Las Vegas,NV

Place 77 – Day 13: Las Vegas, NV – Famous Pawn Shop

Breakfast

We went for breakfast downstairs at the hotel as it was meant to be pretty good.

We all thought it was ‘fine’ but nothing to rave about.

We flew out today, but didn’t have to be at the airport for a while, so we decided to go for a walk.

Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop

We watched the TV show Pawn Stars last night and noticed that that is based in Vegas!

It was only 18 mins away by foot for us, so we took a walk out there.

We got there and had a look around…there were some very expensive things in there, so no chance we were buying anything, but it was fun and something to do.

To The Airport

We got an Uber to the airport and Tom came with us, even though his flight to the UK wasn’t for another 9 hours!

We got through security, which took a while, and then pretty much did nothing! We just sat in the airport and waited.

Back To Vancouver

We got on our flight just after saying goodbye to Tom, and flew back home to Vancouver!

The flight was uneventful, and so was the train home.

We got back and unpacked everything. Kim went off to training and Curtis went to the shop to get a few things for lunch.

We are back to work tomorrow after an amazing week trip!


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

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Vancouver, BC

Place72 – Day 173: Vancouver, BC – Fancy Dinner

Helping A Friend

We woke up and had a nice cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, mushrooms, toast and hash browns.

After we got ready, Kim went out to meet a friend who pulled a hamstring, so she could give her something to help with the pain.

Modus Coffee

Kim got back and we went out for some coffee!

We went to Modus coffee which is meant to be pretty good.

We got a really nice mug, which was great. Kim got what was called a ‘real’ cappucino, which is tiny and Curtis wanted a bigger coffee so he got a latte.

The latte looked great and was pretty tasty, but Curtis likes it stronger. Kim’s cappucino was very bitter, so Curtis drank it instead!


Modus Coffee | Vancouver, BC

Our Rating:- 7/10


Cinema Time!

We took the train out to Metropolis so we could go to the cinema.

We went to watch Zombieland: Double Tap as we really enjoyed the first one so wanted to see if the second lived up to it.

We thought that it was just as good as the first, really funny, a good amount of action and great animation/effects.


Zombieland: Double Tap

Our Rating:- 9/10


Fancy Dinner

On the walk back from the train station, we both got some amazing photos of the city!

We got back home and had a really nice fancy dinner of cheese, wine, crackers, relish and meats! It was really nice and relaxed, which was great.

We watched some TV and then got ready for work tomorrow before heading to bed.


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 170: Vancouver, BC – Short Trip Away!

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did a bit of work as soon as he woke up.

He had to check the migrations he started overnight and, unsurprisingly, some of it had not worked.

Curtis got to work and had to figure out what the problem was and how to prevent it happening again. Curtis spent all day answering questions post migration as well as trying to get the migration for one team’s folder in particular to work, but it did not.

As he couldn’t get it to work, he investigated the issue and figured out the problem, which should be mitigated by completing the transfer on Friday instead.

A second set of migrations had to take place today as well, but they went very smoothly, which was excellent!

Curtis had to help with desk moves at his office and then headed out at 16:30 to walk up and meet Kim.

Kim’s Day

When Kim got in she started on her reconciliations straight away. This was only for 30 minutes as she and a colleague agreed to run to the liquor store to place a larger order to deliver for Friday for the function on Monday.

After this they caught up on some time to go over a few things like a stationary order and what to change the catering from and to.

They also went over a stationary order where Kim order stuff for all of the upcoming events, pencils and water colours for Diwali, a flip chart for the meeting next week and some other office items.

As one of Kim’s teammates is due to go on maternity leave soon the team arranged a group manicure or pedicure followed by lunch.

It was so nice to relax and talk about everything not work related. It was extra funny because in the nail place they had Jack Whitehalls TV show where he holidays with his dad on and everyone found it hilarious!

After lunch Kim got straight back into reconciliations to try and sort all of that out, but once she finished one card that required a few phone calls, she realised she had to sort a few other things out before she left.

Kim then ordered all the upcoming food for this week including the weekly Thursday pizzas and the monthly social talks pizzas.

She then wrote up a few emails and sent them off before she leaves for 2 days! She met Curtis downstairs to start their holidays!

Flying To Portland!

We met at Kim’s work and then walked to the train station.

Kim was able to get a seat, which was a win on such a busy train!

The train took 45 minutes to get us to the airport, but that gave us perfect time to chat about our day.

We got to the airport and found the correct check-in area, but luckily we had already checked in, so we just went right to security.

The terminal was absolutely empty, so security was fast, but then we got to US immigration, which was also fast, luckily!

There weren’t many people in the departures either, so we just wandered around.

There wasn’t much to see or do, so we just sat at the game and chilled, waiting for the flight.

We got 2 trams to get from the airport to our hotel, which is in downtown Portland.

