Getting my passport…

Posted on March 10, 2017 by kdarcy21

When I lived in Niagara, I had a passport since I was so close to the US border, I would cross over fairly often and it was needed.  I also coached baseball in the US so a passport was a necessity.  After I moved to Alberta, I allowed the passport to expire since I am about 4 hours to the border of Montana and then it is another hour or so before you get to the next town.  I have not traveled to the US via air in ages (1993 was the last time, I think) and I have never traveled outside of North America, so, I decided why should I spend the money on a renewal.

So, now my work is sending me overseas to Mauritius to do training and obviously, a passport is required.  I am leaving for Toronto on March 24, 2 weeks today actually.  I applied for my passport on Wednesday.  Nothing like waiting until the last second eh?

Well, I had a friend be my guarantor.  He dropped by a couple of weeks ago and signed the application, he also met my new dog Twix, Blondie and Hera already love him, so now, hopefully, a third dog does too.  Anyway, I hadn’t gotten my picture taken as yet, so I couldn’t get him to sign the pictures.  Well, finally, on Monday, I got my pictures done.  The holdup was that I hadn’t gotten a haircut.  The holdup on that was that I have a Doctorate in Procrastination.

Wednesday, I spent some time to go and apply for the passport.  I went to one of the offices fairly near my house.  Both the navigation system in my car AND Google maps took me to a building that is under construction.  I was finally able to find the correct building – for some reason, Service Canada does not have outside signage – very helpful.  I go up to the third floor and as I am waiting in line, I see a sign that says something along the lines of “If you are traveling before April 11, we can’t help you”…  Wow, great.  I am next in line so I ask where I need to go.  Downtown, to the main Service Canada office, of course.

So, I punch in the address and head downtown – 30 minute drive.  OK, fine.  I arrive and the address is a hotel.  I entered the address as South-West, instead of South-East.  I have already paid for parking, so I walk 4 blocks to the correct address – at least it was only 220 and not 880 – otherwise, I would have had to drive.

I do find the correct building and hey, a giant sign – helpful for sure.  Too bad I missed it as I drove past the first time.

I stand in the first line, this is to get a number.  I am A130, it is currently at A95.  I ask how long the wait will be, I am told about an hour.  OK, not too bad I guess – there are a ton of people waiting.  Fifty-five minutes later, my number comes up – awesome, not as bad as I thought it would be.  I had to get one more piece of information for the application, not a problem and paid the fee ($180 for 10 years, $160 for the passport and $20 for delivery).

The “delivery” fee allows me to come back downtown on March 22 and pick up my passport.  If I wanted it delivered to my home, it would have been $50, and they couldn’t guarantee it would be delivered in time.  That would have cost me $100.  So, anyway, yes, I can come back downtown on the 22nd and pick up my passport, no problem.

Anyway, long story short, my passport application is in, I will go and pick it up in a couple of weeks and then I will be off.  What fun.  At least this time, when I go back downtown, I will know where I am going and not park in front of a hotel and walk 4 blocks in -20 weather.  Yeah, fun.

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A new vehicle…

Posted on March 8, 2017 by kdarcy21

I have been thinking of replacing my vehicle for a bit.  It is running fine, but it is getting older, it is a 2008 and it has 125k km.  Not a lot, not for a 9 year old vehicle, but it is getting to the point where I will have to start putting some money into it and I would prefer not to have to do that.

For instance, I know that the tires will need replacing this spring.  They lasted through the winter which is awesome.  Breaks still are good, they were replaced when I got it at 85k km.

So, I was thinking of getting back into a Jeep Wrangler, a 2 door like the one I had in 2007/08.  I loved that Jeep, it was an awesome vehicle.

I did look at one, it was a 2013, Sport model so not loaded, at all.  It has roll up windows, and that’s fine, it’s a Jeep after all.  No power locks.  It did have cruise at least, nice for driving on the highway.  It had a hard top, BUT, no soft top.  If I wanted one of those, that’s a $1500 add-on.  I took it for a test drive, drove much nicer, smoother than my 07 Jeep, from what I remember – or was it an 05 Jeep…  Hmmm…  The shift to 4×4 was smooth and the shifting was smooth as well – it was a 6-speed standard.  I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to get back into a standard, I’ve been spoiled driving an automatic these past few years.

