Ringing in the New Year

It's been quite some time since we have gone out to a big party on New Years Eve. In fact, I can't even remember the last time. It's either order in some food and watch some movies, spend the night at a ski hill, or some other relatively passive activity. A far cry from our younger years of whooping it up till the wee hours of the morning. No big plans again this year.

After much discussion we decided to go to the movies down at the AMC theatres at Dundas Square, then just wander around to see what's happening downtown. The remake of True Grit had just opened, starring Jeff Bridges in the role of Rooster Cogburn. We spent part of the afternoon watching the original John Wayne version, and I had forgotten just how great a movie it was. Both Dennis Hopper and Robert Duval had roles. Great flick. (As a side bar it got me thinking of the great heros/anti heros I have identified with in the movies over the years including: Colonel Augustus MacRae in Lonesome Dove, Major Reisman in the Dirty Dozen, Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Baloo the Bear in the Jungle Book.) Anyway, the movie was good, but it felt like I had already seen it. Jeff Bridges was great as usual.

After the movie, it was so nice out we decided to just walk around. Nothing much really happening at Dundas Square though there were a couple of old guys playing away on the corner (see pic). Good to see them belting out the tunes and having a blast. This was one of the few times I have actually sprung a little cash for a street performer. Over at Nathan Phillips the crowds were starting to build in anticipation of the nights outdoor concerts. Didn't really garner any interest from us as the acts are designed for people born after 1980, so off we wandered.

We headed over to Queen Street to take a look at the windows in the Bay. Hard to believe with all the shopping there over Christmas, we did not stop to take a look. There were five windows of, each spectacularly arranged. Again, because it was so warm, we took a long stroll up to Yonge and Bloor, finishing the evening downtown at the Hornero Restaurant (528 Yonge Street). Was an excellent relatively inexpensive Italian place. Reminded me of Mario's, our favorite place in North Conway, New Hampshire. Mary Lou had linguine and a Cabernet Savingon, I had the usual Chicken Parmasean and a flurry of Caronas.

Mary Lou was looking good as usual, though she doesn't seem to like her hat. Can't seem to convince her that it is very stylish. A quick trip home on the street car, I put Mary to bed, then headed out to the deck with a Cuban (cigar that is, not a seniorita), the phone, a bottle of scotch and my guitar. Had a blast ringing in the New Year, yaking it up in several phone calls and sending a few drunken emails. Played all the tunes I had written over the past year, strummed a little Eddy Vedder and worked on Zepplins' Going to California, and came up with a few ideas for new songs. But most importantly, was some brainstorming on an action plan that will lead me to retirement, or semi retirement, the day after my last mortgage payment in 2014. Haven't worked it all out yet but it will require learning Spanish, taking dance lessons, upgrading my guitar skills, and small arms training:)

Mud and Motors

Tuesday was an excursion day, and it turned out to be a dandy. We had booked a dune buggy tour through the Air Transit rep the previous afternoon. To avoid missing any serious beach time, we took the morning run and were ready to go at 7:30 am. The girls were so excited to start the trip they were dancing while we waited at the lobby (see pic to the left). We were met by a "troop transport", stopping at another resort to pick up the other recruits. From there we headed 15 minutes down the road to the compound with the buggies. Had some fun on the way with the people from New York. Two good guys. I was putting on sun screen and they said, we already did that, our wives don't let us out of the house without sunscreen". I told them "We don't get any sun in Canada, so this is all new to us." We ended up running into them a few days later at a resort up the beach.

At the compound, we lined up on benches, heard the safety drill, appropriate warnings about what would get us kicked off the buggies, and signed a waver saying they were not responsible for any injury and that we would pay for any damage we caused. They also strongly recommended buying a scarf to put over our mouth and nose. This was a good purchase.

Each couple was given a two seater dune buggy and we proceeded to go through all kinds of back roads, woods roads and paths until we arrived at a beautiful secluded beach for stop one. The stop is sold as a key part of the trip, but essentially amounts to a full frontal assult by local vendors of various trinkets and art work. There was someone selling beer at three bucks a pop, and a bunch of young kids giving the girls flower pedals looking for a buck tip. The girls bartered with the braclet vendor and each made a purchase. I settled for a beer and a swim in the ocean, while Larry chose to take in the spectacular views.

We headed back out on the buggies again running through a series of woods roads. Our buggy kept stalling out, so they would get it started up, and as we were well behind the rest of the group I got to wind out at full speed . It felt a little like Mario Go Cart for a while, dodging rocks, running up embankments and moving in and out around other vehicles. Finally, they got tired of ours stalling, and we switched to one of the spotters buggy. WOW. Power steering and souped up engine bigtime.

