I woke up about 4:00 am this morning, sick to my stomach, and a bit agonised in the left ankle and foot. I couldn't fall asleep again, so I got up, and checked some e-mail. I wish I hadn't (for reasons that I won't discuss here).
I finished some packing and went upstairs at 7:00 am and made some breakfast. My mother showed up to see me off to Hamilton. She's worried about my health, and doesn't think the trip to Hamilton is a good idea. I guess that remains to be seen. I went and showered, but didn't bother to shave.
The drive was a wet one. We stopped at an Esso near Kingston to fill up the car, and so we could both take a bathroom break. The second time we stopped was at an Enroute stop for lunch at Tim Horton's. I had the split pea with ham soup and steak & cheese panini - yummy! The problem was that I didn't finish either, meaning that I'm possibly coming down with something or other.
The trip from Ottawa to Hamilton took us about 6 hours or so, with the two stops and hellish traffic in Toronto and along the Toronto-Hamilton corridor. It was raining - sometimes pouring to the point there was little visiblity - all the way, and I thought
Suffice it to say, we arrived in Hamilton and found the hotel, the Crowne Plaza Hamilton with only a little bit of angst (well, panic really). The hotel is... meh. The hotel room seems to be a small, cramped room with a toilet where you can't use the lav with the bathroom door open. There was no small safe in the room (for storing valuables), not enough drawers or cupboard space, and a few other things lacking. The two photos below tell the story [though I have to say in retrospect that the bed was quite comfortable and firm]. As


After checking into the hotel and starting the unpacking process, the small fridge still hadn't been brought to the room, so I then reminded the hotel staff about this and arranged for this to occur.
Oh yes, the car...
After unloading the foodstuffs,
I heard from

After dinner, we made our way back to the Crowne Plaza, and wandered around a bit, checking out the convention facilities. The venue of the third floor seems small and cramped, much smaller than that of CanGames. Given my claustrophobia, this is not a good sign, but we'll see how things shape up tomorrow. I hope this trip was worth it.
We returned to the hotel room, and I wrote this journal entry around 11:15 pm. I waited until 11:30 pm to take my Aleve for the night, as my leg was quite swollen and hurting, and then went to bed.
And there you have it, the Thursday report about the trip to Hamilton and all. The trip was a bit tougher than I expected due to the pounding rain and all, but it could have been worse and we could have had snow.