Nobody Cares Anymore :(

Back in 2005 when I was still working as a management consultant, I lived in Tokyo for 9 months out of the Shinjuku Hilton.  The other day I told Karen a story of how, in the middle of the night one night, my phone range unexpectedly  Remember, there is a 16 hour time difference between Tokyo and Ontario (and I was 30 years old).  The conversation, at 2am or 3am, if I recall correctly, went something like this:

Me: (groggily) Hello?

Phone: Matt, is that you?

Me: Who is this?

Phone: Matt, I'm so sorry, I know it's the middle of the night, it's Julie, from the office in Oakville.

Me: Ok.  What's up?

Julie: Well, your mother called and she was wondering if you were ok.

Me: What?

Julie: I guess she saw that a bullet train had crashed and that there were fatalities...

Me: That wasn't even in Tokyo!  It was a different part of Japan!

Julie: I know.  She said that she was worried and had no idea of how to reach you.

Me: Well, I'm ok.

Julie: Um, well, will you call her back?  This is kinda weird. 

Afterwards, Karen asked me what that had to do with anything.  I said that one of the biggest storms of the year is coming up the east coast, has shut down parts of the US, has shut down 200kms of the Trans Canada Highway east of Quebec City, is forecasting huge amounts of snow, rain, and freezing rain, and we didn't get a call, email, text, nothing!  I guess no one cares anymore! Not even about Magnus.  I guess it doesn't take long to fall off the list.

Well, if anyone is interested, we survived just fine, thank you.  Below is a 20 second video that Karen took from our window (The flags show the wind, and to the left you can kind of make out the speed of the water.  Sadly, you can't make out the whitecaps).  She took it right after I had gotten back from my run on Thursday night.  Maybe not the best idea to go for a run in that weather, but I was definitely warmer running in it than those walking in it!  And, because of the wind, I ran away from the water, letting me see a different part of Halifax (lots of graveyards!).

On Friday, it cleared during the day but then got worse again in the evening when the 2nd storm hit the city.  Karen had tried to take Magnus for a walk to meet me after work, as he had not slept all afternoon.  She didn't make it a block,due to the wind (upwards of 150 km/hr gusts).  To get him to sleep, I ended up walking him in his stroller up and down the hallway in our building a couple of times.  Below are my first feeble attempts at taking my first ever selfie with Magnus to mark the event.



I think that'll be it for selfies for awhile.  I might also try to put that smile away.  Don't want to freak the kid out.

Luckily, Saturday was another nice day before the 3rd storm hit.  We got out for a walk to Spring Garden Road.  Below are Karen, Magnus, and Winston outside the Halifax Library.

Karen's brother, Adam, was nice enough to watch Magnus on Saturday night so, from 9:00pm to midnight, Karen and I got to go out in Halifax.  We hit a nice pub 10 minutes from home with good food, decent beer, and a live band in the corner.  The walk home was a little crazy, with Karen walking behind for a little bit, trying to stay out of the wind.

So, all in all, a very successful 2nd weekend in Halifax. 

If the weather gets better, the plan for next weekend is to take a day trip (maybe a night, too) to the Annapolis Valley to see the Bay of Fundy and one or two vineyards!  Yay!

Hope all is well elsewhere!