Well, I made it here. Our plane was a little late arriving in San Diego but we made up for that with a super fast boarding and apparently turning on the turbo jets in the air. We actually arrived in Vancouver at 12:48, 4 minutes early. I count that as bonus vacation time.

The customs line was fairly long, but it moved pretty quickly. I was a bit worried they weren't going to let me into the country when I came up with some pretty lame answers to the agent's questions.

"So, what are you going to do in Vancouver?"
"Uh, I don't know, just wander around downtown, maybe go to the park."
"For a week?"
"Uh, yeeeaaaah."
"Welcome to Canada."
"Whew"

I rounded out my visit to Vancouver International Airport by getting ripped off at the currency exchange (though, I'm sure its still better than whatever fees Wells Fargo is going to charge me when I eventually use an ATM here). My cab driver spent most of the ride to the hotel trying to get his brand new GPS system up and working. And when I say new, I'm not screwing around. He was just taking it out of the box and reading the yellow card saying it would take 15 minutes to start up the first time. He was fairly disturbed by that news, as he wondered how he was going to hold the power button down for 15 minutes, but after he handed me the yellow card, I assured him that he only had to hold it down for 2 seconds to turn it on. I've only been in the country for about an hour and I'm already helping out the locals! They're going to beg me to stay.

I got the guy at the hotel desk to move me from the second floor to the first floor, because apparently the wireless access point is located in the office (below the first floor). Unfortunately, even with the move, I'm having quite a time getting a signal in here. I finally got something to work by putting my computer right next to the open window. I suspect I'm actually using a signal from the building next door, but its not password protected, so its good enough.

After getting settled in my room (which is humble, but it works, and has a view...of sorts), I realized that it was about 3:00 and all I'd eaten was a Jamba Juice at about 7, and the little packet of...of...stuff they give you on the plane. What the hell happened to the peanuts? I haven't had nuts on a plane in a few years, and frankly I'm sick of...of...whatever that stuff they give you now is. Anyway. I asked the desk guy which direction to walk to find food, he pointed, I started walking. I was having such a good time walking that I suddenly realized I had walked all the way to the edge of Stanley Park, which, it turns out, is about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. The park looked beautiful, so I decided to retrace my steps, find a sandwich shop and get some lunch to eat in the park. Well, apparently I'm not a very attentive walker, because I soon found myself back where I had started. By this point I was getting really hungry, so I abandoned the park plan for another day and stopped at what looked like a sports pub.

I quickly ordered a beer, and some fish and chips, and settled in to watch some baseball highlights. I think my first clue that I was actually in a gay bar was the rather lurid message on the coaster. I looked around a little and started noticing that almost all the waiters were wearing tight black shirts and earrings. Then of course, there were the paintings of naked men on the walls. I think that's what sealed it for me. To be fair, there was one painting of a naked woman, though, sadly, she was mostly hidden behind a TV. Final verdict on the place who's name I forget: good beer, decent fish, good fries, atmosphere not my cup of tea.

After eating I decided to see if I could find one of the theaters involved in the Vancouver International Film Festival. It proved easier than I expected, as it was just 3 blocks down Granville from my hotel. Neat. I got a ticket for the 9:30 show of Duelist, and also became a proud member of the VIFF club. Interestingly, they aren't allowed to show movies to the public, just to their members, so you have to join the club to see a movie. I think the reason is that they aren't rated by the BC Film Board, so you have to make some kind of gesture that says you are enough of an adult to watch a movie that the government hasn't declared sanitized enough for consumption by the masses. I'm excited.

So that brings me to the present. I'm sitting in my room watching soccer (after failing to find the Canucks preseason game on the TV), and resting up from all the walking I ended up doing.

Random Canada observation for the day: Sometimes the traffic lights flash green. I have no idea why they do this. At first I thought it was the equivalent of our flashing red I'm-out-of-order signal, but I was quickly proved wrong there. Then I thought that that's just the way they all are. Wrong again, some are solid green, some flash. I'm fresh out of ideas, but I've got a week here, I'll get to the bottom of this mystery.

(I promise better pictures later.)