Ready to be home...

Today is Thursday, we left for the canada trip at 450am on Wed morning. We made it to LAX by 6am. I dropped off jon and our luggage inside the terminal and then left to go find parking. I wanted to go to the long term parking that i usually go to, but with time constraints i opted for parking closer. I ended up getting confused and a little lost! I then went to a aiport parking place and waited and WAITED for the shuttle to come, i finally gave up and headed back towards the airport again..i ended up just parking in the 30 dollars a day spot! i QUICKLY ran inside and made it to jon, they had actually called my cell phone and said they were checking us on and trying to get jon up to the gate..when i got there at 640am, they had already decided that we were too late for our 650am flight..due to jon being in a wheelchair and the time it would take to get him loaded onto the plane- UGH!!! they said had jon had his passport-they would have taking him on in and waited for me at the gate..but i had jons passport so they couldnt get him even thru security..needless to say i was VERY frustrated that we had tried SOOOO hard..and this was our result..so they made arrangements for us to get the next flight FOUR HOURS later..UGH again..they let us go up into the VIP lounge upstairs to wait..around 10am i took jon to the bathroom and cath'd him and gave him meds so that we were all prepared to go on board the flight, at 1040am they loaded us onto the flight and we were able to get a set at the front of the place (still in coach) the other flight we were going to have to sit farther back..the seats were way comfier then delta!! that was a bonus- jon was able to lean forward to give himself his much needed releases...jon is still fighting a pressure sore so this was important..

we made it to our destination and contacted the service to pick us up and take us to the hotel, we checked into our hotel easily and made it to our room. This hotel is one of the NICEST hotel's we've ever been in! when we told people at the airport who were helping us with jon and luggage that we were staying at the royal york- you should have seen their faces! not many people stay at the york! you guys must be famous or something!!! when we told them that actually their government was paying for the both of us for flights, hotel and food-they laughed at the thought of their tax money going towards us! but then they realized, hey if it brings more money to their economy to have businesses outsourcing to canada-money well spent..

we got settled in for the nite and were STARVING as the flight DIDNT EVEN SERVE LUNCH!! its a 5 hour flight and NO FOOD?!?! we had to BUY the food! we got some lousy cup of noodles soup for jon and me a really sorry looking small small pizza..so we ordered from a pub downstairs and it was VERY GOOD! we then crashed as we were soooo tired of being up since 4am that day and having little to eat and knowing we had to be up quite early the next day for this conference..

at 630am i got up and got jon ready for the day and myself, we then headed downstairs by 720am to meet with the group to head over to another location (which we walked to -it was short) the area we are at is downtown toronto and you feel like you are in New York-the word is this spot is the wall street of toronto-and it looked it! i think jon was the ONLY person NOT in a suit!! he was dressed in nice khakis, a button up dark green olive shirt and a nice light brown sweater- with his beanie!

we made it into the bank where the conference was being held-on the 40th floor and had a little breakfast and began the conference..this conference is different opportunities of outsourcing and the canadian government wanted to tell us why it was good to come here, mainly they have HUGE tax benefits and all sorts of things to take advantage of..we did not know any of this so this was great! we broke for lunch and we decided to come back to the hotel and rest..it was a LONG time sitting for jon..and he was getting painful and freezing..our contact guy wanted jon to speak about the gaming industry and his business to everyone else that were there- and these were HIGH PROFILE very rich individuals who have been in their different businesses for years-a little intimidating!! we broke for lunch at 130 and decided to skip the next two speakers and head back at 230 when our contact person was having jon speak..it was VERY good we did that- jon got a good nap in and felt more refreshed and not so painful and freezing..

jon got up and spoke to the group-they were pretty alarmed and amazed that the gaming industry is actually a 12Billion dollar industry and now makes MORE money then hollywood does..then jon spoke about his business and the others found it interesting..

after that we spoke heavily with our contact person and another person about business prospects..and they kept asking what can we do to expose ourselves and this information to the gaming industry-so FINALLY i said, well first you can post and article in our magazine which goes directly to exec's of the industry..which they said YES thats what we were thinking, we'd like to work with your company in getting us out there, and they realized that having their schools advertize and other game companies that are already here to advertize in our magazine would be good too..

so at 4pm we headed back to our room - tonite there was a very nice dinner at the top roof of the westin ANOTHER beautiful hotel with a 360 view of all of toronto, but we decided that jon just needed to rest more and not push himself..so we opted out of going..we were SO tired and came back and slept from 430pm-9!!!

so now its 9pm, guess we need to figure out if were going to eat dinner or just go back to bed- i knew that alot of people wanted to know how things were going so i plugged the laptop in to inform everyone...jon is hanging in there..he's not doing terrific, so any prayers woudl be So helpful! his pressure sore is still there, it seems to be doing okay..he MIGHT be starting another one-im keeping watch over it though..he seems to be so very cold too..but once he's rested in bed and sleeping..he warms up...

our flight is tomorrow at 230pm..so we'll most likely leave here by 12noon..the airport is less then 30 minutes to drive there..then we land into lax at 5pm YUCK! so we have a long ride home as well..jon said earlier..i just want to be home now..while this hotel and everything has been very nice..you certainly miss the comforts of home and your family and your children..this kind of thing can get pretty lonely i imagine!

well thats the update from here-i felt bad for jon when he made the comment to me..i just want to be normal..its very different to all of a sudden be confined so much, in some pain and freezing..he feels bad that were both sort of stuck in this hotel room- but quite honestly i dont mind at all!! he feels bad that we cant walk around and see toronto..but i told him we have the rest of our life- we dont need to see the world today!! i imagine as time goes by with this situation, he'll improve and "feel normal" once again..we're still pretty early in the recovery process and the fact that he can even do the couple of big trips he has is amazing in itself!

well i guess my novel is done! i better go figure out if were going to eat or just go back to sleep!!