I'm back from my week long vacation in Florida. I stayed at a resort in a village called Weston, 25 miles west of Fort Lauderdale. I think the whole village is built around resorts because everywhere you drive there is a resort. Everything is so well manicured, its a very pretty place. I rented a car for the week and am glad I did. My resort has a couple main buildings on one lot, then a few more beside a golf course a few minutes drive away. I used the car to go to restaurants, and visit tourist attractions in the surrounding cities.

My room wasn't a room.. it was practically an apartment. Eat in kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. It was clean and nice. I spent a few afternoons swimming in their heated pool and hot tub. The weather hit record lows the week I was there (colder than the weather in Canada on some days).. Some people thought I was crazy to be swimming, but they didnt know I'm from Canada :)

I visited a number of attractions in Fort Lauderdal like a boat tour of "America's Venice": a bunch of rivers throughout the city. We drove through a part where houses sell for over $10M. I saw a house used in Miami Vice (the bad guy's hideout), other movie houses, a house owned by the guy who started blockbuster, the guy who owns the Miami Dolphins, Enterprise Car Rentals, Captain Morgan's, lawyers, and many other filthy rich people. The tour guy mentioned that hurricane Welma did damage to many of the roofs and windows. One guy wanted to do work on the house anyway so used this as an opportunity to buy an $18M temporary house while he has his house updated!

I also went to Miami Beach and drove around Miami. My map wasn't very good and I had a hard time getting to almost everywhere I wanted to go. Being Thanksgiving in the US didn't help either because everything was closed. I was surprised how big of a holdiay Thanksgiving is over there. To them it's like Christmas, and they have a huge shopping day after Thanksgiving.

I didn't do -too much- touristy stuff because the main point of this vacation was to do nothing. I wanted to sit around the pool, read some books and let my boiling blood cool down a bit. I finished reading a novel I started over a year ago, and read half of a second book. I'm very pleased about that.

The trip back was a different story. What a nightmare! I returned my rental car then went to the check-in desk around 9:30 AM. They told me I arrived too early and had to wait until 11 AM. I didn't mean to be that early, things just worked out that way. So I waited, and came back at 11 to a huge huuuge line. The line barely moved for a while then they announced my flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Toronto. Stand by for more news in the coming hours. I sat on the floor until around 2 PM because there were several plane fulls of people who had cancelled flights. Finally they announced they have scheduled a new flight for us... at 9:15 PM!! I got back in line, got my boarding pass then waited at the gate until then. I was sitting around for almost 12 hours. When I arrived in Toronto I waited another 30 mins for my airport shuttle back to Orillia. At Barrie I transferred to a different shuttle to get to Orillia.

The next morning I called my mom and told her I was going to come pick up my dog. I made it all the way to my car when I realized my car key was not on my keychain! I had my normal car key, but not the spare. The normal car key was used so much the notches wore out a bit and won't start the car. However it will open the doors. It turns out my key ended up on the rental car key chain. I must have accidentally moved it while the rental car keys were attached to my keychain! I phoned them up and they will FedEx it overnight (my expense), but it might not ship until tomorrow.

Then I realized I lost something else. The second book I was reading, and the papers inside of it. I remember taking it with me as I exited the plane and lost it some time after that. I thought I put it in my suitcase after I picked it up, but it's not there. So I either left it at customs, "ground transportation desk", one of the two benches I sat at or in one of the two shuttles I was in that night. What a nightmare. Luckily I removed my passport from that pile and kept it in my shirt pocket. The shuttle company has checked most of their vans and haven't found it yet. Airport Lost & Found hasn't seen it yet but says I should call back in another day.

I had been waiting in the airport for 12 hours and didn't get home until 2:30 AM.. so losing the book I can understand. The car key though, that was pretty stupid. Now I have to walk to work or taxi until I get it back.

Today I booked my vacation. The week I wanted was booked solid at all the resorts so instead of the Caribean I'll be going to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. I'm staying at a resort and will probably rent a car so I can go on a number of day trips. I hear it's a real party city. Too bad I'm not into that. I'm really looking forward to this vacation because I badly need to unwind. The stress and tension has been building up for a long time. I'm at a point where I have a real short fuse and very limited patience. When I'm feeling normal, everything could go wrong and I'd get through it one step at a time not feeling anything. Right now when something as simple as a screen taking too long to draw I start swearing. I'm sure this is not good for work so it's great the vacation is only a few weeks away. Nov 19-25

400 pages into my 800 page Sun Certified Java Programmer study guide. I think it's time go go back to the start and do all the self tests again to make sure I remember everything. It's simple and hard at the same time. It's weird. It's mostly stuff I know already, plus all the weird things you might not know. It's all very intesting. After I complete the book I'll get the practice exams right away, then do the real exam right after that before I forget anything :/

In other news, I've decided to take a vacation. I reached rock bottom burnout last week, though I've recovered a bit since. It would still be nice to take a vacation. I might go to a resort in the sun for a week.. like in the Caribbean. My mom is getting re-married Oct 9 in Jamaica. A while back I told her that I won't be going, and now just weeks later I'll be in that area too :/ I feel bad, but this wasn't planned. This burnout was the worst yet and I really need to get away for a while.

I haven't chosen a resort yet. It's going to be weird going by myself since I'm single. Unless I meet some girl down there, I'll be by myself the whole time. Oh well, the point is to relax and do nothing at all. Well, I'll swim in the ocean, snorkel, maybe scuba dive, read non-computer books, eat, drink, eat, eat and eat of course... it's all inclusive :) I think it will be tough but necessary to leave my laptop at home.

The first half of my trip is over. Every day was packed with stuff to do and places to see. Mike and Cassie really wore me out good. After Banf and Calgary we went to the West Edmonton Mall for 3 days.. there are over 800 stores, a large amusement park with a great roller coaster, a water park with a wave pool, many water slides and bunji jumping, petting zoo, go carts, laser tag, a replica of Christopher Columbus's ship, submarine rides, bumper boats, marine life, ice skating rink, etc etc.. it's massive. We did a lot in 3 days but did not see everything. I was really impressed with that mall.

Now I'm in Nanaimo BC visiting James and Jo. They have a new baby (Victor) who's 2 months old. Hopefully this part of my trip will be a bit more relaxing. We plan on kayaking in the ocean, indoor rock climbing, camping for a night, and I'm not sure what else yet.

I really miss Bandit (my new pup). He must think I abandoned him. I hope he's doing alright. Also, while in Calgary my mom showed my basement apt to a prospective tenant. She called me back and said they are very interested and want it. EXCELLENT. The girl is a college student who is in a coop program. She might be renting for 2 years straight. I meet her the day after I come home.

This summer I'm visiting Mike & Cassie in Saskatoon for a week. We're heading out to Calgary, Banf, then Edmonton. We'll spend the last 3 days in the Edmonton mall. Then I head out to BC to visit James and Jo. We'll be in Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver and probably a few other places. This is going to be a fun trip. Right now I'm in my hotel room in Calgary. I've posted some pics in my photo albums. 2 more weeks to go! I left Bandit (my dog) with my mom, the 6 kids, dog and cat. I hope he has fun :)