Blogging From Toronto!

Finally got the Internet working in the hotel here (and some free time) so decided I’d make a quick post. The flight here was uneventful, which is always good. The only problem was that our bags took about 20 minutes to come out, so by the time I left the terminal, it was 12:30 AM EST. I called the number for the shuttle that had been arranged to pick the SA’s up, and they told me they stopped after midnight – so I had to call a cab.

I know Toronto is huge, but the roads always surprise me. Especially say, the 401, which has 8 lanes for each direction in places – its just nuts! And its not like the roads are empty either, there is so much traffic going in either direction, day and night just about.

My roommate for the trip is Ian, who is the SA in Winnipeg. He could not believe we already had snow in Edmonton…after all, he is from Winterpeg. We started at 8 AM this morning, so I asked Ian to wake me up at 7:30 when he went for breakfast – or else yes Dickson, I’d have slept long past the alarm! So that was like 6 AM Edmonton time that we started the meeting, just harsh. And the same thing tomorrow.

So far, the event has been kinda neat. Different than last year, but thats to be expected when you have three times the number of students involved. We got a really neat theSpoke backpack packed with some goodies, and a nice black leather Microsoft portfolio. The theme for the weekend has been the summer Olympics, so for the ice breaker today we each drew a sport and had to perform it for everyone. I got cycling…needless to say, my performance was anything but!

After the meetings today, we went to a place called Rinx for pizza and some fun (no Megan, we didn’t get to go to the game). Its a neat place with hockey rinks, laser tag, mini golf, and a game called WhirlyBall. Think of a cross between bumper cars, lacrosse, and basketball, and that is exactly what WhirlyBall is. You drive bumper cars and try to fire a small ball into a hole in the back of a basketball net using a lacrosse stick. It was actually kind of cool!

And I probably would have played more WhirlyBall, but Rinx also happened to have a sports bar, so Mike and I went to watch most of the first and the second period of the hockey game. We left around the time the third started, and when we got to the bar back at the hotel, OT was just starting. All I have to say is, Go Tampa Bay Go! And kudos to Luongo, came up big when we really needed him.

Tomorrow is a shorter day for the training, and it should be a little more relaxed, so I’ll post more tomorrow. For now, go check out theSpoke.net. I really, really would like your opinion on the site. If you like it, let me know. If you think it blows goats, I want to know that too (and tell me why). I personally think it has a long way to go, but I want some other opinions. Thanks!