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When we went to Las Vegas, our returning flight happened to be overbooked.  I believe there were 7 more passengers then the plane could hold.  So in order to entice people to take the next flight, US Airways offered us free round trip flight vouchers good for "anywhere" in North American, including Mexico and the Carribean.  This sounded like a great deal, so we took it.  Also since our flight was the last one of the day, we were also given a free night hotel and food vouchers for the next day.

 

If you agree to the deal, be prepared to be at the airport for a long time.  You will need to wait for the people at the desk to do a ton of paperwork, book you on a new flight, find you a hotel... etc. 

 

The next day you'll be able to eat to your hearts content.  You'll be given a voucher amount for each meal, which you have to spend or it is worthless.

 

So a few months later we started looking into using the Voucher.  The voucher can not be redeemed online.  So this involves phoning US airways and asking can I go from A to B?   What about A to C?  After a while this process gets really frustrating and you begin to realize that "anywhere" in North America is pretty restricted.

 

After numerous phone calls I finally asked if there is a way I can look up voucher eligibile flights. 

 

Here's the trick:

 

- Go to http://www.usairways.com/

- Click on Dividend Miles

- Click Book Award Travel

- Then Click Book Award Travel Now

- Enter your desired cities and dates

- On the next page things get a bit tricky.  You will only be eligible for the dates in yellow. 

- If you find two dates you like, click on them and to the next page.

- At this point you'll be presented with a list of flights.  The voucher is only eligible for the flights with the lowest point level.  This is important!

- If you like the flight destination and dates, phone US Airways and tell them the exact flights you wish to book.

 

 

Clear as mud?

 

 

So I'm going to restart the free stuff/free food listings.

 

Here's an art show coming up on March 29th.  Last time there was lamb ribs...  and good art.

 

Here's my recent vacation pics from the Grand Canyon/ Hoover Dam and Las Vegas!

 

Darrian/Betty's wedding 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I now finally have a digital camera, courtesy of my work :)

 

Here's a few pics I've taken of my apartment (please ignore some of the mess)

 

If anyone is wondering about the camera specs.

The sun and salsa festival is coming up this sunday!

 

Here's the list of breakfasts I know of so far.

 

 

July 7 - Staples

 

July 10 - City TV 

July 10 -McDougall Center- This is Ralph Klein's annual breakfast

 

July 11 - Crush restaurant 

July 11 - Gulf Canada Square- Breakfast

July 11 - Petro Canada - Lunch ( good food last year)

 

July 12 - ATB financial ($2 donation !@#!@#)

July 12 - Holy Cross Manor

July 12 - Westin

 

July 13 - Shell/Canterra

 

July 14 -  Fifth Avenue Place (long line ups)

July 14 - Ceilis

July 14- Westin (#2)

 

If you know of anymore, please let me know!

Well, I've officially moved out on my own now.  I'm now living in the Sasso building across the street from the Victoria Park c-train station.  It's a big change from Evergreen to Victoria Park, but slowly I'm adjusting to seeing homeless people in the parks.  The noise level is also quite a bit higher here in comparison to the suburbs.

 

So far things are going pretty good.  I now have most of the basic furniture items.  I still have some clothes that permanently reside in boxes, but other then that things are fine.

 

Here's a few cost cutting measures that I've learned over the past couple weeks:

 

- Watch DVDs from the library

- Steal napkins & sauces from fast food places

- Eat the ends of your bread :)

 

 

http://www.benjerry.com/scoop_shops/scoop_shops.cfm?state=AB+

Pictures from the Ice Sculpture competition held at Lake Louise

 

Here's a few albums from Mexico

 

Riu Tequila - Pics from our resort.

Beach - Pics from the beach

Playa - Here's some shopping pictures from town.

Tulum - We did a day trip to the Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Xcaret - This is an eco theme park that we visited.

City Hall - Pics of what we assume was the city hall or some government building.

For those of you who don't know yet, I'm changing jobs!  I will be joining the Notebook team at Smart Technologies in January.  This should be a great opportunity for me to work with a different product on a different environment.  Things were getting stale at Replicon and with the economy being so hot, I figured it was a good time to change jobs.  My last day at Replicon will be Dec 13.  All the best to my former coworkers!

Well I've finally booked by trip.  Going to Playa del Carmen from Dec 14-21 and staying at the Riu Tequila.  Should be interesting as I've never done the all inclusive thing before.  We went with Playa del Carmen since it sounds less hurricane damaged and the mayan ruins are close by.  We debated going to the Dominican but it didn't sound like there was much to do there besides relax at the beach.

 

Here's a link to where I'm staying:

 

 

 

Some pics my cousin took in Las Vegas:

 

 http://www.two4eight.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4

All Breakfasts unless otherwise indicated. - usually 7:30 to 9 or 10 am
YMCA	510 - 940 6 Ave	08-Jul	If you decide to come to the parade you can eat
Texaco building	3rd ST & 5th AVE	11-Jul
McDougal Center	6th ST & 4th AVE	11-Jul
AMA	8th AVE & 5 th ST	11-Jul
Sun Life	4th AVE & Centre ST	11-Jul
CBC parking lot	1724 Westmount BLVD NW	11-Jul	Not really Down Town but pretty close.
CP Rails Breakfast	401 9th ave	12-Jul	Open to public
Scotia Bank	240- 8th Ave SW	12-Jul	same as the 14th (they do 2)
Bantrel	7th ST & 6th AVE	12-Jul	This is not open to the public… but may be able to sneak in… :)
Brookfield Lunch	111-5th Ave - Petro Canada Towers	12-Jul
Gulf Canada	9th AVE & 2nd ST	13-Jul	Wrong - same as CP Rail -and had wrong date
Radisson Hotel	6th ST & 7th AVE	13-Jul	3 buildings co-op this one
Hy's Late Lunch	Hy's Steak House - back lot	13-Jul	Starts @ 2PM (till 4pm) - $2 (4 charity) and cheap Beer - fantastic food!!
Trans Canada	5th AVE & 1st ST	14-Jul	This is private - but it's across the street from me and easy to sneak into. We did it last year. :)
Eau Claire YMCA	101 - 3rd ST	14-Jul
Scotia Bank	240- 8th Ave SW	14-Jul	same as the 12th (they do 2)
Shell / Canterra	4th AVE & 3rd ST	14-Jul	(goto north lineup - closest to Canterra Building)
5th AVE Place	420 - 2nd ST SW	15-Jul	supposed to be one of the best free breakfasts
NEW/UPDATES

 

 

club 355 10th ave sw
Wed July 13, 2005

 

 

BAD BOY BILL - WORLD TOUR @ The Whiskey Night Club 341 10th Ave SW
Sun July 17, 2005
http://www.fehrenheit.com/events/details.cfm?event=208

 

 

Deep Dish July 17th

Looks like Monday's breakfast is planned.

 

Well, its almost stampede time, which means free food will be abundant.

 

Here's a listing of various breakfast locations throughout the city.

 

This lists some of the downtown attractions for stampede.

Today was a slow day in the freebies department.

 

Cole is giving out sample of various fruit juices around Penny Lane mall.

 

Sobe has energy drinks in front of the ghetto Macs.

 

Today we scored a free container of mustard on Stephen Ave, right in front of Bankers Hall.  It was for a GM promotion.

 

Also we got a free sample of the SOBE fruit juice.  This was not too far, right in front of Moxies.

 

Cadbury free chocolate bar promotion is over.

 

Lays Taste Test is over.

 

Still on the look out for another free cowboy hat giveaway.