Smooth Operator

Thanks to Keystone Environmental Ltd., Ann and I were sent on a luxury long weekend ascape to Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. We visited Old Town Scottsdale and the town of Carefree where we visited the Boulders Resort. We also took a drive to the town of Prescott and to the perched village of Jerome that looked clear across the plains towards the Grand Canyon. We headed up to the Red Rock Country near Sedona to see the famous layers of geology. We saw lots of vermilion rock formations including the Courthouse Rock, Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock and our favourite, the Snoopy Rock. Mostly, we soaked up the sunshine, hung out in the pool and took a nice break from the norm. Cheers!... read more

From London and Oxford, I headed up to Manchester in the northwest of England. Nearby is my home town of Altrincham. I visited my cousins and friends from my youth. Frazer was kind enough to let me stay with him! My other cousin, Craige, drove me out to Wales for a day to meet with my Aunt and Uncle in Anglesey. I visited some of my old haunts around Altrincham including the residence and grounds at Dunham Massey. As I had a spare day at the end of my visit, I took a whirlwind tour of the Lake District. This involved a tram into Manchester, a connecting train to Windermere and a bus to Ambleside. I went for a hike around Ambleside up in to the hills and visited a waterfall. I made it back to ... read more

My trip to Chicago began with a request by my Department Head to submit an Abstract for the 2012 Railroad Environmental Conference back in May. I submitted an abstract based on my Thesis and hadn’t really given it too much thought. I had assumed that we were not accepted until we received a request on September 19 to present. I was about to leave on vacation for New York on September 23 when my company approved the attendance of the conference, which meant I had to prepare and submit a presentation by October 7 (during my vacation). I spent several days of my vacation working on it and got the draft in for senior review by October 6. Unfortunately the variety of responses meant I would not complete it on time but the Conference gave me ... read more

Back in September, Richard and Ann started their grand adventure........... It all began with a 2am start from Vancouver to make a 7am super cheap $300 (including taxes) flight from Seattle, via LA to New York JFK. The first night we met up with Ada (our friend we were staying with in NYC), and she took us out to Times Square, Jappa 55 Karaoke bar and finally for sketchy Chinese food at Wo Hop in Chinatown. A great start to our trip! Day 1 in NYC include a walk around Greenwich Village, including local musicians at Washington Square, and the best tarts from Pasticceria Rocco on Bleeker St. Ann had booked us for a gastronomic delight including chefs from all over the country preparing the favourite lamb dishes at the Lamb Jam event at City Winery. ... read more

I visited with the Jave family for most of my stay in Toronto. Carl’s nephew, Joshua, was so happy to see his uncle. We also managed to meet up with a bunch of friends – Alex, Steve, Alistair, Brishen, Joanne, Beth and Richie. Carl talk me walking around half the city including the University of Toronto (UofT), the Art gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The dinosaur fossils section was particularly well presented. We had some fabulous meals including Lobster and Chinese Food. I managed to find a special present for Ann that she will have to wait for until I get back. We left for the Cayman Islands on a Friday. We flew over Varadero, Cuba during the flight. We walked out from the airport to Georgetown where Carl enjoyed his ... read more