A Snowy Start

Michelle and I made our way from Lethbridge this morning, traversing icy roads to the parking lot called "Deerfoot Trail" in Calgary.  We made it to the airport in time, and then sat on the tarmac for an hour as we waited for our plane to be de-iced and made ready for safe flying amidst a weird October snow storm on the prairies.  Despite the odd beginnings, Vancouver proved to be her normal green self, and offered refuge from the early and abrupt taste of winter on plains.

We connected with Chad, Josh and James at the airport, rented the mini van and made our way to the Convention Centre.  As usual we were not surprised to find the competition floor, in disarray, and despite the usual frenetic and haphazard coordination, the Barista Championship will come off just fine during the next couple of days.  Les wants to try a live colour commentator thing, which I will likely be a part of, along with a telestrator which ought to be fun.  We have decided to go with Ustream, so tune into this link to follow all of the action tomorrow.  Chad competes 12th, and Josh is last in the 15th spot, so you won't have to get up early to watch, which is good as most of you have already gone to bed (I should too, but I still have a bit of Grenache to finish, along with this post).  It was good to reconnect with a bunch of great coffee folk, including Aurthor from Wicked, the infamous Reg Barber, Anthony from Cafe Myriad in Montreal, the crew with Sammy, etc.

The day ended well, as the Transcend contingency all made our way to Chambar for an awesome meal, which had everyone, including Chad and Thea (no small feat) raving about the food and the experience.  So this serves as a formal foodie recommendation, next time you are in Vancouver.  OK, it is late, and I need to sleep.  No rush to wake up early though, as I am not judging, and the guys are not competing until after lunch.  Good night all!