Morning Folks,
Wow, I woke up this morning as I always do. I got the kids ready for school, packed their snacks, got them dressed and drove them to school. I stopped off at the Tim Horton's and picked up a coffee and a kiss :) Drove to work as I do almost every single day and as I pull into the parking garage and notice the date on the card reader. November 21, 2007.
Where did the time go? Seems it was only a few days ago we were remembering on November 11th. Now here we are 10 days later and I've made one post and missing at least a good week. How time does fly.
Anway, thought I'd throw that out to you all. Work is fairly distracting right now and I just can't seem to concentrate on a musing. Hopefully things start calming down soon.
Cheers,
Al
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Remembrance
Morning Folks,
Sorry for not getting a chance to write yesterday, but things were crazy here at the office and I didn't have any time to do anything but work. Today, I've decided to rip myself away for a few moments to write down some thoughts regarding the weekend. As you know, we took some time this weekend to head down and visit family in the South Shore. It was nice to get away and see some folks I haven't seen in a long time. I also got to spend a great deal of time with my Grandfather which is something I've been meaning to do for quite some time but just haven't had the opportunity. Fitting, since it was Remembrance Day here in Canada and my Grandfather is a war veteran. I had the pleasure of talking with him this weekend and hearing some stories that I hadn't heard before. He was in great spirits and was a joy to be around. This weekend brought back a lot of memories for me from when I was younger and used to go and visit my grandparents in the summer time. I remember the lake, the cottage and the fun times with my grandparents. I remember swimming in the cool clean water and we didn't worry about sun burns or catching anything from the water. Life seemed so much simpler.
I miss having my Grandmother around. She was always so happy and always so loving. She didn't get a chance to meet my Daughter and I think she would have fallen in love with her if she had. My Grandfather had a constant smile on his face this weekend as he watched my kids play. My Daughter, who isn't shy at all, had made him something in school last week and gave it to him. She also sat and spoke with him regarding the war and how she was glad he lived and was able to come home. She is so sweet sometimes it's hard to believe she is my child :)
On Sunday we attended the Remembrance Day service. It was a good service wrapped up in tradition an ceremony. Remembrance Day is a lot of that. For me, I could live without all the tradition and ceremony of the day, but I understand why we have it. As I looked at my kids I was a bit saddened by their lack of "care" over the day. Some people just don't realize there were men and women who died for our freedom and men and women who die every day to maintain that freedom. We have troops over in the Middle East who are fighting daily so we can go to bed at night and not have to worry about being bombed in our homes or attacked in the streets. I often wonder if we will ever see peace on this planet with all the fighting that seems to break out all over.
But I digress here; this is about remembering the men and women who fought for our country.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to go visit family this past weekend and I'm glad my wife was able to video record my Grandfather telling stories about the war. That is something we'll hold on to long after he is gone. His life may end one day, but our memories of his stories and the history of his battles will live on forever. As long as I have breath, I will continue to remind my children (and grand children) about their Great Grandfather (or great great grandfather) and how he fought for us.
Kind of touching when you think about it.
Cheers,
Al
Sorry for not getting a chance to write yesterday, but things were crazy here at the office and I didn't have any time to do anything but work. Today, I've decided to rip myself away for a few moments to write down some thoughts regarding the weekend. As you know, we took some time this weekend to head down and visit family in the South Shore. It was nice to get away and see some folks I haven't seen in a long time. I also got to spend a great deal of time with my Grandfather which is something I've been meaning to do for quite some time but just haven't had the opportunity. Fitting, since it was Remembrance Day here in Canada and my Grandfather is a war veteran. I had the pleasure of talking with him this weekend and hearing some stories that I hadn't heard before. He was in great spirits and was a joy to be around. This weekend brought back a lot of memories for me from when I was younger and used to go and visit my grandparents in the summer time. I remember the lake, the cottage and the fun times with my grandparents. I remember swimming in the cool clean water and we didn't worry about sun burns or catching anything from the water. Life seemed so much simpler.
