Blog @ simpletofind.ca » education http://blog.simpletofind.ca A place that is simple to find, but not really specific about anything... Sun, 29 May 2011 23:26:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 From winter hell, to random education, to winter hell, to a suite http://blog.simpletofind.ca/2008/02/06/from-winter-hell-to-random-education-to-winter-hell-to-a-suite/ http://blog.simpletofind.ca/2008/02/06/from-winter-hell-to-random-education-to-winter-hell-to-a-suite/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:10:50 +0000 daniel http://blog.simpletofind.ca/2008/02/06/from-winter-hell-to-random-education-to-winter-hell-to-a-suite/ My morning started in a winter drive with around 5 feet of visibility.  A decent speed of 40km/h was attained.  Unfortunately, I did have to dodge the oddball idiot travelling way too fast.  Luckily, they had a soft landing in the ditch.  The drive that should have lasted 2 hours took well over 4 hours.  After arriving at my destination, I was still quite early.  Seeing that I was at a University I have never been before (or the city), I decided to spend my extra time exploring.  This University (Queens) has a beautiful and old fashioned campus.  The first building I decided to explore was a converted church to auditorium.  It was amazing what they had inside.  The best part was a teacher giving lessons on how to play an organ.  I have always enjoyed listening and even watching someone play the organ.  What happened next came as a complete surprise:  I was asked if I would have liked to try!  There was no cost, no one in line and I had to put on little booties.  I told the teacher (I assume?) that I had no experience what so ever.  She said that was okay and I would have a free 10 minute lesson with only my feet.  I’m a slow learner, so I only got time to practice with my right foot.  It was *awesome*.   After that excitement was over (not really, I’m still excited 12 hours later), I explored the rest of the buildings, the library, the residence, everything I could possibly have time to walk.   I did some PR and managed to get more people to attend my presentation outside of the small expected audience (definitely a plus!).

After a great 3 hour presentation, it was time to go.  The snow storm got WORSE.  Visibility was reduced, the roads were covered in snow, and the transport truck drivers drove like wild idiots.  I watched a truck jackknife less than 100ft in front of me, I watched an SUV go sideways into the barrier and I followed a car that thought it would be safer to use two lanes, the shoulder, the other shoulder, back to the middle… It was not a fun drive.  Total driving time: 6 hours, expected time: 3 hours.  Chance of survival: 20%.

All is not all that bad.  Once I had arrived at my hotel, I was put in a luxury suite because they sold mine.  I am sitting here blogging on the 28th floor of a Sheraton, enjoying a great view of the city of Montreal.  Time to explore the street level and see what is going on in this busy city J 

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