Last week, Tuesday Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson came to Montreal with his father for training. We trained a little bit - he taught me a lot of new stuff for my striking skills. His father is a very good mentor for me & a very good teacher. Unfortunately, Stephen hurt his knee and will have to do surgery for it. I left Saturday a.m. for the press tour in Vegas, and he stayed in Montreal until Sunday - when he left back home he had to do surgery for his knee. I wish him the best for his rehabilitation. Saturday a.m. I took a very early flight to Vegas. When I got in Vegas, right away I had to go change in my hotel and right away after that to do a press conference to announce my next fight with BJ Penn, Saturday, January 31. So I did the press conference - I was a little bit in a rush - I get in my hotel, I throw my luggage in my room & I change really fast - I went to do the press conference. Then after I came back, took a little nap, and I got ready for the show (UFC 91). It was funny because I was sitting right next to Brock Lesnar's parents. They are very nice guys - I was expecting his parents to be very tall and very big, you know? But they're normal size - I mean they're tall, but not as tall as Brock. His dad & his mom are very nice - we had a good talk, and I really had a good time with them. They were to my right and on my left side I was with Wanderlei Silva so I had a chance to practice my Portuguese a little bit more. He's a very nice guy. I'm a big fan of Randy Couture. I think he was doing pretty well until he got caught with the punch. Unfortunately in MMA when you make a mistake you go back home, you know? Especially against a guy like Brock Lesnar - he's very big, so he's got a big weight difference between him and Randy, so he caught him with a punch right behind the ears and he didn't forgive. Sunday, I was supposed to fly in a red-eye flight to Toronto. Unfortunately my flight got canceled, so I went to eat sushi with my friend, Steven Friend, that we call the Witch Doctor, and we eat very good sushi together. Then after I went to stay over at his house. Steven Friend is my manager's boyfriend, so I stay over at my manager's house along with her three dogs. One of her dogs is barking to me all the time - I don't know - I think she might not like me. But apparently she does that to everybody. Monday very early we flew to Toronto. We get in Toronto and we had to change very fast. In the same time, one of my friends and training partners, Phillip Allaire, came to reach me at the airport. He came to train me while I was away from home, to help me train Muay Thai. He spent a lot of time in Thailand and he's a very good teacher. At night we went to the Maple Leafs game. It was very funny because they make me do an announcement on the screen in front of everybody in the Air Canada Center with a Maple Leafs jersey. I said "To the Count of Three, I want everybody to get very noisy". Then the crowd went nuts, they applaud me. When the camera went off me, I sat down and took my jersey off. And when I was taking my jersey off, the camera came back on me and the crowd started booing me because they know I'm from Montreal and I'm a Montreal Canadiens fan. I thought it was very funny. Tuesday in Toronto we did a press conference that was also open to fans. Some of them had been in line since 6a.m.... that's incredible, and I want to thank them for their support. One of the fans did a painting of me - this is an amazing picture. He's a very gifted artist and he gave me a picture that he had painted of me... what a very nice guy and a great painter as well! Wednesday morning we woke up early. All together we flew to Hawaii (me and BJ sat on opposite sides of the plane). During my flight, while I exploring my new phone (a Blackberry) from Bell Canada, a company that I'm sponsored by, I discovered a new game on my phone - it's called "Brick Breaker". I am addicted to it right now - every time I've got free time I'm playing with it. It's good because it make the time go fast, especially when I'm traveling in the plane. I'm pretty bad at it, but I'm getting better. I've made a lot of progress. Thursday a.m. I went to a radio show with BJ and they gave me a taste of Hawaiian cuisine. In the beginning when I took my bite - before I swallowed it they told me it was cat. So I right away spit it out because I thought it was true. And then after they told me it was a joke. It was pork - a piece of pork in pasta - it was pretty good. At night I went to eat in a restaurant - they stayed open late for me. It's called DK's Steakhouse, and I want to say "thanks" to John Nadina for his hospitality. Friday, I had a morning interview with many radio stations and tv channels. During my trip to Toronto and Hawaii, I tried to squeeze some training when I had time. I had only time for 1 training per day. It was very hard because all this press tour make me very tired and the only time that I had free I used it for training. So I can't wait to go back home - even though it was fun, now it's time to get serious and start training for my next fight. Friday afternoon was the last press conference on the promotional tour... like Toronto, it was open to the public because we also signed autographs & took pictures with the fans. I was very honored to learn that two fans had spent the entire night to be the first in line, and they were there to meet me, not BJ! Mahalo to Sheila & Kathy from Mililani, Oahu! Check out Shari's blog -- she will sharing some of the media coverage (www.yardbarker.com/users/GSPMgr). I'm back home now resting, for next week the real work begins...