Going for a quiet weekend

For once I actually seem to manage to spend a (relatively) quiet weekend. The first one in two or three months I may add. My Friday started very late, past 3 p.m., and it was with delight that I woke up and realized that I had slept for almost 12 hours. All thanks to having the very smart idea of turning off my alarm-clock before I went to bed, also something which I haven't done since late May or so. It's not often that I wake up with a smile on my face but that was one of those rare occassions.

Friday evening was again spent in the city, where I had also gone out the night before, and it again turned into an excellent and very relaxing session. While Thurday's discussions with a close friend where pretty much focused on OLPC related matters on Friday we randomely meet three guys from Bosnia who live in Austria since the mid-90s. Initially we chit-chatted about pool and other Irish Pub matters before turning to politics, the upcoming elections and Austrian attitudes and policies towards foreigners. It was a very insightful discussion to say the very least.

Saturday started a little earlier then Friday but I dedicated most of my afternoon watching 4 episodes of a TV series I'm currently hooked on. Then I visited my grandmother for dinner which was, as always, excellent. Now I've been watching some Two and A Half Men while trying to decide what to do with my night. And you know what, watching 5 of the 22min-episodes really took care of that question. ;-)

Tomorrow I will be focused on catching up with the many e-mails that have been accumulating in my inbox over the past 3 or 4 days. Then I'll head for coffee with another close friend before potentially hitting a showing of Michael Clayton. Plus I hope to get some reading done, the stack of books, newspapers and magazines next to my bed is growing taller by the day.

All in all definitely a very quiet and relaxing weekend. Looking at my schedule it might well be the last one for quite some time. Next weekend I'm heading to Klagenfurt, in the south of Austria, for a house-warming party. The weekend after I'll be in Vienna. Then it looks like I'm going to Brno the first weekend in September. Followed by a potential trip to Croatia and a visit of a friend close to Graz (also in the south) on the weekends thereafter. And you know what, then I have exactly one weekend left before university starts so something tells me that I'll be quite busy. So I better enjoy this weekend while it lasts...

5 days in Ontario

After my little border situation I spent 4 1/2 days in Toronto, or more precisely on a former farm about 100km west of Toronto. Even though I had really planned to spend some quality time relaxing and just chilling the productive part of my mind quickly took control so I actually got quite a number of things done. Nevertheless I still managed to at least spend most of my Thursday just sitting in the sun, alternating between reading, internet surfing and sleeping. I also accompanied A.H.'s mother on a tour through the sprawling city of Fergus to get somewhat of an impression of life in the area.

proof that we're in the heart of Mennonite country

On Friday A.H. and I officially decided to go for a productive day so we went to the University of Waterloo where we had access to the facilities and especially the internet. I got quite a bit of work done, especially in terms of catching up with my e-mail. It's really quite insane how many messages start piling up these days when I'm not online for 48h.

pretending to work on my XO in the summer sun

On Saturday we drove to Toronto where we spent most the day walking through the city. I had really had no idea just how big (>2 million inhabitants) and interesting the city was. Even though the weather would have been perfect and probably offered a great view across Lake Ontario we decided not skip going up the CN Tower since the queue was simply too long. Instead we explored Chinatown and Queen Street. I certainly didn't know that Toronto's Chinatown was that huge, for some reason I only think of New York and San Francisco when I hear the term "Chinatown". Of course having been to both China and Taiwan the place didn't impress me as much compared to the first time when I set foot in New York's Chinatown back in 2000. However the street signs, the people, the shops all brought back vivid memories to previous days spent in Asia.

When it comes to the above mentioned Queen Street I have to say that it's not often that you come across an area that embodies the concept of 'hip' as well as that street does. Don't get me wrong, places such as Soho and Greenwich Village in New York obviously ooze hip every step of the way, however I would argue there the hipness is already too institutionalized. Queen Street on the other hand is still full of the tiny niche stores that really make an area exciting.


We spent most of our day walking along that street and I certainly enjoyed every minute of it. Especially Queen Street East between Leslie Street and Broadview Avenue was amazing since it had a very different vibe going than Queen Street West. The east side is full of (wannabe) posh and a few really cool restaurants and bars while the west side is really more about galleries and shops offering everything from clothes to vinyl. Again, the west side seemed so lively and experimental whereas the east side was certainly nice but already on the border of being too hip. Overall I was certainly impressed by Toronto and I have to say that I really liked the city!

Sunday was mostly spent being productive, again with catching up on e-mails that had piled up on Saturday and also on arranging some things when it comes to documentation for the upcoming OLPC G1G1 2008. In the evening we spontaneously decided to watch Wall-E in the cinema. I hope to have a more detailed review up soon but let me tell you that I really liked the movie quite a lot.

Monday morning went by quickly as I had to do some re-packing in order to meet WestJet's carry-on and checked baggage requirements but ultimately I got done with time to spare. One thing I noticed in the hours leading up to my jolly-arrival in Vancouver is that I'm still very much thrilled about traveling. I certainly consider this excitement a good sign and there's few things in live that make me as happy as knowing that I'm back on-the-road and on my way to explore more previously undiscovered places.

13 hours of sleep

Oh my God, I can't even begin to tell you how unbelievably relaxed I feel. It's like I've received and physical and mental refresh. All thanks to the power of 13 hours of sleep which by the way is more than I got between Tuesday to Friday combined.

I know I could have joined my colleagues for the '60 Years of Berlin Airlift' show, spent the day outside in the sun, or gone to a museum. But you know what, sleeping all day and getting out of bed at 5:30 p.m. really was the best thing to do.

Now I'm off to do some Saturday chores such as a quick cleanup of my room, doing some laundry, buying groceries and cooking something. And then I'm off to a friend's party...

Can you tell that I'm thoroughly enjoying my start into the weekend? :-)