for me... it's ok

Here I sit at a small café on a square in Livorno, Italy. The sun is shining, the downloads are zipping along (knock on wood) and the atmosphere is great; the coffee is, of course, amazing too. We're in port late today and there's no show tonight - the plans are to get to bed fairly early on and get up fairly early to go into Rome tomorrow with my camera and friends. On that note I should probably do some research on public transport...

what happens in vegas

I realize that this post is a little late - I was in Las Vegas from April 2nd through April 9th which is to say that I have been home almost a week. As you're about to see though, it's not like I've been sitting on my ass the whole time... I've had a few things going on. 

So Las Vegas was great. I was there for a week and got to spend time with some really amazing people, some of whom I've not seen in a while and some I've seen recently but it was great to catch up with them either way. I got a great deal at the MGM Grand and the flights were pretty decent as well, no super crazy layovers and I kind of like the Detroit airport. 

I saw Le Reve and Peep Show (with Holly Madison) while I was there. Le Reve was pretty good - it was a very Cirque du Soleil-esque show which is not realy surprising given that it's a Franco Dragone show. That being said, it was entertaining and impressive. Peep Show started off very much like a burlesque show with a fantasy theme involving storybook characters like Bo Peep and the Big Bad Wolf.

Since I've been back in Montreal I've been pretty focused on the fact that I have to move this coming end of June which is fine but here's the catch... I won't be in the country; or even the hemisphere when this all goes down. That's right, I'll be under contract in the Mediterranean which means I need to have all my ducks in a row pretty soon. There's a lot of sorting out places to live and packing to be done so there's been a lot of that going on.

I am looking forward to the move though, as much as I love my city it'll be a new start somewhere new which is always refreshing. Fun times ahead!

sea no evil

I was recently given a link to an article in the Telegraph with the title "Sea No Evil: The Life of a Modern Sailor" which covers what amounts to abuse of seafarers in our modern society. Now, I should hasten to note that the circumstances in this article refer primarily to cargo ships and that situations on cruise ships are significantly better. Nevertheless it makes for an intersting read that I think you, our devoted reader, might enjoy.

The abuse of what land living "normals" consider to be basic rights might be shocking but it's something that deserves attention. A small section of the article towards the beginning that particularly resounded with me was a statistic that 37 ships were lost in 2009 and there were no headlines and no mention of the almost 2000 seafarers who lost their lives there. What if there had been 37 airplane crashes, or 37 train crashes?

If the article interests you... click here.

bbq one

Today marks the first BBQ session of the summer and it was glorious. We had steak served with mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach soufflé. I'm going to file this type of thing under "things I miss when not on land" and add a BBQ to my list of appliances to get when I eventually get a place that allows for a BBQ.

In other news I spent four days in Toronto recently checking out neighbourhoods and meeting with friends I haven't seen in ages. It was a good time, if a little rushed. For those of you living in or around Toronto I'm looking at places primarily downtown in the Financial, Entertainment and St. Lawrence Market districts. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears!

resolutionary... really?

So Apple announced the "new iPad" yesterday and, of course, I've pre-ordered mine already. While that was inevitable and I'm relatively happy with the new features there are a few things that have made me wonder if these were decisions that Steve a jobs would have made.

First and foremost would be the choice of tag line "resolutionary" which is a terrible play on the word revolutionary. I feel like this is something that might have been thought up by an intern right out of marketing 101. I also feel like not giving a distinctive name to the product is a faux pas that will confuse quite a few of their consumers. I can see this being more of a problem when the next iPad comes out though.

Are we putting too much pressure on Tim Cook? It's clear that he has enormous shoes to fill and that it's likely no matter what he does people will still criticize him because he's not Steve Jobs. Investors seem to think that hes doing alright if AAPL is any indicator. Only time Wil tell but really Tim? "Resolutionary", really?