Leaving Alaska
The guys at the Suzuki dealership in Wasilla were kind enough to get the new Metzeler spooned on really quickly, and I was on my way back to Tok. It started raining a few miles after I got on the road, and I joked to myself that it was probably gonna rain on me all the way back to NYC.
I sure do wish I hadn't said that.
A little while later, I stopped to get gas and saw a nice bike parked on the side of the gas station. I went over to take a look at it as the owner came out and we started talking. It was a Victory, the other American motorcycle company. I haven't seen too many of them on the road, which is a real shame since they are quite nice looking bikes. I've been drooling over the new 8-Ball ever since I saw it in a motorcycle magazine some months ago. His Victory was an older model, however, and he had just gotten a fantastic deal from the Victory guys in Anchorage and was riding it north to meet up with his brother. He said he hadn't been riding much in the last few years, so I was impressed that he was going to break it in riding in Alaska. I wished him luck with his new baby and we went our separate ways only to meet up again at another gas station about 150 miles away. Alaska is funny like that - there are so few roads that you actually can run in to people randomly like that.
Well, the internet at the hotel just crapped out on me and I just lost the next five or six paragraphs I had just written. This has happened to me at virtually every single place I have stayed in Alaska and Canada, and it doesn't matter whether I'm using my WiFi or their ethernet (that's what just crapped out on me now). I apologize to all of you for bitching about this, but this is why I'm days behind in covering where I am. The worst part is that they really just don't care - these jackass hoteliers don't seem to understand that the internet can be used for more than browsing porn and looking at the dancing hamsters.
FUCK ME! Their 'net just went out AGAIN. I'm gonna kill someone.
I'm outta here. I'll post again when I'm back in the United States.
I sure do wish I hadn't said that.
A little while later, I stopped to get gas and saw a nice bike parked on the side of the gas station. I went over to take a look at it as the owner came out and we started talking. It was a Victory, the other American motorcycle company. I haven't seen too many of them on the road, which is a real shame since they are quite nice looking bikes. I've been drooling over the new 8-Ball ever since I saw it in a motorcycle magazine some months ago. His Victory was an older model, however, and he had just gotten a fantastic deal from the Victory guys in Anchorage and was riding it north to meet up with his brother. He said he hadn't been riding much in the last few years, so I was impressed that he was going to break it in riding in Alaska. I wished him luck with his new baby and we went our separate ways only to meet up again at another gas station about 150 miles away. Alaska is funny like that - there are so few roads that you actually can run in to people randomly like that.
Well, the internet at the hotel just crapped out on me and I just lost the next five or six paragraphs I had just written. This has happened to me at virtually every single place I have stayed in Alaska and Canada, and it doesn't matter whether I'm using my WiFi or their ethernet (that's what just crapped out on me now). I apologize to all of you for bitching about this, but this is why I'm days behind in covering where I am. The worst part is that they really just don't care - these jackass hoteliers don't seem to understand that the internet can be used for more than browsing porn and looking at the dancing hamsters.
FUCK ME! Their 'net just went out AGAIN. I'm gonna kill someone.
I'm outta here. I'll post again when I'm back in the United States.
posted by Mathew Elsner at 12:41 AM
5 Comments:
You must remember you have relatives in Canada...don't want to piss off Uncle L., Aunty I., and cousins R & R...Please relegate your abuse to Ontario and Quebec, not BC and Vancouver, or "Canada" as the westerners like to call it. "Eh" is actually an Ontario thing, and most of the people you hear out west using the "term" are Toronto "ex-pats" who stick out like sore thumbs amid the tree-huggin, granola eating, magically mello (hmm?) BC'ers.
And while I know you did not request any advice, I, as per usual, have some: write up your blog entries in word then cut and paste while on-line. Jackass.
B-man,
I have heard "EH?" all over Canada, including from lots of First Nation people who I doubt have ever left their areas. Perhaps it was once an Ontario and Quebec thing, but it has spread like a nasty linguistic virus to the furthest reaches of the Great White North.
I always welcome advice, especially when it is free and comes from a lawyer. However, your suggestion doesn't always work, since I can copy and paste and then have the 'net crap out on me (which has happened). I also prefer the immediacy of just typing it right in but I won't be doing that anymore.
As for pissing off the Canadian relatives, well, I never talked any trash that applies. I don't remember any of you running a hotel with shitty internet access and bad attitudes or using "EH?" at the ends of your sentences. And you know I really do love Canada and Canadians even if the beer there is totally overrated.
ME
B-
Also, the tree-huggin, granola eating, magically mello BCers you refer to live in the very southern portion of BC. In the northern parts, trees are to be chopped down and granola is fed to your hogs. No one is magically mello there, either - the drugs of choice are beer and cigarettes, not the stuff tunnels are dug for.
ME
Hi Ben-
You are correct - I totally spaced on that one! I forgot that I had crossed over from Alberta to Saskatchewan and made a geographical error of major proportions. Mea Culpa to you fine Canadians.
I went THROUGH Calgary and should have stayed there for the night. I have heard great things about it, but after waiting all day in Edmonton for an oil change, I wanted to make as many miles as possible and ended up pressing on for another 100 miles or so.
That's OK, it just gives me an excuse to go back!
ME
...ok, so I found you. Well, at least my time in the corporate world was worth something. Now an academic I have little time for the trivial world of business. Ummm, yup, Jenny Jones!!!!! e-mail me Mr. Elsner! jjones2877@yahoo.com
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