Unsatisfactory Pancakes and Oversatisfactory MEAT

13-14 October - In the morning Christina left with Mark to go to the airport and on to Ontario. She was very nice, in a quaint, 'I love my small province and fear all that lies beyond its borders' kind of way. I messed around a bit and got some pancakes (not as good as yesterday) before heading into town to get my bike serviced and do some snowboard-and-related-equipment shopping. The rain and the streets were so bad that I could drink it because so much of it was being thrown into my face. A little bit annoying, my shoes were completely soaked through in minutes and my feet became sodden and cold. They were feeling a bit numb the other day (the day after they'd gotten soaked) so i'd decided to purchase some waterproof socks, on the recommendation of a courier who I was discussing weather coping tips with. Another suggestion i'd read on the internet was to simply go with no socks at all. You're wet when you get wet but generally bike shoes dry out for the most part because of the wind and the sun (ha!!!!) and its the sock that freezes one's foot. They were super expensive (about a hundred dollar at one shop and sixty at another (but not in my size)) so I decided to keep on looking or perhaps try the internet option. When I got my bike serviced the bike shop had some special nylon booties that strap over the shoes wihich he recommended in functionality and price. The bike shop guys aren't as nice when you're not buying a bicycle but they gave it a fantastic service for free so I didn't really need them to be my best friend. All snowboarding stuff that was new was way overpriced; I did look at some consignment gear but am thinking I could probably just rent it for the first time or do some browsing on ebay or the other classifieds before I do any commitment. I found my housematt, mark, working at one of the outdoor gear shops I looked at - he was a bit morose from being single again (it had only been a few hour since Christina and him parted) but beer was suggested as an antidote that evening.
Came home, got dry and started to watch a movie with Rene, Hamburger Hill, one of the Vietnam "classics" that seemed to have escaped my eyes, however was interrupted by Jason, claiming the native right to watch 'Hockey Night In Canada', a sacred institution to all these freaking Canucks.
Mark came home and a few of us headed to Memphis Belles for a southern style barbecue meal - very nice (pretty expensive) - kind of like any barbecue place at home but perhaps a bit more what I would expect an 'authentic' place to be like and complete overkill on the scale. Like a temple devoted to the worship of meat - they had a wide selection of animals and too large portions of each. The place got one of Rene's friends, Scott, very excitable and he started to recall the Simpsons episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian and features a AAA movie about Bovine university - and he recalled every joke and every scene and his every reaction and fondness for that episode. And it went on for a long, long time.
Was planning to head out afterwards but didn't feel too well after my hot beef injection and decided to stay at home and repair a puncture in my bike inner tube - such is the life of a courier.