Doug got an early Christmas present this week! He switched jobs and is back working at Guelph General again. He is happy to not have to travel far and get back into a regular routine. His year of consulting was a great learning experience but just wasn’t a perfect fit. As for the weekend he is unemployed as he was finished on Friday and doesn’t start his new job until Monday!
A Kingston murder is finally solved. And this quote sure makes it sound like the police are taking credit for manna from heaven:
Police finally solved the case late last year when Esford admitted to killing his wife by beating her and throwing her down the stairs.
Either they solved it, and when confronted Esford confessed, or Esford confessed and the case is no longer unsolved. It’s just funny how the media can write things in such a bizarre way.
We’re up and running with Vonage - unlimited local and provincial long distance for $34.99, with tonnes of neat features. Now, if only I actually enjoyed using a phone, I could play with the features. Email me and I’ll tell you our number - it’s only got 3 numbers (1, 3, 4) in a 7 number sequence (just like our cell phone (4, 5, 6)).
Our hot water heater doesn’t really heat the water very hot. We’ve cranked it up to the max, and with it almost to the top it was still tepid. We’ll call the maintenance guys on Monday if it’s no better tomorrow.
I installed the vent pipe for the dryer, and Jenn did our first load. It’s kinda loud, so we’ll either get used to it or I’ll figure out some solution with rubber mats, insulation, and/or cabinets.
The wireless router thing is something I think I’ll blame on Bell. See the previous post’s comments.
We’re really doing well getting unpacked, but my problem is my appetite has disappeared. We went to Licks for lunch which I loved, but I’m not craving any food at all. Maybe I need to start some baking - a nice coffee cake or something. Or a loaf of bread and some chili. I made french toast this morning on the new stove with a new pan, and it was amazing. Maybe grocery shopping would help me.
Still no visitors - except for the cable guy, movers and delivery people, 2 solicitors, 1 guy dumping garbage in the work garbage bin (I scared him off - made him feel like a cheap crook), and we met our future neighbour… but no personal visits yet. Sigh. Oh well - we’ll start dragging people in when all the boxes are away and the counters are clear and the floor can be swept and the carpets vacuumed.
Oh yeah - I gotta do some pictures. Tomorrow. We’re going to try a church here in Guelph - it’s friend day, and my friends Jean and Margie invited us. We wanted to go anyways, so this is the great opportunity. It’s kinda scary how long it’s been since I’ve been to church.
5 months waiting, and we’re in our house. The cable guy came last night (priorities, eh?) so we got our internet connection and though we don’t have our TVs yet, I can listen to the digital radio stations. We’ve moved in a bit of stuff - stuff we’ve had out of storage for a few months, and it’s on the shelves and in the cupboards - mostly because we were bored, and partly because we crave the immense foreboding job of unpacking.
Some sad things:
The movers are coming in an hour (more about them soon - after we get our stuff back!), my appliances this afternoon, we’ll do our final pickup from the ol’ house tonight, and then we settle in. I’ll post some pictures too. Anyone want to be in them?
In the newly released 2005 Acute Care Hospital Report Card, Guelph General Hospital was rated one of only 4 hospitals in the province as “High Performing” - the others being St.Mary’s in Kitchener, Headwaters in Orangeville, and Kingston General. Having also experienced Kingston General, I am of the opinion that GGH is superior. The other hospital I left, Lennox and Addington County General Hospital, opted not to participate. I think that alone says something, but even based on my experiences, I can say with certainty, I have clearly moved to a much superior organization. I am proud of my hospital. Politics exist no matter where you go, but GGH is a leader in the province in many respects, and lacking in few (if any) areas.
Here’s a picture after our house was born. He’s got alot of growing to do yet.
Well, after 7 months of applications and 150 resumes later, I finally have a job lined up for the fall. And to think it’s just down the street from Brock’s house! How lucky am I?! There is even a pool at the school! Woohoo! The job is a Grade 3-6 Special Ed class. I’m a lot nervous about the whole career transition…. but excited to have a job to go to.
