Japan Rider: The Blog

Ok this will b a very short post-I just wanted to say that I am finally the proud owner of a smart phone! It’s an Android, and as I’m a big Google user, it’s great for me, and there are tons of apps available to boot. Also-Ican blog on the move!

Getting up at 5:30 a.m., it’s hard not to notice ever-shortening days, which mark the approaching end of summer. This reminder that deep snows and deep freeze temperatures are really just around the corner is prompting me to take advantage of the warmish weather and longish daylight hours.

Saturday morning now, and it’s been a Saturday that I’ve been looking forward to, especially after last weekend’s super fun but super fast-paced weekend, followed by a week of work and errands.

I have deliberately made today a ‘free’ day – leaving me at liberty to drink tea until the cows come home before I maybe do something productive, like maybe doing a bit of laundry! I even cancelled a weekend plan, just so that I could have this time to myself.

Solitude and quiet time is really under-rated, and I have missed it!

The Japan Rider site has been inundated by spam in the comments over the last little while, so I’ve finally done something about it and changed the anti-spam Captcha tool in the comments section. Now when you leave a comment, instead of being asked to enter in a word or letters that you see, you will have to solve a math equation.

Let’s see how this works!

I had a really great time with Cheryl – who I first met in Japan thirteen years ago!- as we walked around the kiosks and shops at the festival, and talked to the very friendly folks there.
However – for me, getting to and from Bethlehem was something of an adventure.

First, the day before flying out, Delta paid me a computerized phone call, saying that my flight on Friday had been cancelled, but that I’d been secured on a flight on Saturday, due to arrive at 5 p.m. Well, since the concert was Saturday evening, and since I was flying out on Sunday evening, that was not good at all. A few polite phone calls, and I was in luck. The folks at Delta came through for me and got me on a US Airways flight. While the flight from Philadelphia to Allentown (Bethlehem) was delayed by about 1.5 hours, I still got to the hotel by midnight which was not bad.

The return trip. Well, my flight was not exactly cancelled, but the leg out of Allentown was delayed by several hours, resulting in a missed connection in Detroit. So, while chatting with other unfortunate but cheerful travellers and sipping a beer at the bar, I was also making phone calls to Delta. Finally I had to get in the long line to discuss my situation with the very harried-looking guy at the Delta gate.

He confirmed what I knew – there was no way to get to Montreal on Sunday night. Now, I’d planned this trip very carefully, so as not to miss any work, since if I don’t work, I don’t get paid. Sadly, Delta could not conjure up non-existent flights, but I did get a hotel voucher and meal vouchers and a few extra air miles. THe guy did offer me a $100 travel voucher for my next Delta flight, but, I admit, I was feeling somewhat grouchy and assured him he could keep it as I would never be flying Delta again.

Finally I got to Detroit – travel weary just from pacing the small Allentown airport and watching my flight be continually delayed – and I printed my hotel and meal vouchers from the machines at the airport. WHile on my way to do that, a nice man over-heard that I was looking for my hotel voucher, and he gave me his room at the Hilton since it was paid for buy he had to fly out early. My hotel voucher from Delta was for some place called the X Red Roof Inn. Hmmm….though I’d never seen the place, I felt it was not a hard decision, and I headed instead for the Hilton, where I ordered a pizza from Cottage Pizza and watched digital tv in my large, luxurious bed!

I got back to Montreal at about 1 p.m. on Monday, and was very happy to get home. But I have to say – any irritation I felt with the flights, any air-port fatigue – is now gone and I’m already looking forward to the next time I can fly somewhere!

Short post for now from my iPod! After cancelled flights and delayed flights I finally made it to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania last night at midnight! Here my old friend Cheryl & I are going to shop, eat, and go to Music festival to see Maroon 5! We both have to work on Monday, so I’m flying out again tomorrow night- short but sweet:)

I am trying somethimg new and blogging this from my Amazon Kimdle. it’s slightly awkward and quite basic, but it is still pretty cool all the things a kindle can do!

With my job starting at 8 am, morning runs are slipping into the past, to be replaced with evening runs instead. Did a nice run tonight along the St. Lawrence river-7 km!

I’ve been having lots of fun trying out new ring tones on my cellphone. I download them for free from the excellent

http://www.zedge.net/

My favourite is Mother is Calling (sorry, cannot seem to embed the sounds…)

http://www.zedge.net/ringtones/873621/mother-is-calling-ringtone/?pos=0&search=mother+is+calling