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| Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 | | 6:28 pm |
Heli-skiing - long post
As some of you might be aware, I have just returned from my somewhat annual ski trip to the west coast. This year we (group of 8 skiers including my parents) were out at Panorama in B.C. The week of skiing was rather boring, as we generally only skied the same 6 runs each day mostly due to lack of snow, partially due the resort only grooming a limited number of runs. As a result we were driven to find other ways to enjoy ourselves, well that's not quite how it came about... At dinner after our 5th day of skiing we found out that we could go Heli-skiing for a much reduced rate (the spring rate had just gone into effect), so much so that 3 of us signed up. My Dad was not feeling well the next day so he was unable to go, but Ralph and I managed to make it. Heli skiing is a guided ski experience in which you fly in a Helicopter to a remote mountain that has not been skied and thus has lots of powder to ski through. The day we went it was a bit cloudy so we were going to be skiing through the trees (instead of up on a glacier that is completely open with no obstacles). This was my first opportunity to do heli-skiing and I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to ski well enough, scared that something horrible might happen, and excited to try something new - and get out into some deep powder that I rarely have a chance to ski in. We started with breakfast in the morning and some discussions on safety, which included a 15 minute education no how to find our fellow skiers in case we get caught in an avalanche. Very useful information but for those of us who were feeling a little nervous, the avalanche training did not calm our nerves. Ralph and I were together in a group of 12 skiers (including 2 guides) who were generally intermediate to advanced skiers. Only a handful of us were first time Heli-skiers. We were provided with special skies (Fat Boys) that are much wider than a normal ski so that it allows you to float on top of the power much more easily. The 10 minute helicopter trip took us to our first descent which started above the tree line. We were given some brief instructions on how to ski in powder. For the first run the powder was up to the top of my ski boots. The first run was short to give everyone a chance to figure out what we were doing, but amazingly fun. Once I got the hang of how to turn (leaning farther forward than I'm used to and constant up and down movement in the knees) the skis led me through the powder with ease. Most of the run was fairly open, with at least 5 feet between the trees, but occasionally we had to ski between much tighter trees which made the skiing that much more exciting. Well, ok when I was there the first run through the trees was scary as hell. By the second run, once I was more comfortable, the trees were more like slalom poles on a race course. The first run was short, because we were in the trees so we were given a free 4th run. The powder got gradually deeper with each run and each run was on fresh snow and we were setting new tracks every time. The first 2 were on the same mountain and after that we flew across the valley to another mountain and skied the last two there. For the last run the powder was up to my upper thigh at times, but when I was skiing correctly I was able to float on top. I didn't realize how much work it was going to be. I'm used to cruising on hard packed, groomed runs, but in the powder I exerted much more effort to get down the hill. By the end of the first run I was already taking layers off, leaving my coat open while we waited for the helicopter. My legs were very tired by the end of the day and it was hard to ski through the powder as easily. I ran into a tree once - but aimed myself at a small branch and the tree took more damage than I did. I fell a few times, but it was fluffier than falling on a stack of pillows and I didn't hurt myself much (my neck is still a bit stiff from the last fall where I did a somersault in the snow). At the end of the day we got a certificate and a pin rewarding our efforts. The whole day was a wonderful experience and I was very happy that I tried it. I am now starting to forget how much my legs hurt, and only remembering the excitement of skiing through the trees. I am also now more comfortable with the whole process so if I ever get another opportunity to do it, I won't be so hesitant. It made a mostly boring week of skiing into an awesome experience that I am most excited about. Current Mood:  excited | | Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | | 12:25 pm |
Continual Learning
Friday night I went out to a curling clinic in hopes of improving my delivery. Now, I had thought that my delivery was pretty good (it looked good, and I usually made most of my shots) but I was hoping the instructors could give me just one thing to work on this season as I know I have developed some bad habits. Well, I got may more than that. I've got 3 things to think about, a pretty new delivery, and help with the stone release. I was so excited, as I was already seeing the benefits of the advice on Friday night. The changes are more than I ever could have hoped for! I'm not sure that the change in my delivery will make me a better curler (as in making more shots) but it's not going to hurt. It's going to take a fair bit of practice to get it right in game situations, but I definitely feel more comfortable and natural in the hack. It was a very good experience for me. Current Mood: accomplished | | Friday, July 25th, 2008 | | 7:31 pm |