The second stop was at a cave where you could dive into a pool of water completely sheltered from the outside. Karen and I gave it a go. The water was surprisingly warm, and the objective was to splash as many of the other swimmers and onlookers with a deluge of spray from my cannonball. As with every location in the DR, there were more shops and vendors to try and take your money.

But the big thing on the drive was the mud and water. The roads, if you can call them that, looked like they had been bombed, with large craters and potholes several feet deep. You hit these things at a high speed, and when they were filled with water, literally every inch of your body gets covered in mud. Knapsacks, shoes, scarves,hats, glasses, you name it, it got covered. This went on for about an hour as we gradually worked our way back to the compound. When we pulled into the lot at the end of the ride you could see the horrified looks on the faces of the women in the next group, who had worn nice clothes. Not only did they realize the ride was going to ruin their duds, they also had to climb into the buggies we just used, without them being rinsed off.

After washing off as best as possible in the outdoor showers, it was back to the resort for an afternoon of relaxation at the beach. Great excursion, well worth the $65 a person.

The Grand Bahaie Ambar

Well, here I am in my third evening at the Ambar. Fantastic hotel. This is a huge complex with three resorts in one. The Ambar is adults only, which makes it the quiet section. Not much happens here after dark, although those who want to party take the shuttle to the Casino and Disco.

The flight down on Saturday night was rather uncomfortable as Can Jet jams their seats in pretty tight, and there are only a few with extra leg room. These were already gone by the time I booked the trip. There was a pretty decent meal, and the movie was "Salt", a good one although I had already seen it. Quick move through security and for the first time in a few trips our bags were one of the first off the plane. We hopped onto the bus with Larry and Karen and were at the resort around 10:30 at night.

Because we were there on our anniversary :), the resort gave us one of the prime rooms in the building closest to the pool and the beach. The rooms were spectacular, huge and high quality decor. By the time we actually got into the room though (key trouble), it was after 11:00 and the lobby bar was closed. We did meet another couple that night, Peter and Sandra from Guelph, who hung out with the four of us for much of the week.

We were, well at least I was, up early ready and rearing to go Sunday. After a full day of beach/pool and lots of beer, Sunday night was a good one, or so I am told. Managed to start early, finish late, make many new friends, quite a few people laugh, offend only a few, only semi embarass Mary Lou, get cut off from the bar, have a quintuple scotch, take a tumble and come up on two feet , yet still be able to hit the beach at 6:00 am.

Larry and Karen are a fun couple, and quite tolerant as well based on Sunday night. I told Larry that what we like to do is make up some new identity, and tell people that when they asked. He came up with an idea that we were a band, he was the manager, the girls were the singers and we were called Mitch and the Kitchen Bitc..s. So far so good. Having the travel guitar helps sell the story.

Most of the activity so far has been, sleep and read on the beach, long walks in the surf, runs to the pool bar and generally yakking it up with the people we meet. Today I was sitting on the beach chair, listening to Jeff Buckley sing We All Fall in Love Sometime on the Ipod, while reading 101 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Correct Them, looking out at the turquoise water; and I realized I was in paradise, doing what I loved to do, what I was meant to do. There was very few other things that could have made the moment better. I have to find a way of getting myself to the Caribbean on an extended basis. Nice engineering assignment, buy my beach grill, who knows?

The travel guitar was a fantastic purchase. I used it to check out the five songs I had completed against the first few chapters in the book. Four out of five passed the muster test, one is going back to the drawing board.

Had a couple of amusing things happen today. The first was in the washrooms. The cleaners are all women, including in the mens washrooms, and they just wave you in when they are there. I was at one urinal and she was literally cleaning up the area beside me. Didn't phase her a bit, so, it didn't phase me. The second was at supper. We went out for dinner to the mediterranean restaraunt. After carefully scrutinizing all the entrees, I selected the only one that didn't have onions in the ingredients. When it came, sure enough there were no onions on the cod, but the three other items on the plate were pearl onions, carmalized onions AND...batered onions. To the buffet I went.

Back At It

Well, time to give this another try. Haven't done anything on the site since our trip to Mexico/Belize/Guatemala back at the end of April. The purpose of this was to have some fun and get something down on paper, well on line, that will remind me what we have been up to over the year. We do lot's of interesting things but half the time forget them. So, since we are getting ready to head to Punta Cana, time to get back in practice.

