Sigh. I am back in DC with my vacation at an end. I can't believe that it is over already. Every day that I was in Vancouver, I had more fun than every month that I have been in DC. I know I was on vacation and so Vancouver has that tinge and all that, but really, I think there is more to it. No, I know there is more to it than just the fact that I am on vacation.
Every time I return from Vancouver to DC, I have this sinking feeling. I hate this place. Not because it is particularly bad; no, it is more because I am away from Vancouver. I need to be home. Not sitting in DC thinking of home, looking over pictures, entertaining myself with the Firefox plugin PicLens, looking for pictures of Vancouver on flickr and google. Or maybe it is the music, that reminds me of Scotland... mind you the music was written by a Serbo-Croatian composer and sung by folks like The Chieftans.
So why do I miss Vancouver so much? Most things that matter to me are in Vancouver. My friends are. I ran into so many of them while I was there. I know the city. Not once did I get lost driving in Vancouver. And its not like I didn't go places. I was out every day. Hell, even the office the company I work for in Vancouver feels better than the new office we just moved into in DC. They have proper coffee machines, working appliances and proper recycling facilities.
Food is good in Vancouver. I started with breakfast from home that my grandma made. Then I had dim sum with some good old pals. Then I met up with another pal. Dropped off cigars. Went downtown. Found free parking (how about that?). Drank a cup of good Blenz coffee while sitting on the patio looking at a gorgeous Vancouver summer day. On Robson street no less. After that, decided to go to Samurai. Met up with another friend. Walked through the quietest part of downtown... so quiet that you wouldn't believe that you were in downtown. Stood in a very short line for sushi. Samurai sushi is awesome by the way. If you are ever in Vancouver, go to the Samurai on Davie and try it out. Then I headed out to English Bay. Sat on the patio at Milestones. Overlooking the ocean and the throngs of people. I waited maybe 15 minutes to get a table on the patio. On a Saturday evening around 8pm when the sun was still going strong.
Had more food and drink while I was there. Two more friends came. We finished up on the patio. Walked onto the sea wall. Walked all the way to the swimming pool in Stanley Park. It was perfect. There was even the pungent smell of certain narcotics. Not that I think that aspect of Vancouver is perfect. Walked back. Up Davie street. Past the lovely house that is now the Macaroni Grill restaurant. I have good memories of that place. I didn't have time to go eat there. Found the car, headed home.
The next day, I met up with two friends, skipped the final of the European football match and hiked up the Grouse Grind. I got my ass kicked by that mountain. Everytime I do it, I am humbled by how beautiful it is and how magnificient a hike that is. Made it to the top, a little shy of 2 hours. Kind of sad.
Not sure what I did on Monday. Oh yeah, my phone sort of died (pay as you go with no more air time left). I think I met up with some friends. Or maybe people came over. I can't remember anymore. Tuesday, Canada Day. I went to have lunch with Vincy and Nakisa. The restaurant we intended to go to was closed. But we found the old WebCT Dim Sum hang out place close by and had good food there. Then we had bubble tea. Pretty cool. Then I went to the garden store on 70th and Granville and took pictures. I even made it out to Queen E park and took pictures of their flowers. Those were aweosme. I think I met up with more friends that evening, though I can't see any pics from it. Oh wait, I know what I did. I met up with George and Elaine and Voja, went to all you can eat Sushi and thenwent to see the fireworks for Canada Day. Except it wasn't getting dark even after 10pm and we had enough waiting for it. Since the rest of them had to work the next day, we decided to head home.
Wednesday, I went up to Whistler with the family and the two mutts. Road construction is going well. I would put driving up to Whistler on par with the beauty of the resort itself. We had to make a quick pit stop in Sqamish for coffee and the facilities at Starbucks. There was still plenty of snow up there. Whistler is pretty dog friendly, we had no issues walking into stores with 2 dogs. Mind you, our dogs weren't as well behaved when we had to go eat. On the way back, we got stuck just after Porteau Cove. Apparently a propane leak caused the shut down of the entire sea to sky for over 4 hours. We made a U turn (thank god we had no concrete barrier as the lane divider, so we could just turn and head back to Sqamish), and made it to the White Spot in Sqamish. Sat out on the patio with the dogs sitting just outside the patio. That seemed to work well. It was starting to be a bit chilly, but still, it was perfect. Sitting on that patio, you are surrounded by pretty decent sized mountains. After dinner (of awesome wild pacific salmon), we went back to line up. After probably an hour or so, the highway opened once again. We got home pretty late (like around 1am I think).
