Happy Anniversary and other stuff

Posted on April 25, 2012 by kdarcy21

Today is J&D’s 25th wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary guys !!!  I was in their wedding party and they and a large group of friends and family went to Cuba last month to celebrate – I was unable to go.  I hope that they have 25 more years.

No internet and tv at the house until Saturday.  I am looking for something to do in the evenings.  I am unpacking and organizing, but who wants to do that all night?  Not me.  Oh well, Saturday will come and I will be setup again.

Work is going well.  I don’t think I’ve posted since I started. Today was day 3 and I took most of the requests that came in.  Nothing serious, I just need to learn where software is kept, etc.  The file system is organized WAY better than in my previous position, mind you, that wouldn’t be hard.

Anyway, I think this will be a great place to work – I am really enjoying it.  I have a top of the line laptop, it has an i7 processor and a solid state hard drive.  I also received a Blackberry Bold 9900 – good thing I’ve used one in the past.

I got a parking pass for a garage right beside my office, it starts on May 1 (or is it May 2), anyway, sometime next week.  I am coming home at lunch to let the dogs out and take them for a quick walk.

I have already hit my “summer” mode where I wake up WAY too early – between 4 and 5 AM.  This of course forces me to go to bed earlier than I would like to, around 10PM usually. I won’t be able to watch Leno any longer, he doesn’t come on here until 12:30, no way I am staying up that late.  Too bad, I enjoy his show.

I am learning Calgary, slowly but surely.  I can make it to work or home without using the GPS, that’s good.  Not that there is anything wrong with using one, but you do want to learn the city that you are living in.  I haven’t found anywhere cool to walk the dogs as yet, the neighbourhood is good mind you, sidewalks everywhere and no loose dogs.

I will be heading to Ontario sooner than I expected.  There is an annual IT Conference in September that is held in Ontario – this year it is in Mississauga in September.  I am hoping that we will have some free time so I can at least go for dinner with family, perhaps some friends as well – guess I will find out when I get the schedule for the event.

Anyway, seeing as I am using my Android to connect to the internet (via my laptop), I had better get off otherwise my data charges are going to be through the roof.

I will start daily posts (or so) after Saturday.

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My own bed…

Posted on April 22, 2012 by kdarcy21

I will be sleeping in my own bed tonight.  My town house was being painted yesterday so I stayed at the hotel one additional night.  The place might smell a little like paint today but I am sure it won’t be too bad.  I am REALLY looking forward to sleeping in my own bed as opposed to a funky hotel bed.  I am also looking forward to actually cooking my own food – I’ve been eating out for the last 10 days or so.

My new place is only a few blocks from 17 Avenue in Calgary which has a lot of strip malls and various stores – I think that I should be able to find just about anything that I want there.

I bought myself a vacuum yesterday at Canadian Tire.  It was on sale for $99.99 and when the total displayed, it was $104.99 – VERY nice not having to pay any PST, damn Ontario – that is one thing that I will NOT miss.

I was looking into parking in the downtown area – it is expensive.  I found one lot which is 2 blocks from work and it’s $175 per month.  WOW.  The only reason that I want to drive into work is so that I can make it home at noon to let the dogs out.  I guess I will have to see tomorrow (my first day) how long the drive is – if I can make it in 15 minutes or less then I will try to get home at lunch, otherwise, I will get a transit pass and likely look into getting a dog walker. Either option is going to cost some coin.  I don’t want Blondie to be in her crate all day with nothing to do and I am not sure if Zeus can go 9 hours or so without going outside.

So, I am excited to start work tomorrow.  It has been a long time since I have had a regular job so this will be nice.  Wish me luck.

 

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Moving day…

Posted on April 21, 2012 by kdarcy21

Didn’t I just move to Calgary?  Yes, I did.  I did some house hunting on Thursday and Friday and found a nice town house on Friday and signed a 1 year lease.  It was available immediately so I move in today, after 9:30am.

That is going to save me a boat load of money as compared to having a hotel room until the first of May.

It is a big place, bigger than I need for sure, but that’s ok.  It is a 3 bedroom and a walk-out balcony off of one of the bedrooms.  The living room is large and it has a huge kitchen.

I start work on Monday, I think that I will drive in the first day.  I may see how much parking is downtown on a monthly basis and then compare that to taking transit.  If I drive to work then I will likely be able to go home at lunch for the dogs.  If I take transit then I am going to have to get a dog walker at noon time.  Blondie would be find waiting all day but Zeus might have some issues.  I haven’t been a public transit sort of guy ever since I got my first car, it will be a hard change (I would imagine) if I decide to go that route – it looks like driving will be my best option.

Lots of stuff to do related to my move.  I need to purchase a microwave, toaster over, couch, end tables – the list is long.  I had all of this stuff in my old place of course, but, I didn’t want to have to move it all. I’ll purchase stuff slowly over the next few months I guess, I do enjoy shopping.

Anyway, I am up way too early – breakfast at the hotel starts @ 6:30am (4:40am now) and I will head over to the new place around 9am.

