Through The Mist Darkly

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Garrison Keillor

>“I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.”

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I’m probably the last blogger in the world to mention Google Maps but I’m still in awe of how amazing this service is. Shown above is the result of typing my home address in and zooming in as close as possible.

It found the right spot on the street but the marker is on the wrong side of the road. Still, very impressive. Click the picture to see a larger view.

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An absolute week from hell. I don’t remember having a more stressful 5 days in years. Just about everything that could go wrong did and my nuts have been in the wringer at every turn.

I’m in the midst of about a half dozen projects and each one of them is at the crucial stage. They’ve all conspired to come together in a “perfect storm” of turmoil. The worst part is that I’m the middleman in most of them and have very limited control over the other parties. This is not a spot I like to be in and I don’t handle it very well.

We’ve got one more week till vacation but it looks like I’ll have to spend at least part of those days trying to put out fires and move things along. Oh what fun!

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Shake Hands With The Devil

My rating: 5 out of 5

Just finished this book by Canadian General Romeo Dallaire who led the United Nations peackeeping force in the early 90’s during the genocidal civil war in Rawanda.

Dallaire returned to Canada a broken man haunted by the images of hundreds of thousands of murdered men, women and especially the children. Suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, he attempted suicide before finally confronting the demons and returning to the war torn country. This book is his testament to the horrors and the heroism that marked the futile attempt by a small band of dedicated soldiers to maintain the peace in a country gone mad.

Dallaire was just appointed to the Canadian Senate where he promises to be a vocal proponent for human rights.

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First round of golf for 2005 was played this morning. Shot a horrible 51 but I’ll blame that on the crappy greens that have been areated but not rolled or cut yet. It was so good to stand at the first tee and see the whole season before you. I’ve missed golf horribly all through the long winter and I don’t care how bad my game is early as long as I have the chance to get out with friends and enjoy the walk.

Got back into Toronto yesterday at about 2:30. We were delayed in Frankfurt for an hour due to bad weather and sitting on an aircraft for 9 hours took its toll on my body. Another reason why it felt so nice to hit the links this morning. Stretching tired, stiff muscles gave way to that great experience where you can really feel your body. Your senses are heightened and you truly feel alive.

The rest of day is reserved for watching the final round of the Masters and doing all the laundry that comes from a week long business trip. The bodyclock is still a little out of whack (hit the sack at 8pm yesterday and was up at 4 this morning). Things should be back to normal tomorrow.

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Last day of meetings. Thank God!

I’m ready to go home now.



Taken in downtown Zurich last Sunday before the weather went bad. It’s rained steadily for the last 2 days.

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Another day, more meetings. Spent most of last night in the hotel bar and then we went out for pizza. Not exactly local cuisine but good.

This shot was taken from my hotel window. We’re actually staying in Kloten, a suburb of Zurich. Lots of homes like this sprinkled amongst small businesses.

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A long day of boring meetings yesterday. Sitting watching PowerPoint presentations is not my idea of fun.

Last night we had a group dinner at the hotel and things broke up early. The bodyclock is still having problems so I spent a quiet evening reading and hit the sack around 11. There’s only 3 English language TV stations available and right now it’s All Pope All The Time. I’m a badly lapsed Roman Catholic but even so I have to recognize the tremendous impact John Paul had on the world. Still, I’m sure that there are other things going on in the world that are worth reporting. I feel like I’m living in a vacuum.

Today is more of the same. Meetings all day. Don’t know if we’re going to go downtown tonight or whether I’ll just spend the time watching Popevision.

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Hello from Zurich. Just a quick post because I’m using an outrageously expensive internet connection that will time out in a few minutes.

Made it here yesterday without any sleep on the plane. I felt like hell but was determined to stay up and try and pound my bodyclock into submission. Took the very efficient Swiss rail system into downtown Zurich and walked around the town. Hope to upload some pictures today when I connect to the company connection.

This picture was taken from seat 16A on Air Canada’s flight 872 somewhere over England. It was a good flight, except for the lack of sleep, and I made my connection in Frankfurt without incident.

Weather here is nice and the sun is shining. Off to the meetings.

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Another month, another business trip. I’m pretty stoked about this one as I’m off to Zurich Switzerland. Never been there before and I hear it’s a beautiful city. Unfortunately, I won’t have much time to see anything. An entire week of meetings and then back on the plane at 7am next Saturday.

This evening, just after 5pm, Air Canada (or Lufthansa - it’s impossible to tell with codesharing) will wisk me off to Frankfurt Germany. Once there, I have an hour to get the connecting flight to Zurich. What could go wrong? Well, for one thing, it’s snowing here in Toronto and they’re calling for high winds later in the day. That will play hell with the schedule. No sense in stressing until tomorrow morning.

The plan is to immediately go downtown tomorrow after I check in. Hope the weather is nice so I can snap a hundred pictures or so. I’ll try to post them as soon as I can and write at least once a day.

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