonne of fun. Venue was a bit over the top in my opinion, and the drink prices were a tad bit outlandish, however, everyone seemed to have fun and that’s what really matters. To think, only a few more weeks until these people become the next generation of the law in our country… be very afraid… Of course, also only a few more weeks for me at work as well, so that’s exciting. What else….Uhaul is booked…we are negotiating an apartment too, so we won’t be homeless…. we’re trying to cross stuff of the bucket list, but time is fleeting and money is tight…pretty much just mayhem over here.

So what makes me happy this Monday? Everything. I’m proud of my girlfriend and her friends for making it through school…I’m pleased that we get to see our family (and our kitty!) soon…I’m very happy we have a trailer and an apartment all lined up…and I’m very excited to go on an adventure!

Until my next sparse conglomeration of words, I hope you’re happy today, too.

3…2…1… Happy New Month!

There was a brief time during my first year of university that a group of my floor mates and I would count down and celebrate each new month like it was the New Year. I don’t really know why, we just did. I guess it was just another excuse to have a few drinks on a weeknight. That only lasted three or four months before we forgot about it… Regardless, happy new month! Happy Friday! Happy Ness all round! Not only that, but today officially marks the start of my six week countdown until I’m done work – after which it will only be a few short days of packing and good byes before we hit the I-90 on our way home. We’ve decided on going through the U.S. so to see some of the sights. And really, when will I ever have the chance to be in Montana again?

With not much happening recently I’ve found it more difficult to keep up with the posts. Maybe it’s writers block. Maybe it was the vacation. Whatever the case may be, I’ll try to think of some interesting things to talk about. Or maybe just some mundane things – whichever comes first.

One thing is for certain: you still have thirty-one more days of harassment endure and to continue to vote for me in the Biggest, Baddest Bucket List contest! So far I’ve eclipsed my first goal of fifty votes, which is awesome in my opinion (though puts me no where close to the top five in votes). Next stop will be one hundred! I’m glad I’ve received some awesome support from some awesome friends (Shout Out to Aubrey and her harassment of her friends and family! Much appreciated!). I’m not glad however, that my celebrity endorsements aren’t happening. Over the next few days I plan on trying some new tactics. Hopefully twitter-king (and inspirationally awesome pitcher) Marcus Stroman will give me a retweet today… we shall see.

For those yet to vote, here again is the link:

http://www.mydestination.com/users/hashbrown/bbb#tab

And for the occasional thought in one hundred forty characters or less, give me a peak on the ol’ tweet machine @iamhashbrown …I’m still getting the hang of it, so there isn’t too much in the way of interesting things yet.

Well that’s about all I got right now; I just got home from graveyard and need to hit the hay. Until next time!

h.

“That’s Cool: I’m a Lego”

“I can guarantee that no where else in the country, right now, there are six hundred people together eating lunch and talking baseball.” So opened a speech by co-owner Jake Kerr of the Vancouver Canadians at yesterday’s charity luncheon. What a great event this was and I’m really excited I was able to attend. Tripling the size of last years group, the Canadians at the last minute had to change venues because the demand for tickets was much more than they expected. You read correct, there were six hundred baseball fans, volunteers, charity representatives and Canadians’ staff inside the ballroom at the downtown Vancouver Fairmont, all gathered to talk baseball, eat lunch and ultimately, raise a boat load of cash for the Vancouver Canadians Children’s Charity Baseball League. I walked into the lobby shortly before eleven-thirty in the morning and was ushered up two flights of stairs to where the event was being held. After signing in and being assigned a table, I wandered about to see what was going on. The first room was the bar and had I not been nursing an uncomfortably epic hangover, I probably would have made a stop there first, but continued into the next room where the silent auction was being held. There was a lot of common silent auction prizes (bottles of wine, spa packages, et al.), but there was also a lot of cool sports stuff representative of the area (Canucks, Seahawks, Jays, Heat, Giants, etc.). All of the minimum bids were between fifty and one hundred (and rightfully so) and I felt as if I’d rather see someone else win prizes by paying more for charity than hope that I would win on a minimum bid. So I didn’t bid on anything (much to the pleasure of GFT, knowing I didn’t blow hundreds or thousands of dollars on a trip to Dunedin or autographed Jays stuff). As I was walking toward the dining room, I saw there was a radio table set-up and they were interviewing Brett Lawrie. He was drinking a Red Bull. Awesome. No wonder he’s always amped up, his Blood-Redbull Content must be way over the legal limit. He was just finishing up so I hung around with a few other guys to meet him before he would be mobbed by people later. After a bone-crushingly epic handshake, we had a brief chat before I asked him to sign some stuff. At this point he was baffled and interested to see he has a lego character. I feel kind of like a nerd because I didn’t want to open it when I got it for Christmas, and now I’m glad, because now it’s still in it’s original package and has been signed by the man himself. Cool stuff. After that I received another bone shattering handshake and the went off to my table. At the table I made some small talk with the folks around me: a couple of die hard Jays fans, some charity representatives and the usher from section ten at the stadium, who had some really neat stories about his son who was a pitcher in the Mariners’ minor league system (highlighted by Mike Trout going 3-18 against him and being on the losing end of a 1-0 and a 2-1 complete game duels with Nats’ ace Stephen Strasburg).

