Is this a sign?
My car temporarily broke down the other day, and now one of my tires is slowly deflating because I somehow managed to run over what looks like a piece of a wire hanger? I noticed a hissing sound as I got out of my car, and sure enough there's a piece of wire sticking out of my tire, letting out all the air. ARGH!! Great. Like I need this right now?!? And of course, I can't replace it with my spare tire because I already used when one of my other tires went flat, and I haven't had a chance to repair the flat tire. Basically, I need a whole new set of tires.

Hmmm, either this is a sign that I'm not supposed to be driving or I need a new car...

Ice cream season has finally started...
Well, we've had some pretty good weather for the past couple of weeks, but I'm officially starting ice cream season today. And today's flavor was mint chocolate chip. Yum!

Blog Slacker
Yes I know, I've been a blog slacker. But with the schedule that I have, who has the time to sit down in front of the computer and blog? I suppose I could blog while I'm at work, but that's a bit difficult when you share your office with your supervisor. Anyway, what's happened in the last 13 days? Well, I ...

• went to a wedding
  
• did nothing
  
• worked 11 hours
  
• worked half day (since I worked 11 hours the day before)
  
• had español class
  
• went tanning (session 5)
  
• went swimming and swam the length of the pool, with the help of a life jacket =P (our instructor wanted us to get comfortable in the deep end with life jackets first, before we learn to swim without them - that's next swimming class...)
  
• went out with Irma Friday (walked on Whyte), Saturday (Niki's party at the Druid), and Sunday (walked through the trails along the river valley) (it's been a long time since we've done that)
  
• went to a BBQ Sunday night
  
• had a quiet evening and rented Gacy and Antwone Fisher
  
• went tanning (session 6)
  
• had español class again
  
• went tanning (session 7); and went shopping with Irma and Irene (all I bought was a couple pairs of socks =P).

OK, so now I'm updated. Hopefully, I won't have to wait another 13 days to update this...

In other news...
Weather has been pretty nice so far. If it would warm up just a couple of degrees, it'll be perfect.

My car temporarily broke down yesterday. There was gas in the car, I had my oil changed a few weeks ago, so I'm not really sure what happened. My supervisor took a look at it and said that it could be that my fuel filter is dirty? Ugh. I really don't want to put anymore money into this vehicle for repairs. I think it's time to look for another vehicle...

Random Thought
Why is it that when someone you haven't seen in a while, calls/emails you to get together, other people you haven't seen in a while want to get together as well? Don't get me wrong, I like hanging out with these people, but trying to coordinate going out for coffee/lunch/etc. around spanish/swimming/softball/etc. is a bit tough. *sigh* Oh to be wanted... (hehehehe =P)

Tanning - Session 4
After my third session, I realized 10 minutes is way too long to be in the tanning booth. I didn't think it would be too bad since I went in for 7 minutes a couple days ago. But by the 8.5 minute mark, I thought my skin was going to peel off. So this time I went for 8 minutes, which wasn't so bad. I think it's the right amount of time to be in the booth, and I have to say I'm getting some color.

Random Thought
What is with the obsession with color? Sure, I'm participating in this whole obsession, but I don't think I'm as bad as some people. I've seen people, who go to the same salon as I do, who are pretty much black. Which does not look good at all. To make an analogy, she was one burnt piece of toast. For me, I just want to get enough color to give me that "golden brown" tan, without looking fake.

Beer
I'm actually having a beer. Corona to be precise. I'm not a beer drinker, but I felt like having a drink and I didn't want to have hard liquor. I could've had some wine but that would make me sleepy. Plus, my friend is visiting and I heard drinking makes things flow better... =P

Where have I been?
Yeah I know, it's been a while. So what's happened since my last post?

Weather watch
The snow melted some time last week, and the weather is getting a bit better. Although lately it hasn't been as warm as it should be. Right now temperatures are in the low to mid-teens with a light wind, thus creating a cooler-than-norm weather pattern. I suppose it's better than snow, but why can't it be warmer?