I also test drove a Mitsubishi Outlander.  It was a 2015 with about 50k km on it.Nice thing with Mitsubishi’s is that they have a 10 year bumper to bumper warranty.  It had some of the cool “toys” that I sort of wanted, it had Blue Tooth to connect my phone, it had heated seats, it had enough room for myself and 3 dogs.  I didn’t like that it was white and the body lines of it were a bit boring.

I also test drove a Ford Escape.  It was also a 2015 model, 4WD and loaded.  All of the bells and whistles and toys that you could want.  It has built-in navigation and Microsoft Sync which connects your mobile phone, downloads your address book, it will read your text messages to you.  It is also a crossover, as opposed to a full-fledged SUV.  I took it on an extensive test drive last night, for about 45 minutes or so and sort of loved it.

So, here it is:

2015 Ford Escape

That is a promo shot of course, not my vehicle, or at least likely NOT my vehicle.  I haven’t taken any of mine.  Same colour though.  I have not owned a Ford before and I have also not owned a blue vehicle before.  I think the dogs will like it, Hera isn’t much of a jumper, she can easily step into this.  I think I will like it too, that’s probably important.

It also has something I’ve always wanted – climate control.  Set the temp at 22C and it holds it.  You don’t have to have a fan blowing you all over the interior and then roast, then you turn it off and you freeze.  It has heated seats, of course – that is almost a necessity in Calgary.

So, my new toy.  I have not as yet looked through the manual, I am sure there are many features I have not discovered yet.  Lots of time to read through that.  Congrats to me, anyway.  🙂

Posted in Blondie, Hera & Twix, Personal, Technology Amazes Us, Vehicles | Leave a comment

A rare night out…

Posted on March 5, 2017 by kdarcy21

Last night was the Calgary offices mid-season event.  It was well attended, we took in the Calgary Roughnecks game at the Saddledome.  There were two guys from other offices in Calgary for a few days and I was able to get tickets for them as well.  One of them got caught up with some IT issues so he wasn’t able to attend, the other, from our National office appeared to have a good time.

The Roughnecks have had a rough season but ran away early with this game – It was 6-0 early in the first quarter.  They ended up winning by about 7 goals, it was a pretty exciting game.  It was good seeing co-workers who I have not seen in some time since I have been working from home for nearly 3 years.  I guess that I could make the occasional visit into the office, but thus far, I haven’t gone in too often.  The last time was a half day back in August of 2015, so perhaps I am due.  I sat with a bunch of people from our Solutions group, it was good catching up with them.  I ate typical stadium food, chicken fingers, fries, nachos and ice cream – such a healthy evening.

I got home later than I have been out recently, it was just about 11.  Not late, but for me. later than normal, that’s for sure.  The dogs were happy to see me.  Always nice coming home to dogs who are happy and a house that hasn’t been destroyed.

Today was a cold and snowy day.  I am certainly looking forward to the end of winter this year.  It has been a long, cold and snowy one – a real winter, I guess.  We didn’t do too much today, we napped, watched the end of the Jays game (they lose) and the Flames game (well, we napped for a second time during the second period) and the Flames won on 4 unanswered goals in the first period, beating the visiting Islanders 5-1.  I had a HUGE bet of 5 cents on with a friend from Ontario and look forward to collecting my winnings when I visit.

So, the weekend is nearly over – another one has zipped on by.  Hope yours was good.

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Baseball and lacrosse

Posted on March 4, 2017 by kdarcy21

The Babe Ruth league and team meetings are this morning.  This is the first time I will attend and not be the club manager for the Rockies.  I was wondering how I would feel about my decision from last August and I am happy to report that I am 100% confident that I made the correct decision in stepping down.  The team has a good coaching staff and I wish both the AA’s and AAA’s all the best this year, and in future years of course.  I am looking forward to seeing the players from the other “side” of the field this year, both as an umpire and on occasion, as a spectator.  I made a lot of friends in my three years as the club manager and I am sure those will remain for years to come.

I am handling uniforms this year and thus far, I have enjoyed it.  I have placed our first order for ball pants and they are expected to arrive prior to me heading on my trip.  Today is the last day for players to do sizing for their uniforms and buy extra stuff that is being sold – jackets, hats, etc.

I don’t think I need to speak at the meeting, if I do, it will be quick.  Essentially, it will be something like “if you need something, please email me”…  That speech took a while to write.

