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.