I always win

downtown Seattle from the ferry dock at Bainbridge Island, March 31 1999 On March 30 1999, I flew from Toronto to Seattle to start an exciting chapter of my life: an internship at the head office of the company I worked for. It was a big deal for me. Not only was I hopeful about where the internship might take my career, but I had always been envious of my high school friends who bravely went on student exchanges. Here I was, jetting off to a city I'd never been to before, and living with people I had never met. My company's legal department determined that I didn't need a work visa. Instead, I'd apply for entry under a provision of NAFTA . I had full references and documentation; still, I was nervous clearing U.S. customs at Pearson . Before my car service arrived to take me to the airport, I took an Ativan . I sailed through effortlessly. My Air Canada flight to Sea-Tac will likely remain one of the most pleasurable I've ever taken. Relaxed from the Ativ...

A lot has happened in the past month. On December 2, 2008, I suddenly became jobless after my employer of 13.5 years eliminated my position. This is a good thing; I was not at all happy in my job, as indicated by several previous posts on this blog. I'm signed up for Employment Insurance , and registered in a provincial government program called Second Career . I have my first appointment with them in a couple of weeks. It's time to give my career a soft reboot . Or reinstall my career's OS . I travelled a lot in December — trips that were arranged before I got the axe. I was in San Francisco from the 6th to the 11th. I just love it there. The trip was inexpensive, because it was on frequent flyer miles and hotel points. I was in Florida over Christmas, visiting my snowbird parents. They're in central Florida, amid plentiful orange groves, cattle ranches, and surprisingly hilly terrain. The distance from the ocean was more than made up for by the enormous ou...

It's an overdue post, but since I'm already up with insomnia, here is an update on my vacation to area code 807 . You know you're in northwestern Ontario when you start seeing Robin's Donuts stores. Here's a shot of my take-out Robin's coffee early in the morning of July 20th, on the Trans-Canada Highway just west of White River. 1800 km from Toronto, and this is far as Mrs. Viggen* can take me. My family's cabin is another few kilometres by boat. Note the gorgeous Red Pine . The sound of the wind flowing through its needles is beyond calming. * my car's nickname The Bald Eagle population is thriving. The view from my bedroom window. I had a great time. Unfortunately, when I came back to Toronto, there was a total shitstorm at work, and I've been trying to recover ever since. Increased dosages of anti-depressants are helping, as is a strong ethic of "I don't give a fuck."

For the Victoria Day long weekend (May 19-21 2007), I went with my family on a camping/RV trip to Letchworth State Park . Yes, this was more than a week ago. And yes, I've only just now downloaded my digital photographs. Letchworth simply blew us away. The gorge cut by the Genesee River is, in places, 600 feet deep. The river makes three amazing sets of waterfalls. UPPER FALLS LOWER FALLS My pictures of the middle falls are on 35mm... still undeveloped. I hiked all the way up to the top of the canyon, right underneath the railway bridge (right side) in the first picture. It was a good weekend. The weather wasn't too bad, and I got to try some delicious wine from the nearby Finger Lakes: Salmon Run Petit Noir and Coho Red .

On Friday, I went on a trip to Indianapolis with Salem , Jason , and YJA . We got back last night. It was a fun trip. Some highlights: I forgot to print off a list of kph/mph conversions (my car's speedometer is in metric only), and I'm glad I didn't get the chance to try that explanation out with a state trooper in MI-OH-IN on Friday (IN-MI on Sunday). YJA purchased a portable DVD player for the journey, so he only tormented us occasionally. He looked so cute there in the back seat with his videos. YJA sounds like a little kid when he asks "are we there yet?" repeatedly Salem is an ace navigator I have no voice left after two nights of partying in Indianapolis. I got a little too drunk on Friday night. Tim's premonition came true , because I wound up in the "scary" bar. My recollection of this is partial at best. We need to come up with a system to remind Jason that he checked his jacket... some sort of clicker or perimeter alarm that prevents...

I'm allowed to start using my arm again, so one of the things I did was to organize some more photos. These are from my trip last year to our family's cabin on Boulder Lake in northwestern Ontario. It's in the area of Ontario bordered by Manitoba and Minnesota. The fishing was bad, but I didn't care. It's fun to just be out on the lake in the fresh air. I threw this smallmouth bass back. We went back out on the lake that evening. If this blog had smell-o- vision, you'd be treated to the aroma of cedar trees. Back to work tomorrow! Sigh... Thanks to N for the photos.

I've been organizing photographs from my 2002 trip to Europe, and thought I'd scan and post this close up I took of the Berlin Wall. It's from the East Side Gallery , a large outdoor gallery of murals painted on remnants of the wall by artists from all over the world. I felt soothed by the colours in this small section, yet haunted by the overall image. The piece is "Coming Through the Wall" by Kani Alavi . Here's hoping that in 2006, the world will tear down more walls than it puts up. (Except for the East Side Gallery . I hope it stands for a long time to come.)

Lastnight, Paul and I went for Cuban food at an amazing little place in the Chueca. Shortly after we arrived, two of the tallest, most impossibly-good-looking people EVER came in... a man and a woman. They were so tall and so perfect looking, Paul and I decided they had to be models. The guy was literally one of the most beautiful people I´ve seen in person. He was wearing a Dolce & Gabbana shirt with Huey, Dewey, and Louey on the front. They took the table in front of ours. As if that wasn´t enough destruction, they were soon joined by more and more beautiful people. They were all smoking and drinking, and I realized in horror that my jacket, which I had hung on the wall, was now buried in supermodel jackets. I briefly considered leaving it there... passport, wallet, and all. We had our food (I ate all my carbs, despite what I was looking at), drank our daquiris, and hung around long enough to verify that they did, in fact, eat something (and not just smoke and drink). Oh,...

It´s official: I love Madrid. I love the architecture, the osos , and the round Spanish asses on the hordes of HOT men EVERYWHERE. But Pablo is very dissapointed in me, because I´ve apparently lost my mojo. I have not had "the sex" since being here. Oh there was a darkroom trist at Cruising , but that was really more fun for the "coke can" than it was for me. (Jason, you know what I´m talking about? Dr. Brad?) The peak was at a bar called Paso where I was simply stared at by several patrons. Unfortunately, there was so much cigarette smoke that after 45 minutes without a hazmat suit, I had to leave. Upon exiting, a tall hombre grinned at me and said loudly, "Toro! Toro! Toro!" FINISHED! I managed a "buenos noches" and a blush but left. Madrid out... Mloyd

OK! Nightmare trip so far. A snowstorm descended upon Pearson as I was waiting for my flight. Over 2h late taking off. And, at some point KLM decided to become Martinair and cram about a million seats into a 747-400. I thought I was going to die. Knees jammed into the seat in front of me. Zero room. 4-year-old kicking the seat behind me for the entire flight. (Oh, except for when she fell asleep on our approach to Amsterdam, and failed to wake up despite the plane being struck by lightning 3 times .) By the way, I never have to take one of those parabolic flights that they use to train astronauts. I (and the rest of the jam-packed flight) experienced a couple of zero-G moments trying to land at Schipol. The pilot had his work cut out for him. It was one time in my life that I wasn't stressed out by applause at touchdown. This guy earned it. Of course, I missed my connecting flight to Madrid. 2.5 hours of waiting at the transfer desk and I'm on the 4:15 p.m. flight...