We headed over to Maxville, Ontario on Friday to check out the Glengarry Highland games. The photo above is a gentleman throwing the “Challenge Caber”, which athletes get to throw by qualifying on a regulation Caber at least once.

The games are a great way of reconnecting with your Scottish heritage (if you have such a thing), and if you are not of Scottish descent, perhaps the whole thing could be considered instructional

You can see more photos at my Flickr page.

Well, I’m at the airport heading home after CTIA 2010. Herewith are my final thoughts…

Last night was a bit of a bummer, as we were not chosen as finalists for the AT&T developer contest. We had a good application, but the judges told us over drinks at the award ceremony that size of the company does play a big role in the contest. I can’t really fault that logic, as Adobe probably doesn’t need the 10k prize as much as a small 2 person shop might. We’re just thankful for the opportunity to get on AT&T’s radar with our enterprise mobile initiatives and hopefully set the stage for future talks. I must say, however, that AT&T’s awards event at the Venetian was very nice, good wine and great food!

The bulk of the show on Day 2 was much the same as Day 1. I soaked up a whole lot about the industry, but I think for mobile application developers other conferences such as RIM’s may make more sense.

Oh, and I got a picture of Shaun White. I have no idea what a pro snowboarder has to do with Wireless…but Marvell certainly managed to attract attention to themselves!

Last week (Feb 15-22, 2009) I visited the Iberostar Costa Dorada in Puerta Plata. It’s an all inclusive resort that is visited by Canadians, Americans, Brits, Belgians, Germans, etc.

Overall, I give this place a 5/10 based on the 7 other all inclusive resorts I have visited including 2 other Iberostar properties (Bavaro, Veradero).

Detailed Ratings

• Check-In: 6/10. It was quick, but the attendant did not inform me about things like safe rental leaving me to have to pursue that information after I had already gone to my room. They strictly adhered to the 3pm check-in rule, which I think is a bit tired — they were just unwilling to do the work to reallocate rooms.
• Customer Service: 2/10. I emailed the resort 2 weeks in advance and laid out some room preferences based on feedback I saw on dr1.com. They responded promptly telling me they would try to accommodate me the best that they could. When I checked in I was actually given a room that was the polar opposite of what I asked for (right next to the lobby). I probably could have bribed my way into a better room (have done it before), but I was determined on this trip to just go with the flow and de-stress. It turned out that it rained 3/7 days, so being close to the lobby had its advantages. Also, the resort is small — so not a big deal really. They just get an F for effort in this case.
• Room: 6/10. Everything worked, it was clean, but both of us had sore lower backs all week from the bed. We have had much nicer rooms elsewhere for cheaper, and they also came with room service which this resort does not offer.
• Grounds: 7/10. I think they cut back on labor and only have one crew working the grounds. I had dead grass in front of my balcony.
• Lobby Bar: 8/10. Very good service and there are decent brands like Johnny Walker, Tanqueray and Smirnoff. They lose points for not making drinks with fresh ingredients and using bar mix for everything.
• Pool: 5/10. It was freezing, has no built in bar, was filled with children. I like a resort that makes the pool area fun for kids and adults. This reminded me of a pretty municipal pool.
• Beach: 6/10. They struggle to keep it clean, and it is just not as inviting as Punta Cana. Very rough at times. Excellent if you are a proficient wind surfer, however…probably world class.
• Buffets: 5/10. Same things, eevvvveeerrrryy day and the cost cutting is pretty obvious compared to previous stays with this chain.
• WIFI: 9/10. It costs $13/day or $5/30 min…but it works very well but only in the lobby area. You can sometimes get a signal from rooms in building 9 that are closest to the lobby.
• Gym: 8/10. Good quality equipment that is in good repair.
• Spa: 9/10. I had a massage that rivalled anything I have had here in Canada from a registered massage therapist (RMT). We didn’t try anything else there, but they seem very professional.
• Entertainment: 3/10. (kids: 8/10). The entertainment is pretty repetitive and the same that you see at most resorts. They do go out of their way to make the kids have fun though, which may be an important selling point for the parents out there.
• Value for money: 3/10. I paid about $4500 for the package for 2 people through AC Vacations from Montreal, including Business Class seating on the flight. I feel I could have spent ~$3000 elsewhere in the area and had just as good or better experience.

Tips

If you are planning to visit this resort, here are a few tips.

• If you plan to charge or plug in any appliances with 3 prongs on the plug…they won’t work. You need some kind of adapter to go from 2 prong to 3 prong. A modified extension cord would work, or even something fashioned from some wire, a male 2 prong and a female 3 prong from home depot. I think the third prong is a ground. Also note that the plugs are all recessed so you can’t plug in brick chargers like those that come with your Blackberry, RAZR, etc. You’ll need an extension cord. iPhone 3G chargers work.
• TV has AUX input on channel 1. I had my Zune plugged into it all week.
• The maid hordes face cloths, and only willingly leaves them occasionally….so talk to her and she will give you them…but you usually have to go after her daily.
• Get the safe key when you check in. It is $2 a day.
• People reserve chairs very early in the morning… I mean 6 or 7AM!
• Pay for WiFi in the lobby around the corner from reception, right next to the internet room. They will give you an expiring username and password. Many power plugs in the lobby are disabled, so find a plug that has a lamp plugged into it.
• If you are desperate for real food, you can go late to the a la carte restaurants and bribe them to cook you a steak sandwich (I heard this from a British traveller I met there…)
• The hotel store only takes pesos or credit card. You can buy pesos at the front desk (32 for $1 US, 23 for $1 CAD all last week).