Obituary: Randy Pausch, 47
So until today I had never heard of this guy, but when I read in the newspaper headline that he was a computer science professor, my interest was piqued - it's not everyday that I find articles about CS profs in the Globe. I actually didn't get to read much of the article as I was distracted by a YouTube link to a video of his "Last Lecture" which is incredibly inspiring. Perhaps this is old news for those of you in the academic world, and maybe this video has been around the loop already, but I enjoyed in tremendously and thought is was worth a share. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSoThe video is a bit longer than an hour but I really recommend spending the time if you have not already seen it. Current Mood: inspired | | Monday, July 14th, 2008 | | 6:16 pm |
My sister is now a Fish
Ok, well not physically, but socially. My sister, Carrie, got married on the weekend to a really great guy, Justin Fish. The wedding was really nice, we got perfect weather for the whole weekend. Friday night the ceremony took place on the beach at the cottage and we had sun the whole time and the wind died down just as the service started. There were about 35 people in attendance. White chairs were set up in 4 rows facing the water and 2 hollowed Cedar trunks holding flower pots marked the “stage”. Everyone was dressed casually, shorts and short sleeved shirts for the guys, casual dresses for the girls. Even Justin was dressed casually, however Carrie wore her wedding dress. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were not part of the ceremony; they sat behind the families – who were seated in the front row. Only Carrie, Justin, and the Justice of the Peace were standing at the front. The ceremony was very well put together, with some nice meaningful and personal readings from a few friends. Saturday was the reception and everyone was dressed up. The reception was held at Sunningdale Golf Club in London. There was rain early on Saturday but it stopped before the photos started. We were required to arrive at 4:30 for family photos that actually went quite well. Before dinner they showed a slide show of the wedding ceremony for those that were not there – for those that were there, it was nice to see a slightly different view. Dinner was a buffet, with lots of good stuff. After dinner there were speeches which were very well done, and another slide show with pictures of Carrie & Justin and their lives – including early family pictures – so I got some screen time too. It was a great weekend with lots of socializing. I was not involved in the wedding much but I felt exhausted at the end of the weekend. Carrie got 2 uses out of her wedding dress and I'm sure her Kindergarten class, this fall, will be happy about the name change :) Current Mood: cheerful | | Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 | | 4:48 pm |
Iron Man - the Movie
So, without many expectations and feeling a little upset after finding out that Robert Downey Jr. was playing the lead, I went to see th Iron Man movie. I have not read the comic and this is my first exposure to this character. I thought the movie was fantastic. The best superhero movie I've ever seen (Yes, better than Spider-man). There was just the right amount of comedy (and good comedy), good plot, great character development (as I usually see in origin stories). The acting was very good, and Downey Jr was a perfect fit for the role. I highly recommend seeing the movie and, if you do, stay for the end of the credits - there's an extra bonus at the end. I rated this movie 5/5. Current Mood: happy | | Friday, April 11th, 2008 | | 5:31 pm |
Curling Season Ends
Well, as Spring comes upon us, once more the Curling Season has come to an end. This one was very good for me though. My team won the first half in the Manulife Social league that I play in. In the second half of the league, with a new team, we won the Consolation Championships - and we get to share a trophy for a year. Both wins netted me a couple of bottles of alcohol as prizes. Overall I won over 68% of all the games I played this year, which is the highest percentage since I started keeping track (6 years). Overall it was a very fun season and it is sad to see it go. But for now I can concentrate on Golf until October comes around again. | | Thursday, March 27th, 2008 | | 2:12 pm |
Ski Vacation
