I Made it HOME!!!

After three weeks of SOPs/OOSs/NCRs/VDIRs/CARs/CAPAs I had a couple of B-52s and got on a B-737 and headed home. I was comatose for the flight to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (I even missed out on the free beverages and snacks). Ok, now for my O'Hare Airport Foamy Rant: I hate this airport with all the rage and passion that my soul can muster up; here are the reasons:

• They couldn't find our flight crew - they were MIA, only to show-up with McStank bags and drinks in hand (wtf?). Our plane left three hours late.
  
• I was in the last group to board the plane and the second-to-last one to get off the plane.
  
• My aisle seat was on the very last row of the plane; therefore, my seat did not recline, I was right next to the bathroom (which was constantly being used), and I couldn't lean against the side of the plane to fall asleep.
• The bad karma from Chicago made its way to SLC: our ground crew could not be found, so we could not taxi into the gate and so they ended up dumping us off onto the tarmac. Then... yes, there is more... they announced that our luggage was on carousel two, then three, then finally one. I made it home Sunday morning.
  

I have some great memories of Canada thanks to the Kevin, the individuals at the firm's we inspected, and the people at the hotel (including Giovanni, who made the best omelets I've eaten, and Rachel, who advised us on where to party). I will have fond memories of "BAM!", (if you are reading this blog out loud, you are required to say the next sentence with your tongue sticking out, for the full sentence) "I'm allergic to cinnamon!", and crazy-weird jam sessions to songs like "Don't Stop the Music". Below is a little wrap-up for the end of my Canada trip.

Goodbye to ice storms...

...that covered our rental car in a block of ice.

Goodbye to the mounds of snow...

Goodbye to Canadian hamburgers... (BTW: that's Canadian bacon on that burger)...

May I never be stuck in Chicago O'Hare International Airport again...
Although, this picture of the airport is appealing, looks can be deceiving...

Thank goodness for home cooked spaghetti and...

...for my own bed, full of animals. :)

Canada - Day 16

Happy, Happy, Happy!!! After finishing up with the firm today, I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me in my hotel room... Ken, being the sweet-heart he is, had flowers and this cute mouse sent to my room! Friday will be our 6-year anniversary; I am sad to say that I will still be in Canada. (To My Boo: Love you, love you, and sending you all my loves!)
.

Canada - Day 15

We watched the Super Bowl game at Boston Pizza - Restaurant and Sports Bar. I placed a bet on the game; however, my numbers were not lucky enough to win me any money. The restaurant was also having a drawing for a beer fridge and a bar table/stool set. Neither of us (Kevin & I) won the drawing and even if we would have, it would've been a pain in the rear to ship either of the prizes home.

.Indoor stadium seating at the restaurant. (Check out the size of that beer pitcher.)

. The restaurant waitresses/referees in a huddle.

.

They handed out free Super Bowl souvenirs and I became one of the waitresses (or at least looked like one) :) .

.

We were both cheering on the New York Giants, so it all ended well, with the Giants beating the Patriots, 17 to 14.

Canada - Day 14

Saturday we headed to Toronto to do some site seeing. We visited the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Chinatown, the Toronto Public Library, and the Royal Ontario Museum.

.

The CN Tower - freeway view.

.

The CN Tower. The tower has three observation decks (from lowest to highest): the "Glass Floor", the "Look Out", and the "Sky Pod".

.

"Look Out" view.

.

"Sky Pod" information.

.

The "Sky Pod" observation deck.

.

"Sky Pod" view.

.

"Glass Floor" view.

.

The Hockey Hall of Fame building.

.

The museum can only be accessed through this indoor mall area... which was very impressive.

.

Watch out Kevin, that goalie might use you as a puck...

.

The Stanley Cup.

.

Me in the locker room - sorry, no one was in the buff. This museum just emphasized the fact that I have no idea what is going on with hockey.

.

Toronto Chinatown... hmmmmm, how can I put this into words... lots of traffic, no parking, crazy drivers... Kevin and I, of course, were comparing Toronto's Chinatown to other Chinatowns visited... we decided that the slow drive through and the view from our car was enough for the both of us.

.

Toronto Chinatown F-O-O-D.

.

The Toronto Public Library.

.

It didn't take long for us to locate the correct book for geocache GC806A - Theory & Practice.

.

The Royal Ontario Museum.

.

We had a little over an hour to tour the museum, so we decided to head to the elevator, start with the top floor, and work our way down. With anticipation building, the door opened, and to our surprise... we found our selves reading the following sign... (laugh) it turned out to be so funny that I snapped a photo of it.

.

Zeus-Kevin.

.

We spent most of our time at the museum's dinosaur exhibit.

Canada - Day 13

Today we received ~6-inches of snow. Canadians are crazy drivers in the snow - a car is not a toboggan. Just after pulling on to the main street, we witnessed a speed-racer slide into the curb and then continue on. One more week and I will be waving goodbye to Canada and saying hello to Utah once more. Hopefully the weather will be good for flying.

.

The drive to work.

Even the snow can not mask our hideous rental car.

.

Kevin, being a gentleman, cleaned off the car after it had been sitting all day at the firm accumulating snow.

Night view from my hotel room - yeah, it is still snowing.