Today is also the BDO Calgary mid-season event.  We are going to the Calgary Roughnecks lacrosse game at the Saddledome tonight.  I enjoy lacrosse although the Roughnecks have had a tough season to date.  They got hammered last night losing big time.  Hopefully they pull out a win tonight.  There are a couple of IT guys in the city for some office moves and they are going as well – should be a good evening.

Three weeks and counting until I being my trip.  All is pretty well set – waiting for my passport to arrive, that will be the last step.  Not necessarily looking forward to the flights, that is for sure but looking forward to the experience.

Enjoy your weekend.

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Flights booked…

Posted on March 1, 2017 by kdarcy21

I’ve booked my flights for my upcoming trip.  I leave Calgary on March 24 on the red eye, getting into Toronto around 6am.  I have arranged to rent a vehicle for the weekend, picking it up at the airport.  I searched in Google for “rental cars Toronto airport” and followed the first link that I was provided.  I was shocked at what a good rate I got.  For a 5 seater, mid-sized car, they suggested a Honda Civic, that type, it was $9 per day plus taxes and “fees” – anyway, 3 days, inclusive was $70 some odd dollars.  A fantastic rate for sure.

So, I plan on going into the office for a few hours and then having lunch before heading to Niagara for the weekend.  I am sure it will end up being a very busy weekend.  I will head back to the airport early Monday morning to drop the car off.  I saved a boatload of money by returning it to the airport as opposed to returning it downtown.  I will catch a bus to the first subway station in the west end and then subway it downtown to head to the National office.  I am working 3 days in Toronto and heading out late Wednesday evening.

My first leg is Toronto to Frankfurt, Germany – 7.5 hour flight.  I then have a layover in Germany for 4 hours or so.  The next leg will not be much fun – 11.5 hours from Germany to Mauritius.  I get into Mauritius at 6am local time on the Friday and then have the weekend to get settled in before starting work on Monday.  I will spend three weeks in Mauritius before heading back – this time via Paris and Montreal to Calgary.  I am sure by that time I get back, I will NEED to be home.

The dogs will be in the pet resort for a month.  I am hoping they forgive me quickly, I am sure they will.  They will also likely be exhausted – all they do there is play all day, every day.  They’ll likely have the time of their lives.

All in all, I think it will be a good trip, a once in a lifetime thing.  Guess we will see.

Posted in Blondie, Hera & Twix, Personal, Work | Leave a comment

Mauritius

Posted on February 24, 2017 by kdarcy21

My trip to Mauritius has finally been approved – well, it was mostly approved before, it was highly unlikely that it wasn’t going to happen, it has now been scheduled.

I was able to get a really good rate to have my dogs in boarding at Tree Top Pet Resort so I am extending my away time from Calgary and am going to spend an extra few days in Toronto and a couple of days in Niagara as well.

So, the plan is for me to take the red eye to Toronto on March 24.  I will get into the city at 6:30am or so and plan on heading downtown to the National office for the day.  I am hoping to get a car rental to head to Niagara on Friday evening, I might take a bus, but it will be a lot easier with a car.  I will have dinner with my cousin and Aunt on Friday night and then will head to Niagara for the weekend.  Friends in Welland have offered to let me stay with them for the weekend so that will be great.  A bunch of people are heading to Duff’s in St. Catharines on Saturday night – it has some of the best pizza and wings in Niagara.   The rest of the weekend is wide open, more or less.  There are a couple of spots I like so I am sure to return.

I will head back to Toronto on Sunday evening or Monday morning.  I will be working out of the National office from the Monday through Wednesday or Thursday and staying with my Aunt.  I’m heading to Mauritius on Thursday, perhaps as late as Friday to get there for Saturday.  That will give me a day to get settled in before starting work on the Monday.  I will have three weeks over there.  We are doing training with our IT staff there and are going live 24/7 for support as well.  It will be an interesting trip, I am sure.

I’ve never left North America before, Mauritius is the most remote place to visit from North America, unless you go to Antarctica…  It will be the beginning of fall when I get there and the stormy season will have ended.  I am looking forward to my visit to Ontario, will be nice to see friends and family.  I am not really looking forward to visiting Mauritius, but I am sure I will enjoy the experience.

Posted in Blondie, Hera & Twix, Personal, Work | Leave a comment

Sleeping with dogs

Posted on February 21, 2017 by kdarcy21

I had put a deposit down on a king size mattress after adopting Twix.  Currently, I have a double which was fine with me and two dogs.  Squeezing in a third dog was a bit tight.  Hera starts with us at night and leaves and sleeps on the couch for the rest of the night.  She likes to spread out and there just isn’t enough room.