I just got back from a week's vacation in Big Sky - a ski resort in Montana. It was a fantastic week of skiing! I was out with a group of 10 people, including my parents and a group they ski with every year. No one in the group had been to Big Sky before so this was a new destination for everyone. The temperatures were between 22 and 30 degrees (Fahrenheit) all week which meant the snow was in great condition, better than we usually have in March. Day 1 we had about 8 inches of powder on the ground in the morning, so we had the first tracks down the hill and the skiing all morning was absolutely fabulous. The base of the mountain is at 7,500 feet above sea level so it is very dry there and it means the snow is very fluffy and light. I haven't experienced such nice snow anywhere else. Unfortunately I was suffering from a cold the first 2 days of the skiing so I only skied until about noon. By Day 3 I had mostly recovered, which was good because we had a day of sun. It was the first time we'd seen the sun for more than about 5 minutes at a time all week. It was a bit cold, and it was just me and my parents skiing as everybody else had gone to Yellowstone. The ski resort was only about 17 miles from Yellowstone park but the drive was 150 miles (2.5 hours). So a bunch of the group went on a tour of the park on Day 3, and they had great weather (one of only 2 sunny days). Day 4 we also had sun for skiing and it meant that we could go up the Tram to the top of the mountain (about an additional 1400 feet of vertical above the top of the highest chair). The Tram takes skiers (and non-skiers) up to the top of a high rocky face providing more skiing down the back side in the bowls (above the tree line) and for non skiers provides a view of 5 states (and a ride back down the tram). A group of us went up, but I was the only one who decided to ski down. The snow was very nice on the top of the mountain and the skiing was nice. It was pretty steep but a good skiing challenge. The last 2 days we had snow and sun intermittently (at some points even at the same time). We all got some good skiing in those days. The food was good all week. On Day 1 we found a great place to eat lunch (as recommended by some people on our flight) and ate there 4 days. I tried some Bison meat during the week and it was very good. I can't quite describe it, it was mostly like beef, but still slightly different. The resort does need a bit of help, there isn't anywhere on the mountain to stop for a coffee break in the morning. There is very little in the way of retail stores. I was able to find a fleece vest that I liked, but it was very hard to find anything else that was good. It was a little strange. All in all the week was a good experience. I would like to go back but maybe once the resort is sold (currently it is up for sale) to a company that knows how to run a ski resort. It would be interesting to see that hill run well since the weather is good and the conditions are great. Current Mood: happy | | Thursday, March 6th, 2008 | | 11:48 am |
| | Saturday, March 1st, 2008 | | 10:31 am |
The Shot of a Lifetime
Friday February 29th: That's the date. Elmira Curling Club: That's the place. Here's the setup: I'm getting set to throw the last rock of the third end (I'm throwing yellow). There is a partially covered yellow rock (by a blue guard on the center line - maybe covering an eighth of a rock) just outside the house just off the center line (to the left of the center line if you are looking at the house from the hack). Behind the aforementioned blue rock is another yellow biting the 12-foot on the center line. There are 2 blue rocks fully frozen (to the nose) in the top of the 8-foot to the right of the center line. There is a blue rock on the button. There are a few other guards on the right side of center line that only prevented the straight triple take out on the 3 blues in the house. The analysis: The angles are perfect to hit half a rock of the top yellow, onto half the yellow top 12-foot onto the top blue to get all the blue rocks moving. The problem: The ice is so straight in that spot (throwing the intern) that rocks are falling backwards I put the broom down with half a rock of negative ice (the broom is on the edge of the blue guard, expecting the rock to fall out half a rock to hit half of the top yellow). Also I have to throw this as hard as I can to get all 3 blues out of the house. That meant I had to give the rock an extra big push and still throw it accurately The result: Well if I told you I missed it would have been a pretty sorry post...The shot worked just as expected yellow-yellow all blues got moving. In fact the second yellow rock in the chain stuck in the top of the twelve foot and we scored 1 in the end (important since the game ended in a tie). It is the most amazing shot I can remember making. I only wish someone had a video camera so I could watch it over and over again. I didn't really get to see the action of the rocks in the house since I was at the other end of the sheet. But I know how all the rocks moved, I could see it as I was lining up the angles. I still needed my team to confirm that we had scored one. It was an awesome experience to see the angles, throw the shot, and make the shot. Current Mood: ecstatic | | Monday, February 25th, 2008 | | 5:34 pm |
Update
