Loyal readers, this is the first installment of "What Do You Think?" - the first blog poll featured here on APG. I value everyone's comments about my thoughts, and I think it's about time that I take the opportunity to ask what your thoughts are on certain issues that come to my mind. So, here we go:
If you had the choice to spend one week in one of these two countries, which would you choose and why?
a) Puerto Rico
b) Guatamala
Please write your answers in the Comments section. Thanks in advance to everyone who responds. I look forward to reading your opinions.
"Tropical the island breeze, all of nature wild and free, this is where I long to be, la isla bonita"
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy SAD
In the past few years, I had been celebrating this day as the annual NoMan event. But the term had always been too biased. On the other hand, NoPerson didn't have the same ring to it either. So I never changed it even though I knew it was not as all-inclusive as it could potentially be. Then I remembered a friend of mine once referred to the day as Singles Awareness Day, which sounded much better and promoted singleness regardless of the demographic you belonged to. Of course, the acronym for this occasion turned out to be SAD, which is quite frankly the most ironic thing I've ever heard.
As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing sad about being single. I know there's no way for me to say this without sounding like I'm trying really hard to convince myself and the rest of the world, but I'm perfectly content to be on my own at this point. There's a whole list of things that I want to experience, and being single simply makes it easier to attempt them. And it's not as though I'm against the idea of being involved with another person. If I happen to find someone with whom I can share my life, then great! I'd be the first person to say "Woo hoo!" (My mother would be the second person) Until then, I've got things to do, places to go, and people to see. So kindly step aside.
Happy SAD to all my fellow singletons.
"I'll stop the world and melt with you, you've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time"
As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing sad about being single. I know there's no way for me to say this without sounding like I'm trying really hard to convince myself and the rest of the world, but I'm perfectly content to be on my own at this point. There's a whole list of things that I want to experience, and being single simply makes it easier to attempt them. And it's not as though I'm against the idea of being involved with another person. If I happen to find someone with whom I can share my life, then great! I'd be the first person to say "Woo hoo!" (My mother would be the second person) Until then, I've got things to do, places to go, and people to see. So kindly step aside.
Happy SAD to all my fellow singletons.
"I'll stop the world and melt with you, you've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time"
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Spectacular Debt
Wow...I'm about to have a Simpsons moment...please bear with me...
Grampa Simpson: "Lay-tex Con-dome. Boy, I'd sure like to live in one of those!"
Okay, while I won't be living in one of those, I will be living in a brand spanking new condo unit in Mississauga.
I'm sure some of you will now be scrolling back through my blog archives, looking for some mention of this in a previous post. But you won't find any. I only started looking for potential units last Tuesday. I made my decision on Thursday, and I was going to make the deal yesterday, but as it turned out, yesterday was the groundbreaking ceremony. My parents and I had no idea, so when we showed up and saw over a hundred people in the presentation centre, we were thinking that this place must be selling like hot cakes (I personally don't know how well hot cakes sell, but suffice it to say, they probably sell very quickly). We wandered in, helped ourselves to the free food and drink, listened to the mayor say a few words (geez, I really hope I'm as lively as she is when I turn 85), and tried to get the attention of a sales rep, but we were informed that it was not a good day to talk business. So we went back today and signed the deal. I swear, it was so quick and painless, I thought I was doing something wrong. Even my dad (who, by the way, is the best real estate agent in the whole world) was slightly surprised and mostly relieved that it all went so smoothly. We even got everything we wanted, including my beloved breakfast bar.
So the first deposit installment is down, the papers are signed, and now all I have to do is pay a visit to a laywer and prepare to shell out money for the next few months until I'm spectacularly in debt for the first time in my life. The closing for this place is October 2007, so I'm going to be excited for quite some time.
What's really great is that I already know what I want for my birthday and Christmas for the next two years.
Stage 2 of Plan B complete. Proceed to Stage 3.
"Homeward bound, I wish I was homeward bound"
Grampa Simpson: "Lay-tex Con-dome. Boy, I'd sure like to live in one of those!"
