We arrived back in Toronto today, just in time to do some laundry, perform some emergency triage on the PVR and pack for two days away at a conference. I leave tomorrow morning and get back Wednesday evening. It’s going to be a tough two days, mainly because of how behind I am on my sleep, but it’ll be fun too.
So let’s see…what’s happened since last I blogged? I had some lunch at Rogue’s Roost, walked around the Public Gardens, walked up to the campus and picked up my gown, fought off a wicked-ass headache, and spent the evening at a very nice work function. Said work function was followed by too many hours at the Lower & Middle Deck.
This morning, after too little sleep, we met some friends for brunch, did a little shopping, met up with my parents, came back and relaxed at the hotel for a bit, and went out to dinner at Il Mercato. This time out wasn’t as good as my visit in August…it was too loud to have a conversation, and there was a massive lineup of people hovering over our tables, staring at our food and silently willing us to eat faster. That kind of put a damper on the dinner.
Tonight I’m happily chilling out for a bit. Nellie’s off having a glass of wine with her mom, while I catch up on some reading and get some quiet time. Tomorrow morning the big event starts early.
We landed in Halifax quite late, and it took forever to get a cab into the city, so it was nearly midnight before we could drop our bags and meet some friends for a beer. Two pints and 90 minutes later we were walking home in the cold rain, and I woke up this morning with a chill and a sore throat. Well, it was either the walk home or the sub-zero temperature in our hotel room. I had to use an ice scraper on the alarm clock just to see what time it was.
We have a few hours to ourselves now. Time to go find some grub and enjoy Halifax.
It might be a bit quiet around here the next few days since I’ll be in Halifax — for the third time in as many months — to take part in my MBA convocation. Trying like hell to get everything done, at home and at work, before I leave.
Have a good weekend, y’all.
Another beautiful morning in Halifax, my last on this trip. In an hour I’ll have breakfast with Stanzi (in town temporarily herself), then head to the airport.
Last night I met up with friends at Salty’s for a few drinks on the waterfront. Somehow I ended up with a bottle of Moosehead…tragic. Anyway, some of us left there and had a fantastic dinner at Il Mercato. Knowing I’d have pasta the following night I stuck to seafood (never a bad choice in Halifax) and had shrimp & salmon…both fantastic. We knocked off a couple of bottles of Chianti Rufina (and a glass of white for my fish) and ordered decadent desserts. One of our party may have over-extended himself, but he recovered quickly.
Feeling poetic, we decided to finish off the evening at The Bitter End. It wasn’t a long night for me by any means though. One friend hit the wall and left early. My glasses of Macallan lasted me ’til around 11, but I needed some solo recharge time. I walked back to the hotel alone, suddenly reminded of how quiet Halifax streets (those outside the downtown core, at least) are at night. It felt peaceful. It felt right.
I was done. It was time to go home. Home home. I know I talked about Halifax being my spiritual home, if there is such a thing, but home is ultimately wherever Nellie is, and that’s where I feel like I need to be right now. I feel like a little chunk of me hasn’t lived there for the past four years…it’s lived in a text book or the computer or a hotel room during a week away on course. It’ll be nice to have that chunk back, and for Nellie to have it all there too, since she’s done without it for the last ~1400 days. What’s more, she’s been amazing about it. If she were anyone other than herself I probably wouldn’t have made it to yesterday.
One final, funny note: last night, sitting at The Bitter End, they were playing (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis. Odd choice, since it’s an old album…then I remembered something: after writing the last exam of my undergrad — which happened to be the very same subject as the one I wrote yesterday — I met some friends at the campus pub to celebrate. That day in the pub they played the fairly recent Oasis CD (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? and we discussed the ridiculousness of the lyrics to “Wonderwall” over celebration beer. Twice in my life I’ve had that particular celebration, and each time I had the same soundtrack. The world’s funny, if a little precious.
[tags]halifax, mba, salty’s, il mercato, bitter end, oasis[/tags]
Back to Toronto. Back to work. Back to the MBA*. Back to (more) humidity**. Back to cats instead of kids & dogs.
* but not for long!
** but with air conditioning!
[tags]toronto[/tags]
While we’ve kind of had an Olympic theme running (ha ha) throughout our MBA program — we started in 2004, the year of the Athens games and we’re finishing just in time for Beijing — I didn’t realize the timing worked out so well. We actually write our last exam on one of the last days of the games, and the closing ceremonies will take place on the 24th…just as we close out our final MBA week and return home. I don’t think they planned it like this either; the class schedule’s been set since 2004 and I don’t think the Olympics schedule has been out that long.
On that subject, I guess I’ll miss the last week of the Olympics. But I guess I won’t mind that so much.
[tags]mba, olympics[/tags]
Been a busy couple of days…lots more family goings-on: visiting, singing, eating, celebrating, playing, and so on. Now it’s raining and gray, so we’re all hiding inside and lying about. I just had my ass handed to me at crib (skunked, narrowly avoiding being double-skunked) so I’ve scampered into the office to blog and lick my wounds. There may be a drive to find fried clams later. There may not. That is the extent of our planning and forethought this day.
[tags]family reunion[/tags]
Last night some of us drove to Amherst, a nearby town, for some dinner. My brother had eaten at a new German restaurant in town the last time he was here, and he quite liked it, so we opted for that. It wasn’t a hard choice; there’s just never been a good restaurant in this town for as long as I can remember.
What a pleasant surprise the Old Germany restaurant was. We all left stuffed full of delicious food (enormous hunks of meat & fish, spaetzle, mashed potatoes, etc.) and proper (Lowenbrau! Erdinger!) German beer. The couple who owns the restaurant, one cook and one server, were very pleasant and friendly. It was extremely reasonably priced too: I had fresh bread, tasty garden salad, delicious Talapia in a mustard sauce, lots of mashed potatoes and two large beers for $22, tax in.
The ambiance is a little weird, since it’s built in an old Dairy Queen (and even still has some of the cheap plastic seating) but the food more than makes up for it. Anyway, when you have nine family members, three of whom are under the age of 10, you just make your own ambiance.
[tags]old germany restaurant, amherst[/tags]
I’ve been back at the ancestral manse since about 1AM, following a pretty painless flight and drive with my brother, who picked me up. It’s been a nice quiet day, full of chores and playing with kids, until just now when copious amounts of relatives starting showing up. We shall soon leave them to their family dinner (just my mom, her nine brothers and sisters and their spouses).
It’s been nice so far. I get the sense, however, that four days of insanity are just about to begin.
[tags]family reunion[/tags]
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 