John Orr

I just got back from Toronto. Andrea and I were there this weekend for the John Orr dinner and the Santa Claus parade. It was the first time that I'd been to either, and I have to say that I had a really good time.

I ended up running into some old friends at John Orr, which was a very pleasant surprise. It was also a chance for me to get some more mileage out of my recently acquired tuxedo. Every time I wear it, it dramatically brings down my cost-per-use. The problem is that, unless I dramatically increase the number of black tie events that I attend, it's going to take forever for me to get my money's worth out of it.

So, yeah. If you want to host a black tie formal in support of some charity or another, please let me know. I'm pretty damned likely to attend.

It was held at the King Edward, which is a really nice hotel. They really milked us when it came time to get drink tickets, though. $8 for a drink that used "premium liquor." If you ever catch me referring to Bell's Scotch as premium liquor, you can safely assume that I've been possessed or replaced by an evil duplicate.

The other thing worth noting was that the concierge was friendly but incompetent. He gave Andrea bad directions for the subway, and she ended up barely making it to where she had to be. Then, when we were trying to leave, he steered us into the middle of a bunch of closed streets. We were stuck in gridlock for about an extra half-hour as a result.

I think the problem with hotels like the King Edward is that they no longer have anything to prove. They're already ranked among the best in the world, and they can get off by coasting on that reputation. It's kind of a shame. But, there's still a lot of other hotels (the Loew's chain, most notably) that are hungry for business, and willing to go the extra mile.

Anyways, enough of my snooty complaining. It was a great party, and we had a really good time.