We got checked in and went and got some quick food as we were quite hungry and then we went back to the hotel to chill!

We’re in Portland for a concert, which is tomorrow, so we have most of the day to do stuff tomorrow and then a bit of time on Thursday morning before we fly back home.


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 127: Vancouver, BC – Taking The Train Home?!

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did the usual admin for the morning, as well as got some old and new tickets completed.

It was a slow morning, but there was enough to keep him busy.

At 13:00, which is usually his lunchtime, Curtis had a team meeting that went on for an hour, but it was productive and helped Curtis move on with one of his projects.

In the afternoon, something broken which some of Curtis’ colleagues started fixing and Curtis had a few people asking him about different things that stopped working as a result.

At 16:20, the rain really started to come down and Curtis had hoped it would stop by time he had to walk home, but it did not.

It was a bit too heavy to walk in, so Curtis got the train instead, which takes just 5 or so minutes to get him to the station near home.

Curtis walked back home and was able stay dry!

Once he got home, Curtis emptied the dishwasher, cleaned down the sides, vacuumed and cleaned the sink in the bathroom. Pretty productive!

Kim’s Day

Kim got into work a fair bit earlier today as she had 2 full day meetings to set up for. On the way into work Kim stopped by Starbucks to order a large 2.5 gallon coffee urn for one of the meetings.

Once she was at work Kim orgnaised a coffee urn for the other meeting room and soft drinks for both rooms. Kim then went back to Starbucks to pick up the urn and then took it all upstairs to the 25th floor just as the meeting was settling down.

Kim then finally sat down and turned on her computer, an hour and a half after she had arrived. Kim decided to be ahead of the game and updated the bingo sheet for the next meet and eat as she had already emailed herself ideas and needed a small and easy task to get herself sorted!

After this Kim started to sort out some travel for a customer but ended up getting called away from her desk to sort out the fruit. As Kim put the fruit away she sectioned off some for the visitors and made each meeting a little fruit bowl.

After sorting the fruit the first batch of catering arrived so Kim quickly ran out to get the smaller items for the other catering that was due to arrive. While she was out the other catering arrived, so Kims colleague put it in the meeting room.

When she got back Kim and her teammate then both handled the catering by getting soft drinks ready ensuring that the plating was nice and taking out the drinks from earlier that hadn’t been drunk.

Kim then sat down to make the travel reservation and it all went through easily.

After booking the travel Kim and her colleague went to both rooms and cleared out the catering and then sat down to some lunch. They had a lovely catch up!

After lunch Kim and her colleague went straight into a meeting with the corporate travel company as they now have a new account manager so it was great to meet him and it really gave Kim a good understanding of how it all works.

After the meeting Kim processed and then delivered a FedEx package, as it was too late in the day Kim did have to deliver it and it was absolutely pouring it down!

Kim was feeling really stupid for not wearing new new waterproof shoes she got yesterday!

Kim then spent the rest of the afternoon/ evening packing up after the meetings and saying goodbye to an awesome lady who left the company today!

After wor Kim checked out a few shops for tights and couldn’t see any she liked too much!

Free Dinner!

When Kim got home, we had a small dinner. We had half of a leftover sandwich each which Kim got from work, and it was great! A spicy shreaded pork sandwich…delicious!

After dinner, we watched a couple of YYouTube videos and then could smell an odd smell, which smelled like burning plastic.

We investigated and could confirm it wasn’t us, but the whole building and outside seemed to smell of it, so we were unsure what it was.

We messaged our building manager to let him know, but we assume it is nothing worry about.


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 125: Vancouver, BC – Richmond Night Market

Morning Appointment

Kim had an appointment to go to at 10:00 this morning, so we were up at 09:00 so she could get ready and go to that.

Coffee

When she got back, we relaxed for a bit and then went out for a coffee!

We tried a bakery called Purebread and were not impressed.

Pretty much everything was just ‘meh’. The coffee, the brownie Kim got and even the service!


Purebread | Vancouver, BC

Our Rating:- 4/10


Sneaky McDonald’s

We got home and watched some TV after the coffee, but were a little disappointed and also hungry, so we went up to McDonalds for a sneaky cheeseburger and milkshake.

Richmond Night Market

After a relaxing few hours, we jumped a train for 20 minutes to get into Richmond aand meet up with some friends from Curtis’ work. They had invited us to go with them to the Richmond Night Market, as they had fast pass tickets for it!

That’s right, fast pass tickets were needed.

The queue, if you don’t have a fast pass, takes about 1.5 hours or more to get in, which is crazy!

We were in within 5 minutes which was great.

Once we got in we were on the prowl for food.

We ended up sharing some mediocre Korean chicken.

We walked around looking at food some more but couldn’t really decided until we got to the corn on the cob which Kim & Afsara were right on board with!

