Toronto Rocks!

I had to go to a work function last night. Damn my job. I found myself a guest of the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau. They invited a few of us from the office for dinner and drinks. Oh, and then they shuttled us over to the Dave Matthews Band concert – complete with primo seats and alcohol. It’s a tough job, though I try to hold up my obligations to the company.

The concert was most excellent. Dave played to a sold-out crowd of 18,000 fans for about two hours and forty-five minutes. The place was rockin’!

I remember the first time I saw DMB. He played the Shrine Auditorium in Springfield, Mo. I think I paid $10 for the ticket and there were maybe 800 people there. My friend and I road tripped down for it. He wasn’t too familiar with DMB and the Under the Table and Dreaming CD had not yet been released. Dave hung outside with the crowd chatting with everyone before the show, then when the doors finally opened we wondered in and ended up front row. He played for about two hours. Wow, times sure have changed! DMB still puts on a hell of a show, but the crowds have grown, the stage set is massive, the fans are die-hard and the ticket prices have skyrocketed.

Thank you Toronto! You rock, eh!

She Is Our Future

Hold me, I'm scared!

Nemluvin C’esky

You heard me. I said I don’t speak Czech. However, that is not going to stop me from my vacation this year. I really have not had a long trip vacation in about three years. A couple weeks back I decided it was time for an adventure. A few nights on the Web and a few airline/hotel searches later and I am headed to the Czech Republic the first week of October!

More specifically, I am spending a week in Prague. For whatever reason, I have always seemed fascinated with Prague and old Eastern Europe. On past visits to Europe I had wanted to travel into the Czech Republic and Prague but never had enough time since it is sort of off of the beaten path and not incredibly well linked by the EuroRail system. For this trip the whole focus is Prague and excursions to nearby towns.

I booked my airline ticket a couple weeks ago and just received my hotel confirmation this morning. It’s official now…look out! I am staying in the Old Town in a hotel that was originally a brewery, then used as offices for the Russian Communist Party. It looks to be in a good location that is fairly central to transportation and sites.

It would be fun to have some friends travel with me, but I am pretty sure I can do some serious sightseeing, eating, drinking and shopping on my own, too. I need to sit down and make a list of ‘To-Do’ and ‘To-See’ while there. I also need to learn at least a handful of C’esky words and phrases so I don’t come across as a total Ego-American ethnocentristic ass. I will update later. I am considering taking my laptop with me, but just not sure at this time. It might all come as a lump update once I return.