It's been a while. So long, in fact, that I need more than one post to really fill you in on everything, gentle reader.

Let's begin where we left off. The election. Did it turn out the way I wanted it to? No, absolutely not. But it could've been worse. Now we'll just have another election, in about a year and a half, depending on how useless this Parliament turns out to be. And now I get to implore all of my American readers, who I know are absolutely going to go out and vote anyway, to go out and vote. If I don't say it and you don't do it, I'd just blame myself. Anyway, you've got a week – make it a good one, so you can have many more.

In the days following the Canadian election, I found myself preparing for what can only be described as the biggest international event in the history of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Maritimes, and perhaps even Canada. On Thursday, October 16th, Matthew Haven ventured from the less-than-bitter-cold of Michigan, to the bitter cold of Halifax.

My preparations were, quite frankly, minimal. Having just spent a weekend in a shockingly well-equipped guest wing, I felt a compulsion to make my room as guest-compatible as possible. I invested in a twin-sized Aerobed (useless), a new blanket (useless for the weekend, possible long-term use), did nearly eight hours of laundry (quite useful), and cleaned as much as I could. My favourite pre-Matthew activity, though? Heading to Best Buy to pick up an auxilary audio cable and discovering that the Canadian stores are, indeed, participating in a certain Buffy promotion.

As previously noted, Matthew arrived on the night of the 16th, at Stanfield Airport. After what I'm told was a lengthy and ridiculous interrogation by the wonderful Immigration Thugs of Canada, Matthew and I physically met for the first time.

I've known Matthew for a very long time, longer than any of my other closest friends, actually. It all started at Time Does the Talking, a now all-but-defunct Patty Griffin message board. Though I'm sure my salacious posts had caught his eye before, it wasn't until I messaged him regarding his cover of "Every Little Bit" that we began to actually talk to one another. For no reason that I can understand, I thought I was qualified to offer him vocal tips, even though my own vocal stylings were only slightly more desirable than sudden amputation. Since then (sometime in July of 2004, I think), Matthew and I have sent many a suggestive message back and forth, as well as conducted several actual conversations. Our plans to visit each other had always gone awry, our schedules or my age getting in the way. But no more!

I don't know if you, gentle reader, have ever met somebody for the first time, after having known them for five years and telling them many things about yourself that no one else knows. It has the potential to be quite a singular experience. Luckily, for whatever reason, this did not seem to be the case with Matthew. Sure, there was the slightly awkward first moments, in which I tried to be as witty as I think I am, when I'm online. The problem being that real life doesn't allow time to think of and type out clever responses.

When we returned to my room, I decided to forego cleverness and, instead, try to impress Mr. Haven with my rather rudimentary knowledge of the classical guitar, while he impressed me with the astounding change in his voice. I'd like to think that this change was a result of my vocal tips, but I know better. Still, though… impressive!

Unfortunatey, the next day, I had to essentially leave my guest to his own devices. If I hadn't routinely been a scheduling nightmare at my lab, I wouldve asked for the afternoon off. But, alas, I went in and wrote a short manual on website maintenance, before taking Matthew on a brief and somewhat chilly tour of the Dalhousie University Studley campus and Spring Garden Road. We even took a small trip to the Hallifax Folklore Centre, which isn't nearly as interesting, when you don't have a reason to be there. That night, Aaron, Jonathan, Matthew, and I headed over to Bayer's Lake, to see Religulous. Happily, everyone enjoyed it. What I found truly disturbing, however, was that it was Matthew's first time to a movie theatre, in several years. This was quite unfortunate, considering the rather crappy trailer and always horrifying pre-show.

Afterwards, we headed out to Darrell's, with Kerrie in tow. I was able to reaffirm my belief that the Peanut Butter Burger is,  in a word, genius. Sam and Dave weren't sure it could be done. How wrong they were! I did feel bad, though, that the restaurant was pretty much closed when we showed up. That wouldn't really compare to how I would feel later that night, when my very evil friends subjected Matthew to Iron Man.