Just a quick review while I wait to board my flight…

Living in Ottawa I often find it better to fly out of Montreal (YUL), and if I have an early morning flight staying at one of the airport hotels is a no brainer.

Generally I go to the Hilton…but this time I tried Aloft which is next door to the Hilton and is kind of like a mini W hotel.

The checkin experience itself was great, they just swiped my credit card and handed me the room key — no signing, etc. The room was small but VERY trendy and functional complete with a big wall mounted plasma. Another neat feature is a desk mounted connection station so you can connect your HDMI, VGA or standard component video/audio right into the TV. Wireless internet is free and works well.

There is a lounge area, which is very comfortable with good music playing but beware… drinks are W style…that’s to say… $$$. The 24 hour snack store in the lobby is a nice touch…nicer so if it was stocked with fresh food consistently

The only negative I can really point out is that the shuttle service to YUL is nowhere near as frequent as the one from the Hilton next door.

All in all, I give the place an 8.5/10 for an Airport hotel.

In my tradition of writing a blog post whenever possible to expose Air Canada being nasty, and in some cases down right horrible to its customers, check out this CBC story:
Tribunal finds Air Canada discriminated against disabled man

Basically they were telling this deaf and partially blind man that he needed to have an attendant (and likely the expenses incurred in having one) in order to fly. Meanwhile, people who cannot walk are happily accomadated sans attendant.

Luckily they have to pay up for their ignorance, insensitivity and stupidity.

On a side note, this is probably my last year in Air Canada’s loyalty program unless I get some major work travel. I’ve been Elite or Super Elite since 2001, often based on personal travel alone, but am officially moving to a zero loyalty stance with the airline since they have made it harder for me to use my upgrade certificates and are seriously gouging customers on regional routes (often, I can get to Europe for the same price as getting to Moncton — a 2 hour flight.)

This Sunday I visited the Great Wall of China at Badaling. It was raining very hard, making the path slippery and full of people with umbrellas that always seemed to nail me in the neck but when you are in China, the Wall is kinda a must. I got this picture with my little Canon G9 and I think its a gem.

We just returned from yet another trip to Punta Cana, which turned out to be a really sensible place to head to, as we missed the recent massive snowfall in Ottawa. This time we boarded a dreaded charter flight from Montreal (Transat), and sat in our tight seats (but exit row!) for a few hours, made it to Punta Cana mostly on time (around 2pm on March 8th, 2008). We’d booked at the Gran Bahia Principe in the “Club Royal Golden” area, which is supposedly close to the beach and has “VIP amenities”. When we reached our bus at the airport to go to the hotel we were surprised to find that we were already checked in, and that we’d been “upgraded” to the Ambar section/hotel, which is adults only. I guess they were fully booked with lots of families and were moving the childless to Ambar.

All in all, it was a great vacation — the weather is great, beach was as always among the most beautiful I have seen. Since Ambar is a new hotel, I will provide some facts from my perspective to help you if you are thinking about staying there or at the Bahia in general.

The Good

• Ambar is very quiet. It caters to an older crowd. This may be a good thing for you.
• The rooms are nice and include a nice 4 poster bed, LCD TV, mini-bar stocked daily with beer, sodas, and a 50ml bottle of J&B, Absolute and Bacardi Limon.
• The grounds are extremely well kept.
• The food is mostly good, but very “heavy”…and the cooks have a hard time not burning eggs

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This just in from Duane Nickull: “Air Canada strikes again. 120 people, 3 workers, one flight per hour for next 5 hours from Orlando.”

This isn’t uncommon, but it really is an indication that Air Canada Doesn’t Give A $*&t about you or I.

For some reason I decided to visit Varadero Cuba instead of my beloved Punta Cana, D.R. All in all, I was not impressed. A lot of the issues I had can be broken down into distinct categories:

• Air Canada Vacations
• Weather
• Iberostar Varadero
• Myself being a whiney b&%ch

First off, a pretty photo:

Notice anything about that photo, beyond the beauty of the beach? Great segue to…

Weather

For three of the days we were in Varadero, it was rainy and/or cold. The photo above was taken on the day where things started improving. We were actually wearing pants and sweaters on one of the days!

Of course, when you have bad weather…why not go somewhere neat, like Havana? Well…here is another segue…

Air Canada Vacations

We booked a trip to Havana through Air Canada Vacations, but no one came to get us. We waited for 90 minutes. The rep had passed on erroneous information to our tour guide, and we did not connect. The rep tried to blame it on us. I got my money back, but for the inconvenience we should have been given something like a discount off rebooking. Instead we just got the rep trying to pass the buck… “these things happen… blah blah”. The weather got better, so we didn’t rebook, which means we hung out at the resort, which in turn leads to…

Iberostar Varadero

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Here is the scenario: Air Canada sells various “pass” products. These passes allow you to pre-pay for a number of trips. You generally get a choice between a “tango plus” pass, which takes seats out of a low-cost economy fare bucket and a “latitude pass” which takes seats out of a full fare economy bucket.

The carrot that they always extend to get people to buy the more expensive Latitude passes is that you are entitled to upgrade from the J fare bucket within 24h or departure. This means that if there is an open full fare business class seat available…you get it.

Well, they decided that they had been too generous and decided that as of January 8, 2008 they will apply “capacity controls” to this upgrade…and not just for new pass holders but for existing passes. Can you believe that? Folks over at FlyerTalk have a big long thread going on about this. It seems that there is always something new for us to hate Air Canada for. I personally welcome international carriers into the domestic Canadian market…enough is enough.