After the corn on the cob, it was dessert time, and we found waffles on a stick which we got, and those were ok.

We finished the desserts and then went for a wander around the place, looking at all of the ‘things’ stalls, rather than the food. This area was a little less crowded too, which helped.

We grabbed a free yoghurt each as it was near the exit and then left around 21:40, after getting there at 19:00 so it was a good couple of hours!

We got on a train and Afsara & Will got off at the one before us and then soon enough, we were home.

We had a really fun time with them, chatting, eating and just having general fun…We’re looking forward to going out with them again!


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 57: Vancouver, BC – Quarry Rock & Honey Doughnuts

Quarry Rock Hike

We were up at 08:00 and had bagels for breakfast.

We left the house around 10:15 and walked to the train station. We caught a train to the city to then catch a bus.

We got on the bus which took us all the way to Deep Cove, about 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver.

We got off the bus and just started walking. We walked for a bit and then noticed a sign saying we had gone the wrong way and had to turn back and walk all the way back to where we had come from! Luckily, other people had done the same so we weren’t all alone. We also got to see some really nice houses here, so not all was lost.

Once we returned to the right place, we began the walk up to Quarry Rock.

The trail up to the rock was 1.2km with the majority of it being on stairs but through some gorgeous woodland and higher up and up the mountain.

It took us about 30-45 minutes to get to the top, dodging people and crossing rivers (on bridges).

Once we got to the top, we had a stunning view! The weather wasn’t great, so there was no sun, but it was still nice to sit down and admire.

We walked back down the trail as we were very hungry and thirsty!

Lunch & Doughnuts

We were recommended a cafe called Cafe Orso so we went in, grabbed a table and each got a coffee.

Along with the coffee, we got half a tuna melt each with a tomato bisque, which was great!


Cafe Orso | Deep Cove, BC

Rating:- 8.5/10


We left after our lunch, incredibly full, and went for a bit of a walk and sit down by the beach.

We then went to Honey Doughnuts to see what all the fuss was about. This place was recommended to us by more than one person and the queue was out the door, so we had thought it would mean it was amazing!


Honey Doughnuts | Deep Cove, BC

Rating:- 7/10


We weren’t amazed by the doughnuts, they were just OK. Kim had a chocolate glazed and Curtis had a cinnamon sugar.

We left here and had a bit of a sit down whilst we ate.

We then left and caught the bus back, which took about 50 minutes.

We stopped off at the liquor store and bought some cans of Jameson, Giner & Lime to try.

Evening

We got a lot of admin done in the evening, as well as going for an evening walk.

We weren’t hungry after our lunch so Kim had a salad and Curtis had some toast.

We watched some TV and went to bed. We were exhausted!


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 51: Vancouver, BC – The Richmond Centre Shopping

Shoe Return & More Shopping

We wanted to go and do something fun today, but the weather wasn’t going to be too good, so we thought we would get some things sorted that we needed to do.

We decided we would go to a shoe warehouse to get new shoes as Curtis’new Vans are not very comfortable, so he wanted to take them back and get some others.

We took the Canada Line train from our home all the way to Richmond.

We first went right to the shoe warehouse and Curtis very quickly found some perfect shoes at a great price! Kim also managed to find some really good flip flops, so we achieved!

We then headed to the Richmond Centre where we returned Curtis’ Vans and then went to a few shops and both bought some clothes we needed.

Steak

We came home, dropped off everything we bought and then went up to Whole Foods to get some nice steak.

We got what we needed and came home to make it.

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be a nice piece of steak, but it was still pretty good!

We ate our steak and then our landlord came to see of he could setup our intercom, but that didn’t work unfortunately.

We watched some lucifer with some lemon pie for our evening!


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 40: Vancouver, BC – Free Cookies

Curtis’ Day

It was a very warm day today and when Curtis walked to work he worked up a sweat!

When Curtis got to work he had an email regarding an issue with a mac which he dealt with and then he ended up getting a lot of tickets come in and got most of the sorted before lunch.

Curtis had a team meeting right before lunch which was productive and informative.

After lunch, Curtis’ day became a bit less busy but he did then notice a warning light on a server so he worked with a colleague to get that sorted.

Curtis then had 2 informative meetings in which he learned a few new things and then he walked home.

It was another hot walk and when he got home he relaxed for a bit before sorting out the recycling into type piles.

Kim’s Day

Today, Kim walkedto work all lonely because she had to get in early to man reception.

Kim got started on setting up for the day, putting out fruit etc. and then had a few questions for reception. By the time Kim finally ended up in the HR department to start her day it was 10!

This also didn’t last long. While doing some admin, Kim needed some help from the front desk with something so went back out there to go over a few things. While Kim was getting help, a lady from the Marriott popped by to make an introduction and say hello to Kim and another colleague. It was lovely to put a face to the name and she even came with cookies! They were delicious snicker doodle cookies and did not last long in the office!

