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| So my sister flew to TO to visit me early Dec and we left Toronto on Dec 13 to drive home. -> Went to Niagara Falls for 2 nights, stayed at the Embassy Suites, very nice hotel. We were literally buried in the snowstorm for a couple days. Lost $75 in one poker hand at the casino, I had pocket Q's with two callers pre-flop for a bet of $15 pre-flop. (blinds were $1/$2) Flop was 5, 5, 8. I thought I had it with two pairs (top pair) so I went all in. Both players called. Who would've guessed one of them called to see the flop with a 5. -> Stopped at a suburb in Detroit (Southfield) for a night. Nothing exciting, just passing by the night. Didn't want to stay in Detroit downtown area and get shot~ -> Stayed in Chicago downtown for a night. Had deep dish pizza at Gino's. Waited almost 1 hour for my pizza, and they screwed up the order. Took another 1 hour for them to get it right... -> Stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska for a night, nothing special -> Stayed in Cheyenne, Wisconsin for a night~ nothing special, just off the highway... -> Stayed in Salt Lake City for 2 nights. Went to see the mormons~ Took a tour from one of their missionary sisters around their temple. Very, very... neat! -> Stayed in Las Vegas Hilton for 3 nights. More casino playing, shopping at various Outlets, and walking around the strip. Played 2 poker tournaments with $33 buy-in. (30-40 players each) Lost one tourney with a pocket 6's against A/K. Flop was A/A/K... That tournament wasn't meant to be... Then during my last day at Vegas, I was like 'what the heck', so tried another tournament. I changed my strategy a bit by bluffing quite a few hands. It worked, and I pretty much bluffed my way to the final table. Then during the final table, i was having some poker luck and took chip lead position. Finished 2nd and won $225. Not bad... Tipped the dealer $20 and I basically broke even~ -> Went to California for 3 nights. More shopping at various outlets, went to universal studios, and checked out Disney downtown. Fun~ -> Went to Sunnyvale/California (near San Francisco). Mainly stopped by to visit my buddy who worked at google. Had Thai food, and then we robbed google as his guests. Came back with more goodies than I ever did from Halloween~ -> Stayed in Portland for a night for some tax-free outlet shopping. Had steak at this rodeo steak house... 16 oz's shared between me and my sister. yummy~ -> Back home for NY Eve.... | | |
| Before I left Vancouver, I asked my sister if she wanted to join me on a cross country drive to Toronto. She really wanted to but she can't get away from work. I asked my mom, same deal. I asked my Dad again who came with me last year, but he has to stick around for Chemotherapy. I even asked some friends if anyone needed a ride to Toronto. They just gave me funny look. I guess that's just life. Everyone's busy with their own schedules. We'll only cross paths if our schedules coincide. It was so hard finding some company for this long drive. I'm currently on day 4 of my drive and just made it to Saut Ste Marie, ON. Tomorrow I should finally arrive to Toronto. I must've listened to each of my CD at least a dozen times over and over. I don't mind the drive, it's rather scenic and fun. It's too bad that there's no one to share it with, no one to share the fun. It makes me wonder, what does anything I do in life matter if there's no one to share it with. *sigh* okay the loneliness factor must've gotten to me. Before leaving Vancouver, I even posted on craigslist in their rideshare section about when I was leaving Vancouver and when I was going to arrive Toronto looking for some companionship. I got a couple responses of people who were interested, but I got freaked out with the idea of picking up strangers just for the sake of some company. Oh well, I'm almost there now anyways... just 1 more day drive and I'll be there... can't wait! | | |
| Feels like I've been Winnipeg forever now. I am so glad it's finally over... Although Winnipeg is a big city, it sure feels like I've been liv'in the country life. Listening to country music, gazing at country girls all around. One thing for sure is that country girls are less demanding, and are much more down to earth to talk to. Less expectations, less devious, and overall much more sincere. I can really drop my 'guard' down around these country girls, unlike city girls from Vancouver and Toronto where I always have to be wondering 'what does she want out of me...'? oh well, maybe some day I could find a country girl mate and live the country life again~ Meanwhile, starting to drive back west, with a couple stops, Portage La Prairie, MB, and Grande Prairie, AB then back to Vancouver for my hard earned vacation before september comes around again when I'm asked to go back to Toronto... | | |
| Everybody knows that smoking leads to a higher risk of lung cancer, but there has been no research showing that smoking actually causes it. However, doctors do... My father, an active smoker for over 40 years, who's now retired in his late 60's, several years ago was advised by our family GP that his diabetes level was reaching very high levels. It was to the point where he had requested that my father take in a regular dose of insulin to control his diabetic levels. As naive and worried my father should be, relying on the doctor's expert advice, he began taking regular doses of insulin day by day. At the time, there were no signs of any cancer cells, in the lungs or the liver. Over the past few years, his health's been deteoriating. Of course, one can argue that it was normal symptons for someone with diabetes. He would be losing significant amount of weight, and he would feel more tired regularly than he was ever before. He just wasn't the same Dad I once knew... Every visit to the doctor, he would simply say that it is signs of his diabetes worsen. And more prescription was required to control this. Over the past few weeks, my father was recently referred to get a CT scan of various organs to see the progress. And, just last week, a cancer specialist had advised my dad that there was a tumor in the lungs that have spread to the liver. Ever since I heard about this, I've been devasted. Of course, there's the risk that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer, but having it widespread to the liver already so fast so soon? Now, I really don't know what to do... what to say to my father. I really want to fly home right now and really throw a buttload of questions to the doctor into whether the prescribed insulin had rapidly caused my father's cancer. Just google "Insulin cause cancer". Although research is new, and I don't know if it's sound, there are reports that this could possibly be the case since insulin's main job is to escort sugar out of the blood and into the muscle and fat cells. But sometimes those cells resist letting it in. So the pancreas, which makes insulin, tries to crank out even more. If it can't, blood sugar climbs to dangerous levels and the results is Type II diabetes. More often, however, the pancreas does make more insulin. The extra harmone may restore blood sugar to normal, but it overwhelms the rest of the body. That spells trouble, because insulin is more than just a sugar ferry. It tells kidneys, for example, to hold on to salt. And more salt means hypertension. It tells cancer cells to grow, and that can mean a tumor. "For cancer, insulin is like pouring gasoline on a fire," says Edward Giovannucci, who studies the epidemiology of colon cancer at the Harvard School of Public Health. So what is the next step? Chemotherapy or Radiation therapy? To me, that's just another way of doctors saying "Oh woops, we screwed up your Dad's living cells, now we have to kill them." | | |
| I can't believe Canucks lost to the Anaheim Refs... Hockey was suppose to keep me entertained while I'm in Winnipeg too... now what... | | |
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