I miss having my Grandmother around. She was always so happy and always so loving. She didn't get a chance to meet my Daughter and I think she would have fallen in love with her if she had. My Grandfather had a constant smile on his face this weekend as he watched my kids play. My Daughter, who isn't shy at all, had made him something in school last week and gave it to him. She also sat and spoke with him regarding the war and how she was glad he lived and was able to come home. She is so sweet sometimes it's hard to believe she is my child :)
On Sunday we attended the Remembrance Day service. It was a good service wrapped up in tradition an ceremony. Remembrance Day is a lot of that. For me, I could live without all the tradition and ceremony of the day, but I understand why we have it. As I looked at my kids I was a bit saddened by their lack of "care" over the day. Some people just don't realize there were men and women who died for our freedom and men and women who die every day to maintain that freedom. We have troops over in the Middle East who are fighting daily so we can go to bed at night and not have to worry about being bombed in our homes or attacked in the streets. I often wonder if we will ever see peace on this planet with all the fighting that seems to break out all over.
But I digress here; this is about remembering the men and women who fought for our country.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to go visit family this past weekend and I'm glad my wife was able to video record my Grandfather telling stories about the war. That is something we'll hold on to long after he is gone. His life may end one day, but our memories of his stories and the history of his battles will live on forever. As long as I have breath, I will continue to remind my children (and grand children) about their Great Grandfather (or great great grandfather) and how he fought for us.
Kind of touching when you think about it.
Cheers,
Al
Friday, November 9, 2007
Freitag
Good morning folks,
Or if you live on the East Coast, good afternoon.
Sorry for the later than usual post, but things have been crazy this morning here at work and I'm in a hurry to get things done so I can begin focusing on my weekend. :) As I mentioned yesterday, we plan on heading down to visit my family in the South Shore and we're quite excited to be able to get out of the city for a weekend and relax with family and friends. It has been too long.
As you've probably noticed, I've made a few changes to the website layout today. I wanted to go with something that really expressed what I was trying to do here. I haven't hit it yet, but I'm getting there. :) I saw another site with this same theme running on it and thought I would really like my site to look the same way (with some obvious tweaks of course) so I embarked on the painful task of making the switch. I hope to have most of the bugs ironed out and fixed up soon, so bare with me.
{slurp}
I trust everyone out there is having a good Freitag. I know I am. For some reason I feel energized today. Perhaps it is the thought of heading out of town for the weekend or maybe because I'm starting to really make a difference here at work and seeing some of the "reward" of my actions. I call them "rewards" because I don't actually get anything other than the gratification of knowing I made it happen.
Work has been BUSY and stressful lately. If you're wondering why, read my last few posts :) That said, it has made the week fly by and the days seem shorter (and it's not because of DST). I don't know how to describe it other than I feel good, I feel happy and it would take a lot of negativity to bring me down right now. SO BACK OFF!
:)
Anyway folks, I've got a pile of work to do and only a few hours to do it in before I start my WEEKEND! Monday is a holiday for some of us Canadians so I'll be seeing you all bright and early Tuesday. Take care and have a safe weekend.
Cheers,
Al
Or if you live on the East Coast, good afternoon.
Sorry for the later than usual post, but things have been crazy this morning here at work and I'm in a hurry to get things done so I can begin focusing on my weekend. :) As I mentioned yesterday, we plan on heading down to visit my family in the South Shore and we're quite excited to be able to get out of the city for a weekend and relax with family and friends. It has been too long.
As you've probably noticed, I've made a few changes to the website layout today. I wanted to go with something that really expressed what I was trying to do here. I haven't hit it yet, but I'm getting there. :) I saw another site with this same theme running on it and thought I would really like my site to look the same way (with some obvious tweaks of course) so I embarked on the painful task of making the switch. I hope to have most of the bugs ironed out and fixed up soon, so bare with me.
{slurp}
I trust everyone out there is having a good Freitag. I know I am. For some reason I feel energized today. Perhaps it is the thought of heading out of town for the weekend or maybe because I'm starting to really make a difference here at work and seeing some of the "reward" of my actions. I call them "rewards" because I don't actually get anything other than the gratification of knowing I made it happen.
Work has been BUSY and stressful lately. If you're wondering why, read my last few posts :) That said, it has made the week fly by and the days seem shorter (and it's not because of DST). I don't know how to describe it other than I feel good, I feel happy and it would take a lot of negativity to bring me down right now. SO BACK OFF!