Thursday, I think I headed out to the office after lunch. I met Dave and Nakisa and Mira and a couple of the new folks and a newly returned Jungwha (she bailed from DC back to Vancouver). I even saw Anze who was in the office all the way from Australia. I went to Garden Works after that and got a good set of plants. Headed off to downtown to meet up with Tom, Voja and Nick at the Irish Heather and to eat Bangers and Mash. And of course I did. The fiddlers at the Heather were just plain awesome. I can't explain how cool it is to sit in what I found out was Vancouver's first prison, eat bangers and mash, listen to the fiddlers play and enjoy the company of some really good friends. As a tradition, we at old company used to go there pretty much every Thursday night for a pint or 10 of Guinness and listen to the music. It used to be the Uilleann pipes played by Constable Tim Fanning, but I guess he stopped that. The fiddlers still put on an awesome gig and the old man can sing when he wants to. I have to say, the Irish Heather is one of the best gems of Vancouver. A lot of people in Vancouver don't know about it, but if you ever wanted a good old dingy, grungy Irish pub, with uneven floors and the old Gaoler's mews surrounding it, this is it.
After all the music and food at the Heather, I drove my buddy Tom home. His new place looks pretty darn nice. I headed home once again. In all the time I was in Vancouver, I watched the BBC and the Newsworld pretty much exclusively. It is, let me say this with as much emphasis as possible, amazingly awesome to get the World Service 24 hours a day on TV. It isn't BBC America. It is the actual World Service. Thank god for the BBC.
Friday, I headed out to hang out with Liz in gastown. She wanted to meet the dogs, so we ended up sitting at the Water Street cafe opposite the steam clock (and Atimi) surrounded by tourists and we tried some awesome food. The dogs got a bucket of water from the restaurant, which was very nice of them. Steve came by later to meet up with me as well. We headed out to the Greek Festival to meet more people (Igor, Oz, Ivan, Voja). I had to drop Steve off to meet up with Igorand go drop the dogs off before heading back. I managed to go see Jae's dad even before I made it back to the Greek Festival.
Igor was back home from the Googleplex and sported a pony tail (gosh!). We had awesome lamb while we waited for the rest of the slackers to show up. Ivan and Oz came later, Voja before them. We all swapped stories... including how google does Igor's laundry! My employer sure as hell doesn't do that for me, though I am not sure I would want them to. Maybe if they paid for dry cleaning or something... We even ended up seeing our old prof, George Tsiknis. He is Greek of course, so it made sense that we saw him there. He lost a tonne of weight too.
After lamb, greek coffee, loukoumades, music and drinking, we headed out; Ivan had to go home, same with Igor and Oz. Voja, Steve and I went to Tim Hortons for coffee, sat around and talked about life. I think I have spent many hours at Tim Hortons contemplating life. In all kinds of weather, from snow to sun. Hell, one new years, after all that drinking, we ended up at Tim Hortons at like 4am.
I had to go drop Steve off and then I headed back home. Saturday, the day to leave. I had to go get one last round of meetings completed, with food and all. We went to Corner 23, on Cambie and 23rd. I met Mervy Ho, Amy, CY and Liz for some great Taiwanese food, including intestines and blood sausage or something of pigs (I think). It was not at all gross, in fact, I liked it. There was bubble tea there even. Mervy now works for VCH and apparently, they are hiring. I should look into that. After food and fun times, I dropped CY off at the bus stop, headed to the liquor store on Cambie and 39th to get beer for the Canadians in DC and then dropped Liz off. Then I headed home to pack.
Around 4, I went to get a cup of coffee with Diana one last time, this time at Cafe Artigiano. They have pretty good coffee. And someone actually said something nice about my WebCT t-shirt! I guess some people liked using it. The coffee at this place is supposed to be really good and it lived up to its reputation. I had a very large cup of coffee and liked it. After that I headed home, finished packing etc. I didn't get a chance to see Voja before I left because he was out helping Tyler's parents move. I didn't see Tyler either... but he's married and lives in Langley!
Anyway, I had dinner and got to the airport with about 2 hours to spend standing in lines. Except there was only one. The check in line. People need to learn to use those machines properly and check in faster. I hate having to wait while they sort themselves out. Its not that hard.
We left via the International terminal at YVR. I guess US Customs and Immigration close up early in the evening. My flight was at 11pm. Thankfully, it wasn't fully booked, so I got a bit more room to sit and sleep somewhat on the plane. We got to Chicago pretty early, finished Immigration quickly. Then waited a while for my suitcase. After that, I had to clear customs. Small line and it went quickly. I had to re-check in my bag right after Customs and then head back to catch my flight to DC. It would be nice if they found a way to make that part smoother. I had to go out of the airport, take the train from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1 where my DCA flight was. As a result, I had to go through security again. Thankfully, the line was short. Imagine if I had a connecting flight with less time to spare and had to jump through all those hoops. Eek. Thankfully, I had a couple of hours to spend in ORD.
