Vancouver

I sat in the Detroit airport (one of my stops along the way to Vancouver) and looked out the window.
Snowflakes. Lots of them.

Big fat sloppy flakes.
Lovely.
With the delays I've had the last few flights I had a bad feeling, but in the end everything went well. I got in Vancouver just after midnight Saturday morning...

It used to be that I stayed where ever the League would put me...
Back in '98, on my first trip to Vancouver I arrived in the middle of the night. My hotel was the Pan Pacific- probably one of the nicest hotels on this continent...
Really.
I didn't really appreciate it at the time...

The next morning I did... The room was huge, the bed was so comfortable it defied description.
And the View the next morning- looking out over the inlet to the east- the sun coming up over the mountains.
Really cool.

Nowdays, find me a cheap place near the airport.
Closer is better.
I'll trade the nice view for the ability to get another 30 minutes of sleep, and not to have to fight traffic.
I'm a lazy bastard.

A resident of GM Place.

A few years back (2002 I think?) the Vancouver Grizzlies were sold to Memphis and moved, lock, stock and barrel, to Tennessee.

One refugee, however, was left behind...

Molly.

She's the only remnant of the Grizzly Days at GM Place. She is a chocolate lab who lives in the Electrical Department on the event level... Very well mannered and joy to be around.
If you would throw her ball for her, she's happy to fetch all day. But she's not pushy about it...
She knows that business is business... and will be content to wait until you have a spare moment for ball-throwing.
(Unlike a certain Golden Lab I know, who will pester you no end. And don't get me stared on The Spotted Manace, who doesn't understand the "Fetch the ball" process...
For Maggie, you throw the ball, she goes to get it, runs by you then disappears with the ball, hiding it. You know she's thinking:
"Bastard. Every time I bring it to him, he just throws it again. We'll just fix that."
Maybe she understands the game better than I do.


From our "Unclear on the Concept" department:

The sign reads "Do Not Park Forklift Close To Wall."

Canadians. Go figure.