The National Women's Show

My friends from Nadurra had a booth at The National Women's Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre over the first weekend of November. While I couldn't help them set up because of work, I was able to help them tear down.

Michael asked me to come by at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday (the time the show was over). So, after church, I hung out downtown a bit with Yeon Hui. We dropped by the Umbra store down on Queen and John before heading over to the Chapters by the Scotiabank Theatre.

While there I showed her my trip photos from New York City, Chicago and Washington on her new iPad. She's interested in going to New York City and maybe some other places.

After looking through the shots I still had a bit of time to kill. So we walked over to Marshalls, the relatively new discount fashion store from the States. It's just south of Chapters on John Street. Yeon Hui bought some winter boots there. They were a bit big, but they looked nice and were warm. They said you had until January 12th of 2014 to return them if you wished. So we may check some other locations to see if they have her size (7).

By then it was nearing 5:00 p.m. So we walked to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. That's where we parted ways.

I got an Exhibitor pass from the show office to get in just before closing time. I was wondering why I couldn't have just walked in since it was so close to finishing.

When I saw Michael at their booth he said I was early. It turns out my stupid Wind Mobile phone didn't change over to Day Light Savings Time like everyone else's and I was an hour early. It did the same thing last year only changing later in the day.

Anyway, now I had an hour to kill. I figured I could take a nap somewhere, but I thought I'd take a look around instead.

I have to admit I felt like a fish out of water. It was weird walking around in a place where just about everything was geared towards women. It was kind of like the time I mistakenly walked into the teenage girls' fashion store Forever XXI at Yonge and Dundas. Previously it had been a GAP, but they changed hands and renovated really quickly a few years back. I walked in and got really confused because I couldn't find the guys clothing section.

One good thing about The National Women's Show was there were a number of food vendors who were more than happy to give free samples out. I had some Greek yogurt, some pizza and sampled some curry sauce on rice that was too spicy for me.

The weirdest thing was the so called "fashion show" starring the buff Toronto fire fighters from the annual fire fighters calendar. They were supposed to be showing off clothing from Marks Work Warehouse. But, all they were really doing was strutting around showing their muscles to hooting and hollering ladies. It was pretty funny.

All-in-all it was a pretty good spy mission for me. Now I know what women are really interested in... well... not really.

Michael's Birthday Dinner

Amber's Photo.

My friend Michael invited me out to his birthday dinner on Friday. I know him through my other friend, Rob. They all work together at Nadurra an eco-friendly, hardwood flooring company near Yorkdale Mall.

Michael had e-mailed me earlier in the week telling me about the dinner. It was going to be at Churrasco Villa, a Portuguese restaurant located on Eglinton, near Mount Pleasant. Only a few blocks from where I live. He said they were going to meet there between 5-6:00 p.m., but he'd get back to me to confirm the exact time.

When Friday rolled around I still hadn't heard back from him. No problem, I thought. I only live about 5 minutes from the restaurant. I didn't think they'd be able to get there that early coming from work and having to worry about traffic and parking. 5:00 p.m. rolled around and still no word.

At 6:00 I sent Michael a text and told him to let me know when they arrived at the restaurant. A short time later he replied saying they arrived at the restaurant at 5:00. Hm. I walked over quickly.

Everyone had already ordered their food sometime between 5:30 and 5:45. When I got there they had just been served. I glanced through the menu, but instead, to be quick, asked for suggestions. Brian said, the fire-grilled chicken was good. So I ordered the double-leg with seasonal vegetables and rice pilaf.

The waiter brought my dinner less than five minutes later (I'm estimating). I believe he put my order in ahead of the queue so I could join the others at my table who were already eating. That was nice of him.

It was good seeing everyone again. I don't go in as often to help at Nadurra. Normally I go in and help with labeling samples at the office. And, sometimes, they ask me to help set up or tear down at trade shows. I think they're trying to cut down on costs now. That's alright. I'd rather have my Fridays off to tell you the truth.

I got the chance to see Sandro again. He left the company a few months to a year after I had first started going in. I thought he was a really nice guy. Brian, Ian and Samantha were also there along with Ian's wife and daughter and Michael's friend, Gary, and Michael's wife, Amber. Sandro brought his young son, Luka (sp?) too.

After dinner Michael, Gary and I hung out a bit longer. We grabbed beverages at the nearby Timmies and headed over to the new Minto condos on Yonge. They have a courtyard with outdoor seating. Since it was nice out we decided to take advantage of that instead of sitting inside.

We hung out there for an hour or so and talked about a variety of things from the condition of Gary's father who is in hospital to Shin Dong-hyuk, the Korean man who escaped notorious Camp 14 in North Korea.

It was nice hanging out with the guys. I'm happy I made it out. Even if they almost forgot about me at the beginning of the night.

On the Road with Nadurra

My friend Rob works at Nadurra. They're an eco-friendly hardwood flooring supplier. Last Friday he wanted to go out and shoot some places that the had supplied flooring to. In hindsight maybe we should have called first.

Our first stop was the Ontario Science Centre. They had ordered some reclaimed wood flooring for one of their projects there. It was while we were waiting for one of the department heads there that I bumped into my former colleague, Reay, and his daughter. They have a yearly membership to the Science Centre and Reay takes his daughter fairly regularly because there's a kids' section there that she likes.

After a short wait the Science Centre contact met us. He told us they were using the flooring in the Banting and Best display they were setting up. Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin in the early 1920's. It was used to treat diabetes.

Unfortunately the display (which was supposed to be a recreation of their lab) was still under construction. The only thing that was finished was the flooring. Rob mentioned it normally should be installed last so it wouldn't get damaged by anything else falling on it during the construction process.

While we didn't get to take pictures here the department head (whose name escapes me) took us on a behind-the-scenes tour of his department. It was a large workshop area where they made all the displays for the Science Centre. They had all sorts of woodworking machinery and a graphic design shop. They do everything in house. In fact they even make displays for other museums or galleries and ship them overseas. Neither Rob nor I had any idea they did any of that stuff there. It was so neat to see. The area was huge.

Our next stop was a Regent Park condo project called Paintbox (by Daniels). Unfortunately after speaking with the onsite property manager we were informed we would have to submit an application requesting permission to shoot whichever areas we were interested in and the board of managers would have to approve it.

Next we headed to the University of Toronto Mining Building at 170 College Street. They had installed some flooring on the fourth floor in one of the public areas of the student lab.

At first we tried taking the elevator up. But, you needed a card to access certain floors. So we tried the stairs next. Same deal. As we turned to leave down the stairs from the fourth floor one student was on his way up. Rob asked him how we could access the floor. He told us you had to sign out a key fob that would allow you entry. He mentioned he didn't have one either. But, he was going to call a friend (who was already inside) to open the door for him. Before he did that another one of his friends opened the door and we followed him in. We spent about 20 minutes there taking pictures.

Next stop was a private residence in the Bloor and Christie area. A young couple was in the process of renovating their house and had used some of Nadurra's reclaimed flooring. It looks great, but costs an arm and a leg (at $9-$10 a square foot).

While they were still living there, again they were still in the process of renovations. So, like the Science Centre, they weren't finished either. The couple had installed the flooring both on their main floor and upstairs. Rob and I moved some of the clutter around and I got a few reasonable shots of the dining room/kitchen area. We may return later after they finish completely.

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.