February

15th It has been four-hundred and eight days since my last update. Normally if I don't write on here I either have nothing to write about, or have been so busy I haven't had a chance to write. This time seems to be neither... I think part of me wanted to just let this site go. No one really reads it except for close friends. But then sometimes I like to go back and check out what I was doing at a given time in a year. Maybe so I can compare what I'm doing now, and see if things are better. I'm hoping after this update I'll start writing more often again, and maybe add some new features. (I used to have an "accomplishments" list in the sidebar that I may bring back.)

Today was a very significant day... but I'll get to that later. I've decided I want to "catch-up" by covering all of the time I've missed, as well as I can anyway. Get comfortable, cause this is going to be long, and not well proofread.

So first up is the second half of January. I'm pretty sure Jimmy moved in then. He had been working at Sculpin QA since before I switched to Other Ocean, but I didn't really know him that well. This turned out fine though, as he very quickly became one my, and Noel's, closest friends. For a while our place in Charlottetown was exciting again. We were having regular get-togethers, going out more, hanging out more. Things have slowed down now, but it was nice for a while.

Near the start of February Ryan and I launched our newest web project, called 'I want to Showcase'. It's a site that allows certain music conference organizers to accept artist sign-ups, so not really something the average person will find any use for. With this project I decided to totally revamp the somewhat outdated admin area I had been using up until that point. I redesigned it with modern html, and rewrote and optimized a lot of the backend code. I also managed to create a really cool dynamic file-uploading tool, something I always considered would be too advanced.

In the middle of February I took my yearly trip to Winnipeg. Kalon wasn't able to come that time so Jon and Andrew came along. We didn't do as much as usual, but did get out for some all-you-can-eat sushi, Palatel (which, sadly, has since closed down) and lots of other great food. Joey had just bought a new PS3 so we played a lot of Demon's Souls, which is an amazing game. After getting a taste of it in Winnipeg I went home to PEI and immediately started playing through it.

The only thing I can recall from March is our St. Patrick's day party. Jimmy, Noel and I rented a keg of ale from the Gahan downtown, which is a great idea if anyone is interested, and we had quite a few people come over. Late in the evening however some random shirtless guy approached Jimmy on the front deck, grabbed him by the shirt, and punched him twice in the face, breaking his nose. This made a lot of us quite angry so we put a small force together and went in the search of the guy. Sadly, we couldn't find him (probably for the better) and Jimmy went to the hospital, missing the second half of the party.

The weekend after St. Patrick's day was Jimmy's birthday, and we had a much more successful get together. After a few drinks and rounds of Flip-cup (great drinking game that we were into for a little while) Jimmy, Ross, Adam and I went out. The original plan was to go to Baba's but there was a lineup so we walked to the Globe instead. It was a pretty good time, but after leaving we had trouble getting a cab and almost had to walk home in the cold.

Not too much happened in April from what I can remember... In May, however, Joey came home for the Summer to live in Summerside and work at the Tax Centre again. Josh also came down to live at our place in Charlottetown for a second Summer.

Even though Joey was home the entire Summer I really don't feel like I saw him enough. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the Summer went so fast. We did get to the beach quite a few times though.

I'm pretty sure June was the month of Chris's bachelor party. A large group of Chris's friends (I was picked to be a groomsman in his and Jenn's wedding!) took a one-night trip to Halifax for some good old immoral fun. It was a lot of fun experiencing some Halifax night-life, since I've never really gone out there. I've realized I kinda like the Seahorse Tavern, but I really dislike the Dome. Surprisingly we spent very little time at the casino, only doing a tour through when we first got to the city.

Canada day was celebrated a little differently this year, as it was the date of Jenn and Chris's wedding in Stanley Bridge. It was a very long, but exciting day and worked out really well. The wedding was outdoors, at night. It rained a bit during the day, producing an amazing double-rainbow (what does it mean!?) but cleared up before the sun set, providing a starry sky for the ceremony. The day after the wedding we all suited up once more to do a few photo shoots in Summerside and Cabot beach. There are about a billion pictures up on Facebook.

In August Merina came to visit. (I believe it was the whole month, but maybe I'm wrong.) Joey and Merina were able to experience a little bit of Baba's Indie-pop night, which had become Jimmy, Josh and I's (and anyone else we can drag in) big night out each month. Near the end of August Joey, Merina, Noel, Jon, Andrew, Alison, Gillian and I took a short one-night camping trip at Justin's camper at Twin Shores. It was really nice to get out to the beach a few more times before the Summer ended.

The day we returned home from Twin Shores mom had organized a family get together as a going away party for Kalon and early birthday party for Joey and I. Kalon moved to Grand Prairie, Alberta soon after with his friend Nyall and has been there since.

In September I turned 30! Not such a big deal I guess. I didn't really do anything special. Went home to Summerside actually to get my license and registration renewed. At the end of that weekend when I got home Jenn and Andrea came over with a Dairy Queen ice-cream cake which was a nice surprise.

Near the end of September was Andrew's (my landlord) bachelor party. We had a kegger/get-together at my place in Charlottetown, and then went out later in the night.

Early October was Andrew and Tasha's wedding. Jimmy, Noel and I travelled together and somehow managed to show up just a bit late (I think I was showing Jimmy how awesome Buddy was and got distracted). We walked in just as the wedding music was playing and got a bit of a laugh from the crowd. I think Andrew and Tasha were unimpressed, but not totally surprised, as they also joked about it. (Even the minister gave us a compliment on our sweet entrance.) The reception took place at the Shipyard Market in downtown Summerside. It was a pretty good time.