Normally, in the last month before vacation I can't sit still, can't keep my mind off the trip. However, this year it is different. My big project, the one that I have been working on for three years, is finally off and rolling. Construction has started,and the push is on to complete designs. So, work right now is keeping me both busy and pre occupied, and as I told Mary Lou, this will be the first time in years that my vacation will seem to go by slower than work. I get in to the office, look up and it's already six o'clock. Guess that's good.

Today, had an interesting experience. Mary Lou has read her way through her own library (I'll never get there, or at least not until I've been retired for a few years), and wanted to get a few things to read for the trip next week. I decided to take her to Seekers Bookstore, a second hand shop located at 509 Bloor Street West, Toronto. This is a really neat spot, where I knew she would find something of interest, and more importantly for her, save quite a bit of money. Been there previously a few times on my own, and have never left empty handed.

The store is arranged a bit like a library, with everything catagorized by subject or author. There books range from new to very old, all in good shape, with a large section of spiritual, new age, meditation, philosophy type books, you know "heart, head and soul" stuff. You will find books on any topic you are seeking, hence the store name I guess, and more than likely would find a specific book you could not find elsewhere.

While Mary Lou was browsing the stacks my eye was drawn to the Buddist section, full of all kinds of things from the Dali Lama and his followers. While standing there, a book fell from somewhere behind the shelf, landing right in front of me. I pulled a few things out of the way and picked up a large paper back book, that must have been there for a long while as it was covered with copius numbers of dust clumps. I spent a minute shaking and brushing them off, before turning the book over and seeing what it was.

The book was titled "Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change and Finding Freedom" by one Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. I am at that age where change is being forced upon me, getting older every day, and contemplating how I intend to retire. I recently decided to try meditation, figuring I could best learn how while facing the sun rising over the Caribbean each morning on the beach. Last week I went to see with Mary Lou what I thought would be a chick flick (owed her that for dragging her to see Get Low the week before) Eat, Pray, Love , and was actually deeply affected by the movie, as I am "in my own way" on a journey of self discovery. So, I thought, was this just a book falling, or did this book seek me out. Is it a coincidence, or did that book hang on until it sensed that someone who may have a need for it was there. I don't know for sure, but I bought it, and plan on carrying it with me to Punta Cana. Hey, even if it was just a book falling, can't hurt.

I'll Miss You Andy

Today, well is just an awful day. I arrived at work to an email telling me that my good friend Andy had passed away Tuesday night, losing his battle with cancer. I didn't even know he was sick.

Andy and I met back in 1982 in Toronto at Dillon Consulting. I can still recall how they built this little cubby hole of an office just outside my door, for a new structural engineer transferring over from Windsor. We hit it off immediately. Andy and I shared many common interests, and most specifically; beer, golf and good looking women. Over the years we had many discussions revolving around those three things.

In my life, as I am sure it is for most people, I have had the great fortune of having many close friends. But in each phase: grade school, high school, college, working years : there was always one friend with whom I shared a special bond. Andy was that person for most of the 80's and early 90's.

One of the things that brought us close was the golf course. Over the years we played upwards of a hundred rounds together, with , I'm guessing, 75% of them just the two of us. We would often head out at 6:00 am, first group out, finish the round in under three hours, and be showered and into work by 10 am. It got so if we were out of the office at the same time, it was assummed we were golfing, even if that wasn't the case (it generally was though). This was never a problem, as we always more than made up for the time, and in fact on more than one occasion we were asked by the President to invite one of the other guys in the office. The golfing thing continued even after I moved to Fredericton in 1993, when Andy and I would golf the Thursday before the spring and fall Dillon partners meetings, then head off to Avenue Bistro for a few dozen chicken wings. The other Dillon partners would always ask me how Andy was doing, what he was up to, even though many of them lived in the same city. That always made me feel good others recognized the bond we had.

Andy watched both of my kids grow up, and continued to ask about them after we moved. We felt as comfortable together not having seen each other for six months, as we did sitting across the hall from one another at work. We never lost that sense of ease. I can still hear his voice in my head " Hey Mitch, how ya doing".

In almost thirty years of friendship, I never once heard Andy get angry, not even on the golf course. He was universally loved by everyone who met him, and had a genuine interest in knowing how each and every one of them was doing. On top of all that, he was a highly respected engineer.

