Flurries before Falkland

A little geography lesson for those not familiar with this area: Falkland is the first community I have to drive through on my way home from Vernon, BC. It's about twenty minutes away, if you go slow. When I left, the weather reports indicated that conditions were clear and that I would have no precipitation to worry about.

It didn't stop with just flurries.

By the time I got to Kamloops, it was full on blowing snow, which is to say, lots of snow in the air, but none of it actually staying on the road. So all in all, not too bad. However, conditions worsened as I left Kamloops and it got kind of crazy for a while. I saw one truck in the ditch and figured I'd take a 'lessons learned' moment from it - I promptly slowed down a little.

Later, past the toll booth it got bad again. This time the blowing snow was replaced by a sheet of ice on the road. This time the accident involved more cars than I had time to count. This time I figured slowing down even more was sounding like a good idea.

Lucky for me, between those two times there were times when the road conditions were not too bad at all, and I was able to make up for the loss of time. And then, while in the Lower Mainland, some psycho in a pickup was exceeding the limit by a prodigious amount. I identified this person as 'my kind of people' and promptly caught his tail. He seemed to like that idea, and we made good time through the valley until I had to stop for gas.

So what does that have to do with the picture? Nothing really, except that on my way to Vernon I stopped at Krispy Kreme's to get my wife some donuts. I knew she would like 'em (and I did too) and it made for a nice little surprise when I arrived.

Another trip to Vernon

After work today I will be making the trek back to Vernon so that we can finally list our condo. The picture linked here is from one of the traffic web cams that reports current conditions. So long as it stays warm enough to prevent snow from forming, I'll be happy. Otherwise, it will be slow going.

I also hope to return the borrowed tools, etc. to the various people who were kind enough to lend them to me. Thanks!

Anyway, if you see this pic turn snowy and ugly, that would be the time to get concerned I guess. Especially if the snow starts drifting and you see cars in the ditch. heh. Okay, that's not gonna happen. Just a little rain for my drive home.

*crosses fingers*

You never know who you will meet

This morning I still had to return the rental car from the weekend, so I was a little later than usual getting into the office. One thing I noted about Enterprise, is they REALLY like to go over their cars when you take delivery or drop them off. We must have wasted about 20 mins looking at this car that obviously had no damage to it before they would let me pay for things and be on my way. This, despite the fact that there was someone waiting to rent it again immediately. But, their car, their rules I guess. A bit of a delay, but otherwise no real hassle.

Now the rental place is only a block away from my office. As I was walking out, who should I see, but Gwilli, who was also on the way to his office. After a brief chat, we both headed in to serve our time.... er, happily contribute to the goals of our employers. Or something like that. I vaguely remember G saying something about wanting to find a job that doesn't actually require the 'work' component. I suppose it is good to have aspirations.

Forgot my umbrella

Yesterday when I left to go to work, it was drizzling slightly. I chose to bring my umbrella and naturally, things cleared up and I did not need it coming home. So of course, this morning when I left, I figured that I did not need it.

And yes, it was raining when I left the office.

Luckily, it wasn't raining all THAT hard outside. Just enough to get me only partially soaked, I guess. For the record: if it shows even a HINT of rain tomorrow morning, I'll be bringing my umbrella.

Of course, by Friday this really won't matter - the car rental office is much closer to work than the skytrain station. It can be pouring buckets and I should be ok. (I'll still bring my umbrella, just in case) Once I am on the road in the rental car, I probably won't make more than one stop (in Sumas, for gas) on the way back to Vernon.

It's a good thing I like the drive along the Coquihalla highway.

So long Gary, and good luck

I was hired into my new job by a man named Gary.

Three days after I start, Gary no longer works for the company.

Before you all start, these two events are not related.

While it sounds bad, in reality I do not think it will change things too much for me. I will still have my job to do, and there is much to do at that. I'm still full of questions tonight, as the official company meeting doesn't happen until tomorrow morning. But the questions I have are detailed questions like 'who do I report to now' instead of wondering if I have a job or not. (I still do.)

The company I work for has a solid management team and I know they didn't take this decision lightly.

I'm really at a loss to say more than that at this time.

Hit the ground running? If only.

So I'm in Vancouver now, but haven't had much time to reconnect with people I know here. The new job is keeping me pretty busy, but the people I work with help make the days go by quickly.

Luckily, I am staying with family so I haven't been feeling too homesick so far. I do miss my wife, and my dog but I will be seeing them soon (next weekend). To help pass the time I have been playing video games with my cousin after supper. Nothing relieves stress quite like taking a shotgun to dozens of enemy drones, or shooting rocket launchers at attack helicopters.

Anyway, I made it. I'm back in Vancouver. I'd hardly say I hit the ground running, but I'll get there.

I said my goodbyes and left

Today was my last day at work here in Vernon. I'll start my new job on Tuesday, right after the long weekend.

The team of testers who worked with me decided that they wanted to buy me lunch on my last day. They certainly didn't have to, so I appreciated the gesture all the more. I'm sure that some, if not all of them will read this at some point. Lani, Paul, Les and Kevin: thanks for lunch and for being a great team. It was always fun to work with you. The only thing I regret is that we didn't take a picture of the team when we had the chance.

Soon after lunch I decided to end my day - after all, I had all this banked overtime and one or two things to do around the house. Okay, more like about four hundred little things to do around the house, but who's counting? Working in the Vernon office was fun, and I will miss it. But I'm equally sure that I'm going to have a total blast working in Vancouver as well.

Bathroom renos

Well I finally started getting a few things done around the condo. Today was spent ripping out the bathroom lino and installing a new toilet. Two things I haven't really done before. (We had carpet pretty much throughout when we moved in.) To say I was nervous about the toilet is an understatement. But somehow, we got it installed (thanks to my wife for insisting we read the faulty instructions) despite the contradictions in the install guide.

We have a couple other projects underway, like painting the walls and installing floor moulding (some call them baseboards?) but those are things that can be done a little bit at a time. Nobody half installs a toilet. Or at least, they shouldn't if they happen to live in a one bathroom condo.

Anyhow, we did not do work on the tub, so we are still able to take showers after a long day of work. After that, I may have to consume a beer or two with dinner.