Español 200
Last week's class was a good one in that I was forming sentences like a pro. OK, maybe not quite a pro, but I was putting in some good effort. Tonight's class was not bad. It took me a while to figure out what was going on because I was late for class, and I wasn't too sure what they were doing. Later on, it all made sense. I'm still not reviewing as much as I should be. Hmmm, maybe I'll do that this long weekend?

Swimming 101
Had my fourth class in which we practiced on what we learned so far, and worked on the front crawl using the 1-2-3 count. Our instructor gave us a brief run down on what to expect in the next few classes and eventually, she wants us to swim a lap. Hmmm, I don't know if I'll be ready for that…


X-Men 2
I saw X-Men 2 with Louise and Merry. The movie was pretty good, and it was nice to see Louise and Merry again. We went to BP's afterwards, but I wasn't too impressed with being called into work to fix a problem. Ugh! I'm not liking the fact that I'm accessible. I suppose I didn't have to answer the phone, but then I'd hear about it at work anyway, so I might as well "save the day".



Tanning
I've started tanning. I know, I don't need a tan since I have a natural one, but I wanted to get a base tan going. As hard as it may be to believe, it takes me a while to get a tan going during the summer. And once I finally do get some color, summer's already over. Plus, I wanted to try it out…

Day Off
I had the day off on Tuesday, and of course it meant me running around. In no particular order, I

picked up some tanning lotion

put air in my tires, filled up on gas

went for lunch

did a bit of shopping – both for myself (I was looking for a bathing suit and couldn't fine one where both pieces fit. And if I did, it was way too expensive), and for a wedding (thank goodness they're registered which makes it easier in the sense that you know they'll like and/or need it)

cleaned a bit

went tanning

had dinner

watched The Hot Chick

So in nutshell, that's what I've been up to…

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow...
It's May 6th and we're still getting snow. ARGH! Just when I rotated my closet, I have to go dig out the turtlenecks again. It's times like these when I wish I was somewhere warmer...

Swimming 101
I had my third swimming class on Friday night. So far, I've learned the front glide, side glide, front crawl, front float, back float, and back stroke. We seem to be picking up the pace on learning new strokes, which is good in a way because it changes things up a bit. But at the same time, being the perfectionist that I am, I don't feel like I've "mastered" the strokes. I guess the instructor wants us to get a feel for all these strokes, and then work on "mastering" them later. I suppose that makes sense.

Wedding #1
It was Grace & Rohan's wedding on Saturday. The ceremony was held at the Citadel Theatre with the reception to follow at the Delta. I was assigned the role of usher, and helped Jo Anne with cuing the bridesmaids as they walked down the aisle. It was kinda funny because some of the girls were a bit anxious to get going so they'd kind of "jerk", but it was all good. I'm not sure if it was because they were a bit nervous or what, but I tried to make it a bit fun by giving them the "one… two… three…go…" Once everyone made it to the altar, Jo Anne, Irene and I sat off to the side to watch the ceremony. The only problem was, I don't really know what was going on. The photographer/videographer were right in front of us, and we couldn't really move so I didn't really get the whole ceremony. After the ceremony, everyone did a "victory lap" around the theatre, and the people downstairs (who were attending a conference or something) were applauding them.

Once that was over, Jo Anne, Irene and I headed to the Delta to do the final touches to the decorating, except for one minor thing – the room wasn't set up yet. OK, don't panic. We waited around for a little while and decided to go home and get changed, and then meet back a little later, since there wasn't much that we could do.

We met back at the Delta at around 4:45 pm to do the last-minute-decorating. But then we ran into another snag – some of the labels from the flags came off, so we didn't know which flag belonged to which country (sidenote: their theme was places they've travelled to, so they had a different flag for each table). Again, don't panic. We turned it into a game by asking guests a trivia question as they walked in. Thank goodness, we got it figured out before the bridal party entered the room. As the bridal party was being introduced, I had to direct the junior bridesmaid and groomsmen to their table as they walked around the reception area. Then we had dinner, a few speeches, some games, and then some dancing. It was a fun evening. But at the end of the night, I only came out of there with one photo, providing that it turns out. Talk about photo withdrawal. Oh well, hopefully I can some copies from someone else's camera. I have to say, even though I didn't do too much as far as helping out, I was exhausted by the end of the night. [Mental note: Get a wedding planner. Either that, or elope - it's probably much simpler. (hehehe)]

What day is it??
For the past week or so, I haven't been able to keep track of the days. Wednesday felt like Thursday. Thursday felt like Friday. And based on the trend, it should feel like Saturday today. But it doesn't. And it doesn't feel like Friday either. I'm confused. I think I need a vacation...

