Weekend

This is a late wrap-up for a weekend, but here goes:

Halifax

My cousin R and I drove to Halifax, to see R's brother K. K has a wife and baby daughter (who I hadn't met).

With a quick equipment pick-up from Binky (which was a fun mini-visit), we were a cargo-carrying convoy to NS. Just a day trip but well worth it. I had burned some "Onion radio" snippets for the ride, which R found to be absurd and humorous. (In another post, I might test the waters with an idea that merges satire and PEI.)

Lots of thoughts on the day... K is the youngest of our generation, so it is pretty neat to see K as a father. They have a lovely spot and cooked mussels and burgers for lunch. Since R and I are both feral dogs, we were grateful.

I was blown away by how much water there is in the Halifax area. Not just the big harbour but all the inlets, channels, and lakes. I later read on Wikipedia that the coast is very jagged. Neat stuff.

The infant is a cutie. A happy baby, she hardly made a fuss and just watched us. A fun game was slapping a hand on the coffee table, always near by as we are still getting our sea legs. Really great trip.

York Point

On Sunday, I caught up with two old friends. P, K, and I go way back to the playpen. I often mention that I was MC at P and T's wedding in 2001. (He and K are cousins, and K's house is next-door to ours, though about 3/4 mile of fields in between).

I don't remember the last time we were all together. I've seen P often, but I think it was at Christmas near 2002 or 2003 for three of us. Anyway, plenty of catching up...

P has two girls now (adorable in their own right). I haven't met K's daughter yet but thanks to Facebook, I can see the family pics.

Skype

As mentioned, I later used to Skype to video-chat with Miss G in Boston and Vic here on PEI. Video-chat is simply astonishing, though as Vic points out, I waited until I was just 25 miles away from him before I got on the bandwagon, missing out on 10+ years in Saint Louis.

Skype: I've reached 2004

I had a very full, fantastic weekend with dear family and friends, but the main update for now is that I just installed Skype.

Many readers will have already gone through the amazement, but I'm just getting onboard now. I just finished a video chat with a friend in Boston.

It is unbelievable! Free for Skype-to-Skype and $0.02 per minute to a phone! I knew all this, of course, but sometimes you just don't understand the neat-o factor until you go through it yourself.

EDIT: I've also Skyped with Vic, just tonight. He pointed out the irony of us using Skype now that I am back on PEI, about 30 miles away from his house. Point taken, mate, point taken.

So Long Cell

My 314 cell account is officially terminated. That phone (shown here) is 7 years old, and served me well. It has been to 4-5 different countries.

I don't have a new phone yet. There is no harm in calling my parents, though email is probably fastest. I do have a temporary cell so just write if you would like that number.

Sorry for the inconvenience!
CC

The Big City

Here is a fun fact: I've never actually lived in Charlottetown, the capital city, before.

I was extremely serious about school and lived with my parents right through undergraduate, then left for Waterloo (with some brief interludes in an apartment).

Now, living "in town" is very interesting, as the moving chaos is subsiding. Having things within walking distance is a big plus. I enjoy looking at the houses and the various buildings. All the street names are familiar, but not as my neighbourhood: in the old days, they were always merely means to a destination.

Synchronicity

Here are some events since I've returned:

My farewell post on the tech blog quoted Frank Ledwell. My farewell post on this blog quoted Sarah MacLaughlin. On PEI, I went to a storytelling night in honour of Frank. His grand-nephew read from the same book I quoted, and on the drive the Sarah M song came on the radio.

Before leaving, I purchased a tech book in Saint Louis. It had a bird on the cover. On PEI, I discovered that cormorants had taken over an abandoned bridge. I then checked my book: the bird was a cormorant.

I had an appointment with the cable guy the other day. As it turned out, he was in French Immersion with me from grades 1 through 6. This is not a typical schoolmate run-in: we were all in the same classroom for years.

I went to an acoustic music festival in Kansas, in 2003. I have a t-shirt from the weekend. Last night, I went to see Don Ross, a Canadian guitarist. Upon checking out his Wikipedia article beforehand, I discovered that he is the only person to have won top prize twice (in 1988 and 1996) at the same festival. I wore the shirt to the show, though it was impossibly wrinkled from being in a box for 7 weeks.

First Night

This is my first night at the new place! About 7 weeks since I landed back on the Island.

I'm very grateful for my family for letting me stay with them. It went better than I could have imagined, esp. considering it went longer than expected.

Interestingly, I happen to know that it is Miss G's first night at the new place in Boston. She and I have been sharing stories about our respective places.

I've let the grind of the past couple of weeks distract me from my original goals when I returned. The next post (in coming days) will remind me of my dreams for the return, and serve to get me going again.

CC

Life Update

Though a lot of this is on Twitter and Facebook, here is a quick update from the CC newsdesk:

• I'm 90% moved and about 20% unpacked. There were some delays with respect to the apartment maintenance, but yesterday was a good day. I haven't stayed there yet but probably early this week.
• I'm giving Allied a grade of 'B-'. The delays were crazy but at least my stuff made it, seemingly unharmed.
• I've booked a trip to Saint Louis! I'm attending a conference in mid-October. I really wanted to go back for my birthday or Halloween, but the conference is too good to pass up.
• Next weekend is an annual family gathering on my Dad's side. Looking forward to seeing everyone....