Other people have laptop problems. In fact, according to CBC, who we all know to be a bastion of truth and non-sensationalism, it is the Summer of the Exploding Laptop.

In other news, today I met a wonderful man. So wonderful that I invited him to dinner on the spur of the moment and then had to explain what I'd done... to Miguel. I also offered to lend my boss' daughter our truck to take her drivers license test in, and I forgot to tell Miguel that, so he was a bit surprised when she showed up to get the keys.

I digress. The man I invited to dinner has been canoeing solo in the Back/Baillie/Aramark river system since July 1st. Some of my neighbours are canoeing enthusiasts, and so I invited Bob the canoe man, three neighbours, and two of their children. Suddenly we were eleven for dinner.

I should really start at the beginning, because Bob is an amazing man. In June, I received a letter at work informing me of his trip. I sent back an email, asking for his date of birth, and when the email was answered, by his wife, she told me he was born in 1936! So there's a seventy year old man out canoeing around in the middle of nowhere... Yesterday he phoned me on his satellite phone, from somewhere up the coast, because he was trying to reach people to come and pick him up, he was done. I was a bit worried, because one of the outfits he was trying to phone called me, too, and asked me if I knew what he wanted. I made a call in the afternoon to make sure that someone had in fact gone to get him. They had.

Bob came to check in with me this morning, in person, as he had promised in his letter, and I was instantly enthralled. I could have sat there all day listening to him. My boss was bugging me, after he left, saying, "Are you in the habit of inviting total strangers to dinner??? He could be an axe murderer." (Policemen can be soooo cynical...).

But it was a fantastic dinner, lots of great stories and my neighbours were just as enthralled as I was. Too much fun.