Saturday night lively

After my semi-not-quite resignation from my work, I find that actually they owe me a week of pay as well. Which is a bummer, since they appear to have paid it to someone already, according to their records. I don't know who they paid it to, but I imagine the person in question is happier about it than I am.

Yesterday Denise and I unwrapped the Nintendo DS systems and tried them out, purely to make sure they worked. About two hours later, she finished playing Mario and I finished with Zoo Keeper, and we actually changed out of pyjamas. Hey, I was just being a good friend and making sure we weren't giving anyone shoddy merchandise! The evening was then spent partly in a 'Footage' pub, which was kind of a strange English-esque experience (where I had fish and chips), and partly in the Book Warehouse searching for bargains. I ended up with some strange and very large book on a fantasy LOTR type theme, which sounded pretty bad but was $1.99. So I can take it to the airport with me, read it while I'm waiting and on the plane, and then discard it at the other end. Or leave it on the plane for someone else, and it can become a very well-travelled read. Who knows, it might be the best two dollars I've spent on a book, but somehow it looks pretty bad. I shan't publish what it is here cos I might get sued.

Today I went on an all-day course about Group Lodging Operations in a disaster situation. This was held in the E-Comm building here in Vancouver, which is where your 911 call will go to if you have an emergency in South BC. The building boasts bullet-proof glass, earthquake-proof construction, and other such measures to stop it falling down if something nasty happens. It was an interesting place. Made more interesting by the fact that it is directly opposite Playland, which is part of the Pacific National Exhibition family and is centered around a really cool wooden roller coaster (very CSI). The views from the park over to the North Shore mountains are amazing, especially today when there was snow on them and very clear air. Anyway, today I learnt how to set up an evacuation centre in the event of a disaster, how to manage it, and how to prepare to be called out at stupid hours of the morning. On this theme, I have to sort out an emergency kit in the near future, since they literally expect you to grab your bag and leave if you are needed. Plus I am completely unprepared if the earthquake does hit us, since everything of value is scattered around my room and I have no copies of important documents. I don't even own a flashlight. Shame on me.

And this evening, after getting Thai food that tasted good but that took an hour to get here, was cold when it arrived, and included spring rolls that were soggy, we watched The Village. I don't want to spoil it for anyone out there who hasn't seen it, but I didn't see the twist coming at all! I'm not sure what I thought of the film in general, or whether I thought it was 'good', but the revelation was impressive. And tomorrow comes the Superbowl...... mwahahahahaha......