I realized that last year I only made two entries here and that was to complain about Bell's customer service. I'd rather not have such a negative outlook on 2007 so I'm going to try to put in more regular updates. The year has been very busy for me so far. Curling has taken up a lot of my time, I've been curling about 2.5 times a week since the beginning of the year. I have regular leagues on Tuesday and Fridays and I've been sparing on Wednesdays about every other week. Actually this week starts a stretch of possibly curling 3 straight Wednesdays. Tuesdays is the Manulife curling league, a fairly competitive social league where winning matters. I've got a fairly good team and we've been close to the top of the standings all year. There are 2 more weeks left before the play-offs and we are in a good position to make a good run. On Fridays I curl in a very social social league at Elmira - the High Tech curling league. The only reason we put the score on the scoreboard is to determine who buys the first round. All my leagues run form 5-7pm so they don't interfere with other goings on in the evenings. It usually just means that I miss dinner those nights. I also participated in a 1 day bonspiel earlier this month with a good team that played well. Each game came down to last rock but we lost 2 of them. We still managed to bring home some food (as a prize - some got cheese, I got Bacon). It was a good day. February was a busy time for Birthdays. My friend, Matt, and my sister, Carrie, both celebrated their 30th this year (10 days apart). Also friends added 2 birthdays to this month, making Groundhog's Day and Valentines Day that much more special - Congrats again!. Also my grandfather celebrated his 96th this month. So between the birthdays on the weekends, and the curling during the week, I've barely had any time to myself - to recharge. However I did buy a PVR this year which has allowed me to keep up on my favourite shows more easily. I can be a little more flexible with my TV watching - which has been significant this year even with the writer's strike. I probably watch more TV, but I can watch it when I want, not according to the TV's schedule. I have also started to shift my gaming habits away from the PC towards the Xbox (which I can play during commercials of my TV - when I'm not watching a recorded show). Actually the PVR has helped because I can go play Xbox when the commercial starts, but if I don't finish before the commercial ends, I can just rewind the TV program. I am still playing City of Heroes, although only on the weekends now. I stopped the Tuesday night gaming and traded it for Puzzle Night. One of the things I really love doing, but have not done in a few years is a really good jigsaw puzzle. Well my sister got me one for Christmas and I wanted to try to move away from CoH a bit this year. I've had Tuesday puzzle night for 4 weeks now and I'm making decent progress with the puzzle. I'm really enjoying that time to myself. This year I have planned to go away skiing with my parents again. This year we are headed to Big Sky, Montana in March. I am really looking forward to it. Although the time away from work will be rough. I have recently changed roles at work. I am still working in Wealth Management, Valuation, but I'm moving from running reserves for the Fixed products (GIC/RRIF/Annuities) to running the reserve process for Segregated Funds. There is a lot more attention paid to the Seg Funds and the role will be a fair bit more challenging as it is less structured than the Fixed Products role. Our most known Seg Fund product is the GIF Select/Income Plus product which you may have seen/heard the commercials for. I'm really looking forward to this added challenge, but it's going to be a rough start. | | Monday, September 17th, 2007 | | 5:48 pm |
The best customer service I received from Bell...
...was when I canceled my services. It took me less than 15 minutes on the phone with 2 reps 1 from Sympatico and 1 from Bell (2 separate phone calls). Fortunately with my well documented problems they were very understanding. The Sympatico guy waved the 30 notice requirement for cancellation of service and was able to cancel less than a week after my phone call (at the end of my billing cycle). Out of this, I might have to go 1 day without internet, but it's planned and during a transition to the good side. I guess I should finish the Bell story. I finally did get internet service, although it was slow (at dial-up speed). I spent a week on the phone with Bell while they figured out what was wrong, why I wasn't getting the high-speed conneciton I was paying for. They finally figured it was a problem with the line (no duh!) but the crazy part is that they said they couldn't fix it. I finally figured out that when Bell had fixed my phone line, they moved my line from a port with High Speed access to a port without high speed access. Sympatico insisted they could not do anything to fix it. Bell insisted that since my phones were working they couldn't file a report. Sympatico's official line is that they gave me a "denial of service" basically they can no longer provide me with High Speed access. So I switched to Rogers. They were very happy to have my business, and in the first year I'll probably save something like $40/month. | | Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 | | 10:35 pm |
F*&# I hate Bell!
