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Back in Vancouver!

I am back home once again! I had a pretty decent flight (though I didn't sleep like I imagined I would), I had a full enough day, and am writing this surrounded by two mutts.

My lack of organisation came to bite me in the back... I spent my last night in DC cleaning the fridge and chucking things that don't look like stuff I would want to eat. I ended up not sleeping at all. I won't be home for at least 5 weeks, so I had to clean out/eat whatever I could. God willing nothing gross will grow in the fridge in the meantime. Hopefully, my plants don't die either.

My cabbie ran over a squirrel in rock creek park this morning on his way to the airport... no idea why the critter was on the street that early in the morning, but I think the bugger bit the dust. I finished check-in and security in like 10 minutes... which meant, I waited a whopping 1 and a half hours for my flight... and then I took off to Chicago. A funny thing happened in Chicago. I got off gate 31. My next flight was at gate 31. I was sitting one row up. 16A vs 15A. I thought it was a bit funny that happened. I tried to find the alcohol Steve wanted at the Duty Free... no such luck. I had 2 empty seats on the plane next to me on take off. An hour or so later... some dude was just sitting there. There went my dream of stretching out on the plane to a good nap.

I think this is also the first time in a very long time that I landed up in Vancouver in the middle of the day (I usually come in late at night) and the line at immigration. The whole thing took about 15 minutes (they had agents in almost every booth and they were moving quickly). I then went to get my baggage... and that took a while and then I headed out. Except my ride wasn't there. So I turned on my phone... probably got dinged a bunch for roaming / data and called my mother. She said she was 10 minutes away... but that wasn't the case. I stood out there, enjoyed the cool refreshing rain (did I ever mention how much I love rain?) and watched people drive by. The new sky train station at the airport is almost complete (its as close as the metro is to DCA in DC) and I can't wait for the day when I can just hop on a train and head home.


Anyway, I came home, had lunch, played with the dogs, watched the first storm of the season outside my window, talked to my grandma, watched the BBC for hours... and had a great time. I then tried to setup the computer but since I didn't know the passcode for the SSID... I was stuck. So I watched more Canadian TV. Then I called my brother and tried to figure out the wifi thing and it still didn't work, so I went and had dinner with 7 of my friends. We tried to go to Joey's and got there before 7... and the very lovely lady at the door said it would be a 2 and a half hour wait for a table for 10... yay. So we went to a nice old greek restaurant next door, watched the belly dancer lady (I have no idea why there was a belly dancer there but Tomo danced with her and I didn't have my camera... rats!) and had good food and even better conversation. Nikola even told us about video game engines... and the physics behind it. Not bad for an accountant. Ivan's hair seems to be shorter... and Serbia seems to have definitely done him good.

I then had coffee at Cumpari's (and incidently... I don't think there are any coffee shops in DC like that, which are open late... and full of people), drove Voja home, filled petrol at $1.175 per litre (that's $4.45 a US gallon plus exchange rate) and then headed home. I finally got the internets working... so I am back!

So why the ramble? Well, I was told by someone in DC the last time I was out here that I felt everything was indeed better here because I was on vacation, it was a state of mind due to the vacation it seemed. I respectfully disagreed with that... and now that I can, I will try and blog all the things I do in Vancouver which makes it fun for me here. So what's up for me in the next little while? Tomorrow is DS! Then a BBQ at Voja's. Then work on Monday, then play... then even more fun at the Indian embassy (I need to get my visa). Maybe a hike up the grind, lots of good coffee... and god knows what else. But I will do my best to document.

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