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Day 2

Posted on April 20, 2012 by kdarcy21

This is the start of my second full day in Calgary.  Yesterday was pretty productive.

I called a bunch of places to find a place to live.  I looked at two and got screwed up on the third one.  The first place that I looked at was right by my office, it would be less than a 5 minute walk to work.  It was nice, fairly small as compared to what I have had the last few years but that is OK with me.  I am thinking that I will apply for it today, the walk to work and living right downtown might appeal with me.  The rent was under $1k per month so not too bad.

I unhooked the trailer with JB’s assistance and manoeuvred it into a parking spot outside of my hotel room.  The Jeep is back to its regular self now that it isn’t pulling a 2000lb (that’s a guess) trailer.  Got the Jeep washed yesterday as well.

I suppose that I must have been rather tired yesterday, not surprising seeing as I haven’t slept a lot in the past few days.  I laid down for a nap about 6pm.  Other than waking up briefly a few times during the night, I slept until 5am this morning.  I will be ready to go once  I’ve had my coffee and something to eat.

If I do get the place that I mentioned above, I can likely move in this weekend.  That’ll be awesome.

Welcome to day 3.

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Calgary bound…

Posted on April 17, 2012 by kdarcy21

I am blogging under the “My move to Calgary” link at the top of my blog, but here is a regular entry.  🙂

Today is day three of the trip, I am still in Ontario.  The weather wasn’t nice yesterday, at all.  A combination of different “wet” weather – rain, freezing rain, sleet, hail, snow.  Nice.  The roads were pretty bad but I didn’t feel un-safe anywhere so I continued.  I am in Thunder Bay now, leaving at 7am or so.

I have never been to Manitoba nor Saskatchewan so that’ll be new.  With all of the hills that I have driven over (small mountains actually), the prairies will be a nice change – my gas mileage will go back up.  That’s a good thing.  Using 4×4 yesterday took it’s hit on the mileage.  I am sure that the ice and snow packed onto the Jeep and the trailer didn’t help either.  The forecast is for rain, maybe it’ll wash both of them.

The dogs are good – they don’t seem to mind being in the car for hours on end with the windows rolled up for the most part.  We stop every few hours anyway.

Well, gotta get my stuff together and get ready to leave.

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The packing and preparing continues

Posted on April 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

I am packing.  Organizing.  Deciding what I am bringing and what I am going to try to sell.  It is slow work, partly (or mostly) due to me being slow to get to it – it is coming along though.  I have been up since 6am today.  I was going to get some work done last night after dinner at my sister and brother in laws place but I went to bed at 10pm.

My other sister (BD) and Aunt came down from Toronto for a going away dinner.  JB made an excellent chicken cacciatore and it was awesome – one of the best that I have had, better than mine perhaps?  I got a Tim Horton’s gift card which will come in very handy for the trip out west.  There is one problem with it though, it has the Toronto Maple Leaf logo on it.  When I use it, I will have to declare that I am indeed NOT a Leafs fan.  I better have it used up before I leave Ontario.  Once you get to Manitoba, that would be Jets country.  Once in Calgary, I will have to get myself a Flames card and keep reloading it.

So, the sale is tomorrow.  My ad ran in the Standard this morning – looks good.  I was able to change the ad to include that the sale was inside and it was on rain or shine.  No charge for the change, I think we removed “Make an offer” or something to that effect.  As it was, the ad cost me $40 but that will be money well spent, presuming that people come through the door.

So, one final day to organize for my sale and pack my remaining stuff.  I get the u-Haul trailer tomorrow afternoon and DB and I will load it tomorrow evening.  I think that RK is coming over to assist with that.  BP will be helping me with my sale tomorrow.  JB is looking after my dogs for the morning.  Lots to do and very little time to do it, so, I must get off of this darn laptop and get back to it.

Going to be a tiring day or two followed by the longest drive that I ever hope to make.

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Getting ready

Posted on April 10, 2012 by kdarcy21

I leave for Calgary in 5 days, Sunday morning.  I am having a moving sale on Saturday, selling mostly everything, moving VERY light.

One of the items that I am selling is my music collection.  I have over 200 CD’s from 60’s music all the way to current stuff, it’s quite the collection actually.

I spent parts of Friday through Monday using iTunes to rip the CD’s and synced them with my iPod.  Luckily, I have an 80GB model and it is now 25% full.  Imagine, over 200 CD’s fits in just under 20GB in total – I was surprised.

Anyway, that’s done – I am going to sell most of the collection.  I have imaged a couple of PC’s that I am selling, I’ve had them for a while and don’t want to take them across the country.  It takes an hour or so to get the OS working, download the needed drivers, etc.

I haven’t done a lot of packing as yet – I plan on doing a lot of that tomorrow.  Gotta organize what I am taking and what I am selling.

I’ll be taking my bed and the frame, the matching dresser (they were my parents) and the side table.  I’d like to take my loveseat and chair (leather) and my 48″ LCD TV.  I have a cabinet unit that I bought from my sister and I like it.  I also have an Ikea desk that I may take, not sure on that one though…  I will also bring some kitchen stuff.

