Last night I watched a travel show about Hong Kong. I really wish my friend Mark had taken me to Hong Kong when I visited China in 2000 and 2001. I even offered to pay for his ticket, but unfortunately he didn’t see it my way. Maybe sometime I’ll be able to go to Hong Kong.
I visited a Subway Restaurant in Shanghai during my 2001 trip. It had just opened and alot of the Chinese didn’t have a clue as to what restaurant it was. (Keep in mind that McDonald’s is the “cool” place to hang out in China. Apparently if you are looking for a place to hang out on Saturday night, you go to the local Chinese McDonald’s). Anyways the food in the Subway was decent. It was a good taste which reminded me of home. Although the meat tasted a little different and had a different texture to it.
You know the type of people. Those people who never talk to you unless they need something you have. Well it happened again. There’s this one particular person who always requests digital pictures of the latest group event that we go on. This person always asks for the pictures in a demanding sort of way, as if they somehow deserved it. They never seem to say two words – “thank you” after I give them. I hate that. You’d think they’d be able to use some common courtesy.

I went camping over the weekend with about 15 families from church. Everyone seemed to have a good time. No major occurances happened. Weather was relatively nice….a bit cool in the evenings, but warm enough in the middle of the day. It did rain Sunday afternoon when we were just getting back from hiking. Our tent stayed nice and dry inside. It was sorta muddy outside for a while.
We had 91 people present for our worship services Sunday morning. Gradually everyone but a few families left Sunday afternoon and night. I stayed just long enough on Monday morning for the rest of us to pack up and then go to the cascades. Ate at Pizza Hut in Sparta on the way back.
I brought back 2 tents, a foldup chair, and a picnic table awning from camping. The owner of the tents decided not to take them back home since they were wet from the rain. The tents may have been 10 years old, but they were good anyways. We have them set up in our backyard to air out.

Does Joey Davis collect airsickness bags? While flying back from Canada, I picked up some airsickness bags for our former minister, Joey Davis. I remember during a sermon Joey mentioned something about collecting these type bags. Later on I picked up one for him. When I gave it to him, he acted like he didn�t know what to do with it. It may have been a joke, but I didn�t pick up on it at the time. For all I know, the Davis family has albums and displays of airsickness bags. And my Air Canada bag might just complete his collection. I do know that Melissa Davis has an interesting habit of collecting rocks from places they visited.
Currently listening to �Fell in Love With a Girl� by The White Stripes and �California� by Wax. The White Stripes are a unique band in that there�s only 2 members � a guitar player/singer and a drummer. I saw them play on Letterman and didn�t think they were that good. Although their �Fell in Love With a Girl� song is unique because its video is done completely with Legos.
Wax�s song was featured in MTV�s Most Shocking Videos. The video for �California� features a slow motion shot of a man on fire running down the street. All along the way observers pay no attention to the man on fire. I�m not sure why this is shocking. I�ve seen a lot more crude videos on MTV. I guess it�s because the video was the Johnny Knoxville type of thing.

It�s my last day in Canada. I�ll be flying back to Nashville this afternoon. I�ve had a good time. I�ve been able to get to know my coworkers and plan strategies for the upcoming year.
We were out a bit late last night at a steakhouse, so I�m fairly tired. I mailed several postcards to friends. Thankfully the hotel sold and mailed postcards, so I had an unlimited supply. Canada is great, but a little cold. I�ll be glad to get back to sunny Tennessee.

Another day in Ottawa�.
The sun did come out today and shined down on the frozen tundra. It’s the first sunshine I’ve seen since I arrived here.
Yesterday late afternoon we visited the Canadian Parliament. There was some security when trying to view the parliament in session, however there was hardly any security while getting into the actual building. Very different than what you�d see at the U.S. Capitol. While in the building, there was a registry where people could leave their condolences to the British Royal family for their loss of the Queen Mum. I left my signature there. In fact there has been much more news coverage of the Queen Mum�s death on Canadian TV compared to US television. Canada is still part of the commonwealth, so they have a kinship to the Royal Family.
Speaking of �royal,� the famous Royal Canadian mounted police are not necessarily mounted on horses. I did see a police car with RCMP on it.
There�s a river that runs through Ottawa, which people skate on during winter. It�s the world�s longest skating rink.
Canadians have a weird accent. Sometimes it is difficult to understand them. But then again, we southerners like myself have some weird vernacular.
Speaking of cultural differences, here’s my experience at a local McDonald’s. I�m sure the lady at the McDonald�s thought I was crazy. Yesterday morning I went in and asked for a sausage and biscuit. She said they didn�t have biscuits � instead they had English muffins. I told her that it was fine. The total was $3.30. Not knowing exactly if I had the correct change, but thinking that I gave her at least $3.75. Instead the mystery 75 cent piece I thought I gave her, turned out to be a 25 cent piece. Instead I had to break a $5. Canadians don�t have any bills lower than $5, so I ended up with a lot of coins in my pocket.
There has been talk of Quebec succeeding from the Canadian union. They�ve voted on it before and are sure to vote on it again. My boss, who grew up in Montreal, but moved to North Carolina, says that Quebec�s separation is inevitable. Once the Quebec succession happens, it will be the end of Canada, as we know it. He predicts that some provinces will ask to become part of the US.
I leave for the US tomorrow afternoon. I�ll be glad to get back home to warmer weather.

