I just got off the phone with Nick ... yesterday he proposed to Allison and she accepted ...

Nick and Allison at Kenosee Lookout Point - location of the proposal and ring acceptance!

Nick is getting married!

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Last Friday we met up with Nick and friends at the airport without incident. His plane arrived around 11pm and after confirming that the airline had indeed lost his luggage we went to BP's South to enjoy a few brews and fishbowls before calling it a night.

The weekend was a quiet one. I got to watch a football team that I cheer for actually win a game (namely the 49ers) on Saturday night, which was nice for a change. Otherwise, there wasn't too much going on in the Burt household last weekend - or this week, for that matter.

Last night Sofi and I joined a host of others at Nick's parents' house for a BBQ in honour of his homecoming. It was great to see familiar faces I hadn't seen in a long while and their backyard is a huge and beautiful place to spend an evening. We finally had the opportunity to meet Nick's new significant other, Allison, who proved to be a fantastic person and very easy on the eyes - Nick always seems to luck out in that department! The food was delicious, supplied by Nick and prepared by the master of the BBQ, Mike Farmer.

A scene from Nick's "Welcome Home" BBQ

In the gossip department, I found out that both Christine Domes and Kim Volkmann got married in the last month or so, so congrats go out to them!

Tonight I'm going out for drinks with Tyler and others at the Freehouse if anyone is interested in joining us; otherwise, my schedule is pretty open for the weekend! Next week, Shaun Stevenson is going to be in the Queen City on Wednesday so stay tuned for some tales of debauchery. Otherwise, we're heading to Nick's cabin on the Friday - more good times at Kenosee to add to the record books :)

My birthday on the 2nd seemed like any other day, mostly because my friends are all fuckin' jerks and forgot about it. Only a handful contacted me to wish me a good one, but I did appreciate the sentiment of those who did make the effort to do so. The day itself was uneventful, but that evening Sofi invited my parents over and threw me a little mini-party, complete with decorations, authentic Mexican cuisine, and more DQ ice cream cake (a personal favourite) than we could handle!

On Thursday we had folks over at our place to watch the Rider game at our place and what a big waste of time that was. Last night's game was no better. The two things plaguing our team are 1) the lack of a starting QB (Nealon is a great quarterback unless you value the ability to pass accurately over a distance) and 2) lack of a head coach (sorry, Danny, it's time for you to go - six years with little or no improvement is about my limit). The Riders are all I have left since none of my other teams have won anything in a long while, so you'll forgive me if I'm starting to take this personally.

Last Friday afternoon I went golfing at the Murray with colleagues from work which super fun except for the fact that I drank so much I had to get a ride home. Props to Dad and Sofi for going to pick up my car, since I was in no shape to do so :) On Saturday my dad came over and we attempted to wire some cable in my condo but were unsuccessful because a) we didn't have the right tools and b) it was about 55 degrees in the attic which made the work unbearable. I did manage to fix my garburator, though, which was good since we've done without for a long while. Sofi's friend Jessica and her husband Dan had free tickets to the opening ceremony of the 2005 Jeux du Canada Games, so the four of us went to check it out. I'm glad I didn't pay for them ($23!), because while there was a great deal to like about the show, for some reason they insisted on putting about 45 mins. of slow tempo music and unintelligible speech (thanks to the echoes at Taylor Field) right in the middle of a 3-hour show, which turned the show from good to boring. Still, it was quite the sight:

A scene from the 2005 Jeux Du Canada Games opening ceremony

On Sunday we went to Kelsey's in the south end to meet up with Natasha Bood, her fiancé(!), family, and friends. It was a nice, leisurely lunch at a reasonable price, and you can't beat that. We spent the rest of the day running errands and enjoying the weather while Natasha and her man were on a plane bound for their home in Toronto.

Monday was my sister's birthday, but she and her man didn't get back into town from the cabin until Tuesday so that's when Sofi and I joined them at my parents' house to celebrate. We had even more ice cream cake and I got to gawk at their tiny new LCD HDTV so I had a good time.

Hali waiting to cut her birthday cake

Last night I met up with the boys at the Barley Mill to celebrate Blair's birthday, which was a good time albeit a short one for me.

One of the low points (depending on how you look at it) of the last few weeks was the mini-Michael Moore filmfest we had at our house, watching Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine all within the space of a week. They were on TV and watching movies for free without paying that man a dime meant this was finally my opportunity to check out what all the hype is about. Unfortunately, that's all it was - hype. While the movies are entertaining and easy to watch, anyone who comes away from both of those movies thinking Michael Moore is a man with honestly and integrity has become his latest victim. I could honestly go on and on about how he is pretty much the most hypocritical liar in North America, no better than the people he tries to "expose", but too many people have wasted too much time doing so already. In closing, while both films contain many possible discussion points to begin a meaningful political dialogue, anyone who accepts anything in his movies at face value is pretty much a fucking idiot.

In happier news, Sofi has been offered and since accepted a job with Deloitte, so she starts work on September 6th. That's pretty much fantastic news, especially considering all the immigration hassles we have (and will continue to) go through. Congratulations goes out to my wife!

Tonight Nick is arriving on a late flight into the Queen City for two and a half weeks of fun, so we're going to go and surprise him at the airport. Other than that, I don't have too many firm plans for the weekend other than some chores. Weekends are good.

