Anywho, happy holidays and hope everyone has a great Christmas and impending New Year!

Nothing has changed, except now, our kitchen is out of cupboard space and we need somewhere to store our new appliances.  Instead of buying a new pantry at Sears, my bride & I splurged on a new bedroom TV and a slick new PS3!

From a honeymoon perspective, we took our original honeymoon to Hawaii, so this time we made it simple.  We went on a 2500+km whirlwind roadtrip through New York, Massatchsats & Vermont.  We spent most of the time in Cape Cod, where we had an exceptional time.  The weather was average and the crowds were sparse.

Hope to update the post with more details & pictures soon.

Here’s a quick itinerary:

1. Cruise: Norwegian Cruise Lines… boarding the Pride of America for a cruise around the different hawaiian islands for 7 nights.  We have some excursions booked, which include Volcano hikes, surfing,  snorkeling. and of course a Luau! Naturally, I can’t forget GOLF!  I just haven’t nailed down when and where quite yet.  My short list includes the Princeville’s Prince Course, Poipu Bay, or the Dunes at Maui Lani

2. Waikiki: Staying at the Sheraton Waikiki for 4 evenings.  Get to wind down from the cruise and float around the island a bit.  Nothing big on the agenda, except maybe some GOLF and possibly a Shark diving (in a cage!) excursion.

It’s 2 weeks that I’m looking forward to.  I’m hoping to get around to Tweeting about it, but I’m not sure on whether I’ll be bringing along the Crackberry along with me.

2008 has been a solid year with not a lot of huge change on my end. If anything, I have finally been able to get settled and grow comfortable with where I am. 2009, I anticipate will be a year of growth and challenges. I want to get into the entrepreneurial world again. I want to travel. And of course, get married.

I feel I’ve missed out on the internet the past couple of years. I’ve been plugged in, but not as active as I once used to be. Because of this, I hope to transplant myself into some projects that will allow me try my hand at running a business again. Some extra cash will help as well.

With that, I welcome everyone else into 2009. Best of luck everyone!

I was fortunate enough to jump on a seat sale at Air Canada for a $250 round trip flight. It would have cost me $160 in taxes just to use airmiles, so I opted to keep them and purchase the ticket. One thing I like about Air Canada (which isn’t a lot, BTW) is that you can customize your trip. You’re able to opt-out of certain value-added services such as collecting aeroplan points, checking baggage or the ability to change your flight. All in all, you’re generally able to save about $11 each trip.

Now, don’t get me wrong, WestJet is still my favourite airline from everything from the day-to-day prices and of course, general friendliness, but I must say that the opt-out abilities are kind of a nice feature.

I just thought i would wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving to those across Canada!

I’m in the midst of preparing some more golf reviews and introducing some Vancouver Canuck dialog.

Enjoy your turkey and if you’re in the GTA, some wonderful weather!

Despite having some last second thoughts about a last minute seat sale WestJet started, Laura and I still drove our butts up to Dryden.  When it comes down to it, the drive wasn’t actually all that bad.  Heading up, we stopped in Longlac for the first night, which was about an 11 hour drive.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle, who invited us over to some of their friends for a party, which ended up going into the early hours of the morning.

Our second day was delayed a bit by our ensuing hangovers, but we eventually made the rest of the 7′ish hour drive to Dryden.  The next few days were spent visiting friends and family.  I was also able to sneak in a couple rounds with friends and my dad and his crew of friends.  I’ll be sure to post the course reviews separately.  The last day we were there, Laura and I also went fishing at “government dock”.  Fortunately, we had some luck catching some walleye keepers, which we had for lunch later that day.  Laura seemed to have caught a trophy pike, even though she originally mistook it as a snag.  Unfortunately the Ugly Stick and 6lbs test was no match and it was only a matter of time before it snapped the line.  For anyone who was interested, we were using pink jigs and medium sized minnows.

We soon embarked on our 2nd leg of the trip, back east to Thunder Bay, where we went to see my college buddy Josh and Christine get married.  It was great to catch up with everyone there and meet another couple who actually lives close to us in Barrie.  The day of the wedding, I was also able to fit in a quick 9 holes at Thunder Bay Golf and Curling Club with the guys in the wedding party.  We were also able to spend some time with my grandmother (Mummu) as she made us some Finn pancakes for breakfast after the reception.  It’s tough to get in and try all of those homemade delicacies, but we made the best of it.

Saturday night was also intended to be a party night, however Laura and I just seemed partied out.  We ended up convoying back to southern Ontario with the Barrie couple.   Initially hoping to make the trip in one attempt was an afterthought when bouts of pouring rain west of Sault Ste Marie ended our night.   Luckily, it wasn’t hard finding a little motel to crash for a few hours before concluding our journey.

Even though we found ourselves home a day early, it wasn’t all that bad.  Within an hour of getting home, I found myself playing in the semi-finals and eventually winning the finals of the Slo Pitch league I play in throughout the summer.  So the vacation ended on a bit of a high note!

The drive is nice every once in awhile, but not something you want to do on a regular basis.  It’s just too long, and too boring.  However, it’s hard to argue considering the convenience of having all of the luggage, clubs and misc crap with you.

We’ve decided to make the drive this time, opposed to flying that is. Since the domestic flights are now charging an extensive fuel surcharge, it made us think twice about flying. Although, approximately 1600km’s and 20 hours one way makes the decision a little harder. [sarcasm]But, who can resist the opportunity to visit our proud country from one side to the other???[/sarcasm] At least it will give us a chance to visit some family along the way.