Sunwing refugees story Part 2 : 8th layer of hell

Wow this is LONG overdue. I have so much to say about all that has been happening but I told myself I would finish this first.

Monday
So the winds start to pick up, they are closing the beach and the pools. Everyone is very calm and efficient. One thing I liked is how they threw the chairs into the pools so they would not fly off into the wind. We were told to stay indoors as much as possible as flying debris are everywhere. I have a 10 second video of the storm outside our window. It was VERY impressive to watch.

During the night the power went out. I pulled a MacGyver and used my GameBoy Advanced as a light source because it was pitch black. We played cards by the gameboy and talked and watched the storm outside. We had to put our towels under the door because we were getting flooded. The wind flying through the tunnels between the buildings was like a banshee wail.

Tuesday

We woke up to still to no power and a grumbling stomach. It looked like a warzone out there. Branches everywhere, some lawnchairs were broken in pieces and scattered left and right. Rain was at a constant downpour. We ran for it to the mess hall to find that without power we really didn't much to eat. They were using reheaters to cook whatever food they had.

Dinner was the same, rain and food on heaters. It sucked but we made do. We expected to lose SOME vacation time so we chatted at a table and had a couple of drinks (ok more than a couple). At 2:30Pm an employee walks by us and asks us why we are not packing. It seems the place was being evacuated and the busses were leaving at 3PM. Now that's what I call giving information ahead of time!

We ran like hell to pack our stuff and try to not forget anything. when we arrived at the busses it was pure chaos. It took a while to figure out where we were going. Our reprensentative decided to TAKE THE DAY OFF. Yes! middle of a hurricane and he left us to wander around withtout any idea what the hell is happening. They split the buses by companies. Sunwing was going to the Coral.

When we got there the bus could not go up to the front door because where was about two feet of water. We had to walk into that cold sludge holding our baggages above our heads. When we go inside the place was a mess. There was water damage everywhere. Some areas were off limits with yellow wire. Windows were broken, computers were covered with garbage bags. We only saw a few employes and nobody else. They gave us our new rooms and the surprises did not stop there.

Some rooms were downright dirty, some had water damage. One even had water running on an open electrical wire shooting sparks. The tenants were told to unplug it...wtf. Coakroaches were everywhere. Bar was closed, no restaurant. We all went together (about 15 of us) to complain. And we learned that this hotel had been EVACUATED FOR SAFETY REASONS. Yes! We were sent to an unsafe hotel! There was only a few employes around to clean up. No cook or anything. We were told to go to our rooms and food would be brought to us.

We called the reception every hour for our food and finally I think she just disconnected the system cause the internal phones stopped working. So no food! And no booze either. They spent 15 minutes setting up all the bottles on the bar to tell us they were not serving alcohol. Bastards. my wife got hit by a piece of flying tile. It wasn't very deep but bled a lot we went to the front desk to be told they had no medical personel, no peroxyde not even a fucking Band-Aid. She now has a scar on her arm.

Wednesday

We woke up early and tried to talk to our representative. We all decided to make a big circle with chairs and not move from the spot until we were moved to another hotel. The fight was on! The bar was open so we drank and drank and as we drank we starter to yell louder and become angrier and really pump each other up. The guy finally arrived and we really turned up the heat. When he told us we might be stuck here for the rest of the trip we caused such a ruckus they called an armed security guard to watch over us. I made a poster that I glued to a column with bubble gum and thus the Sunwing refugees were born!

We eventually managed to get transfered to a 5 star hotel (not really 5 stars if you ask me) where my wife proceeded to get sick (Tourista). All in all we had about 3.5 days of actual vacation.

We went a letter to Sunwing as soon as we got back and have not heard since.

Ack! I hate you Warhammer!

Why did you have to be so tempting! I am going to buckle down tonight and finish this story.

I feel like a cat sometimes.

"Ooh a shiny thingy! Must jump on it and play with it and not stop untill I run it under the fridge or something shinier comes along."

SunWing Refugees story Part 1 : Arriving in Cuba just before hurricane Ike

July something 2008 :

So our 5th year wedding anniversary was comming up and we decided to go all out and pay ourselves a trip to Cuba. I had been to Cuba before (Cayo Cocco on our honeymoon) and enjoyed the sun and the atmosphere. Food was pretty bad but we weren't going there for the restaurants.