Okay, while I won't be living in one of those, I will be living in a brand spanking new condo unit in Mississauga.
I'm sure some of you will now be scrolling back through my blog archives, looking for some mention of this in a previous post. But you won't find any. I only started looking for potential units last Tuesday. I made my decision on Thursday, and I was going to make the deal yesterday, but as it turned out, yesterday was the groundbreaking ceremony. My parents and I had no idea, so when we showed up and saw over a hundred people in the presentation centre, we were thinking that this place must be selling like hot cakes (I personally don't know how well hot cakes sell, but suffice it to say, they probably sell very quickly). We wandered in, helped ourselves to the free food and drink, listened to the mayor say a few words (geez, I really hope I'm as lively as she is when I turn 85), and tried to get the attention of a sales rep, but we were informed that it was not a good day to talk business. So we went back today and signed the deal. I swear, it was so quick and painless, I thought I was doing something wrong. Even my dad (who, by the way, is the best real estate agent in the whole world) was slightly surprised and mostly relieved that it all went so smoothly. We even got everything we wanted, including my beloved breakfast bar.
So the first deposit installment is down, the papers are signed, and now all I have to do is pay a visit to a laywer and prepare to shell out money for the next few months until I'm spectacularly in debt for the first time in my life. The closing for this place is October 2007, so I'm going to be excited for quite some time.
What's really great is that I already know what I want for my birthday and Christmas for the next two years.
Stage 2 of Plan B complete. Proceed to Stage 3.
"Homeward bound, I wish I was homeward bound"
Thursday, February 02, 2006
The Hills Are Alive...And So Am I
Forget all this balmy, rainy, spring-like weather. I want snow. And lots of it. So since it wouldn't come to me, I went to it. As they say in one of my favourite movies: "Vermont is America's Snow Playground." And they weren't kidding about that.
I spent three awesome days skiing at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont. A guy I knew from university has been organizing this trip annually for about five years. It has ballooned to about 250 people, which made it ridiculously cheap. The cost included bus, accommodation in a condo, three full-day lift tickets, the party on Saturday night, taxes, and a tip for the bus driver. We left town Thursday at about midnight and got to the resort at 9am on Friday morning. I wasn't sure if I'd have the energy to ski for a whole day after not getting much sleep on the bus, but I managed somehow. This was my first time on an actual mountain, and holy crap, I loved it. I was able to stay on the green (read: easy) runs for the whole day and yet not get bored, because there were so many to choose from. My favourite was the glades. Skiing through the trees was awesome, although there was one run with a terrifying drop and then a sharp right turn which, if not executed properly, would allow you to become well acquainted with the forest.
The second day I was slightly braver and took the lift that brought me almost to the top of the peak and into the blue runs. The wind had been kind of bad the day before but they were fierce at the top. It didn't do anything for my confidence as I stared down the easiest blue that was dotted with icy patches. A few of my fellow novice skiiers and I slowly made our way down. We came out relatively unscathed. In the afternoon, we attempted a different blue on the other side of the mountain, where it turned out the wind was even stronger and the run was not just icy, but covered with icy moguls. This time I didn't quite make it down gracefully, but I was okay.
On the third day, we put on our best game faces and took the gondola all the way up to the top. Thankfully, there was absolutely no wind, and we took a fairly easy (but narrow and extremely close to the edge of a cliff) way back to the first blue run again. We were all really surprised at how much easier the blue seemed to be this time. After that, we just took it easy and swooshed down the green glades and easy hills until it was time to go home.
I was pretty proud of myself for getting through the weekend in one piece. Unfortunately, one of my friends was injured to the point that she needed to be taken to the hospital to get stitches for her forehead. This news came to us as we were packing up the bus to go home. We quickly grabbed her stuff and our bus took a detour to the hospital where we waited for her to be patched up. She was a little worn out but everything was fine. After a dinner stop somewhere in Quebec, we ended up arriving back in town at around 2:30am (more than two hours behind the other buses). The interesting (and rather amusing) turn of events came when we got to the border. I suppose the other buses had gone through the same checkpoint and told them there was another bus coming that had a girl with a head wound on it. We barely stopped at the gate when we were waved right through. At that moment, I wished I had bought more stuff at the duty free store.
