Banff Before and After

I've been to Banff before, but never in winter-like weather.

No canoes for rent today

This is also my first visit here with a digital camera. Erosion does take its sweet time. Really brings home the pace of geological timescales.

Lower Falls - Johnston Canyon, May 2007

Lower Falls - Johnston Canyon, August 2001

Behind the picturesque Lake Louise is the Victoria Glacier. There is a teahouse somewhere up there, which is a full day return trip. It had better be pretty amazing tea. One wonders if you need to haul up your own supplies.

Lake Louise, May 2007

Lake Louise, August 2001

This view is best known for being on the back of the 1970's era $20 bill. Of course, we're now two re-issues beyond that.

In the Money

Moraine Lake, May 2007

Moraine Lake, August 2001

In the midst of all this natural beauty, there is one sobering thought. One of our travelling party is just 16 months old. His mother, the environmentalist, only half-jokingly advises him to take a good look and remember. All these glaciers and lakes may disappear in his lifetime.

Does not Compute

How have I become such a Luddite? Gone from spec-ing and sourcing my own components to build a custom PC, to seriously considering a Mac Mini.

At home, I actually own two computers - one big iron battleship and one ancient laptop. However, just like on Battlestar Galactica, they are not networked, nor even networkable. I'm almost afraid to start them up, lest they not wake up.

Meanwhile, I have a box of QIC backup cartridges which are nearing the design lifetime of magnetic tape. Even if I could still read them, I have no CD-R drive or USB ports on the old system to get the data out, and no floppy drive or serial/parallel ports on my current laptop to get the data in. Something has to be done soon. The first step would be to get a replacement for the burned out 17" CRT monitor, so that I can actually see what I'm doing.

Speaking of which, I also have two CRT TVs at home, but only one rabbit-ear antenna. No PlayStation, no XBox, no Wii. Just one reliable VHS VCR, and the cheapest DVD player money can buy. And given my current conundrum with media obsolescence, there's no way I'm getting involved in the HD-DVD or Blu-ray conflict.

I'm so far behind the times now, that I would be a hapless soul, totally at the mercy of the sales staff, if I need to buy something at any electronics store. My four year old cell phone may be needing a replacement soon. I'll try not to be upsold to an iPhone.

That's not to say that I'm beyond technological redemption. I've been resisting Facebook for a while now, but recently my hand was forced. At least I'm still not so old that I had to ask "What's a Facebook?"...

Rapscallion

I was shopping for groceries this evening, when a woman comes up and asks me if I know what a "scallon" is. After a brief pause, we both tentatively ask the same question: "Scallion?"

From vague recollection, I venture that it's long and green, possibly with a bulb on the end. In my mind, I'm still trying not get it confused with a shallot (or at least what I think that is). We walk over to the herbs section. Leeks and chives abound, but no scallions. Finally, I venture that it's like an onion - a green onion - and wish her well in the herb quest.

On the walk home, I kept mulling over the question, and wondering just how different scallions are from green onions. I've used scallions in a recipe once, many years ago, but they were handed to me in a cooking class. As soon as all the groceries are loaded into the refrigerator, I have to run upstairs to look it up right away. The answer is: they are the same thing. To further complicate matters, the answer changes depending on which country you're in, where they may variously be called shallots, or eschallots, or even escallions (pronounced with a silent e!).

Solstice

It was the longest day of the year, and I spent most of it indoors.

Midnight Sun

It's been almost three years now since this photo was taken. There was a sudden surge (30+) in views of it on Flickr today, probably because of the season. Maybe this post will help add to that total.

Downtown

When you're alone, and life is making you lonely
You can always go
Downtown

When you've got worries, all the noise and hurry
Seems to help, I know
Downtown

I've been working downtown for a few days this week, rather than the usual places in suburbia. For 13 years, I commuted downtown for high school and university. While I never really took full advantage of the location back then, I often do miss being there.

Part of my daily commute includes Toronto's underground city. A land formerly of ice and snow has also spawned the Plus15, and la souterraine. These now also serve as refuges from the blazing summer heat and humidity.

Few people speak, but nods and glances are exchanged, and there are also certain other unspoken customs. An endless stream of people, passing through a corridor between buildings, will gravitate towards the automated/accessible doorway, with various people periodically pressing the button as they go through, to keep the door open. There is a certain rhythm to everything, as people all around head about their business. After a while, it must all blend into the rat-race, but for the moment, it's a refreshing surge of energy.

We can forget all our troubles; forget all our cares, and go
Downtown -- things will be great when you're
Downtown -- don't wait a minute more
Downtown -- everything's waiting for you...

Rain on me

The promised rain has come, and it's the biggest downpour I've ever seen. A colleague's 6 pm flight was delayed until 9:30 pm, if not cancelled by now. I hope she got out in time, because this is a flagpole-bending, window-shaking torrent which makes me regret parking my car near a tree.

Rained Out

I was thinking of an early morning swim in the outdoor pool tomorrow, but perhaps not now. A flash of lightning and flicker of lights takes out the satellite TV. There's actual drops falling from the ceiling out in the hallway, and ominous dripping noises in the room.