I got McDonalds for breakfast. Interesting fact here. There is no High Fructose Corn Syrup in the Heinz ketchup in Canada. I checked all the labels of all the things I could find that were sweet in Canada. They use cane sugar. I wonder why the US has so much HFCS, especially since that stuff is apparently not good for you. Oh well.
I sat in the last row on the 737-500 bound for DCA. I swear to you, that seat is smaller. I felt like I was stuck in there. Thank god the flight itself was over in 2 hours. I tried to sleep for a bit but not too successfully. That seat doesn't even recline. And I have no storage in the overhead bins because of all sorts of life saving equipment in there.
I got to DCA, got my suitcase and headed home on the metro. I am somewhat glad to be at home again, with the big TV, my big PC, the A/C and the house all to myself... but after a couple of hours, I was so lonely. I miss not having the two dogs. They kept me company in Vancouver. I miss not having my grandmother around. I must be a sad person.
I have decided that I have to move back. I like what I do for work. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to tell you that I have unbridled enthusiasm for what I do. There are days when the urge to tell people to flip off is quite strong, but on the whole, working for the company I work for and doing what I do isn't terrible. It pays the bills and keeps me somewhat interested. However, I have to say that being happy matters to me more. I am not happy here. I am sure the people who live here and like it here will think I am crazy. I am not knocking DC down. I just don't find it appealing. I have not been able to do any of the things I have done in Vancouver in the last week here at all. There are no mountains to climb. There is no ocean to sit by and admire a sunset. There is no Irish Heather, no friends and no dim sum. I am sure it is all me, but allow me this one whine. Vancouver is better. If you don't believe me, go see for yourself.
I have no idea how I am going to quit or ask to be allowed to move back. And knowing my manager somewhat, I doubt that conversation will be an easy or comfortable one. It is too bad. I think I would do well remotely. Inspite of what he thinks and tells people. I don't take 3 hour lunch breaks. And I think I work hard. Perhaps I don't work as smart as I could, but I think I have been improving. Who knows. Wish me luck. I will need it.
One final note, here are some of the pictures I took:
Enjoy!
Every time I return from Vancouver to DC, I have this sinking feeling. I hate this place. Not because it is particularly bad; no, it is more because I am away from Vancouver. I need to be home. Not sitting in DC thinking of home, looking over pictures, entertaining myself with the Firefox plugin PicLens, looking for pictures of Vancouver on flickr and google. Or maybe it is the music, that reminds me of Scotland... mind you the music was written by a Serbo-Croatian composer and sung by folks like The Chieftans.
So why do I miss Vancouver so much? Most things that matter to me are in Vancouver. My friends are. I ran into so many of them while I was there. I know the city. Not once did I get lost driving in Vancouver. And its not like I didn't go places. I was out every day. Hell, even the office the company I work for in Vancouver feels better than the new office we just moved into in DC. They have proper coffee machines, working appliances and proper recycling facilities.
Food is good in Vancouver. I started with breakfast from home that my grandma made. Then I had dim sum with some good old pals. Then I met up with another pal. Dropped off cigars. Went downtown. Found free parking (how about that?). Drank a cup of good Blenz coffee while sitting on the patio looking at a gorgeous Vancouver summer day. On Robson street no less. After that, decided to go to Samurai. Met up with another friend. Walked through the quietest part of downtown... so quiet that you wouldn't believe that you were in downtown. Stood in a very short line for sushi. Samurai sushi is awesome by the way. If you are ever in Vancouver, go to the Samurai on Davie and try it out. Then I headed out to English Bay. Sat on the patio at Milestones. Overlooking the ocean and the throngs of people. I waited maybe 15 minutes to get a table on the patio. On a Saturday evening around 8pm when the sun was still going strong.
Had more food and drink while I was there. Two more friends came. We finished up on the patio. Walked onto the sea wall. Walked all the way to the swimming pool in Stanley Park. It was perfect. There was even the pungent smell of certain narcotics. Not that I think that aspect of Vancouver is perfect. Walked back. Up Davie street. Past the lovely house that is now the Macaroni Grill restaurant. I have good memories of that place. I didn't have time to go eat there. Found the car, headed home.
