To Montreal

I’m getting very familiar with the time/date settings on my laptop and Blackberry lately. I’ve been changing the timezone a lot. At the moment I’m in a plane over the middle of Canada somewhere… on this journey, to keep the costs down for Papa Sony, I took a hop through Vancouver on the way to Montreal. I’m on the way to the Montreal International Game Summit.
The good news is that Air Canada has power sockets in the seat heads in the economy cabin. Yay! The only other place I’ve seen power sockets in the “plebe” section where I typically reside is on the United flight from San Francisco to JFK – on that flight the power sockets hide beneath the seat.
Sucking power from the plane enabled me to finish watching the Battlestar Galactica mini-series. Happy!
The Vancouver airport is gorgeous. I’m always impressed when I visit. Perhaps it’s just the International Terminal, I’m not sure – but as you come off your international flight you walk through a park-like setting to get to the customs gate. Recorded bird sounds, a pond, a waterfall, and native American art give the area a relaxing ambience. A giant wooden bird in native American style hangs above the passage. It’s a great way to introduce people to the essence of British Columbia. I wish San Francisco airport had something like this! Our airport in SF has recently localized the businesses though, which makes me quite pleased. They’ve replaced most of the non-local businesses over time with regional specialties. So the Starbucks have disappeared and been replaced by Peets. The news stand is sponsored by KTVU channel 2. There are also Emporio Rulli’s, Lori’s Diner, Sanraku, and other tasty joints.
Even though the Vancouver airport is comfortable, I find myself getting irritated by the smallest things. That’s been happening a lot lately. Little things that normally I would laugh off I now find raising my blood pressure. I’ve always been a very relaxed, friendly person, so this development bothers me. Is it because of my health? My age? Too much caffeine? Too much travel? Working too much? I have my suspicions. It’s definitely something I’m keeping an eye on, something that calls for corrective action if it doesn’t cease.
I’m looking forward to time spent in Montreal, one of my favorite cities. Unfortunately I’ve brought only a thin jacket and some sweaters, but hopefully I will survive the winter days there. I’m sure time spent with friends over dinner, drinks, and great conversation will warm me up. With luck tonight we’ll have dinner at Queue de Cheval with good friends – hopefully our lack of a reservation won’t force us to an alternate choice, although I’m sure there are many, many great restaurants in Montreal.
On the weekend I visited San Francisco’s ferry building again. I just love this place. I picked up some new salt & pepper shakers from Sur La Table (thanks to Lee & Greg for the tip on which), some amazing EVOO from a local olive oil company, a bar of dark chocolate from Scharffenberger’s for later, and a cheese and chive scone from Frog Hollow plus a cup of fair trade drip from Peets for now. Walking back home, I felt like I’d just had Christmas, with my little package of delicious items. At Union Square on the walk home I caught the tail end of a taiko drum concert a friend was performing in. Ahhh, a lovely San Francisco day indeed.