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Images available in Karen’s trip to Lake Tahoe album

Day 1, Sunday April 17

I woke up at 7:00 Sunday morning because there were several things I had to do before leaving to catch my flight, including packing. I left at 11:45 and caught the 103 to Villa Maria without incident and then took the metro. I thought I was supposed to get off at Côte Vertu for some reason, but as soon as I got there I realized I had gone one stop too far and had to go back to Du Collège station. No harm done there, as I had allowed myself a lot of time to get there. I went back to Du Collège and waited for the 202 which goes to the Dorval terminus. There is something nice on traveling on Sundays if you are not in a rush, as the busses are not crowded. On the 202, there was a guy sitting in front of me and a ladybug landed on his cellphone.

When I arrived at the terminus I walked through the tunnel to go under the railroad tracks so that I could walk to the airport. In the tunnel I met a guy my age who said he was trying to figure out where to catch the 204 (the bus that runs from the terminus to the airport albeit infrequently). I told him that I never take it because it runs only every 1/2 an hour or so, but that I was walking and I could show him how to get there. He kindly offered to carry my luggage but I refused since you just never know what some people will be willing to do to get something from you. Everything went fine and we arrived at the airport 20 minutes later. I found the American Airlines ticketing counter and checked in right away. I had to go to a special customs room because I had brought an apple and some salt roasted peas with me, but I was allowed to take them in because the apple was from Washington state and I guess the peas were harmless. When I was going through security I had to take out my iBook and I still had my apple out so one of the security guards asked me if I was a schoolteacher. The whole check-in/customs/security/border crossing thing took a good half an hour. I went to my gate and read my book there until we boarded.

This was my first flight on American Airlines but it wasn’t much different from any other airline except the stewardesses seemed a little less superficially polite than usual. To pass the time and save my book for later, I read the inflight magazine “American Way”. The magazine was alright. There were a lot of ads for luxury condos whose mortgage would probably bankrupt an entire country and I think I found that the most surprising. The cool thing to do seems to be to live in a luxury condo at the top of a very high tower in some warm place like Miami or Las Vegas where you have almost everything you need (i.e. pool, tennis court, Zen garden) in your building – there is almost no need to leave!! Yikes.

The flight went quickly and I arrived at Chicago O’Hare soon. I went down two gates and waited for the next flight. Feeling a bit hungry for lunch I bought some vegetables and dip and juice at a restaurant/pub near my gate. This guy was having a conversation with someone on a cellphone but he was using earphones and a headset and it was very strange because everyone including myself thought he was taking to them when he was not. There were quite a few overweight people in the waiting area for the next flight, which wasn’t helped by the fact that everyone except me and a few others ate McDonald’s for lunch.

The flight was long and uneventful. We watched “Beyond the Sea” which was a movie about Bobby Darin, whom I had never heard of before, but whose singing I recognized (including the song with the same name as the title). No meal was served, but a “snack pack” for $3 was offered which I did not try.

I saw the lake and the Reno downtown when I landed. Reno is a larger city than I thought! It seemed to be spread out forever.

When we landed in Reno, I was three hours in the past, so to speak. It was about 8:30 PM local time, which meant it was past my bedtime. I picked up my luggage (hooray, another trip without my luggage getting lost) and went to the No Stress Express shuttle drive where I checked to see when the next shuttle was. It was not until 10:30, so I decided to go have supper. I ate at a pub thing in the airport. I was surprised how expensive the food was. Maybe it was just because we were in the airport, but I didn’t expect a pre-packaged Caesar salad (at the café beside us) to cost $7. I thought generally the cost of US food was quite low, so I think it must be due to the captive market. Anyway I had some chili which was not that great and was about 10 times more than I could eat. Again, the service was not great, but it is funny how the waitress called me “honey”.

