Edmonton, Ho!

[przed]

A month ago, work announced that they were going to send me to Edmonton. For a day. For a five hour meeting. Only two hours of which actually concerned me. Oh, and the flight is four hours, each way.

I kept trying to wriggle out of it, but never quite managed.

And this week, to add insult to injury, I realized my flight was going to be during the World Cup final.

I'm currently sitting in my hotel room in Edmonton, and it hasn't turned out to be too bad of a trip so far. I'm travelling with three co-workers, and we found a great little Greek restaurant across the road with a wonderful waiter who ordered us an assortment of wonderful food (saganaki and dalmades and moussaka and baba ghanouj and calamari) and also brought shots of free ouzo at the end. (I shouldn't have had the ouzo, but it was yummy. And also strong. I may still be a bit woozy. It's official; I have no head left for alcohol.)

Here's hoping the actual meeting tomorrow turns out to be valuable. Or at least semi-useful. And that we make our airport shuttle, and the plane isn't late.

I'm still sad about missing the World Cup final, though. I recorded it, but it's really not the same, knowing the outcome. And my vague plans to avoid finding out who won were foiled when they announced the final score on the plan. Oh, and one of my co-workers showed up at the airport wearing a German jersey, so I was always going to find out who won.

But still, yummy food and free ouzo, yay!

Comments

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Oh, what bad luck on the timing! Is Edmonton a place you know? Is it interesting? The food sounds interesting: I know about dolmades and moussaka and calamari, but the others are new to me.

But yay for yums and free ouzo. Hope the meeting is productive.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Edmonton is neither known to me nor interesting. Which is probably for the best since all I saw of it was the airport, the hotel, and the little Greek restaurant.

At least the meeting was productive. I'm feeling much less cranky about having been told I was going.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as for the Greek food, saganaki is flaming cheese. Here in Toronto, they light it on fire is front of you and say Opa! but the Edmonton version came to us pre-sizzled but no less yummy.

Baba ghanouj is an eggplant dip, and it is very yummy. If you like eggplant. Which I do. *g*

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

There is such a thing as flaming cheese? Wow. That sounds utterly amazing, and I have to find some.

Eggplant (aubergine, yes?) is not a favourite, but it sounds interesting none the less.

[przed.livejournal.com]

The dose it in alcohol, then light it on fire so you get this explosive pop. It's a fun spectacle, and also tasty. (I live a few subway stops from Greektown, so we could do a Greek meal, if you're interested.)

Yep, eggplant=aubergine. The dip might be palatable even if you don't usually like the vegetable. It's a bit milder than straight eggplant/aubergine.

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this sounds like a possible plan, yay!

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

Bad timing or what?! And it's never the same, watching a recorded game, even if you don't know the result. If you DO know the result beforehand there's no sense of anticipation.
I hope your meeting doesn't turn out to be wasted time - although the little Greek restaurant could atone for a lot of sins.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Definitely bad timing. I got in very late last night, and I reckon I might just fast forward my way through the game and watch the good bits (Germany's goal and Argentina's almost-goal.)

At least the meeting turned out to be very useful. I wasn't entirely convinced it would be.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Eeesh - could they not have done video-conferencing and all that shiny 21st century jazz? Anyway, I'm glad there were some good things in Edmonton, I hope the conference was at least somewhat useful/productive!

I need to watch the final on catch-up TV too. It's not the same, I agree.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced they could have done this all with video-conferencing, but who am I to question these things. But the meeting was very useful, so that's a good thing.

I'm taking the morning off (free ouzo resulted in inflammatory pain flare, so that's another type of alcohol off the menu) so I'm going to watch the highlights of the game. But no, it's just not the same.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Oh no, bad ouzo! That's a shame. But I'm glad the meeting was useful.

We've now entered the stage of the Summer Sport Cycle known as 'Golf'. Which I can't, I just can't get into, and god knows I've tried. Roll on the (tennis) US Open! *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Golf is one of those things I can't abide. It's more tedious than watching paint dry, IMO. (I probably just haven't recovered from golf tournaments delaying The Wonderful World of Disney in the summer when I was a kid. *g*)

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Yup, yunny food and free ouzo makes up for things:) Very tense match, but honestly, not the best one of the competition.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Yummy food was good, although the free ouzo triggered one of my stupid chronic pain things. No more ouzo for me. (So that's just gin and scotch left as booze I can handle, and not much of either. ::iz sad::)

The match sounded like it was tense, but I have to say I think I might have enjoyed the group round games the most this world cup. It's so much fun watching the underdogs play their hearts out.

[norfolkdumpling.livejournal.com]

Phooey on the timing, but I'm glad you managed to find some positives in such a long trip for so little time! And I trust you've been able to see the final by now :)

[przed.livejournal.com]

The little Greek place was definitely a positive. And the meeting itself turned out to be useful, so that's good.

I haven't watched the game yet (was in the meeting all day yesterday and I didn't get back home until after midnight) but will be correcting that this morning. (I'm taking the morning to knock back the pain the ouzo kicked off. Stoopid chronic conditions.)

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

I think I've only ever had bad experiences with ouzo... glad the trip wasn't as onerous as you feared!

I'm sad the World Cup is over :( Even with England being so dull and uninspiring it's been a great tournament to watch - I've loved Colombia and Costa Rica and Algeria and... oh, lots of teams. The group matches were so often really exciting. The final was kind of tense and intriguing but you didn't miss any real sparkle. Oh well, bye bye Brasil! But yay, there's been Wimbledon, and the cricket Tests v. India have just started and soon (for us) there's the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow :D

[przed.livejournal.com]

I'm also sad that the World Cup is over. I think I enjoyed the group stage more than anything. So much potential for upsets, and so many small teams playing their hearts out. Nigeria and Ghana were favourites in our house.

Ooh, I forgot about the Commonwealth Games! We'll get those, too. Though heaven knows I won't have much time to watch them.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

In a time when they finally have video conferencing pretty much worked out this seems like really bad planning on someone's part.

At least it sounds like you had a good time though. :D

[przed.livejournal.com]

The could have totally done it all through web conferencing or video conferencing.

I am only prevented from being completely bitter about the whole thing because a) the Greek restaurant was great and b) the meeting turned out to be useful. Probably in that order. ;-)

Oh, and welcome back!