Herman Miller
My boss recently got an Aeron chair. And since he's going out of town for a week, he's letting me use it. I know, what's the big deal about this chair? Well, it's really really comfortable. And... it's just really comfortable. [I know, I'm a dork. =P]

I finally got some sleep!
Yay! After work on Saturday, I had a quick bite to eat, watched a bit of Sniper 2, and took a nap. After about an hour and a half or so, I watched a bit of tv, and went back to sleep. The rest of the day weekend pretty much followed the same pattern (yup, it continued on into Sunday as well): wake up, watch movie, sleep. And somewhere in between all of that, I had something to eat. What a better way to spend the weekend. I haven't done this in a long time.

Español 200 - 1st class
New class, different classroom (which I don't like because it's not as "cozy" as the other one), and only 10 people are in this class (8 of whom were in my level 1 class). Since we have the same instructor, we did a brief review on the last unit of level 1, and continued on with the new material. In this class we learned how to ask and tell time (¿Que horas es?), as well as study the verbs querer and ser. And of course, the class ended with a song. I wonder if he does this to help us learn the language, or as an entertainment thing?

Laundry
Yup, I did more laundry. Even though it seemed like a lot, it really wasn't (only 3 loads - and they were all pretty small). Now if only I can get to my ironing...

Stagette
[Sidenote: I have had no sleep since Thursday]
Last night was Grace's (Irma's sister) stagette. My brother and I went to the usual to watch the hockey game, and the rest of the girls met us there later. Once the girls got there, a few of them were wearing their "theme" shirts, which meant I had to put mine on. We had a couple drinks, and went on our tour of Whyte Ave.

Highlights:
• "pickle"
  
• "can't hear you"
  
• revenue = $25

Happy Easter!
[Sidenote: I still did not get much sleep]
My family and I had brunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousin at Café Lacombe in Crowne Plaza Hotel. We met at 10:30 am and I was starving. The food was not bad, and I was able to sample most of it. I made sure to make room for dessert. ;-) One thing I thought was really cool, was this harp made of chocolate. Hmmm, do you think they'd notice if I walked out of here with that?. After brunch, we went home and I went straight to sleep, since I haven't slept since Thursday. I can't remember how long I was out for, but it was a long nap. I felt much better afterwards.

Oh, and before I forget...
Happy Belated Birthday Bern!!

Español 100 - Lesson 12: Final Class
We spent about an hour in class finishing off the material, and at the end we got our certificates for completing the course. Since there were only 6 of us in class (7 including the instructor), we continued the class at this mexican restaurant where we had some food, and a cerveza or 2 (I had sangria). We hung out there for a while, and then out of nowhere, my instructor pulls out his guitar? I had no idea he brought it with him, so I was a bit surprised. So there we were - all 7 of us singing spanish songs in the middle of this restaurant. A couple of people were kinda looking at us weird, but it was all good. We sang La Bamba, Guantanamera, and 3 other songs (I don't remember the titles).

Now that I've completed the course, I have to say that it was a good class. I can't really say that I've learned a lot, which is my own fault for not reviewing the material, but I enjoyed it. I've also signed up for level 2 with the same instructor, so that should be a good class as well. I should probably read over what I've learned so far before next week...

Random Thought
Have you ever noticed that when a class is nearing the end, the number of students attending gradually diminishes? Our spanish class started out with about 20 people, and ended with 6. Maybe it's because it's a non-credit course, so those that don't finish the course don't really care. But if you took that class, wouldn't you want to finish it? I mean, the whole point of taking the class was to learn conversational spanish. So does that mean that all those students who "dropped out" learned it in less time than everyone else? Or perhaps, spanish just wasn't for them?