Lunch started with speeches from the ownership group of the Canadians as well as the keynote sponsor Scotiabank (who awesomely donated an extra five grand once they found out the event had sold way more tickets than they expected). Lunch also started with a lovely tomato boccaccini salad. Before long there was a video explaining what the charity does (helps youth gain access to the sport of baseball in a free introductory league played at Nat Bailey) and some more speakers and donations. Throughout the day, I tried to scribble down some nuggets of the proceedings and can report that the Kerr Family will be donating almost $100,000 to the St. Paul’s Children’s Hospital over the next five years. UBC also received a $20,000 donation to fund a baseball scholarship and BC Challenger Baseball received the same to help fund their league for children with special needs. The Minister of Sport was also in attendance to give Brett Lawrie the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for contribution to Canadian sport.  At this point our mains arrived and it was a lovely roast chicken breast with what I think was a red-wine demi, and some excellent mashed potatoes and steamed veg. Dessert was also very good and featured a light chocolate mousse in a dark chocolate ‘boat’ with caramelized bananas. Tasty stuff via the Fairmont. With lunch ending, it was time for Rob Fai to have a fireside chat, “sans the fire” as he so aptly described, with the players and management. First up, was CEO Paul Beeston and GM Alex Anthopoulos. The conversation was pretty straight forward but there were a few gems that came out of it. When asked about the mega-trade with the Marlins, AA joked that Paul Beeston only said yes because he didn’t actually think the deal was going to happen. When it did, Mr. Beeston was shocked less by the quality of talent that the team received, but more that the deal was able to materialize and be executed so quickly. AA also mentioned that he liked dealing with Marlins management because they are so straightforward, noting that they had had previous discussions three years ago when he was trying to acquire Dan Uggla (who would have been a nice piece at second base, oh well). Fai also joked with AA because at last years event he ended up trading Vernon Wells. Pressed for details, AA admitted that Vernon had okay’d a deal to either Texas or the Angels, where he eventually ended up. He also mentioned that Mike Napoli was on a cruise and never actually took a physical, which is a part of the trading process. Interesting stuff. What else was there, hm… because of the Cy Young award, Dickey will be the likely opening day starter… AA doesn’t care about the PR aspect and really felt that John Gibbons was the guy to manage this team (citing his in game decision making  and bullpen management)…. “…to lose 89 games is embarrassing. I feel I owe it to the players to field a competitive team…”

Next up was Brett and Brandon Morrow, who had to don jerseys (that were eventually auctioned for sixteen hundred bucks). Another pretty straightforward interview with a lot of expected answers, the few bits I liked were as follows: when asked what clicked for Morrow in college he responded, “I was able to throw seven miles per hour harder” which got a good laugh… his biggest influence in the bigs was JJ Putz (at the time, closer for the Mariners)… Lawrie said he always wanted to emulate Jeter and A-Rod (note: puke!) and said that he wants to not be good at something, but better than everyone else… he said the trade got him even more amped up to be a Blue Jay, if that’s even possible (another hearty chuckle from the audience). The last question of the day was for Morrow: what’s your goal for the season? (quickly and dryly) 34-0 with a 0 ERA (another boisterous laugh from the members in attendance). After the interviews I was able to sneak off the side to meet Brandon Morrow and chat with him for a bit. Luckily for my hand, his handshake was less intense than Lawries. After he snuck out to catch a flight I made my way over to meet with Paul Beeston and AA. Paul Beeston is probably the nicest person I’ve ever met. He was willing to talk with everyone and take pictures and was just an overall great and happy guy. AA was a bit more reserved, but was incredibly polite and appreciative of everything people had to say to him. He also was willing to snap some pictures and he and Beeston seemed to have a great rapport. All in all, it was a solid afternoon, not just for my eventual sports den, but for the important part: the Van-Can children’s charity, who had to have easily raised over $75,000.

