|
Sunday
May 31, 2009 Bag Design Open HouseFiled under: ASI Canada It was a dreary, damp day Wednesday, June 27. But, inside at 300 Confederation Parkway, Unit 3 (the home of Justin Case/Bag Design) it was warm, dry, congenial and magical!
Thursday
May 14, 2009 What a great week!Filed under: ASI Canada Road Tour Last week’s Advantages Road Shows in Quebec and Ontario were a big a HIT! I did not attend the Montreal location because we had Meghan from our U.S. office that is fluent in French do Montreal for me but Jay and Fred did attend and told me it was a great day. I left on the Monday to join the group in Ottawa and what a 24 hours I had. Of course I never took my winter tires off the Jeep and had to run over that afternoon to get my summer tires on. Fortunately they weren’t busy and were able to change the tires right away, and then I headed over to Hydeport to pick up some boxes Paul had been storing for me. As I got out onto the 427 Hwy all of a sudden the truck started shaking, at first I thought I had a flat tire so I pulled over to check, no flat tire so I got back in and started off again. Didn’t get far before it started shaking again – it was shaking so hard I could hardly hold the steering wheel straight. I called the tire store and they told me to bring it back in so they could check it out. I had to first get over to Hydeport to pick up the bags we needed in Ottawa so I just used all my strength to keep the truck on the highway and got to Hydeport before they closed, then headed back to the tire store. I got back there and it turned out the guy that installed the tires didn’t balance them – nice! It’s now 6:30 and I was on the west side of Toronto so I knew I was going arrive later than I thought, which was not really a bad thing as I was in no big rush. The rest of the drive went well although at my age I do have to stop every couple of hours, so it takes me longer than it should to get everywhere. I decided to stay at a hotel right off the highway as it was only a 15 minute drive to Tudor Hall in the morning (and I could smoke). Before I go any further I might as well tell you I’m getting a bit of a reputation (for getting lost), the last two times I had to go to London I totally missed the city. I had blamed Pat Morris for the problem I was having, as both times I missed the exit for London Pat was in the car with me. The first time we were coming from Kitchener on the 401 and chatting away after a couple of hours I turned to Pat and said how much further is it to London? Pat looked out the window and replied that she didn’t know and asked where we were? At first neither one of us recognized any of the towns until we saw the exit sign for Chatham then we knew we were way past London. In case you don’t know there are about 4 or 5 exits off the 401 to London and somehow we missed all of them! Then again a couple of months ago Pat and I are in Kitchener and are headed for London, we were leaving Kitchener around 2 and hadn’t had lunch yet so I suggested we drive to St. Jacobs and have a nice lunch before we drive to London. We went to the Stone Crock a great restaurant in town and enjoyed a really good home cooked meal (something never enjoyed in my home). Then we went to their bakery and picked up some goodies for our night in London. We weren’t in any big hurry to get to London so I suggested we just take highway 7 all the way, it’s a nice drive and goes thru some lovely towns along the way. Once again Pat and I are happily chatting away and enjoying our drive, we get to Hwy 8 and go south towards London, yes you guessed it – we once again missed London. Somehow I ended up out on the 401 going towards Windsor but at least this time I realized my mistake and turned around right away. Well I guess you know where I’m going with this story! When I checked into the hotel in Ottawa I asked them print a map to the location from the hotel and headed out early in the morning so that I would be able to get to Tudor Hall with lots of time to set up. I still don’t know how I missed the street but somehow I ended up by Grenville, realizing I must have missed a turn somehow I went back the same way I came. I knew the street was close to Hunt’s Club Road so I turned there and followed a sign with a horse and carriage on it (don’t know what that sign was for). Okay that didn’t work out either so I pulled over at a Hilton Hotel and asked for directions. They printed me a new MapQuest and I headed out once again, this one leads me into a Private Golf Course. Fortunately, the guys there were nice enough to give me good directions and I found the Hall, my 10 – 15 minute drive only took me an hour and a half – good thing I left early and thanks Jay for getting everything set up! So, I guess I have to stop blaming poor Pat for getting me lost all the time, she wasn’t in the Jeep with me and maybe I should consider one of those GPS things! Check back next week and I’ll tell you all about the rest of the tour! |
|
|
read more