Finally, a day off...
With the exception of my mini vacation to Philadelphia, the last time I took a day off was in December. And as usual, the day was jam-packed with stuff to do. I left the house by 9:30 am, and my first stop was to pick up some office supplies. Then it was off to my doctor's appointment for my annual physical (gotta love those - NOT!). After the doctor's, I went to the motor vehicle registration office to get another driver's license. The next stop was a medical clinic (actually, it's more of a lab), so they could do a blood/urine test, since there isn't a lab in my doctor's office. By this time, it was about noon so I went home to get a quick bite to eat, before heading out to my hair appointment. Then I had my hair appointment (for a trim), and headed back to the mall to drop off some drycleaning. Of course, while I did that, I ended up shopping. At first I wasn't really in the mood to shop, but then I saw these black capris, and since I don't have a pair of black ones, I bought them - along with another pair of capris and a tank top. I know I shouldn't be shopping right now, but I couldn't help it. They were on sale and the last one in my size! =P After the mall, I decided to drop off the office supplies I bought earlier, at the office. I know, it's my day off and I shouldn't be at the office. But it was the end of the day anyway, so I knew they were getting ready to shut down. Besides, I was getting a bit hungry, and I remembered that we had cake and ice cream in the fridge (what an excuse!). For a day off, it sure seems like a full day of work.

Random Thought
Is a day off really a "day off"? I mean, sure you get a day off from work, but when you end up running around doing errands, it doesn't seem like a day off. Shouldn't a "day off" be a day where you just stop and veg out at home and do absolutely nothing? I suppose it's up to you if you decide to do stuff on your day off or not. I guess what I'm getting at is, a day off isn't really a "day off", but rather a "day to do other things besides work" - things that you normally wouldn't be able to do during the week because you work. Does that make sense?

Clean, clean, clean
My agenda for today was to clean out my closet. And that I did. I took almost everything out of my closet and sorted it out according to (i) stuff I don't wear, (ii) stuff I need to dryclean, and (iii) stuff I need to wash. You don't really realize how much clothes you have until you actually empty out your closet. I had clothes which I had drycleaned about a year and a half ago, which I haven't worn since then, and they don't fit me anymore. After I had everything sorted out, I started to do some laundry. I think I did about 6 loads (because of the different types of loads), and I'm still not completely done. And while I was doing my laundry, I went through my shoes. I cleaned/sprayed/protected shoes which needed to be cleaned/sprayed/protected, and rotated the fall/winter stuff with the spring/summer stuff. It was a lot of work and I even got a workout out of it from running up and down the stairs between the laundry room and my room.

Shoe Inventory - Final Count
The results are in. I have 44 pairs of shoes. Why is the final count lower than what was previously estimated? I either (a) haven't worn them in a long time, (b) they're out of style, or (c) they're worn out. So there you have it. You should receive a full "report" via email. [Disclaimer: final results were tabulated and verified by the accounting firm of MMSF =P]

The week in review...

Tuesday - went to the gym.
Wednesday - watched co-workers play their final soccer game. Unfortunately they lost 4-5. :-(
Thursday - went to the gym.
Friday - I signed up for swimming and had my first lesson. There were only 3 of us in the class (me, Gabriella, and Cola (sp?)), which was good. The other 2 had some experience in the water before, and they were in it to improve their strokes. Seeing as I've never been swimming, I was starting from scratch. I have to say I think it went OK. I blew bubbles out my nose and learned the front float. I'm determined to learn how to swim and ultimately I want to be able to do laps.

Lost my driver's license
I just realized I lost my driver's license. The last time I had it, it was in the back pocket of my jeans. But when I went to get it, it wasn't there. I figure I lost it sometime on Thursday.

Home again
I'm actually home again on a Saturday night because (i) I don't feel like going out, and (ii) I don't have my ID, therefore I won't be able to get in anywhere. Oh well.

