SAFUN

I am visiting Toronto, Canada this week. PEER 1 was hosting a leadership meeting and a customer event here. I arrived Monday and will stay until Sunday. PEER 1 activities for the week have ended and what a memorable time it was. The other half of the trip is for personal vacationing. I will note my adventures accordingly.

Second City

Tuesday night was comedy night. Second City is a comedy show of various skits acted out by about 5 comedians/actors. They usually have a theme and this particular one was “Facebook of Revelations.” This was seriously one of the funniest shows I had ever been to. It was even better being with co-workers. I would try to explain some of the jokes but honestly, you would have to be there to understand. I highly recommend this show to anyone.

There was also an unexpected surprise. The Food Network was there to host the “Dinner Impossible” with celebrity Chef Robert Irvine. One of the actors was engaged and him and his fiance were chosen to be on this show. So Chef Robert arrived to change the “comedy show food” into gourmet food in 2 hours. Pretty cool to have seen the guy. We didn’t get to try the food though, only a few of the couple’s guests. I did get some snapshots of him though.

PEER 1 Customer Appreciation Event

Our Toronto office organized a very nice event for Toronto customers. We were expecting around 300 guests! It was a very nice turn out and a very nice place, C-Lounge. Super posh. I was able to mingle with Allison Heather, Director of Sales at TheWhir, and Liam also from TheWhir, whom did a very nice post about PEER 1 and the event. Thanks Liam! I met with a ServerBeach client, Domenic Macchione from Rebel Networks and Chad Randall, Direct of Sales at B5Media among many others. The event was to truly thank our customers. The internet industry can sometimes be cold because you deal with clients and vendors by email and phone constantly but when do you actually ever get to see them in person? At PEER 1, we try our hardest to meet customers face to face. It makes the world of a difference! We are also spread out across North America in 14 different datacenter/office locations so we have the opportunity to reach many clients face to face. It was a great time and we will continue to host events in other cities.

Niagra Falls

Niagra Falls is about an hour away from downtown Toronto. We took the Greyhound bus which made it about a 2 hour drive with all the stops in between. We arrived late afternoon. It was a bit gloomy and there was a slight mist. We heard that the Canadian side of the Falls, Horseshoe Falls, were nicer than the American side so that is where we went. There is a road along the Falls and a walk way with a railing to look over the water. We really didn’t know where to start so we bought a ticket to go through a tunnel under the Falls. The tunnel has 3 openings. You are outside, there is no glass to separate you from the Falls so it was a very wet experience. It almost felt like you were in a strong rain storm. You realize the strong force of mother nature.

Seeing the Falls from atop, looking over the railing, was a neat experience in itself. The noise from the water is very loud but yet peaceful. The amount of water falling over creates a huge mist in the air so it feels like there is a light rain. We hung out in Niagra for a while. We ate at a restaurant that overlooks the Falls. At around 8pm, there are colorful lights that shine onto the Falls. That was beautiful! We got some good shots and videos.

Niagra is a small town, very touristy. There are casinos and lots of things for kids and seniors to do. It’s not a place I would hang out out for a weekend trip but it was totally worth going for the evening to see the Falls. Wonderful experience.

CN Tower

The CN Tower is the world’s tallest building, reaching 1815ft upward. It was a tower built originally for telecommunications but became a tourist destination as well. You take an elevator to the top. Once you get to the top, there are glass windows for you to look out and take pictures. You can go one floor below to experience the glass floor. The glass floor looked maybe 3 inches thick (it’s really 2 feet thick) and you walk on it to only see 1815ft below you. It was sort of freaky! I got a little nervous but I was able to lay down and get some good shots from this view.

That day was super windy so we weren’t able to go outside because the winds were too strong. The tower actually sways 6 feet back and forth. That day, we were able to see a rainbow which was pretty cool. Apparently, it gets struck by lightening an average 75 times per year. So the CN Tower is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, the tallest of all 7. The 7 include the twin towers in Malaysia, Sears building in Chicago and the Empire State building. It was weird looking down to see the tops of many high rise buildings. This is a perfect tower to get some cool shots of Toronto.

The Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre

We bought hockey tickets to see the Maple Leafs play the Detroit Red Wings. It was a preseason game but since these two teams are huge rivals, it was a big game so it was a packed stadium. I don’t really follow hockey much but after seeing this game, I think I might start. Hockey is a very physical, very energetic sport. We didn’t get to see any fights but they definitely were rough with each other. There is constant movement.

The stadium was very nice. The concession food was good too. The prices were a bit steep though. We bought a large beer for $13.50. So after just four beers (2 each), we had spent $56!

