Busy Month
March 03 2010, 11:55 AM
A little recap
for those of you still following me on here. The last
month has been pretty busy in terms of travel and
leisure. I was home for all of about a week and a half
before flying out for a few days visiting friends in
Seattle followed by a week in Las Vegas.
My time in Seattle was mostly spent wandering around the downtown core and doing the photographer thing and meeting up with Cortney, Jeff, Rhiannon and Kirby. Took a few photos, enjoyed a few good meals and had a good time. It was my first time exploring the free form vacation where I didn’t have a set itinerary... thanks to Hotwire I got a suite at the Renaissance on Madison for $70 USD per night.
Las Vegas was, as always, awesome. Rather than staying at one of the casinos as I have in previous years I exchanged a time share week that my family had banked and exchanged it for a villa at the Marriott Grand Chateau on Harmon. It was a huge place for just me but it was nice to have all sorts of space to enjoy. I saw a few shows including Donny and Marie at the Flamingo, Human Nature at the Imperial Palace and LOVE at the Mirage. I have to admit that although I’ve seen LOVE before I’ve never seen it from backstage it was a lot of fun to see the show from a completely different perspective. Being a technician it was very interesting to me to see how the show came together.
I also managed to catch a concert that I had been meaning to see for quite some time. Steel Panther, a very satirical 80s metal band was playing in Henderson. We got in thanks to a contact at LOVE who knew someone working the show so we hung out with my friend Rich, a lead automation technician at LOVE, one of the lighting technicians from LOVE and a couple of the crew from Phantom of the Opera.
I came home again for a week which was essentially just long enough to do some laundry and repack for a cruise on the Westerdam to visit my girlfriend Jo. By the end of the week things felt great - it was really nice to spend time with her again and I’m headed back to do the same in twenty-five days.
I’m currently on a train from Montreal to Kingston where I was supposed to house sit for my parents while my mom flew down to Santiago to have a little vacation while my dad consulted for the Chilean railway. Obviously, due to the earthquake this wont be happening. My dad is trying to get home and supposedly has a flight out on Sunday. My mom will not be flying down for a vacation - I guess it’ll just have to wait for Barcelona in May.
My arrival to Kingston will also be delayed due to a derailment near Cornwall which is forcing us to reroute via Ottawa which will add just over two hours to the three hour trip. It’s a bit of a bummer but at least the train has power, wifi and it’s comfortable (I have four seats to myself). I hope that’s enough of an update for now - stay well.
My time in Seattle was mostly spent wandering around the downtown core and doing the photographer thing and meeting up with Cortney, Jeff, Rhiannon and Kirby. Took a few photos, enjoyed a few good meals and had a good time. It was my first time exploring the free form vacation where I didn’t have a set itinerary... thanks to Hotwire I got a suite at the Renaissance on Madison for $70 USD per night.
Las Vegas was, as always, awesome. Rather than staying at one of the casinos as I have in previous years I exchanged a time share week that my family had banked and exchanged it for a villa at the Marriott Grand Chateau on Harmon. It was a huge place for just me but it was nice to have all sorts of space to enjoy. I saw a few shows including Donny and Marie at the Flamingo, Human Nature at the Imperial Palace and LOVE at the Mirage. I have to admit that although I’ve seen LOVE before I’ve never seen it from backstage it was a lot of fun to see the show from a completely different perspective. Being a technician it was very interesting to me to see how the show came together.
I also managed to catch a concert that I had been meaning to see for quite some time. Steel Panther, a very satirical 80s metal band was playing in Henderson. We got in thanks to a contact at LOVE who knew someone working the show so we hung out with my friend Rich, a lead automation technician at LOVE, one of the lighting technicians from LOVE and a couple of the crew from Phantom of the Opera.
I came home again for a week which was essentially just long enough to do some laundry and repack for a cruise on the Westerdam to visit my girlfriend Jo. By the end of the week things felt great - it was really nice to spend time with her again and I’m headed back to do the same in twenty-five days.
I’m currently on a train from Montreal to Kingston where I was supposed to house sit for my parents while my mom flew down to Santiago to have a little vacation while my dad consulted for the Chilean railway. Obviously, due to the earthquake this wont be happening. My dad is trying to get home and supposedly has a flight out on Sunday. My mom will not be flying down for a vacation - I guess it’ll just have to wait for Barcelona in May.
My arrival to Kingston will also be delayed due to a derailment near Cornwall which is forcing us to reroute via Ottawa which will add just over two hours to the three hour trip. It’s a bit of a bummer but at least the train has power, wifi and it’s comfortable (I have four seats to myself). I hope that’s enough of an update for now - stay well.
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Home Again
January 29 2010, 07:50 PM Filed in: Randomness
It’s true, I’m
home once again and it feels good despite how cold it
is in the city. I left the Westerdam almost a week ago
and flew home on WestJet. I was slightly apprehensive
because I’d not flown with them before but I found that
there was no reason to worry. In fact their staff were
some of the most friendly I’ve ever flown with. Having
said that however it was the worst flying experience
I’ve had in a while... how is this possible? Well, to
preface this I have to say that I was flying with a
sinus cold. My ears were in severe pain during take off
and landing. For a whole twenty-four hours afterwards I
couldn’t hear properly and I was worried that there
might have been some permanent damage. Again, as it
turns out, my fears were unfounded.
At any rate I’m home for the next six days before flying out again to visit friends in Seattle and Las Vegas. I imagine that will be good times and who knows, I might have access and time to post a couple photos or blogs. Maybe... ha ha.
At any rate I’m home for the next six days before flying out again to visit friends in Seattle and Las Vegas. I imagine that will be good times and who knows, I might have access and time to post a couple photos or blogs. Maybe... ha ha.
Ringing In The New Year
January 03 2010, 07:51 PM Filed in: Randomness
It's 2010 -
it's been 2010 for the last few days but in my industry
the holiday season is probably one of the busiest
seasons of the year. December has been almost
ridiculously busy this year. The first two weeks were a
changeover of the cast so we were in rehearsals all day
every day and the second half of the month has been the
usual holiday junk involving christmas and new years
celebrations.
The new cast has been settling in nicely - there are small dramas as with any cast but in general they're doing pretty well. The new show has been almost completely installed - we're only missing the video system and one scenic element which we have no room to hang due to other set pieces in the air.
I've now got three weeks left until I'm home again - another contract done with and a nice break with friends and family. I've got a few things planned for this vacation; a week in Las Vegas at a time share, a week taking a cruise as a guest, a weekend visiting my friends in Ottawa, a week or two visiting my parents and who knows what else.
The new cast has been settling in nicely - there are small dramas as with any cast but in general they're doing pretty well. The new show has been almost completely installed - we're only missing the video system and one scenic element which we have no room to hang due to other set pieces in the air.
I've now got three weeks left until I'm home again - another contract done with and a nice break with friends and family. I've got a few things planned for this vacation; a week in Las Vegas at a time share, a week taking a cruise as a guest, a weekend visiting my friends in Ottawa, a week or two visiting my parents and who knows what else.
