brian's blog

Yikes. I suck at posting. I've been swamped in emails from work, and haven't yet been able to catch up. The problem with only taking two days off is that people assume you'll be back soon, so they don't hesitate to send you mail. If I was out for a week, they'd probably go elsewhere.

Anyway. Skiing was a blast. We couldn't head up to the hill on Friday night because the highways were closed due to wind and drifting snow. Seriously. The next day it was all better:

That photo actually summarizes Canada pretty well - snowy, windy, and empty, except for the snowmobiles.

Once we got to the hill, we all crammed into a single hotel room:

We skiied all day Saturday and Sunday. It was bitterly cold, and we could barely stand to have any skin exposed at all. Wolfgang even refused to take off his storm trooper outfit for the group photo:

(Left to right: Agata, Markus, Wolfgang, me (woo! Ancient one-piece ski-suit! Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all!), Daniel, and Steve.)

Before heading back to Toronto, we stopped by Colleen's farmhouse nearby for a home-cooked dinner. I realized that this would finally give me an excuse to check off "I've visited a farm in the past 14 days" box on the immigration forms upon my return, but I wimped out at the last minute for fear of being locked in a small metal room for quarantine.

Woo, heading off to Toronto tomorrow morning to go skiing with a few friends. Back on Tuesday.

Do I really need to make a joke about Dick Cheney shooting someone on a hunting trip? I'm sure everyone else will over the next week. First he's swearing on the senate floor, now he's poppin' some caps.

Cheney angry! Cheney kill!

On Tuesday, we went to see The Wedding Singer at the 5th Avenue Theater.

I was a little afraid to see how they'd manage to adapt an Adam Sandler film to the stage. Sandler films are very niche - either you love them, or you hate them, and the film version was all about Sandler. But they did it. It's hilarious. They borrow heavily from the movie, reusing many jokes and lines, but the musical twist keeps it fresh, and they somehow manage the delicate task of extracting Sandler without losing the core of the film. (Though the guy who plays Robbie does awesomely channel Sandler when he sings the "Somebody kill me please" song.)

Robbie's ex-girlfriend Linda just about steals the show with her rock glam queen moments, even though she's barely in it:

It's going to Broadway next, where I think it'll do very well - no Producers, but very, very well. It's also great to see Seattle getting some top-notch plays. Besides friends and family (of course), the thing I miss most about Toronto is the theater scene.