Late in October I got a great treat. Mom was going to Ottawa (I think) for work and needed me to take Buddy for a week! I was a bit worried about how he would take to my place so we started with a weekend visit. This went well so he was set for a whole week. I pulled the frame out from under my bed so he could get up easier and he spent pretty much the whole week hanging out with me in my room. It was really nice to have him around when I woke up, and I took him for a walk every night, even though the weather sucked and it rained all week. On his weekend visit I took him down a path near my house that I've never explored and it was actually really nice. (That day the weather was much better.) I'll always remember that great time that I got to spend with Buddy.

November was mostly uneventful I guess, although since that month I haven't been feeling well. A bit down I guess you could say. It's not something that is new to me though, and I'm hoping that I can fix it in time, or that the springtime will help.

December was Christmas! This year was very different as Gary is working out west, and Joey wasn't able to come home. Thankfully Kalon managed to fly back, otherwise it would have been just Mom, Buddy and I on Christmas morning. The holidays were a nice, much-needed rest. I spent a lot of time visiting family and hanging out in the old basement back home. (Which Joey had completely re-arranged over the Summer, the new layout is quite good.) I also spent some time with Jon and Andrew over at Justin's. I got some sweet presents like the third Professor Layton game and Last Window (a UK import) for Nintendo DS, some new clothes, and a pair of skates.

I didn't have too exciting of a New Years Eve, just a bit of a get-together with close friends at my house in Charlottetown. For some reason the last two months are hardest to remember. I guess very little has happened over that time.

And this brings me to today... I'm still not sure how I'm feeling at this moment... Last weekend I was home for a day and Buddy was panting quite a bit. Thursday my parents took him to the vet because he really wasn't doing well. They were given a prescription for pain pills, assuming he was having problems with his legs. He has had some trouble getting up on stuff for quite a while, and it pretty old, so it seemed sensible. By the end of the weekend he still wasn't doing well so mom took him to the vet again Monday. The news wasn't good. He had advanced cancer in his lungs, but it had spread from elsewhere.

Losing Buddy has been one of my greatest fears for the past couple of years. He has been showing physical signs of his age for a while, but showed no lack of enthusiasm for life. He would never turn down a walk, and was always a good friend to have around. It was so hard to accept that he wouldn't be around forever, and time with him became more and more precious these last few years.

Yesterday evening I came to Summerside to be with Buddy and my mom, to help out. After a difficult night and morning mom and I decided that the time we most feared had come. Such a hard decision, but we had to say goodbye. It has only been a few hours since then, but the house already feels so strange. I'm terrified of what I'll feel tomorrow morning when I wake up and remember that he's gone.

Buddy has been such an important part of the family. To think when my parents adopted him I wanted nothing to do with him. I couldn't imagine ever liking a dog, but Buddy became one of my favorite people. Since moving to Charlottetown three years ago, any time I would come home to Summerside the first item on my list of things to do would be to take Buddy for a stroll, and he knew this because he would greet me with excitement as soon as I walked through the door.

To keep things simple here are some of my favorite Buddy moments:
- Walking to Greens at night with Joey and Buddy to buy Snack and a Halfs and a meat stick.
- Strolling through the new heritage park and going across the bridges.
- Walking through the Three Oaks field.
- Taking him to Thunder Cove, and buying him a vanilla ice cream cone at the Frosty Treat on the way home.
- Hearing him "sing", which he stopped doing a few years ago.
- Feeding him treats.
- Talking about how amazing his poops were.
- Having him sit next to me on the couch when I was playing a game.
- Having him sleep on my bed and take up way more room than he should. (He's big, but not that big.)
- Watching him play in the snow.
- Watching him dig holes and lie in them.
- Scratching his lower-back (butt-scratchin').
- Mudbutt (yeah... kinda gross).
- Having him "get the kitty!"
- Disaster Dog.

I'm so glad to have had Buddy as a friend. I already miss him a ton, and will never, ever forget him.

February

19th Joey and Merina have been visiting since Thursday. They were hoping to come and say goodbye to Buddy, but everything happened too quickly. I'm still really glad to have them here though. Work allowed me the rest of last week off, which is amazing, so I'm able to spend lots of time with family.

Things are starting to feel a bit more normal around home, but every so often I'll hear something that sounds like Buddy's claws clicking on the floor and suddenly remember that he's gone. Things will feel especially strange in the Spring as I would normally take him for lots of walks as soon as the sunny weather started.

Thursday mom and I drove to Moncton to pick up Joey and Merina at the airport. The weather was really nice and sunny that day. We took a trip into the city and did some shopping at the mall and around town, then went out for supper at Montana's with Tyler.

Yesterday we took a drive out to Ponderosa to see the cottage Joey and Merina will be renting for their wedding in the Summer. The weather was kinda lousy (it was snowing small ice pellets) but Joey really wanted to check out the shoreline so he, Merina and I trudged through the snow down to the beach. I realized that I've never really been on a beach in the winter. The shore was pretty much snow, that turned into broken ice and then ocean. Not at all like how I'm used to. When we got back into Summerside we went out for supper at Michael's Pizzeria and got way more food than we could eat as usual.

Noel, Andrew and Mike came down from Charlottetown to hang out last night. We tried out a board-game (which is more like a card-game) that Joey brought from Winnipeg called Dominion. It's very easy to learn with a lot of gameplay variations and ended up being a lot of fun. We played three rounds in a row, taking us until close to three in the morning. I think Mike ended up doing the best, but I almost won in the last game.

I have had a sudden urge to be productive so I've been doing some programming since I came home. I made a few modifications to this site, updated The Sidewalks site with their tour information, worked on a freelance project for Ryan, and did a few updates on a little video game I created in my spare time.