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March 30, 2005
Live from BIOMEDEX
Greetings from Montreal! I'm at BIOMEDEX, a trade show of Canadian biotech companies. In just a few hours Aubrey de Grey will be debating Jay Olshansky. How exciting! I haven't located Aubrey yet, but I crashed the press room and set up an interview for him with a guy who writes on life sciences for the Montreal daily newspapers. The CBC is also going to do an interview with Aubrey, so it should be a great day for press. We do well in Canada. Wonder why that is. I've always suspected that Canadians are just better. More evidence pours in every day.
I've been wandering around looking for people to talk to about corporate sponsorships -- several weeks ago I sent letters out to the companies exhibiting here asking them to support us, and so now is a good time to put a face with the name. There's a rep here from a company who let our corporate philanthropy grant application through the first hurdle last week -- I'll make friends.
I had to take three flights overnight last night to get here. Flew out of Calgary at 8:30 pm to Edmonton, then hung out in the Edmonton airport until 12:30 am, when my flight left for Toronto. Got to Toronto at 6:00 am Eastern time and flew out to Montreal at 7:30, arriving here around 9. It was a very long night, but I wanted to work the flights so that I could avoid the expense of staying overnight. Tonight I fly back to Calgary at 7:30 pm, on a direct flight, thank heaven. I'll get back to MR's house at about 11 pm.
Being in Montreal is reminding me that there is French somewhere in my brain, but that I need a little more time to warm up to it. I used to speak French very well, but it's been years and years since I used it conversationally. The first session of the conference is all in French, and the only word I understood was "out of the box." Apparently they just say that in English. It got a good laugh, but I have no idea why. I'm glad the Aubrey and Jay debate will be in English.
I had a megamuffin that MR packed for me for breakfast, and I'm still holding onto a Sherm's binging brownie for later. Last night I didn't finish all my dinner before leaving MR's -- sometimes I just can't eat all the mountains of veggies, even though they're delicious -- MR is a high-volume, low-calorie cook. So I got hungry at about 11 pm in the airport and ate a shrimp salad at the only open airport restaurant, where I had a nice chat with a waitress from Edmonton. I have all my supplements packed into the cute little container that MR loaned me. I even packed my supplements myself - aren't you proud of me?!!! I'm learning.
Okay, off to take another tour and see if I can locate the bearded man who says we can cure aging. He said he'd be wearing dark green.
Posted by april at March 30, 2005 11:20 AM
Comments
A vacation to Quebec City opened my eyes about food actually. This was before CRON - a whole year I think - but we tried to eat like natives and I was surprised how much I enjoyed the smaller portions and more vegetables. THe food was just more flavorful. Now I eat even better than Quebecois. They do eat poutine - that really disturbing dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy. Nothing CRON about that!
Posted by: Mary at March 30, 2005 7:00 PM
Salut April!!! yup. poutine. not exactly CRON. Have you noticed that Montrealers seem thinner than ... oh mebbe Edmontonians or Calgarians, or maybe your average North American in general? It seemed that way to me when I was there a few years back. At the time I attributed it to the long subway stairs that everyone seemed to run up and down, but perhaps diet is also involved. Still, all the thin people there I know eat white bread, supermarket sausage meat, and stuff like French Onion soup... not so much CRON. Mebbe then its the ubiquitous depanneur cigarettes ;> Anyway, Montreal is fun. Hope you enjoy.
Posted by: christina at March 30, 2005 10:02 PM
Poutine is, as the name would suggests, clinically a meretricious thing to eat.
On the other hand, surely a small dose of sin is a necessary part of any Optimal Nutrition diet.
I'm in part inspired to this thought by the fact that the local Salvation Army are holding a Hallowe'en Karaoke Party, at which costumes reminiscent of the Devil are barred. Having a Hallowe'en party without the Devil seems to me about as pointless as Easter without The Cross, but perhaps the Sally Ann has gotten so carried away with good works that they have forgotten the basic theological point that the day after Hallowe'en is All Saints Day.
Cheers to all,
Still overwieight -dlj,
but getting there slowly and steadily.
Posted by: David Lloyd-Jones at October 31, 2006 9:28 AM