We decided to go with SunWing since they were THE biggest supplier to Cuba from Canada and we had heard/read good comments. SunWing assures us that since this is our 5th anniversary we would get better rooms, wine to the room and a romantic beach dinner. We were psyched. the person from SunWing we bought the trip from tells me to change my Canadian money for American money to make it easier. I decided to bring plenty since we wanted to really let ourselves go this trip and do excursions and buy tons of stuff for family/friends. The hotel we picked is called Sirenis La Salina.

(http://www.tripadvisor.fr/Hotel_Review-g147275-d672871-Reviews-Sirenis_la_Salina-Varadero_Cuba.html)

It's a pretty new hotel. I have read about mosquitos and prepared accordingly.

Those reading this this blog and my Twitter updates know that I needed this vacation.

Badly.

I was stressed out by everything and my head just could not fit anymore crap in there. I needed to unwind and not think about the real world for a week.

As time went by we realised that quite a few hurricanes where hitting the south. We decided to take two weeks off in case they delay our trip one week because of a hurricane.

Saturday night (Day 0) :

Heading to the airport I hear that Ike is heading towards Cuba. It is unsure at this point how hard it will get hit but a small island just before Cuba was hit and they lost 80% of their homes. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. But SunWing did not delay or give us a choice. I figured they knew something we didn't. The flight takes a bit longer than usual since we need to make a detour around hurricane Hanna.

Sunday 2am (Day 0.5) :

We get to our hotel wich was very clean and the personnel was nice. We are told we cannot get the beachfront room because of the hurricane warning but once it has passed (Was told wednesday) we would be transfered there. I understood and appreciated that they looked out for our safety. (Little did I know at the time that some people were at the beachfront rooms and were never transfered to other rooms.)

So two double beds. Not very romantic but we make do. It was now 4am and we were dead tired.

Sunday 9am (Day 1) :

Bit groggy from the lack of sleep but this morning we were meeting our SunWing rep that was going to tell us what activities we could do during the week and get a hurricane update. We had seen on the Weather Channel that it was going to hit the Eastern tip of Cuba and might skip north of us and hit florida right in the jaw.

Interval :

I just wanna add something here before I go on. The Weather Channel is full of bullshit. Everytime I watched it they kept saying stuff like "And the hurrican is now causing devastation in Cuba, with winds of up to .... but that's a good thing for us since it will slow it down before hitting us."

Screw you Weather Channel. People were dying here. Some were scared half out of their wits. a hurricane that hits Cuba on the broad side like this has not been seen in 50 years and all you fucking care about is how it will slow it down and make things easier on the US? All I wanted was to get to that TV station and punch him straight in the face.

To be continued

Online Duality

For a person to be who he is you need to have two online lives : You and the Real You.

The Internet used to be a place where people could unwind from their real life, remove the shackles of society and where the true free speech resided.

Now in real life I am a somewhat shy computer programmer. I used to be extremely shy but the Internet changed me (more on that in another post). With family I am mostly considered a model citizen who doesn't drink much, doesn't go in bars or disco dance. Heck I rarely leave the house.

But online I am Bestar the freaky french Canadian.

I am funny, talk about booze and women constantly. I am full of myself (well almost) and love to pwn people and shove their faces in it. I say what I think and sensitive folks be damned because it won't shut me up.

This was working great up until a few years ago. The Internet is now mainstream. From 5 years old to grandmothers, everyone is on the net.

That means my family/friends/co-workers are on the net....shit.

The Internet is where I vent off. It's where I say all the things I want to say and not have to think about what this or that person will think of me. It's the only place where I am truly myself.

But now it's in danger.

I can't just say what an asshole one of my co-worker is being or how things at home aren't going so well. Imagine for a moment I took a stance on something my family would not approve?

This is where Online Duality comes in. What you do is split your online life.

There is the real world you :

This is pretty much the vanilla you. It says what you do in life. It's where you say what others expect you to say and where you don't cause ripples in the water.

You show it to :

• Some non-intimate friends
• Family
• Co-workers
• Spouse

Then there is the Virtual you :

Say what you want, do what you want. There are no real-life consequences. The world is yours for the taking!

You show it to :

• Intimate friends (won't rat you out and accept you as you are)
• Online friends (Have always known you this way anyway)
• Strangers (People who discover you on the net)

For me that line is clear cut.

The Online me is :

• This blog (duh)
• Twitter
• Guild of the Zodiac (www.gotz.org)

So if you want to know what is really going on with me, how I feel and what I think, look no further.

The Real World me :

• Facebook
• MSN (The little status thing in MSN)

For MSN I have both type of people on my list but I am just careful about what I put in my description and my status.

Facebook again I have both type of people but my profile and data on there make no mention of the other websites.