Español 100 - Lesson 11
Even though my classes are usually on Wednesdays, I decided to go to tonight's class instead. Partly because I'm watching a couple co-workers of mine play soccer on Wednesday, so I altered my schedule. But getting to class was a bit of an adventure. I had emailed my instructor earlier this morning about an idea for our last class. He had mentioned that perhaps we could have the class outside of the classroom, like at a restaurant or at someone's house or something. So I suggested that we go to this mexican restaurant, since it'll kinda have a spanish theme to it. Plus, they make really good sangria! ;-) But I'm digressing. Anyway, I also asked my instructor if I could sit in on tonight's class, since I wouldn't be able to make it on Wednesday. He said that was fine and gave me the room number where they met (they're in a different classroom than we are). So as usual, I parked my car in the parkade (had a bit of trouble with the parking thing - it wouldn't give me a ticket), and headed to class. Problem #1: the room number he gave me was for the general office of one of the departments. Uh OK? So I went down to the registrar's office to ask them for the room number. Problem #2: apparently there's some kind of privacy act thing that they can't give out that information. So they sent me to security, and told me to ask them for the room number, so that they could escort me to the classroom, and verify with the instructor that I am supposed to be in that class. When I got to security, the lady just gave me the room number. Problem #3: she gave me the wrong room number. So I went all the way back down to security to get the right room number. And finally I got the right one and made it to class - 10 minutes late.

I was a bit surprised to see that there were only 7 people in class (compared to our class of about 20). But I joined in and I have to say that this class was dull. Not so much spanish, but the people in the class. They weren't lively at all. But I made it through class, and we finished the rest of the material we had to go through. ¿Hay un banco por aqui? Está a dos calles. I'm looking forward to Level 2, which I signed up for last week.

Quick Return Nevermind
I mailed my tax return April 1st, and got my refund check in the mail today. Woo hoo! Talk about quick turn around time. It's not much, but at least I don't owe any money. Wait a minute, it's actually my GST check. Oops. I guess I got a bit excited when I saw the government envelope. I thought it'd be a bit soon to get my tax refund back, but I guess it was wishful thinking.

Reminder to self
Sign up for swimming ASAP (since classes start at the end of the week).

I think I'm hearing things...
I can hear music, but I don't know where it's coming from. At first I thought the radio in the kitchen was on, but I checked, and it's off. It kinda sounds like it's coming from outside. Maybe it's coming from the neighbors? Or maybe it's just time for me to go to sleep...

Mission Accomplished
We (being me and the other bridesmaids) found our dresses for my brother's wedding. Yay! I'm so glad we were able to find dresses that we all liked. The weird part was, we found the dresses in the first store we went to. How's that for luck?! At first we put the dresses on hold, just in case we happened to find something in another store, since these dresses were a "final sale". After walking around, we all decided to go with our first choice. Once we got our dresses, we looked around for shoes and purses. We didn't find anything, but we still have a bit of time before the wedding. My biggest concern was finding these dresses. But now that that's out of the way, I can concentrate on my next assignment: getting ideas for the wedding since Laura (Shelley's sister) and I are emcee-ing the event. That should be interesting... ;-)

I'm noticing...
...that the past couple of posts have been either on Tuesday or Thursday. Have I, or am I, that busy. Or maybe I just don't have anything interesting to talk about. Or maybe I do have something interesting to talk about, but forget about it. But then it wouldn't be interesting now would it? =P

Español 100 - Lesson 10
I really need to review my spanish more. I'm starting to forget some things. And we only have 2 classes left. Then Level 2 starts (which I still have to sign up for). We're still working on units 4 & 5, learning how describe things based on their proximity to each other (la izquierda, la derecha, enfrente, etc.).

Other observations:
• my instructor shaved his head
  
• my instructor always seems to be wearing blue socks
  
• my class seems to be getting smaller and smaller as the course is ending

What's wrong with this picture?
It's April 1st and we're still getting a bit of snow. Just when everything was starting to melt too. Hopefully this is the last of it...

