Yesterday we got into S.F at about 4:30 pm, and then we were driven to the hotel where we met our affiliate managers in the lobby. All the affiliate managewrs were pretty cool. After going upstairs to change we went for a cocktail dinner, where I got pretty damn hammered. I ended up drinking about 8 Disaronno and orange juice mixed drinks. Those Disaronno drinks were amazing, fruity yet powerful at the same time. We headed back to the hotel at about 10:00 pm, while most affiliates went clubbing until 2 am.

At the moment I am dealing with a hangover and a cold which kinda sucks but oh well. Today we go for a full 1 hour massage which should be a great way to relax and chill out. Tonight we have another dinner where we will drink some more, meet more affiliates and eat. Anyways I’m gonna go sit down, I hate typing while standing up.

Ciao,
C.V

Today I am off to San Francisco, California for the affiliate appreciation gathering that one of the companies I promote is holding for it’s top affiliates. They are flying 30 affiliates (and guests) for 3 days in San Francisco. Since the weather is all gloom in Vancouver  this will be a great getaway, free of charge. The current temperature in S.F. is 16°C and clear and here in Vancouver it’s 9°C and cloudy/foggy/drizzle, blah!

I will be visiting Alcatraz, doing a city tour as well as having a full spa treatment all paid for, which is pretty cool. I have never gotten a spa treatment, it feels creepy for some reason. The hotel looks pretty swanks, we are staying at the Hotel Griffon.

I’m not bringing my laptop because I don’t trust U.S. customs officials. I have read horror stories online of officials seizing laptops and not giving them back, or if they do it’s many months later. No thanks, I don’t need that type of headache. I will just let my pay per click campaigns run themselves, and maybe check in on them from an Internet cafe from time to time if possible.

I’m heading down to San Fran with Rob and Angela, the guy who got me hyped on affiliate marketing in the first place many years. I’ve been to San Francisco 2 times before this trip, it’s a neat city to visit. Most of the big web companies are from around the Bay Area, that place is ground zero for Internet companies.

I’ll be back Thursday and then need to get the 2 bedroom condo in Burnaby I bought inspected to make sure there are no hidden problems. I will probably start looking for condo #3 when I get back as well. Near Christmas is always a great time to buy, because no one else is thinking about buying real estate. That means less competition and better real estate investment deals for me, weeee.

Oh well I better start packing my carry on, it’s 8:30 AM and my ride (Rob’s dad) get here at 11:10 AM. It’s a 2 hour flight to S.F. and Vancouver is on the same time zone so I won’t be having that wonderful jet lag feeling.

Today I hit the big 38 years old. I never thought I would ever be 38 years old, seemed so far away when I was in my 20’s and now here I am. So happy birthday to me, I’m 38 today. Tommorow I’m going to the Shabusen Yakiniku House on Granville street on the West Side of Vancouver. Shabusen is a mix of Japanese sushi food and Korean BBQ, and it’s all you can eat. Usually I stick to very few carbs to keep my weight down however tommorrow I will bend my own rules just a wee bit.

If you  haven’t tried Shabusen I really recommend it, the place is awesome. You can eat all the sushi you want and you can also order as much meat to grill as you like. They bring you the meat raw and you cook it right on your table on the built in grill, mmmmm.

By the way I am at 174 lbs down rom 188 lbs,  when I weighed myself on May 6, 2008. My weight loss has been Mostly due to eating few carbs (no bread, pizza or pasta!) and bike riding to the coffee shop daily.

Today we sign the papers for the second condo, and then I am off to work from the coffee shop. Tonight it’s dinner at my mother in laws and tommorow it’s Shabusen. Bada boom, that’s about it for now.

Since Halloween is happening tomorrow evening (Friday night of all nights) I figure I would post some of my shots from the family visit to the Stanley Park Halloween train. We got there at about  6:15 PM and waited for 2 hours to actually get on the train. While we waited we walked around and checked out the “haunted farm”, face painting and a few other treats. I suggest getting there early, cause there were tons of people.

When you take the train ride expect people to jump out at you from the bushes, there are people all over the place when you take the train ride. They did a really good job putting this event together and was well thought out. Overall it was fun to check it out, but waiting a couple hours in the cold with 2 kids was a challenge, lol.

Tomorrow afternoon Burnaby Heights in North Burnaby is having the annual Halloween on the Heights. Basically the kids go trick or treating to all the business between Willingdon and Boundary road on Hastings street.

Photos of Stanley Park Halloween train, last night:

It’s 6:41 am on a Saturday morning and I feel like I slept enough, so I woke up at 5:49 am or something and here I am now writing another blog post. Yeah I’m weird, tell me something I don’t know ok? I was thinking about how fast life changes, hell I’m going to be 38 next month!! I can remember when my dad was in his 40’s and I am almost where my dad was. He is turning 70 years old next week on October 31st of all day. I can’t even believe he’s 70 already. Time goes way too fast.

It’s weird for me to get to this age, having my kids look up to me for love and guidance. I thought that I would be the kid forever. I thought high school would never end. I thought I wouldn’t live past 30. I thought lots of things, most of which have been passed.

Many times I wish time would stand still, but it just keeps on rolling. Soo many good things have happened to me in the last 10 years, but some of my coolest memories will always be of growing up. Things were sooo simple when I was a kid, all I had to do was worrying about playing outside. I didn’t care about money, I had no worries, my parents did all the worrying for me. Eventually we all grow up (hopefully), and hopefully you parents gave you a great childhood like the one I had. It wasn’t materialistic or anything of that nature, it was all about family. My parents were ALWAYS there, and they taught through their actions how to raise a family the RIGHT way. Hopefully I can have an impact on my kids the way my parents did to me.

All the thoughts blaze through my head:

• The endless summers camping in Birch Bay, Washington with Vince, Mike, John, Marisa, Anna, Sabrina, Josie, Tania, Frank, Joe, Angelo and a ton of other family friends in my age group.
• making go carts from stolen shopping carts
• using my 10 speed bike as my SUV vehicle
• doing graffiti on the back of warehouses around Joyce Skytrain station.
• working at McDonalds on Lougheed Highway (for $3.65/hr) with Vince, Mike, Tom, Giorgio, Stefano and my brother Roberto.
• Sunday picnics at New Brighton park in East Van or Hume Park in New West or Central Park in Burnaby or….
• The Sunday drives to Granville Island to pick up sea food.

Thanks for a great childhood ma and papa, it will be something that I will remember forever..

C.V.