Random Thoughts...: Home Sweet Home (or something close)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Home Sweet Home (or something close)

I just checked in to a Residence Inn across the street from our Markham DTV office, which we're still renting from AMD. This is my 2nd trip to Toronto in several weeks and this time I'm staying a bit longer, until December 1st. I'll only spend six work days in the office though, since Nov 27 and Nov 28 are U.S. holidays; I'm moving out of the hotel and going to stay with my parents during Thanksgiving.

This time, I connected through Chicago on the way here and will connect through DFW on the way back. Even though you spend time more time in transit, I avoid having to drive to/from LAX from home. Last time the drive on the 405 took close to 2 hours for a 9:30am flight. You also get a few more miles vs. flying direct from LAX to YYZ. If I connect through DFW on my planned Dec-08 trip, I will end the year with ~50,050 miles which is just enough to qualify me for AA Platinum status next year. It was also a bit more hassle this trip since I'm bringing two laptop computers: my work Dell and my personal Sony Vaio. I had them both in my backpack so going through security took a bit longer. I brought my Apple Airport Express base station hoping I could get it to work in the hotel room so I can connect both computers to the Internet at the same time. It will be just like home!

I rented a car again from Avis. Last time they gave me a compact car which isn't what I reserved. This time, I got a Ford Escape SUV after reserving a standard car. Oh well, even though it's 2WD, it may be handy in the snow. Right now it's about -3°C outside and it's supposed to get down to -8°C later tonight and snow lots tomorrow afternoon.

Ugh.

Chicago O'Hare Airport. All airports pretty much look the same from the outside... lots of concrete.

Driving to the hotel from my parent's house. It's hard taking pics with a big DSLR when you're driving. This is the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way).

Some guy was driving a old pick-up truck with a message on the tailgate. Not sure what or why.

Downtown Toronto at night at warpspeed. Need to go back later to take better pitures.

I got a one-bedroom suite/apartment at the Residence Inn. It's about 1/2 the size of my apartment but it has two TVs! The room rate is ~C$120/night and it comes with free breakfast and room cleaning twice a week. I stayed at a few of these back in 2004; this is actually quite a bit nicer. The hotel staff seems to be all Chinese for some reason; the front desk girl was pretty cute but I thought it would be inappropriate to take her picture for my blog.