Other than that, I am selling everything else that I can.  I’ve already sold my bike, one leather loveseat and a water cooler.  Today I sold my older 32″ LCD TV.  So, I have some moving money.  I am hoping for a lot more some Saturday.

Lots to do, not a lot of time to do it, but I do have a Doctorate in Procrastination.

 

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Calgary Bound !!!

Posted on April 6, 2012 by kdarcy21

As I likely noted in a previous entry, I had a job interview with a nation wide company on Thursday afternoon in Toronto.  The position was for their Calgary office.

I left St. Catharines at 11:30 or so on Thursday morning.  I consulted JB to see what she thought I should wear, we were (for some odd reason) on the same page.  Black pants, cream colour shirt and black tie.

I arrived at my Aunts place around 12:30 or so – I was parking in her driveway and taking the TTC to the interview – $6 for a return trip was better than likely $20 for parking plus the hassle of driving downtown, etc.

The interview was at 3pm, I arrived downtown about 40 minutes early so I had some time to kill.  I went to the 6th floor and waited for a few minutes so that when I called the person I was interviewing with, I was about 12 minutes early.

Had a great interview with him, he’s the Manager of IT – it lasted about an hour.  I then met with the HR Manager and that was a little over 1/2 of an hour.  I thought, all in all that it went well.  I was told that I would hear from them next week or the week after.

I made a fairly long trip back via TTC to my Aunts place and go there just before 6pm.  We talked for a bit and I said that I thought things had went well.

I started on what I thought would be a LONG drive home with heavy pre long weekend traffic.  The traffic actually wasn’t too bad, I was nearly shocked.

Anyway, as I was around Third Line or so (in Burlington), my phone rang, it was a number that I did not recognize.  Typically, I wouldn’t have picked up such a call, but, with all of the positions that I had applied for, I figured I should pick this one up, although, who the heck would be calling for a job related call at 6:40pm on the Thursday before a long weekend?

After a little small talk, I was offered the job that I had just interviewed for.  To put it mildly, I was the happiest that I think I have EVER been in my life to this point.  I readily accepted with a start date of Monday, April 23.

I nearly couldn’t drive and really, I should have pulled over.  I phoned JB, my other sister BD, my aunt, two close friends, my cousin – just about anyone I could think of.

Tonight, to celebrate, myself and 3 friends who I’ve known for most of my life went out and, I will admit, I had a few bevvies – not too many, but enough.

I have a LOT to do in the next couple of week – A LOT.  I need to sell a bunch of stuff to lighten my load.  I need to arrange a trailer to get there.  Once I am there, I have more to do…  It will be quite the adventure but one that I am ready to tackle head on.

 

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Toronto bound, again…

Posted on April 4, 2012 by kdarcy21

I received a call this morning for a 2nd interview, in Toronto for a position in Calgary, Alberta.

The interview is for 3pm in downtown Toronto, so I will contact my aunt to see if I can use her driveway again. Taking the TTC to downtown will save me having to pay for parking downtown.  The timing isn’t the best, I won’t hit much traffic (I hope) going into Toronto, but with a 3pm interview, I may be until 4pm which would mean that I wouldn’t be leaving Toronto until 5pm or so and the traffic home will not be friendly.  Oh well, it’s not as if I have to do that too often.

I have been getting a number of second interviews, one of these needs to turn into a job offer – that would be ideal.  I suppose it’ll happen at some point, I would prefer sooner as opposed to later.

So, Toronto bound tomorrow, likely around noon for an afternoon of a busy downtown full of people.  The adventure continues.

 

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Something new…

Posted on April 3, 2012 by kdarcy21

I received an email today from a prospective employer in Calgary – they liked my resume (good thing) and wanted to schedule an interview – via Skype.

Well, I do have a Skype account, not sure when the last time I used it mind you.  I also remember that I purchased a web cam, sometime before I moved into my new place.  I have seen it once since I’ve been here.

So, I checked my living room, dining room, kitchen, office – nothing.  I checked a drawer unit in the bathroom, nothing.  I checked my laptop bag, briefcase – nothing.  I could not find it for the life of me.

I have (and don’t ask why I store them there) 4 seat cushions for my patio set on my dining room table. There are a couple of the reusable type shopping bags on top of the cushions and for some reason, my cam was in its case in one of those bags.  Very odd, odd as well that I found it.

So, I launch Skype, I actually remember my password (on the second try) and log in.  I connect the cam and after it downloads some sort of update (it’s a Microsoft product), it works.  I do a test and all is well.

So, tomorrow (today now as it is after midnight), I have an interview at noon. It’ll be my first Skype interview.  I am sure that the technical aspects of it will go well, I shouldn’t be an IT person if I can’t setup and use a web cam…  I hope that the interview goes well – that would make it a good day.

UPDATE – April 3, 2:20pm – The interview went well, was just over an hour long. I was happy that I didn’t have any internet issues, this would have been hard to do back in December when my internet connection was down probably as much as it was up.  My resume is going to be passed along to the next stage so I will have another Skype interview coming up.  The position is just outside of Edmonton, Alberta.

 

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