Productive morning
Even though I didn't get into the office until 11:20 am, I still had quite a productive morning - booked my annual physical; finished my tax return; dropped off camera to be fixed; booked hair appointment; and looked into taking swimming lessons (yes, I'm finally going to learn!).

And it looks like I'm going to have a busy evening as well - go to the gym after work; run some errands; do laundry; and maybe start on spring cleaning my closet.

Español 100 - Lesson 9
We did quite a bit tonight and I feel like I'm a bit behind. I haven't been reviewing the material as much as I'd like, simply because I don't make time for it. Tonight's class focused on how to ask about someone's identity; describe people, places, and weather; and how to greet and introduce people. And as usual we ended the class singing yet another song, except that I don't remember what it's about?

After talking to a few people in class, we figured that we do have 3 more classes left. And after talking to the instructor, he suggested that the last class should be a pot-like type of thing, where we'd just hang out and practice what we've learned. I'm not too sure if that's a good idea or not, but whatever.

[Reminder to self: sign up for level 2 spanish soon!]

And now for the re-cap of my Philadelphia trip...(warning: this is a long post)
THURSDAY
I did some last minute shopping and picked up what I needed. I didn't bother going to the bank, since I could just take money out of the ATM there. Irma and Joi picked me up and drove me to the airport. They hung out with me until it was time for me to board the plane. Irma and Joi decided to get something to eat, and as we were sitting there I realized i did forget something - Jenn's address and directions on how to get there from the airport. Ugh. But it was no big deal. I just called my brother and asked him to relay the directions to me, since they were on the internet.

When it was time for me to go, Irma and Joi left. As I went through the security gate to get checked, I was a bit surprised when they asked me to take off my belt. I mean, I remember wearing this belt when I travelled before, and it wasn't a big problem then. But I guess with this whole war thing in Iraq, security has to be tighter. [Mental note: do not wear belt when travelling]. After I passed through security, I went to the waiting area and waited until we had to board the plane.

As I was sitting there, one of the cleaning staff was cleaning around me, and as she passed by she gave me the 'evil eye' as if to suggest that I'm in her way. Uh hello, why can't you wait until the people have boarded the plane before you start cleaning? What was also really annoying were these university students with cowboy hats. I'm not sure why they were wearing them, but I guess they were on some kind of field trip which required them to wear cowboy hats. Anyway, they were a bit loud while we were waiting to board the plane, and all I could think about was that these guys better sleep on the plane. By this time, I was getting tired and cranky so I just wanted to get on the plane and go to sleep.

But do you think I was able to get some sleep? Well, not as much as I'd like. Just when I was about to go into "deep sleep", the guy sitting next to me fell on top of me. Hmmm, maybe if he reclined his seat he wouldn't have fallen over? At some point, they were serving food, but I was way too tired so I skipped the meal.

FRIDAY
I made it into Toronto at around 6:30 am and waited for about an hour for my connecting flight to Philadelphia. I noticed a lot of people were glued to the TV, watching what was happening in Iraq. And if they were watching it, they were reading about it in the paper.

Random Thought
If this war wasn't happening right now in Iraq, what would these news channels be reporting? The latest bank robbery? Stock market updates? Sports highlights? Current gossip in the entertainment world? I think it's just war news overload. I realize it's their job to keep everyone up-to-date on what's going on, but I find they repeat things over and over again. I choose not to watch the news, simply because I find it too depressing. Maybe I should keep an ear open to at least have a rough idea on what's going on in the world, but I don't. I hardly watch the news (because I'm usually not home when it's on, or I'm watching something else), and I rarely read the paper. And even then, I just read the headlines and pick and choose which articles I want to read.

Anyway, since I didn't sleep that well on the flight to Toronto, I slept during the whole flight to Philadelphia. No one was sitting next to me, so I had no interruptions. Only problem was that the plane was really noisy because it was so small. So even though my eyes were closed, I could still hear what was going on. They served food as well, but I skipped it again.

I finally landed in Philadelphia at 9:00 am and took a cab to Jenn's place in Chestnut Hill. Once I got there, we talked for a while, had something to eat, and then took a nap because she worked the night before and I couldn't get some decent sleep on the plane. We had planned to nap for a couple hours, but ended up waking up 4 hours later. Oops.

