Tuesday was Emily's twenty-first birthday. We spent the evening at her family's house eating pizza, scrap-booking, and eventually eating cake. It was fun to spend time with family but without a really strict agenda and without many distractions. Time is one of the best gifts you can ever give someone.

Tonight, Emily's family celebrated her and Laura's birthday since everyone was in town.  I've been eating far too much cake lately.

Pictures can be found in the gallery.

When I first heard of the Trans Siberian Orchestra, I thought to myself - I really need to see this live.  When I heard that they were coming to Winnipeg on Emily's birthday I knew what her present would be.

After a quick dinner Emily and I set off for the concert. One of the nice things about where we live is that most of downtown is in walking distance. It would take almost as long to drive and find parking than to simply walk straight there. On our way to our seats in we saw Mark and Joey, who were literally sitting front and centre, and Jon and Heidi.

The concert was really good.  We had fourth row seats which were nice and close to the stage so we saw almost everything. Since we were so close the sound quality wasn't as good as it could be, but it was still very good.  We were also too close to see some of the lighting effects but that was okay since they had so many lights that it verged on being a bit tacky.

Their set was simply great.  From what I've read it has not changed much lately, but it has all their hits and Emily's favourite songs so it was wonderful.  They played through 'Christmas Eve and Other Stories' nearly in its entirety, followed by some selections from 'Beethoven's Last Night' and some other classical songs, finishing with a reprise of Sarajevo 12/24.  Apparently they are working on a new album but no one knows when it is to be expected.  I certainly hope they play Winnipeg again after recording their next album since I would love to go again and hear some new material.

Emily and I stayed after the concert, got autographs and then headed home for cake and homework. I ended up making a chocolate orange cake the day before with the help of Mikael (and Emily who sampled batter). I have to admit that icing the cake was a little vexing, but it was nothing that an additional batch of icing couldn't fix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woot

My birthday is over now and everything has settled down. Thanks to those who wished me a happy birthday on or before the 20th. Hummmph to those who wished me a happy birthday after the 20th. I'm not talking to anyone who as of now (Thursday, February 23 1:36 PM CST) still hasn't wished me a happy birthday.

Just kidding.

I got the first third of my birthday present last night. It isn't very exciting; however the more interesting, other two thirds will most likely be coming sometime this weekend. For now, here is the slightly less interesting (and less functional) third that I do have.

On Tuesday night the Nutimik staff (or as many as possible) got together to wish Mike a happy life off in PEI. It was a great dinner at Mongo's Grill, which is a restaurant I have not previously been to. It is the closest restaurant to the Mongolian Grill in Kitchener that one can find in Winnipeg. I had three bowls of food in all. Two bowls were seafood smothered in curry and one was beef and vegetables cooked in a very hot sauce. Sooo good.

Anyways, Goodbye Mike; Seggie doesn't know what's coming...

I wrote my statistics 5.200 midterm last night and I think I did well. The actual results remain to be seen. I will be slightly swamped with work this weekend because in addition to a corporate finance midterm on Tuesday night, I also have a book report for communications that is due on Wednesday. After Wednesday I will be under considerably less stress. Until then it is work work work.

Music: Dream Theatre - Losing Time