Anyway, I went into Sleep Country in January and found a good mattress for $1500 including GST.  I put down 10% to hold it at that price.  I had looked at online mattresses from various companies with prices ranging from $1100 to $1350, so really, not a lot of price difference.  Then, on Saturday, I saw a new ad with memory foam mattresses, king size, for $850 plus GST.  That’s a little more than half of what I was going to pay to Sleep Country so I figured I might as well cancel my purchase and get one of these ones online.

I went back to the store that I put the deposit down in – closed for renovations, figures.  I drove to the nearest store and explained the situation.  The sales guy showed me some comparable mattresses.  The one he recommended was $1800 for a king, so a grand more than the one I could get online.  Well, Sleep Country offers pricing matching + 5% off so I ended up getting it for just ove $800 plus GST.  With the $150 deposit from the other one applied to this new mattress, I owe just under $700 and have kept the original delivery date of the middle of March. I will get a little over a week to test it out before I head on my trip.  I am hoping that the dogs will like it, I am sure they will and also hoping that Hera will stay with us for the night too.

So, now to find some king size sheet sets, hopefully on sale and before next Fall, a new king size duvet.  At first glance, when you go to a king size duvet, the prices sometimes nearly double from a queen.  Oh well – what can ya do.  Looking forward to some nice nights of sleep.

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Love four day weekends…

Posted on February 20, 2017 by kdarcy21

Today is Family Day in many of the Provinces in Canada – for some odd reason, BC’s was last Monday, guess they want to be different.  The only Province that doesn’t have something is Quebec, they are always different…  So, I am off today and to make an extra long weekend, I am off tomorrow as well.  Weekend is half over, I always wonder why weekends seem to go by so much faster than weekdays.

Saturday was a dog park day.  Blondie, Hera, Twix and I went out early, 7:30am or so and played ChuckIt for an hour and a half or so.  The park had turned from nice packed snow to rough snow-ice.  They didn’t seem to mind, I think they will play ChuckIt under any circumstances.  When we got home, I got a message from Twix’s former family, we had scheduled meeting up with them so we headed to Southland Dog Park (Sue Higgins Park) and walked around there for another hour and a half.  Twix was happy to see them and the visit went well.  She didn’t try to leave with them, so that made me happy, I think she’s enjoying her new life with me and her two dog sisters.  When we got home, they were rather tired.  We slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon, weekend naps are the best and are even better when you’re napping with your dogs.

Sunday, we started the day at Edworthy Park.  It isn’t ideal for playing ChuckIt, too much varied terrain, a great place to hike though.  I hiked about 4.5km in total which means the dogs likely did double or triple that.  I then made a solo road trip and visited my former hood, Forest Lawn in SE Calgary.  I dropped into the only Giant Tiger left in the city.  I used to live across from GT when I was in St. Catharines so I would be there numerous times a week.  I have not been there since I lived in the SE, over 3 years ago now.  They’ve renovated, and a few new buildings have cropped up since I lived there.  I stopped by Crossroads Market on the way home.  It has turned into more of a farmers market now.  A bit over-priced, I think.  Oh well…  Another nap in the afternoon made for a good Sunday afternoon.  Watched two excellent Morgan Freeman movies as well – The Shawshank Redemption and The Bucket List – two of my all time favourites.

Today, we will head back to Edworthy Park for another hike, at first light so 7:15ish.  It’s a 20 minute drive there so it should be light enough once we arrive.  I may be going for breakfast, not as yet confirmed and if so, that will be right after our hike as I have two baseball meetings starting at 10am.  I don’t know who schedules meetings for a holiday, other than Babe Ruth, but I guess that’s how it is.

Nothing else really planned.  I am sure we will end up somewhere tomorrow for a walk or ChuckIt.  I am going to apply, in person, for my passport.  Gotta get going on that since I am leaving in just over a month.It’s been a good weekend.  Back to work Wednesday for a shortened work-week.  Tax season is upon us, so I am hoping it will slow down a bit in IT.  We shall see.

It’s been a good weekend.  Back to work Wednesday for a shortened work-week.  Tax season is upon us, so I am hoping it will slow down a bit in IT.  We shall see.