Kim then eventually went back and continued with some admin.

Kim spent the rest of her morning and early afternoon after lunch on more of her project, just familiarising herself with the applications and how things work.
Kim then had a meeting about some HR procedures and even had a chance to help with some of the onboarding process.

Just towards the end of the meeting, some of Kim’s colleagues were walking around playing music and handing out ice creams! What a great way to celebrate mid afternoon on a Wednesday.

Kim kept herself busy for the rest of the afternoon.

She left early due to arriving early and took this opportunity to head to the bank to collect her credit card. One very hot train journey and 20 minute walk later, Kim had collected her credit card and headed home via 2 buses and the supermarket. She had to pick up some veggies!

Dinner

We sort of did nothing for a while and then decided we would make dinner.

We had pork and egg fried rice. Curtis made the rice as per usual and Kim cooked up the vegetables and meat.

TV

After dinner we just watched some TV and Kim showered to get ready for tomorrow.


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 35: Vancouver,BC – Meeting Setup, Afternoon Beers & Karaoke!

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had an eventful start to the day! He began walking to work and about half way there he saw a car crash! A car decided to pull across 3 lanes of pretty busy traffic and there was a small bump. Nothing too crazy though.

Shortly after witnessing that, it began to rain. Curtis had expected that the day was going to be bad due to there being 2 bad things already at that point!

Curtis could tell it was going to rain because of how the sky looked!

Curtis had got in early to make sure that the boardroom was setup and working correctly with all the other boardrooms for the meeting.

The meeting was an update from the senior leadership team and it was quite interesting, though Curtis didn’t always understand what they were talking about. He also had to pay attention to the video streams from each office and the audio to make sure they were all running smoothly.

After the meeting, Curtis finally had his first coffee of the day and then completed a few tickets.

The rest of the day was just clearing out tickets and preparing things for next week.

At 16:00, the office all went to our lounge to have some beers and chat. A colleague of Curtis’ baby came to visit, too!

Curtis walked home and pretty much just played xbox all night.

Kim’s Day

Kim got to work and set up all the breakfast for the last time.

Once breakfast was all set up, Kim did a bit of computer related work before settling in to watch the results of the Hackathon.

Each team had a 10 minute presentation and it was incredible. Kim was in awe of the work people were able to put together in just 2 short days. Kim released just how amazingly smart the people she works with are.

Kim then took some time at her desk for more setting up and learning about the role. One of these things was setting up the weekly fruit order and processing that for the next week.

After a few hours, it was suddenly lunch time. Kim grabbed some marmalade toast for lunch today.

When Kim finished lunch she did a little clean and tidy of the kitchen area before getting on with some scanning.

On a Friday, one of Kim’s tasks is to set up for the Friday afternoon drinks by getting the drinks from the local store and setting up snacks.

As it was Kim’s colleagues last day she had decided she wanted to do karaoke as her leaving get together. At the end of the Friday drinks they all headed to the karaoke bar down the road and sang their hearts out. It was so much fun and everyone really enjoyed themselves!

They all then went to a pub down the road to watch the end of the Raptors vs Golden State game where the Raptors won!

Kim got up to say goodbye and was getting ready to leave, and started a small conversation with 2 ladies and the next thing she knew a while hour had passed!

Everyone then started filing out and Kim walked to the train station to head home and relax! It was a wonderful evening and so much fun!


This Time Last Year!


Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 27: Vancouver,BC – Kitchenware & Company Drinks

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had to contend with a busy train this morning. He intentionally didn’t get on the first train that arrived in hopes that the second train was less busy. This was not the case.

The second train was even busier, so he had to squeeze on to get to work on time.

Curtis got to work, got a coffee and went to his desk.

Curtis wad pretty busy all day, with quite a few new tickets coming in and some old tickets from earlier in the week to compete.

Curtis had lunch at 13:00 and he headed leftover salad from dinner last night.

After lunch it was a bit less busy, but the was still enough for Curtis to get on with.

Drinks

At 17:30, Curtis went for a couple of drinks and some food with some colleagues. There were some people from IT as well as marketing and development team members.

Curtis was out for about 3 hours and head some lamb pasta for dinner which was alright. Curtis met his predecessor who came for a drink too.

Once Curtis was done, he got on a non busy train and Kim met him from the train.

Kim’s Day

Kim went out to get some kitchenware from a lady for our new place.

Kim went all the way there and it was a lot of stuff, so she could only take a bit of it. Luckily, the lady offered to drop it off so she did that. We now have kitchenware!

Kim watched some TV and then had to go to the bank again.

Kim walked from there to the train station to meet Curtis.

Evening

We walked home and told eachother about our days.

We got home and Curtis had a shower and then we watched some Lucifer before bed.