post birthday post
So, my birthday was last week… thanks to everyone for the wishes, gifts and good food! It fell in the last throes of thesis this year, so I've been working into the late evening a lot, and trekking back to Montreal every week or two, but I still found time to celebrate.
The actual night-of, Ellie made sponge cake and ordered pizza, and we washed the two down (in the conventional order) with red wine my parents had brought to the housewarming. I think we've found the universal Good Cheap Local Pizza Joint, analogous to Mory's in Verdun: Pizza Maisonneuve, on Papineau near Maisonneuve. They flyer a little too much, and the place feels like an oven and looks held together with packing tape when you come in to pick up your pizza, but the pizzas themselves are excellent: thick crust, good sauce and lots of cheese. The Top Secret Sewing Project she'd been working on for my birthday turned out to be a very dapper vest, which she accompanied by a nice, texture-y dress shirt that fits quite well (rare in a day where normal shirts are too short and "big and tall" stores may include "just big" but seldom include "just tall."
Monday night, after a thesis meeting and a little wandering, Ellie and I proceeded back to Ormstown (where I took the wheel of my mum's car from the bus to home, which stressed her out quite a bit), and then we feasted on home-made lamb vindaloo, pullao, chickpea curry and basmati rice, with beer and followed by very rich chocolate mousse cake. My sister found a Fin du Monde and apple jelly, and my folks got me a floor pump for my bike and a paper shredder (not just for privacy, but also because both the worms and the rats like shredded paper bedding).
A good time was had, and we were all completely stuffed.
Came through Montreal the following day, caught up with my brother, talked geekiness, watched Doctor Who, swung through the office to grab a book and some knickknacks of mine, accompanied Ellie on a postering run for her new CD (in select stores and for sale online now!) and came back on the train.
The thesis is almost done, I've done a preliminary copy edit for the 98% that is written, and now I'm polishing off the straggling 2% or so. Tomorrow, my two volunteer copy editors and I will go over the manuscript, then Friday I hand it in at the thesis office. Defence soon after that, then any required modifications and I'm done, and able to arrive at StatCan unencumbered by studenthood. Woot.
The actual night-of, Ellie made sponge cake and ordered pizza, and we washed the two down (in the conventional order) with red wine my parents had brought to the housewarming. I think we've found the universal Good Cheap Local Pizza Joint, analogous to Mory's in Verdun: Pizza Maisonneuve, on Papineau near Maisonneuve. They flyer a little too much, and the place feels like an oven and looks held together with packing tape when you come in to pick up your pizza, but the pizzas themselves are excellent: thick crust, good sauce and lots of cheese. The Top Secret Sewing Project she'd been working on for my birthday turned out to be a very dapper vest, which she accompanied by a nice, texture-y dress shirt that fits quite well (rare in a day where normal shirts are too short and "big and tall" stores may include "just big" but seldom include "just tall."
Monday night, after a thesis meeting and a little wandering, Ellie and I proceeded back to Ormstown (where I took the wheel of my mum's car from the bus to home, which stressed her out quite a bit), and then we feasted on home-made lamb vindaloo, pullao, chickpea curry and basmati rice, with beer and followed by very rich chocolate mousse cake. My sister found a Fin du Monde and apple jelly, and my folks got me a floor pump for my bike and a paper shredder (not just for privacy, but also because both the worms and the rats like shredded paper bedding).
A good time was had, and we were all completely stuffed.
Came through Montreal the following day, caught up with my brother, talked geekiness, watched Doctor Who, swung through the office to grab a book and some knickknacks of mine, accompanied Ellie on a postering run for her new CD (in select stores and for sale online now!) and came back on the train.
The thesis is almost done, I've done a preliminary copy edit for the 98% that is written, and now I'm polishing off the straggling 2% or so. Tomorrow, my two volunteer copy editors and I will go over the manuscript, then Friday I hand it in at the thesis office. Defence soon after that, then any required modifications and I'm done, and able to arrive at StatCan unencumbered by studenthood. Woot.