Thursday, February 22, 2007
Ash in the Big Apple?
I'm down the New York again this week - the weather has been gorgeous, and I've been eating like a king since getting down here. I'm staying at a Holiday Inn, and am secretly trying to rack up enough of their "Priority Club" points in order to earn a free night stay for Laura and I back up in Canada. Normally you get 10 points per dollar( hotel room is ~$200 / night, so 2k points per night, 4 nights, 8k points) - you need about 15k points to get a free night though....so I scoured the internet and found all sorts of different "Bonus Codes" for different offers - stay 3 consecutive nights get 3000 bonus points, sign up for the email newsletter get 500 points,etc. I'm crossing my fingers ; )
I was a little surprised and confused yesterday when I was heading out for lunch with my coworkers - one of the guys in the elevator had a big black smear on his forehead. Zuh? We got out of the elevator, and 2 guys who had been waiting in the lobby for an elevator also had black smears on their forehead. What gives?
That's when it clicked - Ash Wednesday. Some of you may not have ever heard of "Ash Wednesday", some of you will be all over it, but most of you are probably like me - moderately aware of what it is, but moderately oblivious to the whole thing.
I was mildly embarassed when my friend asked me "So...what IS ash wednesday?". Easy - its the start of Lent. "Nono, like, what's the point. Why put an ash cross on your forehead?" "Uhhh...ummm....". I've gone to church for most of my life, but didn't have a clue. So I looked it up after lunch, and thought I'd share Wikipedia's blurb on it.
For me what was interesting was to see the number of people who had the whole ash thing going on at work, during the day. I always used to wash it off right after church, but I guess you're actually supposed to leave it on all day. I easily saw 15-20 people at work, and another 25 or so while on my way home from work which was new for me and not something I'd ever really previously noticed.
I head back to Toronto tomorrow night and am heading out with Laura to see Simon's sisters in action with this U of T med school musical saturday night! Should be fun.
Also, check out The Dolphin Olympics. My high score is 1.3 million - beat that Chimon San!
I was a little surprised and confused yesterday when I was heading out for lunch with my coworkers - one of the guys in the elevator had a big black smear on his forehead. Zuh? We got out of the elevator, and 2 guys who had been waiting in the lobby for an elevator also had black smears on their forehead. What gives?
That's when it clicked - Ash Wednesday. Some of you may not have ever heard of "Ash Wednesday", some of you will be all over it, but most of you are probably like me - moderately aware of what it is, but moderately oblivious to the whole thing.
I was mildly embarassed when my friend asked me "So...what IS ash wednesday?". Easy - its the start of Lent. "Nono, like, what's the point. Why put an ash cross on your forehead?" "Uhhh...ummm....". I've gone to church for most of my life, but didn't have a clue. So I looked it up after lunch, and thought I'd share Wikipedia's blurb on it.
For me what was interesting was to see the number of people who had the whole ash thing going on at work, during the day. I always used to wash it off right after church, but I guess you're actually supposed to leave it on all day. I easily saw 15-20 people at work, and another 25 or so while on my way home from work which was new for me and not something I'd ever really previously noticed.
I head back to Toronto tomorrow night and am heading out with Laura to see Simon's sisters in action with this U of T med school musical saturday night! Should be fun.
Also, check out The Dolphin Olympics. My high score is 1.3 million - beat that Chimon San!
# posted by Greg @ 4:57 AM 
