Adventures in Travel

Today is a blue-sky, 70-degree, break-out-the-flipflops kind of day. Spring has finally arrived! I'm so excited to see crocuses, daffodils and tulips poking out of the ground.

Since blogging last, lots has happened. I haven't been avoiding writing it down, but it's been crazy. Now for some recapping...part 1.

I spent 3 days at a conference for work in Monterey, CA--our hotel was right next to In N Out (double double animal style, mmm) and I was in heaven! I schmoozed my butt off and was glad when it ended. As much fun as it is to get free pens (and free drinks), I hate having those fake conversations. It was gloriously exciting to hop on a plane and head home to Beautiful British Columbia.

Being at home was a whirlwind as usual, but so much fun. When I walked in the door, my dad wanted to show me some show he'd DVR'd about the Iditarod. Except it wasn't the Iditarod--it was the IDIOTAROD. And as the camera follows the insanity, who do they stop to interview? The Angry Whores!! I'm not in the segment (I think I was doing double dutch jump rope at that point) but Rachel explained our name to the masses. I'm definitely going to have to figure out how to get that on dvd and youtube!

The highlight of home was spending 3 days at Whistler. Having grown up on a ski season that ran from November to May (yes, May--in a t-shirt!), I've really missed skiing these past few years--nagging injuries and short visits home have kept me off the slopes. No more! I had two wonderful days of skiing in all conditions imaginable, from fog and light hail to dazzling sunshine. 25cm of fresh powder didn't hurt either! Neither did the chance to participate in the Fresh Tracks program--a breakfast buffet and chance to be on the mountain by 8am. My friend Mark and I burned through at least 7 runs before the rest of our group had even left the condo, and got some amazing shots of the view from the Peak.

Relaxing in the hot tub and going out in the Village were also fun. It was great to see all the changes that have been made in preparation for the Olympics, from highway improvements (finally!) to bleacher construction on the downhill ski course. I have to say, it's pretty cool to know that I've skied the same course that world-class athletes will compete on--just a tiny bit faster ;)

When I leave home after my all-too-short visits, I always wish I could stay longer. Be careful what you wish for! So began my odyssey...

When I went through American customs, the official sent me to secondary processing. I've never been sent there before, but in I went, trusting that all would be well. Silly me!

The woman in charge of the waiting room had the biggest Napoleon complex I've ever witnessed. Any attempt at a question was foiled. "Please ma'am, my flight is boarding" fell on deaf ears. She shushed Armani-suited businessmen as if they were schoolchildren. After informing me that I was not in "the system" (5 years, and it forgets me like that? Only 3 months after our last encounter?), she took me for extra processing. I am clearly a highly sketchy individual.

"Extra processing", which is a fancy term for standing in a different room with more stern-faced power-people, revealed that I was in the system after all. This did me no good considering my plane had taken off 10 minutes before, but was a comfort nonetheless. Thanks America, I knew you still loved me!

However, as Napoleon Woman handed back my paperwork, she gave me The Eye. Though the system had failed her and allowed my passage, she would have her revenge. As I turned to walk back out into the main terminal, she grabbed my shoulder and smiled like the sea witch Ursula in the Little Mermaid. "Oh no," she nearly purred."You can't go back that way. You have to go all the way around, through the terminal, and back through Canadian customs."

Airport security is a pain in the ass when there isn't even the consolation of a flight at the end. So is having to check your bags when you know damn well they aren't going anywhere! When I finally made it past the X rays, around the gates, and through the masses in the line, I was faced with a Canadian customs official who wanted to know where I had been. He could barely conceal his laughter when I told him I hadn't actually gone anywhere. "Man, you've had a worse day than I have!"

Yes.

It could have been worse--at least I had somewhere to stay in Vancouver! But I never want to spend 5 hours in an airport again unless I'm actually going somewhere. They're fun, but not that fun!