Hello from Ottawa, Canada. The only noticeable difference between the US and Canada is that Canada is completely subtitled in French. I guess it is to give the residents of Quebec a sense of belonging. Also, I�ve discovered a new potato chip flavor � ketchup! The weather here is less than spectacular�mostly drizzle, mud and unmelted snow.
The Nortel Ottawa office is huge – a city within itself. Somewhat like a mini mall – stores, gym, cafeterias. Nortel is the largest employer in Ottawa (even a bigger employer than the Canadian government).
I�m hoping that we�ll get a chance to see some tourist type of attractions in between our business meeting, but I�m not holding my breath.

I’m leaving for Ottawa today. I’ve got a one hour layover in Toronto, then on to Ottawa. I checked the weather – highs of 50; lows of 30s in Ottawa throughout the week. This will be my first time flying since September 11. There’s always a slight bit of uncertainty with flying these days. But I’m sure everything will be safe.
This time change is going to do havoc with my circadian rhythms. We sprung forward yesterday. Now I’m flying to a time zone one hour ahead of me. So that makes it 2 hours ahead of the time I’m used to. I haven’t left Nashville and I’m already experiencing jet lag.
I visited Center Chapel last night and then went out to eat with Darrell and Tracy. Can you believe Hwy 109 has a Wendy’s? What does Mt. Juliet need to do in order to get a Wendy’s here? I’m certain the only reason there’s a Wendy’s at 109 is because fo the Dell manufacturing plant there. Otherwise, no restaurants would have been built there.

Ok so I’m back from Knoxville. I went to see some long time church friends, Todd and Scott.
Things I Learned while Visiting friends at UT Knoxville:
1. Guys can be obsessed with hair care products. Scott’s room is part of a 4 person suite with a common bathroom and shower. I counted 24 bottles of shampoo in the suite’s shower. That comes out to be 6 bottles per person. When I confronted three of the roomies about it, they all blamed it on the absent roommate.
2. Scott has a messy room, while his brother Todd has a clean room. This is totally the opposite that what I expected. Scott’s room was so messy, it made me want to clean it (and I don’t clean rooms too often). I don’t know how he is able to find anything in there.
3. People don’t want to take responsibility for their own actions. My car was hit in the parking lot at UT. The impact did only minor damage to it – only busting on the left tail light. The minor fender bender happened when I was gone. No one left a note and phone number on my car. Seems that person will feel perfectly happy knowing they damaged my car and didn’t own up to it.
4. You can find some really cool stuff at Goodwill. After lunch on Saturday, Todd and Sarah (Todd’s girlfriend) and I went to the Knoxville Goodwill store. Todd bought a nice sweater. I saw some cool retro Members Only Jackets…straight out of the 1980s. I would have bought them too, but I already have plenty of clothing and can’t justify the extra spending. Yes, I know I’m cheap, even when I won’t buy at Goodwill.

Hello from Knoxville. The drive up here was uneventful. I did miss my turn and ended up going all the way to Blount County (just south of Knox County). I’m staying with some long time friends of mine at a dormatory at UT.
From staying here, I’ve found that I didn’t have enough fun when I was in college. I was probably over concerned with grades and getting enough sleep. Last night I stayed up til 2AM EST, which is something I rarely did while I was at Lipscomb. Most people only go to college once, so they’d better have the most fun at it while they are there.
Last night I discovered the Playstation 2 game of “Grand Theft Auto III.” It’s pretty fun, but a little demented. Basically the object of the video game is to go around stealing cars. I wasn’t too good at it; I always wrecked the cards soon after getting them. No high scores for me.
I’m not sure what I have planned for today. Maybe just hang out until the UT basketball game.

Well the proposed ski trip has been called off for now. There was too many people dropping out due to vacations. Also we were trying to work around certain airlines which some people were needing to take for frequent flyer miles. I’m not too disappointed. I know I’ll eventually get to ski out west. It just looks like this year is just too late to plan for it.