:)
Anyway folks, I've got a pile of work to do and only a few hours to do it in before I start my WEEKEND! Monday is a holiday for some of us Canadians so I'll be seeing you all bright and early Tuesday. Take care and have a safe weekend.
Cheers,
Al
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Ok, NOW I'm Poor
Good morning folks,
Well, as my musing yesterday mentioned, I had my van in the shop yesterday to get some much needed work done to it. Well today is another day and I'm a thousand dollars poorer.
Ugh
That's right. After getting new tires, oil change, safety inspection and having an alignment done, I had to shell out just over a thousand clams. I wasn't happy with the price, but I was happy with the work. The van seems to run much nicer and a lot smoother than it did previously. I also don't sound like I'm doing 80KM/h in the parkade when I round the corners and my tires are screeching. Overall, despite the loss of money, I'm happy and have peace of mind not only for winter driving but for the occasional check-stop. You see, driving without a valid safety inspection can net you a HUGE fine and possibly have your vehicle towed. Both of which I can live without right now.
So today is Thursday. I am one day away from the weekend and I'm excited about the prospect of heading down to the South Shore to visit family. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to swing it this weekend (after the repair bill), but after putting some thought into it I decided we should do it anyway while the weather is still nice and while my grandfather is still alive. I know that may sound like a horrible thing to say but he is getting quite old now and every year the comment is made about how this could be his "last remembrance day". Every time I hear that I just want to hop in the car and drive down to visit, but every time something comes up and we're not able to get away. Not this time dammit! I've already told work I won't be available this weekend and the kids have already been told we're going.
Of course I'll have to call my mom and ask her if we are still welcome to come down and visit. I don't think she visits my blog on a regular basis anymore. :)
Well folks, the time has come for me to depart and get some work done. Thursday is typically my most busy day at work so I'll need to work extra hard to get things done. Take care and we'll see you here tomorrow.
Cheers,
Al
Well, as my musing yesterday mentioned, I had my van in the shop yesterday to get some much needed work done to it. Well today is another day and I'm a thousand dollars poorer.
Ugh
That's right. After getting new tires, oil change, safety inspection and having an alignment done, I had to shell out just over a thousand clams. I wasn't happy with the price, but I was happy with the work. The van seems to run much nicer and a lot smoother than it did previously. I also don't sound like I'm doing 80KM/h in the parkade when I round the corners and my tires are screeching. Overall, despite the loss of money, I'm happy and have peace of mind not only for winter driving but for the occasional check-stop. You see, driving without a valid safety inspection can net you a HUGE fine and possibly have your vehicle towed. Both of which I can live without right now.
So today is Thursday. I am one day away from the weekend and I'm excited about the prospect of heading down to the South Shore to visit family. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to swing it this weekend (after the repair bill), but after putting some thought into it I decided we should do it anyway while the weather is still nice and while my grandfather is still alive. I know that may sound like a horrible thing to say but he is getting quite old now and every year the comment is made about how this could be his "last remembrance day". Every time I hear that I just want to hop in the car and drive down to visit, but every time something comes up and we're not able to get away. Not this time dammit! I've already told work I won't be available this weekend and the kids have already been told we're going.
Of course I'll have to call my mom and ask her if we are still welcome to come down and visit. I don't think she visits my blog on a regular basis anymore. :)
Well folks, the time has come for me to depart and get some work done. Thursday is typically my most busy day at work so I'll need to work extra hard to get things done. Take care and we'll see you here tomorrow.
Cheers,
Al
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
After the Storm
Good Morning Folks,
Yes, it is 3 days later since the storm swept through and I'm just getting a chance to write now.
UGH!
Things are not going as well as I had originally planned. I thought taking on this new role at work would be a good opportunity for me. Instead, it has assured me of an early death. Every day I come into work I lose a year of my life. Thank God I have life insurance.
We fared the storm fairly well. Besides loss of sleep, everything went well. We had power most of the weekend and there was nothing major in the way of damage to the place. Granted I don't own the place, so I really don't care. At least we didn't suffer any broken windows or anything like that which would make living a little difficult. Part of the fence in the back was blown down, but other than that everything else seems to have held together fine. In fact, our area was one of the only areas in our part of the city that had power on Sunday, which was good and bad. Good that we had power and were able to do the things we needed to do but bad for my wife who had to work in one of the only Tim Horton's within a 5km radius that had power. She tells me the line ups were double wide zig zagging through the store. The only break they had all day was for a short 15min period where the power did go out and they had to kick everyone out of the store. The power came back and they had a few moments to get coffee on and get some donuts in the oven. I would hate that job.