I do live. I may be quiet, but I’m alive. I’m so much more quiet/shy at work here than I had become in Napanee - give it a few months/years and I’m sure I’ll be back to my prior normal.
So I’m gradually discovering this new town of ours. Parks, walking trails, biking trails (gotta love GORBA), conservation areas, the downtown, the shopping districts, the outlying towns, small town shops and restaurants, key iconic joints (bakeries, desserts, pubs, etc.), numerous breweries and wineries, and of course, the greatest hospital.
There are several things that I absolutely adore, and I’m very pleased with our decision, but I’ll still miss the Lake Ontario waterfront (and the various small lakes north of Kingston).
I would have liked to have gone to the Hillside Festival but it’s sold out - maybe next year. The Elora Festival would be good but it’s a little more expensive. Instead, I may try for Summerfolk, or we’ll just go to The Bookshelf. Anyone know of any other good festivals/venues?
But most significantly, I can’t wait to be in my own house again - and this one seems to be significantly better than our last house. Pictures will be coming over the next few weeks to show the development - until then we all must just ache for October 20th.
Oops - a number of comments (7 to be exact) were unjustifiably stopped by our spam filter. So don’t worry - they’ve all been approved now.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted… so here’s the update. The new job is great. I’ve successfully completed Day #1, and the hospital is amazing, my colleagues are really nice, I have my own cubicle and a good computer - there is, uhh - yup, nothing for which I am dissatisfied. Outside of work, I’m a little lonely, but thanks to public internet access at the local library I can survive (they even gave me a library card number without the required mail). The environment here is lovely, lots of walking on pretty paths, and I’m about to go home and cook a delicious meal, a meal that Jenn wouldn’t like as it has eggplant and curry and onions, but I can do so guilt-free. But it would have been nice to share my rice with her. Anyways, I’ll post more again later.
6 jobs applied, 5 interviews with 4 organizations, 3 job offers, 2 serious opportunities, 1 decision to make by Friday. Basically it comes down to moving to become part of a great organization with great leadership and vision, vs. not moving for an opportunity to be a team leader with high level administrative duties and responsibilities. What would you do?
I’m also a new man! A kid came to the door to fundraise for an MS walkathon, and I was polite in declining (the key being “polite” - I’m usually rude, but this kid was cute. If it was my policy to donate in this manner, I’d definitely choose this kid). Then I came upstairs and volunteered for an earth day clean-up day. I’ve so not been the type to become involved - rather to simply moan that I’d like to but no good opportunities arise. And people said I look really sexy today in my new pants and sexy shirt. And I confirmed my resignation from KGH - I’ve got one more week (2 shifts) and then I’m free.
So, as a surprise, Doug bought me a guitar yesterday! WOohoo!! Great joy! I have to return my other one this week so this allows me to continue on in my new hobby. Well, I had picked the 3/4 guitar but after trying it out and comparing it, it was just too tinny… so we exchanged it today. Anyway, when Doug bought it yesterday, the guy tuned it, gave him one out of a bag, etc. Today, I got some weekend worker, gave me a dusty one (my fault for not asking for a different one) and he didn’t tune it. Now I am totally frustrated trying to tune a very out of tune guitar. I can tune one when it’s close but not when it’s way off… so perhaps I will stop by on Monday when real people work and get them to tune it for me. Argh! At least I have the other one right now….
Axworthy fires back at U.S. — and Canadian — critics of our BMD decision:
Dear Condi,
…
I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile-defence system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results.But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat cautious types who can’t quite see laying down billions of dollars in a three-dud poker game.
As our erstwhile Prairie-born and bred (and therefore prudent) finance minister pointed out in presenting his recent budget, we’ve had eight years of balanced or surplus financial accounts. If we’re going to spend money, Mr. Goodale added, it will be on day-care and health programs, and even on more foreign aid and improved defence.
