Outdoor Adventure Indoors

A scuba instructor talks about diving basics with the help of a diver.

I was groggy from going to sleep late and waking up early. This really seems to be the norm these days. Last night we wrapped (finished working) on Tilt around 2:30am. By the time I got home and into bed it was about 5:30am. Kyoko and Chris would call about five hours later to arrange to pick me up to go to the outdoor adventure convention hosted at the international center (near the Toronto Airport) which is way out there.

The show consisted mainly of a lot of booths showcasing places to visit. From white water rafting to lazy canoe trips along the Lake Superior tributaries and a bunch of stuff inbetween, there were a lot of destinations to choose from. Neither Marc or myself were really that interested so we stuck to the booths selling stuff.

One thing which caught my eye was a jet powered surf board. It weighs about 175 pounds and depending on wave condtions and stunts you were pulling you could travel between 1.5 and 4 hours with the board giving about 300 pounds of thrust. The design was very cool. I want one. At least I did until I found out it was about $9000. Well okay I still want one. Click www.powerskicanada.com for more info. Not that I'm a surfer or even have a place to put it in my tiny apartment, but it's so cool and gadgety.

The surf board and the booth that sold ikelite underwater systems (really expensive containers for cameras to shoot underwater) were really the only things that held my attention. The food was way expensive. $11.20 for a submarine and drink from Mr. Sub. It didn't matter if you ate a veggie sub or a meat sub the price was the same and the service was lousy.

Marc ordered a sub just before me. It took about ten minutes for them to make all the subs ahead of him and get to his. Then I ordered. Because my sub was the first of the next batch I had to wait until all the other subs were completed. The way the order was taken stumped me. The sub assembler, a really pissed off girl that didn't seem to want to be there, would ask me if I wanted lettuce. She would then ask the three people behind me if they wanted lettuce. She would then move on to the next topping, say pickles, ask me if I wanted them, then the three other people. This continued for each topping. The fact that some of the people behind me were still unsure and held up the slow as molasses process really started getting to me. I was hungry, the food was in front of me, but unobtainable. Much like the women in my life, but this was food dammit and I wanted instant gratification! After all it was $11.20. How hard is it to put stuff in between to pieces of bread and send it over the counter? Obviously this was a task that should have some kind of training involved. And I laughed when I heard McDonalds had a hamburger university... What was I thinking?

Once the subs were completed the cashier decided to take the time to walk away. Marc started getting impatient. He keep pointing to my sub asking "Is that your sub?". "Yes" I would reply. I don't really don't remember how many times I had to confirm that that was my sub. I could imagine Marc's sub getting old and stale. Maybe even some fungi growing on it.

Eventually another person came back to the cash register and let me pay for the sandwich. My sub sat on the counter ready for me to eat for what seemed like another five minutes. The cashier's job was clearly not to touch any of the subs. Oh no! I had to wait for the sub assembler to package the thing and hand it to me but only after verifying that indeed it was my sub.

One wonders if someone were to open a competing resturant or eating place just outside the convention centre, would it crush this Mr. Sub booth? It might be a good idea for someone to look into. Despite all the waiting, the sub assembler did put a lot of toppings on my sub. Maybe twice as much lettuce and things as if I went to a Mr. Sub somewhere downtown. If the idea of waiting sounds like it would make you enjoy the sub that much more, It's true. That was the best tasting submarine sandwich I've had in a long time.