At lunch today I met with Perry, John, Don, Narayan and Neville, some of the other old Dillon guys from the 80's. We talked about Andy, told a few stories that had special meaning to each of us, had a few laughs and even hoisted a beer in his honor. Then I went back to the office, and sat there and stared. Had to go home as I couldn't work through the tears.

I last saw Andy just before Christmas when we went to the Chicken Deli for wings and beer on 'cougar' night. Whenever we met, I always left feeling pretty good about myself, he had that way about him. Maybe he knew then, maybe not, he likely wouldn't have told me if he did. But I didn't get to say good bye, just like my friend Kenny twenty odd years ago.

Andy, you made me a better person, and I will miss you.

Headed Home

30 April 2010

Well, it's over. One of the most interesting, and certainly the most unique, vacations we have taken. Something completely different mixed in with something very similar. Regardless, it was over, and it was time to go home.

The packing was complete and we made it out to the cab at the prearranged time of 7:00 am. Jorges, the cabbie from the night before, gave the fare to his son who was waiting patiently. The drive to the airport took around 45 minutes, which unfortunately meant arriving about three minutes behind two buses bringing people from the resorts. This left us almost at the end of the line, and with no reserved seats, little chance of sitting together. However, good luck found us a window seat together in the second from last row.

It was a fairly annoying flight all round. First off, after several years of buying upgraded seats , it was incredibly uncomfortable with the reduced leg room (my fault for not booking earlier, and the mistake will not be repeated). In addition, the young girl to the right had broke up with her boyfriend on the trip (not to be judgemental, but from the looks of him her parents would be happy). The girl was extremely rude to everyone, and sighed and moaned and belly ached all the way back. And on top of everything, with maybe 12 people under the age of 20 on a plane of 300, "Alvin and the Chipmunks" was the movie played. Come on Sunwing, use your head, serve the customers who paid the way. You do this almost every trip. Maybe I was just annoyed that vacation was over.

Notwithstanding comments above, Sunwing is a well run airline, and I would recommend flying with them to anyone. The meals are not bad, they are very friendly and accomodating, and work hard to stay on schedule.

Back at the airport in Toronto, the bags came through relatively quickly. I moved up to to get them, and said "excuse me ladies" to a couple of women chatting at the conveyors. One of them looked at me with a sour face and said "you could have said excuse me". My reply, well......" Ah yes, back in the big city.

Guess that ends the day by day description of the trip. One of the interesting things of this web site is you can, for a very low cost, have a book made of the blog. This will be a nice reminder of the journey. So, the first order of business is to do some editing (it is scary how many spelling and grammatical errors I made using the netbook) and add some pictures.

One Last Day in the Sun

Thursday 29 April

Our last day at the beach, was pretty much like the arrival day in Cancun a couple of weeks previous. It was hot, sunny at times, overcast at others, with some periods of hard rain. Even at 7:30 in the morning the temperature was in the 80's, with the humidity close to 90%.

Walking along the water you never notice just how uncomfortable it is once away from the beach. If I ever pick "a" retirement spot, it will be in the sunny south, and it will be on the beach.

The morning was spent picking up a few things for the kids. The older they get, the harder it is to find the right gift, although a good bottle is always a fall back. Again, the best price is obtained when you put the item back on the shelf and walk out. Most times the vendor will stop you and offer their real bottom line price. If not, someone else will.

After saying goodbye to the turquoise water (always a sad moment) we headed back to get dressed for dinner at our new vacation ownership spot. Jessica, if you recall the Sandos representative from yesterday, had invited us to the new French restaurant at the resort.

We arrived all dolled up at 5:45 and were the first ones to be seated for the evening. Great four course meal consisting of lobster bisque, shrimp salad, filet minon and baked alaska. For drinks we shared a bottle of Chilean cabernet savinon, and of course, a beer. It was a very pleasant evening, and we learned a little more about Jessica and how she ended up in Mexico. All in all, a great way to end the trip.

We cabbed it back and had a nice talk with Jorges, or George in English he said. I introduced myself as Mitch, or Miguel in Spanish. He got a kick out of that. We also arranged with Jorges a 7:00 am pick up for the airport.

Back into town, we decided to go for a late night walk on the beach. There were still lots of people out so it was safe.

After taking Mary Lou back to the hotel room, I headed out to get some cash for the taxi in the morning. Well, a man on his own is a target for every vice hustler in the area. No less than five times I was asked to purchase some "doobies" or "blow", and twice was offered to "get hooked up"with a senorita. I settled for some cash from the ATM and a couple of beers to take back to the room (you can wander the streets carrying drinks).