Wow, that was quick! Ok, this is me giving you a look through the last couple weeks of my life. Let's go back to April 16th, the day that Mandi, Tara and I drove to Edmonton to buy a DVD shelf from Ikea. Then we had supper at Joey's Tomatoes, then came home and I set up the bookshelf. Only to find out that it didn't fit the way I pictured it. So, I rearranged the whole living room, with Mandi sound asleep in the bedroom below. Even sliding furniture around doesn't wake her. Hmm.
 Now let's jump ahead to the 20th. This particular Friday Mandi, Tara, Amy & I headed south to Calgary to meet up with Carmen & Heidi to watch the movie Hot Fuzz. But, because the 4 of us had a taste for Italian, we stopped for supper at Olive Garden, making us late for Hot Fuzz, and right on time for Fracture. (You thought I put the wrong picture there, didn't you!)
Now, seeing a late show an hour and a half away on a Friday night normally isn't a big deal, (getting home and to bed around 4ish) but when you have a staff meeting on Saturday, at 08:00, it can be a little tiring. Thanks to Natashia's son Kayden for keeping me awake during the 2 hour meeting. And even with an early staff meeting, you're probably saying to yourself (or your cat), "what's the big deal, you can go back to bed and sleep all weekend!" Well that normally would be the case, except if you read back an entry or 2 you'd remember that Sunday morning I'm on a plane to Montreal. So, after the staff meeting I spent the day packing and getting ready, and after a stupidly short sleep (again, gosh!), I'm at Dave's house (07:30 Sunday the 22nd) loading his gear and heading south to Calgary (again) to the airport this time. Once parked, we checked through and found our gate, and by 11:00 we were on our way to Montreal, Quebec (yes, that's still a province of Canada). We were greeted by the Future Shop crew, boarded a bus, and headed downtown to the Hyatt Regency Montreal. Talk about complicated. We didn't understand why we had to take one elevator up 6 flights to the lobby, and then another up 2 to our 2nd floor room, until we realised the bottom 5 belonged to a mall/office/convention complex. Getting around this place took a few days of learning. Nice place though, and a lot of fun! After getting our awesome goody bags, Dave & I headed out down Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest for some fresh air and of course, photos. We stopped at Finnegan & Bacchus to watch part of this year's final Flames game before heading back to the hotel for a few hours of snoozing. That ended abruptly to my alarm and started our 3 days of sessions that Future Shop cleverly dubbed "Commo Royale", based after - you guessed it! 007 - Casino Royale. Really impressive how the whole vendor fair was theme based.
The days weren't worth saying too much about here, all early starts, long days of sessions with vendors telling us why their mobile phone service is better, or how OIS is better then digital (come to my work and ask me), but the nights were worth going on about. Monday night we had a hypnotist. Now, you think that expressing ones views on the disbelief of this type of hypnosis to ones table of co-workers whilst the hypnotist and his wife are enjoying supper at the table directly behind you would automatically disqualify you as a volunteer. Not so, my friends. Yes, I was chosen, and yes, I was able to relax completely to the words of the hypnotist, but unfortunately for everyone else, I wasn't able to be hypnotized. Owell, whadaya do. So, we watched the Canucks win their hockey game, and had another late night.
Then, on Tuesday night, it was Show Girls in feathers and Casino night (combined). They gave us fake money, and hired show girls and a mock casino crew and let us run wild! I had a fun night winning at the poker table, feeling secure about my decent winnings (there would be prize the next day) until I realized only the big winner would get a prize. And, being informed that I wasn't the top, I bet until the end, going all in on the last hand and losing it all. It was good fun. A bunch of us then went out dancing at Sir Winston Churchill's until early Wednesday morning, which leads us to our final day in the east. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that for the Mock up casino, they closed the main floor on the mall just for us! Wednesday this special area became our trade  show floor, allowing us the freedom to gather any final info from the vendors before our sendoff. And oh, we all got Nintendo Wii's. (Giggity giggity!) While waiting for our bus to the airport, Dave & I again wandered around downtown, checking out Future Shop and other stores in the area, before heading to the airport (almost missing our flight while having supper) and arriving in YYC (Calgary), then driving home, to get in at about 02:00.
Once back home, I enjoyed a sleep in day, ending with the movie "In The Land Of Women" with Tara, Blake & Mandi. Um, it was interesting? Then, one day back at work, and Blake's Costume Party (Birthday Party). That was a blast! The police thought so, too. And, as my list goes on, Sunday the 29th was Future Shop Red Deer's first ever league Soft Ball game. (Check out the photos!) We had so much fun, I can't remember if we won or lost (ya, right!) And after the game, of course, we had to  see a movie. So Mandi, Steph & Tara went with me to Calgary for supper (Applebees) and a movie ("Hot Fuzz", finally!).
Then, Monday the 30th I enjoyed my first inline skate of the season on my new blades (only used them once, and that was in LA) around Bower Ponds, and Tuesday May 1st I enjoyed the movie "Vacancy" (intense, but a lack of confrontation) with Dave and Kelly. Last night (Wednesday May 2nd) was wing night at Bo's, and tonight, our store gets to enjoy a midnight premiere viewing of "Spiderman 3". I'll tell you about that one later. Until then, sweet dreams!! |
