Political Lunch

Posted on March 16, 2012 by kdarcy21

I went to the St. Catharines PC riding lunch today at Johnny Rocco’s.  The food was excellent.  We had chicken parmigiana, another chicken dish with grilled peppers and goat cheese. There were also fried cheese and rice balls with marinara.  A couple of salads and dessert rounded out lunch – excellent, as I said.

Minister Nichols from the Conservative party was there and introduced Tim Hudak – both game brief speeches, not too bad.

It was good to see some of the people that I worked with in the Dykstra campaign.  I was asked if I wanted to help with the local PC party.  I have to wait and see where I will be working and where I will be living.  Just like coaching baseball, politics is in the air for now.

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The waiting…

Posted on March 15, 2012 by kdarcy21

I have applied for dozens of jobs in the last couple of weeks (more than dozens I am sure) and many, many more since I started looking for a new job.  There have been a lot more postings (that is an understatement) since I opened up the areas that I am now looking in.  Essentially, I am looking anywhere in Canada except for Quebec – my lack of French language skills wouldn’t do me well there.

Anyway, I have had a lot of positive responses, prospective employers or recruitment agencies wanting more information on my background.

I am hopeful that this will lead to a new position in the very near future.  If I don’t have a new job by the end of March (only two weeks now), I will have to give notice to vacate my rented house.  That will mean I can stay here and continue paying bills until the end of May.  Not too long really…

Not sure what I will do if I don’t find an IT job before then – I guess I will get something, likely similar to the job that I was offered a few weeks back and turned down.  I don’t regret turning that one down, I think it was the correct decision.

Guess time will tell.

 

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Interview went well…

Posted on March 14, 2012 by kdarcy21

After my phone interview yesterday, I was told that I may hear from them within 5 days if they wanted me in for a second interview.  I thought that was pretty good.

I received a call this morning at 9am – they wanted to see me this afternoon at 2pm.  That was quick turnaround.

The drive to their office took me about 45 minutes.  They are just past the Ford plant.  In rush hour, I think it would add 15-30 minutes onto the trip.  Depending on how much that drives me nuts might mean that I will look to move to eastern Oakville or western Mississauga.  Of course, I have to be offered the job first and then, I guess I will see.

I also received an email from an IT recruiting firm in Toronto and they want to see me next week for an interview.  I specifically applied for one job with a company in Burlington but they have postings all over the place.  I have to go to downtown Toronto for this one.  I am going to leave the Jeep at my Aunts place and take the TTC to the interview – $6 for a round trip in the TTC will be a lot cheaper than parking for a couple of hours.  Probably won’t take a lot more time either.

Anyway, I am hopeful that I will get something in the near future.

 

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More jobs than I can remember…

Posted on March 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

Since I have now opened my job search to all of Canada (with the exception of Quebec seeing as I don’t speak French), I am applying for more jobs than I can remember.

I just applied for 6 jobs, all out west – Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Re-locating doesn’t really matter to me.  I am comfortable in Niagara and Southern Ontario, I know the area like the back of my hand.  GPS devices will help if I do move though and I would guess that I would learn a new area pretty quickly.

I would miss people here, but, there is Facebook and Skype and what-not to keep in touch.  I am sure that I would get used to living somewhere else as would my dogs – would they even know any difference?

Anyway, I am hopeful that something comes up soon.  I guess I have to be.  I am not sure what I will end up doing if I don’t get some sort of IT job by the end of May.  I am thinking that will be when I will have to move out of my current place as my money will be gone.  I am sure that will cause some stress if it comes to being forced to move.  Won’t be fun at all.

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Politics and Lunch

Posted on March 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

I have been on the Ontario PC Party list ever since I joined the party.  I guess that would have been after the last federal election.  Anyway, I get an email a week or so, sometimes less.

On Friday, there is a lunch with Tim Hudak and other guests to discuss issues in Ontario. I  wasn’t going to go, but after speaking with some other Conservative friends who are going, I figured I would go as well.

It’s not expensive and really, what have I done on a social level in the last while?  Not too much really…

I am sure that I will report on it after Friday.

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Where did winter go?

Posted on March 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

It is March 13th today, it is 17C.  It was warmer yesterday and Sunday.  I am not sure where winter has been this year, but I won’t complain.

I would take a guess that we’ve had maybe a foot in total snow this entire winter – it might be a bit more, I am not sure.  At any rate, the longest it lasted was about 3 or 4 days and then it was gone.