So, I've covered most of the skiing bits but didn't really get to the social parts of the weekend. It's really hard to compress it all into a readable paragraph that doesn't ramble on and on, but the synopsis is: it was fun. My condo had seven other people in it, and combined with a neighbouring condo we were a party of fifteen. Our group shared the grocery bill and ate pretty well all weekend (steak dinner the first night, Chinese New Year dinner the second night). I got to meet a lot of new people, hang out with a fun crowd, and play with fire. The party on Saturday night had a '90s theme, and it was pretty crazy. Let's just say that I have to get back at the Butabi Brothers sometime in the near future. Damn, I have to get a hold of those photos...
"Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more"
I spent three awesome days skiing at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont. A guy I knew from university has been organizing this trip annually for about five years. It has ballooned to about 250 people, which made it ridiculously cheap. The cost included bus, accommodation in a condo, three full-day lift tickets, the party on Saturday night, taxes, and a tip for the bus driver. We left town Thursday at about midnight and got to the resort at 9am on Friday morning. I wasn't sure if I'd have the energy to ski for a whole day after not getting much sleep on the bus, but I managed somehow. This was my first time on an actual mountain, and holy crap, I loved it. I was able to stay on the green (read: easy) runs for the whole day and yet not get bored, because there were so many to choose from. My favourite was the glades. Skiing through the trees was awesome, although there was one run with a terrifying drop and then a sharp right turn which, if not executed properly, would allow you to become well acquainted with the forest.
The second day I was slightly braver and took the lift that brought me almost to the top of the peak and into the blue runs. The wind had been kind of bad the day before but they were fierce at the top. It didn't do anything for my confidence as I stared down the easiest blue that was dotted with icy patches. A few of my fellow novice skiiers and I slowly made our way down. We came out relatively unscathed. In the afternoon, we attempted a different blue on the other side of the mountain, where it turned out the wind was even stronger and the run was not just icy, but covered with icy moguls. This time I didn't quite make it down gracefully, but I was okay.
On the third day, we put on our best game faces and took the gondola all the way up to the top. Thankfully, there was absolutely no wind, and we took a fairly easy (but narrow and extremely close to the edge of a cliff) way back to the first blue run again. We were all really surprised at how much easier the blue seemed to be this time. After that, we just took it easy and swooshed down the green glades and easy hills until it was time to go home.
I was pretty proud of myself for getting through the weekend in one piece. Unfortunately, one of my friends was injured to the point that she needed to be taken to the hospital to get stitches for her forehead. This news came to us as we were packing up the bus to go home. We quickly grabbed her stuff and our bus took a detour to the hospital where we waited for her to be patched up. She was a little worn out but everything was fine. After a dinner stop somewhere in Quebec, we ended up arriving back in town at around 2:30am (more than two hours behind the other buses). The interesting (and rather amusing) turn of events came when we got to the border. I suppose the other buses had gone through the same checkpoint and told them there was another bus coming that had a girl with a head wound on it. We barely stopped at the gate when we were waved right through. At that moment, I wished I had bought more stuff at the duty free store.
So, I've covered most of the skiing bits but didn't really get to the social parts of the weekend. It's really hard to compress it all into a readable paragraph that doesn't ramble on and on, but the synopsis is: it was fun. My condo had seven other people in it, and combined with a neighbouring condo we were a party of fifteen. Our group shared the grocery bill and ate pretty well all weekend (steak dinner the first night, Chinese New Year dinner the second night). I got to meet a lot of new people, hang out with a fun crowd, and play with fire. The party on Saturday night had a '90s theme, and it was pretty crazy. Let's just say that I have to get back at the Butabi Brothers sometime in the near future. Damn, I have to get a hold of those photos...
"Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more"