How to get lost in Canada when you're dead.

I've always had a certain admiration for our neighbor's to the north. Some of this, I suppose. is a natural effect of growing up in northern Minnesota and playing hockey-their national sport. I also hold in high esteem the idealism of socialized medicine, the quirky comedians, safe cities, bilingualism, mounted police, cold climate, strong beer.

My GF and I found ourselves in Toronto, Ont (sensitive business) a few weeks ago. We went from MKE to DTW to whatever the fuck the code is for Toronto-Pearson. Filled out those silly customs cards. Made it through customs. "What are you here for?" We are here to assassinate your PM. "ok, have fun."

We hopped into the first available cab. Bags in check, we were ready to depart. "156 Richmond west, please." Newly minted Arab cab driver fumbles with his GPS for a few minutes and leaves without getting the GPS to link up. He heads toward downtown, manages to get off on an exit not too far from our hotel, but then his fucking head exploded. Calls dispatch, and I manage to understand only bits and pieces of what he says. We make it to the correct street, but he has no idea whether to make a left or right. He chose right, I was fairly sure that was the proper direction. He's not. At a stoplight he suddenly jumps out of the cab and accosts to poor lady behind us. Friendly as ever (from Manitoba, perhaps!), she tells him where our hotel is......the downtown Hilton is always so hard to find.

Beers and wings at the hotel bar made it better for that night. Beds were comfortable, but the next few days and ultimate result were forgettable. We were back stateside in a few days-via DTW (they have a nice sushi bar in the airport!).

You're the one

Slow going in the blog department lately, which of course means things have been crazy otherwise. I was in NYC for about 24 hours early this week for a job interview. I will skip most of the details of that trip so as not to blow my cover (you see, I was there on sensitive business). The flights were good enough despite the fact that 3 or the 4 legs of the trip were in small puddle jumpers barely bigger than a Hummer. I stayed my one night at a hotel that had rubber ducky, which I really wanted to steal, but didn't. Leaving LaGaurdia I had the misfortune of spending a few hours waiting in the 'A' gate area. Don't ever think you'll get anything approaching edible after you go through security here. I ordered a pre-made eggplant sandwich that had mozzarella and tomatoes on it. The eggplant had a grayish tint to it, and the mozzarella was rubbery and had zero flavor. The whole thing was so disgusting I couldn't even bring myself to eat the bread.

On my way to NYC I had a beer at a sports bar in Cleveland that had pictures of mid 1990s football players all over. Randall Cunningham. Jim Druckenmueller? Scott Mitchell. Steve Young. Reggie White. etc. Most of them were decent players at one time, but Jim Druckenmueller? wtf?

I haven't had a ton of time to get much poker in. The end of February was so busy I didn't even get a chance to maintain my Silverstar status on pokerstars. I have played a bit the past few days with mixed results. I went on mini-tilt last night after getting 2 outered in my SNG and losing most of a buyin at a 7CS and limit hold em table. I made it all back when I jumped up to a higher 7CS table and doubled my buyin in 30 minutes. Hit and run.