I don’t remember being able to have the windows open and heat off at this time of the year.   My place is 21C without any heat on at all – it hasn’t been on since Sunday.  I do close the windows in the living room at night mind you.

I hope that we’ve seen the last of cold temperatures – welcome Spring !!!

As I’ve noted, I’ve applied for a lot of jobs in the last while.  I received a call yesterday, couldn’t take it (otherwise occupied) and when I checked the caller ID against 411.ca, it came back as someone that I had applied to.  They didn’t leave a message though which I found a bit odd.

I received an email from them today so I called her back and we had a phone interview.  I was asked general questions about my history – I think it went well.  I was told that my resume would be passed onto the rest of the recruitment team and I may receive a call for an in-office interview. I hope to get that call sometime this week.

The company is a support company in Oakville doing support and training.  It sounds interesting.  It is on the border of Oakville and Mississauga so I may move if I am given the job – that commute would not be a lot of fun.

Anyway, wish me luck.

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Sending resumes like crazy…

Posted on March 11, 2012 by kdarcy21

It is Sunday and I figured that I would check to see if there were any job postings that I hadn’t previously seen.  Well, there were.  I applied for 5 jobs this afternoon, 4 in the GTA and one in Kitchener.

I presume that I will be moving somewhere, when and if I ever get another job.  It is getting a bit frustrating not even getting interviews.

I would estimate that I have sent out 30 resumes in the last 10 days.  It may be a few more or less than that but close none the less.

I do hope that I will get some bites from these – I really want to get back to work…

Thanks 🙂

UPDATE – Sunday, March 11, 10PM – I applied for a job in Kitimat, BC.  It is in the middle of nowhere, 4500km (give or take) from St. Catharines.  That would be a fresh start and I think I’d love it.

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Tim Horton’s – Roll up the Rim

Posted on March 10, 2012 by kdarcy21

Well, after 14 losses in a row, I finally won a coffee. Yippee !!! What’s with that?  It is supposed to be “1 in 6 win”, yeah, right, I believe that.  Oh well, I doubt that a lawsuit will do me any good.

I’d like to wish a happy birthday to my Aunt Bernie in Toronto.  We (J&D and I) are heading up there tomorrow for lunch.  Not sure where we are going – I would guess either Red Lobster or the Mandarin.

Nothing much else going on this weekend I don’t think – we lose an hour tonight as the clocks go forward.  At least the sun won’t stream through my windows at 6am any more.  Spring must be right around the corner, not that we have had much of a winter mind you.

UPDATE – Sunday, March 11 – Well, I guess Tim Horton’s must have heard that I was considering suing them, I won on back to back cups which pretty much brings me back on-line to winning 1 in 6.  Damn, I was looking forward to suing them…  LOL

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Expanded search …

Posted on March 7, 2012 by kdarcy21

I may (or may not) have mentioned that I have opened my job searching to the GTA.  I don’t really want to live and/or work in Toronto or surrounding area, but, there are a LOT of jobs in that area.

So, in the last week or so, I have applied for a “crap load” of jobs in the Toronto area.  I’ve applied for a couple elsewhere as well.  One was in Chalk River, Ontario which is just about 200km north-west of Ottawa, essentially in the middle of nowhere.

I am also tweaking my resume, not sure if the current one is as good as it can be – there has got to be something wrong with it, or me – who knows.  At any rate, it is getting a little frustrating not working and not even making any progress.

Hopefully something will come up soon – I can see having to commute for a month or two until I find a place – it will give me plenty of time to listen to the radio, yeah, that’s the way to  look at it.

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I think she liked it…

Posted on March 4, 2012 by kdarcy21

J&D came over last evening with a gift for my dog on her birthday – isn’t that nice?  It is a ball attached to a rather thick strap.  Well, after about an hour, the strap was almost chewed through, I guess that means that Blondie must have liked her present.

She’s a rather powerful chewer, so is Zeus but he doesn’t chew as often as he used to.  I buy them Nylar bones and they are supposed to be “nearly chew proof”…  Yeah, sure – they last 6 months or so and then are done.  I but the bones that are designed for dogs 80 lbs + and Zeus who is under 40 lbs takes them down pretty quick, Blondie might “kill” them quicker than that.

Well, it was nice of J&D to get her a gift – thanks from both of us.

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