There are certain freedoms in having a car, and those freedoms include the ability to get to McAllister mall in less than the 40 minutes, as the bus would so desire. Another such freedom is to get lost at will. Now, everyone here seems to think that Saint John is a very large city, there is an urban sprawl issue, but even then, it really only takes 5-10 minutes to get anywhere. This is in contrast to Calgary where you are looking at 20-30.
So... on our way to McAllister Mall we took a wrong turn (I blame the shoddy directions) and then looped back through Uptown (Downtown) and found our way again. Across the causeway... lost... lost... FOUND! And then to the mall. This adventure took something like 17 minutes.
We made it to Canadian Tire, which was our main goal, and bought windshield wiper blades for Jerusalem. Having only one key I thought it fit to get another made, so we went to the key cutter only to find that the newer machines cannot cut some older keys. The pointed us in the right direction to find another key cutter person, which later we did, with moderate success I might add.
Wipers bought. Keys got. We then realized that we were running out of time to get to Superstore and then home and then to the networking dinner that we were supposed to be at. We went to a Superstore I had not been to before, but I was told that it was like a Superstore in Calgary... meaning large and well stocked. It was. And due to those two factors we have now learned that having a car means you buy a great deal more groceries. Pizza is on sale!!! Great!!! Now I can put them in the car instead of try to carry them on the cart! Ohh... Ribs... sure... Steak! Sure... milk... sure... etc... sure... etc... sure... and on and on until we really did need the car to get the groceries home.
We were somehow lost again on the way home from Superstore, but still managed to make the trip in 12 minutes. You may wonder how I seem to know how long each trip was, well, let me tell you. Every time you start up Jerusalem the clock restarts, so we can see how long the trip was based on how many minutes it is passed one.
That was a quick turnaround. Home. Groceries away. Jump in a suit. Jump in Jerusalem and drive uptown. The event was one of the large networking events for the business people in Saint John. It was in the Hilton Hotel and there were 200+ people in attendance. On arrival you were to get a name tag with a sticker of something on it, the intent was that you mingle your way around the crowd until you found someone else with the same sticker. That was your "Beer Buddy" and if you and your "Beer Buddy" went to the front you could get your beer vouchers.
The mingling started out tough, after all, in a small town where everyone knows everyone, when you don't know everyone its well... awkward. We got mingled by one of the hosts of the event and then had two very lovely people come to join in the conversation. It so happened that the lovely people were the COO of Irving Oil and his lovely wife. It was an excellent conversation.
More people mingled by and were checking out my pecks
Eventually the formal part of the evening began and we were ushered into the dining room. Our table was reserved for UNBSJ which at least meant that I knew a few people there. There were a few more MBA students a few people I did not know, and one Professor of mine who is - awesome.
The night was good. My beer vouchers passed to my Professor, and as more came to me they got passed along. We might not have been the best table from an audience point of view, but we had a great time. I will not emphasize too much on risk of being crass, but my Professor is a fantastic guy, and he made that event incredible.
After we were fed, watered, and speeched out, and bade adieu to our friends, our lovely two new friends, and found our way back to Jerusalem once more...
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