Posted in Baseball, Blondie, Hera & Twix, Personal, Work | Leave a comment

Dog Food

Posted on February 16, 2017 by kdarcy21

When I first got Zeus, back in 2006, I put him on an Iams diet.  The vet I had at the time in St. Catharines said it wasn’t a bad food, one of the better ones in the “cheaper” variety.  Zeus stayed on that diet until he passed away, Blondie was also on Iams.  For a 20 lb bag, it was around $22 so not especially expensive.

After Zeus passed away, I looked at other brands of food.  I don’t know exactly why, it might have had something to do with his declining health in the last 6 months of his life.  I thought that perhaps if I bought a higher end food, it might help my dogs live a longer, healthier life.  I might be totally off-base too, who knows.

I did some research online, there are dozens or tens of dozens of different brands of food for your dog.  There are also advocates for feeding raw to your dog – I didn’t want to get into that.  It might be around the same cost, but it seems like a LOT of extra work and I am not sure I could handle watching the dogs chomping on raw food.

So, after speaking with my vet here in Calgary and speaking with the person at Global Pet Foods, I decided to try Pet Kind for Blondie and Hera.  I transitioned them over to it over a couple of weeks right after I adopted Hera.  They’ve now been eating it for nearly 2 years – it will be 2 years in July anyway.  I transitioned Twix to it as well and has not caused any issues with her and her sensitive stomach.

Anyway, long story short (I never tell a short story), I was in Global Pet Foods yesterday and picked up 3 x 25 lb bags of Pet Kind.  It comes to $250 with tax and I quickly calculated that I spend $3000 or so per year for dog food.  I don’t spend anywhere near that much for food for myself.  Don’t get me wrong, they are worth it, no doubt, but I had never calculated it before – sort of wish I hadn’t calculated it yesterday.  It is just a lot of money.

Pet Kind is made in BC and all sourced in Canada – I like both of those aspects.  I have not seen many (if any) recalls on this brand which is good.  It is an all stages food so you can start your puppy off on it and use it for their whole life.  There are also 4 different flavours so you can mix and match.  I don’t know how much of a difference that makes, but if I were a dog, I wouldn’t want the same flavour food for my whole life.  The dogs seem to like it, they gobble it up.  I have only ever seen it at Global Pet Foods, have not seen it anywhere else.  At Global, the deal is buy 12 bags and get the 13th free, so I get a free bag every 4 months or so – better than a kick in the butt and essentially makes it tax free, I will take that bonus.  They also have occasional sales, 10% off, sometimes more – another good deal.

Right at the moment, I have insomnia and am getting up in what most would call the middle of the night.  I feed the dogs around 3am and then again when we get back from the dog park, around 5pm.  It’s not a bad life, if you can swing it – I am referring to the dogs life, of course…

Posted in Blondie, Hera & Twix, Personal, Zeus | Leave a comment

Long weekend…

Posted on February 15, 2017 by kdarcy21

This coming weekend is a long weekend with Monday being Family Day in Alberta and most of Canada.  I am also taking Tuesday off to make a 4 day weekend out of it.  Typically, I would take Friday off, but someone else in my group beat me to it and booked Friday off before I did.  Doesn’t really matter, it is still a 4 day weekend.

On Tuesday, I plan on applying for my passport in person.  I’d prefer to do it that way than via mail.  The paperwork is ready, today I am getting a much needed haircut and going to have my passport photo taken.  I am not traveling for 5 weeks so that’s plenty of time to get the passport.  I am getting the 10 year option, it is $160 as opposed to a 5 year option which is $120.  I guess they are pushing for the 10 years…  I didn’t really think I would need one after moving to Alberta and may not use it after my upcoming trip, but it’s good to have one in case.

Who knows anyway, I have volunteered to assist with one of Babe Ruth Calgary’s travel clubs if the need is there and they travel to the US for a tournament or two.  It is a lower commitment than coaching one of the summer clubs, there are 3 tournaments and a practice every week.  It will be a good option, I am thinking.  We will see if there is a need.

Plans are falling into place for my stay in Ontario.  Presuming dates don’t change, I will get into Toronto on a Friday, spend the day in the city and head to Niagara on Friday evening.  It will be nice seeing people in Niagara on Saturday and Sunday and then I will head back to Toronto for Monday morning and work in the National office for 3 or 4 days then fly out to Mauritius.  All of this is subject to change – the dates haven’t been firmed up and I guess there’s a chance it will be postponed or canceled.  I’d like to get flights arranged sooner rather than later, but that’s not the way it works.

Well, today is the half way point of the week.  Enjoy the rest of yours.

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