It was a busy August! Maricar and Robin were married on August 14, (we were invited to both the wedding and reception on the Saturday, and the picnic on the Sunday). Shelley and Geron were married the next weekend, on August 21, in Thorold. Around the same time, Nalini and family were in town to visit. And then my high school friends and I went on a Carnival cruise, from Miami to the Bahamas and back, to celebrate our 40th birthdays, from August 26 - 30.

The cruise was okay. I'm not much of a cruise person, but it fit our schedules, and it was another country for me. Luckily for us we didn't get much rain, with a hurricane and tropical storm in the area.

I finally finished a book this year. I had been struggling through Jane Jacobs, and finally stopped that and started on The Three Musketeers. This is the first book I've read as a digital book, on Stanza on my iPhone. It's more convenient to hold the iPhone when in bed (considering the size of some of the books I've read recently). Also it's self-lit, so I don't need to have a light on. The only annoyance is that I prefer to read it in landscape mode, but when I'm lying on my side the iPhone is turned 90* from horizontal and the iPhone wants to flip to portrait. You can freeze the orientation in iOS4, but only in portrait mode. When I get an iPad I don't think it will be an issue, because then I'll be reading in potrait mode.

Our barbecue was looking a bit run-down, so I spray painted it today and it looks much better. I bought a can of heat-resistant spray paint at Home Depot for about $7 and gave it a couple coats this afternoon. Unfortunately I broke the thermometer trying to take it off, so now I need to replace it. Last month I replaced the grill and heat wave, from the friendly folks at Broilmate (I think it cost about $40, including delivery). The barbecue still works, so I don't want to buy a new one yet.

Stephane and Sab are coming over for dinner so I suppose I should start preparing the food. We're having grilled pork chops with quinoa.