It has been a shamefully long time since my last post. I will try to briefly update my life so that I can continue documenting it in the future.
The fall was good. All I will say about it is that Brian got me to start biking, and I had a brief but fun relationship.
In December, my Zaida passed away. He was 96 years old and had lived a good life. I went back to Vancouver for a few weeks for the funeral, shiva, and to spend time with my family.
On my way back to Ottawa, I stopped in San Francisco to visit my friend Vincent. I had a very good time with him, and also got to see my friend Di who was starting at Berkley. San Francisco is a great city.
The trip back:
I was supposed to leave San Francisco on Sunday morning on United Airlines and change planes in Chicago to arrive in Ottawa on Sunday evening. When I got to the airport, after waiting in line for 45 minutes, I discovered that my flight into Chicago had been canceled. Since it was a computer which let me know this, I was unable to obtain any more information without lining up again. After another long wait, I found out that I was bumped to a red-eye that evening. I spent the day in San Francisco and then caught my red-eye into Chicago, arriving at about 5 am. After giving up trying to sleep on the seats, and hearing that the flight was going to be delayed, I went to the duty free shop to pick up some scotch. At 9am, we finally boarded. Before we left the gate, the pilot made an announcement that there was bad fog in Ottawa and we might not be able to land, he offered for us to get of the plane now if we didn't want to take the risk of landing in a back-up airport like Burlington, Vermont or Syracuse, NY. I decided to stay on the plane and soon we were in the air, flying to Ottawa. After about an hour and a half, the pilot got on the PA and said that he was in touch with the ground and that we would not be able to land in Ottawa. He said that rather than going to a back-up airport, we would go back to Chicago where there were more options.
In Chicago, I got in a long line to talk to an unhelpful agent. She put me on stand-by for a flight that afternoon. After waiting through some delays, I finally heard my name called and was given a boarding pass. Five minutes later, the flight was canceled... so I got into an even longer line to talk to an equally unhelpful agent. She said that there were no flights in that night, and that Montreal and Toronto were also not options at that point. I was given a seat on a flight the next morning and a voucher for a discount at an airport hotel.
At the hotel, I needed to check my email to get my boss' number to tell her that I would not be in to work on Tuesday as we had agreed. After opening my inbox on the crappy "internet on TV" deal that I bought, I noticed that there was an email from the girl I had been seeing... breaking up with me. While a breakup was not entirely unexpected, an email breakup did come as a surprise, but this is a public blog and I will not go into any more details.
The next morning, I made my way to the airport to catch the 8:37 flight to Ottawa. Since I had bought a bottle of scotch the day before, I needed to check it in before I could board, so I put it into my satchel. At the gate, I saw many of the same people from the day before. After a few minutes, there was an announcement that the flight was delayed. After a few more minutes, the flight was canceled. I ran to the customer service counter and waited in another long line. When I finally talked to an agent, she said she could put me on standby for the next morning or give me a ticket for the next afternoon. I asked about Toronto or Montreal and she was thankfully able to put me onto an American Airlines flight to Toronto leaving at about noon. When I asked about my checked bags, she said that usually, if there is more that two hours (which there was) it should not be a problem.
After a delay and a short flight, I got into Toronto. Of course, my bags were not there... I shared a cab to Union Station with some other travelers in similar situations and we caught a train to Ottawa. I arrived home at about 11 on Tuesday night - more than two days late. My bags arrived on Sunday.
The next day I started working at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I am in the Bilateral Relations Bureau, Southeast Asia and Pacific division, Association of Southeast Asian Nations desk.
DFAIT has been a mixed experience. On the one hand, it is populated by people who are very engaged in their jobs, who dress well, and who are knowledgeable about the world. On the other hand, the scope for analysis and creativity is limited. Like the Treasury Board, everything must move up the line of approvals before it can get done, although I suppose this is the nature of a bureaucracy. That said, I am very pleased with my file, and my work is often very interesting.
I have been snowboarding a lot. In the fall, Ashley, Brian, Shelford, and I got cheap season's passes to camp Fortune, a ski hill about 20 minutes from my house. Although Brian had never snowboarded before this season, he has really taken to it and now snowboards about 3-4 times per week. Since he has his own car, it has also been great for me because I get rides up all the time an have been averaging at least two times per week this season. The best part is that snowboarding is fun again. It was expensive in Vancouver, and most of my friends did not snowboard so I didn't go much. Without the practice, I didn't enjoy it as much as I do now that I am back in the swing of things. Snowboarding is probably one of the only things that has kept me going through this cold and snowy winter. That said, I am still looking forward to spring.
