Drive

There was a big snowstorm on Tuesday morning and Julia was sick of driving me to work.  So she told me to take the car and drive myself.  I took it slow on the Queensway and made it to work in reasonable time but when I got there I realized that the gas tank was empty.  If I would have run out of gas on the Queensway that would have been bad.

Bet

Barb bet me I wouldn't get my computer until January but I said I would get it tomorrow on Monday.  I didn't get my computer on Monday.  So I sort of lost the bet but I had lunch with David Waller at an Indian buffet and ate way too much.  Then in the evening I didn't need dinner when I met with Mike Goodfellow before the Blackburn Hamlet Fastball League Executive meeting.  I did get many free refills for diet coke though and appreciated it.  It was good to see Mike for a good visit and some of my old friends from Blackburn for a short while before the meeting.  I didn't hang around for the meeting and got back to Julia's place in good time in the early evening.

Brunch

I messaged Derick Bulley and asked if he wanted to have brunch on Sunday.  He said "Sure, old buddy".  He asked where and when.  I asked Julia's husband if there was a good place within walking distance to have brunch on Sunday morning.  He told me about a diner a couple of blocks away on Bank Street.  So I arranged to meet Derick there at noon.  It was great to see him again and we talked about fastball the whole time and made plans for next season.

Chinese Food

I felt pretty bad that I was in Ottawa on Barb's birthday.  It was really bad planning on my part.  I had felt that I had needed to settle in in Florida for a few weeks before I went back to Canada to pick up my computer and I had felt I had to get to Ottawa before the Christmas traveling season started in full force.  So I decided to go to Ottawa in early December and I later found out that I had to stay for a week to ensure I would get my computer and PKI card.  So on Barb's birthday, we toasted her over Chinese food at Julia's mother-in-law's house.  Meanwhile, Barb was over at her friend Shirley's house for dinner and celebrating with Shirley's mother.

Dominos Baseball Town

On Sunday, Julia and her husband and I went for a walk down Bank Street.  Julia wanted to show me this store she thought I might like called Dominos Baseball Town.  Her husband said it wasn't called Dominos Baseball Town.  We walked there and the sign above the entrance definitely said Dominos Baseball Town but it turned out that the Dominos pizza place and the Baseball Town store shared the same entrance and used the same sign space above the door.  So it looked like Dominos Baseball Town.  Anyway it was a great store.  It was huge and completely filled from ground to ceiling with baseball equipment.  I wished that I was still in Ottawa and I also wished that I hadn't already bought my grey baseball pants in Florida.  I could have gotten much better pants at Baseball Town.

Birthday Card

Barb and I had signed a birthday card for Gramma Maize but we didn't get it in the mail in time to get to her by her birthday.  Barb said that since I was going back to Ottawa, I could bring the card with me and if I got it in the mail right when I got there it should arrive on time.  I thought that it might be even better if I delivered the card myself.  But when Julia called her and asked if she could come over to see her on her birthday, she said she was recovering from an operation and wasn't up to seeing anyone.  Julia thought that if she had said that I was there then they might have been able to see me anyway.  So we phoned her on her birthday and sang Happy Birthday.  I talked to them for a while.  Later I mentioned to Barb on Facetime about calling Gramma Maize and Barb asked me if I told her about the card and I said no I forgot.  Fortunately, Julia was able to visit them about a week later and bring the card.

Phyllis

I was told that Phyllis Browne was retiring on Friday and they were having a potluck luncheon for her and I could come even though I couldn't bring anything.  So on Friday at lunch, I went to the conference room and there were a lot of old friends there that I knew.  They all seemed to remember me and they had heard that I would be working again for the organization.  I was surprised that everyone knew that.  Later I was reading my email because I had email dating back to the time I was supposed to start work in October that had built up in my inbox.  I found an email which had notes from a management meeting in which my name was mentioned.  It said that I would be working on an important project and then I realized that all of my old friends were now in management and would have been at that meeting.  That was how they knew I was coming back.