The Magnificence of ME!

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Owen, is that you?
Did I just see

murphy on an episode of HGTV's House Hunters? I caught the end of the episode, and he was saying "I thought the lemons really brought it together"?

Current Mood: awake

I'm treading the waters of Vegetarianism...not the easiest thing to do when traveling for a living, but I'm gonna give it a go. Who woulda thunk I would ever even contemplate giving up meat? There's a lot more involved in vegetarianism than just giving up meat, I know. As for becoming a Vegan? Baby steps...baby steps. *sniff sniff*...do I smell bacon?

Current Mood: vegetarian-ee

I know you don't read this anymore, but...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERGIO!!! =]

quick update, then it's off to bed...
first, a blurry picture of me from Thursday:

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the shuttle van to the airport will be picking me up at 10:40 in the morning (Sunday) - this is one of my few non-Canadian trips. I am heading to Augusta, GA for the week, and the weather is supposed to be in the upper sixties all week, so that is good. I will be home Friday night, and then am leaving again on Sunday for two weeks in Kingston, Ontario (I think it's in Ontario) Canada. then it's home for a week before jetting off to sunny and warm Winnipeg, Canada (let me dream, will ya?)

The company I work for just opened an office in Melbourne, Australia and closed an office in the UK (which means that the Sales guy that lived in the UK didn't get us any UK clients, and has now moved to Australia, and the office is his home office...still, it's another step towards having clients in AUSTRALIA). I have let it be known for years that I HAVE to go to Australia when we get a client there...I am going to make a plea to my manager that, should we get a client that wants to take all of their TV or Radio stations live, I'd be willing to relocate (temporarily) to save the client and the company flight costs (hoping of course that whatever client we get, if any, will have trade with a hotel or apartment leasing company). I reallllly want to visit Australia, and this would be one way of achieving that goal without having to spend my own money on plane tickets, etc...I would also do the same thing for a client in the UK, but that looks like it won't be happening any time soon. Of course, my travel schedule is booked through July of 2010, so I hope clients in Australia get live dates after that (am I asking for too much?)
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Finally saw the movie Shortbus tonight...searched for it on google videos, found the whole movie (with Spanish subtitles, but hey, it was free), and watched it. I found it to be intriguing, low budget (but not in a bad way), and I LOVED a lot of the music from it...I'm going to have to buy the soundtrack from itunes, if there is one.
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OK, time for bed.

Current Mood: awake

In the next 37 weeks...
I will be home for only 9 of those weeks. The other 28 weeks, I will be traveling for work...most of that time will be spent in Canada. Those 9 weeks that I will be home for? Next week and the week after will be spent at home, and then the other 7 weeks are spread out over the course of the following 35 weeks, never more than one week at home at a time.

Seriously, I don't know if I can handle this. I'd tell my supervisor that I need to NOT travel so much (she's been on vacation last week and this week, btw), but there's really nothing that she could do, as all my coworkers are traveling about as much as I am.

My cats will forget who I am, I won't be seeing my friends for God knows how long, and there is absolutely no chance for me to have a relationship of any kind (although it's been years since I even attempted a relationship, and I doubt I would get involved with anyone if I wasn't traveling...but still!). I also won't really have a chance to get to Vegas with my Vegas buddy Todd, or visit my sister and niece in Phoenix.

Also, I figure it's just a matter of time until bed bug infestation occurs.

Lastly, I need to see a dentist and an optometrist before the end of the year so I can use the money in my use it or lose it flex account. I need clean teeth and a pair of glasses!

Current Mood: crappy

Hrmm...I can no longer see posts from an lj friend that I've had for years. I think I've been filtered out for some reason, since I see that we're still mutual friends...but I can't even send a private message to them. Weird. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Still, those were very entertaining/interesting posts.

Current Mood: pensive

I know it's a bit old, but...
I love The Guild's Do You Wanna Date My Avatar video...that Felicia Day is so durn talented;

Current Mood: Dancey

Bye bye phone info. =[
IMPORTANT:
due to a catastrophic data loss, I no longer have phone number information for anyone, and my cell phone number has changed. If you would like me to have your contact info, please email me your info at higavin at earthlink.net and I will respond in kind.

My number has changed as well. I canceled my account with T-Mobile. Not because of the data loss on my sidekick, but because with all my travel in Canada, I can't really rationalize paying $100 a month for something I can't really use while traveling (the cost of phone calls from Canada and foreign data charges would make that $100 monthly fee skyrocket). I figure the data loss event was a sign that I was making the right decision.