I was stewing an anger today as a result of my most recent entanglement with the phone company. I'll start this story at the beginning, hopefully now I can release my anger as I go. It started on Wednesday night when I got home after a very relaxing vacation. I had just spent a week at the cottage, I was at peace and all was good. I was looking forward to 2 days of work and then a long weekend of fun. Well after I found I couldn't download my email I started to call Bell as my modem was not working. Well that's when I found out the phones weren't working either. Now as I start this I want to make you all aware, I don't care whether my phones are working, except that they control my access to the online world (Facebook, Immortal Chess, Xbox Live, email...). So in discussions with Bell they would send a technician the next day (between 8 and 5, coincidentally when I am at work) to check out the problem. I come home from work on Thursday, still no dial tone. I call Bell again. They tell me the problem was resolved! Really? caus I still don't have a dial tone. So they send another technician. I asked them to send him on Saturday, so that I could be home to allow him into the house (if necc). Friday the technician comes - he solved the problem from outside - and I'm trying to figure out a) why did he come a day early and b) why could the first guy have done this on Thursday. He also mentions that my Highspeed access will have to be reset and I will have to contact Sympatico to have that done. Ok, that sounds easy enough. So at 5pm on Friday I am on the phone with Sympatico. They tell me they are initiating a ticket to solve the problem - and it should be completed by 5pm on Saturday. Ok that's not too bad, I was heading out Saturday night so I was expecting I would do my internet stuff on Sunday. Saturday around noon I get a call from Sympatico - they received the ticket and are processing it. They said the technician just has to flip a switch (or they made it sound that simple) at the local office and all should be completed by noon on Sunday. Wait noon on Sunday - bah! Oh well, I'll probably sleep in that late anyway. So 11am on Sunday I call Sympatico as I still don't have my internet up an running. I don't know what these deadlines mean to these people. They tell me they are working on it. They are sending a technician out right away it should be completed by 5pm on Sunday. Now I had made plans to be online playing games with my friends Sunday aft, so now I was missing something and anger started to set in. 4:30 rolls around and still no internet service, so I pick up the phone and find that I have no dial tone. What!!! Oh F***! It only took me from Wed night to Sunday night to get back to the same starting point! F***! So I call Sympatico and tell them they screwed up, the fix that them implemented not only didn't work it unfixed my phone problem. They tell me there has been no fix, it is scheduled for 1pm on Monday! What!!! are you kidding me - I actually said, "since you guys have missed 3 deadlines already what guarantee do I have that this one will be met?" He tells me he can see the appt scheduled - well what a relief :P He insisted that the phone problem is a Bell issue and I should call them back. Oh you've got to be kidding me!!! So I call Bell. I have not been nearly as upset with Bell - and I was mostly calm as they scheduled a technician to come to my house to fix the problem again by noon on Monday. Ok, now I'm thinking I might actually have my internet working by 1pm on Monday (phones by noon and Highspeed by 1pm - assuming the deadlines are met). So at this point I take 30 minutes out of my not so busy Sunday and drive to work (I was planning on working from home but couldn't without internet) to do the 10 minutes of work I needed to do to get ready for month end. I lose myself in some music and proceed to go play Xbox (not live) for the night just to keep my mind of the F****** at the phone company. Somewhere around 10pm my Xbox Live connects - freezing the game I'm playing :( - but signalling to me that something has been fixed. Now both the phones and the internet seem to be working - I don't know how long this will hold though. I cancelled the technician appt for tomorrow so I don't get charged $100 for the visit. I'm still pissed that it took them more than 4 days to fix my problem (phones and highspeed) and I'm now in the midst of catching up on my correspondence, not only the 8 days I was on holidays, but also the 4 days that Bell/Sympatico cost me. I'm ready for a phone company with good (heck I'd even take decent) customer service. Things don't go wrong very often, but when they do Bell sucks at fixing them. So I've rambled on for a while, thanks for listening, it was good to get this experience off my chest. Also if you were looking to hear from me in the past 4+ days and didn't this is why! F*** I hate Bell! | | Monday, January 29th, 2007 | | 6:28 pm |
Just so you know, I'm still alive
