| |
|
|
.:Sunday, June 27, 2004:.
|
Happy Birthday Fri!
Our flying pear has turned 20-something today. China-time. As I post this, it is still the 27th in Vancouver. Cheers!
6:59 p.m.
posted by tre
.:Tuesday, June 22, 2004:.
|
Damn You, Air Canada!
... and British Airways, too, for that matter. But my main bone to pick is with Air Canada.
In my unrelenting search to find the best deal for my flight to the UK in September, I found some interesting things:
1. the prices tend to rise by $60 every two weeks (noticed this on AC and BA)
2. BA has a better flight selecting process online. It actually tells you which days are cheaper to fly.
most significant finding:
3. it is cheaper to fly to London (LHR) on Air Canada via Seattle. Via frikkin' Seattle. You start in Seattle, CONNECT IN VANCOUVER FOR A NON-STOP FLIGHT TO LONDON. You know how much that flight costs, including the Seattle - Vancouver connecting flight? Return, just under $900. Do you want to know how much it costs to fly direct from Vancouver on the EXACT same flight you would have taken if you had started in Seattle? Over $1100. Check out the website, key in dates. Where is the logic in that??? That really pisses me off. I am considering getting Olsen on our side.
Tanya has taken over the responsibility of getting the tickets, she found out through her agent that even if we bought the tickets from Seattle, we wouldn't be allowed to just use the Vancouver-London portion, which SUCKS ASS. So between the two of us, that's an extra $400 we could be spending elsewhere, but given the convenience of having an International Airport in our own hometown we've decided to not bother having to drive to SeaTac (or for that matter, persuading one of our friends to)
British Airways sucks ass only because the minute I decided to go and book my tickets they raised their prices another $80. Bastards, all of them.
11:10 p.m.
posted by tre
.:Wednesday, June 16, 2004:.
|
It started with a need for pants...
...no, not my latest strange alcohol-induced dream... rather a mission to find seasonally appropriate pants for work. You know, for the off-days that I'm not wearing a skirt. I went to Metrotown to see if I could find some light grey pants and maybe a top to complement the wardrobe...
but guess what i ended up with - another skirt!! and capri pants. objective not met. close, but no cigar. i do have this to say about the skirt: it goes well with the purple purse I got this past weekend. now just gotta find the perfect top and shoes. i'm looking for camel-coloured heels... or brown. now i am on a new mission!!!
next up, purchasing flight ticket to London in September. Picked the brain of a Flight Centre staffer, she said I'm probably better off booking it online. And the price isn't going to be much cheaper with a charter flight. Damn those fuel charges!! Arrrgh... well I appreciated the advice... so now the next choice is between Air Canada or British Airways... hmm.
11:21 p.m.
posted by tre
.:Wednesday, June 09, 2004:.
|
Strange phone calls...
OH MY GOD Ipsos-Reid called me yesterday - oddest freaking survey I've ever done. First question was, what party are you most likely to vote for? Then they changed the subject COMPLETELY and asked if I use deodorant/body spray on a regular basis. And how much emphasis I put on other people and their personal hygiene vs. myself. Looks like they wanted to find a correlation between voting preferences and personal hygiene preferences? Weirdness. I can't imagine a pollster doing that one with a straight face. I couldn't.
10:05 a.m.
posted by tre
.:Tuesday, June 08, 2004:.
|
Storyeum Review
Got to check out Vancouver's newest must-see attraction - Storyeum. Have to say, it was impressive... but still needs to iron out its kinks.
The entrance is off Water St. in Gastown. After you get your tickets and the show is about to begin you are ushered into this big round lift. It darkens, and the walls are lit to represnet the stars. A serene voice begins speaking about BC's natural evolution from ice sheets and mountain carving and fish swimming. To tell you the truth, the serene voice was a little over the top - I half expected to hear some heavy breathing - who knew ice sheets and salmon runs could be so sexy? Anyway, while this is going on the lift lowers into the bottom floor (I couldn't help but be distracted by the lift doors above us - they could do something better to camouflage that if you ask me...)
Upon opening the lift we are 'encouraged' to follow the salmon run into the forest, where we meet Takaya (a live person!) who is about to cut a cedar down but is preparing for it by fasting and cleansing - or so the narrative goes - to me he just looked like he had gas. After this vignette we are transitioned into walking into a long house where we learn about a native indian naming ceremony, then follow Capt. James Cook into the great hall, who then leads us on to a ship where we learn about the trials and tribulations of the traders, and the introduction of small pox into North America. That segues into the mining history of BC (we are led into a 7/10ths replica of Barkerville), which leads us to the building of the railroad, which leads us to Gastown, the centre of industry in Vancouver, where we are treated to a song and dance about "inventory". Then it's back in to the lift and we are bombarded with images of BC and its people and some of their stories.
All in all, an impressive collection of BC history told in an entertaining fashion. The segues were mostly flawless (from a rehearsed script, of course)... some comments I heard about the whole thing were that they wish there were more places to sit down - this is a 70 minute show, after all! Also, it may have been too loud in the ship room... and the montage at the end might have been a little too hokey for some people's liking. But then you gotta think who's going to be seeing this Storyeum - mostly tourists. Some of the sets could use a little more work with seating, and when I went I'm not sure the floors were 'done'. They could do a little more to make some of the sets 'look older'. It kind of reminded me of the Jorvik Viking museum - minus the backward pulling amusement ride chair and the latrine smell... and the Viking hawking Kit Kats!
I'd recommend seeing it in a few months when they've ironed out all the kinks. BTW I got to see it for free because I participated in a Tourism BC fam for work, and am on the marketing list for tourism partners. Yay! Got to meet up with some old TVan people and old friends from Cap. Fun times ;0)
www.storyeum.ca - check it out.
11:51 p.m.
posted by tre
|
|
copyright? what copyright? (2005)
guess what?
... webstats provided by:
...with...
|  |
|