Current Mood: awake

OMG Happy Birthday!
Hey Ted/

notofthisworld, hope you have a super-duper Birthday! I'll chug a shot of Robitussun in your honor!

Hack!!!
The coughing fits are back today. Oh boy!! This should make my flight home extra special, extra fun!!

I want to stay, but I want to go
This Toronto trip was a bust, funwise (is that even a word?). Getting sick during the first week I was here really screwed up my plans. This past weekend, I got out of the hotel room for about an hour, but had to go back after I suddenly started feeling crappy again. Last night was the first night I was really feeling better, but I was roped into dinner with the client (the food was great, but I really would have rather been out doing something with my lj friends in Toronto. I leave tomorrow afternoon.

Current Mood: crappy

Well...
nothing quite like talking to a client when your nose decides to let snot just start flying out of it, with no warning.

The cough that I had has now grown into a death rattle. I'm a little pissed off, since this is my last weekend in Toronto. There are people here in town I'd like to see...I'm hoping that tomorrow, things will be very much back to normal, health-wise.

Sickness BE GONE!
Still coughing, with stuffy nose/runny nose, and sounding like a frog. I really HATE this.

/end rant.

need food....and clean laundry
I ended up staying at the hotel this morning instead of going into the station. I feel guilty for doing that to my coworkers, but I was coughing up a lung and had the headache from hell, and wouldn't have been much help. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be much better, and I'll be able to go in. It's times like this when I start to fear for the safety of my job...it's one thing to get sick when you are working from home, and you can pretty much still do everything you need to do not take a sick day...but to be sick while on site? That's not good, since so many people are counting on you. The client has paid for trainers to be on site a certain number of days, and when a trainer is sick, it can really put a dent in the go-live plans. I didn't plan on getting sick, of course, but I wish I could recover faster.

Soup and pizza is good for when you're sick, right?

Current Mood: sick and tired and hungry

In Toronto until Friday, October 2.
I'm sitting in my hotel room here at the Delta Chelsea in Toronto, drinking hot tea and taking cold medication, hoping that whatever I've got goes away by tomorrow. I hate being cooped up in here all weekend - the weather is gorgeous, and the lighting perfect for taking photos (I brought my new Olympus E-30 camera with me to take photos with, and had hoped to get to Niagara Falls to take some photos of the Canadian side of the falls.

I need to do laundry, and for a (very) brief moment considered using the hotels overnight fluff and fold service...until I saw the price. $4.00 for each pair of briefs or pair of socks...such a rip off! Luckily the hotel has washers/dryers I can use at a considerably cheaper price. Now if I can just gather the energy to actually go down and do my laundry, I'll have clean clothes for the next week. It's times like this when I wonder if doing carry-on only when traveling is such a good idea.

I want to take a nap.

There are 2 LJ friends that live in Toronto that I want to get together with (well, 3 actually, but Patrick hasn't been on LJ for years now), but I'm not meeting up with anyone as long as this damn cold has got a hold on me. I'm hoping it will be gone in the next few days. I hate being sick when I'm away from home.

Current Mood: I be illin'
Current Music: the Canadian Comedy Channel, eh?

file this entry under "Why me, God, why me? Wahhhhhh!"
I'm in Toronto...and I'm sick. Seriously, WTF? I almost never get sick when I'm not traveling, but when I'm in an interesting city, with the entire weekend at my disposal, I get sick? I have people to meet up with, for christ's sake!

Current Mood: all mucusy and shit
Current Music: Home Invasion on HGTV Canada

Happy Happy Joy Joy
Happy Birthday,

astounded

And Happy Birthday,

sfkev

Current Mood: bouncy

I'm on my way!
two cupcakes, two glasses of champagne, and...hey is it hot in here? I'm hot. Time to head back to the hotel to catch my shuttle to Toronto, where I will hop on a flight home. Woooo!! Salem, here I come!

Steve and Gavin

Steve and Gavin
Originally uploaded by Gavin James.

Met up with fellow flickr-ite "bark", aka Steve in Kitchener, Canada. Cool, huh? his photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/barkbud/

nom nom nom...
Tonight, I'll be meeting up with fellow flickr-ite Steve, aka bark for dinner here in Kitchener, Canada. Can you believe it, Canadians have cameras (or iphones, at least)

Current Mood: chipper