Cuddly as a Cactus & Charming as an Eel

Is about how I feel right now. Apparently something is going around, and I just got it. I doubt it will debilitate me for more than a day, as I feel much, much better than yesterday, but I still feel pretty lousy. Luckily enough for me, GFT and I made whole chicken the other night, so I have some fresh chicken bones boiling away with some ginger, chilies, lemons, garlic, and the holy trinity of stock (carrots, onions and celery), and am excited for some good ol’ fashioned home made chicken soup. If that won’t fix me, I don’t know what will. I’m also leaning less away from a flu bug or cold and more toward exhaustion. In order for me to get the week off that GFT’s grandma will be visiting, I decided to work three weeks straight (and use all of my weekends simultaneously). In theory, this was a great idea. In practice, not so much. My situation is exacerbated by the fact my wonderful boss has given me several overnight shifts followed by day shifts, so my body has no freaking clue what time or day it is. Yesterday, after coming home from one of those overnights, I couldn’t get through much more than three hours worth of sleep before spending the remainder of the day between the bathroom and the fetal position. I managed to sleep the whole night, but had to leave work early today. I came home and crashed. I feel much better now though, after some much needed sleep. 

Excuse me, I have to go stir my soup.

Ok, I’m back. To pile on top of my rude schedule, we had our work Christmas party on Friday evening, and I had to work all night afterward. The event itself was pretty good, food was decent (though a turkey buffet would be the last thing I’d recommend prior to working all night), a good turn out of people, some pretty awesome prizes handed out, and an out of touch DJ who had way too much treble pumping our of his system. I also wore my Christmas suit, which made me smile (a white suit with bright red shirt and a Grinch-green tie….awesome). Other than that, not really an eventful week. We sent out our Christmas cards, and GFT is basically done all of her shopping – whereas I have yet to start. Though I won’t have a day off until the eighteenth, so I hope that’s a valid excuse. I’m also horrible at buying presents. I do my best to listen and observe my girlfriends wants and needs, but when it comes to stepping up and buying an awesome present, it all seems to disappear. Here’s hoping that I can pull a rabbit out of a hat!

One more stir, be right back.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m using my soup as an excuse to segue nonchalantly between unrelated topics. Which brings me to my next point, what makes me happy this week. Though, this is something that less makes me happy and is more something that I am thankful for – at least this week. That thing, is Social Media. I’m even scoffing at myself for writing this, as anyone who knows me, knows my grand disdain for Facebook and the twitter and the whatnots, however, with Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings wrapping up a few days ago, it really dawned on me as to the importance of social media. Mass communication has vastly changed the atmosphere in which we communicate and conduct business. Especially in the sports world. As a fan of transactions and deals, I’m always one to watch the Trade Deadline on TSN for the NHL, and am an avid follower of the website MLBtraderumors during the Winter Meetings. Over the past year or two, I’ve noticed how vital it is to be the one to break the news, or at least get the glory for being the first to broadcast it. And in the middle of it all, are guys on BlackBerry’s and iPhones, and links to twitter feeds from journalists and speculators. I found myself last week, waiting for the Blue Jays to do something (or at least hoping, especially after the mega deal of November), with an entire internet window open to all the places I was waiting for news: Drunk Jays Fans (by far and away the best Jays-related blog on the net), Bluebird Banter (good for information, not as much for humour), MLBtraderumous, and twitter. That’s right, twitter. I almost even signed up just so I could have all the peoples I wanted sent straight to my…tweetbox?…I don’t know….but decided I could just type the people I was looking for: Keith Law, Shi Davidi, Jays players, etc. What’s interesting, as I’m not the only one. Twitter was a all a-twitter with people commenting and replying to these journalists who were able to get the scoop at one o’clock pm, and have it sent out, en masse (in one hundred and forty characters or less) by one o’clock and thirty seconds. I’m not really sure about the history of twitter or why it was really created (it really seems like an ego polish to me, an internet feed to tell the world what I’m doing that very moment – but then again, here I am publishing a blog about what I did this very week, so maybe I’m a hypocrite? or maybe I just don’t understand the kids these days, who knows), but what it has developed into, is the new way to be a journalist. And it goes beyond sports – GFT just wrote a paper on the use of twitter by journalists in a courtroom setting. So really, what was brought about by the fifth anniversary of my deleting of my Facebook account, has branched into the realization that, we are all connected now, whether it be through cell phones & texting, or the internet and all of the various social media outlets. The world has never been smaller, and it will only continue to shrink. And while, Facebook is on the horizon, what with our moving back to Ontario, I’m not sure if I could ever get on the twitter – I don’t think I could ever really express myself in one-hundred and forty characters or less. 