Oh and I forgot the best part. Mike Myers is coming out with a new film “The Love Guru” and they were filming the movie there that night! And we saw “Mini-Me!” He was sitting behind the team so I couldn’t get a very good shot him. They filmed during Intermission and after the game. The camera crew skated onto the ice and started filming. They asked the audience to scream as loud as we could. So our voices will be in the next movie! Here is a link to a short clipping of it. (I am having issues with embedding the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNUWw8Q02Io

The Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre

We found out that the Blue Jays were playing at 1pm on Saturday. What a beautiful Saturday it was! It was cool and sunny, perfect baseball weather. So we walked up to the stadium about 15 minutes before game time and got some good tickets. Rogers Centre is one of the nicest stadiums I had ever seen. The Stadium has a dome like ceiling that is retractable so they opened it to let the sun shine in. The floors were clean, the seats were clean, the concession stands were clean. I even saw staff members mopping the staircase in the stadium seating area. The hot dogs were so good (and I am not a hot dog fan). Oh and the game was good too! The Blue Jays were playing the Tampa Bay Devilrays. It was tied 1 to 1 all the way up to the 8th inning. The bases were loaded and the Blue Jays were able to steal home. So now, there were 2 players on the bases and it was 2-1. Right afterwards, the Blue Jays hit a home run, bringing 3 in. The final score was 5-3. Nice.

Scotiabank Nuit BlancheÂ

When I did a search to see what there was to do in Toronto, I found this art event sponsored by Scotiabank. This event started at 7:30pm on Saturday night and lasts until 7:30am on Sunday morning. There are 3 zones in across downtown Toronto demonstrating contemporary art and performances. We went to 2 of the zones. It was a really cool event. Toronto has a strong art following. The event attracted thousands of people. I can’t believe this event went on until sunrise! We were able to see different parts of the city also while walking from zone to zone. They opened up tons of galleries and art studios and they were all jammed packed! There were paintings, pottery, digital photography, blown glass and crystal sculptures.

We even saw a live performance and the subject was “Politics and Cotton Candy.” There was a film showing on a screen in the background, a model sitting on a chair, two artists painting a picture of the model and a pianist/singer playing in the background. The performance was super cool and I even got a video of it if you care to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQ8Pq7tiAU

Casa Loma

When I visited the Toronto Visitor site, it recommended Casa Loma. Casa Loma is a “castle” (mansion) in the city. We decided to do this on the last day of our trip before we headed to the airport. We took the subway and it took us about 5-7 minutes to get to the neighborhood where Casa Loma was at. I actually knew nothing about Casa Loma except that it was a castle. It was $16 per adult to tour the house. You receive an audio guide but it was too boring to listen to so we just explored the house. Basically, it was built for Sir Henry Pellatt who was a successful businessman, industrialist and military man. He was extremely wealthy in the early 1900′s and decided to have a $3.5 million dollar home built for him and his wife. Even though he was wealthy, he still owed $2 million in debt to various bankers. He lived in his home for 10 years and it was still never completed. The banks ran out of money and apparently it was a huge scandal. He received bad press and had to move out of his house, auction everything off and downgrade big time. So this house sat there for years untouched and they decided to make it a tourist destination. It was a cool house, a bit spooky I would say but not sure if it is worth $16 to see, maybe $8.

That’s a Wrap

Toronto is a great city and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I think I will start to follow hockey now.

What can San Antonio learn from Toronto?

1. They RECYCLE way better. You will see recycle bins everywhere from the streets to the subway to the sports facilities.

2. They have a better selection in healthier food items. You can order a veggie hot dog from a street vendor!

3. We need one more professional sports team. Football anyone?

I started noticing these dark spots splattered all over the top of my hands. I have had these spots for about 2 weeks now. They don’t itch and they aren’t bumpy. They are just a darker pigmentation. I do have sensitive skin but this is something I had never seen before. They always say that if you notice new spots on your skin, see a doctor. So after a week of these spots not disappearing or fading away, I decided to set an appointment with a dermatologist. I hadn’t seen a dermatologist in 10 years so I had to go search for one on my insurance. I searched the Humana website for physicians. I didn’t realize how hard it was to see a doctor. The first one I called referred me to another doctor. That doctor was not on my insurance. I called another and they weren’t accepting new patients. I called another and they couldn’t see me for another 3 months. Finally, I found Dr. Yanase. They were able to see me the next week. I told them my symptons and they asked me if I had a history of skin cancer in my family. That freaked me out a bit but I suppose that is standard.

So I went to my appointment today and after waiting for only about 10 minutes, Dr. Yanase was able to see me. He was very nice, very professional. He asked me if I had been out in the sun lately. I told him that I do run regularly and it is usually in the sun. He asked me if I had squeezed limes or lemons recently. Actually, I squeezed limes and lemons on a regular basis whether making micheladas, a marinade or margaritas. “What about mangos?” he asked. Yes, I make a mango smoothie about 3 times a week! What does this have to do with anything? He told me that the juice from the fruits that splatters onto my skin intensifies the sun so it makes my skin darker in those areas, more than normal. “I like to call it the San Antonio Lime Disease” he says. Wow, never heard of that before. I felt a bit silly.