Conclusion :

Basically you have three options :

1. Always watch what you are saying Online (I have read enough horror stories to not try this myself)
2. Be yourself all the time (but be mindful of the consequences)
3. Split your online life.

How to regret a decision the rest of your life

Back in 2000 I was working at a financial institution doing tech support. I was hire through an agency which meant I had no benefits. Missing a day of work because I was sick basically meant one day of pay lost.

The weekend before I got my permanency I got a cold.

A big one.

Now first day of work I am sick as a dog but I decide to go to work because I can't call in sick on the FIRST day I have paid sick leave. I decided to stick it out and go to the clinic on the weekend.

By Thursday I had a full blown pneumonia.

Now white as a sheet my boss takes one look at me and tells me to get out of here and go to the nearest clinic. As I sign in the nurse takes one look at me and skips me to the head of the line. Not a good way to make someone feels safe.

So it took a couple of days for me to get back on my feet (literally). Since then I get lung infections like over 6 times a year. It leaves me without any strength and I can barely get a couple of hours sleep. It also introduced me to bunch of antibiotics and I can now recite by heart about a dozen type of em.

I decided to wait out going to the clinic and now I am paying the price for the rest of my life.

food for thought.

The Night They Invented Poutine

Here's a song I love because it talks about a meal that is the symbol of Quebec.

The Night They Invented Poutine
by Bowser & Blue

The night they invented poutine
It was a most peculiar scene
Ginette Reno was shy and thin
The Nordiques began to win
Jacques Parizeau sang «God save the Queen!»

The night they invented poutine
The night they invented poutine

No one knows the precise origin
Where or when this food did begin
Everybody in Québec will tell you with a grin
It was their little village that invented the poutine

To be really authentic the potatoes must be old
The gravy must be hot and the cheese must be cold
With a journal de Montréal wherever it is sold
Served with a roll in a bowl by a troll

You put some potatoes and some cheese in a tin
But the cheese won't melt till you put the gravy in
Then it sticks to your fork and dribbles down your chin
And that's how you know that you're eating a poutine

If the French fries are greasy and the gravy's nice and hot
The cheese curds melt as they come out of the pot
But once in your stomach they congeal into a knot
If your food does that then poutine is what you've got

Some use mozzarella but that isn't really it
And they serve it at McDonalds but the French fries are shit
And I hate to be picky but I have to admit
It's hard to eat when the cook has a zit!

There's no way anyone would call it haute cuisine
But it's not really junk food it's something in between
But it's better than a burger or a Mike's submarine
A balanced diet is a beer and a poutine!

I love-hate Fridays!

I really have a love-hate relationship with fridays.

On one side it's the last day of the week. Everyone jokes around the office, talks about their plans for the weekend. You know you'll have two days to relax and make all the stress accumulated during the week melt away.

On the other it's the day where you realise you haven't done half of what you were supposed to do this week and now have to cram everything in one day. It's a pure stress that is low on carbs because you know if you don't give it a huge push you're going to be working this weekend.

But thankfully most of my work is done (for once) and i'll be able to spend the day tying up some loose ends and trying to figure out what to do this weekend.

I never know what to do. I am a gamer. I play video games (Word of Warcraft) and table top games (Dungeon & Dragons). I read fantasy novels (Wheel of Time) and play card games (Magic the gathering). I am 100% geek. How I got a wife is beyond me.

But I'm trying to change that a bit. So I went to a karaoke bar for the first time. To, you know, see the outside world.

There was a paid host who sang a few songs. He was pretty good with french songs but english ones he sometimes said words that I knew he had no idea what they meant because he would garble them out and I would laugh and be the only one to know that this guy actually sucked in english.

Then he left the floor to the amateurs.

As I was looking at what song to sing this celeri branch of a girl gets on stage. She looks incredibly shy, tiwrling her fingers in her hair and looking at the floor.

Then the song starts : "I will always love you" from Whitney Houtson.

She transformed into Celine Dion.

It was nuts. I was hoping this was just a fluke but the next guy after was Kenny Rogers. Then Rock Voisine. I was flabbergasted! Where's the drunken singing of 99 bottles of beer? Where are the teenagers that change voice pitch 15 times during a song?

So I left the book there and listened and danced. I never sang. How could I? I'd look like Barney singing on american idols.

I spent the whole week after that practicing my singing at home. Wich is probably what these people did. After my wife told me we needed time appart and my goldfish commited suicide, I decided maybe singing wasn't for me after all.

Back to video games it is.