I'M BACK! ...and I Survived Two Months in Ontario.

Wow, it's been so long I had trouble remembering my passwords and all that good stuff. Good thing I found the email with all the particulars on it.

So if you were wondering what happened to me, I was off in Ontario for two months of management training and am now fully qualified to annoy those stuck with the task of working for me.

It was a long course and there were a few times I wasn't sure if I would make it or not, but my friends got me through. I was lucky because I had been on courses before but I had never met this many good people. Sure there were a few losers, but not the percentage that their usually is.

I guess the bottom line is that it was a looooooooooooong two months and I am glad to be back. The journey home was possibly more stressful though than the course itself...

Thursday, March 1st, 2007, 3:00pm. We had received our certificates of completion and were clearing out of our dorm's with the knowledge that a storm was headed through Southern Ontario, so there was a certain level of urgency to our actions. I left with my boss who had arrived to see me graduate and was driving to Toronto for what was usually a 60-90 minute trip. The snow storm hit and traffic slowed to a crawl as the adventure turned into a 4 and a half hour odyssey. Due to my fabulous navigation skills and knowledge of local traffic I chose a series of side roads to enable us to beat the traffic on the 400...Bad move. we took 2 hours to go about 4 blocks, often travelling at 0 km/h. While in traffic I called the airline to see the status of my flight only to discover that it had been cancelled!

Ultimately, with no reason to hurry any longer, we were now focussed on getting gas for the car as we had to return it full. Ah but not such an easy task with a gas shortage across the province. The first two stations we saw had no gas left! Finally we found one with some gas but as you can imagine, so did all the others that needed it. I thought the traffic on the road was bad, well so was the traffic around the pumps. after almost 30 minutes we were back to the snail's pace towards the rental place. 30 minutes (and 1 block) later we arrived and asked for a shuttle to my boss's hotel. We were shocked to hear 'No' from the rental employees because the hotel was 'too far' from the office. Luckily my boss refused to take no for an answer and off we went.

Upon arriving at the hotel the next mission was for me to find a room. After a few tense moments one was found for me and I could breathe a sigh of relief. The boss and I enjoyed a decent, albeit tardy meal before watching a movie and turning in for the night.

My sleep was not the best and it was with much effort that I dragged my butt out of bed at 5am Friday Morning. My stupid bedside lamp didn't work, nor did the one next to it so I shuffled off to the bathroom... uh-oh, that one didn't work either. I made my way to the window and looked out to see that there was no power for about 10 blocks. Perfect. I used a cell phone as a flashlight and gatherd my 100 pounds worth of luggage and began to carry it all down 8 flights of stairs only to discover at the bottom that the elevators still worked. Couldn't check out as the computers were down and the airport shuttle was late so it seemed my adventure would continue.

I managed to secure a flight to Winnipeg via a very circuitous route taking me from Toronto to Calgary and then from Calgary back to Winnipeg with the journey beginning at 8am. What I saw next upon my arrival to the airport was more depressing than a Winona Ryder movie. Thousands of people, mostly delayed, fighting their way through lines snaking back and forth all through terminal 1 at Pearson Airport. The time was 5:45 and I had to get on a plane at 8am. Fights were breaking out between travellers as people tried to sneak into lines. People fought over luggage carts, a precious commodity for sure, and many heated words were exchanged between weary travellers and frazzled airline employees. All around the periphery the long-time stranded slept soundly amid the commotion. I had no luggage cart so I had to drag my bags for about a kilometre, ugh!

at 7:25 I got to the counter and no sooner checked my bags then I had to be at my departure gate at 7:30! Start the Mission: Impossible music as I sprinted through the airport/security all the way to the gate just in time to board. Great! I made it. Unfortunately the flight then got delayed for late passengers and then for de-icing before it finally took off almost an hour late. I waved at Manitoba as I flew over top and ultimately arrived in sunny Calgary. After an hour in yet another packed airport I was finally on my way home. Two hours later I landed in the frozen flat of Winnipeg and made my way through the angry mobs to find my beautiful family waiting to greet me with a big sign and even bigger smiles. My journey was over and I was finally home.

After two months of training, and a long arduous trek home I learned one valuabl lesson...

TORONTO SUCKS

It's good to be back, and once again I look forward to blogging for your amusement. Until next time remember, No Payne, no gain!