4

I apologize for the lateness of this post, finding WIFI on the road has been a trial. Add that to writing in between shifts at the wheel, and you have a late post. However, here it is. Also, no pictures still, but once I get the camera hooked up to a comp they’ll be plenty posted. Stay tuned!

Day 2:

Day 2 begins in Sudbury and ends in Thunder Bay. Leaving at approximately 9 AM, we popped by the big Nickel to snap a few photos. After this, Girlfriend, The took the first leg and got the crew all the way to Sault Ste. Marie. What a hole. Though Roommate, The has done his best to defend it, Bandmate, The and I have really nothing but bad things to say. A sour taste has been left in our mouth. However, we did get to see the giant ex-wrecking ball, now painted like a Rawlings baseball. As I always tell Girlfriend, The, baseball is everywhere. The remainder of the journey was somewhat uneventful; mainly just roads and conversations. There was a spreadsheet created to track various facts about the trip including wins for our guessing game (populations of cities), pee-breaks taken and complaints about the frustrating rear passenger seatbelts. Results will be posted upon arrival in Vancouver.

Our next stop was for dinner in Terrace Bay. We popped into a quaint little diner by the name of “Drifters” where it just happened to be all you can eat pasta night. After a good feed of pasta, we spoke to our waitress about the best course of action for the night. A lovely woman she was, and she did her motherly duty by advising us about the dangers of driving in Northern Ontario at night. She spoke of wild animals and possible vehicle devestation. As Bandmate, The put it, it would ruin his trip if we died. I think that thought applied to everyone. So as the sun set on Terrace Bay, we decided that it might be not quite feasible to make it all the way to Dryden, let alone Kenora, so a revised goal had to be made. Let’s push it until 1 AM we decided.

The trip started with Bandmate, The at the wheel and driving with safety on the brain. I hadn’t expected the roads to be so dark, but when there is minimal light pollution, the bleakness of the night really shines. Or doesn’t shine, I guess. Luckily, after about 45 minutes, we were able to tuck in behind a big mack truck, barreling down the Trans-Canada. Now, not only were we going much quicker than before, we had a veritable meat-shield protecting us from the ravages of Northern Ontario’s most deadly of creatures – the Moose. As the clock rolled over, we only made it as far as Thunder Bay. A big day ahead when we woke up, but for now, time to find lodging.

After an attempt to persuade the manager of the Thunder Bay Inn to get a room for less than the outlandish price he offered, we decided against staying at that yuppie farm and went down the street to the highly un-recommended (by the very same yuppie) Landmark Hotel – described as full of smokers and drinkers. Boy, was he right. I’d like to think I’ve seen my fair share of white trash before but wow, there was a whole new league of sketchy folks hanging around outside this place. At 1 in the morning no less. Not only that, but the entire building reeked of cigarette smoke and burnt hair (Bandmate, The’s words, not mine). Aptly proving our theory was the fact the blanket under my comforter had a cigarette burn through it. But a bed is a bed and sleep is sleep, whether it’s for 5 hours or 8. It was only 5, by the by.

And thus was day 2, not as successful as we hoped, but we got a fair enough amount accomplished. Unfortunately, I was too tired to post this last night. My bad.

Distance travelled – 1071 km

Time Travelled – 15 hours

H.