New home. New office. New rules. New stuff. New debt.
Wow, that's a lot of new and it's been keeping us busy. Evenings are now spent back and forth to Rona or Ikea, unpacking, staying later to work, etc, etc. I'm sure it'll all start to figure itself out and our free time will come back. But, in the mean time, there just seems to be a lot going on with not a lot of time to do the stuff we use to do all the time like play games, visit with friends, update blogs, watch DVDs, go shopping for stuff that's not condo related...
So, to make this little blog a bit more current, here's a brief visual update that's been some time coming.
We had a few interesting moving experiences. One of my favourites was moving a queen-size mattress four blocks with the Boleys and Tony:
At the Louvre with Nicole, we noticed an eyeless statue, so we removed our eyes as well.
We are now living at our new place. There are still many boxes and no Swedish couch.
Observations so far: - The location is much better. Incredibly close to Safeway, 17th Ave, McDonald's (you know, for breakfast), and Kyoto 17. -We can hear the elevator from our bedroom which is annoying as you try to sleep. - So much light. In our old condo, it felt like we were living in a basement suite because we never had any sun. Now it's sunny all the time. We rarely have to turn on lights. -Peasant vision may be ours with a $17 antenna from Best Buy. Yet to see.
It's only mildly embarrassing, but I must admit that I went with Natalie, Vanessa and May to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo over the weekend. I was curious, ok? Just experimenting with pushing my participation in geek culture. And it was pretty much what I expected: comic books and sweat.
A distinctive smell.
There were also a number of people in various costumes: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, anime I don't know and a few people in random full animal costumes (the latter being a little creepy... and smelly). Nintendo was there and so were many known artists, authors and a few actors: Robert Picardo (Star Trek), Morena Baccarin (Firefly), Ray Park (Star Wars) and Lou Ferringo (The Hulk).
A variety of panels were held, but the most notable was the SciFi Panel with the first three of the above actors. It was an hour-long Q&A with not too many interesting questions and more than enough questions from people who are too far into the science fiction genre to allow for answers (eg: Mr. Park, can you elaborate on the 7 lightsabre styles and how you used these in your fighting style for Darth Maul?... yeah... no.)
But in the middle of things, one guy asks Ray Park to demo some of his signature moves. At first Park suggests that might not be a good idea in a room full of people, but then a space near the stage seems to open up a bit more to give him room. Then another Darth Maul comes out of the audience with his double-bladed lightsabre and Park seems to have no choice.
I didn't think it would happen, but then:
That made me smile like an idiot. Pretty neat stuff to see one of the cooler characters/actors from a franchise you enjoy do his thing live. Park even mentioned that it's fun now-a-days to pretend you're a Jedi, especially with the new toys out there.
Oh yeah, and for all those of you who care, he explained that Toad didn't die in the first X-Men movie. In fact, there were real plans to bring him back for a big fight with Nightcrawler, but those fell through due to budgetary reasons. Park even says that they mentioned they would be finding a role for Toad in the third movie, but he admits that with so many other characters from that universe, there isn't too much need to bring back a minor character who appeared to have died in the movie one.
I came into the office Monday morning to find this on my desk:
For the record, I've been fired before at this job. It has become a bit of a joke. The problem for my employer is that I like my job so much that I keep coming in. I may have even made the mistake of telling him I'd do this stuff for free... maybe that's why I haven't had a raise in a while.
But this is the first time I've been fired so officially. You know, with a letter and all.
So here I am with a letter of termination on my desk and a stack of client work that needs my attention. And what do I do? I get to work. I mean, stuff needs doing and I guess this is my chance to prove I'll do it for free.
Now before you panic and start calling me with job offers, I should explain the whole story.
My current employer has been bought out. It's been in the works for a number of months, but never official so I couldn't tell a lot of people. Now that things are official, it's time for me to clean out my desk here and make the move down the block to my new employer (ie: the buyer). I've got a bit of anxiety about the whole thing, but the change seems to be a good one: larger company, more opportunities for learning experiences and professional development, more colleagues from which to learn. It should be all good.
Now that I've been fired, I'm waiting for the formal offer letter from the new company. I've met the new boss and even worked with them on a few projects over the past while, so it shouldn't be too weird... I'd just like that offer letter now...
I'm currently in limbo--employment purgatory. How exciting!
A lot of changes going on in my life right now. Next time I see many of you, gentle readers, it may be at our new condo and I should have shiny and new business cards to deal around.