I left and waited in the arrivals area for a while, then bought my ticket on the shuttle. The shuttle was late (11:00) and I was the only passenger. A friendly lady who has lived in Newfoundland was the driver and we went out to the car, which was an old 6 door GM something-or-other. It reminded me of my Mom’s Monte Carlo. It was like a boat!! She remembered that she forgot to get gas money so we drove back to the arrivals area and picked up the money and then off we went. We drove across a freeway that seemed to be lined with endless malls and outlets and then started going up the mountain. It took at long time to get there, probably 25 minutes or more. This is only one stop in the shuttle route and now I see why the shuttle only runs every 3 hours! We seemed to be going up the road for ever until finally we reached level ground and then drove along that for a while before turning in to the road leading to the resort. By this time I was absolutely exhausted, so I was looking forward to getting to my room. Local time was about 12:10 AM when I arrived, which would mean 3:10 AM for me. I noticed a casino across from the check in counter and people were actually playing at midnight! I checked in and found out the conference was only 80 people. 80?? This is an ASM conference and I was really surprised. I was expecting something like 800. I think this is going to feel very strange.

Day 2 Monday April 18:

I woke up with a headache, probably related to jet lag, lack of sleep and not eating well the day before. I made coffee in the in suite coffee maker, but didn’t drink much of it. It took me a while to get the coffee maker to work because the outlet it was plugged into wasn’t working. I went to get ready to find out with some dismay that there was no bathtub in the suite, only a shower! After showering I discovered the built-in hair dryer would not come out of its holder, but fortunately I had brought my own and was able to use that. I went to the restaurant for breakfast and was horrified to find the buffet cost $14 USD so I opted for orange juice and an English muffin which were only $7. Off to the lectures all day. At the suppertime break Tim and I went to Austins, a “down home” cooking restaurant and my food was quite disappointing. The cream of mushroom soup was ok but the cornbread was sweet and the greenbeans were greasy and not very green and they tasted horrible. Tim had better luck with a chicken burger and salad. We walked to the lake and I took a few pictures before we went back for the last talk. After I came back to the hotel room and fell asleep almost immediately. Dad phoned at 9:30 and we had a short conversation.

Day 3, Tuesday April 19:

I woke up at 6 AM and went swimming. The hotel has a number of pools and Jacuzzis and the pool I went to is outdoor but heated and has a swim-out access. I was the only one in the pool (which I really appreciated) and so I practiced different swimming strokes. The pool is no deeper than 4 feet and non-linear in shape (it is meant more for sitting and playing games than serious swimming, I have to say) but nevertheless I managed to do some laps of it. With my asthma and the low air pressure, I wasn’t able to swim for too long without being short of breath, but I did get a good workout. I have noticed that my skin is looking very red here, and I think it must be due to overproduction of red blood cells trying to take up as much oxygen as possible.

I had breakfast at the restaurant again and this time opted for the continental, which included coffee, juice and “three breakfast bakeries” for $9. I got a bran muffin, a scone and croissant. I would have preferred non-sweet food, but everything with eggs and potatoes was quite expensive. Perhaps tomorrow I will upgrade to the make-your own omelet option for $11 which looked good.

I still had some extra time, so I went for a walk outside. It had snowed overnight and it was below 0, so I wore my jacket and mittens. I walked along the road out of the resort and along the highway a bit, but did not find anything interesting. I picked up some of the really large pinecones they have here and will try to take them into Canada when I go through customs in Chicago and see if they let me keep them.

Attended talks as usual, etc. At one of the breaks I was able to access a computer terminal and do a bit of email. For supper Tim and I went to “Tomatoes” which is “light Italian” food. I had linguine with marinara sauce and it was good. We walked to the lake again and then attended the evening talk.

There sure are a lot of smart people here!

Day 4, Wednesday April 19:

I went swimming again this morning at 5:30 before I got ready. I was the only person in the pool again, which was very nice. The robotic pool cleaner was in the pool though. I saw this long floating rope and thought it might have been leftover from last night (there was a large and loud group out there) so I tried to pull it out to get it out of the way. It soon became clear that it was attached to something rather heavy and I thought it was a life preserver. What I found instead was the “Ultra Max” pool cleaner whom I had interrupted from doing its work. I let it go and swam around it for the rest of the time I was there. Swimming was still hard with the low air pressure. I went for a walk down by the beach and saw an Episcopalian (read Anglican) church near the multimillion dollar homes on the lakefront. I had the omelet at the café today and it cost $14 with coffee. Highway robbery!!