Got to wonder about my departure plans. I've never been stranded by weather before...

Maelstrom

Severe Weather Watch. Wind Advisory. Tornado Warning. Heat Alert. Local on the Eights.

The Weather Channel is celebrating 25 years on the air this year. There's always something to watch, even as background white noise while working late back at the hotel.

Colourful maps mean lots of weather action. Of course, there's no telling what's happening back home, now or tomorrow. The weather stops politely, right at the Mexican and Canadian borders - Terra Incognita.

There are almost gleeful reports of four inch hail stones. The difference this time, is that I'm sitting inside one of the bright red zones on the screen...

I'm going to Disneyland!

No, not really. Although I am across the street from a Six Flags park.

This is the third major sports championship game that I've watched from a hotel room. Unfortunately, the Ducks absolutely dominated the Senators, and deservedly won.

I guess the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee doesn't count, since I didn't watch it live. The others?

2004 World Series - from Oak Brook, IL
2003 World Series - from Wilmington, NC

Dining Out

When travelling, I make a conscious effort to try to eat healthy. This has led to a raft of supermarket club cards. I wonder what their data mining efforts say about me? Appears at branches across the country. Only shops a couple times a week, months or years apart. Mailing address and phone number turns out to be a hotel. Always buys fruit, water, juice, and sometimes toothpaste.

Even when choosing restaurants, I prefer those which I cannot find back home.

Mark Goes to White Castle

That also means drinking Sierra Mist, caffeinated Mountain Dew, and unsweetened iced tea. There's even a White Castle Pâté recipe out there...

Spoke too soon...

I had hoped today would be one of leisurely travel. An early afternoon flight, avoiding all the crowds, and leaving lots of time to rest up and prepare for the working week. Maybe even spend some time in the hotel gym or pool. Instead, another long-haul short-haul.

It all started innocently enough - the 14:00 flight delayed to 14:25, which we boarded approximately on time. Once the doors closed, the captain announces that O'Hare flow control has assigned us a wheels-up time of 15:26, so we prepare to sit at the gate for another 50 minutes.

Time enough to start flipping through the enRoute magazine. By 14:50 though, they announced the cancellation of our flight due to thunderstorms in the Chicago area. We had to wait another 10 minutes for the gate agent (agent de sol) to come aboard, just to explain that we need to make our own re-bookings.

Luckily, with no checked luggage (see below) or duty free, I was allowed to go back into the sterile zone of the airport, rather than out through Canada Customs, luggage carousel, back to the Air Canada check-in counter, and then in through US Customs again.

Of course, the "white courtesy phones" are only on the arrivals level, so I have to use my cell phone to call Air Canada Reservations, but can't get through. Now it sounds like a situation for the American Express Travel emergency line. The next flight is in 90 minutes (16:40), but it might also get cancelled. Otherwise, it'll be the 17:30. I'm now seriously inquiring about going into Milwaukee (17:50). I'm feeling lucky, and choose the earliest flight, but make sure to get the name of the agent, in case I have to call back.

Then it's back to the lounge again, for wine and cookies. While there, I see we're delayed yet again, until 18:00. Time for another bowl of soup.

When it's time to try leaving again, I find myself seated next to a prominent national newscast personality. Some interesting observations:

• She's left-handed. Scribbles lots of notes into a coil notebook.


• Able to slip back and forth effortlessly between English and French, when speaking to Francophone colleagues.


• Very fidgety (or else deathly afraid of DVT.)


• Highly attached to Blackberry.


• Flies in economy class, yet doesn't seem that familiar with Air Canada policies and service. Probably takes most trips on government or military aircraft.


• Not too certain on time zones and flying times. One wonders how she fared while reporting from Afghanistan.

A switch to runway 06R, plus a ground radar fault delays our actual takeoff until 19:00 ET. As promised, the flight is turbulent, but lands early at 19:15 CT. By the time I'm finally settled in to the hotel room, I stop the clock at 21:00, for a grand total of 10 hours travel time.

Packing it in

If there's one thing which is seriously getting to me these days, it's packing luggage for yet another trip. It's almost developed into a mental block - I simply cannot get around to doing it until mere hours before departure.

After each return, I simply unload all the clothes into the laundry basket or the washing machine, and leave everything else on the floor, and my suitcase open to air out. I have enough floor space that I can simply walk around it for a few days (or weeks) until the next trip.

Sometimes though, the time between trips is less than 12 hours. Twice now, I've thought to do some contingency packing, half-filling a backup suitcase. Then in case I'm late in returning home, I can get someone to collect my second suitcase from home, and exchange them at the airport, before immediately checking back in for another departure. Of course, in either case, I never quite finished the preparations for the second trip, and ended up spending precious sleeping time finishing the packing job, while doing the washing (and frantically drying it).

I very much fear that even five years from now, I won't have the energy or stamina to cope with unexpected travel surprises, or extended delays.