Virginia's Housewarming

Virginia invited a bunch of us over for her housewarming party. She actually had moved in a little while ago, but had been earnestly renovating. The results were very nice. Her place looked beautiful.

I carpooled with Di. We were the first to arrive besides, Denise, who came early to help prepare the food. I just brought some wine. A bottle of Jackson Triggs Merlot that I had sampled at Tony and Iris' not long ago.

I believe I knew over half the people in attendance. Most of them through gatherings at Tom and Florianne's. Though the last time was nearly a year ago at a Christmas dinner at their home.

It was good seeing everyone again. And to meet some new people. Virginia's next door neighbour came over. She was an older lady. We had a nice chat mostly about traveling. I had brought my free Shutterfly books over that I made. They had photos from my trips to Chicago, Washington, and Beijing and Cambodia.

As well I brought my nephews Smart Games, Camouflage and Airport, over. It seems like most people enjoy the challenge of trying solve the puzzles. Though, tonight, I don't believe people wanted to think too much. The games were giving them a bit too much trouble.

Anyway, the food was great. I got to try a few different types of wine (I still liked the one I brought the best). And it was nice hanging out with everyone again.

Sue's Party

The English-speaking group (mostly) - Steve, Dickie, me, Jon, Donald, Perry

Perry's friend, Sue, helped organize a dinner party on Saturday. It was out in Mississauga at someone's condo. They rented out the party room on the top floor.

There were two distinct groups in attendance. Ours was the English-speaking CBCers (for the most part). Sue's group was mostly people from China who spoke Mandarin. So there was an interesting dynamic to say the least.

Most of the music was in Chinese (except for when they played Gangnam Style, then it was in Korean). And when the organizers spoke it was in Mandarin as well. One of Perry's friends, Linda, translated a bit. There was a Karaoke machine. But, the interface was in Chinese. And I believe almost all of the songs were Chinese too.

Perry drove me with his friend, Linda, and her daughter. Dickie drove Big Jon, Donald and Steve. They came a bit late. We all waited for them before starting dinner. They were waiting for their Little Caesars pizza to be made. It was potluck.

There was quite an assortment of food for dinner. Of course there was the typical Chinese fare of rice and noodle dishes. Someone brought pasta, and Dickie's group bought pizza like I mentioned. I went to Metro and got an apple pie. That's what I usually bring to potluck dinners - pie.

After dinner they did some games. One was musical chairs. The rest were in Chinese. So we just watched.

Afterwards they played some music. Some of it was regular, uptempo music that you could dance to. But, it was in Chinese. Other times the fellow in charge of the music would play waltz or other ballroom dancing music. I guess some of them know how to dance to that sort of music. The sound system was awful I must say. It wasn't very clear and there was no treble (only bass for some reason).

Still, it was a good opportunity to meet some new people. I think that was the main objective for both groups.

YPG/Trader Christmas Party

My friend invited a few of us to her work Christmas party on Saturday. Two of us (Taku and myself) actually worked there before. For me, it was about 3-1/2 years ago and Taku, about 5.

The company has seen many changes in the past few years. From being privately owned by the Francis family to being acquired by Yellow Pages Group to half the company being sold by them to a British group.

The party was open to three different YPG companies (I believe) besides Wall2Wall (the new name of my former company). So there were quite a few new faces in attendance.

Still, I saw Jacky Hill, Sue Legge, Miss Dee (Dionne Fraser), Susan Maxwell and Elisa Krovblit from New Homes/Condo Guide. Those were the guys I worked most closely with.

Other familiar faces from production were the two Balas (Gnanapandithan and Menon), Greg Van Sluytman and Curtis King.

Even though we didn't get to sit with most of our friends I still had a really good time. Dinner was decent and I actually got up and danced a little.

Until next time...

Cathy's Going Away Party

Terrence and Soma

Cathy had her going away party this past Friday at The Raq down on Queen West and Bathurst. She decided to leave and do freelancing which is what she did before she joined Trader. She invited a bunch of current and former employees down for one last kick at the can on her last day.

There were quite a few people there. For me it was sort of like a mini reunion. I was laid off from Trader about a year ago. That was the last time I saw most of my friends there. There were some people I was disappointed not to see. But, there were also a few faces I hadn't seen in quite a few years like Terence and Maki. It was great seeing them again.

Anyway, it was nice hanging out, having a drink and catching up with old friends again. We're going to have to try to make it a regular affair.