We attended lectures early today and the day went by quickly. We had a banquet in the evening which was quite nice. I saw Tim drink alcohol for the first time (Scotch, of which he only had a few sips) and I was able to have good conversations with several people. The food was a buffet and decent. I went back and finished reading my Isaac Asimov book and went to sleep.

Day 5, Thursday April 21:

I woke up early and got ready, then sorted out my hotel bill (the cost for calling home was ridiculous, something like $6 a minute, and they took half the price off once I asked them about it) and then I grabbed a bagel at the small coffee bar in the lobby and read the New York Times (delivered to my door daily) while eating it. I must say after eating Montreal bagels, this one was quite disappointing. I checked out and waited for Tim in the lobby, since we were both taking the same shuttle to the airport together. The driver was tremendously confused about whether I had a reservation or not and temporarily lost my ticket, but finally everything got sorted out and we were on our way.

The car they sent to pick us up in was, to my surprise, a black limousine! This is the first (and probably last) time I rode in one. There were glasses in the bar, but alas, we had to supply our own champagne and given it was 8:30 AM on the last day of a scientific conference, we had to go without. Nevertheless we had an interesting conversation with the other 4 people in the car. It look a very long time to get to the airport (probably an hour) because even though the driver did not pick anyone else up, he went the entire distance of the route. We went in and out of California, so now I guess I can say I have visited there too.

Finally we arrived at the airport and I checked in without difficulty. I tried to find Tim in the waiting lounge (there was only one) but didn’t see him. Instead, I waited at my gate (with a total of 8 seats) and read while half listening to the others nearby. One lady was talking with another, the former worked for WalMart as the food court architect and the latter who shopped at WalMart. I found their conversation very interesting, as the architect said she would never shop there after having worked for them. The other lady said “Oh really? I love WalMart!”. Well, at least this goes to show that there are a few other people out there who think WalMart is as evil as I do.

I finally caught my flight and we watched “Ocean’s Twelve” on the way back. I couldn’t really get into it though as it was hard to see. I sat next to two businessmen from Toronto who (from what I could gather) were in the wood business. They were chatting on their cellphones and writing reports and emails on their laptops whenever possible. In fact, I was surprised that as soon as any plane I was on landed, people would whip out their cellphones and call their co-workers, bosses, spouses, etc, all resulting in a annoying background chatter of half-heard conversations. I am quite certain that in Canada (or previously) this was forbidden.

In Chicago I only had half an hour, but was able to get to my gate ok. I bought the veggies and dip from the same place as previously and didn’t even have time to eat them before we boarded. The flight to Montreal took about 2 hours and we landed on time at 8:30 PM. I was in the new arrivals terminal which had recently been built or renovated (it was looking very nice) and going through customs was relatively painless. They let me keep the pine cones and I was on my way after they inspected them. I tried to call Dan, but the phone was busy and once I exited the airport I had no choice but to go directly outside since the lobby was closed off and a hockey team was cheering for their new goalie, who had just arrived, in the lane outside. I hopped into a taxi and got home at 9:30 and had a nice chat with the driver on the way.

I should make an observation about obesity. I noticed throughout my trip, that there were a fair number of overweight and obese people, particularly in comparison to Montreal. I think this has something to do with the fact that in every airport I waited in, people were eating McDonald’s and drinking super-super sized Cokes or Pepsis from there. Given that I was feeling unwell to my stomach, I didn’t eat much while I was traveling, although I did note that McDonald’s was not the only option. I do not understand how someone who is clearly overweight can continue to consume French fries and pop without making the connection between the two events. So I guess going on this trip has given me a boost in my body image; it was the first time in a long time that I actually felt thin compared to the people around me!

PS My skin is back to its normal colour.

I really miss the Edmonton public library this week.

I am going to a conference in Lake Tahoe tomorrow and I realised to my disappointment that although it is at a lake in Nevada it is not warm and sunny as I was predicting, due to the fact that the lake happens to be located on the incline of a 6000 ft above-sea-level mountain. Damn. I’m going to be stuck in a tiny tourist village on the top of a mountain where the only things to do are skiing and shopping (and golfing when the snow melts), none of which interest me at all. So I decided I had better get some books out of the library so I will not be bored to death when I am not attending the conference (I would have needed some anyway for the flight).