Basketball Game
After our long nap, we got ready to got to First Union Center to watch the Sixers play Atlanta. We took the subway to the arena, but got there late because the bus was late. So we ended up missing the first quarter, but it was OK since there weren't that many people there at first. We weren't the only ones who were late, and we noticed that most of the people walked in during the second quarter. I guess the time to go to a basketball game is during the second quarter? We got to our seats and watched the second quarter. During half-time, we went to get a snack. I got a pretzel and a beer (which I got ID'd for) and Jenn got a pretzel and ice cream. We hung around the concourse level and watched this band play. We headed back to our seats once the third quarter was about to start. One thing I noticed is the energy in the building. It was a close game for the most part, and I found myself cheering for them, even though I'm not a big basketball fan. Unfortunately, the Sixers lost 105-114, but I'm glad that we went.

SATURDAY
We woke up bright and early at 8:00 am (which is equivalent to 6:00 am MST). The sun was out so it looked like it was going to be a good day. We had breakfast and got ready for the day. The first stop was The Gallery at Market East. Seeing as I haven't gone shopping since Christmas, it was a bit hard to get back into it. I tried to shop but couldn't find anything. The next stop was K-Mart to get batteries for my camera, since my batteries died before I even got on the plane. I figured if I get something that I need, then maybe it would trigger the 'shopping bug' in me. But it didn't. :-(

The next stop was Liberty Bell. We had to listen to a 5-minute speech on the history of it, and then we were able to take pictures. I'm glad we went to the Liberty Bell and skipped Independence Hall, because when we came out there was a huge line of people waiting to see the Liberty Bell. Then we went across the street to The Bourse to pick up some souvenirs.

From there we walked and walked and walked (thank goodness I had comfy shoes). Our next stop was Penn's Landing, where we walked along the Delaware River. We took a few pictures and headed to South Street. There were a lot of people walking around and it reminded me of Whyte Ave. We went into a couple shops, but I still didn't buy anything. We stopped for lunch at Jim's Steaks, which supposedly is one of the best philly cheese steaks in town. And I guess it holds true since the line went around the block. We waited for about half an hour, I met people from Canada, and finally we got our food. I have to say, the cheese steak was pretty good. After lunch, we walked all the way back to where we started - City Hall (which is about 20 blocks).

We headed back to Jenn's apartment, took a half hour break, and walked some more. We walked to Germantown Ave, had ice cream at Bredenbecks (I had strawberry sorbet), and hung out at Borders. We finally made it back home, watched TV, and called it a night.

SUNDAY
Again we got up early and did the museum thing. We took the subway to City Hall and walked down Benjamin Franklin Parkway (which is said to be like the Champs Elysée of Paris), to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. When we got there, of course I had to the "run up the Rocky steps", and take a picture. I didn't find the museum to be that interesting, probably because I was comparing it to the museums in Paris (which I know I shouldn't do because they're totally different). Jenn and I just went to the wings that we wanted to see and then headed to the Rodin museum, which is much smaller than the one in Paris. And there weren't many sculptures in there.

Random Thought
How do you know which art piece is the original, if they have them in more than one location? I mean who's to say that The Thinker sculptures in Philadelphia and Paris are both copies? Or the Water Lilies by Claude Monet are just prints? Just a thought...

Anyway, after our little art experience we headed to Franklin Mills to do some shopping. At this point, I still hadn't bought anything, besides souvenirs, and I was determined to buy something for myself. I wanted to get a pair of shoes (I know, I have enough already but I wanted to replace the ones I was wearing because they're worn out =P), and maybe a spring coat. I walked into one shoe store and they were having a 'buy one, get the second at half price' sale. Of course I couldn't resist. The shoes were so cheap, but the problem was they didn't have any shoes in my size. Ugh. And if they did, they didn't fit right. We kept walking through the mall, and I went into shoe store after shoe store. Still nothing. I finally went to the Nine West outlet and found a pair of shoes - in my size and on sale. Yay! [Side note: so now I have approximately 48 pairs of shoes (final count to be verified by the accounting firm of MMSF - hehehe)]. As for the spring coat, they didn't have anything. I was disappointed to see that they still had winter stuff out.

