Friday Five

Ok, I’ll take a stab at this week’s Friday Five.
1. What’s the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
Made a spur of the moment trip to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to party with friends.
2. What’s the most bizarre/unusual thing that’s ever happened to you while traveling?
February 2003. Sitting on a plane in Chicago just about to take off for the flight back home. The flight attendant announces the flight destination just before the door are about to close. Suddenly, the Arab American sitting behind me jumps up realizing he’s on the wrong flight and rushes off the plane.
The flight is of course delayed while things are investigated. The seat where he was sitting is checked over several times by the flight attendant and then the pilot. Several passengers around me are talking about having the plane evacuated so that a thorough search can be done. About an hour later, we take off without incident.
3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
I’d spend several months touring Europe.
4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
Train. I like to see the scenery going by, but I hate having to drive to see it.
5. What’s the next place on your list to visit?
Home, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Fine dining

The wife’s parents are visiting us for part of the weekend. Monday was their 30th wedding anniversary, so tonight we took them out to Peninsula Grill for dinner. Next to Charleston Grill, it’s one of the best restaurants around. Pricey, but the food is well worth it. Definitely a place to put on your list of places to eat at. But save your pennies beforehand. And make reservations early.

New toys

The Exploranium GR-135 we’ve been waiting for finally arrived. It’s a radiation survey meter with brains. The thing I like about it most is that if you find something, you can acquire an energy spectrum and the unit will even tell you what it is, if it’s something that’s stored in its library. It will even send data to the PC via serial cable too. Pretty slick device. Made by Canadians too!
The guys over at Radiation Safety got one about a year ago, and we couldn’t let them trump us with cooler toys, so we got one too. It’s going to be a fun tool to play with.

Home buying

The wife and I have decided it’s time to buy a house. We both agreed that since we’re not planning on moving again anytime soon, we’re ready to jump into home ownership. So, to educate ourselves on the home buying process, we headed off to Barnes and Noble and picked up Home Buying for Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Home. Looked at a few books in the store, and decided on these ones. I figure in about a year and a half or two, once we’ve paid down some of our credit card debt and saved up for a down payment, we’ll finally have our own home somewhere.
I’m looking forward to it.