I have had various unsuccessful encounters with the Montreal library system and was prepared for the worst this time, but it was actually better than it could have been. I went to the Fraser-Hickson library in NDG (corner of Sommerled and Grand) which I had heard is quite good. Cote St Luc library is also good, but is too far away to walk and the bus service from our place to the library was not good at all, so I didn’t bother going there. All the libraries are completely separate here, there is no single centralized library system like there is in Edmonton. In fact, the different bouroughs (which at one point were individual cities and may be again if they demerge) own their libraries, so technically they can refuse membership to anyone who does not live in their bourough. Although this does not appear to be the case for all of them, as with Westmount library I just had to pay $2.

Montreal institutions seem to have a fixation with you carrying around your phone bill and presenting it to anyone who asks. I could not get a membership at the Westmount library the first time I went, as the phone bill was in Dan’s name only. They refused to accept any other identification except for the hydro quebec bill which was fortunately in my name. I was worried the same thing would happen when I went to the Fraser-Hickson library, but all they wanted was my contact information and the name, address and phone number of someone else who lives in Montreal as a reference! A reference to get a library card?? What is the world coming to? Despite this, I did succeed in getting a card and actually took out two books.

Anyway, because all the libraries are seprate, getting an interlibrary loan (so that I don’t have to go half way across the city to get a book I want to read) is essentially out of the question because you have to pay for it and I don’t think it is cheap.

In Edmonton, the situation was quite different. There was one and only one public library system and it had numerous branches throuout the city. For $10 a year the borrower had unrestricted access to any book in the system and could request it to be delivered to any branch for pick-up. The automated phone system, ELVIS (Edmonton Library Voice Information System) would automatically call when your book was available at the branch requested. (I think ELVIS has been updgraded to ELVIS II now or something like that). Once were finished, one could return the book to any branch. One could renew over the phone and search the catalogue online. NONE of this is true here. I have to say that the Edmonton Public Library has done an amazing job at making it easy and accessible for the residents of Edmonton. If Montreal’s system were like this, it would be much better. Ah well, another thing to adapt to.

Anwyay I expect to have internet access at the hotel so I may even have a chance to post a blog and some photos while I am there.

Last night we watched the north american preview of the new Dr. Who series. I used to watch the original when I was a kid and I visited my Dad. I would visit for the weekend and I would watch “The Prisoner” at 12:30 on Saturday night and Dr. Who was usually on Saturday or Sunday too. I remember one time we watched one of the movies (I think it was Dr. Who and the Daleks but I could be wrong). Last year Dan and I also watched Pyramids of Mars which was very funny too.

The new series was a good continuation of the original. The sidekick character was too good looking and the Dr. was too orginary looking, though. And I like the original music better. The cheesy dialogue and plot lines are about the same - plastic manequins come to life, kidnap/eat the boyfriend of the soon to be sidekick (who does not notice until he malfunctions - I guess he had a flat peronsality to begin with!) and the doctor tries to save earth by killing the malevolant plastic intelligence controlling all the manequins with “antiplastic”. Thank goodness for quirky British humor!

In 11 days I will leave for a conference on the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe (on the Nevada side). I have never been that far south before in my life. That part of the world does not seem real to me. Too sunny or something. Maybe it will when I am there …?

I really want to learn how to cook curry and I have discovered that I am not really that good at it. I have tried Aloo Gobi three times now and each time it was ok, but not that good. Maybe there is a spice I am missing still, I don’t know. It is dissappointing. Thank goodness Pushap is near my work!

I have been doing a lot of walking lately. After the Caban à Sucre on Friday Dan and I walked home from Snowdon metro because we missed the bus. This monday I forgot to turn my alarm clock on and missed the last 115 and had to walk to work from De La Savanne metro. Last night we walked to and from Lisa’s house because it was a nice night. I think I will try and do more walking this spring and summer since I am not biking.

