September 3 Friday, October 27, 2006

(right) Elliot and Melanie ham it up for the camera.

The first two weeks of September I went back to Ontario for a visit. The timing of the trip stretched from my friend Elliot's wedding through Homecoming at Queen's.

Elliot was one of the first people I met at Queen's. He was in my frosh group, lived on the same residence floor (albeit a different wing) and in the same program. Thanks to the alphabetical proximity of our last names (Ginn/Greenberg) we were in the same section in first year, so we had all of our classes together. And, without any consultation between each other, he even chose the same discipline as me. That wouldn't be so remarkable if we'd chosen electrical or mechanical, which each took about 1/4 of our class. But we ended up in Materials & Metallurgical, the smallest discipline of them all (16 out of 550 or so).

After going to school in Kingston and starting his career in Port Hope, Elliot returned to Ottawa, where he grew up. He got married there on September 3, with plenty of friends and relatives in attendance. It was a good wedding, with all of the usual traditions. But the highlight of the night, for me, at least, was when Elliot got up on stage to sing. He did a couple of Beatles/John Lennon songs (not a surprise for those who know him).