After another day of walking all over the place, we headed back to the apartment, then walked to the supermarket to get some groceries. We cooked dinner (yes, I actually cooked), watched a bit of TV, and went to sleep early since we had another early day the next day.

MONDAY
If you think getting up at 8:00 am EST was early, try getting up at 6:00 am EST (which is equivalent to 4:00 am MST!). The reason why we got up so early was because we had to get to the Greyhound Bus Station to catch the 8:30 bus to Atlantic City. We decided to take a day trip out to Atlantic City since it was only an hour away. Technically, it only cost us a dollar to go because the bus ticket is $14, but you get a $13 voucher which you can use at the slot machines. Not bad for a day trip to Atlantic City. We snoozed during the entire ride out there, and got off at Bally's. The first thing I noticed was the sea of slot machines - lights flashing, bells ringing. I've never been to Vegas, so I can only imagine what it's like there. Another thing I noticed were the people. The majority of them were seniors, who probably have way too much money and don't know what to do with it. Anyway, we thought it was a bit early to be gambling at 10:00 am, so we walked along the boardwalk. The sun was out, and it was nice just to go for a stroll along the boardwalk. We walked to Caesars, then grabbed a tazo chai at Starbucks. We walked the other way to Taj Mahal, where I played the slots. Now, I'm not much of a gambler so we didn't stay for very long. We took a few pictures outside the hotels, and then stopped for lunch at Hard Rock Café.

After lunch, I picked up some salt water taffy (I keep hearing about this stuff from people, and had never tried it), and then we walked back to Bally's. As we walked through the door, the guard immediately stopped us and wouldn't let us walk through the casino with our bags. Uh hello, we've been walking around all day with our backpacks and no one stopped us then. We managed to go through another entrance, and the guard didn't stop us. Maybe the other guy was having a bad day? We picked up a couple souvenirs and hopped on the bus back to Philly. We tried to take a nap on the bus, but the guy behind us wouldn't stop talking.

We dropped off our bags at the apartment, got ice cream at Bredenbecks again (this time I had mocha chip), and hung out and watched Battle of the Sexes on MTV.

TUESDAY
I woke up early again (6:30 EST/4:30 MST), just so I could give myself enough time to get ready and pack before the cab came to pick me up at 9:00 am. I was ready by 8:30 and 10 minutes later, the cab called to let me know he was downstairs. Uh, you're early. So I went down and headed to the airport. I was anticipating to hit rush hour traffic, which is why I had the cab pick my up that early. Of course, there was no traffic and I made it to the airport by 9:20 am, which meant I had 3 hours to kill at the airport. Ugh.

One of the highlights at the airport was my conversation with the airport security guy (AS):

AS: Could you take your shoes off please?
Me: Huh? (not sure if he was being serious)
AS: In case there are steel plates in them.
Me: Are you serious? I'll take them off, but I know there isn't anything in them.
AS: You're more than welcome to keep them on, but just in case...
[other airport security guy jumps in]
AS2: Did he just ask you to take your shoes off? You better watch out for him...
Me: (turning back to AS) Do you have a foot fetish? (everyone else breaks out in laughter)
AS: (caught off guard) Nothing I can discuss at this time...

Yeah, it was a funny moment. I walked over to Terminal D and sat in the waiting area. I snoozed for half an hour, had tea and a muffin, and walked around the airport. There's only so much you can do at the airport. Finally it came time to board. The flight to Toronto was quick, and when I landed I noticed the airport seemed to be a bit different than when I was there last June. I basically had to run to the next gate because there wasn't much time between connecting flights. By the time I got the gate, they were just starting to board. I slept for half of the flight, and finally got into Edmonton.

And that was my trip to Philadelphia. Overall, it was a good getaway since I had been putting in a lot of hours at work. Plus, it was long overdue for a trip. Hmmm, where should I go next???