Sunday, 7 October 2012
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Friday, 5 October 2012
Friday!
Ah, Friday. So, for the two weeks I have been here, basically Monday to Thursday is quiet and Friday is CRAZY! I feel like I could not show up all week and I would still accomplish the same things on Friday - putting out fires.
I completely understand the saying "don't be caught holding the grenade" except this is the unfortunate part of our job, we are the last piece of the puzzle that needs to be completed before everything explodes.
Anyways, long day, finished at 6:45 after spending the last 2 hrs of my day on the phone. Now, time to enjoy the weekend! At least until 1:00pm tomorrow when I need to inspect a plane...
Let's see, plans for the weekend:
Saturday - read the paper (have to catch up from Monday), work, laundry and pack up
Sunday - move stuff to Francois' apartment and then thanksgiving dinner with his wife's extended family (he said I should wear my Jets jersey, I suspect it's a trap ;) )
Monday - nothing! Probably a whole lot of sleep, video games and gym
I officially move into the apartment on Wednesday but need to move as much as I can now because it sounds like I need to drive to Peterborough on Tuesday. Complicated...
Well, while you are enjoying the Manitoba weather, I'm enjoying the Montreal weather, here's a picture from this morning. It was quite nice today, sunny and high of 21. Although I didn't really see the sun when I left (see picture 2 of Air Inuit's hangar across the road).
Time to eat some KD and chorizo sausage.
I completely understand the saying "don't be caught holding the grenade" except this is the unfortunate part of our job, we are the last piece of the puzzle that needs to be completed before everything explodes.
Anyways, long day, finished at 6:45 after spending the last 2 hrs of my day on the phone. Now, time to enjoy the weekend! At least until 1:00pm tomorrow when I need to inspect a plane...
Let's see, plans for the weekend:
Saturday - read the paper (have to catch up from Monday), work, laundry and pack up
Sunday - move stuff to Francois' apartment and then thanksgiving dinner with his wife's extended family (he said I should wear my Jets jersey, I suspect it's a trap ;) )
Monday - nothing! Probably a whole lot of sleep, video games and gym
I officially move into the apartment on Wednesday but need to move as much as I can now because it sounds like I need to drive to Peterborough on Tuesday. Complicated...
Well, while you are enjoying the Manitoba weather, I'm enjoying the Montreal weather, here's a picture from this morning. It was quite nice today, sunny and high of 21. Although I didn't really see the sun when I left (see picture 2 of Air Inuit's hangar across the road).
Time to eat some KD and chorizo sausage.
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Days 9 through 11
So, apparently I'm not posting frequent enough (ahem, Blair...). Well, I have actually been busy these last few days.
Monday through today we had meetings with Bombardier, Transport Canada and a guy from Europe (from EASA, the European equivalent of Transport Canada). This guy likes to socialize, so on Monday two co-workers and myself took him out to an Irish pub on the West Island ( ). Because I'm a nice Manitoba boy, I volunteered to pick up and drop off Dominic (Chateau Vaudreuil). Luckily, the evening wasn't too late. After two pints of Guinness and some fish and chips, I made it back to my hotel by 10:30.
Tuesday was a little different story. This was a more "formal" event with Bombardier and Transport Canada. We went to a quaint little restaurant called "Chasse Peche" (http://leclubchasseetpeche.com/)(Map). This could be compared to 529 Wellington. The evening started with me (again) volunteering to drive (this way I had an excuse to not have to stay out until 4am... you think I'm joking, keep reading). Reservations were at 7:30, I got us there right on time. Dinner consisted of two seared scallops (delish) followed by blackened duck with Couscous. This was only the third time I had duck and I think this should be the last - I don't think anything will ever compare.
Just to give some perspective here, you know the restaurant is high-end when:
Monday through today we had meetings with Bombardier, Transport Canada and a guy from Europe (from EASA, the European equivalent of Transport Canada). This guy likes to socialize, so on Monday two co-workers and myself took him out to an Irish pub on the West Island ( ). Because I'm a nice Manitoba boy, I volunteered to pick up and drop off Dominic (Chateau Vaudreuil). Luckily, the evening wasn't too late. After two pints of Guinness and some fish and chips, I made it back to my hotel by 10:30.
Tuesday was a little different story. This was a more "formal" event with Bombardier and Transport Canada. We went to a quaint little restaurant called "Chasse Peche" (http://leclubchasseetpeche.com/)(Map). This could be compared to 529 Wellington. The evening started with me (again) volunteering to drive (this way I had an excuse to not have to stay out until 4am... you think I'm joking, keep reading). Reservations were at 7:30, I got us there right on time. Dinner consisted of two seared scallops (delish) followed by blackened duck with Couscous. This was only the third time I had duck and I think this should be the last - I don't think anything will ever compare.
