Rags to Riches

Well today has been pretty nice, not too much to report, except my locale. I am now in Canada. It's great, they've got trees and mooses and sledd dogs; lots of lumber, and lumberjacks, and logs! We all think that it's kind of a drag that we have to come here to get milk in a bag. Ok, enough Five Iron Frenzy. It's hard enough to concentrate with the insanely good Asian kids in this place playing StarCraft 10000x faster than I can build my first Protoss Archon. So far the day has been a complete success. Let me fill you in:

I woke up promptly at 11:00. Stretched, and decided I needed 15 more mintues. Ahh, that's the life. When I did wake up I remembered the details of the night before. Talking to Nathan's Aunt, we discussed what hotel to stay at. As a joke amid the reasonable choices like the Holiday Inn by the Airport, and a few other "pump and runs" (my term), I said "What about the Westin?" If you don't know, The Westin Bayside Resort and Spa is like a 4 star hotel overlooking the bay. But Nathan's aunt took me totally seriously. She loved the idea. And at her behest we graciously accepted. And after laughing at how rediculously nice the place we were staying was (seriously, Valet Parking out front; that's freakin' classy) we finally crashed with exhaustion from the day of outrunning rangers up a mountain.

So today, we waited around on Nathan's aunt (Donna) to shell out the dough so we could take off for the border. And I have to say our banter was fantastic. It's amazing the amount of material I came up with talking to them. Just the kinds of things you run across in conversation when you're on a roll. Good times. Anyway Donna showed up, and after a most deserved showering of thanks, we shipped out. The trip up was going smoothly, we were cooking along at 70mph heading to the frozen north when we spotted trouble on the horizon. Looked like traffic was slowing down. In fact... it looked like traffic was slowing down alot. All of a sudden it looked like, and indeed was also the case that, we had to stop fairly quickly. Unfortunately, the car ahead of us also came upon this realization fairly quickly. So when he put his stop on, really had to stop. Conservative estimates put the distance between our bumper and his at about 1cm. Whew.That was a close one. Just as I was possibly about to wonder about the car behind us, he SLAMMED into Nathan's back bumper. And just like the suspended chrome balls which comprise a staple of both the executive office and Spencer's Gift, the Aveo that hit us knocked us into the next car.

We had just become part of a three car pile-up. It was pretty much the rainbow coalition of fender benders. Ahead of us, an Asian family in a Montego. Behind us, an Indian family in the Aveo, and in the middle like the cream fillin' were three college kids in a Malibu. It was a sad day for the Chevy family. So Nathan, Wang and...Samir? Got out to check on the damage. Fortunately there was none. But I wanted pictures for my blog. I can't describe to you the terror on Samir's face as a crazy camera wielding man hopped out of the car and took pictures of him, the cars, and the ensuing highway backup. Fortunately I won't have to. I have a picture of it. We all decided a few things.

1. None of us speak the same language.
   
2. The damage isn't bad for anyone.
3. We should all make awkward hand gestures, get back in our Chevy's and drive away.
   

And that's what happened. The rest of the drive was uneventful, but I will make a note that Samir followed us almost all the way to Canada, presumably riding his brakes the whole way. Once here, we found out that our hotel is far classier than we are. I wore something nice for the occasion and on entering instantly felt underdresed. Although I'm pretty sure I would feel that way in a tuxedo as well, so I stopped worrying about it. Still, we have two queen sized beds, huge fluffy robes, a shower that puts all others I've been in to shame, and a view of the harbor from our balcony. I'm going to have a good time in this place when I get back to it.

Currently we're rounding off a night of eating out at a Greek Place called the White Tower. Despite what you might think, it is not approiate to raise your fist and scream "WHITE TOWER OF POWER" just out front of the bistro itself. It is however, hilarious. Plus the food is good, and they served me alcohol (the very same alcohol I blame the typo's in this post on). After that we smoked some (terrible and overpriced despite my haggling) Cuban Cigars, and ate some delicious Gelato. And then I posted. I'm running out of time here and Nate and Mr. Barry are getting restless, so I think I'd better go. Tomorrow: scouring the city for D-list celebrities and visiting the hometown of Clark Kent. That's it for now kids.

- Scott