The Other Details

Like I wrote yesterday, I have other details to follow from yesterday's "awesome" travel fiasco:

Baggage
After the "way too early" flight got cancelled, I was up at the gate counter arranging for another flight. With my luck, I got a new girl. She was nice. So after she got my flights, she ripped off my luggage sticker. Since it was only 7 am in the morning, I was even more confused but didn't do much about it. Then after being led back to "Departures", I asked the guy do I need to pick up my luggage. He apparently didn't know, and started wondering the same thing. I also told him that the girl also took my luggage tag. So he said he'll check for me. Yeah. He printed me another luggage tag and told me I had to pick up my luggage.
Lesson Learned: When something seems fishy, ASK! If I didn't ask, I probably wouldn't have clothes for the next few days, and will have to deal with the Edmonton airport's lost luggage department tomorrow!

I5 Driving Experience
So, after a 10 hour travel catastrophe, I promised myself I was going to shop like I never shopped before (I shopped, but the finds were disappointing). I got to my hotel, checked in, and then went back down to the lobby to the car rental counter at 2:30. While doing the paper work for the car rental, I asked the girl how far it is to the outlet mall. She then said, "The one up north... on a good day, 40 min. Now (look at the time) maybe 2-3 hours." WHAT?! My shopping!!!!!!!!! She was nice, and checked her iPhone for traffic. She said it was clear and hurried with my papers. So I got onto Interstate 5. There were A LOT of cars. It was a freeway with a 60 mph speed limit. Ok. Yeah, out of nowhere, the speed dropped to 50 mph... and then 40 mph. At these sections, traffic was slow. No construction. No accidents. I was moving about 10-20 mph. These sections were when the freeway was approaching downtown Seattle, but it was not going through it, just approaching the exit to it. It's a FREEWAY. Keep the speed limit up so people can move!!! After this, the speed limit was 60 mph, but there were sections where traffic would just slow down for cars to come in. I made it to the outlet slightly over 1 hour. I'm not complaining. Then I went to the info desk at the outlet to ask when would be a good time to leave to head back into Seattle. She said noon. WHAT? Then she said, "Well, you might be ok after 8 or 9." Gosh. Asked another girl at the Fossil store, she said after 6 should be ok. So I compromised and stayed until 7:30. Oh gosh, it was a sea of red. I thought Highway 2 was a busy highway. It's nothing compare to the I5. I couldn't imagine what this road is like during the heart of rush hour.
Lesson Learned: The Anthony Henday construction detours that increased my travel time to an average of +15 min is nothing. No more complains. Why would anyone want to live in Seattle with this traffic?!

What a day!!!

Today I was flying from Edmonton to Seattle for a seminar tomorrow. However, I decided to take an early flight so that I can do some USA shopping. So I booked a direct flight at 6:40 am and be arriving Seattle at 7:50. So I woke up at 3:30 am this morning, left the house at 4:30, got through the airport ado and at the gate around 5:30-ish. Perfect. Then, an announcement came on around boarding time announcing that there were some technical difficulties, and the flight will be delayed for an hour. Fine. Then later on, it was totally cancelled. SH*T! So in panic mode since my shopping day is ruined (oh right, and the seminar too), I had to rearrange for new flights. The next flight they got me was a 11-ish flight to Vancouver via Air Canada and connect to Seattle and arriving at 2-ish. Now my shopping day was totally hopeless. Sulking, I got led through the backstage of the airport, out of USA customs, and into baggage. There's a crazy story about the baggage too, but too lazy to type it all out. Anyways, while waiting for my baggage, I got to talk to a guy (who was a very good conversationalist) in the same situation as me. They got him onto a Vancouver flight at 9-ish. WTF. So I called the reservation center. They got me a 10 am flight to Calgary and connect to Seattle and arrive at 1:10. Ok. I still have hope. Yeah. So, I went to check in again. went through security again, and got to the gate. With my luck, my Calgary flight got slightly delayed. When I got to Calgary, I had to pick up my bag, check in again, and got scolded by the counter lady because she said you have 1 hour and that's not enough. If you can't make it, I'm closing the gate and you can head back to Edmonton. WTF? Reason being... USA customs had a line up that was out to the check in area! OMG. I'm screwed! Thank GOD (seriously, I praised the Lord throughout the day afterward) there were other families that were late. So after 10 min of lining up, the same counter lady called us and got us to cut the line. After another 20 min wait, I made it. Security. SH*T. It was 11:50 already. Boarding time. It wasn't too bad, and got into a decent line... only to have people budge because their previous flight got delayed and they were connecting. My luck. However, I still made it. I got into Seattle and picked up my car (another story about the drive on I-5) and shopping I go. It was GLORIOUS! A later blog will be the other details!

