Days 125 and 126, a Sunday and Monday, were low key. To be honest, I'm sure I did some exciting things - actually I know I did, I kept at my planning for the next massive journey. Speaking of which, in the late evening of day 126 I found the phone number for the production offices of the company who makes Deal or No Deal in Australia; I hope to be able to see the show. Their version works a bit differently; everyone in the audience is eligible to play, thus you have to pass a tryout just to get into the audience. Everyone is then eligible to be a case holder. It is my hope they'll just let me sit off camera, or fill a seat of someone who doesn't meet requirements (and the way that I see it, that means I save them money, right?).
Still waiting to hear about Millionaire: Hot Seat. I think in the next couple of days (as of when I'm writing this) I'll actually call the Nine Network directly. I'm told by my friend in Melbourne that tickets are not hard to get, it's just a matter of getting a hold of them, I guess!
Day 127 brought another shopping expedition. It was meant to be doubled with a Tuesday cheapie movie, however that was kiboshed for reasons you'll find out about in a minute. Costco to return non-fitting roller bag. Bulk barn for peanut butter. Superstore for a few groceries.
And then Wal-Mart. Now as some of you may know, most Wal-Marts in Canada have a quick printing machine so you can get 4x6 prints instantly. Usually you're in, out and driving off in five minutes.
Not so this time. All three machines are taken up. Contestant number one has decided to take the quick-print option (for 10 cents less per pic, you can pick em up a couple of hour later). I look over her shoulder to see how many she has to do... one hundred and eighty-five. And this is at a rate of pairs of pics spitting out maybe every 20-30 seconds. Maybe.
At wicket number two is someone who apparently has NO CLUE how to work a computer as she's decided that this is the perfect place to crop every single picture she's decided to print. Now this wouldn't be so bad if she only had two or three; however while I couldn't determine how many she was going to edit, but I look and see how many are available - over TWO THOUSAND.
I am (somewhat) saved by screen number three as she has decided that she can print her 120+ pictures later, thus saving her $12 and me my sanity. I get the pictures done, and then head home where I hang up my new frame.
So that we can watch the World Jr Hockey Championship game. Now that was a good piece of hockey. Don't get me wrong, as I would have liked Canada to have won but to be honest the US outplayed us for about 54 of 60 minutes of regulation. Well done to both teams; I hope to see a game in Buffalo when they host next year.
Day 2^7 (I'll leave it to you to figure out) and I headed up to Barrie. I had to help a friend rearrange some dive gear, discovered this little nifty thing at Timmie's
and all in all a nice day out, then I hopped home due to a ride with a friend and a quick dip in the pool in Aurora to help out my friends with something they were working on. PLUS! A ride on the waterslide, which was quite refreshing and fast. Hey Newmarket, why again didn't you get the same pool setup as Aurora? Hmm? Yeah.
Day 129 and IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! I'm officially 2^5. And faced with a day where I had no commitments, I enjoyed myself thouroughly. I had found out while up in North Bay that there was going to be a CBC News: Marketplace meet and greet at the CBC downtown in Toronto, so I headed out. It was really fun... and disturbing to hear how many homes in Canada were grow-ops and then sold to unsuspecting owners left to deal with the structural damage.
Once the "town hall" portion of the event was done, the personalities were happy to take pictures.
When this guy says "CROSS YOUR ARMS!", you do it.
It's Canada's most trusted contractor, Mike Holmes! Yes he is intimidating in person but he's actually really down to earth and really enjoys what he does.
And then it was time to meet the hosts... Wendy Mesley and Erica Johnson.
Actual discussion I had with Wendy Mesley -Me: I miss undercurrents!
Wendy: Me too!
I had some time to kill at this point so I wandered over to Queen West and grabbed some pizza pizza for lunch, as well as some ice cream. 2.45 pm found me back at the CBC to get in line for The Hour; Jian Gomeshi passed by the line and I suspect that I was one of only a few to recognize him! The guests were good; a man who had both legs blown off in Afghanistan and now runs marathons and the lead in the CBC show The Border.
I got back to Newmarket after all of that happened and was ambushed and taken to Boston Pizza for dinner. Actually it just ended up being wings and beer, but it was fun nevertheless. Someone paid for dinner, and really on your birthday, isn't that what you want?
As a result of a wild and public transport filled birthday, I took it easy on day 130. Going out for a walk to Shopper's was the biggest thing I did and at approx -20C with the windchill, it was pretty much all the energy I had.
Day 131 meant more planning for the trip. Right now the New Zealand section is done; it's looking like time in Dunedin/Queensland, Rotorua, Wellington, the Coromandel Peninsula and Auckland will tieup the better part of about 4-5 weeks. Now I've got to get the Australia section pinned down.
I also spent time cleaning my apartment and discovered, among other things, that I have a table that fits six people at it; which was good, as I was having three of my friends over for our long delayed Angry Gorillas bbq. I would have invited more but there was no room!
We had a great time... and at one point we got onto the topic of stacking which lead to me breaking out the cups and Victoria taking a set home to practice - along with the DVD!
That's all for now!Cheers,
Vick.
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