The next day, I met up with two friends, skipped the final of the European football match and hiked up the Grouse Grind. I got my ass kicked by that mountain. Everytime I do it, I am humbled by how beautiful it is and how magnificient a hike that is. Made it to the top, a little shy of 2 hours. Kind of sad.
Not sure what I did on Monday. Oh yeah, my phone sort of died (pay as you go with no more air time left). I think I met up with some friends. Or maybe people came over. I can't remember anymore. Tuesday, Canada Day. I went to have lunch with Vincy and Nakisa. The restaurant we intended to go to was closed. But we found the old WebCT Dim Sum hang out place close by and had good food there. Then we had bubble tea. Pretty cool. Then I went to the garden store on 70th and Granville and took pictures. I even made it out to Queen E park and took pictures of their flowers. Those were aweosme. I think I met up with more friends that evening, though I can't see any pics from it. Oh wait, I know what I did. I met up with George and Elaine and Voja, went to all you can eat Sushi and thenwent to see the fireworks for Canada Day. Except it wasn't getting dark even after 10pm and we had enough waiting for it. Since the rest of them had to work the next day, we decided to head home.
Wednesday, I went up to Whistler with the family and the two mutts. Road construction is going well. I would put driving up to Whistler on par with the beauty of the resort itself. We had to make a quick pit stop in Sqamish for coffee and the facilities at Starbucks. There was still plenty of snow up there. Whistler is pretty dog friendly, we had no issues walking into stores with 2 dogs. Mind you, our dogs weren't as well behaved when we had to go eat. On the way back, we got stuck just after Porteau Cove. Apparently a propane leak caused the shut down of the entire sea to sky for over 4 hours. We made a U turn (thank god we had no concrete barrier as the lane divider, so we could just turn and head back to Sqamish), and made it to the White Spot in Sqamish. Sat out on the patio with the dogs sitting just outside the patio. That seemed to work well. It was starting to be a bit chilly, but still, it was perfect. Sitting on that patio, you are surrounded by pretty decent sized mountains. After dinner (of awesome wild pacific salmon), we went back to line up. After probably an hour or so, the highway opened once again. We got home pretty late (like around 1am I think).
Thursday, I think I headed out to the office after lunch. I met Dave and Nakisa and Mira and a couple of the new folks and a newly returned Jungwha (she bailed from DC back to Vancouver). I even saw Anze who was in the office all the way from Australia. I went to Garden Works after that and got a good set of plants. Headed off to downtown to meet up with Tom, Voja and Nick at the Irish Heather and to eat Bangers and Mash. And of course I did. The fiddlers at the Heather were just plain awesome. I can't explain how cool it is to sit in what I found out was Vancouver's first prison, eat bangers and mash, listen to the fiddlers play and enjoy the company of some really good friends. As a tradition, we at old company used to go there pretty much every Thursday night for a pint or 10 of Guinness and listen to the music. It used to be the Uilleann pipes played by Constable Tim Fanning, but I guess he stopped that. The fiddlers still put on an awesome gig and the old man can sing when he wants to. I have to say, the Irish Heather is one of the best gems of Vancouver. A lot of people in Vancouver don't know about it, but if you ever wanted a good old dingy, grungy Irish pub, with uneven floors and the old Gaoler's mews surrounding it, this is it.
After all the music and food at the Heather, I drove my buddy Tom home. His new place looks pretty darn nice. I headed home once again. In all the time I was in Vancouver, I watched the BBC and the Newsworld pretty much exclusively. It is, let me say this with as much emphasis as possible, amazingly awesome to get the World Service 24 hours a day on TV. It isn't BBC America. It is the actual World Service. Thank god for the BBC.
Friday, I headed out to hang out with Liz in gastown. She wanted to meet the dogs, so we ended up sitting at the Water Street cafe opposite the steam clock (and Atimi) surrounded by tourists and we tried some awesome food. The dogs got a bucket of water from the restaurant, which was very nice of them. Steve came by later to meet up with me as well. We headed out to the Greek Festival to meet more people (Igor, Oz, Ivan, Voja). I had to drop Steve off to meet up with Igorand go drop the dogs off before heading back. I managed to go see Jae's dad even before I made it back to the Greek Festival.
Igor was back home from the Googleplex and sported a pony tail (gosh!). We had awesome lamb while we waited for the rest of the slackers to show up. Ivan and Oz came later, Voja before them. We all swapped stories... including how google does Igor's laundry! My employer sure as hell doesn't do that for me, though I am not sure I would want them to. Maybe if they paid for dry cleaning or something... We even ended up seeing our old prof, George Tsiknis. He is Greek of course, so it made sense that we saw him there. He lost a tonne of weight too.
