Carol's Birthday Party

My friends Carol and Mike had a get together at their house at the end of last month. It was to celebrate Carol's birthday.

I used to work with them at Trader a number of years ago. I believe Carol left in the mid-2000's. I was let go in 2009. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen her since she left. And, of course, I hadn't seen Mike in four years.

We've "kept in touch" through Facebook. So I'm sure we all have a general idea of what the other person has been up to (depending on how frequently you update your status). But it's not quite the same.

I think one thing that prevented me from visiting earlier was the fact that they live in Brampton. I know it's not that far from where I live, but it's far enough. Anyway, when the invitations were sent out for Carol's birthday, I figured it was long enough. I had to go over.

I got there relatively early. Not too many people had arrived yet. Carol's sisters, Claudia and Jackie, were there as well as a couple of Mike's friends.

Some of Carol's co-workers from her latest, but still former job were there. She had been working at Blackberry for awhile. But, like many others in the now struggling to stay afloat company, she had been laid off.

I was the only former Trader employee who had made it out. So I didn't have a ready made circle of friends to chat with. I made small talk with some people, but most people tend to hang out with people they already know.

Carol's parents came too. I hadn't seen them in a long time. I believe they still live in their old home in the Finch and 427 area. It was good seeing them again.

Mike and Carol have a nice house. In the basement Mike set up a small office with some of his special Star Wars "toys". I suppose you wouldn't really call them toys since they're probably quite expensive and rare. Maybe you could categorize them as collectibles.

He also set up a small theatre in the basement. It's a miniature version of a full size theatre. I have to admit it looks great. He did a really good job with it. He showed a few of us some 3-D movie trailers on it. They looked spectacular.

One movie that looked particularly good to me was The Croods. It's an animated movie about cave people and their adventures in moving from their old home to a new place. I'll have to try and make it back to watch that one sometime.

Anyway, it was good seeing Carol and "Rock" again (as in Rocky Balboa, my nickname for Mike, after his Judge Dredd, Sylvester Stallone impression). Until next time...

The Ark of the Covenant?

I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford. In it they're searching for and find the Ark of the Covenant which does bad things to people. At the end they put it in a wooden crate and hide it in a huge warehouse full of countless other items stored in wooden crates so no one else will be able to find it. Well, that's how I felt last Monday as I was helping a friend, Michael, search for a display rack that he ordered for the company he works for.

I met Michael through my friend, Rob. They both work a small flooring company called Nadurra Wood Corporation. Last Wednesday and Thursday I helped them set up their display for the Green Living show at the Direct Energy Centre down on the C.N.E. (Canadian National Exhibition) grounds. It was quite a bit of work. They had someone install 200 sq. ft. of flooring. We set up these large, display walls which we had to paint after filling in the holes. And we set up the display racks and lighting too.

After the show was over Michael and the other guys at the company put everything back into the rented cube van. At 8:00 a.m. on Monday he came by my condo and picked me up and we drove to the warehouse they rent space out of to put everything back.

The warehouse (York Warehousing & Distribution Worldwide) is huge. I'd say it's about 1 football field wide, by 2 football fields long. Items can be stored up to three stories high (on four levels of shelving, if I remember correctly). Many other companies share the space. There's even a hidden area that's not accessible to anyone else that the government uses (I'm not sure which level, maybe Provincial). The fellow that runs the warehouse said they use it to store supplies in case of emergencies. The reason we got to see that area is because we were searching for a lost item we couldn't find.

After unloading all the items from the show Michael wanted to take a look at this new display stand he had ordered for the company three or four months prior. He thought he knew where it was stored. Most of the goods at the warehouse are stored in a relatively orderly fashion on the shelves which have numbers marking each spot. But, at the back of the warehouse things are stored quick haphazardly. There are things in huge piles on the floor. It's almost like going through a maze walking through them.

On top of some boxes (over 10 feet up) there was a box Michael had marked "Nadurra". He asked a fellow in the warehouse working one of the forklifts if he could take it down. He thought it was his display rack. Well, after the guy took it down Michael discovered that it wasn't his rack, but one belonging to T.D. Bank. So he had to put it back up and scratch the name off the side. Thus began "The Search".

I don't know how long we looked. Up and down aisles and aisles of identical cardboard boxes stacked ceiling high. Craning our necks as we tried to pick one particular item out of thousands upon thousands. That's how we were able to see the "secret" storage area. Brian, the warehouse supervisor let us have a look inside to see if our box was misplaced in there.

Another fellow who was in charge of storage in the warehouse helped us next. We probably went up and down a few aisles with him too (I can't remember). Finally we found it amongst all the other items stored in a mishmash at the back of the warehouse. It was a place Michael and I had gone by before. We just didn't notice it amongst everything else.