This weekend we have plans to visit my Mom and family down in the South shore. It has been too long since we've been down that way and I'm looking forward to the trip. Of course nothing is set in stone at this point and pending the outcome of today, we will know whether we're going to make it or not.
Why today you ask?
Well today I finally had the time (and money) to put my van in the shop. We have this yearly safety inspection that needs to happen on all vehicles and I sorta let mine lapse. It is LONG overdue. I knew I would need things like tires and breaks done so rather than take it into the shop for them to tell me that, I decided to just wait until I had the cash to afford it. Here I am 6+ months later and my van is going into the shop to get some much needed work done on it. I'm a bit ashamed of myself really. If I had gotten pulled over and caught in a road check, it would surely have been bad news. Hopefully, after today, the inspection will be up-to-date and the van will be "winterized" and ready. Provided that doesn't cost me a ton of cash, I will be making the trek to the South shore to visit my Mom and family for Remembrance Day.
Well folks, I sent an email to my new boss last night stating my dissatisfaction in my job and how I'm feeling on the edge. He replied back and wants to chat with me. Hopefully some good comes out of this because I AM on the edge. My family can't afford for me to snap at the wrong person and lose this job. Of course they're so desperate for people right now, the chances of getting fired are slim and it would have to be something fairly terrible to lose my job. Good and bad I guess.
{slurp}
Alright folks, I must run and get at the tasks I have piled up. Hopefully tomorrow things will be better.
Cheers,
Al
Yes, it is 3 days later since the storm swept through and I'm just getting a chance to write now.
UGH!
Things are not going as well as I had originally planned. I thought taking on this new role at work would be a good opportunity for me. Instead, it has assured me of an early death. Every day I come into work I lose a year of my life. Thank God I have life insurance.
We fared the storm fairly well. Besides loss of sleep, everything went well. We had power most of the weekend and there was nothing major in the way of damage to the place. Granted I don't own the place, so I really don't care. At least we didn't suffer any broken windows or anything like that which would make living a little difficult. Part of the fence in the back was blown down, but other than that everything else seems to have held together fine. In fact, our area was one of the only areas in our part of the city that had power on Sunday, which was good and bad. Good that we had power and were able to do the things we needed to do but bad for my wife who had to work in one of the only Tim Horton's within a 5km radius that had power. She tells me the line ups were double wide zig zagging through the store. The only break they had all day was for a short 15min period where the power did go out and they had to kick everyone out of the store. The power came back and they had a few moments to get coffee on and get some donuts in the oven. I would hate that job.
This weekend we have plans to visit my Mom and family down in the South shore. It has been too long since we've been down that way and I'm looking forward to the trip. Of course nothing is set in stone at this point and pending the outcome of today, we will know whether we're going to make it or not.
Why today you ask?
Well today I finally had the time (and money) to put my van in the shop. We have this yearly safety inspection that needs to happen on all vehicles and I sorta let mine lapse. It is LONG overdue. I knew I would need things like tires and breaks done so rather than take it into the shop for them to tell me that, I decided to just wait until I had the cash to afford it. Here I am 6+ months later and my van is going into the shop to get some much needed work done on it. I'm a bit ashamed of myself really. If I had gotten pulled over and caught in a road check, it would surely have been bad news. Hopefully, after today, the inspection will be up-to-date and the van will be "winterized" and ready. Provided that doesn't cost me a ton of cash, I will be making the trek to the South shore to visit my Mom and family for Remembrance Day.
Well folks, I sent an email to my new boss last night stating my dissatisfaction in my job and how I'm feeling on the edge. He replied back and wants to chat with me. Hopefully some good comes out of this because I AM on the edge. My family can't afford for me to snap at the wrong person and lose this job. Of course they're so desperate for people right now, the chances of getting fired are slim and it would have to be something fairly terrible to lose my job. Good and bad I guess.
{slurp}
Alright folks, I must run and get at the tasks I have piled up. Hopefully tomorrow things will be better.
