Some Wednesday thoughts

Had to be at the Saskatoon airport at 5 a.m. Didn�t manage to sleep on the flight and had a horrible inflight meal and we got into Toronto early. We are staying at the Regal Constellation and have a horrible hotel room. Dirty, hot, and worn. I talked to Elizabeth and Neil Nickel and they were less then complimentry. The only thing good about our room is that Dean�s is worse. This place is run down and dirty. Not nice. I don�t mind older hotels but dirty hotels frustrate me. This place is not recommended. I found out the Liberals are holding a convention here this week too. It seems fitting. (okay, that was a political shot but it doesn't happen often so give me a little grace)

I joined Dean, and Kelly and we spent Wednesday in downtown Toronto. We walked for miles and miles and ended up at Wayne Gretzky�s restaurant just down from the Skydome. After supper we watched the Blue Jays lose to the Red Sox. A rather boring game but we had some amazing seats. The three of us just kind of vegged at the SkyDome. It was a great time.

A couple of thoughts from the game�
- The ushers were amazing boosters of the Jays and the Skydome. They sold the game and we really evangelists for baseball. Compare that to many ushers I have seen.
- Ricky Henderson (who was playing left field) came over and chatted in front of us with some fans who had a banner for him. He signed some autographs, posed for some pictures and was a really nice guy to the fans from what we saw. It was really cools
- I really liked the live fan segments. It would be cool to do that at Lakeview with some shots of PowerHour for use in the services. I need to talk to Jeb about it.

We also were confronted by a guy from Edmonton who felt that all people down east needed to be "beaten and put into a dumpster"

Kelly�s and mine hotel room is 90 degrees. Not a nice feeling to sleep in.

Brian McLaren is speaking at the Evanglical Fellowship of Canada event. Now evangelicals in Canada are much different than those in the States but it is a odd feeling conference. A lot of people recognized me from my website which is cool.

David Barbour is here. Dave is Lee Barbour�s brother and a really nice guy but I hate being at conferences with him. Dave runs triathalons for a hobby. There is always a time at a conference where I am talking to him and he mentions that he is going or coming back from a long workout. He ends up running 10 k or something. Meanwhile I end up feeling guilty for enjoying my bagel and coffee. Everytime I see him I realize I need to start working out again.

Elizabeth and Neil Nickel are here. Neil has many talents but he is the best driver I have ever seen. If Neil was driving those Suburbans in �Clear and Present Danger� when they were attacked by rockets in Columbia, he would have been able to escape without anyone spilling their coffee and probably not a scratch on the vans. He is that good.

My friend Randy McDonald is here. I played hockey with Randy at Aldersgate College. Within seconds of talking to Randy we generally start threatening each other physically. My favorite memory of Randy was the practice that the entire team went out and bought aluminum Easton sticks. I was the goalie and NO ONE could even hit the net. Kevin Bishop and I skated to center ice and Randy came over to yell at us to go back to the net. We started to bug him and he got mad which after that the pucks didn�t even stay in the rink then. Easiest practice I have ever had. We played soccer together too. One time Lorne Cornish and I were mixing it up with some people from the other team and I looked up and here came Randy sprinting down the field. Fastest I have ever seen him move. A brawl waiting to happen. All I know that if a brawl breaks out at this conference, Randy will be in the middle of it. Actually I would love to see that, a brawl at an EFC conference.