Satuday April 2 it rained. It was the first rainy day we have had this spring. Dan went off to his French class at 8:00 and I slept off my sugar hangover from Friday’s Caban à Sucre. Later on I had to do the laundry so I started my first load, with two others to do. When I came down to put the first load in the dryer, I felt like I was walking into a mysertious crime scene. The washer and dryer were both akimbo, there was a broken piece of wood on the ground, and the change receptacle from the washer had actually come out! Obviously, the washer was out of commission. I guess there must have been some major imbalance although why the washer did not automatically cut out I don’t know. I was in desperate need to do the rest of the laundry, so I put the one load of washing in the dryer (which was still functional) and packed up the rest of my laundry and headed off to the laundrymat two blocks away on Fielding. Earlier that day I had went out to get groceries and my jacket was wet so I had washed it in the first load and I had managed to leave my umbrella at work on Friday. Therefore, I had no choice but to go out into the rain with just a sweater! Fortunately it wasn’t too cold or windy and the rain was not too strong.

I found the landrymat ok and there were many washers free so I put in two loads and went to the depanneur next door to get a snack while I was waiting. After while some creepy guy came in and started reading the newspaper while drinking a beer but there were so many people coming and going that I didn’t feel too worried. Soon, Dan came. He had came home from his french lessons just after I had left and he had found my note. Fortunately he brought our other umbrella! We put the washing in the dryer, which dried an entire load in about 20 minutes for a dollar, and then packed everything up and went home. When we arrived I checked the load of drying I had put in out dryer (which cost $1.50) and after a hour of drying the clothing was still damp! From the ones washed and dried at the laundrymat, our clothes were in the best shape they had been in since we arrived here, which I guess is a plus to all this. The washer is not fixed as of yet, so I may have to go to the laundrymat again, but that may not be a bad thing after all!

On Frday April 1 we went on a Caban à Sucre with my co-workers at La Branche, which is located in St. Isidore, southwest of Montréal. The drive took about 45 minutes (we got a ride with one of my co-workers) and when we arrived we visited the maple trees first of course. Being a city girl from the west, I expected the maple syrup to be thick and brown, but of course maple syrup is maple tree sap and if it were that thick in the tree the tree would die! It was light yellow and smelled only slightly like maple. I tasted some and it was sappy with just a hint of the maple taste. Next we visited the small barn where the family kept several goats, a calf, chickens and quails. The quails I find the most interesting, as they made this strange electrical peeping sound sound and were very well tempered. We went in the foyer of the restaurant where we saw them cooking and filtering the maple syrup. It smelled lovely, with a maple and woody smell combined.

After we went into the dance hall where we waited to eat supper. While we waited we had a nice talk with Sylvie and Chris, two of my co-workers from the lab next door. We tried some Caribou which is usually consumed at the Québéc city winter carnival and at a Caban à Sucre. We also tried some Cherry beer. We then entered the dining hall and began our meal. Supper consisted of pea soup, picked cauliflower, pickles, coleslaw, some kind of egg soufflé cooked in maple syrup, ham cooked in maple syrup, bacon cooked in maple syrup, pork rinds (I tried one, it was very salty), pancakes, beans cooked in syrup, maple pie and grand-père (a dumpling cake covered in syrup). We tried some Terrible, Fringante, and a nice Beligan beer La Chouffe. At each end of the table there was a bottle of maple syrup and between Dan, myself, Chris and Sylvie we had about 1/3 of a cup. At the other end of the table there were 6 Québecios and they finished their entire bottle!

Afterward we tried some maple toffee (tire d’erable) and got a ride to Longueil Metro on the yellow line which is located on the south shore. This was the first time we took the yellow line. What I found the most amusing was that usually you pass through the wicket far away from the quay and then walk down to it, but at this station when you pass thrigh the wicket you go directly onto the quay! When we arrived at Snowdon Metro we realised that we had just missed the bus and would have to wait for 25 minutes for the next one. We walked home instead, as it was a nice evening.

Being a hypoglycemic person, I must say that although I tried to eat as little sugar as possible I still felt very ill after. I felt shaky from Friday night until Saturday afternoon!