I'm not going to lie. When I saw it in theatres, I enjoyed that film. I had a good time, I thought it was funny. I, apparently, was on drugs. I really wish I could've shown Matthew The Dark Knight, instead. I have a feeling that he feels an innate aversion to that film, which is unfortunate, considering that other Christopher Nolan films populate his Favourite Movies list. The benfit of Iron Man, however, was that Matt and I were both able to get a much-deserved nap, so that we could then lie down and watch some classic Ellen DeGeneres stand-up, later that night.

Our plans to go out for breakfast and visit Peggy's Cove, however, were thwarted by our unparalleled
ability to sleep all day. We woke up around mid-afternoon and decided to take a walk downtown and along the waterfront. Perhaps one of the highlights of my entire time in Halifax was walking across Barrington Street with Matthew, while two young girls played "Sweet Lorraine" on the street corner. Really, how much better could it get? We ended up spending most of the afternoon wandering about Halifax or, more specifically, its safe neighborhoods. There was a significant number of couples having their wedding photos taken. It's always such a chore to resist the urge to purposefully walk through the background of these photos, especially when they're being taken in such a public place. It always amuses me to think that I may be an indelible aspect of a person's memory of a certain day or event.

We had planned to go out that evening. I think it may have been a combination of my laziness and the fact that Matthew's legs were oddly pained that led to us staying in and simply watching my television for the night. I have to be honest – I was more than disturbed that Matthew didn't immediately (or eventually) fall in love with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Luckily for him, he made up for that by introducing me to RiffTrax.

And then, suddenly, it was Sunday and Matt was leaving the next day. After a satisfactory breakfast at Cora's, we took what I think was a rather pretty drive out to Peggy's Cove. I hadn't been there in a while and I thought it would be kinda neat to show Matthew something uniquely Canadian and Acadian, before he left. We spent most of our time just wandering about the town and then making our way to the Swissair 111 Memorial, which was understandably sad.

In the evening, I took Matthew to what is now my favourite restaurant in Halifax, Economy Shoe Shop. It wasn't even the food (which was quite good) that made me love the place so much, but rather the atmosphere. The fact that it was pretty early on a Sunday night helped, but it very quiet, dim and quite frankly romantic. (Rickard's beer, however, sucks complete ass.)

Fast-forward to Monday morning and we're at the airport again. Damn you, time. Honestly? Our goodbye was kinda lame. Somewhat similar to a parting after a nice business lunch. Oh well. I plan to fly out to visit him in whatever city he's in, when I have the time and money. I'll make up for it (or make him) then.

So, then, on Wednesday, I got an email.

I also wanted to mention to any of my Canadian readers who are, for whatever reason, uninformed, tomorrow is the Federal Election. Please go out and vote!

Personally, I'm rather excited. This is my first time voting in a major election and I plan to head down to my local polling station at my first available opportunity. To be honest, I'm slightly conflicted about my voting choice. Generally, I support the Liberal party. More potent than my support for the Liberal party, however, is my opposition to the Conservative party. From what I've been able to gather, my vote in this riding would strategically be best used in support of the NDP. So, for my first Federal Election, I believe that is where my vote will go.

I'm a bit more worried about gathering all of the necessary documentation. While I'm able to vote in my home riding, my registration is not moved over to Halifax as of yet. So I need to gather a firm proof of residence, which I do not have. I think I can get an attestation from the Housing Office, at the very least. Guess we'll see tomorrow.

The final entry in my New York series… so sad. Be warned: this is long.

Indeed, I have returned from my whirlwind trip to New York/Connecticut. Rather than begin with my trip back, I should probably start with my last day/evening with Sam and Dave.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed back into the city and took a quick stroll through Central Park, which was quite pretty, and saw several impressive street performers. The most amusing sight of the day, however, came not too long later, as we made our way to Columbus Circle and came upon a Bird Porn protest. Apparently, there is a movement to illegalize bird watching. Sometimes, I really wish people would just go about their lives. But, then again, where would the fun in that be?

