The Spot

The last time I wrote a ridiculously long post, I had a bit of a side-bet going on with Dan.
"I'll bet no one reads this through" I told him.
"No, I think people will" says he.
"Alright, I'll slip the news of the engagement in at the end. Let's see who reads it through first." said I.
Jesse Gainer, you win.
In all seriousness, I was pretty happy with the response. Well, I'm pretty happy, period. But from the blogging side of things, it's good to know that it's never too late to hop back on the bandwagon.
As for the wedding.. I think I'll get a copy of "The Knot" and start planning for next year. Oddly enough, it's not the day that gets me going so much as the concept. Hopefully this lack of hype will keep everything in context.

And now for the new stuff:
We went up to Sydney for the weekend / my father's birthday. Travelling was made possible by the much loved "Munroe Day" at Dal, whereby we get the first Friday of every February off. Horray for February holidays!
Last year my travel plans were thwarted by the Canadian Parliamentary Guide program. 2 hour interview Saturday morning! Booo!
And it very nearly happened this time around too... but I'll get 'round to that later.

We rented a car from the only agency that doesn't charge a ridiculous underage fee.
[I quite enjoyed renting, actually. For 50$ plus gas [up to 80$] you can dodge the oft-unprofessional shuttle. When you have at least two people it's very much worth your while. As long as you're covered by your credit card's insurance or some such thing]
And, after a little birthday shopping, we were on our way.

Funny story: the car, a 2006 PT Cruiser, was recommended to me because the smaller car needed an oil change. But at the causway the oil light comes on.
"No biggie" says I. Pull into the Big Stop. And, as we're backing into a spot the car... stalls.
Uh-oh.
Once I've called the agency - and found out the next office is in Sydney - We decide to risk the causway and get the car to a garage.
Note to all: the folks at Canadian Tire in Port Hawksbury are the nicest, friendliest, most helpful folks in history. In less than 15 minutes they'd found the problem: a complete and utter disaster. Some seal had given out, and the car was leaking oil just as quick as they could put it in. Meep.
But no worries. Canadian Tire friendlies call a competing rental agency with offices in town, they pick us up and we're on our way in about an hour. The replacement car... a PT Cruiser.

Long story short, the Halifax office decided to pay for all the rentals this weekend. Sorry about the inconvenience, etc, etc.
[Well, not quite like that. I had to use just a little bit of what they teach us in school. Spot: negotiator extraordinaire!]
But the upside is: free rental! The trip to Sydney cost us 67$. Woot.

We still pulled into Sydney in time for supper. Dad was completely surprised, which was fun. And we were in time to get a piece of the Napoli pizza pie!
We weren't the only surprise for Dad this weekend. For his 50th Mom pulled out all the stops: a huge peach cheesecake - mmmmmmm - a surprise party featuring 30 of their closest friends, and some very fun gifts.
The electric guitar was definitely Dan's idea, and Dad loved it. Pictures to follow.

So that was the weekend. On Friday I head off to Moncton for the Sopinka Moot regionals. If we're sucessful we'll be practicing 'till March and the nationals. If not, it's over! I can't lose.
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