It's been a while since I've posted so I thought I would give an update on what's going on in my life. Recently my life has felt very routine (nothing out of the ordinary is happening) so I haven't felt like I've had much to say. I have been out walking 4-5 times a week this year which has kept me active, at least. I am mostly doing short half hour walks to the grocery store or around the subdivision but once a week I have been doing an hour walk that takes me on exploration trips to other subdivisions. I have been very happy to have the time to enjoy the walks. They have given me time to think about stuff, when there is stuff to think about (such as what to post in my LiveJournal). I am curling once a week on Tuesdays with the Manulife league. In January we switched teams for the second half of the year. We will play a round robin (10 teams) and then start a 4 week playoff round to determine a winner. I got a bit lucky this year and my team is very good and also very keen to learn. We are taking the round robin slowly, trying to build some skills that will help us win playoff games (such as allowing our lead and second to judge the weight of the rocks they are sweeping). Every other Wednesday I am still getting together with friends to play Settlers of Catan (mostly). The other Wednesdays I usually try to see a movie. Although I haven't done much of that this year so far. My weekends had been fairly open for a while but this past weekend I hosted a Games Night for some friends (the group that gets together on Wednesdays, mostly) and we played Ultimate Outburst, Tribond, and Trivial Pursuit - Millennium edition. A good time was had by all. Now I have similar gatherings the next two weekends occupying one day of my weekend. This is a good time as the NFL playoffs are winding down (Superbowl next Sunday) and I have free time on the weekends again. Last weekend I got out to the ski hill (Chicopee) for a few hours of skiing. I have dialed back my skiing this year quite a bit, I hope to get out maybe 4 or 5 times. The weather was cold but the snow was nice and I enjoyed the skiing. It would be better if I had friends to ski with though. Work is going well. I made it through Year End only having to work late one night which was really nice. It is one reason I have had the time to walk so much as work, although it has been busy, has not required overtime. I am also still enjoying the house. Not much has happened with it recently but I have started to plan my projects for this year - cash permitting. I have had a lot of fun shoveling snow this year. It's my snow play time - and it doesn't take too long. Well, I guess that is all the news for now. Current Mood: calm | | Monday, October 2nd, 2006 | | 5:41 pm |
The Grass is always Greener...
Over the next 3 months (leading up to Christmas) I am planning on streamlining my computer gaming desires (not playing much right now, but I WANT to be playing a lot). Currently I am playing CoH, and although it is enjoyable it is getting repetitive. I have one character @ level 50 and it seems more like a level grind for the rest of my characters and there doesn't seem to be an end game. Thus of late I have generally only been playing on nights with my regular group of friends and I am considering other options in the gaming world to occupy my time. So this past weekend I restarted my Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC) account. Recently I have found myself wanting to play my Friar as I recall enjoying the character in a PvE (player versus environment) setting. So I've paid for a month of DAOC in order to re-evaluated the game and if I have fun I might just stick with it. Well this weekend revealed a few key things. 1) There is no-one I know in the game 2) The guild I am in is generally empty, and even the alliance is pretty quiet. I played my wizard on Sunday and I never saw another character for 4 hours of game play (I wasn't off in the middle of nowhere either) until I returned to Camelot to train. 3) The game is a BIG time sink. In CoH travel takes relatively little time and downtime between fights is a few seconds. In DAOC travel is very slow and the waiting game is longer. With my wizard on Sunday I played for 4 hours, got 5 bubs of exp (half a level) up to level 36 but in that 4 hours I only killed about 50 monsters (and wizards kill things pretty quickly). There was a lot of sitting around. Also, I took a horse to get to the fighting grounds; during the horse ride I went to the kitchen and made a Caesar salad (dressing from scratch) and came back to find I had not yet reached my destination. I think the total travel time was in the range of 20 minutes. 4) Even when stuff is happening, there's nothing really happening. On Saturday I had my Minstrel in the battlegrounds - RvR (realm vs realm, a player vs player setting) - while we lay siege to a guard tower (in 2 hours) I used 2 spells (power song and speed song) and 1 macro (follow). But I received enough experience to level. 5) Groups are not as easy to find as in CoH, mostly because in DAOC nearly everybody has a bot. 6) I had remembered RvR being intense in a battle situation but I found that a) it takes a long time to find a battle b) if you are not grouped it's over quickly c) the intensity that I recall was only in comparison to the boredom of the rest of DAOC. The RvR intensity is match by a regular mission in CoH, with a decent sized group. I do still enjoy the feel of the game during a fight (which is such a very small %age of time in game). I like how the spells work, I like the setting, I hate the boredom. That is after 2 days. I don't think I'll be playing DAOC much this month, I am ready to cancel my account this week. WoW is the next test coming up, but probably not until November (when I have more time to spend on a game). I am also planning on picking up an Xbox 360 this year, mostly to play Oblivion, in order to satisfy my need to play single-player games. | | Thursday, June 8th, 2006 | | 6:21 pm |