Just to give some perspective here, you know the restaurant is high-end when:
- The menu consists of 6 entrees to choose from
- There is no choice of "how would you like that cooked" - nor does there need to be
- When we arrived at 7:30, the place was nearly empty, at about 9 the place was full.
Dessert was pistachio ice cream and pralines (I think; I don't really remember, all I remember was it was titled "Soul"). After multiple bottles of wine and many (many) laughs, we called it a night at 12:00am. I don't know when the restaurant actually closes, but I suspect it was around 11:00pm or so... As we were standing outside waiting for Dominic to finish his "fag" (aka cigarette), the restaurant sign/light was turned off, so I'm sure the workers were happy to see us (finally) leave. Average age at this event was probably 40 yrs old.
With Dominic in tow, I dropped him and one of my co-workers off on Rue Crescent which is apparently where there are many pubs/bars. I then drove one of the guys from Transport Canada back to his hotel (at the Aloft Hotel) and made it back to my hotel (Residence Inn) at the lovely hour of 1:00am.
When I saw my co-worker today, he said that they apparently made it back to their hotel by 4:00am and got a whole 2 hrs of sleep. I must be getting old because I certainly don't think I could have done that.
Today, I went for dinner with 9 other colleagues from Bombardier. We went to a Lebanese restaurant called "Restaurant Chase". Very good food and VERY GOOD hummus. Tonight was a little more "low key" as we had a reservation at 6:30pm and left by 8:30pm. Since the average age at this event was less than 30 yrs old, this makes sense (not!). Since this restaurant was close to my future home, I decided to go to the store to get some groceries so that I can see what the options are going to be (pretty good selection) and actually get some groceries as the store near my hotel closes at 9:00pm.
That is all for now, time to make some sandwiches and get ready for bed. Good night back in the 204!
With Dominic in tow, I dropped him and one of my co-workers off on Rue Crescent which is apparently where there are many pubs/bars. I then drove one of the guys from Transport Canada back to his hotel (at the Aloft Hotel) and made it back to my hotel (Residence Inn) at the lovely hour of 1:00am.
When I saw my co-worker today, he said that they apparently made it back to their hotel by 4:00am and got a whole 2 hrs of sleep. I must be getting old because I certainly don't think I could have done that.
Today, I went for dinner with 9 other colleagues from Bombardier. We went to a Lebanese restaurant called "Restaurant Chase". Very good food and VERY GOOD hummus. Tonight was a little more "low key" as we had a reservation at 6:30pm and left by 8:30pm. Since the average age at this event was less than 30 yrs old, this makes sense (not!). Since this restaurant was close to my future home, I decided to go to the store to get some groceries so that I can see what the options are going to be (pretty good selection) and actually get some groceries as the store near my hotel closes at 9:00pm.
That is all for now, time to make some sandwiches and get ready for bed. Good night back in the 204!
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Day #8
So I don't really know much about blogging, nor have I ever really read a blog. But, since I'm going to be away for 8 months, I thought this might be kind of neat to try. We will see how this goes, how often I update this. I don't really have much else to do while I'm away except:
- Go to Work
- Go to the Gym
- Play PS3
- Check Facebook and Twitter
- FaceTime Gwen
- Sleep
Today was a somewhat typical day for me: woke up, went for breakfast, talked to Gwen, went to the gym, ate some lunch and now writing this.
I must admit, I am getting tired of the hotel breakfasts... I'm not a "runny" scrambled eggs person so other options today were biscuits and gravy (no thanks, trying to watch my figure because Gwen said I have to come back looking like Van Wilder), oatmeal, fruit, waffles, toast/bagels and muffins. So, I elected to go with the oatmeal, thought it has been a long time since I had "porridge". However, this wasn't like my Mom's oatmeal, this was watered down something awful. I tried loading it with brown sugar but it really didn't help. Oh well, I know for tomorrow I guess.
The gym here is quite nice (Energie Cardio) and is very close (if it wasn't raining it would have been a 5 min walk from the hotel. I wish that Good Life was like this gym as there was NO ONE there. When I showed up, there was one guy showering and 4 people in the gym. As time went on, more people showed up to a crowd total of (maybe) 20 people. I hope it is this "busy" during the week because this will be the gym I will go to probably every day so that I can wait out the rush hour traffic at 5:00.
Ah, traffic - I thought Winnipeg was bad. Well, after my stint in Montreal I'm sure that I will laugh at the 10 mins variability in the drive time, unlike the 30 min variability that I am expecting here...
Well, it should be about time to try and re-update my iPhone to iOS 6. Let's hope this time it doesn't crash my phone again... (at least this time the phone is backed up more recently than December 2011).
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