Cheers,
Al
Friday, November 2, 2007
Bring on the Hurricane
Good morning Folks,
Sorry for the lack of updates this week, but things have been pretty crazy for me. Let me start off by saying that I've received a promotion here at work this week. Before you start cheering for me, let me say that this is not a welcomed promotion as it adds way more work, way more stress, way more hours to my work life and offers me no benefits or pay increase. Really, what I got was a demotion.
Meh
I won't go into all the minor boring details, but we've had 3 people on my team quit within the last couple weeks. My ex-team lead who was done last week, and one of my co-workers and project manager who are both done today. Since my PM used to be my team lead, he was in line to take over the Team Lead position again. However, since he himself was quitting, they need to find someone else to take the position asap. That is where I come in. The funny part is, I'm not even the most senior guy on the team. This position should have gone to one of two other people on my team, but for some reason I was the one asked.
Why did I take the position?
Well, as I've mentioned to others, I had two choices. I could either take the position, get an official title and do more work or I could reject the position, do the job anyway and get no official title and be driving myself crazy. I guess you could say I choose the lesser of two evils here. So not only am I doing my own work, I am also doing Team Lead duties on top of it all. That in itself wouldn't be SO bad, but we had an issue last week with a guy on our team. He had a bit of a "melt down" here at work and ended up walking out. He'll hopefully be back on Monday, but it has added a lot of strain on the team since he was supposed to be on-call this week (now I am) and he is supposed to be looking over one of our products (now I am). So not only am I doing my job and my TL's job this week, but I'm also doing a third job on top of it all. Needless to say, I've barely had a minute to myself at work to scrape together a musing.
This week has been quite bothersome and I'm starting to "see" things about the company I work for that I'm suspicious about. I won't go into those details because it isn't my place, but I don't like what I'm seeing.
Anyway folks, I was able to get a few spare moments to write, but those moments have come and gone. Hopefully next week is going to be a lot quieter and I can sit down and do some serious writing.
Take care everyone and have a safe weekend. If you're in Nova Scotia, stay indoors this weekend and out of Hurricane Noel's way. Looks like he is going to be hitting us pretty hard tomorrow evening and Sunday so stay indoors if you can.
Cheers,
Al
Sorry for the lack of updates this week, but things have been pretty crazy for me. Let me start off by saying that I've received a promotion here at work this week. Before you start cheering for me, let me say that this is not a welcomed promotion as it adds way more work, way more stress, way more hours to my work life and offers me no benefits or pay increase. Really, what I got was a demotion.
Meh
I won't go into all the minor boring details, but we've had 3 people on my team quit within the last couple weeks. My ex-team lead who was done last week, and one of my co-workers and project manager who are both done today. Since my PM used to be my team lead, he was in line to take over the Team Lead position again. However, since he himself was quitting, they need to find someone else to take the position asap. That is where I come in. The funny part is, I'm not even the most senior guy on the team. This position should have gone to one of two other people on my team, but for some reason I was the one asked.
Why did I take the position?
Well, as I've mentioned to others, I had two choices. I could either take the position, get an official title and do more work or I could reject the position, do the job anyway and get no official title and be driving myself crazy. I guess you could say I choose the lesser of two evils here. So not only am I doing my own work, I am also doing Team Lead duties on top of it all. That in itself wouldn't be SO bad, but we had an issue last week with a guy on our team. He had a bit of a "melt down" here at work and ended up walking out. He'll hopefully be back on Monday, but it has added a lot of strain on the team since he was supposed to be on-call this week (now I am) and he is supposed to be looking over one of our products (now I am). So not only am I doing my job and my TL's job this week, but I'm also doing a third job on top of it all. Needless to say, I've barely had a minute to myself at work to scrape together a musing.
This week has been quite bothersome and I'm starting to "see" things about the company I work for that I'm suspicious about. I won't go into those details because it isn't my place, but I don't like what I'm seeing.
Anyway folks, I was able to get a few spare moments to write, but those moments have come and gone. Hopefully next week is going to be a lot quieter and I can sit down and do some serious writing.
Take care everyone and have a safe weekend. If you're in Nova Scotia, stay indoors this weekend and out of Hurricane Noel's way. Looks like he is going to be hitting us pretty hard tomorrow evening and Sunday so stay indoors if you can.
Cheers,
Al
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