On your marks, get set, wait...

The day didn't start too well. I'd planned to get up at a decent time to give myself plenty of time to clean up the apartment and leave things in order before heading to the airport just after noon. Unfortunately I managed to sleep until 10:30, so it turned into a bit of a rush out the door. Never mind though, still made it to the airport on time and found the lonely little check-in stand used by the shady operation that is Globespan. Then the news.... Our flight which was supposed to leave at 3:25 PM was delayed until 11:59 PM. 11:59 PM? The time sounds suspicious to me. It sounds like the time they assign it when they really don't know when it will leave but they know it will be very late. This is what you get for $309. Stay tuned to find out if we get off...

The Adventure Begins Tomorrow

Tomorrow afternoon I will board my flight with my friends Brian McFadden and Face Graham. I hope that soon there will be many stories of adventure to share, so keep checking here to get more.

And yes, I am now officially an engineer!

Five Years in the Making

I am in Vancouver right now. I got in last night and will be here until
next Saturday. Tuesday is the day that I thought would never come, my
graduation. I am not sure how I will feel, but I do know that I still
can't believe this is happening.

Thoughts on Utah

This is actually now my third trip to the state of Utah but this time I've had some time to sit down and think a bit. Firstly, Utah is culturally a different place. It has its own heritage, history and values which, as most people know, are influenced by the Church of Latter Day Saints.

The first think that has struck me around here is the age of families. I had my hair cut and the hairdresser told me she was planning on waiting until she was twenty five to get married, but she only made it to nineteen. She is not the exception. I walk out of my parents' house in the morning and see guys my age, walking out of houses the own, and loading several kids into the car. There is not necessarily anything wrong with this, in fact I find it refreshing to see such respect for the institution of marriage, but it has really made me think about my life. I am happy with my life. I am not ready to have kids. Good for them.

The second thing which has struck me is what driving is like. People around here are really nice. They are pleasant and helpful, but put some of the behind the wheel and it is a different story. Some places I have been (and maybe where I live...) have unskilled drivers, but drivers here are mean. I do not want to stereotype, but the average meanes is definitely higher. Add this to left turn only lanes with no markers (you are supposed to know what they are based on the fact that they don't line up with a lane across the intersection) and the fact that streets within the same town centre can have speed limits 30 mph apart, and driving here can be an experience. If you don't believe me, check out the Utah Driver's Handbook where it actually says "being courteous won't kill you". I do want to add that I do not consider myself a perfect driver and would be open to hearing what Utahans think of me...

I have one more (hot) week in this place, then back to Vancouver for a week, then on to Europe. Stay tuned.

Vegas Vacation

Hey everyone!

I am still down in Utah (been here for a week now) but my family and made the drive down to Las Vegas last weekend. It was my first time there bringing my total number of US States I've been in up to 20 (I think). I wasn't sure what I would think of Vegas. Non of my family are gamblers, in I may be the only one who has ever set foot in a casino before (River Rock). Not knowing much about the place, we made reservations at a place about 10 minutes from the strip, The Boulder Inn Hotel and Casino.



This provided one of my first lessons in Vegas culture. I will begin by saying that the place was nice. The rooms was up-to-date, mostly clean and spacious, and the rates were good. Three things stood out to me about the place in general though. Firstly, it stank. Smoking was allowed throughout the gaming floor. Secondly, the place was filled with very gimmicky deals on food and what not. Lastly, nobody seemed to be having fun. After visiting the strip and walking around far too many places there I realized why the environment there was so different. See, the strip itself seems to attract more and more vacationers. The people come for the Vegas experience, gamble a bit but also shop and take in a show. Sure there are still some serious gamblers there, but it is much more vacation oriented. Once off the strip you get the old Grandma with here bucket of quarters whose sole purpose in being there is to try and beat the house... all day. Anyway, lesson learned.

The strip itself is amazing and I really enjoyed just walking around. If you've never been it is an experience. I have to be honest though, I don't know whether to applaud it as a remarkable achievement of capitalism, or condemn it for the many activities which go on there which I disagree with. Moral objections aside, it is still an amazing place to see and hag out at. Probably to me the most impressive place in terms of shock value was New York New York. I can't imagine how much it cost to recreate the New York skyline like that. Overall though I think the most breathtaking was the Luxor. What I didn't realize was that all the rooms face onto the outside of the pyramid, so when you are in the foyer, it is basically hollow. I found it awesome to look at.





While we were there we went and saw Phatom, which is a 95 minute Vegas version of The Phantom of the Opera. I have to say I was impressed. It's amazing what you can do when you have a theatre purposely built for one production. If you have a chance to see it is is visually stunning. Word is they spent $5 million on the chandelier alone which should give you some idea (it has four parts, 32 axis of rotation and each piece can be swung around the whole theatre).

In closing this was a great experience. For those wondering, I did spend $1 on a slot, but that was it. In fact the only reason I did was because my mom wanted to try one and had no change.

One last note, for those who don't think Vegas has something for everyone, I leave you with this picture. That's right, gambling on Beer Pong.

Stay Tuned

The blog is almost ready to go so watch for a post on my trip to Las Vegas.