While we were in Columbus Circle, we stopped at Bouchon Bakery, where I had my first PB&J sandwich ever! Actually, it was a C(ashew)B&J, but the concept it still the same. Sam and Dave were shocked, when I informed them of my PB&J virginity.

After visiting the bakery, we quickly headed down to a concert for Music for 
Democracy, which featured Vampire Weekend and Crosby & Nash. Music wa
s great and it was nice to at least tangentially help the Obama campaign. We met up there with Sam and Dave's friends Christina, Jerry, and Lilly.

After the show, Jerry took us up to the Viacom building in Times Square. Fantastic views of what Sam accurately described as "one of the lower circles of Hell." Seriously, it was 
ridiculously busy and loud and bright. But seeing it from far above was most excellent. Also, the offices are excellent. On the Nickelodeon floor, they have random large dolls/statues. I was nearly accosted by Dora the Explorer, while Spongebob Squarepants diverted my attention. Sly little bastards. 

 
Upon leaving the Viacom building, we promptly headed off to Five Napkin Burger. One of the things I noticed while I was in New York was that my age didn't not have any effect whatsoever on my ability to order alcohol. I imagine that my company can take most of the credit for that, but still. Another great restaurant – had a basic burger, which was very large and very difficult to eat.

It wasn't long after leaving the restauarant that we found ourselves in search of more food. We stopped at a Whole Foods, to pick up some packaged desserts, before heading over to Sam and Dave's friend Hugh's apartment for a bit, and then heading home.

In the morning, Sam again impressed me with the amount of baking she can finish, prior to noon. We had some excellent waffles (with warm, delicious, baked apples), before we headed off to Westchester Airport. Wonderfully, I left Stamford with a container of Sam's excellent cookies and a handful of bacon chocolate bars (sounds gross, I know – but really, really good).

Leaving was, indeed, sad, but we decided that I pretty much need to come back in the Spring. We're thinking I should fly down for Reading Week, perhaps to Boston (if Kerry agrees to deal with me for a few days), before catching a bus to New York.

Leaving was also, unfortunately, a bit hectic. I've gotta say, Westchester Airport really kinda got on my nerves. Once I was able to find the Air Canada check in line (tucked away in a corner), I was in a stationary line for fifteen minutes, before someone was nice enough to point out that there were actually self check-in booths, if I wasn't checking baggage. Why these booths were hidden away in a completely different corner, right next to security, I don't know.

Trying to book in at the booth was also quite infuriating. All other booths I've used will check you in, simply by scanning your passport. This one, however, required a booking reference, which I did not have on me and which required me to fish out my laptop, buy wireless time, and look it up online. After checking in, I promptly discovered that the line for security took up, literally, half of the airport. After five minutes in line, I heard the announcement for boarding for my plane. At that point, I began asking people to let me go ahead of them, which they were all kind enough to do.

Security, of course, chose this time to search my bag and delay me even longer. By the time I got to the plane, I was the very last person to board. This was quite noticeable, as there were about ten other people on board. The plane made the plane that goes from Halifax to Saint John look like a luxury liner. This was the only time I'd ever been nervous about flying. I think it had something to do with the fact that, as we were preparing to take off, one propeller was buzzing along fine, while the other was decidedly still. The flight itself was mostly fine, if not very loud, though we did encounter some turbluence.

My stay in the Toronto airport was mercifully short. I pretty much got off the plane, got through customs, and got on my next plane. I think there must be some sort of deal – if you're going to have a realtively smooth time getting onto the plane, your experience on the plane will probably be accordingly worse. In my case, I was stationed in the middle of a group of very stupid friends, who I'm assuming all attend Dal. You know, to be fair, I don't know if they're stupid. One of them was a Neuroscience major. Frankly, I think that speaks volumes about personality, but you have to be at least moderately intelligent to pursue that degree. These people were just annoying. And they never shut up. So I slept.