Side note: when I arrived at customs the next day for my rescheduled flight, I went through with no problems. It was smooth sailing until the Xray security agent told me I had been selected for "random searching". Of course. One full-body pat-down later, I was free and clear and on a non-stop flight to JFK.

Take that, USA. I'm baaaaaack :)

(update part 2 to follow)

I've been a bad blogger...I've been neglecting writing about things that I really wanted to talk about, like the awesome concert I went to last week. But I've been pretty occupied thinking about work and The Future...
Last week I had to tell HR that I didn't want to renew my visa with this company. HR said that was fine and I would just work til it expires in July, and they were surprisingly chill about it. However, they said I had to tell my boss ASAP and not wait till closer to that time. Because he was always in meetings or whatnot, I had to wait a day and a half and I was nervous the whole time. I mean, I effectively gave 4 month notice, which is a weird situation to be in. Will I be treated differently? Will I still be traveling to conferences? When will I have to start passing off my properties to coworkers? Does everyone know?

Now they're asking if I want to work in the India office for 4 months, and I have to admit, a tiny part of me is tempted--how many 22 year olds with a year of experience at the company get international postings? It would be an incredible experience to live abroad and it's something I plan on doing anyways...

On the flip side, I really want to stay in NY for the time being. It's an incredible city full of amazing people and there is so much left to explore. Plus I would miss the summer and half the fall rugby seasons! But really, the biggest reason is my desire to move on from my job in general--why spend 4 months in another country continuing something I don't find fulfilling?

It's really strange that I'm even feeling a little bit conflicted about this because I was totally set against it before. I still am, but I guess the wanderer in me is ready for some more exploring...

Post-holiday musings

Being random & list-ish today...

• Christmas at home was wonderful & I wish I didn't have to leave. I'm back in NY now (at work, on a very grey day), and I love the city, but for some reason I had the strongest feelings of homesickness yesterday...even before I left! And when I called my parents to say I got back here safely, I almost teared up. So strange, haven't felt like that since freshman year...it's probably partly because of the short break (only home for 4 days!), but all day yesterday I couldn't get Led Zep out of my head. There's a feeling I get, when I look to the west, and my spirit is crying for leaving...
• On the upside, I flew Cathay Pacific for the first time and DAMN I love them. Free (and delicious!) food, free (and stiff!) drinks, plus personal TVs with great movie selections--watched Superbad, Mulan, Pretty Woman, Transformers (yeah, I admit it), and A Mighty Heart. New favourite airline....too bad they don't fly domestically!
• 2 day workweeks should be the norm.
• Boxing Day should really be a holiday in the US. Seriously. "Day after Christmas Sale" just sounds stupid. Also, an extra day off would be cool :)
• Apparently Nalgenes might leach chemicals...there have been mentions of this for a while now, but Health Canada just got involved and I think recent studies have shown that it might be serious. Mountain Equipment Co-op (basically a Canadian REI, aka, a playground for me!) won't sell them anymore, which is a pretty big step for them to take seeing as they're incredibly big sellers. I need to look into this more, but for now, my nalgenes are on the shelf...
• I guess it's time to think about goals for the new year...slash, plans for NYE :) And maybe do some work?

Happy belated Boxing Day! Hope everyone is having great times :)

Homeward Bound...

On Monday I was informed that while there would be no more layoffs in the immediate future, I (along with 6 others) would be transferred from my department to Real Estate. Um, ok, not exactly anything I have ever expressed interest in...but so far it hasn't been too bad, mainly like school. Lectures & sitting in on conference calls CONSTANTLY. The only real drawback so far is that my email/gchat/blogging/etc time has been seriously cut down :) I don't know how I will like it once I actually start doing stuff, but for now it's just kind of like college again. We shall see how things go...


But now it's time to go sit in on another call to a developer...we have to be very quiet so they don't realize we're all listening, which is tough when some of them start talking about the most random stuff...I'll post about the pigeon whisperer soon!