That is the general update. I will start posting in more detail soon as I will be posting more often.
The fall was good. All I will say about it is that Brian got me to start biking, and I had a brief but fun relationship.
In December, my Zaida passed away. He was 96 years old and had lived a good life. I went back to Vancouver for a few weeks for the funeral, shiva, and to spend time with my family.
On my way back to Ottawa, I stopped in San Francisco to visit my friend Vincent. I had a very good time with him, and also got to see my friend Di who was starting at Berkley. San Francisco is a great city.
The trip back:
I was supposed to leave San Francisco on Sunday morning on United Airlines and change planes in Chicago to arrive in Ottawa on Sunday evening. When I got to the airport, after waiting in line for 45 minutes, I discovered that my flight into Chicago had been canceled. Since it was a computer which let me know this, I was unable to obtain any more information without lining up again. After another long wait, I found out that I was bumped to a red-eye that evening. I spent the day in San Francisco and then caught my red-eye into Chicago, arriving at about 5 am. After giving up trying to sleep on the seats, and hearing that the flight was going to be delayed, I went to the duty free shop to pick up some scotch. At 9am, we finally boarded. Before we left the gate, the pilot made an announcement that there was bad fog in Ottawa and we might not be able to land, he offered for us to get of the plane now if we didn't want to take the risk of landing in a back-up airport like Burlington, Vermont or Syracuse, NY. I decided to stay on the plane and soon we were in the air, flying to Ottawa. After about an hour and a half, the pilot got on the PA and said that he was in touch with the ground and that we would not be able to land in Ottawa. He said that rather than going to a back-up airport, we would go back to Chicago where there were more options.
In Chicago, I got in a long line to talk to an unhelpful agent. She put me on stand-by for a flight that afternoon. After waiting through some delays, I finally heard my name called and was given a boarding pass. Five minutes later, the flight was canceled... so I got into an even longer line to talk to an equally unhelpful agent. She said that there were no flights in that night, and that Montreal and Toronto were also not options at that point. I was given a seat on a flight the next morning and a voucher for a discount at an airport hotel.
At the hotel, I needed to check my email to get my boss' number to tell her that I would not be in to work on Tuesday as we had agreed. After opening my inbox on the crappy "internet on TV" deal that I bought, I noticed that there was an email from the girl I had been seeing... breaking up with me. While a breakup was not entirely unexpected, an email breakup did come as a surprise, but this is a public blog and I will not go into any more details.
The next morning, I made my way to the airport to catch the 8:37 flight to Ottawa. Since I had bought a bottle of scotch the day before, I needed to check it in before I could board, so I put it into my satchel. At the gate, I saw many of the same people from the day before. After a few minutes, there was an announcement that the flight was delayed. After a few more minutes, the flight was canceled. I ran to the customer service counter and waited in another long line. When I finally talked to an agent, she said she could put me on standby for the next morning or give me a ticket for the next afternoon. I asked about Toronto or Montreal and she was thankfully able to put me onto an American Airlines flight to Toronto leaving at about noon. When I asked about my checked bags, she said that usually, if there is more that two hours (which there was) it should not be a problem.
After a delay and a short flight, I got into Toronto. Of course, my bags were not there... I shared a cab to Union Station with some other travelers in similar situations and we caught a train to Ottawa. I arrived home at about 11 on Tuesday night - more than two days late. My bags arrived on Sunday.
The next day I started working at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. I am in the Bilateral Relations Bureau, Southeast Asia and Pacific division, Association of Southeast Asian Nations desk.
DFAIT has been a mixed experience. On the one hand, it is populated by people who are very engaged in their jobs, who dress well, and who are knowledgeable about the world. On the other hand, the scope for analysis and creativity is limited. Like the Treasury Board, everything must move up the line of approvals before it can get done, although I suppose this is the nature of a bureaucracy. That said, I am very pleased with my file, and my work is often very interesting.
I have been snowboarding a lot. In the fall, Ashley, Brian, Shelford, and I got cheap season's passes to camp Fortune, a ski hill about 20 minutes from my house. Although Brian had never snowboarded before this season, he has really taken to it and now snowboards about 3-4 times per week. Since he has his own car, it has also been great for me because I get rides up all the time an have been averaging at least two times per week this season. The best part is that snowboarding is fun again. It was expensive in Vancouver, and most of my friends did not snowboard so I didn't go much. Without the practice, I didn't enjoy it as much as I do now that I am back in the swing of things. Snowboarding is probably one of the only things that has kept me going through this cold and snowy winter. That said, I am still looking forward to spring.
That is the general update. I will start posting in more detail soon as I will be posting more often.
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