nashville, tennessee

For anyone who's ever sat in the South Terminal of Vancouver's Airport for several hours it will come as no surprise that I have a little bit of time on my hands. Where the Main Terminal at least has some miles you can walk and stores wanting to tempt you with food, books, chocolate and other witchcraft, the South Terminal has......  termites maybe, but that's it.


But that leaves me, tired as I am, some time to type. I just read Andrew and Lina's blogs about China - very cool and very daunting all in one! I have no pictures, but will try to keep this entertaining.


I have two updates. The first is our ongoing Momar team complications. The momar is this coming Saturday, and back in the spring we decided to have a kick-ass team of 4 women - Joan, Chris, myself, and....    an unknown fourth. We found Chanace in early July - fast, happy, unflappable as far as I can tell - perfect. Then I broke my ankle. Crap. So the team found another fourth. Who was in for a few weeks until her doctor told her not to race. So the team found another fourth. Who recently developed pneumonia and although she thought she'd be better she cancelled Monday. So I'm doing the Momar. Unless I have a horrible accident before the weekend or I ask my doctor's opinion. Don't tell Marc.


The other update is my trip to Nashville, Tennessee. The reason I went to Nashville was the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Conference which is held every year, and I've gone every second year - New Orleans (cool!) Chicago (umm..... well okay) and now - Nashville.


I think Andrew and Lina probably have more luck finding vegetables in China than I did in Nashville. The conference center was wisely placed about 10 miles out of the city, to be sure that no attendees could shirk the hotel's restaurants and provide for themselves. I think any competition at all might have emptied the hotel restaurants immediately, so I can see why they did this.


I did head downtown twice over the 5 days. The first trip involved an enthusiastic technician that persuaded everyone we need to go to Coyote Ugly after dinner. I haven't seen the movie, but was pretty sure I was outclassed on the party-ability. I was, but it was the most interesting bar I have ever been to. And since I didn't have a say in the matter I could just be the innocent bystander to the train wreck.


The bar had slutty bartender girls dancing on it, and once in a while they would "let" a girl or two from the audience on stage, then kick her off 30 seconds later. They don't want to be upstaged I don't think. The enthusiastic tech got on the bar only to remember she'd forgotten to put on a vital piece of clothing, and therefore would not be able to dance without potential legal implications, so she hopped off pretty soon. She was probably back on later in the night, but thankfully I was back in the hotel sleeping by then.


No one else in the bar was dancing - they were standing about 8 rows deep staring at the Trash-sisters. The average male patron was at least 40, wearing a dirty worn out sweatshirt preferably with a Harley Davidson logo, and grungy jeans, and was a minimum of 50 lbs overweight. The average woman was the same - dirty, sweatshirt, jeans - but then the occasional woman was trashed up as far as humanly possible, and generally accompanied by a fat man wearing a sweatshirt....  There was a giant tinfoil casserole dish behind me with what appeared to be Chef Boyardee - maybe they have to serve food? At one point the senior's bus must have stopped by because there was a sudden influx of 70 and 80 year olds, who were having a marvellous time. I guess in the States little girls don't want to be the belle of the ball or the princess, they apparently want to be the trashy chick on the bar. Kind of like stripper bar meets truck stop, and now I don't need to see the movie.


The second night I went out with Stacey, Blair and Melissa from the Victoria Emerg Clinic where I worked and it was SO good to see them! We had dinner, almost explored the red light district (by accident, but it's only one block long) and went on a memorable if really painfully bad "ghost walk". Our tour guide almost got beaten up by two black kids that changed their mind in the last minute, but overall it was uneventful with no ghosts apparitions.


Overall the lectures were excellent, and I feel motivated and very smartened up. Seeing the Victoria crowd (including some other ex-Vic. people) made me miss the place very much, but then I guess we'll just have to catch up two years from now. Hopefully not in Nashville.


The flight home has been a bit long - I took a voluntary detour in exchange for a Continental Airlines credit and a $12 dinner credit. Nashville 7:00 pm - Charlotte, NC - Newark NJ in at 1240 am - 0700 to Vancouver - 14:30 to Comox. I was going to be overnight in Newark anyway to avoid another hotel night and still be able to get out of there.


If you ever need to sleep in the Newark airport - there's a 6 foot high metal box that's pretty clean on top and overall rather comfy. You look down on the heads of the security walking by, which made me want to yell "boo" but then I didn't, which is probably why I'm in Vancouver now.


Now, a nap, another flight (the fourth for the return trip) and I'll be back home. YAY!!! Goodnight.