After lamb, greek coffee, loukoumades, music and drinking, we headed out; Ivan had to go home, same with Igor and Oz. Voja, Steve and I went to Tim Hortons for coffee, sat around and talked about life. I think I have spent many hours at Tim Hortons contemplating life. In all kinds of weather, from snow to sun. Hell, one new years, after all that drinking, we ended up at Tim Hortons at like 4am.
I had to go drop Steve off and then I headed back home. Saturday, the day to leave. I had to go get one last round of meetings completed, with food and all. We went to Corner 23, on Cambie and 23rd. I met Mervy Ho, Amy, CY and Liz for some great Taiwanese food, including intestines and blood sausage or something of pigs (I think). It was not at all gross, in fact, I liked it. There was bubble tea there even. Mervy now works for VCH and apparently, they are hiring. I should look into that. After food and fun times, I dropped CY off at the bus stop, headed to the liquor store on Cambie and 39th to get beer for the Canadians in DC and then dropped Liz off. Then I headed home to pack.
Around 4, I went to get a cup of coffee with Diana one last time, this time at Cafe Artigiano. They have pretty good coffee. And someone actually said something nice about my WebCT t-shirt! I guess some people liked using it. The coffee at this place is supposed to be really good and it lived up to its reputation. I had a very large cup of coffee and liked it. After that I headed home, finished packing etc. I didn't get a chance to see Voja before I left because he was out helping Tyler's parents move. I didn't see Tyler either... but he's married and lives in Langley!
Anyway, I had dinner and got to the airport with about 2 hours to spend standing in lines. Except there was only one. The check in line. People need to learn to use those machines properly and check in faster. I hate having to wait while they sort themselves out. Its not that hard.
We left via the International terminal at YVR. I guess US Customs and Immigration close up early in the evening. My flight was at 11pm. Thankfully, it wasn't fully booked, so I got a bit more room to sit and sleep somewhat on the plane. We got to Chicago pretty early, finished Immigration quickly. Then waited a while for my suitcase. After that, I had to clear customs. Small line and it went quickly. I had to re-check in my bag right after Customs and then head back to catch my flight to DC. It would be nice if they found a way to make that part smoother. I had to go out of the airport, take the train from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1 where my DCA flight was. As a result, I had to go through security again. Thankfully, the line was short. Imagine if I had a connecting flight with less time to spare and had to jump through all those hoops. Eek. Thankfully, I had a couple of hours to spend in ORD.
I got McDonalds for breakfast. Interesting fact here. There is no High Fructose Corn Syrup in the Heinz ketchup in Canada. I checked all the labels of all the things I could find that were sweet in Canada. They use cane sugar. I wonder why the US has so much HFCS, especially since that stuff is apparently not good for you. Oh well.
I sat in the last row on the 737-500 bound for DCA. I swear to you, that seat is smaller. I felt like I was stuck in there. Thank god the flight itself was over in 2 hours. I tried to sleep for a bit but not too successfully. That seat doesn't even recline. And I have no storage in the overhead bins because of all sorts of life saving equipment in there.
I got to DCA, got my suitcase and headed home on the metro. I am somewhat glad to be at home again, with the big TV, my big PC, the A/C and the house all to myself... but after a couple of hours, I was so lonely. I miss not having the two dogs. They kept me company in Vancouver. I miss not having my grandmother around. I must be a sad person.
I have decided that I have to move back. I like what I do for work. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to tell you that I have unbridled enthusiasm for what I do. There are days when the urge to tell people to flip off is quite strong, but on the whole, working for the company I work for and doing what I do isn't terrible. It pays the bills and keeps me somewhat interested. However, I have to say that being happy matters to me more. I am not happy here. I am sure the people who live here and like it here will think I am crazy. I am not knocking DC down. I just don't find it appealing. I have not been able to do any of the things I have done in Vancouver in the last week here at all. There are no mountains to climb. There is no ocean to sit by and admire a sunset. There is no Irish Heather, no friends and no dim sum. I am sure it is all me, but allow me this one whine. Vancouver is better. If you don't believe me, go see for yourself.
I have no idea how I am going to quit or ask to be allowed to move back. And knowing my manager somewhat, I doubt that conversation will be an easy or comfortable one. It is too bad. I think I would do well remotely. Inspite of what he thinks and tells people. I don't take 3 hour lunch breaks. And I think I work hard. Perhaps I don't work as smart as I could, but I think I have been improving. Who knows. Wish me luck. I will need it.
One final note, here are some of the pictures I took:
Enjoy!
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