Sing to the tune of "Jingle Bells":

Dash out to the store
is what they want us to do.
So they'll shove Christmas
down the throats of me and you.

Tried to fight it off,
Tried with all my might,
but now The Lite is playing Christmas music day and night!

Oh, please buy things
Please buy things
with leaves still on some trees.

The holidays
fill me with praise,
but can we delay, please?

Please buy things
Please buy things
Sooner every year.

Please drop dough,
yeah, even though
Thanksgiving still ain't here.

Well, I'm back, after what was probably the smoothest flight I've ever been on. Even takeoff was nice and easy. I was surprised...

I have Internet, limited of course, at home, since Gina's AOL account is still open. I say limited because AOL sucks, and Gina's computer is frustratingly slow compared to mine. But for now, this works. :)

Toronto was pretty cool. I'd like to go back sometime, but with somebody or somebodies... :) We'll see.

So tomorrow, it's back to the "grind"...and then a long weekend of catching up on the stuff that needs to be fixed and finished around here. And next week is a short week. woohoo!

Boy, traveling alone kinda sucks, I gotta say. I mean, it's cool to travel and break up the monotony of being in the office and whatnot.

But, it's like, I go out to eat dinner, and it's just me. And I sit and eat my dinner and watch everyone else eat with friends, family, etc. I do get to sit and observe and think and whatnot, and it's nice and peaceful, but I'm a social person by nature. But not the kind that will go up to strangers and have a meaningless conversation just because I'm from Chicago and need to talk or something.

So it's interesting, because I see how I really am. I want to be social, but I'm not comfortable enough to do that and there's hardly any time to get to the comfortability level I desire. So I just sit, eat and kind of just miss home. Or think, boy, this would be nice to go to with my friends or family or Gina or whoever. Just not by myself.

The interviews today went well, and the plant tour was pretty cool. However, I was lucky to get lunch (leftover pizza from a meeting--don't know why they didn't schedule lunch), and I didn't get ANY freebies to bring home. That sucks. But I'm not the kind of guy who is going to be like, "Yeah, so I'm doing a story on you and traveled all this way...you think you could hook me up with some crackers or cookies to take home and spread the love?" I'm only "outraged" because I figured it was standard...in fact, why *wouldn't* they give me freebies, to promote with? Ah well...no big deal.

I fly home and arrive at O'Hare around 11am. Right now I feel like I'm going to fall asleep though. That's too bad, because I kinda wanted to go out...but then half of me is like, why spend the money to stand around by myself, ya know? :) Ah well...we'll see what happens. I need the relaxation time anyway too. So either way is cool. :)

Well, the Renaissance SkyDome already beats the crap out of the Renaissance Cleveland hotel...neat to have a field view room, unfortunately, there is nothing going on this week while I'm here. Oh well. If anything, it's nice and quiet out my window. Of course, I have no indication of the weather.

Plus, I'm using the hotel's business "centre" (up here in Canada, things are spelled funny) with complimentary Internet access. That's sweet.

The room also is much nicer and more contemporary than the one in Cleveland (but I suspect that's because the Cleveland one is a historic building conversion). Finally, there seems to be much more to do well within walking distance. Though today I'm too tired to do anything, it seems. Maybe tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Other than that, I gave up quickly trying to drive the so-called speed limit, because it's in kilometers, and I have no idea when it comes to that. Everything's metric up here. Also, I changed over some of my money to Canadian dollars...they actually have more change than bills, which kinda sucks. Plus, I feel like I'm leaving much less tip when I drop a $2 coin on the table...just feels funny.

So I don't know what I'm going to do the rest of the evening. TV isn't easy, because I don't know what half the channels even are. But I'll survive, I guess. It's fun trying to figure it out, so long as I remember that I'm new to this stuff and I'm not as moronic as I feel sometimes.

If I feel up to it, maybe I'll wander and see if I can find a bar or something and get a beer or two. But we'll see, because I have an early morning tomorrow and a long, 1-hour or so drive to the company headquarters.

Further "new to international travel" humor...I went to Hooters for dinner, because it's right here and I was starving and not feeling like looking for anything else. Walked in and saw that it was $2.50 Tuesdays...all domestic bottles for $2.50. So I thought, "Hmmm...Miller or Budweis...wait, dammit, those are "imports" here..." So I had a Molson Canadian...which is just fine. That was about the only thing that was fine...the service really sucked, and the sandwich I had was tiny. But maybe the portion sizes are smaller up here, I don't know.

Ah well...that's about all for now.

To everyone who helped us Saturday, we can't thank you enough. To those who couldn't make it, well, that's OK. We had enough help, so I don't have to hate you for it. :)

Of course, you missed out on the $100 worth of pizza.

And if you didn't go to Nick's show on Saturday night afterward, you missed out on more cowbell.

So nyah...

Now, you'll probably notice me go a bit invisible for a while. We don't have Internet at the condo yet (hell, the computers aren't even hooked up yet), and tomorrow I'm headed to Toronto until Thursday. Doubt I'll be able to find Internet out there (if I even have the time). Unless I pay for it again at a Kinko's. We'll see.

Right now I'm at my parents' house, checking email and updating this and really picking up some of the clothes I left behind that I'll need for the trip. Then it's back to the condo to do more sorting and cleaning. Fun fun. Someday we'll need to finish painting too.

So I'll do my best to respond to emails and update this here blog thing, but no promises. We're told we should have DSL access at the end of the month. That would be nice. How can I do my online shopping without it? :)

By the way, taking the Metra to and from work is severely underrated. I felt so much less stressed out today not having sat in freakin' traffic.

Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that I'm headed to Miami Beach at the end of February...we shall see.