PS: I'm not sure if any of the above made sense... I'm typing fast so that I can head back up into my room and eat my room service at 10 pm. :)

OMG, WTF?

This summer, Edmonton roads went full blown construction. The one area that affects me the most is the construction of the overpasses on the west section of the Anthony Henday (which is the outer ring road in Edmonton). My residence is near a street that crosses the Henday. This whole summer, they (whoever they are) had been constructing an overpass for this street to cross the Henday and so in the future (hopefully by this winter), we, drivers, no longer have to wait for a stupid light intersection trying to get onto or cross the Henday.

This morning, lo and behold, the overpass opened! A little confused with the new road but still happy because there is no more light to wait for! However, this happiness lasted only one minute or so. Whoever is the construction manager/transportation engineer on this was either high on drugs or a retard. Like a typical overpass, to get onto the freeway, you stay on one side and turn off. To head north on the Henday, I had to stay right and turn right onto the spiral ramp. On the spiral ramp, there was a LONG line up of cars. Why? Because at the end of the ramp, we have to YIELD onto the Henday. Who the hell yields (oh right, Peigan-Deerfoot had one) ? If you're not ready for people to use the overpass, don't do it! I think I rather prefer the lights than hoping that the car that I am seeing far away won't speed up the moment I get onto the freeway. Please let this yield be temporary and let it be a merge... but looking at the road lines, I have a feeling the yield might be the final design.

Roshi's First Grooming

Roshi is scheduled to get neutered tomorrow (September 2). It was suggested to me that a haircut will be a good idea: easier to keep him and his wound clean. I thought it was a good time too:

1. He's getting way too shaggy. It's to a point he looked like he had dreadlocks.
2. He's matting like crazy.
3. His coat was collecting debris and hard to pick out.
4. I don't want him to go through puppyhood without a grooming. He might be nervous or scared later on.

So, last night I took a before picture with his shaggy look:

Before grooming - such a cute shaggy puppy

I told the groomer that I wanted his body and legs shaved down and trim around the face. She sure trimmed quite a bit. When I went to pick up my little Roshi, I didn't even recognize him. Half my dog was missing!

After grooming - he kind of looks emo...

Nonetheless, he is still cute in a different way. Plus, his shaved down coat makes him feel like a VERY soft stuff animal. I just couldn't stop touching him. Best of all, he smells awesome! The groomer also said he was an excellent puppy: a little nervous at first during the bath, but after some praises, he was giving kisses like crazy. Yep, that's my Roshi... lick lick lick!

Wedding Dress - Check

Last week, I took some time off to hang out with my little cousin (yes, he may be 17 now and taller than me, but he'll always be my little cousin) during his visit to Alberta. We were in Calgary for the week. I found some time for myself. With no expectations (not even a budget) and a totally open mind, I used this time to do some dress shopping!

I guess I had some ideas what I wanted:

1. Simple yet elegant - I don't like overly bling. So excessive beading is out of the question! However, it has to have enough bling for a night event (i.e. the reception).
2. Light - since it might be a destination wedding, I don't want my dress to be the luggage weight limit!
3. Minimum train - trains are nice for pictures, but not fun to drag around. Being a maid of honor once, I also know it's hard for the bride and the "slave" to carry that thing around.
4. Under $1000 - I didn't have a budget, but I don't think a "one time dress" should cost anything more than $1000 with alterations. However, I was willing to budge a little if it was that dreamy of a dress.
5. Dress shape - I know I DON'T want ball gowns and mermaids.

Dress shopping took place on Tuesday (August 23) afternoon and Wednesday (August 24) morning. The first store I went into had no dresses I wanted. I left after 15 minutes of browsing. The second store I went to was Blissful Bridal. I told the lady that I was open minded to anything, but there were a few things I knew I didn't want. She showed me a few dresses, but there was one dress that caught my eye: A-line, lace covered, a hint of bling, a simple bow in the back, no train, and $650. Despite the 3 or 4 other dresses in the dressing room, I tried on this one first. It was perfect. I'm surprised with the lace (I'm not a lace girl) and how awesome it was on me. To keep an open mind, I tried on the other dresses. They were pretty, but not me. Since this was my first day of dress shopping, I just got the info of that dress and walked out.

Wednesday, I went to three other stores (can't even remember the names). I kept looking at dresses that were similar to that first dress. They all came out pretty, but my mind kept wandering back on that one. So I guess the first dress that I tried on was the dress.

Thursday night I took my mom to see the dress. She thought it was me. Even though she thought having a train would be nice in pictures, she couldn't really see me dragging fabric around. Haha, mom sure knows her daughter's style.

So, it's set. I found the dress. Deposit paid and dress on order. No pictures... you will all have to wait (except those lucky bunch that I sent an email to).