I managed to convince the hotel staff to give me a room at around 10:30am yesterday, which meant I could finally grab a few hours of sleep. I woke up close to 3pm, which meant I only had an hour or so before I had to head down to Manotick for the wedding rehearsal. I did a quick tour of downtown Ottawa with the time I had, took a few photos, and then got picked up by Alison. Afterwards, we all headed down to Collenade Pizza about one block from where I used to live in Ottawa. Thirty of us proceeded to catch up on lost time, eat lots of pizza, drink beer, and in general have a really great time. ...

So, after work tonight I hit the bar with a few of the guys from work.. I feel great. I haven’t been this exciting about anything in a long time. I am pretty excited to see Ottawa again, the Byward Market, the Ottawa River, Parliament, and of course, my friends Rob and Anna. Packing and leaving on a plane are always a bit stressful for me, partially because I am sort of afraid of flying, but in this case, given that I’m gone for nearly two weeks, I was worried I had forgotten a few things. I nearly forgot all my socks the first time I tried to leave the apartment, and completely forgot my ...

Well, I made it. I got to the hotel at around 10:30am and prompt went to sleep. I just woke up, and feel a bit more energized now. I’m going to go take a few quick photos and then try to find the group. ...

Tonight I went down to the Urban Fare in Yaletown to get a few BBQable items. I figured the trip itself would probably only take 30 minutes or so, since I knew exactly what I was going to pick up. As soon as I put my car into the parkade, I reached into my pocket to pull out my wallet, only to realize it wasn’t there. Since I’m less that 48 hours away from getting on a plane, the thought of not having access to any of my bank cards or visa was a bit scary at that moment. I rushed back to my apartment, searched a few places outside that I thought it might be at, but couldn’t find it. Thankfully ...

Well, my dad is officially on vacation right now, and I’m only a few days behind him. It seems weird that in just four more days I’ll be getting on a plane and disappearing for nearly two weeks. The next couple days are likely to be extremely busy. I have to get some new clothes and sandals for the beach, and also get my place cleaned up and my bags packed. Hurricane Dean is hitting Jamaica pretty hard right now, and is supposed to head towards Mexico next, so it’s likely it will be completely gone when I get down there — hopefully nobody down there gets hurt while it’s passing through. ...

What do the following things have in common? The Caribbean All You Can Drink A Topless Beach Adults Only Three Pools Six Bars Sandy Beach Dominican Republic All Night Dancing The “Boob” Cam If you guessed me, then you’re right. In about 13 days, I’ll be hitting the beach of the Dominican Republic, enjoying the sun, warmth and liquor of an adults only, all inclusive resort in the middle of the Caribbean. If there’s enough interest, I’ll set up a daily iChat from the pool bar for those people who want to see how much fun I’m having. I’ll ask around and see if there are any volunteers ...

In exactly two weeks from today, I will be getting on a plane (business class — fuck you Air Canada), and heading out east for some time in Ottawa and beyond. I’ll be taking the red-eye, (which I swore last time I’d never take again, since I rarely sleep on planes, and that’s basically the whole point of the red-eye) and will get into Ottawa sometime early in the morning on the 24th of August. From there, I imagine I’ll head to my hotel, which is only a few steps from the Supreme Court of Canada and Parliament Hill, and probably grab an hour or two of sleep. And then, I’m gonna wake ...

In less than four weeks, I’ll be getting on a plane and heading to Ottawa for my friend Rob’s wedding. The last time off I took was basically back in February, and I spent that walking around rainy Seattle for only a few days. This trip, however, promises to be a lot more interesting, and hopefully more relaxing. The only real things that I have on my plate are my friend’s wedding, a trip down to Toronto to see a few people, and then a visit to Quebec City (since I never spent any time there when I lived out east). I’m pretty sure I’m going to bring a suitcase with some dress clothes ...

I haven’t been much of a blogger lately, and I’m not sure why that is. I’ve had a lot of ideas about what would make for some interesting entries, but lately with everything going on I just haven’t really been able to write anything. Hopefully I’ll start to change that. I spent the weekend up at Cultus Lake with John and Rebecca, and I had a great time – check out Rebecca’s entry for all the details. We drank an impressive amount of booze considering we were there for only two nights. Most of my immediately family made it up for a visit, and it was good to see them all again. ...

I had a really good time in Seattle last night. On my way back from my big walking adventure, I saw a pub called “The Blarney Stone” and basically had to stop by to have one drink out of honour of my home town. While sitting at the pub, I tried my first (and probably last) Strongbow beer. If you haven’t had one, you definitely should at least once.. It sort of tastes like apple juice on steroids. It was here that I ran into Sara and Alec and started my drinking adventure of the evening. I had made dinner plans with a friend around 8pm, so we did a pretty good job of drinking until then.. ...

Tomorrow officially marks the start of the Northern Voice 2007 activities. Northern Voice is a Vancouver based conference where web-bloggers meet up and discuss various technological and social aspects of blogging. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, and Boris and his company Bryght are the main organizers for it. The main social is tomorrow night, which will be a great chance for everyone to meet each other and break the ice before the main activities begin. Friday is “Moose Camp”, which is an opportunity for conference participants to gather around and form their own agenda based ...

When the humidity finally woke me up in the hostel, it was around 11am (I had to ask scary hostel-buddy #1, since I didn’t have a watch anymore at this point). I felt a little hungover, but nothing compared to the morning before back in YVR. I thought about showering, but my I-need-to-get-the-hell-out-of-the-hostel-as-soon-as-possible thought process eventually won. I strolled down the street in New York City, smiling as I walked into Ray’s Pizza, knowing full well I was about to destroy his little toilet in the back-room with my post-hangover blues. I read through my Lonely Planet for a few ...