On Wednesday the 20th me and Sofi and Hali got in the car after work and drove to the cabin to get a head start on the 7th Annual GREAT CANADIAN CABIN PARTY! When we got there Brad and Tyler had already arrived and were drinking and trying to cook food on the BBQ in the dark by the light of Tyler's cell phone. We got set up and enjoyed some fine brews before everyone turned in one by one before 2AM.

On the Thursday we got up early and cooked a fantastic breakfast to get the day started right. I went into town around noon for a couple hours to visit with relatives, get supplied, and pick up a birthday cake I had ordered for Bernie and Jerrod, who would be coming out later and whose birthdays we had largely ignored and needed to make up for. It wasn't long after I got back that me, Hali, Tyler, and Brad decided to get in a round of golf. It was quite possibly the most perfect day of golf I've ever had. The temperature was around 25 degrees, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and there was pretty much nobody behind us so we had the most leisurely round of all time - 9 holes in about 3 and a half hours! We got back and the five of us had supper and waited for the first party-goers to arrive. Zab was one of the first to arrive, and Blair and Kyla showed up not long after. We stayed up drinking by the fire and listening to tunes until well after dark.

Friday was another great day, albeit the wind and the clouds put a little bit of a damper on the festivities. We had another tremendous breakfast and then most of the rest of the day was spent indoors playing cards or outside staying close to the cabin. My ex-roommate Marco came out for a few hours in the afternoon to visit which was very cool of him:

Brad, Me, and Marco

Most of the rest of the crew showed up after supper on Friday, including Steff, Jen, Holly, Ryan, Azure-Dee, and Jerrod and his new g/f Dara. Jerrod also brought along his newest creation, the new Great Canadian Cabin Party golf tournament trophy, which we have yet to name:

The Great Canadian Classic Championship Trophy

We cranked up the tunes and cranked up the alcohol consumption on Friday night and a good time was had by all. By the time everybody was in the sack it was after 3AM which was pretty amazing considering the long day that everybody had. Props to Jay for supplying me copious amounts of the new Great Western Brewing Company Pilsner!

Saturday was the day of the newly-christened 3rd Annual Great Canadian Classic golf tournament, so everyone was up early. We had breakfast and then posed for this photo before we all piled into the vehicles to make it to the course for our 11:50AM tee time:

The Great Canadian Classic Champion (Jerrod - left) and Challengers

It was another amazing day of golf. It was pretty windy, which wasn't good, but we were stuck behind a huge backlog of golfers so the day went nice and slow. A few of us didn't hit that great but it didn't stop us from having the time of our lives. In the end, it came down to three golfers with tie scores: Zab, Brad, and Jerrod (2004's tournament champion). There were a number of groups in a family reunion behind us that quit golfing a short time earlier so there was nobody behind us - a perfect opportunity for a playoff round! The three finalists walked 150 yards back down the fairway and started the 1st playoff round. Zab hit off the green but Brad and Jerrod were neck and neck, and tied again after Brad made a fantastic long putt! Back down the fairway the two warriors walked to shoot again in the 2nd round of the playoff. The rest of us sat down on the green to watch as Brad duffed his first shot only 20 yards ahead of where he was standing. That was enough to give Jerrod the edge as Jerrod was crowned the tournament champion once again!

The 9th Hole after the 2-round playoff

We had almost three hours on the golf course again so it was time to head back to the cabin for some lunch. Bernie and Jae finally showed up and many of us decided to take advantage of the great weather and head to the beach. Bernie and I had great fun making fun of Brad by throwing mud at him, but eventually we called a cease-fire and Brad and I had our own makeshift football season in the water. It was exhausting! Everyone went back to the cabin where we enjoyed some more great food and brews. Some of us made the mistake of watching the Rider game, which was pretty much the most embarrassing display of "football" I have ever seen in my life. After the awful game and the incredibly busy day we all had, it was hard to keep motivated to stay awake. We all went to bed fairly early that night, a sign that our age is catching up with us!

On Sunday morning most folks were up super early. Zab and Blair and Kyla had left before I even got up. We made another great breakfast and were done cleaning pretty much in record time. Thanks to everybody pitching in the cabin was cleaner than when we got there! Most folks got away before noon, but me and Sofi and Hali stopped in Maple Creek for a while visiting the grandparents before finally heading for home around 2:30pm. While we had a great time, I was pretty sad that the cabin party was over for another year :(

Work last week was pretty crazy busy and a tough week to get through after a bit of time off, but I survived. On Friday my parents picked me and Sofi up and we went right back to the cabin for the weekend. The drive was pretty good, because the Rider game was on the radio, but as usual they blew it so it wasn't all good. Hali and her new man Clayton came up on Saturday and then most of my family in Maple Creek came to the cabin on Sunday to celebrate Hali and I's respective birthdays this month, so it was a pretty full house:

Me and Hali's birthday supper

We had fantastic weather the whole weekend, including 35C in the shade on Sunday with not a cloud in the sky. It was great weather to watch the annual run-swim-bike-canoe race that is the Hillbilly Hustle:

The crowd gathered to watch the 2005 Cypress Hills Hillbilly Hustle

After it got dark that night Sofi and I paddled out to the middle of the lake to watch the fireworks, which were postponed from earlier in the month due to rain. Except for the idiots throwing rocks at us in the canoe, the view was perfect and super cool.

We came back to Regina late this afternoon after an uneventful drive. You couldn't ask for a better long weekend. I've spent more than half my time over the last week and half at the cabin - life is good.