There's nothing much to report on, following my flight home. I got in my car, paid my overpriced parking fee, and drove back to Dal, where I am right now. Where I am now realizing how busy I'm going to be, for the next few weeks. Midterms, essays, not to mention social stuff. My friend Matt is visiting Thursday-Tuesday, which I'm really looking forward to. Though, following my fantastic trip to New York, I'm definitely more inclined to have some really cool events planned. That's an inclination that may need to curbed, if I plan to get any amount of work done in that time.

Dear readers, I can now truthfully say that I have been to New York. Granted, I could truthfully say that before, but I could never follow that true statement up with another true statement about the city, since I had no recollection of it. That's just not true anymore.

Quite wonderfully, much of my trip has focused on food. This has been a welcome break from my non-diet of crap at Dal. Some places we've hit so far…

• Tea and Sympathy: Charming little British restaurant where I had some fantastic mac and cheese. It's very small, but I'd say that's half of what makes it so charming. Plus, who doesn't love a good British accent?
• Sain't Alp Teahouse: We met up with Sam and Dave's friend Susann here, for a mid-afternoon snack. The highlight was some really good butter and condensed milk toast. I love it when bread is toasted precisely the way I like it, especially since I can be so picky about toast. This was very good toast.
• The Redhead: Apart from a waiter who probably should've chosen a less vocal profession, this was another really good restaurant. Butermilk fried chicken? Really f*ing good. I've also heard good things about their Caesar salad and mashed potatoes! (Additionally, they apparently don't card, which is great.)
• Sundaes and Cones: This was new to all of us and was really enjoyable. I some excellent mint chocolate chip ice cream in a fantastic sugar cone. Really interesting array of flavours, from vanilla to wasabi. 
• I was also quite surprised to notice, thanks to Sam's Facebook updates yesterday, that in the time between me falling asleep on Friday evening and waking up on Saturday afternoon, Sam had woken up, prepared for the day, and made pumpkin muffins. I haven't tried one yet, but I'm sure they're fantastic.

In between meals, we walked around the city a lot, building up an appetite for our next meal. Later in the night, we headed to the movies (City of Ember, which I thought was pretty enjoyable) and then to what could only be described as Strange Adventures on a growth hormone: Forbidden Planet. Oh, how I wish I could justify spending so much more money. But alas, I can't and wouldn't have the space anyway. But I did walk away with three books and a My Little Cthulu, who is just completely adorable.

I'm not entirely sure what's on schedule for today's day. I know that, this evening, we'll be heading to an Obama rally, which is being headlined by Vampire Weekend and Crosby & Nash (Stills, however, will not be present). The proceeds from the event will go to Music for Democracy's Be the Change, a campaign that is designed to get people voting in swing states, this November. The show itself will consist of short, acoustic sets and will take place in a cathedral in the city. Should be pretty excellent, so I'm looking forward to it.

Alas, my phone died yesterday, so I didn't get any photos from my adventures. I'll try to be a bit more keen today and I'll upload to Facebook. I'd love to Twitter as I travel, but it also seems as though my phone dislikes international gallavanting and has recently decided that my current location is too American for it to work properly.

Well, I should probably get up and about. When last I checked, Sam and Dave were not up yet, but I may grab a quick shower to get a head start. Especially considering the vast amount of unintentional sleeping I did yesterday. Actually, on second checking, I'm pretty sure I hear them right now. So I will leave you now, readers, and go say hi to, well, like half of my readership.

With any luck, this will be my last post regarding my flight schedules. And it's a good one! Everything works out!

I'm going to be leaving Halifax in about an hour, flying to Toronto, where I will quickly catch a flight to La Guardia – in executive class! I've always wondered what it was like. Maybe I'll feel like supporting McCain/Palin, once I arrive in New York.

Sorry. There's no reason for me to tell a horror story yet, Halloween is weeks away! It won't happen again.

So now I have some mostly worry-free time to kill, by reading either Angels in America (more specifically rereading a speech in Angels in America that I didn't understand at all) or my brand new The Portable Atheist.

Choices, ahoy! (Wouldn't that be an excellent name for a brand of cookies, the profits of which would be donated to pro-choice organizations?)