Welcome to the East Canada swing...

Last Sunday (what the hell day was that...the 11th?) found me in beautiful Dallas...
Or rather Irving Texas, since I tend to stay near the local airport, and in this case, Irving fit the bill.

Monday morning bright and early I was in the American Airlines Center to do my install. It was a dark day for the arena, no concerts, no Hockey, no B-Ball, Circus, or Disney-On-Ice. Sweet... I had the place all to myself.

I installed everything possible, noted that I was running really low on supplies so I split and instead of heading to one of my favorite churrascarias, I headed up northeast of town to Fry's Electronics...
I laid in a stock of pieces and parts I needed for my tasks and then hied for Irving, just in time to miss House MD.
(Monday night at 8, 7 Central, Bonehead.)
Oh well...
I had a 5:30 flight Tuesday for San Jose... (Yeah... 5:30 AM. So Uncle Jay's Airport Math had me up and moving at 3:45...Egad!)

San Jose was...well...short & interesting. Since we really didn't have a location to install the new rack and equipment, most of the cables couldn't be run. I did, however, install some of my stuff and did get the new equipment location nailed down.
Heading back out I was on the red-eye to Newark then Montreal... I think I mentioned earlier that it was possibly the worst flight I have been on in a while... It was bad... No leg room, couldn't sleep (and I was counting on sleep because I had to work the next day and drive a good hunk afterwards).. I was miserable.
Made me seriously think about finding a new vocation that didn't involve sitting in airline seats.

So I'm driving for the next few days...


The Road Trip

I made it into Montreal via Newark, just before the big snow storm shut everything down...
(What? Another snowstorm in the northeast in mid-March? I thought we had this whole Global Warming thing going on?)

Right hospitable folk here in the Great White North... I had an offer of booze, women, and guns from my man Luc in Montreal, and Big Benny E in Toronto made threatening noises about drinking heavily and much debauchery in Ontraio.
Fortunately I was able to resist temptation, and really didn't need the firearms that were proffered... but I appreciated the thought.

So Montreal was OK- More unfinished cabling, more changes in the plans...then I hit the road for Ottawa.
I did stop for a power nap for an hour or so along the way, and got to the hotel about 11:00...
The one cool thing about the hotel? It was an old (and I mean old- 50's vintage) Best Western, I had a ground floor room- car right outside the door...dragged my bags 5 steps right in that night and right back out the next AM.
Good thing too, cause I had a 6:30 call at the arena. Meatloaf (This guy again? I thought he was dead?) was playing at Scotiabank Place, and I had a window of opportunity from 6:30am until 2:00pm to do my stuff... And of course, afterward I had to drive to Toronto...
a 4 to 5 hour drive... I got to my hotel here in Toronto just as the snow was starting to fall...
I checked in and collapsed-
The next morning I had a 10am appointment- Had to be out of the arena by 4:00- they were setting up for a lacrosse telecast and didn't need an ogre underfoot...
But first, I had to dig my rental car out from under the snow...


My car-

But when you're from Florida, it looks (and feels) like this:


Off to the arena!

I was checking out the different areas in the arena and as I was up in the Scoring/Stats area, I looked down at the floor- Green Ice for St. Patricks Day?

No... Dude, you need some sleep- It's the flooring they put down for the lacrosse matches.

As I sat making patch cables for my box, I noticed something in the bag of RJ45 plugs...


Oh crap.

Somewhere in one of the remaining plugs, there is a tooth missing.

I test all my cables, so the defective one is either one that I've already re-made because it failed, or it will be in the next batch or so... Thank Ghod I have my trusty Microtest cable tester...

I drilled and soldered and plugged and crimped my fingers to the bone and departed for my humble (temporary) abode at just after 4 pm...

Today (Sunday) is a down day for me... Laundry, catching up on e-mails, writing up some plans for next week, making travel arrangements for the next few days...
I need to do another expense report, too, before American Express starts sending the Brute Squad out looking for me...

OK- Buffalo tomorrow, then the Islanders, then Minnesota...then (dare I say it?) home.

Stay tuned... keep the cards and letters coming...

TBG out-