Back from Canada

I was in Toronto last week, for business basically. Some advance training on our ticketing system, and Toronto just happens to be the home base. It was a great week. The training was really informative, albeit also intense. Got to eat at some fantastic restaurants while there. And drank the best coffee ever at "Second Cup." Toronto is very cool. It's very hip and urban, and the residents are so nice. Makes the whole "Minnesota Nice" seem like nothing. I imagine it has to do with their universal health care and not having a goofy president like we do, who does stupid things. They just have an overall happiness about them. They're much more relaxed, as I think they receive much more vacation and holiday time than we do here in the US. Makes one think...
Also went to see a fun stage production called "We Will Rock You." A musical based on the music of Queen. It was really fun, although a pretty bad script and loose plot. But, the music completely made up for it, and audience members could purchase Glowsticks! Gotta love that! So, rockin' out to Queen music and waving the glowsticks arounds, it was fun. Now I'm back and we have been hit with a terrible cold spell. It's about 14 below right now, with a wind chill of -35 degrees. Not so fun. But we Minnesotans put up with it. :)

A new year

My, it's been way too long since I've posted anything to the blog. Things have been pretty okay, Christmas was very nice. Two of Joe's daughters, Ree and Sonja, spent some time with us. We did an "after Christmas" holiday dinner, with them and Debbie and Rachel. Fun to watch Rachel opening up gifts. Then the new year wasn't off to such a great start. A friend of mine, ours, and a co-worker of mine, committed suicide a couple of days before the new year. That was really, really difficult. Very unexpected, and no one would have had any idea he would do this. He was one of the most happy, smiley and funny people around. We miss him a ton. But, now we move on and forge ahead to make 2008 a really good year! I promise to write more often in the new year. Cheers for now!