Leave takings and new beginnings
My goodbye party last weekend was madly successful. Thank you all for coming you guys rock my everything! :D
Right after my good bye party, I felt quite happy and secure. It was such an awesome feeling to have and it lingered right until I left campus Friday.
Leaving the MC, trying not to look back for fear of beginning a torrent of tears... was difficult. It was right then that struck me that *this* was the last time I'd walk on campus till at latest November. I fought the tears till I got home.
The next morning, I checked and double checked everything and through out a large chunk of the pain in the ass stuff that I wasn't bringing with me. The old double bed and box brought me much joy to toss to the curb, and the faithful old cardboard boxes were retired to beside the recycling bins. I have enough time to toss everything, but I got rid of the large bulk of stuff, and at the very least put random trash into nice little bags.
Leaving waterloo on the airporter was also tough. Seeing the familiar sights recede into the distance was also a struggle. I was sad and worried and anxious.
And then something interesting happened. It faded away quite easily once we were out of the region. The welling of the tears ceased and my brain switched back to the warm and secure contented feeling I had earlier in the week.
I guess it's distance. When everything was up close, it was a taunt that even should I return it won't be the same when I come back. Farther away, it changed to it's going to change, but still be the same enough for you to be familiar with it again.
Going through Pearson was fine. Air Canada recently changed their policy to that you need to pay for the second checked bag when traveling through the US. The only pain with that was needing to stand in line to get my boarding pass rather than being able to print them from the kiosks.
The dreaded part of the trip, revisiting customs, wasn't too bad. I got a sceptical look, I explained what I was doing in the US again. The officer phone someone to check on something, then stamped me through. The call was to verify that I was allowed to have a 3 year TN status when I'd only be servicing one location. It turns out that previously you needed to be a traveling analyst to get 3 years, but that's no longer the case. He explained some interesting things about my multiple entry I-94 (such as I just need the stam and the guards *should* issue a new form every time, but typically won't.
I was "randomly" selected for extra screening by Air Canada, and I opted to go for the non molestation approach, the fancy new millimeter wave scans. Quick easy, but I didn't get to see the 3D reconstruction that is the result. I guess that's a privacy thing.
The flights themselves were alright. I got an exit row [woot legroom!] from Pearson to Denver, and had a comfy window seat from Denver to Pearson.
Denver airport wasn't so bad, though there wasn't any free wi-fi. The main difference between a Canadian airport and an American airport is the announcements. In Pearson, every 15 minutes, passengers were reminded to be at their boarding gate by the time indicated on their boarding card. In Denver, every 15 minutes, passengers were reminded that the terror alert level is set to orange, and that they should be mindful of the elevated threat.
No I can appreciate the political reasoning behind not reducing the alert level, but seriously? Every 15 minutes? In Denver!?
Getting to the corporate housing from the airport was easy. At the last minute I reserved a town car from San Jose, and there it was waiting for me. It was cheap and it was fast. I'm certainly calling those guys again for getting to SFO.
Sunday I got to visit with the one person in California I know. We wandered around the Mission for a bit, visiting a few curiosity shops, Good Vibrations, and the Pirate store. Oh man, if I had *any* space in my luggage I probably would have spent too much at these locations. I'll have to visit again. :D
This has gone on long enough, so I'll post my google first day excitement later. But I can tell you, it's fun. :D
Right after my good bye party, I felt quite happy and secure. It was such an awesome feeling to have and it lingered right until I left campus Friday.
Leaving the MC, trying not to look back for fear of beginning a torrent of tears... was difficult. It was right then that struck me that *this* was the last time I'd walk on campus till at latest November. I fought the tears till I got home.
The next morning, I checked and double checked everything and through out a large chunk of the pain in the ass stuff that I wasn't bringing with me. The old double bed and box brought me much joy to toss to the curb, and the faithful old cardboard boxes were retired to beside the recycling bins. I have enough time to toss everything, but I got rid of the large bulk of stuff, and at the very least put random trash into nice little bags.
Leaving waterloo on the airporter was also tough. Seeing the familiar sights recede into the distance was also a struggle. I was sad and worried and anxious.
And then something interesting happened. It faded away quite easily once we were out of the region. The welling of the tears ceased and my brain switched back to the warm and secure contented feeling I had earlier in the week.
I guess it's distance. When everything was up close, it was a taunt that even should I return it won't be the same when I come back. Farther away, it changed to it's going to change, but still be the same enough for you to be familiar with it again.
Going through Pearson was fine. Air Canada recently changed their policy to that you need to pay for the second checked bag when traveling through the US. The only pain with that was needing to stand in line to get my boarding pass rather than being able to print them from the kiosks.
The dreaded part of the trip, revisiting customs, wasn't too bad. I got a sceptical look, I explained what I was doing in the US again. The officer phone someone to check on something, then stamped me through. The call was to verify that I was allowed to have a 3 year TN status when I'd only be servicing one location. It turns out that previously you needed to be a traveling analyst to get 3 years, but that's no longer the case. He explained some interesting things about my multiple entry I-94 (such as I just need the stam and the guards *should* issue a new form every time, but typically won't.
I was "randomly" selected for extra screening by Air Canada, and I opted to go for the non molestation approach, the fancy new millimeter wave scans. Quick easy, but I didn't get to see the 3D reconstruction that is the result. I guess that's a privacy thing.
The flights themselves were alright. I got an exit row [woot legroom!] from Pearson to Denver, and had a comfy window seat from Denver to Pearson.
Denver airport wasn't so bad, though there wasn't any free wi-fi. The main difference between a Canadian airport and an American airport is the announcements. In Pearson, every 15 minutes, passengers were reminded to be at their boarding gate by the time indicated on their boarding card. In Denver, every 15 minutes, passengers were reminded that the terror alert level is set to orange, and that they should be mindful of the elevated threat.
No I can appreciate the political reasoning behind not reducing the alert level, but seriously? Every 15 minutes? In Denver!?
Getting to the corporate housing from the airport was easy. At the last minute I reserved a town car from San Jose, and there it was waiting for me. It was cheap and it was fast. I'm certainly calling those guys again for getting to SFO.
Sunday I got to visit with the one person in California I know. We wandered around the Mission for a bit, visiting a few curiosity shops, Good Vibrations, and the Pirate store. Oh man, if I had *any* space in my luggage I probably would have spent too much at these locations. I'll have to visit again. :D
This has gone on long enough, so I'll post my google first day excitement later. But I can tell you, it's fun. :D