Back Across the Border

Ah, it's good to be home. I've been in Canada since August 4th, relying on auto-posting to avoid looking like I wasn't home. It's a weird world we live in when crooks read Twitter to see who is away in order to rob them.

So this is my first home post since August 3rd. I would have gone all that time with no new posts, living in fear that a major war would break out (as happened last year when a friend emailed that I hadn't written on the Russian attack). But it turns out my hotel in Toronto (where I was since Saturday) had free Internet access (on dial-up with so many hoops to jump through that it was almost not worth it to access the web) so I wrote a couple posts.

I could have gone all 8 days without posting. Really, I could.

I finally saw Star Trek and the newly re-opened Ontario art gallery. I of course hit my favorite pub Grace O'Malley's which always has a good band (and yes, Toronto is good for my ego. I've got a few miles on me but I guess in a dark bar--with lots of drinking I admit--I don't look too old yet). A delightful lass--possibly not even Irish despite her name--and her friends and sister were great to meet. A very enjoyable evening.

And thank you Second City for sitting the lovely government psychologist from Baltimore next to me. She truly has a laugh men would strive mightily to hear a lot. Sigh. Baltimore...

Oh, and I saw Tori Amos in concert. Amazingly, there was only one Tori Almost in the audience (you know, a young woman with bright reddish-orange hair trying to look like Amos? I just made that term up, I'll have you know. I'll have to Google it to see if was already coined. Probably ...) What was really annoying was the woman with black roots, blonde hair, and reddish pink splotches (what the heck was that anyway?) who kept waving her arms around right in my line of sight of Tori. Luckily, about a third of the way through, she fell asleep in her seat. I assume she was highly self-medicated recreating the 1960s, or something.

One thing that almost wrecked my experience was being made as an American during my first swing through Toronto on the way to Sudbury. The clerk at a book store where I was getting Mister a new chess book almost immediately asked me if I was from the states! Egad, last year a street person mistook me for an undercover cop! And this year (with the reason being our only Tim Horton's closed in Ann Arbor recently?) I'm spotted?

Thankfully, late Sunday a couple of guys apparently from Scotland asked me for directions to Blue Jay Way and I was able to send them in the right direction. Whew. My son mocked me for having a cheap victory since Canadians didn't ask for directions but I guess all we North Americans look alike to them.

And joy to the world, I was not searched this time crossing back into America. Although I need to cross the border next week for a quick trip, so we'll see if they disassemble my car then. I'm not home free yet, I guess.

Time to get back into the krill stream of news. Relying on a daily paper and CNN just doesn't provide the news content of frequent web access. Amazing, really.

The last straw on my cheapo $9.99 digital micro camera occurred this trip. Once again, I lost all my pictures when the battery ran down before I could get home to upload the pictures to my computer. The stupid thing drains power even when off. Which is fine if I'm home by nightfall. My older but much larger $9.99 camera that died could at least hold its fewer pictures without that kind of a power drain. By God, I vow to get a real camera.

Anyway, I'm tanned, rested, and ready to go.

UPDATE: My subsequent border adventure.