I can't wait for this afternoon, when I can escape and fly HOME!! and see my family & friends, most of whom I haven't seen since June. Mom & Dad emailed me last night (subject line: "ONE MORE SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"--and I'm not kidding about the number of exclamation points). I love getting those emails :) Can't wait to walk off the plane and wake up to this:


<3 home!


Safe travels to everyone and good luck to anyone else navigating planes, trains and automobiles tonight!

Hardware, baby!

It's December. It's snowing outside in NY. So it seems hard to believe that 24 hours ago, I was in 90 degree sunshine in Trinidad!

What an incredible weekend. Along with 4 of my NYRC teammates, I represented the Atlantis women's side at the Carib Beer International Rugby 7s Tournament. I was a bit nervous about playing with people I had just met, but hey--I did that at Saranac and look where it got me :) But everyone was really cool and we got along well right off the bat--we weren't at the hotel for more than 15 minutes before we were all in the pool playing an intense, full-contact game of water polo (and by full contact, I mean all-out, wrestle-the-ball-away, tickling allowed, dunking encouraged)! Hilarious.

Our hotel--the Royal Palm Suites--was surrounded by all the important amenities: a grocery store, a drug store (which had its grand opening while we were there--free gift bags for all, score!), an ATM, an adult-entertainment store (sadly, no free gift bags ;)) and not one, but TWO dance clubs. Our beds were literally vibrating from the bass every night. We also took over the pool and I think the couple that were looking for a romantic vacation there weren't too happy to see us around...25 rugby people with beer, songs, skits, and ceremonies apparently didn't fit into their plans!

Trinidad itself was gorgeous and we got to see a bit of it, between our walks to & from practice on Thursday & Friday and our drive out to Maracas Beach on Friday afternoon. At the beach we played in the big waves and had a blast playing touch football, and got to try a famous local dish, bake & shark. It's basically fried shark on a bun with whatever toppings you want--I went with tomatoes and cucumbers and it was amazing, the perfect beach food. It was such a good way to relax and enjoy ourselves and get loosened up after two hot days of practice, and get ready for the games!

Our jersey ceremony on Friday night was so cool. I've never been part of anything like it before. The coaches and captains said something about each player before announcing their position and handing out the jerseys--I was wearing #5 as flyhalf (although being Atlantis, we wore Roman numerals, so I was V). I'd played FH for half a game at NY 7s, and was really excited to play some more! Everyone kept talking about Emil and how badly we all wanted to play well because he built Atlantis and we had to represent it well, even though he wasn't there this year. I think it brought us all back to the reason we were really there and got us all focused for the games the next morning.

The games themselves were awesome. I think it took us some time to settle down and get used to each other, because we started out pretty flat and lost our first game. But once we got started...man, was it pretty. Lara was stiff-arming girls all over the field and choo-choo-ing her way into the try zone over and over. Mira, Rosie, Cupcake and Jess were burning everyone on the outside. XL (our scrummy) was dummying and juking all over the place, powering her way through the defensive lines. JD & Emily were poaching machines at every ruck & maul! Sarah (our captain) kept us all focused and encouraged, and set up some amazing plays. After that first game, we shut out every team we played--including the first team when we played them again in the final! It was a great game, with all of us coming through and playing to our strengths. JD had a beautiful try when the other team had the ball in their own try zone--we were in the middle of a maul where I held the girl up so she couldn't touch the ball down for a 22 drop out, and JD drove in, ripped it from her hands, and dived in to score right on the line. Gorgeous! I also had a blast playing sweeper and working on my defense and my tackling (which has never been one of my strongest points...). Right at the end a girl broke our line and I took her down and was so proud of myself. I knew we had collided, but I didn't realize how hard--it wasn't until 2 plays later, when the whistle had blown and I running towards my teammates to celebrate, that I realized blood was running down my face! So in half the post-game photos, I have a tampon up my nose :) But I didn't really care because WE WON!

