All set to go & dissapointment.

After a few weeks of advertising, we finally decided to headout and have a nice supper at T.G.I.F. in the Halifax Casino and even spend a few dollars at the games there. We soon realized bad news when the changes that took place since we were last there over 16 moths ago did not meet our expectations.

First, the Casino's new management closed T.G.I.F. now the closest oneto the east coast is in Niagra Falls, Ont. They moved their formal dinning room where TGIF's was located, and the old location where the dinnng room was is now a poker room. We found outselves caught between eating at a place that we were not looking forward to and one that did not offer what we were expecting.

Next, the Casino has removed it's craps table. Both of us really liked that game and even timed our visit to ensure it would be open and in use while we were there. We tried to shrug things off and decided to play a few slot machines to discover another disappointment.

The slot machines no longer ring with coins paying out. Instead, now when you cash out it prints a ticket that you carry to the cashier for your money. Sure, this makes it more cost effective for the Casino in maintaining and repairing the machines, but where is the fun in printing out a ticket? Also, Now I can't cut my winnings in half, while playing with the other half. This makes it easier for the Casino to make a profit while the player has to deal with mentally making calculations to save their money.

Other annoyances, Sure the player's card poitns allows you to buy food and drink at the Casino, but the machines no longer tells you how mnay points you have. So you must go find staff and have them tell you. Listening to other players, the machines no longer pay out as much as they did under the old management. The only table games now are poker, blackjack and roulet. I do not like any of those table games becasue the minimum bet is $5. Again, this is to ensure the Casino takes in as much money as possible.

The only bright light with the visit was that when we went to find out how many points we needed to pay for parking, they asked if we had been gambling. Becasue we just finished, they gave us a free ticket for parking. Yippie, we saved $2 on parking since we were only there for an hour. Over all the experience was dissapointing and we do not expect to return to that Casino.

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We found out yesterday that our pay was in early, so we got the bills paid and the dog groomed. While we were out waiting for the dog to be done, we took our Christmas gift cards and picked out some clothes we needed. I found some new sports shorts and new sweaters for work. We did a little window shopping as well for items that we may get later on. As last night came on, we decided late to go out for supper since we missed out on a nice dinner Tuesday night and Friday night. We went to Jack Astor's. All of the resturaunts in Bayer's lake are busy on weekend nights and most do not take reservations. By the time we arrived they already had a 20-30min wait time for a table. We gave our names and waited in the car as the front lobby was so crammed with people. With a few minutes left, we headed back in and still had another 15min wait. When we left at the end of the meal, I head the wait for a table was up to 45min-60min.

We had eaten at Jack Astor's once before in the middle of the day and reasonably enjoyed ourselves. Some of the same concerns still reappeared this time as well. Their signature appatizer - crab dip is delicious, but there is not alot of dip for the $12 price tag. We did not order their spring rolls becasue they ask you to pay $11 for a plate of four. The quality of the spring rolls is top notch, but not for the amount you get. We really like the cesar salad last night, the only thing is they did not grate the cheese onto the salad as many other places do. The highlite ofthe salad was that they did not drown the lettuce in sauce.

We both had the same entree, 10oz steak well done. It was cooked properly and there was no delay in our orders coming out on time and hot. I had mashed potatos that were real, not the powedered stuff at some places. We were not too thrilled with their dessert menu, so we passed on that. We did try one of their specalty drinks though, "Lemonard Concoction". Basically a Lemonad Float. It was very tasty with real lemon seeds *blush* I mean fresh squeezed. I would not order it too often though at $4 a glass and no refills.

That's how things have been for the weekend. looking forward to another week at work now. Enjoy!

Yeah! The week's not over and It's all good.

I went to the Metro Centre for the 2nd time ever. This time we went to attend the show "Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance". The show has been franchised and it no longer has Michael. This was the first disappointment. The other big disappointmen, was the fact the entire show has been recorded. All the tap dancing, sound effects, ect...

Now if someone asks me was the show good, I would have to say that it was entertaining and worth watching if you are aware of those two disappointments. The story made sense and was worth watching. The sounds effects ect were good and the costumes / set all added greatly to the show. Even though the tapping and songs ect...were recorded the cast were dancing a micro-fraction of a second off from the recodings. So they had to know the steps and be able to do them, so they put alot into the show as well.

Some more good news this week. I made another contact in my world of work if I end up looking for another job this spring. With this new contact, I am aware of jobs in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and NWT. Today, I was informed that the diamond mines are paying instructors with my skills $300 per day. That's a 200% increase over my current pay. So, it's good to know I have some options open to me.

Finally, a couple of months ago I had mentioned that I have qualified to be a "Pet First Aid Instructor". Well, I offered the course to the local Family Resource Centre, they accepted my offer and are even advertising the course this week. Here is the link to the newspaper advertisment: http://www.tridentnews.ca/community.asp

Just in case the link does not wrk, here is a copy of the text:

Pet First Aid

Saturday, February 17, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. HMFRC. Registration Deadline: Monday, February 12, 2007. Fee: $55/person.

Pet First Aid (PFA) is an introductory program that provides life-saving training, which encourages safety in emergency situations and prepares rescuers to respond to life-threatening emergencies for domestic animals. Pet First Aid provides the participant with the knowledge, judgement, and skills needed to respond safely and effectively in an emergency.

So far that the news this week. The week is not even over yet and it's all good.

Enjoy!

Ready for Classes

I spent the week making sure the floors were finished being polished. They didn't do a very good job at it, you can tell the line and colour where one area starts and the other one finishes. At least the floors are clean and with the polish it is easier to keep them clean.

The supplies arrived on time for classes this coming week and I have arranged for all the instructors between the two classrooms. I even sorted out a schedualing problem at the end of the month. It'll be interesting to see how things turn out if my contract is not extended in March.

Well, that about sums up the first week back to work. Not too much going on with most people taking this week off for the holidays. Many people won't be back to work full tilt until after the 15th. Enjoy!