Sure, that doesn’t match the gargantuan, multi-billion-dollar deficits that your government blithely runs up fighting a “liberation war” in Iraq, laying out more than half of all weapons expenditures in the world, and giving massive tax breaks to the top one per cent of your population while cutting food programs for poor children.
Just chalk that up to a different sense of priorities about what a national government’s role should be when there isn’t a prevailing mood of manifest destiny.
Hoo wee! A doozy of a response! Somehow it feels like a child and a tiger, separated by a thin piece of glass. Continued.
A 15-year-old kid gets suspended from school, and he and his class get kicked out of the Governor General’s office when he asks “Is that the lady who spends all the money when the queen comes to visit?” The suspension was reversed, the GG apologized and invited them back again, and suggested that the kid write a 1000 word essay on what the role of the GG should be. He said he’d come for a visit first, then think about the essay.
Lost Enterprises
Did you all see this? This Mako was hooked in the mouth, only fought slightly for 15 minutes, came up along side of the boat to have a look, long enough for one of the crew to put a rope around its tail !!!
That’s when the s**t hit the fan!!
The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS. The boat was taking on water, the Shark would jump completely out of the water at times.
This went on for an hour before the Shark actually drowned.
He weighed in at 1035 LBS
Obsessed lady asks firefighters to extinguish flames of her loins
Indian firefighters have no idea as to how to react to strange phone calls from young ladies asking them to “extinguish the flame of their loins.’ Local newspaper “Midday” reports that 55 staff firefighters of one of the Delhi’s fire stations receive no less than 70 of such phone calls every evening. This in turn makes it difficult for the firefighters to respond to really urgent calls to prevent serious disasters.
“We also receive about 15-30 calls during the day from housewives who simply have nothing to do and are dying of boredom,” says Raj Parab, one of the officers. “However, be it day or night, the content of the message remains the same: ‘Can you extinguish any sort of fire? What about the fire of passion inside of me? Come quickly, I am all on fire.” They would also give their address.’ Whenever we try to tell them off in a polite way, the women begin yelling: Don’t be so shy! I will turn into ashes before you’ll change your mind%u2518or something along the lines of ‘You are not a firefighter; you are not even a man?!”
Annoyed firefighters were already determined to ask local police for help. However, the latter reported of similar phone problems.
It’s probably a good thing that Canada didn’t get too involved with this. I’d get pretty annoyed if Canada had an equivalent Cost of War Counter
CBS 2 - New York News: Man Arrested For DUI After Tractor Chase
Jenkins drove the tractor to a neighbor’s home with Toth in pursuit, then ran and hid behind a grain bin, Johnson said. Toth arrested him for driving under the influence.
During his search of Jenkins, Toth also found an injured kitten in his shirt pocket. Jenkins said the kitten had been inside the Chevrolet and was injured when the car hit a power pole, and he put it in his pocket to keep it warm… [the sheriff] did not know if the kitten survived.
Sounds like something Jooje would do - rescue a kitten in a getaway tractor.
I can just imagine the tractor chugging into the neighbours yard at 10 mph with the sheriff behind. The man jumps off and hides. 10 seconds later, “Uh, sir. You can come out now.”. “Don’t shoot! This kitten… she needs help!”
TheStar.com - Rogers set to buy SkyDome
The stadium was state of the art when it opened, mostly at taxpayer expense, in 1989 with a final cost of more than $600 million (all figures Canadian). Rogers will buy it from U.S.-based Sportsco International LP (limited partners) for something approaching $30 million.
Or maybe it’s just that Rogers (and the Jays, and therefore, indirectly, Canadian taxpayers) is ripping off some US corporation.
The Jays, with the SkyDome as part of the package to maximize value, will become more attractive to a buyer should anyone wish to come up with the cash to take the money-losing team off Ted Rogers’ hands. He has owned the club for five years, losing large but decreasing amounts on baseball operations
Err… yeah, we’re not going to see that money again.
In the building, the JumboTron and the baseball field are in need of replacement, the field badly so.
It gets better and better. continue reading »
I love Freecycle. I have received one thing and been able to get rid of one thing. Give and take… love it!