WE WON. Hardware was our motto for the weekend, it was what we wanted and what we had come for. Atlantis has such a history everywhere and especially at this tournament, and we didn't want to let that history (or Emil) down. We had such a blast celebrating...first at the field, with pictures and pyramids and drinking out of the trophy (which was so heavy, someone had to help you raise it), and then with the rookie skit (which was hilarious, if I may say so myself!) and then at the tournament party. It was at this great outdoor bar with a crazy playlist and so many people...so much fun. We closed down the party and left the dance floor pretty much empty when our team went back to our hotel and a bunch of us spent most of the night chilling in the pool, looking at the stars and talking about random stuff...

So many stories, so much fun, and so many great people--I probably forgot tons of stuff and will add it on as more pictures are sent out! Also, so many new facebook friends (especially since we helped a few teammates join and set up profiles while we were down there)! I love rugby and tours and the amazing people you meet...It's such an amazing sport that way. Gotta love it!

Potpourri weekend

This weekend was so much fun and involved many varied aspects of my life, which was kind of cool. It started with turkey comas, running and Cranium with a group of college friends up in Sleepy Hollow (where I think I ate about 239879 mandarin oranges...christmas season has begun!), which was an incredibly relaxing experience. It ended with a 6am train ride back to the city to work in the store on Black Friday, which was insane but I met Kevin from Project Runway! On Saturday NYRC hosted the annual 7s tournament, in which I was coaching the U19 boys and playing for the women. I was so excited to get a chance to play, especially since this was my first time playing 7s that wasn't a PUWRFC alumni game--so basically, the first time I played sober ;) Z and I were the only rookies and in the second pool game, we both scored! We may have been jumping up and down like 5-year-olds...maybe. Unconfirmed. It was a very exciting day--our U19 girls won their championship! I was so proud of them...

The tournament party was ridiculous. I worked the door, taking tickets and charging admission and getting to meet everyone in the process. It was great fun getting to meet players from all over the world--many from the UK and Canada, but a few from other random places. I got myself into a bit of trouble talking to some guys from Montreal--they were saying how great they were at chugging, and didn't believe me that our boat race team could beat them "because you're girls!" Being my competitive self, I shot my mouth off and they challenged us. Am I even on the team? No! So I had to run downstairs and find Buss and explain to her that the Montreal men wanted to race and I had just talked a lot of shit and would she please come save my ass? Needless to say, our team dominated :)

Sunday was very interesting. I went down to Brooklyn to meet a group of teammates for brunch and a session with Lee Knight, an NYRC alum who has a business consulting overachievers. It was really interesting and got me really thinking about what I'm doing with my life and what I would like to change about it. We did a mix of individual work, partner discussions, and group sharing, and I think it was really helpful. I came up with a few ideas I'll be working on....I think my dream of throwing my life in a backpack and working my way around New Zealand will actually happen--right after Christmas 2008 seems like a great time, since I'd like to be there in the summer. As for this summer, I think I will either try to do research or maybe work at Blairstown or something...yep, still TBA, but I'm thinking. After the session I went up to the Bronx to hang out with Londie (who was my partner in the discussions) and Rachel, and we kept talking about our options and different ideas. We agreed that we both felt somewhat overwhelmed--not necessarily in a bad way, just that there are so many options and we want to try lots, but that's kind of difficult. Especially with all these stupid visa rules in the way! Ugh. Anyways, it was great food for thought and it was awesome to talk through so much with Londie.

And I also realized I should blog more often so these are not all life update posts. Perfect timing for that idea too, since I'll be flying to Trinidad tomorrow (!!!!!!!!) and won't be back till Monday. I am SO EXCITED to spend the next 5 days playing rugby and chilling on the beach and exploring the island with Rosie, Mira, Lara & Jenny and a whole bunch of new teammates! Cheers to a tan in December--it's 88 degrees there right now!