The medical name for this is just hyper pigmentation. Basically, I need to wash my hands better and get the juice off my skin before going into the sun. If you think about it, it makes sense. Usually, after squeezing these fruits, I get into my car and drive. The sun does shine onto my hands while driving the wheel. Or I go outside to run. Anyways, apparently this is very common in individuals in San Antonio. I thought it was sort of amusing.

I was at my parents house going through pictures and came across our New York pictures. We had taken a family vacation to New York City back in August 2001. We went to visit a cousin in Baltimore, MD and following, we got a rental car and drove up to New York City. It was our first time to the amazing city. We did all the touristy things such as see the Statue of Liberty, visit Time Square, eat in Little Italy, went to a broadway show and all the other stuff. My dad really wanted to take us to the World Trade Center and we kept complaining that we didn’t want to go. So finally, we all gave in and took a trip to the World Trade Center. I remember walking in and seeing all these international business people coming in and out. There was very high security so once you walked inside, before you reached the elevators, you had to go through a metal detector. There was an area for tourists to pay for tickets to go up to the observation deck on the 107th floor. There was a really long line so we waited for a while, grumpy because we didn’t want to go. Finally, we get to the front and it was time for us to get into an elevator. We go all the way to to the top so it took a while. On the top floor, there is a whole mall area and food court. There were many young people working and lots of people from different countries. We walked outside to the observation deck and this is where we took all our pictures. We obviously didn’t have a good camera because the pictures were not very clear. Once we looked over the ledge, we were happy we went.We also took a video and once I convert the file I will upload it. It was an unbelievable view. The building was so high that when we took pictures, you can only see from a certain distance away. The towers blew away the other high rises in the city. We hung out up there for a while just appreciating the view. The weather was perfect too. New York looked really amazing from atop.

After vacation, we all went back to work and school. I went back to Austin to attend classes at the University of Texas. Exactly a month later, as I was walking to my Calculus class, I get a phone call from my dad. He told me that the World Trade Center had been hit. He was watching the news while telling me this and all of sudden, he started yelling and said “the other tower is being hit right now.” I heard him telling me this but it really didn’t sink in until I got back to my apartment and turned on the news. I couldn’t believe it. All the memories of our New York trip a month before began going through my head. I thought of all those international business people working, all the tourists that paid to go atop and all the workers that worked in the mall and food court area. It was the biggest hit to my stomach I had ever felt.

I have been back to New York twice since then. Both times, I have visited Ground Zero. It’s like having a hole in your heart. My prayers go out to all the people that were affected by September 11th.

PEER 1 has had presence at the Game Developers Conference the past few years. I attended the San Francisco GDC back in March. While in San Francisco, we found out about Austin GDC through Mike Steele from Emergent Technologies. Since Austin is literally up the road from San Antonio, PEER 1 decided to exhibit and we sent a ServerBeach crew to work the booth and walk the floor. The show went really well. It was a lot smaller than the San Francisco show however, our booth received a lot of traffic. PEER 1 is usually the only hosting provider at GDC. We (PEER 1) attract gamers because of our network. Our network consists of datacenters across North America and a pop in London and Amsterdam. We have peering arrangements with various Tier 1 providers. We are also partenered with GameRail. So latency is really low which is why gamers like us hence our “Latency Kills” t-shirts. These t-shirts are such a huge hit. Gamers love them! We also gave out cool tattoos and 1GB ServerBeach branded thumbdrives.

Of course, Austin is also a fun city, weird, but fun.

So Automattic is a customer of ServerBeach/A PEER 1 Company (where I am currently employed). Automattic is more widely know for the development of WordPress. Barry Abrahamson, an Automattic employee and a native San Antonian, was visiting from San Francisco along with his colleague, Andy Skelton, also an Automattic employee, visiting from Austin, Texas. Andy’s girlfriend, Zoe, also joined us. We (a bunch of ServerBeach folk) took these guys out to dinner at Acenar on the Riverwalk. It was a good time.
Barry and I used to work together back at Rackspace Managed Hosting. So it was good to see Barry and catch up and talk about old Rackspace stuff. Since he is now a hosting customer, I asked him how it was being on the other side. Well, we both knew what is like to have a demanding customer (lack of a better word) so he says he tries not be that. I think it would be advantageous because he knows how it works on the other side so he knows what he can get away with. I guess he also knows what we can’t get away with so he doesn’t try to waste the hosting provider’s time when he already knows the answer.
Anyhow, good food and good margaritas and technology talk made it a good time.

Andy also had this cool looking, yet mysterious looking hard top brief case that he brought with him. When he opened it up, we weren’t sure what would be inside. Maybe the “light” like in Pulp Fiction. Ha, ok cheezy I know. Anyways, it was loaded with WordPress goodies. Thanks for the t-shirts and stickers guys!