A brand new life
Today I started my new life. Yep that's right a brand new life. It's not as hard as you think. Today was the first day of my new job, not just any job (I've changed jobs before) but in a new department & a new business unit, with (most importantly) a whole new set of people. The last year or so I've noticed that I've had a very pessimistic outlook on life. Mostly, I think, because I haven't been enjoying my job. Now I'm, at least initially, feeling much better. I've also got the chance in my new job to build a new reputation with my new colleagues. The new job has given me a new outlook on life. I suspect that when I move into my house next month I will experience a similar effect on my home life. Change is good! Maybe these positive changes in my new life will bring other good changes with them. Current Mood: chipper | | Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 | | 6:00 pm |
A new Job
Today I accepted an offer for a new job within Manulife. I have been looking for a job for some time as my current job isn't fun anymore and there is no way for me to develop my career here (since I don't want to be an accountant). The new job is in Wealth Management (a different business unit) within Manulife, and I even get to change buildings (moving to the head office by the highway). I start June 8th, but I also get to come back to my current role for 3 days later in June to train my replacement. I'm very excited, this is a fabulous opportunity for me and the change of scenery will be fantastic. I get a slight raise out of the move but mostly I'll be happy that I'm in a new role, with more responsibility and better opportunities to move around to other roles. I will still have to deal with month-end, but it won't be nearly as stressful as in my current role. Current Mood: happy | | Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 | | 6:31 pm |
| | Monday, March 27th, 2006 | | 3:47 pm |
Message from Vail
I am currently enjoying my one week ski holiday in Vail, Colorado. I leave on Wednesday so it is almost over but the skiing here has been fabulous. I am here with my parents and a few of their friends (12 people in total) and it has been a week of partying so far. Mostly it's nice to be away from work. The snow is very dry out here and they had over 360 inches this year. Today I finally got a boot problem fixed (so that I don't have excruciating pain in my toes after two runs), it has made the skiing experience a lot more fun. I was really glad that I did the racing at Chicopee this year because my skiing greatly improved and yesterday I got to do some powder skiing that really emphasized how much my skiing has improved. There is over 193 named trails here and 5200 acres of skiable terrain. (sorry for quoting statistics) On the first day we were skiing on one mountain and on lifts # 4, #5, and #7 (yes they number the chairs here) and I figured that was pretty reasonable. Then in the afternoon we took a catwalk over to other mountains (in the same resort) and found chair lifts # 21, #36, and #37. I found that there are actually about 40 chair lifts here on about five different peaks that really shows how big the resort is. I figure I could come here 3 years and never ski all the runs. It is easily the largest ski resort I have ever been to. The environment out here is very dry. The village is 8,100 feet above see level and the elevation of the peak of the mountain is over 11,000 feet. It means that my skin has been dry all week and I wake up with what feels like a hangover every morning (headache, sore throat). That is partly due to the effects of our cocktail hour too, but mostly the dryness. One member of our group was suffering from altitude sickness the first day, I was lucky and avoided it. The village here is also quite amazing. There are actually 2 main villages (Vail and Lionshead) at the bottom of two main hills. Our lodging is about halfway between them but we got to Lionshead each day as they have a Gondolla there to get folks up the hill quicker. There is a free shuttle service which consists of city buses (running about every 10 minutes) that are almost always full of people. There are hundreds of stores between the two villages and some of them are quite upscale. One more day of skiing tomorrow and then I fly home on Wednesday. It has been quite an expereince this week and I've had a lot of fun. | | Saturday, February 11th, 2006 | | 4:58 pm |
On Tuesday my grandmother passed away after an extended illness. She has not been herself the last 7 years since she spent a few months in the hospital after she had a fall. More recently she had a stroke last fall and although she seemed to recover quite well from that, a week ago she stopped eating and it was only a matter of days after that. Today I was at the memorial service and it was nice to meet some people who had very nice things to say about my grandmother. She was very involved in the community (in Stratford), she was instrumental in starting some key fundraising that still takes place for the Stratford Art Gallery. She was always very caring and gracious through her life and that was accentuated at the service. It was good to have the family together so that we could get through this tough time together and still share our own memories of her wonderful life. | | 4:53 pm |
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